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MUMBAI: As concern spreads over the ecological hazards of idol immersion, communities are banding together to staunch the pollution of water bodies during Ganesh Chaturthi. The search for a middle ground between religious symbolism and green consciousness has led to artificial wells and ponds being dug around housing enclaves to sink clay images of the Elephant God. Residents of Pestom Sagar in Chembur, for instance, have been getting wells drilled in their neighbouring Nana Nani Park to immerse the idols. In Thane, the civic corporation has spearheaded the construction of artificial lakes. And now in the latest such effort at Dahisar, residents have persuaded the local BMC ward office to dig an artificial pool measuring 15 ft by 10 ft on an open plot in a residential area. Earthmovers were deployed in a three-day operation at Tawdewadi and tarpaulin used to line the 8-feet-deep pit to keep water heavy with dissolved clay from seeping into the ground. The first round of immersions on the half-acre land, lined with mango trees and coconut palms and decorated with a flowery arch at the entrance, was carried out on Sunday. The Mhatrewadi Residents Welfare Association comprises 750 families spread over 63 low-rise buildings; it's a leafy suburb that still retains the look of a gaothan. "It was our womenfolk who went from door to door to mobilise opinion for this. And most people immediately agreed," said Anil Adhyapak, president of the association. "Until now, everyone would do the immersions in a large pond at Kandarpada, but they realised it was polluting the water and destroying the fish." Idols made of plaster-of-Paris or clay and coated with chemical dyes are known to have a corrosive effect on the ecosystem when disposed of without checks. The emerging trend is to either use figures made of recycled paper pulp or contain the dispersion of clay in a designated area of water. In the present case, it's taken a lot of doing though. For one, 30,000 litres of water (three tankers full) had to be pumped in to give the pond necessary depth. Secondly, local murtikars or artisans, from whom Ganesh idols were bought, had to be cajoled to come around and collect the waste clay after the 1st, 5th, 7th and 11th day of immersions. It did help that the project was backed by the mayor since it falls within her constituency in R-North. "Shubha Raul had suggested this idea to us after an August 15 function this year. Then we got the Tawde family which owned the plot to agree, and within a couple of weeks, we had put forward the proposal to the ward office," said Pramod Dighe, secretary of the Mhatrewadi Residents Association. The experiment is not the first of its kind although it's a trendsetter in Mumbai. The Pestom Sagar initiative in Chembur is on a slightly smaller scale. Albeit, Thane Municipal Corporation leads the way with seven artificial ponds and wells to ease the pressure on its lakes during the 10-day celebration. sunil.nair@timesgroup.com ||||| Religion News Service Saturday, September 15, 2007; Page B09 When Davel Patel wakes up each morning in her home in Jacksonville, Fla., she performs a puja, or worship ritual, to the Hindu deity Ganesh. She will start today the same way. Then she will begin a one-day fast to mark Ganesh Chaturthi, a holiday known as the birthday of one of the most popular deities in Hinduism. Although the celebration is not familiar to some Americans, a growing number of Hindus in the United States participate in honoring Ganesh, who is usually depicted with a human body and an elephant's head. Patel and her family will be one of many to visit a temple to honor Ganesh. Representatives from two of the U.S. temples where Ganesh is the presiding or primary deity say the numbers attending the celebrations are rising. At Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple in South Jordan, Utah, 50 people attended the first Ganesh Chaturthi celebration in 1995; about 500 are expected this year. At the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Queens, N.Y., which was built in 1977, the festival has grown from three days to nine to accommodate worshipers. The numbers are not surprising, said Deepak Sarma, an associate professor of religious studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "There are lots of different sects in Hinduism," he said. "Ganesh overlaps with all of them. Everybody likes Ganesh." Observances vary widely according to regional or family traditions. Celebrations might last for one day or several, and they might start before and continue after Sept. 15. The celebrations have some common elements. "One way to consider Hindu worship is, they worship deities as revered guests, almost royalty," Sarma said. "If you were to have royalty in your house, you'd offer them something nice to eat. Hindus do those sorts of things when they worship. They'll offer sweets because Ganesh is notorious for eating lots of sweets. They'll burn incense and sing songs of praise." Patel incorporates many of those elements in her holiday observances, in addition to the fasting, which is more of a regional tradition. "I have a firm faith in Lord Ganesha, and it's my day to remember all the blessings that I've had from him thus far," Patel said. "The fasting is more of a cleansing of my body and thoughts and any bad karma, so I can continue to receive Lord Ganesha's blessings." In the evening, she and her family will gather in front of the five-inch statue of Ganesh in their home. They will bathe the image in water, then in milk. ||||| Temple honours Ganesha with gold crown during birthday celebrations SINGAPORE : The 150-year-old Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple in Ceylon Road celebrated the birthday of Lord Ganesha on Saturday. During the celebration, the Hindu deity was honoured with a S$150,000 gold crown. The temple has the largest statue of Lord Ganesha in Southeast Asia. Now it has the largest crown for the deity. Weighing 3.5 kilogrammes, the crown was fully funded by devotees and other visitors to the temple. Lord Ganesha is a deity which has a large following of Indian and Chinese devotees. The crowning is a rare ceremony and was performed for the first time in Singapore. - CNA/ch ||||| PARIS: On September 2, Paris was blessed with another year of good luck from Lord Ganesh at the Fete de Ganesh. Well over 10,000 people joined in the procession through the streets of Paris to worship the Hindu god. While the majority of Ganesh devotees were Indian and Sri Lankan nationals now resident in Paris, interspersed among them were non-Hindus from a diverse range of cultures and nationalities from all over Europe and northern Africa. Cultural diversity is one of the unique and attractive features of this fete, drawing one worshipper from as far away as Toronto who claimed that "it's the best Ganesh fete in all of Europe". The 'exotique' festival highlighted the widespread interest in Indian spirituality among Europeans, inspired to learn about and experience the rich diversity of religions celebrated in India. Among the Europeans attracted to the fete were women in saris, younger women in salwar-kameez and others who respected tradition by going barefoot. However, many chose a semi-detached approach with the digital camera restricting them from fully expressing their own devotion. From the balconies of their private apartments in the tall 19th century buildings that line the narrow streets where the fete took place, bourgeois Parisians looked down upon the day's events from a safe distance. Whereas in Paris it is a cultural necessity to apologise immediately if you accidentally brush against a stranger, the celebration of Ganesh provided one a comforting reminder of how good it feels to be a part of the body of humanity. Squeezed up against devotees, a French woman was delighted at her shoulder being temporarily used as a pillow to rest the tired head of one young Indian girl. Swept along with the energy, colour and music of the procession, I felt homesick for India, although I'm a New Zealander. The celebration of Ganesh in Paris represented the melding of two great countries and cultures. The success of the Paris fete de Ganesh can be attributed to the dedication of V Sandharasekaram, president and founder in 1985 of the Ganesh temple, Sri Manicka Vinayakar Alayam. For the past 16 years, Sandharasekaram has ensured that the Ganesh gives his blessings to people in Paris. So far, Ganesh has reciprocated by providing fine weather. The involvement of Indians and Sri Lankans would ensure the authenticity of the ritual, with priests presiding over puja in the temple from 5 a.m. onwards. However, there remains a significant obstacle to overcome - the tiny size of the temple - as illustrated by the large crowd bottlenecked around the entrance. Paris city authorities have reluctantly granted permission for the annual festival to take place, albeit limited to one day (a Sunday) and with a tightly controlled, planned route for the procession. Sandharasekaram explained that to begin with, the biggest obstacle was assuring the mayor of Paris that devotees of Ganesh are not part of a sect. It could be argued that the streets of Paris immediately before the event have never been cleaner. A mix of rosewater and saffron was washed on to the streets to purify the path of the devotees who pulled the ropes linked to the chariots bearing the idols of Ganesh and Murugan. And soon after the fete was officially over, the streets were hosed down by city cleaners. Fragments of some 10,000 coconuts were cleared away, along with the remains of several truckloads of garlands of flowers specially imported from Chennai and Sri Lanka. In the spirit of generosity characteristic of Lord Ganesh, packets of chickpea salad, pop drinks and sugar cubes were freely distributed en route and delicious vegetarian lunch was served at the temple. Unfortunately, rubbish bins were in short supply and the resulting litter of plastic bags, paper plates and pop cans marred the otherwise vibrant flavour of the festival. The writer is a freelance journalist. ||||| Sat, 2007-09-15 03:04 Ceuta, Spain, 15 September, (Asiantribune.com): The Hindus love celebrations. To the festival of Sri Krishna Janmasthami, which took place four days ago, add the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganesha's birthday), which will be carried out today. Juan Carlos Ramchandani, the local Hindu priest, says, "In India they make clay images of Ganesh, which can get up to heights of ten meters. After the worship and adoration of the images they are submerged in the sea, river or lake, during a ritual called Visharjan. On this day offerings of sweet rice, laddus (sweets made from chick-pea flour) and coconuts are made. In the city of Mumbai (the new name for Bombay) this is the biggest and most colorful festival of the year." Every year in Ceuta about fifty of members of the Hindu community do a walking procession, accompanying a figure of Ganesh, through the main streets of the city. The celebration ends with the submersion of His image into the Mediterranean sea. According to Ramchandani, "Ganesh is the older son of Shiva and Parvati. He is the divinity of prosperity and one is in charge of science and abilities." Because of this, "His name is invoked in the beginning of any ceremony, when a trip is planned, a wedding is celebrated, or a house or property is inaugurated." The priest added, "In 1995 Ganesh surprised the entire world, believers and the non-believing, when His images began to drink milk; a miracle which lasted three days. This miracle happened initially in a Ganesha temple in Delhi and then spread around the planet." Ceuta is located on the southern coast of the Strait of Gilbraltar. www.elfaroceutamelilla.com Courtesy : Hindu Press International | Ganapathi deity Ganapathi deity This September 15, 2007, being the birthday of Lord Ganesha, marks the important festival of Ganesh Chaturthi for Hindus in India and world wide. Lord Ganesha occupies a special god status in Hindu tradition, and is considered as the bestower of all auspiciousness and destroyer of all negativity. Typically these festive celebrations last from one to 11 days, concluding with a Nimajjan ceremony (immersing the deity in the waters of lake/pond/river/sea/ocean etc). These celebrations are splendidly carried out in India amidst strict security as thousands participate. However; several Indian Hindu communities spread across the globe from Australia to North America have celebrated with no less pomp. Notable ones were the celebration in the Scandinavian towns of Roskilde and Skovde, where due to the unavailability of Ganesh Maharaj statue (which are readily available in India), the organizers made a deity with black sticky clay soil collected from local farmlands with no added artificial colours. These celebrations in Scandinavia besides having the usual religious significance has an added flavor demonstrating the environmental awareness in nordic countries. Recently eco-friendly Ganesh immersions are being urged by various environmental activists in India as well. |
Mandala 737 reportedly overruns at Malang A Boeing 737-200 operated by Indonesian carrier Mandala Airlines is reported to have overshot the runway at Malang Airport in East Java after suffering a landing-gear collapse. The aircraft was reportedly carrying 95 passengers and crew. Five passengers are said to have suffered minor injuries in the incident. The nose-wheel of the aircraft is reported to have broken off in the incident. Indonesia’s air safety record has come under renewed fire after two fatal accidents this year involving Adam Air and Garuda Indonesia 737s. In June European air safety authorities banned all Indonesian carriers from operating to the European Union under a revision of its air transport blacklist. Mandala itself was involved in a fatal accident two years ago when one of its 737-200s crashed on take-off at Medan Airport. According to Flight’s ACAS database Mandala operates three Boeing 737-200s, alongside a pair of 737-400s and three Airbus A320 family aircraft. ||||| JAKARTA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - An Indonesian plane skidded on the runway after it broke its front wheel while landing at an airport in East Java on Thursday, lightly injuring five passengers, an airport official said.The Boeing 737 operated by private Indonesian carrier Mandala Airlines carried 89 passengers from the capital, Jakarta, to the city of Malang, airport official Suradi told Reuters."The plane now lies abandoned on the runway ... Its head is slightly tilted down because the front wheel broke off," Suradi said by telephone.Indonesia's air safety record has come under fire after two accidents this year.In March, a Garuda Indonesia plane with 140 people on board overshot the runway in Yogyakarta in Java and burst into flames, killing 21 people.In January, a plane belonging to budget carrier Adam Air crashed into the sea off Sulawesi island. All 102 on board are presumed dead. ||||| JAKARTA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- A jet with 89 passengers skidded off runway when landing in the Indonesian town of Malang Thursday, injuring three passengers. The incident involving Mandala Airlines' 737-200 was probably caused by a broken landing gear, reported leading news website Detikcom, quoting an unnamed source at the Abdurrahman Saleh Airport in Malang, about 600 km east of Jakarta. The plane arrived after about 45-minute flight from Jakarta. ||||| John Concepcion - AHN News Writer Malang, Indonesia (AHN) - A plane overshot and skidded a rain-soaked runway at an airport in Java, Indonesia on Thursday. The Mandala Airlines Boeing 737-200's aircraft, carrying 97 passengers and crew, reportedly overshot the runway by 260 feet and skidded, forcing an emergency evacuation and causing minor injuries to some passengers. Air force spokesman Capt. Wahyudi said the front axle of the jetliner snapped during the landing during heavy downpour at the Malang airport. The European Union has blacklisted all of Indonesia's airlines after a series of accidents in Indonesia killed more than 100 people. Just this March, a total of 21 people were killed when Garuda Flight 200 crash-landed at the Yogyakarta airport. The aviation authority's report blamed the pilots on the incident. | This Mandala Airlines 737-200 is similar to the one involved. A Mandala Airlines Boeing 737-200 overshot the runway at Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport, East Java, Indonesia after a domestic flight from Jakarta. Five passengers were injured in the incident, none seriously. The aircraft's nose landing gear is understood to have separated in the incident, in which the aircraft skidded 260 feet from the end of the runway. Five of the 89 passengers and seven crew on board received cuts and bruises during the emergency evacuation that followed. It was raining heavily at the time, although it is not known if this is considered to have played a factor. Airport official Suradi described the scene to ''Reuters'' via telephone: "The plane now lies abandoned on the runway ... Its head is slightly tilted down because the front wheel broke off." The accident is currently under investigation. One potential cause being looked at is the fact that the forward landing gear axle is believed to have snapped upon landing, setting off the chain of events. The Indonesian aviation industry has been the subject of much criticism this year over safety concerns, sparked by a string of accidents including Adam Air 574, which crashed into the ocean, killing 102, Adam Air Flight 172, a nonfatal accident where a plane snapped in half, and Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, which overshot a runway at extreme speed, killing 21. All Indonesian airlines are on the list of air carriers banned in the EU, and the United States Federal Aviation Administration has downgraded Indonesia to its lowest safety rating. Mandala's only fatal accident was the crash of Mandala Airlines Flight 091 in 2005, which killed 112 people. |
Most Spaniards admit they have little idea about the EU constitution The blueprint for the EU's future was backed by 77% of voters, with 17% against, official figures showed. Spain's prime minister hailed the result, but his opponents pointed to the low turnout of 42%. It was the first of a series of European polls on the constitutional treaty, which must be ratified by all 25 EU member states to go into effect. The deadline for ratification is November 2006. QUICK GUIDE The EU constitution Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters: "Today has been a great day for all Europeans". European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who called Mr Zapatero to congratulate him, welcomed "the very clear 'yes' which Spain has given to a Europe which moves forward and which makes a difference, a Europe united in diversity". The EU constitution is designed to streamline the EU's decision-making process after the bloc brought in 10 new members - mostly from central and eastern Europe - last May. The BBC's Katya Adler, in Madrid, says the turnout was embarrassingly low for the Spanish prime minister, who had promised to set a shining example for the rest of Europe. Critics said the government's information campaign had been glitzy - with football and film stars calling for a Yes - but did not do enough to inform voters about the content of the charter. In a recent poll, nine out of 10 Spaniards admitted they had little idea what the EU constitution is about. The referendum was non-binding, with parliament set to have the final say. Spanish voters say how they intend to vote and why In pictures Voters were asked: "Do you approve the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe?" Early voters in Madrid included King Juan Carlos, who cast his ballot at a school. The EU constitution provides for the first EU president and foreign minister and incorporates certain fundamental rights into EU law. Nine EU members have definitely said they will hold referendums, with two more countries undecided. The remainder are ratifying the treaty by a parliamentary vote. Spain joined the EU in 1986, and has since benefited from generous EU subsidies. ||||| Spain PM plea for EU vote turnout MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The prime minister made an emotional appeal for massive turnout in Spain's referendum Sunday on the European Union constitution -- the document's first test at grass-roots level -- saying it will make the continent safer and help fight terrorism. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero concluded campaigning for the referendum on Friday night, saying the constitution was as important for Spaniards as the one they approved for their own country in 1978, restoring a democratic charter three years after the death of Gen. Francisco Franco. His get-out-the-vote message reflects government fears that turnout will be embarrassingly low on Sunday -- perhaps just one-third of registered voters. The referendum is nonbinding, with Parliament having the final say. On Saturday, a small homemade explosive device detonated outside an office of the ruling Socialist Party in the northern Asturias region, shattering a window. A note found at the scene described the constitution as "fascist." A similar device placed outside a conservative Popular Party office in another village of Asturias failed to go off, the Interior Ministry said. Authorities described the two incidents as minor. "Now we have another historic opportunity and must not squander it," Zapatero told a rally in Madrid. "We cannot miss the opportunity to be protagonists and set the course for all Europeans with a massive 'yes."' Spain will be the first of 11 EU countries to hold a referendum on the constitution, designed to streamline the EU's decision-making as the bloc expands eastward, making it more efficient and giving it global clout on a par with its economic might. Both of Spain's main parties back the constitution and it is expected to be approved in the referendum. Campaigning was banned on Saturday, with the day before the vote considered a day of reflection. Zapatero has said throughout the campaign that Spanish passage of the constitution would be a natural progression for a country that was a relative latecomer to what is now the European Union and has benefited greatly from membership, in everything from aid funds to culture and science. On Friday night, Zapatero also said the constitution will make the EU safer "and we Spaniards will have much more help to fight terrorism." Spain has been battling armed Basque separatists since the late 1960s, and the Madrid train bombings of last March were claimed by militants linked to al Qaeda. The attack killed 191 people. "Let's vote 'yes,"' Zapatero said, "for freedom, for security and for the end of terrorism." Concerns over low turnout stem from the fact that Spaniards tend to be unenthusiastic about EU voting unless ballots coincide with a national election. In last year's European Parliament elections, Spanish turnout was 45 percent, compared to more than 70 percent in the country's general election the same year. A total of 106,000 police will be on duty to provide security around the country. Nearly 35 million people out of a population of 43 million are eligible to cast ballots. If turnout on Sunday is low, even if the charter is approved, it could be seen as stumbling out of the starting gate. Analysts say this would delight Euroskeptics in Britain and elsewhere, and could lead to a domino effect that would sink the constitution altogether. The Spanish government has set its sights low in an apparent bid to paint a bright picture from what could be a dismal result. An official said late this week that the government would consider 33 percent turnout reasonable. Despite the lack of enthusiasm for EU voting, pro-European Union sentiment runs deep here. Many Spaniards associate the EU membership they obtained in 1986 with the democracy restored after Franco's death in 1975, said Charles Powell, deputy director of the Elcano Royal Institute, a think tank in Madrid. While the constitution is expected to be approved in Spain, it could be more problematic in other countries. Powell and Daniel Keohane of the Centre for European Reform, a London think tank, cited Britain, France, Poland and the Czech Republic as countries where acceptance is far from certain. ||||| Spain to vote on EU 20/02/2005 09:35 - (SA) Related Articles Madrid: Islamic radicals blamed Mbeki meets Blair, Zapatero Zapatero voted prime minister Madrid - The European Union constitution faced its first test at the grass-roots level on Sunday as Spain prepared to vote on it in a referendum, with the prospect of low turnout threatening to get the landmark document off to a sluggish start. Both of Spain's major parties back the charter and passage was expected, but the government has acknowledged that turnout might be very low, saying it would consider 33% reasonable. The referendum is non-binding, with parliament having the final say. All 25 EU countries must ratify the constitution for it to take effect. Three have done so through their parliaments and Spain is the first of 11 holding referendums. The document approved by EU leaders in October is designed to streamline EU decision-making as the bloc expands eastward, making it more efficient and giving it global clout on par with its economic might. The rest of Europe was watching the Spanish vote closely because in several countries also due to hold referendums this year or in 2006, including Britain and France, passage is not considered a foregone conclusion and governments want Spain to set a good example. As campaigning concluded on Friday night, prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the vote is as important as a 1978 referendum in which Spaniards approved their own constitution, restoring a democratic charter three years after the death of General Francisco Franco. Concerns over low turnout "Now we have another historic opportunity and must not squander it," Zapatero told a rally in Madrid. "We cannot miss the opportunity to be protagonists and set the course for all Europeans with a massive 'yes'." Zapatero has said Spanish approval of the document would be a natural progression for a country that was a relative latecomer to what is now the EU and has benefited greatly from membership, in everything from aid funds to culture and science. Concerns over low turnout stem from the fact that Spaniards tend to be unenthusiastic about EU voting unless ballots coincide with a national election. In last June's European Parliament elections, turnout was 45%, compared to more than 70% in the country's general election three months earlier. If participation on Sunday is low, even if the charter is approved, it could be seen as stumbling out of the starting gate. Analysts say this would delight Euro-sceptics in Britain and elsewhere, and could lead to a domino effect that might sink the constitution altogether. Low turnout would also raise the question of what kind of mandate Zapatero would have if and when he goes before Parliament with a voter-approved constitution in hand. Discussion Forums | Newsletters | Photo Galleries | Earlier stories ||||| ESPAÑA SE PRONUNCIA SOBRE LA CONSTITUCIÓN EUROPEA Los Reyes votan por cuarta vez EFE Don Juan Carlos bromea con la presidenta de la mesa electoral. (Foto: EFE) NOTICIAS RELACIONADAS | The logo of the No Camp The logo of the Yes camp Madrid - Spain today will be the first of the European Union nations over the next few years to vote on the treaty establishing a EU constitution. The referendum being held, one of 9 confirmed by member countries, is expected to draw 40 to 50% of Spain's 35 million voters. Polling stations have been opening since 0800 UTC, with a small stream of people casting their ballot. The question on the ballot paper is: '''"¿Aprueba usted el Tratado por el que se establece una Constitución para Europa?"''' ''("Do you approve the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe?")'' It is expected that a yes vote will come from the referendum, though the referendum is non-binding, with parliament having the final say. However, despite constant media bombardment, as many as 90% of Spaniards are unsure of the content of the constitution, according to a government poll. Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986 and has received large amounts of development grants and subsidies. Since joining, it has grown into one of biggest economies in Europe and the world. |
Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper has died at the age of 74 following a battle with prostate cancer. Known for such cult classics as Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet, Hopper embodied the image of the Hollywood icon. Hopper died on Saturday morning surrounded by friends and family at his home in Venice, California. He was last seen in public in March when he was honoured with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. "Dennis Hopper died this morning at 8:15 am from complications of metastasised prostate cancer. He died at home in Venice surrounded by family and friends," manager Sam Maydew said in a statement. Hopper directed the 1969 counter-culture road movie Easy Rider, which he co-wrote with and starred alongside Peter Fonda. The pair were nominated for a best screenplay Academy Award. "Dennis introduced me to the world of Pop Art and 'lost' films. We rode the highways of America and changed the way movies were made in Hollywood. I was blessed by his passion and friendship," Fonda told the TMZ website following Hopper's death. Following a promising start to his career, with a role in James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause, Hopper developed a reputation as a hell-raiser with a penchant for drink and drugs. Following his success with Easy Rider, and the disastrous The Last Movie, his on-set clashes with directors and fellow actors saw him effectively blacklisted by Hollywood. It took nearly 10 years for Hopper to win back starring roles, with his critically acclaimed role in David Lynch's Blue Velvet marking a turning point in his career, although his personal life remained turbulent. Wed five times, his final marriage, to Victoria Duffy, turned into an acrimonious split in 2010 when she accused his family of trying to cut her out of his life. In April a judge ruled that Duffy, who shared a young daughter with Hopper, could remain at the marital home. It was during the court hearings that it was revealed Hopper was terminally ill with prostate cancer, following his diagnosis last year. ||||| Image Credit: Chris Hatcher/PR PhotosDennis Hopper, who died Saturday at age 74 after a battle with prostate cancer, was always a fighter. Early in his career, the Dodge City, Kan., native fought tooth-and-nail against onscreen phoniness with a Method intensity he learned at the Actors Studio. In his second act, he revolutionized Hollywood with his 1969 directing debut Easy Rider – an existential road movie whose Harleys, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll message struck gold with an underserved counterculture audience. But Hopper, the newly minted hippie icon who was no stranger to career ups and down, burned out and faded away in a swirl of drugs and alcohol. The third act of Hopper’s life was one of repentance, recovery, and career rehabilitation, as the actor got clean and sober in the mid-1980s and spent the next three decades turning in a handful of brilliant performances, including his Oscar-nominated turn as an alcoholic basketball coach in 1986′s Hoosiers. But the fighter ultimately lost his toughest battle when he passed away from cancer. Whether playing leading men or supporting parts, oddballs or villains, Hopper was always a welcome presence on film. He gave every movie he graced a spark of unpredictability — you never knew what he might do next. Hopper learned his raw, naturalistic technique with the best, sharing the screen with his idol James Dean in both 1955′s Rebel Without a Cause and 1956′s Giant. In the late ’60s, in the wake of the summer of love, Hopper and pals Peter Fonda, author Terry Southern, and an unknown actor named Jack Nicholson teamed up to make Easy Rider. They raised the $400,000 budget independently, shot the movie on the fly, and watched in amazement as the receipts rolled in. Easy Rider grossed $60 million and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. The film’s success also opened the studio doors to a new generation of long-haired young film brats who would go on to re-energize American cinema in the ’70s. But Hopper will be remembered as much for what he accomplished onscreen as behind the camera. He leaves behind a string of indelible and daring performances in such films as Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, True Romance, and Speed. Related content: Dennis Hopper: 12 key films EW’s Owen Gleiberman: Dennis Hopper was the most visionary of all Hollywood bad boys | Dennis Hopper: 1936 – 2010. Actor, director, and artist has died today at the age of 74. He was known to suffer from prostate cancer since October 2009. He was born Dennis Lee Hopper on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the . He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films featuring , '''' (1955) and '''' (1956). Over the next ten years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films. He directed and starred in '''' (1969), winning an award at the , and was nominated for an as co-writer of the film's script. Hopper was unable to build on this success for several years, until a featured role in '''' (1979) brought him attention. He subsequently received critical recognition for his work in '''' and '''', with the latter film garnering him an nomination for . Hopper's more recent work included a leading role in the television series ''''. Hopper was a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor whose works have been exhibited worldwide. On January 12, 2010, several months after the cancer diagnosis, Hopper had filed for divorce from his wife Victoria Duffy leading to an extended public feud between the couple over the course of the following months. |
What's in a surname? A combination of mother's and father's By Zhu Zhe Updated: 2007-06-12 07:01 Traditionally, the father's family name is the first choice for a Chinese kid's surname, although the use of the mother's name is not uncommon. But babies could soon have a surname combining the parents' family names. So, if a father's family name is Zhou, and the mother, Zhu, the baby could have four options for the surname: Zhou, Zhu, Zhouzhu or Zhuzhou. A regulation on name registration drafted by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) allows a baby to have the combined surname. The ministry said it had distributed the draft to police departments across the country for comments. The Marriage Law stipulates that a newborn can have the surname of either the father or the mother, but does not mention a combined surname. A nationwide survey released by the MPS in April shows that about 85 percent of the Chinese share only 100 surnames, with Wang being the most popular. There are 93 million Wangs in China, followed closely by 92 million with the family name Li and 88 million called Zhang, Xinhua said in a report. Another seven common names - including Chen, Zhou and Lin - have at last 20 million members each, it added. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has reported that at least 100,000 people share the name of "Wang Tao", making it the most popular. Such names cause great trouble in daily life; and the new regulation can vastly reduce name repetition, said Guan Xihua, a household registration officer with the Beijing public security bureau. Based on the existing 1,600 often-used surnames, another 1.28 million surnames could be created, she said. Du Ruofu, a researcher on Chinese surnames who retired from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said combined surnames are becoming popular with young, modern couples, though they are not strictly permitted by law. He said including the mother's surname also shows gender equality and a clear stipulation would promote the trend. Seven of the 10 people China Daily randomly surveyed said they welcome such a change, with the rest against it. Du also noted that it is important to encourage people from ethnic minority groups to use traditional surnames. He said many have adopted those of the Hans, which harms their cultural heritage. The draft allows ethnic minority letters or characters in the name, but bans any foreign letters, self-made characters, Chinese pinyin, Arabic numerals or the original complex form of simplified Chinese characters. (China Daily 06/12/2007 page1) ||||| Officials say the prevalence of some names causes confusion At the moment around 85% of China's 1.3bn residents share around 100 surnames, a survey in April by the Ministry of Public Security found. The most popular name, Wang, is shared by some 93 million people. Now the ministry wants to give parents the option of combining both surnames for their children, China Daily said. "If a father's family name is Zhou, and the mother, Zhu, the baby could have four options for the surname: Zhou, Zhu, Zhouzhu or Zhuzhou," the newspaper said. This could create around 1.28m new surnames, said Guan Xihua, a household registration officer with the Beijing public security bureau. The prevalence of some surnames caused problems in daily life and more of them would reduce repetition, she said. In addition to Wang, some 92 million people are called Li, while another 88 million are called Zhang, the survey in April found. More than 100,000 people share China's most popular name, Wang Tao, another report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found. The ministry is now circulating a new draft regulation, that would allow couples to go for the doubled option, to police departments around the country for their comments, the daily said. | Chinese singer and actress Faye Wong, also known as Wang Fēi, is among the 93 million people in China with the surname Wang. Some Chinese children. There are too many people named Wang in China – around 93 million. Also, there are too many with the name Li, about 92 million, and 88 million people named Zhang. For 85 percent of the population of 1.3 billion in China, there are just 100 surnames, the Ministry of Public Security says, and, according to a report in yesterday's ''China Daily'', that's not nearly enough. The dearth of surnames creates too much confusion and problems in daily life, leading to many cases of mistaken identity, officials say. The solution, the ministry says, is combined surnames, which it is proposing in a draft regulation. For example, the ''China Daily'' said, if a father's family name is Zhou, and the mother's is Zhu, their son or daughter could have four options for a new surname, Zhou, Zhu, Zhouzhu or Zhuzhou. The move could make for up to 1.28 million new surnames, said Guan Xihua, a household registration officer with the Beijing public security bureau. In addition to the popular Wangs, Lis and Zhangs, there are around 20 million each of people named Chen, Zhou and Lin, according to the ministry. Combine these family names with popular given names, and the result is 100,000 people with the name Wang Tao, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Du Ruofu, a retired researcher on Chinese surnames from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the ''China Daily'' that the hybrid surnames are already popular with young couples, even though they are not strictly allowed. China's Marriage Law says that a newborn can have the surname of either the father or the mother, but does not yet mention a combined surname. The combined surname would also promote gender equality, Du said. Additionally, Du said people from ethnic minority groups should be encouraged to use traditional surnames, instead of adopting Han Chinese names, which dilutes cultural heritage and diversity. The ministry's draft regulation allows ethnic minority letters or characters, but bans any foreign letters, self-made characters, pinyin, numerals or the complex form of simplified Chinese characters. |
NEWS MIDDLE EAST Carter defends criticism of Israel Carter criticised Israel's building of the separation barrier in the West Bank Jimmy Carter, the ex-US president, has defended his criticisms of Israeli policy in his latest book, saying he hopes to erode the "impenetrable wall" that stops Americans from seeing the true plight of the Palestinian people. His book has been criticised by pro-Israeli groups and led to the resignation of Kenneth Stein, a Carter Centre fellow. Carter said he hoped Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid would provoke a debate on Israeli policy. Jewish groups have launched petitions criticising Carter's use of the word "apartheid" - the system of racial separation once used in South Africa - to describe Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Carter said that debate had been stifled by the media and others. "It's almost a universal silence concerning anything that might be critical of current policies of the Israeli government," he said. "Worse than apartheid" Carter said he stands by his use of the "apartheid" and cited the fences, electric sensors and concrete slabs that Israel has built in the West Bank as an example of the divide. "It's almost a universal silence concerning anything that might be critical of current policies of the Israeli government." Jimmy Carter, former US president "I think it's worse, in many ways, than apartheid in South Africa," Carter said. The book follows the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, starting with Carter's 1977-1980 presidency and the Camp David peace accord he negotiated between Israel and Egypt. It blames Israel, the Palestinians, the US and many others, but it is most critical of Israel. Stein, an Emory University professor, sent a letter to Carter claiming the book was "one-sided" and "is not based on unvarnished analysis; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments." "Tremendous intimidation" Your Views "Carter was absolutely right in pointing most of the blame on Israel for the continued conflict. But the most appalling issue is the lack of open discussion in United States about unwavering bipartisan support given to Israel. The American soceity fear to discuss this taboo issue, with none of the major media daring to discuss it." Mujeeb, Kerala, India Send us your views Carter said on Friday that Stein had not played a role in the Carter Centre in 13 years and that his post as a fellow was an honorary title. He said: "When I decided to write this book, I didn't even think about involving Ken, from ancient times, to come in and help." Carter said on Friday that Stein had not played a role in the Carter Centre in 13 years and that his post as a fellow was an honorary title.He said: "When I decided to write this book, I didn't even think about involving Ken, from ancient times, to come in and help." He added that the book had been vetted by Carter Centre staff and an unnamed "distinguished" reporter. Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, lamented the lack of discussion of Israeli policy in the US. "There's a tremendous intimidation in this country that has silenced our people. And it's not just individuals, it's not just folks who are running for office. It's the news media as well," he said. Carter, who has led efforts to monitor several elections in the Palestinian Territories since leaving office, said bringing peace to the Middle East is the most important commitment in his public life. Source: Agencies ||||| 1622 N. Wolcott Ave., Chicago: $3,975,000 | Listed: Feb. 23, 2021 This six-bedroom home has six bathrooms, one half-bathroom, a gym and a 1,500-bottle wine cellar. The kitchen features an oversized white quartz waterfall island, a Miele refrigerator and a separate Miele freezer, two Miele dishwashers, and a 60-inch Wolf professional range with two ovens. A butler's pantry near the kitchen is equipped with beverage refrigerators, an ice maker and a second sink. The primary bedroom suite has a large walk-in closet and a bathroom with a large soaking tub and a walk-in shower. This home has a Zen-landscaped courtyard and backyard with an outdoor fireplace and a built-in grill. There are also two roof decks. Agent: Bruce Glazer of @properties, 765-914-8199 To feature your luxury listing of $800,000 or more in Chicago Tribune’s Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com. Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news. | In December 2006 the United States military conducted an air raid on Ishaqi, a village northwest of Baghdad. U.S.-led coalition forces said they were looking through several buildings near Lake Tharthar, in the province of Salahuddin, when Al Qaeda linked militants launched an attack. The U.S. military then said coalition troops returned fire, killing two of the insurgents. As the firefight continued, troops called in the contentious air strikes. The U.S. military said 20 al-Qaeda insurgents, including two women, were killed in the raid. Local officials in Jalameda claimed there were actually 17 victims and that they included five men, six women, and five children. Locals of the area claiming to be relatives showed the children's bodies to journalists and Al Jazeera claimed to have exclusive footage that confirms children were among the victims of the US air raid. Iraqi reaction included mourners firing into the air overnight as they buried the victims of the raid. Hundreds of chanting residents of Jalameda marched through Ishaqi overnight firing shots and carrying banners that read: "The people of Ishaqi condemn the mass killing by the occupation forces". Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the largest Sunni political bloc in parliament, said, "We ask the Americans to be merciful. They kill civilians alleging they are terrorists. Ishaqi is a catastrophe." The Agence France Presse news agency passed its own photographs of the dead children to Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman, asking for an explanation on the latest allegations. Garver replied, "We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation - there were no children found among the terrorists killed." Garver continued, "I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike." |
The benchmark index of blue-chip stocks shed 366.94 points or 2.64% at 13,522.02 by Friday's close of trade. The slump followed a warning by equipment firm Caterpillar that the housing slowdown would harm the wider economy and cut its profit forecast. Turmoil in world markets since the summer has raised fears of a recession. 'Poster child' Caterpillar saw its shares down 5.3% to $73.57, and predicted weakness ahead after its earnings results, which missed forecasts. "It's pretty ugly," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading. "A company like Caterpillar should be a poster child for global growth and benefits of the weak dollar," he said. "It makes you question: Is global growth really that strong? Has the earnings kick from the weak dollar played itself out?" The fall came on the twentieth anniversary of Black Monday - the day when stocks saw their biggest fall on the Dow Jones, losing some 23%. Andy Brooks, head of trading at T Rowe Price, said: "Some of the earnings reports were a little disappointing but not that bad." "I think we're responding emotionally to the 20th anniversary of the October 1987 stock market crash. I'd like to laugh except it hurts." For stocks to fall by such proportions nowadays would mean a drop of around 3,000 points based on current market levels. Global growth The technology-laden Nasdaq fell 74.15 points or 2.65% to 2,725.16, while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 39.45 points 2.56% to 1,500.63. Even though stocks have been volatile since the summer, with fears that the US housing slowdown would trigger broader problems, not long before indexes had been hitting record highs. Finance leaders from G7 nations sought to mitigate the damage to the global economy in the wake of the credit crisis during meetings on Friday in Washington. Ministers issued a statement pledging that they were "committed to doing our part in sustaining strong global growth," ahead of talks over the weekend involving the IMF and the World Bank. ||||| Stocks Slump; Dow Falls Over 360 Points NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 360 points Friday — the anniversary of the Black Monday crash 20 year ago — as renewed credit concerns, lackluster corporate earnings, and rising oil prices spooked investors. The market turned sharply lower in late afternoon when Standard & Poor's again reduced its ratings on residential mortgage-backed securities. The latest reduction, on more than 1,400 types of securities, added to investors unease about credit quality. In addition, mixed results from Dow components Caterpillar Inc., Honeywell Inc., and 3M Co. gave investors little incentive to take chances on the market. And oil prices added to investors' list of concerns after briefly moving above the psychological barrier of $90 per barrel for the first time. In one bright spot, Google Inc. reported stronger-than-expected profits, drawing a number of analyst upgrades. "I was not surprised there was some correction, given our expectation that earnings growth was going to fall short of expectations," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist, director of asset allocation for Trusco Capital Management. "I think stock analysts were slow to incorporate the impact of the subprime crisis on third-quarter earnings," he added. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 366.94, or 2.64 percent, to 13,522.02. The Dow was down for the fifth straight session. Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 39.45, or 2.56 percent, to 1,500.63, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 74.15, or 2.65 percent, to 2,725.16. The Nasdaq fell below the noteworthy technical level of 2,750, adding to selling pressure. Friday's pullback pales in comparison to what traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange had to contend with 20 years ago. On Oct. 19, 1987 — Black Monday — the Dow plunged 23 percent amid concerns about interest rates and slowing economic growth. A decline of similar proportion given the market's current levels would mean a drop of some 3,000 points. ||||| Oil prices swing close to record levels LONDON (AFP) — World oil prices rebounded close to recent records on Thursday as traders tracked Middle East tensions and the weak US dollar, and warned of crude striking 100 dollars per barrel. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, jumped 1.49 dollars to 88.89 dollars a barrel after hitting an historic 89.00 dollars exactly on Wednesday. Elsewhere Thursday, London's Brent North Sea crude for December delivery won 65 cents to reach 83.78 dollars. The November contract expired Tuesday after striking an all-time high of 84.49 dollars. This week, oil blazed a record-breaking trail as traders seized on simmering tensions along the Turkey-Iraq border. Prices also won support from the weak US dollar, which makes dollar-priced commodities cheaper for buyers with stronger currencies and therefore lifts crude demand. The euro hit a record high 1.4310 dollars earlier Thursday. "The issue seems no longer to be whether oil will reach 100 dollars per barrel, but when," said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish. "Once the furore has settled down, the oil market as a whole can get on the job of working out whether supply and demand dynamics mean that long-term prices should have two or three digits." Crude futures had finished lower Wednesday on profit-taking after a stronger-than-expected US energy stockpiles report offset geopolitical worries surrounding oil exporters Iraq and Iran. But the price of Brent oil has leapt by more than 10 percent in the last eight trading days, while New York crude has rocketed by about 12.5 percent in value. Iraq's Kurdish administration called Thursday for direct negotiations with Ankara as thousands of fearful Iraqi Kurds took to the streets to protest against the Turkish military threat. "Despite the green light for possible military action, it is not certain when or whether the Turks will go in, and there is frantic diplomacy going on in order to dissuade them from doing so," said MF Global analyst Edward Meir. The Turkish parliament has adopted a resolution authorising its military to cross into Iraq to crack down on rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party in the region. Market participants are on edge over the issue because northern Iraq is home to some of the troubled country's largest oil fields. Traders are also jittery about tight global energy supplies, particularly during the northern hemisphere winter when demand surges for heating fuel. However, the US Department of Energy said that American crude reserves jumped 1.8 million barrels last week. Stockpiles of distillates, which include diesel and heating oils, leapt by 1.0 million barrels. "The bearish numbers were partly offset by yet another drop in refinery utilization rates, reminding participants that refineries are still thinly stretched going into the winter," added Meir. Prices had also spiked Wednesday after US President George W. Bush reignited market concerns over the Iranian nuclear crisis. Highlighting the uncertainties in the Middle East, Bush said he had warned world leaders they must prevent crude producer Iran from getting nuclear weapons "if you're interested in avoiding World War III." Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob said the comments added a "fear factor" premium to the prices. "The psychological warfare between the US and Iran ... translate to an additional risk premium into oil futures," he said. | Some say history tends to repeat itself. Today marked a day in history, when 20 years ago, the United States Dow Jones Industrial Average market crashed, on what is known as 'Black Monday'. The crash sent the market tumbling down 508 points, losing nearly 24%. On Friday, the Dow Jones nearly broke that record when the market closed at -366.94 points, down almost three percent. Several factors could be to blame for the loss, one being Turkey's government approving a measure on October 18 to send Turkish troops into Iraq in an attempt to take out militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). This sent oil prices skyrocketing to the highest prices in history, with the highest record being just over US$89.00, which was set on October 18. Fears that the housing market in the U.S. has come to a standstill has also lead Caterpillar Inc., which manufactures and sells construction equipment to issue a warning that the standstill would cause profits to drop, and the American economy to be severely hurt. On Friday their stocks lost nearly six percent to close at $73.57. Investors and experts of the markets are disturbed by the losses calling the situation ugly. "It's pretty ugly. A company like Caterpillar should be a poster child for global growth and benefits of the weak dollar. It makes you question: Is global growth really that strong? Has the earnings kick from the weak dollar played itself out?" said Bell Curve Trading chief strategy expert, Bill Strazzullo. Others believe that the losses were a way of emotionally responding to the events of 'Black Monday.' "Some of the earnings reports were a little disappointing but not that bad. I think we're responding emotionally to the 20th anniversary of the October 1987 stock market crash. I'd like to laugh except it hurts," said T Rowe Price Head trader, Andy Brooks. The NASDAQ also took heavy losses to close down 74.15 points or -2.64%, closing at 2,725.16. The S&P 500 was also hit hard, losing 39.45 points, or -2.56%, closing at 1,500.63. |
Mr. Lee did not elaborate on what prompted his proposal. But it came as officials and analysts in Seoul contemplated the possibility that the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, could die before a successor gained firm control. South Korean intelligence analysts said Mr. Kim suffered a stroke in 2008, and he has reportedly been preparing his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s, to be his heir. Unlike Mr. Kim, who had held important party and military posts for years before his own father, President Kim Il-sung, died in 1994, Kim Jong-un holds no known official title. The North Korean government has recently begun indoctrinating its people with songs and lectures lionizing the son, according to South Korean intelligence officials. Still, the younger man’s apparent lack of leadership experience has prompted analysts to speculate about potential instability if Mr. Kim dies suddenly, and the possibility that China might intervene militarily. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Analysts expected an angry North Korean response. “North Korea will take a unification tax as the expression of a South Korean attempt to prepare for a sudden collapse of the North Korean government,” said Kim Yong-hyun, an analyst at Dongguk University in Seoul. Yang Moo-jin, a researcher at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said, “President Lee should have first reinstalled South-North exchanges and laid the groundwork for the mood for unification before proposing a unification tax.” South Korea and the United States are to begin another set of joint military exercises on Monday, which the North has denounced as a rehearsal for an invasion. On Sunday, the North’s military said it would “deal a merciless counterblow” to the United States and South Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said, promising the most severe punishment “ever met in the world.” Inter-Korean relations have chilled to their lowest point in years under Mr. Lee, a conservative who opposed providing aid to the North while it was developing nuclear weapons. Tensions rose after a South Korean warship was sunk in March and the South, accusing the North of torpedoing the ship, cut off most cross-border trade. Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the sinking. Like his predecessors, Mr. Lee envisioned a gradual unification, with the North’s abandonment of its nuclear arms capacity to be followed by extensive economic cooperation that would enable it to narrow the gap between its economy and the South’s, which is more than 30 times larger. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “Most South Koreans say they want unification, but they don’t necessarily want to pay for it,” said Mr. Kim of Dongguk University. ||||| South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak is shown at the presidential Blue House in Seoul in this August 12, 2010 file photo. SEOUL | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday proposed a "reunification tax" to help fund the expected $1 trillion bill when the two Koreas eventually rejoin, but maintained his tough stance against the North. There are no signs that North and South Korea are anywhere near close to reconciliation, with about 1 million soldiers facing off across the Cold War's last great divide. "Reunification will definitely come," said Lee in a speech marking the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese colonial rule. "I believe that the time has come to start discussing realistic policies to prepare for that day such as a reunification tax." The two states are still technically at war having only signed a ceasefire in 1953. Tensions are as high as ever following the torpedoing of a South Korean warship this year. Lee said it was now time to start saving for the massive cost of reuniting with the North, whose economy has been driven close to ruin by central economic planning, heavy military expenditure and years of famine. | File photo of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak On Sunday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak proposed a tax to begin to save for the cost of reunifying the , despite the possibility of worsening relations with in the process. Lee expressed optimism about reunification while maintaining demands that North Korea abandon its nuclear arms ambitions. In a speech commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Korean liberation from rule, Lee stated he "believes that the time has come to start discussing realistic policies to prepare for that day of reunification such as a reunification tax." The tax would fund the absorption of the North Korean economy — which is less than three percent of the size of the South Korean economy — and could cost up to $1 trillion, according to ''''' sources. However, "North Korea will take a unification tax as the expression of a South Korean attempt to prepare for a sudden collapse of the North Korean government," according to Kim Yong-hyun, an analyst at in . Additionally, while opinion polls show that more than 60% of South Koreans want unification, these polls also show that South Koreans would prefer that reunification happen later due to the cost. |
PARIS/CAIRO (Reuters) - The EgyptAir jet which crashed in the Mediterranean on Thursday sent a series of warnings indicating that smoke had been detected on board, shortly before it disappeared off radar screens, French investigators said on Saturday. ||||| Outrage over 2006 Egypt ferry disaster acquittals CAIRO (AFP) — Scuffles erupted at an Egyptian court on Sunday when five of six defendants were cleared of blame for a 2006 ferry sinking in which more than 1,000 people died, Egypt's worst maritime disaster. Hysterical relatives voiced anger as only Salaheddin Gomaa, captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was jailed for six months for failing to come to the assistance of the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98. Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud issued a statement after the decision saying he would appeal the ruling, and called for a retrial. The Al-Salam sank in the middle of the Red Sea on February 3, 2006 as it was carrying more than 1,400 people from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the trial was held. "My brother, my brother," one woman screamed after the verdict, according to footage aired on Al-Jazeera television which also showed security men scuffling with relatives and another woman being manhandled. Dozens of relatives, many carrying photographs of their dead loved ones, were crammed into the court building, although the heavy security presence prevented them from entering the courtroom itself. Others wailed in grief on the steps outside. "God help us, 1,034 people are dead!" shouted one man. Most of the victims were from poor families in southern Egypt, and the court scenes were reminiscent of the emotional outpourings in the days following the sinking as anxious relatives waited in vain for bodies to be recovered. "The day of the accident everybody saw that the ship was in bad shape and two years later they say the boat was in good shape. It doesn't make sense," one man told Al-Jazeera. "This is awful. My wife and children died and after two years everyone responsible is found to be innocent," he said, slamming some of the defendants for leaving the country pending the court's ruling. Prosecutor Mahmud said he wanted a retrial because of "violations in documented records, corruption in investigation, shortcomings in validatings and arbitrary conclusions," Egypt's official MENA news agency reported. The court found that Gomaa had failed to show "compassion" and "did not do his duty by failing to go to the rescue of victims." The Saint Catherine captain was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (1,880 dollars). Key defendant Mamduh Ismail, who owned the 36-year-old Al-Salam ferry and is a member of parliament's upper house which is appointed by President Hosni Mubarak, was acquitted. In June 2006, Ismail was ordered to pay 330 million Egyptian pounds (57 million dollars) into a fund to compensate victims of the disaster and in return, a freeze on his assets was lifted. Also accused were Ismail's son and three Al-Salam executives. Ismail, his son and one of the executives are not currently in Egypt. In 2006, a parliamentary commission of inquiry blamed Al-Salam for the disaster, saying the firm had continued to operate the ferry "despite serious defects" in the vessel. It also said the government "failed to manage the crisis adequately" in the days after the sinking. Ismail had denied responsibility for the disaster, and blamed the captain of the Al-Salam, who went down with his ship, for overestimating the crew's ability to fight a fire that had broken out on board. The passengers on the ferry were mostly Egyptian migrant workers, some of whom were bringing months', if not years', worth of savings to their families back home. ||||| CAIRO, July 27 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Sunday acquitted five of six defendants of Al-Salam 98 ferryboat fire case that killed more than 1,000 passengers on board in early 2006,the official MENA news agency reported. The Misdemeanor Court of the Egyptian port of Safaga found the owner of the ferry Mamdouh Ismail Mohammed Ali and four other defendants not guilty in the case. Only Salah Gomaa, captain of another ferryboat, was sentenced to six months in jail and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about 1,887 U.S. dollars) after being convicted of failing to respond to the appeals for help from the sinking ferry, said the report. Shortly after the court's decision, prosecutor general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud announced in Cairo he was appealing against the verdict of the Safaga court. The Al-Salam 98 ferryboat, carrying some 1,400 passengers, caught fire and sank into the Red Sea en route from Saudi Arabian port of Dhaba to the Egyptian Red Sea port of Safaga in February, 2006. A total of 1,034 people, most of them Egyptians, died in the maritime disaster. | Five of the six defendants accused of manslaughter over the 2006 fire on board Egyptian ferry ''al-Salam Boccaccio 98'' have been cleared of all charges. The February 3 fire and subsequent sinking killed 1,034 of around 1,400 passengers. Mamdouh Ismail, owner of the al-Salam company, his son and three company executives were all cleared of manslaughter. Ismail is a member of parliament directly appointed by the president, and both he, his son and another of the executives were tried ''in absentia'' as they have left the country. They had all been charged with manslaughter stemming from safety violations on the ship. Convicted was Salaheddin Gomaa, captain of nearby ferry ''Saint Catherine''. He was jailed for six months after the court found he did not come to the stricken ''al-Salam 98'''s aid. It found he "did not do his duty by failing to go to the rescue of victims," and that he failed to show any compassion. The last reported point where the ''al Salam Boccaccio 98'' was observed by coastal radar. The ship went down in the Red Sea near Egyptian port Safaga, where the trial was held, having departed earlier from Saudi Arabia's Dhaba port. A parliamentary report balmed the disaster's scale on the owners, as well as the government and Panama, the state where the ship was registered. The report said al-Salam had kept operating the ship "despite serious defects" with her, and that the government had "failed to manage the crisis adequately" in the following days. It was found that the 36-year-old ''al-Salam 98'''s safety documents were forged, that the ship's extuinguishers and life rafts were not fit for purpose and that there were an inadequate number of winches to lower the rafts into the sea. However, the elder Ismail had put the blame on his ferry's captain, who he claimed wrongly believed the crew could deal with the fire when it broke out. The captain was amongst the dead. Ismail's assets were frozen and a travel ban was imposed on him following the disaster, but both were lifted later that year after he paid E£300,000,000 (US$57,000,000) into a victim's compensation fund. Many victims were poor Egyptian migrant workers, and some were bringing home savings accumulated over months or years. The Misdemeanor Court's acquittal of all except Gomaa — who was fined E£10,000 (US$1,887) — met with anger from relatives, who turned out ''en masse'' to hear the verdicts. One man told ''al-Jazeera'' "The day of the accident everybody saw that the ship was in bad shape and two years later they say the boat was in good shape. It doesn't make sense. This is awful. My wife and children died and after two years everyone responsible is found to be innocent." Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud was also unhappy with the result. In a statement he said he intends to appeal the verdict and demand a retrial. He alleges serious "violations in documented records, corruption in investigation, shortcomings in validatings and arbitrary conclusions," and cites these as his reasons for a retrial. |
‘So close to getting p***ed’: UFC star’s Vegas bender on hold UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa was ready to hit the Las Vegas strip after his scheduled opponent withdrew from their fight, but he was forced to change his plans. Broncos to take power back from players The big-money defection of David Fifita to the Titans is the wake-up call the Broncos needed to het their salary-cap management sorted out. SVG’s bold bid to race with busted collarbone Shane van Gisbergen has revealed the damage to his collarbone after a mountain biking accident as he races the clock to be fit to compete at Sandown. ||||| Avalanche sur les Alpes: 7 blessés français et italiens, recherches en cours ANNECY (AFP) — Sept alpinistes français et italiens ont été blessés dimanche lors d'une importante avalanche, à haute altitude, dans le massif du Mont Blanc, dans les Alpes françaises, où les secouristes ont indiqué être à la recherche d'éventuelles autres victimes. L'avalanche s'est produite au Mont-Blanc du Tacul, à 3.600 m d'altitude vers 03H00 (01H00 GMT) sur un itinéraire très fréquenté par les alpinistes. Sept personnes ont été blessées légèrement et évacuées vers les hôpitaux, selon la gendarmerie. Une autre est sortie indemne de l'avalanche. "Mais ce n'est qu'un bilan provisoire, on est à la recherche d'éventuelles autres victimes", a indiqué à l'AFP un responsable de la gendarmerie. Les recherches sont menées par une quarantaine de secouristes appuyés par des chiens d'avalanches, deux hélicoptères français et un autre italien. Les huit personnes secourues sont cinq Français et trois Italiens, dont une femme, et sont âgées de 26 ans à 37 ans. Elles ont été retrouvées coincées pour certaines dans la neige alors que d'autres avaient réussi à se dégager par elles-mêmes. L'avalanche était longue de 200 m et large de 50 m. "Selon les premières constatations, la chute d'un sérac (bloc de glace) aurait provoqué une coulée de neige qui s'est transformée en avalanche", a précisé le capitaine Daniel Pueyo. Les conditions météorologiques étaient "excellentes" cette nuit sur le Mont Blanc du Tacul (4.248 m), a-t-il ajouté. Ce sommet est situé sur une voie d'accès au Mont-Blanc, le "toit de l'Europe" (4.810,90 m). L'accès au Mont Blanc du Tacul a été interdit pour la journée. ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Rescue teams and France's interior minister say there is little hope of saving several climbers swept away by an avalanche in the Mont Blanc range. At least eight people are thought to be trapped under the snow. They were among a party of climbers hit by a wall of snow 200m (600ft) long and 50m wide. Eight survived the snowslide and were taken to a hospital in Chamonix. The search for survivors, involving helicopters and rescuers with dogs, has been hindered by new avalanche threats. Officials said the eight missing on the Mont-Blanc du Tacul mountain included five Austrians and two Swiss climbers. Originally there were reported to be 10 people missing, but police later revised that figure to eight, the AFP news agency reported. However France's Interior Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, said it was impossible to know for certain how many were missing. The minister, who flew into the area on Sunday evening, said that by then there was "no longer any chance of finding someone alive". That echoed the opinion of a search official interviewed on LCI television, who said there was "no hope" of recovering anyone alive. After a day in which 40 searchers, with specially trained dogs, and three helicopters failed to find any trace of the missing adventurers, the search was called off. Officials said conditions and the threat of fresh avalanches made it too dangerous to continue. 'Wall of ice' The eight people brought to safety were reported to include five French climbers and three Italians, aged between 26 and 37 years. One, Italian Marco Delfini, told LCI he saw "a wall of ice coming towards us and then we were carried 200 metres". "I was not completely submerged... I managed to help the others," he said. The avalanche is believed to have happened at about 0300 (0100 GMT), after a large block of glacier ice broke off higher up the mountain. Often climbers set out very early in the morning when attempting a major trek. "It's probable, according to statements made to us, that the climbers roped together were on the path up the mountain, and in the place where the block of ice tumbled down," Eric Fournier, the mayor of nearby Chamonix, told AFP. The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says it has been a lethal summer in the Alps with about 100 climbers killed since 1 June in France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland - about 20 of them have died on Mont Blanc. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? | Mont Blanc in the Alps, is the highest mountain in Western Europe. Rescue crews have called an end to the search for eight mountaineers who went missing on the French side of Mont Blanc after an avalanche that occurred on at 0100 GMT August 24. Eight other climbers were also injured. Five of the missing are said to be Austrian and three were from Switzerland. "There is no longer any chance of finding someone alive," stated the interior minister of France, Michele Alliot-Marie who also added that are more people trapped beneath the snow. "Thanks to technology, we know for certain there are people buried under the snow, but it's impossible to be sure exactly how many." Rescuers feared that there would be more avalanches and decided to end the search for survivors in the late afternoon today. The avalanche started at an elevation of 3,600 meters and went down the mountainside for nearly 100 meters, leaving a trail 50 meters wide. Rescuers used helicopters and dogs to search for survivors for a day, but failed to find any. "I saw a wall of ice coming towards us and then we were carried 200 metres," said one of the survivors from Italy, Marco Delfini who also said he tried to help the others caught in the snow. There have been many accidents in the Alps this summer, about one hundred climbers have perished since June 1 in France, Italy and Switzerland altogether, of whom about twenty have died on Mont Blanc. |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New York Gov. David Paterson on Friday appointed relatively unknown U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand thanks Gov. David Paterson, right, after her appointment to the Senate on Friday. "I believe I have found the best candidate to become the next U.S. senator from New York," Paterson said at a noontime news conference in Albany, New York. Gillibrand succeeds Clinton, who was sworn in Wednesday as secretary of state. "I aspire to follow in her footsteps, knowing her shoes I can only hope to fill," Gillibrand said of Clinton. After weeks of speculation that the Senate seat would be filled by Caroline Kennedy, the office will instead go to a member of a lower-profile political family. Watch who the contenders were » Gillibrand comes from a well-connected clan: Her grandmother was a well-known political activist in Albany with whom Gillibrand campaigned as a girl. Her father is a lobbyist with ties to Republican former Gov. George Pataki. Her appointment to the Senate, effective Sunday, follows an apparently chaotic process that drew criticism from across the political spectrum. "Kirsten is an intelligent and dedicated public servant and a dear friend," a statement from Clinton read. "I'm pleased that this seat, which has been my great honor to hold, and which has in its history been held by leaders like former Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Robert F. Kennedy, will be in such capable hands." President Obama praised Gillibrand, too. "Kirsten has been a strong voice for transparency and reform in government and shares the belief that government should be open, accessible and work for all our citizens," Obama said in an official statement. Gillibrand, who will become the first upstate senator to represent New York since the late 1960s, is a stranger to most New Yorkers and a fresh face on Capitol Hill. She has served only one term in the House of Representatives, but her tough demeanor and upset win in a reliably Republican upstate district in 2006 immediately caught the attention of Democratic activists in a state known for hardball politics. While Gillibrand, 42, will represent one of the most progressive states in the country -- and has garnered solid union support and a 90 percent score from the American Civil Liberties Union -- the former antitrust lawyer and Clinton administration official is no dyed-in-the-wool liberal. The Albany-born Gillibrand currently represents New York's conservative 20th Congressional District. She's a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats. A supporter of gun rights, Gillibrand has been endorsed in her congressional runs by the National Rifle Association. She also supports an extension of the Bush tax cuts. The Catholic mother of two -- one of the few members of Congress to give birth while in office -- was an attorney before entering politics. She served as special counsel to then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo during the Clinton administration. Cuomo himself, now New York's attorney general, has consistently topped voter preference polls on the question of who should fill Clinton's Senate seat. Gillibrand's upstate district -- which starts in Dutchess county, at the northern fringe of the New York City suburbs -- shoots straight up the eastern side of the Hudson River, including Columbia and Rensselaer counties. It also includes Greene County, just west of the Hudson River in the northern Catskill region, and Delaware County, which is even farther to the west. The 20th Congressional District also includes Saratoga, Washington and Warren counties in the northern part of the state. It is home to Hyde Park, the one-time home of President Franklin Roosevelt. Gillibrand's seat was held by four-term Republican Rep. John Sweeney, and was considered safe for the GOP when she jumped into the race in 2006. But she ended up winning a brutal contest, 53 percent to 47 percent, and was overwhelmingly re-elected in November, 62 percent to 38 percent. All About U.S. Senate • Hillary Clinton • Upstate New York ||||| By KENNETH LOVETT Daily News Albany Bureau Chief ALBANY - Opposition to Gov. Paterson's selection of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand as New York's new junior senator has been swift, furious and widespread. Gun control and immigration advocates - and even fellow Democrats - offered a howl of protest Friday, hours before Paterson formally introduced Gillibrand. Chung-Wa Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, criticized Gillibrand's views on immigration reform. She accused Gillibrand of using rhetoric pitting undocumented workers against citizen workers and doing little to support immigration reform that offers a road to citizenship. Noting as a congresswoman Gillibrand represented a heavily Republican and conservative district, Hong said "she needs to show she can switch from representing a single district to representing a pro-immigration state." She also expressed disappointment at Paterson not only for his choice but his selection process. Liberal Democrats and progressive groups lobbied late into the night to get Paterson to change his mind. In the end, after Caroline Kennedy dropped out on Wednesday, it came down to Gillibrand, an upstate woman, and city teachers union president Randi Weingarten. While other candidates throughout the night were told they were no longer in consideration, Weingarten didn't receive her call from the governor until shortly before 2 a.m., sources said. Paterson then called Gillibrand, who accepted the position. Already, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Long Island) and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer are considering a 2010 primary against Gillibrand, source close to each said. Gun control groups also were outraged, citing Gillibrand's support by the NRA and her opposition to restricting the second amendment right to bear arms. "When I heard Gillibrand was his pick, I thought it was a joke," said Gloria Cruz, Bronx chapter president of the Million Mom March to Prevent Gun Violence. "This is an insult to the families of gun violence victims across the state. Shame on Gov. Paterson. Not everyone was upset. Alan Van Capelle, head of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's largest gay rights group, said Gillibrand expressed support for gay marriage and said she would support full repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act as well as the Don't Ask Don't Tell military policy. "After talking to Kirsten Gillibrand, I am very happy to say that New York is poised to have its first U.S. Senator who supports marriage equality for same-sex couples," Van Capelle said. Abortion rights groups also hailed her selection. "Like her predecessor Hillary Clinton, Rep. Gillibrand has shown herself to be an ally and advocate for New York and for women across the country, co-sponsoring legislation to ensure access to and funding for contraception," said NARAL Pro-Choice New York president Kelli Conlin. "We know that as senator she will represent our interests with integrity and passion." | Kirsten Gillibrand. Today, , the governor of New York, appointed Kirsten Gillibrand as the replacement in the United States Senate for Hillary Clinton, who left the position to become Secretary of State in Barack Obama's administration. Gillibrand, 42, was a member of the House of Representatives from and is, like Clinton, a member of the Democratic Party. "I believe I have found the best candidate to become the next senator from the state of New York. She is dynamic, she is articulate, she is perceptive, she is outspoken," said Paterson at a news conference. This selection came after , the daughter of former President and leading candidate for the job, withdrew from the consideration for the seat on January 21 due to unspecified personal reasons. Kennedy was one of approximately 20 candidates that Governor Paterson said he considered for the position, including fellow New York Congressmen and . New York's attorney general Andrew Cuomo was also considered. Cuomo was the top choice in voter opinion polls, according to CNN. Clinton expressed approval of the appointment in a statement: "Kirsten is an intelligent and dedicated public servant and a dear friend. I'm pleased that this seat, which has been my great honor to hold, and which has in its history been held by leaders like former Senators and , will be in such capable hands." President Obama also approved of her, stating, "Kirsten has been a strong voice for transparency and reform in government and shares the belief that government should be open, accessible and work for all our citizens." In statements, Gillibrand said that she will be a supporter of same-sex marriage and an advocate for women's rights. She has also promised a state that would support New York's education as well as put forth funding for the environment and a new project that would create a system linking with , the state capital. The appointment has been criticized by gun-control and immigration advocates. In particular Gillibrand's opinion on gun control laws has been rebuked, including her stance opposing restrictions on parts of the , which outlines the right of citizens to bear arms, earning her support by the . "When I heard Gillibrand was his pick, I thought it was a joke. This is an insult to the families of gun violence victims across the state. Shame on Governor Paterson," stated Gloria Cruz of the which promoted tighter restrictions on the private ownership of firearms. Gillibrand is set to be officially sworn in on Sunday, January 25. |
NEW DELHI -- The Indian government approved a symbol for the rupee, an attempt to give its currency a unique identity as the country seeks to expand its financial influence. The search for the rupee's new face began in February 2009, when the government launched a competition for a symbol, mirroring the process by which the euro's ... ||||| India adopted a graphic symbol for the rupee, joining the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Japan, in a bid to project its currency as an icon of the economy’s growing importance in the world. The South Asian nation’s cabinet today approved the sign, selected from applications received at a competition held by the government, Information & Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters in New Delhi. The symbol will also help distinguish the Indian rupee from the similarly-named currencies of Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, she said. “The symbol for the rupee would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and robustness of the Indian economy as a favored destination for global investments,” Soni said. Growth in the South Asian nation’s $1.2 trillion economy, which averaged 8.5 percent in the past five years, may exceed 10 percent in the next five years, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on June 22. That prospect spurred foreign investors to boost holdings of Indian bonds and shares to all- time highs of $14.95 billion and $81 billion, respectively, this week, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India show. “India’s role on the global stage is increasing and its financial markets are growing bigger and deeper,” said Rahul Bajoria, a Singapore-based economist at Barclays Plc, the world’s third-largest currency trader. “The rupee symbol is recognition of the ever-increasing economic linkages between India and the world.” The finance ministry selected the currency sign after short-listing five from entries received in a competition announced last year, according to information on its web site. The government had recommended in the contest guidelines that the symbol should represent India’s history and culture and must be acceptable across the country. To contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; Pratik Parija in New Delhi at pparija@bloomberg.net ||||| The new symbol of the Indian rupee is seen in this handout photograph after it was approved by India's cabinet July 15, 2010. Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers agree on more talks but little else. Are these talks futile? MUMBAI | MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Indian rupee has achieved parity with major currencies such as the dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen in one respect: it now has its own symbol. The cabinet on Thursday approved the adoption of the new symbol after holding a competition that drew more than 3,000 entries, which were evaluated by a deputy governor of the central bank as well as artists and designers. The new symbol, an amalgam of the devanagari script of the Hindi language and the Roman letter "R", "reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture", the cabinet said in a statement. "The symbol for the rupee would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency," it said, and better distinguish the currency from countries that also have the rupee or rupiah, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The winning design, pulled from a shortlist of five, came from a post-graduate student who won $5,000. (Reporting by Tony Munroe and Rina Chandran; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan) (For more news on Reuters India, click in.reuters.com) ||||| The Indian rupee will soon have a unique symbol -- a blend of the Devanagri 'Ra' and Roman 'R' -- joining elite currencies like the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved by the cabinet today -- reflecting that the Indian currency, backed by an over-trillion dollar economy, was finally making its presence felt on the international scene. ( How do you like the symbol? "It's a big statement on the Indian currency... The symbol would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and global face of the Indian economy," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the cabinet meeting.Though the symbol will not be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, it would be included in the 'Unicode Standard' and major scripts of the world to ensure that it is easily displayed and printed in the electronic and print media.Among currencies with distinctive identities, only the pound sterling has its symbol printed on the notes.Unicode is an international standard that allows text data to be interchanged globally without conflict. After incorporation in the global and Indian codes, the symbol would be used by all individuals and entities within and outside the country.The symbol will be adopted in a span of six months in the country, and within 18 to 24 months globally, Soni said, adding that it will feature on computer keyboards and softwares for worldwide use.Soni said that the symbol, which reflects the Indian ethos and culture, would help distinguish the currency from the rupee or rupiah of other countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.Besides this, state governments would be asked to proactively promote the use of the new symbol, she added.Kumar's entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh."It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters -- capital 'R' and Devanagri 'Ra' which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences... My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between," a visibly-happy Kumar said.The jury, which had sent the five short-listed entries for the cabinet's approval, was headed by a Reserve Bank Deputy Governor. | The new symbol for the Indian Rupee A symbol for the was approved by the Government of India today. The Indian currency had previously lacked a distinctive symbol like those associated with the , , and the . Minister for Information and Broadcasting of India announced the symbol chosen for the currency. "The symbol for the rupee would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and robustness of the Indian economy as a favored destination for global investments," Soni stated. A competition was held to select the symbol, which drew more than 3,000 entries. After evaluation by the head of the , artists and designers, five were shortlisted. The winning design came from a post-graduate student, D Udaya Kumar, who won link=₨250,000 (US$5,400). The government announced that the symbol will not be printed on currency notes or coins, but would be added to the Unicode Standard and other scripts used in the world. Soni said the symbol would be adopted in India by the next two quarters and globally within a year and a half to two years. She mentioned that it would soon feature in worldwide keyboards for easy use. The symbol is a blend of the and Latin scripts. "It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters — capital 'R' and 'Ra' र which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences ... My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between," Kumar, the designer of the symbol, said. |
The report says police are rarely held to account Rights group Amnesty International has accused the police in Mozambique of killing people with impunity. Amnesty says 46 people have died at the hands of the police since 2006. It also says investigations are lacking and police prosecutions are rare. A Mozambican police spokesman says Amnesty's findings are biased. He says all police who had carried out unlawful killings have been convicted and jailed for more than 20 years. 'Indiscriminate firing' The organisation cites the case of dancer and choreographer Augusto Cuivias, the BBC's Africa analyst Martin Plaut reports. In December 2007 Mr Cuivias heard a noise while he was at home with his partner and son. He called the police, who said they had no transport. So he called his former wife, who drove the police to the home. When they arrived, the police opened fire indiscriminately, killing Mr Cuivias and his guard, Amnesty International says. His partner suffered a miscarriage. Although two members of the police were arrested, no disciplinary action has apparently been taken against any officer. Amnesty says this is typical. Families are unable to find out why their relatives are killed and, without money, they have little hope of getting justice. Amnesty says it was told there was no need for an investigation, since the killings are lawful. ||||| Police detain a suspect in Maputo, Mozambique, July 2007. © LDH 16 November 2009 Amnesty International has urged the authorities in Mozambique to properly investigate and prosecute police officers suspected of unlawful killings, with families continually obstructed from getting justice over the deaths of their relatives. In a report released today, ‘I can’t believe in justice anymore’: Obstacles to justice for unlawful killings by police in Mozambique, the organization called on the government to make it clear to all members of the police that excessive use of force and unlawful killings will not be tolerated. Since January 2006, at least 46 people have been unlawfully killed by the police in Mozambique. Amnesty International also called on the authorities to ensure that families receive proper compensation for their loss. “The families of victims face almost insurmountable challenges and only the most persistent and well-off have been able to get some small measure of justice. Most others are left without any justice for the loss of their loved ones,” said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme. “Even worse, the government seems to have permitted and even encouraged a number of obstacles to be put in the way of victims’ families as they sought justice.” Despite repeated requests, the authorities have provided Amnesty International with very little information into investigations into police killings in Mozambique, including during visits to the country. In some cases, Amnesty International was told that investigations were not carried out because the killing was presumed to be lawful. International standards require an effective investigation be carried out into all cases of death or serious injury as a result of use of force or firearms by the police. Chimène Costa, partner of Augusto Cuvilas, a dancer and choreographer shot and killed by the police in December 2007, told Amnesty International, “I can't believe in justice any more. I am not informed. There is no respect ... They just want us to forget. If you do not have money to pay nothing happens…”. Lawyers, journalists and human rights activists in Mozambique have all told Amnesty International that the police tend to “protect their own” and that this is one of the main obstacles to bringing police officers to justice. “The apparent unwillingness of the police to conduct effective investigations into all killings by police, the failure of superior officers to identify police suspected of serious human rights violations, and the tendency of police to protect other officers all contribute to the lack of justice in these cases,” said Erwin van der Borght. In its report, the organization called on the government to ensure that there are thorough, prompt and impartial investigations into all cases of police force that results in death or serious injury, and that the officers responsible are brought to justice. Families of those killed must also receive adequate reparation. Other recommendations put forward in the report include that: - police have access to alternative means to deal with potentially violent situations, so that force used is proportional; - police are trained in techniques to lower tensions and avoid the use of force unless strictly necessary; - autopsies are automatically carried out immediately in all cases of death resulting from police force or use of firearms; - complainants, witnesses, lawyers, judges and others involved in the investigation of police actions are protected from intimidation and reprisals. | Map of MozambiqueHuman Rights group Amnesty International has called on the Mozambican government to stop and investigate allegedly illegal killings by police, citing 46 deaths since 2006 with few police prosecutions and families unable to achieve justice. "The families of victims face almost insurmountable challenges and only the most persistent and well-off have been able to get some small measure of justice. Most others are left without any justice for the loss of their loved ones," stated Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme. "Even worse, the government seems to have permitted and even encouraged a number of obstacles to be put in the way of victims' families as they sought justice." A police spokesman, however, claimed that the report is biased. Police said that officers guilty of illegal killings had been convicted, receiving sentences of over twenty years. However the authorities provided little information to the human rights' group, despite numerous requests. On other occasions they said that no investigations were undertaken as the killing was presumed legal. Mozambique's police minister and his deputy declined to comment. |
SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday compared the state's predicament to that of weaker euro zone economies and called for scrapping the state welfare system to close a $19.1 billion budget gap. U.S. | Barack Obama The movie star turned governor said California, the most populous U.S. state with an economy that would be the eighth largest in the world, faced the same dilemma of dismal growth and budget gaps as Greece, Spain and Ireland. California's government has been living beyond its means and has little choice but to cut $12.4 billion in spending over the remainder of this fiscal year and the next, Schwarzenegger told a press conference in Sacramento. "You see what is happening in Greece, you see what is happening in Ireland, you see what is happening in Spain now," Schwarzenegger said, referring to swelling deficits and austerity measures that have concerned investors worldwide. "We are left with nothing but tough choices." Democrats and Republicans, who must muster a two-thirds majority to pass a budget, are likely to ignore many of his suggestions in a debate which, if it follows recent history, could drag on for months. Democratic State Senate President Darrell Steinberg told Reuters that lawmakers in his party, who control both chambers of the legislature, could not support Schwarzenegger. "The cuts are absolutely unacceptable," Steinberg said, adding that instead of slashing spending Schwarzenegger should help Democrats delay business tax breaks. Republican Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, the vice chair of the budget committee, said both sides felt the "absolute imperative" for immediate action and praised Schwarzenegger's decision not to push for new taxes. "That would simply fund the broken budget at the higher levels that are not sustainable," he said. BONDS SELLING FAST Thanks to stronger than expected revenue early in the year and new finance rules the state will be able to pay debt coming due in May and June, although it could face problems late in the summer, Schwarzenegger said. Investors have scooped up recent offerings of California debt with high yields, convinced by state payment guarantees. Meanwhile schools have cut teachers, social services are drying up and most state employees face regular furlough days. The spending cuts in Schwarzenegger's proposed $83.4 billion 2010-2011 budget include eliminating the CalWORKS welfare program and many child care programs and cutting funding for local mental health services by 60 percent. California's budget deficit had been estimated at $19.9 billion at the beginning of the year. Since then some revenues have come in higher than expected but opportunities to make cuts have also dried up, concerning credit agencies who now rate state debt only a few notches above speculative, or "junk," status. Schwarzenegger in January acknowledged his proposed spending cuts for health and welfare programs were "draconian." But the state already has some of the highest income and sales tax rates of any U.S. state. "There is something wrong with our system. That is what I'm trying to tell people. There are going to be people screaming for more taxes -- we've done that," Schwarzenegger said. "Let's stimulate the economy and let's create the jobs. That's the important thing." He called on lawmakers to tackle growing costs for the state pension fund and to reform its tax system, which relies heavily on volatile personal income and capital gains taxes for revenue. Outside the event, protesters denounced Schwarzenegger's plan, chanting "Shame on you". Handicapped activists said they feared losing caregivers funded by the state. "I might as well just die," said wheelchair-bound Carmen Rivera-Hendrickson, who relies on daily in-home health care. (Writing by Dan Whitcomb; additional reporting by Marianne Russ; Editing by Andrew Hay) ||||| Newsletter Get our high school sports newsletter Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. Enter email address Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. | Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a new budget plan for California on Friday, claiming that the Californian economy faces growth and budget problems like eurozone countries such as Greece and Ireland. Schwarzenegger said in a Sacramento press conference that California must cut spending to US$12.4 billion. To achieve this goal, the governor proposed cutting the welfare system; however, state lawmakers quickly rejected this. Schwarzenegger said cutting the state welfare system for low-income families would save the state government $1.6 billion. The governor also proposed freezing funds to local public schools and cutting state workers' incomes. He wants to cut programs for the treatment of narcotics addiction for those using and cut state mental heath services by 60%. California is set to receive monetary aid from Washington, D.C. worth $3.4 billion. president , a , said, "The cuts are absolutely unacceptable," and the governor should focus on delaying business tax cuts. |
BEACH NEWS YOU CAN USE Covering 180 miles of Oregon coast travel: Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler, Rockaway, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Wadport, Yachats & Florence. 11/04/06 It's Fall on the Coast: Summer is Here Again. Family Fun Nightlife Frivolity Subscribe to BC news RSS Feeds Add BC news to YOUR site First Storm Set to Wow Oregon Coast Stormy Nye Beach, Newport (Oregon Coast) – A wild weather warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for the north Oregon coast for Saturday, but it seems it has already started smacking the central coast on Friday. Powerful winds and large waves are expected for the region this weekend, caused by an unusual weather phenomenon – a major hurricane-like storm - that’s parked off the coast about 900 miles. In turn, it’s expected to bring out a few more tourists than a turn in the weather would chase away. Monster waves near Depoe Bay A high wind watch has been issued for the region between the southern Washington coast and Tillamook from Saturday morning through the evening hours. The area may see winds around 40 miles an hour, but gusts could hit as high as 60 miles per hour. Newport resident Melissa Haines said the windy weather hit the central coast already. She experienced some of it on Thursday night. “I slept so well that night,” Haines said. “I always sleep really well when it’s stormy out.” Yachats In Yachats, Yachats Wine Trader manager Marsii Charron said the wind and rain has been pounding that part of the central coast all day and has been making a spectacle at the wine bar. “I have only had locals, maybe the only people crazy enough to brave the storm,” Charron said. “I have been slow for a Friday night. Hopefully it picks up on Saturday. But the storm watching from the wine bar is fantastic right now.” The culprit is a rare subtropical storm, which usually does not come into existence this high in latitude. Scientists say the storm has hurricane characteristics. It looks like one from the satellite images, it has a cloudless eye, an eye wall of thunderstorms and winds around 50 knots. It is so powerful that it would normally be named if it had been in one of the routinely monitored hurricane basins. Because it formed outside the territory of any of the organizations which regularly monitor these storms, it was not named. The storm has been referred to as “Storm 91C” by the U.S. Navy. Tradewinds Motel, Rockaway Beach. All rooms at the Tradewinds Motel are immaculate and have TV’s, VCR’s and in-room phones with data ports. The oceanfronts all have a queen bed, a double hide-a-bed, kitchen, cozy firelog fireplace and a private deck. Some oceanfront units come with all those amenities but the kitchens. Both types sleep up to four people. Others are appointed with a queen bed, small fridge, and coffee maker – sizable for a two-person romantic getaway, yet still perfect for those on a budget. There is an elaborate oceanfront Jacuzzi suite that has two bedrooms, coming with a kitchen, double hide-a-bed, fireplace and private deck, sleeping as many as six. For those wanting bigger accommodations for family reunions or large gatherings such as weddings, some rooms can connect to create two-room and three-room suites. Some rooms are pet friendly.523 N. Pacific St., Rockaway Beach. (503) 355-2112 - 1-800-824-0938. www.tradewinds-motel.com On the north coast, residents and tourists there are getting ready for the action, though it is quite calm there on Friday night. Wayne Chase, manager of The Tides hotel in Seaside, told BeachConnection.net: “There’s nothing on the storm yet.” “Quiet here tonight - mild and a few folks walking around,” said Mike Exinger, owner of Zinger’s Homemade Ice Cream in Seaside. “I spoke to a few in the store this evening. They knew high winds were on the way, and said, ‘Hey, that’s the coast…we expect it this time of year.’ ” The weather event is expected to begin enormous waves as well. Officials are urging extreme caution about heading to the beaches. They also say that even though now is prime time to go clamming on Oregon’s beaches, the waves will likely be stormy swells and too dangerous for such activity. ||||| Subtropical Storm off the Coast of Oregon Tropical storms, as their name suggest, tend to form in the tropics. However, from time to time similar-looking storms can form at higher latitudes. Extratropical storms have cold rather than warm cores, and they usually form their characteristic spiral shape when air masses of different temperatures and humilities collide. Another type of storm that can take a hurricane shape is a polar low, a small-scale, short-lived low-pressure storm system that forms at high latitudes. On rare occasions, however, there are peculiar, hybrid storms with some of the characteristics of a tropical storm and some characteristics of an extratropical storm. Such storms are sometimes called subtropical storms. This photo-like image of a rare subtropical storm in the Pacific Ocean was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on November 1, 2006. Located 900 miles off the coast of Oregon in the northwestern Pacific, this storm system looks like a hurricane, but it is located far from any of the typical hurricane formation areas. The storm originally formed from a cold-cored extratropical storm, but after spending two days over unusually warm water (perhaps as much as 2 degrees Celsius above normal for the time of year), it developed a warm center, and hurricane characteristics, such as a cloud-free eye and an eyewall of thunderstorms. With satellite-observed winds as high as 50 knots on November 2, the storm was strong enough to have been named if it had been in one of the routinely monitored hurricane basins. Because it formed outside the territory of any monitoring organizations, however, it was not named. The storm was being referred to as “Storm 91C” by the U.S. Navy. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of Storm 91C for use with Google Earth. NASA image by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team at Goddard Space Flight Center. Severe Storms: Topic Home | Archive | Related Links Natural Hazards Home | Section FAQ | 125px An unnamed subtropical storm known only as "Storm 91C" packing winds of up to 40 mph struck the U.S. state of Washington on Friday. The storm was a very rare occurrence, and caused minimal damage. It formed from an extratropical storm around October 30 in the Central Pacific and became subtropical on November 1, and was recognized as "Storm 91C" by the U.S. Navy. The storm was out of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's (CPHC) areas of responsibility, and therefore didn't receive a name. In addition, the CPHC doesn't issue advisories on subtropical storms. 125px The cyclone moved into the East Pacific and organized into a hurricane-like system with winds up to 60 mph. The storm began to lose convection and weaken, but managed to make it to Washington and British Columbia as a 40 mph storm with gusts up to 60 mph. A high wind warning was issued by the National Weather Service for the southern Washington coast to Tillamook. Heavy rain and high winds were brought along the northern Pacific coast of the United States. |
ABC News Akayev Told Not to Return to Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan Interim Leader Tells Ousted President His Return to Country May Cause More Unrest Kyrgyzstan's ousted President Askar Akayev speaks in an interview broadcast on Russia's state-run Channel One television, Moscow,Tuesday, March 29, 2005 in this image from television. Akayev said Tuesday in an interview broadcast on Russia's state-run Channel One television he was prepared to resign if given "relevant" legal protections. (AP Photo/ORT Russian Channel) By KADYR TOKTOGULOV Associated Press Writer The Associated Press BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan Mar 30, 2005 Kyrgyzstan's interim leader told the ousted president to stay away from the country for now, warning on Wednesday that Askar Akayev could cause more unrest if he returned and that the government could not guarantee his safety. Akayev, who fled this former Soviet republic last week after violent protests, hinted in a Russian television interview Tuesday that he might be willing to submit a formal resignation if he received security guarantees from parliament. He also said he wanted to come home. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, however, said Akayev's return could "give rise to mass unrest" in this impoverished country, which is home to a U.S. military base involved in the war on terrorist groups in Central Asia. "I believe his return is not advisable in the near future. The heat of passion has not subsided," Bakiyev added during a live television call-in show, his first major remarks to the nation of 5 million people. "It is hard to give guarantees." The interim president, an opposition leader who participated in last week's demonstrations, has said he intends to run in a presidential election scheduled for June 26. Another key opposition figure, Felix Kulov, suggested Wednesday that officials should first secure Akayev's resignation before talking about elections. Kulov resigned as coordinator of law enforcement agencies Wednesday, saying he succeeded in bringing order back to Bishkek's streets. He made his own live appearance on private Pyramid television shortly after Bakiyev, reassuring the population that the situation has stabilized. Some interpreted Kulov's resignation as a sign he was positioning himself to run for the presidency. In parliament, lawmakers appealed to the Supreme Court and Prosecutor General's Office to cancel a corruption conviction against Kulov, a former president who was released from jail only last week at the demand of protesters. Supporters say the charges were politically motivated. During Bakiyev's hourlong TV appearance, he said he wanted negotiations with Akayev, presumably over the ousted leader's formal resignation. The new Kyrgyz authorities see Akayev's resignation as an essential step in restoring order and giving legitimacy to the nation's leadership. ||||| E-mail this page to a friend Print Version 'Too Early' For Akaev's Return To Kyrgyzstan 30 March 2005 -- Kyrgyzstan's new prime minister and interim president, Kurmanbek Bakiev, today said that it is too early for ousted President Askar Akaev to return to the country. 30 March 2005 -- Kyrgyzstan's new prime minister and interim president, Kurmanbek Bakiev, today said that it is too early for ousted President Askar Akaev to return to the country. Akaev fled Kyrgyzstan on 24 March after opposition protesters stormed the government building in the capital Bishkek. He's currently in Russia, near Moscow. Earlier today, prominent opposition leader Feliks Kulov resigned as coordinator of Kyrgyzstan's law enforcement agencies, saying the situation has stabilized and that it's no longer necessary for him to do the job. Kulov earlier said that Kyrgyz security services would ensure the safety of Akaev and his family if they returned home. (Reuters/AP) For more background on the crisis in Kyrgyzstan, see RFE/RL's dedicated website Revolution In Kyrgyzstan Bakiev said Akaev's return could spark fresh unrest in the country.Akaev fled Kyrgyzstan on 24 March after opposition protesters stormed the government building in the capital Bishkek. He's currently in Russia, near Moscow.Earlier today, prominent opposition leader Feliks Kulov resigned as coordinator of Kyrgyzstan's law enforcement agencies, saying the situation has stabilized and that it's no longer necessary for him to do the job.Kulov earlier said that Kyrgyz security services would ensure the safety of Akaev and his family if they returned home.(Reuters/AP) top homepage features ||||| Kyrgyz Leader May Be Willing to Resign Wednesday March 30, 2005 12:46 AM AP Photo MOSB802 By STEVE GUTTERMAN Associated Press Writer BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - Ousted President Askar Akayev surfaced in Russia after fleeing this Central Asian nation and said Tuesday he would resign if given legal protections - the first sign he is willing to yield power. Akayev, who fled after protesters seized government headquarters last week, also accused his foes of plotting his overthrow for months. Interim leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said the storming of the government headquarters was never planned, and he called for an official inquiry. In an interview with Russia's state-run Channel One television, Akayev emphasized he is Kyrgyzstan's legitimate leader and suggested he would keep a hand in its fragile politics. Asked whether he was prepared to step down, Akayev replied: ``Of course, of course - if I am given the relevant guarantees and if it is in full accordance with the current legislation.'' Speaking earlier to Ekho Mosvky radio, Akayev emphasized he is ``the only elected and legitimate president of Kyrgyzstan'' and stressed that his term ends in autumn. He also said he wants to return to Kyrgyzstan, adding, ``I have the desire too help so that the newly elected president is legitimate.'' The comments suggested Akayev could resign to give legitimacy to a new leader, but also left the door open for more political maneuvering by a leader who was reviled by an increasing portion of the populace as his 15 years in power wore on. Akayev said he does not have confidence in the statements from Bakiyev and law enforcement coordinator Felix Kulov offering him immunity and security, and he said he would return only if parliament offered him ``personal safety guarantees.'' Akayev called Bakiyev's interim government illegitimate and claimed opposition forces choreographed Thursday's takeover in a ``anti-constitutional power grab.'' ``From the very beginning, the opposition planned to seize power, not just stage peaceful rallies,'' he said. The upheaval followed opposition accusations that Akayev's government had manipulated parliamentary elections in February and March to give him a compliant legislature, possibly so that he could amend the constitution to stay in power for another term. Akayev said the legislature elected this year was ``the only legitimate authority.'' He said he would be willing to hold negotiations with its speaker, Omurbek Tekebayev. Tekebayev told The Associated Press that negotiations with Akayev ``can only be on the transfer of power'' and must involve the whole nation. Speaking to Ekho Moskvy, Akayev accused his opponents of unleashing rowdy gangs that roamed streets emptied of police Thursday, smashing store windows and picking shelves clean. He said Bishkek returned to ``the Middle Ages.'' In the Channel One interview, he claimed those who stormed his headquarters were paid. Akayev said he left the building 30 minutes before the takeover, and that the last order he gave was ``not to use weapons under any circumstances'' - an attempt to portray himself as a peacemaker. His comments came hours after Bakiyev pledged to crack down on corruption that plagued Kyrgyzstan under Akayev. He said the government must ensure the presidential vote is ``clean, transparent and fair.'' Bakiyev said the government of the impoverished nation of 5 million must stay away from politics and focus on the economy. He also said Akayev caused his own downfall. ``When the people are being fooled, underestimated and degraded, this is the finale you get,'' he said. At the same time, Bakiyev - who was among thousands of demonstrators who marched through Bishkek before the seizure - announced an investigation into the storming of the government headquarters, seeking to distance himself from it and the looting that followed. The violence frightened and angered many in Kyrgyzstan and marred the opposition victory. ``We have to know and people have to know why this happened, who is to blame,'' he said. Also Tuesday, legislators from the previous parliament ended a struggle against their rivals elected in the disputed balloting. The decision by the old parliament's upper house to disband - a day after its lower house did the same - defers authority to the newly elected legislature. The decision risked rekindling the anger of protesters who helped topple Akayev. About 150 demonstrators gathered outside the legislature Tuesday while lawmakers met. They soon dispersed, but a smaller group later went to Bishkek's central square. ``New Parliament - Go Away,'' read one banner. ``The election wasn't honest. Seats were bought and sold,'' said Marat Mukashev, 53, as he walked on a boulevard near the parliament. He said the new legislature ``does not represent the people.'' Bakiyev, who had urged the old parliament to disband, said disputed races will be reviewed by courts and electoral officials but that ``we cannot dissolve the whole parliament.'' That statement won support from Kuban Orozov, a 20-year-old student standing on a Bishkek street corner. ``We don't need more chaos,'' he said. ``Now we need to try to let democracy work and that means letting the courts decide.'' Kyrgyzstan is the third former Soviet republic in the past 18 months - after Georgia and Ukraine - where the opposition was swept to power after mass protests against long-entrenched leaders. Strategically located, it hosts both U.S. and Russian military bases. It shares a border with China, has been a conduit for drugs and is a potential hotbed of Islamic extremism. | Hunne''In an interview broadcast on Russian state-run Channel One television, deposed Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev, when asked whether he was prepared to resign as president, replied, "Of course, of course - if I am given the relevant guarantees and if it is in full accordance with the current legislation." He added that he had "the desire to help so that the newly elected president is legitimate." While acting president and prime minister Kurmanbek Bakiyev and former acting minister of securities Felix Kulov have offered him immunity, he said he would only return if parliament offered him "personal safety guarantees." Bakiyev warned that Akayev's return could "give rise to mass unrest." In related news, acting minister of securities Felix Kulov has been removed from parliament on his own will, RIA Novosti reported the parliamentary press service as saying. He was reported as saying that "The set goal has been achieved: the situation in our republic has stabilized." |
