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« Going Galapagos | Main | A Thousand Fantastic Carnivals and One New One » Category: Religion Posted on: July 16, 2008 8:24 AM, by Greg Laden Charles Kroll is the presumed husband of "Melanie," the person who's work email account was used to send PZ Myers a very nasty death threat. This is the death threat: You have two choices my fucked up friend, first you can quit your job for the good of the children. Or you can get your brains beat in. The threat was issued via an email account from a florist that you've likely used if you've sent flowers more than a few times. Well, a person I assume to be Mr. Melanie sent me an email this morning. In it he takes responsibility for having written the email and explains that it is a shame that Melanie has had to take the rap for this. He does not mention what has happened to her as a result of his indiscretion in any detail, but in a follow up email he indicates that she was fired. While Chuck seems truly remorseful for having sent such a "moronic" email, he is not at all remorseful for Melanie being fired ... he is simply angry at those who sent emails etc. to Flowers. He does not see his own responsibility in this matter at all. Message to chuck: What would you do if Melanie received an email threatening to beat her head in? Would you not contact the sender? Seriously now. You brought this on your family entirely with your own actions. Own it, man. I personally feel badly that your anger got Melanie fired, and I hope she gets her job back. In fact, I'm sending 1-800-flowers an email saying as much. But Chuck, you need to change. He provides a garbled explanation for how the email he wrote got sent from this particular account. Basically, I think this is just a case of people being sloppy (as they always are) with their use of email accounts. (Work vs. home, etc). In this case, the person with the work email works out of her home, which of course futher complicates things. In my view, the reaction to that sort of thing should NOT be to suddenly get anal about using email accounts. I do not need this added aggravation and neither do you. But there is a lesson here: Don't mix up email accounts between individuals! One person committed a federal crime with his wife's email account, and rumors are that she lost her job. He's blaming PZ and all the people who complained to Flowers. I blame him. And I would imagine the missus is rather pissed. He also noted that PZ Myers is biased towards Islam and would never threaten to be mean to an Islamic artifact. Whatever. Just thought I'd let you know.... ||||| An employee of 1-800-Flowers.com has been fired after an e-mailed death threat was linked to her account. The crudely worded e-mail was sent Sunday to Paul "PZ" Myers, an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris, who is known for his criticism of religion and creationism. It was one of several hostile messages he had received following a controversial July 8 blog posting. The address on the e-mail showed that it came from Melanie Kroll at 1-800-Flowers.com, an online floral delivery service. The note gave Myers until the first of the month to resign from his position at the University. "You have two choices," the e-mail read. "[Y]ou can quit your job for the good of the children. Or you can get your brains beat in." On Monday, Kroll send Myers a confusing e-mail, explaining that while the threat was sent from her computer, she didn't write it. "It seems an e-mail went out from my work account," she wrote in an e-mail message obtained by IDG News. "I apologize and will look into the issue." Related Content She said that her work e-mail was set as the default address on her computer and that is why it appeared to come from her, adding that the threat was "empty" because "the people who could have used my PC are harmless." After an internal investigation, the Internet retailer decided to terminate Kroll's position, according to Steven Jarmon, the company's vice president of brand communications. "All 1-800-Flowers.com associates are instructed that any misuse of company systems or equipment for personal purposes is potential grounds for dismissal," he wrote in an e-mail. Kroll did not respond to an e-mailed request seeking comment for this story. Myers, a self-described "rabid new atheist," had been getting hate mail after blogging in support of University of Central Florida student Webster Cook, who is facing suspension after removing a communion wafer from a Mass held on-campus. Once blessed, these Eucharist wafers must be consumed immediately and Church leaders have said that Cook's actions were offensive. In the post, Myers wrote that the Eucharist wafer, which for Catholics is the transubstantiated body of Christ, was "just a cracker." After being inundated with threatening e-mail, he decided to start posting full technical details of the messages, including the IP addresses of the mail servers involved. Although the sender address in e-mail messages can be spoofed, the IP address showed that Kroll's mail came from a mail server on 1-800-Flowers.com's network. ||||| A woman whose work computer was used to email a death threat to University of Minnesota - Morris professor P.Z. Myers has been fired. Melanie Kroll says someone else -- likely her husband, Charles -- must have used her computer to send a note of anger over the atheist biology professor's belief that a Catholic communion host is just "a cracker" and his plans to treat any wafers he receives "with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse." The email read, in part: "You have two choices my fucked up friend, first you can quit your job for the good of the children. Or you can get your brains beat in." Myers' stated policy is to publish all identifying information from mailed-in death threats; he did, and readers tracked down Kroll's ID. The less-than-flowery missive came from Kroll's work computer -- at 1800Flowers.com. Update: Charles Kroll confesses to emailing the threat to Myers. ||||| Search this blog Profile PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. …and this is a pharyngula stage embryo. • a longer profile of yours truly • my calendar • Nature Network • RichardDawkins Network • facebook • MySpace • Twitter • the Pharyngula chat room (#pharyngula on irc.synirc.net) I reserve the right to publicly post, with full identifying information about the source, any email sent to me that contains threats of violence. Random Quote Atheism does not entail the theory of evolution, and evolution does not entail atheism. Many theists are evolutionists. They believe that god has guided evolution. So of what use is an attack on evolution when the target is atheism? Zacharias seems to think that if he can show that belief in evolution is unwarranted that this shows that the "atheistic" worldview is untenable as a whole. Perhaps this is the "existential" hurdle mentioned earlier. But that approach is doomed. Even if the theory of evolution could be shown to be false, this would not affect atheism. True, one who rejects supernatural explanations would want a naturalistic explanation of human origins, but there could be any number of other naturalistic explanations of human origins besides evolution. Doug Krueger, "That Colossal Wreck" Recent Posts A Taste of Pharyngula Recent Comments Archives Blogroll Other Information Subscribe via Email ||||| Once a Lutheran altar boy, University of Minnesota biology professor Morris P.Z. Myers has fallen from grace — at least in the eyes of some Catholics and the conservative Catholic League. One of the more prominent atheist voices in America, Myers wrote a blog post on the furor sparked by a Florida college student who smuggled a communion wafer out of mass and, once found out, received threats of harm and death. Catholics believe the bread, once blessed by a priest, has been transformed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood. Myers doesn’t buy it. He wrote that if readers of his blog send him a consecrated host, "I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare." I reached him this morning to discuss the controversy that has resulted in several thousand comments at his blog — some calling him a "Jewboy," others announcing his need for prayer, and still others calling for his death. Minnesota Independent: The incident with college student Webster Cook comes as religious passions everywhere are incredibly inflamed –- Shiites and Sunnis, Evangelicals and atheists, etc. Does this say anything about the state of religion? PZ Myers: I think this is a symptom of the weakness of the religious in this country right now. Religion is actually fading a little bit. It’s still strong,and it’s still out there and there’s still a vocal political realm, but I think people know that there are people actively challenging religion now. I think there’s also a growing discontent with what the religious have done in politics. The Bush administration is a perfect example of political cronyism and political advocacy built largely on the support of the religious right, and look where it’s gotten us. People are disillusioned. So [religious people are] worried. I think they’ve got reason to be worried. We’re going to see an increasing weakness of the church. This is them lashing out. It’s a disparate ploy to be relevant and to be important again… They’re looking for somebody to take their ire out on. MnIndy: I was raised Catholic, was an altar boy, and attended Catholic grade school and college. While I was taught to be reverent with Catholic symbols and artifacts, I also learned of a powerful god, totally unlike this fragile one that can be damaged by a non-believer’s mishandling of a communion wafer. Myers: It’s actually kind of sad. I grew up in a church, although I’m, of course, no longer a member of a church, but it is kind of weird to see this going on right now. The messages I’ve been getting in my email have just been insane. People who say this cracker is literally and physically the body of their god and that I’m doing this great act of heresy and sacrilege and horror — even though I didn’t actually do anything to it — is disturbing. It’s like discovering there are witch doctors lurking in your community and they’ve been doing weird practices. MnIndy: What about the stories of US military personnel urinating on and otherwise abusing copies of the Koran in Iraq? Were you outraged by that, or is that a different version of this for you? Myers: There’s a subtle difference there — maybe an important difference. I don’t favor the idea of going to somebody’s home or to something they own and possess and consider very important, like a graveyard — going to a grave and desecrating that. That’s something completely different. Because what you’re doing is doing harm to something unique and something that is rightfully part of somebody else — it’s somebody else’s ownership. The cracker is completely different. This is something that’s freely handed out. MnIndy: Do you see a parallel between this case and the furor in Denmark (and later the Islamic world at large) over cartoonists’ depictions of Mohammed? It seems unlikely that these Catholics would take kindly to being compared to Islamic extremists, but death threats over the fate of a host suggests it’s not an unfair characterization. Myers: Of course! Both are demands that quirky sectarian peculiarities be given undue respect by those who don’t believe in them. Furthermore, the majority of the email I’m receiving is making it explicit: they are telling me that I should not abuse their sacred icon, but that I should instead go do something sacrilegious with the Koran. MnIndy: William Donohue’s Catholic League really drove the anger over this. How do you see their role? Genuine protector of the faith? Or is this one of those red-meat issues that drives donations? Some other factor? Myers: Bill Donohue’s salary. This is Donohue’s stock in trade: demagogic manufactured outrage to get the faithful to send him money to protect their religion from largely imaginary threats… threats that he conjures up. Constantine’s Sword is a book (and now a documentary) written by James Carroll, a former Catholic priest. It’s a personal history of the unpleasant history of the church and anti-semitism, and shows that Catholicism has benefited from fueling an image of itself as always threatened by unbelievers — Jews, Muslims, Satanists, atheists — and that this reliance on hatred of the other has damaged the virtue of the faith. (Carroll is still a devout Catholic — he just deplores the distortion of a message of love into a message of fear and hate.) The idea that Jews, for instance, want to steal consecrated wafers as an element of evil Jewish rites has been circulated fairly often, as a preliminary rationalization for oppression. Curiously, many (but still a minority) of the email messages I have received have ‘accused’ me of being Jewish, addressing me as "jew boy" or "liberal pinko jew." MnIndy: Are you concerned for your safety? Myers: Well, most of the ravers who threaten me with horrible fates are far away, hiding in the safety of their mothers’ bedrooms, hurling vituperation anonymously across the internet. These are largely frustrated losers who are venting. If (and I do not have reason to suspect anyone has gotten this demented) someone were serious about doing me harm, they wouldn’t be sending me lurid warnings. But really, the majority of the angry emails threaten nothing but to assault me with prayer. MnIndy: Has the outrcry over your your post given you second thoughts about getting a host and treating "it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web"? Myers: The response has done nothing but confirm it: I have to do something. I’m not going to just let this disappear. It’s just so darned weird that they’re demanding that I offer this respect to a symbol that means nothing to me. Something will be done. It won’t be gross. It won’t be totally tasteless, but yeah, I’ll do something that shows this cracker has no power. This cracker is nothing. Related: A woman whose work computer was apparently used to send a death threat to Myers has been fired; her husband has confessed that he sent the mail. ||||| Category: Administrative Posted on: July 13, 2008 4:48 PM, by PZ Myers Some of you may have noticed the little promise over in the left sidebar. I reserve the right to publicly post, with full identifying information about the source, any email sent to me that contains threats of violence. I'm posting without comment the worst of today's crop of email threats. Formatting will be little wacky since it is just a raw dump of the mail with headers. From: mkroll@1800FLOWERS.com Subject: your short life Date: July 13, 2008 8:07:31 AM CDT To: myersp@morris.umn.edu Delivered-To: pzmyers@gmail.com Received: by 10.100.126.5 with SMTP id y5cs262374anc; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:08:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.65.237.15 with SMTP id o15mr14501258qbr.56.1215954482483; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:08:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mtain-a.tc.umn.edu (mtain-a.tc.umn.edu [134.84.119.205]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id u2si9779510pyb.16.2008.07.13.06.08.01; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:08:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from 1800flowers.int (mail2.800-flowers.net [205.153.87.31]) by mtain-a.tc.umn.edu (UMN smtpd) with ESMTP for ; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:08:01 -0500 (CDT) Received: from ([10.180.1.74]) by CPNYMAIL02.1800flowers.int with ESMTP id 5202711.34123806; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:07:31 -0400 Return-Path: Return-Path: Received-Spf: neutral (google.com: 134.84.119.205 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of mkroll@1800flowers.com) client-ip=134.84.119.205; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=neutral (google.com: 134.84.119.205 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of mkroll@1800flowers.com) smtp.mail=mkroll@1800flowers.com X-Umn-Remote-Mta: [N] mail2.800-flowers.net [205.153.87.31] #+HN+NR+OF (I,-) X-Umn-Report-As-Spam: X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <900E52131BA0F248B0CB176E84D0A26E06DE335A@18f-exch01.1800flowers.int> X-Ms-Has-Attach: X-Ms-Tnef-Correlator: Thread-Topic: your short life Thread-Index: AcjkaTBIDzgwGOqkTNCCBD35Hlh9EA== Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C8E4E9.68CD4469" Paul, what I would like to know is how did you even get a job at a collage. when you are obviously a moron. How would you feel if nice folks starting ranting against Fags, and atheist like yourself. well sir, you don't get to blaspheme and walk away from this. You have two choices my fucked up friend, first you can quit your job for the good of the children. Or you can get your brains beat in. I give you till the first of the month, get that resignation in cunt This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. ||||| MINNESOTA PROF PLEDGES TO DESECRATE EUCHARIST July 10, 2008 Paul Zachary Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, has pledged to desecrate the Eucharist. He is responding to what happened recently at the University of Central Florida when a student walked out of Mass with the Host, holding it hostage for several days. Myers was angry at the Catholic League for criticizing the student. His post can be accessed from his faculty page on the universitys website. Here is an excerpt of his July 8 post, Its a Frackin Cracker!: Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? Myers continued by saying, if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, Ill show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I wont be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows: The Myers blog can be accessed from the universitys website. The university has a policy statement on this issue which says that the Contents of all electronic pages must be consistent with University of Minnesota policies, local, state and federal laws. One of the schools policies, Code of Conduct, says that When dealing with others, faculty et al. must be respectful, fair and civil. Accordingly, we are contacting the President and the Board of Regents to see what they are going to do about this matter. Because the university is a state institution, we are also contacting the Minnesota legislature. It is hard to think of anything more vile than to intentionally desecrate the Body of Christ. We look to those who have oversight responsibility to act quickly and decisively. Contact President Robert Bruininks at bruin001@umn.edu Share this Article Printer Friendly More News Releases » ||||| MINNESOTA PROF PLEDGES TO DESECRATE EUCHARIST July 10, 2008 Paul Zachary Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, has pledged to desecrate the Eucharist. He is responding to what happened recently at the University of Central Florida when a student walked out of Mass with the Host, holding it hostage for several days. Myers was angry at the Catholic League for criticizing the student. His post can be accessed from his faculty page on the universitys website. Here is an excerpt of his July 8 post, Its a Frackin Cracker!: Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? Myers continued by saying, if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, Ill show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I wont be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows: The Myers blog can be accessed from the universitys website. The university has a policy statement on this issue which says that the Contents of all electronic pages must be consistent with University of Minnesota policies, local, state and federal laws. One of the schools policies, Code of Conduct, says that When dealing with others, faculty et al. must be respectful, fair and civil. Accordingly, we are contacting the President and the Board of Regents to see what they are going to do about this matter. Because the university is a state institution, we are also contacting the Minnesota legislature. It is hard to think of anything more vile than to intentionally desecrate the Body of Christ. We look to those who have oversight responsibility to act quickly and decisively. Contact President Robert Bruininks at bruin001@umn.edu Share this Article Printer Friendly More News Releases » ||||| Home | Lifestyle | Faith + Values A Minnesota university instructor and avowed atheist is jousting with a national Catholic watch dog group over a smuggled communion wafer, which the associate professor dismisses as a "frackin’ cracker." Paul Z. Myers, who teaches biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris, on his blog this week expressed amazement that a Florida college student who briefly took a wafer "hostage" from a church ceremony has been receiving death threats for an action that was characterized "a hate crime" by the Catholic League. Under the headline, "It’s a frackin’ cracker!" Myers wrote in an at-times profane blog entry: "Crazy Christian fanatics right here in our own country have been threatening to kill a young man over a cracker. This is insane." He added: "Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? ... I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage ... but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart." Myers, in an interview today, explained that the blog entry is more "satire and protest" than an actual threat to defile the Eucharist. His blog entry has collected nearly 1,000 comments since it was posted Tuesday. The Catholic League, a civil rights group that challenges any instances it sees as an afront to Catholicism, said today that it is calling on the university to act against Myers, noting that Myers’ blog can be accessed through a link on the university’s website. "It is hard to think of anything more vile than to intentionally desecrate the Body of Christ," Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a news release. "We look to those who have oversight responsibility to act quickly and decisively." Myers, who was raised Lutheran and now considers himself a card-carrying atheist, said he’s been getting a "few death threats" since the conflict began, "but I don’t take them too seriously." His opponents, he said, describe him as a "strident, militant atheist" because of his activism in the debate of evolution vs. creationism. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482 PAUL WALSH ||||| « Godless advertising | Main | Keep that sword out of the hands of the Lord » Category: Religion • Stupidity Posted on: July 8, 2008 8:05 PM, by PZ Myers There are days when it is agony to read the news, because people are so goddamned stupid. Petty and stupid. Hateful and stupid. Just plain stupid. And nothing makes them stupider than religion. Here's a story that will destroy your hopes for a reasonable humanity. Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it. This isn't the stupid part yet. He walked off with a cracker that was put in his mouth, and people in the church fought with him to get it back. It is just a cracker! Catholics worldwide became furious. Would you believe this isn't hyperbole? People around the world are actually extremely angry about this — Webster Cook has been sent death threats over his cracker. Those are just kooks, you might say, but here is the considered, measured response of the local diocese: "We don't know 100% what Mr. Cooks motivation was," said Susan Fani a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. "However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it." We just expect the University to take this seriously," she added "To send a message to not just Mr. Cook but the whole community that this kind of really complete sacrilege will not be tolerated." Wait, what? Holding a cracker hostage is now a hate crime? The murder of Matthew Shephard was a hate crime. The murder of James Byrd Jr. was a hate crime. This is a goddamned cracker. Can you possibly diminish the abuse of real human beings any further? Well, you could have a priest compare this event to a kidnapping. "It is hurtful," said Father Migeul Gonzalez with the Diocese. "Imagine if they kidnapped somebody and you make a plea for that individual to please return that loved one to the family." Gonzalez said the Diocese is willing to meet with Cook and help him understand the importance of the Eucharist in hopes of him returning it. The Diocese is dispatching a nun to UCF's campus to oversee the next mass, protect the Eucharist and in hopes Cook will return it. I like the idea of sending a scary nun to guard the ceremony at the next mass. But even better…let's send Webster Cook to hell! Gonzalez said intentionally abusing the Eucharist is classified as a mortal sin in the Catholic church, the most severe possible. If it's not returned, the community of faith will have to ask for forgiveness. "We have to make acts of reparation," Gonzalez said. "The whole community is going to turn to prayer. We'll ask the Lord for pardon, forgiveness, peace, not only for the whole community affected by it, but also for [Cook], we offer prayers for him as well." Get some perspective, man. IT'S A CRACKER. And of course, Bill Donohue is outraged (I know, Donohue is going to die of apoplexy someday when a gnat violates his oatmeal, so this isn't saying much). For a student to disrupt Mass by taking the Body of Christ hostage--regardless of the alleged nature of his grievance--is beyond hate speech. That is why the UCF administration needs to act swiftly and decisively in seeing that justice is done. All options should be on the table, including expulsion. Oh, beyond hate speech. Where does this fit on the Shoah scale, Bill? It shouldn't even register, but here is Wild-Eyed Bill the Offended calling for the expulsion of a student…for not swallowing a cracker. Would you believe that the mealy-mouthed president of the university, John Hitt, is avoiding defending his student is instead playing up the importance of the Catholic church to the university? Of course you would. That's what university presidents do. Bugger the students, keep the donors and the state reps happy. Unfortunately, Webster Cook has now returned the cracker. Why? Webster just wants all of this to go away. Especially now that he feels his life is in danger. That's right. Crazy Christian fanatics right here in our own country have been threatening to kill a young man over a cracker. This is insane. These people are demented fuckwits. And Cook is not out of the fire yet — that Fox News story ends with an open incitement to cause him further misery. University officials said, that as for right now, Webster Cook is not in trouble. If anyone or any group wants to file a formal complaint with the University through the student judicial system, they can. If that happens, Webster will go through a hearing either in front of an administrative panel or a panel of his peers. Got that? If you don't like what Webster Cook did, all you have to do is complain to the university, and they will do the dirty work for you of making his college experience miserable. And don't assume the university would support Cook; the college is now having armed university police officers standing guard during mass. I find this all utterly unbelievable. It's like Dark Age superstition and malice, all thriving with the endorsement of secular institutions here in 21st century America. It is a culture of deluded lunatics calling the shots and making human beings dance to their mythical bunkum. So, what to do. I have an idea. Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There's no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I'm sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I'll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won't be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I'll send you my home address. Just wait. Now there'll be a team of Jesuits assigned to rifle through my mail every day. | Professor PZ Myers, a biologist at the University of Minnesota Morris in the United States, has been receiving email threats for a post made on his Pharyngula blog in support of a University of Central Florida student who took a consecrated host from a Catholic Mass in protest of the church activities. The student began receiving death threats and response, Myers said it was just a "cracker" and if any of his readers could acquire some consecrated Eucharistic hosts he would treat the wafers "with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web." The criticism was fed in part by a press release by the Catholic League and its President Bill Donohue. Professor PZ Myers "It is hard to think of anything more vile than to intentionally desecrate the Body of Christ. We look to those who have oversight responsibility to act quickly and decisively," Donuhue said in the press release. After consecration, the wafers become the Body of Christ, in the view of Catholics, through a process known as transubstantiation. After the press release, Myers started receiving death threats. In response to the large number of threats, Myers began posting the entire emails, including IP information. One email in particular was sent from the work account of Melanie Kroll at 1-800-Flowers in Brookhaven, New York that told Myers: "You can quit your job for the good of the children. Or you can get your brains beat in." Posters on his blog contacted the company alerting them to the threat. Subsequently, after an investigation the company fired Kroll. It was later revealed that it was not her, but Charles (Chuck) Kroll, her husband, who sent the email from the default address on her computer. Greg Laden of ScienceBlogs says that he received an email, which he believes is from Chuck Kroll. In it, Chuck confirms that Melanie was fired. He regrets sending a "moronic" email and explains how he accidentally sent it from the work account of his wife instead of his own home account, both of which are on the same computer. Chuck also accused Myers of unfairly targeting Christianity without the same critique of Islam and blames Myers for his wife's firing. According to IDG News Service, Myers said: "This was not my intent to get somebody fired." He continued, "She apparently did something stupid, which I don't have sympathy for. I would just rather not see people getting fired over an e-mail message." |
Former Labor MP Karen Overington dies Updated Karen Overington, the former member of state Parliament for Ballarat West, has died after a battle with ill health. She was 59. Ms Overington was a member of the Labor Party and held the seat for more than 10 years before retiring from politics last year. In a statement, Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews described her as a dedicated mother, wife and grandmother who was a "faithful servant" to the people of Ballarat West. Sitting member Sharon Knight praised Ms Overington for standing up for disadvantaged members of the community. She said Ms Overington had left a lasting legacy and would be sadly missed. Topics: alp, states-and-territories, death, ballarat-west-3350 First posted ||||| news, latest-news TRIBUTES from both sides of the political fence have flooded in for former Ballarat West MP Karen Overington, who died yesterday after a long illness, aged 59.Parliamentary colleagues and political opponents alike have described Ms Overington has a feisty opponent and a tireless worker for the underdog.Former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, who worked with Ms Overington on building up the Labor Party profile almost 40 years ago, said yesterday he was shocked and saddened by her death.“Karen was a stalwart of the Labor Party, as well as a hard worker for the community, particularly Sebastopol. She worked unbelievably hard and was a real fighter for the community,” Mr Bracks said.“She would put her shoulder to the wheel, but would not ask for recognition in return. She was a battler and a fighter for people who needed support.”Parliamentary colleague and good friend Geoff Howard yesterday reflected on an energetic woman who was a strong defender of people in need.“Because of her sense of determination, she successfully represented her constituents. Only two years ago, she was still active in the community.”Sharon Knight, who won the seat of Ballarat West at last year’s state election after Ms Overington stood down, described the former MP as an unsung hero was wasn’t interested in song and dance. “She epitomised a real local member,” Ms Knight said.Despite being on opposing political teams, Ballarat City Councillor Judy Verlin had great respect for her former council colleague.“We served on council together and formed a unique relationship ... the happy balance between political opponents and friends,” Cr Verlin said.“Karen was a passionate advocate for her believers and was always keen to represent those who were disadvantaged in the community.”Former Ballarat South MP, Frank Sheehan, was Ms Overington’s boss when she worked at his parliamentary office. “Karen entered parliament from the shop floor, from working people. She was a grassroots person,” Mr Sheehan said.“She was an excellent communicator and her time on the Borough of Sebastopol and the Ballarat City Council gave her good grounding for her time in state politics.”Also saddened by her death was Kevin Waugh, who worked with Ms Overington in establishing the Wendouree West Community Renewal Project. The program was set up to help residents in improving the sense of community confidence, pride and amenity as the quality and integration of local house, services, facilities and infrastructure was raised.He admired the respect Ms Overington showed people in the Wendouree West community before, during and after working on the program.“Karen knew this wasn’t about government programs. It was about building people up. She made the people of Wendouree West step out of their comfort zone and excel. She gave us affirmation and taught us to have ability in ourselves. We realised we’re not no-hopers, we’re not dole-bludgers, we’re not druggies, we’re Wendouree West.”Federal Member for Ballarat Catherine King said of Ms Overington: “Karen was a terrific advocate for the people of Ballarat. She cared deeply about people, particularly those who were vulnerable or disenfranchised. I was proud to have her as a mentor. She leaves an important legacy for the city and the people of Ballarat in the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre. She will be missed greatly.”While Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said Ms Overington would be remembered for her passion and drive as she worked tirelessly each and every day for the people she represented. “She stood up for her community, lobbying strongly to deliver better education, health and other services that have made a real difference to families in Ballarat West. ”Victorian premier Ted Baillieu said he too was saddened to hear of Ms Overington’s passing.“On behalf of the Victorian Coalition government, I express sincere condolences to family, friends and parliamentary colleagues on both sides of the Parliament,” he said in a statement. “Karen was always a passionate representative of the Labor Party, the people of Ballarat and the people of Victoria.”Editorial, page 15 /images/transform/v1/resize/frm/silverstone-feed-data/a4df93c4-f25f-451f-ba39-c1f25a379720.jpg/w1200_h678_fcrop.jpg ||||| Truss says hold WA poll ASAP Two hours ago Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss says any fresh Senate poll in WA should be held as soon as possible to reflect the issues of the main election. | Former Australian Member of Parliament has died at the age of 59. Her death followed a long battle with ill health. Overington was the Member of Parliament for with the from 1999 until she stood down in 2010. During her political career, Overington worked to improve living standards for the community's disadvantage. Tributes have flown in for Overington from both her political colleagues and opponents. Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu said “On behalf of the Victorian Coalition government, I express sincere condolences to family, friends and parliamentary colleagues on both sides of the Parliament, Karen was always a passionate representative of the Labor Party, the people of Ballarat and the people of Victoria.” Opposition leader also commented: “She stood up for her community, lobbying strongly to deliver better education, health and other services that have made a real difference to families in Ballarat West." , the woman who won the parliamentary seat in Ballarat West after Overington stood down, praised her, saying, “she epitomised a real local member.” Overington is survived by her two children. == Sources == * * * * |