By Dominic Casciani BBC News home affairs correspondent Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Exchange offices in the UK have stopped selling 500 euro banknotes because of their use by money launderers. The Serious Organised Crime Agency says 90% of the notes sold in the UK are in the hands of organised crime. Soca deputy director Ian Cruxton said 500 euros had become the currency of choice for gangs hiding their profits. The move means nobody will be able to buy the note in the UK - but travellers will be able to sell them if they enter the UK carrying them from abroad. There has been mounting international concern over the note, which is worth more than £400, and its use by criminals or tax evaders. Massive sums Soca says that an eight-month analysis of movements of the note in the UK revealed that it was almost exclusively used by money launderers shifting cash for major crime gangs. DISAPPEARING CASH £1m in £20 notes weighs 50kg Equivalent in 500 euros weighs 2.2kg One cereal box (see picture) can easily conceal 300,000 euros Spoils of crime become easier to smuggle Feature: Following the trail of the euro money launderers The British trade in the notes is thought to be worth some 500 million euros - but less than 10% of them are bought by legitimate tourists and business travellers. Financial crime investigators concluded that there was no credible or legitimate use for the note in the UK. Instead, gangs are reportedly shifting massive sums of sterling, typically from drug dealing, through "front" exchange businesses. Ian Cruxton, deputy director of Soca, told the BBC that the banknote had been secretly withdrawn from sale on 20 April. "When criminals want to move a bulk of cash inside the UK and, more importantly, out of the UK, one of the best ways to do that is to reduce the bulk massively both physically and in terms of the risks they pose of discovery," said Mr Cruxton. "The 500 euro note is really the note of choice among criminals. "It should now be impossible now to buy a 500 note over the counter from one of the suppliers. And that's going to have an effect on the criminals - it means they are going to have to find other means of trying to move their money." There have been widespread concerns among law enforcement agencies over the role of the 500 euro in money laundering, concerns that are identical to those raised about other similar high-value notes around the world. The European Central Bank created the note at the time of monetary union to replace high value notes which were popular in some of the Eurozone countries. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| By Dominic Casciani BBC News home affairs correspondent In some countries they're known as "Bin Ladens" - the banknote everybody knows exists but few, other than criminals, ever see. Now the 500 euro note is being withdrawn from sale in the UK. Like almost all organised crime, the breakfast cereal box plan was done with the minimum of fuss. Eftychia Symeonidoy stood outside a London apartment, casually holding the box under her arm. But instead of it containing the recommended daily amount of vitamins and minerals, it had been stuffed with 300,000 euros. As the undercover team from HM Revenue and Customs secretly filmed her, an ordinary estate car pulled up and the box was handed to the driver. It was another consignment of laundered drugs cash safely delivered - or so the gang thought. Caught on camera: The cereal box contained 300,000 euros Symeonidoy and the rest of the 13-strong laundering gang were all later convicted and jailed. The group smashed by HMRC investigators had taken £24m of dirty money from their clients in the criminal underworld - and returned "clean" euros. Every month, they'd take in between £1m and £4m in cash - massive bags of sterling notes. They had so much of it, they had to stack it on sofas and in cabinets, and stuff it in bags in cupboards. The jailing of that gang was a major breakthrough for investigators - but it's only the tip of the money laundering iceberg which revolves around fake bureau de change and the 500 Euro banknote. After eight months of rigorous analysis of currency trading in the UK, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has established that the 500 euro note is at the heart of money laundering. The reason is simple: it's easier to shift. At current exchange rates, the 500 euro note is worth about £430 - eight times more than the £50 note which is the most common high value sterling denomination. If a drugs gang collects up to £1m in twenties from its clients on street corners, those notes will weigh more than 50kg - about 50 bags of sugar. The equivalent in 500 euro banknotes weighs just over 2kg. Converting it becomes a no-brainer. So the launderers set up front businesses, buy in the 500 euro notes from the City - and then make the new, clean and small consignments of notes disappear. So how did the investigators know the British market in 500 euro notes was driven by drugs gangs rather than honest tourists or business travellers? Ian Cruxton, deputy director of Soca and head of its proceeds of crime investigations, said they tracked the note's movements and saw something odd. One suspicious exchange bureau identified by law enforcement agencies was operating out of an office that didn't even have a sign above the door. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. It asked the note wholesalers (the major banks and well-known international currency businesses) to supply it with four million euros worth of the bank notes in one year. Those orders were greater than the entire amount sold to travellers through the Post Office's network of 12,500 counters. 'The note of choice' In other words, there were two markets: legitimate High Street businesses and something far murkier around the corner. "There's been a significant body of evidence over time that has recognised that high denomination notes are an important means of reducing the bulk of cash," says Mr Cruxton. "The 500 euro note is really the note of choice among criminals. "We estimate that more than 90% of the 500 euro notes that are provided in the UK have actually gone into the hands of serious organised criminals." Economists have long charted how large denomination notes facilitate money laundering. The reality is that from now on people are not going to be able to go into wholesale bank suppliers, the money bureaus and ask for a supply of 500 euro notes Ian Cruxton The 500 euro note was born in 2002. But two years before that, the similarly high-value Canadian $1,000 bill was shredded on advice from law enforcement agencies. A decade on, the 500 euro bill has taken centre stage. An internal Bank of Italy report warned last year about the mafia's use of the note, saying it was just adding to the national problems of tax evasion. And follow the money further, and you will find vast quantities of high value euros in South America in the hands of the drugs cartels. Eurozone warned Professor Richard Portes of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, says the Eurozone countries were warned before the first note rolled off its high-tech anti-forgery printing press. "It was quite clear from day one that once they decided they would have something as large as a 500 euro note that it would give the euro an economic advantage to the $100 bill. It would be used by the Mafia and in all sorts of organised underground crime," he says. Prof Portes is pleased at the note's withdrawal from UK foreign exchanges, as it will "make life much more difficult for people who should find life difficult". But there's no plan to withdraw the banknote itself because it plays a role in the economic culture of some countries. In some nations, particularly Germany and Italy, people often prefer cash to plastic - a demand that has risen since the credit crunch hit world markets. These nations wanted a high value note euro note when they gave up their own currencies. HOW MONEY LAUNDERING WORKS Cash gathered - such as from drugs deals Gangs use specialist launderers They convert it to high value euro notes Small consignments smuggled abroad It passes through bank accounts or assets like property Wealth emerges elsewhere as clean cash Crime bosses avoid prosecution There's no doubt high denomination notes help low-level domestic tax evasion, but that was not the responsibility of the European Central Bank. The question today, however, is whether the bank will face greater pressure to ditch the 500 note because of the evidence linking it to money laundering. In the meantime, there is a more immediate question. Will banning the sale of the 500 note in the UK do any good? Won't money launderers switch to another commodity... like the 200 euro note? Ian Cruxton of Soca says that's entirely what investigators expect the gangs to do - but there are reasons to be optimistic because they're trying to disrupt the "business practices" of organised crime and force gangs to make mistakes. "The sheer bulk of notes that they will have to move, if they continue to try to move it through cash is going to make it much more risky," says Mr Cruxton. "They're going to have to change the methods that they use, make themselves much more open to intervention. "Given the nature of organised crime, taking out isolated criminals does not bring a significant benefit. "But the opportunity to take out something like this, when we remove one of the key enablers that benefit the whole criminal community, gives us an opportunity to have a much greater effect." Below is a selection of your comments If we were able to use sales of the 500 Euro note to track and catch money launderers, why are we withdrawing it? Mark Niel, Milton Keynes I don't think this is legal. I have been abroad and I take 3000 euros in my money belt, in 500 notes, and it is completely concealed. It seems very very stupid to ban the 500 Euro note if 90% are used by criminals, the police seem to have cut off one way of following the illegal money. It appears that the police are not very interested in money laundering. So next all the $100 US C-Notes will be banned. Gerry, Newport This stinks. What about honest businessmen like myself who have financial interest in Spain and Italy yet reside in the UK? Who require euros to be sent back home to Iran my home country without the dictatorial regime knowing? The UK/US wont let the Iranian banks in London do anything so they have to increase the price of remitting money back home. You take Dollars to Iran no one will accept it, you take Sterling or low denomination Euros and you get an unfair haircut. The only note which makes most economic sense is the 500 euro note. Please do not ban it because of criminals when we who pay taxes and earn money legally require it as well. Rey, London In retrospect, given that the circulation of the £50 note in the UK is regarded as a barometer for the size of the Black Economy, the fact that there existed a note worth eight times that in value should have been concern enough nearly a decade after its introduction that it would be used for illicit purposes. Using the same logic, the 200-Euro note should be culled as well. The only other reason to have it would be that it would be available should the real value of the Euro plummet due to hyperinflation. Paul T Horgan, Bracknell, UK So the Canadians learned the hard way that these very high denomination notes are more use to criminals than honest people. What does Brussels do? Ignore the lessons and produce their own. Just how much EU tax payers money has been wasted on something that ought to have been obvious anyway? Andy Blake, London Very well but what about the Swiss 1000 chf note The Swiss banks don't care from where the money comes from or where it goes, and as there is no enforced border its perfect for money laundering, being worth about 650 pounds sterling. Bill, Geneva Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| 'Currency of the criminal': Britain axes 500 euro note over organised crime fears By Jack Doyle Last updated at 8:20 AM on 13th May 2010 Such is its popularity among criminals, the 500 euro note has earned itself a nickname - the Bin Laden. It is so called because you know it's out there, you know what it looks like, it moves around a lot but no-one ever sees it. But the note's days as a favourite for organised crime gangs, terrorists and money launderers may be numbered after it was withdrawn from circulation in Britain. Withdrawn: More than £4million of 500 euro notes had been imported by one backstreet money supplier, according to Soca The Serious Organised Crime Agency said there there was 'no credible legitimate use' for the notes - which are worth £426 each. UK wholesalers agreed to stop selling the distinctive pink and purple note last month after Soca investigators found nine out of ten were used for illegal activities. The move is likely to heap pressure on the European Central Bank to withdraw the note from circulation entirely. It remains legal tender in the UK and there are fears British criminals will now simply source their 500 euro notes on the continent, or turn to the smaller value 200 euro note which is worth £170. Easy to smuggle: A roll of 25,000 euros in 500 euro notes can be hidden inside a cigarette packet Before the ban came into force, Soca found one backstreet money supplier which imported more than £4million worth of the notes in a single year - more than the number used by major high street banks. Ian Cruxton, Soca's deputy director, said: 'There is no doubt that the main UK demand for the euro 500 note comes from serious organised criminals. BIG MONEY: THE WORLD'S LARGEST DENOMINATIONS Euro Highest Denomination: 500 note Value in Pounds £426 US $ 100 note £67.19 Chinese Yuan 100 note £9.83 Australian Dollar 100 note £60.20 Canadian Dollar 100 note £65.99 South African Rand 200 note £17.95 Swiss Franc 1,000 note £609.86 Singapore Dollar 1,000 note £487.18 Russian Ruble 5,000 note £112.31 Indian Rupee 1,000 note £14.94 'The banknote wholesalers have shown decisive leadership in withdrawing supply. 'This is a bold and welcome move which will cause substantial disruption to criminals' ability to move and launder large quantities of cash.' Using the high value note - which is exceeded in value only by the 1,000 Swiss Franc note - makes it easier for criminals to smuggle and hide their dirty money. One million pounds in £50 notes is made up of 20,000 individual notes and weighs 50kg. But one million pounds in 500 euro notes is just 2,300 notes and weighs little more than 2kg. Soca found a roll of 25,000 euros can be hidden inside a cigarette packet and criminals have even been found to ingest up to 150,000 euros to escape detection. Last year the trade in 500 euro notes in the UK was worth £424million. Earlier this year The Mail exposed the link between 500 euro notes and South American drug gangs. It is thought nine out of ten of the 500 euro notes outside the EU are in Colombia. But despite the overwhelming evidence that the note is being misused, the ECB has refused to accept it should be scrapped. A spokesman said six European countries had notes worth between 200 euros and 500 euros before the currencies merged. He said: 'Meeting the demand now covered by the €200 and €500 banknotes by replacing them with lower denominations would increase the number of banknotes and thus lead to higher production and processing costs. Therefore the denominational structure of the euro banknotes will remain unchanged. Stash: Soca discovered a large amount of 500 euro notes hidden in the side panel of a car in Bulgaria Popular with crime gangs: This suitcase was used to hide 500 euro notes 'Moreover, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent intensification of the financial crisis, assets on savings accounts were turned into cash, which boosted the value of euro banknotes in circulation by an additional €35 to €40 billion. 'Demand was particularly strong for high-denomination banknotes as a store of value. In February members of a gang of Iraqi Kurds were jailed for up to five years for laundering £25million in drug profits. | The has been withdrawn from sale in the UK Currency exchanges offices in the United Kingdom have today stopped the sale of 500 notes after an investigation by the (SOCA) concluded that up to 90% of the notes were being used by and other organised criminals. Ian Cruxton, deputy director of SOCA, said that the Euro had been chosen as the currency of choice by criminal gangs due to the large denomination of the notes, adding "it should now be impossible now to buy a €500 note over the counter from one of the suppliers. And that's going to have an effect on the criminals — it means they are going to have to find other means of trying to move their money." The note was introduced by the European Central Bank in 2002, when the currency itself officially entered into circulation. The notoriety of the note's criminal uses has earned it the nickname "the Bin Laden" after Al-Qaeda suspect Osama bin Laden — something that everyone knows is out there, but law-abiding people rarely see. The Euro is the official currency of 16 European countries, colloquially known as the , as well as unofficially in a . Since its introduction, there has been mounting international concern over criminal use of the large denomination note, which facilitates money laundering by allowing large concentrations of cash to be concealed in small spaces, for example, €20,000 can be concealed in a cigarette packet and £1 million in €500 notes weighs 2.2kg while the equivalent in weighs 50kg. The highest denomination note in Sterling is , making high-value denominations in other currencies, such as the Euro, tempting for those wishing to move large amounts of money. When asked if criminal demand for the note would simply be displaced to other high-value notes, such as the (the next-highest denomination), Ian Cruxton, deputy director of SOCA said he believed that would be the case, however, with less of the €200 note in circulation, their movements would be easier to track than those of the €500. Tourists returning to the UK from holidays in Europe will still be able to change their €500 notes for Sterling but will be unable to purchase them. The European Central Bank has no plans for a withdrawal of the note, given the legitimate demand for it in countries such as Germany and Italy, where cash is used far more frequently than alternatives such as credit cards. |
One of Scotland Yard's most wanted criminals has been arrested in Holland. Cunningham was on Scotland Yard's list of most wanted fugitives Noel Cunningham, 47, spent six years on the run after he and two accomplices broke out of a prison van. A guard was shot in the leg and another was pistol-whipped during their escape in London in 2003. A police spokesman said: "They were being taken from Brixton Prison to the Inner London Crown Court where they were due to face charges in connection with the theft of £1.25m from a security van. "Their prison van was ambushed by two armed men, who shot one prison guard and pistol-whipped another." Detectives thought Cunningham was living in Spain, but sources said he was tracked down in Holland. He was reportedly arrested in the Amstelveen area of Amsterdam at 8pm on Tuesday. He is expected to be returned to the UK in the next few days. Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said: "Since his escape Noel Cunningham has been one of the most wanted men in Britain. "So there's clearly going to be some delight with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which has really been the principal agency in trying to find him." Cunningham was named in a list of Britain's 40 most wanted criminals. Over the past few years, police have made a number of appeals for information that could help them track down the fugitives. Brunt said with the latest capture, it means 23 of the 40 have now been arrested. Crimestoppers is behind the Operation Captura appeals to track down Britain's most wanted fugitives. ||||| Noel Cunningham was arrested in Amsterdam on Tuesday One of Britain's most wanted men has been arrested by police in the Netherlands, Scotland Yard has said. Noel Cunningham, 47, escaped from a Securicor vehicle when it was ambushed by two gunmen outside Inner London Crown Court in 2003. He had been due to appear in court on charges of conspiring to steal £1.25m from a security van in south London. He was held in Amsterdam on Tuesday by Dutch police acting on information from the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Cunningham was sprung from custody along with Clifford Hobbs on 10 June, 2003. The driver of the van was shot in the leg and a guard beaten about the head during the escape. 'Inside job' Hobbs stayed with friends in south London before fleeing on a fake passport to Spain. He was arrested and extradited to the UK in 2007 and was jailed for life in February last year after he admitted organising an "inside job" on the security van in March 2003. Clifford Hobbs fled to Spain after being sprung in 2003 Officers, who had been tipped off about the raid, moved in as the van made a pick-up from a cafe in Effra Road in Brixton, south London. Hobbs and Mr Cunningham had been arrested at the scene in a stolen BMW and sent to Brixton Prison to await trial. Hobbs, from Rotherhithe, south-east London, also admitted escaping from lawful custody and a jury at Woolwich Crown Court found him guilty of having a firearm with intent to escape from custody. Soon after he went on the run Mr Cunningham's mother urged her son to give himself up. Margaret Cunningham said: "He must give himself up. It's no good being on the run from the police." A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Extensive work to trace him by the Metropolitan Police Service and the Serious Organised Crime Agency led to the false identity he was using being uncovered and his arrest last night in the Amstelveen suburb of Amsterdam. "He will be appearing in custody in Holland on 11 September where extradition proceedings will be instigated following his first appearance." Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version | One of the criminals listed as "most wanted" by the United Kingdom's Scotland Yard, has been arrested in the Netherlands after escaping six years ago. A map of the Netherlands. The capital is highlighted by the black dot within the red dot. Noel Cunningham, 47, was being taken to Inner London Crown Court in June 2003 and was going to be tried in there for a planned £1,250,000 robbery of a security van in Brixton, South London, England. However, just outside the court, two armed men ambushed the Securior police vehicle and shot the prison van driver in the leg before pistol-whipping a guard. Cunningham and two accomplices managed to break out of the police van and escape. Noel subsequently became one of 40 of Scotland Yard's most wanted criminals in the United Kingdom. He was facing charges of conspiracy to armed robbery, possession of a firearm and escaping lawful custody. He was finally arrested in the Amstelveen area of Amsterdam in the Netherlands at 2000 hours on Tuesday and held by police forces there. He had been living under an assumed name. His arrest makes him the twenty-third criminal arrested out of the full forty. He is expected to return to the United Kingdom within the next few days. A Metropolitan Police spokesman has said: "Noel Francis Cunningham, 47, was arrested by Dutch police at about 8pm last night. Mr Cunningham was unlawfully at large and a European Arrest Warrant had been circulated for his arrest after he escaped from a prison van on June 10, 2003. The van had left HMP Brixton to travel to the Inner London Crown Court, Avonmouth Street, SE1. "Extensive work to trace him by the Metropolitan Police Service and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) led to the false identity he was using being uncovered and his arrest last night in the Amstelveen suburb of Amsterdam. He will be appearing in custody in Holland on September 11 where extradition proceedings will be instigated following his first appearance." |
The head of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plan to spend nearly $2 trillion to push the U.S. economy out of recession as "the road to hell" that EU governments must avoid. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told... Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the liquidity of the global financial market." (AP Photo/Getty Images ) The blunt comments by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to the European Parliament on Wednesday highlighted simmering European differences with Washington ahead of a key summit next week on fixing the world economy. It was the strongest pushback yet from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc bristles from U.S. criticism that it is not spending enough to stimulate demand. Shocked by the outburst, other European politicians went into damage control mode, with some reproaching the Czech leader for his language and others reaffirming their good diplomatic ties with the United States. The leaders of EU's major nations — France, Britain and Germany, among others — largely ignored Topolanek and his remarks. Obama pays his first official visit to Europe next week, aiming to thrash out reforms to the global financial system with the Group of 20 nations and call on NATO allies to commit more troops to the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Europeans leaders hope the new U.S. administration will agree with them on tightening oversight over the global financial system — which they see as crucial to fixing the global economy. Instead, the United States is focusing its efforts on economic stimulus and plans to spend heavily to try and lift itself out of recession with a $787 billion plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending. To encourage banks to lend again, the U.S. government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the "toxic assets" — devalued and untradeable assets — from banks' balance sheets. Obama insisted Tuesday that his massive budget proposal will put the ailing U.S. economy back on its feet. "This budget is inseparable from this recovery," he said, "because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity." ||||| The scale of transatlantic friction over a concerted plan for global economic recovery was exposed today when the current European Union president branded Barack Obama administration's programme as a "road to hell" and said European leaders were "quite alarmed" at the White House's policies. Mirek Topolanek, the Czech prime minister, revealed that last week's Brussels summit ‑ which exposed differences between Gordon Brown and Germany's Angela Merkel ‑ heard strong criticism of the US recovery programme. The incendiary comments were made in Topolanek's report to MEPs at the European parliament in Strasbourg on last week's EU summit. They came only a week before Obama arrives in Europe for the first time for the G20 summit, hosted by Brown in London, aimed at outlining global action to tackle recession. Topolanek's criticism flatly contradicted Brown's comments, delivered in his first speech to the European parliament on Tuesday, in which the prime minister talked of a "new era" of transatlantic cooperation on the financial crisis. Topolanek, who is a lame duck prime minister after a vote of no confidence in his government in Prague on Tuesday evening, was speaking not as the Czech government chief, but as the chair of last week's EU summit of 27 governments. He warned that the Obama administration's opting for massive stimulus programmes, amounting to almost $1tn, risked destabilising global financial markets. "The US treasury secretary talks about permanent action and we at our [EU summit] were quite alarmed by that. He talks about an extensive US stimulus campaign. All of these steps are the road to hell." Yesterday, Brown told the same chamber he had just spoken to Obama in preparation for next week's London summit. "Never in recent years have we had an American leadership so keen at all levels to cooperate with Europe on financial stability, climate change, security and development," said Brown. Topolanek's frank remarks exposed the transatlantic gulf over how best to tackle the crisis ahead of the G20 summit just as Brown tours the Americas to try to secure the outlines of a global pact. The collapse of the Czech leader's government compounds the mood of gloom and heightens the climate of political and economic instability pervading Europe as it seeks to tackle the crisis. The fall of the Czech government is the fifth such collapse in Europe in recent weeks and the third in eastern Europe, all either directly or indirectly caused by the financial and economic turmoil. Further evidence of emergency action and looming trouble came today when Romania secured a €20bn rescue package from the EU and the International Monetary Fund, becoming the third of the EU's new members in central Europe to call in the IMF. Topolanek's relegation to lame duck comes in the midst of what should have been the twin highlights of his career ‑ being the first leader of a former Soviet bloc country to chair the EU and 10 days before he welcomes Obama to a summit in Prague. Topolanek is likely to remain in office as a caretaker until his EU presidency ends in June, but the role of steering the EU through a series of crisis summits is likely to be impaired. The power vacuum in Prague strengthens the hand of the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, the most Eurosceptic leader in Europe. He is an ardent opponent of the Lisbon treaty streamlining the way the EU is run and is the continent's leading climate change denier. Both issues, Lisbon and global warming, are at the top of the EU's agenda. The Czech Republic is the only EU country, apart from Ireland, that has yet to ratify the Lisbon treaty. Alexandr Vondra, the deputy prime minister, concededthat "it will be a lot more difficult now to convince people to vote in favour". The prospect of further upsets to the ill-starred attempt to rewrite the way the EU operates has European leaders panicking or despairing. "[Lisbon] should not be used as a weapon on domestic issues," said Jose Manuel Barroso, the European commission president. "Rejection would only serve to damage other countries. All 27 member states have signed up to the treaty and this agreement has to be respected." | Mirek TopolanekMirek Topolanek, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and the head of the European Union, called United States President Barack Obama's plan to spend almost US$2 trillion to revive the country's faltering economy a "road to hell". he said, warning that the US's massive bailouts could risk destabilising financial markets worldwide. He urged other EU governments to avoid making similar plans. The remarks were made during Topolanek's report to Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday. The comments are in sharp contrast to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday, in which he spoke of a "new era" of cooperation in the ongoing global recession between the United States and Europe. "Never in recent years have we had an American leadership so keen at all levels to cooperate with Europe on financial stability, climate change, security and development," Brown said Tuesday. Mirek Topolanek has become a lame duck prime minister after he was ousted in a vote of no confidence in his government in Prague late Tuesday. |
The military has been battling Houthi fighters in the north of Yemen since 2004 [AFP/HO/YEMENI ARMY] The military has been battling Houthi fighters in the north of Yemen since 2004 [AFP/HO/YEMENI ARMY] The Yemeni government says it has inflicted "heavy losses" on opposition fighters in the latest clashes in the north of the country. At least 17 suspected Houthi fighters, named after the group's leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, were killed overnight in clashes in the mountainous province of Saada, local news agencies reported on Thursday. "The army and security forces have inflicted heavy losses upon the saboteurs and the rebels whether in terms of lives or equipment," the Saba news agency quoted a local official as saying. Several vehicles carrying aid, ammunition and weaponry were destroyed as military aircraft bombarded the area, the military said. The conflict between the Houthi fighters, who belong to the Shia Zaidi sect, and government forces first broke out in 2004, but last month the fighting intensified as the group pushed to topple the government. Fighting rages Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the al-Mazraq refugee camp, said that there was heavy fighting little more than 10 miles away from his position near the border with Saudi Arabia. "The calm has been punctuated by heavy artillery," he said "The fighting has been raging over the last four weeks with no lulls whatsoever because the Houthi rebels have a heavy presence over there and are still putting up fierce resistance." Thousands of people have fled the fighting and aid groups have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis in the remote region. "They are asking the government and international aid agencies for more support - medical assistance, drinking water, tents and food," Al Jazeera's Ahelbarra said. "The Yemeni government is very concerned that this could become a prolonged conflict ... and therefore it might need more international assistance to set up permanent infrastructure for the thousands of refugees." A brief ceasefire was agreed on Friday after aid agencies asked to be allowed assess to help the displaced, but fighting resumed after just four hours. UN agencies estimate the conflict has added another 50,000 to 100,000 people to those previously left homeless by earlier fighting in one of the poorest Arab countries. 'Malignant cancer' The Yemeni government has vowed to defeat the Houthis and last week launched operation "Scorched Earth" against the group. "We know who they are. They claim to have a legitimate right to rule the country, and that the current government in power since the revolution 47 years ago is an usurpating power," Ali Abdallah Saleh, the Yemeni president, said in an interview to Al Jazeera aired on Wednesday. "They claim that they have a divine right, and that they are the descendants of the Prophet. In fact, they are murders, rebels and outlaws. "We need to continue our mission in order to eradicate this malignant cancer." ||||| SANAA Yemeni forces killed 17 Shi'ite rebels and captured four in fighting late on Wednesday in the north of the country, official sources said. Security forces pushed out Houthi rebels from a number of new positions in the mountainous province of Saada, the sources said. They denied a rebel claim on Wednesday that a family had been killed in the Talh region when their house was hit by rockets. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Wednesday the rebels, often referred to as "Houthis" after the name of their tribal leader, were receiving funding from groups in Iran as well as from Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.[ID:nL916436] Last month fresh fighting erupted between Zaydi Shi'ite Muslims in the Saada region and government forces. The conflict first broke out in 2004. The rebels, loyal to leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, accuse Saudi Arabia, whose Wahhabi brand of Islam regards Shi'ites as heretics, of backing the government, while the government sees an Iranian hand behind the rebels. Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, has been battling the rebellion in the north as well as a wave of al Qaeda attacks and rising secessionist sentiment in the south. | The government of Yemen has said that it killed at least seventeen suspected members of a rebel group in the northern part of the country on Thursday. The rebels, belonging to the Shi'ite Huthi group, were killed after violence overnight in Saada, a mountainous region in northern Yemen. "The army and security forces have inflicted heavy losses upon the saboteurs and the rebels whether in terms of lives or equipment," a local official said as quoted by the Saba news agency. Skirmishes between Yemeni forces and the Houthi rebels, named after their former leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, began during the 2004 Sa'dah insurgency. Clashes between the two have escalated in recent weeks, as the fighters attempted to overthrow the government. |
Maciej Żurawski podjął ostateczną decyzję - od następnego sezonu będzie grał w szkockim klubie Celtic F.C. Oznacza to, że negocjacje Wisły Kraków ze Szkotami zostaną wznowione już dziś. Do uzgodnienia pozostało jeszcze kilka drobnych szczegółów, więc obie strony mają nadzieję na jak najszybsze sfinalizowanie kontraktu. Rywalizację z Celtikiem przegrał turecki zespół Trabzonspor, który oferował kwotę 3,4 mln euro za wiązaną transakcję Żurawskiego wraz z Tomaszem Kłosem. Turcy już wcześniej pozyskali innego zawodnika Wisły - Mirosława Szymkowiaka. Działacze Celticu wyłożyli na stół 3 mln euro. Oferują czteroletni kontrakt powyżej 700 tysięcy (PAP podaje 750 tys., zaś Gazeta Krakowska 720 tys.) euro na rok. Turcy z kolei przekazali menadżerowi Grzegorzowi Bednarzowi informację o gotowości zapłaty miliona euro na rok. Jak podkreślił sam zainteresowany, była to być może jego "najważniejsza decyzja w życiu". "Oferta finansowa Turków była lepsza, ale brakowało w niej konkretów. Tamten kierunek był atrakcyjny także i dlatego, że gra tam mój przyjaciel Mirek Szymkowiak. Ale sportowo Celtic jest najlepszym wyborem. Kiedy wylatywałem z Glasgow po negocjacjach z Gordonem Strachanem czułem, że tam wrócę." "Cieszę się, że mam już za sobą ten wybór i teraz mogę myśleć tylko o piłce." - dodał. Wtóruje mu Dariusz Wdowczyk, który był pomocnikiem menadżera oraz tłumaczem w tym transferze - "Jeżeli Maciek chce grać w cywilizowanym kraju, a nie spacerować po ulicach z kozami, to wybierze Celtic." Z wyboru Wysp Brytyjskich zadowolony jest również prezes Wisły Kraków, Janusz Basałaj. "Dla prestiżu Wisły ale i dla przyszłości sportowej piłkarza ten kierunek jest zdecydowanie lepszy." Decyzję o wyborze klubu podjął sam zawodnik. Klub zdecydował się na taki krok, ponieważ oferty i Szkotów i Turków były porównywalne. Celtic F.C. będzie czwartym klubem dla którego gra Maciej Żurawski. Wcześniej reprezentował barwy Warty Poznań (jako wychowanek), Lecha Poznań i Wisły Kraków. Źródła [ edytuj ] ||||| ZAMKNIJ Jak niemal każda strona w internecie, także i ta używa cookie. Korzystając z naszej strony akceptujesz ten fakt i wyrażasz zgodę na używanie cookie zgodnie z ustawieniami Twojej przeglądarki. Więcej o cookie... | FC Celtic Logo Forward Maciej Żurawski, one of the most famous Polish footballers, accepted a contract offer from Celtic yesterday. He is now waiting for agreement between Celtic and his former club, Wisla Krakow, where he played for nearly 6 years. Wisła wants to receive a lump sum payment at once, but Celtic would like to pay circa 3 millions euro in installments. Żurawski, the star of Polish national football team, rejected an offer from Trabzonspor. The Turks had offered approximately 100 thousand euro more for him. If he had accepted this offer, he would play alongside former Wisła's player, Mirosław Szymkowiak. Many people, including former Celtic star Dariusz Wdowczyk, believe he made the right decision. He will play for a club with a long history of international presence, and with chances of appearing in the Champions League this year, something Żurawski's expressed as his dream. Celtic will be Żurawski's fourth club in his career. He has played for Warta Poznan, Lech Poznan, and for Wisla. He will earn over €700 thousands per year. |
Iraqi police officers and soldiers celebrated on Thursday after casting their ballots in early voting for the parliamentary elections. Credit... Joao Silva for The New York Times ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. At least 14 people have been killed in Baghdad on the first day of voting in Iraq's parliamentary elections. Suicide bombers attacked two polling stations in different areas of the city killing at least seven people and wounding many others. Earlier in the day, a mortar attack on a crowded market killed seven and wounded at least 10 people. The poll is seen as a security test for Iraq as the US prepares to reduce its military presence in the coming months. The early voting involves hundreds of thousands of government employees, the sick and prisoners. Tight security The first suicide bomber attacked a polling station in the Mansur district of Baghdad. Three soldiers were killed and 15 wounded. EARLY VOTING Between 600,000 and 700,000 people due to vote before polls on Sunday Most are members of the security services Hospital patients and prisoners also able to vote on Thursday About 19 million due at polls on 7 March In pictures: Iraq poll violence Iraq: Key facts and figures Guide to groups in Iraqi election Q&A: Iraqi parliamentary polls A little under an hour later another suicide bomber blew himself up in central Baghdad, killing at least four and wounding 10 others. There were conflicting reports about the first attack of the day in north-western Baghdad. Agence France-Presse news agency reported that a mortar had been fired at a polling station, but hit a crowded market. Seven people, four of them children, were killed and 23 wounded. Other reports said the blast was caused by a roadside booby-trap or a rocket fired near a school due to be used as a polling station on Sunday. On Wednesday, three suicide bombers attacked police and a hospital in Baquba, killing at least 30 people. Insurgents have threatened to disrupt the elections - regarded as an important test of Iraq's efforts to achieve sovereignty and overcome sectarian divisions. "Terrorists wanted to hamper the elections, thus they started to blow themselves up in the streets," said Deputy Interior Minister Ayden Khalid Qader said. The majority of the country goes to the polls on Sunday. More than 6,000 candidates are competing for 325 seats in the election. The alliance led by current Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has claimed credit for a sharp fall in violence between Shia and Sunni militants. Mr Maliki is being challenged by a number of groups, including a Shia coalition that includes radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and ex-PM Iyad Allawi's secular cross-sectarian alliance. Travel around the country has been restricted and the authorities have cancelled all leave for security services. On polling day itself, more than 200,000 security personnel will be on duty in Baghdad. The US is planning to reduce its military presence by about half in the coming months and withdraw completely from Iraq by 2011. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version | During the first day of voting in Iraq elections, two suicide bombers have attacked polling stations in Baghdad, killing at least 14. The attacks occurred during early voting in for the elections, which allow government employees, the sick and prisoners to vote ahead of the elections on Sunday. Two attacks occurred, about an hour apart, in different districts of Baghdad. According to the official count, at least 14 people died in the attacks, not counting attacks the day before that killed 31 people. Unofficially, reports from the scene of the attacks suggested that these counts were significantly less than the actual toll. According to officials, the attacks were carried out by insurgents trying to disrupt the elections, which are seen as a pivotal event in Iraq's attempts to unify the country. In preparation for the elections, and in response to the threats posed by the insurgents, the Iraqi government has undertaken substantial security efforts, including extensive planning for the event, as well as working with American military forces. Despite the preparations, a senior official within the government acknowledged the threat of violence, saying that until a stable government is formed, the potential for further attacks still exists. |
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 - Page updated at 12:00 AM E-mail article Print view Share: Digg Newsvine A group of gay-marriage supporters could begin collecting signatures today for a November ballot initiative that would limit marriage in Washington to couples willing and able to have children. The measure would also dissolve the union of those who remain childless three years after marrying. Are they serious? Gregory Gadow, of the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, said the group hopes to make a point by parodying a state Supreme Court ruling last year that denied gays the right to marry because, among other reasons, such unions don't further the purpose of procreation. Gadow, a computer programmer who lives on Capitol Hill, said that premise "has never been subject to public examination." The justices, in a 5-4 ruling in July, upheld Washington's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which limits marriage to a union of one man and one woman. Gadow said his alliance — whose name itself is part of the parody, forming the acronym DOMA — is a loosely organized group of 15 or so friends. While they will work to get Initiative 957 on the ballot and passed in November, Gadow said he doesn't really want to see it enacted — and would expect the Supreme Court ultimately to strike it down as unconstitutional. Read the initiative Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance: www.wa-doma.org And that's the point, he said. By striking down I-957, he believes the court would be forced to confront its decision in the gay-marriage case. "We want people to think about the purpose of marriage," he said. "If it exists for the purpose of procreation, they must understand then that these are the consequences." The Rev. Joseph Fuiten of Cedar Park Assembly of God sees it all as nonsense — and doubts the sponsors will put much effort into it. They would need to gather at least 224,880 signatures by July 6 to get the initiative on the November ballot. "It's so obviously a joke, poking fun at the argument that marriage is an institution for the having of children," Fuiten said. "I read it, laughed and threw it away." Other gay-rights groups don't appear too eager to back the proposal, either. Longtime gay-rights activist Bill Dubay said that while he gets the point of the initiative, it is unlikely he'd sign it. "I don't think anybody in the gay community wants to take someone else's rights away," he said. "We just want to gain the rights that everybody else has." The gay-rights organization Equal Rights Washington also won't endorse it, pointing out that families come in all forms, some of which don't include children. State laws, it said, should help — not hurt — families. Gadow said the alliance would introduce two other proposals over the next few years, one that would prohibit divorce or separation by married people who have children together and another that would make having a child together the equivalent of marriage. Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com ||||| I-957 would require married couples to have kids Story Published: Feb 5, 2007 at 3:33 PM PST Story Updated: Feb 6, 2007 at 5:19 PM PST By Associated Press Watch the story OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Proponents of same-sex marriage have introduced an initiative that would put a whole new twist on traditional unions between men and women: It would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriages annulled. Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, which was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage. In that 5-4 ruling, the court found that state lawmakers were justified in passing the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts marriage to unions between a man and woman. Under I-957, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriages would be subject to annulment. All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in them would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits. "Absurd? Very," the group says on its Web site, which adds it is planning two more initiatives involving marriage and procreation. "But there is a rational basis for this absurdity. By floating the initiatives, we hope to prompt discussion about the many misguided assumptions" underlying the Supreme Court's ruling. Gregory Gadow, who filed I-957 last month, said the three-year timeframe was arbitrary. "We did toy with the idea of (requiring) procreation before marriage," he said. "We didn't want to piss off the fundamentalists too much." Gadow said that if the group's initiatives were passed, the Supreme Court would be forced to strike them down as unconstitutional, which he believes would weaken the original ruling upholding the Defense of Marriage Act. But he said he highly doubts any of the initiatives will pass, and that they are being done "in the spirit of political street theater." "Our intention is not to actually put this into law," he said. "All we want is to get this on the ballot and cause people to talk about it." The group's Web site gives another reason: "And at the very least, it should be good fun to see the social conservatives who have long screamed that marriage exists for the sole purpose of procreation be forced to choke on their own rhetoric." Cheryl Haskins, executive director of Allies for Marriage & Children, agreed with Gadow's group on at least one point about the initiative: "It's absurd," she said. Haskins said opponents of same-sex marriage "have never said that the sole purpose of marriage is procreation." "When we talk about defending the institution of marriage, we're talking about the union of a man and a woman," she said. "Some of those unions produce children and some of them don't." With I-957, "you're dictating people's choices in a way that is utterly ridiculous," she said. However, Gadow noted that the Supreme Court's majority decision specifically mentioned procreation throughout. The opinion written by Justice Barbara Madsen concluded that "limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers the state's interests in procreation and encouraging families with a mother and father and children biologically related to both." Gadow said the argument is unfair when you're dealing with same-sex couples who are unable to have children together. "What we are trying to do is display the discrimination that is at the heart of last year's ruling," he said. Even the Legislature's most prominent proponent of same-sex marriage, Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, said he thought the initiative was misguided. While the "absurdity" of the Supreme Court decision should be discussed, that discussion needs to take place in the Legislature, he said. "I don't think the initiative process should be used to determine the rights and protections of marriage," he said. Murray, one of five openly gay lawmakers in the Legislature, is sponsoring a measure that would create domestic partnerships for same-sex couples and another to allow same-sex marriage. The domestic partnership measure has passed out of committee and a vote on the Senate floor could come within weeks. The sponsor of the same-sex marriage measure in the House, Rep. Jamie Pedersen, said he supported the effort "to draw attention to the hypocrisy of some of those who oppose marriage equality" but opposed the initiative. "For the same reason I don't think same-sex couples should be excluded from marriage, I don't think heterosexual married couples should be forced to procreate," said Pedersen, D-Seattle. Supporters of I-957 must gather at least 224,800 valid signatures by July 6 to put it on the November ballot. The measure's backers said the two additional initiatives they plan would prohibit divorce or separation when a married couple has children, and would make having a child together the equivalent of marriage. Gadow said his goal is to raise $300,000 to spend on advertising on the first initiative. ||||| OLYMPIA, Wash. - An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled. Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage. Related Content Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance Under the initiative, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children in order to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriage would be subject to annulment. All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in those marriages would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits. “For many years, social conservatives have claimed that marriage exists solely for the purpose of procreation ... The time has come for these conservatives to be dosed with their own medicine," said WA-DOMA organizer Gregory Gadow in a printed statement. “If same-sex couples should be barred from marriage because they can not have children together, it follows that all couples who cannot or will not have children together should equally be barred from marriage." Supporters must gather more than 224,000 valid signatures by July 6 to put the initiative on the November ballot. Opponents say the measure is another attack on traditional marriage, but supporters say the move is needed to have a discussion on the high court ruling. ||||| Broadsheet Click on the sponsor logo : to read this article and all of Salon for free Absolutely no registration or membership required for a FREE Site Pass. Now you can read this and all of Salon.com. | An initiative has been introduced in the U.S. state of Washington that would require a married couple to have children within three years, or else their marriage would become void. The activist group Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance (WA-DOMA) filed Initiative 957 on January 26. If passed, marriage in the state would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. In order to receive a marriage license, a couple would have to assert that they "know of no reason" that they cannot have children. If they did not have children within three years, their marriages would be subject to annulment. All other marriages would be defined as 'unrecognized' and people in them would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits. WA-DOMA formed in 2006 in response to the decision in the case Andersen v. King County, where the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage. The court found the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts marriage to unions between a man and woman, was proper. In the decision, the court reasoned that there was a "legitimate state interest" in limiting marriage to couples capable of having children. WA-DOMA is in favor of gay marriage rights. The purpose of the initiative, according to founder Gregory Gadow, is to show that the logic behind the DOMA ruling is absurd. 'For many years, social conservatives have claimed that marriage exists solely for the purpose of procreation ... The time has come for these conservatives to be dosed with their own medicine,' said Gadow. 'If same-sex couples should be barred from marriage because they can not have children together, it follows that all couples who cannot or will not have children together should equally be barred from marriage.' Supporters of I-957 must gather at least 224,800 valid signatures by July 6 to put it on the November ballot. The alliance says if the initiative were passed, the state supreme court would likely strike it down as unconstitutional, which would in turn weaken the Court's reasoning in upholding the Defense of Marriage Act. The measure's backers have said they are planning two additional initiatives. One would prohibit divorce or separation when a married couple has children, and would make having a child together the equivalent of marriage. Other gay rights groups do not support the paper. Activist Bill Dubay commented that while he gets the point of the initiative, it is unlikely he would sign it. The gay advocacy group Equal Rights Washington does not endorse the bill, stressing that that families come in all forms, with or without children, and that laws should help families, not hurt them. |
HONOLULU President Barack Obama on Sunday signed into law a bill that funds medical care for firefighters and other responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The five-year, $4.3 billion measure will provide medical treatment for emergency responders sickened by toxic dust inhaled at the World Trade Center site in New York in the days following the hijacked plane attacks. It also includes a health program for responders sickened by the toxic debris and establishes a victims' compensation fund. Victims have five years to file claims. Thousands of firefighters, police and other rescue and cleanup workers contracted respiratory problems and other illnesses from working at the World Trade Center site in the aftermath of the attacks. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York welcomed the signing. "Our nation -- Democrats, Republicans, and Independents -- all came together to do what was right and provide health care to the brave men and women who served with such heroism in the days and weeks following 9/11," she said in a statement. Obama is on vacation in Hawaii. He arrives back in Washington on Tuesday. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Todd Eastham) ||||| Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama signed the 9/11 health bill into law in Hawaii on Sunday, White House spokesman Bill Burton said. Obama signed the bill during his Hawaiian vacation, with no signing ceremony held. In a statement issued later, the president said he was "honored" to sign the bill, which pays for health care for responders believed to have been sickened by pollution at the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York. "We will never forget the selfless courage demonstrated by the firefighters, police officers, and first responders who risked their lives to save others," Obama said. "I believe this is a critical step for those who continue to bear the physical scars of those attacks." The bill made a long journey in order to get signed. A printed copy of the bill flew with a White House staffer from Washington to the Hawaiian island of Oahu, so Obama could sign it from his vacation rental in Kailua. "It came out with a member of the staff so that it could be signed in a timely fashion," Burton said. The legislation, officially titled the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, provides health coverage to workers who helped clear the rubble and search for human remains at the site of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. The $4.2 billion legislation also reopens the federal Victim Compensation Fund to provide economic relief to those harmed by the attacks, which killed more than 2,700 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. After a contentious battle in which some Republicans suggested the legislation was creating a new entitlement program, it finally passed during the lame-duck session of Congress in December. New York lawmakers hailed the bill's signing. "After a long, arduous path with several near-defeats, this bill is finally law," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York. "The heroes who rushed to Ground Zero in the hours and days after the attacks will not be forgotten. These first responders were like veterans, and this law keeps with a time-honored tradition of standing by our veterans when they get harmed answering the call. We will begin work immediately to make sure this law gets renewed for another five years." "Today, nine years after the devastation of 9/11, the United States has honored its obligation to the heroes and survivors of 9/11," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, and one of the authors of the bill, said in a statement. "With President Obama's signing of our bill ... it is clear that the government has not forgotten the thousands who have served and suffered." Rep. Peter King, R-New York and another bill author, said the law "is a great victory for the heroes of September 11th, the firefighters, police officers and construction workers. Justice is finally being served. A great day for America." "At long last, the president's signature has ended our nine-year struggle to address the 9/11 health crisis," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, and another author of the bill, said in a statement. "The Zadroga law will save lives and fulfills our moral obligation to care for those who rose to the defense of America in a time of war." Maloney's statement compared the law to the War Hazards Compensation Act of 1942, passed in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which provided health care and financial relief to to civilians who assisted in recovering the bodies of the dead and salvage the remnants of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement, "I am encouraged that our elected representatives in Washington came together and stood by those who were there for America in its hour of greatest need." Addressing the health impacts of 9/11 for responders "is a national duty" Bloomberg said. CNN's Shawna Shepherd contributed to this report. | Many rescue workers have suffered respiratory problems following their work on September 11 Yesterday, United States President Barack Obama signed into law a five-year benefit package to provide healthcare treatment for emergency workers including police, firefighters, and rescue workers affected by illness and respiratory problems contracted while working at the site of the World Trade Center attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001. The bill—the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which is who died of a respiratory illness he got during a rescue operation at the World Trade Center — will provide $4.2 billion over the next five years. This money will be raised by increasing a levy on foreign companies that win procurement contracts from the United States government. The new legislation also provides new funding for the , a federal program for victims of the attacks. The new bill will support firefighters, cops and other emergency workers who were part of the rescue effort. President Obama signed the bill in , Hawaii, where he is staying on vacation. In a statement, Obama said: "We will never forget the selfless courage demonstrated by the firefighters, police officers and first responders who risked their lives to save others. I believe this is a critical step for those who continue to bear the physical scars of those attacks." The law was the only one that passed through Congress during the lame-duck session in December, with some Republican opposition. New York Senators and Congressmen have praised the passage of the measures. "The heroes who rushed to Ground Zero in the hours and days after the attacks will not be forgotten. These first responders were like veterans, and this law keeps with a time-honored tradition of standing by our veterans when they get harmed answering the call." said , Democratic Senator from New York. He also vowed to "begin work immediately to make sure this law gets renewed for another five years". New York Republican congressman said that "Justice is finally being served", and that the passing of the law marked "A great day for America." Democratic congresswoman said that "The Zadroga law will save lives and fulfills our moral obligation to care for those who rose to the defense of America in a time of war." |
At least 18 people are dead after an explosion and fire at a club in the Romanian capital Bucharest, according to government and health officials. Romanian media said the blast happened at the Colectiv club on Friday night, and a large fire broke out. Many more people were injured in the fire and were being treated, they added. More follows. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. If you want to receive Breaking News alerts via email, or on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App then details on how to do so are available on this help page. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. ||||| A firework malfunction and subsequent fire at a Bucharest nightclub has killed at 27 people and injured over 180 more. Romanian news channel Digi24 reports that pyrotechnics inside the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest city centre started a fire, which spread quickly in the small club where over 500 people were attending an album launch party. The Facebook event page for the party describes the "customized light show and pyrotechnic effects" that had been prepared. At least 21 dead and 80 injured during a fire caused by an explosion in a club in #Bucharest pic.twitter.com/RK3nI6QHJt — Breaking3zero U.S. (@Breaking3zeroUS) October 30, 2015 After the fire, many Facebook users took to the event page to ask about the whereabouts of friends and relatives who they believed were at the club at the time. A man who managed to get out of the club said that a crush started as everyone rushed to the exit. Another witness said that the fire began when some pyrotechnics ignited a pillar near the stage, which then set the roof on fire. Romanian Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea said 25 people were killed in the fire, and over 80 were injured. The death toll later rose to 26, and is expected to keep mounting as the night goes on. Oprea said the government has established a crisis unit to deal with the response to the fire in the immediate aftermath. Nightclub in #Bucharest before tragedy killing at least 26, shared by LemiBlack on FB, showing safety concerns pic.twitter.com/UwTUORkFj1 — Michael Bird (@MichaelBirdUK) October 30, 2015 The injured, some of whom are foreigners, have been taken to local hospitals, which are struggling to cope with the huge influx of patients. The Foreign Office has said it is not aware of any British victims at present, but this could change as more becomes known. Many residents of Bucharest have reportedly flocked to blood donation centres in an effort to help the injured. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis issued a statement of condolence shortly after the fire Klaus Iohannis, the President of Romania, issued a statement in which he said he was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the night's events. He expressed his "full compassion" for the victims and their families, and assured them that everything was being done to improve the situation. More to follow. ||||| An explosion at a nightclub in the centre of Bucharest on Friday night has left at least 26 dead and 88 wounded, with some Romanian media reporting that the death toll could be as high as 40. At the time of the explosion there were 300 to 400 people in Colectiv Club. Some remain unaccounted for. According to one witness speaking to Romanian media, there was a pyrotechnic display around the stage that caused nearby objects to set alight. The witness said that less than five minutes after the explosion firefighters were on the scene. People are still being treated on the streets outside, and Romania’s interior minister, Gabriel Oprea, is at the scene, along with emergency services. Romanian media is reporting that a code red warning has been issued, with off-duty doctors and nurses at nearby hospitals being called in to help deal with the emergency. | Officials said at least 27 people are dead and 155 injured after effects used at the Colectiv in Bucharest, Romania reportedly malfunctioned yesterday, sparking a fire. File photo of pyrotechnic effects The club was hosting an album launch party which attracted hundreds of attendees at the time of the fire. As of this morning, some people thought to be attending the nightclub were still unaccounted for. A witness told local media that pyrotechnics used in the club ignited nearby objects. The Facebook page for the album launch event said "customized light show and pyrotechnic effects" were to be used at the scene. A occurred as people flocked to exits in an attempt to flee from the nightclub. A witness interviewed by Reuters said "there was a stampede of people running out of the club." On the Facebook page for the album launch event, users who believed people they knew may have been attending the event posted questions asking about where their friends or family members were. Many victims of the fire did not carry any form of identification with them. The Government has set up a hotline for those whose friends or family members are believed to have been at the club. President of Romania said on Facebook he was by the incident. |
Jackson says he is the victim of a conspiracy The prosecution wants to call five witnesses, including former child film star Macaulay Culkin - although he has always said he was never mistreated. Mr Jackson denies 10 charges, claiming a conspiracy against him. Observers say the ruling is a blow for Mr Jackson and could have a significant impact on the direction of the trial. Judge Rodney Melville announced his decision on Monday after hearing submissions in the jury's absence. 'Parade' The judge said he would allow the jury to hear about five boys whom the prosecution claim were sexually abused by the singer. "I'm going to permit testimony with regard to sexual offences and the alleged pattern of grooming activity by the defendant," Judge Melville said. However, prosecutor Thomas Sneddon said that only one alleged victim will testify. The most widely reported case involved a teenager, Jordan Chandler, who said he was abused by the pop star in 1993. Jackson supporters have stayed put outside the courthouse At the time, Mr Jackson vehemently denied anything improper ever took place and later said he chose to pay the boy a "considerable sum of money" to avoid being subjected to a "media circus" at a trial. No criminal charges were ever filed. The prosecution wants such evidence to back up and give credibility to the claim of Gavin Arvizo - the boy at the centre of the current trial. Gavin Arvizo says he was abused by the singer in 2003. The prosecution is hoping to expose similarities between the nature of the current allegations and those from a decade ago, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Santa Maria, California. Mr Jackson's lawyer fought the admission of evidence, arguing that prosecutors were trying to bring in witnesses with grudges against the singer. "How can you just allow a parade of third-party characters to come in without any victims?" Thomas Mesereau asked. He pledged to stage a "mini-trial" for each individual allegation. "You can't stop the defence from putting on a full-blown defence and I mean just that," he said. ||||| ABC News Jackson Jury Can Hear of Past Allegations Judge Allows Prosecutor in Jackson Molestation Trial to Use Testimony About Other Allegations Michael Jackson is whispered to by his bodyguard, left, on entering Santa Barbara County Courthouse as testimony continues in his child molestation trial in Santa Maria, California, Monday, March 28, 2005. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)nic By TIM MOLLOY Associated Press Writer The Associated Press SANTA MARIA, Calif. Mar 28, 2005 In a major setback for Michael Jackson, a judge ruled Monday that the jury can hear allegations that the pop star molested or had designs on five other boys, including actor Macaulay Culkin and two youngsters who reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the singer. District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson's inappropriate activities with these boys included kissing, hugging and inserting his hands into their pants. He also said there was a pattern of "grooming," or preparing the boys for molestation, but did not elaborate. Jackson, 46, is on trial on charges he molested one boy then 13 at his Neverland ranch in 2003. In most criminal cases, evidence of past behavior is not admissible against a defendant. However, the California Legislature changed that in 1995, specifically in cases of child molestation and domestic violence. Sneddon said the testimony about the five cases will show that Jackson has a consistent pattern of abuse. The incidents allegedly occurred 12 to 15 years ago, and the prosecutor acknowledged that only one of the five boys has agreed to testify at Jackson's trial. Some of the other testimony would come from the mothers of the two boys who won settlements. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked Judge Rodney Melville to exclude the allegations, saying they were based on third parties, many of whom were after Jackson's money. The reference was to former Jackson employees who sued the singer in the past and lost, and were then ordered to pay the singer $1 million in damages. And Mesereau said Culkin, a frequent visitor to Jackson's Neverland Ranch, "has repeatedly said he was never molested." Mesereau told the judge that he would put on a "mini-trial" on each allegation that the jury is allowed to hear. "You can't stop the defense from putting on a full-blown defense and I mean just that," the defense attorney warned. Jackson was not present during the arguments but arrived later to cheers from fans. Culkin's publicist, Michelle Bega, said Monday that the "Home Alone" star "is presently not involved with the proceedings and we do not expect that to change." ||||| Jackson defense loses bid to ban past allegations Child star Macaulay Culkin is named in court SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- In a setback for Michael Jackson's defense, prosecutors will be allowed to introduce evidence of past molestation allegations against the singer, relating to five previous alleged victims, the judge ruled Monday. One of the four named in court Monday is child movie star Macaulay Culkin, who defended Jackson and denied any allegations of molestation during an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live" in May 2004. "Nothing happened," Culkin, now 24, told King. Culkin's publicist, Michelle Bega, said Monday that he has no plans to testify in the case. "[He] is not involved with the proceedings at this time, and we do not expect that to change," she said. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon said only one alleged victim will testify. Testimony in the other four cases will come from nine third-party witnesses, he said. Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville agreed with prosecutors that the evidence is relevant to proving "an alleged pattern of grooming" young boys to abuse them. He called his decision "one of great importance." Sneddon said the witnesses would prove a pattern of "very similar, if not identical" behavior to the charges he is now facing. He said that the pattern was "significant" and that the frequency of alleged misconduct "increases credibility" for Jackson's teenage accuser in the current case. The previous five cases involved children ages 10 to 13, he said. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. argued against allowing the evidence, insisting it would "easily reduce the burden of proof and the presumption of innocence and render an unfair trial." He said prosecutors were trying to rescue a troubled case with weak witnesses by bringing up past allegations. Mesereau also said that some of the purported victims would testify that nothing improper happened with Jackson. He argued unsuccessfully that if they are not alleging abuse, evidence relating to them should be excluded. Comedian George Lopez is expected to testify Monday, the first celebrity to take the stand in a trial with a star-studded witness list. Lopez befriended Jackson's accuser and his family after the boy was diagnosed with cancer in 2000. He later distanced himself from the family after a falling-out with the boy's father, according to earlier trial testimony. On Sunday, Jackson said his belief in God is helping him through the ordeal, but described the allegations as "very painful." In an interview with the radio program "Keep Hope Alive with the Rev. Jesse Jackson," Jackson said, "I gain strength from God. I believe in Jehovah, God, very much. And I gain strength from the fact that I know that I am innocent. "None of these stories are true. They are totally fabricated. It's very sad, it's very, very painful. I pray a lot. That's how I deal with it, and I'm a strong person. I'm a warrior, and I know what is inside of me. I'm a fighter, but it's very painful at the end of the day. I'm still human, you know. I'm still a human being, so it does hurt very, very, very much." Michael Jackson faces 10 felony counts surrounding allegations of molestation in February and March 2003. Jackson is charged with four counts of committing a lewd act on a child; one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion; one count of attempting to commit a lewd act on a child; and four counts of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. | In what trial watchers say is a blow to Michael Jackson's defense, Judge Rodney Melville ruled Monday to allow the use of past allegations of child molestation in the trial. The decision was reached in deliberations done in the jury's absence. The ruling means that prosecution, led by District Attorney Tom Sneddon, can introduce what it says are 5 cases of prior molestation. The prosecution, which originally submitted 10 cases to the deliberations, was ruled able to proceed with 5 due to a 1995 law passed in California. The law, aiming specifically at child molestation and domestic violence cases, is unlike other cases where the prior criminal conduct of the defendant is not permissable in court. The ruling will allow testimony in cases arising from over 10 years ago. Allegations involving the behavior of Jackson, now aged 46, with boys 10 to 13 years old at the time will be presented. So far, only one boy has agreed to testify. In the other 4 cases, third party witnesses or family members, are planned. Jackson's defense attorney, Thomas Mesereau jr. worked to have the cases excluded during deliberations. Noting that Macaulay Culkin, of the movie "Home Alone" fame and once frequent visitor of the Jackson's Neverland ranch, in an interview with Larry King has previously and publicly stated "Nothing happened." Mesereau promised to make a "mini-case" out of each of the new allegations, which could drag the trial on indefinitely. The ''AP'' reports him saying, "You can't stop the defense from putting on a full-blown defense and I mean just that." In 1993, a molestation charge was settled out-of-court for $26m by Jordan Chandler, ending his accusations against Jackson. His mother plans to testify in this trial. === The Defence's argument === Defence attorney Thomas Mesereau jr.: ''"This evidence would easily reduce the burden of proof and the presumption of innocence and render an unfair trial."'' The Defense have claimed that some of the boys listed would testify to Jackson's innocence and that they are based on third party claims, many of which are after Michael Jackson's money. ''"How can you just allow a parade of third-party characters to come in without any victims?"'' === The Prosecution's argument === Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon has claimed these other cases will show behavior that is ''"very similar, if not identical"'' to that which is claimed by Gavin Arvizo. Michael Jackson has said ''"None of these stories are true. They are totally fabricated. It's very sad, it's very, very painful. I pray a lot. That's how I deal with it, and I'm a strong person. I'm a warrior, and I know what is inside of me. I'm a fighter, but it's very painful at the end of the day. I'm still human, you know. I'm still a human being, so it does hurt very, very, very much."'' Michael Jackson continues to deny 10 counts of abuse and false imprisonment. |
Hewlett-Packard (HP) says it plans to spend $1bn (£686m) and shed 9,000 jobs over three years as it creates fully-automated commercial data centres. HP, the world's largest technology company by sales, says the job cuts will be the result of productivity gains and automation. HP said the resulting "next-generation services" would benefit clients. The firm said it would record a $1bn financial cost charge in the course of its 2013 financial year. "As a result of productivity gains and automation, HP expects to eliminate roughly 9,000 positions over a multi-year period to reinvest for further growth and to increase shareholder value," it said. It said the shake-up would make it annual gross savings of about $1bn and net savings "after reinvestment in a range between $500m and $700m". HP added that it would replace about 6,000 of the jobs that were lost, adding that the changes to the workforce would be made over time and would vary by country. And it said the commercial data centres would help its corporate clients run their businesses faster and more efficiently. The latest job losses come after 6,700 posts were shed last year to make savings. ||||| HP to cut workforce by 3,000 NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Hewlett-Packard plans to eliminate 3,000 jobs over the next few years as it ramps up its use of automated data centers for business customers, the company announced Tuesday. The world's largest computer company said it will invest $1 billion in building up its automated data centers to service business customers. HP will cut about 9,000 jobs in its enterprise services division as a result, but over the same time period, the company expects to add about 6,000 employees to its sales and delivery teams. HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) will take a charge of about $1 billion to reflect the investment, and expects it to pay off in annual savings of about the same. After reinvesting some of that money, HP expects these moves to boost annual pre-tax earnings by between $500 million and $700 million by fiscal year 2013. HP significantly built up its business services division with its $13.9 billion acquisition of tech firm Electronic Data Systems in August 2008. The 9,000 job cuts mark the second phase of the EDS integration. "It's not a big change from HP's playbook," said Keith Bachman, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets. HP consistently streamlines its various divisions, especially after major acquisitions, Bachman said. Plus, cuts to the enterprise services division make sense as tech companies consistently report "less than stellar revenue growth" in services compared with other businesses like hardware sales, he said. In HP's latest fiscal quarter, revenue from the enterprise services division grew 2.5% over last year, whereas sales from personal computers was up 21.3%. When HP first announced the EDS integration, it said it would lay off 25,000 employees, resulting in annual cost savings of about $1.8 billion. The EDS integration is ahead of schedule and the company has since realized the savings it expected from those job cuts, Cathie Lesjak, HP's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a call with investors Tuesday. After completing the first phase of its EDS integration, HP realized there's "another wave of opportunity to modernize, simplify, standardize and automate services," she said. Meanwhile, HP would not disclose the exact timeframe or geographical locations of the future job cuts. The Palo Alto, Calif. based company has about 300,000 employees and last month, announced its second quarter profit climbed 28% to $2.2 billion, boosted by growing demand for personal computers from both businesses and consumers. ||||| Hewlett-Packard Co. said it plans to shed about 9,000 workers from its technology-services division while investing $1 billion to modernize the unit, as it moves to jumpstart growth in an industry that's lagged the economic recovery. H-P's restructuring comes two weeks after the Palo Alto, Calif., company said quarterly revenue in its services division—which runs computer systems for large companies and governments—rose 2% from a year earlier but declined by 3% when adjusted for currency differences. In contrast, other H-P divisions such as personal computers saw sales increase more than 20% year over year. Rival International Business Machines Corp. also reported relatively weak tech-services growth in its most recent quarter, with sales up 4% from a year earlier but declining 2% when adjusted for currency. The slow growth in services is due to industry-wide shifts in how companies purchase tech services, said Peter Bendor-Samuel, chief executive of Everest Group, which consults with companies on tech-services decisions. Companies are looking to sign smaller, shorter outsourcing deals, rather than the multi-year contracts that previously were standard. To profit on smaller deals, services providers have been trying to automate their offerings, replacing high-cost workers with software that performs certain functions automatically. Tech services are crucial to H-P, which has bet big on the business. In 2008, H-P acquired outsourcing giant Electronic Data Systems for $13.6 billion, adding 142,000 workers. Since then, H-P has worked to trim EDS's costs, largely through a plan to lay off 25,000 workers. Tech services forms nearly a third of H-P's total revenue. The 9,000 layoffs announced Tuesday are on top of the earlier 25,000 cuts, an H-P spokeswoman said, and represent about 3% of the company's overall work force, which stood at 304,000 in October. The company is still in hiring mode and said it plans to bring on about 6,000 additional employees, largely in sales roles. H-P didn't say how many employees it has in the services unit or how many of the jobs being eliminated are in the U.S. With Tuesday's announcement, H-P intends to boost profits and lower costs to customers by developing "fully automated" data centers, the giant computing rooms used to run corporate technology functions, said Ann Livermore, who heads H-P's services division. H-P's strategy of growing profit through acquisitions and layoffs is a hallmark of Chief Executive Mark Hurd. Since Mr. Hurd took over H-P in 2005, the company has repeatedly increased profit partly by paring down its expenses. In mid-2005, Mr. Hurd announced a plan to cut more than 14,000 workers, or about 10% of H-P's work force at the time. Last year, during the recession, H-P announced plans to cut another 6,000 jobs and also instituted company-wide pay cuts. In a Tuesday conference call, Ms. Livermore said H-P has now "closed the chapter on the EDS integration." She said H-P is now focused on growing its services division. The unit runs tech systems for large companies. In some cases, clients outsource all of their computing functions, including email, data storage and corporate networks—to H-P. In other cases, H-P takes over a limited set of functions, like processing health-care claims for state governments or reservation systems for airlines. Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones, said H-P has "revenue momentum" that's outstripping competitors, even with the slow services growth. By investing in more highly automated services systems, he said, the company should be able to increase its services profits. The services unit had earnings last quarter of $1.38 billion on revenue of $8.7 billion. The division's operating margin was 15.9% last quarter, up from 13.8% a year earlier. H-P plans to take a $1 billion charge over several years for the latest cuts. It expects the restructuring will generate $500 million to $700 million in annual savings. Write to Justin Scheck at justin.scheck@wsj.com ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday said it will invest $1 billion to consolidate and automate its data centers, a move that will lead to the elimination of 9,000 jobs over a "multiyear" period. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer and printing giant HPQ, +0.91% said annual savings in its enterprise-services division would range from $500 million to $700 million once the transformation is complete. H-P plans to halve the number of data centers its operates to around 50. Data centers are used to store computerized information of businesses, government agencies and other organizations. In a conference call, Hewlett-Packard executives said they will rely heavily on "attrition" -- not replacing workers who leave because of retirement or other personal reasons -- to eliminate positions in its data centers. Shares of H-P rose more than 1% to $46.56 by midday Tuesday following the news. At the same time, H-P said it would hire more than 6,000 workers in sales and other areas of its enterprise-services unit. The shift toward automation will allow H-P to better deploy assets obtained via the acquisition of EDS in mid-2008, according to the company. "We see the possibility of taking enterprise services to an entirely new level based on applying H-P industry-leading technology to the services business," said Cathie Lesjak, H-P's chief financial officer. In a report, analyst Louis Miscioscia of equity-research firm Collin Stewart said H-P was taking a sound approach. EDS failed to invest sufficiently in automation and its data centers were more expensive to operate, he added, giving rivals such as International Business Machines Corp. IBM, +0.47% a competitive advantage. "Going back to when H-P acquired EDS in 2008, we had been very supportive of the tactical and strategic importance of this move from day one," Miscioscia commented. Needham analyst Richard Kugele wrote in a note: "Despite its massive scale, H-P continues to impress with its relentless focus on efficiency and improvement. "Since first announcing the EDS deal in 2008, H-P has indentified $4.5 billion in gross savings from the division," he said. "With only $3 billion in savings realized to date, we expect further operating margin expansion in the model over the next two to three years, independent of the macro-environment." Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes also said the "potential savings are a positive over the long term" and cited Chief Executive Mark Hurd's "proven ability to overdeliver on cost-cutting targets." Nevertheless, he wrote that "the investor reaction will likely be muted given restructuring charges do little to help H-P's multiple and clearly widen the delta between GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share." H-P plans to deduct $1 billion from reported income over the "multiyear" period required to complete the move toward fully automated data centers. About half of the amount will be charged against third-quarter earnings, the company said. In a Tuesday note, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, said the move could be "highly accretive to profitability" but also asked: "Are the charges really one-time?" Sacconaghi wrote that H-P has "projected a very positive tone about the health of its services business." But he pointed out that "the company has still not provided the dollar amount of services signings like other large services vendors, which makes it more challenging for investors to monitor the health of the services business." | left Hewlett-Packard (HP) expects to lose 9,000 jobs between now and 2013 in a US$1 billion (686m) restructuring plan. The 9,000 jobs losses will be in the enterprise services division, but the company expects to add about 6,000 employees to its sales and delivery teams. HP commented in a statement, "As a result of productivity gains and automation, HP expects to eliminate roughly 9,000 positions over a multi-year period to reinvest for further growth and to increase shareholder value" HP will invest in fully automated as it makes operational changes in its Internet technology services business. HP said the restructuring will generate savings of $500–700 million (about €407–571 million) in net savings after reinvestment. Hewlett-Packard has around 300,000 employees and is the world's largest technology company by sales. HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in , California. |
From off-field sacrifices, the tribute that left him emotional and his “dream” to win a flag with his dad in the grandstand, this was the best of Dustin Martin’s rare TV interview. ||||| It's a Christmas like no other for Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting. After a barrage of media criticism following his side's embarrassing six-wicket loss in Perth in the first Test against South Africa, Ponting enjoyed a rare break from training and tactics to have Christmas lunch with wife Rianna and five-month-old daughter Emmy. The Pontings dined with team members and their families at Melbourne's Crown Casino on Thursday ahead of Friday's Boxing Day Test match at the MCG, where a crowd of 70,000 is expected for day one. A top temperature of 32 degrees is forecast and Ponting knows the heat will be on his side to perform. Australia are trailing South Africa 1-0 in the series. A 3-0 sweep by South Africa will give the Proteas the top ranking and Ponting isn't ready to let go of the world No.1 title just yet. But before the battle resumes with Graeme Smith's side, the Australians were able to have a relaxing Christmas lunch and count their blessings. Asked how his first Christmas as a father was, Ponting joked it was an "early morning". "No look, it was sensational this morning. We had the handycam out helping her open some presents," he said. "She seemed to get a bit more spoilt than I did. But it was nice to wake up and have that Christmas morning with an addition to the family. "It's just a really special time for all of us. "It's about enjoying that today and probably putting Christmas aside for a couple of hours at least this afternoon and trying to relax a little bit away from cricket and then get back tomorrow morning with all guns blazing and put on a really good, spirited Australian performance." Australia's selectors have made only one change, recalling Nathan Hauritz for fellow off-spinner Jason Krejza. Ponting says the Melbourne Test is a major occasion for all the players. "We'll try to be a bit normal today. It is a great day," he said. "You take the Christmas Day out of it, the game itself is a big one for us all. There's a lot of excitement." He says the annual Test matches in Melbourne and Sydney (January 3-7) give players a rare chance to bring their families into the team environment. "It gives the wives a bit of time to get together and swap some baby stories ... and it gives the guys a chance to spend some more time with the family as well and enjoy everything about the Christmas and New Year period," he said. "It is a special time for us and one that we all look forward to." ||||| SOUTH Africa have scored one of their greatest cricketing triumphs, overpowering Australia by six wickets in the first Test at the WACA ground after an unbeaten century from AB De Villiers. South Africa eased to victory just before tea on day five at 4-414 with De Villiers 106 not out and debutant JP Duminy on 50. De Villiers, 24, hugged his batting partner upon reaching his seventh Test hundred and first against Australia. And soon both batsmen were mobbed by their team-mates as Ricky Ponting's Australia looked on stunned after the victory was completed. Mitchell Johnson claimed career-best match figures of 11-159 but lacked support, with Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and off-spinner Jason Krejza taking only one wicket each. Resuming on Sunday at 3-227, Jacques Kallis and De Villiers added 124. Kallis fell for 57 in the sixth over of the second new ball, caught at gully off Johnson's bowling. The tourists scored 95 in the morning session for the loss of one wicket, going to lunch well-placed at 4-322. Sunday's successful run chase by South Africa is a record for Tests between the two nations, beaten only by the 7-418 by the West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2002-03. South Africa have never won a Test series in Australia and haven't claimed a series victory over Australia since 1969-70. In 12 previous Tests in Australia since the post-apartheid era began in 1991, South Africa had won only once - in January 1994 in Sydney. South Africa can overtake top-ranked Australia on the ICC rankings if the Proteas win the current series 3-0. Australia have lost four of their 13 Tests this year, with five wins and four draws. Another defeat for Ricky Ponting's men in the second Test in Melbourne starting on Boxing Day would mean Australia had lost a home Test series for the first time since 1992-93 against the West Indies. Australia hadn't lost the first match of a home Test series since 1988-89 in Brisbane against the Windies. Battling an elbow complaint, South Africa's Graeme Smith laid the platform for the victory with an inspirational 108 on Saturday. The skipper picked the perfect time to record his first century against Australia in his ninth match against Ponting's side. Smith will seek treatment and pain-killing injections in Melbourne on Monday ahead of the second Test. De Villiers was later named man of the match for scores of 63 and 106 not and some superb catches. Ponting said Johnson's effort was outstanding and admitted he had "passengers" in his side. "Maybe it is at the stage where we need to have a look at different personnel as well," the skipper said. Rival captain Smith paid tribute to the "incredible effort" by his side. "All credit to AB and JP on his debut, " Smith said. "A series (win) would be a lot better than that (victory). "We really want to come out strong in Melbourne. "Today is a day to enjoy it. "It's not every day you chase down 414." Asked about his elbow injury, Smith said: "I seriously doubt it will keep me out." AAP | Following its recent loss to South Africa, the Australian Cricket team has replaced player Jason Krejza for Nathan Hauritz in the traditional Boxing Day test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of an expected crowd of 70,000. Australia lost the first test of the three game series by six wickets after South Africa chased down an almost world record 414 in their second innings. Only West Indies have done better making 7-418 in Antigua during the 2002-03 tour. All rounder Andrew Symonds kept his place despite being restricted in training with knee-soreness. Victorian speed bowler Peter Siddle was also thought to be on the verge of replacement yet managed to retain his place in the team. There has been rumour that the injury would keep Symonds out and Queenslands team mate Shane Watson would be returned after time on the sidelines. News.com.au quotes Australian Captain Ricky Ponting "We have only made the one change in the side and that's Nathan Hauritz will come in for Jason Krejza. Otherwise we are pretty happy with what most of the rest of the guys did in Perth." Australia, currently leading the work test team rankings must avoid a 3-0 loss to South Africa if they are to retain their current rankings. If they do loose the series, it will be the first time they have done so on home soil since they lost the West Indies in 1993. Following their emphatic win, South Africa has named an unchanged side putting aside doubt over vice-captain Ashwell Prince making a comeback as he continues to suffer with a thumb injury. South Africa will train before joining family and friends in the traditional Christmas Day luncheon for both teams. |
The twin Lahore blasts followed an earlier attack in Peshawar and a smaller one in Quetta [AFP] In the eastern city of Lahore, two bomb explosions 30 seconds apart at a busy market ignited a massive fire on Monday night that killed 38 people. Two attacks in Pakistan have left at least 48 people dead and more than 100 injured. The blasts came just a few hours after a suicide bomber struck outside a courthouse in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 10 people and injuring dozens. Monday's bombings are the latest in a wave of attacks in an apparent response to the Pakistani army's offensive against Taliban fighters in the tribal areas near the Afghan border. About 100 people were wounded in the attack in Lahore's Iqbal Town, which was timed to take place when the Moon Market was as its busiest. The explosions set off a fire that quickly engulfed the busy market with its wooden stalls packed tightly together. In a separate attack on Tuesday, a US missile hit a car killing three people and injuring another three in Aspalga village, southeast of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal district, security and intelligence officials have said. Fragile situation Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, said the attacks underscored, yet again, how fragile and dangerous the situation in the country is. No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks, and while the Taliban is often quick to claim responsibility for attacks on government targets, there is usually no claim for civilian targets, our correspondent said. The Taliban says it only attacks the government forces, not civilians, but the government and military say the Taliban is to blame for Monday's attacks. The authorities initially said both bombs at the market were believed to be remote-controlled, but later said a suicide bomber was suspected to have carried out at least one of the attacks. The near-simultaneous blasts left dozens of cars and shops ablaze late into the night. Many victims were women and children, including a two-year-old, a police officer said. In the Peshawar attack, a bomber blew himself up at the gate to the court building after police stopped him, officials said, adding that three of those killed were policemen. Peshawar, near the Afghan border, has been targeted repeatedly since Pakistan sent its troops to fight the Taliban in the tribal region of South Waziristan. Also on Monday, eight people, including a child, were injured in a bomb attack in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said. Police suspect the bomb, hidden in a motorcycle parked outside the gate of a government residential complex, was detonated by remote control. Meanwhile, in the northwestern Swat valley, the military said on Monday that its troops had killed four suspected fighters in a search operation. The army launched an offensive there in April and has since launched another offensive against fighters in the tribal regions along the country's border with Afghanistan. The government says its resolve to root out the Taliban and deny its fighters havens in the border area with Afghanistan is strong, but public support for the offensive against the Taliban is waning, with violent, apparently revenge attacks in the cities on the increase, exacting a heavy toll on the population. ||||| Suspected US Missile Strike Kills 3 in Pakistan Pakistani security officials say a suspected U.S. drone attack killed at least three people early Tuesday in the country's northwest. Officials say two missiles were fired at a compound near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Taliban and al-Qaida militants are active in the region. The strike came hours after bombings in two Pakistani cities killed about 50 people and wounded more than 140 others Monday. Twin bomb explosions in the northeastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, devastated a busy market crowded with women and children, killing some 40 people. In Peshawar, the capital of Northwest Frontier Province, a suicide bomber blew himself up as he was stopped by security guards outside a courthouse, killing 10 people. There have been no claims of responsibility for the attacks. President Asif Ali Zardari condemned both attacks and said that such violence will not deter the government's resolve to fight terrorism. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad called the Peshawar bombing "yet another attack on the democratic institutions of Pakistan and the rule of law." Militants in Pakistan have killed hundreds of people since the army began a major offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region two months ago. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. | Bombings in two Pakistani cities killed about 50 people and wounded more than 140 others on Monday, according to authorities. Authorities in the northeastern city of Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, stated that twin bombings devastated a busy market crowded with women and children, killing some 40 people. They say more than 100 people were wounded in the two explosions that occurred about 30 seconds apart. The detonation started a fire, which spread quickly due to the many wooden stalls in the market. Hours earlier, a suicide bomber killed ten people and wounded more than 40 others in Peshawar, the capital of Northwest Frontier Province that has been repeatedly hit by bombings in recent months. Local authorities say the bomber blew himself up as he was stopped by security guards outside a courthouse. There have been no claims of responsibility for any of the attacks. |
Reports say the ship is carrying millions of rounds of ammunition A Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe has been forced to leave the South African port of Durban four days after failing to unload. Earlier, a South African judge ruled that the cargo of rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and ammunition could not be transported overland. Human rights groups had petitioned for a block on the arms and dockers had refused to unload the shipment. Some fear Zimbabwe will use the arms to repress political opposition. The country has yet to publish the results of its presidential election on 29 March, which the MDC opposition says was won outright by its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. President Robert Mugabe denounced the opposition on Friday in his first speech since the election, saying "thieves" were trying to steal the country. Incommunicado According to the South African news agency Sapa, the ship upped anchor between 1800 (1600 GMT) and 1900 (1700 GMT). The ship's master, who earlier identified himself as Captain Sunaijun, could not be reached by telephone, the agency added, quoting anonymous sources. The transponder aboard the An Yue Jiang was not responding on Friday evening, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports from Durban. The head of an independent human rights group monitoring the vessel said it was heading for Mozambique, en route to landlocked Zimbabwe. Nicole Fritz, director of the Southern Africa Litigation Center, said her group aimed to pursue the issue with Mozambique. Her group had called for the blocking of a permit allowing the arms to be offloaded from the An Yue Jiang and transported. South Africa's government had said it could not legally prevent the arms being transported through the country but the high court in Durban ruled that the cargo could not be moved overland, though it could be discharged in the port. 'Nothing to do with us' The ship contains three million rounds of ammunition for AK-47s, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and several thousand mortar rounds, according to South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement The weapons are packed in large red and blue containers piled high on the ship's decks. There are Chinese crew on board and the ship is flying both the Chinese and South African flags, our correspondent said after going to look at the ship anchored 18km (11 miles) from the entrance to Durban harbour. The Mail and Guardian reports that a subsidiary of a state-owned South African company, Armscor, was approached to handle the transport of the weapons after several private companies refused to handle the cargo due to its sensitivity. South African Defence Secretary January Masilela said the country's National Conventional Arms Control Committee had given approval for the transit of the weapons. "If the buyer is the Zimbabwean sovereign government and the seller is the Chinese sovereign government, South Africa has nothing to do with that," he said. Mr Masilela added that there was no United Nations or African Union embargo on weapons sales to Zimbabwe. Speaking in New York, South African President Thabo Mbeki echoed his defence secretary's comments. Several Western countries have banned arms shipments to Zimbabwe, as has the European Union. 'Military regime' With continuing tension in Zimbabwe over the failure of the authorities to issue results from the presidential election three weeks ago, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said it would be "grossly irresponsible" to allow the cargo through. "The South African government cannot be seen as propping up a military regime," said Satawu General Secretary Randall Howard. Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the weapons were not needed because Zimbabwe was not at war. Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga insisted no country had the right to stop the arms entering his country. For its part, China says the shipment is part of normal trade relations with Zimbabwe, adding that "one of the most important principles is not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries". E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- A Chinese ship loaded with arms and ammunition sailed away from a South African waters and is on its way to Luanda, Angola to unload its cargo bound for Zimbabwe. The An Yue Jiang sat anchored outside Durban's harbor in South Africa on Thursday. South Africa's High Court ruled Friday the cargo could be offloaded in the Durban port, but it could not pass over South Africa roads to get to Zimbabwe, a country in crisis because of an election stalemate. Durban's dockworkers also said they would not handle the cargo, fearing the arms would be used by the Zimbabwean government against its own people. A South African government source told CNN the China-flagged An Yue Jiang had sailed away from Durban Friday evening before the High Court's order could be served to the ship's captain. The ship was headed to the port of Luanda, Angola, according to the South African Department of Transport. Zimbabwe is in turmoil after elections last month that saw the opposition Movement for Change party win a majority of seats in the parliament, although Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has contested 16 seats, claiming the MDC cheated. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission began a recount of 23 of those districts Saturday morning. The presidential election, however, has sparked much more concern. The government of President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since Zimbabwe won its independence in 1980, has refused to release results of that vote before a recount. The MDC says its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the election, but ZANU-PF has claimed the MDC engaged in election tampering. The delay in releasing the vote sparked violence and a government crackdown on opposition members. "This union has a proud history of taking action against regimes which it disapproves of in the past, but this is certainly the first time it has gotten involved in an African regime like Zimbabwe," David Cockroft, general secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation, said. "I don't think there's much doubt that the (dock) workers ... are very strongly against the Mugabe regime," he said. Don't Miss Zimbabwe recount underway Cockroft said that arms had almost certainly been shipped to Zimbabwe through Durban in the past, but the size of this shipment -- "more than a million pounds" and 3.5 million rounds of rifles, small arms, mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades -- made it more noteworthy. Earlier, South African Revenue Service spokesman Adrian Lackay told CNN "that it is commonplace for landlocked neighboring states in southern Africa to use South African ports of entry for the transshipment of goods." Lackay indicated that the ship had complied with South African regulations requiring it to disclose the contents of the cargo it is carrying. A government spokesman, Thembo Maseko, told CNN, "There were arms on the ship." The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement in a fax to the Reuters news agency saying that China and Zimbabwe have normal trade relations, that the Chinese government takes a "prudent and responsible" position on arms deals and that it does not involve itself in the internal affairs of other countries. E-mail to a friend CNN's Nkepile Mabuse and Bridget Fallon contributed to this report. ||||| A ship that was carrying weapons and ammunition destined for Zimbabwe lifted anchor and sailed from Durban less than an hour after the Durban High Court ordered that its controversial cargo cannot be transported across South Africa to that country. The An Yue Jiang lifted anchor between 6pm and 7pm on Friday evening. Several sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the ship had set sail from the outer anchorage off the port of Durban, where it had been at anchor since at least Monday. The ship's master, who identified himself as Captain Sunaijun, told the South African Press Association by radio phone on Friday night: "I am awaiting orders from my owner." He refused to answer any other questions. It was not immediately known where the vessel, owned by Chinese state-owned company Cosco Group, was headed. Nicole Fritz, the director of the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), said she had been informed that as the sheriff of the Durban High Court approached the vessel, it lifted anchor and began sailing. She said that if the ship went to Mozambique, the SALC would seek similar legal action as implemented in Durban. Durban Port Captain Ricky Bhikraj declined to comment. Transnet spokesperson John Dludlu said: "We're not commenting on the vessel." Attempts to contact Wang Kun Hui, the managing director for Cosren, the shipping agents for the ship in South Africa, were unsuccessful. Shortly before 6pm the Durban High Court ordered that the shipment of arms may be offloaded in Durban's harbour but that the controversial cargo cannot be transported across South Africa to Zimbabwe. The order followed an application by Anglican Bishop Rubin Phillip and Patrick Kearney, a former activist and executive of the Diakonia Council of Churches. The papers were lodged with Judge Kate Pillay in chambers shortly before 5pm. About an hour later their attorney, Ranjit Purshotam, emerged from the court and announced that Pillay had ruled in favour of the application -- effectively barring the movement of the arms to Zimbabwe. Reacting to the ship's sailing, Phillip said: "One wonders what really is going on. What's really in that shipment? I feel deeply suspicious." He said it was very apparent that those involved wanted to avoid a legal battle. "It would be a travesty if another African country allowed the shipment to take place. It would be slap in the face to the ordinary people of Zimbabwe," he said. Referring to the fact that the shipment came from China, Phillip said: "I've been bothered for a while by China's involvement in Africa. We need to call China to account." The legal action by Phillip and Kearny was sought in terms of the National Conventional Arms Control Act (NCACC), which "requires that any transfer of arms be authorised by a permit issued on terms of the NCACC". On Monday South African defence secretary January Masilela, who chairs the scrutiny committee of the NCACC, issued the conveyance permit. The seven respondents in the case are the NCACC, the minister of defence, the secretary of defence, the minister of foreign affairs, a company called AB Logistics, the Durban port captain and Transnet. Purshotam said the arms and weapons were supposed be off-loaded and placed in "secure storage pending the final resolution of this matter". Speaking to the media shortly after the decision was handed down, Kearney said: "I think we believe it would be highly irresponsible for additional arms to be made available in that kind of situation where we have an election that seems to have collapsed." Masilela referred all comments to Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi, who is also chairperson of the NCACC. However, Mufamadi's spokesperson, Zandile Ratsitanga, referred all comment to Masilela. Foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said he was not aware that the foreign affairs minister was a respondent and he could not immediately comment. -- Sapa | Durban harbour, where the ''An Yue Jiang'' had been anchored since Monday A Chinese arms ship bound for Zimbabwe was expelled from Durban, South Africa on Friday evening by the city's High Court. This comes after China, soon to host the Olympic games in Beijing, has come under world scrutiny for its human rights record and after Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe created further rifts internationally by denouncing opposing nations. In Zimbabwe votes from 23 out of the 210 constituencies are still being recounted after Mr. Mugabe suspected opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of rigging the recent parliamentary elections. Mr. Tsvangirai claims that the delay in releasing the results is because Mr. Mugabe wants to "steal the election." Dockworkers in Durban refused to help unload the cargo of the ''An Yue Jiang'', threatening protests and violence if the government tried to do it without them. Many believed the arms were to be used by Mugabe and Zanu-PF to repress Zimbabwean citizens. Other protesters included unions and human rights groups, who made a petition for the ship to be expelled. According to the South African ''Mail & Guardian'', the ship contained three million rounds of ammunition for AK-47s, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and several thousand mortar rounds sealed in blue and red boxes. The South African government, which prefers 'quiet diplomacy' over 'megaphone diplomacy' when handling Zimbabwe said that the cargo was legally permitted to cross through South Africa, Defence Secretary January Masilela stated that "if the buyer is the Zimbabwean sovereign government and the seller is the Chinese sovereign government, South Africa has nothing to do with that". Nevertheless the Durban High Court ruled against this after an appeal by the Anglican archbishop of the province. This leaves South Africa in a deep split over its Zimbabwe policy, some wishing to follow president Thabo Mbeki's softly-softly approach, others like Randall Howard, General Secretary of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union saying that "the South African government cannot be seen as propping up a military regime". |
Patient treated in a toilet at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, meeting hears 4:27pm Friday 8th October 2010 A PATIENT had to be treated in a hospital toilet due to overcrowded wards, a meeting heard today, as Buckinghamshire health bosses were grilled over service changes. Sheryl Pope, an NHS strategy director, was outlining the drive to take more healthcare out of acute hospitals and “into the community”. But a number of councillors challenged her, claiming the opposite has been happening - with community hospital beds being closed and clinics being centralised. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee for Public Health Services heard how an 'under-used' gynaecology clinic at Buckingham Community Hospital had been moved to Stoke Mandeville, which was picked up by Wycombe councillor Wendy Mallen. She said: “You're bringing things into Stoke, but there's such a lot of congestion there... One person had to be treated in the toilet. I'm wondering how quickly your going to change it.” Buckingham councillor Hedley Cadd slammed the gynaecology transfer, saying he and his wife had to undertake a four-hour round trip to Stoke Mandeville for her 20 minute consultation. Mrs Pope replied: “What you've described is where we are at the moment. I'm very aware of the Buckingham Hospital situation.” She said the Buckingham clinic had been just 40 per cent utilised, adding: “If we've got a clinic which is 40 per cent full that means those clinics are being denied to somebody else.” Mrs Pope's employer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, is the new name of the organisation in control of the county's hospitals. It arises from the merger of Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust with several community hospitals, as well as other services such as district nurses. Mrs Pope, a joint director for strategy and system reform, said it is too early to give details on how the new trust will use the community hospitals, some of which are currently closed to overnight patients. Angry Chalfont St Peter councillor, Bruce Allen, had pointed out that overnight beds at Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross Hospital have been closed since 2008, after a fire risk to patients was identified. He said: “We've never had an answer from anyone of any intelligence to say what's going to happen. We had a community hospital with 29 beds and it served us well. “We keep asking when it's going to be opened and we get nil answers. I've been to so many meetings and heard this nonsense. We can't get an answer from anyone.” Mrs Pope said: “At the moment I can't give you a definitive answer... We see Chalfont as an important part of the jigsaw.” Mike Appleyard, the chairman of the Buckinghamshire County Council committee, told Mrs Pope she has “a duty” to let people know about the future of the hospital. He added: “Unfortunately there's always a reason for delaying it. All I'm saying is sorry, no longer. We expect you to be here within six months with some answers on the community hospitals.” ||||| The part of the NHS that manages Stoke Mandeville, Amersham and Wycombe hospitals is changing its name. The move is a legal requirement after Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust (who manage hospitals) merged with Community Health Buckinghamshire (who managed 1500 staff in community health teams, therapy teams, community nurses, community hospitals). The merged organisation will be known as Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.. QUICK FACTS The new organisation can't be called i.e. DAVE, as the name must reflect what services it offers! Officials say the name must legally change after the merger because the organisation now has a new constitution We’re told the change shouldn't cost a large amount of money (although exact figures haven't been disclosed) as there isn't large amounts of letterheads in storage "or stacks of printed paper that need throwing out" says Sheryl Pope, Director of Strategy and System Reform. The new organisation is separate to NHS Buckinghamshire (which pays for services and used to be Bucks Primary Care Trust) There will be new signs going up to reflect the new name! Current NHS vans that carry the old logo won't change in the short term The name change suggests that there is no plan to merge the 2 main separate parts of Buckinghamshire NHS (i.e. NHS Bucks and now Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust). Anne Eden, Chief Executive of the new Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust told Mix96 “We felt it was important to change our name to reflect the wide range of services we now offer patients from our hospitals and also in community settings and in people’s own homes. In addition, discussions took place with staff across the organisation alongside patient representatives to evolve our five patient promises to reflect our extended range of services which underpin everything that we do" RELATED LINKS Still confused? Click play to hear Sheryl Pope (pictured) Director of Strategy and System Reform speaking to Mix96 reporter Andrew Kay | A patient at had to be treated in a toilet after wards became overcrowded, it emerged on Friday. , , , where ward staff were forced to treat a patient in a set of toilets after wards became overcrowded. The revelation came as Sheryl Pope, a strategy director, was questioned over plans to bring healthcare to the forefront of the community. A number of councillers challenged her plans, however, claiming that the opposite had been happening. The '''' reported that councillors asked Pope why community hospital beds are being closed and why more clinics are being centralised. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee for Public Health Services was told that an "under-used" gynaecology clinic located at Buckingham Community Hospital was moved to , which one councillor said was already too congested. “You're bringing things into Stoke, but there's such a lot of congestion there... One person had to be treated in the toilet. I'm wondering how quickly you're going to change it," High Wycombe councellor Wendy Mallen asked Mrs Pope, a joint director for strategy and system reform. It emerged that overnight wards at have remained closed since a fire risk was identified in 2008. councillor, Bruce Allen, said of the revelation: “We've never had an answer from anyone of any intelligence to say what's going to happen. We had a community hospital with 29 beds and it served us well. We keep asking when it's going to be opened and we get nil answers. I've been to so many meetings and heard this nonsense. We can't get an answer from anyone." Mrs Pope replied by saying that she could not give a "definitive answer," but said that she considered Chalfont's to be "an important part of the jigsaw.” Mrs Pope was told by the chairman of the Buckinghamshire County Council committee that she had "a duty" to inform residents of the futue of the hospital. “Unfortunately there's always a reason for delaying it," said Mike Appleyard. "All I'm saying is sorry, no longer. We expect you to be here within six months with some answers on the community hospitals.” Hedley Cadd, another councillor, attacked the gynaecology transfer, saying that he and his wife were forced to travel for four hours to get to and from Stoke Mandeville Hospital, for a consultation that lasted only twenty minutes. Mrs Pope responded by saying that she was "very aware" of the issue, conceding that because the clinic is only 40% full, "those clinics are being denied to somebody else.” Mrs Pope said that it was too early to say how the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, a new organisation which is the result of a merger between the Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust and several community hospitals, would manage local hospitals. Anne Eden, Chief Executive of the new organisation, said: “We felt it was important to change our name to reflect the wide range of services we now offer patients from our hospitals and in community settings and in people’s own homes. In addition, discussions took place with staff across the organisation alongside patient representatives to evolve our five patient promises to reflect our extended range of services which underpin everything that we do." == Sources == * * |
The Blair family pose outside Downing Street for a final time Blair's PMQs farewell He handed in his resignation to the Queen during a private meeting at Buckingham Palace. Earlier, Mr Blair received a standing ovation from MPs in the Commons in unprecedented scenes at the end of his final prime minister's questions. Conservative, Lib Dem and DUP leaders all paid tribute to Mr Blair, who is expected to stand down as an MP to take up a job as a Middle East envoy. He will stand down later as an MP before taking up a new job as a Middle East peace envoy for the "quartet" of the UN, EU, America and Russia. As they left Downing Street the Blair family - including their four children - posed for the gathered world media. Mr Blair said nothing to the press as they got in the car, but wife Cherie smiled and waved at the press and said she would not "miss" them. Earlier MPs from all sides called a halt to the usual House of Commons hostilities to pay tribute to him during Mr Blair's final half hour question time session. Mr Blair admitted he had "never pretended to be a great House of Commons man" but he paid tribute to the "noble" work of MPs and - in his final words to Parliament - said: "I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end." MPs gave departing Mr Blair a standing ovation Mr Blair, who was being watched from the public gallery by his family, also paid tribute to troops killed in Iraq. He hailed Britain's armed forces as the "bravest and the best" and said he was "truly sorry about the dangers they face today in Iraq and Afghanistan". He added: "I know some people think they face those dangers in vain. I don't and I never will. "I believe they are fighting for the security of this country and of the wider world against people who would destroy our way of life." Conservative leader David Cameron hailed Mr Blair's "remarkable achievement" in being prime minister for 10 years, praising peace in Northern Ireland and Mr Blair's work in the developing world which he said will "endure". 'Generosity' He wished Mr Blair "every success for whatever he does in the future". HOW THE DAY UNFOLDED 1200 - 1230: Final PMQs 1300: Blair says farewell to staff at No 10 1312: Blair arrives at Palace, where he tenders resignation in private audience with Queen 1330: Brown departs Treasury with wife Sarah 1340: Blair leaves Palace 1351: Brown arrives at Palace where Queen asks him to form a government 1448: Brown leaves Palace 1455: Brown enters No 10 for first time as prime minister Day at-a-glance Nick Robinson's view Mr Blair thanked Mr Cameron for his tributes and said although he could not wish the Tory leader well politically, "personally I wish both him and his family very well indeed". Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said that, despite their political disagreements, Mr Blair had been "unfailingly courteous" and extended his party's best wishes to the outgoing prime minister and his family. Mr Blair returned the compliment, saying Sir Menzies had a "generosity of spirit and courtesy". Mr Blair also exchanged tributes with Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley. Middle East To laughter from all sides, Mr Blair told MPs he had received his own P45 on Tuesday. HAVE YOUR SAY What do I want Brown to do? Call an election and see if he gets a proper mandate to be PM Annie, Aberdeenshire Send us your comments Asked by Lib Dem MP Richard Younger-Ross to advise his successor Gordon Brown on the relationship between faith and the state, Mr Blair sparked more laughter by saying, after a brief pause: "I think I'm really not bothered about that one." Looking ahead to his new role, Mr Blair told MPs he believed a solution could be found in the Middle East but it would take a "huge intensity of focus and work". He told MPs: "As I learned in respect of Northern Ireland, it is important to be able to bring people together, including people who have been very hostile towards each other." Mr Blair is travelling to his Sedgefield constituency, in the north east of England, where he is expected to announce he is standing down as an MP with immediate effect after 24 years. John Prescott is also stepping down from frontline politics after 10 years as deputy prime minister. It is not certain whether Mr Brown will appoint a replacement. Mr Brown is thought likely to carry out the bulk of his Cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, but it has already emerged that one definite change will see Patricia Hewitt stepping down as health secretary. ||||| Analysis The mayor is dependent on the central government for most of their funds, so how much power do they really have? ||||| The Browns are moving into 10 Downing Street Brown at Number 10 Posing outside 10 Downing Street with his wife Sarah, the man who has been Mr Blair's chancellor since 1997 said: "Let the work of change begin." He said his priorities were education, health and restoring trust in politics and promised to "try my utmost". Mr Blair has stood down as MP for Sedgefield after 24 years to become a Middle East peace envoy. A Cabinet reshuffle is expected on Thursday. Standing ovation Long-time ally Alistair Darling is tipped to replace Mr Brown as chancellor. BBC political editor Nick Robinson said it was likely that Environment Secretary David Miliband would be promoted to foreign secretary. I will try my utmost. This is my promise to all of the people of Britain Gordon Brown, prime minister The Gordon Brown story In full: Brown's No 10 words Before entering 10 Downing Street, Mr Brown said: "This will be a new government with new priorities. And I have been privileged to have been granted the great opportunity to serve my country. "And at all times I will be strong in purpose, steadfast in will, resolute in action in the service of what matters to the British people, meeting the concerns and aspirations of our whole country." Reshuffle Mr Brown promised to lead a government of "all the talents" and said his "mission" was to provide "the best of chances for everyone". HOW THE DAY UNFOLDED 1200 - 1230: Final PMQs 1300: Blair says farewell to staff at No 10 1312: Blair arrives at Palace, where he tenders resignation in private audience with Queen 1330: Brown departs Treasury with wife Sarah 1340: Blair leaves Palace 1351: Brown arrives at Palace where Queen asks him to form a government 1448: Brown leaves Palace 1455: Brown enters No 10 for first time as prime minister Day at-a-glance Nick Robinson's view "If we can fulfil the potential and realise the talents of all our people then I'm absolutely sure that Britain can be the great global success story of this century," he told reporters in Downing Street. Then, quoting his school motto, he said: "I will try my utmost. This is my promise to all of the people of Britain. And now let the work of change begin." Mr Brown is thought likely to carry out the bulk of his Cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, but it has already emerged that Margaret Beckett is leaving her post of foreign secretary. Ms Hewitt, who has elderly parents in Australia, said she was quitting the government for "personal reasons". Election demand Baroness Amos, leader of the House of Lords, is leaving the Cabinet, the BBC has learned. Conservative leader David Cameron congratulated Mr Brown on becoming prime minister, but demanded he hold an immediate general election. He said: "Gordon Brown doesn't have the mandate, he wasn't elected as prime minister, and he should go to the country." Mr Brown spent 57 minutes inside Buckingham Palace in a private audience with the Queen - more than double Mr Blair's 28 minutes. Mr Brown, 56, becomes the 11th prime minister of the Queen's reign. I am truly sorry for the dangers they face today Tony Blair pays tribute to British soldiers Why is Blair going? Sketch: Blair's finale He became Labour leader unopposed on Sunday after potential rivals had failed to gain enough support to mount a challenge. Earlier, Mr Blair was earlier given an emotional standing ovation by MPs. He admitted he had "never pretended to be a great House of Commons man" but he paid tribute to the "noble" work of MPs and - in his final words to Parliament - said: "I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end." Mr Blair travelled by train to Sedgefield, in the north-east of England, where he said farewell to local party members after 24 years as their MP. He will take up a new job as a peace envoy for the "quartet" of the UN, America, EU and Russia. Tony Blair travelled by train from London King's Cross to Darlington As they left Downing Street the Blair family - including their four children - posed for the media. Mr Blair said nothing as they got in the car, but wife Cherie smiled and waved at the press and said she would not "miss" them. HAVE YOUR SAY What do I want Brown to do? Call an election and see if he gets a proper mandate to be PM Annie, Aberdeenshire Send us your comments Conservative leader David Cameron hailed Mr Blair's "remarkable achievement" in being prime minister for 10 years, praising peace in Northern Ireland and Mr Blair's work in the developing world which he said will "endure". He wished him "every success for whatever he does in the future". Mr Blair thanked Mr Cameron for his tributes and said although he could not wish the Tory leader well politically, "personally I wish both him and his family very well indeed". Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said that, despite their political disagreements, Mr Blair had been "unfailingly courteous" and extended his party's best wishes to the outgoing prime minister and his family. Have you met Gordon Brown? Send us your experiences using the form below. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments | Gordon Brown Gordon Brown has become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II invited him to form a government in a meeting at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday afternoon. Brown, who has been Chancellor of the Exchequer for the past ten years, succeeds Tony Blair who tendered his resignation to the Queen earlier on Wednesday. In an emotional Prime Minister's Questions, Blair received a standing ovation from MPs and tributes from opposition leaders. Tony Blair has led the Labour Party since 1994 and became Prime Minister following a landslide victory in the 1997 general election. Gordon Brown was confirmed as leader of the Labour Party on 24th June after running unopposed in the recent leadership election. He is expected to announce appointments to the Cabinet over the next few days. Later in the day, Tony Blair resigned his parliamentary seat for the constituency of Sedgefield to become an envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet, the nations and entities involved in seeking a resolution in the Middle East peace process (the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia). |
Seven arrested in Monmouth County drug bust by Maryann Spoto /The Star-Ledger Monday June 02, 2008, 4:41 PM Federal and state authorities said today they arrested seven people and dismantled an elaborate Monmouth County-based drug trafficking and money-laundering operation that each month allegedly netted $1 million and distributed more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine. The network, in existence for at least 14 months while authorities conducted their investigation, distributed cocaine throughout the country, mostly in New Jersey, Florida and Georgia, and imported its supplies mainly from Mexico and Colombia, said Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin. Dubbed "Operation Unbounded," the investigation by his office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was the largest of its kind in Monmouth County. Based at the multi-million dollar Manalapan home of its alleged leader, it operated out of ``quiet suburbia'' but had contacts worldwide, said Gerard McAleer, special agent in charge of the DEA's New Jersey division. ``We took out a whole organization that is both trafficking in cocaine and also laundering the money, the proceeds from that trafficking,'' McAleer said. Before the arrests began on April 2, the alleged leader, Vicente Esteves, 35, and his wife, Chantal Esteves, 30, spent the money on lavish items, including their 5,724-square-foot home that McAleer described as reminiscent of the ill-gotten opulence displayed in the movie ``Scarface.'' Their walk-in closets, he said, contained ``hundreds and hundreds'' of pairs of Prada shoes. To keep track of them, McAleer said, the couple pasted photographs of the shoes on the outside of the boxes. The Esteveses also owned hundreds of Rolex watches, he said. Vicente Esteves is being held in the Monmouth County jail in Freehold in lieu of $10 million cash bail. His wife's bail was set at $5 million. Valentin said most of the cocaine was smuggled into the United States through commercial airlines at area airports, including Newark Liberty International Airport. He would not say whether airport employees were involved. Members of the network then transferred the cocaine by ground transportation to its intended destination, and other members paid the drug suppliers in cash, the prosecutor said. Also arrested was Hector Rodriguez, 40, a Perth Amboy resident accused of being a lieutenant in the organization and managing the cocaine distribution and the proceeds. He is being held on $3 million bail. Their bail set at $1 million and $200,000, respectively, Cesar Robert Cabrera-Cepeda, 39, of Old Bridge, and Alfurquan Barringer, 34, of South River, are accused of transporting the cocaine. Michael Lopez, 35, of Perth Amboy and Mark Edwards, 39, of Metuchen, being held on $1 million and $3 million bail, respectively, allegedly transported the money. All seven are charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance. The Esteveses, Edwards, Lopez and Rodriguez are also charged with money laundering. See more in News ||||| NJ husband-wife team accused of leading drug ring MANALAPAN, N.J. (AP) — A couple ran a cocaine smuggling ring from their fortress-like multimillion-dollar home and amassed so many luxury goods that the wife needed photos to keep track of her 100 pairs of Prada shoes, authorities said Monday. Vicente Esteves, 35, and his wife, Chantal, 30, were arrested on conspiracy and money laundering charges after a 14-month investigation, federal and county officials said. The $1 million-a-week operation used commercial airline flights to move drugs from Mexico and Colombia into the United States and to send millions of dollars back, investigators said. Authorities also described the opulent lifestyle the couple led behind the gates of their home in New Jersey horse country. The couple "attempted to hide behind the beauty of suburbia," said Gerard McAleer, special agent in charge of the DEA's New Jersey office. "It's like something out of the movie 'Scarface,'" McAleer said. "They had walk-in closets where there were 100 pairs of Prada shoes, still in the boxes. There were so many they had Polaroid photos taped to the boxes to keep track of them. "There were also 100 Rolex watches," McAleer said. "I'm not sure Donald Trump has 100 Rolex watches. That's the kind of money that was being made." The investigation began last year when the DEA got a tip that a large-scale drug ring was operating out of Manalapan, an enclave of wealthy homeowners, many of whom had fled the urban ills of New York or northern New Jersey. The cocaine wound up in New Jersey, Florida, Georgia and other states, authorities said. To launder the proceeds, Vicente Esteves used two real estate companies that had no legitimate business, Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin said. Seven people have been arrested so far, and the case is ongoing, investigators said. One of the defendants was arrested Friday with $100,000 in cash aboard a commercial flight preparing to depart Newark for Miami, authorities said. None of the defendants had retained a lawyer as of Monday afternoon, according to the prosecutor's office. All told, authorities said they seized 150 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $2 million, plus $2 million in cash. Vicente Esteves was being held on $10 million bail, his wife on $5 million. Each could get 30 years if convicted. | Monmouth County, New Jersey.Officials from the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) have arrested seven members of a drug trafficking and money laundering operation based in Manalapan, New Jersey. The arrests follow a joint investigation between the DEA and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, dubbed "Operation Unbounded", which ran for 14 months following a tip-off received by the DEA about a drug ring running out of the "quiet suburbia" of Manalapan. According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin, the drugs were smuggled into the country on commercial flights from countries including Mexico and Colombia, and delivered via ground transport to New Jersey, Florida, Georgia and elsewhere in the United States. Authorities believe the operation was headed by Vicente Esteves, 35, and his wife Chantal, 30. The couple has been arrested and is being held in the Monmouth County Jail in Freehold. Mr. Esteves's bail is currently set at US$10 million, and his wife's at US$5 million. Gerard McAleer, special agent in charge of the DEA's New Jersey division, compared the Esteves's opulent lifestyle to that in the movie ''Scarface''. In their multi-million dollar Manalapan home, McAleer noted, were "walk-in closets where there were 100 pairs of Prada shoes, still in the boxes." According to New Jersey newspaper ''The Star-Ledger'', the operation transported more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine and earned its operators US$1 million per month, while the Associated Press puts the figure at US$1 million per week. Authorities arrested one of the seven defendants boarding a commercial flight from Newark to Miami in possession of US$100,000, and have since seized cocaine with a street value of US$2 million, and US$2 million in cash. |
Georgetown : President Bharrat Jagdeo’s libel case against Kaieteur News Columnist, Freddie Kissoon, Kaieteur News Editor, Adam Harris and Publisher, Glen Lall today commenced in the High Court before Justice Brassington Reynolds. President Jagdeo was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, who led the Plaintiff’s first witness, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon into evidence. Dr. Luncheon’s cross-examination started but was adjourned to permit legal arguments regarding whether certain questions can be asked having regard to the state of the pleadings. Legal arguments continued and concluded this afternoon and the matter was adjourned to August 24 at 9:30 am for continuation and ruling. The matter stemmed from an article authored by Kissoon and published in the Kaieteur News on June 28, 2010 entitled, ‘King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the conference’, which refers to the Guyanese Head of State as an ideological racist. A libel case was subsequently made out against the columnist as well as the newspaper’s editor and publisher. ||||| Bharrat Jagdeo wants several million dollars in damages for what he says is libel. GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Thursday July 15, 2010 – Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo is taking a local newspaper, its publisher, its editor and a columnist to court, seeking more than GUY$10 million (US$48,732) in damages for an article that he says suggests he’s racist. He’s alleging that the article written by columnist Freddie Kissoon and published in the Kaieteur News on June 28th was libelous. Kaieteur News, Kissoon, Editor Adam Harris, and publisher National Media and Publishing Company Ltd, have all been named defendants in the suit. Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has granted an injunction preventing them from repeating the alleged libel or any other libel against the President. Jagdeo contended in an affidavit filed to obtain the injunction that the article headlined ‘King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the conference’ contained libel that has caused him and the entire Government of Guyana “great public embarrassment, held us up to odium and ridicule, both nationally and internationally”. The President said he understood the article to mean that he, and by extension the State and Government of Guyana, discriminate against Afro-Guyanese on the basis of their race and ethnicity. Among other things, President Jagdeo accuses Kissoon of suggesting that he, the State and Government routinely contravene Article 149 of the Constitution which guarantees to all citizens of this country protection from racial discrimination as a fundamental right and freedom; and that force, intimidation and other unlawful methods are sued to silence critics. “For the respondents/defendants to publish the aforesaid the allegations is not only libelous but is also malicious, irresponsible and inflammatory, calculated and designed to excite racial hostilities amongst the people of Guyana and to cause a racial rift between the people of Guyana and their democratically elected Government,” the affidavit stated. An August 5th date has been set for the matter to be heard by Justice Chang. | File photo of President Jagdeo from 2007. Guyana's President seeks more than 10 million (nearly US$50,000) in damages for an article published in '''' suggesting he was a racist, a court heard on Friday. The June 2010 article headed "King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the conference" prompted Jagdeo to sue the newspaper, columnist who wrote the article, Editor Adam Harris and . The President's affidavit stated, "For the respondents/defendants to publish the aforesaid allegations is not only libelous but is also malicious, irresponsible and inflammatory, calculated and designed to excite racial hostilities amongst the people of Guyana and to cause a racial rift between the people of Guyana and their democratically elected Government." Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat testified in the proceedings, and told Justice Ian Chang that he was convinced the article accused President Jagdeo of being a racist, leaving the reader with a negative connotation. The witness said that the newspaper published a number of articles which implied members of the Cabinet and Government officials were racist and discriminatory towards . Luncheon stated that he had never seen any evidence of racism or racial policies practised by the President or the Government. Jagdeo contended that the article had caused "great public embarrassment, held us up to odium and ridicule, both nationally and internationally." Nigel Hughes cross-examined Luncheon for the defence, asking about the ethnicity of the persons serving overseas as Government diplomats and head of agencies. He replied that they were Indians, with the exception of one person. Attorney of law Anil Nandlall interrupted, arguing there was no justification for the defence to be pursuing cross-examination of that description, which sparked legal arguments between the lawyers of the President and the defendants. The matter was adjourned to Wednesday for continuation and ruling. == Sources == * * * |
CARACAS (Reuters) - The Venezuelan government of U.S.-critic President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered Coca-Cola Co to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation, citing unspecified dangers to health. The decision follows a wave of nationalizations and increased scrutiny of businesses in South America's top oil exporter. Health Minister Jesus Mantilla said the zero-calorie Coke Zero should no longer be sold and stocks of the drink removed from store shelves while the government investigated its ingredients. "The product should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans," the minister said in comments reported by the government's news agency. Coca Cola said Coke Zero contains no harmful ingredients, but that it will stop production and remove the product from shelves during the ongoing investigation. "Coca Cola Zero is made under the highest quality standards around the world and meets the sanitary requirements demanded by the laws of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," the company said in a joint statement with its local bottling company. Despite Chavez's anti-capitalist policies and rhetoric against consumerism, oil-exporting Venezuela remains one of Latin America's most Americanized cultures, with U.S. fast-food chains, shopping malls and baseball all highly popular. Mantilla did not say what health risks Coke Zero, which contains artificial sweeteners, posed to the population. Coke Zero was launched in Venezuela in April and Coca-Cola Femsa, the Mexico-based company that bottles Coke products locally, said at the time it aimed to increase its market share for low calorie drinks by 200 percent. The bottler was plagued with labour problems last year in Venezuela when former workers repeatedly blocked its plants, demanding back-pay. The government this year has seized a rice mill and pasta factory belonging to U.S. food giant Cargill and has threatened action against U.S. drug company Pfizer. Chavez has also nationalized a group of oil service companies, including projects belonging to Williams Companies and Exterran. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Antonio de la Jara; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Christian Wiessner and Muralikumar Anantharaman) ||||| Coke Zero has been successful elsewhere in the world since its launch Venezuela has banned the sale of the calorie-free Coke Zero, calling it harmful to people's well-being. "The product should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans," said Health Minister Jesus Mantilla. Mr Mantilla did not say what the specific problem with Coke Zero was. Coca-Cola said it would stop production of the drink in the country, but also added that Coke Zero contained no harmful products. Anti-US motivations? Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is a vocal critic of the US, and is in the process of nationalising much of the economy. He has criticised American "imperialism" repeatedly, and often castigates critics of his rule on his TV show Alo Presidente. The government this year has seized a rice mill and pasta factory belonging to US food giant Cargill and has threatened action against pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Venezuela, the world's ninth largest oil producer, has nationalised much of its oil and gas sector since Mr Chavez came to power, and recently took over its third largest bank, Banco de Venezuela. In February he won a referendum that allowed him to keep running for new terms in office. Coke Zero was launched in Venezuela in April. It launched the beverage in Europe in 2007. In 2005, Venezuela's tax authorities ordered a 48-hour closure of Coca Cola's bottling plants for allegedly not following tax rules. | Coca-Cola Zero Coke Zero, a product of the Coca-Cola Company has been banned in Venezuela by the government. Jesús Mantilla, the health minister for Venezuela stated the ban is to preserve the health of Venezuelans but did not specify what problems could be caused with consuming Coke Zero. Coca-Cola agreed to abide by the ban but claimed that Coke Zero contained no harmful ingredients. "Coca Cola Zero is made under the highest quality standards around the world and meets the sanitary requirements demanded by the laws of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," said Coca Cola in a statement. Coke Zero, which was first sold in 2005 in the United States, was launched in Venezuela in April and Coca-Cola Femsa, the Mexican company who bottles the drink, hoped to increase the market share for low calorie drinks by up to 200 percent. Coke Zero contains no sugar and was created to be an alternative to Coca-Cola Classic. Venezuela is currently in the process of nationalizing much of its economy. Earlier in the year the government seized a rice mill and a pasta factory owned by American food production company, Cargill. Legal action has also been threatened against pharmaceutical company Pfizer. |
Thousands of Trump supporters rally in DC before Electoral College vote Show Caption Hide Caption Donald Trump waves to supporters at 'Million MAGA March' in DC President Donald Trump drove past and waved at protesters as they gathered for the so-called "Million MAGA March in Washington, D.C. on November 14. WASHINGTON – A growing crowd waving American flags and wearing “Make America Great Again" hats gathered Saturday morning in Freedom Plaza in support of President Donald Trump and his unfounded allegations of voter fraud in the presidential election. The rally was organized by Women for America First, a conservative group that organized last month's “Stop the Steal” rally, which drew tens of thousands of people. As many as 15,000 people were expected to attend Saturday's demonstration, which began at Freedom Plaza, according to the group's permit. Crowds gathered to listen to speakers before marching to the Supreme Court, which denied an effort Friday to overturn election results in battleground states and prevent them from casting their Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden on Monday. Analysis: Donald Trump stood no chance in front of a conservative Supreme Court. Here's why. Lisa Parry and her husband Richard drove 14 hours from Florida to show their support for Trump and demand transparency from the government. Parry, who wore a “Million MAGA March” sweatshirt, said she doesn’t believe Biden could’ve won the election. “I went to bed at 1 o’clock and Trump was ahead. There’s no way,” Parry, a retired nurse said. “I don’t believe it. It’s fakes.” For many, the rally is a way for Trump supporters to express their disillusionment and anger over the election, Amy Kremer, chair for Women for America First, previously told USA TODAY. She traveled to the nation's capital as part of a two-week, cross-country bus tour. "We want him to continue to stay strong and fight to expose this voter fraud and demand transparency and election integrity," she said. "The second purpose is really to support each other." The people behind the lawsuits: For these Trump supporters primed to disbelieve defeat, challenging the election was a civic duty The rally comes just days before electors from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., meet in their respective capitals to cast votes for president based on the popular votes in each state. Biden won 306 electoral votes and Trump got 232; a presidential candidate needs 270 to win. March for Trump: Trump supporters plan DC rally to 'demand transparency' before Electoral College vote Supreme courts reject claims of voter fraud: Here's a look at what courts said about rejecting attempts to overturn Biden's election win Several groups including anti-Trump organization Refuse Fascism and anti-fascist group All Out DC are holding counterprotests at Black Lives Matter Plaza, just a few blocks from the White House. Cynthia Brokenshire, Elizabeth Mortimer and Anmarie Kaziamis met on Facebook and carpooled from New Jersey to Washington Saturday morning. They couldn't attend the previous rally in November but made a point to come Saturday to support the “Stop the Steal” campaign. 'Stop the Steal': Trump says the election is not over as 'Stop the Steal' and 'voter fraud' disinformation go viral on Facebook and Twitter Skirmishes between protesters and counterprotesters broke out across the city at the November rally. At least 20 people were arrested on a variety of charges, including assault and weapons possession, The Associated Press reported. “Our democracy is at risk,” Kaziamis said while holding a Trump flag. “I wouldn’t miss this one for the world.” Contributing: Will Carless ||||| FILE PHOTO: Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stand in front of the Supreme Court as the court reviews a lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to undo President-elect Joe Biden's election victory in Washington, U.S., December 11, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative groups that allege without evidence that President-elect Joe Biden stole the U.S. election from Donald Trump plan protests nationwide on Saturday, including a Washington rally headlined by Trump’s recently pardoned former national security adviser. Organizers Stop The Steal, which is linked to pro-Trump operative Roger Stone, and church groups urged supporters to turn out to “Jericho Marches” and prayer rallies. These are planned at Washington’s National Mall and in the capitals of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, where Trump’s campaign has questioned vote counts. More than 50 federal and state court rulings have upheld Biden’s victory over President Trump. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a long-shot lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states. Trump has refused to concede defeat, alleging without evidence that he was denied victory by massive fraud. The Washington rally will begin with marches around the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court and Justice Department “with prayers for the walls of corruption and election fraud to fall down,” according to StopTheSteal.com. The plans reference the Biblical miracle of the battle of Jericho, in which the walls of the city crumbled after priests and soldiers marched around it. Retired Army General Mike Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the former Russian ambassador, is scheduled to speak from the high court steps, his his first public address since Trump pardoned him on Nov. 24. Republican political donors and religious figures, including My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell and radio host Eric Metaxas, are expected to attend. An anti-Trump group called a rally near the White House on Saturday as well, raising the potential for a repeat of clashes that occurred Nov. 14. ||||| Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking “I agree” below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service. ||||| A throng of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to voice support for President Trump and protest the results of the election after the push to overturn election results suffered a major court defeat. Organizers planned demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court, Capitol and Department of Justice as part of the events Saturday, the second time a major march has been organized to back Trump since Election Day. Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn, who he pardoned after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador, keynoted an event outside the Supreme Court. ADVERTISEMENT "We're in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country," Flynn told those gathered. "We will win." Trump touted the demonstrations in a tweet, saying "thousands" were gathering in D.C. to march in support of his efforts to overturn President-elect Joe Biden Joe BidenBiden team says it's 'no surprise' Supreme Court rejected Texas lawsuit Giuliani says Trump team 'not finished' after Supreme Court defeat Cuomo under consideration to become Biden's attorney general: reports MORE's victory. He also indicated he planned to see supporters. "Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn't know about this, but I'll be seeing them! #MAGA," the president tweeted. Trump's presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew over the National Mall as Trump departed the White House en route to the Army-Navy football on Saturday afternoon at West Point. Supporters gathered a day after the Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow for the president's ongoing efforts to overturn election results. The court rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to overturn election results in four key battleground states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia — with justices ruling that the Lone Star State did not have the legal right to litigate over how other states carry out their elections. ADVERTISEMENT Trump has ripped the decision, saying the court "let us down." Demonstrators began gathering early Saturday morning in D.C., with venders setting up stands selling Trump merchandise and flags as crowds of supporters filed into Freedom Plaza. Organizers with the Jericho March and "Roar" prayer rallies plan to convene at a stage near the National Mall until 4 p.m. Saturday, a local Nexstar affiliate WDVM reported. Crowd of pro-Trump demonstrators fills the plaza and street in front of the Supreme Court this morning ahead of expected pro-Trump rallies in DC this weekend - pic.twitter.com/GHKq7GXAOo — Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) December 12, 2020 According to the group's webpage, the Jericho March is gathering in support of Trump and "election integrity, transparency, and reform to preserve free and fair elections in America for this generation and generations to come." Last month, Trump supporters gathered for the "Million MAGA March" on Freedom Plaza, where the president drove by in his motorcade to greet the thousands who turned out. That evening, some supporters of the president and counter-protesters clashed in the streets amid the president's continued refusal to concede the 2020 election. The "Stop the Steal" rally at Washington's Freedom Plaza just before 10:30 am Saturday. (screenshots from Reuters video) pic.twitter.com/zYCCBxc7EN — Heather Timmons (@HeathaT) December 12, 2020 The Washington Post reported that permits for Saturday estimate crowds up to 15,000 in size, though noted experts think the gathering will be significantly smaller than last month's pro-Trump rally. Since major news outlets called the 2020 election in favor of Biden last month, Trump and his allies have promoted unsupported claims of fraudulent activity and filed various lawsuits ultimately rejected in court. The Electoral College will vote Monday to make Biden's win official, paving the way for him to take office Jan. 20. ||||| Backers of President Trump descended on Washington, D.C., Saturday in another sign of support for the president who has come up short in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Supporters with Trump flags and hats were gathering at Freedom Plaza near the White House chanting "Four More Years" to urge Trump to keep on fighting for election integrity. Organizers of the Women for America First rally were expecting 15,000 participants for the rally and march to the Supreme Court. Trump, who is scheduled to fly to New York Saturday to attend the Army-Navy football game at West Point, appeared to be pleasantly surprised by another show of support in the Democratic stronghold of D.C. "Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA" It's not clear how Trump plans to see the rally, but the commander in chief is scheduled to leave the White House in the noon hour to head to Joint Base Andrews for his Air Force One flight to West Point. During the last major "Stop the Steal" rally in D.C. on Nov. 14, Trump and his motorcade drove through the downtown D.C. crowd to wave to supporters before heading to his golf resort in Virginia. SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO HEAR TRUMP-SUPPORTED TEXAS CASE OVER ELECTION RESULTS IN FOUR OTHER STATES Two pro-Trump groups have applied for park permits for rallies on Saturday. The "March for Trump" demonstration organized by the Women for America First will start at noon. Expected speakers include former Trump aides Sebastian Gorka and Boris Epshteyn as well as "My Pillow" guy Mike Lindell and Rep.-elect Bob Good, R-Va., according to organizers. A second pro-Trump rally is set for the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall where organizers planned for 500 people, according to their national park permit. Meanwhile, the "Refuse Fascism" anti-Trump group has scheduled a counter-protest in Black Lives Matter Plaza at noon with the message: "Trump: You Lost. Get the Hell Out!" The rallies come a day after a major legal defeat for Trump when the Supreme Court Friday declined to hear a Texas case that challenged the election results in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin. PENNSYLVANIA ACCUSES TEXAS OF SEEKING 'TO DECIMATE THE ELECTORATE' IN FIERY SUPREME COURT BRIEF Trump has repeatedly alleged he beat President-elect Joe Biden in the presidential because of widespread voter fraud. But states have stood by their results and courts have repeatedly rejected Trump's legal claims that Biden's victory -- by a margin of more than 7 million votes nationwide -- should be tossed out. The Supreme Court order does not foreclose any other pending or future election appeals at the Supreme Court, but time is running out. The states meet next week on Dec. 14 for the Electoral College exercise. And on Jan. 6 there will be a joint session of the House and Senate to count the electoral votes and certify Biden as the winner. On Saturday, the Biden transition team praised courts for tossing out Trump's "baseless" legal claims. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "The Supreme Court has decisively and speedily rejected the latest of Donald Trump and his allies’ attacks on the democratic process," Biden transition official Michael Gwin said in a statement. "This is no surprise — dozens of judges, election officials from both parties, and Trump's own Attorney General have dismissed his baseless attempts to deny that he lost the election. President-elect Biden's clear and commanding victory will be ratified by the Electoral College on Monday, and he will be sworn in on January 20th." Fox News' Tyler Olson and Hillary Vaughn contributed to this report. ||||| Evan Vucci/AP WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of President Donald Trump are returning to Washington for a pair of rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost. The rallies Saturday come a month after a pro-Trump demonstration that drew at least 10,000 people to the capital. That day began with Trump thrilling supporters when his motorcade passed by and ended with scattered clashes between his loyalists and local activists near Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House. ||||| Crowds of President Donald Trump’s supporters flocked to Washington, D.C., Saturday for the second time in as many months to show their opposition to the results of the presidential election. The Million MAGA March and Women for America First are among the groups that planned to rally, according to event permits issued to those organizations by the National Park Service. They're convening before electors meet in their states Monday to cast Electoral College votes. Download our free NBC Washington app for iOS or Android to get the latest local news and weather. In total, those two groups said they're expecting thousands of supporters to attend, according to the permits. A former Republican candidate for the U.S. House from New York, Constantin Jean-Pierre, hopes the rally will bring people together to discuss what comes next after the latest setback for Trump and his supporters who don’t accept the election results, a rejection by the Supreme Court. “I wanted to show Trump support,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re going to get some type of resolution. We’re going to find out what we do next after the Supreme Court justice ruling.” As supporters flowed into downtown on Friday night, a crowd of Trump supporters took to the streets, at one point converging and kneeling at the Washington Monument. Scuffles broke out between demonstrators and counterprotesters, resulting in five arrests, police said. Three arrestees were from Maryland, one was from Virginia and one was from New York, police said. More opposition demonstrations are expected Saturday. A permit for a Women for America First rally says the group is expecting 15,000 people to gather starting at 11 a.m. Saturday for an event featuring speakers that begins on Freedom Plaza, followed by a march to the exterior of the Supreme Court before concluding with more speeches and wrapping up around 3:30 p.m. The permit for Saturday's Million MAGA March says organizers are expecting 500 people at and around the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall, near the Washington Monument. The permit was issued for a demonstration on "election integrity" and Second Amendment rights from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The demonstrations will come less than a month after similar events, during which participants protested election results they said were fraudulent. At least two rallies in support of President Trump are expected to take place Saturday in D.C. The events are expected to draw a large number of counterprotesters. News4's Jackie Bensen reports That evening, the night of Nov. 14, some violent clashes between Trump supporters and counterprotesters erupted on downtown streets. Dozens of people were arrested, and two police officers were injured, according to the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Police responded to numerous reports of fights, and one person was stabbed in a fight that police said was related to the protests. Ahead of this weekend's marches, expect some street closures and parking restrictions. Street Closures The following streets will be restricted to vehicular traffic from about 6 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. According to a release from D.C. police: "The decision to restrict vehicles will be based upon public safety and if safe to do so, vehicles will be allowed to enter the restricted area if they are on essential business or traveling to-and-from their residence." • Constitution Avenue from Pennsylvania Avenue to 23rd Street NW • Independence Avenue SW from 14th Street to Ohio Drive SW • K Street from 9th Street NW to 18th Street NW • I Street from 9th Street NW to 18th Street NW • H Street from 9th Street NW to 18th Street NW • New York Avenue from 9th Street NW to 15th Street NW • New York Avenue from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • G Street from 9th Street NW to 15th Street NW • G Street from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • F Street from 9th Street NW to 15th Street NW • F Street from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • E Street from 9th Street NW to 15th Street NW • E Street from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • D Street from 5th Street NW to 9th Street NW • D Street from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • C Street from 3rd Street NW to 6th Street NW • C Street from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 3rd Street NW to 15th Street NW • Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 17th Street NW to 18th Street NW • Indiana Avenue from 3rd Street to 5th Street NW • 3rd Street from Independence Avenue SW to D Street NW • 4th Street from Independence Avenue SW to Pennsylvania Avenue NW • 4th Street from Indiana Avenue NW to E Street NW • 5th Street from Indiana Avenue NW to E Street NW • 6th Street from Constitution Avenue NW to E Street NW • 7th Street from Independence Avenue SW to E Street NW • 9th Street from Constitution Avenue NW to E Street NW • 10th Street from Constitution Avenue NW to L Street NW • 11th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue NW to L Street NW • 12th Street from Constitution Avenue NW to L Street NW • 13th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue NW to L Street NW • 14th Street from Independence Avenue SW to L Street NW • 15th Street from Independence Avenue SW to L Street NW • 16th Street from H Street NW to L Street NW • Vermont Avenue from H Street NW to L Street NW • Connecticut Avenue from H Street NW to L Street NW • 17th Street from Independence Avenue SW to L Street NW • Madison Street from 3rd Street NW to 15th Street NW • Jefferson Street from 3rd Street SW to 15th Street SW • 12th Street Tunnel • 9th Street Tunnel Parking Restrictions Some parking restrictions began Thursday evening and will remain in effect through Sunday at 11:59 p.m. for the following streets: H Street from 15th Street to 17th Street I Street from 15th Street to 17th Street Connecticut Avenue from H Street NW to L Street NW Vermont Avenue from H Street NW to L Street NW 15 th Street from I Street to K Street NW (west side of McPherson Square) Street from I Street to K Street NW (west side of McPherson Square) 17th Street from I Street to K Street NW (east side of Franklin Square) The following streets will be posted as Emergency No Parking from Saturday from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.: ||||| FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump drives by a group of supporters participating in a rally near the White House in Washington. Supporters of President Donald Trump are returning to Washington for a pair of rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump drives by a group of supporters participating in a rally near the White House in Washington. Supporters of President Donald Trump are returning to Washington for a pair of rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of President Donald Trump are returning to Washington for a pair of rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost. The rallies Saturday come a month after a pro-Trump demonstration that drew at least 10,000 people to the capital. That day began with Trump thrilling supporters when his motorcade passed by and ended with scattered clashes between his loyalists and local activists near Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House. ADVERTISEMENT Saturday’s rallies are meant as a show of force just two days before the Electoral College meets to formally elect Democrat Joe Biden as the next president. Trump refuses to concede the election, citing baseless claims of fraud. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a lawsuit to overturn Biden’s election victory, ending an attempt to get legal issues rejected by state and federal judges before the nation’s highest court. Trump planned to leave the White House around midday to attend the Army-Navy football game in West Point, New York. One of the rallies will be at Freedom Plaza downtown and the other nearby on the National Mall. The event on the mall, dubbed the Jericho March, is described on its website as a several-hour “prayer rally” with a series of sermons and speakers “praying for the walls of corruption and election fraud to fall down.” Organizers of the Freedom Plaza rally seem intent on avoiding confrontations, telling demonstrators to avoid certain hotels and marking off large chunks of downtown Washington as a “no-go zone.” BLM ||||| Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Saturday made his first public remarks since President Trump Donald TrumpBiden team says it's 'no surprise' Supreme Court rejected Texas lawsuit Trump praises FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccine: 'One of the greatest scientific accomplishments in history' Giuliani says Trump team 'not finished' after Supreme Court defeat MORE pardoned him last month, saying at a series of rallies in Washington, D.C., in support of Trump’s election disputes that this is a “crucible moment in the history” of the country. During remarks on the steps of the Supreme Court, Flynn urged the thousands of demonstrators gathered, with some holding Trump 2020 flags and signs reading “Stop the Steal,” to push for continued challenges to the 2020 election results. “In this crucible moment of our time, we have to pray that truth triumphs over lies, justice triumphs over abuse and fraud, honesty triumphs over corruption," Flynn said. "Our sacred honor triumphs over infamy. ADVERTISEMENT “Don’t get bent out of shape,” he added. “There are still avenues ... We’re fighting with faith and we’re fighting with courage.” The remarks come as Trump and his allies continue to challenge the election results in several states that went to President-elect Joe Biden Joe BidenBiden team says it's 'no surprise' Supreme Court rejected Texas lawsuit Giuliani says Trump team 'not finished' after Supreme Court defeat Cuomo under consideration to become Biden's attorney general: reports MORE, citing unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. The rallies came a day after the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from Texas that sought to overturn Biden’s wins in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania. The Court ruled that Texas did not have the legal authority to litigate over how other states conduct their elections, although several of Trump’s allies have vowed to continue fighting this decision. Trump has condemned the decision, saying the court "let us down." Flynn, who was pardoned after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador, appeared to take aim at the Supreme Court during later remarks at another rally near the U.S. Capitol. ADVERTISEMENT “The courts aren’t going to decide who the next president of the United States is going to be,” the former national security adviser told the crowd. “We the people decide.” This comes after a federal judge on Tuesday agreed to dismiss the case against Flynn, but said that Trump’s grant of clemency does not mean the former adviser is innocent of lying to the FBI. “If there’s a guy that could be vindictive or could be hateful or scornful, you’re looking at him, and I’m not,” Flynn continued. “I’m not because this is not about me, it’s not about my family, although family is a major component of who we are. “This is about our faith, this is about our faith in each other,” he continued. “This is about our constitution and the fabric of our constitution. “Honesty. It’s a strong word. Honesty,” he added. “Why can’t these people get it? Why can’t these people around the states, around our country get it? “I mean, we’re only asking to show us a little transparency,” Flynn continued. “Why not recount? Why not look at the signatures? Why not look inside these machines? Why not? What are they afraid of? What are they hiding from? They’re hiding from something.” The Trump campaign has already requested recounts in several states that went to Biden, including in Georgia, which Gov. Brian Kemp Brian KempArizona Senate Republicans to hold hearing on elections Georgia House speaker calls for secretary of state to be chosen by general assembly, not voters The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Congress moves to avert shutdown as virus talks stall again MORE (R) recertified for Biden this week following a Trump-requested new tabulation of ballots. The Electoral College is scheduled to vote Monday to officially cement Biden's win, with the former vice president set to take office Jan. 20. | Several conservative groups claiming the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen from incumbent President Donald Trump gathered on Saturday in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C., for a rally organized by ''Women for America First''. Reportedly several thousand supporters turned out, with Trump flags and hats, in D.C. to protest, some in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, which rejected, the day before the rally, a lawsuit filed by Texas which tried to overturn the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Trump tweeted he wasn't aware of the event but would go to see it anyway: "Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn't know about this, but I'll be seeing them! #MAGA" MAGA stands for Make America Great Again — a slogan commonly used by Trump and his supporters. Trump flew above the rally on his helicopter on his way to , New York, with supporters cheering below. Former Trump adviser and retired general Michael Flynn was on stage while Trump flew over. This was the first time Flynn made a public speech since he was pardoned by Trump. He said "That's pretty cool. Imagine just being able to jump in a helicopter and just go for a joy ride around Washington". Another former Trump adviser, , also spoke in the rally and encouraged supporters to remain hopeful after the recent court decision. The rallies happened two days before the formal vote of the to choose the president-elect. Trump and his supporters claimed Joe Biden only won the elections due to voter fraud and sought to overturn the results. Organizers of the rally said they were fighting corruption and dishonesty. Flynn said there was a lack of transparency in the elections and urged the crowd to consider what the counters are hiding from them and why don't they let them look at the signatures and at the machines. A couple from Florida, Richard and Lisa Parry, made a 14-hour drive to D.C. for the rally. Lisa Parry, a retired nurse, said, "I went to bed at 1 o'clock and Trump was ahead. There's no way... I don't believe it, it's fake." |
Furnace closure 'would devastate' Steelmaker Corus is set to mothball its Teesside plant threatening the jobs of nearly 2,000 workers. Workers at the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant in Redcar were told the news ahead of a 90-day consultation. Owner Corus said the development had become "unavoidable" because of the early end to a contract with four international steel slab buyers. Steel union Community expressed "outrage" and said it would work to secure steelmaking on Teesside. Corus said the development was because of the termination of a contract by four international slab buyers which had made the Redcar plant "unviable". The agreement was signed in 2004 and committed the consortium to buy just under 78% of the plant's production for 10 years. Those involved in the agreement include Marcegaglia SpA, Dongkuk Steel Mills Co Ltd, Duferco Participations Holding Ltd and Alvory SA. Dedicated employees Corus chief executive Kirby Adams said: "I am extremely disappointed that the consortium members have seen fit to take this irresponsible action. "Their unilateral termination of a legally binding 10-year contract could bring to an end a fine heritage of steelmaking at Teesside. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. "We regret the distress their action will cause TCP's dedicated employees, who have worked steadfastly in the interests of the consortium." Corus has started discussions with the 1,920 employees at the plant about what could be done to mitigate the impact of mothballing. The steelmaker said any such decision was likely to lead to a significant number of redundancies. Michael J Leahy, general secretary of the steelworkers' union Community, said: "This is appalling news. "We cannot believe that the consortium is taking such irresponsible action that will have a devastating effect on our members and the whole community in Teesside. "The consortium has made this disgraceful move, knowingly jeopardising the livelihoods of thousands of workers who are the innocent victims of this. "These multi-nationals have reaped hundreds of millions of pounds in profits and are now walking away from their legal, moral and social responsibilities." Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Redcar MP Vera Baird said: "I'm absolutely furious. This consortium is happy to walk away, after our workers have been providing fabulous quality steel that has made the company a lot of money. "It is an appalling decision and I urge the consortium to come back to the table. "My thoughts are with the men and women who work at the plant. Redcar is a fighting community, and they can rest assured that we will do all we can." 'Unacceptable development' Anglo-Dutch firm Corus, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata since 2007, said it was using all legal means to ensure the terms of the contract were enforced and that the four members of the consortium met their contractual obligations. The company said it would continue to explore any alternative options that might secure a viable future for the TCP site and its employees. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said: "It is essential that Corus does everything it can legally, and with the government's assistance, to reinstate the Offtake Framework Agreement. "It is unacceptable that such a development should threaten jobs on such a scale, with such a potentially devastating impact on the area. "The government stands ready to do what it can to support the company. We are not prepared to reconcile ourselves to inevitable closure of this plant." Do you work at the Teesside plant? Are you concerned about your job? A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| Shock and sadness over proposed steel industry cuts Published: 8th May 2009 "We've had the threats hanging over the Teesside steel industry for many years, but today is like being hit by a mini earthquake compared to what's happened in the past. "I was made redundant from the steel industry in 1994, so I'm afraid I have first hand knowledge of the damage and misery it can cause to families. "All I can say is that this Council will be here to assist any steelworker who faces losing their job. "We will take a full role in supporting residents who are experiencing the impact of today's announcement and who are concerned about their future by bringing together a task group of officers, experts in employment, support and welfare advice." "Corus regrets to announce that it has been forced to open consultations that might result in a decision to mothball its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant in northeast England. "This development has become unavoidable because of a failure by four international slab buyers to fulfil their obligations under an Offtake Framework Agreement (OFA). "The company has today begun discussions with employees and their representatives about what can be done to mitigate the impact of mothballing the plant on the 1,920 TCP employees and what future action may be needed. Any decision to mothball is likely to lead to a very significant number of redundancies." "Any lay person would think that by refusing to take any more steel from Teesside Cast Products these companies are in breach of their 10-year contract." "This is a desperate situation and we need the Government to step up to the mark and start supporting our manufacturing industries. "Obviously, we've heard rumours over the recent past, but, today our worst fears have been realised. It's the scourge of unemployment and we can't tolerate it. We're facing serious social and economic effects." Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council has today (Friday 8th May) expressed its shock and sadness at the announcement by Corus to begin consulting on possible redundancies at the Corus site.The Council's Leader Councillor George Dunning said:The Corus website reported today:Councillor Dunning described the mothballing decision for the blast furnace as "a major concern." He said: "In years gone by, there was hope that it could be brought back into stability, but this announcement sends a shiver down my spine."Councillor Dunning also questioned the decision of the consortium - which includes the companies of Marcegaglia SpA, Dongkuk Steel Mills Co Ltd, Duferco Participations Holding Ltd1 and Alvory SA2 - to stop taking steel from Teesside Cast Products. He said:The Council's Cabinet Member for Economic Development Councillor Mark Hannon bemoaned the 'scourge of unemployment' on the Borough.He said: ||||| Corus may shut Teesside mill, more than 3000 jobs at risk Tata-owned steel maker Corus announced Friday that the company has started consultations that may force it to 'mothball' its Teesside Cast Products plant in North East England after a consortium of 4 international slab buyers suddenly cancelled a 10 year contract to buy almost 78% of Teesside's output. "I am extremely disappointed that the consortium members have seen fit to take this irresponsible action," said Corus CEO Kirby Adams in a statement. "Their unilateral termination of a legally binding 10-year contract could bring to an end a fine heritage of steelmaking at Teesside. We regret the distress their action will cause TCP's dedicated employees, who have worked steadfastly in the interests of the consortium." The closure of Teesside would put about 2000 direct jobs and 1000 other jobs at risk, according to the UK government estimates. Corus had an outline agreement with a consortium headed by Mantova-based Marcegaglia, one of the members of the consortium, to sell the Teesside plant for an estimated $480m. The future of that deal has been under a cloud in recent weeks, though the company said it still has an MoU in place. The Corus management was taken by surprise at the move by its primary buyer, and it is unlikely that after withdrawing from the contract the same buyers would be interested in buying an 80% stake in Teesside. "This development has become unavoidable ... and the company has today begun discussions with employees and their representatives about what can be done to mitigate the impact of mothballing the plant on the 1,920 TCP employees and what future action may be needed," Corus said in a statement. Corus is Europe's second largest steelmaker and has already announced around 3500 job cuts worldwide in January, and has been getting rid of non-core activities. The steelmaker, which the Tatas acquired in a closely run race at the height of the steel boom has been struggling to keep pace with the global downturn. Since its takeover by the Tatas, Corus has delisted from the London Stock Exchange. Corus was also earlier in negotiations with the UK government to allow it to retain its workers on a government supported system, as it has done in Netherlands where its other major operations are. Corus' management has committed to using all legal means to ensure that its main buyers fulfill their contractual obligations. Corus had signed a 10 year contract in 2004 with Marcegaglia SpA, Dongkuk Steel Mills Co Ltd, Duferco Participations Holding Ltd1 and Alvory SA2, agreed to buy their share of TCP's output at cash cost. Lord Peter Mandelsen, Business Secretary, said on SkyNews that the government will support Corus in fighting this move, and that if companies have unilaterally withdrawn from contracts Corus must challenge that "up hill and down dale". Up hill and down dale, locals at Redcar, where the plant is located, have been living in uncertainty for a while –Teesside is an intrinsic part of the UK's steel story, and remains a key employer in the seaside town on the north east coast of England. Local unions have put the number of jobs dependent on the plant at over 10,000. ||||| Consortium’s termination of contract triggers consultations on future of Teesside Corus regrets to announce that it has been forced to open consultations that might result in a decision to mothball its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant in northeast England. This development has become unavoidable because of a failure by four international slab buyers to fulfil their obligations under an Offtake Framework Agreement (OFA). The OFA was signed with Corus in 2004 and committed the consortium to buy just under 78% of the plant’s production for ten years. The company has today begun discussions with employees and their representatives about what can be done to mitigate the impact of mothballing the plant on the 1,920 TCP employees and what future action may be needed. Any decision to mothball is likely to lead to a very significant number of redundancies. The signatories to the OFA, which include Marcegaglia SpA, Dongkuk Steel Mills Co Ltd, Duferco Participations Holding Ltd1 and Alvory SA2, agreed to buy their share of TCP’s output at cash cost. Over the duration of the contract so far the consortium members have benefited tremendously. Despite this, last month the consortium unilaterally and unreasonably initiated moves to terminate the contract, thereby making the TCP operation unviable. Corus is using all legal means to ensure that the terms of the 10-year OFA are fully enforced and that the four consortium members live up to their contractual obligations. Alongside these actions Corus will explore alternative options that might secure a viable future for TCP and its employees. “I am extremely disappointed that the consortium members have seen fit to take this irresponsible action,” said Corus CEO Kirby Adams. “Their unilateral termination of a legally binding 10-year contract could bring to an end a fine heritage of steelmaking at Teesside. We regret the distress their action will cause TCP’s dedicated employees, who have worked steadfastly in the interests of the consortium.” 1 Duferco’s share of the slab offtake is purchased through Steel Invest Trading SA 2 Alvory SA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ternium SA End For further information please contact: Corus Group Bob Jones 020 7717 4532 Brunswick Group Kevin Byram David Litterick 020 7404 5959 Notes Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of more than £12 billion and crude steel capacity of about 20 million tonnes. With main steelmaking operations primarily in the UK and the Netherlands, Corus supplies steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide. Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, one of the world’s top ten steel producers. Following the acquisition of Corus in 2007, the combined enterprise has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 82,700 employees across four continents. ||||| Little option but to close UK unit: Tata S Kalyana Ramanathan & Ishita Ayan Dutt / London/kolkata May 10, 2009, 0:04 IST Unacceptable, says British government; charges fly back and forth. The British government today said it was “not prepared” to accept an announcement by Tata Steel and its European subsidiary, Corus, that there seemed no option but to indefinitely suspend operations at one of the latter’s factories in north-east England, which means loss of around 2,000 jobs. This comes just four months after Tata-Corus’ announcement that it would have to cut 3,500 jobs at three steel units of Corus in Europe (two in the UK). The threatened mothballing now is of Corus’ steel cast products unit at Teesside. Corus said yesterday that it was beginning talks with labour unions to discuss how to mitigate the impact of the threatened closure. ‘We are not prepared to reconcile ourselves to the inevitable closure of this plant,” said Peter Mandelson, the minister concerned in the British government. GMB, the union which represents many employed in both the threatened plant and among the firms of contractors who supply it, said it was urgently petitioning the government to intervene and save the jobs. The closure, said Tata and Corus, was because of the cancellation of a 10-year agreement signed in 2004 between Corus and four steel producers, in which the latter had agreed to jointly buy 78 per cent of Teesside’s output . The four firms are Marcegaglia of Italy, Dongkuk of South Korea, the Swiss-headquartered Duferco, and Alvory of Uruguay. The four firms said they had notified Corus of their termination of the 2004 agreement on April 7, citing market conditions in the industry. Last week, the World Steel Association said global demand would fall by 15 per cent in 2009, the steepest yearly decline since the second world war. The four which withdrew, all steel slab makers, said the 2004 agreement had provided for such withdrawal in this sort of situation. They noted that Corus had tried to get a court stay on their move, but this was refused. This was in reply to Corus and Tata saying the termination of the ‘Offtake Framework Agreement’ (OFA)was both unwarranted and probably a breach of contract. An anxious Mandelson said it was “essential that Corus does everything it can legally, and with the government’s assistance, to reinstate the OFA. It is unacceptable that such a development should threaten jobs on such a scale, with such a potentially devastating impact on the area.” His boss, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, gave Tata more cheer, saying the government would do “everything in our power to ensure the (terminated OFA) contract is upheld”. Ironically, it was only this January that Corus had signed a formal “memorandum of understanding” to sell 80 per cent of its equity at Teesside to Marcegaglia and Dongkuk (56 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively), two of the four OFA terminators.. The said MOU was valid only till end-June and Corus said it assumed, though there was no formal word, that the proposed deal was also dead. Tata has more problems ahead in its British operations. Jaguar Land Rover, its automobile subsidiary, is also in deep financial trouble and Rata Tata, the group chairman, has already publicly warned of significant job losses if he doesn’t get government help there. A deal with the British government to provide a guarantee for a proposed loan of 340 million pounds from the European Investment Bank to JLR is close to collapse, according to media reports. ||||| Save our steel campaign relaunched to help save Corus 1 2 3 4 next WITH thousands of Teesside workers facing the dole as Corus’s life-saving deal melted into thin air, the Government pledged to "do what it could" to support the Redcar Teesside Cast Products CP plant. Today, we call on Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to deliver more than words. The Gazette has revived the Save Our Steel campaign, which helped to rescue Corus in 2003. And as politicians quickly got behind us, it was clear this time the fight transcended party lines and even party policy. Both North-east Conservative and Labour MEPs, Martin Callanan and Stephen Hughes, supported the Gazette’s call for the Government to bolster Corus with a time-limited wage subsidy, which would give it breathing space to build the order book and secure a buyer. So far, the Treasury has refused to match the subsidies available from other European governments to keep strategically important industries alive through recession. But steelworkers on Teesside have already had to watch as colleagues in Corus’s Dutch plants received millions of euros in wage support packages - 70% of them underwritten by their government. There has been emphatic support, too, for our call for extra help for the 60 young apprentices who stand to lose everything if Corus closes. Only this week, Sembcorp’s recruitment chief at Wilton, George Ritchie, accused the Government of betraying thousands of young people facing redundancy. He said employers could not be expected to mop up the thousands of apprentices who had lost their jobs - and any prospect of finishing their qualifications - without financial support. But if they didn’t, Britain risked creating another lost generation. MEP Stephen Hughes said he would write immediately to the Department of Work and Pensions demanding an application be made to Europe’s Globalisation Adjustment Fund - a pot of cash that has been woefully under-spent by the British government. "We desperately need to retain apprenticeships," said Mr Hughes. "The last thing we want is for people to be pushed out and the spectre of long-term unemployment - as we had in the Eighties - return to haunt us. ||||| We respect your right to privacy. Read our privacy policy to find out more. You can make the text on this site bigger or smaller using your web browser's text size controls. GOVERNMENT MUST DO EVERYTHING TO SECURE THREATENED CORUS JOBS Commenting on news that 2,000 jobs are threatened at the steelmakers, Corus, in Teesside, Fiona Hall Lib Dem Member of the European Parliament for the North East said: "This is terrible news for Teesside. I hope the Government will do everything they can to seek a way forward to secure the threatened jobs. "If the worst comes to the worst and jobs are indeed lost, I trust the Government will change its mind and support an application to the European Globalisation Fund in order to fund skills training for those who have lost their jobs." The European Globalisation Fund was originally set up to cover jobs lost through globalisation, but MEPs voted in the European Parliament last week to expand this to cover the recession also. The number of possible job losses at Corus is four times the number needed to apply for the Globalisation Fund. Companies set to loose more than 500 jobs are able to apply, but Ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions are said to be lukewarm about using the fund. Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY. Published and promoted by the Liberal Democrats, 4 Cowley St, London SW1P 3NB The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider. | Corus Group, the world's fifth largest steel producer, announced on Friday that it may be forced to mothball its steelworks in Redcar, England. This move would threaten the jobs of the works' 1,920 employees. A part of the steelworksCorus may be forced to close its Teesside operations as a consortium has refused to honour a 10-year contract with Corus' Teesside Cast Products, which accounted for 78% of the plant's operations. Corus' chief executive, Kirby Adams, said he was "extremely disappointed that the consortium members have seen fit to take this irresponsible action." Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, said "it is essential that Corus does everything it can legally, and with the government's assistance, to reinstate the agreement". Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, shared this view saying, "We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the contract is upheld." Mandelson also said "we are not prepared to reconcile ourselves to the inevitable closure of this plant". The leader of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, Councillor George Dunning, said "Today is like being hit by a mini earthquake compared to what's happened in the past." Martin Callanan and Stephen Hughes, Tory, and Labour MEPs for North East England, supported the idea that the government should subsidise wages in the plant on a temporary basis. Hughes and Fiona Hall, Lib Dem MEP, suggested that the government should apply to the EU's Globalisation Adjustment Fund. Hall said "if the worst comes to the worst and jobs are indeed lost, I trust the Government will change its mind and support an application to the European Globalisation Fund in order to fund skills training for those who have lost their jobs." This move could "bring to an end a fine heritage of steelmaking at Teesside", according to Adams. Steelworks in Teesside, which previously belonged to British Steel and Dorman Long, produced steel for famous structures like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Corus had said it was likely there would be a "very significant number of redundancies" and a 90-day consultation period is due to begin. Corus' owner, Tata Steel, are also facing difficulties with another UK operation, automobile company Jaguar Land Rover. |
Adjust font size: (CNN) -- A lengthy video statement from Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued on the eve of the fifth anniversary of al Qaeda's attacks on the United States, calls on Muslims to step up their resistance to the United States and warns that "new events" are on the way. "Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster," the fugitive deputy to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says in the video, which appeared on Islamist Web sites late Sunday. "And the days are pregnant and giving birth to new events, with Allah's permission and guidance." It appeared just hours before Monday's anniversary of the al Qaeda 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which killed nearly 3,000 people. (Watch excerpts from the latest al Qaeda video -- :55) It appears to have been recorded recently, with references to Israel's bombardment of Lebanon and the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Palestinian militants in Gaza and by Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. It criticizes the West for arming Israel and calls on the Muslim nation "to rush with everything at its disposal to the aid of its Muslim brothers in Lebanon and Gaza." (Watch how al Qaeda may attack next -- 1:54) Al-Zawahiri says any attack on Westerners and Jews anywhere can be considered fair, because "the reality of international politics is the humiliation and repression of the Muslim at the hands of the idol-kings who dominate this world." The statement calls on Muslims to fight U.S. allies in Somalia, where an Islamic militia recently pushed an American-backed alliance of warlords out of the capital Mogadishu. It also urges them "to make use of every opportunity afforded him to take revenge on America" for the imprisonment of blind Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rahman, considered a major theological force behind al Qaeda. The video is more technically sophisticated than previous ones released by al Qaeda's fugitive leadership. It is an hour and 16 minutes long and is subtitled in English, with a short section of highlights at the outset. An interviewer asks al-Zawahiri a series of questions. Al-Zawahiri calls for Iraq's Kurds, whose leaders have cooperated with U.S. troops in Iraq, to fight the Americans "and write an honorable page in the contemporary history of Islam." And he blasts "collaborators" and "defeatists" he says have turned their backs on Islamic law to endorse corrupt governments in the Middle East. And in a threat to Britain, which currently commands NATO troops in Afghanistan, he says, "I want to bring to the attention of the British people that Dr. Brydon won't be returning to India this time." The comment is a reference to the sole survivor of a British army massacred in Afghanistan in 1842. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri escaped the U.S. onslaught that followed the 2001 suicide hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. They are believed to be hiding somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO troops are now battling a resurgence of al Qaeda's Taliban allies. Al-Zawahiri says the situation in Afghanistan "is very good" for the Taliban, the Islamic militia that was ruling most of Afghanistan when the September 11 attacks occurred. In a message directed at the people of the West, al-Zawahiri said Islamic fighters are scoring victories across Asia and the Middle East. "We tell you not to concern yourselves with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, these are doomed," he said. "You should worry about your presence in the Gulf and the second place they should worry about, is in Israel." CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said Sunday that al Qaeda was certain to make some sort of statement on Monday's anniversary. "It would be very, very weird, in my view, if we didn't hear from either or both of them in the next few days, because this is something they want to remind Americans and their followers about -- the dreadful attacks on 9/11," Bergen said. A videotape aired last week by Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera showed what was described as a meeting between bin Laden and Ramzi Binalshibh, a key plotter in the September 11 attacks, making preparations for the suicide hijackings. CNN was unable to independently verify whether the video was indeed made in 2001, although two of the men shown on it -- Hamza Alghamdi and Wail Alshehri -- were hijackers who died in the 9/11 suicide missions. A senior White House official said the U.S. intelligence community was working to confirm whether the tape was authentic. On Friday, al Qaeda released a longer version of the video, featuring more statements from bin Laden, as well as "Azzam the American," a California-born man named Adam Gadahn who previously has been featured on al Qaeda tapes. Gadahn, who is listed as armed and dangerous on the FBI's Web site, appeared earlier this month on a tape with al-Zawahiri, urging Americans to convert to Islam. He also put out a tape last year on the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. ||||| Ayman al-Zawahiri said the US would be expelled from the Gulf Ayman al-Zawahiri's warning came in a new video broadcast by Arabic channel al-Jazeera and other networks. He says Western countries are doomed to defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and should instead bolster their defences in the Gulf and Israel. Ayman al-Zawahiri also condemned the policies of his native Egypt. Israel has been able to dominate Lebanon and Gaza only because Egypt has been totally removed from the conflict with Israel Ayman al-Zawahiri In the video, he presents himself as a scholar in front of a bookshelf filled with Islamic legal texts, rather than as a warrior on the battlefield, as he has done in previous videos. He says: "You should not concern yourself with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are already doomed. "Instead you should worry about your presence in two areas. The first is the Gulf, from where you will be expelled... And the second is Israel, because the jihadi reinforcements are getting closer." The deputy to Osama Bin Laden says al-Qaeda has "repeatedly offered a truce" so now has "all legal and rational justification to continue to fight you". He also turned his fire on the Cairo government, saying: "Israel has been able to dominate Lebanon and Gaza only because Egypt has been totally removed from the conflict with Israel." Central arena Al-Zawahiri is the most prominent of al-Qaeda's video spokesmen and the group has delivered a number of messages in the lead-up the fifth anniversary of 11 September. On Thursday, al-Jazeera broadcast what it said was unseen footage of Bin Laden meeting some of the 11 September hijackers. The channel said it showed al-Qaeda leaders "preparing for the attacks and practising their execution". BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says the media - including satellite TV and the internet - remain a central arena in the global struggle between the West and Islamic extremism. For each side, he says, information is as crucial a weapon as guns and bombs. | Al-Qaida released a 9/11 message to the American public today, and with it comes a threat for the American people. It calls on fellow Muslims to step up their resistance to the American people. "Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster," al-Zawahiri, the fugitive deputy to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says in a video, which appeared on Islamist Web sites late Sunday. "And the days are pregnant and giving birth to new events, with God's permission and guidance." It appeared just moments before the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The tape appears to be recorded recently, with many references to the Israel and Lebanon conflict, including the recent bombardment of Lebanon by Israel. Al-Zawahiri says that attacks on the West should be considered fair, because "...the reality of international politics is the humiliation and repression of the Muslim at the hands of the idol-kings who dominate this world." The video, which is an hour and 16 minutes long, and subtitled in English, presents a threat to Britain, which currently controls NATO troops in Afghanistan, that "Dr. Brydon won't be returning this time," which is a reference to the sole survivor of a British colonial army massacred during the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1842. Al-Zawahiri also criticised his native country Egypt, saying that "Israel has been able to dominate Lebanon and Gaza only because Egypt has been totally removed from the conflict with Israel." New York City: View of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. "We tell you not to concern yourselves with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, these are doomed," he said. "You should worry about your presence in the Middle East in general, and the second place they should worry about is (their presence, red.) in Israel," Al-Zawahiri said. CNN analyst Peter Bergen said Sunday that the al-Qaeda group was certain to make some sort of statement on Monday's anniversary. "It would be very, very weird, in my view, if we didn't hear from either or both of them in the next few days, because this is something they want to remind Americans and their followers about -- the dreadful attacks on 9/11," Bergen said. |
Wal-Mart Canada Corp. will have up to 17 of its giant hybrid grocery stores open by the end of next year, executives said at a preview of a Wal-Mart Supercentre Tuesday in Stouffville, north of Toronto. Three of the megastores, which combine a traditional Wal-Mart with an enhanced discount grocery store, have their grand opening in Ontario Wednesday, a move which one analyst predicted will have a "dramatic and cascading effect through Canadian retailing." Tuesday's preview of the cavernous big-box outlet made it clear that the retailer will threaten more than just grocers such as Loblaw Cos. Ltd. with its new format. With an expanded selection of electronics, hardware, home and housewares, Wal-Mart Supercentre could take a bite out of businesses as diverse as Future Shop, Home Depot, Home Outfitters and Shoppers Drug Mart. "Our goal is to become the one-stop shop for customers," said Mario Pilozzi, chief executive of Wal-Mart Canada, gesturing at palettes of impeccable, unbruised produce. "You see how fresh that is today? We are going to maintain that freshness in these stores." Fresh food is a lightning rod in Canada’s grocery war. At Loblaw Cos. the quality of perishables suffered in the past year as the retailer quickly expanded its general merchandise offerings in anticipation of the Supercentre openings. Wal-Mart has improved on its basic store format by making the new outlets more "shoppable," widening aisles, improving the customer "sight lines" with higher ceilings and clear signage, centralizing the pharmacy department, revamping the fashion section and putting cash registers in selected departments such as electronics and clothing. The retailer has also broadened its pricing spectrum, carrying everything from dollar store- goods to personal computers, iPods, and a $799 RCA flat screen TV. The perfume selection runs the gamut from Shania Twain’s fragrance by Stetson ($19.96) to Romance by Ralph Lauren ($59.96). The new stores also feature a new marketing ploy in the form of ShopCast, an in-store television network that will be rolled out to the retailer’s 280 Canadian locations by the end of the summer. Flat screen TVs suspended from the ceiling by the front cash registers continuously play one of the network’s nine channels, featuring fashion shows of Wal-Mart’s clothing lines, TV commercials featuring brands the retailer carries and corporate messages. Early customers will likely be most intrigued by the retailer’s selection of groceries, and Wal-Mart will take full advantage of their curiosity, making a number of jaw-dropping limited time promotions on popular items: 1 kilogram jars of Kraft peanut butter priced at two for $3, or a large box of Cheerios for $1.97. Other packaged goods are priced at or below the regular prices of discount grocery chains such as No Frills or Price Chopper. But unlike those stores, the Supercentre has a fairly broad lineup of organic and natural foods, higher-end products such as St. Dalfour fruit spreads, and three fresh food departments with staffed counters: ready-to-go meals, a deli and a bakery. It’s a format CIBC World Markets retailing analyst Perry Caicco has dubbed "discount plus" — a store with discount prices and a number of extras normally found in traditional grocery, drugstore, electronics and home furnishings chains. "We beat any discounter hands down on assortment," said Les Mann, vice-president of the food division at Wal-Mart Canada, who spent 10 years at supermarket chain Sobeys Inc. before joining Wal-Mart in 2002. Wal-Mart will also beat the advertised price of any deal offered by a competitor. Mr. Pilozzi said Wal-Mart, which had previously announced it would open seven supercentres in Ontario by early next year, will open another five to 10 of them by the end of next year, depending on municipal approvals. Analysts say Wal-Mart’s Canadian supercentres are more sophisticated that their U.S. counterparts, because strong Canadian grocers, such as Loblaw, have created higher expectations among the average consumer. Canadian neighbourhoods with Wal-Marts are also more ethnically diverse than their U.S. counterparts. Wal-Mart plans to target prominent ethnic communities in the areas it serves with specialty food, entertainment and apparel. ||||| Huge Eyesore To Open in 905 Walmart is finally celebrating the delayed launch of their Stouffville Supercentre tomorrow on Highway 48 south of Stouffville Road. The Supercentre is the first of three in Canada, designated “super” because they break from the Walmart tradition of small, unassuming, stores that blend seamlessly into the local community. The new 160,000 square foot Supercentre will have a complete grocery store inside, as well as a drug store, photo lab and the usual variety of plastic crap to fill up every nook and cranny of your home. The store also features LCD screens hanging from the ceiling running commercials, because when you’re out buying stuff, it’s nice to have that little smiley guy encouraging you. Walmart is being welcomed by excited local residents who will be able to shop for all their consumer wants in one place, and by local small business owners preparing to explore new career opportunities. Image from file | Wal-Mart Canada's first three supercenters opened in Ancaster, London and Stouffville, Ontario. The idea originally started in the United States in late 2005 and was announced that it would be arriving in Canada. Flat screen TVs suspended from the ceiling will feature a television network, featuring fashion shows of Wal-Mart's clothing lines, TV commercials featuring brands the retailer carries, and corporate messages. Madison Heights, Virginia. With an expanded selection of electronics, hardware, home and housewares, the Wal-Mart supercentre could be compared to Future Shop, Home Depot, Home Outfitters, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Fortinos. The supercentre has wider aisles, higher ceilings, clear signage, and cash registers in selected departments such as electronics and clothing. "Our goal is to become the one-stop shop for customers," said Mario Pilozzi, chief executive of Wal-Mart Canada. "You see how fresh that is today? We are going to maintain that freshness in these stores." Wal-Mart's Canadian supercentres are more sophisticated then their U.S. counterparts, because Canadian grocers have created higher expectations among the average consumer, company officials say. However, Wal-Mart openings are controversial in many communities. Activists claim they can be detrimental to local economies, driving out locally owned businesses, lowering wages, and leading to suburban sprawl. Wal-Mart already has plans to open fourteen new supercentres in 2007, of them Scarborough, Sarnia, Brampton and Vaughan will be early in the year. |
By Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) - At least 25 people were killed and more than 40 wounded when a suspected Tamil Tiger bomb ripped through a packed commuter bus on the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital on Friday, the military said. The blast, which struck the bus in a residential suburb during the evening rush hour, was the latest incident in a bloody week in Sri Lanka, where government forces and Tiger rebels are locked in a violent new chapter of a 25-year civil war. "It's a parcel bomb of about 3kg (6 lbs) with a time device. It was placed in the middle of the bus," said an official of the bomb disposal squad, who asked not to be named. W. Gunawardena, a doctor at the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, said earlier that 12 bodies had so far been admitted, including a child. "I was with my mother and brother at the bus halt going back home after classes," said 14-year-old Ishani Perera at the hospital, where she was being treated for injuries to her arms. "Suddenly I heard a loud explosion and everybody around fell down. I too fell. I can't find my mother now." The Sri Lankan military blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the island, for the attack. "It's definitely by the LTTE, with the recent losses and battlefield defeats they are desperate," said a military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. Continued... ||||| COLOMBO, April 25 (Reuters) - At least 16 people were killed and 40 were wounded when a blast ripped through a packed commuter bus during the evening rush-hour in the Sri Lankan capital on Friday, a police spokesman said."Sixteen people killed and about 40 injured from the explosion," spokesman N.K. Ilangakoon said. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by David Fogarty) ||||| At least 23 killed in Sri Lanka bus blast At least 23 killed in Sri Lanka bus blast COLOMBO (AFP) — At least 23 passengers were killed and 20 wounded when a powerful bomb ripped through a crowded bus just outside Sri Lanka's capital on Friday, police said. The victims were rushed to the nearby Kalubovila hospital, police said. Several passengers also suffered burn injuries as the bus caught fire shortly after the powerful blast, police said. | Location of Sri Lanka on world map. A bus bombing in Sri Lanka has killed at least 25 and wounded at least 40. The bomb exploded just outside the capital city, Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte, with the wounded transported to nearby Kalubovila hospital. The explosion occurred during the evening rush hour. "It's a parcel bomb of about 3kg (6 lbs) with a time device. It was placed in the middle of the bus," said a bomb squad official to Reuters. As well as wounds sustained from the explosion, several passengers were burned after the commuter bus caught fire straight after the explosion. The government has blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the bombing. "It's definitely by the LTTE, with the recent losses and battlefield defeats they are desperate," said Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesperson for the military. Fighting between the government forces and the LTTE has escalated since a cease-fire ended in January. |
Bill Hethcock Staff Writer - Dallas Business Journal Email Parkland Health and Hospital System Parkland Health and Hospital System Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company has dismissed at least 75 employees during the past three months to improve accountability, a hospital trade publication reported today. The public hospital's interim CEO, Thomas Royer, said some of the 75 employees were "encouraged" to leave because they didn't meet their new job expectations, HealthLeaders Media reported. "I'm not telling you that all have been encouraged to leave," Royer told the publication. "I would say a number of them were encouraged to leave." The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company inspected the hospital last summer after reports of serious patient safety hazards. The agency found violations throughout the hospital, especially in nursing and the psychiatric unit. The patient safety breaches put the hospital's Medicare and Medicaid funding at risk. Parkland hired a new chief nursing officer in January and is reorganizing that department. Other changes include the use of a mock survey team to monitor the implementation of improvement plans, enhanced leadership oversight and steps to improve communication within the hospital. The departures are the result of "holding people accountable" and affected people who had been "careless" or "not performing their roles," Royer said. "We were setting (responsibilities) for their roles they did not have the energy to do; they did not or want to put forth that much effort," Royer said. "(We) decided this was no longer the place for them to work." Bill covers health care, law, education and nonprofits. ||||| Joe Cantlupe and Margaret Dick Tocknell, March 15, 2012 Over the past three months, at least 75 employees at Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas have been among staff "encouraged to leave" in a widespread shakeup as hospital officials try to improve the much maligned hospital system, HealthLeaders Media has learned. Interim CEO Thomas Royer, MD, in recent interview, said the hospital is "holding people accountable" and its actions were related to "people (who) have been careless" or "not performing their roles." "In about 14 weeks, we have seen changes in staffing, numbering about 75 people," Royer says, referring to Parkland personnel. "I'm not telling you that all have been encouraged to leave. I would say a number of them were encouraged to leave." Hospital officials believed that the employees did not meet the administration's expectations for their jobs. "We were setting for their roles they did not have the energy to do, they did not or want to put forth that much effort," Royer says. "(We) decided this was no longer the place for them to work." While Royer would not discuss specific personnel moves, he did say that most of the issues related to an overhaul at Parkland relate to its nursing programs and the psychiatric unit, the target of many complaints and sharp government criticism. "I would say 70% had to do with consistency and standardization of nursing practice, probably 15% had to do with physicians issues that include documentation, timing of verbal orders, and discharge planning that physicians are involved in," he says. | A recent media report indicates that 75 employees in Dallas, Texas were dismissed over the past three months. These actions follow closely behind a lengthy spell of government regulatory sanctions and failed inspections at both the state and federal levels. The hospital's interim CEO did confirm for media sources that numerous employees had been "encouraged to leave" during the past few months. The hospital hired a new chief nursing officer in January and has been reorganizing nursing services throughout the facility. In September, the hospital and federal regulators in Dallas entered into an agreement which requires the hospital to reach compliance by April 2013. After discussing some personal experiences there, a long-time resident of Dallas, who has sought treatment at the hospital told ''Wikinews'', "Frankly, I don't have anything positive to say about Parkland hospital." Our source did not want to give his name. |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cells taken from human bone marrow, blood and umbilical cords grew into functioning blood vessels in mice with just the right coaxing, U.S. researchers reported on Saturday. The so-called progenitor cells teamed up to form working blood vessels that connected to the circulatory systems of the mice, the team at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston reported. "What's really significant about our study is that we are using human cells that can be obtained from blood or bone marrow rather than removing and using fully developed blood vessels," said Harvard's Joyce Bischoff, who led the study. Her team used immature cells, known as progenitor cells, grown under special lab conditions before being implanted into mice. Once implanted, the cell mixture grew and differentiated into a small ball of healthy blood vessels, they reported in the journal Circulation Research, published by the American Heart Association. They used endothelial progenitor cells, which mature into cells that line the blood vessels, and mesenchymal progenitor cells, which differentiate into the cells that surround the lining and provide stability. A mixture of cells from adult blood and bone or from umbilical cord blood worked the best, they said. They hope to find a way to help the body replace blocked or damaged blood vessels, such as arteries blocked in a heart attack or stroke. "What we are most interested in right now is speeding up the vascularization," Bischoff said in a statement. "We see very good and extensive vasculature in seven days and we'd like to see that in 24 or 48 hours. If you have an ischemic tissue, it's dying tissue, so the faster you can establish blood flow the better." (Reporting by Maggie Fox) ||||| FRIDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they have grown in mice the kind of functioning heart blood vessels that cardiac surgeons create with bypass operations. One ultimate goal is to replace some heart surgery with injections of laboratory-grown cells that would establish themselves in the body, providing a system of blood vessels for damaged hearts that need more oxygen, said Juan M. Melero-Martin, a co-author of a paper in the July 18 issue of the journalCirculation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association. "We are proving the concept in mice who are compromised so that they don't reject human cells," said Melero-Martin, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston. "For clinical use, the way we envision it, if a patient has need to vascularize ischemic tissue, we can get cells from the patient ahead of time, grow them and inject them back into the patient." Ischemic tissue is starved of blood because of blocked arteries or other damage, and revascularization restores the vessels through which blood can flow to that tissue. The research team is not using stem cells, which are controversial, because they are obtained from human embryos. Instead, they are using what are called progenitor cells, easily obtained from blood or bone marrow, which can grow to become various sorts of adult cells. The progenitor cells used in the study grew into full-fledged blood vessel systems in the laboratory mice. The researchers combined two kinds of progenitor cells, one for those that line the surface of blood vessels, the other for cells that surround the lining and provide stability. They found that a mix of the two kinds of progenitor cells derived from adult blood and bone marrow or umbilical cord and adult bone marrow gave the best growth of blood vessels. "Our next goal down the line is to use them in humans," said Joyce Bischoff, associate professor of medicine at Harvard and senior author of the report. Much work lies ahead, she said. "We need to do a lot more animal studies to test how these cells behave in different tissues," Bischoff said. "We have proved that the cells have the ability," Melero-Martin said. "Now we have to see how to implement this in a clinical situation." A version of the sort of human medical experiment that they envision has already been done by physicians at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Two years ago, they reported a study with 75 people who had heart attacks. Some were given injections of progenitor cells, derived either from bone marrow or blood. Improved heart function was seen in those who got the progenitor cells, the German researchers reported. The work being done at Harvard could eventually be used to treat a number of conditions in which new blood vessels would help, such as severe wounds, the researchers said. A current goal is to lessen the time needed to grow blood vessels outside the body, Bischoff said. Extensive growth now is seen after seven days, and the hope is to reduce that to 24 to 48 hours. "If you have ischemic tissue, it's dying tissue, so the faster you can establish blood flow, the better," she said. More information Learn about the procedures currently used to restore blood flow in the heart from the American Heart Association. SOURCES: Juan M. Melero-Martin, Ph.D., research fellow, and Joyce Bischoff, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston; July 18, 2008,Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association ||||| The structure of blood vessels is complex Scientists have used human cells to grow new blood vessels in a mouse for the first time, a US journal reports. It could eventually help patients who had suffered heart attacks, they said. A mixture of "progenitor" cells, taken from blood and bone marrow, made cells lining the vessels, and also those surrounding the lining. A UK expert said that the Harvard research was "promising", and could eventually help lab-grown organs to be implanted successfully. The ability to develop swiftly a new network of tiny blood vessels - known as capillaries - would be a prize for scientists. There are dozens of potential applications in medicine, particularly in the treatment of conditions which involve damage to a tissue's blood supply, such as that to the heart muscle following a heart attack. However, the complex structure of these vessels has slowed progress. What's really significant about our study is that we are using human cells that can be obtained from blood or bone marrow rather than removing and using fully developed blood vessels Dr Joyce Bischoff Harvard Medical School The latest study, published in the journal Circulation Research, uses two types of "progenitor" cells, which have the ability, like stem cells, to form different cell types. In this case, "endothelial" progenitor cells have the ability to form the cells which line blood vessels, while "mesenchymal" progenitor cells can form the cells adjacent to this lining, which help to support it. Unlike more controversial stem cell therapies, which might require cells taken from an embryo, these progenitor cells can be harvested from the blood or bone marrow of an adult, or from the umbilical cord. They were mixed together in growth-promoting chemicals in the laboratory, then implanted into mice whose immune systems had been weakened to avoid rejection. Pig progress Within seven days, a "vigorous network" of new vessels formed, joined up with the host animal's blood vessels and started transporting blood. Dr Joyce Bischoff, who led the research team, said: "What's really significant about our study is that we are using human cells that can be obtained from blood or bone marrow rather than removing and using fully developed blood vessels." Dr Nick Rhodes, from the UK Centre for Tissue Engineering at the University of Liverpool, said that the results were "interesting and promising". He said: "It could certainly assist in the connection of other engineered organs to the body's blood supply. "Although this approach is not yet suitable for clinical use, it is interesting that they have demonstrated you have all the elements you need to create a functional network of capillaries from a small amount of blood." E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| Blood Vessels Made From Human Adult Stem Cells Grown in Mice By Rob Waters July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Stem cells drawn from the blood system of adult humans or the umbilical cord blood of newborns, injected into mice, formed viable vessels that may one day deliver oxygen-rich blood to damaged organs, researchers said. After one week, the cells spontaneously connected to one another and to the existing blood vessels of the rodents to form extensive networks that continued to transport blood over the next three weeks. The findings from Harvard Medical School were published in the journal Circulation. If the process can be proven safe and replicated in people, it could provide a way to repair blood-starved regions of organs that have been damaged by heart attacks or other conditions that impair circulation. Unlike other experiments that have coaxed adult cells to perform new functions, the Harvard team didn't perform any genetic manipulation, said Joyce Bischoff, an associate professor at Harvard and Children's Hospital Boston. ``It's kind of a self-assembly process; they do the job on their own,'' Bischoff said in a telephone interview today. ``We mix them together and they talk to each other and give directions on how to form a blood vessel.'' The team drew samples from blood and bone marrow, isolated the stem cells within each, then mixed them with a gel material that is liquid when cold and solidifies at body temperature. The gel, after firming, formed scaffolds the cells could grow on. The materials were combined into a single suspension and injected into mice, Bischoff said. The cells derived from blood ``form the lining of the blood vessel'' known as the endothelium and the bone marrow cells ``wrap around the endothelial cells to form the smooth muscle layer,'' Bischoff said. Goal: Two-Day Vessels Because damaged heart tissue or festering wounds need blood and oxygen quickly to heal, ``our goal is to speed it up to form blood vessels within one or two days,'' Bischoff said. The advance could propel the emerging field of tissue engineering, which seeks to use stem cells and scaffolds to build replacement tissues and organs for people with various conditions. One closely held company, Tengion, based in East Norriton, Pennsylvania, is testing synthesized bladders in human trials and developing ways to create blood vessels and kidneys. Before the method can be tested in humans, researchers will need to show that the cells they've isolated and expanded are pure and uncontaminated by other cell types. The technique will need to be proven safe in many more animals and the process will need to be done in a completely sterile environment that's certified by regulators. ``Science moves very slowly,'' Bischoff said. To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in San Francisco at rwaters5@bloomberg.net. ||||| Researchers Achieve Breakthrough In Growing Human Blood Vessels In Mice July 18, 2008 11:22 p.m. EST Nidhi Sharma - AHN News Writer Washington D.C. (AHN) - Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in growing functional human blood vessels in mice using cells from adult human donors. The achievement is seen as an important step in developing clinical strategies to grow tissue vessels that may one day deliver oxygen-rich blood to damaged organs. Researchers withdrew stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of adults or the umbilical cord blood of newborns. The cells were combined with two different types of progenitor cells in a culture dish of nutrients and growth factors. The cells were then implanted into mice with weakened immune systems. Once implanted, the progenitor cell mixture grew and differentiated into a small ball of healthy blood vessels, researchers report in the Circulation research journal. If the experiment proves successful in humans, it could pave the way to repair blood-deprived regions of organs that have been damaged by heart attacks or other conditions that impair circulation, according to researchers. | Researchers in the United States reported Saturday that cells from human bone marrow, blood and umbilical cords successfully grew into blood vessels after being placed in mice. The group at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston stated that the human cells, referred to as "progenitor cells", connected to the circulatory system of the mice. The team, lead by Harvard associate professor of medicine Joyce Bischoff, reported their findings in the journal ''Circulation Research'', published by the American Heart Association. Red blood cells (erythrocytes) Juan M. Melero-Martin, a co-author of the paper in ''Circulation Research'', said that one of the project's goals is to be able to replace some types of heart surgery with an injection of cells grown in a lab that could develop into functioning blood vessels. "For clinical use, the way we envision it, if a patient has need to vascularize ischemic tissue, we can get cells from the patient ahead of time, grow them and inject them back into the patient," said Melero-Martin. Ischemic tissue refers to tissue that has been damaged due to a lack of blood flow from blocked arteries or other causes. Researchers hope to be able to speed up the process of repairing damaged tissue and vessels in the heart to a period of one or two days. The procedure could potentially be used to treat organs damaged by heart attacks, or other ailments which impede circulation. Due to their controversial nature the research team did not use stem cells in their study, but rather relied on progenitor cells taken from bone marrow or blood. "Our next goal down the line is to use them in humans. We need to do a lot more animal studies to test how these cells behave in different tissues," said Joyce Bischoff. Dr. Nick Rhodes of the UK Centre for Tissue Engineering at the University of Liverpool described the results of the study as "interesting and promising", and commented: "Although this approach is not yet suitable for clinical use, it is interesting that they have demonstrated you have all the elements you need to create a functional network of capillaries from a small amount of blood." |