We are unable to locate the page you requested. The page may have moved or may no longer be available You may also want to try our search to locate news and information on washingtonpost.com SEARCH: We appreciate your help. For incorrectly linked articles or features please contact our Customer Care team.We appreciate your help. ||||| By Ron Strom © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Justice David Souter A private developer contacted the local government in Supreme Court Justice David Souter's hometown in New Hampshire yesterday asking that the property of the judge who voted in favor of a controversial decision allowing a city to take residents' homes for private development be seized to make room for a new hotel. Logan Darrow Clements faxed a request to Chip Meany, the code enforcement officer of the town of Weare, N.H., seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road, the present location of Souter's home. Wrote Clements: "Although this property is owned by an individual, David H. Souter, a recent Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. City of New London, clears the way for this land to be taken by the government of Weare through eminent domain and given to my LLC for the purposes of building a hotel. The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare." The Kelo v. City of New London decision, handed down Thursday, allows the New London, Conn., government to seize the homes and businesses of residents to facilitate the building of an office complex that would provide economic benefits to the area and more tax revenue to the city. Though the practice of eminent domain is provided for in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, this case is significant because the seizure is for private development and not for "public use," such as a highway or bridge. The decision has been roundly criticized by property-rights activists and limited-government commentators. According to a statement from Clements, the proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, "featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America." Instead of a Gideon's Bible in each room, guests will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged," the statement said. Clements says the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site "being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans." Souter has claimed Weare as his home since he moved there as an 11-year-old boy with his family. "This is not a prank" said Clements. "The town of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development." Clements says his plan is to raise investment capital from wealthy pro-liberty investors and draw up architectural plans. These plans would then be used to raise additional capital for the project. While Clements currently makes a living in marketing and video production, he tells WND he has had involvement in real estate development and is fully committed to the project. "We will build a hotel there if investors come forward, definitely," he said. Clements is the CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, which is dedicated to fighting "the most deadly and destructive force on the planet: abusive governments," the website states. The activist says he is aware of the apparent conflict of someone who is strongly opposed to the Kelo decision using it to purposely oust an American from his property. "I realize there is a contradiction, but we're only going to use it against people who advocated" the Kelo decision, Clements told WND. "Therefore, it's a case of retaliation, not initiation." Clements says some people have already offered to put money into the project. Related stories: Property battle heads to states High court's property decision stirs anger Court rules cities can seize homes ||||| (6/29/2005) Tidal Wave of Support for Souter "Lost Liberty Hotel" Town being "inundated" concerning proposal to take judges' home By Bob ellis dakota voice Just 24 hours after plans to exercise the new eminent domain rules set forth by U.S. Supreme Court Judge David H. Souter in the Kelo v. New London case to take Judge Souter's home to build a hotel on the property, a deluge of inquiries and communiqués of support for the effort have swamped the town of Weare, New Hampshire where the judge lives. As Dakota Voice and others reported yesterday, Logan Darrow Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, sent a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire which seeks to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road, the present location of Mr. Souter's home. Ad Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America Mr. Clements wants to build "The Lost Liberty Hotel," which will feature the "Just Desserts Café." The hotel would include a museum, open to the general public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged." RightMarch.com, a conservative organization dedicated to giving hundreds of thousands of hardworking, patriotic Americans across the country a strong collective voice in the political process, has initiated a petition effort to allow concerned Americans an easy way to email the five members of the Weare board of selectmen and let them know that they support the desire of Clements to exercise the newly granted right which Souter extended to him. Dakota Voice spoke to Robert Christensen, the Weare Town Administrator, who said his office has been "inundated" with calls today. Christensen said that his office is not making any statement at this time regarding Clements' request, since no matter what the outcome of the initial application, it would be some time before the matter would come before the board of selectmen. Dakota Voice has contacted the U.S. Supreme Court Public Information office and is awaiting a response from the public affairs officer. ||||| WEARE, N.H. --Following a Supreme Court ruling last week that gave local governments power to seize private property, someone has suggested taking over Justice David Souter's New Hampshire farmhouse and turning it into a hotel. "The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare," Logan Darrow Clements of California wrote in a letter faxed to town officials in Weare on Tuesday. Souter, a longtime Weare resident, joined in the 5-4 court decision allowing governments to seize private property from one owner and turn it over to another if doing so would benefit a community. The letter dubbing the project the "Lost Liberty Hotel" was posted on conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh's Web site. Clements said it would include a dining room called the "Just Desserts Cafe" an a museum focused on the "loss of freedom in America." A message seeking comment from Souter was left at his office Wednesday morning. The court has recessed and Souter was still in Washington, one of his secretaries said. A few police cruisers were parked on the edge of Souter's property Tuesday. "It was a precaution, just being protective," said Lt. Mark Bodanza. Clements is the CEO of Los Angeles-based Freestar Media that fights "abusive" government through a Web site and cable show. He plans to move to New Hampshire soon as part of the Free State Project, a group that supports limiting government powers, the Monitor reported. The letter was passed along to the board of selectmen. If the five-member board were to endorse the hotel project, zoning laws would have to be changed and the hotel would have to get approval from the planning board. "At this point, the Board of Selectmen are taking no action," said Laura Buono, board chairwoman. The board met Tuesday night. "Am I taking this seriously? But of course," said Charles Meany, Weare's code enforcement officer. "In lieu of the recent Supreme Court decision, I would imagine that some people are pretty much upset. If it is their right to pursue this type of end, then by all means let the process begin." "I have to offer him the luxury of due process," Meany said Wednesday, adding that he planned to tell Clements that "he has started the process backwards." Meany said he will tell Clements he first must petition the selectmen, next the planning board, then the zoning board before "he comes to me for a building permit." Souter's two-story colonial farmhouse is assessed at a little more than $100,000 and brought in $2,895 in property taxes last year. The Supreme Court case involved the city of New London, Conn. The justices ruled that City Hall may take over property through eminent domain to make way for a hotel and convention center. In his majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens said New London could pursue private development under the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property if the land is for public use. He said the project the city has in mind promises to bring more jobs and revenue. At least eight states -- Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, South Carolina and Washington -- forbid the use of eminent domain for economic development unless it is to eliminate blight. Other states either expressly allow private property to be taken for private economic purposes or have not spoken clearly to the question. © Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ||||| Press Release For Release Monday, June 27 to New Hampshire media For Release Tuesday, June 28 to all other media Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter's land. Justice Souter's vote in the "Kelo vs. City of New London" decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner. On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home. Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land. The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged." Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans. "This is not a prank" said Clements, "The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development." Clements' plan is to raise investment capital from wealthy pro-liberty investors and draw up architectural plans. These plans would then be used to raise investment capital for the project. Clements hopes that regular customers of the hotel might include supporters of the Institute For Justice and participants in the Free State Project among others. # # # Logan Darrow Clements Freestar Media, LLC Phone 310-593-4843 logan@freestarmedia.com http://www.freestarmedia.com | In the wake of a United States Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London on eminent domain last week, a California man has proposed that Justice David Souter's New Hampshire home be seized by the state and a hotel be built on the site. Logan Darrow Clements faxed a letter to town officials in Weare, New Hampshire June 28, 2005 that justified the action as such: "The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare." Justice Souter, who was in the majority ruling in the Kelo case, has lived at the farmhouse in Weare since he was 11 years old. Clements indicated that it was necessary to build on that location because "it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans." The action has given rise to a great deal of support nationwide, as many are writing to the councilors of the small town of Weare to voice their approval for the proposal. The proposal for the "Lost Liberty Hotel", as it is to be called, features a number of components which seem to focus on the libertarian leanings of its designer. A dining room, called the "Just Desserts Cafe" and a museum based on the "loss of freedom in America" are two such components. Instead of a Bible provided by the Gideons (a standard item placed in most American hotel rooms), each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. |
SIZE> small | medium | large Limerick woman lands EuroMillions jackpot 30/07/2005 - 12:29:13 A Limerick woman was today celebrating with family and friends after she landed the biggest prize in European lottery history. Dolores McNamara is €115.6m richer after she won last night’s EuroMillions draw. Punters across ireland and in the UK, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg all participate in Europe’s weekly draw each Friday. There was euphoria in the Track Bar in Garryowen, Limerick when she discovered she was the lucky winner. The Euromillions jackpot had not been won since the middle of May and had rolled over nine times. The numbers drawn last night were: 03, 19, 26, 49, and 50 and the Lucky Stars were 04 and 05. Another Irish punter was also one of nine players across Europe to win €677,248 in the Match 5 plus 1 star category. ||||| A 45-year-old Limerick woman has won Europe's largest ever lottery jackpot. Dolores McNamara from Ballysimon stands to collect €113 million after winning the Euromillions rollover jackpot prize. Ms McNamara was in the Track Bar in Limerick last night when she checked her Euromillions lottery ticket to find that she had all five numbers drawn as well as the two Lucky Star numbers needed to take the jackpot. Advertisement The jackpot had not been won since May and had been rolled over nine times. The National Lottery operates Euromillions in Ireland. Its offices are closed for the Bank Holiday weekend so it will be Tuesday morning before Ms McNamara can claim her winnings. The numbers drawn were 3, 19, 26, 49, and 50. The Lucky Stars were 4 and 5. | A woman from Limerick, in the Republic of Ireland , has won a record European lottery win on the EuroMillions cross-European lottery draw. Delores McNamara won €115.6 million, tax-free in the game, after the jackpot had rolled over un-won for 9 weeks. The Garryowen woman will have to wait until at least Tuesday, August 2nd, to claim her winnings, as the Irish National Lottery offices are closed for the August Bank Holiday. |
An Italian journalist rescued from hostage-takers in Iraq last month has reacted angrily to a US military investigation absolving American soldiers of responsibility for killing the man who rescued her. Nicola Calipari, a senior Italian intelligence agent, was shot dead on March 4 when US soldiers fired at his car as he took the reporter, Guiliana Sgrena, to Baghdad airport. A report leaked by an American army official in Washington last night was said to have cleared US troops of any culpability for his death. The official said the soldiers had followed their rules of engagement and should not therefore face charges of dereliction of duty. The probe was conducted in co-operation with the Italians, but the official conceded that Italy, a close US ally in Iraq, disagreed with its findings. In a front page editorial in her left-wing daily Il Manifesto, Sgrena called on Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, to respond what she called a "slap in the face for the Italian Government". Sgrena, a veteran war correspondent who was held hostage for a month in Iraq, wrote: "After the apologies comes the slap in the face." She said that the Americans had not listened to either her testimony or that of another Italian agent, even though, she said, both had given the same evidence without discussing what had happened. "Obviously, our two testimonies given to the American commission were useless. Or will I be charged with perjury?" questioned the journalist. "The greatest disappointment would be if our authorities were to accept this insult without reacting." The US army official said that the US investigation concluded that "the soldiers were all complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints and therefore were not culpable of dereliction of duty in following their procedures". He added: "There is deep remorse over what happened. Everybody feels terrible about it. But given the climate and the security atmosphere, the security procedures in checkpoint operations have to be run by the letter." Immediately after the March 4 incident, the US military said that the vehicle was approaching at a high rate of speed and failed to respond to hand signals, flashing white lights and warning shots. That version of events was disputed by Sgrena, who said the vehicle was travelling at a normal speed. "I think there are problems determining what the rate of speed was. The reporter said they werent speeding. The US soldiers said it was. So there is disparity over the speed of the car," the official said. Another key issue was whether the Italians had notified the Americans that Calipari would be traveling to the airport with Sgrena, and if so why the soldiers manning the checkpoint had not been alerted. ||||| Italian newspapers are unhappy at the reported outcome of the US investigation into the killing of Italian secret agent Nicola Calipari at Baghdad airport during the freeing of former hostage Giuliana Sgrena. "Without truth" sums up the headline in an editorial written by Ms Sgrena herself in the communist daily, Il Manifesto. "The inquiry has achieved nothing," she says. "After the apologies comes the slap in the face." "The greatest disappointment would be if our authorities were to accept this insult without reacting," Ms Sgrena adds. "All the words said about Calipari would turn into hypocrisy...and Nicola would have been our government's hero, just for one day." The paper also prints a sardonic cartoon showing bullets piercing Mr Calipari's gravestone, under the caption "Friendly Fire 2". In an interview with La Repubblica, Ms Sgrena describes the report's outcome as "incredible". "Calipari is being blamed for what happened," she says and urges public opinion to rally behind her view. "It is important that the judges continue...we need pressure from public opinion," she says. "I know that there is already a demand for an independent international commission of investigation, there is an initiative of Euro MPs and Nobel prize winners who are urging the truth about what happened and what is happening to Iraqi civilians every day." Rome to continue probe Under the headline "Not guilty", the Turin-based La Stampa says that Rome does not accept the conclusions of the investigation. "As far as Italy is concerned, we are not willing to sacrifice the truth about Nicola Calipari's death on the altar of political and diplomatic relations with our American ally," the paper says. "Perhaps the government's embarrassment and current silence are due to the awareness of having turned into a dead end." The paper quotes Italian intelligence sources as saying that the US decision to announce the report's findings without consulting the Italian authorities could force Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to publicly oppose the US findings. "The consequences could be devastating," an intelligence officer said. Il Corriere della Sera thinks the Italian government may have been outwitted over the timing of the report's release. "The USA wrong-foots the Italian government and reveals the outcome of the investigation into the death of the 007 during the freeing of Giuliana Sgrena," it says. "The Rome public prosecutor's office too, which is also investigating the case as a wilful murder but has yet to receive the names of the soldiers involved from Washington, has at the moment a version which differs with the American one," the paper adds. In the event that the names are not revealed the prosecution has not ruled out "the possibility of continuing the process in absentia", the paper adds. The report adds that the Toyota Corolla, in which Mr Calipari and Ms Sgrena were driving at the time of the shooting, is arriving in Rome on Tuesday. "The car's arrival is a signal that...the Italian investigation continues," it says. BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaus abroad. ||||| Ms Sgrena said the US soldiers gave no warning before shooting Secret agent Nicola Calipari was shot by US forces as he escorted Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad's airport. US investigators were reported to have found the troops "not culpable" in a report which Italy has not endorsed. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to comment because he said the inquiry was not complete. Mr Berlusconi apologised to the Italian parliament for what he called "an unfortunate leak" suggesting that the investigation was completed. He said contacts were continuing with US officials to try to reach agreement on what happened. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later told reporters: "My latest information is that [the investigators] have not come to a final agreement on a joint report. "It was done together [with the Italians], intimately, and I think that we'll just have to wait and see what they come out with." The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Richard Myers said the conclusions of the investigation were expected to be released in Iraq at an unconfirmed date. 'Slap in the face' Ms Sgrena described the conclusion of the leaked report as a "slap in the face". DIFFERING ACCOUNTS US military: Car approaches checkpoint at high speed Troops attempt to tell driver to stop with arm signals, lights and warning shots Soldiers shoot into engine Italian government: Italy makes all necessary contacts with the US for safe passage The driver stops immediately when a light flashes 10m away At the same time, shots are fired into car for 10-15 seconds Accounts in full Profile: Nicola Calipari Papers reject US findings "All the words said about Calipari would turn into hypocrisy... and Nicola would have been our government's hero, just for one day." Although Mr Berlusconi has been a staunch US ally in the conflict in Iraq, the war is very unpopular with the Italian people. A report exonerating the soldiers involved in the shooting could prove inflammatory in Italy, and damaging to Mr Berlusconi. Correspondents say attempts may be made to agree on a mutually acceptable version before the report is published. Events unclear Mr Calipari was hailed as a national hero after he was shot while trying to protect Ms Sgrena from gunfire. Calipari threw himself over Sgrena when the bullets hit A US army official said on Monday that they still disagree over the speed at which the vehicle approached the checkpoint where the shooting occurred and how much communication there was between those in the car and the checkpoint guards. "The United States is ready to release the report but Italy has more questions," the official said. The US military said the car carrying Mr Calipari was speeding as it approached the temporary checkpoint in western Baghdad. They said the soldiers used "hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and firing warning shots" to get the driver to stop. However, Ms Sgrena, who was hurt in the incident, said the car had not been speeding and that there had been no warning before the troops opened fire. 'Feel terrible' The US military said it had had no knowledge of the rescue mission, dismissing as "absurd" Ms Sgrena's suggestion that her car was deliberately targeted. Just after the incident, she said it was possible the soldiers had targeted her because Washington opposed the policy of negotiating with kidnappers. "The soldiers were only complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints, so therefore are not culpable to dereliction of duty [charges]," the US army official told Reuters news agency. "Everybody feels terrible about it," he said. The soldiers involved will reportedly face no disciplinary action. ||||| 404 We're sorry but the page you requested could not be found.Please try again from the home page or contact us ||||| U.S., Italy Spar Over Iraq Shoot (Page 1 of 2) WASHINGTON and ROME, April 26, 2005 Freed Italian Hostage's Story The car in which Calipari and Sgrena were riding (Photo: AP) Italian Primer Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologized for what he called "an unfortunate leak" suggesting that the investigation into the shooting of an Italian agent by U.S. soldiers was completed. Nicola Calipari's casket at his hero's funeral in Italy (Photo: AP) Giuliana Sgrena (Photo: 60 Minutes/CBS) (CBS/AP) American soldiers who shot and killed an Italian intelligence officer in a friendly fire incident in Baghdad generally followed instructions for dealing with potential threats, a U.S. investigation is expected to conclude. But the probe into the March 4 shooting is also expected to raise concerns about the rules of engagement at a Baghdad checkpoint, a senior U.S. defense official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been finished. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged Tuesday that Italian officials who participated in the investigation have still not signed off on the report's conclusions. But at a Pentagon briefing, they provided no details about the report. "My latest information is that they have not come to a final agreement on a joint report," Rumsfeld said of U.S. and Italian investigators. "It's an investigation, it was done together, intimately, and I think that we'll just have to wait and see what they come out with," he added. Myers said the final report will be issued in Baghdad. According to Italian news reports, Italian officials disagreed with the U.S. findings and were refusing to sign it. Ben Duffy, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Rome, said the United States was still hoping for a combined report. In Italy, members of the opposition party said they were disgusted with what appear to be the results of the probe allegedly concluding that American soldiers bore no responsibility, reports CBS News Correspondent Sabina Castelfranco. Some said its conclusions were expected and are a slap in the face by the U.S. to the Italian government. They said Rome must demand the truth. Others said the outcome is totally unacceptable and insulting. They said it's offensive to the memory of the killed intelligence officer and an act of arrogance by the Americans. One opposition leader, Giuseppe Fioroni, denounced any absolution of the blame as an "unacceptable act of arrogance toward Italy." In response to the public outcry in Italy over the reports, Italian Primer Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologized for what he called "an unfortunate leak" suggesting that the investigation into the shooting of an Italian agent by U.S. soldiers was completed. Berlusconi assured Parliament on Tuesday that the U.S.-led probe into the killing of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq is not over. He spoke shortly after the U.S. ambassador to Italy met with the premier's top aide to see if crucial differences over the investigation could be worked out. The government "will speak at the opportune moment," briefing Parliament when the U.S.-Italian probe is done, Berlusconi said. Fifty opposition senators wrote to U.S. senators to urge American authorities to cooperate with Italian investigators and not "spoil" U.S.-Italian friendship. The rules of engagement direct soldiers to use warnings, then deadly force, against potential threats as they approach, and are designed to avoid mistaken shootings while also protecting soldiers from suicide bombers. The U.S. official, who spoke Monday, left open whether soldiers at the temporary checkpoint during the shooting could face criticism for their performance. However, a conclusion that they followed orders would make it less likely they would be accused of making significant mistakes. Continued 1 | 2 ©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Both Parties Grab The Third Rail Rallies Planned In D.C. As Senate Holds Hearings On Social Security Iraqi Draft Cabinet List Submitted Shiites, Kurds, Sunnis And Christians Included Among 32 Ministers ©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. ||||| Giuliana Sgrena: conclusioni della commissione "incredibili" Parla la giornalista ferita quella notte dal fuoco americano "Uno schiaffo inaccettabile i giudici vadano avanti" Giuliana Sgrena al ritorno da Bagdad - Per Giuliana Sgrena le conclusioni della commissione sono "incredibili", "uno schiaffo inaccettabile per l'Italia"."╚ peggio di quanto si potesse immaginare. All'inizio gli americani parlavano di incidente, avevano perfino chiesto scusa. Adesso escludono ogni responsabilitÓ. Dicono che sono state solo seguite le regole d'ingaggio. Ma se sparare su una macchina che passa e che aveva dato preavviso Ŕ seguire le regole d'ingaggio, bisogna chiedersi come siano davvero queste regole"."Noi non abbiamo avuto segnali di avvertimento. Nessuno sparo in aria, il fascio di luce Ŕ arrivato solo dopo gli spari. Calipari Ŕ stato colpito nella parte posteriore destra dell'auto, io alla spalla. Questo vuol dire che non c'Ŕ stato nessun attacco sulla parte frontale dell'auto nÚ contro il motore. ╚ stato un attacco senza preavviso. La conclusione di questo rapporto Ŕ incredibile e inaccettabile per il governo italiano, la colpa di quello che Ŕ accaduto viene addossata a Calipari"."╚ importante che la magistratura vada avanti. Ma tutto lascia supporre che il suo lavoro non sarÓ facilitato. Non saranno comunicati i nomi dei componenti della pattuglia americana, ma i giudici potranno interrogare i membri italiani della commissione e venirli a sapere. ╚ necessaria una pressione dell'opinione pubblica. So che c'Ŕ giÓ una richiesta di una commissione d'inchiesta internazionale indipendente, c'Ŕ un'iniziativa di europarlamentari e di premi Nobel per chiedere la veritÓ su quello che Ŕ successo e che accade tutti i giorni ai civili iracheni". | An ongoing US military investigation into the death of the Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari cleared the US soldiers charged. A US official speaking anonymously stated, "The soldiers were all complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints and therefore were not culpable of dereliction of duty in following their procedures," according to the Australian Special Broadcasting Service. The Italian government has rejected the investigation's findings. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi later apologised for "an unfortunate leak" that suggested the investigation was completed, and assured paliament that the investigation was not yet over. Giuliana Sgrena, the journalist of Italian newspaper ''il Manifesto'' who was injured in the shooting, replied, "Unbelievable. They say soldiers followed only their rules of engagement. But if shooting on a machine that is moving, while USA were informed about it, is following rules of engagement, we must ask ourself what kind of rules they are." For Sgrena now "it's important that Italian Magistracy goes on. But all may suppose that its job will not be so easy". The report was delayed so that disputes might be solved between the two governments. These disputes included disagreements on how fast the car was going as it approached the checkpoint and if US soldiers knew that the car and passengers would be passing through on that day. Italian officials who participated in the investigation are said to have disagreed with its findings. US soldiers insisted that the car carrying Sgrena and Calipari to the Baghdad airport was traveling at a high speed and failed to heed warnings to stop. The Italian driver of the car denies he was speeding or that soldiers gave a warning. "It's enough to see the car," Sgrena wrote in ''il Manifesto''. "The front windshield is intact, while the side windows and the one behind are shattered." === See also === * Kidnapped Italian journalist refutes American government claims ''Wikinews'' March 25, 2005 |
To advise the department about a person working or living illegally in Australia, please call or fax your information to the Immigration Dob-in Line Immigration Tsunami Hotline: 1300 735 683 DPS 001/2005 The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs today said that a special hotline has been running since December 30 in response to the tsunami disaster. ‘People who usually live in an area that has been directly affected by the tsunamis and may wish to temporarily extend their stay in Australia should contact the Department on the hotline on 1300 735 683,’ a Department spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the Migration Act also had a number of existing provisions where Australian citizens could apply to sponsor family and friends to come to Australia. ‘Where a visa application for a parent, spouse, dependent child or other close family member from a directly-affected area was lodged prior to the disaster, these applications will be given urgent attention,’ the spokesperson said. ‘New applications for visitor and other visas from people in these circumstances will be processed as quickly as possible and with full regard to the extreme circumstances people currently find themselves in.’ Further information is available from the DIMIA website at www.immi.gov.au 4 January 2004 Media Release Index Last update: 05 January 2005 at 11:10 AEST ||||| Thursday, January 6, 2005 CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — The Australian Government has said in response to the recent Tsunami tragedy that it may take Sri Lankans as humanitarian refugees, but Sri Lankans already in the Australian community are being overlooked, according to Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition. Hundreds were issued their deportation orders on Christmas Eve, and similar conditions affect people from Aceh in Indonesia, where the quake was focused. This article is currently a brief. You can help Wikinews by expanding it. scroll down for material to use in researching the article Below is a copy of the press release I have copy-and-pasted from a mailing list. Unfortunately it does not seem to be available on the group's web site. Please do not mistake the below for article content, it is a press release for use in researching an article, and should be removed once the article has been developed sufficiently. MEDIA RELEASE COMPASSION COULD START AT HOME – VISAS FOR SRI LANKANS COULD EASE THE SUFFERING OF HUNDREDS IN AUSTRALIA Refugee advocates have added their voices to calls from representatives of the Sri Lankan community for the federal government to recognize the suffering of hundreds of Sri Lankans on bridging visas and for 14 asylum seekers being held in detention. “Granting humanitarian visas to these people would be a small gesture by the government, but would make a huge difference to the suffering of Sri Lankans already living in the Australian community,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. The government has said that it is willing to consider taking Sri Lankans as humanitarian refugees, just as they did in the crisis in Kosovo, but Sri Lankans already in the Australian community are being overlooked. Compassion shouldn’t end at the boundary of the migration zone,” he said. While the federal government has announced it will consider fast tracking temporary visas for the families of Sri Lankan residents, the government has overlooked the plight of hundreds of Sri Lankans whose lives and families have been devastated by the catastrophe of the tsunami. The offer will not apply to around 500 Sri Lankans presently on bridging visas. Many of theses people and their families have been living in the Australia for many years with families and lives established in the community. Yet on Cristmas eve, the government sent letters to hundreds of these Sri Lankans requiring them to make arrangements to leave the country within 28 days. “This was inexcusable at the time, but given the catastrophe of the tsunami, to continue to refuse visas to these people and their families, is unforgivably cruel and spiteful,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. Sri Lankans who made inquiries to the Department of Immigration were told that they could extend the deadline for only one month. “In the circumstances is even more ridiculous to propose that these people should be forced to return to Sri Lanka,” he said. “Many have lost family members and have no homes to return to.” “It is in the government’s power to make a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of Sri Lankans and their families. It would cost them nothing, but so far the government has ignored the suffering of those that it can most easily assist,” said Ian Rintoul. Similar considerations apply to Achenese whose homeland suffered even greater devastation. SRI LANKAN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN DETENTION There are 14 Sri Lankans being held in Baxter detention center. Ten of these are from that have been directly affected by the tsunami with whole families have been displaced and villages wiped out. While most have been able to confirm the safety of their parents, the fate of other imdediate family members is unknown. Just before Christmas one asylum seeker was deported to Sri Lanka. Following the deportation, other Sri Lankans at Baxter detention staged a hunger strike in a desperate attempt to draw attention to their circumstances. Now the tsunami has thrown their detention into sharp humanitarian relief. “Humanitarian grounds alone demands the release of the Sri Lankans in detention and humanitarian visa to allow them to bring family members to Australia. How can the government square their compassionate aid efforts with the on-going suffering of Sri Lankans being detained by the Australian government?” said Ian Rintoul. The deportation of two Iranians from the same compound as the Sri Lankans in Baxter has added to the fears of refugee supporters that the government is using the tsunami to avoid media or community attention on unpopular decisions. For more information contact, Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul, 0417 275 713, or Victorian Tamil community spokesperson Nagamuthu Wickiramasingham 0404 059 231 | The Australian Government has said in response to the recent tsunami tragedy that it may take Sri Lankans as humanitarian refugees. Sri Lankans already in the Australian community, however, are being overlooked, according to Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition. The government issued hundreds of Sri Lankans their deportation orders on Christmas Eve, and similar conditions affect people from Aceh in Indonesia, near the epicenter of the quake. The Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) said it has had a special hotline running since December 30 in response to the tsunami disaster. "People who usually live in an area that has been directly affected by the tsunamis and may wish to temporarily extend their stay in Australia should contact the Department on the hotline on 1300 735 683," a Department spokesperson said. |
Posted on 2 June 2007. The Mirror, Vol. 11, No. 510 “Phnom Penh: Kampuchea Thmey has just received information through the web site of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] that they say Cambodia covers an area of 181,000 sq km only [the site gives the size for all member countries in ‘thousand sq. km’ units, for all 12 member countries it is given in the same way]. According to the figure of this web site, Cambodia loses 35 sq km. Where is this taken from? “The official web site of the Royal Government of Cambodia defines that Cambodia covers an area of 181,035 sq km. Cambodian citizens know well that the size of Cambodia is 181,035 sq km. “Reacting to this issue, Mr. Monh Saphan, a parliamentarian from Funcinpec, said that if the ASEAN web site really says so, the Royal Government must react urgently, especially the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation must ask for the web site to be corrected, because it affects the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia. “Ms. Seng Theary, the Executive Director of the Center for Social Development, said ‘The state’s figure is more important and appropriate than figures of other organizations. Therefore, we should urge the government to check this issue. We also wonder from where ASEAN got this figure.’ “Ms. Seng Theary continued, ‘In general, information about the size of a county should be quoted from appropriate documents from a government.’ “Mr. Keo Remy, a parliamentarian from the Sam Rainsy Party, seriously blamed the web site of ASEAN for providing inappropriate information; if they do not know, they should not write, because what they write is launched to the whole world. Mr. Keo Remy said, ‘It is not known whether it is an unintentional mistake or something else. However, the government should take urgent action over this issue; especially the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications should close the web site. We known that Cambodia has border disputes with its neighbors, and Khmer citizens are paying attention on these issues. We cannot accept such incorrect points. The most important thing is that the government should close this web site.’ “Mr. Keo Remy stated, ‘The map of Cambodia is defined at a size of 181,035 sq km, and the international community also recognizes this figure. “Ms. Pong Chiev Kek [Dr. Kek Galabru], the President of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, said that the wrong information about the size of Cambodia on the web site is really a mistake, so the government should pay attention and ask for the web site to be corrected. Ms. Pong Chiev Kek asked why ASEAN posted a wrong figure about the size of Cambodia on its web site like this. “Ms. Pong Chiev Kek also suggested that the government should investigate this issue, otherwise a small problem might turn into a bigger issue. Mr. Va Kimhong, from the Committee for Solving Border disputes, did not make any comment over this issue. He told Kampuchea Thmey that he was busy with a meeting.” Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1355, 2.6.2007 Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand: Saturday, 2 June 2007 Chakraval, Vol.15, #2685, 2.6.2007 Ministry of Interior Issues Statement Rejecting Report of Mr. Yash Ghai [Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia – report issued in March 2007, to be discussed on 12 June at the 5th meeting of the UN Human Rights Council meeting 11 - 18 June in Geneva, where a representative of the Cambodian government has the opportunity to publicly react in front of the international community] Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1355, 2.6.2007 Web Site of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Says Cambodia Covers an Area of 181,000 Square Kilometers Only Meeting between [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior] Sar Kheng and [opposition party President] Sam Rainsy Postponed without New Date Set [because Sar Kheng is busy] South Korean Man Arrested on Accusation of Using Fake Passport, after He Was Hiding in Cambodia for Four Years Ten Thai Soldiers and Five Muslims Killed by Muslim Separatist Rebels in South Koh Santepheap, Vol.40, #6055, 2-3.6.2007 International Labor Organization: Labor Conditions in Garment Factories [in Cambodia] Continue Progressing NGOs Set Up Phone Network to Help Child Victims [of domestic violence, rights violations, trafficking, sex exploitation, and labor exploitation – no phone number is given] Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.14, #3174, 2-3.6.2007 Mr. Sam Rainsy: Global Witness Shows Evidence of Corruption that Hun Sen Condones; Relatives and Partisans of Strongman Are Involved in Forest Crimes with Hun Sen as Their Protection [Seng Kheang Company of Seng Kheang, former wife of Hun Sen’s cousin Hun Chouch, she is also Bun Rany Hun Sen’s friend, conducts illegal logging in Kompong Thom with Khun Thong, younger brother-in-law of Chan Sarun, Minister of Agriculture – some military generals are also reported to be involved in forest crimes] Because of Corruption of Customs Officers and Tax Officials, About $90 Million of Tax Revenue Lost Every Year [according to Yim Sovann, Sam Rainsy Party Parliamentarian from Phnom Penh] Mr. Yash Ghai Still Considers Cambodia Has Serious Human Rights Violations Municipality Plans to Order Removal of Memorial of Grenade Attack Victims Opposite National Assembly Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.15, #4300, 2.6.2007 Prince Thomico: There is Only One Way Towards Amnesty for Samdech Krom Preah [to bring Prince Ranariddh back into Funcinpec] International Monetary Fund Asks Government about Corruption, Oil, and Reforms Big Shareholder [Shin Satellite PCL] of 011 Phone Company Announces Sale of Shares in Cambodia and Laos [at $200 million – reason not mentioned] Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol.14, #3051, 2.6.2007 Nhek Korsal Vithyea [Director of Camintel] Is Really Strong, He Commits Crimes, He Is Not Jailed, but He Even Frees His Subordinates [over alleged involvement in overseas phone gateway theft] Sralanh Khmer, Vol.3, #416, 2.6.2007 Kampuchea Krom Khmers [in Cambodia] to Mark 58th Anniversary [4 June 1949 – 4 June 2007] When France Gave Kampuchea Krom Land to Yuon [Vietnam] Go to last week’s editorial Back to top ||||| Government Sites ... Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Doing Business in ASEAN Brunei Industrial Development Authority Cambodia Investment Information Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board Lao PDR Committee for Investment Malaysian Industrial Development Authority Myanmar Investment Information Philippines Board of Investments Singapore Economic Development Board Thailand Board of Investment Vietnam Ministry of Trade CAMBODIA Background Information : Capital : Phnom Penh. Land area : 181,035 sq.km. Population : 11.0 million (1999). Language : Khmer. Religion : Buddhism. Government Type : Constitutional Monarchy. Member of : ASEAN, CTBTO, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFC, IFAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, ITU, LDC, UNO, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPO, UNIDO, WIPO, WHO. Currency : Riel. GDP : Riel 12,406.5 (2000) at current market prices. Major Industries : Textiles and Garments, Beverages, Food Processing, Wood Processing Major Exports : Garments, Textile Product Sawn, Wood Furniture and Rubber Major Imports : Transport equipment and machinery, manufactured goods, food chemicals. | Thirty-five square kilometers, or 13.5135755 square miles, or 3,500 hectares or 8,648.68835 acres. However you figure it, it's a sizeable chunk of land. And it's missing from Cambodia on the website for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, a 10-member regional body of which Cambodia is a member. In Cambodia ''(highlighted on map)'', border disputes are a sensitive topic. The apparent rounding down of Cambodia's territory, 181,035 square kilometers, on the ASEAN website, has some Cambodian lawmakers up in arms. Parliamentarian Keo Remy, a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, is calling for the ASEAN website to be blocked by Cambodia's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications if the number is not corrected. "We know that Cambodia has border disputes with its neighbors, and Khmer citizens are paying attention on these issues. We cannot accept such incorrect points. The most important thing is that the government should close this web site," Keo was quoted as saying by the Khmer-language daily newspaper ''Kampuchea Thmey''. Though Keo acknowledged the error could be an honest, if careless, mistake, he said it could mean something more sinister – that ASEAN is trying to undermine Cambodia's sovereignty, and that perhaps ASEAN is working for neighboring nations. It could even be treasonous, he said. "If it was intentional and perpetrated by a Cambodian, this is treason. It is like not knowing your own parents," Keo was quoted as saying by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Other lawmakers also called on the Cambodian government to take action. “The royal government must react urgently, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation," Monh Saphan, a Funcinpec parliamentarian was quoted as saying by ''Kampuchea Thmey''. "The website must be corrected, because it affects the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia." And non-governmental organization leaders weighed in. "The state’s figure is more important and appropriate than figures of other organizations. Therefore, we should urge the government to check this issue," Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, told ''Kampucha Thmey''. "We also wonder where ASEAN got this figure." Kek Galabru, president of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, said that incorrect figure is most likely a mistake, but said the government should investigate it. "Otherwise a small problem might turn into a bigger issue," she said. Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said he would investigate, and called for cooler heads in the meantime. Border disputes are a hot-button political issue in Cambodia, which has some long-standing unresolved boundary conflicts with neighbors Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia joined ASEAN in 1999, the last country to gain admittance to the regional geo-political and economic body for Southeast Asia. It was founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Other members are Brunei, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. |
SAN FRANCISCO — Google said on Friday that for more than three years it had inadvertently collected snippets of private information that people send over unencrypted wireless networks. The admission, made in an official blog post by Alan Eustace, Google’s engineering chief, comes a month after regulators in Europe started asking the search giant pointed questions about Street View, the layer of real-world photographs accessible from Google Maps. Regulators wanted to know what data Google collected as its camera-laden cars methodically trolled through neighborhoods, and what Google did with that data. Google’s Street View misstep adds to the widespread anxiety about privacy in the digital age and the apparent willingness of Silicon Valley engineers to collect people’s private data without permission. Facebook is currently engaged in a heated debate with its 400 million members about its shifting privacy guidelines, while Google has had to contend with other privacy missteps, like the introduction of its Buzz social network earlier this year that publicly exposed people’s closest e-mail contacts without permission. Google appears to have acted quickly after questions were raised by the European regulators. Two weeks ago, Google tried to address their questions and criticism in a blog post. It said it did collect certain kinds of data around the world that identify Wi-Fi networks to help improve its mapping products. The information on wireless networks can be used for location-based advertising services for mobile phones, which can sometime be pinpointed via a wireless network even if they lack a GPS chip. But the company explicitly said then that it did not collect or store so-called payload data — the actual information being transmitted by users over unprotected networks. In a confession made on Friday afternoon (and late night, European time) that is sure to raise new questions about its privacy policies, Google said that its previous claims were wrong. Mr. Eustace wrote that a review of the Street View software has revealed that because of a programming error in 2006, the company had indeed been mistakenly collecting snippets of data that happened to be transmitted over nonpassword protected Wi-Fi networks that the Google camera cars were passing. This occurred in Europe, in the United States and in other major cities elsewhere. Mr. Eustace tried to play down the revelation, saying that Google “never used that data in any Google products.” He said that it collected only fragments of data, because the cars were moving constantly and changing channels many times each second. Only when someone was using their unencrypted, nonpassword-protected network was the data collected and stored. Google said it had temporarily halted its Street View cars and would stop collecting Wi-Fi network data entirely, Mr. Eustace wrote. He also said Google wanted to delete the data, in cooperation with regulators, as soon as possible. But the revelation that the data was collected is likely to set off a firestorm of protest and possibly new legal problems. Google could be accused of intercepting private communications and violating wiretap laws in the United States, although it would most likely argue that it never had any intent to collect or use the data. And in Europe, where Google has taken great pains to assure a queasy public about a giant American corporation taking photos of their neighborhoods, trust is likely to be further eroded. Last month, Peter Schaar, Germany’s federal commissioner for data protection, said he was “horrified” by the earlier revelation that Google was collecting data about the location of Wi-Fi networks. He called on the company to “delete previously unlawfully collected personal data on the wireless network immediately and stop the rides for Street View.” Mr. Schaar could not be reached for further comment last night. German data protection officials had initially questioned the legality of Street View but dropped their objections last July after Google agreed to hide details of faces, license plates and house numbers through pixilation, and to give citizens the option of removing their property entirely from the 360-degree photo archive. Since then, hundreds have made such requests. Some German politicians have advocated laws that would levy fines on companies that do not remove the information. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said that Friday’s news would “give quite a bit of ammunition to not only the European privacy commission but the European public, which has been very uneasy about Street View, far more than in the U.S.” In the blog post, Mr. Eustace said of the Google engineering team: “We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all the lessons we can from our mistake.” ||||| Google Inc. said an internal investigation has discovered that the roving vans the company uses to create its online mapping services were mistakenly collecting data about websites people were visiting over wireless networks. The Internet giant said it would stop collecting Wi-Fi data from its StreetView vans, which workers drive to capture street images and to locate Wi-Fi networks. The company said it would dispose of the data it had accidentally collected. Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research for Google, wrote in a blog post that the company uncovered the mistake while responding to a German data-protection agency's request for it to audit the Wi-Fi data, amid mounting concerns that Google's practices violated users' privacy. ENLARGE The camera of a German Google Street View car looms over the car next to the Google logo at the Google stand at the CeBIT Technology Fair on March 3, 2010 in Hannover, Germany. Getty Images Google had previously said it was collecting the location of Wi-Fi hot spots from its StreetView vehicles, but not the information being transmitted over those networks by users. "It's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) Wi-Fi networks, even though we never used that data in any Google products," wrote Mr. Eustace. "We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all the lessons we can from our mistake." Google said it has been collecting and keeping the data since around 2007. At that time, the team building the software to gather the location of Wi-Fi hot spots mistakenly included some experimental software that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast Wi-Fi data. "It is another example of the how the company hasn't effectively grappled with the massive amount of information it collects," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. Due to the mistake, Google could have collected information about which websites people were accessing, from online videos they were watching to emails they were sending. But Google would only have collected data if the website and the Wi-Fi connection weren't secured. Many major websites that carry personal information, such as financial-services sites, are encrypted so no data from such services were collected, a Google spokesman said. Mr. Eustace wrote that Google only had "fragments" of data, since its cars were on the move. Google uses the Wi-Fi data to improve its location-based services. By having a database of Wi-Fi hot spots, Google can identify a mobile user's approximate location based on cell towers and Wi-Fi access points that are visible to their device. A Google spokesman said the company would continue to offer those products. The disclosure comes as Google's collection of Wi-Fi data—along with other real-life imagery it uses in its mapping services—have come under intense scrutiny from some privacy advocates, specifically in Europe. In April, Google moved to defend the service and what it collects in a lengthy blog post in which it said it did not collect or store payload data. Write to Jessica E. Vascellaro at jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com ||||| A camera used for Google street view is pictured at the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover March 2, 2010. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc said its fleet of cars responsible for photographing streets around the world have for several years accidentally collected personal information that consumers send over wireless networks. Technology | Lifestyle | Media The company said on Friday that it is currently in touch with regulators in several countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Brazil and Hong Kong, about how to dispose of the data, which Google said it never used. "It's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) WiFi networks," Google Senior VP of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace said in a post on Google's official blog on Friday. Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, did not specify what kind of data it collected, but a security expert said that email content and passwords for many users, as well as general Web surfing activity, could easily have been caught in Google's dragnet. "The bottom line is a lot of personal content is definitely available in open WiFi hotspots," said Steve Gibson, the president of Internet security services firm Gibson Research Corp. He noted that most non-Web based email products, based on the POP and IMAP standards, do not encrypt log-in information or the messages people send. And he said that Google's own web email product, Gmail, has only in recent months encrypted the email messages that users send after their initial sign-on, which has been encrypted. Google's Street View cars are well known for crisscrossing the globe and taking panoramic pictures of the city streets, which the company displays in its Maps product. Collecting the WiFi data was unrelated to the Google Maps project, and was done instead so that Google could collect data on WiFi hotspots that can be used to provide separate location-based services. Google said the collection of data was a simple mistake resulting from a piece of computer code that was accidentally included from an experimental project. Google said it became aware of the mistake in the past week, shortly after telling a German regulator that it was not collecting such information. A Google spokesperson said the Street View cars have been collecting the information since 2006 in more than 30 countries. "As soon as we became aware of this problem, we grounded our Street View cars and segregated the data on our network, which we then disconnected to make it inaccessible," Google's Eustace said, noting that Google had "failed badly" in maintaining its users trust. (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Bernard Orr) ||||| Google grabs personal info off of Wi-Fi networks MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google says it has scooped up snippets of people's online activities broadcast over unprotected Wi-Fi networks during the past four years. The admission made Friday is likely to raise more worries about potential privacy breaches as Google gathers volumes of personal information through its search engine and other services. Google picked up fragments of e-mails and Web addresses while its cars were photographing neighborhoods for the "Street View" feature on its mapping service. The company says it only recently discovered it has accumulated about 600 gigabytes of data transmitted over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries. Google says none of the information has appeared in its search engine or other services. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | A Google car in Germany Google revealed late yesterday that it had mistakenly collected information about Internet sites people had visited on public networks. The admission came from Google engineering head Alan Eustace in the form of a post on Friday afternoon. In the statement, Google said that it had been unknowingly gathering the personal data for over three years through its photo-mapping feature. The discovery was made during internal investigation resulting from earlier concerns by German regulators over the issue. Two weeks ago, Google told European officials that, while it did collect data from Wi-Fi services for location technologies, it did not save private user data. In yesterday's announcement, however, Google admitted that these claims were actually incorrect. An estimated 600 gigabytes of personal data had apparently been collected because of a software error from 2006. Google Street View vehicles caught bits of information from unsecured or public Wi-Fi networks in both Europe and the United States, as well as around 30 other countries where Street View is used. Eustace said that Google has "never used that data in any Google products" and that it would stop the collection of Wi-Fi data altogether. He also said that Google was discussing with regulators about how to properly dispose of the data it had accumulated. This incident is the latest in the Internet privacy debate, following 's move this week to update privacy and security settings for its users' accounts. European officials are expected to move on this issue, which has been controversial to both their citizens and governments for some time. Google had already agreed to take additional privacy measures in Germany last July after the nation's data protection agency raised concerns about Street View. Hong Kong legislator, , said that Google may have violated Hong Kong's laws on 'interception of communications and surveillance', and was suspected of 'dishonest use of computers'. |
Dubai: 'Suicide jump' from world's tallest skyscraper This would be the first known suicide from the 160-storey tower Continue reading the main story Related Stories A man has committed suicide by jumping from the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, according to its owner. The man, in his 20s, fell from the 147th floor of the 2,717ft (828m) Burj Khalifa, landing on a deck on the 108th floor, local media reported. The building's owner, Emaar Properties, confirmed "an incident involving a male" took place on Tuesday morning. It would be the first known suicide from the 160-storey landmark, which opened in January 2010. "The concerned authorities have confirmed that it was a suicide, and we are awaiting the final report," Emaar's statement said. Reports on the websites of the Gulf News and 7 Days newspapers said the man had jumped after a dispute with his employer. Police statements showed that a holiday he had requested was turned down, the National reported. The Burj Khalifa was designed by Chicago-based architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It is the tallest freestanding structure in the world, according to its developer. ||||| A man threw himself off the world's tallest building in Dubai, its developer said, plummeting to his death in the first suicide from Burj Khalifa tower. Emaar Properties, the owner of the towering structure, said in a brief statement that "an incident involving a male" was reported at the tower's site at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. "The concerned authorities have confirmed that it was a suicide, and we are awaiting the final report," Emaar's statement also said. It did not elaborate further. Local reports quoted security officials as saying the man fell from the 147th floor of the 2,717 foot-tall tower and landed on a deck on the 108th floor. Reports on the websites of the Gulf News and 7 Days newspapers say the man — who is believed to be in his twenties and of South Asian background — jumped following a dispute with his company. Police said statements from co-workers indicated that his vacation request had been turned down. Police did not immediately reply to calls by The Associated Press for further details. According to Emaar, the skyscraper has 160 habitable stories. An observation deck is located on the 124th floor and a restaurant — billed as the highest in the world — is located just two floors bellow. The tower was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower. Burj Khalifa ranks not only as the highest building but also as the tallest freestanding structure in the world, according to its developer. In March, a French skyscraper climber successfully climbed the tapering metal and glass tower in downtown Dubai in six hours. The 48-year-old climber, Alain Robert, used a rope and harness to comply with organizers' requirements in the Gulf sheikdom. Late last year, actor Tom Cruise was seen dangling from the Burj during stunt filming for the latest installment of the "Mission: Impossible" series. | The Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building A man committed suicide on Tuesday by jumping from the in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The unnamed man, believed to be in his twenties and of a South Asian ethnicity, jumped from the 147th floor and landed on a decking area of the 108th floor. His death would be the first known suicide that has happened at the skyscraper—currently the tallest in the world—since the building opened in January 2010. The owner of the building, , released a statement saying that at 09:00 local time Tuesday, "an incident involving a male" was reported. They continued, saying, "The concerned authorities have confirmed that it was a suicide, and we are awaiting the final report." According to witness statements taken by the police, co-workers said the man had had a holiday request denied. Suicide rates in the United Arab Emirates are higher than several other developed countries. Workers in Dubai say they suffer from "social abuse," facing long work hours and few days off. Chenji, a Chinese worker in Dubai, spoke to the about the man's suicide, saying, "It's a desperate act." He added, "They promise things they don't give once you get here." The Burj Khalifa has been temporarily closed to visitors as a result of Tuesday's incident. |
Published June 28, 2008 6:45am MANILA, Philippines - The first batch of divers from Romblon to arrived in Manila for medical checkups Friday night got an initial clean bill of health, but were to undergo more tests Saturday. PO1 Edison Manuel, one of the divers who underwent initial medical test Friday night at the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC), said early Saturday morning that doctors found no signs of poisoning from endosulfan, a toxic chemical used as pesticide. As of Friday night, doctors said we were okay. But they instructed us to return to East Avenue Medical Center for more tests, Manuel said in Filipino over dzXL radio. When asked if any representative of Sulpicio went to talk to them Friday, he said there was none. DZBB reported that the first batch included 36 divers from the Navy, Coast Guard and Philippine National Police Maritime Group. It said the first batch of divers was flown in from Romblon province Friday afternoon. A second batch of 40 divers, plus three volunteers, was due to arrive at Villamor Air Base Friday night. The second batch was to head to the EAMC as well. The divers were recalled from ground zero after the National Disaster Coordinating Council learned that a container van with pesticide. - GMANews.TV ||||| Del Monte says use of endosulfan has gov't nod Says cargo was transferred without its consent MANILA, Philippines--Del Monte Philippines Inc. (DMPI) said Friday that the use of the pesticide endosulfan had been authorized by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) and had been used by the company for decades with no untoward health incident. The company, which packages fruits and vegetables in the Philippines under the Del Monte brand, issued the statement in response to the announcement of the National Disaster Coordinating Council that a cargo of the restricted pesticide had been loaded into the MV Princess of the Stars. "While this cargo is owned by Del Monte Philippines Inc., it was still en route for delivery to Del Monte and was therefore outside its control at the time of the accident," the company said. Princess of Paradise "DMPI continuously monitors the movement of delicate materials such as endosulfan," it said. DMPI said that without its knowledge and consent, ship owner Sulpicio Lines Inc. loaded the endosulfan in the Princess of the Stars instead of the MV Princess of Paradise, the supposed appointed vessel for the cargo. "Upon learning that our cargo was loaded in the ill-fated [vessel], we immediately informed the FPA," DMPI said. It said it was "in constant touch with the FPA and other government agencies to ensure that any and all action will be taken to avoid and prevent any damage." "We want to assure the public that we in DMPI are responsible corporate citizens and we are just as concerned with the environment and are actively assisting the authorities in addressing this pressing situation," it added. According to DMPI, the endosulfan originated from a supplier in Israel and was packed and shipped in accordance with strict international shipping standards for cargoes of this type. It said Sulpicio Lines had been fully apprised of the nature of the cargo because all required documents were submitted, including the material safety data sheet from the supplier. The DMPI plantation in Bukidnon is described as the largest and most integrated pineapple plantation in the world. It has been the leading exporter of processed pineapple products for nearly 80 years. One of best An epidemiologist of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) in Northern Mindanao said DMPI has not violated any law since it started canning operations in Misamis Oriental. "So far, Del Monte has been one of the best companies under our jurisdiction that complies with all our policies," said Dr. Roy Mendoza of BFAD 10. | Divers from the Philippine Coast Guard and Navy were given a clean bill of health from any effects from the toxic waters surrounding the sunken passenger ferry, MV Princess of the Stars off the coast of Romblon province. Fifty six diving personnel tasked to retrieve bodies of passengers trapped inside the ferry will undergo more tests on Saturday for any ill effects from pesticides that are suspected to have leaked in the cargo hold of the ferry. Retrieval operations for the bodies of passengers were suspended on Friday when the cargo manifest of the ship showed large quantities of a highly toxic pesticide called endosulfan. Authorities feared that the pesticides could have contaminated the waters around the sunken ferry and could prove fatal to the diving crew. Divers started to complain on Thursday of experiencing skin irritation after surfacing. The Philippines government slammed the ferry's owners for not immediately divulging the contents of the ferry's cargo hold and threatened to add other possible criminal charges against the owners. Environment officials are concerned that the pesticide could cause a severe damage to the delicate aquatic environment around Romblon province. |
Passengers in Alaska plane crash that killed 6 were flying home to celebrate Russian Christmas ANCHORAGE, Alaska: A chartered plane that crashed into a shallow harbor after taking off from Kodiak Island, killing six people, was carrying a group of fishermen from a dissident sect of the Russian Orthodox Church home for Christmas. Four people survived the crash Saturday, and one of them told investigators Sunday that the door to a baggage compartment in the nose of the small plane had popped open. "We want to look at the aerodynamic qualities of opening a very large door in flight," said Clint Johnson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. "This does not signal an end of our investigation of the crash by any means, but it at least played a part in it." The Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain crashed about 50 yards off the end of a runway after taking off Saturday afternoon, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB. The passengers were members of Alaska's community of Russian Orthodox Old Believers who had been fishing in Kodiak and were taking a short flight north to Homer to celebrate Eastern Orthodox Christmas at home on Monday. Dean Andrew, the pilot of a float plane that had been taxiing nearby, said he pulled the four survivors aboard. "Once I got them in they were really cold, and they were just pretty hysterical because they had told me that their family's in that plane," Andrew, who operates a small air service, told the Anchorage Daily News. The flight was operated by Kodiak-based Servant Air. Andrew said he heard what was happening from his plane's radio. "I heard Servant Air's Navajo taking off, and shortly after he took off, he said 'I need to return to the airport,'" Andrew said. "I know the pilot, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that it was probably something serious." Johnson said the survivor, whose name was not immediately released, told investigators that just as the Piper got airborne, the baggage area door opened at the nose of the plane on the pilot's side. That prompted the pilot, 50-year-old Robin Starrett of Kodiak, to try to return to the airport. Also killed were five passengers from Homer: Stefan F. Basargin, 36; Pavel F. Basargin, 30; Zahary F. Martushev, 25; Iosif F. Martushev, 15; and Andrian Reutov, 22, officials said. It was not immediately clear how the passengers were related. Old Believers split from the Russian Orthodox church in the 17th century in protest of changes made in the church at that time. Their members are scattered throughout Russia, Asia and the Western Hemisphere, shunning much of the modern way of life. About 1,500 are believed to live in Alaska. "Everybody knows everybody. It's a tragedy," said Greg Yakunin, an Old Believer and fisherman who knew all of the passengers, from the town of Nikolaevsk. "They were all friends of mine," he said. "I could have been on that plane, too." The survivors' names were not immediately released. Two were flown to Anchorage for treatment. One was released Saturday night, and another remained there in good condition, said John Callahan, a spokesman for Providence Health and Services Alaska. One of the two who stayed in Kodiak was treated Saturday and released, and the other was in good condition, Callahan said. Servant Air serves half a dozen communities on the large island in south-central Alaska, 225 miles southwest of Anchorage. Kodiak and Homer each have populations of roughly 6,000. ||||| Plane With 10 Aboard Crashes in Alaska ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A small plane crashed Saturday in waters off Kodiak island in southern Alaska, killing six of the 10 people on board, authorities said. The Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed soon after take off at 1:48 p.m. in shallow waters, according to the Coast Guard. The pilot radioed that he would be turning the plane around, according to Clint Johnson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. "Just after takeoff, the pilot reported an undisclosed problem to tower," he said. "We don't know why he tried to come back." A private float plane from a fish processing company pulled four people from the wreckage. One person died trying to swim the roughly 300 yards to shore, said State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters. The pilot, 50-year-old Robin Starrett of Kodiak, was killed, as were five passengers from the small community of Homer, Peters said. They are Stefan F. Basargin, 36; Pavel F. Basargin, 30; Zahary F. Martushev, 25; Iosif F. Martushev, 15; and Andrian Reutov, 22. The charter flight operated by Kodiak-based Servant Air was headed to their town on the Kenai Peninsula, a short 100-mile ride to the northeast. Two of the survivors were flown to Anchorage for treatment. One has been released from the hospital in Kodiak and another remains there in good condition, said John Callahan, a spokesman for Providence Health and Services Alaska. No information about anyone on board has been released pending notification of family members. The plane was headed to Homer, a quick flight north, on the Kenai Peninsula, authorities said. The aircraft is owned and operated by Servant Air, a local company that serves half a dozen communities on the large island in south-central Alaska, 225 miles southwest of Anchorage. The flight service started in 2003 as a one-plane operation and has grown to a fleet of seven small aircraft. Ted Panamarioff, a spokesman for Servant Air, said the deaths are a major tragedy for the small rural communities, where air travel is a regular part of life. "We're all family and friends here," he said by phone from Kodiak. "We knew these customers for several years. This is really, really tragic." Kodiak and Homer each have populations of roughly 6,000 people. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash. ||||| Saturday, January 5, 2008 - Page updated at 08:50 PM E-mail article Print view Share: Digg Newsvine KODIAK, Alaska — Authorities are reporting that a plane carrying 10 people crashed in the waters northeast of the airport on the island of Kodiak. Five people on board the Servant Air plane have been rescued and authorities say they are working to recover five others who may or may not be alive. The Coast Guard says the Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed at 1:48 p.m. under clear skies soon after take-off. Winds were clocked at 20 miles per hour. Four passengers were immediately recovered by a Trident Seafoods float plane that was near the area. One other passenger was recovered by a Coast Guard rescue helicopter. Five remaining people are currently being recovered by Alaska State Troopers and Kodiak Police divers. Coast Guard spokesman Richard Brahm says it's unclear whether those passengers survived. The plane was submerged after crashing about 100 yards from the airport before the tide receded. AP-WS-01-05-08 2133EST | This Piper PA-31 Navajo is comparable to the one involved. The PA-31 Navajo Chieftain features a stretched cabin and improved engines A Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain owned and operated by Servant Air has crashed shortly after takeoff from Kodiak Island, Alaska, United States. Six people were killed and four others were rescued. The flight was a 100 mile scheduled domestic charter flight from Kodiak to Homer. Servant Air are a small local airline that serves Kodiak, which has a population of around 6,000. The airline was founded in 2003 and currently operates seven planes. The plane took off at 1:48 p.m. local time Saturday and subsequently crashed in a shallow harbor 50 yards from the runway. Dean Andrew, who was piloting a float plane taxiing on the water nearby, was able to rescue four people from the crashed plane. "Once I got them in they were really cold, and they were just pretty hysterical because they had told me that their family's in that plane," said Andrew, who the ''International Tribune Herald'' reports operates his own small air service, although the ''Seattle Times'' reported that he flew the plane for Trident Seafoods. A Piper PA-31 Chieftain, for comparison. Alaska State Troopers and Kodiak Police divers were called in to retrieve the bodies of four others. A fifth was pulled out the water after attempting to swim 300 yards to shore, but he had already succumbed to the cold. The passengers were Russian Orthodox Old Believers who had chartered the flight home in order to celebrate Russian Christmas, which is celebrated on Monday. The deceased have been identified as Homer citizens Stefan F. Basargin, 36; Pavel F. Basargin, 30; Zahary F. Martushev, 25; Iosif F. Martushev, 15; Andrian Reutov, 22 and local pilot Robin Starrett, 50. The survivors, who have not been identified, are all in good condition or out of hospital. Two were flown to Anchorage for treatment and two remained in Kodak; in both cases one was released and one remains. Andrew described the moments leading up to the crash: "I heard Servant Air's Navajo taking off, and shortly after he took off, he said, 'I need to return to the airport.' I know the pilot, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that it was probably something serious." The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened a full investigation. NTSB investigator Clint Johnson told reporters it's possible that mechanical problems with the plane caused the accident. Ted Panamarioff, spokesman for Servant Air, said of Starrett "Very humble, very caring. Very detail oriented. Very precise in the way he did things. He was an excellent family man. Excellent co-worker." He also said that Starrett had served in the Coast Guard, and that those involved were regular customers well known with the small airline. "We're all family and friends here. We knew these customers for several years. This is really, really tragic." |