Reporting from Tehran and Beirut - The European Union's foreign policy chief on Friday called for a meeting of world powers with Iran "at the earliest possible opportunity" to discuss Tehran's nuclear intentions, even as the country's supreme leader insisted Iran would not halt its nuclear development program.A State Department spokesman said later that the U.S. would participate in such a face-to-face meeting because "ultimately, the only way that we feel we're going to be able to resolve these issues is to have a meeting."The remarks came hours after Iran's top spiritual and political authority said in a Friday prayer sermon that his government would continue its nuclear program despite pressure from Western nations that accuse it of trying to build bombs.Speaking at Tehran University, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also derided the West, especially Britain, for what he termed interference in Iran's affairs. Iran's nuclear program will come under scrutiny during the United Nations General Assembly and Group of 20 nations meetings this month.In response to the West's offer of talks over sensitive aspects of its nuclear program, Iran submitted a proposal Wednesday that said it was "prepared to enter into dialogue and negotiation" on a wide variety of topics, including nuclear technology.But it did not specifically broach the subject of its uranium enrichment program, which the West and Israel allege is the cornerstone of an eventual nuclear weapons program. Instead, Iran, which says its nuclear program is exclusively for civilian energy purposes, expressed readiness to take part in talks about "preventing development and proliferation of nuclear, chemical and [biological] weapons," according to a copy of the document published by the ProPublica news website.Though some U.S. and European officials had already dismissed the Iranian offer as irrelevant, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said he was studying the proposal and urged quick talks."It's not just a meeting for meeting's sake," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "It is a meeting to be able to see if Iran is willing to engage seriously on these issues."Crowley said Iran's proposal "clearly . . . does not reply" to the West's concerns. But, he added, "we wish to have a direct dialogue with Iran. We believe, and the president has said repeatedly, that we feel this is the way in which we will be able to, and hopefully can, resolve these issues."The West has promised to increase economic sanctions on Iran if it does not halt its enrichment of uranium, and Israeli officials have threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities to halt it from developing any nuclear weapons.Russia and China, veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, for now oppose additional sanctions.On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a meeting of political analysts in Moscow that he also opposed military action against Iran, a political analyst at the meeting told the Interfax news agency."From the point of view of Putin, Iran is today doing the same that India was doing: developing civilian nuclear components," Ariel Cohen said.Putin reportedly told the analysts that military action "would carry the threat of an explosion of terrorism, and strikes of this kind could benefit radicals and extremists," Cohen was quoted as saying.In his sermon before a crowd of Islamic Republic luminaries, Khamenei said Iran would not yield to outsiders."Whether in the nuclear or nonnuclear fields, day by day, under international pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran . . . stands fast," he said. "Those who say we have to lay down our guns against enemies are making a mistake."Khamenei also urged Iranian opposition leaders to obey national laws or face stiff penalties, the latest attempt to divide a movement that continues despite months of arrests and violent reprisals.Khamenei's speech laid the groundwork for the possible arrest of key opposition leaders if they call for more protests or continue to allege massive vote-rigging in the June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He also set new ground rules in an attempt to divide powerful politicians and clergy who supported opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi from those who continue to vociferously question the election.Khamenei's remarks came a week before protesters plan to take to the streets during annual Quds Day commemorations in support of the Palestinian cause and against Israel. Khamenei warned protesters not to "manipulate" the holiday, but to show unity in support of Palestinians."The system will not take action against anyone as long as they perform within the framework of the system, do not resort to violence, do not disturb the calm in society and do not carry out unlawful actions such as spreading lies and rumors," he said in his first sermon since a June 19 speech triggered a violent crackdown on hundreds of thousands of protesters.The political crisis over the disputed June election is Iran's worst since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report. ||||| Iran to 'confront' opposition groups: Khamenei TEHRAN — Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition groups they will be "confronted" if they jeopardise the nation's security, in an address during Friday prayers in Tehran. "Those who draw swords against the regime will be confronted," said Khamenei, who has the final say on all national issues, as he led the weekly prayers at Tehran university. "Differences of views should not lead to conflicts ... the policy of the regime is to work with the majority. But if opposition groups have ideas that are against the nation's security and the principles of the regime, they will be confronted," he said. In response, hundreds of worshippers chanted: "Oh, our free-spirited leader, we are ready, we are ready." The Islamic republic is engulfed in its worst crisis following the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 poll, which his rivals claim was the result of massive vote rigging. The all-powerful Khamenei has steadfastly defended Ahmadinejad's victory. Khamenei also said Iran was not afraid of Western powers, especially the United States and Britain. "The US government and the British government have 200 years of wicked attitude towards Iran. So be it. This will not intimidate anyone," the country's top spiritual said to cries of: "Death to America! Death to Israel!" Khamenei again defended Iran's decision to pursue nuclear technology. "We must stand firm for our rights. If we give up our rights, whether nuclear or other rights, this will lead to decline (of the society)," he said. The university was packed with worshippers and black-clad supporters of Khamenei who shouted "We are here because of our love for the leader" and "The hand of God is on our head ... Khamenei is our leader." Top officials and clerics were present to hear the sermon, among them Ahmadinejad, parliament speaker Ali Larijani and chief of judiciary Sadeq Larijani. Since June when Tehran was rocked by protests, Khamenei has regularly defended Ahmadinejad and ruled out any major fraud in the presidential poll. He also warned that defeated candidates would be held accountable over the street violence. Ahmadinejad's rivals however have remained steadfast in opposing his victory and have refused to recognise his government. One opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, on Friday charged that the authorities were preventing doctors from issuing medical certificates to protesters wounded during the post-election unrest. Karroubi said on his website Etemad Melli that a military commander had told the health ministry not to issue medical certificates to protesters seeking treatment for injuries sustained in the turmoil or while later detained in prison. The certificates could potentially be used in court by protesters seeking legal redress after the violent crackdown on protests. "I am now more persistent to know why there is so much intimidation when I see a commander of a military body ordering in a letter to the health ministry that no documents be issued to injured protesters," Karroubi said in an open letter to judiciary chief Larijani which was posted on his website. The cleric gave no further details but reformist websites norooznews.ir and mowjcamp.com also posted the letter and said Karroubi was referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari. In the aftermath of the June election, members of Iran's volunteer Islamic militia, Basij, were mobilised to crack down on protesters, along with the security forces. Basij is a unit of the Revolutionary Guards. Iran's deputy parliament speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar warned on Friday that if Karroubi does not prove his claims "he will be committing a big crime." Etemad Melli also said Mohammad Ozlati Moghaddam, an aide to main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, was arrested on Thursday night at his home. Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| Ayatollah Khamenei has staunchly defended the election result Iran's supreme leader is leading Friday prayers in Tehran - his first sermon since June when he defended President Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's speech is being closely watched for indications of further moves against opponents. He said in the sermon, broadcast live on TV, that "resisting the system" would bring "a harsh response". The violence that followed the disputed presidential election on 12 June left more than 70 people dead. This week the Iranian authorities arrested two prominent opposition figures. They also closed down the offices of Mehdi Karoubi who was a presidential contender in June. Continuing crackdown The government in Tehran has come through a period of intense political upheaval since the elections. There has been a continuing crackdown on the opposition by government hardliners, and serious infighting within the establishment. More than 70 people were killed in post-election violence Analysts say that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now in a more comfortable position, having had all but three members of his new cabinet approved by parliament in a vote of confidence last week. Thousands of people were arrested in June following the mass street protests in Tehran that ended in violence as security forces moved to stop them. Many have been released but Iran is currently trying a number of detainees over their alleged involvement in the protests. They include opposition figures accused of conspiring with foreign powers to organise the unrest. Critics have dismissed the trials as show trials. Both the Iranian parliament and judiciary have established committees to investigate the post-election unrest and the government's response. Are you in Iran? What would you like to hear from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? You can send us your views using the form below: Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments | Following the recent unrest in Iran, and the forced closing of ’s office on September 8, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned the opposition leaders and Mehdi Karroubi and their supporters that they will be "confronted." "The system will not take action against anyone as long as they perform within the framework of the system, do not resort to violence, do not disturb the calm in society and do not carry out unlawful actions such as spreading lies and rumors," stated Khamenei during the Friday prayers. The Supreme leader warned that anyone who confronts the system will face serious consequences. He also mentioned the possible arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi in the future if their ideas and ideology threaten the system. Khamenei again supported Iran’s nuclear program and gave his full support, and he said the Islamic Republic of Iran will not be intimidated by the Western powers, the United States and Britain. The U.S. and Britain are pushing Russia and their allies for more sanctions on Iran, and the option of a military action against Iran's nuclear program. The Iranian nuclear program is believed not to conform to rules and regulations, and to have enough enriched uranium to build an Atom Bomb which threatens the existence of Israel. Iran's June 12 Presidential election was decried by all opposition candidates as flawed due to vote fraud. Street protests began nearly immediately in major cities of Iran. While many western states expressed concern over alleged voting irregularities, the Guardian Council announced that a recount confirmed the earlier results re-electing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Government of Iran has been ordered by the Supreme Leader to continue crackdowns and arrest those involved in creating disturbance and confronting the system. Thousands of people were arrested in June following the mass protests in cities across Iran. More than five hundred are still missing and more will be put on trial in the weeks to come. |
YANGON (Reuters) - One man was killed when a bomb exploded on a bus in army-ruled Myanmar, newspapers said on Tuesday, the latest incident ahead of anniversaries that sometimes serve as flashpoints for dissent. One man was killed when a bomb exploded on a bus in army-ruled Myanmar, newspapers said on Tuesday, the latest incident ahead of anniversaries that sometimes serve as flashpoints for dissent. REUTERS/Graphics Another male passenger was wounded when the device exploded early on Monday as the minibus traveled from the eastern town of Kyaukkyi to the former capital Yangon. The Myanma Alin newspaper blamed the blast on “insurgents resorting to various destructive acts with intent to jeopardize the stability of the state, community peace and tranquility by causing casualties and panic among the innocent people”. Kyaukkyi is in Karen state, home to the largest of the rebel militias in the former Burma. The junta normally points the finger at dissident groups, ranging from exiled pro-democracy activists to ethnic militias who have been fighting for greater autonomy or even independence for more than five decades. The regime stepped up security measures in early July after a small bomb exploded at the offices of a pro-junta group, and ahead of several key anniversaries. Martyrs’ Day on July 19 commemorates the assassination of General Aung San, the architect of the country’s independence from British rule and father of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel peace laureate has been confined at her Yangon home for nearly 13 of the past 19 years, with her latest detention beginning in May 2003. Another major date is August 8, the numerically auspicious 08-08-08 and 20th anniversary of an “8-8-88” student uprising crushed by the army with the loss of an estimated 3,000 lives. The looming first anniversary of last September’s monk-led protests against the regime, in which at least 31 people died in a military crackdown, has seen increased surveillance of key Buddhist monasteries by junta spies. ||||| One killed, one injured in Myanmar bus blast YANGON (AFP) — One man was killed and another injured when a bomb went off aboard a passenger bus headed to Myanmar's main city, state-run media reported on Tuesday. The explosion took place at 8:50 am (0220 GMT) on Monday, en route to the country's economic hub Yangon, according to the official The New Light of Myanmar newspaper. "One passenger died and another was injured in an explosion on a bus en-route from Kyaukkyi to Yangon," the paper said, noting that authorities are investigating the blast. The man who died was a 55-year-old named Khant, it said. A 46-year-old man named Pa Pa received a stomach injury in the blast which took place near Daik Oo town, 85 miles (135 kilometres) northeast of Yangon. Authorities immediately blamed insurgents for the bombing. "Insurgents have committed destructive acts to jeopardize the stability of the state, community peace and prevalence of law and order to cause panic among the people," the paper said. The bus journey started in Kyaukkyi near the border of Karen state where ethnic rebels have battled for decades against the military regime, who have run Myanmar since 1962, for autonomy in their region. Earlier this month a small bomb exploded at the offices of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association on the outskirts of Yangon, causing no injuries but blowing a hole in the wall of the building. Myanmar faces scores of organised resistance groups. Such small explosions are usually blamed on ethnic rebels or exiled dissident groups. | A bomb explosion on a bus in Myanmar (alternatively Burma) has killed a 55-year-old man and left another man wounded. The explosion occurred yesterday at 8:50 am local time (0220 GMT) as the bus traveled to Yangon, but state media has only posted news of the attack today. The deceased was identified only as Khant by the ''New Light of Myanmar'', the Burmese government-owned daily newspaper. The article said that the injured man was 46-year-old Pa Pa and that he received a stomach injury. The bus had 35 passengers traveling from Kyaukkyi, and was near Daik Oo, some 85 miles from its destination. The bombing was blamed on insurgents, but it is unclear which group is responsible. The ruling military junta is subject to attacks from a number of extremist groups opposed to its rule. |
A man wanted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in Colorado on Tuesday was "highly likely" the man holed up in a Logan Square building. ||||| Veteran Reporter Calls Video a "Cheap Shot" (WGN-AM) - Fired Chicago TV reporter Amy Jacobson is talking to WGN Radio about her dismissal from the station Jacobson's 11 year run at Channel 5 came to an end Tuesday after rival Channel 2 aired video of her and her two children in swimsuits at the home of Craig Stebec. His wife Lisa has been missing since April. Jacobson says she made a lapse in judgment. But Jacobson told WGN Radio if she was a man, the story wouldn't be an issue. "I am not giving an excuse for my actions, but I would like to explain my side," Jacobson told WGN's Spike O'Dell Wednesday. She explained that she and her two children were on the way to the East Bank Club in Chicago when she got a call from Stebec's sister Jill. "She said she wanted to talk to me. She was upset about something Channel 2 had aired," said Jacobson. Unsure about the situation, Jacobson said she called her husband, who was comfortable with her taking the kids with her to the Stebec home. "When I'm on a story, I don't want to get beat. And I'm very competitive. And I thought this is an opportunity to hear their side." She said she and her kids went swimming along with several other mothers and children. She denied there was anything improper between her and Craig Stebec. "He's always been respectful, never made any advances, ever. And I hate that people are classifying it as some big pool party." The video was shot from a neighbor's yard last Friday. "I feel it was a very cheap shot, from Channel 2," Jacobson said. "And the way they edited that first story, it was awful." Jacobson said she did nothing illegal or improper. "My motivation and my heart were in the right place. I was trying to get ahead on a story," she said, adding that she is considering all of her legal options. Listen: Amy Jacobson speaks with WGN's Spike O'Dell Listen: Amy Jacobson speaks with WGN's Steve Cochran ||||| If you’re the proud owner of a cast-iron pan , then you already know what a good investment it is. Once well-seasoned, it can cook just about anything from pancakes to fried chicken, it can go from stovetop to oven with ease, it’s nearly indestructible, it’s inexpensive and it holds its heat like a dream. But if you’re just using your pan to cook the occasional burger, then you’re missing out; you really can cook pretty much anything in it. ||||| Mount Prospect native went from star reporter to unemployed in one day For more than a decade, she regularly handled the day's top story for WMAQ-Channel 5, from exclusives on crime cases to snowstorms where she'd don one of her signature winter hats. But by Tuesday afternoon, Amy Jacobson was out of a job as she became the lead story. Jacobson, 37, arrived in Chicago in 1996, fresh from Fox affiliate WJBK-TV in Detroit. RELATED STORIES The video that got Amy fired It was a homecoming for the northwest suburban Mount Prospect native. She grew up here and went to the University of Iowa, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor of arts degree in broadcasting and film. She began her journalism career in 1992 at KSAX-TV in Alexandria, Minn. She also worked at television news stations in El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz. She started at Channel 5 as a free-lance reporter, moving up to the general assignment post she held until Tuesday. Her scoops included a June interview with Kevin Fox, the Will County man initially charged with the 2004 rape and murder of his 3-year-old daughter. Charges against him were dropped after DNA testing of genetic material found on the girl's body excluded him as a suspect. Jacobson and husband Jaime Anglada, a pharmaceutical dealer, live with their two boys on the North Side. ||||| Jul 10, 2007 6:26 pm US/Central (CBS) CHICAGO A Chicago television reporter is out of a job over some questionable conduct in pursuing a source in the disappearance of a Plainfield mother. NBC 5 has confirmed that the station and veteran reporter Amy Jacobson have parted ways. Lisa Stebic was last seen by her husband, Craig Stebic, on April 30, and there has been no sign of her since despite an intense investigation and repeated searches. Craig Stebic is not talking to police, but as CBS 2's Alita Guillen reports, he appears to be talking to a local reporter. A video captured Friday shows Jacobson wearing a bathing suit top and wrapped in a towel at Craig Stebic's home. Also seen in the video are Stebic himself, his sister from Iowa and Jacobson's two children. NBC 5 General Manager Larry Wert said late Tuesday that Jacobson and NBC parted ways, leaving open the possibility that she may have resigned after more than 10 years at the station. The decision to air the video of Jacobson at the Stebic home was not made in haste; officials at CBS 2 wrangled for four days over whether to broadcast the footage of Jacobson and her two young children socializing with Craig Stebic. "Once we got this video, it was clear it was provacative, but there were so many questions. For sure we could have thrown it on the air, but it wouldn't have been the right thing to do because there was no context. What was it? Was it newsworthy? We had many, many discussions about that," said CBS 2 News Director Carol Fowler. The video runs six minutes. In it, Jacobson is seen in a bikini top with a towel wrapped around her waist. Her two young boys are with her. Craig Stebic is there as well as his sister and a few others. CBS 2 shared the video with Northwestern University journalism professor Michele Weldon. “I don't see any reason that this could be considered OK,” Weldon said. "Clearly, this is a conflict of interest," Weldon added. Weldon said it represents a case of gravely crossing a journalistic line; an error in judgment that damages Jacobson's credibility as well as her colleagues'. "It's going to make the audience and her colleagues and her competitors question what else she has done," Weldon said. “While it's not a heinous crime it erodes all of our credibility as journalists,” Weldon added. Jacobson was reportedly invited to the home Friday at the last minute. It was her day off and she was with her children. By Tuesday, word of the video and the story had been spread throughout the Chicago media and CBS 2 felt an obligation to inform viewers. "Once late (Monday) we learned that both of the major newspapers in Chicago were taking the matter very seriously and NBC was taking the matter very seriously, that met the threshold of a news story in my judgment. Had that not happened the tape might still be in a locked drawer in my desk." Neighbors tell CBS 2 that Jacobson has been visiting Stebic's house frequently, without a camera crew, since his estranged wife's disappearance. Why she has been there is unclear; while she has covered the story, she has never mentioned any social relationship with Stebic or his family. "To quote from the (Society of Professional Journalists) code of ethics, they say, 'Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility,'" Weldon said. "I would use this as an example of something not to do; as something to avoid," Weldon added. After seeing this video Lisa’s family defended the reporter's actions. “Amy Jacobson has given 1,000 percent and has never done anything but deliver the most responsible and caring job of journalism during this extremely difficult situation for our family,” said Lisa Stebic’s cousin Melanie Greenberg. CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv said Jacobson may have put herself in an awkward position by socializing with Stebic. "The fact that she may be putting herself in the position of a friend of Craig Stebic puts her as a person of interest for the police to possibly to talk to to see if Craig Stebic has told her anything," Miller said. CBS 2 tried to contact Jacobson, her attorney and her agent, but no one returned calls as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. | WMAQ-TV NBC 5 Chicago announced yesterday that reporter Amy Jacobson was leaving her job after being videotaped in a bikini with her two sons at the home of Craig Stebic. Jacobson has been covering the story of Stebic's wife Lisa, who has been missing since April 30. Jacobson says that she took her children on a social visit on her day off, following an invitation from Stebic's family. Jacobson has reported at WMAQ for the last ten years. The video of her at Craig Stebic's home was either taken by or given to CBS 2 WBBM-TV Chicago, the CBS affiliate. The entire six minute video of Jacobson is available at cbs2chicago.com. The WMAQ President and General Manager Larry Wert stated "Amy has been one of our most valued reporters for over ten years The decision to part ways has been a difficult one. We wish her the very best." Speaking with WGN Radio on Wednesday morning, Jacobson described WBBM-TV's releasing of the video a "cheap shot". She told Spike O'Dell that she is sickened by the entire ordeal and may pursue legal action against the people who took the video of her at Craig Stebic's house. Jacobson said her attorney told her it is illegal to videotape people on private property and she said she "is looking at all of her legal options." A press release was sent to the WMAQ-TV Newsroom staff on July 10, 2007. Jacobson came to WMAQ-TV in 1996 from Fox affiliate WJBK located in Detroit. Jacobson is a native of Mount Prospect. She began her career at KSAX and also worked in El Paso and Tucson, AZ. She started at WMAQ as a freelance reporter and moved up to general assignment reporter. She and her husband have two children and live on the north side of Chicago. |
The Belgrade Neonatology Institute kept a baby “imprisoned” for nearly two months until the mother paid medical bills in the amount of around 6,500 euro, the Serbian Kurir daily writes. During these two months, 20 year-old mother Senija Roganovic says they let her see the boy only once, and she was not even allowed to brest-feed him. She gave birth on December 15, last year in Zemun, in the eight month of pregnancy. Because of preterm labor, the baby was transferred to the Belgrade Neonatology Institute. Her baby spent around ten days there, but when they came to take their little son on December 27, the hospital requested bill settlement for his release. -As I had no insurance nor Serbian documents, because I am from Niksic in Montenegro, they requested I paid 500,000 dinar or otherwise, they will not give us the baby- Senija told the Kurir daily. Senija told this to journalists two days ago and after yesterday’s media writings, the baby has been, finally, let go from the hospital. When I heard I was getting my baby back, I slept normally for the first time. I dreamt of holding my baby- said the mother, who has been sedated for the past two months and lost 15 kilo from worrying. ||||| WEIRD BUT TRUE By LUKAS I. ALPERT, Wire Services February 9, 2007 -- A 75-year-old Texas woman's wallet has been returned - 60 years after she lost it as a teen in Iowa. Joan Martinek Barnes, of San Antonio, was stunned when the red alligator-grain wallet she lost in 1947 was returned to her after it was found by a handyman on top of an air duct in the basement of her old school in Cedar Rapids. "It was very much a surprise," Barnes said. **** Never bet on the underdog when the stakes are this high. Diehard Chicago Bear fan Scott Wiese vowed to legally change his name to Peyton Manning, after the Indianapolis Colts' quarterback, if the Colts beat the Bears in the Super Bowl. The Colts won, of course, and the Decatur, Ill., man says he'll keep his word. "I made the bet, and now I've got to keep it," said Wiese. Or Manning. Or whatever his name is. **** People are always complaining that they don't have enough time. Not a problem if you live in Crawley, England, where the town council accidentally printed an official 2007 calendar that has two extra days - or 367 in total. The calendar, which was sent to all 9,500 homes in the West Sussex town, printed May 28th twice, and gave November 31 days instead of 30. "Obviously, our proofreading was not good enough," said a council spokesman. "Next year, we will get it right." **** Pay up or we'll keep your baby. That's what a Serbian hospital told one mother behind on her medical bills. Senija Roganovic gave birth two months ago in Belgrade, but the hospital has refused to let her take the baby home until she pays off her $8,000 bill. Roganovic says she has no health insurance and no way to pay. ||||| Ananova: Hospital holds baby hostage A Serbian hospital has refused to hand a newborn baby back to its mother until she pays her hospital fees. Macedonian Senija Roganovic gave birth in the Neonatology Hospital in Belgrade two months ago. But her baby has been kept in the hospital ever since because she has not paid a £4,250 bill for a ten day stay. She said she had no health insurance in Serbia, and had no way of raising the money to pay the hospital fees. Roganovic has reportedly fallen ill with worry over the fate of her child and has lost two stones in weight. | The Belgrade Neonatology Institute has refused to hand over a child to her mother, after she was unable to pay her medical bills. Macedonian Senija Roganovic, who has no health insurance of any kind and cannot come up with the money for the bill, gave birth to the baby two months ago at and owes US$8,290.91 in hospital bills. 20-year old Roganovic has been sedated for the past two months and has lost 30 pounds of weight, possibly due to anxiety over what might happen to her child. During this period the hospital only let her see the baby once and she was not allowed to breast-feed her son. On the 7th of February, Roganovic told her story to a journalist from the daily paper ''Kurir''. After media reports the following day, the hospital finally let the baby go yesterday. |
Diplomats have to put their country's interest above their personal safety, the US ambassador to Iraq said today in defence of a decision to force officials to take up the world's most dangerous foreign posting. In a new policy announced last week, US foreign service officials will be forced to serve in Iraq or face disciplinary action - including dismissal - in the first order of its kind since the Vietnam war. Diplomats have reacted angrily, with one calling the directive a "potential death sentence". Ambassador Ryan Crocker insisted diplomats who put their safety before that of the US were "in the wrong line of business". "As we try to staff the embassy in Iraq, it is good for all our colleagues to remember that we took an oath to serve our nation worldwide when we joined the foreign service, just as the military swore an oath," Mr Crocker told reporters in Dubai. The union representing diplomats has said security in Iraq is precarious and the completion of a new, heavily fortified embassy compound and living quarters in Baghdad has been dogged by logistical and construction problems. Mr Crocker said diplomats could not pick and choose their fight. "It's not for us to decide if we like the policy or if the policy is rightly implemented," he said. "It's for us to go and serve, not to debate the policy, not to agree with it." The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, yesterday launched a worldwide appeal for volunteers after uproar over the new rules. She plans to send a cable to all US embassies abroad explaining the decision to launch the largest diplomatic call-up since Vietnam. The cable would make it clear that foreign service officers are obliged to uphold the oaths they took to carry out the policies of the US government and be available to serve anywhere. Under the new order, 200 to 300 diplomats have been identified as "prime candidates" for 48 vacancies coming up next year at the US embassy in Baghdad and in Iraqi provinces. Those notified have 10 days to accept or reject the offer. If too few say yes, some will be ordered to go. Only those with compelling reasons, such as a medical condition or extreme personal hardship, will be exempt from disciplinary action. Diplomats forced into service in Iraq will receive the same additional hardship pay, vacation time and choice of future assignments as those who have volunteered. The state department said that since the call-up to fill the 48 vacant Iraq posts was announced last Friday, 15 diplomats had volunteered to work there. "The most important service for the US at the present time is in the world's hardest places," Mr Crocker said, referring to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. At a heated meeting on Wednesday, some diplomats spoke bluntly about the policy to begin "directed assignments" to fill up vacancies in Iraq. Jack Crotty, a member of the foreign service for 36 years, was among the most vocal, calling the forced deployment to the US embassy in Baghdad or in so-called provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq a "potential death sentence". Ms Rice sought to dispel the impression that diplomats did not want to serve in Iraq. "I am very sorry that the recounting of the comments of a few people left the impression that somehow the foreign service does not want to serve in Iraq," she said, on her way to Turkey. "It could not be farther from the truth." Three foreign service personnel - two diplomatic security agents and one political officer - have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. ||||| Diplomats fear 'death sentence' 02/11/2007 12:08 - (SA) Rice makes worldwide appeal US a 'nation of discontent' Iraq deaths drop to new low Washington - US diplomats fear a "death sentence" if they are forced to serve in Iraq and bureaucrats are said to be so thin on the ground that billions of dollars in war funding risks going astray. The mood of US civil servants is turning gloomier even as the administration grapples to counter criticism that its armed forces are overstretched by Iraq and the global "war on terror". The bureaucratic front of the Iraq mission has long been bedevilled by insecurity in the field and the reluctance of US government experts to serve in a conflict zone. "Provincial reconstruction teams" (PRTs) are short of the kinds of experts in engineering, agriculture and trade that President George W Bush has said are essential to Iraq's recovery. And now, the State Department's foreign service officers are up in arms over a directive that will force some 50 diplomats to serve in Iraq on pain of dismissal unless more volunteers are found. Keith Crane, an expert in post-conflict economies at the Rand Corporation, said he sympathised with the rebellious diplomats, following a bad-tempered meeting held last week at the State Department. 'Ridiculous thing to try to achieve' "If I were in their shoes, my big question would be, 'What is the job I'm being asked to do, and is that job likely to result in a reduction of violence?'" he said. "If you're sent to some PRT and are told you should throw money at small businesses in a war zone, that's a waste of time and a ridiculous thing to try to achieve," Crane argued. Complaints were voiced at a meeting on Wednesday of hundreds of diplomats and senior officials to hear Harry Thomas, the State Department's director of human resources, describe the new policy of forced deployments. Jack Crotty, a member of the foreign service for 36 years, was among the most vocal, calling the forced deployment to the US embassy in Baghdad or in Iraqi PRTs a "potential death sentence". US diplomats have not been forced to serve abroad against their will since the Vietnam War era, but now the embassy in Baghdad - the biggest in the world - lacks dozens of officials to staff its sprawling activities. The State Department has not received applications for about 50 of 250 Baghdad jobs to be filled by mid-2008, said Thomas, after the department announced the new rules on October 26. But Mark Bellamy, a former deputy assistant secretary of state who is now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, queried "how do you do diplomacy and development work in an environment as violent as this?" "And there are widespread misgivings about the nature of the mission," he said, citing the siege mentality of life in Baghdad's Green Zone and the struggles faced by PRTs in Iraq's outlying provinces. Worrying lack of control Diplomats complain that they are being asked to do the jobs of experts in alien fields owing to the inability of other US government departments, such as agriculture and commerce, to send their own people to PRTs. "Expecting a bureaucrat at the Department of Agriculture, whose primary job is to write big cheques to rice farmers in Arkansas, to effect change in Iraq is fundamentally wrong and misguided," said Crane. "In real conflict zones, with people getting shot at all the time, you just can't do economic reconstruction," he added. With the Pentagon too stretched to supply its own security teams to US diplomats, the State Department has come to rely on the expensive services of private companies such as Blackwater. The role of the hired guns is mired in controversy after Blackwater guards opened fire at a Baghdad road junction in September, leaving 17 Iraqi civilians dead. Subsequent inquiries have suggested a worrying lack of control over the money extended to the security contractors, and for the more than $18bn earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction in general. One government audit said that until earlier this year the State Department had only two staffers in Iraq overseeing as many as 700 employees of the security contractor DynCorp. The result was "an environment vulnerable to waste and fraud", the report said. News24 is now available on your cellphone. Click here to get News24 headlines on your Facebook profile. ||||| This is an update from AFSA President John Naland: On October 26, 2007, the Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr., announced to the news media (and later to employees via an ALDAC cable) that the well has finally run dry of State Department Foreign Service volunteers to serve in the war zone in Iraq. He announced that, if volunteers could not be found for 48 remaining positions by November 12, then directed assignments would begin. AFSA regrets this fateful turn of events. From 2003 through 2007, over 2,000 career Foreign Service members volunteered to serve in Iraq. Now, with the Foreign Service facing a fifth rotation into Iraq, the addition of 80 new positions to fill next summer at the giant U.S. mission in Baghdad and the expanding Provincial Reconstruction Teams around the country has pushed the strain on our ranks to the breaking point. While there are many Foreign Service members who have not (yet) served in Iraq, only a small fraction possesses the regional, language, or other expertise that Ambassador Ryan Crocker says that he needs. And many members in that reduced group are now at, or have recently returned from, some other hardship assignment. With 68 percent of the Foreign Service already “forward deployed” in 189 foreign countries (compared to 21 percent of the uniformed military stationed abroad), the Foreign Service has no bench strength with which to surge more personnel into Iraq. The State Department’s own September 2007 staffing data show a 1,015 position operational staffing deficit in the Foreign Service, plus an additional 1,079 position deficit in training and related needs. This 2,094 position deficit is documented in a blue-ribbon report released on October 15 by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (see pages 9-10). Yet, despite this huge deficit between the State Department’s mission and the resources available to carry out that mission, the Administration is seeking to add just 254 new positions in its still-pending FY-08 budget request. The prospects are uncertain for Congressional funding of even that inadequate request. That comes on top of Congressional refusal to fund 100 positions in FY-07 and 221 additional positions in FY-06 to narrow worldwide staffing gaps. All of these factors have combined to deplete the well of potential Foreign Service volunteers for Iraq. Nevertheless, AFSA repeats its call for any Foreign Service member who has been considering a tour in Iraq to volunteer now. We also repeat our call for Foreign Service retirees with Middle East experience, particularly those with Arabic-language skills, to consider serving in Iraq. For both groups, the financial and other benefits are substantial. Obviously, there are also substantial physical and emotional risks. At the same time, AFSA stands by our position that directed assignments of unarmed Foreign Service members into the war zone in Iraq would be detrimental to the individual, to the post, and to the Foreign Service as a whole. This position has been questioned by some who point to the Foreign Service record during the Vietnam War. However, most Foreign Service veterans of that conflict with which AFSA has consulted draw sharp distinctions between Vietnam and Iraq. Without minimizing the courage and sacrifices of their colleagues and themselves 40 years ago, they report that Saigon (except during the 1968 Tet Offensive) was rarely as dangerous as Baghdad has been and that the Viet Cong rarely targeted CORDS (Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support) personnel in the way that PRT members in Iraq are being targeted. They also note that the State Department today gives Iraq-bound Foreign Service members only around two weeks of pre-deployment training compared to the four to six month comprehensive training regimen provided to Vietnam-bound diplomats. (See article in Nov 2007 FSJ, which is a 1 MB file.) All this serves to underscore the remarkable dedication of Foreign Service volunteers in Iraq since 2003. The same is certainly true for Foreign Service volunteers in Afghanistan. Thus, while AFSA acknowledges that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has legal authority to order Foreign Service members to Iraq, we continue to urge the State Department to find ways to staff a right-sized Embassy Baghdad with volunteers. Those ways, as AFSA has long suggested, could include substantially increasing the Involuntary Separate Maintenance Allowance, creating special incentives for those willing to serve two-year tours in Iraq, and actively recruiting Foreign Service retirees willing to serve in Iraq. The announcement of directed assignments to the war zone in Iraq is a further blow to Foreign Service morale that is already depressed by a widely shared conclusion that the Administration in recent years has paid inadequate attention to securing the resources that diplomats need to advance America’s vital interests worldwide. In the online opinion survey of active duty State Department Foreign Service members being conducted by AFSA State Vice President Steve Kashkett (it began in mid-October and will run for one more week after which AFSA will report full results), only 15 percent of the over 3,700 respondents to date say that they believe that the Administration is doing a good job of securing resources for the Department. Only 12 percent believe that the Administration is doing a good job of convincing Congress to correct the overseas pay disparity. Only 20 percent believe that the Administration is doing a good job of defending the Foreign Service. This lack of support arguably weakens the State Department’s moral authority to order unarmed diplomats to serve in the war zone in Iraq. In the survey, a striking 45 percent say that “developments in the last few years have made me less likely to remain in the Foreign Service for a full career.” That last statistic is higher among entry level employees. AFSA has a request pending for updated Foreign Service attrition statistics. The poll also shows that 68 percent of respondents oppose directed assignments to Iraq. And that snapshot of survey results was taken before directed assignments changed from being a future possibility to an immediate probability. In the last few days, AFSA has received an avalanche of e-mails from members, many expressing hurt and disbelief that they and their families learned about this life-and-death announcement last weekend via the news media instead of directly from their employer. In the days ahead, AFSA will continue to speak out on behalf of the Foreign Service on the issue of directed assignments to Iraq. In doing so, we will be guided by our responsibilities as the voice of the Foreign Service. We will also be guided by our new survey results showing that two thirds of respondents want AFSA to be more vocal and assertive, even at the cost of more friction with Management (one percent of respondents want us to be less vocal and assertive). To conclude, AFSA salutes the over 2,000 career Foreign Service members who have volunteered since 2003 to serve in the war zone in Iraq. We encourage any Foreign Service member who has been considering a tour in Iraq to volunteer now. We also continue to strongly urge the State Department to find ways to staff a right-sized Embassy Baghdad with volunteers. | Almost 50 positions at the American embassy in Iraq remain unfilled with no volunteers, and the State Department has recently told diplomats that if they go unfilled then they will begin forced assignments. "We must go forward with the identification of officers to serve should it prove necessary to direct assignments," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday. "Should others step forward, as some already have, we will fill these new jobs as we have before —with volunteers. However, regardless of how the jobs may be filled, they must be filled." Since the 48 vacant Iraq posts were announced last Friday, only 15 diplomats have volunteered to work there. Diplomatic assignments are almost always filled by volunteers. At a State Department "town hall" meeting, Jack Crotty, a 36-year State Department veteran, pointed out the main issue: It's a "potential death sentence". "It's one thing if someone believes in what's going on over there and volunteers," said Crotty, "but it's another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment." But U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker's response to such fears was unequivocal: "It's for us to go and serve, not to debate the policy, not to agree with it." Mark Bellamy, a former deputy assistant secretary of state who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also questioned the entire diplomatic mission. "How do you do diplomacy and development work in an environment as violent as this?" asked Bellamy. The Green Zone can be a demoralizing place for a diplomat to work. Aside from the physical risk, the violence that surrounds daily life in Baghdad creates an isolated atmosphere and a sense of futility. The idea of traveling outside the fortified zone is outlandish and only under heavy guard (the Blackwater guards accused by the Iraqi government of attacking Iraqi civilians were guarding diplomats). The only association the diplomats have with civilian Iraqis is with those who work at the embassy. Even those Iraq nationals fear for their lives as they are targeted as "collaborators." |
By Mandeep Sanghera BBC Sport in Berlin Ronaldo failed to trouble the Croatian defenders on Tuesday The holders won 1-0, but 29-year-old Ronaldo was anonymous and was substituted after 69 minutes. "I don't know what happened to him," Kovac told BBC Sport. "He didn't run and stayed in front of us. He must be tired. He hardly touched the ball. "It was very easy. I've played against him before and it was very difficult. I don't know what's happened with him." Ronaldo entered the competition on the back of a troubled season at Real Madrid with criticism being levelled at him for being overweight. He seemed to run faster when he was taken off against Croatia than for most of an outing which saw him have just one noteworthy shot. The performance even surprised the Croatia bench, with second-choice keeper Joe Didulica saying: "I would love to see the statistics of how far he ran. Ronaldo has said he has not reached his ideal level of fitness Kaka But Croatia defender Josip Simunic offered some support for the man who scored 12 goals in three previous World Cups. "Ronaldo is the most dangerous player in the world," said Simunic. "I don't know what everyone is talking about and I am 100% sure he will score four or five goals in the tournament. Just wait and see." Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and Tuesday's match-winner, Kaka, were both quick to jump to Ronaldo's defence. Parreira admitted the player was "lacking a little bit of sharpness" but that he would still start their second game against Australia on Sunday. 606 VIEW Ronaldo looks finished, I would start the next game with either Juninho or Robinho MT "Ronaldo has not been playing for the last two months and has had only two friendlies so it was natural he felt a bit heavy as it was very hot, but I'm sure he will improve as the tournament goes on," he said. And Kaka added: "Ronaldo has said he has not reached his ideal level of fitness so let's wait until he improves his performance and is the Ronaldo that we know and like, but yes a little more movement from him would be ideal." The Brazilian newspapers were less supportive of Ronaldo, who to date has 12 World Cup goals under his belt. Former World Cup winner Tostao, writing for the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, described him as "slow and weird." ||||| Kaka scored his 10th goal for Brazil in the win over Croatia Croatia's tactics frustrated Brazil for much of the match, but just before the interval Kaka's wonderful curling left-footed shot beat Stipe Pletikosa. Pletikosa's opposite number Dida frequently came to Brazil's rescue, notably with second-half saves from Dado Prso and Ivan Klasnic. Brazil finished strongly, with Kaka again going close with a rasping shot. The Brazilians might be favourites to claim the "Hexa" - a sixth World Cup - but the way Croatia made Carlos Alberto Parreira's side work for this win suggests the world champions are not without their weaknesses. Strikers Ronaldo and Adriano looked subdued throughout and it took 55 minutes for the much criticised Real Madrid striker to have a shot at goal. The unhappy Ronaldo was eventually replaced by Robinho, whose introduction served to bring greater attacking fluidity to the Brazilian side. But the fact that Dida was one of Brazil's best performers gives an indication of just how well Croatia played. Prso's strong running troubled the Brazilian defence and early in the second half the Rangers striker powerfully shrugged off Lucio before testing Dida with a low shot. Soon after making that save Dida's positioning allowed him to safely gather a Marko Babic shot. While Prso provided an attacking outlet for Croatia, the Balkan side's defence managed to stymie Brazil for long periods. Pletikosa, who was making his 50th appearance for Croatia, had a quiet introduction to the game, but on 15 minutes the Croatian goalkeeper came under intense pressure. He athletically tipped a Roberto Carlos shot over the bar and then pushed away a Ronaldinho effort that came to Pletikosa through a packed penalty area. Just after the hour Pletikosa made the best save of the game when he kept out a poweful Ronaldinho header. Not that Croatia were ever content to solely soak up Brazil's attacks. Prso frequently drifted out to the left and looked impressive with some strong running, while Ivan Klasnic and Niko Kranjcar had speculative shots. Those two efforts did not trouble Dida, but seven minutes before the break the Brazilian keeper had a real scare when Igor Tudor came desperately close to reaching Darijo Srna's dangerous inswinging free-kick from the left. Having subdued Brazil for 44 minutes, Croatia fell behind to a wonderfully constructed and taken goal. Midfielder Emerson started the move, surging into the Croatia half before feeding the ball to Cafu. The Brazilian right-back slipped the ball inside to Kaka, who after switching the ball quickly to his left foot, beat Pletikosa with an unstoppable shot. It was a superb goal which hinted at the power and skill of the Brazilians. Brazil: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Carlos, Ze Roberto, Emerson, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Adriano, Ronaldo (Robinho 69). Subs Not Used: Cicinho, Cris, Fred, Gilberto, Julio Cesar, Juninho, Luisao, Mineiro, Ricardinho, Rogerio, Silva. Booked: Emerson. Goals: Kaka 44. Croatia: Pletikosa, Simunic, Robert Kovac, Tudor, Simic, Srna, Babic, Nico Kovac (Jerko Leko 40), Kranjcar, Prso, Klasnic (Olic 57). Subs Not Used: Balaban, Bosnjak, Butina, Didulica, Ivan Leko, Modric, Seric, Tokic, Tomas, Vranjes. Booked: Nico Kovac, Robert Kovac, Tudor. Att: 72,000. Ref: Benito Archundia Tellez (Mexico). Fifa man of the match: Kaka. TRIVIA Brazil have won their last eight World Cup matches which is a new record, breaking Italy's seven successive victories between 1934 and 1950. Brazil's last defeat dates back to 1998 when they lost the final against France (3-0). They've kept a clean sheet in their last three World Cup matches. Brazil have remained unbeaten in their World Cup opener for the 16th consecutive time, winning the last seven. Croatia suffered their first defeat since a 2-4 loss to England on 21 June 2004, during Euro 2004, a streak of 10 matches. Six of Croatia's 11 World Cup matches have ended with a 1-0 scoreline (two wins, four defeats). | 50px Brazil beat Croatia in the second Group match, in Berlin, Tuesday, but only by one goal. Croatia had sat back and made it difficult but Brazil seemed to be in no great hurry to impress and was satisfied with the margin of victory. Olympiastadion, Berlin One noticeable feature of the match, Brazilian forward Ronaldo appeared to display an exaggerated lack of interest in the game. Carlos Alberto Parreira substituted the Real Madrid striker after just over an hour. "I don't know what happened to him," Robert Kovac, the Croatian centre-back said. "He didn't run ... It was very easy," he said. Second best to three Croatian defenders, with the experience of 181 caps between them, Ronaldo did not get a shot on goal until the second half. The 72,000 fans in the Olympia Stadium saw the best of Brazil in the first half with Kaka and Ronaldinho bright in midfield. Lacking muscle from Ronaldo, Brazil was confined to long range shooting. Roberto Carlos fired a shot from 40 yards, which was put over by Stipe Pletikosa; the Croatia keeper then, after 15 minutes of the match, tipped a Ronaldinho effort behind. Cafu also had a shot on target and another from Kaka went wide. A successful long-range effort came from Kaka at 42 minutes. At the top of the semi circle he curled the ball with the inside of his left foot, the keeper's right hand not even close. The World Cup champions of 2002 were tested in defence as the Croatians probed for an equaliser. But the team with red and white chequers did not use their 50 per cent of possession to create many clear openings, nor did they capitalise on Brazilian errors. On 59 minutes Brazil's defence had a lapse in concentration: a misplaced pass between the back three nearly allowed the quick Croatian substitute Ivica Olic a chance on goal. The advantage came to nothing as the defence recovered. The best Croatian chance fell to Niko Kranjcar, minutes from the end. When the cross came into the box the midfielder was unmarked - but his header went far over the bar. The Croatian manager, Zlatko Kranjcar might consider a one-goal loss a good result against the reigning champions. Carlos Alberto Parreira might think by Brazil's high standards the game was a bad training session. But the result was a win and was Brazil's eighth successive World Cup win, a tournament record. |
? For the first time since 1955, rain doused the 117th edition of the Tournament of Roses, which ordinarily is a kind of infomercial for sun-drenched, citrus-sweet Southern California. Even so, hundreds of thousands of sturdy, poncho-clad souls lined Pasadena streets on Monday to cheer on 25 marching bands, gape at 48 flower-bedecked floats, and wave back at Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the parade’s grand marshal. Oddly, the grand marshal in the 1955 parade, which was merely moist by comparison with Monday’s downpour, was Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. With magic as the theme of the pageant, the organizers managed to pull a bedraggled, chilled, soggy rabbit from their hat before a crowd that was storm-tossed but still exuberant. And it was a great day for true believers in the parade’s magic. John Poole, 72, of Pasadena, shouted “Thank you!” whenever a marching band strode past his spot toward the end of the parade’s five-mile route. The most cheers were for the marching band members, who braved the cold, wind and rain to perform their songs and twirl their batons. Some band members pretended there was no rain and marched in shorts and wore sunglasses. The crowds cheered the effort, which mattered more than the performances. Supporters of the University of Southern California, one of the participants in Wednesday’s Rose Bowl football game, seemed to have an edge. But there was no shortage of University of Texas ponchos. “You can buy them at the bookstore,” said UT alumnus Cayce Coburn, a human relations specialist. “I had to come to sunny California to use it.” The rain intensified as the parade progressed down the boulevard. Some parade watchers who had started the day with resolve melted away as the rain continued. Even the live broadcast on Los Angeles television station KTLA was interrupted for a flash-flood warning for the L.A. area. The stands at the start of the parade at Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards began to thin as the parade progressed. An increasing number of bare spots were visible among what had started as well-filled bleachers. On some floats, the pelting rain washed away some of the seeds used on the faces, feathers and buildings that made up the floats. Overall, the floats held up. One reason was the advance of glue technology. “Back when in rained in ’55, they didn’t have waterproof glue,” Kevin Moore, the tournament liaison, explained before the start of the parade. “Now we have waterproof glue.” ||||| For the lovers of the "Lord of the Rings" and the "Bartimaeus Trilogy", here's an exciting ... read.. | On the morning of Monday, January 2, 2006, the 117th Tournament of Roses Rose Parade marched through Pasadena, California in only the tenth occurrence of rain on the morning of the parade. Fifty mile-an-hour winds buffeted the crowds of spectators for hours before and during the festivities. Many spectators had purchased grandstand tickets for $50 or more only to find the aluminum benches cold and exposed to the winds. Umbrellas were ubiquitus though difficult to use effectively in the storm-like conditions. Virtually anyone present for more than an hour had a poncho of some sort. Those who partook in the traditional campout to claim free seating on the street often left only a single person to stoically wait out the storm until morning, most preferring to sleep in dryer conditions. Crowds were smaller than normal. Vendors fared somewhat differently, depending on what they sold. Sales of hot food and drinks, umbrellas, ponchos, and tarps were up while sales of pre-packaged snacks and programs were down. Many street vendors left once sales or inventory dried up (figuritively speaking). |
Our food chain in general, and the beef industry in particular, are fraught with USDA-sanctioned madness, says a former meat inspector. Mad cow, mad sheep, mad elk. Even mad kitty cats. On Sunday evening at St. Patrick Hospital, Dr. Lester Friedlander, who blew the whistle on Mad Cow disease 12 years ago, spoke to a group of 25 in a lecture he facetiously called “As the Stomach Turns.” Friedlander recounted anecdote after anecdote of his tenure as a USDA meat inspector. The tales do not add up to a better burger. For each carcass, says Friedlander, inspectors are allowed only 15 seconds of inspection. Friedlander witnessed cow carcass abscesses bursting over meat that was then hosed off, wrapped up and shipped to the consumer. He encountered supervisors who were more concerned with falsifying inspection documents than protecting consumers from possible cow cancer. Just two weeks ago, he says, a cow in Texas with symptoms of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy was sent straight to the rendering plant without testing. Now, the USDA has gagged the inspectors, according to national news media. Although cows are no longer fed directly to cows, Friedlander explains the crazy-protein cycle: The meat is turned into food for hogs and chickens. The abnormal protein that causes the madness doesn’t die or disappear. Then, the hogs and chickens are fed to cows. The mutant protein remains alive and well. Friedlander asked the group if it realized that Montana’s representative, Denny Rehberg, was behind a bill that would lawfully place downer cows into the food stream. “Downer cows should never be used for human consumption,” says Friedlander. In some cases, he says, a downer cow will be dragged on a chain by its hoof to a barn and left there for days. When the downer cow fails to up itself, it’s sold. He believes that downer cows, which can be sold for $10 or $15 each (compared to $400 for a healthy cow), are still sold on the black market. Friedlander does not inspect meat for the USDA anymore. His supervisors told him he was too good at the job, he says. ||||| Could not access the requested cached document. This document may have been removed, or the link to this page may be broken, or your security settings may prevent access to cached documents. ||||| Mad Cow Disease In New Jersey? NEW YORK, April 28, 2004 New Jersey's Janet Skarbek may very well be the next Erin Brockovich.This mother and author from claims to have uncovered a cluster of people who died from mad cow disease in Cherry Hill. The state says she's wrong. But one thing is certain - Janet Skarbek is stirring up quite a bit of controversy, reportsThat's because public health officials are hoping no one in the U.S. will ever develop the human form of mad cow disease. They've been on the lookout since America's first infected cow was discovered last December . The cow was later found to be imported from Canada , and the U.S. government says our beef supply is safe.That's where Skarbek comes in.Some people may call her an alarmist, but Skarbek says, I don't feel as if I'm an alarmist. The facts - I've got people dying around me. I've had people I know die from CJD.Which is why Skarbek is so passionate about CJD that she's put her life on hold.CJD, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is a rare and fatal brain disorder. Although the cause of the classic or 'sporadic' form of the disease is unknown, CJD can also be inherited, or caused by contaminated tissue transplants, or by mad cow. This third type - also called variant CJD - is the disease that killed some 150 people in Britain in the 1990s.Skarbek believes CJD killed her 29-year-old friend, Carrie Mahan , in February of 2000, when an autopsy revealed a disease that ate holes in her brain.Authorities are studying Mahan's case because of questions about her diagnosis. Her death certificate said CJD, and Skarbek was told it occurs in approximately one in every million people.But Skarbek became suspicious when she stumbled upon Carol Olive's obituary in her local paper three years after her friend's death.She says, In the first paragraph, it said she died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. And I thought, Oh my gosh, that's what Carrie died of. And in the second paragraph it said she worked at the Garden State Racetrack."Which is also where Carrie Mahan had worked for years, along with Skarbek's own mother.Skarbeks mother, Pat Hammond, says, I mean, it was just a coincidence, only two, right? But then she took the ball and she read all about what CJD was.That's when Skarbek found yet another local man, radio announcer John Weber, a season-pass holder at the track who had also died from CJD. And it didn't stop there.Skarbek says, Right now, I'm up to 12 confirmed cases of CJD, where it says CJD on their death certificates and where they all ate at the racetrack.Skarbek believes the common thread that ties the CJD deaths together is meat tainted with mad cow disease served at the Garden State Park racetrack sometime between 1988 and 1992. Today, after years of sagging ticket sales, the track is being demolished to make way for an office park.Skarbek says it's a cluster - an unusually high number of cases that can't be explained as coincidence. But New Jersey's Department Of Health commissioner, Dr. Clifton R. Lacy, says she has it all wrong. He confirms only four cases.Dr. Lacey says, "The number of cases that Janet Skarbek has brought to our attention is well within the range of what would be expected to be found of people who have been in contact with a racetrack."According to the state, the deaths did not result from the human form of mad cow disease, but from sporadic CJD, the type expected to be found among an elderly population frequenting a racetrack. But Skarbek, who has a masters degree in accounting and has even testified in front of Congress on her tax research, says the government's numbers don't add up.Skarbek explains, If you just take five of the victims from New Jersey that ate at the track most recently, two were out of 100 administrative employees and three were out of 1,000 season-pass holders. So out of that population of 1,100 people, we should see one case of CJD every 909 years.But again, the New Jersey commissioner of health says Skarbek is wrong. And besides, the type of CJD found in Cherry Hill has never been associated with tainted beef.Dr. Lacey notes, There has beenno case to date, of any human being in this country acquiring variant CJD, which is the human form of mad cow infecting humans ever in our history in this country.But new research being done in Europe opens the door to the possibility that a mad cow infection in humans might not always look like variant CJD, which is Skarbek's worst fear.Her crusade is causing quite a stir, starting with her appearance on the CBS Evening News in January. And more recently, Skarbek was profiled in The New York Times Sunday magazine. Since then, she's been inundated with questions from people wanting to know more.One such case is that of George Young, the former general manager of the New York Giants.Skarbek says, He had died of CJD in, I believe, 2001. And his wife had read The New York Times article. And then had called me and said, We ate at the racetrack and my husband died of CJD."Whether the number of CJD cases in New Jersey is mere coincidence or a true cluster remains to be seen. But with an incubation period that can last for years, Skarbek fears the last remaining traces of the Garden State Park Racetrack could be the tip of a mad cow iceberg.Skarbek has asked for an official investigation because of harassment she experienced, which she believes is related to her mad cow research.Sinceshot this story earlier this month, her list of cases she's convinced are CJD has grown by three people to a total of 15 and the state of New Jersey is planning a May press conference to discuss their study results.And in an important sidebar, the United State's No.1 beef importer, Japan, has banned U.S. beef imports since December's mad cow scare. So far, the USDA has refused to let meatpackers test their own cows in an effort that the packers hoped would get the ban lifted. | Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) vet, had been blowing the whistle on the USDA beef inspection practices before the latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed. Dr. Friedlander said that inspectors are allowed only 15 seconds of inspection and that unhygienic practices are common in the meat industry; practices such as cow carcasses with abscesses being hosed off, wrapped up and shipped to the consumer. Friedlander also claims that some supervisors were more concerned about falsifying inspection documents than protecting consumers and that on June 9, 2005, a cow in Texas with BSE symptoms was sent straight to the rendering plant without testing. There have also been allegations of a "don't ask,don't tell" approach being applied by US health officials when confronted with human deaths which may be caused by eating BSE contaminated meat. The Organic Consumers Association reported last year that hundreds of people are dying in the US each year from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD or vCJD) (the human counterpart of BSE) and the deaths are being written off as "unexplainable". The disease causes holes in the brains of the victims. A New Jersey lawyer, Janet Skarbek is being called "the next Erin Brockovich" for her research into the "Cherry Hill cluster" of 12 deaths she said were caused by people eating BSE infected meat; "I'm up to 12 confirmed cases of CJD, where it says CJD on their death certificates and where they all ate at the same racetrack," Skarbek said. New Jersey state officials have said that the 12 deaths did not result from the human form of mad cow disease, but rather from sporadic CJD; but Skarbek says the government's numbers don't add up. "If you just take five of the victims from New Jersey that ate at the track most recently, two were out of 100 administrative employees and three were out of 1,000 season-pass holders. So out of that population of 1,100 people, we should see one case of CJD every 909 years." |
Black Friday proposal How to shop smart on Black Friday Stores see long lines on Black Friday Share your Black Friday experience NEW YORK (AP) - A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday after an "out of control" throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground, police said. At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening. Nassau police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion. "This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos." Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help the man were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Witnesses said that even as the worker lay on the ground, shoppers streamed into the store, stepping over him. Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages." "When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,"' she said. "They kept shopping." The 34-year-old man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined, and the man's name was not released. A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, where she and the baby were reported to be OK, said police Sgt. Anthony Repalone. At least three other people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. Police said criminal charges were possible in the case, but Fleming said it would be difficult to identify individual shoppers. Authorities were reviewing surveillance video. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. "The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," said Dan Fogleman, a company spokesman. "At this point, facts are still being assembled and we are working closely with the Nassau County Police as they investigate what occurred." Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day when stores broke into profitability for the full year. (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) ||||| Authorities released few details about the mayhem that broke out at the Toys "R" Us store around 11:30 a.m. Friday, sending scared shoppers fleeing. Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the fight was not over a toy and that handguns were found by the men's bodies. He refused to say whether the shooting was gang-related. The victims were identified as Alejandro Moreno, 39, of Desert Hot Springs, and Juan Meza, 28, of Cathedral City. No one else was hurt. Witnesses Scott and Joan Barrick said they were checking out of the store when the brawl began between two women, each with a man. The women were near the checkout area, but the Barricks did not think the women had purchases. One woman suddenly started punching the other woman, who fought back as blood flowed from her nose, said Scott Barrick, 41. The man who was with the woman being punched pulled a gun halfway out of his pocket, then shoved it back in, he said. "He pulled his gun right next to me. I turned to look for my wife, and she was already hiding," Scott Barrick said. "I was scared," said Joan Barrick, 40. "I didn't want to die today. I really didn't want to die today, and I think that's what we were all thinking." The other man pulled a gun and pointed it at the first man but forgot to cock it, Scott Barrick said. The first man tried to run but was blocked by the line of people, then ran back toward the store's electronics section as the other man fired his gun, he said. The first man reached a dead-end in electronics, turned around and ran toward an exit, pulling his gun and firing back, Scott Barrick said. "He went up to the cash register, he went to put his hand on the thing and he just went phoomp," he said, indicating the man fell. He said he did not see what happened to the other man. Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other. "I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys "R" Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper." Ray Turner, 20, said he was two aisles away when two women began shouting and screaming at each other and he had a clear view of the fight until a crowd clustered around them. Both women had children, he said. "We thought it was just a fight and then someone yelled: `He's got a gun! He's got a gun!' You really couldn't see nothing because there was a crowd," Turner said. Rafael Gomez, 11, said he and his father had been in the store about 20 minutes before the shooting but were in a nearby Pizza Hut when they saw people pouring out of the store screaming. "We just saw them running and crying. I was kind of scared," Rafael said. "We got lucky." Toys "R" Us issued a statement expressing outrage over the violence. "We are working closely with local law enforcement officials to determine the specific details of what occurred," the statement said. "Our understanding is that this act seems to have been the result of a personal dispute between the individuals involved. Therefore, it would be inaccurate to associate the events of today with Black Friday." Palm Desert is a resort town about 120 miles east of Los Angeles. ||||| Associated Press - November 28, 2008 3:53 PM ET PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say two people have been killed inside a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, California. Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez says Palm Desert police got a call saying shots had been fired inside the store. He says two people are dead inside, but further details were not immediately available. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | At least two people have been shot and killed in Palm Desert, California, after a gunman opened fire inside a Toys "R" Us toy store. A spokesman for the Riverside County sheriff's office said shots were reported to have been fired inside the store, and that two people had been shot and killed. Witnesses say that a fight erupted between two men. It then got louder and louder, when one pulled out a gun and began to shoot. One man told the Associated Press that he thought the argument might have been due to a toy the men were fighting over. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., is traditionally known as the biggest shopping day in the country when many retailers have deep discounts and sales on many products. Shoppers generally wake up early and spend much of the day shopping. Earlier today, a worker was killed and at least three others were injured in a Black Friday door-buster sale stampede at a Wal-Mart in Long Island, New York. They had been knocked over and trampled by a crowd of other shoppers entering the store when it opened. |
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch) 'The secretary does not conduct diplomacy by deadline,' State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. The New York Times reported Thursday, citing American and European officials, that the United States had worked out a proposal with Britain, France and Germany - known as the E.U.-3 that would allow Iran to keep some nuclear activities but that any uranium enrichment work would be done in Russia. Ereli denied there was an 'U.S.-E.U. proposal' and said 'there won't be a U.S.-E.U. proposal to the Iranians. 'There is a diplomatic effort under way, led by the E.U.-3, to have negotiations with Iran that would lead to ensuring that Iran is not in a position to develop nuclear weapons,' he said. 'That is a diplomatic process that we support, that we discuss with the E.U.-3, that we share ideas and listened to their ideas about.' The report said the chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, would take the proposal to the Iranians. The report also said that during a meeting Tuesday, Rice set a two-week deadline for ElBaradei to reach an agreement with Teheran. ElBaradei heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and has led inspections into Iran's nuclear programme. The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear programme to develop weapons. Iran says it is purely for meeting energy needs. The IAEA's governing board meets in two weeks to again take up the Iranian nuclear issue after passing a resolution in September. Negotiations between Iran and the E.U.-3, have been stalled and the United States has stepped up pressure to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council. © dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur ||||| The suspect in the fatal shooting of eight people at day spas in and around Atlanta indicated he had issues with sexual addiction and the shootings may have not been motivated by racial hatred, law enforcement officials said. ||||| Diplomats say the United States and the European Union are ready to offer Iran a compromise deal that would permit the Tehran government to carry out one of the early stages of making nuclear fuel, but all actual uranium enrichment would take place in Russia. Enriched uranium can be used to generate energy or to make nuclear weapons. Iran says it wants to process its own nuclear fuel to produce electricity. But The United States and Europe accuse Tehran of seeking highly enriched weapons-grade material. Diplomats say moving the enrichment process to Russia would allow international oversight of the process. Iran has rejected international demands to renounce its right to enrichment, and restarted its conversion process earlier this year. The International Atomic Energy Agency ruled Tehran is not in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. The IAEA board meets later this month (November 24) to consider further action. Some information for this report provided by Reuters. ||||| Visiting secretary of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov (L) meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki (R) in Teheran on Saturday, 12 November 2005. The two discussed Iran's controversial nuclear programme. Ivanov is reportedly carrying a proposal - also endorsed by the European Union - that would allow Iran to carry out the uranium conversion process inside Iran but then send the UF6 to Russia for enrichment. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH 'The talks (with Russia) have been very fruitful but as far as I know, no new proposal was mentioned,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi told reporters in Teheran. The spokesman stressed regardless of any proposal uranium enrichment should be made inside Iran. There have been contradictory reactions in Teheran on the reported E.U.-endorsed proposal allowing Iran to carry out uranium conversion inside Iran but then sending the resulting uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas to Russia for enrichment Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Saturday in a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov in Teheran that no attention should be paid to reports of a Russian proposal. Yet the head of parliament's foreign policy commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, told ISNA news agency that Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki would present the proposal to the Iranian parliament on Sunday. Both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mottaki voiced Iran's willingness to cooperate with Russia on long-term nuclear projects without however directly referring to a specific Russian proposal. Meanwhile the Iranian parliament postponed Sunday evaluation of a draft bill on urging the government to limit inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). © dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur ||||| Infographic: The politics of climate change The positions of key countries and political blocs on climate change measures before the COP18 in Qatar. Gazans denied day in Israeli courts Israeli policy of denying Palestinians entry permits prevents Gaza citizens from seeking damages for abuses suffered. | Mohamed el-Baradei Mohamed el-Baradei, head of the U.N. watchdog group International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), may go directly to Tehran some time this week with a compromise plan to reduce the possibility that Iran may make use of its uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear arms. Under a compromise plan negotiated last week between the (consisting of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and the United States, a loose agreement was reached where the final stages of nuclear enrichment within Iran, uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, would be transferred to Russia. Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who heads the nuclear program in Iran, rejected the proposal on Saturday, insisting that the uranium enrichment program must be carried out in Iran. The rejection came after a meeting with Russian foreign minister of affairs . Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, , denied the meetings were to develop a nuclear program partnership with Russia that specifically relates to the new IAEA proposal. The IAEA board will meet on November 24, when they may decide to refer Iran for possible economic sanctions before the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has distanced the United States from the short deadline for Iran to conform to the new plan. A state department spokesman, Adam Ereli said on Thursday that, "The secretary does not conduct diplomacy by deadline." Enriched uranium can be used to generate energy or to make nuclear weapons, a capability Tehran claims is their right to pursue for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity. |
Toys R Us made official its liquidation on Thursday morning, filing documents with the bankruptcy court that will lead to the sale or closing of its roughly 800 U.S. stores. It ends a chapter started by Charles P. Lazarus, the son of a bicycle shop owner, the store's visionary, who wanted the "R" written backwards — an ode to childlike scrawl. "This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years," CEO Dave Brandon said in a statement. It is a blow to the toy industry, which has relied on the retailer for supplying row after row of toys and premium pricing, and who now must look to big box stores and Amazon. It is a black-eye for its its three owners, KKR, Bain Capital Partners and real estate investment trust Vornado Realty Trust, who took the retailer private in 2005 for $6.6 billion, leaving it with $4.9 billion in debt. That debt would become an anathema for the business, keeping it from making the investments it needed as the retail landscape rapidly transformed around it. The debt, of course, was what ultimately did the company in. Under its onerous weight and with little hope of refinancing it, Toys R Us hired restructuring advisers in 2017. The plan was to put together pre-packaged bankruptcy for after the holiday season in advance of upcoming payments due, sources tell CNBC. But when CNBC broke news that it may file, it caused a run on the bank. Vendors froze their shipments to Toys R Us, only accepting cash on delivery. In weeks, it was forced to file for bankruptcy before its crucial holiday season and without a plan to emerge. A miserable holiday season would be the nail in its coffin. U.S. holiday sales produced earnings that were $250 million below budget projections, according to court filings. It blamed the uncertainty surrounding its chapter 11, price-cutting rivals and weakened e-commerce business. The holiday season left it unable to ensure it would be able to continue to satisfy the terms of its bankruptcy loan. Meantime, a separate group of lenders had been pushing it toward liquidation. "The stark reality is that the debtors are projected to run out of cash in the U.S. in May 2018," the court filing read. The company may be able salvage 200 stores to operate under the Toys R Us brand in the U.S., in a deal the company has been shopping together with its Canadian business. The new entity would be operated out of Canada. It is in talks with several parties about the potential deals, including some of its lenders. Toys R Us also said Thursday it is pursuing a reorganization and a sale process for its businesses in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Its businesses in Australia, France, Poland, Portugal and Spain are considering their options, including a potential sale. ||||| CLOSE Toys R Us has gone into administration in the UK leaving 3,000 jobs at risk. The U.S. toy chain failed to find a buyer after struggling for months to compete with online retailers. Newslook In this Nov. 25, 2016, file photo, shoppers shop in a Toys“R”Us store on Black Friday in Miami. Toys“R”Us, the pioneering big box toy retailer, announced late on Sept. 18, 2017 it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while continuing with normal business operations. (Photo: Alan Diaz, AP) Toys R Us, the toy superstore chain that became a dream factory for kids nationwide, said in a U.S Bankruptcy Court filing early Thursday that it must liquidate, a move that will likely lead to the closure of all its stores and sale of remaining merchandise. The company's main lenders "have determined that the best way to maximize their recoveries is to liquidate the existing inventory in all...735 remaining U.S. stores and begin an orderly wind-down of the U.S. operations." Toys R Us had initially hoped to be able to keep 400 stores open, according to the court filing, but realized it didn’t have enough cash to preserve that many. “Projected cash burn” according to the motion, was $50 to $100 million a month, without even investing in any of the planned improvements to stores. “The stark reality is that the Debtors (Toys R Us) are projected to run out of cash in the U.S. in May 2018,” the motion states. The chain, based in Wayne, N.J., said it has enough money left to pay its 33,000 workers for "no fewer than 60 days." Toys R Us liquidation: Full coverage More: 5 ways Toys R Us impacted our childhood More: Toys R Us timeline: History of the nation's top toy chain More: Toys R Us tells workers it will liquidate and sell or close all stores More: Toys R Us: Does ‘Everything must go!’ always signal huge bargains? More: If Toys R Us goes away, where will shoppers go? More: Shoppers rush to Toys R Us stores, say they'll miss the chain It said in the filing that it still hoped that 200 stores in the U.S. could be preserved in combination with its Canadian stores. It said is seeking a buyer for the Canadian operation. The move came after Toys R Us told employees Wednesday that it is planning to sell or close all of its U.S. stores ahead of a court hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon. It filed for bankruptcy reorganization late last year, but poor holiday sales and continued heavy debt forced its latest move. "I am devastated that we have reached this point," CEO Dave Brandon told employees in a conference call, according to a tape of the call reviewed by The Record in Bergen County, N.J. Brandon said Toys R Us found itself "in serious default on our financing covenants" after a disastrous holiday season. For Christmas 2017, earnings were about half of what the company might expect in a normal year. The holiday results showed lenders that Toys R Us is "a company that consumes cash" for most of the year, and earns money only during the holidays. When the holiday period under-performed, investors became justifiably nervous, he said. While U.S. operations are "subject to likely liquidation," Brandon said the Canadian, Central Europe and Asian divisions would be sold. At the court hearing, "There is going to be an invitation sent around the world that all of these assets are available." If a buyer offers more than the liquidation value, there could be a sale. Reports that Toys R Us was heading for a complete liquidation of its U.S. operations have been circulating for the past two weeks, with major news outlets citing sources familiar with the negotiations to keep the retailer alive. In January, Toys R Us announced plans to close up to 182 of its U.S. stores, including 11 in New Jersey. It began going-out-of-business sales at those stores in February. Brandon said Toys R Us found itself "in serious default on our financing covenants" after a disastrous holiday season. For Christmas 2017, earnings were about half of what the company might expect in a normal year. The holiday results showed lenders that Toys R Us is "a company that consumes cash" for most of the year, and earns money only during the holidays. When the holiday period under-performed, investors became justifiably nervous, he said. While U.S. operations are "subject to likely liquidation," Brandon said the Canadian, Central Europe and Asian divisions would be sold. At the court hearing, "There is going to be an invitation sent around the world that all of these assets are available." If a buyer offers more than the liquidation value, there could be a sale. Toys R Us started as a children’s furniture store founded in 1948 by returning World War II vet Charles Lazarus. Taking advantage of the Baby Boom, Lazarus started opening toy superstores by 1957 as toy hits like Slinkys and Barbie dolls started hitting the market. The chain's superstore concept triumphed as other chains with smaller stores and less selection fell. Yet Toys R Us finally was facing a foe it couldn't conquer: discounters like Walmart and online shopping dominated by Amazon. The digital era left it with too many stores. Toys R Us shuttered dozens of stores as it attempted to deal with close to $5 billion in debt that resulted from a leveraged buyout in 2005 by private equity investors Bain Capital and KKR, and real estate trust Vornado. When the company filed for bankruptcy protection in September, CEO Dave Brandon promised the bankruptcy court, in his opening declaration, that “Toys R Us is here to stay.” Toy manufacturers and lenders who were owed money by Toys R Us, and landlords who owned store properties, backed nearly every request Toys R Us made as it attempted to reorganize. Toy makers said they needed the retailer to survive because it provided the best year-round showcase for all of their products, unlike retailers that only stock up on toys in November and December and shrink their toy aisles after the holidays. Toys R Us also attempted to turn itself into a top destination once again, creating play areas where kids could try out toys, and introducing augmented reality to make its products come alive on screens as well as shelves. But that wasn't enough to stop its slide. While it's been years since Toys R Us was considered the only game in town when it came to picking up a birthday gift or treat, the disappearance of the one-time icon is one that many shoppers are likely to feel. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2pbSRzg ||||| Toys ‘R’ Us Inc. told employees Wednesday the struggling big-box retailer will sell or close all its U.S. stores, a collapse that threatens up to 33,000 Americans jobs in the coming months. The 70-year-old chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, has more than 700 remaining U.S. locations, including Babies ‘R’ Us stores. It would be one of the biggest retail liquidations since The Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy in 2016 with 14,500 workers and closed more than 460 stores. ... | The company logo. This morning, United States-based toy retail giant filed for liquidation with . The company had about 735 stores in the country which may be closed as a result of the liquidation. The motion came after the US holidays, after which the company said its revenue fell short of expectations. Toys "R" Us was seeking cooperation with its business to leave 200 stores open, the court papers said. The company said it would be unable to realize an earlier goal to leave as many as 400 stores open. The papers filed in the court indicated that the United States holiday sales produced revenue US$250 million short of the expectations. In the report to the court, Toys "R" Us blamed in part its weakened e-commerce business. It wrote, "The stark reality is that the debtors are projected to run out of cash in the U.S. in May 2018." Toys "R" Us chief executive officer Dave Brandon said, "This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years." Toys "R" Us said it was preparing to sell its businesses in Asia and Central Europe, including , , and . In September 2017, Toys "R" Us filed for bankruptcy in the US and Canada, and a judge allowed a US$2 billion loan. , , and purchased Toys "R" Us for US$6.6 billion in 2005. According to , the company had US$4.9 billion in debt at that time, which made it difficult for the company to adapt to the changing market. |
Floodings occur every year in China but this year water levels are unusually high [EPA] Floodings occur every year in China but this year water levels are unusually high [EPA] Large stretches of the country's southeast have been hit especially hard, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on Saturday. At least 155 people have died in seasonal flooding in China that has also forced more than one million to flee, government officials say. About 140,000 homes collapsing, many of them in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, and more than 1.3 million people have been moved to temporary shelter. Direct economic losses total $6.5bn (24bn yuan), the office said in a statement. It said the amount was up 370 per cent over the previous year's figure. Severe flooding occurs every year during China's June-August rain season, triggering landslides and resulting in hundreds of deaths. But this month, water levels in some areas have reached their highest in more than a decade. Virtually all of the country's major rivers are swollen, while water levels in lakes along the Yangtze river are higher than in 1998, when flooding killed about 4,000 people. ||||| 1.3 million flee as China flooding kills 155 BEIJING — Unusually heavy seasonal flooding in China has killed at least 155 people and forced more than 1 million to flee as water levels in some areas reached at their highest in more than a decade, the government reported Saturday. Direct economic losses total 24 billion yuan ($6.5 billion), with large swaths of the country's southeast hit especially hard, according to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. Virtually all of the country's major rivers were swollen, while water levels in lakes along the mighty Yangtze River were higher than in 1998, when catastrophic flooding killed about 4,000 people. The office said 140,000 houses had collapsed and more than 1.3 million people had been moved to temporary shelter. Overall losses were about four times what they were last year, it said. Heavy rain has been falling since April, with 13 torrential storms on record already this season. Flooding strikes along the Yangtze almost every summer, although authorities had claimed that construction of the massive Three Gorges Dam along the river's upper reaches would help modulate water levels and prevent major losses. The office did not say what if any role the dam had played in controlling flood waters, although it said officials responsible for anti-flooding measures had been ordered to monitor and adjust levels wherever possible. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | The Chinese government has said that severe seasonal flooding in the country has displaced over a million people and killed at least 155. According to the Office of Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the southeastern parts of China were hit the worst. 1.3 million people were forced to temporary shelters after 140,000 homes collapsed, mostly in the provinces of and . The office reports that direct economic losses from the disaster has reached 24 billion , or about US$6.5 billion, and that the figure is 370% higher than the damage caused by last year's seasonal rains. The rainy season in eastern China is in June through August; flooding is frequent, and causes mudslides and deaths. This year, however, rainfall totals appear to be the highest they have been in over ten years. |
GM bankruptcy becomes nearly certain as offer to bondholders fails The automaker voids the tender offer after a majority of its bondholders refused to swap their debt for equity in the company. The Obama administration's deadline for GM to restructure is Monday. The automaker, under pressure from the federal government, has repeatedly said that it would be forced to file a Chapter 11 petition if it could not slash its debts. GM last month offered to swap 225 shares for every $1,000 in bonds, a deal many bondholders publicly criticized from the outset. Under the plan, bondholders would get 10% equity in a restructured GM in exchange for at least $24 billion in debt, a much less generous deal than that offered to the government and the United Auto Workers union in the restructuring process. The bond-exchange failed to attract the necessary approval from bondholders before the offer ended at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, GM said. "The principal amount of notes tendered was substantially less than the amount required by GM to satisfy the debt reduction requirement," the automaker said in a statement.As a result, the automaker said it would void the tender offer completely and would not execute any of the swaps. It did not specify how many bondholders had accepted the offer.Later today, roughly 60,000 members of the United Auto Workers union who are employed by GM will begin voting on a new contract with the automaker. The vote will conclude Thursday evening.If approved, it would clear the way for the federal government to receive a majority stake -- as much as 70% equity -- in exchange for the $19.4 billion it already has lent to GM and probably tens of billions of dollars more in financing to get the company through bankruptcy.The UAW would get a 17.5% stake in the company, plus warrants for an additional 2.5%, in exchange for forgiving more than half of GM's $20-billion cash obligation to a retiree healthcare trust fund run by the union.Bondholders would get about 10%, with the Canadian government, which has said it would lend GM some money through the bankruptcy process, receiving a smaller, as yet undetermined stake in the reformed company.The exact percentages were still in flux, said a source familiar with the government's negotiations with GM and its stakeholders.The Obama administration's deadline for GM to restructure is Monday, and the source said a bankruptcy filing was looking increasingly likely.The Treasury Department is expected to be GM's primary backer in a bankruptcy, a process that could require as much as $50 billion in additional loans, according to reports. That could place GM among the largest recipients of government bailout funding to date.When Chrysler filed for bankruptcy last month, it did so at the urging of the government, which has to date lent it $7.8 billion. It may emerge from bankruptcy protection as early as next week.A GM filing could come before the end of the week and as late as Monday, though it is not expected to occur until after the UAW concludes the vote on a new contract.In addition to reducing GM's costs to fund the retiree healthcare, the agreement allows for a new buyout offer to GM's hourly workers and significant reductions in vacation pay and other workplace benefits. In exchange, GM would take back operations of five plants owned by bankrupt parts supplier Delphi and would commit to producing small cars in at least one idled factory.If that contract passes, as is widely expected, it will remove a major hurdle to restructuring and could smooth what would otherwise be a very complicated, drawn-out bankruptcy process.GM executives have said that spending more than one or two months in bankruptcy court could have disastrous effects on the company's sales and relationships with suppliers and other vendors.GM has hundreds of subsidiary units and it remains unclear which would also enter bankruptcy. When Chrysler filed Chapter 11 last month, its Canadian unit, for example, did not.Today, GM moved to consolidate its European operations, including Vauxhall and Opel, under its Adam Opel unit in Germany. That would simplify the ongoing sale of those divisions and could also serve to protect them from a bankruptcy filing by GM.Opel has attracted three serious bidders -- Canadian supplier Magna, Italian automaker Fiat, and Brussels buyout firm RHJ International. A decision on a preferred purchaser by the German government, which will lend Opel money to restructure under new ownership, is expected this week. ||||| Opel, a European GM subsidiary, is also under the threat of bankruptcy [AFP] Opel, a European GM subsidiary, is also under the threat of bankruptcy [AFP] The struggling firm has until June 1 to complete a government-ordered restructuring that includes debt reduction, labour cost cuts and plant closures. General Motors, the US car manufacturer, is facing bankruptcy after creditors rejected a proposal to swap $27bn in debt for 10 per cent of the company's stock. The Obama administration has said it would only provide more funds if 90 per cent of the bondholders, as well as unionised workers, agreed to concessions that substantially reduced GM's costs. General Motors said on Wednesday that "substantially less" than the 90 per cent threshold had been reached and that none of the exchange offers would be accepted. The US automobile industry has been hit hard by a slump in sales amid a US recession and a global financial crisis and Chrysler, another of the so-called big three Detroit-based vehicle manufacturers, has already entered bankruptcy proceedings. The company told Al Jazeera on Wednesday it now has $185bn in liabilities it will seek to shed through bankruptcy. The US government is likely to become the majority shareholder in the company after it enters bankruptcy, reports said. The Canadian government and the United Auto Workers union are also set to own smaller shares in the firm, according to reports. Workers hit hard John Pottow, a professor at the University of Michigan who specialises in bankruptcy, said GM evading bankruptcy now is almost impossible. "They said no. That's it. They tried. That's why they're going to have to file for bankruptcy," he said. Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds in Washington said that current and former workers were likely to bear the brunt of the costs of GM restructuring as medical benefits were cut and that sales were likely to be hit further by bankruptcy proceedings. Tens of thousands of workers have already been sacked by GM in recent months. Fears are also growing over the future of GM's European subsidiaries, which include Opel and Vauxhall, which also employ of tens of thousands of staff. GM's board has approved a plan to place Opel and Vauxhall under a separate holding company in an attempt to keep them safe from bankruptcy while it assesses bids for the firm. | The United States automobile manufacturing firm General Motors announced on Wednesday that most of its bondholders did not exchange GM's US$27 billion debt for a ten percent share in the company's stock. 1938 GMC historical concept automobile Buick Y-Job The automaker, in financial straits, has a June 1 deadline to finish a government plan that includes plant closures and other debt reduction measures. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said it would not give more financial aid to the firm unless 90% of GM's bondholders would agree on compromises that would significantly reduce the firm's costs. "The principal amount of notes tendered was substantially less than the amount required by GM to satisfy the debt reduction requirement," GM said in a statement. "They said no. That's it. They tried. That's why they're going to have to file for bankruptcy," said a university professor from the University of Michigan who specializes in bankruptcy. |
Will the Supreme Court outlaw this method of execution? The execution was suspended pending a decision from the US Supreme Court on the constitutionality of lethal injections. William Castillo, 34, was sentenced to death as punishment for the murder of an 86-year-old woman in 1995. If the Supreme Court decides against lethal injections then the method could be outlawed throughout the country. Mr Castillo was found guilty in 1996 of the murder of Isabel Brendt, a retired Las Vegas teacher. He burgled Ms Brendt's house before beating her to death with a tyre lever and setting fire to her house. Cruel and unusual? His appeal is being mounted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a pressure group opposed to lethal injections. The ACLU say that lethal injections contravene the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which bars "cruel and unusual punishment". LETHAL INJECTIONS Sodium pentothal - anaesthetic Pancuronium bromide - paralyses entire muscle system Potassium chloride - stops the heart Lethal injection has been used in all but one of 41 executions carried out in the US in 2007 End for lethal injection? During an execution by lethal injection, prisoners are given three drugs: firstly a sedative, then a drug to paralyse all muscles except the heart, and finally a drug to stop the heart and kill the prisoner. Campaigners argue that the use of the sedative makes it impossible to determine whether or not the prisoner is suffering pain. A US Supreme Court ruling on September 25 prompted a number of states to postpone scheduled lethal injections until the Court decides on a test case, which is being brought by two death row inmates from Kentucky. The Kentucky case is expected to be heard early in 2008. ||||| CARSON CITY, Nevada (AP) -- A killer's execution was halted 90 minutes before he was set to die amid arguments from death penalty opponents that the state should wait until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal injections. William Castillo is on Nevada's death row for beating an elderly woman to death with a tire iron. The Nevada Supreme Court issued the last-minute stay Monday for William Castillo, who beat Isabelle Berndt, 86, to death with a tire iron. Castillo, 34, had declined to file appeals of his own and prison officials have said he was ready to die. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada appealed to halt any executions in the state. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed September 25 to review the method of lethal injection used by most states. The high court will hear a challenge early next year from two inmates in Kentucky who claim that lethal injection as practiced by that state amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Executions in at least 10 states have been halted as a result of the litigation over lethal injections. The injections, devised as a humane alternative to electrocution and the gas chamber, have come under attack in recent years amid reports that the three-drug cocktail doesn't always work as quickly as intended and that inmates are subjected to excruciating pain. Nevada prison officials planned to execute Castillo with double doses of three drugs -- amounts so strong that the first injection likely would have caused him to immediately become unconscious. The Nevada high court's ruling came more than two hours after Castillo was served his final meal. The inmate had been slightly sedated as prison staffers prepared to take him to the death chamber. Nevada Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said Castillo was disappointed when he told him about the stay. "He asked if it would be possible to get a little more medication to calm him down and take the edge off," the director said. Two of Berndt's family members had planned to witness the execution, and Skolnik said, "They were hoping for some kind of closure today which they did not get." Lee Rowland, one of the ACLU lawyers who argued the case Monday before the Supreme Court, welcomed the decision, which was signed by all seven justices. "Clearly, this was the right thing to do, legally and morally," she said. "We are heartened that this decision will bring Nevada in line with the rest of the country, which has decided to await guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court." E-mail to a friend Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. All About Capital Punishment • U.S. Supreme Court | The execution of a prisoner in Nevada was suspended just 90 minutes before the execution was to be carried out due to arguments from civil rights activists who believe that the state should wait until the U.S. Supreme Court determines the constitutionality of death bylethal injection. 34-year-old William Castillo was sentenced to death after beating 86-year-old Isabel Brendt to death in 1995. He was convicted of murdering the retired Las Vegas schoolteacher in 1996. Mr. Castillo was due to be executed at 8:30 p.m. PDT (0330 GMT) but was granted a reprieve after an 11th hour appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union to the Nevada Supreme Court. Castillo chose not to file any appeals on his own behalf and prison officials say that he was prepared for death. The ACLU of Nevada had appealed to halt all executions in the state. Lethal injection history and laws in the U.S. '''''Color key:''''' An overwhelming legal uproar over death by lethal injection has compelled the U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of a method of execution for the first time since 1878, while also halting capital punishment throughout the country. Almost all of the 38 states which employ the death penalty rely on the same three-drug combination to execute inmates, including Nevada. In California, opposition to lethal injection has halted executions for nearly two years. The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to determine the constitutionality of Kentucky's lethal injection procedure has ensured a near-abeyance on executions until the justices make their ruling next year. Howard Skolnik, the Nevada Corrections Director, said Castillo was disappointed when he told him about the delay. "He asked if it would be possible to get a little more medication to calm him down and take the edge off," the director said. When speaking of the two members of Brendt's family hoping to witness the execution, Skolnik said "They were hoping for some kind of closure today which they did not get." One of the ACLU lawyers who pleaded the case Monday in front of the Supreme Court supported the decision, which had been signed by all seven justices. "Clearly, this was the right thing to do, legally and morally," Lee Rowland said. She added "...We are heartened that this decision will bring Nevada in line with the rest of the country, which has decided to await guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court." |
1.22 million Singaporeans vote today in Singapore's 10th General Election ADVERTISEMENT Polling stations in the various contested wards are open till 8pm. The Elections Department said that as at 5pm, 1,017,445 voters had cast their votes. This was 83.20 percent of the 1,222,884 registered electors in all contested electoral divisions. The polls follow nine days of intense campaigning, which saw the People's Action Party and the three opposition parties - the Workers' Party, the Singapore Democratic Alliance and the Singapore Democratic Party - out in full force conducting nightly rallies and morning walkabouts to garner support from voters. All nine Single Member Constituencies are being contested, along with seven Group Representation Constituencies, which are big electoral districts being represented by five or six members of Parliament. The election is Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's first after assuming the post in August 2004. Election campaigning ended on Friday night with the various political parties rounding up their efforts to spread their message to the voters. When nominations closed at noon on April 27, the People's Action Party was uncontested in 37 seats. The opposition is contesting a total of 47 seats, more than half the seats in the 84-seat Parliament. This means the PAP is six seats shy of a simple majority needed to form the government, and marks the first time since 1988 that the PAP was not returned to power on Nomination Day. The counting of votes will begin immediately after polls close and the first results are expected after 10 pm. All results will be announced from one centralised location, the Elections Department at Prinsep Street. Supporters of the respective political parties have been allotted separate venues to gather with their candidates. But even before polling stations open here, because of the time difference, Singaporeans in London, Washington and San Francisco have already started voting. They are among 553 overseas Singaporeans who have registered to vote in this general election, the first time overseas voting will be carried out at eight centres. The other centres are in Canberra, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, where voting will be held today. Viewers can catch all the results "live" on Channel NewsAsia in a special election-night programme. - CNA /dt/ls/ct More from > Singapore News from Channel NewsAsia More from > Singapore More from > General Election 2006 - Yahoo! Singapore News ||||| Lee Hsien Loong waves to supporters during a rally in the financial district of Singapore, May 3, 2006 The Singapore elections Saturday are being seen as the first test of the popularity of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who took up the post in 2004. Although his ruling People's Action Party is virtually assured of a majority of seats in parliament, even a small improvement by the tiny opposition could prove an embarrassment for Mr. Lee. Analysts here say Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wants a crushing victory in Saturday's election, one that will demolish the opposition and confirm the 54-year-old's mandate as Singapore's leader. His party has been the dominant force since 1959, when Singapore, then a British colony, was first granted self-rule, and Mr. Lee's father, Lee Kuan Yew, was made prime minister. The party's worst showing came in 1991, when it lost four seats and gained only 61 percent of the vote. Analysts say that for the younger Mr. Lee to claim a mandate, the PAP must do no worse than that: it must win at least 80 of the 84 available seats. The tiny opposition, which currently holds two seats, is fielding 47 candidates this time. Sinapan Samydorai is president of Singapore's Think Centre, which promotes democratic freedom. He says the opposition has also broken with past practice by fielding strong candidates in this race, most of them professionals. "It's very interesting to look that the candidates they put up [they] are very credible and very knowledgeable. It goes along, it matches the PAP candidates," he said. No one predicts a PAP loss, because the ruling party delivers what most people here want - economic growth, jobs, good education, and health care. But this wealthy city-state's 4.4 million people pay a price for enjoying one of the world's highest standards of living. Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are limited, and the government tightly controls the nation's news media. PAP support comes from older voters, who watched Singapore change from a backwater into an economic powerhouse. They are used to being taken care of by the government, which plays a pervasive role in their lives. Prime Minister Lee has played on this dependence during his campaign, reminding the people the PAP is there to take care of their needs. "So you need to take temp? Somebody's there. You need to check the drains? Somebody is there. Once in a while, I also go and check, just to make sure," he said. " hspace=2 src="/english/images/ap_singapore_gomez_4may06_eng_195.jpg" width=210 vspace=2 border=0> Opposition party members from The Workers Party, James Gomez, left, and Sylvia Lim, center, cheer with their supporters, April 27, 2006 Candidate James Gomez of the opposition Workers Party calls the PAP short on delivery but long on rhetoric. "It should not be the politics of arrogance, claiming 'I know everything.' Let's ignore them. We move on to the real issues like the cost of living, jobs, the elderly in Singapore, health care costs, education, and our future," he said. Lee Kuan Yew, the prime minister's 82-year-old father, has long since turned over official leadership of the party, but he still holds the specially created post of Minister Mentor. He was unopposed for the parliamentary seat in his long-time district. | The national flag of Singapore. Singapore polling stations opened this morning at 8 a.m. SGT (0000 UTC) and are expected to run until 8 p.m. SGT (1200 UTC) tonight. Election results are expected from as early as 10 p.m. SGT (1400 UTC). For the first time in 18 years, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) has not won a walkover victory on Nomination Day on 26th April after opposition parties fielded candidates for 47 of the 84 seats. However, political analysts believe that the PAP will win a majority victory again. This is the first parliamentary election for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after he took over from the former Prime Minister and current Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong stepped down in August 2004 in a planned leadership transition. Lee, 54, is the son of the Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was the Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. As election surveys and exit polls are banned in Singapore, it is difficult to determine how the political outcome might be. However, in the previous parliamentary elections in 2001, the PAP won 82 of 84 seats with 55 walkovers. The 2 remaining seats went to Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Low Thia Khiang of the Workers' Party (WP). A win of less than 80 of the 84 seats could prove an embarrassment for PM Lee. The last nine days saw intense campaigning from the incumbent PAP, the SDA, the WP and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Several thousands of people attended the opposition rallies. Debates about the widening income gap, rising medical costs, job cuts, and calls for a less authoritarian political system dominated the campaigning. |
LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone traded personal attacks on Wednesday as they made a final push for votes on the last day of campaigning in the London mayoral race. London Mayor Ken Livingstone walks out of Ken's Cafe in West Ham while canvasing for votes, April 30, 2008. REUTERS/Stephen Hird The Conservative hopeful sent half a million emails to Londoners accusing Livingstone of being “tired, out-of-date and beset by allegations of sleaze”. The Labour mayor posted a million postcards with the message “Don’t Vote for a Joke” and predicted voters would decide at the last minute that they couldn’t risk electing Johnson. The campaign has grown increasingly bitter in the run-up to polling day on Thursday. The main candidates have clashed over crime, the congestion charge and public transport. The winner will oversee the biggest investment in transport infrastructure in decades and will help prepare the capital for the Olympic Games in 2012. Most polls put Johnson ahead, although Livingstone’s camp hotly contests the way they were conducted. “The election is not a joke, it will affect the day to day life of every Londoner,” Livingstone’s campaign team said. “The momentum has moved decisively in Ken’s direction.” In an interview, the mayor predicted that his rival would suffer from “hovering pencil syndrome”, where voters decide at the last moment not to take a risk on a change at City Hall. “Although people may be toying with the idea of voting for Boris, when it comes to it they will find they just can’t do it,” he told Wednesday’s Evening Standard newspaper. Livingstone’s camp has repeatedly accused Johnson of not being a serious candidate. They have played on his popular image as a floppy-haired joker best known by many as the sometime host of “Have I Got News for You” and as a former newspaper columnist responsible for a string of gaffes. Johnson has hit back by accusing Livingstone of cronyism and a lack of fresh ideas after eight years in office. The mayor’s advisor Lee Jasper resigned in March over allegations of misuse of public funds. In a statement, Johnson said: “Tomorrow you have a choice: between new policies and fresh energy from a new mayor in City Hall, or more of the same from a tired, out-of-date administration that is beset by allegations of sleaze.” Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick appealed to undecided voters to ignore the top two candidates and vote for him. “I am fed up with career politicians and their broken promises -- and even if asked, I will not work for either Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson,” he said. Polling stations open between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Thursday, counting begins at 9 a.m. on Friday and the result will be announced about 12 hours later. * For a full list of candidates and the latest news, reaction and blogs from the mayoral race, visit: here ||||| The mayor said it was not an election for Have I Got News For You's host London Mayor Ken Livingstone has described Boris Johnson as a "joke" on the last day of campaigning before the mayoral elections. The mayor said his Tory rival was managed by political advisers and voters did not know what he stood for. Mr Johnson said the mayor was "out of date" and that his administration "was beset by allegations of sleaze". The Lib Dem's Brian Paddick said he will not take part in "Punch and Judy politics". The three main candidates have been criss-crossing London, ahead of polling day on Thursday. Mr Johnson said he was optimistic about London's future Mr Johnson has been speaking to commuters at Waterloo station, Mr Livingstone has been meeting people in east London and Mr Paddick has been speaking to elderly people in south London. Unveiling a campaign poster in West Ham, Mr Livingstone warned voters not to "risk" London by voting for Mr Johnson. The billboard ad, which will also be printed on postcards and sent to one million Londoners, reads: "Don't vote for a joke. Vote for London." Mr Livingstone said: "It's not an election for the host of Have I Got News For You or a celebrity mayor. Brian Paddick is listening to London's communities "It's about who is best placed to run an £11bn budget every year." Mr Johnson has emailed 500,000 Londoners to encourage them to vote for him. He said: "Tomorrow you have a choice between new policies and fresh energy from a new mayor in City Hall or more of the same from a tired, out-of-date administration that is beset by allegations of sleaze. "I am optimistic about London's future and believe we can make London a greater place to live in." Mr Paddick said: "We are talking to, and listening to, different communities right across London and we will be working for them. "I am not getting involved in Ken and Boris's Punch and Judy politics." E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? | Ken Livingstone in January 2008 Boris Johnson in 2006 On the final day of campaigning before the vote in the London mayoral election, incumbent Ken Livingstone attacked main rival Boris Johnson as "a joke". He warned Londoners that they were not voting in a "Celebrity Mayor" contest. Livingstone unveiled a campaign poster in West Ham that will also be printed on postcards and sent to one million Londoners. It reads: "Don't vote for a joke. Vote for London." "It's not an election for the host of ''Have I Got News For You'' or a celebrity mayor. It's about who is best placed to run an £11bn budget every year," Mayor Livingstone said, referring to the panel game show, for which Boris Johnson has been a guest host. "Tomorrow you have a choice between new policies and fresh energy from a new mayor in City Hall or more of the same from a tired, out-of-date administration that is beset by allegations of sleaze," responded Johnson in a mass e-mail to over 500,000 voters. "I am optimistic about London's future and believe we can make London a greater place to live in." London will be voting for mayor tomorrow, May 1. Ken Livingstone is the candidate for The Labour Party and Boris Johnson is the candidate for the Conservative Party. There are a number of other candidates, but recent opinion polls have shown it to be a two-person race, with some polls predicting a victory for Livingstone and others Johnson. |