The council is taking legal advice over the trademark application The owners of Liverpool Football Club have applied to register the Liver Bird as their trademark, prompting the city council to take legal advice. The club has applied to the UK Intellectual Property Office to register the image for £450. Bosses hope it will stem the tide of counterfeit Liverpool merchandise bearing the famous Liver Bird emblem. But Liverpool City Council said the club had "no right" to claim the bird as its own. Deputy council leader Flo Clucas said the council was taking legal advice over the trademark application. "I have some very real concerns over it," she said. It belongs to the city and nobody has a right to claim it exclusively as the own Flo Clucas Liverpool City Council "They do already have their crest trademarked, but they have no right of ownership to claim the bird, or any version of the bird, as their own. "The Liver Bird, not only does it appear on the Royal Charter for the council, but it is also used by local businesses and schools. "It belongs to the city and nobody has a right to claim it exclusively as the own. It's a symbol for the city." She has also raised concerns that if the club was successful in registering the image, it could start charging for its use in future. "The club also says they have no intention of charging organisations that want to use it. Mythical bird "But there is no guarantee in future that the people of the city will have the right to use that without having to pay for it." A statement from the club said: "Liverpool Football Club is seeking to trademark only its own specific version of the Liver Bird, to combat its use in counterfeit merchandise. "This does not extend to other versions of the Liver Bird, such as the city council's or those used by other commercial or charity organisations. "We have absolutely no intention of challenging that usage of the Liver Bird. "We are simply trying to stop people lifting our rendition of the Liver Bird out of the official club crest and applying it to fake Liverpool FC merchandise." The Liver Bird is a mythical bird, similar to a cormorant, which as legend has it could often be seen flying alongside the River Mersey with seaweed in its beak. Two statues of the birds stand atop one of the city's most famous buildings, the Liver Building. The bird is also used on logos by several businesses, including the Liverpool Echo, which shows the bird carrying a newspaper in its beak. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| Liverpool's wings clipped in Liver Bird badge row LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) — Liverpool could face a legal battle with the city's council as a row over the club's famous Liver Bird badge continues to ruffle feathers at Anfield. The Premier League team's shirt features the mythical Liver Bird on its badge and Liverpool officials have applied to the UK Intellectual Property Office to register the image in an attempt to stop street traders selling counterfeit merchandise bearing the emblem. But Liverpool City Council said the club had "no right" to claim the bird as its own and deputy council leader Flo Clucas revealed that they are taking legal advice over the application. "I have some very real concerns over it," she told the BBC. "It belongs to the city and nobody has a right to claim it exclusively as their own. "They do already have their crest trademarked, but they have no right of ownership to claim the bird, or any version of the bird, as their own. "Not only does the Liver Bird appear on the Royal Charter for the council, but it is also used by local businesses and schools. "It belongs to the city and nobody has a right to claim it exclusively as the own. It's a symbol for the city." Two statues of the birds stand atop one of the city's most famous buildings, the Liver Building, while several local businesses use it as their logo. Liverpool insist they have no intention of challenging the Liver Bird's use on anything but unofficial merchandise. "Liverpool Football Club is seeking to trademark only its own specific version of the Liver Bird, to combat its use in counterfeit merchandise," the statement said. "This does not extend to other versions of the Liver Bird, such as the city council's or those used by other commercial or charity organisations. "We have absolutely no intention of challenging that usage of the Liver Bird. "We are simply trying to stop people lifting our rendition of the Liver Bird out of the official club crest and applying it to fake Liverpool FC merchandise." Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| Overview Liverpool have maintained their status as a domestic and European force since the Premier League began in 1992, rarely finishing outside the top positions. The club have won seven major trophies since then, including the Champions League, Uefa Cup, two FA Cups and three League Cups. Indeed, 2001 saw the Reds claim an unprecedented League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup treble. Having won more domestic and European trophies than any other English club, Liverpool's status as giants of the domestic game is undisputed. Under Rafa Benitez, Liverpool have secured Champions League football in each of the last three seasons. The Spaniard guided them to third place last season and an appearance in the Champions League final where they were beaten 2-1 by AC Milan. Liverpool's first-ever competitive game was in the Lancashire League, where a predominantly Scottish team defeated Higher Walton 8-0 on 23rd September 1892. Club Heritage In 1891, John Houlding purchased Anfield after Everton left the ground for Goodison Park following a seven-year tenancy. With an empty stadium and only three players remaining, Houlding formed Liverpool Football Club on March 15th 1892. Everton FC and Athletic Grounds, Ltd, or Everton Athletic was to be the name, but the Football Association refused to recognise the team as Everton. Liverpool won their first title in 1901 after gaining promotion to the First Division in 1894. The appointment of Bill Shankly in 1959 was the beginning of a golden era for Liverpool. He led the club to promotion to the First Division in 1962 and they have stayed their ever since. The title was secured in 1964 and 1966, with a first-ever FA Cup final victory sandwiched in between. A year after winning the Uefa Cup, Shankly retired and was replaced by his assistant Bob Paisley. Within two seasons, the Reds had won the league, and the Uefa Cup for a second time. Paisley's nine-year reign saw Liverpool win 21 trophies, including three European Cups, six league titles, a UEFA Cup, and three League Cups. Joe Fagan took over in 1983 and inspired the club to the European Cup, League title, and League Cup in his first season. Premier League History 1993-94 - Roy Evans replaced Graeme Souness 1994-95 - League Cup victory 1998-99 - Gerard Houllier joined Evans as joint-manager 1998-99 - Houllier takes sole charge in Nov 1998. 2000-01 - FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup 2002-03 - League Cup victory 2003-04 - Houllier departs by mutual consent in May 2004. 2004-05 - Rafa Benitez takes over 2004-05 - Djibril Cisse joins from Auxerre for a club record £14million 2004-05 - Champions League victory in May 2005 2005-06 - FA Cup victory in May 2006 2006-07 - American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks become owners in a deal worth £470million. 2007-08 - Fernando Torres becomes Liverpool's record signing at an initial fee of around £20.2million from Atletico Madrid. | The Liver bird Liverpool F.C., an association football club located in Liverpool, a British city, has been criticized by the city council for attempting to trademark the Liver Bird, a symbol used to represent the city of Liverpool, and its football club. The council chamber of Liverpool's town hall Flo Clucas, the Deputy leader of Liverpool City Council, expressed her concern over the move. "I have some very real concerns over it," she stated. "They do already have their crest trademarked, but they have no right of ownership to claim the bird, or any version of the bird, as their own." "...Not only does it appear on the Royal Charter for the council, but it is also used by local businesses and schools," she continued. "It belongs to the city and nobody has a right to claim it exclusively as the own. It's a symbol for the city." The football club attempted to respond to these concerns by asserting that "Liverpool Football Club is seeking to trademark only its own specific version of the Liver Bird, to combat its use in counterfeit merchandise." However, Clucas stated that although "the club also says they have no intention of charging organisations that want to use it," there is no guarantee that this will still be the case in the future, so, according to Clucas, residents of the city may have to pay for the use of the bird in the future if the trademark is approved. The council is seeking legal advice over the application. Liverpool F.C. formed in 1892, and is currently managed by Rafa Benitez. They have qualified for the Champions League in every one of the last four seasons, and they are currently second place in the English Premier League, and they have won five of their last six matches. The club's home ground is the Anfield stadium, and the main focus of their crest is the Liver Bird. |
Kenya sacks 25,000 nurses for striking Health worker representatives said the government's decision was reckless Continue reading the main story Related Stories Kenya's government has sacked some 25,000 striking nurses for failing to return to work. Spokesman Alfred Mutua has appealed to "all qualified health professionals who are unemployed or retired" to report to public hospitals for jobs on Friday. The public health workers, who are mainly nurses, have been on strike since last week demanding better pay, allowances and working conditions. The unions have dismissed the move as a negotiating tactic. "These are cat-and-mouse games, you cannot sack an entire workforce. It is a ploy to get us to rush back to work, but our strike continues until our demands are met," Reuters news agency quotes Alex Orina, spokesman of the Kenya Health Professionals Society as saying. He said that on average a health worker earns about 25,000 Kenyan shillings ($300, £190) a month in salary and allowances. But Mr Mutua said the health workers were being "unethical" by not returning to their duties. He said their names had been removed from the payroll and they were "no longer employees of the government". Dr Victor Ng'ani, chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, said it was a "reckless" decision. He told the BBC it would be difficult to replace people with many years of experience and specialised skills. ||||| Government says that staff sacked for defying recall order will be replaced by unemployed nurses and health professionals Kenya's government has fired 25,000 striking nurses and health workers, saying they had defied an order to return to work and were placing patients' lives at risk. "All illegally striking health professionals, who defied the directive … to report back to work, have been sacked," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said on Thursday. "Twenty-five thousand of these officers have, as of this morning, been deleted from the payroll … All qualified health professionals, who are unemployed and/or retired have been advised to report to their nearest health facility for interviews and deployment starting tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock," he added. Thousands of nurses and other health professionals went on strike last week in a dispute over allowances and benefits, halting operations in many hospitals around the country. As reports mounted of patients being neglected, the two main unions met the government on Sunday and agreed to return to work, but many strikers rejected the deal. The Daily Nation newspaper reported on Thursday that a mother and her newborn son had bled to death on Tuesday outside a dispensary in Kwale County on the Indian Ocean coast after health workers refused to treat them. "What is the use? Why should we have hospitals and personnel? Why was my wife left to die just like that?" Chaka Kadide, the husband of the dead woman, 35-year-old Chari Katana, told the paper. Frederick Omiah, a member of the Kenya Health Professionals Society, said the government's decision had set up a "very ugly scenario" and he feared strikers would continue protests in Nairobi and elsewhere. "This is going to make an already delicate and volatile situation worse. Most surveys indicate the workers are not back at work … when somebody is wounded if you add another injury, they will get more infuriated," he said. Mutua said there would be no problem replacing the sacked workers. A consultative team set up by the government to look into their grievances will continue its work. "We have over 100,000 to 200,000 health professionals looking for work today … There will be a lag of a day or two … but it is better than letting people die on the floor, at the gate, or suffer in pain," Mutua said. | The Kenyan has dismissed 25,000 striking health workers, mostly nurses, citing failure to heed government orders to recommence work and concern for the welfare of hospital patients. Speaking on behalf of the government, Alfred Mutua stated the workers were dismissed "illegally striking" and "defying the directive ... to report back to work", which he called "unethical". The government asks that "all qualified health professionals, who are unemployed and/or retired have been advised to report to their nearest health facility for interviews and deployment", Mutua stated. The workers, who had been on strike for four days, were wishing to have improvements made to their wages, working conditions, and allowances. The strikes have caused a significant number of Kenyan hospitals to cease operations. According to Kenya Health Professionals Society spokesperson Alex Orina, the average monthly wage plus allowances for health workers in Kenya is 25,000 (193, 302 or 230) approximately. With an increasing number of reports of patients neglected in hospitals emerging, two trade unions met with the Kenyan government yesterday and negotitated a return to work, although a significant proportion of demonstrators defied the agreement, '''' reported. Orina told '''' the dismissals were "cat-and-mouse games, you cannot sack an entire workforce. It is a ploy to get us to rush back to work, but our strike continues until our demands are met". Frederick Omiah, a member of the same society, believed the government's actions would "make an already delicate and volatile situation worse", expressing concern that demonstrations may continue in the capital , amongst other locations. Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union chairperson Dr. Victor Ng'ani described government actions as "reckless". Mutua said the health workers were "no longer employees of the government" and had been eliminated from the payroll. While Ng'ani told the BBC of difficulties with finding other workers as skilled and experienced, Mutua reportedly stated that this would not be an issue. "We have over 100,000 to 200,000 health professionals looking for work today," Mutua commented. "There will be a lag of a day or two ... but it is better than letting people die on the floor, at the gate, or suffer in pain". |
Charles Taylor has denied all charges Mr Taylor said his trial would not be fair because he only had one defence lawyer. His counsel walked out, defying the judge's order to stay seated. Mr Taylor is accused of backing rebels in Sierra Leone who killed and maimed thousands of civilians over 11 years. It is the first case of its kind against a former African leader. Proceedings have been broadcast live on four giant screens in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. HAVE YOUR SAY Yes. Let the proceedings begin! However, where are Taylor's accomplices? Tito Do international courts work? Judge Julia Sebutinde ordered the trial to continue without Mr Taylor, amid intense protests from his lawyer, Karim Khan. Mr Khan then left the court, saying he was not in a position to represent his client without further instruction from him. After nearly one hour of wrangling, the prosecution began opening statements. Proceedings at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone are expected to last between a year and 18 months, and the UK has offered to imprison Mr Taylor if he is convicted. The former Liberian leader has been indicted on 11 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law over his alleged role in the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone. What people in Sierra Leone and Liberia think of the Taylor trial In pictures Mr Taylor denies them all. Human rights campaigners hope the trial will send a signal that nobody can escape punishment for atrocities, including heads of state, although some would have preferred him to have been tried at home by his countrymen. However fears that Mr Taylor may still be able to mobilise a militia to attack a court in Sierra Leone were among the reasons cited for the trial being moved away from West Africa. 'Not fit for purpose' Judge Sebutinde repeatedly pressed Mr Khan on the failure of his client to appear. "He has not thumbed his nose at the court," said Mr Khan before producing a letter in which Mr Taylor said he felt he would "not receive a fair trial at the Special Court at this time". CHARLES TAYLOR CHARGES Acts of terrorism (WC) Murder (CAH) Violence to life, in particular murder (WC) Rape (CAH) Sexual slavery and violence (CAH) Outrages upon personal dignity (WC) Violence to life, in particular cruel treatment (WC) Other inhumane acts (CAH) Use of child soldiers (VHL) Enslavement (CAH) Pillage (WC) CAH: Crime against humanity WC: War crime VIHL: Violation of international humanitarian law Taylor - the trial begins While appearing to accept the court's jurisdiction, he said it was not "fit for purpose". He added he would not appear until "adequate time and facilities are provided". "I cannot take part in this charade that does injustice to the people of Liberia and the people of Sierra Leone," he said in the letter. "I choose not to be a fig-leaf of legitimacy for this process." Should circumstances change, he said, "I stand ready to participate in such a trial and let justice be done and for those who have suffered far more than me in Liberia and Sierra Leone." The charges against Mr Taylor include terrorising the civilian population, murder, sexual violence, physical violence, using child soldiers, enslavement and looting. The BBC's David Bamford says the trial hinges on determining the degree to which Mr Taylor helped start, prolong and deepen the civil war in Sierra Leone. TAYLOR TIMELINE 1989: Launches rebellion 1991: RUF rebellion starts in Sierra Leone 1995: Peace deal signed 1997: Elected president 1999: Liberia's Lurd rebels start insurrection to oust Taylor June 2003: Arrest warrant issued August 2003: Steps down, goes into exile in Nigeria Profile: Charles Taylor Q&A;: Trying Taylor Mr Taylor started Liberia's civil war in 1989 and became one of a number of warlords competing for control in the West African country. He later emerged as Liberia's most powerful politician and won the 1997 presidential election that ended the war there. Meanwhile in 1991, one of Mr Taylor's comrades-in-arms, Foday Sankoh, started his own rebellion in Sierra Leone. The prosecution claims Mr Taylor provided the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader with training, money, arms and ammunition to start the rebellion and even lent him fighters to take part in the initial attack. The RUF became notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during their decade-long war. It is alleged that Mr Taylor shared a common plan with the RUF's commanders to gain power and control over Sierra Leone, so he could gain access to its diamonds and have a government in Freetown that would support his aims. However, the rebellion in Sierra Leone collapsed. Its war crimes court indicted the rebel leaders and Mr Taylor as well. Mr Sankoh died in 2003. That year, Mr Taylor himself lost power in Liberia after rival militias rose up and forced him into exile in Nigeria. He was deported by Nigeria last year in controversial circumstances and flown to The Hague to await his trial. ||||| Story Highlights • Taylor boycotts trial saying he does not think he will get fair hearing • Prosecutors allege Taylor orchestrated rebels in return for illegal diamonds • Taylor faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted • Taylor's daughter Charen dropped out of college to help organize his defense Adjust font size: THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, accused of orchestrating unspeakable atrocities during neighboring Sierra Leone's bloody civil war, said Monday he did not believe he would receive a fair trial and boycotted its opening. In a letter to the court read by his defense attorney, Taylor said he was prevented from seeing his preferred lawyer and that his one court-appointed attorney was outgunned by the extensive prosecution team. "It is with great regret that I must decline to attend any further proceedings in this case," Taylor said in the statement read to the court by his lawyer, Karim Khan. "At one time I had confidence in this court's ability to dispense justice. Over time, it has become clear that confidence has been misplaced," Taylor's statement said. Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp disputed Taylor's assertion that he lacked an adequate defense, noting that Taylor had been assigned a lawyer, a special investigator and funds. "Everything that can be done is being done," Rapp told the court. Taylor, 59, who has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted. His trial is expected to last 18 months. Prosecutors allege that, in return for diamonds illegally mined in Sierra Leone, Taylor armed, funded and controlled rebels who murdered, raped and mutilated civilians before looting and torching their villages in a campaign of terror aimed at destabilizing the government in Freetown. Taylor, a former warlord who was elected Liberia's president in 1997, was indicted in 2003. He agreed to give up power and go into exile, but was taken into custody in March 2006 as he tried to cross the border from Nigeria to Cameroon. He was transferred to The Hague a year ago amid fears his trial in Sierra Leone could trigger fresh violence in the capital, Freetown. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is facing charges of war crimes for his role in the Sierra Leone Civil War, has decided to boycott the proceedings at The Hague under the auspices of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He faces 11 charges of war crimes, all of which he denies. Taylor claims that his trial will not be fair as he only has one defense lawyer. "He has not thumbed his nose at the court," said Karim Khan, his counsel, before producing the letter in which Taylor said he would "not receive a fair trial at the Special Court at this time." Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp disagrees with Taylor's assessment. Taylor, he says, has been assigned a lawyer, a special investigator and funds. "Everything that can be done is being done," Rapp told the Special Court. |
Naperville welcomes returning Olympian Naperville Mayor George Pradel shows Spring Brook Elementary students the key to the city he recently gave Olympic silver medalist Molly Schaus. The U.S. women's hockey goalie returned to her hometown for the weekend to visit family, friends and fans. Olympic silver medalist Molly Schaus visits Spring Brook Elementary in Naperville, where she graduated in 1999. The U.S. women's hockey goalie high-fived students including Megan Perucca, second from right, and encouraged them to follow their dreams. Hundreds of Spring Brook Elementary students waved American flags to greet alumna Molly Schaus, who recently won an Olympic silver medal as a goalie for the U.S. women's hockey team. Schaus lived in Naperville from second grade through freshman year of high school. Olympic silver medalist Molly Schaus, a goalie for the U.S. women's hockey team in Vancouver, told students at Spring Brook Elementary School in Naperville she was in fourth grade when she set a goal of becoming an Olympian. As a third-grader at Naperville's Spring Brook Elementary, Molly Schaus started playing hockey. As a fourth-grader at Spring Brook, Schaus set a goal of becoming an Olympian. As an alumna of Spring Brook, Schaus returned to her school Monday with an Olympic silver medal around her neck. Spring Brook students greeted the U.S. women's hockey team goalie with a banner and an enlarged yearbook photo of her from fifth grade. As she walked inside the gym, she was welcomed by several hundred students waving American flags and chanting her name. Schaus was wrapping up a weekend in her hometown that included receiving the key to the city from Mayor George Pradel, who also had declared April 3 as Molly Schaus Day. The Olympian lived in Naperville from second grade through freshman year of high school and graduated from Spring Brook in 1999. "You never know, one of you may be on stage in 10 years and getting a key to the city," Schaus told students Monday. "It's a pretty special thing." Pradel showed students the key he said opens the hearts of Naperville residents. "She sat right down here in your school a few years ago and she was just as tall as you are now," Pradel told them. "And now she's taller but she's also taller in another respect in that she's gained the title of the silver medal from the Olympics." Schaus took questions from students, telling them she has been practicing for three to four hours a day nearly every day for the past year. Asked how she felt at the Vancouver Olympics, she said, "It's 10 years of hard work and sacrifice and there you are walking into the opening ceremonies with 200 American athletes in front of 80,000 people all going nuts. It's an amazing feeling and you feel everything at once." Schaus also gave students some encouragement to pursue their own talents. "My advice to you guys is to find something you love - whether it's sports, it's school, it's music, it's theater, whatever you guys like," she said. "Follow that passion, make a dream and follow it because you never know what can happen and just have fun with it." Physical education teacher Jenny Jansen taught Schaus in third through fifth grades and was well aware of her desire to be an Olympian even then. She called Schaus a tomboy who was not only talented at sports but also had a good attitude. "It's awesome," Jansen said of Schaus' return. "It's so exciting for the kids to see someone can grow up and do this." After the rally, Schaus stuck around to take photos with students and teachers. "It's really cool. I got to hold the medal and I think it's really cool I got to high-five her and get that close and that she went to the same school as me," fourth-grader Dakota Francis said. Schaus wasn't the only Olympian to visit Spring Brook in recent weeks. Another alumnus, gold medal-winning figure skater Evan Lysacek, talked to students March 26. "It's amazing we had two Olympians come to our school," fourth-grader Alexandra Van Cleave said. "It's like 1 million to one that they both get medals." Schaus also planned a quick visit Monday to another alma mater, Gregory Middle School, before flying home to Massachusetts. She plans to travel more with her family this spring and will be visiting the White House with her teammates. Then it's back to hockey camps and training for her final season at Boston College. In the meantime, she was happy to make a stop in Naperville to see friends, family and fans. "Ever since I got here it's just been more people welcoming me home and it's a really special feeling," she said. "It's hard to put into words how much it means to see all the support." ||||| The kids in Naperville's Brookwood Trace neighborhood don't need the latest hockey equipment. They've got the gear of Olympic silver medalist Molly Schaus. Schaus, a goalie on the U.S. women's hockey team in Vancouver, reunited with friends, family and even some of that old gear Saturday as the city she considers her hometown welcomed her back with a reception at Rosebud Italian Specialties and Pizzeria. "We're all proud of her and it's a big big accomplishment," said former neighbor Jody Factor. "We knew her when she was a little kid and she always had her head on straight, a very smart girl, focused. She's a real good example for kids to follow and not just because she went to the Olympics." Factor, a former hockey player himself, said Schaus could stop his slapshots when she was just 13. He brought Schaus' old hockey stick to the reception Saturday and said his children and others in the neighborhood still take turns using her equipment when playing street hockey. Schaus lived in Naperville from age 7 until her sophomore year of high school, attending Spring Brook Elementary, Gregory Middle School and freshman year at Benet Academy. She now attends Boston College. "I'm so pleased and proud to have her with us back home in Naperville," Mayor George Pradel said Saturday. "She's a wonderful, wonderful girl, very personable, very easy to talk to." He gave Schaus a key to the city and also declared April 3, 2010 as Molly Schaus Day in Naperville. "Everywhere you go today they're going to say, 'What day is it?'" Pradel said. "Molly Schaus Day!" the group of about two dozen shouted. Schaus said she appreciates Naperville's support. "Throughout the Olympics I'd get text messages and e-mails from people back in Naperville and it really meant a lot and it's unbelievable to be here today," she said. "I had a lot of fun memories this year but this is up there, this is one of the most special days in the whole process." Schaus's aunt, Julie Galbato of Geneva, said she is not surprised someone so focused was able to achieve her dreams. "We couldn't be prouder of her," Galbato said. "You don't find too many teenagers who have the motivation and dedication to achieve this." It was hard not to be in Vancouver to watch Schaus play, Galbato said, but the family is hoping to be there for the 2014 Games in Sochi. "The Schaus family is going to Russia, that's the slogan," she declared. Two of Schaus' closest friends from Naperville, Jacqueline Gargaro and Jenny Braun, wished they could have been in Vancouver too. They have been cheering Schaus on since they were kids and said there was a lot of screaming at the TV as they watched their friend compete in the Olympics. "She's talked about it since we've known her when she was 7 or 8, and to see it happen was pretty crazy," Braun said. The two say Schaus hasn't changed since her Naperville days and is just as laid back and humble as ever. "We have to yell at her to be like, 'Let us see your medal, show us your jersey,'" Gargaro said. "She's not very flashy about it," Braun said. "She's very modest." Schaus will be asked to show off her medal again Monday as she visits both Spring Brook and Gregory. The two schools recently celebrated another alumnus who brought home some Olympic hardware. Evan Lysacek won Olympic gold in figure skating and returned to Naperville for a rally and school visits on March 26. He too received a key to the city. ||||| With vaccinations underway across the U.S. and world, Illinois is still in the first phase of its program. Here’s where the state stands. | Molly Schaus in a game against the Eastern College Athletic Conference All-Stars on January 3, 2010. US Olympic ice hockey silver medalist Molly Schaus returned to her hometown of Naperville, Illinois last weekend. Her travels culminated in a visit on Monday to Spring Brook Elementary School, where as a fourth-grader she set the goal of some day being an Olympian. Schaus's dream was fulfilled this year during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, when she played for the US women's ice hockey team and won a silver medal. As she addressed and answered questions from students and teachers at the grade school, Schaus explained the large amount of work she had to invest to achieve her goals. The ''Chicago Daily Herald'' reports that "she has been practicing for three to four hours a day nearly every day for the past year." She told the students to "make a dream and follow it because you never know what can happen and just have fun with it." The nostalgic visit to her elementary school followed a weekend of other appearances in Naperville, including a celebration last Saturday at Rosebud's Italian Specialties and Pizzeria. Saturday had been declared Molly Schaus Day by Naperville Mayor A. George Pradel, who also gave Schaus a key to the city. Schaus has not been the only Olympic alumnus to return to the school; figure skater and gold medalist Evan Lysacek returned to his Naperville hometown and spoke to the students at Spring Brook on March 26. "It's amazing we had two Olympians come to our school. It's like 1 million to one that they both get medals," remarked fourth-grader Alexandra Van Cleave. Schaus lived in Naperville until moving to Massachusetts during her sophomore year in high school, having attended Gregory Middle School for junior high and Benet Academy during her freshman year of high school. After speaking at Spring Brook on Monday, she visited Gregory later that day and then went home to Massachusetts. She is expected to visit the White House with the rest of her team later this year. She will also start preparing for her final season at Boston College. |
Ghana’s President John Kufuor is expected to travel to Kenya this week to help resolve the escalating violence that has plunged Kenya into a political crisis. This comes after Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki sent an envoy to brief the Ghanaian president, who is also chairman of the African Union on the current situation in Kenya. Kibaki has also reportedly said he is willing to dialogue without pre-condition with opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement who is claiming he won December’s presidential election. But Odinga has reportedly ruled out any negotiations with President Kibaki, and has demanded his resignation as Kenya’s president. Akwesi Osei-Adjei is Ghana’s foreign minister. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that President Kufuor is concerned about the tensions in Kenya. “Basically, the president has been invited to Kenya to see for himself the situation and offer advise as to how the two leaders can come together to stop what is happening in Kenya. As you know, people are being killed and there are a lot of disturbances in Kenya and Kenya is like a pillar of a democratic country is now blowing up in our faces. And I don’t think it is for any African country to stand by and more so the chair of the AU (Africa Union) to sit by for such a thing to happen to Kenya. He (president Kufuor) is going there to offer advice,” Osei-Adjei noted. He reckoned that President Kufuor’s expected trip would yield positive results that would help alleviate the escalating violence in Kenya. “We hope so. He (President Kufuor) wouldn’t move from Ghana to Kenya not expecting to make a difference to make the situation calm and normal. You know so that is what we expect,” he said. Osei-Adjei denied speculations that President Kufuor’s mediation efforts could possibly worsen the situation just like in Zimbabwe. “No, I don’t think so. Zimbabwe is quite a different issue. This is coming out as a result of elections, the recent elections and what is happening that we have to be there to ensure that the two leaders can sit down and then calm the situation,” Osei-Adjei pointed out. He said President Kibaki invited the Ghanaian president to help solve the escalating violence, which is blamed on the controversy surrounding the December elections. “Well, the envoy came yesterday to brief the president of Ghana and at the same time the chair of the AU the situation before elections, during elections and after the elections. Upon this then he also added the President (Kibaki) has also asked him to invite the president of Ghana that is President Kufuor of Ghana to be there to help calm the situation. This is what was said yesterday that President Kufuor is going to Kenya to talk to the two leadership and then make them come to if you like some the peace pipe so that things in Kenya will calm down so that of course the necessary things could be done, and then ensure that people go about their normal businesses,” he said. ||||| The police had tightened security ahead of the planned rallies Raila Odinga said he hoped international mediation could solve the crisis. He says the vote was rigged in favour of President Mwai Kibaki. The top US official for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has said Kenyans have been "cheated" by their political leaders. The police now say that 600 people have died in election violence - up from the previous official figure of 350. Some 250,000 people have fled their homes in clashes between rival political supporters, ethnic groups and the police. We have at least 600 dead... some bodies are still in the bushes where fighting occurred Senior police officer Q&A;: Poll violence After a week of clashes, some shops and businesses have re-opened in the capital, Nairobi and "matatu" mini-bus taxis have returned to the streets after several days when the city was deserted. "We are now assured that the mediation process is about to start," Mr Odinga said after meeting Ms Frazer. "We are therefore informing our supporters countrywide that there will be no public rallies [on Tuesday]." Roads blocked Mr Odinga said Kenya was living through the gravest crisis it had faced and condemned the violence that had taken place. Ms Frazer said there may have been vote-rigging by both sides and that ordinary Kenyans had been let down. Charities are warning of a looming health crisis "The only way to restore the Kenyan people's rights and confidence in the system is that the political leaders have to stop the violence, because innocent people are dying." Meanwhile, Mr Kibaki has reconvened parliament for 15 January. Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement won a majority in parliament but does not have the two-thirds needed for a vote of no-confidence in the president. Both sides have accused the other of ethnic cleansing during a week of violence after Mr Kibaki was declared the winner. HAVE YOUR SAY The country-wide violence has affected virtually every Kenyan Geoffrey Mwango, Mombasa Send us your comments "We have at least 600 dead... some bodies are still in the bushes where fighting occurred." Mr Odinga said he understood that Ghana's President John Kufuor, current chairman of the African Union, would also be going to Kenya soon for talks. Last week, the government said there was no need for Mr Kufuor to go to Kenya. Many in need Mr Kibaki has offered to form a "government of national unity" but Mr Odinga says the president must step down. The BBC's Peter Greste says there is no sign of this and there remains a large gap between the two sides' positions. The government says it has deployed its military engineering unit to assist in unblocking the main highways to enable relief supplies to be delivered to displaced people, and for public transport to resume. The head of the humanitarian services committee, Rachael Arunga, told a news conference in Nairobi that sufficient supplies were yet to reach thousands of displaced people in urgent need. Ms Arunga said the Rift Valley province was the worst hit area and efforts were being made to deliver food items, tents and medicine to the displaced people. Seven people were killed in a shoot-out at a police station on Sunday and there have been further clashes in Mombasa. European Union observers have criticised the way some of the votes were counted, including anomalies between the results announced locally and nationally. ||||| Ghana’s President John Kufuor is expected to travel to Kenya this week to help resolve the escalating violence that has plunged Kenya into a political crisis. This comes after Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki sent an envoy to brief the Ghanaian president, who is also chairman of the African Union on the current situation in Kenya. Kibaki has also reportedly said he is willing to dialogue without pre-condition with opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement who is claiming he won December’s presidential election. But Odinga has reportedly ruled out any negotiations with President Kibaki, and has demanded his resignation as Kenya’s president. Akwesi Osei-Adjei is Ghana’s foreign minister. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that President Kufuor is concerned about the tensions in Kenya. “Basically, the president has been invited to Kenya to see for himself the situation and offer advise as to how the two leaders can come together to stop what is happening in Kenya. As you know, people are being killed and there are a lot of disturbances in Kenya and Kenya is like a pillar of a democratic country is now blowing up in our faces. And I don’t think it is for any African country to stand by and more so the chair of the AU (Africa Union) to sit by for such a thing to happen to Kenya. He (president Kufuor) is going there to offer advice,” Osei-Adjei noted. He reckoned that President Kufuor’s expected trip would yield positive results that would help alleviate the escalating violence in Kenya. “We hope so. He (President Kufuor) wouldn’t move from Ghana to Kenya not expecting to make a difference to make the situation calm and normal. You know so that is what we expect,” he said. Osei-Adjei denied speculations that President Kufuor’s mediation efforts could possibly worsen the situation just like in Zimbabwe. “No, I don’t think so. Zimbabwe is quite a different issue. This is coming out as a result of elections, the recent elections and what is happening that we have to be there to ensure that the two leaders can sit down and then calm the situation,” Osei-Adjei pointed out. He said President Kibaki invited the Ghanaian president to help solve the escalating violence, which is blamed on the controversy surrounding the December elections. “Well, the envoy came yesterday to brief the president of Ghana and at the same time the chair of the AU the situation before elections, during elections and after the elections. Upon this then he also added the President (Kibaki) has also asked him to invite the president of Ghana that is President Kufuor of Ghana to be there to help calm the situation. This is what was said yesterday that President Kufuor is going to Kenya to talk to the two leadership and then make them come to if you like some the peace pipe so that things in Kenya will calm down so that of course the necessary things could be done, and then ensure that people go about their normal businesses,” he said. | Ghana’s President is expected to travel to Kenya this week to help resolve the escalating violence that has plunged Kenya into a political crisis. This comes after Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki sent an envoy to brief the Ghanaian president, who is also chairman of the African Union on the current situation in Kenya. Kibaki has also reportedly said he is willing to dialogue without pre-condition with opposition leader of the who is claiming he won . Odigna has decided to call off protests that were due to take place tomorrow as a result of the action. He has agreed to take part in the mediation process. This is despite earlier reports that he would not take part in the mediation. is Ghana’s foreign minister. He tells ''VOA'' reporter Peter Clottey that President Kufuor is concerned about the tensions in Kenya. “Basically, the president has been invited to Kenya to see for himself the situation and offer advise as to how the two leaders can come together to stop what is happening in Kenya. As you know, people are being killed and there are a lot of disturbances in Kenya and Kenya is like a pillar of a democratic country is now blowing up in our faces. And I don’t think it is for any African country to stand by and more so the chair of the AU (Africa Union) to sit by for such a thing to happen to Kenya. He (president Kufuor) is going there to offer advice,” Osei-Adjei noted. He reckoned that President Kufuor’s expected trip would yield positive results that would help alleviate the escalating violence in Kenya. “We hope so. He (President Kufuor) wouldn’t move from Ghana to Kenya not expecting to make a difference to make the situation calm and normal. You know so that is what we expect,” he said. Osei-Adjei denied speculations that President Kufuor’s mediation efforts could possibly worsen the situation just like in Zimbabwe. “No, I don’t think so. Zimbabwe is quite a different issue. This is coming out as a result of elections, the recent elections and what is happening that we have to be there to ensure that the two leaders can sit down and then calm the situation,” Osei-Adjei pointed out. He said President Kibaki invited the Ghanaian president to help solve the escalating violence, which is blamed on the controversy surrounding the December elections. “Well, the envoy came yesterday to brief the president of Ghana and at the same time the chair of the AU the situation before elections, during elections and after the elections. Upon this then he also added the President (Kibaki) has also asked him to invite the president of Ghana that is President Kufuor of Ghana to be there to help calm the situation. This is what was said yesterday that President Kufuor is going to Kenya to talk to the two leadership and then make them come to if you like some the peace pipe so that things in Kenya will calm down so that of course the necessary things could be done, and then ensure that people go about their normal businesses,” he said. |
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Comedian Eddie Izzard has completed his endurance feat of 43 marathons in 51 days for charity Sport Relief, finishing in London's Trafalgar Square. Izzard, who ran at least 27 miles per day and took just one day off per week, covered about 1,100 miles on his route across the UK. The 47-year-old, who trained for just five weeks for the event, told BBC News he now planned to "sleep for a week". In 2006, David Walliams swam the English Channel for Sport Relief. Blisters upon blisters are not very nice. It's the pain. Like the pain from mouth ulcers, it's not a massive area but sharp and quite agonising Eddie Izzard How did he do it? Send us your comments Izzard - who ended his mammoth challenge in the pouring rain - said he had been trying to complete his final day's run in under five hours but had failed to do so by 30 seconds. "I don't know what the hell I was doing at the end but it must have been way faster than I was doing the rest of the time. "So I feel exhausted now, but you know, it's over." He added: "Being here is very nice because, when I left here seven-and-a-half weeks ago, there was nothing here, it was just a cold morning and now there's a lot of people here, even in the rain." The comedian, who has so far raised more than £200,000, was joined by well-wishers for portions of the challenge, which took in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| Hazel Tyldesley, Trafalgar Square An exhausted Eddie Izzard is celebrating finishing his 43rd marathon in 51 days - a feat which has raised more than £200,000 for charity. Mararthon effort: Eddie Izzard gets mobbed by crowds at Trafalgar Square The celebrity runner was cheered on by 200 people as he completed the amazing feat in the pouring rain in central London. And after crossing the line he told Sky News: "I'm completely exhausted and I haven't been able to sleep properly. "Gravity has had a big impact on my body and I don't know what the fall-out will be. "It will take me a few days to come out of this and then I'll sleep for a week." The final leg saw him start at Potter's Bar and take in London's Olympic site before heading to the city centre. It was a challenge that would have pushed even the most hardened athlete - and was made all the more remarkable given Izzard's paltry five weeks of training. Sport Relief, the sister charity to Comic Relief, love it when sportsmen and women do this stuff but when it's ordinary bozos like you and me they like it even better. Eddie Izzard His arrival at Trafalgar Square marked the end of a 1,100-mile tour of Britain by foot for Sport Relief. It saw him battle toenail and ankle problems as he progressed through England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The two-times Emmy winner has run more than 30 miles a day, with just one day off a week. He said: "When we were hunters we used to hunt this way, so everybody should be able to do this. On the run "But at the end I just spear a Twix and have a Diet Coke. "Sport Relief, the sister charity to Comic Relief, love it when sportsmen and women do this stuff but when it's ordinary bozos like you and me they like it even better." He also backed a bid for Olympic glory for Britain in the marathon event adding: "If an idiot like me can run 43 marathons just think what a real athlete can do." Izzard has been accompanied en route by numerous well-wishers and a customised ice-cream van that has played Chariots of Fire to spur him on. It chimed on the finish line in Trafalgar Square as Izzard finished his final run. The comedian has re-fuelled not on ice-cream but potatoes, porridge and cake after each run. | Eddie Izzard British comedian Eddie Izzard has completed a series of 43 marathons in just 51 days to raise money for Sport Relief, a charity based in the United Kingdom. The marathons covered a total running distance of 1,100 miles (1,700 kilometers) across the United Kingdom. He ran from London, England, to Cardiff, Wales, to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Edinburgh, Scotland and back to London again. Izzard carried a flag of each of the four countries depending on which one he was running in. Eddie is 47 years old and had spent just five weeks training for the event. He crossed the finish line on Tuesday in Trafalgar Square in London during a rainfall. He said to waiting journalists: "I feel dead." In an interview with BBC News, he commented: "I don't know what the hell I was doing at the end but it must have been way faster than I was doing the rest of the time. So I feel exhausted now, but you know, it's over. Being here is very nice because, when I left here seven-and-a-half weeks ago, there was nothing here, it was just a cold morning and now there's a lot of people here, even in the rain." |
COTONOU (Reuters) - Benin will vote for a new president on Sunday in a crowded race focused on boosting the flagging economy, though logistical problems may keep hundreds of thousands from casting their ballots. ||||| 10 September 2007 Sierra Leoneans cast their ballots on 8 September in the second-round of presidential elections between Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People’s Congress and incumbent Vice-President Solomon Berewa of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, who are vying to succeed President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Secretary-General said he “urges the political parties and people of Sierra Leone to exercise restraint as counting of the ballots proceeds and to resolve all arising disputes through the existing legal channels.” Earlier this month, the two presidential candidates signed a communiqué on measures to try to calm tensions in Sierra Leone. In a statement on the eve of the run-off, Mr. Ban voiced his deep concern over incidents of harassment, intimidation and violence involving supporters of the two main political parties in the West African country, which is seeking to rebuild after a devastating decade-long civil war. The 11 August presidential and parliamentary elections were Sierra Leone’s second since the end of the decade-long civil war in 2002, and the first since the withdrawal of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in December 2005. The mission has been replaced by the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL). ||||| SIERRA LEONE: Second round of presidential poll calm Photo: David Hecht/IRIN Banners in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, show the two candidates in the 8 September presidential run-off FREETOWN, 10 September 2007 (IRIN) - Despite allegations that the two parties in Sierra Leone’s 8 September final round of presidential elections were fomenting violence in the run-up to the poll, police were able to stave off major incidents, local and international observers agree. "Despite heightened tension and several reported instances of election-related violence during the campaign period, the delegation considers that the overall electoral process was generally transparent and peaceful," an observer team with the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) said in a statement issued on 10 September. The European Union Elections Observation Mission in a 10 September communiqué also commended the process, but urged “all parties to remain committed to peace and democracy [and] patiently await the results". The vote pitted opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) leader Ernest Koroma against Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Initial results are expected on the evening of 10 September but final results will not be made public for several days. The APC announced on 8 September that it would reject the results in Kenema and Kailahun districts, charging that SLPP supporters blocked APC representatives from observing the vote there. Assistant Inspector General of Police for Operations Richard Moigbeh told IRIN that authorities have imposed a curfew in the town of Kailahun. Clashes occurred in the SLPP stronghold ahead of the run-off when opposition leader Koroma attempted to campaign there. His convoy retreated after allegedly being ambushed by SLPP youth. NDI said in its statement, "If candidates wish to challenge the outcome of the election, they should seek redress through the proper legal mechanisms in accordance with the rule of law." The winner will succeed President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who is finishing his second term in office. wb/dh/np ||||| New York, 10 September 2007 - Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General after the 8 September run-off presidential elections in Sierra Leone The Secretary-General is pleased to note that the second round of the presidential election in Sierra Leone took place on 8 September in a generally orderly and peaceful atmosphere, in spite of the tensions and violence that marred the campaign period. The Secretary-General urges the political parties and people of Sierra Leone to exercise restraint as counting of the ballots proceeds and to resolve all arising disputes through the existing legal channels. ||||| Press Statement Sean McCormack, Spokesman Washington, DC September 10, 2007 Sierra Leone Presidential Run-off Election, September 8, 2007 The United States congratulates the Republic of Sierra Leone for the peaceful presidential run-off electoral process on September 8, 2007. We commend the independent National Electoral Commission, the Sierra Leone Police, and especially the people of Sierra Leone for the overall calm and sense of order shown as voters cast their ballots. As the outcome unfolds and the results are tallied and certified, we urge all Sierra Leoneans, particularly the political parties, to respect the ongoing electoral process and the final results. 2007/741 Released on September 10, 2007 ||||| COMMUNIQUE OF A SPECIAL MEETING CONVENED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT ALHAJI DR AHMAD TEJAN KABBAH OF THE TWO MAIN POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS ON THE FORTHCOMING RUN-OFF ELECTIONS TO BE HELD ON SATURDAY THE 8TH OF SEPTEMBER 2007 Following the successful Second Security Consultative Conference on Election held on Saturday 1st September 2007, His Excellency the President, Alhaji Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah summoned a meeting of the leaders of the two main political parties, Honourable Ernest Bai Koroma, Leader and Presidential Candidate of the All People's Congress Party and the Honourable Solomon Ekuma Berewa, Leader and Presidential Candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party in order to follow-up on the recommendations of that Consultative Meeting and to develop an Action Plan for their implementation. This is considered necessary in order to ensure that the success attained in the first round of elections is maintained or even improved upon in the interest of maintaining peace and stability. In view of this the meeting agreed that the two leaders should strengthen their mutual trust and confidence which should flow down to their supporters in particular and the nation in general. In order to achieve this, the meeting identified the following matters of concern which should be dealt with immediately: " The use of ex-combatants and vigilante groups by political parties and the assignment to them of security roles in party activities has been found to be negative and counter-productive and it is hereby banned. In this regard, the Sierra Leone Police is instructed to verify the compliance with this ban and to enforce it. The security of the premises of the political parties and activities is the responsibility of the Sierra Leone Police at all times. In addition, the Sierra Leone Police will provide adequate security for the two leaders. Any persons in possession of arms and offensive weapons or objects will be arrested and prosecuted. While appreciating the role being played currently by the Sierra Leone Police they are urged to be more robust and impartial in carrying out their functions to underscore the fact that nobody is above the law. The two leaders agreed to develop their inter-personal relationship and the exchange of information on matters concerning the elections and national security. The two leaders agreed that political parties are allowed to have marshals with distinctive T-shirts for crowd control purposes during party functions and should not be armed. Based on information received, the security forces have been instructed to ferret out and expose any existing unauthorised military training activities and initiation ceremonies aimed at causing subversive activities against the state and the people of Sierra Leone. The rumour of possible disruption of the peace before, during and after the elections has been received by the security forces who are under instructions to deal with it. In this regard the two leaders agreed to share information in support of the security forces. Security arrangements for VIPs should be provided by the Sierra Leone Police and not by the RSLAF. In this regard, the Ministry of Defence is under instruction to withdraw all military personnel posted to VIPs and other areas outside of the existing MACP directives. The two leaders strongly condemn all actions of intimidation, harassment and use of provocative language, physical violence directed at any person/persons or the malicious destruction of property for any reason. Both leaders agreed to always treat each other with respect and decorum and urge other political leaders and their followers to do the same. In pursuance to the above, the two leaders agreed with His Excellency that to demonstrate their commitment to the peaceful conduct of the run-off elections, to undertake, in a grand finale, a joint peace rally in Freetown which is to be replicated simultaneously in the provinces. This Communiqué comes into effect immediately upon signature and remains in force indefinitely. THE LODGE HILL STATION FREETOWN SUNDAY, 2ND SEPTEMBER 2007 HON. SOLOMON EKUMA BEREWA LEADER AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF THE S.L.P.P HON. ERNEST BAI KOROMA LEADER AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF THE A.P.C ALHAJI DR AHMAD TEJAN KABBAH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE -END- | A woman is helped by a member of the polling staff to cast her vote at a polling station in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in first-round elections on August 11, 2007. The results of Saturday's presidential run-off elections in Sierra Leone are being tallied, and early data indicated that opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma of All People's Congress (APC) was out front with 64 percent support. Vice President Solomon Berewa of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) had garnered 36 percent support, according to the country's election commission. However, only 18 percent of the polls had been tallied so far and the election commission pointed out that the early poll results came mainly from an area in western Sierra Leone having strong support for APC. It could take up to 12 days to count all the votes. For the results that have been tabulated, voter turnout has been determined to be approximately 73 percent. The lead-up to the run-off election had been marred by reports of violence and, on election day, monitors had observed some irregularities such as ballot box stuffing and excessive voter registrations. However, most observers, both domestic and international, agreed that the elections were carried out in an orderly fashion. On September 2, the two presidential candidates signed a communiqué, which outlined ten "matters of concern" to be dealt with "immediately". The agreement laid out a framework for cooperation on issues such as security and a weapons ban. There was a declaration to condemn "all actions of intimidation, harassment and use of provocative language, physical violence directed at any person/persons or the malicious destruction of property for any reason." One group of election monitors from the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDIIA) expressed their satisfaction with the election process. "Despite heightened tension and several reported instances of election-related violence during the campaign period, the delegation considers that the overall electoral process was generally transparent and peaceful," said NDIIA in a statement on September 10. People queue in the rain to vote in parliamentary and presidential elections outside a polling station in Freetown, Sierra Leone, August 11, 2007. The September 8 run-off elections followed the first round of presidential and parliamentary elections held on August 11, which were the second held since 2002 after the end of the civil war. Opposition leader Koroma, 54, garnered 44 percent of the vote, while Berewa, 69, won 38 percent support. Should Koroma win ultimately, it would mark the APC's return to power for the first time since it was overthrown in a 1992 coup. In a statement following Saturday's run-off elections, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed Mr. Ban's support for the process. "The Secretary-General is pleased to note that the second round of the presidential election in Sierra Leone took place on September 8 in a generally orderly and peaceful atmosphere, in spite of the tensions and violence that marred the campaign period. The Secretary-General urges the political parties and people of Sierra Leone to exercise restraint as counting of the ballots proceeds and to resolve all arising disputes through the existing legal channels." Spokesman for the U.S. Department of State Sean McCormack relayed the sentiment of the administration. "The United States congratulates the Republic of Sierra Leone for the peaceful presidential run-off electoral process on September 8, 2007. We commend the independent National Electoral Commission, the Sierra Leone Police, and especially the people of Sierra Leone for the overall calm and sense of order shown as voters cast their ballots." The winning candidate will take over from current president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who, by law, must step down after his current, second term in office. |
Mom charged in fatal dog mauling Maureen Faibish gets into a car in front her father's home Thursday, in San Francisco, California. RELATED Mother of mauling victim feared family dog SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- The mother of a 12-year-old boy fatally mauled by the family's pit bulls was charged Thursday with child endangerment. Nicholas Faibish was killed June 3 by one or both of the family dogs when his mother went out to run errands. Maureen Faibish, 39, found her son in a bedroom, covered in blood from several wounds, including a major head injury. One of the dogs was shot and killed by a police officer shortly after the attack. The other remains in animal control custody. "His parent made the decision to leave (Nicholas) alone in a situation that endangered his life and ultimately led to his death," prosecutor Kamala Harris said in a statement. Maureen Faibish told the San Francisco Chronicle she had been so concerned about one of the dogs that she shut her son in the basement to protect him. She said the male dog was acting possessively because the female was in heat. An arraignment will be scheduled for next week. Faibish faces a maximum ten years in prison if convicted. ||||| Hours before being mauled to death by the family pit bull, 12-year- old Nicholas Faibish had been told to stay in the basement separated from the dogs, said his distraught mother, Maureen Faibish, who called The Chronicle on Saturday, trying to make sense of what she called a "freak accident.'' "I put him down there, with a shovel on the door,'' said Faibish, who had left the boy alone with the dogs on June 3 to run some errands. "He had a bunch of food. And I told him, 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me.'' Faibish said she was concerned that the male pit bull, Rex, was acting possessive because the female, Ella, was in heat. Apparently, Nicholas found a way to get the door open and come upstairs. At that point Faibish believes he walked in while the dogs were mating and was attacked by Rex. "It was Rex, I know it in my heart,'' Faibish said. "My younger dog (Ella) was in heat and anyone who came near her, Rex saw as a threat. He may have been trying to mate. It was a freak accident. It was just the heat of the moment.'' Faibish felt compelled to call The Chronicle, she said, because she was upset by comments in a Saturday column that disparaged family members who own pit bulls. In the column an Oakland surgeon who often treats bites by pit bulls said, "when you have an animal like that in your house you are recklessly endangering your family.'' "They made it sound like we put our kids in a war zone,'' Faibish said in a phone conversation. "That's not true. My kids got along great with (the dogs). We were never seeing any kind of violent tendencies.'' Authorities on Saturday said they had no indication that the dogs had bitten Nicholas prior to the attack, but may have menaced him previously. On the day of the attack, Maureen Faibish arrived at the family home at 711 Lincoln Way about 3:15 p.m. to discover her son's lifeless body in a front bedroom. His face had been mauled, and he was covered with bite wounds and had a hole in his scalp from the attack. She hasn't been allowed back into the home because of the police investigation, she said. She has been staying with her father, who lives a few blocks away. She talked to The Chronicle by telephone and later at her father's home where, sitting on a couch and wrapped in a blanket, Faibish held back tears as she spoke about her son and the day he died. "It's Nicky's time to go," she said. "When you're born you're destined to go and this was his time." After police were called to the family's home the day of the attack, an officer shot and killed Ella when the dog prevented him from entering the apartment. Rex was captured in the backyard and taken to the animal shelter. The family had been packing for a move, and her husband, Steve Faibish, was out of town. Their two other children were also not home. Maureen Faibish said she put Nicholas rather than the dogs in the basement because the room, which also served as a playroom for the children, was filled with plastic bags in preparation of their move. She figured the dogs would have destroyed the bags filled with clothes. Before she left the house, Faibish sent her 9-year-old son to the store to buy Nicholas a soda, bagel and chips. He also had video games to keep him busy. "Nicky was happy down there," she said. Faibish declined to say what triggered such concern that she insisted her son stay in the basement, away from the dogs. "I don't want to go into any of that detail," she said. "That's between me and the detectives." Clearly struggling with her emotions, Faibish said the death of her son had become "a media frenzy.'' On one hand, she continued to defend pit bulls and her dogs. "Even after the whole thing,'' she said, "I'm not mad at my dogs. I just love them to death.'' Nicky had not known life without pit bulls, she said. When he was a baby, the family had Rex 1. Ella and Rex II were "family dogs," Faibish said. They spent most of their time inside the house, slept in bed with the children every night and woke Maureen Faibish up every morning by licking her face. Ella was trained to lick her makeup off and kiss her ear. "The police killed the wrong dog if you ask me," Faibish said. She would never want Rex back in their house. "Absolutely not,'' Faibish said. "I told them I wanted him put down. I think of Rex as someone who molested my child, murdered my child.'' Faibish's comments captured the confusion and mixed feelings pit bulls can bring out in their owners. She spoke of Rex waking Nicholas and her up in the morning by licking their faces. "He's the most loving and giving dog in the world,'' she insisted. "There were no violent tendencies in him at all.'' Nor, she said, would she caution families who have pit bulls as pets. In the wake of this tragedy, some parents are wondering if they should keep their pit bulls. "Oh, they should keep their pit bulls,'' Faibish said. "Even though my son has been killed in a tragic accident, I don't think they should be banned. You've just got to worry about them when they are in heat. I didn't know Rex was going to be so possessive.'' Faibish said she and her husband decided not to spay or neuter their dogs because they wanted their puppies. She said Rex had been eager to mate with Ella, but the female dog was resisting his advances. "I used to say to Ella, just go ahead and let him do it," Faibish said. "Get it over with.'' Deeply remorseful, Faibish says she continues to think of what she might have done differently. For one, she wishes she'd persuaded Nicholas to go to a picnic with his younger sister, Ashley. But she insists, "I have no regrets about that day," Faibish said. She's also fed up with the second-guessing from public figures who, she feels, do not understand the situation. She says San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who made strong comments about restricting pit bulls, got an earful when he called. "Just for the record, I yelled at Gavin Newsom,'' she said. "I told him off. How dare him say anything about my family?" Newsom spokesman Peter Ragone said Saturday the mayor is deeply remorseful over her loss. "Certainly, she's going through a very difficult time, and we extend our deepest sympathy to her for her loss," said Ragone. Ragone said the mayor must also consider what policies should be taken regarding the wider issue of public safety. "There's no question about the fact that the mayor, like most in the city, believe actions must be taken to prevent tragedies like this from occurring in the future," Ragone said. While the public debate about pit bulls rages on, Faibish is left with the memories of her son, a popular and good-natured sixth-grader at Roosevelt Middle School. "This isn't about a dog,'' she said. "This is about my boy. My precious little boy.'' Chronicle Staff Writers Jaxon Van Derbeken and Jason B. Johnson contributed to this report.E-mail the writers at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com and cvega@sfchronicle.com. | Maureen Faibish of 711 Lincoln Way San Francisco, CA was arrested on June 24, 2005 on the charge of child endangerment in the actions leading up to the death of her son, 12-year-old Nicholas Faibish, who was mauled by one or both of her two pit bull dogs, Rex 2 and Ella. Nicholas was discovered dead in the front bedroom of her home at approximately 15:15 PDT on June 3, 2005, by his mother, who had left the house to run some errands. She had locked her son in the basement to keep him away from the dogs. "I put him down there, with a shovel on the door.", Faibish said in a telephone interview to the San Francisco Chronicle. "He had a bunch of food. And I told him, 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me." Faibish stated that she believes that her son had walked in when Rex 2, a male pit bull, was attempting to mate with Ella, a female pit bull who was in heat at the time. She stated that Rex 2 had been acting possessively prior to the incident. A police officer shot and killed Ella in order to gain entry to the apartment. Rex 2 was captured and removed to an animal shelter. "The police killed the wrong dog if you ask me.", Faibish said. |
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Police say there are negotiating with a man fitting the description of fugitive gunman Raoul Moat in Rothbury. People in the town have been told to "go home and lock the door" by armed officers. No arrest has been made. Moat is wanted over the shooting of his ex-girlfriend, her new partner - who was killed - and a police officer. Armed police have been carrying out search operations in the town since Tuesday. Riverside activity Ch Supt Mark Dennett, of Northumbria Police, warned residents of the Northumberland town to "stay inside for your own safety". A large amount of activity has been taking place close to allotments in the riverside area of the town. Armed officers, a number of cars and an ambulance are at the scene. One resident, called Paula, said that her mother had attempted to leave her house but an armed officer shouted at her to get back inside. The police cordon was then pushed back as the area was sealed off. Eye-witness Judith Ellis said that two police cars collided in their efforts to get to the scene, which she described as "mayhem". She said: "I am shaken up. I saw the snipers and they were trained on something to the left." Earlier it was revealed that three mobile phones used by Moat had been recovered by police. One was handed in by a member of the public in Rothbury and two were found by police. ||||| Police stand-off in fugitive hunt A man fitting the description of Raoul Moat was in a stand-off with police. Officers surrounded the riverside area of Rothbury in Northumberland amid eyewitness accounts that Britain's most wanted man was holding a gun to his head. The 37-year-old is wanted in connection with a triple shooting which left one man dead a week ago. A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "A man who fits the description of Raoul Thomas Moat has been located in the riverbank area in the vicinity of Rothbury. Police are currently negotiating." Armed police descended on the village as the hunt for the fugitive spread to the countryside north from Newcastle. Paula Mason told the BBC her mother was "terrified" as she was trapped in her home inside the police exclusion zone. An armed officer on the eastern approach into the village said: "I cannot explain the gravity of the situation. You're welcome to stay here but he (Moat) is on the other side of the primary school tennis courts and he is still armed." Juliette Ballantyne, from Whitton View, said she had seen snipers down by the river. Mrs Ballantyne, who lives to the east of Rothbury town centre, said: "I am nervous. My mother in law lives nearby. I hope she's okay." As armed police swamped the area an ambulance arrived and made its way to the river side. Shouting could also heard coming from the area. Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved. ||||| Moat, 37, was tracked down to Riverside in Rothbury, where eyewitnesses said police negotiators are talking to him as he sits on the ground cradling his shotgun. Police snipers have surrounded Moat, who surfaced near allotments where a man fitting his description was seen on Thursday night. Chief Superintendent Mark Dennett, the area commander, issued an urgent warning at 7.37pm for residents to stay indoors for their own safety. Moat has managed to evade police for seven days after shooting his ex-girlfriend last Saturday morning and killing her new boyfriend. He shot and wounded an unarmed police officer 24 hours later. Locals said the police activity was centred on allotments near the town centre where a man fitting Moat's description was spotted on Thursday night. As armed police swamped the area an ambulance arrived and made its way to the river side. Juliette Ballantyne, from Whitton View, said she had seen snipers down by the river. Mrs Ballantyne, who lives to the east of Rothbury town centre, said: "I am nervous. My mother in law lives nearby. I hope she's okay." Retired taxi driver Dave Murray, 67, of Knocklaw, said Moat appeared to have been chased through the village and was heading east before being cornered at the primary school tennis courts and bowling green. He said: "There is nowhere for him to go, the river is on one side and this road and all the police on the other." | File photo: Rothbury is a small town about north of Newcastle upon Tyne A major police operation is in progress in the United Kingdom town of , , in relation to the search for the 37-year-old gunman . A police cordon has been set up around riverside allotments in which Moat was thought to have been hiding, around 200 metres from the town centre. Police are negotiating with a man near the riverbank where the operation is taking place, who has them locked in a stand-off by holding a gun to his own head. Police are said to be moving away from the scene, and it is speculated that the incident may be coming to an end. A cordon remains established in the immediate vicinity of the incident and a 10 mile air exclusion zone has also been implemented. The following roads are closed or have restriction: "High Street, Church Street, Providence Lane, Bridge Street, Town Foot, and Brewery Lane". The North East Ambulance Service is on standby in case of casualties. Police have confirmed the person matches the description of Moat, who is wanted for the shooting of his ex-girlfriend, her new partner (whom he killed), and a police officer. Moat has repeatedly made threats to the police, and to the public at large. Local residents have been told to "go home and lock the door" for their "own safety". People who attempt to leave their homes in the nearby area are ordered to go back inside by armed police officers. Armed police are on the scene, and an ambulance was seen to arrive. Residents have made reports of snipers by the riverside, with guns pointing at a man who they believe to be Moat. Residents also report that Moat is holding a gun (which has been described as looking like a sawn-off shotgun) to his neck. Negotiators are reported to be standing no more than 21 feet from Moat. There are also unconfirmed reports that the "best friend" of Moat, a Tony Laidler, has been admitted inside the cordon to assist with the negotiations. Food and water has been delivered to the suspect. The footballer Paul Gascoigne is also present, outside the cordon, in Rothbury, claiming to be a friend of Moat. Gascoigne, on local radio, stated his intentions: "I jumped in a taxi with broken ribs and brought some food for him, lager. I know he won't shoot me." |