Nintendo Wii Sales Slow, But No Price Cut In Sight Posted on: Thursday, 9 April 2009, 10:10 CDT Sales of the Nintendo Wii video game console have dropped in Japan as the economic crisis continues to throttle the video game industry, the American Free Press reported. But despite weathering its toughest time yet in the competitive Japanese market, Nintendo said it does not plan to cut the Wii’s price. Nintendo Co. president Satoru Iwata said the Wii is in the unhealthiest condition since it hit the Japanese market. "The current condition in the Japanese market is not the one we want," he added. He said that since Nintendo is already the market leader, a price war with rivals was not the answer the company was looking for. Iwata said during a news conference: "A price cut in a difficult economy cannot really excite the market and drive up sales. As of now I really don't think that a price cut is a good option for us." However, he said he wasn't ruling out a price cut in the longer run, but said none were in the works in the immediate future. With sales of the Nintendo console dropping almost two-thirds from a year earlier, industry figures released this week showed that the rival Sony PlayStation 3 had outsold the Wii in Japan for the first time in 16 months. Publishing firm Enterbrain Inc said that Japanese sales of the PS3 surged 80 percent in the five weeks to March 29 from a year earlier to 146,948 consoles, while demand for the Wii plunged almost 63 percent to 99,335. The Wii had flown off the shelves after its launch in 2006 thanks to the popularity of a few games, Iwata said. But while demand is currently slowing, Nintendo has sold more than eight million Wii machines in Japan. Iwata noted that the speed with which people get tired of any new entertainment is faster in Japan than in overseas markets. Rather than dropping the price on the console, Nintendo is ushering in new games and software such as Wii Sports Resort—a sequel to the popular Wii Sports that will go on sale in Japan in June. The family-friendly Wii has enjoyed immense worldwide success with people who are not often interested in video games. Nintendo developed a cheaper, easy-to-use console that would appeal to a wider audience as opposed to the Sony PlayStation 3, which put the emphasis on chip power and ultra-realistic graphics. The Nintendo Wii has been very profitable for the company and has even set industry records with more than 10 million Wii machines sold in the United States in 2008. --- On the Net: Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports More News in this Category ||||| In a recent Finaicial Times article, it was noted that the Japanese sales of the Wii have been slowing a bit in recent weeks. In fact, the PS3 outsold the Wii during this period nearly three to two, with 146,948 units sold in the five weeks ending March 29 compared with 99,335 in sales for the Wii. "It is still the first few months of the year when sales are slow for the industry, so we are not particularly concerned," responded Nintendo to the news. The decrease in sales accounts for a two-thirds decrease from what the Wii had sold a year before. The increase in PS3 sales can be at least partially accounted for with the release of Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 on the system. Still, the Wii should not be discounted in the region. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse noted that production costs for the Wii have fallen 45 percent since its launch in 2006. He suggests this could give Nintendo leverage to cut the price in Japan and introduce the console to emerging markets. ||||| By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Sachi Izumi TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd said sales of its Wii game console have lost some steam in Japan, but it aims to boost demand again by launching a new version of its blockbuster "Wii Sports" software in June. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said he had no plan to cut hardware prices. "Wii (demand) is not vigorous at the moment in Japan," Iwata told reporters at a lunch meeting. "In fact, it is in the most unhealthy situation since its launch in Japan." "If our products are not much different from competitors', price cuts would generate significant fresh demand. But video games are just not that kind of product." The Wii far outsells Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 globally. But in Japan, sales of the PS3 outstripped those of the Wii in March for the first time in 16 months thanks to new PS3 titles from Sega Sammy and Capcom, game magazine publisher Enterbrain said this week. In a bid to put vigor back into Wii sales, Nintendo plans to launch "Wii Sports Resort" in June in its home market, followed by overseas release in July. Nintendo's earlier "Wii Sports" game helped drive its console sales. The game allows users to play baseball, tennis and other sports using a motion-sensing controller. Wii Sports Resort lets users throw a Frisbee to a virtual dog or duel one another with swords with the controller, which looks like a TV remote and enables gamers to direct on-screen play by swinging it like a racket or baseball bat. Strong sales of both the Wii and Nintendo's handheld DS player despite the global economic slowdown had led the company to expect a record 530 billion yen operating profit for the year that ended on March 31. That contrasts sharply with other major Japanese exporters such as Sony and Toyota Motor Corp, which are set to post billions of dollars of losses for the business year just ended amid slumping demand and a strengthening yen. Nintendo's shares closed down 2.6 percent at 28,000 yen, while the benchmark Nikkei average gained 3.7 percent. NEW DS DEBUT "The software is one of the key games Nintendo will launch this business year," Rakuten Securities analyst Yasuo Imanaka said. "I think it will definitely be software that can propel sales of hardware," he said. Nintendo first showed its Wii Sports Resort game to the media last July, along with "Wii Music," which lets players simulate more than 60 different instruments. Back then, it said it would launch the sports game in spring 2009. Iwata said the latest model of its DS handheld gear, the DSi, met brisk initial demand when it was launched in North America and Europe earlier this month, selling 300,000 units in each region in the first two days. Continued... | Wii with Wiimote Nintendo's widely popular game system the Wii was hit by a decrease in sales in Japan. Nintendo hopes to regain its sales by releasing a new version of its Wii Sports game in June. The current CEO of Nintendo said in a press conference they will not be slashing prices of their hardware. "If our products are not much different from competitors', price cuts would generate significant fresh demand. But video games are just not that kind of product." As of December 31, 2008 the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales. The Wii's competitor the PlayStation 3 for the first time exceeded sales in 16 months in Japan for the month of March. The Wii Sports Resort and other new games and software will show up in Japanese stores in June to renew interest in the Wii. |
Japan quake: Power line laid to Fukushima nuclear plant Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Engineers at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant have managed to lay a cable to reactor 2, the UN's nuclear watchdog reports. Restoring power should enable engineers to restart the pumps which send coolant over the reactor. Workers at Fukushima have been battling to prevent fuel in the reactors from overheating since Friday's magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami. The confirmed death toll from the disaster has risen above 5,600. More than 9,500 people are missing and tens of thousands of people are living in temporary shelters. Continue reading the main story Analysis For a while now it has appeared that delivering electrical power to Fukushima Daiichi power station offered the best hope of stabilising things. Provided that the station's electrical systems are intact and its pumps are still functional, it should become possible to pump water back into the fuel storage ponds in reactor buildings 3 and 4, and to improve the flow into the damaged reactors themselves. But it is also possible that the earthquake, tsunami, fires and explosions have knocked out some of this equipment. Provided power can be restored across the complex, it appears possible that Fukushima Daiichi could be back under control within a few days. US President Barack Obama has said he is confident the "strong, resilient" people of Japan will recover from the crisis and that the country will emerge stronger than before. The atomic crisis was triggered when the power supply to Fukushima was damaged by the natural disaster and back-up generators failed. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which runs the plant, has been attempting to connect it to the main grid via a 1-km (0.6-mile) electricity cable. Once power is restored, engineers should be able to re-activate the pumps which send coolant through the reactors and the pools where spent fuel rods are stored. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the cable had reached the site by 1730 local time (0830 GMT) on Thursday, and that engineers planned to reconnect power to the reactor once workers have finished spraying seawater over reactor 3. Tepco warned the process of reconnecting power could take up to 15 hours. Helicopters and water cannon have been dumping seawater over the Fukushima reactors, to try to prevent fuel rods melting. Video footage had suggested most of the water had been falling outside the target buildings, but a Tepco spokesman said it appeared the operation had had some success. "When we poured water, we monitored steam rising from the facility. By pouring water, we believe the water turned down the heat. We believe that there was a certain effect," he said. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Another spokesman said on Thursday that aerial observations of reactor 4 indicated it did contain some water. "We have not confirmed how much water was left inside but we have not had information that spent fuel rods are exposed," he said. Earlier, senior IAEA official Andrew Graham said the situation at Fukushima had not deteriorated, but could yet do so. He described the situation at "reasonably stable". The head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, is heading to Tokyo to be briefed by Japanese officials. Survivors' misery Japan has imposed a 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone around Fukushima and has urged people living up to 30km away to stay indoors. Some countries have advised their nationals in Japan to stay up to 50km away. Tens of thousands of people are still struggling with the after effects of last Friday's massive quake, which triggered a tsunami that swept away whole towns in minutes. In areas of the north-east badly hit by the tsunami, bitter winter weather has added to the misery of survivors, though more supplies are now reported to be reaching them. Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted rescuers as saying that the search for victims had expanded over a wider area as access had improved with the clearance of debris. The number of people now known to have died in the twin disaster stands at 5,692 with 9,506 people listed as missing. But Kyodo reports that the official toll is based on names registered with police, and that the true figure could be in the tens of thousands. About 380,000 people are currently still in temporary shelters, many sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums. Many foreign countries are evacuating their nationals from northeast Japan, or advising them to leave the country entirely. The crisis has also continued to affect the markets - the benchmark Nikkei index fell 3.6% in early Thursday trading in Tokyo, shortly after the yen briefly hit the highest level against the US dollar since World War II. To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed. Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions ||||| Tokyo Electric Power Co. engineers have laid a new power line to the stricken No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. The new line, measuring about one kilometer (0.6 miles), aims to restore power to the plant’s cooling systems, which were knocked out by the earthquake and tsunami March 11, a company official earlier told a press conference on NHK. Engineers plan to reconnect power after they finish spraying water to cool the Unit 3 reactor building, the IAEA said, citing Japanese authorities. Spraying temporarily stopped at 10:09 local time, the agency said on its website. To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at npearson7@bloomberg.net; Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net ||||| Choppers, trucks douse stricken nuke plant By Hayden Cooper, staff Updated Japan is making a last-ditch attempt to cool stricken reactors at its Fukushima nuclear plant, but efforts so far appear to have had little effect. Special military fire trucks unleashed jets of water on a damaged reactor at the quake-hit plant on Thursday, after police were earlier forced to withdraw their own water cannon from the scene due to high levels of radiation. While police must be outside to use their vehicle, the military vehicles are built to allow personnel to remain inside. As well as water-spraying trucks, four twin-rotor Chinook helicopters from the Japan Self-Defence Forces flew water bombing missions over the plant, emptying tonnes of water onto reactors which have been overheating since being damaged by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami. But there are serious doubts the water drops will have any major effect, with the amount of water each chopper drops a fraction of what is needed to fill the pool. The focus of the missions appeared to be the No.3 reactor but there have been reports that only two out of the four water drops actually hit their mark, and the missions appeared to have little impact on the radiation levels. Part of the reason why the water drops have not been that accurate is that they were not allowed to fly too low because of the radiation levels. Defence minister Toshimi Kitazawa said an additional 11 military vehicles would be deployed for efforts to help cool the reactors, while pumps supplied by the US armed forces were also being transferred. On Friday, water drops will start above the No.2 reactor, which has been letting off white smoke or steam. Tokyo has denied claims that the spent fuel rods in the No. 4 reactor are totally exposed, with cabinet spokesman Yukio Edano saying there is still water inside. The plant's operators are desperately trying to restore electricity supply so the cooling system can restart. "We cannot tell when, but we want to restore the power source as soon as possible," a spokesman for the plant's operators TEPCO told AFP. Japan's foreign ministry spokesman Hidenobu Sobashima says the government is making every possible effort to contain the damage. "We are not in a position to comment on whether the concern is unwarranted, but we understand the concern," he said. "The government is giving the advice which the government considers appropriate. We hope the international community monitors the situation in a calm manner, as the prime minister appealed to the residents and the people of Japan, to act calmly." As the fight for control of the reactors continued, Japan instructed local authorities to start screening food for radioactivity. Australians have been told to leave the capital and other areas affected by the ongoing crisis. The Department of Foreign Affairs has now widened its recommended exclusion zone for Australians around the Fukushima plant to 80 kilometres. Japanese authorities had ordered people within 30 kilometres of the plant to evacuate or stay indoors. This afternoon the Federal Government said the number of Australians unaccounted for in Japan had fallen to 20. Call for volunteers The Japanese government's nuclear safety agency has said the top priority should be pouring water into the fuel-rod pools at reactors three and four, which may be boiling and are not fully covered by roofs that would reduce radiation leaks. Employees of TEPCO and other industry firms have volunteered to join efforts to control the escalating crisis, local media said. TEPCO put out a call for about 20 volunteers to join the battle to bring the situation under control at the Fukushima No.1 plant, where last week's quake and tsunami knocked out the reactor cooling systems, Jiji Press reported. Offers came in from TEPCO employees and others, including a 59-year-old man with four decades of experience working at nuclear power stations for a regional power company who was due to retire in six months, the report said. Officials at TEPCO were not immediately available to confirm the reports. TEPCO was preparing to restore outside power lines from Tohoku Electric Power Co., which serves the region, and connect its damaged electric transmission system with unaffected lines. "At the moment, we are concentrating our efforts on this work," he said. "If the restoration work is completed, we will be able to activate various electric pumps and pour water into reactors and pools for spent nuclear fuel." The 9.0-magnitude quake, the biggest on record to strike Japan, knocked down electricity pylons which Tohoku had used to supply power to the TEPCO plant. Some 70 workers have been using pumps to pour seawater to cool reactors at the plant, according to media reports, using electricity from borrowed mobile generators. -ABC/wires First posted ||||| Japan crisis 'serious but stable' The situation at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant is “very serious,” but does not appear to be deteriorating, says a senior official of the UN atomic agency.As emergency workers frantically worked to regain control of the dangerously overheated nuclear complex, Graham Andrew told reporters in Vienna that “there had been no significant worsening” over the past 24 hours at the crippled plant.Andrew, a senior aide to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano, emphasised that the situation could change quickly, either improving or escalating into a wider catastrophe.“It hasn’t gotten worse, which is positive, But it is still possible that it could get worse,” he said. “We could say it’s reasonably stable at the moment compared to yesterday.”Andrew spoke shortly after Amano flew to Tokyo to assess efforts to fight the nuclear havoc unleashed by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan’s north-eastern coast.It was unclear what Amano hoped to accomplish during his one-day trip; he has said he plans to stay in Tokyo and meet government officials but he had no agenda or scheduled meetings before takeoff from Vienna international airport.“We don’t have a fixed schedule and don’t have all the information so we will be thinking on our feet,” Amano told reporters.Still, he suggested his trip was symbolically important as his home country wrestles with its worst nuclear crisis since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 66 years ago.“Japan is not alone, the international community is standing by Japan,” Amano declared. “We have lots of offers of assistance to Japan and I would like to convey this message to them.”In Japan, military helicopters dumped loads of sea water onto the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant as they tried to cool overheated uranium fuel that may be on the verge of spewing out more radiation. | A power line to the in Japan was completed Thursday, which will allow cooling systems at one of the facility's reactors. The new line, roughly one kilometer (0.6 miles) in length, connects the power grid to the power plant's second reactor. It was completed at about 1730 local time (0830 UTC) on Thursday, and will be energized once spraying of seawater over reactor three is complete. According to a spokesperson, once the power line is energized "we will be able to activate various electric pumps and pour water into reactors and pools for spent nuclear fuel," thus cooling temperatures within the reactor. The has said that the stricken power plant is currently stable, though there is still the chance of matters growing worse. An official at the agency said that "it's reasonably stable at the moment compared to yesterday." == Sources == * * * * |
Fires raging in Van Zandt, Rusk, Smith and Harrison Co. Posted: Sunday, September 4, 2011 2:53 PM EST Updated: Monday, September 5, 2011 12:07 AM EST Update: Evacuations are being ordered along Highway 3053 in Overton. Reports of a massive fire in the area. Evacuations are also being ordered for people along 3131 Lincoln Springs, Joe Wright Mtn Road, Rosie Wadie near Gladewater. (KYTX) -- CBS 19 is following multiple fires across East Texas fueled by continuing dry conditions and excessive wind Sunday afternoon. Several fire departments in Gregg and Harrison County are working a large grass fire on I-20 near the Big Oak Trailer Park. Traffic on the highway is shut down in both directions between Eastman Road and exit 601. Cars are backed up for several miles on both sides of the fire. The Tyler Fire Department is working on another brush fire near Tyler Pounds Field airport, just west of the intersection of Highway 64 and Skyway Boulevard. There's a power line down in that area which appears to have sparked the blaze. A large truck has also caught on fire. People in a nearby neighborhood called CBS 19 to say the fire is inching toward their homes. Fires are also burning on County Road 46, County Road 1130 and FM 2627 in Smith County. In Van Zandt County, another fire is threatening to engulf a power sub-station on Highway 16 near Van. We've learned a large pile of tires is at the center of that fire. Oncor is reporting nearly 4,200 customers without power. Swepco is reporting about 4,000. CBS 19 has crews spread out across East Texas this afternoon. We'll have more information as it becomes available. ||||| So far, no new evacuation orders have be put in place in East Texas, but the following evacuation orders are still in place. : Big Oak Park trailer park has been evacuated due to the fires in the area. Harrison County Fire Marshal Thomas Mock says he is hopeful that the fire is now about 60 percent contained. Several departments are still in the area battling the blaze. First Baptist church in Hallsville has opened up for evacuees. More Evacuations : Liberty City area, major fires threatening homes in a mile radius of Mount Pisgah, Fortson and Go Fourth Road. Everything in the area of Rosy Wady Road, Lincoln Springs Road, Old HWY 139 (Old Gladewater Road) and Tenneryville Road. ||||| UPDATE: At least 10 structures taken in Anderson Co fire Posted: Sunday, September 4, 2011 8:05 PM EST Updated: Monday, September 5, 2011 1:06 PM EST STAFF REPORT UPDATE: 11:52 am 9/5/11: According to the Texas Forest Service, the fire is on the west side of CR 404, south of FM 321, north of Davey Park and Loop 256. Officials say the blaze is just over 1000 acres, and is traveling southeast. A structure off of CR 404 is currently threatened, and a helicopter is dousing the flames nearby in an effort to protect the home/ Authorities shut down CR 404 around 10:30 Monday morning to thru traffic. The flames crossed the fire line Monday morning. At least 10 structures and 100 bales of hay have been claimed so far. No homes have been lost thus far today, and officials say this fire has caused no injuries. An Elmwood Volunteer firefighter was taken to the hospital Sunday for heat-related illness. As of 2 am Monday, officials say this fire is 20% contained. UPDATE: Officials have now told us that this fire started as the result of an earlier fire. The earlier fire was contained, then re-kindled. Crews also tell us this fire has burnt a few hundred acres, but believe it is now contained. Frankston and Cuney fire crews responded to this fire. ANDERSON COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - A fire is currently burning in Anderson County. Reports are coming in that the fire is located east of FM 19 near the city of Frankston. KLTV Crews are headed to the scene and we will have more information posted as it becomes available. Copyright 2011 KLTV. All rights reserved. | Fire authorities struggled to manage a vast string of wildfires stretching across the eastern part of Texas on Sunday. News sources report that prolonged dry conditions and excessive winds were the main factors in the blazes. Traffic along Interstate-20 near , Texas was backed up for several miles. Fire authorities fought a brush fire in , near airport; a large truck near this area was also ablaze. A fire threatened a power sub-station near the city of . Regional utilities companies reported Sunday that over 8,000 customers were without electricity. A church in opened to assist evacuees. Residences spanning several counties were evacuated by authorities for safety reasons. Multiple residences in north-central Anderson county were evacuated by fire officials about two hours after a large blaze there erupted. Authorities closed off a 9-mile perimeter of roadways surrounding this blaze. Many homes in the area were blanketed with a thick haze of visible smoke. One evacuee told ''Wikinews'', "I have homeowner's insurance. I got my dog, that matters a' lot to me." File:Anderson county wildfire.theora.ogv|A wildfire near the north-central part of Anderson county File:Anderson county fire authorities.ogv|Fire authorities evacuate residents in Anderson county == Sources == * * * |
Giroux OT goal lifts Flyers back into Final Nothing can shake Philadelphia's belief in itself in this Stanley Cup Final – not the weight of history, not the skill and opportunism of its opponent, nor its own mistakes.On Wednesday night, the Flyers overcame that deadly trifecta to somehow fashion a 4-3 overtime victory -- on the strength of Claude Giroux 's deflection goal 5:59 into OT -- against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 before a record crowd at the Wachovia Center.As an even greater testament to Philadelphia's resolve on this night, Giroux's goal came just 57 seconds after the Flyers thought they had won the game on a shot by Simon Gagne . Video replay, however, determined that the shot, which rang off the far goal post, never completely crossed the goal line.Philadelphia stepped onto the ice Wednesday knowing that only two teams had overcome a 0-2 start on the road in the Stanley Cup Final to eventually raise the trophy in victory. The Flyers also knew they were facing a Chicago team that had won seven consecutive road games.Yet none of that mattered as the Flyers still believed they would win, despite the long odds of history stacked against them."I just had a feeling we were going to win tonight," forward Daniel Briere said. "I remember driving to the rink earlier this afternoon and I just had this good feeling we're going to win; there was absolutely no way we were going to lose this game. It was just that feeling that we were going to do anything possible to get it done."The Flyers had to have everything possible -- and more -- to get the win that puts them back in a series they now trail 2-1 heading into Friday's Game 4 here (8 p.m. ET, Versus, CBC, RDS).In Wednesday's game, Philadelphia had to overcome the stigma of coughing up two leads -- on goals by defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Sopel -- and then allowing Chicago to score the go-ahead goal early in the third period on an egregious turnover that turned into the go-ahead goal by Patrick Kane on a breakaway at 2:50 of the third period.Philadelphia has now blown five leads in the first three games of this series.Kane's goal took the sails out of the record crowd at the Wachovia Center, which was filled to overflowing with 20,297 fans attempting to will the Flyers back into this series after back-to-back one-goal losses in Chicago. It was the biggest crowd not only in Wachovia Center history, but also the biggest crowd to watch an NHL game in the state of Pennsylvania.Come Thursday, though, at least three times that number of people will say they were part of the Bedlam on Broad Street as they pass along the incredible tale of a team that refuses to admit when enough should be enough.In fact, Philadelphia's response to the goal by Kane -- which would have broken a lesser team -- defines the supreme will of these Flyers, who beat Boston two rounds ago despite falling into an 0-3 series hole and then trailing 3-0 in Game 7 before winning 4-3. Ville Leino , a late-season addition, tied Game 3 just 20 seconds after Kane's goal. Briere had given Philadelphia its first lead with five minutes left in the first and Scott Hartnell scored midway through the second for a 2-1 lead. Both goals came on the power play."It was nice to come back right away after that (Kane goal) and score, because you think it's over," Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said.Driving hard to the net, Leino grabbed a fortunate rebound and slammed it past Antti Niemi , who had scrambled to stop a puck that had unexpectedly bounced off the skate of his own defenseman, Jordan Hendry "I don't think anyone was deflated at all," said Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger , who has become the emotional barometer of this team. "We needed to bounce back. There's going to be momentum swings through the course of the game, through the course of the series."There's lots of time left. I don't think anybody was panicking or deflated. I think it's a matter of just putting your head down and getting back to work."Philadelphia never stopped working after Kane's goal, just as the Flyers haven't stopped working all postseason.Before Giroux's winner, the Flyers outshot Chicago 16-5 -- including a 14-3 margin in the final 17 minutes of regulation. The dominated zone play for long stretches and were finally rewarded with the goal by Giroux, who deflected a point shot from Matt Carle past Niemi."I won the faceoff and Kimmo (Timonen) passed me in the middle and passed to Briere on the side, and Matt Carle joined the rush," said Giroux, who said he received a text Wednesday afternoon from a childhood friend predicting Giroux would score the game-winner in OT. "(Carle)'s a great player and he can see the ice pretty well. I was trying to get a stick on it and it trickled in."Giroux's goal gave Philadelphia its first playoff OT win in its past five tries, a string of futility dating all the way back to 1974.Suddenly, the building was jumping, the players were celebrating and the weight of both their past failures and the postseason's daunting history were forgotten -- for at least a few moments."It's been going on for a long time," Laviolette said of his team's undaunted responses to adversity. "Like I said this morning, 2-0 (down) for us is comfortable. We're OK with that. We know how to battle through it. We knew how important the game was tonight. Once we wake up tomorrow morning, we know we have to hold serve on home ice. I think the guys will be fine with that."On Friday, it will be Chicago's turn to respond to some adversity. Captain Jonathan Toews , who set up Kane's breakaway goal, insists his club will be ready."When you come into this game, the series is far from over," Toews said. "We couldn't look ahead to Game 4 or anything beyond tonight. It's tough to lose, especially in OT when you work as hard you did."We're not looking past any game right now. Regardless of what the score is in the series, we'll keep getting better and we'll get ready for the next one."Philadelphia set the tone early in this game that Chicago would need its best effort to win a third-straight game and that was best epitomized by the sequence on the first goal. Philadelphia refused to quit on a play that saw Chicago goalie Antti Niemi make two stellar saves. Yet Scott Hartnell willed himself to the second rebound, somehow shoveling it while falling down to an open Danny Briere , who slammed it home with 5:02 left in the first period. ||||| PHILADELPHIA(AP) When the Philadelphia Flyers drafted Claude Giroux four years ago, then-general manager Bob Clarke forgot his name at the podium. Everyone who roots for the orange and black will remember Giroux now. Giroux scored 5:59 into overtime to give the Flyers a 4-3 victory over Chicago in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals Wednesday night, cutting the Blackhawks' series lead to 2-1. Game 4 is Friday night in Philadelphia. Minutes after the Flyers thought they scored the winner only to have a video review uphold the on-ice call of no goal, Giroux redirected Matt Carle's pass past Antti Niemi to end the third straight one-goal game in the series. ``I was taking a nap, and my buddy texted me,'' Giroux said. ``He said, 'I have a feeling you're going to score the overtime winner tonight.' I texted back and said, 'You're crazy.' I'm going to call him now. It's obviously a big goal.'' Clarke, who led the Flyers to their only two championships in 1974-75, blanked on Giroux's name after the team chose him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2006 NHL entry draft. It was Clarke who scored Philadelphia's last overtime goal in the finals against Boston in Game 2 of the 1974 series. Giroux is making quite a name for himself with nine goals in the playoffs after tallying 16 in the regular season. If Giroux keeps this up and Philadelphia wins the Cup, he'll be revered by the Flyers' faithful the way Clarke, Bernie Parent, Reggie Leach and other heroes who played for the Broad Street Bullies in the 1970s were. ``I didn't really care,'' Giroux said about Clarke's blunder. ``I thought it was pretty funny.'' Looking to rally from a deficit for the second time in the playoffs, the Flyers had plenty of confidence despite losing the first two games in Chicago. They already came back from a 3-0 hole to beat the Boston Bruins in the semifinals. ``Like I said this morning, 2-0 for us is comfortable,'' coach Peter Laviolette said. ``We're OK with that. We know how to battle through it.'' The Blackhawks remained two wins shy of their first championship since 1961 after snapping a seven-game winning streak and a seven-game road winning streak. Moments before Giroux scored, Simon Gagne nearly ended it but the replay officials ruled the puck didn't cross the goal line. That made Philadelphia 1 for 2 on the video reviews. Earlier in the game, Scott Hartnell had one overturned by replay to spark the Flyers to their first Cup win since Game 6 of the 1987 finals against Edmonton. Danny Briere and Ville Leino also scored for the Flyers, helping them win a desperation game. Michael Leighton made 24 saves for the Flyers. Giroux's goal was the only shot in OT for the Flyers. Niemi stopped 28 shots in the third straight thriller in the series. Duncan Keith, Brent Sopel and Patrick Kane scored for Chicago. The Blackhawks had won 10 of 11 and swept the Western Conference finals against top-seeded San Jose to storm into the finals. They won two games at home without a point from Kane or Jonathan Toews. ``Right now it looks like they have the momentum in the series,'' Kane said. ``But if we take Game 4, then we put ourselves in a great position to go back and play in front of our home crowd and hopefully win it there.'' The Flyers went up 2-1 when Hartnell was credited with his fifth goal of the postseason following a video review in the second period. Chris Pronger took a slap shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off Hartnell and trickled past Niemi, but defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson poked it out of the net and play continued for another 1:42 even though the red light went on. Officials finally reviewed it after the next whistle and put the elapsed time back on the clock after declaring the goal. Sopel blasted a shot past Leighton from inside the point to make it 2-2. Briere got his 11th goal of the playoffs late in the first to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Briere flipped a shot into an open net off a backhand pass from a falling-down Hartnell on the power play. Niemi stopped Braydon Coburn's initial shot, but was out of position after Hartnell's acrobatic play. Keith scored on a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle to tie it at 2. His shot deflected off Flyers forward Jeff Carter's stick. The teams traded goals 20 seconds apart in the third to make it 3-3. Kane scored his eighth goal of the playoffs on a breakaway to give Chicago a 3-2 lead 2:50 into the third. But Leino knocked in a rebound for his sixth goal to tie it. Niemi withstood a flurry of shots in the third, stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced to send it to overtime. ``It's a tough way to lose, especially in OT when you work as hard as you did,'' Toews said. ``We had the lead in the third and they kind of came right back and took the momentum away.'' In the first Stanley Cup finals game at the Wachovia Center in 13 years, a boisterous sellout crowd of 20,297 - the largest ever to watch an NHL game in Pennsylvania - did everything it could to give Philadelphia the home-ice advantage. The orange-clad fans wore T-shirts featuring a photo of a singing Kate Smith and the words: ``Broad Street Believin''' The ``Let's Go Flyers!'' chants started more than 30 minutes before the puck dropped. The roars were deafening when Lauren Hart, the daughter of longtime former Flyers broadcaster Gene Hart, sang ``God Bless America,'' alternating lyrics with Smith, who was on a video image. Smith's rendition of the song has been a rallying anthem for the Flyers since the mid 1970s. NOTES: The Flyers are 8-1 at home this postseason. ... Chicago's 11 goals have been scored by 10 players. © 2010 STATS LLC ||||| NHL.com is the official web site of the National Hockey League. NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup, Center Ice name and logo, NHL Conference logos and NHL Winter Classic name are registered trademarks and Vintage Hockey word mark and logo, Live Every Shift, Hot Off the Ice, The Game Lives Where You Do, NHL Power Play, NHL Winter Classic logo, NHL Heritage Classic name and logo, NHL GameCenter Live, NHL Network, NHL Mobile name and logo, NHL Radio, NHL Awards name and logo, Hockey Fights Cancer, NHL All-Access Vancouver name and logo, NHL Ice Time, Ice Time Any Time and Ice Tracker are trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. © NHL 2010. All Rights Reserved. All NHL team jerseys customized with NHL players' names and numbers are officially licensed by the NHL and the NHLPA. The Zamboni word mark and configuration of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine are registered trademarks of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. © Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved. | A goal 5:59 into the overtime period of play lifted the to a 4–3 victory over the in Game 3 of the Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the eastern United States. The Flyers victory cuts the Blackhawks' series lead to 2–1. , seen here in 2007, scored the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 3 of the . Giroux's goal came on a redirection off 's pass, squeezing the through the right arm and leg of Blackhawks goalie . "I tried to get a stick on it, and it just trickled in," Giroux said. "Our line started playing well, so anytime your line's going you just play better I think. The whole team just showed up tonight, and we really wanted that win. "Desperation was the key word, I think. It's almost do or die." Like the first two games, this one was decided by a one-goal margin, but was not as loose as the 6–5 Game 1 or tight as the 2–1 Game 2. The Flyers hit first — converting on their first power play chance — when right-winger , who had been drifting deep in the offensive zone took a pass just in front of the net and put it past Niemi at the 14:58 mark of the first period. Leading up to the play, Blackhawk has been sent to the penalty box for slashing, breaking the stick of a Flyers player. and provided assists on the play. Chicago started the second period at a disadvantage after was sent off for roughing after a scuffle involving teammate and Flyer at the end of the first period. The Flyers could not take advantage as missed two great chances. The Blackhawks went right back down the ice and scored less than a minute after Byfuglien's penalty expired, with a Duncan Keith shot from midway into the offensive zone at the 2:49 mark. Kane and Hossa had assists on the play. A Dustin Byfuglien penalty for slashing at 9:31 led to a Flyers power play. In the power play, a shot sent the arena into a frenzy as both the goal light and the arena horn went off, but the game officials did not award the goal to the Flyers. After a further 1:26 of game time, play finally stopped after an icing call. After a video review, officials awarded Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell the goal. After a stoppage in play, John Madden won the puck and passed it back to , who shot a one-timer from the point into the far corner of the net to tie the game at the 17:52 mark of the second period. The third period began with a goal-scoring flurry. With less than three minutes gone in the period, Kane scored a breakaway goal for Chicago at the 2:50 mark. Just 20 seconds later, collected a rebound off goalkeeper Niemi's pad to tie the game. and collected assists on the Chicago goal, while Giroux collected the assist on Philadelphia's goal. The goals were the only two of the third period and the game went to overtime. At the 5:03 mark of the overtime period, a Flyers shot hit off the goal post and trickled down the line and before Niemi was able to secure the puck briefly. The arena staff blew the horn signaling a home goal before the puck was secured. A Flyers player managed to knock the puck into the back of the net, but upon video review, a no-goal was awarded with the game officials determining that the whistle signaling stoppage of play had been blown before the puck had been knocked loose. The respite for Chicago was brief as Giroux's goal came just 56 seconds later. Immediately after the game, Flyers captain Mike Richards told CBC Sports that the game-winning goal was a big relief to the team. "We came out and played hard," Richards said. "Both teams played extremely well and we were lucky to get the last goal." As for the goal that was called off in overtime, Richards said that the Flyers players did not really hear the whistle. Niemi and Flyers counterpart had 28 and 24 saves respectively. Both teams had three power-play opportunities, all six of which occurred in the first two periods of play. Philadelphia was two for three in those chances while Chicago did not convert any. Chicago and Philadelphia continue the best-of-seven series on Friday night at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center. The Stanley Cup will determine the 2009–10 National Hockey League champion after the top 16 teams earned the right to compete in the postseason. The NHL has 30 teams in the United States and Canada and attracts many international players. |
Birmingham Airport shut as transplant aircraft crashes The aircraft burst into flames after landing in fog Birmingham Airport has been closed until at least 1200 GMT on Saturday after a private jet carrying a liver for transplant crashed on a runway. Two people were taken to hospital after the plane came down in fog. The airport said the aircraft had hit its landing system antennae. One eyewitness said the plane was on fire as it came in to land at 1535 GMT. The organ was safely delivered to the city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital by a police motorbike. 'Big fireball' The hospital said the liver would be used for transplant on Friday evening after being clinically assessed. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote As it was coming to land [the aircraft] was on fire” End Quote Dennis Gough Eyewitness It had been hoped the airport could reopen on Saturday morning, but a spokesperson later confirmed it would be 1200 GMT at the earliest before flights could resume. The aircraft involved was a private Cessna Citation 501 which was travelling from Belfast to Birmingham. Mr Kehoe said the plane hit the instrument landing system glide path antennae (ILS) and had come to rest about 130m (426ft) to the right hand side of the southerly-facing runway. Eyewitness Dennis Gough, who was playing golf on a course by the runway at the time of the crash, said: "As it was coming to land [the aircraft] was on fire and as it approached the runway it looked like it was leaning to one side slightly. "Then, once it hit the runway there were sort of flames alongside the runway then it broke into a big fireball." One man, believed to be in his 50s, was seriously injured and was airlifted to hospital, West Midlands Ambulance Service said. The second person, a man thought to be in his 30s, was treated for burns to his body and a back injury. Passengers due to use the airport have been advised to contact their airline first. "The incident occurred on arrival into the airport and the emergency services are in attendance," an airport spokesman said. "The airport is currently closed." 'Flash burns' Manchester Airport and East Midlands Airport said they were taking diverted flights from Birmingham. Peter Buettner, who was on a flight from Hamburg to Birmingham before it was diverted to Manchester, said: "I was trapped on the plane for two hours. The only explanation we got was that there were no buses available to take us to the tunnel. "Staff were not allowed to serve us drinks, due to custom regulations they said. Only after lengthy discussions between passengers and staff were we then given some water." BBC journalist Joe Baldwin, who was a passenger on another plane at Birmingham Airport, said he was on the aircraft for about 40 minutes when news of the incident came through and they had to disembark. He said: "What was particularly interesting was at the point when I got on the plane it was a winter afternoon but relatively clear but 40 minutes later by the time I got off the plane it was zero visibility - an absolute blanket of fog had descended." Police said the A45 near to the airport was closed and commuters were advised to avoid the area. ||||| Surgeons use donor liver saved from burnt-out plane wreck By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 12:53 AM on 21st November 2010 This was the charred wreckage of a private jet carrying a donor liver organ which crashed on a runway at Birmingham airport. Firemen covered it in foam to put out the flames as the organ was taken to the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital where a transplant went ahead successfully last night. Two men on board were injured, one critically, when the Cessna crash-landed on the tarmac in foggy conditions on Friday. Wreckage: All that's left of the Cessna after firefighters doused it with foam to put out the flames Crash-landing: The Cessna at Birmingham Airport in which two men were injured The airport reopened today at noon after scores of flights to and from Birmingham were cancelled. Spokeswoman Justine Hunt said an investigation had been completed and necessary safety checks carried out. She added:'Flight arrivals have commenced and passengers have begun boarding aircraft for outbound flights.' Eighty flights were affected and delays are expected for the rest of the day. Crash site: Firefighters investigate the burnt-out Cessna following Friday afternoon's crash At Queen Elizabeth Hospital a spokeswoman today described the transplant patient as 'stable'. She said the operation was the sixth liver swap operaion in five days at the hospital. She added: 'The transplant team would like to thank the pilot of the light aircraft and his colleague for their bravery. 'Our thoughts are with the individuals and their families.The team would also like to thank the quick-thinking of the fire and rescue teams at the scene who saved the organ.' Explosion: The plane reported to be involved in the crash at Birmingham Airport was this Cessna Citation twin-engined jet (file picture) A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'On arrival at the scene crews found two patients who had become injured whilst travelling on board a private aircraft. 'One patient, a man believed to be in his 50s, was seriously injured. He was treated at the scene for multiple injuries and airlifted to University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire for further assessment and treatment. 'A second man was treated at the scene for flash burns to his body and a back injury. 'The man, believed to be in his 30s, was immobilised using a spinal board and neck collar before being conveyed via land ambulance to Heartlands Hospital.' Flight chaos: Passengers are delayed at Birmingham Airport after the Cessna crash-landed on its runway injuring the two pilots Waiting: Passengers find a seat to listen for announcements of delays. The airport reopened at noon today Two ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, three senior paramedic officers, the Hazardous Area Response Team, a Tactical Advisor and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance attended, the spokesman added. An Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) spokesman said: 'The AAIB has deployed a team of inspectors to conduct an investigation. A report will be published in due course, and at this stage it is not possible to speculate on the cause of the accident.' An airport worker, who gave his name only as Alan, told local radio: 'It appeared in a gap between the trees and I just happened to be standing in the gap. 'There was a horrible noise and it burst into flames with a trail of flames behind it. Cancellations:The Birmingham information board reveals the flights chaos after the crash and the airport only reopened at noon today 'My guess is that some part of the wheels had hit the run way then some other part of it hit the outside. 'When I ran over to the plane all I could see was the tail and the rest was in flames. 'I ran towards it but then I realised it could have exploded. It wasn't on fire in the air just as it hit the ground. The plane crashed in heavy fog - which was thick over Birmingham yesterday afternoon 'I saw two people trying to get out of the plane running away. 'There was a huge ball of flames when it exploded. The engine was still running so it could have been even worse' . Eyewitness Lorraine Parker, was caught up in the drama as she sat waiting to get off her flight which had landed at Birmingham after being diverted there also because of fog. She said:'We saw lots of smoke when we landed with two fire engines rushing across. We were told the airport is closed. 'It's a small light aircraft that's all we know. It was on the edge of the runway. It crashed on the approach.It's very foggy here. ||||| Plane crash liver op 'a success' A liver transplant operation put in jeopardy when a private plane carrying the donor organ crashed on a runway went ahead successfully, a hospital has said. The liver was on board a Cessna that crash-landed on the tarmac in foggy conditions at Birmingham Airport on Friday. Two men on board were injured, one critically, but the donor organ was taken to the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital, despite the wreckage of the light aircraft catching fire. A spokeswoman for the hospital said: "A successful liver transplant was carried out last night at the QEHB. "The recipient is stable, as would be expected at this time. Due to patient confidentiality no more details about the patient will be released." She said the operation was the sixth liver transplant in five days at the hospital. "The operation took under four hours and was carried out by three surgeons, an anaesthetist, a scrub nurse and a team of skilled theatre staff," she added. "The transplant team would like to thank the pilot of the light aircraft and his colleague for their bravery. Our thoughts are with the individuals and their families. "The team would also like to thank the quick-thinking of the fire and rescue teams at the scene who saved the organ." Birmingham Airport remain closed until noon to allow experts from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) to investigate the crash-landing. Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved. ||||| The private Cessna carrying the two passengers, aged in their 30s and 50s, crashed at 3.35pm amid heavy fog at one of Britain's busiest airports. Police said the plane came off the end of the runway and caught fire after a "hard landing". An investigation has been launched. Witnesses described seeing the plane, which was carrying organs for transplant, crash and "break into a fireball". West Midlands Police said the donor organ was safely transported with a police escort to the hospital it was destined for. Chief Inspector Matt Markham, of West Midlands Police, said a police escort safely accompanied the liver to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. He said: "We transported it with a police escort from here to its location safely. "The visibility is appalling. It's very very thick fog, which is going to slow things down in the investigation that will have to follow." The crash caused travel chaos after airport check in facilities were suspended and all incoming flights due to arrive from Paris, Milan and other destinations were diverted. At least 53 flights have been delayed or cancelled. The airport is due to stay shut until at least 6am on Saturday. Local roads, including the A45 were closed causing gridlock and passengers were advised to avoid the area if possible. Eyewitnesses reported smoke coming from the light aircraft at the end of the runway. It remains unclear what caused the plane to crash. West Midlands Police said there were two casualties but could not elaborate. It is understood that one of the passengers, who have not been named, was seriously injured. The air ambulance and paramedics were on the scene, West Midlands Ambulance Service said. A man was airlifted to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire by the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. "We can confirm that an incident has occurred involving a private Cessna aircraft,” an airport spokesman said. "The incident occurred on arrival into the airport and the emergency services are in attendance. The airport is currently closed. "If you are due to travel to the airport this evening, please contact your airline for further guidance and do not come to the airport at this time." He later added: "There were two people on board, both males. "One male is critical and was airlifted to a local hospital. The second male is suffering back pain and flash burns and has been transferred to a local hospital by road." The airport is not likely to reopen before at least 8pm tonight, the spokesman said. An eyewitness said she saw smoke coming from a light aircraft that apparently crashed on approach to the runway. Eyewitness Dennis Gough, who was playing golf by the runway at the time, said he saw the plane coming in to land. "As it was coming to land it was on fire and as as it approached the runway it looked like it was leaning to one side slightly," he told the BBC. "Then, once it hit the runway there were sort of flames alongside the runway then it broke into a big fireball." Lorraine Parker, who was stranded on a jet at Birmingham Airport, told Sky News: "I just know that the airport is closed because of this incident – no planes can take off at the moment." Another passenger, Rich Dyson, who was in the airport's Terminal 2 waiting his flight back to Edinburgh, added: “There seem to be quite a few planes diverted to other airports. We are getting told nothing other than that. “We can't see anything out of the windows because we can't see the runway. “They have blocked off any moves in to the departure hall so we are all in the check-in lounge. There are a couple of hundreds of us waiting for information.” West Midlands Police advised drivers to avoid the main A45 Birmingham-to-Coventry route as it passes the airport. "Due to the ongoing incident, the A45 near to Birmingham Airport is closed and traffic is currently extremely busy in the area," a spokesman said. "Commuters are advised to avoid the area if possible." A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said the emergency services – including Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance – were called just after 3.30pm. "On arrival at the scene crews found two patients who had become injured whilst travelling on board a private aircraft," sdhe said. "One patient, a man believed to be in his 50s, was seriously injured. He was treated at the scene for multiple injuries and airlifted to University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire for further assessment and treatment. "A second man was treated at the scene for flash burns to his body and a back injury. The man, believed to be in his 30s, was immobilised using a spinal board and neck collar before being conveyed via land ambulance to Heartlands Hospital." Two ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, three senior paramedic officers, the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), a Tactical Advisor and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance attended, the spokeswoman added. An Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) spokesman said: "The Air Accident Investigation Branch was notified of an accident to a Cessna Citation aircraft that occurred at Birmingham International Airport at approximately 1554 hours local time. "The AAIB has deployed a team of inspectors to conduct an investigation. A report will be published in due course, and at this stage it is not possible to speculate on the cause of the accident." ||||| Birmingham Airport remained closed tonight after twopeople were hurt in an incident involving a light aircraft. Eyewitnesses reportedseeing smoke coming from the Cessna plane, which is thought to have crashed asit landed at the end of the runway at 3.35pm . The incident causedwidespread disruption to travellers, halting all flights and prompting gridlockon roads surrounding the airport. A Birmingham Airport spokesman said: "We canconfirm that an incident has occurred involving a private Cessna aircraft. "The incidentoccurred on arrival into the airport and the emergency services are inattendance. The airport is currently closed." The airport spokesmanadded: "If you are due to travel to the airport this evening, pleasecontact your airline for further guidance and do not come to the airport atthis time." One eyewitness said shesaw smoke coming from the plane. Lorraine Parker, who wasstranded on a jet at the airport, told Sky News: "I just know that theairport is closed because of this incident - no planes can take off at themoment." A spokeswoman for WestMidlands Ambulance Service said she believed two patients were being taken tohospital following the incident. Meanwhile, West MidlandsPolice advised drivers to avoid the main A45 Birmingham-to-Coventry route as itpasses the airport. A police spokesman said:"Due to the ongoing incident, the A45 near to Birmingham Airport is closed and traffic iscurrently extremely busy in the area. "Commuters areadvised to avoid the area if possible." A man was airlifted to University Hospital Coventry andWarwickshire by the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. A WNAA spokeswoman saidthe Cessna plane came off the end of the runway and caught fire. Two casualties weretrapped and emergency services were at the scene, she said. The airport remainedclosed. The plane that crashed was carrying an organ fortransplant, police said tonight. West Midlands Police saidthe donor organ was safely transported with a police escort to the hospital itwas destined for. The two occupants of theCessna aircraft were rescued from the scene by emergency services. A West Midlands AmbulanceService spokeswoman said: "On arrival at the scene crews found twopatients who had become injured whilst travelling on board a private aircraft. "One patient, a manbelieved to be in his 50s, was seriously injured. He was treated at the scenefor multiple injuries and airlifted to University Hospital of Coventry andWarwickshire for further assessment and treatment. "A second man wastreated at the scene for flash burns to his body and a back injury. The man,believed to be in his 30s, was immobilised using a spinal board and neck collarbefore being conveyed via land ambulance to Heartlands Hospital ." Advertisement - article continues below » Two ambulances, a rapidresponse vehicle, three senior paramedic officers, the Hazardous Area ResponseTeam (HART), a Tactical Advisor and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire AirAmbulance attended, the spokeswoman added. An Air AccidentInvestigation Branch (AAIB) spokesperson said: "The Air Accident InvestigationBranch was notified of an accident to a Cessna Citation aircraft that occurredat Birmingham International Airport at approximately 1554 hours localtime. "The AAIB hasdeployed a team of inspectors to conduct an investigation. A report will bepublished in due course, and at this stage it is not possible to speculate onthe cause of the accident." A spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said twoambulances, a rapid response vehicle, three senior paramedic officers, theHazardous Area Response Team (Hart), a tactical adviser and the Warwickshireand Northamptonshire Air Ambulance were dispatched to the scene. The spokeswoman said:"On arrival at the scene, crews found two patients who had become injuredwhilst travelling on board a private aircraft. "One patient, a manbelieved to be in his 50s, was seriously injured. He was treated at the scenefor multiple injuries and airlifted to University Hospital of Coventry andWarwickshire for further assessment and treatment. "A second man wastreated at the scene for flash burns to his body and a back injury. "The man, believedto be in his 30s, was immobilised using a spinal board and neck collar beforebeing conveyed, via land ambulance, to Birmingham 's Heartlands Hospital ." In a second statement, a spokesman for the airport said:"There were two people on board, both males. "One male iscritical and was airlifted to a local hospital. The second male is sufferingback pain and flash burns and has been transferred to a local hospital byroad." The airport is not likelyto reopen before at least 8pm tonight, the spokesman said. The pilot of the Cessna was in a serious but stablecondition tonight, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance said. The 58-year-old man wastrapped in the aircraft that was carrying a liver for transplantation and wassuffering from chest, abdomen and pelvic injuries. He was airlifted toUniversity Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire after air ambulance crewsnavigated severe fog to land at the airport. The WNAA team managed tocut the fuel supply to the engine to make the scene safe. Dominic Tolley, directorof air operations and clinical services for WNAA, said: "This certainlywas a challenging mission for all the emergency services involved and a goodteam effort. "The flyingconditions were difficult due to the inclement weather, however, our skilledpilot did a sterling job in not only ensuring that the WNAA crew arrived at thescene swiftly and safely but in aiding the Fire and Rescue Services and theextrication of the light aircraft pilot." "At WNAA we areproud to have the best civilian helicopter available and skilled crew to match.It is these factors that meant we were able to battle the weather conditions,provide fast emergency treatment and then air lift the patient to hospital." Chief Inspector MattMarkham, of West Midlands Police, said a police escort safely accompanied theliver to Queen Elizabeth Hospital , Birmingham . He said: "Wetransported it with a police escort from here to its location safely. "The visibility isappalling. It's very very thick fog, which is going to slow things down in theinvestigation that will have to follow." | All flights in and out of have been diverted or suspended until at least noon local time after a carrying an crashed on approach to the airport in Birmingham, England, during heavy fog. Two people were injured in the accident, one seriously. A spokesperson for the airport said: "We can confirm that an incident has occurred involving a private aircraft. The incident occurred on arrival into the airport and the emergency services are in attendance." A aircraft similar to the aircraft involved in the crash at , Birmingham, England. Reports suggested that smoke was seen rising from the aircraft, which came down at the end of the runway. Chief Inspector Matt Markham confirmed that the aircraft was carrying an organ for transplantation, but said that it was undamaged in the accident and it had been taken from the aircraft. Later reports suggested that the had been transported to , where the operation was being carried out. Inspector Markham that the police were "alerted to what was described as a 'hard landing' at the airport" at approximately 3:35 pm local time, and pledged to carry out a "thorough investigation" into the cause of the accident. He said: "It would appear the aircraft came down on landing and soon after there was a small fire within the aircraft. There were two casualties on board the plane. One we believe is in serious condition and has been airlifted to hospital; and the second one has been taken to hospital but with less significant injuries." ===The aircraft was 'leaning to one side'=== A witness, who was playing golf near the runway when the crash occurred, said that the aircraft was on fire and was "leaning to one side" as it was on approach to the airport. "As it was coming to land the aircraft was on fire and as it approached the runway it looked like it was leaning to one side slightly," he said. "Then, once it hit the runway there were sort of flames alongside the runway then it broke into a big fireball." Another eyewitness said that she saw two fire engines on the scene in the immediate aftermath of the crash; a spokesperson for the |
Posted at Campaign for Liberty The Libertarian Party Candidate admonished me for “remaining neutral” in the presidential race and not stating whom I will vote for in November. It’s true; I have done exactly that due to my respect and friendship and support from both the Constitution and Libertarian Party members. I remain a lifetime member of the Libertarian Party and I’m a ten-term Republican Congressman. It is not against the law to participate in more then one political party. Chuck Baldwin has been a friend and was an active supporter in the presidential campaign. I continue to wish the Libertarian and Constitution Parties well. The more votes they get, the better. I have attended Libertarian Party conventions frequently over the years. In some states, one can be on the ballots of two parties, as they can in New York. This is good and attacks the monopoly control of politics by Republicans and Democrats. We need more states to permit this option. This will be a good project for the Campaign for Liberty, along with the alliance we are building to change the process. I’ve thought about the unsolicited advice from the Libertarian Party candidate, and he has convinced me to reject my neutral stance in the November election. I’m supporting Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate. ||||| Friends - please read this new and important piece by Dr. Paul. The press conference at the National Press Club had a precise purpose. It was to expose, to as many people as possible, the gross deception of our presidential election process. It is controlled by the powerful elite to make sure that neither candidate of the two major parties will challenge the status quo. There is no real choice between the two major parties and their nominees, only the rhetoric varies. The amazingly long campaign is designed to make sure the real issues are ignored. The quotes I used at the press conference from insider Carroll Quigley and the League of Women voters strongly support this contention. Calling together candidates from the liberal, conservative, libertarian and progressive constituencies, who are all opposed to this rigged process, was designed to alert the American people to the uselessness of continuing to support a process that a claims that one’s only choice is to choose the lesser of two evils and reject a principle vote that might challenge the status quo as a wasted vote. In both political education and organization, coalitions are worthwhile and necessary to have an impact. “Talking to the choir” alone achieves little. I have always approached political and economic education with a “missionary” zeal by inviting any group in on issues we agree upon. This opens the door to legitimate discourse with the hope of winning new converts to the cause of liberty. This strategy led to the press conference with the four candidates agreeing to the four principles we believe are crucial in challenging the political system that has evolved over many years in this country. This unique press conference, despite the surprising, late complication from the Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate, hopefully will prove to be historically significant. This does not mean that I expect to get Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney to become libertarians, nor do they expect me to change my mind on the issues on which we disagree. In the meantime, why can’t we be friends, respectful of each other, and fight the corrupt process from which we suffer, and at the same time champion the four issues that we all agree upon which the two major candidates won’t address? Many practical benefits can come from this unique alliance. Our cause is liberty —freedom is popular and is the banner that brings people together. Since authoritarianism divides, we always have the edge in an intellectual fight. Once it’s realized that the humanitarian goals of peace and prosperity are best achieved with our views, I’m convinced we win by working with others. Those who don’t want to collaborate are insecure with their own beliefs. In the past two years at the many rallies where I talked and shook hands with literally thousands of people, I frequently asked them what brought them to our campaign. There were many answers: the Constitution, my consistency, views on the Federal Reserve, the war, and civil liberties. The crowds were overwhelmingly made up of young people. Oftentimes I welcomed the diverse groups that came, mentioning that the crowd was made up of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Liberals and Progressives with each group applauding. Even jokingly, I recognized the “anarchists” and that, too, was met with some applause. In conversations, many admitted to having been Democrats and members of the Green Party and supporters of Ralph Nader, yet they came to agree with us on all the issues once the entire philosophy was understood. That’s progress. Principled people are not shy in participating with others and will defend their beliefs on their merits. Liberals and progressives are willing to align themselves with us on the key issues of peace, civil liberties, debt and the Federal Reserve. That’s exciting and very encouraging, and it means we are making progress. The big challenge, however, is taking on the establishment, and the process that is so well entrenched. But we can’t beat the entrenched elite without the alliance of all those who have been disenfranchised. Ironically the most difficult group to recruit has been the evangelicals who supported McCain and his pro-war positions. They have been convinced that they are obligated to initiate preventive war in the Middle East for theological reasons. Fortunately, this is a minority of the Christian community, but our doors remain open to all despite this type of challenge. The point is, new devotees to the freedom philosophy are more likely to come from the left than from those conservatives who have been convinced that God has instructed us to militarize the Middle East. Although we were on the receiving end of ridicule in the reporting of the press conference, I personally was quite satisfied with the results. True revolutions are not won in a week, a month, or even a year. They take time. But we are making progress, and the momentum remains and is picking up. The Campaign for Liberty is alive and well, and its growth and influence will continue. Obviously the press conference could have been even more successful without the last-minute change of heart by the Libertarian Party candidate by not participating. He stated that his support for the four points remains firm. His real reason for not coming, nor letting me know until forty minutes before the press conference started, is unknown to me. To say the least, I was shocked and disappointed. Yet in the long run, this last-minute change in plans will prove to be of little importance. I’m convinced that problems like this always seem bigger at the moment, yet things usually work out in the end. Recovering from the mistakes and shortcomings of all that we do in this effort is not difficult if the message is right and our efforts are determined. And I’m convinced they are. That’s what will determine our long-term success, not the shortcomings of any one person. The Libertarian Party Candidate admonished me for “remaining neutral” in the presidential race and not stating whom I will vote for in November. It’s true; I have done exactly that due to my respect and friendship and support from both the Constitution and Libertarian Party members. I remain a lifetime member of the Libertarian Party and I’m a ten-term Republican Congressman. It is not against the law to participate in more then one political party. Chuck Baldwin has been a friend and was an active supporter in the presidential campaign. I continue to wish the Libertarian and Constitution Parties well. The more votes they get, the better. I have attended Libertarian Party conventions frequently over the years. In some states, one can be on the ballots of two parties, as they can in New York. This is good and attacks the monopoly control of politics by Republicans and Democrats. We need more states to permit this option. This will be a good project for the Campaign for Liberty, along with the alliance we are building to change the process. I’ve thought about the unsolicited advice from the Libertarian Party candidate, and he has convinced me to reject my neutral stance in the November election. I’m supporting Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate. ||||| Bob Barr Snubs Ron Paul And Other Third Party Candidates The GOP and the Democratic Parties may have a monopoly on mainstream press coverage, but they certainly don’t have one on drama in presidential campaigns. While talk of lipstick and pigs has dominated the airwaves the past couple days, the impudence from the rest of the campaign has gone unnoticed. Yesterday, Ron Paul held a press conference at the National Press Club to discuss third party issues. See our post on this event here. Joining Paul at this event were third party candidates Cynthia McKinney (Green Party), Ralph Nader (Independent) and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party); Bob Barr was supposed to attend, but he was a no-show. And so the drama begins… Asked about Barr’s apparent no-show, Libertarian Party Media Director issued the following statement: The real question is why Bob, who is a major player in this election, want to be on stage with people like McKinney, who stands against everything the LP does, and Baldwin, who is barely on enough ballots to have a statistical chance of winning. Barr is not a minor party candidate. Barr is a major player this year. He is holding his own press conference right now. According to the AP, Barr’s stated reason for not attending the event was that Paul did not endorse a specific candidate. So, clearly there is a bit of a tension there between the Libertarian Party’s communications and Barr’s. Don Rasmussen, Campaign For Liberty Events Coordinator, tells of being told to “go f*ck himself” by the Barr campaign when he questioned Barr’s no-show [h/t IPR]: I asked Barr Communications Director Shane Corey after the event why they pulled this stunt and was told to go f*** myself. Barr Campaign Manager Russ Verney may have fanned the flames by criticizing Paul’s efforts in his explanation for backing out of the event, saying: It became evident to me after meeting with Ron Paul’s staff that this media event was not about promoting the liberty agenda; it was about promoting a man. That’s not what we’re in this for. After rumors were spread in advance of the news conference that Bob Barr was dropping from the race - just to hype the event - I became even more hesitant to attend. Those tactics were unacceptable and when asked about it, Ron Paul’s staff simply smiled and said it would attract the press. When I was provided a copy of Ron Paul’s prepared remarks just hours before the start of the planned news conference it became clear to me that the message Ron Paul intended to deliver was essentially to scatter the votes for the liberty agenda to the four winds. His remarks not only encouraged anyone listening to support any one of four candidates, he also applauded ‘non-voters’. To me encouraging people not to vote is not principled leadership for the Liberty agenda. I made the decision that attending that news conference was not consistent with Bob Barr’s principled leadership for the Liberty agenda. Once I informed Ron Paul’s staff of my decision I was rudely informed that my decision would have permanent ramifications, I was personally threatened and Bob Barr was politically threatened. That’s a far cry from principled leadership. Obviously, the story is somewhat messy and in part based on sources that cannot fully be corroborated. From a political perspective, I’m not sure I quite understand the Barr Campaign’s rationale for not attending the event. It seems that attracting Paul supporters would benefit them and this would have been one way to do so. I’m also not convinced that the event was all about Ron Paul, given that the candidates spent quite a bit of time speaking as well. With respect to their argument that Barr is a major candidate and thus shouldn’t have attended…Let’s assume for a moment Barr was a major candidate, I’m not sure that alone would be sufficient reasoning to justify not showing up for an event that his campaign already committed to attending, nor, do I think it support hosting a rival press conference. Strange. And for the record, Barr is currently on 48 ballots, Nader is currently on 45, so they aren’t that far off; nor has Barr raised nearly the kind of money or demonstrated that he has the kind of support that Paul had/has. If you’re interested in following this story further, you can do so here. | Ron Paul Despite repeatedly saying that he would not endorse a particular candidate for this November's U.S. presidential election, Republican Congressman Ron Paul made a surprise statement Monday afternoon in which he announced that he was supporting Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin. This comes after Libertarian Party nominee former congressman Bob Barr's controversial last minute refusal to attend Paul's third party unity conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC nearly two weeks ago. Instead, Barr held a press conference of his own a few hours later at the same location. In it he announced that he did not care about third party candidates getting a large amount of votes in the election, only himself. This statement caused Barr to rapidly decrease in voter popularity over the following week. Many of his former supporters have since joined Baldwin's and Independent Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns. "I’ve thought about the unsolicited advice from the Libertarian Party candidate," Paul said Monday. "He has convinced me to reject my neutral stance in the November election. I’m supporting Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate." |
Sarah Telford United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) In a world awash with data, aid workers contend with gaps With nearly 168 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2020 -- the highest figure in decades -- there is no time, or data, to lose ||||| Advertisement Two women were killed and 16 other people were wounded on Tuesday when a bomb exploded in a busy market in Myanmar's second largest city Mandalay, a hospital official said. "There was a bomb. Two women were killed and 16 people injured, including 14 women," a doctor in the Mandalay Hospital's emergency department told the agency on condition of anonymity. Police in the military-ruled state confirmed that a bomb blast ripped through the Zay Cho market, the city's largest, just before 4:15 pm (1515 IST), but provided no further details. "We are collecting information about the bomb explosion now," a police officer stationed near the market said on telephone. One of the women died at the scene while the second succumbed to her injuries at hospital, the doctor said. Police quickly sealed off the area around the blast, which occurred outside the Hla Bettman clothing shop inside the market, a Mandalay resident said. "We heard the explosion when we were nearby," the resident said, adding that victims were seen being taken to hospital. Another resident, who was in the market at the time of the blast, said there was confusion and panic afterwards. "At first we thought it was a transformer explosion," he told the agency. | Hospital officials reported Tuesday that two women were killed by a bomb blast at a market in , the second largest city in Myanmar. The city is located about 430 miles north of the capital . Police officials confirmed a bomb explosion at the Zay Cho market, yet the military-government of Myanmar did not provide any details about the incident. A doctor said one of the women died at the market and the other died in the hospital. 16 other people were wounded and taken to the hospital. Reports indicate there was a single explosion at the ground of the busy market at 16:15 local time. In the past several small bomb explosions have been reported without any victims. |
Much loved Australian actor Belinda Emmett has lost her battle with cancer, dying at the age of 32. She died at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital shortly after dawn with her husband, television host Rove McManus, and her family by her side. "It is with great sadness we advise that Belinda Emmett's battle with cancer has ended," her family said in a statement today. "Belinda passed away just after dawn this morning at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney with her family and husband by her side. "Those close to her have requested respect for their privacy at this time." Emmett grew up on the NSW Central Coast and got her acting break when she appeared on popular long-running soap Home and Away, playing Rebecca Fisher/Nash, between 1996 and 1999. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, at the age of 24, the actor successfully underwent surgery to remove the malignant tumour, followed by six weeks of radiotherapy. After a period in remission, Emmett was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer in 2001, while playing nurse Jodi Horner on the Seven Network's hospital drama All Saints. "Our deepest sympathy is extended to Belinda's family who have supported her through this illness," Seven said in a statement. The network paid tribute to its former actor, saying: "During Belinda's time on Home and Away and All Saints, she made many long-lasting friendships. "Her acting ability and her warmth made her a joy to work with and her spirit will be remembered." Emmett's Home and Away co-star Nic Testoni, who played her husband Travis Nash, said he was saddened by the news. "I am very sorry to hear that," he said. A spokesman for St Vincent's Hospital refused to say how long Emmett was being treated at the hospital before she died, saying the family had left the premises before 7am (AEDT) today. "As you can imagine, they are very distressed," a hospital spokesman told a large contingency of media gathered outside the hospital. Emmett and McManus were regarded as television's golden couple, meeting at the opening of Fox Studios in Sydney in 1999. They became engaged in July 2004 and married in January 2005, at Mary Immaculate Church in Waverley, in Sydney's east. "We're kindred spirits," Emmett told a newspaper at the time. McManus today cancelled the upcoming episode of his TV show Rove Live, with the Ten Network issuing a statement saying it was not sure when the show would return. ||||| November 11, 2006 Rove McManus has cancelled this week's episode of Rove Live, after the TV host's wife Belinda Emmett died today. Emmett, 32, lost her battle with cancer early this morning at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital. Her husband and family were by her side. A statement released by Network Ten said McManus' program, Rove Live, would not air on Tuesday night. It is not known when McManus or the program will return to air. "Ten will give Rove the time he needs away from the show and any support we can during this very sad time," the statement said. Actor-turned-singer Toni Collette was to appear on this week's Rove Live, as was musician Pete Murray and Borat, the fictional journalist from Kazakhstan played by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. The 32-year-old McManus began working for Ten in 2000, launching Rove Live, following its axing from the Nine Network after just 10 episodes. "Network Ten notes with great sadness Belinda Emmett's passing this morning," the statement said. "Our heartfelt sympathies are with Rove McManus and the Emmett and McManus families. "We add our support to the call for media and members of the public to respect Rove's privacy." Emmett was diagnosed with breast cancer while working on the soap Home and Away in 1998, at age 24. She successfully underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumour, followed by six weeks of radiotherapy. In 2001, while working on Seven hospital drama All Saints, Emmett was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer. AAP | 32-year-old Belinda Emmett, Rove McManus's wife, died this morning in St Vincent hospital, Sydney, Australia due to cancer. Ms Emmett's family said in a statement: "It is with great sadness we advise that Belinda Emmett's battle with cancer has ended." Because of her death, with Rove McManus, or more correctly John McManus, and other family at her side, Rove has cancelled next Tuesdays Rove Live show. A statement on Network Ten, which airs Rove Live, said: "Ten will give Rove the time he needs away from the show and any support we can during this very sad time." "Belinda passed away just after dawn this morning at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney with her family and husband by her side. However the hospital will not divulge how long she was being treated for at the hospital. A spokesman for the hospital said: "As you can imagine, they are very distressed." When Ms Emmett was 24-years-old in 1998, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Successful surgery removed a malignant tumour, radiotherapy followed for a total of six weeks. Then, in 2001, Ms Emmett was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer. "Network Ten notes with great sadness Belinda Emmett's passing this morning. Our heartfelt sympathies are with Rove McManus and the Emmett and McManus families. We add our support to the call for media and members of the public to respect Rove's privacy." TV station, Seven, where Ms Emmett worked as an actor also showed their support saying: "Our deepest sympathy is extended to Belinda's family who have supported her through this illness. During Belinda's time on Home and Away and All Saints, she made many long-lasting friendships. Her acting ability and her warmth made her a joy to work with and her spirit will be remembered." The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, said their family is saddened by the news of hearing that Ms Emmett had passed away. "She fought a very courageous battle against cancer," said Mr Howard, "On behalf of Janette and myself, I extend my deepest sympathies to her husband, Rove McManus, and her family and friends." The leader of the opposition, Kim Beazley, said that their family had also passed on their sympathy to the Emmett and McManus families. "This is truly sad news which I think will affect all Australians," Mr Beazley said, "The tenderness and care in their relationship (Rove and Belinda) through their adversity, I think, has been an inspiration to many many Australians." |
Posted Wed, 19 Oct 2016 11:30:00 GMT by JW DoweyA revolution took place in the Pacific over a 30-year period. Between the 1980s and 2014, new groups of sperm whales replaced the thousands who had normally occupied the Galápagos Islands area. Who was who and where did they emigrate or immigrate? The answers are here. Posted Tue, 18 Oct 2016 13:43:26 GMT by Paul RobinsonCould humans benefit from a gene that speeds up the sperm as it swims? In a deer mouse, it works wonders for up to 14 litters per year and 9 offspring per litter! You do the math. Posted Thu, 13 Oct 2016 13:05:31 GMT by Dave ArmstrongWe will soon have many unexpected insights into human and other species problems such as disease or simply anthropology. The chemicals that control our every movement and thought are inherited. Now even the dogs we breed can be recruited to help understand and back-up documentation of how inter-related we all are. Cancer and other disease problems are certainly being answered with this kind of research. Next we could see even more advances in research using information gleaned from other species. Posted Sun, 09 Oct 2016 17:25:00 GMT by JW DoweyWill the Pacific see conservation happening as it had to do in the Atlantic? The case of the tuna species there, in past present and future scenarios, leaves us wondering which attitudes reign in Korea, Japan, the USA and Mexico. Posted Wed, 05 Oct 2016 08:35:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongDo the same individuals persevere across continents and deserts to achieve a yearly miracle migration? Its seems some do make it for 4000km, but they mainly rely on several generations forging north or south to reach suitable breeding habitat. Posted Wed, 28 Sep 2016 09:50:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongDolphin worlds are no longer circus-like recreation for humans, but one oceanic species has found it possible to settle down in a relatively restricted habitat. Here is the story of their novel world, with Im sure, more evolutionary possibilities to come. Posted Tue, 27 Sep 2016 09:10:00 GMT by JW DoweyYou are either obsessed with ancient times, as Europe became populated and China achieved the first imperial power - or you are bored stiff with it. Well here is one stiff who could manage to become the first immortal if technology can finally pin the death on something apart from the freezing cold and loss of blood. Posted Wed, 21 Sep 2016 07:40:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThe mechanisms of shelf-sea fronts are poorly understood. As a front passes, how do plankton and their consumers contribute to the ecology of sea and land nearby? Many species of predator specialise in visiting these fronts, whether transient or fixed, and using the warmer temperatures, the varying productivity and the food supply that gannets find a valuable diet during the breeding season. Posted Tue, 20 Sep 2016 08:40:31 GMT by Paul RobinsonWave power or tidal power? The answer probably depends on where you are. If you have the frightening power that has always inspired names like Cape Wrath, then those tides should produce the most power in Europe. On the other hand, the regular movement of waves could well be capable of inspiring a design to accumulate energy over a lengthy period, albeit with less energy production per unit. Posted Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:25:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongWere afraid that we have neglected the food security side of our responsibilities. Articles on Politics and Health have been published at the expense of this vital area, as the effects of consolidating food reserves are not only to alleviate criminal use of bushmeat, theft and extortion. We must also preserve areas for wildlife where otherwise people have been forced to cut down their forest to grow more crops/sell timber/build mines, roads or various infrastructure. GODAN are gathering in New York to spread expertise on agriculture and nutrition that will feed the parts of the world that are starving. Posted Mon, 12 Sep 2016 09:10:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThe research effort on the sunfish now has its genome: one of the most useful tools to use on a species to discover how it has evolved such remarkable anatomy. It has been called a natural mutant, but it has simply and rapidly adapted to its oceanic habitat and food chain. How this was achieved within the genome is a story that will now unravel with more and more research into this fish, its adaptations and population genetics and that of many others. Posted Wed, 07 Sep 2016 08:40:00 GMT by JW DoweyBoom time or bust? The terrible effects of the loss of our Arctic sea ice have been well-advertised. Rearing young, or simply hunting prey, in the case of polar bears, has become almost impossible where the ice has gone. This relatively good news is of the baleen whales that are benefitting in the Pacific from extra flow as well as upwelling that creates plankton population surges. Posted Sun, 04 Sep 2016 13:05:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongTropical forests are declining fast, but how greedy were ancient peoples in their robbing of the wood and resources from other forests. One example only shines of sustainability. Posted Wed, 31 Aug 2016 07:40:43 GMT by JW DoweyHow can foxes, badgers and other Carnivores survive when a giant freeway blocks their route to feeding areas? The demography, the genetics and the extinction risk are all considered here, with a resonance for all species that need some kind of wildlife corridor in order to fulfil their life potential. Posted Thu, 25 Aug 2016 07:30:13 GMT by Paul RobinsonWe need bats, but in the same way we need their prey the insects. Its impossible to see all the services they perform in eating pests and even spreading seeds in the case of fruit bats, just as we seem to have ignored the bees working at pollination of orchards! Posted Tue, 23 Aug 2016 23:00:01 GMT by Dave ArmstrongIts likely that these advanced vertebrates evolved extreme matrotrophy only once, but when we compare that habit with many other advanced features, it seems skinks come out top in adaptations for advanced life styles. Posted Sat, 20 Aug 2016 10:40:00 GMT by JW DoweyWe have the chance to counter new viral and ancient parasitic disease with rapid diagnostic technologies. Lets grab the chance to win this battle against disease, even when we lose against the latest mutations of the deadly viruses. Posted Wed, 17 Aug 2016 08:40:31 GMT by Dave ArmstrongWhen a great, immoveable pollution source is faced by an increasingly smaller butterfly population, what is going to happen? Ask the bees, if their nervous systems are still savvy. Posted Fri, 12 Aug 2016 12:05:05 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThe Australian spiders seem as distinct as the rest of their flora and fauna, with colour the distinguishing mark in this case. Despite their tiny size, these males manage to get noticed by the girls with their fabulous blue scales which amplify reflected light and never fade! The Earth Times site and content have been updated. We do apologise, as this may mean that the article or page you were looking for has changed. The Earth Times now focuses on producing and publishing our own unique content on environmental issues, which is written by our own team of expert authors and journalists. We now publish environmental news articles and information on various environmental problems. You can use the site search at the top of each page, otherwise there are links to some of the main site categories and green blogs we publish included on this page. Some of the environmental topics and categories that we now focus on include climate change and the effects of global warming, including their various impacts on both people and the planet as well as conservation issues and news articles relating to nature and wildlife. The site puts an emphasis on sustainability issues, including the use and technological progress made with various types of alternative or renewable energy. Earth Times runs several eco friendly blogs (environmentally friendly) on various topics such as ecotourism (sustainable travel and tourism), eco fashion, green living, green gadgets and clean technology, plus various other environment based news categories including pollution and science news. If you have any questions or queries please contact us. ||||| The following article has been retrieved from the archive and no longer contains the original video. The new Belgian Prime Minister is set to address Parliament for the first time later this morning, with the country’s hopes for political stability resting firmly on his shoulders. Flemish Christian Democrat Herman Van Rompuy was officially invested yesterday by the monarch. He will head a revived, but very familiar-looking, coalition of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists, the same that collapsed 11 days ago over a banking bail out scandal. Media reports suggest there will be few changes at the top, with Justice Minister and Interior Minister being the main ones. But some are already asking if the new administration will have any more success than those that have gone before. Observers say Belgium’s politicians were keen to resolve the crisis in the face of a looming recession and ongoing crisis in the banking sector. The new government faces a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday. ||||| BRUSSELS, Dec 31 (Reuters) - New Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy urged parliament on Wednesday to pass bills to revive an economy heading into recession and to resolve a political dispute that threatens to pull the country apart. “The year that ends today has been marked by the most serious global financial crisis since the 1930s,” he said in a declaration before a vote of confidence due on Friday. “Domestically it has been a year of uncertainty, partly due to political moments of crisis and the consequences of the financial crisis,” he continued in the Belgian equivalent of a state of the union address. Van Rompuy, 61, became Belgium’s third premier in a year on Tuesday, succeeding Yves Leterme whose government collapsed on Dec. 19 over the stalled bailout of stricken bank Fortis FOR.BR and asset sale to France’s BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA). Belgium is expected to have entered a recession in the fourth quarter, faces a lingering bank crisis and is beset by a dispute over devolution that has seen it lurch from one political crisis to another since the June 2007 election. Leterme’s government proposed earlier this month pumping 2 billion euros ($2.84 billion) into the economy next year, part of a 200 billion euro EU-wide stimulus package. “The previous government proposed such a plan. It must be enacted as soon as possible,” Van Rompuy told lawmakers. “It is clear that in the coming weeks and months the government will take new initiatives to cope with the challenges that the crisis poses for the economy and employment.” Van Rompuy also pressed bickering parties to settle a dispute over whether the regions should have greater autonomy. The majority Dutch-speakers want more powers for Flanders over the labour market and justice, but French-speakers fear further devolution will hit their less vibrant economy and risks breaking the 178-year-old country in two. The prime minister first wants results from a committee looking into the thorny issue of electoral boundaries around Brussels and demanded changes implemented from next summer. Van Rompuy’s sole mention of the Fortis debacle was to call for an investigation into alleged meddling in a court’s decision to freeze the Fortis bailout to be non-partisan. (Editing by Charles Dick) ||||| De Koning heeft deze namiddag op het Kasteel te Laken de Heer Herman VAN ROMPUY in audiëntie ontvangen en heeft hem benoemd tot Eerste Minister. De lijst van de Ministers en Staatssecretarissen door de Koning benoemd, luidt als volgt: H. H. VAN ROMPUY Eerste Minister H. D. REYNDERS Vice-Eerste Minister en Minister van Financiën en Institutionele Hervormingen Mevr. L. ONKELINX Vice-Eerste Minister en Minister van Sociale Zaken en Volksgezondheid H. K. DE GUCHT Vice-Eerste Minister en Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken H. S. VANACKERE Vice-Eerste Minister en Minister van Ambtenarenzaken, Overheidsbedrijven en Institutionele Hervormingen Mevr. J. MILQUET Vice-Eerste Minister en Minister van Werk en Gelijke Kansen H. S. DE CLERCK Minister van Justitie Mevr. S. LARUELLE Minister van KMO’s, Zelfstandigen, Landbouw en Wetenschapsbeleid Mevr. M. ARENA Minister van Maatschappelijke Integratie, Pensioenen en Grote Steden H. P. DE CREM Minister van Landsverdediging H. P. MAGNETTE Minister van Klimaat en Energie H. Ch. MICHEL Minister van Ontwikkelingssamenwerking H. V. VAN QUICKENBORNE Minister voor Ondernemen en Vereenvoudigen Mevr. A. TURTELBOOM Minister van Migratie- en asielbeleid H. G. DE PADT Minister van Binnenlandse Zaken H. E. SCHOUPPE Staatssecretaris voor Mobiliteit, toegevoegd aan de Eerste Minister H. C. DEVLIES Staatssecretaris voor de Coördinatie van de fraudebestrijding, toegevoegd aan de Eerste Minister, en Staatssecretaris, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Justitie H. B. CLERFAYT Staatssecretaris voor de Modernisering van de Federale Overheidsdienst Financiën, de Milieufiscaliteit en de Bestrijding van de fiscale fraude, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Financiën H. O. CHASTEL Staatssecretaris voor Buitenlandse Zaken, belast met de Voorbereiding van het Europese Voorzitterschap, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Mevr. J. FERNANDEZ-FERNANDEZ Staatssecretaris voor Personen met een handicap, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Sociale Zaken en Volksgezondheid H. M. WATHELET Staatssecretaris voor Begroting, toegevoegd aan de Eerste Minister, en Staatssecretaris voor Gezinsbeleid, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Werk, en wat de aspecten inzake personen- en familierecht betreft, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Justitie H. J-M. DELIZEE Staatssecretaris voor Armoedebestrijding, toegevoegd aan de Minister van Maatschappelijke Integratie, Pensioenen en Grote Steden ||||| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium's King Albert appointed Herman Van Rompuy prime minister on Tuesday. Here are some key facts about Christian Democrat Van Rompuy. * Van Rompuy, 61, has been president of the lower house of parliament since July 2007 and has at times been critical of the Leterme government. * Budget minister 1993-1999 in the Christian Democrat-led government, he reduced Belgium's public debt sharply from 130 percent of gross domestic product in the year he took office. A budgetary hardliner, he has criticised the previous government's plan to spend its way out of recession and increase the deficit. * He has written six books, mainly on social and political issues, and is an avid blogger. * He is respected among French speakers and was among the most palatable to them of the likely successors to Leterme. Many believe he takes an even-handed approach to disputes between French and Dutch speakers. * After saying he did not want to replace Leterme as prime minister, he appears to have given in to pressure from fellow Flemish Christian Democrats who feared the liberals might otherwise insist on the return of former PM Guy Verhofstadt. ||||| (Adds more background, analyst) By Huw Jones BRUSSELS, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Belgium's King Albert asked parliamentary speaker Herman Van Rompuy on Sunday to form a new government to end the third political crisis in a year and respond to a looming recession. "He has accepted this assignment," the palace said in a short statement. Flemish Christian Democrat Van Rompuy, 61, is president of the lower house of parliament. He faces the twin challenges of bridging the country's linguistic divide and tackling the fallout from the global financial crisis. He is set to succeed fellow Christian Democrat Yves Leterme whose government collapsed on Dec. 19 after the Supreme Court said there were clear indications of political meddling in a court ruling over the bailout of stricken bank Fortis (FOR.BR). Van Rompuy has the reputation of being both an intellectual and a budgetary hardliner. He was budget minister between 1993-1999 and brought Belgium's debt down sharply from some 130 percent of gross domestic product in his first year in office. He has also expressed doubts about government plans to spend its way out of the current economic downturn. Van Rompuy's appointment as "formateur" follows a six-day mediation mission by former prime minister Wilfried Martens. Belgian media said Martens' biggest task was persuading a reluctant Van Rompuy to accept the job. "It is a bit of a surprise as he was refusing to do it. I think the pressure on Van Rompuy was huge," said Carl Devos, political scientist at the University of Ghent. "He has respect from all parties. He's very experienced, but he's never led a government and this is certainly not the easiest time to be taking over," Devos said. Belgium, host to NATO and the European Union, is expected to have slipped into recession in the fourth quarter and needs a government to enact an economic rescue package and wage deal as well as resolving the Fortis debacle. Fortis investors, angry at seeing their shares tumble below 1 euro, won an appeal court ruling earlier this month freezing the group's break-up by the Dutch, Luxembourg and Belgium and latter's sale of Fortis assets to BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA). They argue the deals should be renegotiated. Van Rompuy referred to himself in an interview in Belgian newspaper De Standaard newspaper on Saturday as being in the "autumn" of his political career. "I feel myself to be anything but indispensable," Van Rompuy told De Standaard. The Christian Democrat statesman was the only figure acceptable to all members of the five-party coalition, being respected both in the Dutch- and French-speaking parts of the linguistically divided nation. Continued... ||||| Prime Minister Yves Leterme has only been in office since March The Belgian king has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme's government, but asked it to stay on in a caretaker capacity. Former PM Wilfried Martens has been asked to mediate in efforts to put together a new government. A palace statement said Mr Martens had accepted. Analysts tip another former PM, Jean-Luc Dehaene, as favourite to head a new interim coalition. Mr Leterme offered to resign amid a row over the sale of troubled bank Fortis. The moves come after a series of consultative meetings over the weekend to consider the impact of the government's resignation during the current financial crisis. Mr Leterme only took office in March, nine months after a general election had resulted in political deadlock founded in tensions between Flemish and Walloon groups. He tendered his resignation in June after he failed to push through plans to devolve more power to the regions, but the king rejected it. Court ruling Fortis bank has been one of the European banks hardest hit by the credit crunch, leaving it desperately short of cash. The government is embroiled in a row over the sale of its stake in Fortis The government was forced to take over and sell nearly all of the company's assets. Hundreds of thousands of investors were left with virtually nothing and so began a successful legal action effectively preventing the asset sale. Earlier this month, the Brussels appeal court ruled in favour of the shareholders and froze the sale of most of Fortis to France's BNP Paribas, which was supposed to have been finalised this week. Last week, Belgium's Supreme Court president said there were "undoubtedly significant indications" that members of the Belgian government had attempted to influence the outcome of the court case. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| (CNN) -- Belgium's Prime Minister Yves Leterme has offered his government's resignation amid a row over the break-up of the stricken Fortis bank, according to national media reports. Belgium's Prime Minister Yves Leterme has offered his government's resignation, according to reports. Belgian newspapers and state television reported that Leterme was tendering the government's resignation to the king. King Albert II will decide whether to refuse or accept the resignation. Earlier, Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen quit after Belgium's highest court suggested the government had tried to influence a ruling on the Fortis case. Judges last week effectively blocked the government's bailout and sale of its stake in Fortis to French bank BNP Paribas. The court found in favor of 2,200 shareholders who wanted more say in the bank's future. Fortis was among the banks worst-hit by the credit crunch, leaving it short of cash and needing help from the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. They agreed to provide $15.5B to Fortis in a move to reassure savers and clients about the financial health of the cross-border bank. Each government took a 49% stake in the bank in their respective countries, with Belgium then lining up BNP to buy its stake. Leterme tried to tender his resignation for different reasons in July, after failing to form a coalition government and mend political infighting that threatened to splinter the country, but the king refused. Belgium has been mired in political instability since 2007 elections that left no clear winner and highlighted growing political strife between the Flemish north and French-speaking south. ||||| Land use: HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: Life expectancy at birth: Country name: conventional long form: Kingdom of Belgium conventional short form: Belgium local long form: Royaume de Belgique/Koninkrijk Belgie local short form: Belgique/Belgie Government type: federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy Capital: name: Brussels geographic coordinates: 50 50 N, 4 20 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October Administrative divisions: 10 provinces (French: provinces, singular - province; Dutch: provincies, singular - provincie) and 3 regions* (French: regions; Dutch: gewesten); Brussels* (Bruxelles) capital region; Flanders* region (five provinces): Antwerpen (Antwerp), Limburg, Oost-Vlaanderen (East Flanders), Vlaams-Brabant (Flemish Brabant), West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders); Wallonia* region (five provinces): Brabant Wallon (Walloon Brabant), Hainaut, Liege, Luxembourg, Namur note: as a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities Independence: 4 October 1830 (a provisional government declared independence from the Netherlands); 21 July 1831 (King LEOPOLD I ascended to the throne) National holiday: 21 July (1831) ascension to the Throne of King Leopold I Constitution: 7 February 1831; amended many times; revised 14 July 1993 to create a federal state Legal system: civil law system influenced by English constitutional theory; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory Executive branch: chief of state: King ALBERT II (since 9 August 1993); Heir Apparent Prince PHILIPPE, son of the monarch head of government: Prime Minister Guy VERHOFSTADT (since 13 July 1999) cabinet: Council of Ministers formally appointed by the monarch elections: none; the monarchy is hereditary and constitutional; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch and then approved by parliament note: government coalition - VLD, MR, PS, SP.A-Spirit Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of a Senate or Senaat in Dutch, Senat in French (71 seats; 40 members are directly elected by popular vote, 31 are indirectly elected; members serve four-year terms) and a Chamber of Deputies or Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers in Dutch, Chambre des Representants in French (150 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms) elections: Senate and Chamber of Deputies - last held 18 May 2003 (next to be held 10 June 2007) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - SP.A-Spirit 15.5%, VLD 15.4%, CD & V 12.7%, PS 12.8%, MR 12.1%, VB 9.4%, CDH 5.6%; seats by party - SP.A-Spirit 7, VLD 7, CD & V 6, PS 6, MR 5, VB 5, CDH 2, other 2 (note - there are also 31 indirectly elected senators); Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - VLD 15.4%, SP.A-Spirit 14.9%, CD & V 13.3%, PS 13.0%, VB 11.6%, MR 11.4%, CDH 5.5%, Ecolo 3.1%; seats by party - PS 25, VLD 25, MR 24, SP.A-Spirit 23, CD & V 21, VB 18, CDH 8, Ecolo 4, other 2 note: as a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities; this reality leaves six governments each with its own legislative assembly Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice or Hof van Cassatie (in Dutch) or Cour de Cassation (in French) (judges are appointed for life by the government; candidacies have to be submitted by the High Justice Council) Political parties and leaders: Flemish parties: Christian Democrats and Flemish or CD & V [Jo VANDEURZEN]; Flemish Liberal and Democrats or VLD [Bart SOMERS]; GROEN! [Vera DUA] (formerly AGALEV, Flemish Greens); New Flemish Alliance or NVA [Bart DE WEVER]; Social Progressive Alternative or SP.A [Johan Vande LANOTTE]; Spirit [Geert LAMBERT] (new party now associated with SP.A); Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) or VB [Frank VANHECKE] Francophone parties: Ecolo (Francophone Greens) [Jean-Michel JAVAUX, Isabelle DURANT, Claude BROUIR]; Humanist and Democratic Center of CDH [Joelle MILQUET]; National Front or FN [Daniel FERET]; Reform Movement or MR [Didier REYNDERS]; Socialist Party or PS [Elio DI RUPO]; other minor parties Political pressure groups and leaders: Christian, Socialist, and Liberal Trade Unions; Federation of Belgian Industries; numerous other associations representing bankers, manufacturers, middle-class artisans, and the legal and medical professions; various organizations represent the cultural interests of Flanders and Wallonia; various peace groups such as Pax Christi and groups representing immigrants International organization participation: ACCT, AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 9, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF, ONUB, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNITAR, UNRWA, UNTSO, UPU, WADB (nonregional), WCL, WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Dominique STRUYE DE SWIELANDE chancery: 3330 Garfield Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 333-6900 FAX: [1] (202) 333-3079 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, New York consulate(s): Atlanta Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires William IMBRIE; note - Ambassador-designate Sam FOX may become the new ambassador in early 2007 pending Senate confirmation hearing embassy: Regentlaan 27 Boulevard du Regent, B-1000 Brussels mailing address: PSC 82, Box 002, APO AE 09710 telephone: [32] (2) 508-2111 FAX: [32] (2) 511-2725 ||||| country of northwestern Europe. It is one of the smallest and most densely populated European countries, and it has been, since its independence in 1830, a representative democracy headed by a hereditary constitutional monarch. Initially, Belgium had a unitary form of government. In the 1980s and ’90s, however, steps were taken to turn Belgium into a federal state with powers shared among the regions of Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital Region. Culturally, Belgium is a heterogeneous country straddling the border between the Romance and Germanic language families of western Europe. With the exception of a small German-speaking population in the eastern part of the country, Belgium is divided between a French-speaking people, collectively called Walloons (approximately one-third of the total population), who are concentrated in the five southern provinces (Hainaut, Namur, Liège, Walloon Brabant, and Luxembourg), and Flemings, a Flemish- (Netherlandic-) speaking people (more than one-half of the total population), who are concentrated in the five northern and northeastern provinces (West Flanders, East Flanders [West-Vlaanderen, Oost-Vlaanderen], Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, and Limburg). Just north of the boundary between Walloon Brabant (Brabant Walloon) and Flemish (Vlaams) Brabant lies the officially bilingual but majority French-speaking Brussels-Capital Region, with approximately one-tenth of the total population. (See also Fleming and Walloon.) Belgium and the political entities that preceded it have been rich with historical and cultural associations, from the Gothic grandeur of its medieval university and commercial cities and its small, castle-dominated towns on steep-bluffed winding rivers, through its broad traditions in painting and music that marked one of the high points of the northern Renaissance in the 16th century, to its contributions to the arts of the 20th century and its maintenance of the folk cultures of past eras. The Belgian landscape has been a major European battleground for centuries, notably in modern times during the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and the 20th century’s two world wars. Given its area and population, Belgium today is one of the most heavily industrialized and urbanized countries in Europe. It is a member of the Benelux Economic Union (with The Netherlands and Luxembourg), the European Union (EU), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—organizations that all have headquarters in or near the capital city of Brussels. | Belgium. The Belgian parliament on Friday approved the new Van Rompuy I Government consisting of the same five political parties that formed the last ruling coalition, temporarily ending the country's political crisis. Lower house deputies approved the Motion of Confidence by a majority of 88 votes to 45, with no abstentions. "Don't judge the government... by its intentions but by its results, but no results in the very short-term, judge us in 2011," Van Rompuy told the lawmakers. Herman A. Van Rompuy (herman van rɔmpœy) had officially been invested on Tuesday as Belgium's third premier in a year by King Albert II. He addressed parliament Wednesday seeking quick economic measures. In his declaration, he urged the passage of bills to rejuvenate an ailing economy heading into deep recession and sought to resolve the 18 months political crisis after the country spent over nine months in caretaker rule. He also asked for full restoration of confidence amid the near-collapse of the country’s two largest banks. "The previous government proposed such a plan (pumping 2 billion euros or $2.84 billion, into the economy next year, part of a 200 billion euro EU-wide stimulus package). It must be enacted as soon as possible," Van Rompuy said. "It is clear that in the coming weeks and months the government will take new initiatives to cope with the challenges that the crisis poses for the economy and employment," he added. Prime Minister of Belgium Herman A. Van Rompuy. In his lower house of parliament speech, Van Rompuy also called for experts to testify in an unbiased parliamentary inquiry on Yves Leterme’s cabinet's alleged attempt to influence the judges into allowing the breakup of Fortis, once Belgium's largest bank. “The investigation should be carried out serenely and without bias,” he said. Van Rompuy, age 61, is a conservative Belgian Flemish politician and member of the CD&V (formerly called CVP) who succeeds Yves Leterme. On December 28, 2008, he was asked by King Albert II to form a new Government after he was reluctant to take up the role of Prime Minister after the Leterme I government had fallen on 22 December 2008 due to the bank bailout scandal. The Van Rompuy I Government became the new federal government of Belgium on December 30. It comprises 15 ministers and seven secretaries of state. Eighteen of the 22 ministers served in the same posts in Prime Minister Yves Leterme's government. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng on Friday has sent congratulatory messages to the new Premier. Brussels (view from the Kunstberg hill), the capital of Belgium and largest metropolitan area in the country. Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered the resignation of his government on December 18 to King Albert after a crisis erupted surrounding the sale of troubled Fortis bank to BNP Paribas. Leterme, Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen, and Didier Reynders were accused of violating the separation of powers and exerting improper influence by trying to influence the Court of Appeals; this accusation was made by the First Chairman of the Court of Cassation. Three days later the resignation was accepted by the king. Meanwhile, the Flemish opposition led by Flemish nationalist NVA party, Jan Jambon, challenged the legitimacy of Van Rompuy's government, calling it "a government which does not represent a majority of the Flemish people". Other opposition parties also questioned the created "Fortisgate" parliamentary commission of enquiry alleging it was a scheme to acquit Leterme. The Kingdom of Belgium (ˈbɛldʒəm) is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 km2 (11,787 square miles) and has a population of about 10.5 million. Belgium shares borders with France (620 km), Germany (167 km), Luxembourg (148 km) and the Netherlands (450 km). Its total area, including surface water area, is 33,990 square kilometres; land area alone is 30,528 km2. |