Leonore Annenberg, U.S. chief of protocol under President Reagan, widow of former publisher and U.S. Ambassador to Britain Walter H. Annenberg, and steward of the couple's massive philanthropy, died today at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. She had been in declining health, making fewer appearances at the charitable events that were a constant in her civic life. Mrs. Annenberg was 91. Mrs. Annenberg, who became an equal partner in the family's charitable legacy over the course of her long marriage, assumed control of the Annenberg Foundation in Radnor upon the death of her husband in October 2002. Since its creation in 1989, the foundation has given away $4.2 billion to cultural, educational and medical institutions. Her estimated worth was valued at $1.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine. In 2007, Mrs. Annenberg accepted the Philadelphia Award, the city's highest civic honor, in a ceremony at the Academy of Music, making the Annenbergs the first regional couple so honored in separate years. Her husband received the award in 1993. "The University of Pennsylvania would not be what it is today if not for the generosity of Walter and Lee Annenberg," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, her posts as director of Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center and former dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at Penn reflective of those gifts. The couple also bestowed schools at the University of Southern California and Brown. "As my father Walter H. Annenberg would have wished, the Annenberg Foundation will carry our family's commitment to philanthropy into the future," said Mrs. Annenberg's stepdaughter Wallis. "We honor both Ambassador and Mrs. Annenberg by ensuring the foundation's health and vitality to serve the community for generations to come." As recently as last month, despite declining health, Mrs. Annenberg met with Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a close friend, to discuss teaching the U.S. Constitution to school children, one of myriad Annenberg-funded programs in civic engagement. Under Mrs. Annenberg's leadership, the Annenberg Foundation, made regional grants to the Art Museum, the National Constitution Center, and the University of Pennsylvania. The foundation pledged $10 million to keep Thomas Eakins' masterwork The Gross Clinic in Philadelphia, and committed $30 million to relocate the Barnes Foundation to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Annenbergs' largesse, in the form of substantial gifts to scores of charitable institutions here and across the country, made them the region's most renowned and consistent benefactors for half a century. The couple's names are affixed to institutions in the United States and Britain, where Walter Annenberg served as ambassador under President Nixon from 1969 to 1974 and Mrs. Annenberg oversaw the restoration of Winfield House, the ambassadorial residence in London, subsidized with $1 million of their own funds. CHARITY WORK During her lifetime, Mrs. Annenberg sat on the boards of the nation's most prestigious philanthropies devoted to the arts and education, and received honorary degrees from the Penn, La Salle University and Brown University. Mrs. Annenberg was the rare individual to be an active trustee of arguably the city's three most prestigious charitable boards - the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Penn - and consistently among the largest donors to those institutions. The Annenberg name is everywhere on the Penn campus, rivaled only by that of the school's founder, Benjamin Franklin. "She really cared very deeply about the history and the culture of the city," said the late Philadelphia Museum of Art director Anne d'Harnoncourt in 2006. "There really wasn't another couple like them. We owe them a great deal." Mrs. Annenberg was a close friend of former Secretary of State Colin Powell - who called her "Mom" - of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who celebrated New Year's Eve at Sunnylands with the Annenbergs and Frank and Barbara Sinatra. The Annenbergs' 25,000-square-foot Palm Springs-area residence, decorated with Impressionist paintings and Fabergé eggs, boasts a living room the size of a grand hotel lobby. Situated on 650 manicured acres that included a private golf course, Sunnylands was not so much an estate as a principality in the desert. "She never took herself too seriously," said her friend retired federal Judge Arlin M. Adams. "She was always more concerned about people who had less than her." Mrs. Annenberg was known for "small acts of unexpected kindness. She was genuinely a nice person," Jamieson said, forever penning notes on her trademark yellow stationary. "She was so gracious and attentive to the things that interested her. Being with the Annenbergs was a special experience. The attention to detail and graciousness beyond what was ordinarily done." "She was a funny and lively conversationalist, and it was the conversation you remember about being at their home," d'Harnoncourt once recalled. "She understood the art of being a great hostess." D'Harnoncourt called Inwood - their long-time, 13-acre Wynnewood home, which Mrs. Annenberg sold to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in 2007- "not fancy but beautiful." ||||| In a statement released Thursday, former First Lady Nancy Reagan called Annenberg "a dear and longtime friend" and praised the couple's "unparalleled" philanthropy that "left an indelible print on education in the United States."When Ronald Reagan appointed Annenberg to the protocol post in 1981, it was as if she had spent the first 63 years of her life preparing for a role in which attention to etiquette and diplomatic detail play such an important part.What she called her only other "meaningful job" didn't come with a salary but took her to London, where Walter served as U.S. ambassador to Britain from 1969 to 1974. She had delighted in mingling with the royal family, entertaining and spending $1 million of Annenberg money refurbishing the ambassador's mansion.Her husband, who once owned a communications empire that included TV Guide, was one of the country's most generous philanthropists, giving away more than $2 billion in cash in addition to a trove of art, according to "Legacy," an Annenberg biography by Christopher Ogden.The Annenbergs gave about $290 million to USC, making the family the largest single donor in the school's history. They founded USC's Annenberg School for Communication in 1971 and the Annenberg Center for Communication, created to align and promote communications technologies, in 1993.Ernest J. Wilson III, dean of the Annenberg School, said in a statement Thursday that "her remarkable philanthropy" and "engagement with the power of communication to improve humanity truly" have changed the world.After her husband died in 2002, Leonore Annenberg became president of the Annenberg Foundation and continued giving millions away. More than $100 million was donated for an expansion of Eisenhower Medical Center and $10 million was given to the Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley for a center to teach children about civic responsibility and the U.S. presidency. In 2004, $25 million was given to build the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology at Caltech in Pasadena.On the Annenberg Foundation website , Annenberg's stepdaughter, Wallis Annenberg, expressed "deep sadness" over Leonore's death and stressed that the organization's commitment to philanthropy will continue "for generations."In the early 1950s, the Annenbergs began building a renowned collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces that was worth an estimated $1 billion when they pledged it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1991. The collection of about 50 works -- including paintings by Cezanne, Renoir, Monet and Van Gogh -- usually hung in their 32,000-square-foot mansion in Rancho Mirage.Designed by Los Angeles modernist architect A. Quincy Jones, the airy home on the 240-acre estate was completed in 1966 for a reported $3 million. Annenberg was known for her attention to detail as decorator and hostess at the desert compound lushly planted to resemble an English country estate.Known as Sunnylands, the estate that was their winter home had given refuge to President Nixon after his resignation over the Watergate scandal and was the site of Frank Sinatra's 1976 marriage to Barbara Marx. Actor Gregory Peck and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. had been guests. But no one was allowed to just drop by."Even we absolutely must wait for an invitation," Diane Deshong, one of her two daughters, told the Washington Post in 1981.With Annenberg's death, Sunnylands will be made available to the president of the United States and other high-level government officials to use as a diplomatic retreat. Eventually it also will be open for public tours three days a week, Jamieson said Thursday.The Annenbergs also kept a chalet in Sun Valley, Idaho, and an estate outside Philadelphia.When a Times reporter noted in 1981 that many people would be satisfied to stay by the pool instead of going to Washington to wrangle over diplomatic ceremony, Annenberg replied: "But what if you had done that for nine years . . . and suddenly you were offered a challenge?"The $50,000-a-year job as protocol chief was the first paying position she had ever had. She was surprised that she adored it, Annenberg told The Times in 1981, and at 63 "was amazed to find out" she could do it.In early 1981, she was put in charge of a staff of 40 in Washington, who didn't know what to expect from an international hostess who wore $3,000 suits and had a multimillion-dollar jewelry collection. Early on, Walter was overhead saying, "Remember, Motherrr, as we learned in London, it's the career people who saved our bacon and made the world go round.""Word spread fast. Both Annenbergs seemed approachable, normal and nice," Ogden wrote in "Legacy," an unauthorized rags-to-riches biography of Walter Annenberg and his father.As chief of protocol, Leonore held the rank of ambassador, with duties that included managing visits for heads of state and arranging presidential visits overseas. She also ran Blair House, a guest residence for visiting dignitaries. Since the house was in poor condition, she got her husband to help fund its refurbishment.She endured one firestorm of controversy for curtsying to Prince Charles when he visited the U.S. in April 1981. Many people felt such a deferential dip by a State Department official to a member of the British royal family was inappropriate.Annenberg chalked up the naturalness of the move to being a diplomat's wife in England, "where every single wife of every foreign ambassador curtsies to the royal family."By December 1981, she had decided to resign to spend more time with her husband, whom she mainly saw on weekends at their baronial manor outside Philadelphia, where his publications empire had been based. In accepting her resignation, Reagan praised her "exceptional grace and wisdom," according to the biography.Leonore Cohn was born Feb. 20, 1918, in New York City, to Max and Clara Cohn. When Lee -- as she was called -- was 7, her mother died, which caused her father to collapse. He ran a failing textile business.She was raised in the exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood of Fremont Place by her uncle Harry Cohn, who founded Columbia Pictures. Cohn gave his brother a job making short subjects for the studio while Lee and her younger sister Judith attended Page boarding school for girls in Pasadena."My father gave us away. He just couldn't manage it," Annenberg was quoted as saying in "Legacy."Harry's wife, Rose, raised her as a Christian Scientist, and that remained important in Annenberg's life. She also learned how to throw a society party by observing the post-performance buffets her aunt gave at the Hollywood Bowl.Soon after graduating from Stanford University in 1940, Leonore married Beldon Katleman, whose family owned real estate and a national parking lot chain. The couple had a daughter, Diane, but divorced within a few years.By 1946, Leonore had married the much older Lewis Rosenstiel, the multimillionaire founder of the Schenley liquor distillery, and they had a daughter, Elizabeth. He worked incessantly, and their marriage ended in divorce. She was lonely when she met Walter Annenberg in 1950 at a party in Boca Raton, Fla. Observers recalled that their chemistry was instant.In 1988, Walter Annenberg sold his Triangle publishing company to Rupert Murdoch for $3 billion.Her third marriage and husband were "fabulous," Annenberg often said."I admit that I have had a charmed life," she told the Washington Post in 1981. "It is true, and I am grateful for it."In addition to her daughters, Diane Deshong of Beverly Hills and Elizabeth Kabler of New York, Annenberg is survived by her stepdaughter, Wallis Annenberg of Los Angeles; a sister; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.Plans for a memorial will be announced in coming months.Instead of flowers, the family suggests that donors give to the charity of their choice. ||||| BENGHAZI, Libya — The weak Libyan government faces the task of trying to curb powerful militias while depending on them as the only armed forces, a conundrum that has trapped the country in a state of lawlessness. | Leonore Annenberg Billionaire philanthropist and former Chief of Protocol of the United States Leonore Annenberg, widow of the late publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, died Thursday, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 91 and had been in declining health at the time of her death. An Annenberg family spokesperson issued a statement confirming Mrs. Annenberg's death, and giving the cause of death as natural. Annenberg served as Chief of Protocol from 1981 to 1982 under President Ronald Reagan. Once out of the public eye, the Annenbergs began donating large sums of their fortune to arts, cultural, medical, and educational facilities through the Annenberg Foundation, established in 1989. Former President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush issued a statement in which they referred to Mr. and Mrs. Annenberg as having "exemplified service to others and were two of God's very special people." Former First Lady Nancy Reagan called Mrs. Annenberg "a dear and longtime friend" and praised the couple's "unparalleled" philanthropy that "left an indelible print on education in the United States." Plans for a memorial service are underway. |
Published by The JAMESTOWN FOUNDATION In This Issue: Volume 4, Number 175 - MOSCOW HINTS AT ITS NUISANCE VALUE TO ALLIED OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN - RUSSIAN SECURITY SERVICES KILL DAGESTANI REBEL LEADER - GROWING RUSSO-TURKISH ECONOMIC TIES OVERSHADOW POLITICAL DIFFERENCES - OIL POOR, WATER RICH TAJIKISTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN DRAW CLOSER TOGETHER Other Jamestown Publications: MOSCOW HINTS AT ITS NUISANCE VALUE TO ALLIED OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN By Vladimir Socor Friday, September 21, 2007 Moscow’s abstention in the Security Council has no significant consequences on the practical level. Symbolically, however, it hits at what the United States and NATO define as a core interest and top operational priority. Politically, it signifies yet another warning that Russia is prepared to challenge U.S. and NATO interests and hinder their policies almost anywhere in Eurasia to the maximum feasible extent. Thus, obstructionism in Afghanistan is only the latest in the series of recent Russian moves against anti-missile defense in Europe, the Treaty on Conventional Forces, conflict resolution in Kosovo (where Russia opposes what it calls “a NATO state”), U.S. military installations in Romania and Bulgaria, sovereignty and integrity of Georgia and Moldova, and other geopolitical issues, all amid the challenge to Western energy interests and energy security. By stepping up the obstructions or pressures and multiplying the disputed points, Moscow seeks to extract concessions on some issues in return for relenting on other disputes that it has itself created. Russia was the only country that did not support the Security Council’s resolution to prolong ISAF’s mandate by another year. As a pretext for its abstention, Moscow raised questions about the ongoing Japanese naval operation in the Indian Ocean. The Russians objected to the draft resolution that linked Japan’s naval operation with the ISAF and Enduring Freedom ground operations in Afghanistan. The Japanese operation is designed to supply allied forces in Afghanistan, via the Indian Ocean and Pakistan, with fuel and other critical materiel. It is also intended to intercept and board vessels suspected of carrying arms or reinforcements destined for terror groups that operate in Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. Russia asked for a voice in defining the parameters of the Japanese naval operations. Furthermore, Moscow objected to the resolution’s wording that commended Japan for its role. The naval operation is highly controversial in Japan. It became one of the factors behind prime minister Shinzo Abe’s resignation earlier this month, following the opposition’s victory in the Senate elections. Opposition parties call for termination of this naval operation while the governing Liberal-Democratic Party wants to continue it and has welcomed the Security Council’s resolution for praising this Japanese contribution to anti-terror efforts. Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin objected to what he described as improper interference in Japan’s internal affairs through this resolution. Churkin argued almost explicitly that the resolution’s wording would help the government and hinder the opposition in the Japanese political debate over the naval operation. Thus, Moscow evidenced an interest in curbing Japan’s emergent role in international security in Asia, even on the anti-terror front in this case. With this move, Russia seems to be positioning itself more broadly against NATO’s intentions to develop closer links with countries like Australia and Japan for enhancing security in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Also on September 20, the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) proposed assuming a political and security role in Afghanistan. Citing an urgent need to stabilize the country and the region, CSTO General Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha offered the organization’s assistance to train Afghan military and security personnel, combat drug trafficking, coordinate economic aid projects by Central Asian countries through the CSTO in Afghanistan, and help “normalize” the political situation there through legislative assistance. Moscow is airing this set of proposals through the CSTO, so as to make it look “multilateral” and regional, rather than Russian. The goal is to re-introduce Russian political and security influence in Afghanistan through means short of a military presence. Moscow could not fail to see opportunity in the recent setbacks and dysfunctionalities of NATO and U.S. operations there. It seeks to capitalize on this situation for re-entry in Afghanistan, primarily through soft-power instruments, for a strategic payoff that eludes the hard-power wielding Western forces. Bordyuzha was addressing a two-day meeting in Bishkek of the Security Council Secretaries of CSTO member countries (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan). At that session, Bordyuzha reaffirmed Russia’s position that U.S. access to the Manas air base is time-limited to the duration of operations in Afghanistan. Moreover, while Kyrgyzstan’s agreement with the United States on this issue is a matter for Bishkek to decide, nevertheless Kyrgyzstan is “actively consulting with its allies on this issue” -- a clear hint that Moscow retains the options to allow, disallow, or set conditions to the continuation of the basing arrangement in the future. (Interfax, Itar-Tass, September 19, 20) Email this article to a friend ||||| The other 14 Council members voted in favour of extending the mandate of the Force, which was established after United States-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001 to help Afghanistan’s then-interim authorities maintain security across the impoverished nation. In doing so, the 15-member body also called on Member States to contribute personnel, equipment and funding to strengthen the NATO-led Force and make it more effective. The Council also stressed the importance of improving Afghan security services in order to provide long-term solutions to security in the country, and encouraged ISAF and other partners to sustain their efforts to train and empower the National Police and other Afghan forces. Speaking before the vote, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin explained that while his delegation had traditionally supported ISAF and the continuation of its mandate, it could not support the current text because the new issue of maritime interception had yet to be clarified. “I should like to note that during the agreement of the draft resolution no clarity was made about the proposed new wording about the maritime interception component of the coalition Force which did not appear in all of the previous resolutions of the Security Council on Afghanistan,” he stated. “The maritime component is necessary exclusively to combat terrorism in Afghanistan and should not be used for other purposes,” he added. He also noted that there had been plenty of time to clarify his delegation’s concerns since the mandate of the Force did not expire until next month. “The unity of the Security Council has been sacrificed to undue haste.” ||||| UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO-led troops to stay in Afghanistan for another year on Wednesday and gave the Japanese government support in its domestic dispute over refueling U.S. and other ships in the Indian Ocean. NATO-led troops on a joint patrol with Afghan National Army troops in southern Afghanistan in this July 13, 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly The vote was 14-0 with Russia abstaining in the resolution that emphasized “the increased violent and terrorist activities by the Taliban, Al Qaeda, illegally armed groups and those involved in the narcotics trade.” The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has close to 40,000 soldiers in Afghan to combat the country’s former Taliban rulers, toppled by U.S. and Afghan forces in 2001. New in the resolution is a sentence expressing appreciation to NATO and contributions from many nations to ISAF, which includes Japan, “including its maritime interdiction component.” Japan’s top government spokesman, Kaoru Yosano, welcomed the resolution. “It is very important that Japan’s refueling activity was evaluated highly by the United Nations and members of the U.N. Security Council,” Yosano told reporters in Tokyo. “We have confirmed that our refueling activity is in accord with what the United Nations wants.” The leader of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, has opposed extending Japan’s mission to refuel coalition ships in the Indian Ocean, in part because he says the activities lack direct U.N. permission. The U.N. backing could help resolve the standoff between Japan’s ruling coalition and the Democrats and a showdown over the issue in parliament. But the Democrats stood firm. “There is no change in our stance,” Democratic lawmaker Kenji Yamaoka told reporters. “(The resolution) creates misunderstandings for the people, and if I may use harsher words, it deceives them.” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe abruptly announced his resignation last week after a troubled year in office, citing the confrontation over the naval mission as the main reason. The Democrats and their opposition allies won control of parliament’s upper house in a July election and can delay legislation to extend the mission beyond a Nov. 1 deadline. But the reference to maritime interdiction prompted Russia to abstain and China to criticize the resolution, although it voted in favour. “A decision was made to give priority to domestic considerations of some members of the United Nations,” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. “But we believe our main responsibility is to the Security Council.” Churkin noted that the mandate for ISAF did not expire for another month and council members should have “exerted every effort to get unanimity.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are leading a high-level meeting on Afghanistan on Sunday at U.N. headquarters. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan, said the group would discuss security, narcotics, governance, regional cooperation and economic development. The resolution also recognizes the need to further strengthen ISAF and asks countries “to contribute personnel, equipment and other resources.” And it condemns “in the strongest terms” suicide attacks, abductions and other violent action against civilians and international forces “and their deleterious effect on the stabilization, reconstruction and development efforts.’ The document singles out the Taliban “and other extremist groups” for using civilians as human shields. ||||| NEW YORK, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia abstained from a UN Security Council vote to extend the authorization of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan for another 12 months, reported RIA Novosti Thursday. Russia raised objections on Wednesday to the unexpected inclusion in the document of a sentence expressing appreciation to NATO as well as to contributors from many nations to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), "including its maritime interdiction component." Diplomats said the contested sentence was added mainly to give support to Japan's government, whose decision to continue the country's naval role in the ISAF has faced domestic opposition. Russia's envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said Russia had abstained from the vote because the issue of maritime interception was not clarified, and the resolution "should not have given priority to domestic considerations." The vote was 14-0, with Russia the only country to abstain. China, despite also expressing concern over the document's wording, supported the resolution. The ISAF currently has around 40,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. The country's former Taliban rulers, forced from power by U.S. and Afghan forces in 2001, have stepped up their activities dramatically of late, launching increasingly regular attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces. Churkin also commented that the mandate for the ISAF still had a month to run before its expiration, and that council members should have "exerted every effort to get unanimity." ||||| Security Council 5744th Meeting (PM) Security Council extends authorization of international security assistance force in afghanistan as Russian Federation abstains from vote Strongly condemning the violence that continued to destabilize Afghanistan, the Security Council decided this afternoon to extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in that country for another year beyond 13 October 2007. By resolution 1776 (2007), adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter by a recorded vote of 14 in favour to none against, with 1 abstention (Russian Federation), the Council also called on Member States to contribute personnel, equipment and funding to strengthen the Force and make it more effective. It stressed, in addition, the importance of improving Afghan security services in order to provide long-term solutions to the violence in the country, and encouraged ISAF and other partners to sustain their efforts to train and empower the National Police and other Afghan forces. Speaking before the vote, the representative of the Russian Federation said his country had traditionally supported ISAF and the continuation of its mandate as the Force continued to be important in combating the terrorist threat posed by the Taliban and Al-Qaida. However, the Russian delegation had abstained in the vote because the new issue of maritime interception had yet to be clarified. In statements after the vote, the representatives of Italy and China said they had voted in favour of the resolution because it gave the best support to Afghanistans stability. Chinas representative, however, expressed the hope that future decisions on the issue would be made by consensus. The meeting opened at 5:20 p.m. and closed at 5:30 p.m. Resolution The full text of resolution 1776 (2007) reads as follows: The Security Council, Reaffirming its previous resolutions on Afghanistan, in particular its resolutions 1386 (2001), 1510 (2003), 1707 (2006) and 1746 (2007), Reaffirming also its resolutions 1267 (1999), 1368 (2001) and 1373 (2001), and reiterating its support for international efforts to root out terrorism in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, Recalling its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), 1674 (2006) and 1738 (2006) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and its resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security, Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan, Recognizing that the responsibility for providing security and law and order throughout the country resides with the Afghan Authorities and welcoming the cooperation of the Afghan Government with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Recognizing the multifaceted and interconnected nature of the challenges in Afghanistan, reaffirming that sustainable progress on security, governance and development, as well as the cross-cutting issue of counter-narcotics is mutually reinforcing and welcoming the continuing efforts of the Afghan Government and the international community to address these challenges in a coherent manner through the comprehensive framework provided by the Afghanistan Compact, Stressing the central role that the United Nations continues to play in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan, noting, in the context of a comprehensive approach, the synergies in the objectives of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and of ISAF, and stressing the need for further sustained cooperation, coordination and mutual support, taking due account of their respective designated responsibilities, Reiterating its concern about the security situation in Afghanistan, in particular the increased violent and terrorist activities by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, illegally armed groups and those involved in the narcotics trade, and the links between terrorism activities and illicit drugs, resulting in threats to the local population, national security forces and international military and civilian personnel, Expressing also its concern over the harmful consequences of violent and terrorist activities by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and other extremist groups on the capacity of the Afghan Government to guarantee the rule of law, to provide basic services to the Afghan people, and to ensure the full enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, Reiterating its support for the continuing endeavours by the Afghan Government, with the assistance of the international community, including ISAF and the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) coalition, to improve the security situation and to continue to address the threat posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremist groups, and stressing in this context the need for sustained international efforts, including those of ISAF and the OEF coalition, Condemning in the strongest terms all attacks, including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks, suicide attacks and abductions, targeting civilians and Afghan and international forces and their deleterious effect on the stabilization, reconstruction and development efforts in Afghanistan, and condemning further the use by the Taliban and other extremist groups of civilians as human shields, Expressing its concern about all civilian casualties, and reiterating its call for all feasible steps to be taken to ensure the protection of civilian life and for international humanitarian and human rights law to be upheld, Recognizing the robust efforts taken by ISAF and other international forces to minimize the risk of civilian casualties, notably the continuous review of tactics and procedures and the conduct of after-action reviews in cooperation with the Afghan Government in cases where civilian casualties have reportedly occurred, Stressing the need for further progress in security sector reform, including further strengthening of the Afghan National Army and Police, disbandment of illegal armed groups, justice sector reform and counter-narcotics, Stressing in this context the importance of further progress in the reconstruction and reform of the Afghan prison sector, in order to improve the respect for the rule of law and human rights therein, Reiterating its call on all Afghan parties and groups to engage constructively in peaceful political dialogue within the framework of the Afghan Constitution and in the socio-economic development of the country, and to avoid resorting to violence including through the use of illegal armed groups, Recognizing the importance of the contribution of neighbouring and regional partners for the stabilization of Afghanistan, and stressing the crucial importance of advancing regional cooperation as an effective means to promote security, governance and development in Afghanistan, Welcoming the completion of ISAFs expansion throughout Afghanistan, the continued coordination between ISAF and the OEF coalition, and the cooperation established between ISAF and the European Union presence in Afghanistan, in particular its police mission (EUPOL Afghanistan), Expressing its appreciation for the leadership provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and for the contributions of many nations to ISAF and to the OEF coalition, including its maritime interdiction component, Determining that the situation in Afghanistan still constitutes a threat to international peace and security, Determined to ensure the full implementation of the mandate of ISAF, in coordination with the Afghan Government, Acting for these reasons under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, 1. Decides to extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force, as defined in resolutions 1386 (2001) and 1510 (2003), for a period of 12 months beyond 13 October 2007; 2. Authorizes the Member States participating in ISAF to take all necessary measures to fulfil its mandate; 3. Recognizes the need to further strengthen ISAF to meet all its operational requirements, and in this regard calls upon Member States to contribute personnel, equipment and other resources to ISAF, and to make contributions to the Trust Fund established pursuant to resolution 1386 (2001); 4. Stresses the importance of increasing the effective functionality, professionalism and accountability of the Afghan security sector in order to provide long-term solutions to security in Afghanistan, and encourages ISAF and other partners to sustain their efforts, as resources permit, to train, mentor and empower the Afghan national security forces, in particular the Afghan National Police; 5. Calls upon ISAF to continue to work in close consultation with the Afghan Government and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General as well as with the OEF coalition in the implementation of the force mandate; 6. Requests the leadership of ISAF to keep the Security Council regularly informed, through the Secretary-General, on the implementation of its mandate, including through the provision of quarterly reports; 7. Decides to remain actively seized of this matter. * *** * ||||| Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Presidential election candidates, LDP Secretary-General Taro Aso (L) and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda attend a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo September 19, 2007. TOKYO Japanese officials hope a U.N. resolution to be adopted this month will clear the way to extend a naval mission aiding U.S.-led Afghanistan military operations, pleasing Washington and averting a bruising showdown in parliament as a new government kicks off. The leader of Japan's main opposition Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, has opposed extending Japan's mission to refuel coalition ships in the Indian Ocean, in part because he says the activities lack a direct U.N. imprimatur. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe abruptly announced his resignation last week after a troubled year in office, citing the confrontation over the naval mission as the main reason. Officials later mentioned health problems, too, and Abe has since been hospitalized for stress and exhaustion while his ruling party rushes to pick his successor in a September 23 poll. The Democrats and their opposition allies won control of parliament's upper house in a July election and can delay legislation to extend the mission beyond a November 1 deadline. A U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, a NATO-led peace force, is likely to include "words of appreciation" for the Indian Ocean maritime mission, a diplomatic source said on Wednesday. "I think it's likely and it's going to be a very good boost for the continuation of the operations," the source said. Kyodo news agency said the resolution could be adopted later on Wednesday. "If the resolution is adopted, then the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) will lose its largest grounds for opposing Japan's participation," Kyodo quoted Defense Minister Masahiko Komura as saying. COMPROMISE OR CONFRONTATION Both candidates to succeed Abe -- frontrunner Yasuo Fukuda, who is a 71-year-old former cabinet minister, and former foreign minister Taro Aso -- have stressed the need to continue the naval mission, in which Japan supplies fuel for coalition ships from countries including Pakistan, the only Muslim nation to take part. Japanese public support for the mission has been growing, but it was unclear whether the U.N. resolution would be enough to change the Democratic Party's stance. Democratic Party Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama termed the notion of referring to the maritime activities in the U.N. resolution "ridiculous", adding, "What is the government up to?" Some analysts, though, said a U.N. resolution might provide a way to break the deadlock between the government and the opposition and help Ozawa resolve a split in his own party between hawks who want to extend the mission and doves who don't. "Ozawa would win in two ways," said Steven Reed, a political science professor at Chuo University in Tokyo. "First, the LDP comes around to the Democratic Party policy, and second, he bridges gaps in his own party." Ozawa has called for an early general election but his own party is probably not ready yet for another nationwide campaign. No lower house election need be held until late 2009. A parliamentary deadlock could force one sooner, but Japan's new leader will likely try to put off a vote as long as possible given weak LDP support rates. (Additional reporting by George Nishiyama) ||||| Afghan Leader Seeks Help With Troops UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on world leaders Tuesday to provide more help in strengthening his country's military and police forces to battle resurgent Taliban militants. "The war against those who continue to pose a threat to the security of our people will continue unabated," he said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly. He requested greater international assistance to help train Afghan security forces "to take a leading role" in protecting the country. While Karzai praised the U.S. for helping Afghanistan build its security forces to their present capabilities, he also urged international forces to avoid the unintentional killings of civilians. "I emphasize the need for maximum caution on the part of international forces operating in Afghanistan, as well as increased coordination with Afghan authorities, in order to avoid civilian casualties," Karzai said. More than 4,400 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials. Last month, Karzai said after a meeting with President Bush that the U.S. leader shares his concerns about the mounting number of Afghan casualties. Militants often wear civilian dress and seek shelter in villagers' homes, making it hard to differentiate the enemy from the innocent. In the past two years, the number of terrorist attacks have increased in Afghanistan, as well as the degree of brutality with which they are carried out, Karzai said Tuesday, emphasizing that the country has only been a victim and not a perpetrator of the problem. "Terrorism was never, nor is it today, a homegrown phenomenon in Afghanistan," Karzai said. In August, Karzai participated with Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a four-day "peace jirga" in Kabul. In his speech, he called the event "a promising step ... in our common fight against terrorism and extremism." Karzai said another priority of the government would be to curb Afghanistan's drug trade by providing alternative livelihoods to farmers who grow poppy crops and increasing the implementation of other strategies including poppy eradication. ||||| 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. | An ISAF humvee overlooks Khost, Afghanistan. The United Nations Security Council has voted 14–0 to extend the mandate of the (ISAF) in Afghanistan by another year. The resolution says the Security Council agreed to, "extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force, as defined in resolutions 1386 (2001) and 1510 (2003), for a period of 12 months beyond October 13, 2007." Although Russia has veto power on the Security Council, it abstained during the 14-0 vote on September 19th. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, , told ''RIA Novosti'' Russia abstained because of what he called, "the unexpected inclusion in the document of a sentence expressing appreciation to NATO .... "including its maritime interdiction component." " Part of Resolution 1776 (2007) reads, "Expressing its appreciation for the leadership provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and for the contributions of many nations to ISAF and to the OEF coalition, including its maritime interdiction component." Media reports indicate this section of the resolution provides support to Japan in a domestic dispute in that country over refueling of U.S. and other ships in the Indian Ocean. Japanese government spokesperson, Kaoru Yosano, told ''Reuters'' the resolution was welcome, adding, "It is very important that Japan's refueling activity was evaluated highly by the United Nations and members of the U.N. Security Council." "A decision was made to give priority to domestic considerations of some members of the United Nations," Churkin told ''Agence France Presse''. "The unity of the Security Council has been sacrificed to undue haste." Even before the Security Council vote, Japanese officials hoped the resolution would clear the way to extend a naval mission assisting U.S.-led Afghanistan military operations, showing support for Washington and averting a conflict in the Japanese in parliament as a new government begins its mandate there. The leader of Japan's main opposition Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, has opposed extending Japan's mission to refuel coalition ships in the Indian Ocean, in part because he says the activities lack a direct U.N. imprimatur. Although expressing concerns about the resolution, and calling for future decisions on the issue to be made "by consensus", China supported the resolution. The resolution extends the ISAF mission mandate under Chapter VII of the until October 13, 2008. Expressing its concern about all civilian casualties, the resolution, condemns "in the strongest terms all attacks, including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks, suicide attacks and abductions, targeting civilians and Afghan and international forces and their deleterious effect on the stabilization, reconstruction and development efforts in Afghanistan," as well as "the use by the Taliban and other extremist groups of civilians as human shields." The resolution also calls for ISAF coalition members to, "sustain their efforts to train and empower the National Police and other Afghan forces." ISAF currently has approximately 39,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. Its mission, as stated on the ISAF web page, is to, "conduct military operations in the assigned area of operations to assist the Government of Afghanistan in the establishment and maintenance of a safe and secure environment with full engagement of Afghan National Security Forces, in order to extend government authority and influence, thereby facilitating Afghanistan's reconstruction and contributing to regional stability." |
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an effort to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich, rejecting what could have been the quickest way to force the Democrat from office. The ruling came as the governor's attorney challenged the strength of the corruption case against Blagojevich before a panel of lawmakers that is considering whether to recommend impeachment. Chicago attorney Ed Genson said the wiretaps that ensnared Blagojevich amounted to all talk and no action. "It's just people jabbering," Genson told the House panel. Genson attacked the impeachment proceedings on multiple fronts Wednesday, assailing the wiretaps, questioning the committee's impartiality and complaining that the panel had not given the governor enough time to mount a defense. The committee's Democratic chairwoman, Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie of Chicago, rejected all of Genson's requests. "We're not a court of law. We're not quite a grand jury," Currie said. "We're not bound by specific rules of evidence." Blagojevich has been under siege since his arrest last week on charges that he tried to auction off Barack Obama's Senate seat. But he got some good news when the state's highest court refused to hear the attorney general's legal challenge to his fitness to serve. The state Supreme Court rejected without comment a challenge filed by state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, herself a top candidate for governor in 2010. It was unclear whether the court turned down the case on its merits or on procedural grounds. The attorney general had asked the court to remove Blagojevich, arguing that his legal and political troubles prevented him from performing his duties. Madigan said the governor's problems amount to a disability, so Blagojevich should have been stripped of his authority temporarily just as if he were physically incapacitated. Madigan said she was disappointed by the ruling, saying Blagojevich's refusal to resign has put the state in an "unsustainable situation." She urged the impeachment panel to proceed with "deliberate speed." The court's decision renewed calls from Republicans for a special election to choose Obama's successor in the Senate. Blagojevich had already started the day feeling upbeat, telling reporters before a morning run that he had confidence in Genson and that he was eager to defend himself. "I can't wait to begin to tell my side of the story and to address you guys and, most importantly, the people of Illinois. That's who I'm dying to talk to." Federal wiretaps recorded Blagojevich talking about selling or trading Obama's Senate seat, but Genson told the House committee that the words do not amount to illegal actions. Genson said it would be improper for the committee to base any decisions on the criminal complaint that summarizes the recordings of Blagojevich. "This proceeding, which is basing its findings on the summary of wiretaps, is unfair and quite frankly illegal. The fact of the matter is, we in this case object, and object vociferously, to the use of this." Lawmakers insisted they can consider the criminal complaint in deciding whether there's enough evidence to justify an impeachment vote. "We are allowed to take in hearsay in this committee. A grand jury is allowed to hear hearsay," said the panel's top Republican, Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs. "We are not convicting. We are not the trial body. That's in the Senate." Genson told the impeachment panel that some of its members have made statements suggesting they had already made up their minds. He also said neither the law nor the constitution spell out the standard for impeachment or what evidence should be considered. Blagojevich, who was arrested last week, denies any wrongdoing and is defying an avalanche of demands for his resignation. The Illinois House has appointed a 21-member committee to review the possibility of impeachment. It will look at the criminal charges, along with whether the governor has abused his power by defying lawmakers and spending money with authorization. The committee, divided 12-9 between Democrats and Republicans, will recommend whether the full House should move to impeach Blagojevich. If that happened, the state Senate would then decide whether the governor is guilty. Genson argued that three lawmakers Republicans Bill Black of Danville and Jil Tracy of Mount Sterling, and Democrat Jack Franks of Woodstock should be removed. He said their opening statements indicated they won't give the governor a fair hearing. "A number of the people who are on this committee expressed views that made it perfectly clear they've already made up their mind in this case," Genson said. "They made comments which show Rod Blagojevich can't get a fair and impartial hearing of this committee." Currie said that the committee members would not be removed. She also defended the members' opening statements for showing "a spirit of due process and fair play." Genson also is asking the Illinois House to appoint and pay for Blagojevich's attorneys in the impeachment matter. That normally would be Madigan's job, he said, but she cannot do it because of her challenge to the state Supreme Court. Madigan's office said it would respond soon to Genson's request. ||||| Mr. Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat who was arrested last week on federal charges of conspiracy and soliciting bribes and accused, among other things, of trying to sell the Senate seat, did not appear before the impeachment inquiry committee. Photo But his team of lawyers, including Edward Genson, a fiery criminal defense lawyer well-known in Illinois after more than four decades in Chicago courtrooms, made its first appearance here, describing the lawmakers’ efforts as a “real witch hunt” and offering a series of pointed objections about the state’s vague standards for impeachment, the lawmakers’ use of the federal criminal complaint against the governor as evidence in their inquiry, and at least three lawmakers he said could not be fair. “This is Alice in Wonderland,” Mr. Genson announced at one point, in a series of contentious, snippy exchanges in the public hearings at the Capitol. “I think it’s unfair to put in hearsay,” he said at another point, referring to the 78-page criminal complaint against Mr. Blagojevich, which lawmakers heard read aloud much of the day. “I think it’s unfair to put in anonymous people. I think it’s unfair to deprive him of confrontation. I think it’s unfair to do all those things.” The day’s events seemed to mark the first upbeat developments for Mr. Blagojevich in what has been an avalanche of accusations and criticisms against him for more than a week. It was enough, it seemed, that a lighthearted Mr. Blagojevich, who had until now been avoiding reporters and the public, invited a Chicago Tribune photographer to join him on his jog (offering his commentary on the head-clearing benefits of running), and suggested that he will soon tell his story — as early, Mr. Genson said, as Friday. Already, Mr. Genson provided one insight into Mr. Blagojevich’s thinking: the governor will not now, he said, try to appoint someone to fill Mr. Obama’s Senate seat. “Harry Reid said they’re not going to accept anybody he picks,” Mr. Genson said of Mr. Blagojevich. “Why would he do that?” Lawmakers seemed unfazed by all of Mr. Genson’s critiques of the impeachment process and said they would move forward. “The governor’s lawyer did a pretty good job of throwing up dust, but I don’t know that he did a good enough job to make either the members of the committee, nor the people of Illinois watching him on their television screens, decide that the governor is as innocent as a newborn lamb,” Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, the chairwoman of the impeachment committee, said after the hearing ended for the day. “The standards that govern what we are about are very different from those that govern in a criminal trial.” Mr. Genson, who is also serving as Mr. Blagojevich’s lawyer in his criminal case, has asked the state to pay for his work on the impeachment case. Mr. Genson filed a request with Ms. Madigan, arguing that the attorney general would, under normal circumstances, represent him on official business. Photo Because Ms. Madigan, also seen as a political rival of Mr. Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, sought to remove him in the State Supreme Court, Mr. Genson argued that she had a conflict and could not represent him before the impeachment committee. He said she was now obligated to appoint others — Mr. Genson and two other lawyers, Mr. Genson suggested — to carry out that duty. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Ms. Madigan, her office said, has yet to respond. Last week, Ms. Madigan had argued in a complaint filed with the court that “the pervasive nature and severity” of the federal corruption case against Mr. Blagojevich had rendered him “incapable of legitimately exercising his ability as governor.” 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. On Wednesday, she said she was disappointed that the court had rejected her argument, and said the state found itself in an “unsustainable situation.” Like many here, Ms. Madigan said she was now hopeful that lawmakers would move “with deliberate speed” in the impeachment inquiry that began on Tuesday and is expected to run through weekends until it is done — days or weeks from now. Lawmakers here acknowledged that they were still sorting through the parameters of such an inquiry, barely tested in Illinois and never completed in the case of a governor. They have yet to work out potential conflicts with federal prosecutors in Chicago, though conversations were continuing, Ms. Currie told reporters. “I think they would be a little fearful if we had full access to their whole range of witnesses, that Mr. Genson would basically run this as his criminal trial before he gets to the real one,” she said. Mr. Genson said the evidence he had seen in the hearing in a single day — including the reading of snippets of prosecutors’ recorded conversations in which Mr. Blagojevich, the prosecutors say, seems to demand a high-paying job, donations and a cabinet post in exchange for the Senate seat — was insufficient. “The fact of the matter is, what we have seen so far isn’t something that should be used as evidence in a courtroom, in a hearing, in a committee meeting,” Mr. Genson said. “It’s just not right.” | Rod Blagojevich, the United States governor of Illinois, will retain his position of governor after the Illinois Supreme Court stopped an effort to have him removed from office. Blagojevich insists that he is innocent and has done nothing to break the law. The court refused to hear the attorney-general's case to impeach Blagojevich on accusations that the latter was politically and legally unable to work. Rod Blagojevich Lisa Madigan, the state attorney general, voiced her disappointment over the ruling, saying that the governor's refusal to step down has resulted in an "unsustainable situation" in the state. Blagojevich was arrested last week on charges that he tried to 'sell' President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat after the latter vacated it in order to become President. Blagojevich was wiretapped, and was recorded discussing the trading or selling of Obama's Senate seat. However, Blagojevich's lawyer, Edward Genson, argued to the House committee that the statements do not amount to illegal actions. "This proceeding, which is basing its findings on the summary of wiretaps, is unfair and quite frankly illegal. The fact of the matter is, we in this case object, and object vociferously, to the use of this," he said. The Illinois General Assembly can remove Blagojevich by impeachment. The proceedings to start the process of impeachment started on Monday. Blagojevich wants the state of Illinois to pay off his legal fees. |
NHK, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), is Japan’s only public broadcaster. As a public broadcaster funded by fees received from TV viewers, NHK delivers a wide range of impartial, high-quality programs, both at home and abroad. Corporate Overview Basic facts about NHK. Find out more Overview of Operations Details of NHK’s channels and technical research. Find out more Organization and Network Details of the organization, including the NHK network. Find out more ||||| Versíon en Español Earthquake Summary The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred 115 km (75 miles) S of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu 1830 km (1140 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia at 6:40 PM MDT, Mar 24, 2007 (Mar 25 at 11:40 AM local time in Vanuatu). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. There have been no reports of damage. Felt Reports Felt (III) at Vila. Felt (III) at Mont-Dore, New Caledonia. Also felt at Noumea and Yate, New Caledonia. Tsunami Information ||||| At least one person was killed and 150 were reportedly injured by the tremor, which was felt in the capital, Tokyo. A tsunami warning was issued for a short time in Ishikawa prefecture, with swell of up to 50cm reported. Meanwhile, two quakes - measured at 7.2 and 6.0 by the US - hit near Vanuatu in the southern Pacific Ocean. There were no reports of damage or casualties. The larger quake struck at 1140 (0040 GMT Sunday), and was followed 28 minutes later by the magnitude 6.0 quake. Both were centred 335km (210 miles) south-east of the capital, Port Vila. Police said they were checking remote islands where the quake was closer to land areas. Seismically active The Japan earthquake struck at 0942 (0042 GMT). Its epicentre was 300km (200 miles) north-west of Tokyo, Japan's meteorological agency said. Television pictures showed buildings in the Ishikawa prefecture shaking violently for about 30 seconds and Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported that several buildings had collapsed. The BBC's Chris Hogg in Hong Kong says there are also reports of landslides, a ruptured water main and roads being buckled by the jolt. A 52-year-old woman died in Wajima, a resort and fishing town on the western side of the peninsula, after being trapped under a stone lantern that toppled in her garden, reports said. "I wasn't able to stand at all, it was really terrible", one woman in Wajima told NHK. Many of those injured were hit by falling debris or broken glass and are being treated in hospital, with some said to be badly hurt. Government troops have been sent to the area to assist with the clear up and warnings have been issued of further aftershocks in the affected region. Wooden houses were badly damaged by the Japan quake Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000. In 1995 a magnitude 7.2 tremor killed more than 6,400 people in the city of Kobe. ||||| Powerful quake rocks Japan Associated Press TOKYO A powerful earthquake rocked northern Japan on Sunday, triggering small tsunamis and killing at least one person. The magnitude 7.1 quake struck shortly before 10 a.m. off the north coast of Ishikawa prefecture, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The agency issued a tsunami warning urging people near the sea to move to higher land. A small tsunami measuring 6 inches hit shore around 10:18 a. The full text of this article has 332 words. To continue reading this article, you will need to purchase this article. Already have a member account? Login now | Japan has issued a tsunami warning after experiencing a magnitude 7.1 earthquake off the west coast island of Honshu. The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.7 earthquake on March 25, 2007 at 9:41 a.m. local time near the west coast of Honshu and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in the Southern Pacific off Vanuatu at 11:40 a.m. local time. The tremor did not trigger a tsunami. The USGS has reported subsequent smaller tremors in the regions of Honshu, on March 25, 2007 at 6:11 p.m. local time and Vanuatu, at 9:37 p.m., with magnitudes of 5.5 and 5.2, respectively. Japan's Meteorological Agency lifted the tsunami advisory for Ishikawa prefecture at 11:30 a.m. JST. ABC news says that 21 people died in the quake. The death occurred after a woman was struck, reportedly, by a stone lantern in her garden. NHK also states that South Korea's meteorological agency broadcast a tsunami advisory for the eastern and southeastern coast areas. A 50 cm tsunami was expected to reach the Busan area at 12:02 pm local time. NHK also reported that the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata prefecture was operating normally. Hokuriku Electric Power Co. reported no effects from the earthquake and that the Number 1 and 2 reactors at its Shika nuclear power plant were shut down. It is reported that some 9400 homes in the region are without water and approximately 100 without electricity. Some roads have been damaged, railway service interrupted in the affected areas, and the Noto Airport in Ishikawa prefecture remains closed. The Japanese government has set up a task force at the risk management center in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official residence. It is collecting information to confirm damage. |
Siergiej Ławrow, szef rosyjskiej dyplomacji, przyjmowany był w Warszawie z wszelkimi honorami - tak, jak podejmowano by Condoleezzę Rice, szefową dyplomacji największego sojusznika Polski. Rozmawiała z nim nie tylko stojąca na czele MSZ Anna Fotyga, ale także premier Jarosław Kaczyński i prezydent Lech Kaczyński. Rosyjski minister był wyjątkowo miły. Z równowagi nie wytrąciło go faux pas polskiego MSZ. Rano przed pałacykiem na Foksal w Warszawie, gdzie odbywały się rozmowy szefów dyplomacji Polski i Rosji, zamiast rosyjskich, powiewały czeskie flagi. Zmieniano je na rosyjskie w popłochu, a rzecznik resortu zapewniał, że "polecą za to głowy". Minister nie stracił rezonu nawet wtedy, kiedy tłumaczka strony rosyjskiej zacięła się przy tłumaczeniu jego wywodów. Przejęcie tłumaczenia przez jej polską odpowiedniczkę skomentował jako przykład świetnego współdziałania. - Kiedy trzeba wyciągnąć pomocną dłoń, nasze tłumaczki robią to bez oglądania się za siebie - mówił. Minister Ławrow nie straszył Na konferencji prasowej po rozmowach z szefową polskiej dyplomacji Anną Fotygą Ławrow zachowywał się tak, jakby w stosunkach z Rosją nie było epoki lodowcowej, która zapanowała po zaangażowaniu Warszawy w pomarańczową rewolucję na Ukrainie. Podczas gdy Fotyga wyliczyła sucho katalog spraw, o których rozmawiali, on opowiadał potoczyście o konieczności podtrzymywania "dobrego klimatu wzajemnych stosunków", o "rozwiązywaniu problemów", o "usunięciu sztucznych nawarstwień" itd. Choć za zwyczajową dyplomatyczną liturgią słowa nie kryły się konkrety, można było wyczuć, że Rosjanie chcą, by po wyjeździe Ławrowa pozostało dobre wrażenie. Minister nie straszył więc Polski "adekwatnymi posunięciami" za ewentualne rozmieszczenie nad Wisłą tarczy rakietowej, co uczynił kilka dni temu jego rzecznik. Pytany o tarczę antyrakietową w Polsce, odpowiedział: "Generalnie zależy nam na tym, by proces takich rokowań był transparenty i przewidywalny". Uprzedził tylko, że Rosja będzie brać pod uwagę istnienie tarczy antyrakietowej przy "planowaniu własnych kroków w sferze budowy bezpieczeństwa strategicznego w świecie". Przewidywalna była też jego odpowiedź na pytanie o polskie obiekcje w sprawie budowy Gazociągu Północnego omijającego nasz kraj. Ławrow zaklinał się, że ta inwestycja nie jest w nikogo wymierzona i "zakłada udział innych krajów, jeśli tylko będą miały na to ochotę". Powiedział, że Rosjanie są gotowi "do udzielania wszelkich wyjaśnień, gdy u polskich partnerów pojawią się jakieś wątpliwości lub obawy". Min. Fotygi nie przekonały jednak rosyjskie zapewnienia, że bałtycka rura zwiększy bezpieczeństwo energetyczne całej Unii. Polska minister powiedziała, że Polska nie zamierza się przyłączyć do inwestycji. Powtórzyła rosyjskiemu ministrowi nasze stanowisko: rura jest zagrożeniem dla Polski. Historia i szczyt Putin-Kaczyński Daleko też wciąż do rozwiązania polsko-rosyjskich sporów o historię. Oboje ministrowie zapewnili jednak, że eksperci znów usiądą do stołu, by szukać porozumienia. - Zadecydowaliśmy o pilnym przystąpieniu do rozmów grupy do spraw trudnych, która m.in. będzie rozważała kwestie historyczne, w tym sprawę katyńską - mówiła min. Fotyga. Rozmowy na temat Katynia urwały się kilka miesięcy temu, kiedy strona rosyjska odmówiła Polsce dostępu do większości akt katyńskich. Co dalej? Ławrow uzgodnił z Fotygą kalendarz dalszych konsultacji. Wciąż jednak nie wiadomo, kiedy dojdzie do odblokowania eksportu polskiego mięsa i innych produktów żywnościowych (Ławrow w tej sprawie kluczył). Rosyjski minister zapewnił za to, że do czasu podpisania przez UE umowy o współpracy z Rosją rafineria w Możejkach, kupowana przez Orlen, który sprzątnął ją sprzed nosa rosyjskiemu Łukoilowi, będzie miała pewne dostawy ropy z Rosji. Możejki kilka tygodni temu zostały odcięte od dostaw surowca poprzez rurociąg Przyjaźń i dziś dostają ropę rosyjską dostarczaną tankowcami do litewskich portów, co kosztuje znacznie więcej. Nie ma też daty spotkania na szczycie Kaczyński-Putin. Doradca Lecha Kaczyńskiego ds. zagranicznych Andrzej Krawczyk sugerował wczoraj, że mogłoby do niego dojść w 2007 r. Zastrzegł jednak, że nie "padły żadne daty". Wcześniej Ławrow tłumaczył dziennikarzom, że "obaj prezydenci życzą sobie takiego spotkania" i trzeba je dobrze przygotować. - Czas i miejsce to sprawy drugorzędne - mówił. Opozycja nie była zachwycona rozmowami z szefem rosyjskiej dyplomacji. - Wizyta Ławrowa to dobry sygnał, ale niewiele więcej niż sygnał - komentował Bronisław Komorowski, szef dyplomacji w gabinecie cieni PO. ||||| Inne wpadki z flagami Pracownicy ministerstwa błyskawicznie naprawili swój błąd i zamienili flagi Czech na flagi Rosji.Rzecznik ministerstwa zapytany przez TVN 24 o zamienione flagi, nie potrafił uwierzyć, że doszło do takiej pomyłki.To nie pierwsza tego typu wpadka za prezydentury Lecha Kaczyńskiego. Do najsłynniejszej doszło, gdy na samochodzie prezydenta RP umieszczono flagę Monako (odwrócone barwy Polski).Innym razem, podczas przemówienia telewizyjnego prezydenta flaga UE przysłaniała flagę polską - powinno być odwrotnie. | During the official visit of Sergey Lavrov, , to Poland, which was to revive the strained diplomatic relationship between the two countries, an embarrassing mistake was committed by the hosts. When Lavrov was greeted by the entrance to the building, the courtyard was decorated with , rather than . The Ministry's employees quickly discovered the mistake and replaced the flags with the right ones, and the Russian part did not express any concern about the . It became, however, one of the top stories in the Polish media that day, prompting extensive ridicule. On the Russian part, the , Russia's government newspaper, commented ironically that the discontinuity in contacts between Warsaw and Moscow was so prolonged that the Polish Foreign Ministry apparently forgot what the Russian flag looks like. The gazette also went on to joke about the possible troubles Minister Lavrov might have had distinguishing between Poland's current and , who are identical twins. While the Russian paper also recalled a similar incident that occurred more than a year ago in Athens, where the Russian flag was hung upside down, in Poland an event that was related to was the hanging of the on the Polish President's limousine upside down, which made it almost identical to flags of or . |
UN chief leads protests as Israel hits Gaza hospitals PARIS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon led international protests on Thursday describing the Palestinian death toll as "unbearable" as Israeli air strikes set hospitals, media and UN buildings ablaze. "I have conveyed my strong protest and outrage and demanded a full explanation from the defence minister and foreign minister," Ban told reporters in Tel Aviv after the strike on a UN compound in Gaza. The UN suspended its operations in Gaza after Israeli shells smashed into its compound, setting fire to warehouses holding badly-needed aid. Other strikes set a hospital wing on fire and wounded two cameramen in a building housing international and Arab media outlets. "The number of casualties has reached an unbearable point," said Ban, who is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later Thursday. Since Israel launched its offensive on December 27, at least 1,070 people have been killed, including at least 355 children, 100 women, 117 elderly men and 12 medics, say Gaza medics. Another 5,000 people have been wounded. France also denounced the latest attacks. "We condemn in the strongest terms the bombings this morning by the Israeli army of several hospitals and a building housing international media in Gaza city," said French foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier. Chevallier also condemned the attack on the UN building, adding. "Israel must abstain from all action that is contrary to international law, he said, adding that France was again appealing for an immediate ceasefire "to spare the civilian population." In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the humanitarian situation in Gaza. She stressed the need to stop arms smuggling into the Gaza strip. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also condemned the violence on both sides. "Today's attack on the UN headquarters in Gaza is indefensible," he said. "The intensification of Israeli military action, and continued Hamas rocket attacks, reinforce the urgency of our call for an immediate ceasefire." Greece strongly protested to Israel after its navy turned back a boat chartered by Greek activists to take medical aid to the Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said. Karin Pally, a spokeswoman with the Free Gaza Movement, which chartered the boat, said it had turned back after Israeli naval vessels surrounded them while still in international waters and threatened to open fire on them. The boat was carrying several tonnes of medical supplies. In the French city of Strasbourg, the European Parliament denounced the Israeli blockade preventing aid from arriving in Gaza. "The embargo on the Gaza Strip represents collective punishment in contravention of international humanitarian law," deputies agreed in a parliamentary resolution adopted with no dissenting hands. The parliament expressed "its shock at the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza" and "strongly deplores, in particular, the fact that civilian and UN targets have been hit during the (Israeli) attacks." It called for an immediate ceasefire on both sides. EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said: "It is unacceptable that the UN headquarters in Gaza has been struck by Israeli artillery fire." The statement added: "I am deeply shocked and dismayed to learn of this incident." In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, announced he would accompany an aid convoy into Gaza on Monday. He too called for a ceasefire. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused some Arab and Islamic states of complicity in what he described as the "genocide" being carried out by the Israelis against Palestinians in Gaza. "Unfortunately, some states in the Arab and Islamic region tolerate or support this rare genocide with silence or a smile of satisfaction," Ahmadinejad said in a letter to Saudi King Abdullah. Ahmadinejad urged the king to "break the silence over this obvious atrocity and killing of your own children," Ahmadinejad said in the letter, which was posted on his website. ||||| (CNN) -- Children are bearing the brunt of the conflict in Gaza as the Israeli offensive to flush out Hamas fighters leaves youngsters battling indelible trauma while threatening the lives of newborns and their mothers, a senior aid official says. Palestinians carry a boy wounded in an Israeli military strike to hospital on January 14. Ann Veneman, executive director of the United Nations' children body UNICEF, says too little is being done to protect Gaza's children, who account for half the territory's population, from the horrors of the latest conflict. More than 320 children have been killed and 1,500 injured in Gaza since the current conflict began more than three weeks ago, she says, a situation she has described as tragic and unacceptable. "They are the innocent victims," she told CNN in Johannesburg, South Africa, before the launch of UNICEF's annual "State of the World's Children" report. Children are particularly vulnerable in Gaza because families are trapped in the conflict areas. "People cannot leave and be a refugee and find safe haven in another country," she said. Because they cannot escape the constant violence, Veneman says, most Gaza kids are severely traumatized. Don't Miss Special report: Gaza crisis UNICEF is airing radio spots on the Gaza airwaves that advise parents on how to comfort their upset and terrified children. Also, UNICEF has teams on standby to offer psychological support to families. Newborns and pregnant women in Gaza also are a concern, UNICEF says. With hospitals and doctors already battling to cope with the injured, women and their newborns are not getting the medical attention they need. Inadequate medical supplies and severe shortages of food, water, diapers and formula worsen the already dire situation. Power outages also endanger sick babies in neo-natal care. | A spokesman says that the Gaza headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been hit by shells containing white phosphorus. Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, expressed "strong protest and outrage" to the Israeli Government over the attack. "The number of casualties has reached an unbearable point," said Ban. Ehud Olmert responded by saying that there were Palestinian fighters in the compound, launching mortars at Israeli troops. "We do not want such incidents to take place and I am sorry for it but I don’t know if you know, but Hamas fired from the UNRWA site. This is a sad incident and I apologise for it," Olmert said. A previous accusation was made against the UN after another UN building housing refugees was hit by Israeli tank shells a week ago. According to UNRWA official Christopher Gunness, the accusation was later retracted by the Israeli government. Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, said it was "a grave mistake". Along with UNRWA headquarters, a Palestinian hospital was set ablaze, and a media headquarters housing the Reuters news agency and other Palestinian reporters was also hit wounding two cameramen. Around 500 people were sheltering in the Al-Quds hospital when it was bombed by Israel and hospital officials say they were hit with white phosphorus, a substance which sparks fires which cannot be put out by water and which causes serious burns and respiratory problems to anyone who comes in contact with it. Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for UNRWA, said fires were still raging hours after the attack and "tens of millions of dollars worth of aid" had been destroyed. Christopher Gunness issued a statement on the attacks saying, "There have been three hits on the UNRWA headquarters, the UNRWA compound in Gaza, including, I’m told by UNRWA head John Ging, white phosphorus. Three of our staff members have been injured. The workshop in our compound is in flames, and nearby are loaded fuel tankers. So the situation is extremely dangerous and extremely serious. We have been on the phone to the Israeli authorities, asking them to call off their fire from around the compound of a neutral international organization. We have not had the answer we want." UNRWA reports that the fire at the compound will destroy tons of medical and food aid. United Nations Children's Fund joined the Red Cross in speaking out against the violence today, saying the deaths of children in Gaza were unacceptable. |