Somali Militants Battle for Control of Kismayo Witnesses in Somalia say at least 20 people have been killed and 50 wounded as two Islamist militant groups battle for control of the port city of Kismayo. Hundreds of families fled the southern city Wednesday anticipating a clash between the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab and the militant group Hizbul Islam. The two sides began exchanging heavy gunfire early Thursday. Residents in Kismayo tell VOA that al-Shabab has taken control over the entire city. The Islamist groups were previously allied in an effort to overthrow Somalia's weak transitional government. But tensions arose recently over which group should administer the port city, which is an important source of revenue for the militants. The two groups jointly captured Kismayo in August 2008 and had been running it together until last week, when al-Shabab named its own local governing council. An al-Shabab spokesman, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, told reporters Wednesday that al-Shabab has declared a "holy war" on Hizbul Islam. He also accused the rival group of promoting "un-Islamic" practices. Al-Shabab is known for enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law in the areas it controls. On Monday, the group publicly executed two men it accused of spying for foreign governments, and flogged another person charged with making counterfeit U.S. dollars. Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters. E-mail Print Digg Yahoo Buzz Facebook del.icio.us StumbleUpon ||||| Al-Shabab fighters have turned on their one-time allies over control of Kismayo [EPA] Al-Shabab fighters have turned on their one-time allies over control of Kismayo [EPA] Heavy fighting broke out on Thursday, apparently shattering an alliance between al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam which had together run the town and opposed to the country's Western-backed government. One-time Islamist allies in Somalia's southern port town of Kismayo have clashed, with as many as nine people reported killed in the violence. "The fighting is very intense, al-Shebab launched an offensive on Hizbul Islam positions at dawn," Abdi Baruud, a Kismayo resident, was reported by the AFP news agency as saying. Sheikh Ismail Haji Adow, a local Hizbul Islam spokesman, said: "We were attacked by our brothers with no reason." "They [al-Shabab] launched their offensive on several fronts very early this morning. The fighting is very intense but we are holding up," he said. Hundreds of families fled the area, many of the leaving ahead of the fighting as the two groups geared up to battle for control. Alliance broken Kismayo, about 300km from the capital, Mogadishu, has been relatively quiet since it was wrested from interim Somalia government forces by Islamist fighters in August. But relations between the two groups controlling it have soured in recent weeks. The two factions had agreed to share power in Kismayo, with each governing for six months alternatively. But clan politics reportedly caused the rotation to fail when al-Shabab refused to relinquish the administration. In depth Who are al-Shabab? Kismayo had attracted many Somalis who had fled Mogadishu, which has been plagued by almost uninterrupted violence over the past three years. The trouble in Kismayo had been brewing for weeks and Hizbul Islam leaders earlier threatened to fight al-Shabab "everywhere" in Somalia if clashes began at the port, a lucrative source of taxes and other income. Western donors have long hoped that extremists in al-Shabab could be isolated by a deal with more moderate Hizbul Islam leaders. Meanwhile, security analysts warn Somalia has become a safe haven for fighters, including foreign jihadists, and Washington accuses al-Shabab of being al-Qaeda's proxy in the country. Fighting in Somalia has killed nearly 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven 1.5 million from their homes. | Witnesses in Somalia have said at least 20 people have been killed and 50 wounded as two Islamist militant groups battle for control of the port city of Kismayo, located about 300 kilometres from Somalia's capital of Mogadishu. Kismayo, Somalia (2007) Hundreds of families fled the southern city on Wednesday, anticipating a clash between the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab and the militant group Hizbul Islam. The two sides began exchanging heavy gunfire early Thursday. Residents in Kismayo told Voice of America that al-Shabab took control over the entire city. "The fighting is very intense, al-Shebab launched an offensive on Hizbul Islam positions at Kismayo," resident Abdi Baruud said, as quoted by the Agence France-Presse news agency. The Islamist groups were previously allied in an effort to overthrow Somalia's weak transitional government. But tensions arose recently over which group should administer the port city, which is an important source of revenue for the militants. The two groups jointly captured Kismayo in August 2008 and had been running it together until last week, when al-Shabab named its own local governing council. An al-Shabab spokesman, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, told reporters Wednesday that al-Shabab has declared a "holy war" on Hizbul Islam. He also accused the rival group of promoting "un-Islamic" practices. Al-Shabab is known for enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law in the areas it controls. On Monday, the group publicly executed two men it accused of spying for foreign governments, and flogged another person charged with making counterfeit US dollars. Violence in Somali has resulted in the deaths of nineteen thousand Somalis since the start of 2007, and has displaced an estimated 1.5 million more. |
Headquarters, Washington 202-657-2194 Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov George Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 805-605-3051 George.h.diller@nasa.gov Alan Buis Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-653-8339 Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov Steve ColeHeadquarters, Washington202-657-2194George DillerKennedy Space Center, Fla.805-605-3051Alan BuisJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-653-8339 RELEASE : 09-039 NASA's Launch Of Carbon-Seeking Satellite is Unsuccessful WASHINGTON -- NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its 4:55 a.m. EST liftoff Tuesday from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere.A Mishap Investigation Board will be immediately convened to determine the cause of the launch failure.For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov - end - text-only version of this release NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending a blank e-mail message to hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a blank e-mail message to hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov. Back to NASA Newsroom | Back to NASA Homepage ||||| Faulty rocket brings Nasa's 'global warming' satellite down with a bump By David Derbyshire Last updated at 9:08 AM on 25th February 2009 Nasa scientists were left red-faced today after a £190 million rocket carrying a global warming satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was the agency's first attempt to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide from space and was designed make climate change models more accurate. But minutes after the launch at 9.55am GMT, the rocket failed to separate properly and plunged back to the Earth. Nasa's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite, artist's concept below, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, above, but the module carrying it failed to separate from its rocket 'Certainly for the science community it's a huge disappointment,' said John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation which built the rocket and satellite. 'It's taken so long to get here.' The half-ton satellite was supposed to be blasted into a low Earth orbit about 400 miles high by a Taurus XL solid fuel rocket. But soon after it left California's Vandenberg Air Force Base a fairing - or clam-shell cover protecting the satellite - failed to separate. Mr Bunschwyler added: 'The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration.' Rocket course: Because the fairing cover failed to separate, the rocket did not get enough lift and plunged back to Earth close to the Antarctic ocean Unable to get enough lift, the rocket splashed down close to the Antarctic ocean where a group of environment ministers - including Britain's Hilary Benn, met this week to study climate change. NASA said it will convene a team of experts to investigate the loss of the satellite. The observatory was NASA's first satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide on a global scale. The satellite was expected to improve climate models. Last month, Japan successfully launched the world's first satellite to monitor global warming emissions. The Taurus is the smallest ground-launched rocket used by Nasa. This was its eight mission since 1994 - and its second failure. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory is placed on the launch pad Dr Paul Palmer, a scientist from the University of Edinburgh, who was working on the mission, said: 'I am bitterly disappointed about the loss of OCO. 'My thoughts go out to the science team that have dedicated the past seven years to building and testing the instrument.' Only about 50 per cent of carbon emitted into the atmosphere, from fossil fuel combustion and farming stays there. Most of the remainder is mopped up by the forests and oceans, which act as 'sinks'. However, there appears to be a large carbon sink missing. 'All eyes are now on the Japanese Gosat instrument to search for the missing carbon sink,' said Dr Palmer. Nasa's Glory satellite, which is designed to measure carbon soot and other aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, is due to launch on a Taurus XL from California in June. But the space agency said it would not fly Glory until the cause of OCO's failure had been investigated. Dr Chris Huntingford, climate modeller at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said: 'The failure of the OCO satellite is a major loss. 'The planned measurements from OCO would have helped refine our description of the carbon cycle in climate models, and thus allow more accurate predictions of future global warming.' ||||| VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE (AP) ― 1 of 1 Close numSlides of totalImages A NASA mission to monitor global warming from space ended Tuesday when a satellite plunged into the ocean near Antarctica minutes after launch. An equipment malfunction was apparently to blame, officials said.The loss of the $280 million mission came a month after Japan launched the world's first spacecraft to track global warming emissions. The failure dealt a blow to NASA, which had hoped to send up its own satellite to measure carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas behind human-caused global warming.The crash came just after liftoff from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast. A Taurus XL rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory blasted off as scheduled shortly before 2 a.m.Three minutes into the flight, the nose cone protecting the satellite failed to come off as designed, NASA officials said. The extra weight from the cover caused the rocket to dive back to Earth, splashing into the ocean near Antarctica, where a group of environment ministers from more than a dozen countries met Monday to get the latest science on global warming."Certainly for the science community it's a huge disappointment," said John Brunschwyler, Taurus project manager for Orbital Sciences Corp., which built the rocket and satellite. "It's taken so long to get here."The 986-pound satellite was supposed to be placed into a polar orbit some 400 miles high. The project was nine years in the making, and the mission was supposed to last two years.The observatory was NASA's first satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide on a global scale. Measurements collected by the satellite were expected to improve climate models and help researchers determine where the greenhouse gas originates and how much is being absorbed by forests and oceans."Wow! Bad news this morning," said Scott Denning, an atmospheric science professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., and a member of the team that planned to analyze data from the satellite. "We put years into getting ready for this."Carbon dioxide is the leading greenhouse gas and its buildup helps trap heat from the sun, causing potentially dangerous warming of the planet. Scientists now depend on 282 land-based stations -- and scattered instrumented aircraft flights -- to monitor carbon dioxide at low altitudes.Engineers will look at existing spacecraft parts to see if it makes sense to build another carbon observatory, said Mike Freilich, Earth science division director at NASA headquarters.A team of experts will investigate the loss of the satellite. It's the first launch failure for the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences since 2001. That year, a NASA ozone monitoring satellite and a cargo of human ashes aboard a Taurus XL fell into the Indian Ocean after veering off course during launch.Orbital's Brunschwyler said the company has a "nearly perfect" launch record and has not had any previous problems with its clamshell nose cone design.Tuesday's failure put on hold the summer launch of another NASA satellite Glory, which will measure soot and aerosols in the atmosphere, said launch manager Charles Dovale.Carbon dioxide emissions rose 3 percent worldwide from 2006 to 2007, according to international science agencies.Scientists lamented the loss of the global warming satellite.The satellite would have helped scientists confirm whether there was a drop in worldwide emissions, Alan Robock of Rutgers University wrote in an e-mail. (© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) ||||| There's a problem with your browser or settings. Your browser or your browser's settings are not supported. To get the best experience possible, please download a compatible browser. If you know your browser is up to date, you should check to ensure that javascript is enabled. › Learn How ||||| Mission Overview The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is the latest mission in NASA's ongoing study of the global carbon cycle. It is the first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the most significant human-produced greenhouse gas and the principal human-produced driver of climate change.This experimental NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program mission will measure atmospheric carbon dioxide from space, mapping the globe once every 16 days for at least two years. It will do so with the accuracy, resolution and coverage needed to provide the first complete picture of the regional-scale geographic distribution and seasonal variations of both human and natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions and their sinks-the reservoirs that pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it.Mission data will be used by the atmospheric and carbon cycle science communities to improve global carbon cycle models, reduce uncertainties in forecasts of how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, and make more accurate predictions of global climate change.The mission provides a key new measurement that can be combined with other ground and aircraft measurements and satellite data to answer important questions about the processes that regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide and its role in the carbon cycle and climate. This information could help policymakers and business leaders make better decisions to ensure climate stability and retain our quality of life. The mission will also serve as a pathfinder for future long-term satellite missions to monitor carbon dioxide.Scientists want to better understand the processes responsible for regulating the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, because the increasing concentrations of this efficient greenhouse gas are warming our planet and changing its climate. The concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is determined by the balance between its sources, which emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and sinks, which remove this gas from the atmosphere. While natural sources roughly balance out natural sinks, human activities have thrown the natural carbon cycle out of balance.In the 10,000 years before the Industrial Revolution in 1751, carbon dioxide levels rose less than one percent. Since then, they've risen 37 percent. Between 1751 and 2003, human activities added about 466 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuels, and cement manufacturing, account for about two-thirds of these emissions, while land use changes (primarily forest clearing) make up the rest. Humans are currently adding almost 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year, and this rate of emission is increasing dramatically. In fact, carbon dioxide levels have risen by 30 parts per million in just the last 17 years, and are now increasing at about two parts per million by volume per year. The current globally averaged concentration is about 384 parts per million.Of all the carbon emitted by human activities between 1751 and 2003, only about 40 percent has remained in the atmosphere. The remaining 60 percent has been apparently absorbed (at least temporarily) by the ocean and continents. Recent inventories of the ocean can account for about half of this missing carbon. The remainder must have been absorbed somewhere on land, but scientists don't know where most of the land sinks are located or what controls their efficiency over time.An improved understanding of carbon sinks is essential to predicting future carbon dioxide increases and making accurate predictions of carbon dioxide's impact on Earth's climate. If these natural carbon dioxide sinks become less efficient as the climate changes, the rate of buildup of carbon dioxide would increase-in fact, today's carbon dioxide levels would be about 100 parts per million higher were it not for them.Scientists monitor carbon dioxide concentrations using a ground-based network consisting of about 100 sites all over the world. But the current network does not have the spatial coverage, resolution or sampling rates necessary to identify the natural sinks responsible for absorbing carbon dioxide, or the processes that control how the efficiency of those sinks changes from year to year.The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will dramatically improve measurements of carbon dioxide over space and time, uniformly sampling Earth's land and ocean and collecting about 8,000,000 measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration over Earth's entire sunlit hemisphere every 16 days.Scientific models have shown that we can reduce uncertainties in our understanding of the balance of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by up to 80 percent through the use of precise, space-based measurements. Data from the existing ground-based monitoring network can be augmented with high-resolution, global, space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration accurate to 0.3 to 0.5 percent (about one to two parts per million out of the background level of about 385 parts per million) on regional to continental scales. This level of precision is necessary because atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations rarely vary by more than two percent from one pole of Earth to the other. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will have this level of precision.Scientists hope to use Orbiting Carbon Observatory data to address a number of questions about carbon dioxide and the carbon cycle. Among them:What natural processes absorb carbon dioxide from human emissions?Will those processes continue to limit increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide in the future, as they do now? Or will they stop or even reverse and accelerate the atmospheric increases?Is the missing carbon dioxide being absorbed primarily by land or the ocean and in what proportions? Which continents absorb more than others?Why does the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide vary from one year to the next while emission rates increase uniformly?How will carbon dioxide sinks respond to changes in Earth's climate or changes in land use?What are the processes controlling the rate at which carbon dioxide is building up in Earth's atmosphere?Where are the sources of carbon dioxide?What is the geographic distribution and quantity of carbon dioxide emitted through both fossil fuel combustion and less well understood sources, such as ocean outgassing, deforestation, fires and biomass burning? How does this distribution change over time?Following launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Taurus XL rocket, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory will be placed in a near-polar Earth orbit at an altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers), orbiting once every 98.8 minutes and repeating its orbit track every 16 days. It will fly in a loose formation with the other Earth-observing satellites of NASA's Afternoon Constellation, or "A-Train": Aura, Glory, Parasol, Calipso, CloudSat and Aqua. Flying in the A-Train will complement the mission's science return and facilitate observatory calibration and validation.The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va., built the spacecraft and launch vehicle and provides mission operations under JPL's leadership. Hamilton Sundstrand, Pomona, Calif., designed and built the observatory's science instrument. NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management. | The launch of the observatory. The rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory has crashed, sending the remains of the atmosphere observation satellite into the ocean off the coast of Antarctica. Shortly before the crash, the 'payload fairing' failed to deploy from the craft. "Several minutes into the flight of the Taurus rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory spacecraft, launch managers declared a contingency after the payload fairing failed to separate," said NASA in a statement on their website. "The spacecraft did not reach orbit and likely landed in the Pacific Ocean near Antarctica". The cause of the failure to deploy and the crash are still under investigation. "A Mishap Investigation Board will be immediately convened to determine the cause of the launch failure," added the statement. Artist rendition of OCO. Steve Cole, a spokesperson for NASA told Bloomberg L.P., "the mission is lost. At this point no one is exactly sure what the cause is". The rocket that would have carried the observatory into space, a Taurus XL, took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in the United States, at approximately 4:55 a.m. EST. Approximately 10 minutes into the mission, the payload failed to separate and a contingency was activated, but was unsuccessful. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was the latest mission in NASA's ongoing study of the global carbon cycle. It would have been the first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the most significant human-produced greenhouse gas and the principal human-produced driver of climate change. The cost of the project was US$273 million. |
Central American gang targets vigil on Mexico border By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published March 28, 2005 NACO, Arizona -- Members of a violent Central America-based gang have been sent to Arizona to target Minuteman Project volunteers, who will begin a monthlong border vigil this weekend to find and report foreigner sneaking into the United States, project officials say. James Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran who helped organize the vigil to protest the federal government's failure to control illegal immigration, said he has been told that California and Texas leaders of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, have issued orders to teach "a lesson" to the Minuteman volunteers. "We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers," Mr. Gilchrist said. "And those guys are just a bunch of punks." More than 1,000 volunteers are expected to take part in the Minuteman vigil, which will include civilian patrols along a 20-mile section of the San Pedro River Valley, which has become a frequent entry point to the United States for foreigner headed north. About 40 percent of the 1.15 million foreign nationals caught last year by the U.S. Border Patrol trying to gain illegal entry to the United States were apprehended along a 260-mile stretch of the Arizona border here known as the Tucson sector. Many of the Minuteman volunteers are expected to be armed, although organizers of the border vigil have prohibited them from carrying rifles. Only those people with a license to carry a handgun will be allowed to do so, Mr. Gilchrist said. An operational plan calls for teams of four to eight volunteers to be deployed along the targeted 20-mile stretch of border at intervals of 200 to 300 yards, along with observation posts and a command center. Mr. Gilchrist said some of the patrols and posts will be right on the U.S.-Mexico border, while others will be located farther north. The volunteers also have been told to "make lots of noise and burn campfires at night to be very visible." According to guidelines issued to the volunteers earlier this month, organizers said they expect that they will be targeted by various protest groups and others and that some protesters would try to provoke confrontations. "If we are to send the message loud and clear to President Bush and Congress, it is imperative we stay within the law," Mr. Gilchrist said. "If one single person steps over the line for their personal gratification, we are all stained with that irresponsible behavior and labeled forever as a fringe element that embarrasses all who are counting on us to make this historic statement," he said. The MS-13 gang has established major smuggling operations in several areas along the U.S.-Mexico border and have transported hundreds of Central and South Americans -- including gang members -- into the United States in the past two years. The gang also is involved in drug and weapons smuggling. Gang members in America have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortion, rapes and aggravated assaults. Authorities said that the gang has earned a reputation from the other street gangs as being particularly ruthless and that it will retaliate violently when challenged. The MS-13 gang, with 20,000 members nationwide, has risen in recent months to such prominence that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, has begun a nationwide crackdown on gang members in this country -- as part of a sweeping law-enforcement initiative known as Operation Community Shield. ICE agents arrested more than 100 members of the gang during limited raids that began in January in just six cities, including 35 who were taken into custody in Virginia and Maryland. The authorities said MS-13 gang members originally moved into the Los Angeles area in the 1980s. Other Headlines Peace is the product in global marketing campaign Viewpoint: Population as a resource, not a bomb Walker's World: France's black anger Peretz win could give new life to Labor Battered suburb tries to return to normal Teens delay sex in close-knit neighborhoods ||||| National : Mara Salvatruchas to take on the Minutemen vigilantes Posted by RedGirl1 by Ernesto Cienfuegos It looks like there is going to be a "showdown at OK corral" on April 1st in Tombstone, Arizona. A high level leader of the Mara Salvatruchas, Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, has issued orders, from federal prison, to members of his extremely violent organization to teach the Minutemen vigilantes a lesson they will never forget, La Voz de Aztlan has learned. The Mara Salvatruchas (MS-13) are a consequence of USA policies in Central America and are just another example of "the chickens coming home to roost". Its members are the sons of immigrants from El Salvador and other Central American countries that were forced to flee because of the CIA instigated war during the Reagan Administration that completely destroyed the physical, economic, social, religious and cultural infrastructure of the region. MS-13 was founded in Los Angeles by the offspring of the immigrants for protection. Later, many of the members were deported back to Central America where they expanded their operations and joined up with former members of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) . Today, the Mara Salvatruchas have grown immensely in numbers and their network has expanded through Mexico all the way to Canada. The extremely violent group controls large portions of the drug, stolen vehicle and immigrant smuggling operations along the US/Mexico border and will not put up with clowns like the Minutemen vigilantes. The amateurish Minutemen may be in for a big surprise on April Fools Day and on the subsequent days that they plan to patrol the border with Mexico in Arizona. The Mara Salvatruchas are known to cut the "testicles" of their enemies and feed them to their vicious dogs. Other times they have cut the heads off their opponents to play football soccer with them. These are not people to mess around with. There is a good probability that very few cowardly Minutemen vigilantes will show up on April 1st in Tombstone, Arizona. The principal imbeciles organizing the event are known to be mere loudmouths. The morons think that they will be just having "some fun in the sun" hunting down defenseless Mexican migrant workers but instead may meet up with the devil himself. Satan has a very warped sense of humor and April 1st would be an excellent day to express it. Americans for Legal Immigration Flat Threaded Nested Oldest First Newest First The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. ||||| The Mara Salvatruchas is one more guerilla organization in America that threats from the FBI have no effect. They "are known to cut the "testicles" of their enemies and feed them to their vicious dogs. Other times they have cut the heads off their opponents to play football soccer with them. These are not people to mess around with." That’s the level of ruthlessness required to avoid being "Wacoed" or "suicided" by elements within law enforcement. MS-13 is the same militia that William Lind warned was at war with America and had "threatened to execute Prince George’s County police officers as tensions continue to escalate". At least they have a clear idea of who their enemy is. But when an Arizona patriot militia or the Jewish Task Force talk about organizing a border closing operation, the Fed reacts with hostility to an enemy that they consider to be less determined and committed to freedom than Allah's boys or MS-13 are to wickedness. The fed never fails to reveal itself as the true enemy. Perhaps there is an element of fear and self-preservation in the government, in that an angry electorate may try to hang them but Allah and MS-13 will let them "govern". http://www.theconservativevoice.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3438 http://www.lewrockwell.com/lind/lind49.html | '''April 1, 2005''' Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, a leader of the vicious Mara Salvatruchas, nicknamed the MS-13 gang, issued orders from his prison cell for his followers to teach the American "Minutemen" volunteers a lesson when they begin patrolling the Mexican border today. MS-13 gang members, considered by some to be America's most violent gang, is accused of engaging in such acts as cutting off the testicles of their enemies and feeding them to their dogs, and cutting the heads off their opponents to play soccer with. However, such allegations of brutality don't seem to frighten the "Minutemen", a group of more than 1,000 volunteers planning to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border beginning April 1st. They have been called vigilantes by President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox. They sometimes sarcastically refer to themselves as "undocumented border patrol agents". James Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran and spokesman for the Minutemen, in response to the MS-13 threat said; "We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers... they MS-13 are just a bunch of punks." The MS-13 gang now has about 20,000 members nationwide. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nicknamed ICE, began to focus on the gang with an initiative called "Operation Community Shield". The very existence of MS-13 is considered by the "Conservative Voice" to be a direct consequence of the USA government's 1980's policies in Central America; "the chickens are coming home to roost. Its MS-13 members are the sons of immigrants from El Salvador and other Central American countries that were forced to flee because of the CIA instigated war during the Reagan Administration that completely destroyed the physical, economic, social, religious and cultural infrastructure of the region. MS-13 was founded in Los Angeles by the offspring of the immigrants for protection. |
BERLUSCONI REJECTS US STORY RELATED STORIES - Punish US soldiers: Italy Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has entered into the dispute over the death of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq, saying the car he was traveling in had stopped before US forces shot at it. He also told the Italian Parliament US military had known of and authorised the car’s journey to Baghdad Airport last week. His statement disputes Washington's account that the car was speeding when US forces opened fire, killing Nicola Calipari. The freed hostage he was accompanying, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, and another intelligence officer in the vehicle were wounded. However the US said the vehicle was speeding and had refused to stop at the checkpoint, and soldiers fired at the engine when the driver ignored several warnings. Italy has called the shooting an "accident", echoing the White House's characterisation of the death, but has disputed the US version of events and demanded Washington shed light on the incident and punish those responsible. In his first major address since Friday's shooting strained relations between Washington and one of its biggest allies, Mr Berlusconi said Washington must accept responsibility if relations were to be restored. However he remains confident this will happen, saying: "The United States has no intention of evading the truth. I'm sure that in a very short time every aspect of this will be clarified." His 10-minute address made no mention of ransom payments to win the release of the hostage, Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena. His address came a day after Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini made a similar speech to lawmakers. Mr Fini dismissed Ms Sgrena’s allegation the shooting was the result of an ambush, but he also disputed the US claim the car was speeding. The US military has started investigating the shooting, which is expected to continue for four weeks. US President George W Bush sent a letter to his Italian counterpart renewing his promise for a swift and thorough investigation into the killing, said the Italian president's office. SOURCE: World News STORY ARCHIVE ||||| ADVERTISEMENT The top U.S. general in Iraq said he had no indication that Italian officials gave advance notice of the route the Italians' car was taking. In a statement released after the shooting, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said the vehicle was speeding and refused to stop. The statement said a U.S. patrol tried to warn a driver with hand and arm signals, by flashing white lights and firing shots in front of the car. But in his first major address since Friday's shooting strained relations between the United States and Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told lawmakers the car carrying the intelligence agent Nicola Calipari and journalist Giuliana Sgrena was traveling at a slow speed and stopped immediately when a light was flashed. Berlusconi said Calipari had notified an Italian liaison officer, waiting at the Baghdad airport along with an American officer, that they were on their way. However, he added, ''I'm sure that in a very short time every aspect of this will be clarified.'' The idea that Calipari was killed by friendly fire is ''painful'' to accept, Berlusconi said. But he reassured lawmakers: ''The United States has no intention of evading the truth.'' Berlusconi is a staunch supporter of President Bush and the U.S.-led campaign, and has been struggling to balance his decision to keep 3,000 troops in Iraq against heavy anti-war sentiment in Italy. His 20-minute address did not mention whether ransom was paid to win Sgrena's release. Some Italian officials have suggested a ransom was paid, but there has been no official confirmation. Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini denied Wednesday that ransoms were paid for any Italian hostages. ''There has been no payment,'' he said, speaking during a talk show on RAI1 state television. Berlusconi once again urged Italians in Iraq to leave. ''When Italian citizens have been victims of kidnappings, the government has always acted by following two directives: It has always rejected political blackmail, while at the same time activating all the political, diplomatic and intelligence channels to obtain the release of our nationals,'' Berlusconi said. Calipari was shot and killed as he headed to Baghdad's airport after securing the release of Sgrena, who had been kidnapped on Feb. 4. Sgrena and another intelligence officer in the vehicle were wounded. ''The case of friendly fire is certainly the most painful to bear. It feels like an injustice beyond any sentiment. It's something unreasonable,'' Berlusconi said. In his speech, Berlusconi also revealed that there was no fourth person in the car, as Italian authorities had said initially. Instead, the fourth man was the liaison officer waiting at the airport. Photos aired by RAI, state TV's main evening news program, showed the light gray Toyota Corolla that Calipari and Sgrena were riding in, which is still in Iraq in the hands of the U.S. military. The body of the car appeared to have little or no damage on its left side and front, including the lights. A few bullet holes are visible on the right side near the wheel and the front door. Inside, the seats appear to be covered in glass, although the photos of the interior are grainy. A bullet hole also is evident in the back seat on the left side, where Sgrena reportedly was sitting. U.S. officials have said American troops fired at the car's engine to stop it. Berlusconi's address was well received and lawmakers followed it with a standing ovation in Calipari's honor. The office of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said Wednesday that Bush had sent him a letter renewing a promise for a swift and thorough investigation. In it, Bush called the shooting a ''terrible tragedy'' and expressed his solidarity, Ciampi's office said. ''In his letter, President Bush assures President Ciampi that the United States will move toward a swift and exhaustive joint investigation'' between Rome and Washington, the statement added. The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq announced Tuesday it was ordering an investigation into the shooting, to be led by a U.S. brigadier general with Italian officials' participation. Berlusconi said he expected the joint commission to release its findings in three to four weeks. ||||| originalreport Was Italian Hostage's Car Speeding? Italians Say No, But U.S. Military Official Says Vehicle Was Going Faster Than 100 MPH A photo shows damage sustained by the car which carried an Italian journalist and freed hostage and was fired upon by U.S. troops. (ABC News) WASHINGTON, March 8, 2005 A senior U.S. military official tells ABC News he believes the investigation into the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence officer by U.S. troops in Iraq will ultimately prove the officer's car was traveling in excess of 100 mph. The car, which was carrying a newly released Italian hostage to freedom, came under fire from U.S. troops at a checkpoint Friday. Intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was hit by a bullet and killed as he threw himself in front of the freed hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena. Sgrena and another intelligence officer were wounded. The shooting has outraged Italians, who mourned Calipari at a state funeral Monday. Sgrena has said she believes the car was deliberately ambushed because the United States opposes Italy's policy of negotiating with hostage-takers. The White House has dismissed claims that the shooting was anything but an accident as "absurd." U.S. Official Says Driver Almost Lost Control Several Times Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told his country's parliament today that the shooting was an accident, but he contradicted the U.S. military's account of the incident. The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said in a statement that the vehicle was "traveling at high speeds" and did not stop at the checkpoint, despite a number of warnings. The military said U.S. soldiers only opened fire after the car ignored the warnings. Fini, however, said the car was traveling no faster than 25 mph, and disputed the U.S. military's assertion that several warnings were given. He said the U.S. government must conduct a thorough investigation, "that responsibilities be pinpointed, and, where found, that the culprits be punished." But, according to the senior U.S. military official, the car was traveling at speeds of more than 100 mph. The driver almost lost control several times before the shooting as the car hydroplaned through large puddles, the official told ABC News. The car had not gone through any previous checkpoints, the source added. ||||| U.S. forces fired on the vehicle Calipari and Sgrena were riding in as it approached a coalition checkpoint on airport road in Baghdad. The follow-on investigation to the Multinational Division Baghdad commander's initial inquiry into the incident is expected to take about three to four weeks to complete. The command is working closely with the U.S. Embassy, and Italian officials have been invited to participate. Multinational Force Iraq issued a statement extending the commands deepest sympathies to Caliparis family. The command also issued a statement saying it regretted the March 4 death of Jr. Sgt. Gardi Gardev from Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government said March 7 the death was the result of U.S. friendly fire. Officials from 1st Corps Support Command are investigating the incident. More details will be provided when they are available. MNFI said it is committed to working with its Bulgarian counterparts to determine the cause of the soldiers death. ||||| 'My truth' By Giuliana Sgrena Editor's Note: The following is a translation of a March 6, 2005, article by journalist Giuliana Sgrena, reprinted here with permission from the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto. Sgrena was shot and wounded by U.S. forces in Iraq shortly after being freed from captors. A security agent protecting her was killed. I'm still in the dark. Friday was the most dramatic day of my life. I had been in captivity for many days. I had just spoken with my captors. It had been days they were telling me I would be released. I was living in waiting for this moment. They were speaking about things that only later I would have understood the importance of. They were speaking about problems "related to transfers." I learned to understand what was going on by the behavior of my two guards, the two guards that had me under custody every day. One in particular showed much attention to my desires. He was incredibly cheerful. To understand exactly what was going on I provocatively asked him if he was happy because I was going or because I was staying. I was shocked and happy when for the first time he said, "I only know that you will go, but I don't know when." To confirm the fact that something new was happening both of them came into my room and started comforting me and kidding: "Congratulations they said you are leaving for Rome." For Rome, that's exactly what they said. I experienced a strange sensation because that word evoked in me freedom but also projected in me an immense sense of emptiness. I understood that it was the most difficult moment of my kidnapping and that if everything I had just experienced until then was "certain," now a huge vacuum of uncertainty was opening, one heavier than the other. I changed my clothes. They came back: "We'll take you and don't give any signals of your presence with us otherwise the Americans could intervene." It was confirmation that I didn't want to hear; it was altogether the most happy and most dangerous moment. If we bumped into someone, meaning American military, there would have been an exchange of fire. My captors were ready and would have answered. My eyes had to be covered. I was already getting used to momentary blindness. What was happening outside? I only knew that it had rained in Baghdad. The car was proceeding securely in a mud zone. There was a driver plus the two captors. I immediately heard something I didn't want to hear. A helicopter was hovering at low altitude right in the area that we had stopped. "Be calm, they will come and look for you...in 10 minutes they will come looking for." They spoke in Arabic the whole time, a little bit of French, and a lot in bad English. Even this time they were speaking that way. Then they got out of the car. I remained in the condition of immobility and blindness. My eyes were padded with cotton, and I had sunglasses on. I was sitting still. I thought what should I do. I start counting the seconds that go by between now and the next condition, that of liberty? I had just started mentally counting when a friendly voice came to my ears "Giuliana, Giuliana. I am Nicola, don't worry I spoke to Gabriele Polo (editor in chief of Il Manifesto). Stay calm. You are free." They made me take my cotton bandage off, and the dark glasses. I felt relieved, not for what was happening and I couldn't understand but for the words of this "Nicola." He kept on talking and talking, you couldn't contain him, an avalanche of friendly phrases and jokes. I finally felt an almost physical consolation, warmth that I had forgotten for some time. The car kept on the road, going under an underpass full of puddles and almost losing control to avoid them. We all incredibly laughed. It was liberating. Losing control of the car in a street full of water in Baghdad and maybe wind up in a bad car accident after all I had been through would really be a tale I would not be able to tell. Nicola Calipari sat next to me. The driver twice called the embassy and in Italy that we were heading towards the airport that I knew was heavily patrolled by U.S. troops. They told me that we were less than a kilometer away...when...I only remember fire. At that point, a rain of fire and bullets hit us, shutting up forever the cheerful voices of a few minutes earlier. The driver started yelling that we were Italians. "We are Italians, we are Italians." Nicola Calipari threw himself on me to protect me and immediately, I repeat, immediately I heard his last breath as he was dying on me. I must have felt physical pain. I didn't know why. But then I realized my mind went immediately to the things the captors had told me. They declared that they were committed to the fullest to freeing me but I had to be careful, "the Americans don't want you to go back." Then when they had told me I considered those words superfluous and ideological. At that moment they risked acquiring the flavor of the bitterest of truths, at this time I cannot tell you the rest. This was the most dramatic day. But the months that I spent in captivity probably changed forever my existence. One month alone with myself, prisoner of my profound certainties. Every hour was an impious verification of my work, sometimes they made fun of me, and they even stretch as far as asking why I wanted to leave, asking me stay. They insisted on personal relationships. It was them that made me think of the priorities that too often we cast aside. They were pointing to family. "Ask your husband for help," they would say. And I also said in the first video that I think you all saw, "My life has changed." As Iraqi engineer Ra'ad Ali Abdulaziz of the organization A Bridge For [Baghdad], who had been kidnapped with the two Simones had told me "my life is not the same anymore." I didn't understand. Now I know what he meant. Because I experienced the harshness of truth, it's difficult proposition (of truth) and the fragility of those who attempt it. In the first days of my kidnapping I did not shed a tear. I was simply furious. I would say in the face of my captors: "But why do you kidnap me, I'm against the war." And at that point they would start a ferocious dialogue. "Yes because you go speak to the people, we would never kidnap a journalist that remains closed in a hotel and because the fact that you say you're against the war could be a decoy." And I would answer almost to provoke them: "It's easy to kidnap a weak woman like me, why don't you try with the American military." I insisted on the fact that they could not ask the Italian government to withdraw the troops. Their political go-between could not be the government but the Italian people, who were and are against the war. It was a month on a see-saw shifting between strong hope and moments of great depression. Like when it was a first Sunday after the Friday they kidnapped me, in the house in Baghdad where I was kept, and on top of which was a satellite dish they showed me the Euronews Newscast. There I saw a huge picture of me hanging from Rome City Hall. I felt relieved. Right after though the claim by the Jihad that announced my execution if Italy did not withdraw the troops arrived. I was terrified. But I immediately felt reassured that it wasn't them. I didn't have to believe these announcements, they were "provocative." Often I asked the captor that from his face I could identify a good disposition but whom like his colleagues resembled a soldier: "Tell me the truth. Do you want to kill me?" Although many times there have been windows of communications with them. "Come watch a movie on TV" they would say while a Wahabi roamed around the house and took care of me. The captors seemed to me a very religious group, in continuous prayer on the Koran. But Friday, at the time of the release, the one that looked the most religious and who woke up every morning at 5 a.m. to pray incredibly congratulated me shaking my hand, a behavior unusual for an Islamic fundamentalist -- and he would add "if you behave yourself you will leave immediately." Then an almost funny incident. One of the two captors came to me surprised both because the TV was showing big posters of me in European cities and also for Totti. Yes Totti. He declared he was a fan of the Roma soccer team and he was shocked that his favorite player went to play with the writing "Liberate Giuliana" on his T-shirt. I lived in an enclave in which I had no more certainties. I found myself profoundly weak. I failed in my certainties; I said that we had to tell about that dirty war. And I found myself in the alternative either to stay in the hotel and wait or to end up kidnapped because of my work. We don't want anyone else anymore. The kidnappers would tell me. But I wanted to tell about the bloodbath in Fallujah from the words of the refugees. And that morning the refugees, or some of their leaders would not listen to me. I had in front of me the accurate confirmation of the analysis of what the Iraqi society had become as a result of the war and they would throw their truth in my face: "We don't want anybody why didn't you stay in your home. What can this interview do for us?" The worse collateral effect, the war that kills communication was falling on me. To me, I who had risked everything, challenging the Italian government who didn't want journalists to reach Iraq and the Americans who don't want our work to be witnessed of what really became of that country with the war and notwithstanding that which they call elections. Now I ask myself. Is their refusal a failure? | In his first public speech since the fatal shooting that killed an Italian Intelligence agent in Iraq, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has rejected the version of events presented by the US administration. The intelligence agent, Nicola Calipari, was escorting freed hostage, Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, when their car came under fire by US troops on the journey to Baghdad airport last week, leaving Nicola Calipari dead and Giuliana Sgrena and another intelligence agent wounded. Mr Berlusconi has disputed US claims that the car was speeding and also said that the US military had known of and authorised the car's journey. Berlusconi's speech to parliament comes a day after his Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini made a similar speech to lawmakers, where he refuted Ms. Sgrena's claims that the shooting was the result of an ambush. The US began their official investigation on March 8, four days after the shooting. The results are yet to be determined. However in a statement given immediately after the attack by the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, who controls Baghdad, said that Italian officials had given no advance warning to the US Army of their journey, and that the car was speeding and refused to stop. One Army official stated that the car was traveling over 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour) and almost hydroplaned several times, an assertion that Sgrena herself seemingly corroborated in her article for ''Il Manifesto''. "The United States has no intention of evading the truth. I'm sure that in a very short time every aspect of this will be clarified." Mr Berlusconi said, describing the shooting as an "accident." Adding that he expected the findings of an investigation into the shooting, being led by a US brigadier general, in cooperation with Italian authorities, to be released in three to four weeks. Meanwhile the office of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said that it had received a letter from U.S. President George Bush saying that the shooting was a "terrible tragedy" and that "President Bush assures President Ciampi that the United States will move toward a swift and exhaustive joint investigation." Recently, the Associated Press and the Italian RAI TGI television released photos of the car after the attack by American soldiers., The pictures show little visible damage to the vehicle. Sgrena claims that the American soldiers fired between 300 and 400 rounds at the car from an armoured vehicle. This is disputed by the US military, as a tank or other fighting vehicle would likely have entirely destroyed the car. |
Home > News > World > Asia Human rights the first casualty after Nepal's palace coup By Justin Huggler in Kathmandu 03 February 2005 They were still playing golf at the course outside Kathmandu airport yesterday. Next door, flights were beginning to arrive from the outside world again. But they were coming to a Nepal that seemed almost surreally oblivious to the political crisis engulfing it. The king might have just seized absolute power, sacked the entire government and put the Prime Minister under house arrest, but you would not have known it in the tourist bazaars of the Thamel quarter, which were doing the usual roaring trade in Buddhist devil masks and cheap Tintin T-shirts. But then in Nepal, crisis is nothing new. The past few years have been one long, slow crisis. Yesterday every telephone line and internet connection had been disconnected by royal decree. The king had mobile phones cut off. But that's nothing in a country where, three and a half years ago, almost the entire royal family was wiped out, apparently after the crown prince went on a berserk rampage through the palace. This is a country where people are moving to the capital in their thousands because it's the only place they feel safe from a Maoist insurgency that has already claimed more than 10,000 lives. The king may have seized absolute power, but Maoists camped half-way up the Himalayas can still bring his capital to a near standstill by calling a general strike any time they want. King Gyanendra's move this week is just the latest episode in the long agony of Nepal. "People are angry about what has happened, they are not happy," said Resam Gurung, a former soldier working as a watchman. "I don't want an absolute monarchy, I want to live freely." But not everyone in Kathmandu agrees. "Look, what we want is peace," said Suwoj, a bookseller in Thamel Mall, where the trekkers and backpackers hang out. "Now the king can act decisively. The Prime Minister couldn't do anything. But now the king can act decisively. He can bring peace with the Maoists." King Gyanendra's palace coup may have caught the attention - and earned the condemnation - of the outside world, but for many Nepalese it is less important than the Maoist insurgency that has been slowly choking their country for years now. The Maoists already control large areas of rural Nepal. Their reach extends to Kathmandu, where people are scared enough to obey their commands for general strikes. The strikes and blockades are crippling the economy. Although few tourists have faced danger from rebels, thousands have been scared away and the vital tourism economy is suffering. Britain, the US and India all issued statements condemning the king for undermining democracy. But a trip to the parliament building is all you need to see what Gyanendra thinks of democracy. Soldiers in sandbagged positions guard the empty building. Razor wire is strung across the entrance. But democracy was in trouble here a long time ago. Ask a Nepali when the last elections were held here, and most can't even remember which year it was. Sher Bahadur Deuba, the prime minister whom King Gyanendra has sacked and placed under house arrest, was not democratically elected. He and his government were appointed by the king last year. But a trip to the offices of Congress, Nepal's biggest political party, tells another story. An iron gate at the end of a dusty cul-de-sac is barred shut. Behind it is a grand, new headquarters building, only half-completed. The giant portico is still swathed in scaffolding. "You can't see anyone," said the doorman. "They've all been arrested." It is only a few leading politicians who have been placed under house arrest - the rank and file have been put in jail. The army came here four times, said the doorman, looking for anyone they failed to pick up the first time. In all, 42 party members have been arrested. Two are said to have fled to India. "It's not right what the king has done in this situation," said the doorman. But he said it in a quiet, furtive voice - the voice of a man who can no longer speak his mind without fear. The really serious thing King Gyanendra did this week was not sacking the unpopular Mr Deuba. It was the state of emergency he declared, under which he has launched the worst assault on human rights in Nepal's recent history. Nepalis have had their most basic rights taken away. With his newly restored medieval powers, Gyanendra has "suspended" not only the right to free speech, but freedom of thought. He has subjected the press to strict censorship. The papers carried fawning accounts yesterday of the king's announcement that he was taking power. The king "suspended" the right to assemble peacefully, and the right to privacy. He also, according to the Kathmandu Post, suspended the right to own private property. Most of these rights have long been abused by the military and the Maoists. But this week the king took it a step further. He said no Nepalese citizen could even claim he had those rights any more. ||||| NEPAL'S King Gyanendra today unveiled a new cabinet a day after sacking the Government and imposing an indefinite state of emergency in a move that has sparked international condemnation. In an announcement carried by state television and radio, the monarch named Rames Nath Pandey as foreign minister in a cabinet that also included a communist member, Radha Krishna Mainali, at sports and education. The king announced yesterday he would head the new government after the previous administration failed to ensure security in the face of the Maoist rebellion that has claimed more than 11,000 lives since 1996. Demonstrations were expected in the Himalayan kingdom later today to protest the king's decision but details were scarce, with all telephone lines and mobile telephone networks down. Officials from different parties said yesterday several political leaders had been placed under house arrest as security was increased around the capital. The king's dismissal of the ruling coalition was condemned by the US, United Nations, Britain and India as a setback for democracy. King Gyanendra yesterday pledged to “restore democracy and law and order in the country in the next three years.” “Innocent children were found massacred and the government could not achieve any important and effective results,” he said, referring to the Maoist revolt. “The crown traditionally is held responsible for the protection of national sovereignty, democracy and people's right to live peacefully,” he said. Political leaders accused the king of a coup. Dismissed prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was also sacked in 2002, accused the king of “a flagrant violation of the constitution of Nepal.” “It is an anti-democratic step and we strongly denounce this act. This step has thrown the country into a grave crisis,” he said. “Various political leaders including the prime minister and the secretary general of the NCP-UML (Nepali Congress Democratic Party-United Marxist Leninist) Madhav Kumar Nepal have been put under house arrest,” Deuba said. The king first sacked Deuba in 2002 and branded him incompetent for dissolving parliament but then failing to organise elections. But he recalled the veteran politician last year, ordering him to hold elections and resume talks with Maoists amid international and domestic pressure to restore democracy. Witnesses and Deuba's supporters said several government ministers, particularly those from Deuba's Nepali Congress Democratic Party, were taken by security personnel to an unknown destination. Troops and armed police patrolled the streets and surrounded the palace and other key sites such as government buildings. Residents of Kathmandu said outgoing landline telephone and mobile phone links were cut. India and Thailand meanwhile suspended all flights to Nepal. In London, Foreign Office Minister Douglas Alexander summoned the Nepalese ambassador Prabal Rana to convey the British government's “grave concerns”. Alexander said: “We call for the immediate restitution of multi-party democracy, and appeal for calm and restraint on all sides during this difficult time.” UN Secretary General Kofi Annan “views these actions as a serious setback for the country,” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement. In the capital of neighbouring India, the foreign ministry said: “These developments constitute a serious setback to the cause of democracy in Nepal and cannot but be a cause of grave concern to India.” The US was “deeply troubled by the apparent step back from democracy in Nepal,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. The human rights group Amnesty International also expressed concern, noting the last state of emergency in 2001-2002 led to an explosion of serious rights violations, including increased extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and a breakdown in the rule of law. King Gyanendra took the throne in June 2001 after his brother King Birendra and most of the royal family were shot dead by the former crown prince, who was high on drink and drugs. The crown prince also killed himself. ||||| World leaders condemn Nepal crisis KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Leaders from around the world have condemned the decision by Nepal's King Gyanendra to dismiss the government and declare a state of emergency. The king dissolved the government on Tuesday, after accusing it on state-run television of failing to conduct parliamentary elections and restoring peace in the country. Flights into and out of the capital of Kathmandu, as well as communication lines, were shut down immediately after the king's national broadcast. The king said he had appointed a 10-member Cabinet on Wednesday -- headed by himself -- though details were few, The Associated Press reported. The United Nations, Britain, India and the United States have criticized the developments, while Australia advised its citizens not to travel to Nepal, AP reported. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the king's actions "a serious setback for the country ... steps should be taken immediately to restore democratic freedoms and institutions", AP said. The United States said the sacking was a "step back from democracy", while India believed it was a "cause of grave concern", according to AP. Soldiers were seen surrounding the houses of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other government leaders on Tuesday, while armored vehicles with mounted machine guns patrolled the streets of Kathmandu. India's NDTV television channel said the monarch had placed politicians under house arrest, but no further details were available. It is the second time in three years the king has taken such a drastic move. The monarch, who is also the supreme commander of the 78,000-strong Royal Nepalese Army, said security forces would be given more power to maintain law and order. "A new Cabinet will be formed under my leadership," the king said, accusing political parties of plunging the country into crisis. "This will restore peace and effective democracy in this country within the next three years." But he insisted human rights would be respected, according to AP reports. Even before the announcement, commentators said the king was unhappy with the prime minister for continually deferring elections -- a mandate given to him by the king when he appointed him to the post in June. Deuba found himself in a deep political bind -- caught between the king and other political forces. He was fired in October 2002, sparking massive street protests, and was reinstated with the task of holding elections. His major coalition partner, the communist party, is deeply divided over the election call. In addition, Maoist rebels have threatened there will be a massive bloodbath if Deuba announces elections. The rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, want to replace Nepal's monarchy with a communist state. Over an eight-year period, the insurgency has claimed more than 11,000 lives. The king acceded to the throne in 2001 after his brother King Birendra was killed in a massacre at the royal palace. Journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay contributed to this report ||||| King Gyanendra promised to restore democracy and order after nearly 10 years of civil war between Maoist rebels and government forces. Speaking before phone lines were cut, diplomats in Kathmandu said armoured vehicles were patrolling the streets. Last night the capital's airport and Nepalese websites were shut down. It is the second time in two years that King Gyanendra has dismissed the prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and the fourth time he has sacked a prime minister in less than three years. Nepal has had no parliament since 2002. The monarch's statement promised to "restore democracy and law and order in the country in the next three years". He defended the suspension of democracy and citizens' rights in the "larger interest of the Nepalese general public", adding that he would chair the new administration. Political analysts said the king seemed to be trying to return to the days when his family ran the country as feudal autocrats and living Hindu gods, before democracy arrived in 1990. Supporters of the palace say he has become frustrated by politicians' ceaseless infighting. In taking power he has shelved several provisions of the constitution, including the freedoms of press, speech and expression, the freedom to assemble peacefully, the right to privacy, and the right not to be held in preventive detention. Amnesty International said it was alarmed that the emergency could be used to justify the disappearance and summary execution of human rights activists, a trend that had become an ugly feature of the fighting in recent months. Mr Deuba told the Associated Press that politicians would "oppose this step", which "directly violates the constitution and is against democracy". India, Nepal's main trading partner and supplier of military aid, described the royal coup as a matter of "grave concern" which would strengthen the Maoists and undermine democracy. The Foreign Office called in the Nepalese ambassador and made it clear that security and development aid, worth £41m a year, had been put at risk. Britain, the US and India have provided arms and training to the Nepalese army, which has tripled in size in less than 10 years. Washington is thought to have supplied 20,000 M-16 rifles, night-vision and communications equipment, and counter-insurgency training. But none of this appears to have quelled the revolt. More than 11,000 people have been killed and hundreds have "disappeared" since 1996. Gyanendra became king in June 2003 after his nephew, Crown Prince Dipendra, opened fire on his assembled family. Drunk and high on drugs, he killed his parents, Queen Aishwarya and King Birendra, his brother, a sister, an aunt, two uncles and two cousins, then himself. Gyanendra was in western Nepal at the time. Announcing his takeover last night, he said politicians had failed to hold elections and restore peace. A coalition government fell apart last month over plans to call elections in April. The Maoist insurgents said they would disrupt polling. The Maoists oppose the monarchy and want it replaced by a "people's assembly". Nepal has a gross national income of £128 a head and is the world's 12th poorest country. Experts say there can be no peace unless the poverty, inequality and ethnic and caste discrimination which encourage the insurgency are tackled. Landlocked state · Nepal, wedged between India and China, occupies an area of 57,000 square miles and has a population of about 27 million. · It is the world's only Hindu kingdom, and many people view the monarch as a reincarnation of the god Vishnu. Almost 90% of its people are Hindu. · Maoist guerrillas, bent on toppling the monarchy and replacing Nepal's feudal, caste-based system with a communist republic, began a revolt in 1996. More than 11,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed. · Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries and its economy depends on aid and tourism. · In June 2001 King Birendra and eight other members of the royal family were shot dead by Crown Prince Dipendra, who then turned his gun on himself. ||||| King Gyanendra of Nepal gives an oath to Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Kathmandu February 1. File Photo: Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba File photo: Nepali King Gyanendra KATHMANDU, Feb. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Nepali King Gyanendra announced Tuesday in an address to the nation that he had dissolved the coalition government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The King announced through the state-run television that he will form a new government under his own chairmanship, taking control of the Himalayan kingdom for the second time in three years. "A new Cabinet will be formed under my leadership," he said. "This will restore peace and effective democracy in this country within the next three years." The king accused the government of failing to conduct parliamentary elections and being unable restore peace in the country. He also declared a state of emergency. Armored military vehicles with mounted machine guns were patrolling the streets of Katmandu, the capital, and phone lines in the city had been cut. The king, who is also the supreme commander of the 78,000-member Royal Nepalese Army, said "I have exercised the rights given to the crown under the present constitution and dissolved the government in the larger interests of the people." "For the larger interest of the Nepalese general public, the nation and democracy and people's fundamentals rights, we have decided to form a new government under my own chairmanship." "All the democratic forces and political leaders should have united to protect the country's democracy," Gyanendra said in his half-hour address. "Innocent children were found massacred and the government could not achieve any important and effective results. The crown traditionally is held responsible for the protection of national sovereignty, democracy and people's right to live peacefully," he said. Gyanendra ascended the throne in June 2001 after his brother King Birendra and 10 members of the royal family were gunned down in a palace massacre committed by Birendra's son. Enditem ||||| Nepal's Maoist rebels called for a three-day nationwide general strike from tomorrow to protest against King Gyanendra's decision to sack the government and assume power, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported. It was the first reaction from the rebels after the king yesterday fired Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, declared a state of emergency and assumed power for the next three years saying the political leadership had failed to hold polls or restore peace amid an increasingly violent Maoist insurgency. Maoist rebels chief Prachanda, who uses only one name, said Gyanendra's moves smacked of "medieval feudal autocracy", the Indian news agency said quoting a statement from the rebel group in Nepali capital Kathmandu. ||||| "These developments constitute a serious setback to the cause of democracy in Nepal and cannot but be a cause of grave concern to India," an Indian foreign ministry statement said. "The latest developments in Nepal bring the monarchy and the mainstream political parties in direct confrontation with each other," it said. India is Nepal's largest trading partner and the two countries have strong religious and cultural links. They also share an open border and tens of thousands of poor Nepalis work in India. ||||| Nepal's king sacks government KATHMANDU, Nepal -- King Gyanendra says he has dissolved the government of Nepal and has declared a state of emergency as he takes control of the Himalayan kingdom. Flights into and out of the capital of Kathmandu, as well as communication lines, were shut down immediately after the king's national broadcast on Tuesday. Speaking on state-run television, the king accused the government of failing to conduct parliamentary elections and restoring peace in the country. Soldiers were seen surrounding the houses of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other government leaders, while armored vehicles with mounted machine guns were patrolling the streets of Kathmandu. India's NDTV television channel said the monarch had placed politicians under house arrest, but no further details were available. It is the second time in three years the monarch has taken such a drastic move. The monarch, who is also the supreme commander of the 78,000-strong Royal Nepalese Army, said security forces would be given more power to maintain law and order. "A new Cabinet will be formed under my leadership," the king said, accusing political parties of plunging the country into crisis. "This will restore peace and effective democracy in this country within the next three years." But he insisted human rights would be respected, according to AP reports. Even before the announcement, commentators said the king was unhappy with the prime minister for continually deferring elections -- a mandate given to him by the king when he appointed him to the post in June. Deuba found himself in a deep political bind -- caught between the king and other political forces. He was fired in October 2002, sparking massive street protests, and was reinstated with the task of holding elections. His major coalition partner, the communist party, is deeply divided over the election call. In addition, Maoist rebels have stated in no uncertain terms that there will be a massive bloodbath if Deuba announces elections. Inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, the rebels want to replace Nepal's monarchy with a Communist state. Over an eight-year period, the insurgency has claimed more than 11,000 lives. The king acceded to the throne in 2001 after his brother King Birendra was killed in a massacre at the royal palace. Journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay contributed to this report ||||| Channel: Business U.S. International Politics Entertainment Technology & Science Sports Health World Crises Oddly Enough Life & Leisure The News Room Weather Video Pictures YOU ARE HERE: Home > News > International > Article | of Nepal has today announced a new 10-member cabinet, after yesterday sacking the coalition government. The King, who some Nepalis view as a of the Hindu , made the announcement on the state run television and radio service. "A new Cabinet will be formed under my leadership," he said. "This will restore peace and effective democracy in this country within the next three years." Gyanendra named Rames Nath Pandey as foreign minister, Dan Bahadur Shahi as Home Minister, as well as , a member of the communist party, as minister for sports and education. The king has decided to head the new administration himself, after accusing the old administration of failing to ensure the small nation's security. Nepal is in the midst of a insurgency that has claimed more than 11,000 lives since 1996. All telephone lines and mobile telephone networks have been cut with the outside world. Flights into and out of the capital of Kathmandu, have also been stopped. However one flight did leave for New Delhi overnight. Local radio stations are also reported to have been shut down, and Nepali websites are inaccessible from outside Nepal. The United Nations, Britain, the United States and India criticized the king's action, and Australia has advised its citizens not to travel to Nepal. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the UN has said that the king's actions are "a serious setback for the country ... steps should be taken immediately to restore democratic freedoms and institutions" The US administration added that the sacking was a "step back from democracy" and India joined into the chorus by saying that the developments were a "cause of grave concern". The UK, the USA and India have all provided Nepal with arms and given the army training under the banner of security aid. The has tripled in size in less than 10 years. The US alone is estimated to have supplied 20,000 as well as night-vision and communications equipment, and counter-insurgency training. '''' newspaper is reporting that the Indian government tried to dissuade King Gyanendra from a "power grab" a few weeks ago. A statement from New Delhi said ""These developments constitute a serious setback to the cause of democracy in Nepal and cannot but be a cause of grave concern to India," an statement said. The latest developments in Nepal bring the monarchy and the mainstream political parties in direct confrontation with each other. This can only benefit the forces that not only wish to undermine democracy but the institution of as well." India shares an open border with Nepal. The leader of the Maoist rebels, , likened the kings actions to "medieval feudal autocracy", and said that the King was trying "to push the Nepalese society of the 21st century back to the 15th.". In a statement to a Maoist website he said "We heartily call upon the entire pro-people forces of the world to raise their voices against this autocratic step and in the favor of the Nepalese people's democratic movement," Prachanda, denounced King Gyanendra as a "national betrayer" and told Nepalis to "shut down Nepal" in a three day from Wednesday to Friday, however witnesses in Kathmandu said life was going on as normal, and there are no obvious signs of additional security. Meenakshi, a street sweeper outside the gates of the King's palace said "I just don't know anything. I am just here like any other day," The King has imposed a state of emergency which forbids mass gatherings. |
Tunisia is a popular holiday destination The declaration, made in an audio broadcast aired on al-Jazeera TV, said the duo were kidnapped on 22 February. A spokesman who called himself Salah Abou-Mohammad said it was retribution for the West's support of Israel. Austria's foreign ministry said two Austrians had been missing in Tunisia since mid-February. 'Previously warned' The al-Qaeda spokesman said the pair were in good health. Austrian authorities did not release their names, saying only that they were a 51-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, the Associated Press news agency reported. "We tell Western tourists that at the same time they are flowing into Tunisian lands seeking joy, our brothers are being slain in Gaza by the Jews with the collaboration of the Western states," the al-Qaeda spokesman was quoted by AP as saying. "The mujahideen have previously warned and alerted them that the apostate Tunisian state cannot and will not be able to protect you, and the hands of the mujahideen can reach you wherever you are on the Tunisian soil." It is reported the couple were last heard from in the southern Tunisian town of Matmata. "The spokesman said in the tape that the group will announce its conditions for the release of the two tourists at a later stage," an al-Jazeera broadcaster was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. Tunisia, a popular destination for European holidaymakers, has seen attacks on tourists by al-Qaeda before. In 2002, a truck bomb outside a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba killed 21 people, including 14 German tourists. ||||| By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda said on Monday it had kidnapped two Austrian tourists in Tunisia on February 22, linking its action to an Israeli offensive in Gaza, and suggested it had since moved the captives to neighboring Algeria. Tunisia said it had launched an air and land search for the Austrians, but it had no proof they were still on its territory. Al Jazeera television aired an audio recording by a man who identified himself as Salah Abou-Mohammad -- a spokesman for al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb -- who said the group would announce soon its terms for the release of the hostages. A separate al Qaeda statement suggested the group had taken the two across the border into Algeria, al Qaeda's north Africa base and a mostly-desert country 4-1/2 times the size of France. Abou-Mohammad said the two were in good condition but warned Westerners against visiting the north African state, which attracts tourists from many European countries. Western tourists were "searching for pleasures in Tunisia while our folk in Gaza are being slaughtered by the Jews with consent from Western countries whose governments are killing our brothers in every (Muslim) country", he said. Israel last week ended an offensive which killed 120 Palestinians in Gaza. Austrian media have identified the tourists as Andrea Kloiber, 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, 51 -- a couple from near Salzburg. Abou-Mohammad said they were a nurse and a consultant and gave similar-sounding names. Continued... ||||| NEWS AFRICA Tunisia hunts abducted tourists The couple were last seen cross the Saraha desert in the south of Tunisia. Government officials in Tunisia say they have launched an air-sea search for two Austrian tourists, after Al Qaeda claimed they had abducted the pair. The authorities began the operation after Al Jazeera's Arabic channel aired an audio tape said to be from Al Qaeda's North African branch which warned western tourists to stay away from Tunisia. The tape from Islamic Maghreb said the man and woman were taken on February 22 and that they are in good health. The group's spokesman, Saleh Abu Mohammed, identified the two as a consultant and a nurse, and linked their abduction to the current violence in Gaza. "A squadron of heroic majahedeen was able to infiltrate deep into the Tunisian state and succeeded in kidnapping two Austrian tourists," Abu Mohammed said. "The two kidnapped are in good health and are being treated well in keeping with the teachings of Islamic Sharia." "We tell Western tourists flocking to Tunisia for leisure at a time when our brethren are being slaughtered in Gaza by the Jews with the complicity of Western states ... the apostate Tunisian state is not able, and will not be able, to protect you," the voice on the tape warned. No conditions The Tunisian government said that there was no proof that the two tourists are still in the country. "The authorities have begun carrying out intensive search operations by land and air," an official statement said. It also stated that the two Austrians were last heard of crossing the Sahara desert in a direction that would have taken them out of Tunisia. "Until now, there is no element that proves that the two Austrian citizens are in Tunisian territory or that they were kidnapped inside Tunisian borders," the statement added. In the audio tape, the Al Qaeda spokesman did not make any specific demands as a condition for freeing the alleged hostages. The Austrian foreign ministry has confirmed that a couple had been missing in Tunisia since mid-February. Although not named by the government, press reports in Austria have named them as Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber. The Austrian government would only confirm that the man, aged 51 and a woman in her forties were last heard of in the village of Matmata in southern Tunisia. Source: Al Jazeera & Agencies | An Algerian rebel group that has pledged its allegiance to Al-Qaeda announced on Monday that it had kidnapped two Austrians vacationing in Tunisia on February 22, 2008. The statement was read by Salah Abou-Mohammad, a spokesman for the Islamist group which last January announced it was redefining itself as "''''". "A squadron of heroic was able to infiltrate deep into the Tunisian state and succeeded in kidnapping two Austrian tourists," Abou-Mohammed said. "The two kidnapped are in good health and are being treated well in keeping with the teachings of Islamic Sharia." He added, "We tell Western tourists flocking to Tunisia for leisure at a time when our brethren are being slaughtered in Gaza by the Jews with the complicity of Western states ... the apostate Tunisian state is not able, and will not be able, to protect you." Austrian authorities have confirmed that two of its citizens have been missing since mid-February, but declined to identify them. Reports in local Austrian media say that they are a couple from near : Andrea Kloiber, aged 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, aged 51. Abou-Mohammad identified them by their professions as a nurse and a consultant, respectively. According to a statement released by the Tunisian government, the pair was last reported heading into the in a direction that could have taken them across the border. "Until now there is no element that proves that the two Austrian citizens are in Tunisian territory or that they were kidnapped inside Tunisian borders," it said. However it also said, "The authorities have begun carrying out intensive search operations by land and air." Tunisia was also the scene of the 2002 , for which Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. That attack left 14 Germans, six Tunisians, and one Frenchman dead and more than 30 others wounded. |
PM - Thursday, 9 February , 2006 18:26:00 Reporter: Melanie Christiansen MARK COLVIN: As the Premiers and Chief Ministers head to Canberra for tomorrow's Council of Australian Governments meeting, the Prime Minister is demanding a commitment from them to spend a lot more on mental health. John Howard says the Commonwealth too will spend more on mental health, which is a problem he admits hasn't been handled well in the last few decades. And one issue the Prime Minister particularly wants addressed is the link between mental illness and the use of marijuana. Melanie Christiansen reports. MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: The Mental Health Council of Australia says at some stage every family in Australia will be affected by mental health problems. With that mind, John Howard wrote to the Premiers and Chief Ministers last year to put the issue on the agenda for tomorrow's Council of Australian Governments meeting. JOHN HOWARD: I want all of the heads of government of this country to understand it's a serious issue and the Australian public will expect no less than a coordinated genuine commitment by all of us to try and solve the problem. MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Part of the problem, John Howard told Parliament today, was the drive in the 1980s and 90s to close down mental health institutions. JOHN HOWARD: There is abundant evidence that that process went too far, and whilst I do not advocate and I do not believe Australia would benefit from turning back the clock to the institutions of old, nor can we as a decent society tolerate having people with mental illnesses out in the community unsupported and untreated. The Prime Minister wants a greater focus on early detection and treatment of mental illness as well as more at home support for sufferers, including training for employment, medical services and help for families. But he says it must be a comprehensive strategy, supported financially by all the states. Already New South Wales and Victoria have indicated they're interested in improved mental health care. The Mental Health Council of Australia says it must be a big injection of funds and it must happen quickly. The Council's Chief Executive John Mendoza. JOHN MENDOZA: Any Australian who has attempted to access mental health services through the public system will have found that unless they are extremely unwell, and that is a danger to themselves or the community, they probably won't gain admission to those public mental health services, and that simply is not good enough. MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Mr Mendoza wants an extra billion dollars added to mental health spending in the next financial year and an extra $5 billion a year by 2010. JOHN MENDOZA: Clearly we can do much more in terms of supporting the mental health specialty workforce. There is also much to be done in terms of assisting carers and consumers so that they can better look after their mental health needs in the community and stay out of hospitals. MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Another issue the Prime Minister has signaled as a priority is addressing the link between mental illness and the use of marijuana. JOHN HOWARD: I think we are paying a dreadfully heavy price for the abuse of what was so called recreation and socially acceptable drugs despite the clear evidence, unaccepted until a few years ago, that these things were doing massive damage within our community. MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: New South Wales too has announced a campaign against cannabis use, including tougher penalties for indoor cultivation of the drug. But while John Mendoza from the Mental Health Council acknowledges there is a link between mental illness and drug use, he says it shouldn't be the focus of any renewed effort to address mental health problems. JOHN MENDOZA: I don't think we should overstate the role of cannabis in the nation's mental health crisis. It is a factor, but it is not the reason that we now face a mental health crisis. The real reason is that governments collectively have under-funded the investment in community services for well over a decade and hence we have a large unmet need in the community. MARK COLVIN: The Chief Executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia, John Mendoza, ending Melanie Christiansen's report. ||||| February 9, 2006 - 9:09AM State leaders and Prime Minister John Howard are poised to agree on a $1 billion national health reform package at Friday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting. But Mr Howard has put the states on notice that he expects them to spend more on mental health, with a coordinated strategy on the agenda for the meeting. The premiers and chief ministers are also expected to agree to establish a national inquiry into early childhood education and set up a national regime so trade qualifications in one state are recognised in the others. A competition and infrastructure reform agreement is also set to form part of the leaders' communique. Mental health experts welcomed the idea of a national strategy, but warned it would be useless without more money. University of Sydney psychiatry professor Ian Hickie said governments needed to increase their spending on mental health by at least $2 billion a year by 2010. "Without extra funding and a new funding scheme we're doomed," he said. "If they (COAG) actually just give us a bunch of bureaucratic speak and no extra investment, then we've failed again." Mr Howard promised extra resources for mental health, but said the states were expected to cough up as well. "We will make an additional commitment of resources," he told parliament. "We will do our bit, but we cannot do it alone. "I want this matter dealt with on a bipartisan basis. I want all of the heads of government of this country to understand it is a serious issue and the Australian public will expect no less than a coordinated, genuine commitment by all of us to try and solve the problem." Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has committed $94 million towards the health package. He says about half the new funds will be spent on national preventative measures orchestrated by the federal government. The remaining money will be poured into various projects including a national health call centre network, accelerating a national electronic health records system, and reducing the number of disabled young people living in nursing homes. Mr Beattie, who has tied his political future to fixing Queensland's ongoing health crisis, was in a decidedly more conciliatory mood than past COAG meetings when he threatened to walk out. "It is down to business this time and I won't be walking out," Mr Beattie said. "What I want to do is get a health outcome for Queenslanders and on the issues that I have been pursuing ... we have made significant progress and while we are making significant progress, then I will be fair to the prime minister." But federal Health Minister Tony Abbott accused Mr Beattie of chronically underfunding the state's health system despite reaping almost $8 billion a year in GST revenue. "If you do not spend the money, you do not get the services," Mr Abbott told parliament. Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon said the states deserved a better share of available health funds. "I'm going to Canberra hopeful that there will be a better deal on health funding for us with no strings attached," he said. ||||| THE NATION This story is from our news.com.au network Source: The Australian COAG on for young and old 09feb06 JOHN Howard and the states have agreed on a national reform agenda to improve early childhood education and the healthcare of older Australians. Documents obtained by The Australian reveal a raft of policy measures, including the establishment of a national inquiry to examine the education of children and boost support for new parents. "By the time Australian children enter formal education, they have very different levels of preparedness for life and learning," COAG documents warn. "Australia's investment in early childhood development before school entry remains low by international standards." However, efforts to address the national skills shortage did not impress the Labor Party, which last night slammed the planned new investment of just $11 million over four years. Early childhood education is a key issue for the Council of Australian Governments meeting on Friday, and for Perth mother Karen Ferencakovic, whose daughter Chloe started primary school last week. Mrs Ferencakovic said it was unfortunate that learning to read was not a priority while Chloe was being prepared during 12 months at pre-primary for her entry into Year 1 classes. "She was always asking 'what word is this, how do you spell this, can you teach me to read?"' Mrs Ferencakovic said. She said the emphasis in kindergarten and pre-primary appeared to be on play time. "In kindy and pre-primary they are not really pushing literacy and numeracy," she said. "Unless they really ask for it, they are not going to get it before they start primary school. But once they hit Year 1, reading is the first priority. "In pre-primary it should be introduced a little more -- I think children need to be assessed at an earlier age and if they look like they are going to be behind then maybe they can start a little earlier." The COAG meeting will also announce a $1.1 billion health package, including new spending to find alternative accommodation for young disabled people in nursing homes and older Australians in public hospitals. The plan will pledge $20million for a simpler, faster system for the frail and aged seeking support at home. The plan will pledge $20million for a simpler, faster system for the frail and aged who are seeking support at home. A national strategy to find alternative accommodation for young disabled Australians will invest $244million to target the under-50s currently cared for in nursing homes. The commonwealth will also provide $150million for four years to the states to provide improved services for older people being cared for in public hospitals. The states and the commonwealth are also expected to each pledge $65million towards improving e-health records. An estimated $40million will be spent on a phone line offering medical advice to families. Described as a historic attempt to "raise living standards", the measures will also tackle skills shortages in key areas including plumbers and electricians. However, Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin warned that the plan did not go far enough. "Eleven million over four years will have little or no impact on the raging skills crisis which is hurting Australian businesses and families," she said. "It will provide just 900 training (places). The Australian Industry Group has predicted that by 2010 we will need 100,000 extra skilled tradespeople if we are to address the skills crisis." Mr Howard said yesterday he was optimistic the talks would move beyond the blame-shifting. "The health reform package will have a number of very important elements in it, including better management of chronic disease, more support for cancer patients, better care for older patients in hospitals, measures to reduce the number of younger people with disabilities in nursing homes and better tailoring of rural health and community care programs to local needs," Mr Howard said. "We are prepared to address issues relating to nursing home-type patients remaining in public hospitals, which has been a matter of continued criticism and concern from the states. "Friday will not be a test or a contest of wallets. It will be a test of goodwill on the part of the governments in Australia." Under a previously announced $500 million Better Health Iniative, COAG will also target childhood obesity and preventative health measures. State premiers have signed on to encouraging tuckshops to offer healthier food. ||||| About HealthConnect HealthConnect is a network of electronic health records that aims to improve the flow of information across the Australian health sector. It involves the electronic collection, storage and exchange of consumer health information via a secure network and within strict privacy safeguards. HealthConnect gives doctors, and other health professionals, quick and secure access to important and potentially lifesaving medical information. HealthConnect will be implemented nationally on a state-by-state basis and is expected to improve the quality and safety of health care for all Australians. Participation in HealthConnect is voluntary and participants may choose to withdraw at any time. Under HealthConnect, health-related information will be collected at the point of care, such as at a hospital or a doctor's surgery. It will be documented in a standard electronic format and stored as part of a secure network. This information may then be retrieved online when needed or be exchanged between authorised health care providers - but only with the consent of the consumer. HealthConnect is expected to realise the following benefits: rapid access to vital and accurate health information; reduced duplication of services; more time available for direct care; greater portability of health records for an increasingly mobile population; more control for consumers over who can access their health information; more active participation by consumers in decisions about their health care; better quality information exchange between health care providers for improved diagnoses and better quality care; and a more comprehensive picture of Australians' health to promote advances in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses and better targeted decisions about health care. Substantial groundwork has already been completed. The Australian Government, in partnership with the states and territories, has undertaken an extensive program of investigation, evaluation and trials to find the best model for the health information network. This has been done in consultation with stakeholder groups and members of the community. Work on a staged national implementation of HealthConnect has begun in coordination with the states and territories and in full consultation with consumer and health care provider groups. Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory will be the first states to be involved in the implementation project. | __NOTOC__ Australian Parliament House, where the COAG meeting will be held The (COAG) will meet in Canberra today for its first meeting of 2006. Members of COAG are the , , Australian Capital and Northern Territory , and the President of the Australian Local Government Association. COAG is chaired by the Prime Minister. On the agenda is a wide range of issues such as health, economic reform, regulation, and education. The state leaders (all of whom are members of the ), met last night to develop a strategy for dealing with John Howard, Australia's Prime Minister. |
Portugal's Defense Minister Nuno Severiano Teixeira said Wednesday that his country would send 140 troops to the peacekeeping UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). "They will be on the ground but they are not a fighting force; they will be working on reconstruction so the risk they face is moderate," Teixeira said, adding that the troops would be deployed on Oct. 14. Under the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, UNIFIL is tasked with monitoring the cease-fire between Israel and the Lebanon-based guerilla group, Hezbollah, which took effective on Aug. 14 after a 34-day conflict. The largest groups of immediate UNIFIL reinforcements to have been offered include those from Italy, with nearly 2,500 soldiers, and France with 2,000. They will bolster the UN peacekeeping mission that has been based in the area for many years. The UN resolution ultimately calls for 15,000 UNIFIL troops and for the same number of Lebanese army forces to take over the areas in southern Lebanon from which Israeli troops have withdrawn. Source: Xinhua ||||| Unidade de engenharia para o Líbano Unidade de engenharia para o Líbano Decisão tomada pelo Conselho Superior de Defesa 30.08.2006 30.08.2006 Em comunicado às 20:00, um porta-voz do conselho Superior de Defesa Nacional, que é presidido pelo Presidente da República, informou a imprensa de que deverá estar pronta a seguir para o Líbano a partir de 14 de Outubro, uma companhia de engenharia de construções, composta por até 140 militares, que deverão cooperar na reconstrução de algumas das estruturas que foram destruídas durante o recente conflito naquele país do Médio Oriente. A decisão foi tomada por unanimidade, e na sua sequência, segundo a mesma fonte, vai ocorrer uma redução de forças portuguesas na Bósnia e no Congo. Com esta notícia, vem-se confirmar o que já era previsto em alguns círculos, uma vez que Portugal não tem meios terrestres adequados para enviar para aquele teatro de operações e países como a Alemanha e a Holanda já afirmaram que poderiam disponibilizar navios de guerra, o que tornaria redundante a oferta portuguesa de navios de guerra para patrulha da costa libanesa. O Ministro da Defesa Nacional Nuno Severiano Teixeira, veio confirmar a decisão em nome do governo, informando que o custo da operação será de 9.3 milhões de Euros. Impossibilidade de enviar forças terrestres de combate: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Quanto às forças combatentes terrestres que poderiam ser enviadas, parte dos carros M-113 (da brigada mecanizada) ainda funcionam, mas precisam de uma estrutura complexa de manutenção, e só para manter os carros operacionais seria necessária uma parte considerável do contingente, e isso acabaria por tornar a força completamente irrelevante. M-113: Ultrapassado e relegado a operações secundárias, não é adequado a tropas combatentes Praticamente só países do terceiro mundo é que utilizam M-113 como veículo principal de transporte das suas forças armadas. Como os países europeus utilizam meios mais recentes, não é previsível que outros países enviem para o Líbano carros daquele tipo. Portugal teria que arcar com toda a estrutura de suporte, não podendo recorrer a apoios de ninguém. Os Chaimite, reconhecidamente não estão em condições. Na antiga Jugoslávia são mantidos com grandes dificuldades e praticamente estão naquele cenário os que ainda podem andar sem provocar problemas todos os dias e também ocorreram problemas com a manutenção dos M-113 que foram ali colocados no fim dos anos 90. Além disto, o Chaimite não é um veículo adequado para as condições no Sul do Líbano, embora também não sejam adequados para operar na Bósnia. Portugal não tem nenhum veículo blindado moderno disponível e a entrega das primeiras viaturas blindadas sobre rodas PANDUR-2 só está prevista para o próximo ano. Esta decisão, vem uma vez mais colocar a nu, a realidade das forças armadas portuguesas no que respeita aos equipamentos e armamentos. O país tem uma capacidade quase inexistente de organizar uma força militar com qualquer relevância em termos internacionais e limita-se a participações simbólicas, com participações ao nível de companhia, com 120 a 140 militares. O Exército português, tem um efectivo superior a 24.000 homens e mulheres. | Portugal's Superior Council of National Defence (CSDN) decided Wednesday the composition of the countries' participation in the (UNIFIL). The decision reached by the Superior Council of National Defence yesterday evening will be to send a with 140 troops as part of its participation in UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon. At the end of the Council's meeting CSDN's spokesman, General Goulão de Melo told the journalists that the Portuguese contingent would participate in the "reconstruction of the infrastructures destroyed during the war", adding that the duration of the mission will be established in agreement with the UN's established calendar. Portugal's Defense Minister said Wednesday night, during a news conference that the Company, based in , near , will be deployed on October 14, integrating this way what the Minister considers UNIFIL' third generation forces. "They will be on the ground but they are not a fighting force; they will be working on reconstruction so the risk they face is moderate", Teixeira said. This confirms what already was foreseen by defence specialists, due the fact that Portugal doesn't have any adequate means available for the Lebanese Theater of Operations, and since countries like Germany and the Netherlands already confirmed the possibility of sending warships, a Portuguese offer of a frigate to patrol the Lebanese coast would become redundant. Also at the meeting held by the CSDN the reduction of the Portuguese participation in international peacekeeping missions was approved. The Defense Minister responded by saying that Portugal already has manifested the interest in reducing its participation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also the reduction of the currently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is scheduled to begin on November. The Portuguese participation in the UNIFIL is calculated in 9.3 millions. Portugal will spend this year about 88.4 millions with all its international missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, and . |
NI and Republic flights resume after new ash threat Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Flights in and out of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic have resumed after being grounded for several hours owing to a fresh volcanic ash threat. Services were cancelled from 0700 BST but restarted at 1300 BST after it was confirmed the ash had dispersed. Airspace shut over Scotland's Hebrides at 1800 BST on Monday also reopened shortly after 1300 BST. Ash is drifting from the same Icelandic volcano that caused flights to be halted for six days in April. The closure of airspace over the Outer Hebrides affected Tiree, Barra and Benbecula airports plus Campbeltown in Argyll. Passengers planning to travel to and from the affected airports have been advised to check that their flight is still running. Our decision to close earlier today was based solely on the safety risks to crews and passengers Irish Aviation Authority statement How chaos unfolded: in graphics Flights resume to Scots islands Irish flights resume after threat lifts EU ministers agree air travel action In the rest of the UK, schedules are operating as normal. Flights over Europe were banned last month because of fears of the effect of volcanic ash on plane engines. The decision to lift the restrictions followed safety tests that showed the engines could cope in areas of low-density ash. The fresh disruption on Tuesday came as European Union transport ministers met in Brussels to agree measures they say will help prevent further disruption to air travel as a result of volcanic ash. The steps include speeding up current plans to integrate Europe's airspace, creating a "single European regulator for a single European sky". The meeting follows criticism from the airline industry that governments took an over-cautious approach to the ash cloud crisis last month, grounding flights unnecessarily. On Tuesday, the IAA (Irish Aviation Authority) said it had cleared Irish airports to open for full operations from 1300 BST and Dublin, Shannon, Cork, Knock, Donegal, Waterford and Kerry could resume normal operations. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Flights from the UK and continental Europe flying across the airspace have not been affected. In the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority closed Northern Ireland airspace from 0700 BST until 1300 BST with Belfast International, Belfast City and City of Derry airports all affected. The CAA said the affected Scottish airports were expected to re-open in the afternoon. In a statement, the CAA warned that the situation remained "very dynamic". It added: "Passengers expecting to travel from the impacted airports should contact their airlines to confirm their flight is operating." The ban disrupted the plans of Conservative leader David Cameron, travelling for his first election campaign visit to Northern Ireland. Liam Dutton of the BBC Weather Centre said the concentration of ash was expected to become thinner by the middle part of the day. The Natural Environment Research Council was due to send a plane, which is used jointly with the Met Office, to look at the ash cloud from about 1100 BST. It is expected to be in the air for about four to five hours. In a statement, the IAA said winds from the north could cause further problems later in the week. "Our decision to close earlier today was based solely on the safety risks to crews and passengers as a result of the drift south of the volcanic ash cloud caused by the north-easterly winds," it added. Irish Ferries said it had space on services between Ireland and the UK as well as Ireland and France. Hundreds of flights have been affected: All Aer Lingus flights to and from Dublin, Cork Shannon and Belfast airports to the UK and Europe scheduled before 1300 BST were cancelled. All Ryanair flights into and out of Belfast, Derry City and the Republic of Ireland until 1400 BST were cancelled. As a result, the airline will put on extra flights later on Tuesday and Wednesday Aer Arann services to and from Derry and Donegal airports were cancelled on Monday night EasyJet cancelled about 20 flights on services to and from Belfast City and Belfast International airports BAA, which operates six UK airports including Heathrow, Stansted and Glasgow, advised passengers heading for Ireland to contact their airlines for advice Edinburgh and Glasgow had a Continental Airlines departure and arrival service between each airport and Newark, New Jersey, cancelled Loganair said its flights to and from Islay and Campbeltown were cancelled on Tuesday and services to Benbecula, Tiree and Stornoway were delayed until further notice Flybe said it would be operating all its remaining flights on Tuesday as scheduled, following the lifting of the flight ban Will you be affected by the re-imposed flight bans? Are you still stranded because of the ash cloud? Send us your comments using the form below. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| IRELAND may have to re-impose a flight ban as ash from an Icelandic volcano drifts towards it, while a small section of British airspace will be closed, air authorities said. The new alerts should not disrupt aircraft overflying Ireland from Britain or Europe, or southern British airports including Heathrow, Europe's busiest air hub, authorities in the two countries said. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said it had "informed Irish-based airlines that it is concerned that Irish airports may be impacted by the drift south of the volcanic ash cloud caused by the north easterly winds". "Current information from the Volcanic Ash Advice Centre (VAAC) suggests that a 'no fly zone' may have to be imposed over Ireland tomorrow that may affect Dublin, Shannon and some regional airports," it said. Airspace across Europe was closed down for up to a week last month after the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull, but was re-opened after emergency talks between European governments, airlines and regulators. The IAA said it awaited an update from the London-based VAAC - one of nine volcanic ash advice centres around the globe - from 7pm GMT (5am AEST) and will make a decision then concerning operations at Irish airports and Irish airspace. "Over-flights of Ireland from the UK and Europe are not expected to be impacted tomorrow and southern UK Airports (Heathrow etc. ) are not expected to be impacted." | Aviation authorities in Ireland have said that a temporary ban on flights coming in and out of the country will be implemented tomorrow, due to potential risks from volcanic ash from an Icelandic volcano. The restrictions would apply from 07.00 to 13.00 local time (06.00 to 12.00 UTC). The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) commented: "IAA informed Irish-based airlines that it is concerned that Irish airports may be impacted by the drift south of the volcanic ash cloud caused by the north easterly winds". Later, the authority added: "The decision is based on the safety risks to crews and passengers as a result of the drift south of the volcanic ash cloud caused by the northeasterly winds." IAA noted that flights over the UK and mainland Europe wouldn't be affected by the restrictions. IAA Chief Executive Eamon Brennan also commented on the ban: "We are quite optimistic that it will dissipate and we are quite optimistic for Dublin and for Shannon tomorrow afternoon but we will make a reassessment for that in the morning." Last month, many flights to and from Europe were cancelled for almost a week, over fears that the volcano ash could cause jet engines to fail. |
San Francisco Zoo officials Thursday said the enclosure for a Siberian tiger that killed a San Jose teenager and injured two friends in a Christmas rampage had a wall lower than they initially stated and below industry recommendations. Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo also said he believes the tiger escaped over that wall, although police said they still don't know what happened. Mollinedo said the outer wall that separated 350-pound Tatiana from the viewing public is 12 feet, 5 inches high - not the 18 feet he reported Wednesday, and nearly 4 feet below minimum Association of Zoos and Aquariums guidelines for tigers. Mollinedo said the AZA inspected the enclosure, built in 1940, three years ago as part of its regular accreditation program and it "never noted that as a deficiency." "Obviously, we're going to be rethinking that," Mollinedo said. He announced plans to add surveillance cameras, new fencing and an electrified barrier around the exhibit in the wake of Tuesday's escape that killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. of San Jose. The zoo will remain closed again today as San Francisco police continue their investigation. Police are still trying to determine how the tiger escaped and whether Carlos and his friends, identified Thursday as San Jose brothers Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, and Paul Dhaliwal, 19, leaped over the railing and taunted the animal. San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong denied reports that the men dangled a leg into the enclosure or that a bloody shoe was found within the railing. Advertisement She said officers were studying a shoe print found on the outer railing to see if it matched the victims' footwear. "We have no information at this point that they did or did not go over the railing," Fong said. Fong added a few new details of how the attack unfolded. Officers were dispatched to the zoo at 5:08 p.m. The first to arrive went to the tiger grotto where they saw the dying Carlos lying on the ground in front of the exhibit. The police chief said it appeared the tiger had attacked one of the brothers first. Carlos and the other brother yelled to distract the tiger, which then turned on Carlos. She said the brothers fled back toward the cafe, where they had recently bought food, because "they knew there would be people there." Zoo staff led police toward the Terrace Cafe where they believed the tiger was headed, Fong said. In front of the cafe they saw one of the brothers seated on the ground, his face bleeding, crying "help me, help me," as the tiger sat nearby. The tiger attacked him again as officers shouted to distract the animal. Another team of officers arrived from another direction. The tiger appeared to turn on the police and "in order to protect the victim as well as everyone else in the area, they fired," Fong said. It was over in 19 minutes. Carlos' father, who said the family has hired a lawyer, on Thursday night said his son was "a hero" for trying to scare the tiger as it attacked the older friend. "I would do the same," said Carlos Sousa Sr. In another development, Carlos' father alleged Paul Dhaliwal lied about his son's whereabouts that day. Carlos' family was worried when he failed to turn up Christmas morning to open presents and began calling friends to find out where he may be. Carlos Sr. had called Paul Dhaliwal around 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. Christmas Day - just an hour or two before the tiger attacks. He wanted his son home to celebrate Christmas dinner with his mother. But Dhaliwal reportedly told Sousa he hadn't seen his son for days. "We're just so upset about that," said the victim's cousin, Christina Sousa-Habenicht, 26. "We feel we could have prevented something. We just have this huge 'What if? - what if we could have talked to him?' Instead his friend lied. What kind of friend is that?" Ever since the family found out the day after Christmas that Carlos was killed in the attack, they've been trying to reach the Dhaliwals' parents. They have left messages, but the family hasn't returned their calls. Carlos considered Paul Dhaliwal one of his best friends. "We have a lot of questions," the teenager's mother, Marilza Sousa, said Thursday. "We want to know how it happened, and only the two boys can tell us." Police visit hospital Police said Thursday that they have spoken to the brothers at San Francisco General Hospital, where they are said to be recovering well from their injuries and are expected to be released within days. But police would not reveal what, if anything, the men told them about the tiger attack. The Dhaliwal family remained behind closed doors at their San Jose home as reporters gathered outside. Court records indicated Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal have both been arrested on minor offenses this year. Paul Dhaliwal was arrested for being drunk in public on March 24 after being seen drinking beer and smoking marijuana at an In-N-Out Burger on Capitol Expressway. He was sentenced to attend 10 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. On Sept. 7, Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal were arrested on charges of public drunkenness. Paul Dhaliwal was also charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest. They have a Jan. 15 court date. Zoo Director Mollinedo said Thursday that inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates zoos and other institutions that publicly display wildlife, will be investigating the tiger escape "from an animal care perspective." The Association of Zoos and Aquariums said the incident marks the first time an animal has escaped and killed a visitor at one of its accredited member organizations. 'In good standing' Asked Thursday about the zoo's revised dimensions for its tiger grotto, AZA spokesman Steven Feldman said "we stand by our statement" on Wednesday that the San Francisco Zoo is an "accredited member in good standing" that "has our support at this difficult time." "Our accreditation commission will make a determination once it has all the facts about this incident," Feldman said. The deadly attack comes as an enormous embarrassment to the nearly 80-year-old zoo, the largest and oldest in Northern California. The zoo was just moving past controversy over the highly publicized deaths of two elephants in 2004 that prompted it to move its remaining elephants to an animal sanctuary. It also comes as an embarrassment for Mollinedo. The Los Angeles Zoo, under his leadership, was criticized for animal escapes a decade ago. Federal inspection reports indicated that over a 12-month period, a dozen animals at the Los Angeles Zoo escaped from their enclosures, including a gorilla and a snow leopard. The San Francisco Zoo is jointly managed by the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Zoological Society, with a single management structure that oversees animal care, operations, education and public services. Funding comes from admission fees, membership dues, donations and the city. A six-member joint committee meets monthly at City Hall to discuss zoo attendance, building and maintenance projects, budgets and other issues. ||||| Statement of AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy Regarding Tiger Incident at the San Francisco Zoo SILVER SPRING, MD, December 26, 2007 – The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) President and CEO Jim Maddy issued the following statement regarding the tiger incident at the San Francisco Zoo: "The entire zoo and aquarium community joins me in expressing sympathy to the family of the guest that lost his life and our deepest hope that the two injured guests will recover. The San Francisco Zoo is a great zoo, it's an accredited AZA member in good standing, and it has our support during this difficult time. AZA mandatory accreditation standards require that the San Francisco Zoo provide a thorough report to its independent Accreditation Commission, which will review it and determine any actions that need to be taken. We will not speculate on what action might be taken until the facts are fully reviewed. AZA-accredited zoos are safe. Until this incident, there had not been a visitor fatality resulting from an animal escape at an AZA-accredited zoo. AZA mandatory accreditation standards require safety and emergency protocols that go beyond federal, state or local requirements. Regular safety training and annual emergency drills are required by these mandatory accreditation standards." A full copy of the AZA accreditation standards can be found at http://www.aza.org/Accreditation/Documents/AccredGuide.pdf . About AZA Founded in 1924, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation. Look for the AZA logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. With its more than 200 accredited members, the AZA is a leader in global wildlife conservation, and your link to helping animals in their native habitats. [return to Newsroom] ||||| What does it mean to be AZA-accredited? Becoming Accredited | Staying Accredited | Advocating for Animals | Benefits to Visitors The American Zoo and Aquarium Association is the national leader in establishing and maintaining high standards for zoos and aquariums through the accreditation process. Becoming Accredited AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums undergo a thorough review through the submission of a detailed accreditation application as well as a multiple day on-site inspection by a team of experts from around the country. These experts, including a veterinarian, examine and evaluate the zoo or aquarium's animal collection, operations, medical care, exhibits and physical facilities, safety, security, finances, staffing, and involvement in education, conservation, and research. After the on-site inspection, the Accreditation Commission (15 additional experts from zoos and aquarium) evaluates all of the information and makes the final decision. Staying Accredited Once awarded, accreditation must be renewed every five years. Accreditation is mandatory for any organization caring for wildlife that desires membership in AZA. Once granted, there is no guarantee that the credential will be renewed during subsequent inspections unless AZA's high standards continue to be met. AZA's standards undergo continuous review and enhancement, requiring increased levels of professional commitment to achieve and maintain accreditation. Once accredited, an organization is expected to continuously advance its professional operation and meet or surpass all the professional standards, policies, guidelines, or resolutions adopted by the AZA. Accreditation also requires that institutions follow the guidelines of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians regarding medical programs and zoo hospitals. Advocating for Animals AZA works cooperatively with Congress, Federal and State government agencies, and international conservation organizations on legislative and regulatory matters pertaining to animal welfare, wildlife conservation field programs, conservation research and education initiatives, and the public display of wildlife, including animal care and husbandry, transport, and captive breeding. AZA also participates in a number of international treaties and conventions impacting wildlife, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the International Whaling Commission, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. With more than 200 accredited members, AZA is a leader in global conservation and a link for guests to help animals in their native habitats. Collectively, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums are helping to preserve thousands of animals regionally and around the world through wildlife conservation programs, with an annual average of 1,000 conservation projects in dozens of countries, along with hundreds of scientific publications. Benefits to Visitors The public is becoming increasingly interested in important issues like animal welfare and educating youth about nature. All AZA-accredited institutions are required to meet rigorous standards for animal care and conservation education. As the public continues to demand family leisure destinations that are both fun and educational, the AZA accreditation seal is the easiest, most reliable way for people to choose zoos and aquariums where high-quality animal care is the first priority, and where there are conservation education programs for youth based on solid science and educational curricula. | enlarge). The San Francisco Zoo has admitted that the walls of the enclosure around their Siberian tiger exhibit are too short. On December 25, Tatiana, one of two Siberians at the Zoo, climbed the wall and attacked three people, killing one. Reports say that Tatiana used her front claws to grab on the observation ledge of the enclosure and pull herself up out of her habitat. On Wednesday the Director of the Zoo, Manuel A. Mollinedo told the media that the enclosure's wall was 18 feet high, but today he came forward and admitted that the wall was only 12 feet 5 inches high. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) recommends the wall be at least 16 feet high. Mollinedo also said that he believes Tatiana escaped her enclosure by jumping or climbing it. The Zoo is accredited with the Association through 2011. According to the Association's website, for a zoo or aquarium to become accredited with the AZA, they must fill out an application and "the AZA Accreditation Commission must evaluate every zoo or aquarium to make sure it meets AZA's standards for animal management and care, including living environments, social groupings, health, and nutrition. We also make sure that animals are provided with enrichment, which stimulates each animal's natural behavior and provides variety in their daily routine." The commission meets twice a year to evaluate applications. "The San Francisco Zoo is a great zoo, it's an accredited AZA member in good standing, and it has our support during this difficult time. AZA mandatory accreditation standards require that the San Francisco Zoo provide a thorough report to its independent Accreditation Commission, which will review it and determine any actions that need to be taken. We will not speculate on what action might be taken until the facts are fully reviewed," said a statement on the AZA's website posted on Wednesday. Tatiana at the Zoo before she was killed. "AZA-accredited zoos are safe. Until this incident, there had not been a visitor fatality resulting from an animal escape at an AZA-accredited zoo. AZA mandatory accreditation standards require safety and emergency protocols that go beyond federal, state or local requirements. Regular safety training and annual emergency drills are required by these mandatory accreditation standards," added the statement. According to Mollinedo the Association inspected the Zoo in 2004, but never pointed out that the wall was too short. The enclosure is also surrounded by a dry moat that is 12 feet deep at the corners and 13 feet deep at the center. Police are still investigating the incident and deny reports that the injured brothers Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, and Paul Dhaliwal, 19 along with their friend Carlos Sousa Jr., who was killed, were taunting Tatiana by dangling a leg into her enclosure. Police do say that a footprint was found at the scene, but no further details are known. The brothers both received severe upper body and arm lacerations, but are expected to be released from the hospital on Saturday. "We have no information at this point that they did or did not go over the railing," said Chief of the San Francisco Police Department, Heather Fong. On Wednesday, Fong stated that "The incident is being treated as a crime because we're not certain why the incident occurred - as result of human action or whether this was an incident where the animal was able to get out of the grotto." The Zoo remains closed for business and it is not known when it will reopen. |
Noticias médicas 17 JUN 09 | Biología molecular Crean terapia contra cáncer cervicouterino avanzado Incrementa nueve por ciento absoluto la posibilidad de que una paciente siga viva a tres años de la detección Laura Romero Gaceta UNAM Científicos de la Unidad Periférica de Investigación en Cáncer, del Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de la UNAM , en el Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, encabezados por Alfonso Dueñas González, desarrollaron una terapia que aumenta la supervivencia de pacientes con cáncer cervicouterino localmente avanzado. El tratamiento consiste en añadir el medicamento gemcitabina a un regimen de quimioterapia (con otro fármaco denominado cisplatino) y radioterapia. Con ese nuevo esquema se incrementa nueve por ciento absoluto -con respecto de los métodos estándar- la posibilidad de que una paciente en esa fase de la enfermedad siga viva a tres años de la detección; de ser así, la probabilidad de sanación es alta, aunque podrían darse casos excepcionales de recaídas, aclaró el universitario. El cáncer cervicouterino es el segundo padecimiento más diagnosticado y la segunda causa de muerte por carcinomas en mujeres en el ámbito mundial, con más de un cuarto de millón de decesos anuales y alrededor de cinco mil en México. Las altas estadísticas ocurren aunque es una enfermedad cien por ciento evitable si se cuenta con un programa adecuado de detección y se impide que los tumores hagan metástasis, aclaró Dueñas González. La importancia de este estudio en su fase III, realizado entre pacientes de diversos países en vías de desarrollo, no sólo radica en que se demuestra que la gemcitabina añadida a la radiación con cisplatino ofrece mejores resultados que las terapias tradicionales, sino que también es la primera vez que una investigación de este tipo, encabezada por instituciones mexicanas, marca la pauta de un nuevo tratamiento en el ámbito mundial. Ese padecimiento afecta en mayor medida a mujeres en naciones subdesarrolladas, donde los programas de detección son deficientes y 70 por ciento de las enfermedades son diagnosticadas cuando ya están en etapas locales avanzadas y requieren radio y quimioterapia. Estudio multicéntrico El estudio multicéntrico fase III se efectuó en Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, México, Pakistán, Panamá, Perú y Tailandia. Se comparó la supervivencia, con y sin progresión del cáncer, en 515 pacientes seleccionadas al azar; 256 de ellas recibieron tratamiento estándar (cisplatino-radioterapia) y 259 el nuevo esquema (cisplatino-radioterapia-gemcitabina). Se comprobaron los resultados positivos, que ya se habían visto en un estudio previo con pacientes del Instituto Nacional de Cancerología. Luego de un seguimiento de cuatro años, se observó que la supervivencia sin progresión de la efermedad fue de 65 por ciento para quienes recibieron el tratamiento convencional y de 74 por ciento para las receptoras de la nueva terapia. En cuanto a la supervivencia en general, 78 por ciento de las mujeres que recibieron gemcitabina lo logró, contra 69 por ciento del otro grupo. Excelente agente radiosensibilizador Para mejorar el tratamiento, relató Alfonso Dueñas, se realizaron diversos estudios con ese medicamento -que desde hace años se usa para el cáncer de páncreas, pulmón, mama y vejiga-, in vitro y clínicos; se demostró que era un excelente agente radiosensibilizador y que potencia el efecto de la radiación y del cisplatino. El experto indicó que se desconocen con precisión los mecanismos moleculares de la interacción entre la radiación y la quimioterapia; lo que si se conoce es que la primera induce daño indirecto a la molécula de ADN de las células, por la producción de radicales libres de oxígeno. Cuando eso ocurre, la célula echa a andar mecanismos de reparación del ácido desoxirribonucleico, y entonces se suma la quimioterapia, que también lo daña; el deterioro resulta letal. Esta terapia combinada aumenta las posibilidades de que la célula maligna muera y se controle el tumor. En el estudio, fase II, realizado en el Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, se comparó el uso de cisplatino-radiación contra cisplatino-radiación-gemcitabina; los resultados incitaron a plantear la investigación multicéntrica, fase III, donde nuestras instituciones participaron de manera decisiva, explicó. Dueñas González resaltó que otro aspecto importante es que el cisplatino es un medicamento de quimioterapia económico, y la gemcitabina es accesible, por lo que el tratamiento estará al alcance de la población y, por ende, se espera que alrededor del mundo aumente el número de mujeres que se curen con este procedimiento. El nuevo esquema es un poco más tóxico que el estándar, porque disminuye en mayor medida los glóbulos blancos y rojos, así como las plaquetas; además, aumentan las náuseas y la diarrea; sin embargo, cuando el beneficio es tan importante y la toxicidad se puede manejar adecuadamente, se acepta pagar el precio. En la mayoría de los casos, esos efectos secundarios son agudos y ocurren sólo en el tratamiento, que dura alrededor de 70 u 80 días, lapso en el que la paciente se siente cansada y débil, como en cualquier quimioterapia, señaló. Resultados de gran importancia Los resultados del estudio fueron presentados por el universitario en el Congreso de la Sociedad Americana de Oncología Clínica, realizada este mes en Orlando, Estados Unidos, y por su importancia han sido enviados para su publicación a la revista LANCET , una de las más prestigiadas del área médica. Se espera que este procedimiento se empiece a la brevedad posible en el Instituto Nacional de Cancerología y en otras instituciones del país y del mundo. No obstante, Alfonso Dueñas concluyó que la solución para el cáncer cervicouterino no es un nuevo tratamiento, sino hacer exitosos los programas de detección temprana para lograr la disminución de los casos localmente avanzados. Comentarios de los lectores: Usted debe estar registrado para expresar su opinión. Si ya es usuario de IntraMed o desea registrase como nuevo usuario, ingrese aquí Eventos - A distancia - Capital Federal, Argentina - Capital Federal, Argentina - Capital Federal, Argentina Foros Más comentados 1. (Artículos) 2. (Noticias médicas) 3. (Entrevistas) 4. (Artículos) 5. (Noticias médicas) Más visitados 1. (Noticias médicas) 2. (Noticias médicas) 3. (Noticias médicas) 4. (Artículos) 5. (Noticias médicas) ||||| Treatment Regimen Extends Survival for Women with Cervical Cancer Making the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine part of the initial treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer and also part of therapy following primary treatment significantly improved survival for women with locally advanced cervical cancer, according to the results of an international, phase III clinical trial. Presented recently at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the results have important implications for the treatment of women with cervical cancer in developing countries, where 70 to 80 percent of women are diagnosed at a locally advanced stage due to a lack of widespread screening programs, said lead investigator Dr. Alfonso Dueñas-González of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico. More than 500 women with stage IIB to stage IVA cervical cancer—from countries as disparate as Pakistan and Panama—participated in the trial. They were randomly assigned to the experimental treatment arm, which included cisplatin and gemcitabine with concurrent external-beam radiation therapy, followed by brachytherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin. Women in the standard treatment group received cisplatin and concurrent external-beam radiation therapy followed only by brachytherapy. Approximately 75 percent of women who received the experimental treatment did not experience progression of their disease 3 years after treatment, compared with 65 percent of women who received standard treatment. Overall survival was improved by more than 40 percent, the researchers reported. The research team had expected more toxicity with the addition of gemcitabine, and that is what they saw. "Overall, the frequency of grade III and IV toxicities was higher in the experimental arm, mainly hematological toxicity," Dr. Dueñas-González said. Grade IV toxicities were low overall, he added, and generally toxicities in the experimental arm were "tolerable and manageable." The trial "in all likelihood defines a new standard of care" for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer, said Dr. Eric Winer, chief of the Division of Women's Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Standard Treatment for Anal Cancer Confirmed The largest clinical study of patients with anal cancer has found that the current standard treatment should not be changed. In addition, patients in the study did not benefit from maintenance chemotherapy that was designed to prevent a recurrence, according to the ACT II study, a phase III, randomized trial involving 940 patients. Most of the 5,000 patients diagnosed with anal cancer in the United States each year have the squamous cell type, which often responds to radiation therapy and chemotherapy. For a decade, the treatment for anal cancer has been radiation plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and mitomycin-C chemotherapy. In this trial, British researchers asked whether replacing mitomycin-C with cisplatin could improve results for patients, but the answer was no. Furthermore, patients did not benefit from maintenance chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-FU. Overall, however, the patients had very good results relative to the international trials published to date, noted Dr. Roger James of the Maidstone Hospital in Kent, who presented the findings at the recent ASCO annual meeting. At 6 months, 95 percent of patients in both groups had all signs of cancer disappear, and at 3 years, nearly 85 percent of the patients in the trial were alive. Cisplatin was evaluated because it is commonly used to treat other squamous cell cancers, the researchers said, noting that it is not as convenient to deliver and has different toxicities than mitomycin-C chemotherapy. Future trials will likely ask whether certain patients might benefit from other forms of maintenance therapy. Donated Stem Cell Transplants Better than Self-transplants for Most Patients with AML Evidence from a meta-analysis of prospective clinical trials supports the use of donated (or allograft) stem cell transplants (SCT) to treat individuals with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The findings appeared June 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. AML patients are usually classified as good-, intermediate-, or poor-risk, depending on genetic factors linked to the disease. Those in the good-risk group have the best chance of disease recovery and the lowest risk of relapse. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network states that those in the good-risk group should receive SCT from their own body after their initial chemotherapy, or a second round of chemotherapy if SCT is not possible; those in the poor-risk group should have an allograft SCT after chemotherapy; and those who have intermediate-risk disease can be treated either way, because it is not clear if one is better than the other. Now, an international team of researchers led by Dr. John Koreth at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center has reviewed the literature comparing allograft and non-allograft SCT, to determine what the evidence supports for patients in each risk group based on the rates of relapse-free survival and overall survival. The researchers reviewed 24 prospective clinical trials in the United States, Europe, and Japan that included 6,007 adult patients. Patients who were in the good-risk groups showed no significant difference in relapse-free survival or overall survival if they received a SCT from their own body or from a donor. Those in the intermediate-risk and poor-risk groups, however, showed a clear benefit when receiving allograft SCT compared with SCT from their own bodies. Overall, the researchers stated, the benefits of allograft SCT were markedly clearer for those in the intermediate- and poor-risk groups. But they noted that "there remains a need to further individualize the allogeneic SCT decision, based on factors like patient age, comorbidity, and the presence of additional molecular lesions." Restoring MicroRNA Expression Stops the Spread of Liver Cancer in Mice Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have shown that restoring the expression of a single microRNA (miRNA) that had been lost in liver cancer cells could prevent tumor growth in mice. miRNAs are short strands of RNA that regulate the activity of genes, including some that are involved in cancer. The study results appeared June 12 in Cell. The researchers chose the microRNA miR-26a, which is abundant in normal adult liver tissue but lacking in both human liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma or HCC) and in the mouse model of HCC used in their experiments. After initiating liver tumor formation in their mouse model, the researchers restored miR-26a to the tumor cells by injecting a virus engineered to specifically target liver tissue. The virus contained the miR-26a gene and a gene for a fluorescent protein to allow the researchers to visualize successful transfer. Eight out of 10 mice that received the virus containing the miR-26 gene developed only small tumors or did not develop measurable tumors. The two mice that did develop aggressive tumors had significantly less of the miR-26a gene successfully delivered to their liver tissue. Six out of eight control mice that did not receive the miR-26a gene developed aggressive disease. miR-26a is not thought to target a specific oncogene responsible for initiating liver tumors. Instead, it worked by generally inhibiting cancer cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis (cell death). No measurable effects were seen in normal liver cells, likely due to their naturally high levels of the miRNA. The study "provides proof-of-principle that the systemic administration of miRNAs may be a clinically viable anticancer therapeutic strategy," concluded the authors. Among the Elderly, Adverse Events from Colonoscopy Are Rare Older individuals who undergo outpatient colonoscopy have a low risk of adverse events, but the risk increases with advancing age and in individuals with certain health conditions, such as diabetes, stroke, and congestive heart failure. The findings are from the first study to assess complications from outpatient colonoscopy in older individuals. NCI researchers analyzed the Medicare records of 53,220 people aged 66 to 95 who underwent colonoscopy between 2001 and 2005. "Colorectal cancer screening is very important for the prevention of this disease, and we need to know whether colonoscopy is a safe method of colorectal cancer screening as a person gets older and whether there are specific health conditions that can increase one's risk," said lead investigator Dr. Joan Warren of NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. "Until now there have been no data on these questions out there." As the researchers reported today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the risk of a serious gastrointestinal event within 30 days following colonoscopy was 6.9 per 1,000 procedures. However, the risk of a serious gastrointestinal event for persons aged 85 and older was more than twice that for persons aged 66 to 69. The results are consistent with recommendations made last October by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, noted Dr. Warren. The Task Force advised against colorectal cancer screening in adults older than age 85 because the potential benefits were small compared to the risks. The group also recommended against routine screening for individuals aged 76 to 85. The findings will likely contribute to an ongoing debate about the use of screening colonoscopy among individuals who have a limited life expectancy because of advanced age or existing health conditions. In their report, the researchers urged clinicians to incorporate the results into their discussions with patients about the risks of colonoscopy. ||||| Detalló que con este nuevo esquema se incrementa nueve por ciento la posibilidad de que una paciente en esa fase de la enfermedad siga viva a tres años de la detección. México, DF. Científicos de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) desarrollaron en el Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INCan) una terapia que aumenta la supervivencia de pacientes con cáncer cervicouterino, localmente avanzado. El tratamiento consiste en añadir el medicamento gemcitabina a un régimen de quimioterapia con otro fármaco denominado cisplatino y radioterapia, señaló Alfonso Dueñas González, integrante de la Unidad Periférica de Investigación en Cáncer del Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas (IIBm) de la UNAM. Detalló que con este nuevo esquema se incrementa nueve por ciento la posibilidad de que una paciente en esa fase de la enfermedad siga viva a tres años de la detección; de ser así, la curación es alta, aunque podrían darse casos excepcionales de recaídas. El cáncer cervicouterino es el segundo padecimiento más diagnosticado y la segunda causa de muerte por carcinomas en mujeres a nivel mundial, con más de 250 mil decesos anuales, y de casi cinco mil en México, resaltó en un comunicado. Las altas cifras de muertes ocurren pese a ser una enfermedad 100 por ciento evitable si se cuenta con un programa adecuado de detección y se impide que los tumores hagan metástasis, aclaró Dueñas. Este estudio en su fase III, realizado entre pacientes de diversos países en vías de desarrollo, demuestra que la gemcitabina añadida a la radiación con cisplatino ofrece mejores resultados que las terapias tradicionales. Resaltó que es la primera vez que una investigación de este tipo, encabezada por instituciones mexicanas como la UNAM y el INCan, marca la pauta de un nuevo tratamiento a escala mundial. Este padecimiento afecta en mayor medida a mujeres en naciones subdesarrolladas, donde los programas de detección son deficientes y 70 por ciento de las enfermas son diagnosticadas cuando ya están en etapas localmente avanzadas y requieren radio y quimioterapia. El estudio multicéntrico fase III se realizó en Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, México, Pakistán, Panamá, Perú y Tailandia, con el patrocinio de la empresa farmacéutica Eli Lilly y el apoyo del International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research, con sede en Bélgica. Se comparó la supervivencia, con y sin progresión del cáncer, en 515 pacientes seleccionadas al azar; 256 de ellas recibieron tratamiento estándar (cisplatino-radioterapia) y 259 el nuevo esquema (cisplatino-radioterapia-gemcitabina). Se comprobaron los resultados positivos. Luego de un seguimiento de cuatro años, se observó que la supervivencia sin progresión (sin la enfermedad) fue de 65 por ciento para quienes recibieron el tratamiento convencional, y 74 por ciento para las receptoras de la nueva terapia. | Cytological specimen for a Pap test, used to diagnose cervical cancer. Women should have this test performed periodically to prevent this disease. DNA of cancer cells. According to this new study, gemcitabine potentiates this effect.A research team from the Institute of Biomedical Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico has developed a therapy that extends survival for locally advanced cervical cancer patients. The study was started at the National Oncology Institute, before trials were conducted worldwide. The new treatment, which serves as a guideline worldwide, involves using the drug gemcitabine as a radiosensibilizing agent to potentiate the effects of a regime of cisplatin chemotherapy and radiotherapy, explained Alfonso Dueñas González, who led the study. Despite the addition of another drug making the scheme slightly more toxic, the secondary effects are acute and are present only during the 70 to 80 days the treatment lasts, during which the patient can become weak, as with any chemotherapy. Under this treatment, the survival of patients rises to 78 percent. This is 9 percent above conventional methods, as concluded the study in its phase III, which lasted four years and involved 515 patients from different countries. Despite cervical cancer being preventable if detected early by the Pap test, it causes more than 250,000 deaths a year worldwide, becoming the second cause of death by carcinoma among women, and the second most diagnosed illness in this group. One of the advantages of this therapy is that both gemcitabine and cisplatin are affordable drugs, which makes it available for the world population and may help reduce the death rate by this disease. According to Dueñas González, although cervical cancer should be fought by focusing on early detection rather than on treatment, the therapy is expected to start being used in short by health institutions throughout the world. |
Mark McGwire hit 583 home runs in his career, including a then-record 70 in 1998. AP Mark McGwire has admitted taking steroids in 1998 when he broke Roger Maris' home run record. "I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize," McGwire said in his statement. "I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season. I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era. "I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry. Baseball is really different now -- it's been cleaned up. The Commissioner and the Players Association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did." McGwire is entering his first season as the hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, and his return to baseball prompted his admission. "It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected," McGwire said. That echoes the phrase he used repeatedly during a Congressional inquiry into steroids in baseball in 2005, when he stonewalled questions about whether he had ever used steroids by saying, "I'm not here to talk about the past." McGwire then went into seclusion for several years before being hired at the end of last season as the Cardinals' new hitting coach. "On behalf of the entire Cardinals organization, I believe Mark McGwire today did the right thing by telling the truth and openly acknowledging his past mistakes," said Bill DeWitt, the Cardinals Chairman. "No one condones what Mark did more than 10 years ago, but we hired him as our hitting coach because we know there are many contributions that Mark can and will make to our team and to this game." McGwire played 16 seasons in the majors with Oakland and St. Louis. He retired after the 2001 season having hit 583 home runs, which still ranks tied for eighth in major league history. His 10.61 at bats/home run is the best ever. Tony La Russa, the Cardinals manager who hired McGwire as hitting coach and who managed McGwire with both the A's and the Cardinals, told MLB Network he did not feel duped by his former slugger, adding, "It's not excusable, it's a mistake but the perception of Mark when he played was he's a really solid individual and a great teammate and I think that will be restored." La Russa said he first found out when McGwire spoke to him Monday morning. Commissioner Bud Selig said he was "pleased" by McGwire's admission, adding, "This statement of contrition I believe will make Mark's re-entry into the game much smoother and easier." Steroids have been banned in baseball since 1991, but it wasn't until 2003 that baseball began random survey testing of players that was meant to remain anonymous. Testing with punishment was not instituted until the following year. McGwire's admission is the latest in a series of drug revelations that have plagued baseball in the past 12 months, beginning with a report in Sports Illustrated last February that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids in 2003. In May, it was announced that Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers had failed a drug test and was suspended for 50 games. In June, Sammy Sosa, who had been McGwire's companion during their unforgettable chase of Maris' home run record in 1998, was revealed to have been on that 2003 list of failed tests, and in July Ramirez and Red Sox slugger David Ortiz were named from that list as well. MORE McGWIRE CONTENT VERDUCCI: McGwire opens up about admission JENKINS: McGwire was a creation of his era GALLERY: Infamous drug scandals in sports READ: Mark McGwire's full statement SI VAULT: McGwire, Sosa lead the Liar's Club SI VAULT: McGwire reaches the record ||||| Mark McGwire, whose inflated statistics and refusal to address his past came to symbolize a synthetic era in baseball history, acknowledged on Monday that he used steroids through the 1990s. McGwire has been out of baseball since retiring after the 2001 season, making few public appearances besides his infamous performance before Congress in 2005, when he dodged questions about steroid use. He starts next month as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, and said he needed to make the admission to move forward. “It’s something I’m certainly not proud of,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. “I’m certainly sorry for having done it. Someday, somehow, somewhere I knew I’d probably have to talk about this. I guess the steppingstone was being offered the hitting-coach job with the Cardinals. At that time, I said, ‘I need to come clean about this.’ ” It was an orchestrated confession by McGwire, who first released a statement to The Associated Press, then conducted one-on-one interviews with several news outlets, including The Times. He also gave his first televised interview on the subject to Bob Costas on the MLB Network. McGwire and the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa captivated baseball in the summer of 1998 as they chased Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs in a season. McGwire was the first to pass Maris and finished with a record of 70, the high point of a four-year stretch in which he bashed 245 home runs. In the Costas interview, in which his voice cracked and his eyes watered several times, McGwire said he called Pat Maris, Roger Maris’s widow, on Monday and apologized. “I think she was shocked that I called her,” McGwire said. “I felt that I needed to do that. They’ve been great supporters of mine. She was disappointed, and she has every right to be. I couldn’t tell her how so sorry I was.” Still, McGwire told Costas he “absolutely” could have broken the record without using steroids, pointing to his home run prowess going back to Little League. “That’s why it’s the most regrettable thing I’ve ever done in my life,” McGwire said. McGwire denied that he routinely injected steroids with Jose Canseco, his former Oakland teammate, as Canseco claimed in his 2005 book, “Juiced.” McGwire said he briefly tried steroids after the 1989 season but did not begin using them regularly until the winter after the 1993 season, when he was mired in a painful period of his career that included repeated trips to the disabled list, partly because of injuries to both heels. During that time, he said, he began using steroids regularly. He told Costas that the drugs were readily available at gyms and that he took them orally and by injection. But he said he did not remember the name of the drugs. In The Times interview, McGwire also cited health factors, saying: “In the winter of ’93, ’94, it was brought to my attention, ‘Have you ever thought of steroids or HGH; it can help speed up the healing process of injuries.’ ” McGwire recalled a conversation with his father in 1996, when he was sidelined with another heel injury. “I remember telling him, ‘I want to retire,’ ” he told The Times. “ ‘I want to get away.’ At the time I knew my swing was developing, but I couldn’t get away from the injuries. I seriously thought about retiring, but my dad talked me out of it.” McGwire kept playing but said he took steroids so he could stay on the field. “I used very, very low dosages,” he said. “There’s no way I wanted to look like Lou Ferrigno or Arnold Schwarzenegger.” He added: “I don’t want to use it as a crutch, but there was no drug testing. I didn’t use it for strength. I used it to help me recover from injuries.” McGwire said he called Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa and Commissioner Bud Selig on Monday to tell them about his admission. In an interview with ESPN, La Russa defended the Athletics’ and Cardinals’ training programs as “100 percent legit” and said McGwire worked hard in the weight room. “I didn’t know anything,” La Russa said of McGwire’s drug use. “Mark and I never confronted it, and he never told me until this morning.” Selig said in a statement that he was pleased McGwire had “confronted his use of performance-enhancing substances as a player,” and said that the steroid era had come to an end. “The use of steroids and amphetamines amongst today’s players has greatly subsided and is virtually nonexistent, as our testing results have shown,” Selig said. “The so-called steroid era a reference that is resented by the many players who played in that era and never touched the substances is clearly a thing of the past, and Mark’s admission today is another step in the right direction.” | In a statement released today, former American baseball star Mark McGwire admitted to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during his career, including the 1998 season, when he broke Roger Maris's single season record for home runs, hitting 70 of them. McGwire admitted to the use of drugs in the late 1980s and during most of the 1990s. There had been wide speculation about McGwire's use of performance-enhancing drugs, as he came from an era of baseball that has been dubbed the "steroid era" because of the high use of performance enhancing drugs throughout Major League Baseball. "I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era...I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry...It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected," said some of the statement released by the St. Louis Cardinals today. McGwire had recently been hired as the Cardinal's hitting coach and was set to begin the job this season. McGwire, 46, had been regarded as one of the most powerful hitters of his time. Over his career, McGwire hit 583 home runs, which is currently tied with Alex Rodriguez, who has also admitted to steroid use. McGwire is now one of the six players in the top 15 home run hitters of all time that has either confessed to or been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Mark McGwire in 2001. McGwire's best season came in 1998, when he set the record for most home runs in a single season. After a race throughout the final months of the season with Sammy Sosa, he ended with 70 home runs, easily beating Roger Maris's previous record of 61 (This record was later broken by Barry Bonds, who now holds the current record of 73). "I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids," said McGwire to the Associated Press. According to McGwire, the steroids were used for the enhancement of his play as well as to recover from the several injuries that he suffered between the 1990 and 1994 seasons. In the statement, he also commended the MLB Player's Association for attempting to remove steroids from the game. "Baseball is really different now— it's been cleaned up. The commissioner and the Player's Association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did," McGwire stated." Since he used the steroids before the current rules were in place, McGwire will likely not be disciplined by the league or the MLBPA. In 2005, McGwire was called to the U.S. Congress and refused to answer questions about his steroid use, saying that he did "...not want to talk about the past." It is unknown if the MLB will investigate into this matter. Mark McGwire is currently tied for eighth on the all-time home runs list. he played 16 Major League seasons and retired following the 2001 season. He is currently the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. |
By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Larry Coker's weekend plans were set. He was hitting the road, with hopes of continuing to fill what he insists will be a special class of Miami recruits. Instead, he's staying home. And those recruits, if they come to Miami, will play for someone else next season. Coker's tumultuous and disappointing season got its predictable ending Friday, when he was fired after six years leading the Hurricanes. He may coach one more game: If Miami (6-6) goes to a bowl, Coker will be on the sideline. "He deserved it," said athletic director Paul Dee, who told Coker of his dismissal Friday morning -- saying it pained him to do so. "He earned it. ... If we are invited, we will play, and Larry Coker will be our head coach." There are plenty of potential candidates to replace Coker; two marquee names are former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, who is close with university president Donna Shalala, and Rutgers coach and former Miami assistant Greg Schiano. Former Florida coach and current South Carolina boss Steve Spurrier said this week that he expects to be back with the Gamecocks next fall for his third season -- trying to rebuke a story that identified him as Miami's top choice for Coker's job. The school will hire a consultant -- Chuck Neinas, a Colorado-based headhunter and former commissioner of the Big Eight Conference -- and begin a search immediately, Dee said. Barely an hour removed from his firing, Coker said he understood -- and almost seemed relieved. "I don't know the direction they're going to go here," said Coker, who spent six years as a Miami assistant before replacing Butch Davis as head coach six years ago. "I'm disappointed that I'm not going to be a part of it. But I just really believe some great things will happen to this program." Coker is 59-15 at Miami, but was doomed by 12 losses in the last three seasons and no conference crowns or Bowl Championship Series bids since 2003. He had three seasons left on a contract that paid him about $2 million annually. There is a buyout provision in his deal, believed to be worth about $3 million. "It has been evident this season that we have not progressed," Shalala wrote in a statement. "It is time for us to reclaim our national championship tradition. ... I want to make it clear that no celebration is in order today. This was not an easy decision." Meanwhile, more changes could be coming to Miami. Shalala announced "a six-month fundraising sprint to secure commitments from our supporters/donors to finance competitive coaching contracts and build and renovate first-class facilities and programs." "We need a new start," Shalala said. Many of Miami's players said in recent days that they wanted Coker to keep his job, and his firing was not received well by former Hurricanes standout Sinorice Moss, now a rookie receiver with the New York Giants. "I don't understand it. I understand some changes had to be made, but I don't think that's the particular change they had to make," Moss said. "He was a great coach. He's been a great coach since he's been there. I don't feel they had to get rid of him." Miami entered this season as the favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, and was mentioned by some as a contender for the national title -- even after a 40-3 loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl last season. Shortly after that game, Coker fired four assistant coaches, saying the program needed new ideas. But things began spiraling out of control quickly this season. The Hurricanes lost 31-7 at Louisville on Sept. 16, falling to 1-2 and out of the national-title mix, needed a last-second interception just to beat winless Duke, and then matched the school's longest losing streak in nine years. Plus, senior defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed outside his apartment complex on Nov. 7, adding more torment to a team already reeling from its on-field issues. Miami was also involved in a brawl with Florida International on Oct. 14, a sideline-clearing melee that led to the suspension of 18 FIU players and 13 Hurricanes players. "We have suffered disappointments and tragedy off and on the field," Shalala said. "We can and will do better." AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J. contributed to this report. Email to a Friend | View Popular ||||| By Gary Ferman, CaneSport Publisher – Rivals.com The University of Miami is prepared to offer a five-year, $2 million a year contract to one of its top two candidates to replace Larry Coker as football coach – South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier or Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano, sources told CaneSport. What is not yet known is which of those two will emerge as the top candidate for the job, a decision that would almost certainly be made by President Donna Shalala when Larry Coker no longer is officially the head coach. What also is not known is whether either Spurrier or Schiano will have an interest in the job. Spurrier is not believed to like big city life. But he did go to the NFL in Washington and Miami would give him a far greater opportunity to end his coaching career on the national stage competing for national championships than trying to battle his way through the SEC from South Carolina. Schiano has very consistently said that his two goals as a coach are to win a national championship and to win a Super Bowl. That obviously is not going to happen at Rutgers. A painful loss to Cincinatti on Saturday only drove that point home stronger. CaneSport is getting conflicting opinions from people close to Schiano on whether he would be interested in returning to Miami. Some say he won't be interested in the job, some say he would be. One thing appears certain: UM is taking this hire very seriously and is willing to spend the money it needs to attract a top coach. If the new coach isn't Spurrier or Schiano, UM is expected to very quickly embark on a national search that could include several candidates. The only member of the current staff expected to receive consideration for the job is defensive coordinator Randy Shannon. Atleast one national media outlet went out on the limb Sunday night to say that Spurrier will be Miami's next coach. Spurrier would bring instant hope back to a program that has fallen apart this season and very quickly restore Miami's image on the national stage. He has coached a national championship Florida Gators team, won seven Southeastern Conference titles at UF, and won over 75 percent of the college games he has coached in. In 17 years coaching college ball, Spurrier has compiled a 155-50-2 won-loss record and made a name for himself as a quarterback and offensive guru. Under his leadership, the University of Florida offense became the only unit in modern collegiate history (since the NCAA started keeping stats in 1937) to score at least 500 points (including bowl games) for four straight years (1993-96). He began his coaching tenure at UF as quarterbacks coach in 1978. He moved onto the same coaching capacity at Georgia Tech the following year before becoming an assistant at Duke in 1980. In 1982 he was named coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League, compiling a 35-19 record in three seasons. In 1987 he became Duke's head coach and went 20-13-1 in three seasons there, leading the Blue Devils to the title in 1989. In 1990 he became Florida's coach, and after an incredibly successful tenure there he resigned in 2002 to become coach of the Redskins. He signed a five-year contract but only lasted two seasons. In 2005 he took over at South Carolina. Spurrier is best known for his tenure with the Gators. In his 12 season at the helm in Gainesville, Spurrier's teams ranked in the nation's top 10 nine times. His record at Florida was 122-27-1 (.817). At South Carolina Spurrier led the Gamecocks to a 7-5 record and a second place finish in the SEC Eastern Division last year. He was honored as the SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press after leading the Gamecocks to a school record five straight SEC wins, their first win ever at Tennessee and their first win over Florida since the 1930s. It was the eighth time he was honored as his league's Coach of the Year. This year his team is 6-5 heading into the regular season finale. As a player at UF, Spurrier was the recipient of the 1966 Heisman Trophy. He played briefly in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Among Spurrier's coaching accolades: * Coached Florida to two National Championship game appearances (1995 and 1996), claiming the 1996 national title. * His 122 victories at Florida from 1990-2001 ranks as the best win total for a coach in his first 12 years at a school in major college history. * The only coach in SEC history and one of only two coaches in major college history to lead a squad to six straight seasons of 10 or more wins (1993-1998). * The only coach in the nation to lead his team to at least nine wins in each of his 12 years (1990-2001) at the helm. * He achieved 100 career victories at Florida in a faster time period (10th season, eighth game) than any major college coach at a school in the 20th century. * One of only five coaches in major college history to have his team ranked in the final Top 15 Poll in each of 12 consecutive seasons (1990-2001). * He and the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant are the only coaches in SEC history to win as many as four straight league championships. (1993-96). * He has been selected as a finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach of the Year Award four times (1990, 1991, 1995, 1996). * Has been named his conference's Coach of the Year eight times (1988 and 1989 in the ACC with Duke, in 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995 and 1996 in the SEC with Florida and in 2005 in his first year at South Carolina). * He has led teams to 13 bowl games, including each of his last 11 years (1991-2001) at Florida and in each of his last 12 seasons overall. Of his 13 bowl teams, 10 played in January games. * In 12 of his 16 seasons entering this seaon, his squad finished ranked among the nation's top 10 teams in passing offense 12 times and ranked among the top 10 in total offense nine times. Schiano is an intriguing candidate because of his existing recruiting ties in Florida and the fact that he is considered one of the top young coaches in college football. It's widely believed that, had Schiano stayed at UM instead of leaving for Rutgers in 2000, that he would have taken over the program instead of Larry Coker when Butch Davis left for the NFL. Now Schiano might just get a second crack at the Canes. Schiano has proven himself by putting the Scarlet Knights into the elite of the nation this year. He has built up a doormat program into a contender. The foundation was hard to build, but the rewards were already being quietly reaped at the end of last year when Rutgers accepted a bid to play in the Insight Bowl after finishing in the upper echelon of the final standings in the Big East Conference. It was the Scarlet Knights' first winning season in 13 years and first bowl bid in 27 years. Schiano, now in his sixth year as head coach of the Scarlet Knights, is a New Jersey native. Schiano and his staff have worked hard to upgrade the level of talent by recruiting student-athletes with outstanding athleticism and great character, all part of the building process that continues to result in on-field success. He is lauded for his tireless work ethic, winning attitude and commitment. Schiano took over as the 27th head coach of the nation's oldest college football program on Dec. 1, 2000. Achievement and success are nothing new to Schiano. Wherever he has been in his coaching career, success has followed. During Schiano's two-year stint as defensive coordinator at Miami (1999-2000), the Hurricanes posted a 20-5 record, including an 11-1 record, the No. 2 national ranking and the Sugar Bowl championship in 2000. The Hurricanes boasted one of the top scoring defenses in the nation in 2000, and were the stingiest defensive squad in the Big East Conference. Under Schiano, the Miami defense showed rapid and marked improvement in his two seasons as defensive coordinator. The Cane defense closed out the 1999 season by not allowing a passing touchdown in 27 quarters, and was 12th nationally in scoring defense (allowing 17.2 points per game). In 2000, Miami surrendered just 15.5 points per game, the fewest allowed by any team in the BIG EAST and No. 5 nationally. Prior to his assignment at Miami, Schiano spent three seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears (1996-98). Schiano was a defensive assistant in 1996-97 and was the defensive backfield coach in 1998. The 1997 Chicago Bears' third-down defense showed measurable improvement under Schiano's leadership, finishing first in the NFC and fourth in the NFL as opponents converted just 31.7% of their third-down attempts. In 1996, the Bears' pass defense climbed from 27th to 11th in fewest yards allowed. Schiano was defensive backfield coach at Penn State University from 1991-95. While at Penn State, the Nittany Lions had 58 wins and made five bowl appearances in his tenure. Overall, in nine seasons as an assistant on the collegiate level, Schiano's teams advanced to eight bowl games. Schiano's first assignment as a coach in the college ranks came during the 1989 season, when he served as a graduate assistant coach at Rutgers, following a one-year stint as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ramapo High School. Schiano was a standout linebacker at Ramapo. After his initial stint at Rutgers in 1989, he moved on to Penn State as a graduate assistant coach in 1990. Schiano is a 1988 graduate of Bucknell University, where he was a three-year letterman at linebacker. He was named to The Sporting News All-America Pre-Season Team in 1987. He served as team captain his senior year and, as a junior, he topped the team with 114 tackles and was named All-Conference. Email to a Friend | View Popular | University of Miami head football coach Larry Coker was fired today after a five win, five loss season. He was fired after a disappointing season which was filled with conterversy and tragedy. On October 14th, a brawl in a game against Florida International University led to the suspension of 13 UM players. On November 7th, starting defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed outside his apartment in Kendall. The Hurricanes also went though a four game losing streak. "We have suffered disappointments and tragedy off and on the field," University of Miami President Donna Shalala said in a statement regarding Coker's firing. "We can and will do better." Coker firing came one day after a 17-14 win over 17th ranked Boston College. Coker may coach one more game if the Hurricanes get selected for a bowl game. University of Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano and former University of Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez has emerged as one of the top candidates. |
Bomb Blast Kills 11 in Pakistani City of Peshawar Damaged vehicles at site of a suicide car bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, 14 Nov 2009 Pakistani police say a suicide car bombing killed at least 11 people, including three children, in the latest attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Officials say the bomber was waiting in a line of cars at a security checkpoint just outside the city Saturday, when he detonated the explosives. Authorities say the blast also killed two police officers, wounded at least 20 people, and destroyed several cars. The bombing came a day after a suicide bomber struck the Peshawar office of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, killing 10 people. That blast caused a large portion of the three-story ISI building to collapse. Authorities say recent militant attacks in Peshawar are in retaliation for the government's offensive against the Taliban in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. Elsewhere Saturday, the Pakistani military says troops killed eight militants in the latest fighting in the northwest Swat Valley. Pakistani police say a suicide car bombing killed at least 11 people, including three children, in the latest attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar.Officials say the bomber was waiting in a line of cars at a security checkpoint just outside the city Saturday, when he detonated the explosives.Authorities say the blast also killed two police officers, wounded at least 20 people, and destroyed several cars.The bombing came a day after a suicide bomber struck the Peshawar office of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, killing 10 people. That blast caused a large portion of the three-story ISI building to collapse.Authorities say recent militant attacks in Peshawar are in retaliation for the government's offensive against the Taliban in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.Elsewhere Saturday, the Pakistani military says troops killed eight militants in the latest fighting in the northwest Swat Valley. Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters. E-mail Print Digg Yahoo Buzz Facebook del.icio.us StumbleUpon ||||| The explosion on Saturday comes days after similar attacks rocked the country's northwest. At least 11 people have been killed and 26 others are feared injured after a car bomb exploded in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. Sahibzada Anis, Peshawar's district administration chief, told the AFP news agency: "At least 11 people have been killed and 26 others wounded." Anis said among the dead were three women, three children and five men. He said the bomber detonated explosives when police asked him to stop for a search. Police among dead Liaqat Ali Khan, the police chief in Peshawar, told the AFP that two policemen were among the dead, but he did not give details. Malik Jehangir, who was in charge of the checkpoint, said policemen were checking vehicles when he saw a suspicious black car across the barrier and asked one of the officers to check it."I saw that there was some argument between the driver and the policeman and suddenly a blast downed me with shrapnel piercing my shoulder," he said.Another witness, Akbar Ali, said that he was riding a motorcycle and waiting in the queue at the checkpoint when he saw a scuffle between the bomber and the policeman. Officials say the death toll is likely to rise. Anti-government Taliban fighters have struck numerous times in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing more than 300 civilians and soldiers. The attacks appear to be aimed at weakening the government's resolve to continue its military operation in South Waziristan, the Taliban's main bastion, on the border with Afghanistan. Taliban denial Last month, a car bomb ripped through a crowded grocery market in the centre of Peshawar, killing more than 100 people, mainly women and children. The Taliban said it did not carry out the October attack in Peshawar that was described as the deadliest in the country in two years. A truck bombing at the regional headquarters of Pakistan's national intelligence agency killed at least 10 people in Peshawar on Friday. Meanwhile, Pakistan's army claims they are making good progress. | Map of PeshawarPakistani police said today that a suicide car bombing has killed at least eleven people and wounded more than twenty others, in the latest attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Officials reported that the bomber set off the explosives at a police checkpoint, and added that two police officers are among the dead. "At least eleven people have been killed and 26 others wounded," said Sahibzada Anis, the Peshawar district administration chief, to the Agence France-Presse news agency. According to the man in charge of the checkpoint, Malik Jehangir, he noticed a black car across the barrier and asked security officers to check it. "I saw that there was some argument between the driver and the policeman and suddenly a blast downed me with shrapnel piercing my shoulder," he said, as quoted by Al Jazeera. The bombing came a day after a suicide bomber struck the Peshawar office of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, killing ten people. That blast caused a large portion of the three-story ISI building to collapse. |
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A bomb inside a van exploded in northeastern Madrid Monday, after a warning call by the Basque separatist group ETA. The blast caused damage but there were no immediate reports of injury. Policemen inspect the area after a van loaded with a bomb exploded in northeast Madrid. The Red Cross received a call at 7:37 a.m. (1:37 a.m. ET), in the name of ETA, warning of the bomb. The Red Cross immediately contacted police, who cordoned off the area, a Red Cross spokeswoman told CNN. The blast occurred shortly after 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) outside the building of a construction company, CNN partner network CNN+ reported. The company, Ferrovial Agroman, is involved in building a high-speed train line in the Basque region, which ETA opposes. The attack came just hours after Spain's Supreme Court declined to allow two new leftist Basque parties to compete in the March 1 Basque regional elections in northern Spain. Authorities allege the new parties are simply new names for other leftist Basque parties already outlawed for their links to ETA. "What ETA did this morning ratifies the Supreme Court decision last night," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters, at the scene of the explosion. At least 30 vehicles parked in the street were damaged, as well as the construction company offices, the Spanish police said in a statement. The bomb, it added, was placed in a van stolen last night in the Madrid area. Exactly four years ago, on Feb. 9, 2005, ETA placed a bomb in the same Madrid neighborhood that was hit on Monday. That attack caused dozens of injuries, and damaged a different glass-façade office building. ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its long fight for Basque independence. It is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States. All About ETA Separatist Group • Madrid • Spain ||||| Witnesses described a high-intensity explosion A van loaded with a bomb has exploded near a conference centre and railway line in the east of Spain's capital, Madrid, reportedly causing no injuries. The bomb exploded outside the Campo de las Naciones at around 0900 (0800 GMT), about 90 minutes after a warning was received by the Spanish Red Cross. Police were able to cordon off the entire area and clear the trade fair centre before the blast occurred. The Spanish authorities have blamed the Basque separatist movement, Eta. Eta has been blamed for the deaths of more than 820 people and for numerous car bombs during its 40-year campaign for an independent Basque nation. Regional elections The Spanish Red Cross received a telephone call shortly at 0737 (0637 GMT) on Monday morning, naming the street in eastern Madrid where the bomb had been left inside a parked Peugeot van. The device exploded an hour and a half later, close to the Campo de las Naciones centre, a railway line, and the headquarters of the construction firm Ferrovial Agroman. Witnesses have described a high-intensity explosion which broke windows. Emergency services at the scene have reported no injuries. The attack happened less than three weeks before regional elections in the Basque Country. At the weekend, the Spanish Supreme Court banned two nationalist parties from fielding candidates in those polls following allegations of links to Eta. The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Madrid says Spanish police had been expecting a violent response. Railways have been a chosen target of Eta, which opposes the construction of a high-speed line between Madrid and the Basque Country, our correspondent says. Last month, the group said it was behind the December killing of a Basque businessman whose company was working on the project. ||||| A car bomb believed planted by the armed Basque group ETA exploded at a business park on Madrid's outskirts Monday, but no one was injured, police said. Officials received a warning, reportedly from the armed separatist group ETA. The bomb went off shortly after 9 a.m. (0800GMT; 3 a.m. EST) at the park in the Campo de Las Naciones trade fair center about 90 minutes after the Spanish Red Cross received a warning call, a police spokesman said. The explosion blew a meter-deep (3-foot) hole in the ground, destroyed some 30 cars and blew out windows at nearby offices, but no one was hurt, the spokesman said. The area had been cordoned off after the Red Cross received a call from someone claiming to speak on behalf of ETA. The caller said an explosives-laden van parked near Ferrovial construction firm's offices would explode at 9 a.m., Red Cross spokeswoman Belen Ruiz said. If confirmed as an ETA bomb, it would mark the group's first attack in Madrid since Dec. 30, 2006, when an ETA car bomb at Madrid's airport killed two Ecuadoreans and brought an end to a nine-month cease-fire. ETA set off a car bomb at the same Madrid trade center in February 2005, injuring 43 people. The blast on Monday caused traffic havoc near the city's airport, and interrupted services on one subway line serving the trade fair center and airport. Just hours earlier, the Supreme Court had banned candidates from two Basque nationalist parties from taking part in upcoming Basque regional elections because of alleged links between the two groups and ETA. Spanish National Radio said Ferrovial was one of the companies involved in the construction of a high speed train project in the Basque region that has been targeted frequently by ETA. Ferrovial said it had no immediate comment. ETA, whose name is a Basque-language acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 825 people since 1968. Recently the group claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of a Basque businessman linked to the high speed train project and a car bomb outside a Basque television station. Both attacks were in December. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | A van packed with explosives blew up at a trade fair center in the Spanish capital, Madrid shortly after 9:00 a.m. Monday. The blast was preceded by a phoned in warning from the assailants, which allowed police and fire crews to evacuate the area. Authorities believe the ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), a Basque separatist group which is on the United States list of foreign terrorist organizations, is responsible. The attack comes three weeks before Basque regional elections and a day after the Spanish Supreme Court banned two nationalist party members from running for office in the upcoming election. The van exploded around 9:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m.EST) outside the HQ of the building company Ferrovial Agroman, at the Campo de las Naciones. A warning about the pending attack was phoned into the city's local chapter of the Red Cross about 90 minutes before the explosion. The caller said the bomb would explode at 9:00 a.m. local time. No one was injured or killed, but the blast shattered windows in buildings and destroyed about 30 vehicles surrounding the blast zone. A nearby railway line and a bridge were also damaged. Ferrovial is involved in building a high-speed train line in the Basque region, a project criticized by leftist Basque nationalists and ecologists and targeted by ETA in previous attacks. In December 2008, Ignacio Uria, a businessman linked to this project, was shot and killed. The ETA claimed responsibility for the attack. Ferrovial has not commented on the incident. |
Buried truth of Korea killings exposed Korean War records show U.S. ambivalent during 'brutal chapter' DAEJEON, South Korea — Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing the skeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in the Korean War. With U.S. military officers sometimes present, and as North Korean invaders pushed down the peninsula in the summer of 1950, the southern army and police emptied South Korean prisons, lined up detainees and shot them in the head. Some bodies were dumped into hastily dug trenches. Others were thrown into abandoned mines or the sea. Women and children were among those killed. Many victims never faced charges or trial. The extermination campaign, carried out over mere weeks and largely hidden for a half-century, is "the most tragic and brutal chapter of the Korean War," said historian Kim Dong Choon, a member of a 2-year-old government commission investigating the mass executions. The remains of hundreds have been uncovered, but researchers say those found are a tiny fraction of the deaths. An estimate of 100,000 such executions is "very conservative," said Kim. The true toll may be twice that or more, he said. "Even now, I feel guilty that I pulled the trigger," said Lee Joon Young, 83, one of the executioners in a secluded valley near Daejeon in July 1950. The retired prison guard said he knew that many of those shot and buried en masse were convicts or illiterate peasants wrongly ensnared in anti-communist roundups. They didn't deserve to die; they "knew nothing about communism," Lee said. In addition, thousands of alleged collaborators with the communist occupation were slain by southern forces later in 1950, and North Korean troops conducted smaller-scale executions of rightists after their invasion on June 25, 1950. Through the postwar decades of South Korea's dictatorships, fearful families kept silent about that blood-soaked summer. American military reports of the South Korean slaughter were stamped "secret." Communist accounts were dismissed as lies. Mass graves uncovered Only since the 1990s—and South Korea's democratization—has the truth begun to seep out. In 2002, a typhoon led to the discovery of one mass grave. Another was found by a television news team that broke into a sealed mine. Further corroboration comes from a trickle of declassified U.S. military documents, including Army photographs of a mass killing outside Daejeon, about 90 miles south of Seoul. Now the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has added government authority to the work of researchers, family members and journalists trying to peel away the cover-up. The 17 investigators of the commission's subcommittee on "mass civilian sacrifice," led by Kim, have been dealing with petitions from more than 7,000 South Koreans, involving about 1,200 alleged incidents, including 215 cases in which the U.S. military is accused of the indiscriminate civilian killings in 1950-51, usually in air attacks. The commission last year excavated sites at four of an estimated 150 mass graves across the country, recovering remains of more than 400 people. It has confirmed two large-scale executions—at a warehouse in the central county of Cheongwon and at Ulsan on the southeast coast. In January, then-President Roh Moo Hyun, who helped establish the commission, formally apologized for the more than 870 deaths confirmed at Ulsan, calling them "illegal acts the then-state authority committed." The commission, with no power to compel testimony or prosecute, faces daunting tasks both in verifying events and identifying victims, and in tracing a chain of responsibility. Under Roh's conservative successor, Lee Myung Bak, the commission may find less budgetary and political support. The declassified U.S. military records and other documents show an ambivalent American attitude toward the killings—a hands-off position at times and disapproving statements at times. In July 1950, truckloads of prisoners were brought in from the city's prison and elsewhere day after day as North Korean troops bore down on Daejeon. Bound and shot The U.S. photos, taken by an Army major and kept classified for a half-century, show the macabre sequence of events. White-clad detainees with their hands bound were thrown down prone, jammed side by side, on the edge of a long trench. Members of the military and police then stepped up from behind and shot them in the head. Trembling policemen—"they hadn't shot anyone before"—were sometimes off-target, leaving men wounded but alive, Lee said. He and others were ordered to finish off the wounded. Evidence indicates from 3,000 to 7,000 were killed in Daejeon, Kim said. CIA and U.S. military intelligence reports circulating at that time, and since declassified, told of the Daejeon killings. Lt. Col. Bob Edwards, U.S. Embassy military attache in South Korea, wrote in conveying the photos to Army intelligence in Washington that he believed nationwide "thousands of political prisoners were executed within [a] few weeks." Kim said his projection of at least 100,000 dead is based on extrapolating from a survey by non-governmental organizations in one province, Busan's South Gyeongsang, which estimated 25,000 were killed. And initial evidence suggests most of the 300,000 on the South Korean government's lists of suspected leftists were killed, he said. Commission investigators agree with Edwards' note to Washington in 1950, that "orders for execution undoubtedly came from the top," that is, then-President Syngman Rhee, who died in 1965. However, a U.S. Army war crimes report attributed all summary executions in Daejeon to the "murderous barbarism" of North Koreans. The life of the commission—with a staff of 240 and an annual budget of $19 million—is guaranteed by law until at least 2010, when it will issue a final, comprehensive report. ||||| Truth Commission reveals history of Korean War U.S.-South Korea carried out massacres of civilians Published Jun 29, 2008 9:11 PM As told by most history textbooks in the U.S., the Korean War started with a June 25, 1950, invasion from the communist north and the freedom-loving U.S. came to the aid of the besieged democratic Republic of Korea in the south. The reality was very different. Not only did the RoK’s dictatorial, fascist-like regime of U.S. puppet Syngman Rhee make the first move, it had prepared for it for more than a year in advance. These preparations included using paramilitary fascist organizations and the regular army for cross-border raids on northern villages to test the defenses of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Domestically, the preparation meant carrying out large-scale executions of suspected communists, leftists and anyone who opposed the neo-colonial rule of the U.S. in the south. The majority of these massacres took place throughout the summer of 1950, but thousands of civilians were executed by RoK military and police throughout the war. The U.S. military—which had operational command of the RoK army—not only was aware of the massacres, but assisted and even directed many of the executions. That these massacres had occurred was common knowledge among people both north and south. Due to the repressive anti-communist National Security Law, which threatened penalties of decades in prison, no one in the south dared to speak up until recently. A half century of official silence finally began to end after the hard struggle of the pro-democracy movement in the 1980s created a political space. Even those who fled to the U.S. to escape the repression couldn’t speak up. They were dependent on established Korean-Americans for jobs, housing and loans, and these privileged elements often had ties to the right-wing Grand National Party or the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. One voice through the decades spoke the truth to the world about the mass murders. The press in the DPRK constantly tried to bring these crimes to the attention of the world. Because Washington’s racist anti-DPRK propaganda was all-pervasive, the truth never gained any traction in the corporate mass media around the world. Truth and Reconciliation Commission Today in the RoK, a government-funded Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Ahn Byung-ook is investigating 1,200 incidents of mass executions in addition to 215 cases in which the U.S. military was directly involved in the executions. Of the more than 150 mass graves unearthed so far, the commission has the physical evidence, documentation and eyewitnesses to officially confirm two mass executions at Ulsan and Cheongwon. The RoK government now acknowledges that its military, national police and fascist paramilitaries killed over 100,000 civilians at that time, when Korea’s population was 20 million. Kim Dong-choon of the TRC called these government estimates of the human cost of this bloody anti-communist paroxysm “very conservative.” The numbers may be as high as 200,000 people, with some sources putting it as high as 300,000. These numbers do not even include the extra-judicial executions during the war of those RoK puppet troops deemed to be sympathetic to the liberation forces from the DPRK. Rightist ideologues, both in Seoul and Washington, point to alleged massacres carried out by the Korean People’s Army, while denying that the actual proven murders perpetrated by the southern puppet forces even took place. In reality, according to a CIA study dated July 19, 1950, cited by Korea scholar Bruce Cumings, during the occupation of the south by the KPA “North Korean officials ran a tight ship but without a lot of bloodshed.” In another CIA report from 1950, a “large percentage” of trade unionists and union leaders joined the KPA only 10 days into the war. DPRK President Kim Il Sung had given a radio address calling on people in the RoK to organize themselves. People’s Committees were formed and went about seizing Japanese and RoK government property as well as that of the rich. KPA units in the south distributed rice to the people and emptied the jails of political prisoners, who then turned on the cops and the fascist youth groups. KPA troops, in alliance with the poor peasantry, carried out democratic land reform as they swept southwards. Even in the chaos of war, the KPA maintained its discipline. Cumings says that “captured North Korean documents continued to show that high-level officials warned against executing people.” The same cannot be said of the RoK puppet forces. Before the war even began, the RoK government created the National Guidance League, a fascist-inspired “re-education” corps for people the Rhee dictatorship claimed were communists. By 1950, more than 300,000 people were forced to join the League. Kim Dong-choon says the police or the military executed many of the League’s forced inductees. National Police under Korean Military Advisory Group supervision executed 7,000 people in Yangwol (near Taejon) from July 2-6, 1950. U.S. oversaw exterminations Alan Winnington of the British Daily Worker in an article entitled “U.S. Belsen in Korea” reported that 20 witnesses observed that truckloads of cops arrived on July 2 and immediately made people dig six pits of about 200 yards each. Executions went on for three days, by both machinegun and, when the bullets ran out, decapitation by sword. According to eyewitnesses, U.S. officers oversaw everything while sitting in their Jeeps. The U.S. Embassy in London then had the chutzpah to call Winnington’s findings a “fabrication.” The U.S. military, through its operational command over the RoK army, was involved at the highest level in the executions. New York Times correspondent Charles Grutzner talked about “the slaughter of hundreds of South Korean civilians, women as well as men, by some U.S. troops and police of the Republic.” Keyes Beech, in a July 23, 1950, Newark Star-Ledger article wrote: “It is not the time to be a Korean, for the Yankees are shooting them all.” Donald Nichols, a former Air Force intelligence officer, wrote in his 1981 memoir of witnessing an “unforgettable massacre” of “approximately 1,800” at Suwon during the war. In addition, an investigation made by RoK lawmaker Park Chan-hyun in 1960 during the (relatively) democratic interlude of Chang Myon’s Second Republic revealed that an estimated 10,000 people were executed in Busan. RoK dictatorship was shaky What these horrible, inhuman atrocities reveal is that the puppet RoK dictatorship knew its power rested upon a profoundly shaky foundation. As another quite frank CIA report cited by Cumings noted, the rightist RoK leadership “is provided by that numerically small class which virtually monopolizes the native wealth and education of the country.... Since this class could not have acquired and maintained its favored position under Japanese rule without a certain minimum of ‘collaboration,’ it has experienced difficulty in finding acceptable candidates for political office and has been forced to support imported expatriate politicians such as Rhee Syngman and Kim Koo. These, while they have no pro-Japanese taint, are essentially demagogues bent on autocratic rule.” Rhee’s venal clique knew that his planned drive north depended upon drowning the patriotic and communist elements in the south in blood. Pockets of communist guerrillas who had fought the Japanese occupation were still active in the south as late as 1950. According to KMAG commander Gen. W.L. Roberts, the RoK puppet army killed 6,000 communist guerrillas from November 1949 to March 1950. Of the attacks on northern border villages carried out by the army and the fascist Northwest Youth paramilitaries that took pace in 1949, Gen. Roberts said that “each was in our opinion brought on by the presence of a small South Korean salient north of the (38th) parallel.... The South Koreans wish to invade the North.” Despite the staggering scale of the mass murders carried out by the Rhee puppet regime, patriotic feeling still ran so deep among the Korean people that even in the RoK National Assembly, 48 members declared their allegiance to the DPRK at the end of July 1950. The issue of the mass execution of civilians still divides those who are subservient to U.S. neo-colonialism and those who want an independent Korea. Former RoK president Roh Moo-hyun apologized in an official capacity for the 870 confirmed murders at Ulsan, calling them “illegal acts.” In stark contrast, current president Lee Myung-bak, already deeply unpopular, has threatened to cut funding for the TRC. Seven years ago, the U.S. government finally admitted part of its own guilt, that its soldiers had killed hundreds of innocent civilians in the South Korean township of Nogun-ri shortly after the start of the Korean War in 1950. President Bill Clinton himself expressed “deep regret” in a public statement on Jan. 11, 2001. Articles copyright 1995-2008 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011 Email: ww@workers.org Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php | More than 50 years after the end of the Korean War, recently released documents provide more detail on the mass murder of around 100,000 South Koreans by their own government in the war's first weeks. According to the Associated Press, South Korean investigators have gained access to newly declassified records that show that the American military did nothing to intervene. The mass executions of between 100,000 and 300,000 leftists and others during these purges in 1950 are said to have been carried out to stop them from joining the attacking North Korean Forces. The Associated Press says that the documents show no evidence that General Douglas MacArthur took action to halt or slow the summary executions, despite having knowledge of them. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was commissioned by South Korea in 2005 to, amongst other things, uncover the truth of what happened during those first few weeks of the war. Evidence of the executions was suppressed during the authoritarian presidency of Park Chung-hee. "The most important thing is that the Americans did not stop the executions," says commission member Jung Byung-joon. "They were at the crime scene, and took pictures and wrote reports." According to Workers World Party, Ahn Byung-ook, president of the commission, has identified 215 cases where United States forces were directly involved, out of a total of over 1,400 incidents of mass murder. Allan R. Millet, Professor emeritus of Ohio State University and Korean War scholar, said, "I'm not sure there's enough evidence to pin culpability on these guys," referring to the American advisers that were there at the time. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has a mandate to continue work through 2010, still has tens of thousands of declassified documents to read through. "Our plan is that, when we complete our investigation of cases involving the U.S. Army, we'll make an overall recommendation, a request to the U.S. government to conduct an overall investigation," said Ahn Byung-ook. |
Posted Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:34:49 GMT by Dave ArmstrongWhere will you wander? The world may be becoming smaller but there are many spots to choose from if you love to explore. A new book reveals many possibilities for those who hanker after a getaway. Whether you imagine shivering in the Antarctic or sweltering in a swamp, this is the ideas factory for you. Posted Wed, 06 Sep 2017 07:15:00 GMT by JW.DoweyDoes the dog in your living room have any similarity to those wild species that we are losing from our savanna and forests? This new discovery of signalling a hunt could lead us to more understanding of much more than our domestic animals. The beauty of the painted dog lies in intricate behaviour and care systems which maintain a society we should envy. Posted Mon, 04 Sep 2017 14:58:01 GMT by Dave ArmstrongZero waste organisations have been spreading to many nations over the last 10 years. Now weve been asking the UK population just how much they care about waste. Posted Wed, 30 Aug 2017 09:45:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongFor the first time, two otters have a comparative study on their ability to learn from others in their clan. This could lead to study of more animals in this area, providing valuable evidence of evolutionary trends in sociability. Posted Tue, 29 Aug 2017 09:25:00 GMT by JW.DoweyHow can we fight the build-up of plastic on landfill, shores and in the middle of the ocean, as well as inside the fish we eat! Fashion can provide a small part of the answer with this new crowd-funded company called Asanox. Plus, you can actually go and pick up the plastic contaminating our best shorelines, alongside sas.org. Posted Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:59:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongOCEANA are fishing closer to home on this occasion, hoping to catch governments and those who wish to destroy our precious, and decreasing stocks of habitats , fish and even sea grass, mud and bivalves. Posted Wed, 23 Aug 2017 09:25:00 GMT by JW. DoweyPeople wonder why and how hunted animals became the quieter beasts of burden and table fodder of modern times. Here is an interesting moment in time, 14,500 years ago as Jordanians hunted sheep and goats with simple bone and stone weapons, prior to their domestication. Posted Wed, 16 Aug 2017 07:45:00 GMT by TalatGreen web hosting is a simple, inexpensive step businesses can take to reduce the environmental impact of their websites. This is how it works... Posted Mon, 31 Jul 2017 08:59:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongXmas comes very early for us this year, with a tremendous guide to all our ancestors and their evolution into modern forms. You will need a subscription to Nature to read the details but we have the lowdown on the nitty-gritty of fishies and birdies too! Posted Fri, 21 Jul 2017 10:55:00 GMT by JW.DoweyHow important are our streams and rivers to us in this age of pollution and interference with natural systems? The effect of conifer plantations is generally negative, but the positive effects on some f these streams could point to ways to improve many such forestry projects, as well as the original moorland. Posted Tue, 04 Jul 2017 09:35:01 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThe extinction of small and large, plant and animal is a daily event now, as climate change increasingly joins the other anthropogenic influences on the species of our planet. Mapping the possibilities and modelling the effects is now finally helping out with the problems, but we still have to conserve, and quickly. Posted Fri, 23 Jun 2017 10:56:47 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThe polyploids among the animals are the focus of the latest research, given the vast number of plant polyploids and the potential of species that have such enhanced genetic capability! Posted Fri, 23 Jun 2017 08:15:00 GMT by JW. DoweyIts that season when the bees, wasps and ants are building to a climax in the Northern Hemisphere. ID can be useful, especially when you consider some of the exotic species, but apart from allergy, most of us are safe with these agricultural workers in our economy. Posted Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:40:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongHow will Paris be implemented? Will farming be a major player in preserving our environment as we feed more people than ever existed? The questions for future generations will be thorny, but the rainforest is a thorny clue about conserving what we have left!We're looking forward to seeing how the new NGO copes with expansion as the politics of climate mitigation progresses. Posted Thu, 01 Jun 2017 17:45:00 GMT by Sian SutherlandAfter banning free plastic bags, can stores begin the process of cutting out all plastic packaging? The alternatives could be much less damaging to our health, our fertility, our wildlife and even our genetic constitution! Posted Fri, 19 May 2017 09:15:00 GMT by JW. DoweyHow can we conserve the beauty of the largest remaining rainforest in Asia? This tract of land, divided by the dry interior, stretches across the Thai border at one end and connects with Indian reserves at the other. Answers to the everlasting problems of conservation must include governance, proper transparency and perhaps most important, grassroots participation at many levels. Posted Wed, 10 May 2017 09:39:01 GMT by Dave ArmstrongCan we persuade sheep farmers to let in the dingo, so that kangaroos can stop noshing all the delicate vegetation? Now there is further evidence that the natural control of herbivores transfers nutrients around the whole landscape. The dingo seems to be a prime conservator too. Posted Thu, 27 Apr 2017 07:16:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThe tree swallow has magnificent migrations, like many of its ilk. The Alaskan warming however is more drastic than the rest of the continent, like Arctic regions elsewhere, so how does that influence the swallows phenology? Posted Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:16:55 GMT by JW. DoweyWhat are those small fliers hanging about the wall or the bank? They are not hoverflies because they seem to have nest holes, yet they dont sting or buzz much either! The solitary bees and the mining bees are just one branch of the great bankers of our fruit tree heritage. They, along with the humble Bumblers, form a major corporation of the pollinators. Heres a (very) brief life of little Andrena, plagued by cuckoos who are fellow bees. This does remind you of the commercial world ofwhen you can! The Earth Times site and content have been updated. We do apologise, as this may mean that the article or page you were looking for has changed. The Earth Times now focuses on producing and publishing our own unique content on environmental issues, which is written by our own team of expert authors and journalists. We now publish environmental news articles and information on various environmental problems. You can use the site search at the top of each page, otherwise there are links to some of the main site categories and green blogs we publish included on this page. Some of the environmental topics and categories that we now focus on include climate change and the effects of global warming, including their various impacts on both people and the planet as well as conservation issues and news articles relating to nature and wildlife. The site puts an emphasis on sustainability issues, including the use and technological progress made with various types of alternative or renewable energy. Earth Times runs several eco friendly blogs (environmentally friendly) on various topics such as ecotourism (sustainable travel and tourism), eco fashion, green living, green gadgets and clean technology, plus various other environment based news categories including pollution and science news. If you have any questions or queries please contact us. ||||| Roughly a year after Fidel Castro stepped aside and handed much of the responsibility for leading Cuba to his brother Raúl, there is new momentum in Washington for eliminating the ban on most U.S. travel to the island nation and for reexamining the severe limitations on U.S.-Cuban economic exchanges. At a Capitol Hill news conference scheduled for tomorrow, a wide array of senators and interest groups -- including Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.); Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.); Richard G. Lugar (Ind.), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Human Rights Watch -- will rally around a potentially historic bill to lift the travel ban. President Obama called repeatedly during the campaign last year for a "new strategy" toward Cuba, and this month he lifted severe Bush-era restrictions on travel and remittances to the island by Cuban Americans with relatives there, after the 2009 spending measure banned using taxpayer money to enforce them. The Treasury Department also said it would ease licensing requirements for trade-related travel by U.S. citizens. Although the decision is not yet final, Obama is expected to further loosen remaining travel restrictions for all Americans by the time he goes to the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, senior administration officials said. Such restrictions were first imposed in 1961 and have been progressively tightened since then. Removing all sanctions requires congressional action, but one senior official said that Treasury has wide leeway to ease the licensing requirements that limit travel. A bipartisan majority in Congress, including farm-state Republicans looking for new agricultural markets, has long advocated lifting the sanctions to some degree. Provisions to ease the restrictions on travel and agricultural sales were repeatedly attached to legislation passed during the Bush administration, only to be abandoned in closed-door reconciliation conferences as the threat of a presidential veto loomed. The new bill was first proposed two years ago, dying in committee, but this time it has gained 18 co-sponsors, including eight Democratic committee chairmen. Meanwhile, new legislation was offered in the House last week to further loosen trade restrictions for agricultural products. The handful of Cuban Americans in Congress, most of them Republicans, have long been in the vanguard that advocated stricter restrictions and opposed a new outreach toward Cuba. But none has been more stalwart than Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has risked the goodwill of the White House and his standing within the party to press the continuation of sanctions and travel restrictions against Havana's totalitarian regime. He riled many of his colleagues this month by blocking two of Obama's science nominees and by holding up the 2009 spending measure to protest the Cuba provisions it included. The bill to be unveiled tomorrow in the Senate goes well beyond the measure Menendez just protested by removing legal barriers to all travel to Cuba, as opposed to just family-related visits. Lugar released a report in late February that calls for a dramatic overhaul of U.S.-Cuba policy. "Economic sanctions are a legitimate tool of U.S. foreign policy and they have sometimes achieved their aims, as in the case of apartheid in South Africa," he wrote in a letter accompanying the report. "After 47 years, however, the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose of 'bringing democracy to the Cuban people,' while it may have been used as a foil by the regime to demand further sacrifices from Cuba's impoverished population." In a lengthy speech from the Senate floor this month, Menendez shot back at Lugar: "Over the years, millions of Europeans, Canadians, Mexicans, South and Central Americans, among others, have visited Cuba, invested in Cuba, spent billions of dollars, signed trade agreements and engaged politically. And what has been the result of all of that money and all of that engagement? The regime has not opened up; on the contrary, it has used resources to become more oppressive." Fellow Democrats were surprised by the force of his defiant, public opposition to a provision that enjoys broad support in the party. Menendez also serves as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a coveted leadership post that demands a degree of party loyalty. Some liberal donors protested doing business with a man they thought was taking an outdated stance, and some of Menendez's fellow senators questioned whether they had picked the wrong person for the DSCC job. Dodd, for instance, is a top GOP target in 2010. He has called U.S.-Cuba policy "an abject failure." Some Democrats have wondered privately how hard Menendez would work to defend his colleague. "Anyone who knows me knows my views are both heartfelt and principled," Menendez responded. "It should be of no surprise to anyone that I have used political capital in my many years in the House and the Senate on this issue." Menendez said he would continue to use every available tool to preserve U.S. sanctions until political conditions change in Cuba, although he attributed much of his earlier ire to the fact that the provision had been inserted with no notice into an unrelated bill. "If you want to change Cuba policy, fine, let's duke it out," Menendez said. "Let's duke it out on the floor and let's have our debate and let's have our amendments. Let's know who's for democracy and human rights and who wants to sell their stuff no matter how many people are in prison. That's fine. At least it will be an honest discussion." Menendez and other proponents of the current restrictions warn that free-flowing trade and tourism would only enrich the Castro regime and defuse tensions within the Cuban population -- friction that is key, they argue, to fostering political change. Dorgan, who is the lead author of the unrestricted travel measure, said Menendez and a small, bipartisan group of House hard-liners are fighting a losing battle. "It's sort of all over but the shouting, whether our country should maintain this embargo," Dorgan said. Menendez "has a right to take a position and assert it very strongly," Dorgan said. But, he added, "it's pretty clear to everybody that this is a failed strategy and has been a failed strategy for a long time." Although Obama last year proposed a new direction with Cuba, he has yet to indicate he favors lifting all economic sanctions. In remarks before the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami last May, he asserted, "It's time for more than tough talk that never yields results. It's time for a new strategy. There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans. That's why I will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island." But on a separate CANF questionnaire, Obama wrote that, while U.S.-Cuba policy "has failed," he would "maintain the embargo as an inducement for democratic change on the Island." At a warm-up summit to this week's meeting of the Group of 20 major industrialized nations, Vice President Biden said in Chile this weekend that the United States had no plans to scrap the Cuban trade embargo. He said that the Obama administration thinks "Cuban people should determine their own fate and they should be able to live in freedom." But he added that a "transition" was needed in U.S.-Cuba relations. Menendez said he was open to a debate on Cuba, provided his colleagues refrain from sneaking language into unrelated bills. "A full and open discussion of the real situation in Cuba is timely," he said on the Senate floor this month. "We should gather evidence, bring a wide range of voices to the table and make careful and thoughtful considerations of their implications." | Republican from WyomingDemocrat from North Dakota In the United States Senate on Tuesday, Senators , a Democrat from North Dakota, and , a Republican from Wyoming, introduced the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" (S.428), a bill that would lift the travel restrictions that have prevented U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba since the early 1960s. The bill is co-sponsored by 20 senators, and the House of Representatives is considering a companion measure, H.R. 874, introduced by Representatives and Jeff Flake. The House measure has 121 cosponsors. Senator , the ranking Republican member of the , spoke in favor of the bill, saying that the United States' embargo on Cuba had "failed to achieve its stated purpose of bringing democracy to the Cuban people." Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a Democrat and a second generation Cuban-American, opposes the bill, arguing that free travel by Europeans, Canadians and the citizens of other Latin American countries has not helped to democratize the island nation. "The regime has not opened up," said Sen. Menendez. "On the contrary, it has used resources to become more oppressive." The United States has not had since 1961, and has maintained a on the country since 1962. President Barack Obama has spoken in favor of changing U.S. policy towards Cuba, but has not offered specific details. The issued a press release supporting the bill. "The US embargo on Cuba is a 50-year failure, and lifting the ban on travel is a good first step toward a more rational policy," said Myron Brilliant, an officer of the organization. Other organizations issuing press releases in support of the bill include the U.S. Rice Producers Association and the non-profit Center for Democracy in the Americas. |
Stuck at Home, Men in Japan Learn to Help. Will It Last? The pandemic is exposing like never before the severe disparities in how Japanese couples divide household work. ||||| Stockmann to acquire Lindex for EUR 870 million print this The Finnish retail group Stockmann has launched a public tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares in the Swedish fashion chain Lindex. According to a news release published today, Monday, the consideration offered by Stockmann to the shareholders of Lindex is SEK 116 in cash for each share in Lindex, while the official closing price for Friday was SEK 106. The total value of the offer amounts to SEK 7,975 million or approximately EUR 870 million. The Board of Lindex has decided to recommend the shareholders to accept the offer from Stockmann. The offer made by the Helsinki-based company topped the bid from the Swedish competitor KappAhl, and on Monday morning the rivals withdrew their SEK 102/share offer. With around 350 stores in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, Lindex is one of the largest fashion chains in Northern Europe. Lindex’s business areas are lingerie, women's wear, children's clothing, and cosmetics. In 2006, Lindex’s turnover was SEK 5.1 billion or EUR 556 million. Stockmann owns department stores, a mail-order and e-commerce unit, and a chain of fashion stores, operating in Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Stockmann’s group gross sales in 2006 were EUR 1,553 million. Links: Stockmann Stockmann Press Release 1.10.2007 Lindex Helsingin Sanomat ||||| Why did this happen? Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy. | Sweden-based Nordic fashion chain Lindex AB has been offered 7.9 billion kronor (€861 million; US$1.2 billion) in a takeover bid by Stockmann Oyj Abp, a Finnish department store chain based in Helsinki. The board of Lindex is said to have recommended acceptance of the deal, which significantly outdid a 7 billion kronor (€763 million; US$1.08 billion) offer by rival KappAhl Holding AB, another clothing vendor, in August. The board had recommended shareholders reject that offer as too low. Stockmann's increase to 116 Kroner from KappAhl's 102 Kroner per share was said by Lindex to be a reasonable price. KappAhl have withdrawn their offer as a result. Lindex Chairman Conny Karlsson said "We believe that Stockmann actively can contribute with their experience and know-how in order to accelerate our expansion in Eastern and Central Europe.," The chain is one of Europe's biggest fashion chains, operating 350 stores in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. |
4.4 to Maddy, bowled 35/1 16.2 to Woakes, caught Willey 110/5 18.2 to Barker, bowled 123/7 18.4 to Patel, bowled 125/8 ||||| Text size: A | A Northamptonshire 161 for 2 (Coetzer 71*) beat Warwickshire 134 for 8 (Javid 41, Azharullah 4-25) by 27 runs Scorecard Kyle Coetzer's superb unbeaten half-century helped Northamptonshire to a comfortable win over Warwickshire to give them their second straight victory in the Friends Life t20. Northamptonshire posted a solid 161 for 2 from their 20 overs with Scotland captain Coetzer continuing his fine run of form with 71 not out off 61 balls. Mohammad Azharullah then took 4 for 25 as Warwickshire fell short of their target with only Ateeq Javid providing resistance with 41 off 34 deliveries. Northamptonshire won the toss and chose to bat and started in confident fashion in the sunny conditions as openers Richard Levi and Coetzer amassed 63 between them. South Africa international Levi clobbered 35 off 21 balls before he was taken at long on by Chris Woakes off the bowling of Javid. Coetzer stuck around to go past 50 off 45 deliveries but Cameron White was to perish on 28 when he smashed New Zealand spinner Jeetan Patel to Keith Barker at deep midwicket. Coetzer went on to go past his previous best T20 score of 64 as he and captain Alex Wakely, who swatted 24 off 17 balls batted out the final five overs of the hosts' innings. Chasing 162, Warwickshire lost Darren Maddy in the fifth over after he plundered 15 when his off stump was taken out by Azharullah. Lee Daggett then bowled the Warwickshire captain Varun Chopra for 19 in the following over as the momentum shifted irrevocably Northamptonshire's way. The visitors suffered another blow when Laurie Evans, who never got going in making six off 15 balls, saw his leg stump sent tumbling by Graeme White. Rikki Clarke was next to fall when he was well taken at deep extra cover by Coetzer to give Graeme White his second wicket as Warwickshire fell even further behind the required run-rate. England bowler Chris Woakes made it to 23 off 17 balls before holing out by launching Azharullah to David Willey at long-on. Daggett's delivery clattered into Javid's middle stump before Azharullah bowled both Barker and Patel in the penultimate over as Warwickshire collapsed. ||||| Kyle Coetzer's unbeaten half-century helped Northamptonshire to a comfortable 27-run win over Warwickshire to give them their second straight victory in the Friends Life t20. The Steelbacks posted a solid 161-2 from their 20 overs with Scotland captain Coetzer continuing his fine run of form with 71 not out off 61 balls, and the Bears could only muster 134-8 in response. Mohammad Azharullah took 4-25 as the Bears fell short of their target with only Ateeq Javid providing resistance with 41 off 34 deliveries. The Steelbacks won the toss and chose to bat and started in confident fashion in the sunny conditions as openers Richard Levi and Coetzer amassed 63 between them. South Africa international Levi clobbered 35 off 21 balls before he was taken at long on by Chris Woakes off the bowling of Javid. Coetzer stuck around to go past 50 off 45 deliveries but Cameron White was to perish on 28 when he smashed New Zealand spinner Jeetan Patel to Keith Barker at deep midwicket. Coetzer went on to go past his previous best T20 score of 64 as he and Northants captain Alex Wakely, who swatted 24 off 17 balls batted out the final five overs of the hosts' innings. Chasing 162, Warwickshire lost Darren Maddy in the fifth over after he plundered 15 when his off stump was taken out by Azharullah. Lee Daggett then bowled the Bears' captain Varun Chopra for 19 in the following over as the momentum shifted irrevocably Northants' way. The visitors suffered another blow when Laurie Evans, who never got going in making six off 15 balls, saw his leg stump sent tumbling by Graeme White, and from there Warwickshire never stood a chance. | On Friday, played in a cricket match, consisting of twenty per team, at the in , United Kingdom. Northamptonshire defeated Warwickshire by 27 runs. Northamptonshire won the , and chose to first. The Northamptonshire hit 71 runs. He made a first-wicket partnership of 63 with and batted through the helping Northamptonshire to post a score of 161 for 2 from 20 overs. Mohammad Azharullah of Northamptonshire took 4 wickets for 25 runs as Warwickshire fell short of its target with providing some resistance for Warwickshire hitting 41 off 34 balls. Azharullah was named . Northamptonshire now has two consecutive cricket league wins. |
Titanic Primes Raced to Win $100,000 Research Award San Diego CA and Orlando FL, September 15, 2008 – Researchers have discovered the two largest known prime numbers, a whopping 12,978,189 and 11,185,272 digits long, as part of a 12 year old, world-wide volunteer computing project, the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search ("GIMPS"). The primes can be written shorthand as 243,112,609-1 and 237,156,667-1. The larger number qualifies for a $100,000 research award, most of which GIMPS will donate to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and to charity. In recognition of every GIMPS participant's contribution, credit for the qualifying prime goes to "Edson Smith, George Woltman, Scott Kurowski, et al", and the other to “Hans-Michael Elvenich, George Woltman, Scott Kurowski, et al". A nearly decade-long competition for a $100,000 award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation ended closely when the larger prime surfaced on a UCLA computer managed by Edson Smith, just two weeks before the second prime was found by Hans-Michael Elvenich’s computer, in Langenfeld near Cologne, Germany. Both are among the 100,000 computers in GIMPS PrimeNet, a "grass-roots supercomputer" as Science magazine describes it, which has been running continuously since 1996 and performs 29 trillion calculations per second. Had Elvenich’s prime been discovered first, it would have qualified, instead. “We're proud be to participants in GIMPS and grateful to the UCLA Mathematics Department for providing computational resources to the project,” said Edson Smith, Computing Manager. Hans-Michael Elvenich, a German electrical engineer and prime number enthusiast, adds, “After four years of searching for a prime on GIMPS, finally a great success!” "These exciting discoveries are literally at the Internet’s ‘electronic frontier’," says PrimeNet inventor, Scott Kurowski, a software technologist in San Diego, California. “Developing technologies and methods to apply the incredibly vast power of cooperative research computing is why the Electronic Frontier Foundation set up their grand challenge awards. It’s serious research, but fun and educational, too.” GIMPS founder George Woltman in Orlando, Florida said, "In addition to congratulating and gratefully acknowledging the vast contributions of our hundreds of thousands of participants over the years, we're committed to giving $25,000 to charity, $50,000 to UCLA for its part in the discovery, and most of what's left to other GIMPS prime discoverers." He adds, "Our research project will soon offer the chance to achieve the next challenge, the $150,000 award for an immensely more difficult 100-million-digit prime. All you need to participate is our free software download, and a lot of patience!” ||||| Yesterday we reported on the impending announcement of two newly discovered mammoth prime numbers, and the details, now out, do not disappoint. According to the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), the volunteer-powered distributed-computing group responsible for finding most of the largest known primes (a prime number is divisible only by 1 and itself), both are larger than any other known primes: one clocks in at nearly 13 million digits in length and the other at a slightly smaller 11.2 million digits. That’s good news for Edson Smith, a computing resource manager in the math department at the University of California, Los Angeles: It was his machine that stumbled upon the larger prime (243,112,609 - 1 in shorthand), so he's in to claim the $100,000 prize offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for the discoverer of the first 10-million-plus-digit prime. (The smaller of the new primes, turned up by a German GIMPS member, would also have qualified for the prize but was discovered two weeks later.) Under a prize-sharing agreement implemented by GIMPS, Smith or his institution would receive half the prize, with $25,000 going to charity, $5,000 going to GIMPS to cover expenses, and the balance going to past GIMPS volunteers who discovered lesser primes. Reached at his office, Smith called the discovery “quite unexpected.” He says he installed the software needed to participate in GIMPS in the fall of 2007 in all 75 or so machines in his computer lab. “We thought it would be a good thing to use to get undergraduates interested in computational mathematics,” he says. (Little did he know that it would bring about the thing that gets undergraduates’ attention best—cash.) “It’s been sort of off my radar for quite some time, because frankly it’s such well-written software that it doesn’t need any maintenance. And in my business, you put something in, and if it doesn’t require any maintenance you just let it go.” Asked if he was on pins and needles as the record-setting prime underwent verification on various other member computers around the world, Smith demurred. “I would like to tell you that," he says, "but school’s starting in less than two weeks for us, and this is the height of my busy season. In the time I’ve had to think about it, it’s been really exciting.” ||||| MathWorld Headline News 45th and 46th Mersenne Primes Found By Eric W. Weisstein September 16, 2008--Two years after the 44th Mersenne prime was reported (MathWorld headline news: September 11, 2006), the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) project has discovered the 45th and 46th known Mersenne primes. The discoveries were made by Edson Smith on August 23, 2008 (for the larger prime) and Hans-Michael Elvenich on September 6, 2008 (for the smaller prime), and announced by GIMPS organizer George Woltman on September 16. As with the previous Mersenne prime discovery (in which Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone who at staggering odds, were also the discoverers of the 43rd known Mersenne prime), thus proving that lightning not only strikes twice, it can double-strike tiwce! Additional details can be found in the Mersenne.org press release. Mersenne numbers are numbers of the form M n = 2n - 1, giving the first few as 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, .... Interestingly, the definition of these numbers therefore means that the nth Mersenne number is simply a string of n 1s when represented in binary. For example, M 7 = 27 - 1 = 127 = 1111111 2 is a Mersenne number. Mersenne primes are Mersenne numbers that are also prime, i.e., have no factors other than 1 and themselves. So, since the number 127 is prime and is a Mersenne number, it is a Mersenne prime. The new Mersenne primes are 237,156,667 - 1 = 20225440689097733553...21340265022308220927 and 243,112,609 - 1 = 31647026933025592314...80022181166697152511 (where the ellipsis indicates that several million intervening digits have been omitted for conciseness) and have a whopping total of 11,185,272 and 12,978,189 decimal digits, respectively. Both primes therefore are not only the largest known Mersenne primes, but also the largest known primes of any kind. In fact, there is a particularly efficient and, more importantly, deterministic primality test for Mersenne numbers known as the Lucas-Lehmer test. The efficiency of this test combined with the high historical profile of the Mersenne numbers thus accounts for the fact that the eight largest known primes are all Mersenne primes (prime database). For those curious to see the new primes in their full 11,185,272 and 12,978,189 digits of glory, the results of a short Mathematica calculation generating their decimal digits are available by downloading the notebooks mersenne45.nb and mersenne46.nb. If you do not own Mathematica, you can download a free player version to view this file. A poster featuring all 12.9 million digits of the new prime (displayed in an extremely small point size) created by Richard Crandall, discoverer of the advanced transform algorithm used by the GIMPS program, is (or will shortly be) available from Perfectly Scientific. The twelve largest known Mersenne primes (including the latest) have all been discovered by GIMPS, which is a distributed computing project being undertaken by an international collaboration of volunteers. Thus far, GIMPS participants have tested and double-checked all exponents n below 17,001,247, while all exponents below 21,842,101 have been tested at least once. The study of such numbers has a long and interesting history, and the search for Mersenne numbers that are prime has been a computationally challenging exercise requiring the world's fastest computers. Mersenne primes are intimately connected with so-called perfect numbers, which were extensively studied by the ancient Greeks, including by Euclid. A complete list of indices n of the previously known Mersenne primes is given in the table below (as well as by sequence A000043 in Neil Sloane's On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences). However, note that the region after the 40th known Mersenne primes has not been completely searched, so while the 41st number listed is the 41st Mersenne prime discovered to date, it is not yet known if M 24,036,583 is actually the 41st Mersenne prime. # n digits year discoverer (reference) 1 2 1 antiquity 2 3 1 antiquity 3 5 2 antiquity 4 7 3 antiquity 5 13 4 1461 Reguis (1536), Cataldi (1603) 6 17 6 1588 Cataldi (1603) 7 19 6 1588 Cataldi (1603) 8 31 10 1750 Euler (1772) 9 61 19 1883 Pervouchine (1883), Seelhoff (1886) 10 89 27 1911 Powers (1911) 11 107 33 1913 Powers (1914) 12 127 39 1876 Lucas (1876) 13 521 157 Jan. 30, 1952 Robinson 14 607 183 Jan. 30, 1952 Robinson 15 1279 386 Jan. 30, 1952 Robinson 16 2203 664 Jan. 30, 1952 Robinson 17 2281 687 Jan. 30, 1952 Robinson 18 3217 969 Sep. 8, 1957 Riesel 19 4253 1281 Nov. 3, 1961 Hurwitz 20 4423 1332 Nov. 3, 1961 Hurwitz 21 9689 2917 May 11, 1963 Gillies (1964) 22 9941 2993 May 16, 1963 Gillies (1964) 23 11213 3376 Jun. 2, 1963 Gillies (1964) 24 19937 6002 Mar. 4, 1971 Tuckerman (1971) 25 21701 6533 Oct. 30, 1978 Noll and Nickel (1980) 26 23209 6987 Feb. 9, 1979 Noll (Noll and Nickel 1980) 27 44497 13395 Apr. 8, 1979 Nelson and Slowinski (Slowinski 1978-79) 28 86243 25962 Sep. 25, 1982 Slowinski 29 110503 33265 Jan. 28, 1988 Colquitt and Welsh (1991) 30 132049 39751 Sep. 20, 1983 Slowinski 31 216091 65050 Sep. 6, 1985 Slowinski 32 756839 227832 Feb. 19, 1992 Slowinski and Gage 33 859433 258716 Jan. 10, 1994 Slowinski and Gage 34 1257787 378632 Sep. 3, 1996 Slowinski and Gage 35 1398269 420921 Nov. 12, 1996 Joel Armengaud/GIMPS 36 2976221 895832 Aug. 24, 1997 Gordon Spence/GIMPS (Devlin 1997) 37 3021377 909526 Jan. 27, 1998 Roland Clarkson/GIMPS 38 6972593 2098960 Jun. 1, 1999 Nayan Hajratwala/GIMPS 39 13466917 4053946 Nov. 14, 2001 Michael Cameron/GIMPS 40 20996011 6320430 Nov. 17, 2003 Michael Shafer/GIMPS 41? 24036583 7235733 May 15, 2004 Josh Findley/GIMPS 42? 25964951 7816230 Feb. 18, 2005 Martin Nowak/GIMPS 43? 30402457 9152052 Dec. 15, 2005 Curtis Cooper and Steven Boone/GIMPS 44? 32582657 9808358 Sep. 4, 2006 Curtis Cooper and Steven Boone/GIMPS 45? 37156667 11185272 Sep. 6, 2008 Hans-Michael Elvenich/GIMPS 46? 43112609 12978189 Aug. 23, 2008 Edson Smith/GIMPS References Caldwell, C. K. "The Largest Known Primes." http://www.utm.edu/research/primes/largest.html GIMPS: The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. http://www.mersenne.org GIMPS: The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search Status. http://www.mersenne.org/status.htm Mersenne.org. "MTitanic Primes Raced to Win $100,000 Research Award." Sep. 15, 2008. http://mersenne.org/m45and46.htm | An illustration of how 12 is not a prime number, but 11 is. Two new records for the largest known prime number have been set, both breaking the 10 million digit threshold. On August 23, Edson Smith, a systems engineer for the Program in Computing laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles in California, United States, confirmed the primality of the number through his work as a volunteer in the project known as the , or GIMPS. This new prime number is expressed as two to the 43,112,609th power minus one, and consists of 12,978,189 decimal digits when written out. This number qualifies GIMPS for a $100,000 award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), offered to the first person or group to discover a prime number of 10 million digits or more. According to GIMPS' prize agreement, $50,000 will be given to the UCLA Department of Mathematics, $25,000 will be given to charity, $20,000 will be split among previous discoverers of Mersenne primes, and GIMPS will keep the remainder for funding and other uses. Smith, who was contacted by ''Scientific American'' by phone, said that the discovery was "quite unexpected." Just two weeks later, on September 6, another Mersenne prime was discovered, this time by German electrical engineer Hans-Michael Elvenich, who worked for the chemical company in Germany. This number is expressed as two to the 37,156,667th power minus one, and is 11,185,272 digits long. However, since this prime number was discovered later than the one found on August 23, it does not qualify for the EFF prize. Elvenich said that it was a "finally a great success" after having participated in GIMPS for four years. A prime number is a positive integer that can be evenly divided only by 1 and itself. For example, 2, 3 and 11 are prime numbers. 21 is not a prime number because it is a product of 3 and 7. These types of prime numbers are called , which can be expressed as one less than a . Mersenne primes are rare, and only 46 are known up to now. The first few Mersenne primes are 3, 7, 31, 127 and 8191. These numbers took a total of several weeks to verify, using different software and hardware. Each number was independently checked by several members of GIMPS' verification team, using 16-core systems of different configurations. The two primes were announced by GIMPS on September 16. Before these two discoveries, the two previously largest known prime numbers were discovered by professors and Steven Boone in Missouri, United States, and their record lasted almost three years. Historically, prime numbers discovered by GIMPS are larger than the one previously found. The only other exception was when the 29th Mersenne prime was discovered after the 30th and 31st were found. Founded by graduate in 1996, GIMPS has found 12 Mersenne primes, or about one per year on average. Volunteers who wish to help find primes can download a program called , which runs in the background. Smaller prime numbers, such as those with a few hundred digits, are often used in cryptography. The recently discovered prime numbers are too large to have much practical value, although it is believed by some that such prime numbers may still have undiscovered uses. However, mathematics enthusiasts often seek them for fun, and the GIMPS community is already looking forward to finding a 100 million digit prime that will qualify for a $150,000 prize from the EFF. |
Earth's oldest known tree stood nearly 30 feet tall and looked like a modern palm, a new reconstruction shows. Workers uncovered hundreds of upright stumps of the 385 million-year-old tree more than a century ago, after a flash flood in Gilboa, New York uncovered them, but little else was known about the tree's appearance. Then, in 2004, scientists unearthed a 400-pound fossilized top-or crown-of the same genus a few miles away. The following summer, the same team discovered fragments of a 28-foot trunk. Piecing together stump, trunk and crown now reveals what the full tree looked like for the first time. "These were very big trees," said study team member William Stein, a paleobotanist at the State University of New York at Binghamton. "Our reconstruction shows them to be a lot longer and much more treelike than any of the reconstructions before," Stein told LiveScience. "I don't think any of us dared think of them being quite that big." The tree belonged to a group of early fern-like plants called Wattieza. Unlike flowering plants, which use seeds to reproduce, Wattieza used spores, the reproductive method of choice for algae, ferns and fungi. The finding, detailed in the March 19 issue of the journal Nature, will help scientists understand a crucial turning-point in our planet's history-when the first forests appeared. "In forming the first forests, they must have really changed the Earth system as a whole, creating new types of micro-environments for smaller plants and insects, storing large amounts of carbon and binding the soil together," said study leader Christopher Berry of Cardiff University in Wales. Now extinct, Wattieza lived during the Middle Devonian period, before aquatic creatures clambered onto land. "The trees preceded dinosaurs by 140 million years," said study team member Ed Landing of the New York State Museum. "There was nothing flying, no reptiles and no amphibians." The rise of land plants such as Wattieza drastically altered the climate and paved the way for terrestrial animals and insects. "The rise of forests removed a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Berry explained. "This caused temperatures to drop and the planet became very similar to its present-day conditions." ||||| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 25, 2000 CONTACT: Geoff Ryan (718/595-6600 ) 00-49 Rare Fossil Trees To Be Moved To New Site In Gilboa Nine 370-million-year-old fossil trees are being moved to a new site one-half mile from the overlook at the Gilboa Dam, according to an announcement by Commissioner Joel A. Miele Sr., P.E., of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Kristen V. H. Wyckoff of the Gilboa Historical Society. Currently located on City-owned property below the dam on State Route 990V, the rare fossil trees will be loaned by DEP to the Gilboa Historical Society for a new exhibit and educational kiosk on land owned by the Town of Gilboa. The move will be a joint effort of community members and contractors, who are volunteering their services, as well as staff members from DEP and the Town of Gilboa. The move is scheduled for Friday, September 29th, weather permitting, with a rain date set for Friday, October 13th. Commissioner Miele said, "We are pleased to partner with the Gilboa Historical Society to provide better access and improve the educational value of these ancient relics of the Catskill Region's history. We are truly fortunate that construction workers at the stone quarry for the dam took an interest in these fossils during their blasting work and made an effort to carefully remove them as they worked." The fossils were uncovered in the early 1920s, during construction of New York City's Schoharie Reservoir by the Hugh Nawn Contracting Company, the contractor for the reservoir. The fossils, some of the only survivors of their type in the World, are remnants of Earth's earliest forests. According to Dr. Robert Titus of SUNY Oneonta, the trees are essentially big ferns with woody stems whose descendants evolved into cone-bearing, evergreen trees. They were located along the coast of an inland sea that covered what is now the southern part of New York and western Pennsylvania. Winifred Goldring, a New York State paleobotanist who went on to become the first woman State Paleontologist, analyzed these fossils and ultimately supervised the construction of the "Gilboa forest restoration" in the old State Museum in Albany that opened in 1925. The fossils being moved were part of a 1927 outdoor exhibit near a quarry site that provided stones for construction of the Gilboa Dam, which impounds the Schoharie Reservoir. Other fossil trees from the site were sent to institutions in Europe and South America. Ms. Wyckoff said, "Most people do not realize that these fossils are world famous among geologists because of the important story they tell about the earth and the Catskill Region's role in evolution. The changes that occurred during the Devonian Period brought life to a profound level of possibility, making life, as we know it, possible. The exhibit we are preparing will provide an invaluable opportunity for people of all ages to learn about the natural history and geology of the Catskill Watershed." The project is funded by a $10,000 grant from the "Public Education Program," which was created under the Watershed Memorandum of Agreement, funded by New York City, and administered by the Catskill Watershed Corporation. As part of the grant's "matching funds", local volunteers will be building an attractive platform for the fossils and preparing text and illustrations for an informational kiosk and video. The video will be available to schools and public groups on a request basis. For more information, please telephone David Barnet, DEP at (845) 340-7573 or Linda Trautman Stratigos, Gilboa Historical Society at (607) 652-3316. < Back to Press Releases > Print | New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Two fossilized trees with their roots, trunks and heads still attached, and are said to be over 380 million years old, have been found in the state of New York inside a rock quarry near Gilboa, New York in the USA. Researchers call the extinct tree a Wattieza and this particular tree stood over 30 feet tall and used spores to reproduce rather than seeds. It may have even looked like many palms trees that exist today, but did not have any leaves. Instead they had fronds much like a fern. "These were very big trees. Our reconstruction shows them to be a lot longer and much more treelike than any of the reconstructions before. I don’t think any of us dared think of them being quite that big," said paleobotanist at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and one of the researchers who studied the tree, William Stein. Over 130 years ago in 1870, the same kind of trees, but only the stumps, were also found in Gilboa after flood waters caused the stumps to be exposed. A few decades later in the 1920s, another set of stumps were found in the same area. In 2004, the researchers found a top to one of the trees that weighed almost 400 pounds not too far from Gilboa. Researchers say that these trees likely shaped the forests of Earth as we see them today, and that the trees existed long before dinosaurs were roaming the planet. "In forming the first forests, they must have really changed the Earth system as a whole, creating new types of micro-environments for smaller plants and insects, storing large amounts of carbon and binding the soil together. The rise of forests removed a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This caused temperatures to drop and the planet became very similar to its present-day conditions," said the leader of the research team, Christopher Berry. Wattiezas were most common during the Devonian period and existed on the planet before fish evolved sufficiently to leave the seas. |
May 6, 2005 In an unprecedented move, the government has ordered the country's 35-strong squid-boat fleet back to port from sub-Antarctic waters to save the lives of seabirds such as albatrosses and petrels. With conservationists claiming that 10,000 seabirds a year are caught in nets and drowned, Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope said the boats were blatantly flouting a voluntary code of practice set up a year ago to protect them. He said "blatant bad behaviour", most notably in the squid fishery, demanded immediate action. Observers said the move meant at least 20 boats fishing in the Southern Ocean's sub-Antarctic waters must get back to port within five days to take on independent observers. Benson-Pope said the boats will have to use equipment to scare sea birds away from vessels and control the discharge of offal into the sea, which attracts them. He said observers on an air force plane sent to inspect the fleet last month found almost half were not using bird-scaring devices and a third was discharging offal while trawling or hauling nets contrary to the agreed code of practice. Boats violating the new rules face fines of up to $100,000. The squid boat fleet is largely foreign-owned but most of the boats are chartered by New Zealand fishing companies. Benson-Pope said a voluntary code of practice adopted in the tuna fishing industry had reduced death of seabirds by 95% but the squid boats were not acting responsibly. ||||| E N V I R O N M E N T S T O R Y RELATED LINKS Squid boats called back to port 06 May 2005 The bulk of New Zealand's squid fishing fleet is being called back to port to prevent seabird deaths after fishing boats flouted a voluntary code designed to keep birds safe. Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope said that while voluntary codes had dramatically reduced seabird deaths in some fisheries, "blatant bad behaviour" in the squid fishery demanded immediate action. Action needed to be taken because the same squid boats would be moving into other fisheries where there was potential for high loss of seabirds, the minister said. He had directed the Ministry of Fisheries to place observers on all vessels known to be not following the rules. That was the majority of the squid fleet, which at its peak operated 35 of the largest boats working in New Zealand waters. Vessels had to return to port within five days so the independent observers could get on board. The boats would have to carry equipment to scare seabirds away and there would also be mandatory control of discharging offal, which attracted seabirds to the boats. Advertisement Advertisement Mr Benson-Pope said he would introduce regulations to effect the changes. These regulations would fit with the current penalty regime which included fines of up to $100,000 for those who failed to comply. Voluntary codes had been introduced because the industry said it was willing to co-operate to reduce deaths of seabirds including albatross and petrel. But he had received evidence a fortnight ago of squid fishers failing to comply with the code of practice which was introduced about a year ago. An investigation by the Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation had revealed non-compliance was "alarmingly widespread". The investigation found: 46 per cent of vessels had not been using a back-of-boat bird-scaring device while a further 8 per cent used one intermittently; 30 per cent of vessels discharged offal either during trawling or hauling of nets with a further 25 per cent doing so intermittently; and only 30 per cent of vessels complied with both mitigation and offal management requirements as set out in the code. "I will be investigating other fisheries operating under voluntary codes to ensure those codes are working," the minister said in a statement. Measures in the ling auto longline fishery had reduced seabird deaths by 75 per cent and by 95 per cent in the tuna fishery. Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said yesterday the "uncaring" fishing industry was responsible for the deaths of 10,000 seabirds a year. She said she had wanted codes of practice to be mandatory rather than voluntary. Best practice methods included the use of tori line, sinking bait, fishing at night and not tipping offal over the side of the boat. She also said the Government should set a limit for each fishery that if exceeded would close the fishery. The practise had been used for years in the Auckland Islands squid fishery to protect the endangered Hooker's sea lions. »PRINTABLE VERSION »SUBSCRIBE TO FREE HEADLINES »SUBSCRIBE TO ARCHIVESTUFF | Conservationists claim that 10,000 seabirds a year are caught in nets and drowned. squid drying In order to save the lives of seabirds, the government of New Zealand has ordered the recall from sub-Antarctic waters of the entire fleet of New Zealand's 35 squid fishing boats. Once at port, the boats are to take on independent observers to ensure that they follow codes of practice. Violators of the new rules face a fine of up to NZ$100,000. Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope said that "blatant bad behaviour" on the part of the boats, flouting a voluntary code of practice set up a year ago, demanded immediate action. An Air Force aeroplane was sent on a tour of inspection last month. Benson-Pope reported that observations from the inspection revealed that, contrary to the agreed code of practice: * 46% of the fishing fleet were not using equipment to scare sea birds away from vessels, with a further 8% only using it intermittently. * 30% of the fishing fleet were discharging offal (which attracts seabirds) while trawling or hauling nets, with a further 25% doing so intermittently. * Only 30% of the fishing fleet actually complied with both mitigation and offal management requirements. Mr Benson-Pope referred to a voluntary code of practice adopted in the tuna fishing industry which he said had reduced death of seabirds by 95%. |
Stones were thrown and buildings burnt in Lhasa An emergency official said that many people had been hurt and an unspecified number had died. The US-based Radio Free Asia quoted witnesses who said they had seen at least two bodies on Lhasa's streets. Tibet's government would "deal harshly" with the protesters, its Chairman Qiangba Puncog warned. "We will deal harshly with these criminals who are carrying out activities to split the nation," he told the Associated Press news agency, denying that police had opened fire. China's state-run Xinhua news agency earlier said police had fired warning shots and used tear gas to disperse protesters. Rallies have continued all week in what are said to be the largest protests against Beijing's rule in 20 years. 'Totally crazy' A Western tourist in the city told the BBC: "[The rioters] seemed to go for all the Chinese shops and the Chinese people as well. I saw quite a few Chinese people beaten up... it turned totally crazy." Another eyewitness said there were tanks on the street and he had seen people being carried away on stretchers. British journalist James Miles, in Lhasa, told the BBC rioters took control of the city centre on Friday. He some were looting shops and "taking out the contents and throwing them on huge fires which they've lit in the street". China's government is braced for any further unrest on Saturday, with reports that a curfew is in place. TIBET DIVIDE China says Tibet always part of its territory Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before 20th century 1950: China launched a military assault Opposition to Chinese rule led to bloody uprising in 1959 Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India In pictures: Tibet protests Quick guide: Tibet Media remains silent Beijing accused the Dalai Lama's followers of "masterminding" the unrest, an allegation the Tibetan spiritual leader's spokesman labelled as "absolutely baseless". From exile in India, the Dalai Lama expressed deep concern and called for an end to the violence. He called on China to "address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue". The rallies began earlier this week when a number of Buddhist monks were reportedly arrested after a march marking the 49th anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. In other developments on Friday: Hundreds of monks led a rally at Xiahe, in China's north-western Gansu province, the site of one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important monasteries More then 100 Tibetans in New York staged a protest outside the UN headquarters Police in New Delhi, India, clashed with protesters trying to reach the Chinese Embassy In Kathmandu, Nepal, police reportedly scuffled with some 1,000 demonstrators at a rally BBC China editor Shirong Chen in Beijing says the Chinese government certainly does not want bloodshed - echoing that last September in Burma - five months before staging the Olympic Games. On the other hand, they cannot allow the monks and other Tibetans to vent their anger in case this is seen as a sign of weakness, he says. 'Marginalised' The US urged China to "respect Tibetan culture" and the American ambassador to China urged officials in Beijing to show restraint. PROTEST TIMELINE 10 March: Monks arrested while marking 49th anniversary of failed uprising 11 March: Police use tear gas to disperse monks staging peaceful rallies 13 March: Police seal off key Lhasa monasteries 14 March: Rioting in Lhasa A White House spokesman said: "The president has said consistently Beijing needs to have a dialogue with the Dalai Lama." The European Union issued a statement urging China to address the concerns of Tibetans. "We would like to see some kind of reconciliation between the Chinese authorities and the Tibetan representatives," said Dimitrij Rupel, foreign minister of Slovenia, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Hollywood actor Richard Gere - a supporter of Tibet - told the BBC he would back a boycott of the Beijing Olympics unless China adopted a new approach. "The Tibetans have been marginalised in recent years, much more than before, and that's why you see this pressure cooker effect," he said. China says Tibet has always been part of its territory - although Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before the 20th Century and many Tibetans remain loyal to the Dalai Lama, who fled in 1959. Are you in Tibet or do you know anyone currently in Tibet? Did you witness the rallies this week? Send us your comments. Name: Email address: Town and Country: Phone number (optional): Comments: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all emails will be published. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, text them to +44 7725 100 100 or you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. ||||| BEIJING (Reuters) - The Tibetan capital Lhasa braced for more possible confrontation on Saturday after independence protesters challenged China’s rule in the fiercest protests to have rocked the region in two decades. An overturned car burns in Lhasa, Tibet, March 14, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer China accused followers of the Dalai Lama of “masterminding” the uprising, which shatters its carefully-cultivated image of national harmony in the build-up to the Beijing Olympic Games. Angry crowds in the remote mountain city on Friday attacked government offices, burned vehicles and shops and threw stones at police in bloody confrontations that left many injured, according to Chinese state media reports. China has said that Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, engineered what were the biggest protests in disputed region since 1989, a claim he quickly denied. But while it was unclear whether the clashes would flare or even escalate over the weekend, Beijing has already made it clear that it saw no reason to change its policies in Tibet, where many locals resent a growing Han Chinese presence, especially in Lhasa. “We are fully capable of maintaining the social stability of Tibet,” the Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying in a statement repeated across Chinese state media on Saturday. “The plots by the very few people against the stability and harmony of Tibet run counter to the will of the people and are doomed to fail.” Chinese authorities were nonetheless also bracing for more possible unrest in Lhasa on Saturday. “Police cordoned off a few downtown sections and are on close lookout for comeback of violence,” the official Xinhua agency said. OLYMPIC SHADOW Already the eruption of popular anger at China’s presence in Tibet has become an international issue likely to shadow Beijing’s preparations for the Olympic Games in August. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urged China “to allow demonstrators to exercise their right to freedom of expression and assembly, to refrain from any excessive use of force while maintaining order and to ensure that those arrested are not ill-treated”. U.S. ambassador to Beijing Clark Randt told senior Chinese officials on Friday of Washington’s concern. “He took the opportunity, because of what was going on in Lhasa, to urge restraint on the part of the Chinese officials and Chinese security forces,” a U.S. spokesman told reporters. The demonstrators attacked the office of the region’s official Communist Party-run newspaper and the Xinhua office, the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po reported. “The Tibet People’s Armed Police Hospital received many injured officers,” it said. Slideshow (16 Images) Chinese state media has not reported any deaths, but overseas groups with contacts in Tibet say several people may have died. A spokesman for the Dalai Lama, contacted in the Indian town of Dharamsala, a centre for Tibetan exiles, said of the Chinese allegation against “the Dalai clique”: “This is absolutely baseless and his holiness has made his stand very clear.” The Dalai Lama has in recent years called for limited autonomy for Tibet, but some Tibetans demand full independence. ||||| An overturned car burned in Lhasa,Tibet, on Friday. (Reuters) Anti-China protests erupt in Tibet BEIJING: Violence erupted Friday in a busy market area of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans clashed with Chinese security forces. Witnesses say angry Tibetan crowds burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus. The chaotic scene was the latest, and most violent, confrontation in a series of protests that began Monday and now represent a major challenge to the ruling Communist Party as it prepares to play host to the Olympics in August. Beijing is facing the most serious and prolonged demonstrations in the remote Himalayan region since the late 1980s, when it suppressed a rebellion there with lethal force that left scores and possibly hundreds of ethnic Tibetans dead. The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, and his supporters around the world have embraced the protesters in Lhasa, and thousands of Buddhists in neighboring India and Nepal took to the streets Friday in sympathy. Beijing is clearly alarmed that the wave of negative publicity could disrupt its elaborate plans for the Olympics and its hopes that the Games will showcase its rising influence and prosperity rather than domestic turmoil. Residents in Lhasa, reached by telephone, said the authorities had placed much of the city under a curfew by Friday night while military police were blocking many city streets. One resident reported seeing tanks in the center of the city. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing warned American citizens on Friday not to travel to Lhasa. The embassy said it had "received firsthand reports from American citizens in the city who report gunfire and other indications of violence." Xinhua, China's official news agency, issued a short statement in English confirming that shops in Lhasa had been set on fire and that other stores had closed because of the violence. But the protests otherwise received no coverage in the Chinese press. The Dalai Lama released a statement on Friday calling on both sides to avoid violence and appealing to the Chinese leadership to "address the long simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people." The situation in Lhasa represents a complicated predicament for the Communist Party, which is now holding its annual meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing. Party leaders are grappling with growing criticism of China's domestic rights record and its ties to Sudan, which the United States has accused of waging a genocidal campaign in its Darfur region. Just as Beijing sees the Olympics as a chance to strut confidently on the world stage, so its opponents see the international publicity ahead of the Games as a chance to press deep grievances against the one-party state. In the past, China has not hesitated to crush major protests in Tibet or jail disobedient monks. President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party, served as party boss in Tibet during a violent crackdown against protests in 1989. His support for the bloody suppression of unrest that year earned him the good will of Deng Xiaoping, then the paramount leader, and led directly to his elevation to the Politburo Standing Committee and eventually to China's top leadership posts. But Chinese leaders may be more reluctant to order such heavy-handed tactics as Beijing prepares to host the Olympics. On Friday, different accounts emerged about how Chinese military police in Lhasa handled the demonstrations. Radio Free Asia, a nonprofit news agency financed by the U.S. government, quoted Tibetan witnesses who described Chinese police officers firing into crowds of protesters and killing at least two people in the city's ancient Barkhor area. Other accounts from Tibetans suggested that the police had also attacked Buddhist monks. But a Chinese resident, reached by telephone, said stories were spreading among Chinese residents that soldiers had been injured and had not been allowed to fight back against Tibetans throwing rocks. Another Chinese man living near the Barkhor area said family members told him that two soldiers died and that Tibetans were beating Chinese residents with iron rods. The sharp escalation in violence Friday, and the sense of dread described by several residents, came a day after the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the situation in Lhasa had stabilized. The protest started Monday when Buddhist monks began peaceful demonstrations against religious restrictions by the Chinese authorities. The police arrested 50 or 60 monks, but other protests followed on Tuesday and Wednesday as monks in two different monasteries took to the streets. The apparent epicenter of protests Friday was the Tromsikhang Market, a massive, concrete structure built in the Barkhor area of Lhasa by the Chinese authorities in the early 1990s. ||||| An overturned car burns in Lhasa,Tibet, March 14, 2008. Protesters in Tibet's capital burned shops and vehicles, and yelled for independence Friday as protests hit the region. (Reuters) The Tibetan capital of Lhasa was thrown into chaos today by anti-China protests and the government's swift response to quell them. An eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, told ABC News that "gunshots were fired" and that the main square has been barricaded by hundreds of police. Emerging reports describe a city under lockdown, and many fear Beijing could soon enforce martial law. Plumes of dark smoke covered downtown Lhasa after the protesters, led by Buddhist monks, set alight shops and cars. Reports indicate that the shops targeted were Chinese-owned. "My Tibetan friends are all scared. They are telling me to stay indoors and not to go out," the eyewitness in Lhasa said. "The situation is very tense." The protests began peacefully Monday when a group of monks marched to Lhasa demanding more religious freedom. This call was matched by Tibetan exiles around the world as they marked the 49th anniversary of Tibet's 1959 uprising against China. The 1959 rebellion resulted in the Dalai Lama's self-imposed exile in India. The three great monasteries -- Sera, Drepung and Ganden -- are all now surrounded by phalanxes of Chinese troops. "The Sera monastery is surrounded by Chinese soldiers or police," the same eyewitness told ABC News. "I went yesterday to an area nearby to meet a Tibetan friend, and I saw the monastery surrounded by them." Reports of protests in other parts of Tibet are slowly coming out despite restricted media access to the region. "There has been for years now a deep-seated resentment brought on by the intensification of China's policy toward Tibet," Matt Whitticase, of the Free Tibet Campaign, said. The protesters have decided "now is the time" to draw attention to their unhappiness with China's hegemony because the upcoming Olympics has focused the international media's attention on Beijing. China's rule of Tibet has led to a marginalization of locals and deep concerns that Tibet's culture may soon be eroded by China's influence, Whitticase says. ||||| Developments Related to Tibet Crisis Tibet developments at a glance: TURMOIL IN TIBET — Protests led by Buddhist monks against Chinese rule in Tibet turned violent, filling the provincial capital of Lhasa in smoke from tear gas, bonfires and burned shops. According to eyewitness accounts and photos posted on the Internet, crowds hurled rocks at riot police, hotels and restaurants. The U.S. Embassy said Americans had reported gunfire. U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia reported two people were killed. DALAI LAMA COMMENT — Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, called the protests a "manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people," and urged both sides to avoid violence. In Dharmsala, India, the site of Tibet's government-in-exile, he urged China's leadership to "stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people." U.S. COMMENT — White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture and multi-ethnicity in its society. "We regret the tensions between the ethnic groups and Beijing," he said, adding that President Bush has said consistently that Beijing needs to have a dialogue with the Dalai Lama. The U.S. ambassador to China has urged the government to "act with restraint" in dealing with the protesters, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. OLYMPIC OUTLOOK — The violence poses difficulties for a Communist leadership that has looked to the Aug. 8-24 Olympics as a way to recast China as a friendly, modern power. Too rough a crackdown could put that at risk, while balking could embolden protesters, costing Beijing authority in often-restive Tibet. EU APPEAL — European Union leaders appealed to China to show restraint in Tibet, but the criticism of Beijing's response to the demonstrations did not go so far as to threaten a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "As far as the Olympic Games are concerned I intend to be there." INDIA PROTEST — Police have clashed with scores of pro-Tibet protesters near the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, arresting dozens of them. The chanting protesters were trying to reach the embassy, in a wealthy New Delhi neighborhood, when they were stopped by police. Police could be seen arresting at least two dozen people. NEPAL PROTEST — Police scuffled with about 1,000 protesters, including dozens of Buddhist monks, during a rally in Nepal's capital of Katmandu in support of demonstrators in Tibet. About 12 monks were injured. U.N. PROTEST — Dozens of Tibetans held a noisy protest against Chinese rule outside the United Nations, and six were arrested. Psurbu Tsering of the Tibetan Association of New York and New Jersey said its members received phone calls from Tibet claiming 70 people had been killed and 1,000 arrested in the Chinese province. The reports could not be verified. | In the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, Chinese security forces tried to control Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans who were setting fire to vehicles and shops on Friday, in protest of China's rule. At least two protesters are reported to have been shot dead by riot police. The Chinese government reacted quickly to the protests. An eyewitness report describes hundreds of police forces barricading the city's main square, some opening fire on protesters. Other reports suggest the city is under a sort of lockdown. "The Sera monastery is surrounded by Chinese soldiers or police," an eyewitness told ABC News. "I went yesterday to an area nearby to meet a Tibetan friend, and I saw the monastery surrounded by them." The protests began rather peacefully on Monday, when a group of monks marched in Lhasa to advocate religious freedom. The march came on the 49th anniversary of Tibet's 1959 rebellion against China. When 50 or 60 of the monks were arrested, hundreds of other monks took to the streets to demand their release. Soon, ordinary Tibetans became involved as well, and the protests grew more violent. Around 400 protesters gathered at a market near the Jokhang temple, where they were confronted by 1,000 police, according to a witness cited by the Free Tibet Campaign. Cars, buses, and military vehicles were burned as plumes of smoke rose above the city. Protesters also set fire to shops, most of which were owned by ethnic Chinese. "Some of them are looting those shops, taking out the contents and throwing them on huge fires which they've lit in the street," said James Miles, a British journalist. Near Barkhor, one man said that two soldiers have been killed, and that Tibetans were beating Chinese residents with iron rods. Another eyewitness in Lhasa said that people were being carried away on stretchers. "People have been burning cars and motorbikes and buses," one resident said. "There is smoke everywhere and they have been throwing rocks and breaking windows. We're scared." Psurbu Tsering of the "Tibetan Association of New York and New Jersey" said his members had received phone calls from Tibet, claiming 70 people had been killed and 1,000 arrested in Tibet. These reports could not be verified. The unrest has reportedly spread to other provinces, and even other countries. Similar protests were seen in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, where 1,000 protesters, including monks, gathered at a rally in support of the Tibet demonstrations. Around 12 monks were injured. In the United States, six Tibetans were arrested after holding protests outside the United Nations building in New York City. An official from the Tibet Autonomous Region accused the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, of orchestrating the protests, saying there was enough evidence to prove they were "organized, premeditated and masterminded" by Gyatso and his close supporters. A spokesperson for the Dalai Lama denied these allegations, saying the protests were "completely spontaneous". In a statement, the Dalai Lama called the protests a "manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people". He insisted that both sides end the violence, telling the Chinese government to "stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue," and he urged his "fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence." Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency, reported in the early hours of Saturday that the situation had "basically returned to normal", although some people had been injured and were taken to the hospital. A Chinese official said the government is "fully capable of maintaining social stability" in Tibet. The events prompted responses from European leaders, including Dimitrij Rupel, foreign minister of Slovenia and current President of the European Council. "We would like to see some kind of reconciliation between the Chinese authorities and the Tibetan representatives," he said. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner alluded to a connection between the protests and the 2008 Summer Olympics, which are set to occur in Beijing this August. "France can draw attention to the link between the Olympic Games and this Tibetan aspiration, which China has to take into account." However, he will not be supporting a boycott of the games. Neither will European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who said, "As far as the Olympic Games are concerned I intend to be there." |
31 Votes Print Pentagon Generals Warn of Iraq Civil War < Previous Next > showing 1 of 4 photos advertisement Attacks on Baghdad Green Zone WHAT'S THE GREEN ZONE? Also called the International Zone, it's the heavily protected area in central Baghdad that holds the U.S. and British embassies, the Iraqi parliament and prime minister's office. OPEN TO ATTACK: A U.N. report in June said insurgents had bombarded the area with rockets and mortar fire more than 80 times since March. CASUALTIES: Nearly 30 people have been reportedly killed in the barrages. Democrats Push All-Night War Debate SLEEP OVER: Senate Democrats continued Tuesday to push Republicans into an exhaustive debate of legislation to bring troops home from Iraq by arranging for an all-night session. TESTING: GOP leadership has been successful at blocking anti-war legislation because Democrats don't have the 60 votes to prevent a filibuster. SUBJECT: The bill would order troops to start leaving Iraq in 120 days and complete the pullout by April 30, 2008. U.S. Announces Major al-Qaida Arrest THE ANNOUNCEMENT: The highest-ranking Iraqi leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was captured July 4 and told interrogators that Osama bin Laden's inner circle wields considerable influence over the Iraqi group. WHY NOW: The White House is stepping up efforts to link the war in Iraq to Sept. 11, with a growing number of Americans opposing the Iraq conflict. Some independent analysts question the extent of al-Qaida's role in Iraq. THE LINK: The U.S. says the captured man carried messages from Osama bin Laden and his deputy to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Senate Torpedoes Troop Withdrawal ALL-NIGHT DEBATE: Senate Republicans scuttled a Democratic proposal ordering troop withdrawals from Iraq in a showdown that capped an all-night debate. DEMOCRATS DEFEATED: The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate. TROOP WITHDRAWAL: The Democratic proposal would have required President Bush to start bringing home troops within 120 days and complete the pullout by April 30, 2008. Diplomat: the Word in Iraq Is Fear THE WORD IN IRAQ: The top U.S. diplomat in Iraq said "fear" still pervades the country and dampens progress. SOME PROGRESS: Ambassador Ryan Crocker also said President Bush's troop buildup was just now hitting its stride and was showing some gains in tamping down violence. WITHDRAWAL WARNING: Crocker warned against a withdrawal of U.S. troops, contending such a move could create a "comfortable operating environment" for al-Qaida. General: Strikes Planned in Iraq TARGETING INSURGENTS: Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said coalition forces are planning "quick strike raids" aimed at smashing al-Qaida and other insurgents in Iraq. CAUSING VIOLENCE: He said al-Qaida is the biggest threat because it wants to establish a safe haven in Iraq. PULLING BACK: Commanders plan to start withdrawing troops in April that were sent in as part of President Bush's buildup. the Combat Role in Iraq STRATEGY: U.S. military officials are narrowing the range of strategy options for Iraq. OPTIONS: They appear to be focusing on potentially reducing the U.S. combat role in 2008 while increasing training of Iraqi forces, although the final decision would rest with President Bush. WAYS OUT: The main exit would be Kuwait, but officials are laying the groundwork to possibly move some troops and equipment through Turkey and Jordan. Report Finds Iraqi Government Precarious NEW REPORT: The Iraqi government is strained by rampant violence, deep sectarian differences among its political parties and stymied leadership, the nation's top spy analysts concluded in the National Intelligence Estimate. TEETERING COUNTRY: Iraq's neighbors will continue to try to expand their leverage in the fractured state in anticipation that the United States will soon leave. SOME FINDINGS: The report found some security progress but elusive hopes for reconciliation among Iraq's feuding groups. GAO: Iraq Hasn't Met 11 of 18 Benchmarks ASSESSMENT: Iraq has fully achieved only three of 18 political and security goals, says a report released Tuesday. POOR PROGRESS: The Government Accountability Office determined that Iraq has partially met four benchmarks _ two more than identified in an earlier draft report _ and failed to reach 11. STRINGENCY: The agency applied a stricter standard than the Bush administration, which determined in July that Iraq had made satisfactory progress toward eight of these goals. Summary: Petraeus Eyes Troop Reduction RECOMMENDATION: Gen. David Petraeus said he has recommended to President Bush that the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq begin this month with the departure of a Marine unit. JULY 2008: Petraeus told Congress he envisions the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 U.S. troops by next summer. TIMING: Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker's testimony came at a politically pivotal moment in the war, with the Democratic-controlled Congress pressing for a troop withdrawal deadline and the Bush administration hoping to prevent wholesale Republican defections on the issue. Officials: Bush to Announce Troop Cut UPCOMING ADDRESS: President Bush will tell the nation this week he plans to reduce the American troop presence in Iraq by about 30,000 by next summer, The Associated Press has learned. CONDITIONAL CUTS: But he will condition those and further cuts on continued progress. ENDORSEMENT: In a prime-time television address, probably Thursday, Bush will endorse the recommendations of his top general and top diplomat in Iraq. This article is over 14 days old and has been removed by requirement of the Associated Press. ||||| Gen Abizaid's warning was backed up by Gen Peter Pace (left) "Sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it," Gen Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee. A similar warning was contained in a confidential memo to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair by the UK's outgoing ambassador to Iraq. William Patey also predicted the break-up of Iraq along ethnic lines. A bomb left near a busy Baghdad shopping area on Thursday killed at least 10 people and injured 29, police said. US commanders have recently moved 3,700 troops from Mosul to Baghdad to bolster the capital's fragile security. Love not hate Gen Abizaid told the committee the top priority was to secure the Iraqi capital, where the struggle was at a "decisive" stage. "It is clear that the operational and tactical situation in Baghdad is such that it requires additional security forces, both US and Iraqi," he said. But Gen Abizaid also said he remained optimistic that the Iraqi government and iraqi forces, with US support, could prevent the slide into civil war. Gen Abizaid's warning was backed up by Gen Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said ultimately descending into or avoiding civil war depended on the Iraqis. "Shia and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other," Gen Pace said. The two generals were joined by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who did not comment directly on the prospect of civil war but again warned against pulling out US troops prematurely. British Ambassador William Patey, who left Baghdad last week, gave a bleak assessment of Iraq's future in his final diplomatic cable. "The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy." He said that position was not hopeless but it would be "messy" for five to 10 years. | Two of the most senior Generals in the Pentagon conceded that the recent upsurge in sectarian violence in Iraq may mean a rapid descent into Civil War in Congress, Thursday. General John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Iraq could move toward civil war" if the violence is not contained and stopped soon adding "Sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it." General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated "We do have the possibility of that devolving into civil war." He added that this does not need to happen, and is controlled more by the Iraqis than the U.S. Military. President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have refused to call the current situation in Iraq a civil war, even with Rumsfeld admitting in a press conference on Wednesday that violence in Iraq is on the increase, overall. The statements by the two top U.S. generals echoed a warning to the British government by William Patey, its ambassador to Baghdad, who predicted in a confidential memo that Iraq would break up along ethnic lines and that "the prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy." |
The car bombing occurred as a volleyball match was taking place in a field in Lakki Marwat [AFP] The car bombing occurred as a volleyball match was taking place in a field in Lakki Marwat [AFP] The car bombing occurred as a volleyball match was taking place in a field in Lakki Marwat [AFP] The incident took place in Lakki Marwat in the North West Frontier Province, which lies close to North and South Waziristan, two tribal regions where Pakistani Taliban fighters are active. A suicide car bomber has attacked a site where a volleyball game was being played in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 88 people and wounding scores more, sources say. The bomber apparently drove his vehicle onto a field where a volleyball tournament was under way. "There was a match between two village teams and a lot of people were watching it," Habibullah Khan, the police chief of Bannu district, said. Since the Pakistani army launched a ground offensive in South Waziristan in October, bombings have plagued Pakistan and killed more than 500 people. Possible retaliation Imran Khan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the capital Islamabad, said: "Lakki Marwat is a place that has seen fighting against Taliban and al-Qaeda elements. "The people of that area formed tribal militias to fight foreign fighters and the Taliban to push them out. So this was probably a retaliatory attack." Ayub Khan, the local police chief, said: "The locality has been a hub of militants. Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be reaction to their expulsion." He said the bomber drove a vehicle loaded with 250kg of high-intensity explosives onto the field, which lies in a congested neighbourhood, during the volleyball contest. Some nearby houses collapsed, and "we fear that some 10 or so people might have been trapped in the rubble", he said. In addition, a group of local tribal elders were holding a meeting at a mosque nearby. The mosque was damaged and some people there died, he said. Drone raid Earlier on Friday, missiles fired by a US drone killed at least three anti-government fighters in North Waziristan, security officials said. The attack took place early morning in Ghundikala village near the town of Mir Ali. "A US drone fired two missiles, targeting a vehicle and killing three militants," a senior security official in the area told the AFP news agency. North Waziristan houses Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters as well as members of the Haqqani network, a powerful group known for staging attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan. Another US drone attack late on Thursday killed at least three fighters when two missiles hit their hideout. The use of so-called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which allow the military to operate in highly dangerous areas, is expected to grow in the coming years with the US defence department expected to buy 700 drones next year alone. Karachi shutdown Against this backdrop of continued violence, Karachi, the country's largest city, came to a virtual standstill on Friday. Religious and political leaders had called for a general strike in protest against Monday's bombing that killed 44 people during a procession of Shia Muslims, and subsequent riots. The city's major markets, stores and business centres were closed, along with financial institutions that had already planned to shut because of New Year's Day. Public transportation was halted and petrol stations were shut down. Rehman Malik, the Pakistani interior minister, said investigators were still determining if the attack was a suicide bombing. He also questioned the claim of Asmatullah Shaheen, a purported Taliban spokesman, that the group was behind the attack. ||||| Suicide Blast Kills at Least 88 in Pakistan Photo: AP A suicide bomber set off an explosive-laden vehicle on a field during a volleyball match in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 88 people. Authorities say scores of others were wounding and children are among the victims. Friday's attack is the third major militant activity in the country within a week leaving more than 120 people dead. The deadly suicide blast took place in a remote northwestern village near the Pakistani town of Lakki Marwat. The bomber targeted a crowd of people watching a volleyball match in a congested neighborhood. Speaking to VOA by telephone, Provincial police chief Malik Naveed described the incident. "A vehicle came, which was laden with about anything between 100-300 kilograms of explosives. It came and went right into the field where the driver exploded the vehicle, killed himself and a number of houses on the sides of the playground also caved in," he said. The police chief says the village where the attack occurred was once considered a hub of Taliban insurgents. However, he says, locals with the help of authorities set up a militia force and killed or expelled the militants from their area. The police officer says Friday's bombing is a possible reaction to the anti-militancy efforts. "These insurgents, they were not very happy about it and they were cut off because the people had risen against them. So this was one way of taking revenge from these people," he said. The northwestern region where the attack took place is close to the Waziristan tribal region where local and Afghan Taliban as well as al-Qaida militants are said to have set up their training bases. These militants are also believed be involved in cross-border raids against U.S-led foreign forces in neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistani security forces have been attacking insurgent bases in the South Waziristan tribal area since October. Militant attacks and suicide bombigs across the country have killed more than 1,000 people - mostly civilians - in the past year. Friday's suicide blast happened on a day when Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi nearly shut down in a strike called by religious and political parties to protest Monday's deadly bombing in the southwestern port city. That attack targeted a religious procession of the minority Shiite Muslims and killed more than 40 people. The violence provoked angry protests across the city with demonstrators setting fires to nearly 2,000 stores that took three days to completely put out. | A suicide bomber at a game in northwestern Pakistan detonated a vehicle full of explosives Friday, killing at least 75 people and injuring scores more. Some reports placed the number of dead as high as 88. The explosion occurred in the town of in the , located nearby to the South and North provinces, an area where members are known to be active. Reportedly, the attacker drove his car onto a volleyball field, where a game, being watched by many people, was being played. "The locality has been a hub of militants. Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be reaction to their expulsion," said, Ayub Khan, a local police chief, to media. According to him, the attacker's vehicle contained 250 kilograms of highly intensive explosive material. Buildings in the vicinity of the field, including a mosque were collapsed or damaged by the force of the blast. "We fear that some ten or so people might have been trapped in the rubble", Khan said. Another security official, Khabib Khan, said that there were around three hundred people attending at the volleyball competition when the explosion happened. "We had security there. We had it for the meeting, and for the tournament," he said to the news agency over the telephone. Malik Naveed, the provincial police chief, said to that the attack may have been a retaliatory move against the residents of the town. According to him, the village where the attack occurred was once considered a hub of Taliban fighters; however, he says, locals, with the help of authorities set up a militia force and either killed or expelled them from their area. "These insurgents, they were not very happy about it and they were cut off because the people had risen against them. So this was one way of taking revenge from these people," Naveed said. This incident is the deadliest attack in Pakistan since October 28 of last year, when 112 people were killed by a car bomb in the city of Peshawar. |
MS 0735.6+7421: Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered This Chandra image shows two vast cavities - each 600,000 light years in diameter - in the hot, X-ray emitting gas that pervades the galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 (MS 0735 for short). ||||| Astronomers have found the most powerful eruption in the universe using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A super massive The huge eruption was seen in a Chandra image of the hot, X-ray emitting gas of a galaxy cluster called MS 0735.6+7421. Two vast cavities extend away from the super massive black hole in the cluster's central galaxy. The eruption, which has lasted for more than 100 million years, has generated energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of gamma-ray bursts. Astronomers have found the most powerful eruption in the universe using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A super massive black hole generated this eruption by growing at a remarkable rate. This discovery shows the enormous appetite of large black holes, and the profound impact they have on their surroundings.The huge eruption was seen in a Chandra image of the hot, X-ray emitting gas of a galaxy cluster called MS 0735.6+7421. Two vast cavities extend away from the super massive black hole in the cluster's central galaxy. The eruption, which has lasted for more than 100 million years, has generated energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of gamma-ray bursts. Related stories: This event was caused by gravitational energy release, as enormous amounts of matter fell toward a black hole. Most of the matter was swallowed, but some of it was violently ejected before being captured by the black hole. "I was stunned to find that a mass of about 300 million suns was swallowed," said Brian McNamara of Ohio University in Athens. "This is as large as another super massive black hole." He is lead author of the study about the discovery, which is in the January 6, 2005, issue of Nature.Astronomers are not sure where such large amounts of matter came from. One theory is gas from the host galaxy catastrophically cooled and was swallowed by the black hole. The energy released shows the black hole in MS 0735 has grown dramatically during this eruption. Previous studies suggest other large black holes have grown very little in the recent past, and that only smaller black holes are still growing quickly."This new result is as surprising as it is exciting," said co-author Paul Nulsen of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. "This black hole is feasting, when it should be fasting."Radio emission within the cavities shows jets from the black hole erupted to create the cavities. Gas is being pushed away from the black hole at supersonic speeds over a distance of about a million light-years. The mass of the displaced gas equals about a trillion suns, more than the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way.The rapid growth of super massive black holes is usually detected by observing very bright radiation from the centers of galaxies in the optical and X-ray wavebands, or luminous radio jets. In MS 0735 no bright central radiation is found, and the radio jets are faint. The true nature of MS 0735 is only revealed through X-ray observations of the hot cluster gas."Until now we had no idea this black hole was gorging itself," said co-author Michael Wise of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. "The discovery of this eruption shows X-ray telescopes are necessary to understand some of the most violent events in the universe."The astronomers estimated how much energy was needed to create the cavities by calculating the density, temperature and pressure of the hot gas. By making a standard assumption that 10 percent of the gravitational energy goes into launching the jets, they estimated how much material the black hole swallowed.Besides generating the cavities, some of the energy from this eruption should keep the hot gas around the black hole from cooling, and some of it may also generate large-scale magnetic fields in the galaxy cluster. Chandra observers have discovered other cavities in galaxy clusters, but this one is easily the largest and the most powerful.NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Space Mission Directorate, Washington. Northrop Grumman of Redondo Beach, Calif., was the prime development contractor for the observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.Source: NASA | Calculations based on data from the Chandra orbiting telescope show the explosion in Galaxy cluster MS 0735 is the largest known anywhere in the universe. The explosion is thought to have been fueled by a supermassive blackhole consuming over 300 million stars over hundreds of thousands of years. MS 075 is 2.6 billion light years from Earth. |
Kylie Minogue has postponed her Showgirl tour after being diagnosed with breast cancer. (Reuters) Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue has postponed her scheduled Australian tour because she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Kylie's management says she was diagnosed with breast cancer this morning and she has since begun treatment. Kylie has been staying with her family in Melbourne this week ahead of her Australian tour, which was due to kick off in Sydney in two days' time. Doctors say the disease is in its early stages and that she has a good chance of recovery. In a statement released by her tour's promoters, Kylie said she was sorry to have to disappoint her fans. "I was so looking forward to bringing the Showgirl tour to Australian audiences and am sorry to have to disappoint my fans," Kylie said in a statement. "Nevertheless hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon." Kylie's French boyfriend Oliver Martinez is in Melbourne with her. Feathers stay in the box Kylie's promoter Michael Gudinski is upbeat about her recovery and says it is a reminder for young women to get checked up. "She's a pretty fit girl, she's a strong girl and all our thoughts, and I'm sure all of Australians' and the world's thoughts, are going to be with her," Mr Gudinski said. "It's very unfortunate it's on the eve of her tour. "When it comes to issues like this, really business and touring are irrelevant and I'm sure all the fans will understand and the tour is obviously postponed and it's the furthest thought from any of our minds. "These things happen. It's just devastating that it's our own girl and that she is on the eve of her biggest tour of her career and coming up to play the biggest show that she has ever played at Glastonbury, closing the biggest festival in the world. "So I guess those feathers will have to be kept in that box for that little bit longer. "But really all that's irrelevant and let's all keep our fingers crossed and see what happens over the next few weeks." Of Kylie's apology to fans, Mr Gudinski said: "She always takes on a greater responsibility on those little shoulders than she ever can and this time it is her own fight and she will be okay." Shocked Long-time music commentator Molly Meldrum says he was shocked when he heard about Kylie's breast cancer. "There's no words I can describe this, because way back it was Olivia [Newton-John], then of course Delta [Goodrem] with [Hodgkin's lymphoma] and now Kylie," Meldrum said. "I can't comprehend this you know. I simply cannot comprehend this." Kylie's Showgirl tour - a $2.5 million production - was scheduled to tour Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth over the next month. The tour's promoter is advising fans to hang onto their tickets pending the announcement of new dates. The Neighbours actress turned singer has had hits all over the world over three decades, beginning with a cover of Little Eva's 1960s hit Do The Locomotion in the early 1980s. She will mark her 37th birthday later this month. ||||| Minogue was due to end her world tour at the Glastonbury Festival "Whilst at home in Melbourne with her family this week, Kylie was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer," her tour company Frontier Touring said. "Hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon," the singer said in a statement. Minogue, 36, has had a total of 37 hit singles in the UK. Immediate treatment She had been due to begin the 20-date Australian leg of her current worldwide Showgirl tour in Sydney on Thursday. The tour company added: "She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned." BREAST CANCER BASICS Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK One in every nine women in the UK will develop breast cancer at some point in her life It is the leading cause of death for women aged 34 to 54 Earlier detection and better treatments have improved mortality rates Physical examination and regular screening can detect a potential problem Medical Notes: Breast Cancer Minogue said she was disappointed at having to postpone the shows. "I was so looking forward to bringing the Showgirl tour to Australian audiences, and am sorry to have to disappoint my fans," she said. Minogue, who rose to fame in the 1980s as an actress in the popular soap opera Neighbours and later launched a pop career, was due to play six shows in Sydney from Thursday. She was also scheduled to tour Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth over the next month. Having opened the tour at Glasgow's SECC Arena in March, Minogue had been due to end it with a headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. HAVE YOUR SAY I hope she knows how much we are all thinking of her and supporting her through this Nikki, London Send us your comments Australian concert promoter Michael Gudinski said: "She is a pretty fit, strong girl. I'm hoping and praying because the doctor found it so early that everything will be OK." He added: "Our thoughts, and I'm sure all the legions of Kylie's fans, will be with her all the way." Glastonbury festival co-organiser Emily Eavis said: "It's really sad news for Kylie. Our thoughts are with her and her family at this very difficult time." Minogue had been due to close the festival at Pilton, Somerset, on 26 June. "It's much too early to speculate who may replace Kylie in the programme," Ms Eavis said. Minogue's pop star sister Dannii said: "The news is very upsetting. Although as the cancer has been diagnosed at such an early stage we are all very optimistic that everything will be OK. "We're all very thankful for the endless messages of love and support Kylie has been receiving - I know all your kind thoughts will mean the world to her as she gets better." 'Stab to the heart' Former Neighbours co-star and boyfriend Jason Donovan offered his support to the singer. "I sincerely wish her well with her treatment, Kylie is a strong woman who will fight this battle on every front," said Donovan. Actress Anne Charleston, who also starred alongside Minogue in Neighbours, shared her sympathy with her, telling GMTV: "When I heard it was like a stab to the heart because it happened to me at that same age." Minogue started her world tour at Glasgow's SECC Arena in March Producer Pete Waterman, who helped launch Kylie's pop career in 1988, said: "I am so shocked to hear this news, particularly since (songwriter) Mike Stock and I had a very poignant reunion with her at her recent Earls Court gig where there were a lot of hugs and kisses. "My very best wishes go to her, and of course her family, at this difficult time." Minogue has helped raise money for breast cancer causes over recent years and one of her skimpiest bras was sold at auction for £2,400 three years ago for Breast Cancer Care. Breast Cancer Campaign spokesman Sangeeta Haindl said: "This is sad news about Kylie, a pop star that many of us have grown up with over the years, who has now been diagnosed with breast cancer. "However, it is important to remember that this is not primarily a young women's disease and there are still 40,470 women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year. "This is why it's important that women are breast-aware and know the risks associated with the disease." ||||| Adelaide 10...20 C Auckland 15...22 C Brisbane 19...26 C Canberra 10...20 C Darwin 25...30 C Hobart 7...16 C Melbourne 12...18 C Perth 16...28 C Sydney 17...27 C Wellington 14...20 C | Pop starlet Kylie Minogue has announced through her management that she has an early stage of breast cancer. The 36-year-old has said she will be going through the treatment in her native Australia. Due to early diagnosis the singer stands a good chance of making a full recovery. Kylie, who had spent the past week in Melbourne, has revealed that due to the cancer the rest of her ''Showgirl'' tour of Australia will be postponed and her appearance at this year's Glastonbury festival will be cancelled. The ''Showgirl'' tour was due to hit Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in June. However despite the cancellation, ticket holders are advised to hang on to tickets as new dates may be announced. |
Jimmy Carter met the Syrian president before his talks with Hamas Former US President Jimmy Carter has held talks with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria despite US and Israeli opposition. Hamas spokesmen said Mr Carter had asked for it to stop rocket attacks on Israel and to enter talks for the release of an Israeli captive. They said any truce must be two-way and there would be a "price" for freeing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Mr Carter earlier met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Gaza boycott Mr Carter has said he is not trying to mediate in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but believes peace will not be achieved without talking to Hamas and Syria. Israel, the US and the European Union all refuse to deal with the group directly and pursue policies to isolate it. A spokesman for US President George W Bush described the meeting as "not wise", and said it had given Hamas a credibility it does not deserve. Mr Carter, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, brokered the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, the first between Israel and an Arab state. Khaled Meshaal has said Hamas wants a mutual ceasefire He made no comment after the meeting. But leading Hamas political bureau figure, Mohammed Nazzal, told reporters: "Carter suggested a truce and that Hamas should stop its rockets against Israel. "We support a truce, but Israel should support it too." One senior Hamas official in Damascus told Associated Press news agency Mr Carter had also asked Hamas to agree to a meeting with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai to discuss a prisoner exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Mr Nazzal would only say that Hamas leaders were to meet later to discuss the fate of Cpl Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in a raid into Israel from Gaza two years ago. "They will discuss details related to the price and mechanisms for his release, which will not happen without a price," Mr Nazzal said. Arab initiative Hamas gunmen seized control of Gaza in June last year from their rival Palestinian faction Fatah, which has been left in control of the West Bank. An Israeli boycott of Gaza has isolated the small territory and further deepened the poverty of its 1.4 million residents. Mr Meshaal has said that Hamas accepts and supports an Arab peace initiative, which offers peace and recognition to Israel in return for a full withdrawal from the land captured in 1967 in the West Bank, the dismantling of Jewish settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian state with a capital in east Jerusalem. He says Hamas wants a mutual ceasefire, that would also include the West Bank and which would reopen Gaza's borders - but anything else would be Israel dictating a Palestinian "surrender". 'Risk of misrepresentation' Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other senior Israeli officials earlier snubbed a meeting with Mr Carter, saying to meet him would create the impression of negotiating with Hamas. Mr Yishai, however, told Mr Carter he was willing to meet Hamas representatives - including Mr Meshaal - for talks to discuss the release of Cpl Shalit. Such a meeting involving Mr Yishai - the leader of the orthodox Shas party - would be against Israeli government policy. Shas is an important member of the governing coalition in Israel, holding four cabinet posts. Washington has played down Mr Carter's trip, saying he is acting in a personal capacity and that there is "some risk" that his talks with Hamas "will be misrepresented" by the group. Syrian state news agency Sana said Mr Carter and Mr Assad had discussed the peace process and ties between the two countries. After Syria, Mr Carter is due to travel to Saudi Arabia and Jordan. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| Former altar boy alleges abuser wanted sex in St. Peter's at Vatican trial The alleged victim of sexual abuse in a youth seminary in the Vatican said in court on Wednesday that his abuser wanted to have sex in a bathroom behind an altar in St. Peter's Basilica but he resisted the advances. ||||| Carter meets Hamas chief despite US objections DAMASCUS (AFP) — Former US president Jimmy Carter on Friday asked Hamas to end its rocket fire against Israel at a controversial meeting in the Syrian capital with exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, the group said. "Carter suggested a truce and that Hamas should stop its rockets against Israel," top Islamist leader Mohmmed Nazzal told reporters after a five-hour meeting with the former president, whose talks with the group have been strongly opposed by Israel and the White House. "We support a truce, but Israel should support it too," he said in reference to attempts to halt the bloodshed in Gaza, where 18 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were killed in the latest explosion of violence on Wednesday. Carter made no comment after the meeting but Nazzal added that advisors from his delegation and a number of Hamas leaders were to meet later tonight to discuss the fate of Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by the group and other Palestinian militants in June 2006. "They will discuss details related to the price and mechanisms for his release, which will not happen without a price," Nazzal said. Israeli minister Eli Yishai has said he was ready to meet Meshaal to negotiate the release of prisoners held by the Islamist movement, according to Friday's Haaretz daily. "I am ready to meet with all necessary Hamas members," the newspaper quoted the deputy prime minister as telling Carter during the Israeli leg of his regional tour to promote Middle East peace. In Israel, Carter met with Shalit's parents and pledged to take up with Meshaal calls for his release. Carter earlier Friday met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. State news agency SANA later said they discussed the peace process and relations between the two countries. The two men expressed "their support for dialogue in arriving at political solutions to problems" and considered it important to "mobilise efforts to reduce the suffering of the Palestinians and to lift the (Israeli) blockade" on the Gaza Strip. Carter is on a nine-day Middle East tour that has already seen him visit Israel, the West Bank and Egypt, where on Thursday he met top Gaza-based Hamas leaders Mahmud Zahar and Said Siam. That meeting took place in Cairo after Israel barred the former president from visiting the Gaza Strip, which the Islamists have ruled since seizing it in June. The two Isalmist leaders are due in Damascus on Saturday to "brief Meshaal on their talks with Carter," according to Nazzal. Israel has snubbed Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace prize, over his plans to talk with Hamas, which has remained blacklisted as a terror group by the European Union and the United States even after its sweeping victory in 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections. Washington has said the former president, seen as the architect of the historic 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, is acting in a personal capacity. In Beirut, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said Carter's conversations with Hamas leaders risked being "misrepresented." "We are concerned to advance peace here. We see no intention on the part of Hamas in doing so and there is some risk that these conversations will be misrepresented by Hamas," he said. But Carter insists he is not acting as a mediator and has been urging talks with Hamas and Syria, saying peace cannot be reached without them. "I think it's absolutely crucial that in a final dreamed-about and prayed-for peace agreement for this region that Hamas be involved and that Syria be involved," he said in Israel on Monday. The Hamas delegation in Cairo also held talks with Egypt's pointman on Palestinian affairs, Omar Suleiman, on Friday and vowed not to return home until negotiations on the reopening of the Gaza-Egypt border bear fruit. "We gave clear and specific answers to the questions put by the Egyptian side. We expect an Israeli answer within a week... so that we can settle the issue of the Rafah crossing once and for all," Zahar told Egypt's official MENA news agency. "We are going to sort out all the remaining obstacles in the coming days and will not return to the Gaza Strip until we have so that we can rid the territory of this unjust blockade," he added. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the territory's only one that bypasses Israel, has remained almost continuously closed since the Hamas takeover of last summer. Militants blew open the border earlier this year but the Hamas authorities resealed it pending an agreement on its formal reopening. Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| Migrants trapped on the Greek-Macedonian border give their views on the situation ahead of an EU-Turkey summit to discuss a solution to the crisis. Migrants trapped on the Greek-Macedonian border give their views on the situation ahead of an EU-Turkey summit to discuss a solution to the crisis. Migrant crisis: 25 drown off Turkish coast including many children At least 13 children and 12 adults are reported drowned after a boat carrying migrants to Greece sank off the west coast of Turkey. The Aegean Sea’s ISIL truck bomb kills 70, wounds at least 60, south of Baghdad The ISIL militant group has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Iraq which has killed at least 60 people, medical and security officials Tributes as former US First Lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94 Tributes have poured in to former US First Lady Nancy Reagan who has died of heart failure at the age of 94. The one-time film actress became one of US election: Are Republicans heading for a two-man race? Outspoken frontrunner Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz shared the spoils in Super Saturday’s voting contests to find a US Republican ||||| By Ellen WulfhorstPHILADELPHIA, April 16 (Reuters) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday disagreed with former President Jimmy Carter's overtures toward Hamas, saying he would not talk to the Islamist group until it recognized Israel and renounced terrorism.The Illinois senator, campaigning in Pennsylvania which holds the next presidential voting contest on Tuesday, told a group of Jewish leaders he has an "unshakable commitment" to help protect Israel from its "bitter enemies.""That's why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas," Obama said. "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements.""Hamas is not a state. Hamas is a terrorist organization," he said.Obama's opponents have criticized him for saying as president he would be willing to meet with foreign leaders who are hostile to the Unites States. Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain have called those comments naive and said such meetings would bestow credibility on those leaders.Obama and New York Sen. Clinton are waging a tight battle for the Democratic nomination to face Arizona Sen. McCain in the November election. Obama leads in pledged delegates who will pick that nominee but the final decision may come down to party officials and dignitaries called superdelegates.Carter, 83, is one of those superdelegates who can vote for anyone and has not said who he supports, but has hinted he favors Obama.During his one term as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981, Carter brokered Israel's 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner is visiting the Middle East and has angered Israeli leaders by meeting with Hamas officials and making plans to meet the group's top leader, Khaled Meshaal, in Syria.Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June and has rejected Western demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace deals. The Bush administration also opposes Carter's planned meeting with Meshaal.Obama said the greatest threat to Israel comes from Iran and said the United States should talk to Iran directly."My approach to Iran will be based upon aggressive diplomacy," he said."What it means is that we come to the table with a very clear set of objectives and a very clear set of demands -- that Iran ceases from pursuing nuclear weapons, that it stops funding Hezbollah and Hamas, that it ends its noxious statements about Israel and the threats directed towards Israel," he said."The current policy of not talking is not working and I believe its time to change that," he said. | Jimmy Carter Early Friday, former United States President Jimmy Carter continued his nine-day tour in the Middle East, meeting with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria despite criticism from both the US and Israel. After more than four hours of talks, leading Hamas figure Mohammed Nazzal told reporters, "Carter suggested a truce and that Hamas should stop its rockets against Israel." He added, "We support a truce, but Israel should support it too." A second round of talks were to commence later Friday where they would discuss the release of captured Israeli solider Gilad Shalit. Nazzal commented stating, "They will discuss details related to the price and mechanisms for his release, which will not happen without a price." Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai said, "I am ready to meet with all necessary Hamas members" to negotiate the release of captured Israeli prisoners. Carter has been criticized by many politicians, particularly US presidential candidate Barack Obama who commented on Carter's visit stating, "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements." The former president, however, rebutted saying, "I think it's absolutely crucial that in a final dreamed-about and prayed-for peace agreement for this region that Hamas be involved and that Syria be involved." "You can't have an agreement that must involve certain parties, unless you talk to those parties to conclude the agreement... They have to be involved in some way." |
The House of Commons has overwhelmingly passed a motion recognizing Québécois as a nation within Canada. Conservatives, most Liberal MPs, the NDP and the Bloc voted 266 to 16 in support of the controversial motion, which earlier in the day had prompted the resignation of Michael Chong as intergovernmental affairs minister. Stephen Harper votes for a motion recognizing Québécois as a nation in Canada. (CBC) Fifteen Liberal MPs voted against the motion, including Liberal leadership candidates Ken Dryden and Joe Volpe, along with Independent MP Garth Turner. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had introduced the surprise motion on Nov. 22, raising the ante on a Bloc Québécois motion that sought to declare Quebecers a nation without reference to Canada. The motion states: "That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada." The prime minister has said he is using the word nation in a "cultural-sociological" rather than in a legal sense. "I think tonight was an historic night," Harper said after the vote. "Canadians across the country said 'yes' to Quebec, 'yes' to Quebecers, and Quebecers said 'yes' to Canada. "In politics you take risks — that's what we did — but national unity, national reconciliation are more important than any one party or than any one individual." But on Monday afternoon, Chong said he opposed the motion and would abstain from voting because it "implies the recognition of ethnicity." "I believe in this great country of ours and I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada, based on civic and not ethnic nationalism," he said. Kennedy takes stand Earlier in the day, Liberal leadership contender Gerard Kennedy, who doesn't have a seat in Parliament, announced he too opposed the motion. "I think it's a motion that is politically inspired, treating this country like a political trinket, and we need and should expect better." The long-simmering issue first hit the headlines again in October, when the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party voted to recognize Quebec as a nation in Canada. It immediately caused controversy within the party, as various Liberal leadership contenders either weighed in on the matter or urged party members not to let it dominate the race before the December convention. The Bloc then followed by proposing a motion calling on the House to recognize Quebecers as a nation. Harper made a counter-proposal to define Québécois as a nation within Canada. Over the following two days, the Bloc first amended its motion to say that they are a nation "currently within Canada" — leaving the door open to independence — and then declared its support for the government motion. ||||| The page may have moved or expired from our site. If you were trying to access a bookmarked page, please consult ourand update your links. If you are having trouble finding what you are looking for please email us at | The Canadian approved a motion recognizing the the people of Quebec as a nation within Canada, Monday night, by a margin of 266 to 16. The government motion was supported by the opposition Liberal, New Democratic and Bloc Québécois parties although 15 Liberal MPs voted against it along with Independent MP . Several Conservative MPs abstained from the vote including who resigned earlier in the day as Intergovernmental Affairs minister due to his opposition to the motion. While the dissenting Liberal MPs do not face censure by their party, Conservative backbenchers who opposed the resolution could only go as far as abstaining if they wished to remain in the Tory caucus, according to Mr. Chong. The surprise motion was introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on November 22 in response to a motion by the Bloc Québécois that the House recognize Quebec as a nation. The government resolution substituted the word Québécois for Quebeckers and added the words "within a united Canada". The motion reads: "That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada." The government has stated that they have no intention to amend the to recognize Quebec's national status although several political analysts have argued that such an attempt is now inevitable. Recognizing Quebec as a nation is a concept that has divided the in the period leading to its leadership convention this weekend with leadership contender Michael Ignatieff proposing that idea earlier this fall. Leadership candidates and voted against the House of Commons resolution and contender Gerard Kennedy also expressed his opposition while Bob Rae and Stéphane Dion, who have both been critical of Ignatieff's call for a constitutional amendment have expressed their support for the House of Commons resolution. |
If you’re the proud owner of a cast-iron pan , then you already know what a good investment it is. Once well-seasoned, it can cook just about anything from pancakes to fried chicken, it can go from stovetop to oven with ease, it’s nearly indestructible, it’s inexpensive and it holds its heat like a dream. But if you’re just using your pan to cook the occasional burger, then you’re missing out; you really can cook pretty much anything in it. ||||| A white dove emblem adorns the black beret of Elliot Adams, a member of Vietnam Veterans for Peace (file) The United States is observing Veterans Day, a day to remember and celebrate those who have served in the country's military. President Bush traveled Sunday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to the town of Waco where he addressed a group of veterans. Mr. Bush thanked the veterans for their service. He also noted the sacrifice of four Texans killed in the war on terror. In Washington, many observed the day by visiting the Vietnam War Memorial, which was opened 25 years ago. The memorial is a polished black granite wall engraved with the names of more than 58,000 members of the U.S. military killed during that conflict. It honors the 2.7 million Americans who served in Vietnam. Vice President Dick Cheney paid tribute to veterans during a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington. Veterans Day was first celebrated in the United States in 1919, to honor those who served in World War One. It was then called Armistice Day, marking the truce that ended the war on November 11, 1918. The day is also marked by many other nations around the world, where it is known variously as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day and Veterans Day. ||||| Cruel irony department, Veterans Day edition Like most American towns and cities, Denver is holding a Veterans Day parade. But veterans who oppose the Iraq war will not be allowed to march in it. Anti-war veterans groups Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, West Point Graduates Against the War and Colorado Vets for America were informed by the Denver United Veterans Council, the 27-member group that organizes the event, that they are not welcome at this weekend's parade. • • The Denver United Veterans Council's take: "If the vets for peace had just marched and kept their mouths shut last year they would have been invited back," member Andy Gried told Denver's Fox31. "But because they didn't, we voted to exclude them this year." • • A Vietnam War Marine's take: "I think that is sad," Mike Bundgaard told the station. "That is the reason we went to war -- freedom of speech." Compiled by Ben Goldberger ||||| Bush urges Congress to pass veterans spending bill And even veterans groups have been reluctant to criticize this year's Congress for the delay because of large Democratic-engineered budget increases. About $3.4 billion was added to the veterans budget in February and $1.8 billion in May. Congress has never delivered to Bush a veterans spending bill by Veterans Day, even when Capitol Hill was run by Republicans. "Congressional leaders let the fiscal year end without passing this bill they know our veterans need," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "The time to act is running out. . . . The best way members of Congress can give thanks to our veterans is to send me a clean bill that I can sign into law." CRAWFORD, TEXAS — President Bush said Saturday that Congress' Democratic leaders should celebrate Veterans Day by passing a spending bill covering programs for veterans. Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) touted his party's commitment to veterans. "Democrats in Congress are working together with the president to see that veterans aging and young and their families receive the benefits they need and deserve," he said, delivering the weekly radio address for Democrats. The veterans bill has gotten caught up in a larger battle between the White House and Congress over Democratic efforts to add about $23 billion for domestic programs to Bush's $933-billion proposal for all agency budgets. Only late last week did Congress approve the first two of 12 spending bills for the budget year that began Oct. 1. Democrats had sought to combine the veterans spending measure with ones for education, health and job-training programs to force passage of increases for the other programs. But Bush has insisted that the veterans money come to him in a stand-alone bill, and the veterans portion was stripped from the larger legislation this week, leaving that funding in limbo. The veterans bill adds $3.7 billion over Bush's request for the Veterans Affairs Department's budget. The increase would ease waiting times to claim health benefits and add money to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. In a letter to Bush on Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Democratic Congress wanted to work with him. "Key to this dialogue, however, is some willingness on your part to actually find common ground," they wrote. "Thus far, we have seen only a hard line drawn and a demand that we send only legislation that reflects your cuts to critical priorities of the American people." Bush urged the public to celebrate Veterans Day today by reflecting on the service of members of the armed forces. "They come from different generations and different backgrounds," he said. "But they are united by a commitment to honor, duty and love of country that has kept America free. They continue to strengthen and inspire our nation. And we will never forget what we owe them." The White House is planning an event today during which the president will honor veterans, spokesman Gordon D. Johndroe said from Texas, where Bush is spending the weekend at his ranch. Johndroe declined to discuss details of the event. ||||| Lynchburg News & Advance Give your opinion on this story At 11 minutes past the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the “War to End All Wars,” “The Great War,” World War I officially came to an end. A year later, President Woodrow Wilson called on the nation to observe Armistice Day and honor the soldiers who had served in World War I; in 1926, Congress declared it an official federal holiday. And from that point in time came one of the two most solemn public holidays in the United States: Veterans Day, the day the nation pauses to honor those who’ve answered their nation’s call to duty and service. Today’s that day, Nov. 11, 2007. And America’s servicemen and women are in action across the globe, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Bosnia and Kosovo, standing firm and brave in the face of threats both to the United States itself and the basic freedoms of man. Over the last century, Americans have answered the call numerous times. World War II. Korea. The Cold War. Vietnam. Kuwait. Bosnia. Kosovo. Iraq. Afghanistan. It’s been the call of freedom, of liberty, that they’ve responded to. But the nation hasn’t always responded to them in kind. From poor political and military leadership in Washington and humiliating treatment of returning troops back home, the soldiers, the sailors, the airmen have endured it all. And still they stand up when their nation needs them. It’s that love of America and what this nation stands for and aspires to that runs through the soul of each member of the United States military. And that’s what we honor with this day. America’s youth enlisted by the hundreds of thousands to save the world from the fascist threat in World War II and died by the tens of thousands. Just six years later, as the Cold War heated up, many of those same men and women went to the Korean peninsula to prevent a portion of the country from being overrun by communist rebels. A decade later, it was Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Though the war itself was a debacle of military planning and political leadership, America’s servicemen and women deported themselves with dignity and professionalism and courage. And more than 50,000 gave their lives in the struggle. Merely by serving and deploying where the nation sent them during the Cold War, American soldiers, over the course of four decades, applied the pressure needed to bring down one of the two greatest threats to freedom in the 20th century: the Soviet Union. American might and American resolve - manifested in the faces of hundreds of thousands of U.S. servicemen - were there to stand firm against the global threat of communism. In 1989, the Iron Curtain collapsed, followed two years later by the Soviet Union itself. An evil system of fear and intimidation kept alive by murder and violence was simply unable to stand against a system based on freedom, liberty and justice. Today, American troops are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe in the war on terror. As during Vietnam, political and military leadership back in Washington hasn’t matched the troop’s levels of professionalism and courage, but that argument is not the focus of this day. The focus of this day - Veterans Day - is quite simple and profound: to honor the men and women who have stood up when their country called. They’ve stood up, even though they may disagree with their leaders in Washington. They’ve stood up not because of what America is, but rather what America could be and aspires to: a beacon of freedom and liberty in a world where both are under constant attack. And that’s why we honor them.. ||||| For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary November 10, 2007 President's Radio Address In Focus: Veterans THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This weekend, Americans mark two important dates in our Nation's history. On Saturday, we celebrate the 232nd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. And on Sunday, we celebrate Veterans Day -- and give thanks for all those who have worn the uniform of America's Armed Forces. The Marine Corps was born in a Philadelphia tavern in 1775. Since then, the Marines have become one of the world's premier fighting forces. Their courage and valor in battle have earned them the respect of friend and foe alike. And today, a new generation of Marines is writing another chapter in that proud tradition. Young Marines are serving on the front lines in the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. As the Marines celebrate their birthday, we join them in recognizing what their sacrifice and service has meant for our freedom. America owes a debt of gratitude to all those who have served in our Armed Forces. On Veterans Day, we remember those who have served in previous wars, those who are serving today, and those who did not live to become veterans. Veterans Day also reminds us of our solemn responsibility to care for those who have fought our Nation's wars. Under my Administration, Federal spending for our veterans has increased by more than two-thirds. We have extended medical treatment to a million additional veterans, including hundreds of thousands returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. And we have expanded grants to help homeless veterans across the country. These are the generous actions of a grateful Nation -- and to build on them, I nominated a good man to head our Department of Veterans Affairs: Doctor James Peake. Doctor Peake is an Army doctor, a retired lieutenant general, and a combat veteran who was wounded twice in Vietnam, and decorated for his valor. When confirmed by the Senate, Doctor Peake will take on an important task -- continuing my Administration's work to implement the recommendations of the bipartisan Dole-Shalala Commission on Wounded Warriors. These recommendations are vital to ensuring better care for our veterans, and Congress needs to confirm Doctor Peake so he can lead the way in this crucial effort. Some of the Commission's recommendations require legislative action, such as updating the disability system to fully meet the needs of our wounded warriors. So my Administration has sent Congress a bill that would enact all the legislative steps recommended by the Commission. This is a good bill, our wounded warriors and their families are counting on it, and I urge Democrats and Republicans to come together to pass it as quickly as possible. Congress can also meet its responsibility to our veterans by passing a clean Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. Unfortunately, Congressional leaders let the fiscal year end without passing this bill they know our veterans need. So I urged Congress to pass this bill by Veterans Day -- and they still have failed to send me this vital legislation. The time to act is running out. There are now just four days left on the legislative calendar before Congress leaves town for their Thanksgiving break. The best way members of Congress can give thanks to our veterans is to send me a clean bill that I can sign into law. On this Veterans Day, I urge every American to take time to thank one of our Nation's 24 million veterans. They come from different generations and different backgrounds. But they are united by a commitment to honor, duty, and love of country that has kept America free. They continue to strengthen and inspire our Nation. And we will never forget what we owe them. Thank you for listening. | Veterans Day 2007 poster. Today, the United States is marking Veterans Day at various events across the country. In Washington, D.C., many people observe the day by visiting the Vietnam War Memorial, which was opened 25 years ago. Later, a wreath-laying ceremony took place to honor military veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington. In the Chicago area, the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital had a dedication ceremony, to commemorate a gift of 500 new wheelchairs from the Wheelchair Foundation and the Knights of Columbus. It provided an opportunity for soldiers of different generations to meet. "It's an honor to shake hands with veterans who came before me," said Christian Tecson, to the ''Chicago Tribune''. Tecson, 27, who is in the National Guard, served two tours of duty in Iraq with the Marine Corps. "They paved the way for us, and we're carrying on the tradition." In Denver, like so many other cities, a parade was held on this day. However, the Denver United Veterans Council told a number of anti-war groups that they were not invited, regardless of whether they were also veterans groups. In the end, they were permitted to march in the parade, but got a mixed reaction from the crowd. "Leave your politics at home! This is about veterans, not politics," shouted Alex Cuellar. Presidential candidate John McCain paid tribute to veterans at the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery. McCain, in turn, received praise for his own service by the other speakers. "The war and Iraq has divided America, but none of us is divided in our appreciation and our love and affection for those men and women in the military who are serving the cause of freedom," McCain said in his speech. "Some of us here were in another war where America was divided in their support and that made our challenge of welcoming and bringing home all of veterans all the harder." George W. Bush awards the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal on March 29, 2007 Veterans Day parade in Boston. In Boston, Massachusetts' Govenor Deval Patrick honored the five surviving Tuskegee Airmen. Patrick called them "heroic pioneers," as he presented them with the Congressional Gold Medal, which they were awarded in March. At the same event, Air Force Captain Jenny D’Olympia, an Iraq War veteran, led a tribute to women veterans. President George W. Bush said in his weekly radio address: "America owes a debt of gratitude to all those who have served in our Armed Forces. On Veterans Day, we remember those who have served in previous wars, those who are serving today, and those who did not live to become veterans." Veterans Day is largely intended to thank veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to United States national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served — not only those who died — have sacrificed and done their duty. It was first observed on November 11, 1919, a year after the Armistice with Germany, though then it was known as Armistice Day, which is observed in many other countries. |
East Texas school bus drivers took a shot to see who is the best behind the wheel Saturday. School buses from all over East Texas packed the Robert E. Lee High School parking for the annual "School Bus Roadeo." Drivers were judged on their bus driving skills as they went through a set of obstacles in the parking lot. Drivers were tested on parallel parking, stopping at student crossings and even yielding to a simulated train track. "It sharpens their skills. The things they're doing everyday to ensure that the students that they're picking up arrive safely to and from school," said Willie Bryant with the Tyler ISD. The winners from Saturday's "roadeo" will compete at the state tournament in McAllen, Texas. Copyright 2012 KLTV. All rights reserved. ||||| The line between the public and private sectors just keeps getting fuzzier. As a way to bring in some much-needed cash, a growing number of public schools in northern Texas are covering their buses and buildings with advertisements, according to a recent report in The Dallas Morning News. The Texas state legislature cut $5.4 billion in education funding and grants last year. To make up for the lost cash, schools in at least a dozen districts are selling ad space to local or national businesses. What's happening in Texas isn't unique. Lawmakers are slashing state and local budgets across America -- partly because high unemployment and addled housing market are keeping tax revenues below needed levels -- and more and more schools are striking deals with marketers in order to keep the lights on. In this case, Texas ads are popping up in newsletters, in stadiums and on the sides of buses. And at least one district is looking into the possibility of ads on school roofs, the DMN reports. Critics say the ads could undermine the critical thinking skills meant to be developed at school. At least a dozen states either allow ads on school buses or are weighing the idea. Some schools in Colorado are running ads at the bottom of students' report cards, while a town in Minnesota has sold ad space across a percentage of its lockers, according to Time. Indeed, as early as 2009, shortly after the economic downturn hit, a high school teacher in Idaho reached a deal with a local pizzeria: the restaurant paid for 10,000 sheets of paper for classroom use, and got to place an ad on each and every one, The New York Times then reported. Some school are taking a careful approach to the selling of ad space. In one Philadelphia-area district, schools are only running ads that relate to health, education and safety, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer -- though under those guidelines, there's still room to advertise Post-It Notes and Dick's Sporting Goods, the Inquirer reports. The proliferation of ads in public schools is just another way in which the state and municipal budget crises of recent years have forced towns to change the way they provide basic services. Some police departments have stopped responding to calls for less severe crimes, and many towns have begun shutting down or tearing out streetlights in a bid to reduce power costs. | Bus drivers from schools all over East Texas, US showed off their skills on Saturday at a competitive driving "roadeo" held in Tyler, Texas. The annual School Bus Roadeo was held in the parking lot at . Drivers were required to adequately navigate a series of obstacles during the event. Pair of Blue Bird school buses A driver with told ''Wikinews'' that the event is more complicated than in previous years. She also indicated that she and her colleagues could eventually progress from this event to compete at the state competition, held later. During the event, drivers assigned to transporting special needs students must properly belt in a wheelchair within 90 seconds, as a part of the competition's requirements. During the event, drivers were assessed on various techniques as they negotiated an array of obstacles along the course, simulating various roadway conditions. Officials even set up a simulated train track to test the drivers' skills. In its last legislative session, the Texas legislature cut school spending by over 5 billion. Some school districts in North Texas have even resorted to selling advertising space on school buses to generate monies to shore up reduced budgets. Several states in the US allow such ads to be sold or are considering allowing such advertising. == Sources == * * |
Billi Bierling Mountaineering journalist, Kathmandu Bear Grylls flew a paraglider at 8,990m (29,494ft) A British Everest summiteer has become the first man to fly higher than the top of the world in a powered paraglider. Bear Grylls, who at the age of 23 became the youngest British climber to scale Mount Everest in 1998, achieved a feat that had been deemed impossible by many critics prior to the mission. On 14 May 2007, Grylls and his fellow pilot and inventor of the parajet engine, Giles Cardozo, took off from the small Himalayan village of Pheriche, which lies at an altitude of 4,400m (14,435ft) about 20 miles (32km) south of Mount Everest in eastern Nepal. For their amazing adventure the two pilots chose the main Himalayan climbing season, which is currently seeing more than 100 expeditions on both the north and south sides of Mount Everest. 'Clapping and cheering' However, Grylls, who reached the top of the world on 26 May 1998 and has lived through many other adventures, said the challenges of flying a paraglider at such a high altitude were different from mountaineering. It was a very special moment when I realised that there was no mountain in the world above me Bear Grylls "The propeller, oxygen bottle and all the other equipment strapped to my back weighed more than 120kg (264lbs). It took me three attempts to get off the ground but when I was finally in the air, I noticed the crowd of people sitting on the ridge clapping and cheering," Grylls said on his return to Kathmandu. After having waited for about two hours for the launch, which kept on being delayed due to technical difficulties, the Sherpas and employees of GKN, the UK-based technology company that sponsored the Everest mission, had started having their doubts whether this ambitious adventure would actually get off the ground. "I thought they had a 30% chance at best as it meant getting all the equipment to the mountain at the right time and being lucky with the weather. They only had a three-day weather window, which is very tight," said Andy Elson, British adventure engineer and first man to fly over Mount Everest in a balloon in 1991. "However, I was proved wrong and it was great achievement for Cardozo's paramotor and for Bear's flying." Technical challenges Grylls and Cardozo flew successfully to 8,535m (28,001ft) when a fault in Cardozo's engine forced him to abort only 300m (984ft) below the summit. Grylls continued to ascend until he reached 8,990m (29,494ft) at 0933 local time. It felt weird just hanging off a few strings with an engine on your back Giles Cardozo "When Giles descended and I found myself alone so high up I was feeling a lot more vulnerable but I knew the weather and wind conditions were perfect." "It was so amazing to look into Nepal, India and Tibet and all of a sudden these great Himalayan giants looked so tiny. "It was a very special moment when I realised that there was no mountain in the world above me, especially after having stood on the top of the world myself nine years ago." Grylls and Cardozo, who is considered one of the top paragliding pilots in the world, hatched the idea about one year ago when 28-year-old Cardozo invented a parajet engine that would carry them up to 8,848m (29,028ft) - the height of Mount Everest. One of the main technical challenges was to produce an engine that was light enough to carry and generate enough power to fly in the rarefied atmosphere of the high Himalaya. Few strings attached "It felt weird just hanging off a few strings with an engine on your back that produces more power than a truck. It was an incredible experience to be up there and to look down at all these mountains. But I don't think we will ever do this again and I doubt that anybody else will either," Cardozo said. Giles and Bear celebrate their epic flight Prior to their mission both pilots and their 14-member strong team had to go through the regular acclimatisation process, which is necessary to survive at high altitude. The team and 3,000 kg of technical and filming equipment flew to Namche Bazaar, the colourful Sherpa capital that lies at an altitude of 3,400m (11,154ft). From there they took three days to walk to Base Camp at Pheriche, where the density of oxygen is only 60% of that at sea level. The pilots were also taking Diamox, a drug that reduces cerebrospinal fluid formation and helps the human body to acclimatise more quickly. ||||| We've noticed you're adblocking. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. Thank you for your support. ||||| Ewa Wisnierska says she felt like an astronaut returning from the Moon Ewa Wisnierska, 35, who lost consciousness as she soared skywards, was covered in ice and battled hailstones the size of oranges. She was pulled 9,940m (32,612 feet) above sea level in the storm near Tamworth, in New South Wales, paragliding officials said. A 42-year-old Chinese man, He Zhongpin, was killed in the tornado-like storm. They - along with 200 others - were preparing for a world paragliding championship in the town of Manilla, Australia, when the thunderstorm hit. Return to Earth Championship organiser Godfrey Wenness said it was remarkable that Ms Wisnierska had survived. It's like winning Lotto 10 times in a row - the odds of her surviving were that long Godfrey Wenness Paragliding event organiser "There's no oxygen," Mr Wenness said. "She could have suffered brain damage but she came to again at a height of 6,900m with ice all over her body and slowly descended herself." Ms Wisnierska says she felt like an astronaut returning from the Moon as she landed. "I could see the Earth coming - wow, like Apollo 13 - I can see the Earth," she said. She was sure her chance of surviving was "almost zero". "I was shaking all the time. The last thing I remember it was dark, I could hear lightning all around me," she told Australia's national broadcaster, ABC. Ms Wisnierska finally made contact with her ground team at 4,000m (13,123 feet). She told them: "I can't do anything - it's raining and hailing and I'm still climbing - I'm lost." But Ms Wisnierska finally managed to land - 60km (40 miles) from where she took off. She spent only an hour in hospital after the ordeal, receiving treatment for severe frostbite and blistering on her face and ears. She had been trying to skirt the storm front but became trapped when two storm cells merged, Mr Wenness said. Officials used her GPS equipment and computer to track her path as the storm dragged her away. Back in the saddle Mr Wenness lauded Ms Wisnierska for her strength of mind - as well as her physical prowess. "It's like winning Lotto 10 times in a row - the odds of her surviving were that long," he said. Ms Wisnierska - the 2005 World Cup paragliding winner - says she still wants to compete in the championships next week. Mr He, whose body was found 75km from where he took off, was believed to have died from a lack of oxygen and the extreme cold, event organisers said. A post-mortem examination will be carried out on Monday, police said. Sudden thunderstorms are common during summer in Australia, bringing destructive hail, winds and torrential rain. Mount Everest is the world's tallest peak, at 8,850m (29,035 feet) above sea level. | The North Face of Everest British explorer and mountaineer Edward "Bear" Grylls, has set a new altitude record by piloting a powered paraglider above Mount Everest reaching 29,494ft (8,990m). He and his fellow pilot, Giles Cardozo, who had invented and developed the parajet engine, set out on their attempt from the Himalayan village of Pheriche (altitude 14,435ft (4,400m)) in the early morning of 14th May. Grylls, 33, is a mountaineer, best selling author and television presenter who spent three years with the elite British Special Air Service ("SAS") forces. During this time he was involved in a horrific parachuting accident in which he broke his back in three places, almost severing his spinal cord. Remarkably, in 1998, after months of rehabilitation, he became at 23, the youngest British climber to scale Mount Everest and return alive. Cardozo is considered to be one of the top paragliding pilots in the world, and it is reported that he and Grylls first came up with the idea for the attempt about a year ago when he had invented the engine that would take them up the mountain. Grylls and Cardozo flew their paragliders together to 28,001ft (8,353m) surviving temperatures of minus 76°F (-60°C) and dangerously low oxygen levels, when a fault developed in Cardozo's engine, and he had to abort his attempt just 984ft (300m) below the summit. Grylls went on to reach his record height at 09.33 local time. He had originally intended to cross the Mountain but turned back to base camp fearing that he might be arrested if he entered Chinese airspace. On his return to Kathmandu, Grylls voiced his feelings of loneliness and exhilaration: The attempt was sponsored by British technology and engineering group GKN. The project, GKN Mission Everest, raised £500,000 (approximately $1m) for Global Angels, a charity helping children in Africa, Asia and Latin America. ===Paraglider survives at 32,000 feet=== In a separate incident, a German paragliding champion has survived being sucked up by a storm to a height of 32,612ft (9,940m) whilst preparing for a world paragliding championship in Manilla, New South Wales, Australia. Ewa Wisnierska, 35, the 2005 World Cup paragliding winner, lost consciousness and was covered in ice and battered by orange-sized hailstones as she was pulled upwards by the sudden tornado-like storm which she had been attempting to skirt. After regaining consciousness as she descended she was able to make contact with her ground team which had been tracking her by her GPS equipment, and landed safely 40 miles (60km) from where she took off. Remarkably she spent only an hour in hospital after her experience, being treated for frostbite and blistering to her face and ears. A fellow competitor, 42 year old Chinese man, He Zhongpin, who was also caught up in the storm, was not so fortunate and died from lack of oxygen and the extreme cold. |
Wed, February 21, 2007 Rookie MPP joins cabinet McGuinty makes room for Markham's Michael Chan in bid to win Chinese-Canadian support By The Canadian Press Premier Dalton McGuinty has expanded his cabinet to name rookie Michael Chan as revenue minister in hopes of winning support in the Chinese-Canadian community. The story you are searching for is available in its entirety via email, fax or mail for $12.00 (plus GST), payable with credit card (include expiry date). Just call the Sun Media News Research Centre at 416-947-2258 or toll free at 1-877-624-1463 with information about the story and supply the following: Name of credit card, number and expiry date on card Your name, mailing address and phone number (we will mail or fax you a receipt). E-mail address or fax number. Cheques or money orders can be mailed with your request to: Sun Media Research Centre 333 King Street East Toronto, Ontario M5A 3X5 Canada Other research services available are: $75.00 (plus GST) for up to ten articles on any one topic. This is a research, information service offered to professionals, students, businesses, internet users. Photo Reprints @ $46.00 (plus taxes) (8 by 10 colour glossy) Full Page Reprints from Sun newspapers @ $100.00 (plus taxes) suitable for framing. Personalized Mock-Up Frontpages @ $130.00 (plus taxes) suitable for framing. Tearsheets or Back Editions of Sun Newspapers @ $15 each (plus taxes) Orders from outside Canada must be paid in US funds. ||||| >TELL A FRIEND >PRINTER FRIENDLY >SUBSCRIBE TO PORTFOLIO E-MAIL Attention News Editors: Michael Chan becomes Ontario's Minister of Revenue QUEEN'S PARK, ON, Feb. 21 /CNW/ - Michael Chan, MPP for Markham, has joined the Ontario Cabinet as Minister of Revenue, Premier McGuinty said today. "Michael is a strong member of our team and brings a great deal of experience to this position," McGuinty said. "Michael is passionate about building opportunity for Ontario families and we're happy to have him on the team." As Minister, Chan will help provide a smooth transition to a single corporate tax collection system together with the federal government. Once in place, the new system will reduce compliance costs and help all Ontario businesses spend less time filling out paperwork and more time creating opportunity for Ontario workers and their families. Before joining government, Chan owned his own insurance brokerage in Markham with 30 employees and hundreds of agents. Originally from Hong Kong, he and his wife Elaine have two sons, Brian and Alex. Disponible en français << www.ontario.ca/premier www.fairness.ca >> For further information: Premier's Media Office, (416) 314-8975 | Recently elected Markham, Ontario MPP Michael Chan became Ontario's Revenue Minister today to reflect the large Chinese-Canadian community. Former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae created the revenue ministry. Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty recreated it because he wanted Chan in it. He also said that Finance Minister Greg Sorbara needs a hand with his job and this would help. "Michael is a strong member of our team and brings a great deal of experience to this position," McGuinty said today. "Michael is passionate about building opportunity for Ontario families and we're happy to have him on the team." Before getting in power, Chan owned an insurance brokerage in Markham with hundreds of agents. A by-election was called for two ridings including Markham. Chan won on February 8 and was just sworn in two days ago. The Ontario cabinet now has 27 ministers. |
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