Portsmouth have confirmed that their manager, Harry Redknapp, was one of the five people arrested today as part of the City of London's investigation into football corruption. Redknapp was held at Chichester police station on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric, Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie, agent Willie McKay and Charlton midfielder Amdy Faye were the others arrested. The five were held in pre-dawn raids after more than 60 police officers searched eight addresses across the UK. A spokesman for Portsmouth said: "Portsmouth Football Club can confirm that chief executive Peter Storrie and manager Harry Redknapp have today been asked to help police with their inquiries concerning a matter dating back to 2003. This was prior to the new owner taking control of the club at the beginning of 2006. The club is fully supportive of Peter and Harry who are co-operating fully with City of London police in this ongoing inquiry. Both are playing major roles in the continued success of Portsmouth Football Club." Police refused to give details of the identity of those being held, but did reveal their ages are 69, 60, 55, 48 and 30. A spokeswoman from City of London police said: "We can confirm that they have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. The arrests are part of the City of London police's investigation into football corruption." Attention will focus on the transfers of Faye from Auxerre to Portsmouth in 2005 and Portsmouth to Newcastle in 2006. Mandaric was the chairman at Portsmouth when Faye moved there, while McKay acted as agent for the deal. Redknapp was the Portsmouth manager when Faye was transferred to Newcastle. Faye has since signed for Charlton and this summer joined Rangers on loan. The City of London police launched the investigation into alleged corruption in football more than a year ago. Tottenham Hotspur defender Pascal Chimbonda, who McKay also represents, was arrested on suspicion of fraud in September, and a 61-year-old man was held on suspicion of money laundering in May. Both men are on police bail pending further inquiries. ||||| Redknapp has been manager of Portsmouth since December 2005 Those held included Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, the club's chief executive Peter Storrie and its former chairman Milan Mandaric. The five men were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. Mr Redknapp and three others have since been released on police bail. A 30-year-old remains in custody. He is understood to be Charlton player and Senegalese international Amdy Faye, currently on loan to Rangers. The City of London Police inquiry is believed to be centred around the transfer of Mr Faye to Portsmouth, a deal set up by agent Willie McKay. Police refused to give details of those arrested and would only confirm they were aged 69, 60, 55, 48 and 30. On-going inquiry On his release Mr Redknapp said: "We all helped the police with their inquiries, but it doesn't directly concern me, it's other people involved. "I've been answering questions to help the police. I am not directly concerned with their inquiries. "They have to arrest you to talk to you, for you to be in the police station. I think that's the end of it, it didn't directly concern me." The solicitor representing Mr Redknapp and Mr Storrie emphasised that his clients were cooperating with police. Speaking outside the police station Paul Martin said: "The inquiries do not relate to either of those individuals, they relate to entirely different individuals. 'Corruption' "They are ongoing investigations in relation to those other individuals, and for that reason they are unable to comment further, and there is nothing that they can discuss." Meanwhile, a spokesman for Mr Mandaric confirmed that the Leicester City chairman was asked to assist police enquiries. He said: "While the investigation remains on-going Mr Mandaric will continue to offer his full and total support to the police." The arrests are part of City of London Police's on-going inquiry into alleged corruption, a spokesman said. The men were held as officers carried out raids on 12 locations across the country. Two of those searches are still ongoing. Detectives from the economic crime unit of the City of London Police are investigating allegations of corruption within football and its impact on owners and shareholders. The club is fully supportive of Peter and Harry who are co-operating fully with City of London Police in this ongoing inquiry Portsmouth FC In July, officers raided Newcastle United, Portsmouth and Rangers football clubs as part of the inquiry. A spokesman for Portsmouth said on Wednesday that the club's chief executive and manager had "been asked to help police with their inquiries concerning a matter dating back to 2003". "This was prior to the new owner taking control of the club at the beginning of 2006," he said. "The club is fully supportive of Peter and Harry who are co-operating fully with City of London Police in this ongoing inquiry. "Both are playing major roles in the continued success of Portsmouth Football Club." Seven arrests Rangers FC have confirmed that a player was arrested in a matter "totally unrelated" to the club. "It would be inappropriate to comment further," Rangers said in a statement. Last year, the Premier League asked former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens and his company, Quest, to carry out a separate inquiry into several hundred player transfer deals. In June, Lord Stevens presented his final report, which highlighted concerns over 17 transfers and five Premier League clubs. City of London Police have distanced their investigation from Lord Stevens' inquiry. The latest arrests bring the total number of people detained in connection with the investigation to seven. In September, a 28-year-old man was arrested in London and in May, a 61-year-old man was arrested in Manchester on suspicion of money laundering. | Five men, including Harry Redknapp, the manager of the English football club Portsmouth, and former Portsmouh chairman Milan Mandaric (now at Leicester City) have been arrested by British police in an investigation into alleged corruption in British football transfers. Reports suggest that they have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting Portsmouth Chief Executive Peter Storrie and player Amdy Faye have also been arrested. |
By Olesya Dmitracova MISSION CONTROL MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi returned safely to Earth on Saturday, touching down with a Russian-U.S. crew in the steppe of Central Asia after paying for a two-week round trip into space. The Russian-made Soyuz capsule undocked from the International Space Station, re-entered Earth's atmosphere and landed just over three hours later in Kazakhstan at 1231 GMT. Controllers who supervised the landing from Mission Control outside Moscow clapped along with the space travelers' relatives as they saw the announcement "It has landed!" appear in red capital letters on a giant screen. Live television pictures from the landing site 133 km (81 miles) north-east of the Kazakh city of Jezkazgan showed recovery teams and doctors rushing to the capsule. Ground crews first pulled out Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin who looked tired and kept his eyes closed. They then pulled out Simonyi who smiled while doctors wiped his face. "I feel terrific, it was a fantastic trip, it is good to be back," Simonyi said before biting into an apple as he sat in a special reclining chair. The world's fifth space tourist paid around $25 million for a fortnight in space and pre-flight training. He had been at the $100-billion space station, in orbit 350 km (217 miles) above Earth, since April 9. Tyurin and the other crew member, NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, had spent seven months in orbit. Continued... ||||| Story Highlights • Charles Simonyi grins, chats with support crew after exiting spacecraft • Simonyi returns to Earth Saturday with Russian cosmonaut, U.S. astronaut • Software designer had been on international space station since April 9 • Simonyi paid $25 million for his 13-day trip to space Adjust font size: KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) -- An American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to space returned to Earth on Saturday in a space capsule, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe. The capsule arrived after a more than three-hour return trip from the orbital station, carrying space tourist Charles Simonyi, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, according to a spokesman at Mission Control outside Moscow. Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software engineer, looked ecstatic after rescuers helped him out of the capsule and into a chair lined with fur for warmth. He smiled and grinned, shook a hand and spoke with the bustling support crew. He then bit enthusiastically into a green apple, which has become a traditional offering for space crews touching down in Kazakhstan, famous for its tasty apples. Tyurin looked pale and tired, but soon managed a smile in a video link with Mission Control. Lopez-Alegria, the last out of the capsule, sighed with relief, smiled and talked to the support crew as doctors measured the men's vital signs. He took what appeared to be a drink of water. Both had spent seven months on the international space station. Anatoly Grigoryev, head of a Russian biomedical institute responsible for cosmonauts' health, said it was "quite natural" if Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria felt less chipper than Simonyi. "It is natural that those who spend a quite long period of time [in space] find it harder now," he said. Russian space agency chief Anatoly Perminov said all the cosmonauts "feel wonderful." "But of course, Charles Simonyi feels the best, which is understandable," he said. The trio were initially scheduled to return a day earlier, but the trip was postponed and the landing site shifted because of concerns that spring floodwaters in the usual landing area could complicate the recovery, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. The capsule landed at a reserve site about 85 miles (135 kilometers) northeast of Zhezkazgan, in central Kazakhstan, some 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital, Astana. The Zhezkazgan site has rarely been used since the breakup of the Soviet Union. 'Safe and sound' "I crossed my fingers all the way, and I am very happy now," Simonyi's brother Tamas said at Mission Control after the landing. "Yes, I was nervous, but now it's a big relief to know that he's safe and sound and that the crew is safe and sound." Wiping her eyes with a tissue, Lopez-Alegria's wife, Daria, said she was not nervous "until the last minute." "He missed him much more," she said, pointing to their 7-year old son Nicholas. "I'm very happy," the boy said. "I'm very excited." Simonyi arrived at the station on April 9 along with cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who remained on the station. (Watch Simonyi talk about space tourism before his trip began ) Also staying in orbit was American astronaut Sunita Williams, who arrived in December. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said Russian and U.S. space officials will decide next week whether she will return on a shuttle in June or in late summer. Seen off by Martha Stewart Simonyi, 58, amassed the fortune that made his $25 million voyage possible through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. He is also associated with another major American household name: lifestyle maven Martha Stewart. Stewart saw Simonyi off at the launch from the Russian-leased launch facility in Baikonur on April 7. She also watched from Russian Mission Control outside Moscow as the Soyuz docked and spoke to Simonyi during a video linkup after he boarded the station. Simonyi followed in the footsteps of Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari -- all "space flight participants" who have traveled to the international space station aboard Russian rockets in trips brokered by Space Adventures. Briton Helen Sharman in 1991 took a trip to the Soviet station Mir that she won through a contest, and a Japanese journalist traveled to Mir in 1990 with a ticket that reportedly cost $12 million. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | Charles Simonyi Charles Simonyi, a billionaire software engineer born in Hungary, has returned to Earth after a 25 million dollar trip to the International Space Station with mission Soyuz TMA-10. The original mission, planned to last 13 days, was extended to 14 days when landing was made impossible due to "boggy ground". Mr. Simonyi, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria made a successful landing in the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft on the Kazakh steppe in Central Asia on Saturday. Mr. Simonyi was said to be "ecstatic" after rescuers helped him from the capsule and into a fur-lined chair. His first piece of food back on Earth was an offering to returning space crews landing in Kazakstan - a green apple. The controllers supervising the landing burst into applause along with the families of the space crew as a giant screen displayed "It has landed!" in large red letters. Simonyi commented "I feel terrific, it was a fantastic trip, it is good to be back," before relaxing in a special reclining chair. The two other returning men were said to be very tired after their 7-month visit to the ISS. "It is natural that those who spend a quite long period of time in space find it harder now," said Anatoly Grigoryev, head of a Russian biomedical institute responsible for the health of the cosmonauts. |
Some members of Iran's powerful clerical class are stepping up their antigovernment protests over Iran's election in defiance of the country's supreme leader, bringing potential aid to opposition figures as the regime is increasingly labeling them foreign-sponsored traitors. View Full Image Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, cleric and former Iranian president, met over the weekend with relatives of individuals arrested in post-election violence; the move was widely seen as a show of support for the political opposition. An influential group of religious scholars seen as politically neutral during the presidential election called the country's highest election arbiter, the Guardian Council, biased, and said the June 12 election was "invalid." Earlier, it had endorsed the official result that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated Mir Houssein Mousavi and other challengers by a wide margin. The group, with no government role, has little practical ability to change the election outcome. But its new posture may carry moral weight with Iranians after security forces have quashed street protests and jailed hundreds of opposition supporters. It highlights a growing unease among Iran's scholarly ruling class about the direction of the country, and questions the theological underpinning of the Islamic Republic: that the supreme leader and the institutions under him are infallible. "I'm not sure of the Persian equivalent of 'crossing the Rubicon,' but we are seeing it now. The future of the Islamic Republic, which has in recent years become a fig leaf for keeping a small clique of people in power, is now in question," said Michael Axworthy, director of Exeter University's Center for Persian and Iranian Studies in the U.K. With public protests withering following a crackdown, continued religious opposition to the electoral process could take on greater meaning. Public statements from clerics about perceived government injustice challenge the state's position that the protest movement is part of a foreign plot to undermine the Islamic Republic. Since Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, certified Mr. Ahmadinejad's victory last week, the security forces and judiciary have moved to silence his political opponents. On Sunday, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' political office accused Mr. Mousavi of treason, according to the state news service. His statement came after the hard-line newspaper Keyhan, run by a retired Revolutionary Guard officer close to Mr. Ahmadinejad, ran an editorial accusing Mr. Mousavi of being a danger to the regime. Each side of Iran's political divide has clerics they can call on. Some groups have official government roles while others exercise mostly spiritiual influence, and some groups are divided within themselves. Ahead of the June elections, many clerical associations endorsed candidates. Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei got behind Mr. Ahmadinejad. View Full Image Associated Press Worshippers chant anti-US and anti-Israel slogans during a Friday prayers ceremony. Shiite theology allows for differing interpretations of religious text, and Iran has diverse religious and political opinions among its highest-ranking clerics. President Ahmadinejad has promoted officials with like-minded religious views throughout the government bureaucracy. Supporters of reformist clergy, meanwhile, have seen their influence decline as they lose power within the political hierarchy. The Assembly of Qom Scholars and Researchers, a group of clerics of mixed political stripes, didn't endorse a candidate. It did issue a call for an investigation into the vote results. Once the Guardian Council finished its limited review of the ballots, the group sent a congratulatory message to Mr. Ahmadinejad. But, in an apparent reversal, the assembly on Saturday night posted a statement on its Web site calling the election results invalid -- as does the Mousavi camp. "Candidates' complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored ... peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed ... dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested," the statement said. "The outcome is invalid." Members of the assembly couldn't be reached to authenticate the statement. There was no immediate response from the Guardian Council or other government agencies. Read More British Embassy Staff in Iran Will Face Trial Since the 1979 revolution, some religious scholars in Qom have questioned government policies, and a handful have even gone so far as to question the idea of a supreme leader and a government run by religious authorities. The price for such dissent in the past has been house arrest and marginalization by the state. Tensions with other governments also continued to escalate for Iran over the weekend. Security officials have blamed outside agitators for the street violence that has killed at least 20 people and wounded hundreds more. On Sunday, Iran said it had released a Greek journalist who covered the election for the Washington Times, and one British embassy employee detained last week. But it appeared to be moving ahead with a criminal case against a second embassy employee it accused of fomenting dissent. That prospect has led European Union members to consider pulling their 27 ambassadors. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden suggested that Washington wouldn't stand in the way of a possible Israeli-led military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Mr. Biden, appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," said Israel "can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest." He added that this was the case "whether we agree or not" with Israeli policy. Write to Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A8 ||||| CAIRO Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned foreign governments on Monday that Iranians would react as a “united fist” to meddling in domestic affairs, after officials in the elite Revolutionary Guards had warned Iranians that they would be treated as enemies of the state if they did not line up behind the leadership. Speaking before a supportive audience of Basij militia members, prayer leaders and students gathered at a mosque in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei aimed his remarks at his home audience, seeking to heal his sharply divided nation by promoting unity in the face of what he insisted was a foreign enemy. “If the officials of the Islamic republic have disputes with one another, they are unanimous in standing against the enemy and in maintaining the independence of the country, and the enemy should know that it won’t be able to create splits between the people of Iran,” he said from the mosque, Imam Khomeini Hosseinieh. But the speech offered no new formula to resolve the smoldering anger over the results of the 10th presidential election, on June 12. Millions of Iranians have protested what they charged was vote-rigging to give the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a landslide victory over his main challenger, Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former prime minister. ||||| TEHRAN, July 6 -- Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, appearing in public for the first time in nearly three weeks, vowed Monday that protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "will not end" and predicted that the new government would encounter problems because it lacks legitimacy. But the former presidential candidate, who maintains he was denied victory in the June 12 election by massive vote-rigging on behalf of Ahmadinejad, stopped short of calling for new street demonstrations, which the government has declared illegal and largely crushed in a massive crackdown. Instead, Mousavi indicated that the opposition would adopt new tactics, pursuing protest "within the framework of the law." Mousavi made the remarks at a religious gathering as Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a new warning to Western nations that he said have "openly intervened" in Iran's internal affairs by criticizing the crackdown. "Beware," he said, addressing "the leaders of arrogant countries, the nosy meddlers in the affairs of the Islamic Republic," news agencies reported. Even though Iranians have differences among themselves, he said, they will "unite as one firm fist" against external enemies. At the same time, however, Khamenei appeared to draw a line against denunciations of Mousavi, who has faced calls for his arrest from hard-line Ahmadinejad allies because of his refusal to accept the officially proclaimed election results. In a speech broadcast on state radio, Khamenei stressed the importance of unity, saying that "friends should not be treated like enemies for the sake of a mistake." But top commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps were less conciliatory. "Today, no one is impartial," Gen. Yadollah Javani said at a conference, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "There are two currents: those who defend and support the revolution and the establishment, and those who are trying to topple it." Mousavi spoke Monday to about 200 guests at an art gallery of the Iranian Academy of the Arts, which he heads, on the occasion of a holiday commemorating Imam Ali, the most important saint in Shiite Islam, Iran's dominant religion. "Though it might seem that the protests have become quieter, they will not end," Mousavi said, according to a local journalist who was present. "This protest will continue." He forecast unspecified problems in Ahmadinejad's second term. "The legitimacy of this government is questionable because people don't trust it," Mousavi said. "This makes the government weak inside even if it keeps up appearances." According to the pro-Mousavi Web site Parsine, he also said: "When a government doesn't take shape within the framework of the law, it has no legitimacy in the eyes of the people." This "encourages the government to resort to violence against the people," he added. The fact that "protests subsided or were silenced" does not resolve the issue, Mousavi said. "We need to make efforts to show our protest . . . within the framework of the law." Commenting on government attempts to control the flow of information, Mousavi urged Iranians to keep each other informed, a local journalist reported. Cellphone text messaging, which resumed Wednesday for the first time since the election, was again switched off by authorities Monday without explanation. ||||| Supreme Council of Cyberspace convenes under the chairmanship of Dr Rouhani The Supreme Council of Cyberspace convened on Tuesday afternoon, chaired by President Dr Hassan Rouhani, and the members reviewed other parts of the document of "Protection of Children and Adolescents in Cyberspace. Dr Rouhani at the inauguration ceremony of Ministry of Energy projects: Some of this year’s inaugurations unique in country’s history/ The new US administration should show in action that it believes previous administration’s actions were wrong The President described the inauguration of 307 projects in the field of water and energy this year with an investment of 81 trillion Tomans as a great honour for the country and thanked the Ministry of Energy for implementing and inaugurating these valuable projects, adding, "Inauguration Thursdays and the fact that we were able to show a surge in production in practice under the difficult conditions of sanctions and coronavirus will be recorded in the history of Iran”. In the 58th move of ‘Prudence and Hope for Surge in Production’ campaign; President inaugurates national projects of the Ministry of Energy in 4 provinces In the fifty-eighth move of ‘Prudence and Hope for Surge in Production’ campaign, the President issued the inauguration of the projects of the Ministry of Energy in the provinces of Tehran, Qazvin, Gilan and Mazandaran with a credit of over 14 trillion Tomans. Dr Rouhani after receiving reports of preparation and supply of COVID vaccine: Health Ministry to should make vaccination process transparent/ Measures taken to prepare and supply COVID-19 vaccine in the tough conditions imposed on the country is a source of pride Referring to the measures taken in the field of preparation and supply of foreign COVID-19 vaccine by the Ministry of Health and all agencies that have cooperated in this field, the President emphasised, "The fact that we have been able to act successfully for research and production of domestic vaccines under the tough conditions of the enemy's economic war is one of the honours of the Iranian nation". President at the inauguration ceremony of the Ministry of Industry's projects: Water transfer to east of the country one of all officials' wish/ Emphasis on importance of development and prosperity in the east President described the plan to transfer water from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea to the centre and the eastern region as a huge and historic plan for the balanced development of the country and said, "This plan has been one of the wishes of all officials and we are very happy to be its executor". In the 57th move of 'Prudence and Hope for Surge in Production' campaign; 5 parts of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea water transfer plan to the centre and east of the country start operation Operation of 2 sections of Persian Gulf water transmission lines from Sirjan to Sarcheshmeh and Ardakan, operation of the third Persian Gulf water transmission line to Isfahan and the second Persian Gulf water transmission line to Mashhad and also the Oman Sea water transmission line to Zahedan began at President's order via video conference. President at the 56th move of 'Prudence and Hope for Surge in Production' campaign: Iranian nation marked a new point in history by withstanding enemy's economic war/ Veterans became a role model for everyone with their self-sacrifice during the 8-year Imposed War Stating that the today, the Iranian nation has marked a new point in history by withstanding the enemy's economic war, the President said, "Our nation achieved victory in the war with resistance, and did something that the new rulers of the White House are now repeating that the actions of their previous government against Iran have failed". | On Monday, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, warned foreign governments against meddling in internal Iranian affairs following the Iranian presidential election and the subsequent unrest since June 12, 2009. "Some leaders of Western countries at the level of president, prime minister and foreign minister openly intervened in Iran's internal affairs that had nothing to do with them. Then, they said they don't intervene in Iran's internal affairs," Khamenei said in a nationally televised speech. "These governments must be careful of their hostile remarks and behaviors because the Iranian nation will react. We will calculate the interventionist remarks and behaviors of these governments. Definitely, it will have a negative impact on future relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran." Mir-Hossein Mousavi Meanwhile, opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was declared the loser of the election, but who has alleged that the election was illegitimate, made his first public appearance in three weeks. "We need to make efforts to show our protest ... within the framework of the law," Mousavi said. "The legitimacy of this government is in question because of the people's lack of trust. This weakens the government from within even if it preserves it in appearance." "When a government doesn't take shape within the framework of the law, it has no legitimacy in the eyes of the people," he continued. "This weakens the government and encourages the government to resort to violence against the people." The Guardian Council, a twelve-member council of clerics and jurists charged with interpreting the Constitution of Iran, has declared the election for the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The Assembly of Qom Scholars and Researchers in Qom has now called the June 12 vote "invalid" in a statement on the groups's website. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "Candidates' complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored ... peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed ... dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested," read the statement by the Assembly. "The outcome is invalid." The group has no legal authority and is considered to be politically neutral. It had earlier sent a congratulatory message to Ahmadinejad. On Saturday, President Ahmadinejad issued a press release in which he said the governments of the Western world "did their utmost to aggrandize problems in Iran’s presidential election in a worldwide scale to deviate world public opinions from devastating financial crisis crippling their economies." The statement further alleged that the West had been "creating widespread diseases such as swine flu in an attempt to find a way out of the current turmoil." |
Associated Press - October 8, 2008 5:13 AM ET SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Safety investigators are looking into what caused a Qantas Airways plane to suddenly plunge nose-first over Australia, tossing travelers around the cabin. It left more than 40 passengers hospitalized, some with fractures, concussions and bruises. Safety investigators say right after pilots were warned of an irregularity with the plane's stabilization system, it suddenly climbed about 300 feet before it "abruptly pitched nose down." It's unclear how far the aircraft dropped. A passenger who calls the ordeal "horrendous" says he thought he was about to die as he watched unbelted passengers being flung around the cabin. Officials say it's too soon to identify any causes in yesterday's incident. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| It could be months before investigators know whether air turbulence, a computer failure or both caused a Qantas Airbus to drop about 300ft while flying off the coast of Western Australia. Passengers on the Singapore-to-Perth flight spoke yesterday of their horror as luggage and people were flung against the ceiling during Tuesday's accident, which seriously injured 14 passengers and crew. Pilots signalled a mayday and turned the plane towards the RAAF base at Learmonth, north of Perth, where it landed 40 minutes later. One passenger, Jim Ford, said he thought he was about to die. ''It was horrendous, absolutely gruesome, terrible, the worst experience of my life,'' Mr Ford said as he arrived home in Perth. Those seriously injured had concussion and fractures and 30 more people had possible concussion and cuts requiring hospital treatment. Another 30 passengers received first aid treatment for minor injuries. Ben Cave, of Perth, said for a few seconds his life flashed before his eyes. ''We had a major fall and another fall shortly after. I hit the ceiling but I was okay, I only got a few bruises and strains. I just remember seeing that the plane was a mess,'' Mr Cave said. The Royal Flying Doctor Service and Skywest ferried the injured to hospitals, while the rest of the 303 passengers and 10 crew were flown back to Perth on replacement Qantas aircraft. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has sent five investigators to Learmonth where they will be joined by an Airbus flight control specialist and a Civil Aviation Safety Authority officer. The bureau's director of aviation safety investigation, Julian Walsh, said the plane had been cruising at 37,000ft when the pilots received an electronic alert of an ''irregularity'' with the aircraft's elevator control system which controls its pitch. Mr Walsh said the pilots reported the aircraft then climbed ''of its own accord'' about 300ft before abruptly pitching nose down and falling, possibly several thousand feet. Mr Walsh said the crew initially made an emergency ''pan pan'' broadcast to air traffic control advising of flight control computer problems, some injuries among passengers and crew, and requested clearance to land at Learmonth. ''A few minutes later the crew upgraded that broadcast and declared a mayday and advised control of multiple injuries including broken bones and lacerations,'' Mr Walsh said. He said it was too soon to draw any conclusions as to why it happened but an initial report of the facts would be issued in a month. ''It's important to look at the whole operation of the aircraft, and whilst clearly, the crew referred to some flight control computer issues, it's important to look at the environmental conditions as well because often these things can interact,'' Mr Walsh said. Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said the airline would be contacting every passenger and crew member to ensure they continue to be offered assistance. The incident makes a bad air safety year for Qantas even worse after several incidents forcing emergency landings including an hydraulic fluid leak which forced a 737 to return to Adelaide in August. Then in July, a Boeing 747 flying from Hong Kong was forced to land in Manila after an oxygen bottle exploded, blasting a suitcase-sized hole in the side of the aircraft. Bureau investigators will also liaise with their French counterparts BEA, as they examine the five-year-old A330-300's flight data and cockpit recorders, maintenance records and weather conditions. Captain Ian Woods, of the Australian International Pilots' Association, said air turbulence was not uncommon in the area. He said most modern aircraft were equipped to handle changes in high-level winds. | More than forty passengers have been hospitalised, fourteen of whom are seriously injured, after an Airbus A330-300 owned and operated by Qantas suddenly departed level flight, hurling people into the airliner's ceiling. The flight between Singapore and Perth, Australia was cruising at 37,000 feet when a cockpit alert was triggered warning the flight crew of a possible malfunction with the aircraft's elevator, which controls pitch. The aircraft then performed an uncommanded climb of 300 feet, before nosing down hard and falling an undetermined distance believed to be several thousand feet. During this descent, many of the 303 passengers and 10 crew were thrown against the ceiling, injuring many of them. The flight crew declared 'pan-pan', one level below a full life-threatening emergency, and performed an emergency landing at an air base at Learmonth after informing air traffic control of flight control difficulties and injured passengers. The injured people were flown to hospital by Royal Flying Doctor Service and Skywest Airlines. The most seriously injured were suffering from broken bones and three people had concussions. An investigation has been launched. Although such events are often blamed on turbulence, it has been suggested by industry experts that the circumstances of the accident are more in keeping with a computer malfunction. The A330 is a fly-by-wire aircraft. |
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement French President Nicolas Sarkozy has completed a visit to London marking the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's defiant wartime broadcast. After visiting the BBC radio studio where the general urged France to resist the Nazis, he expressed "eternal gratitude" for Britain's war effort. Mr Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni met the Prince of Wales to lay wreaths at Gen de Gaulle's statue. The president and British PM David Cameron also met 200 WWII veterans. 'Shoulder to shoulder' During a ceremony at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Mr Sarkozy told them he brought the "brotherly greetings and eternal gratitude of the French people" who remembered what Britain had "accomplished... for our freedom". He also awarded the Legion d'Honneur to six of the veterans - three of them British - who took part in the Operation Dragoon landings in Provence in August 1944. Analysis Continue reading the main story There was a buzz of excitement outside Broadcasting House as President Sarkozy and his wife Carla arrived at the BBC's headquarters in Portland Place. Staff had been busy since dawn making final preparations for the French leader's visit. Inside the Artists' Lobby, the president was shown a wartime microphone and famous tapestry, La Poete, by Jean Lurcat. Described as a powerful metaphor for broadcasting and freedom, it was given to the BBC by the French government as a thank you for the World War II broadcasts. The Broadcasting House complex - under redevelopment - is a very different place to when Gen de Gaulle entered studio 4B on 18 June 1940. The truth is not many people heard that original broadcast, but many more followed. Few, however, are in any doubt that "L'Appel du 18 Juin" was a turning point in modern French history. Sarkozy talks at No 10 'warm' Mr Cameron said the anniversary was a "reminder that Britain and France are not just neighbours in the geographical sense but also in the emotional sense". He said he was committed to working with France to face "huge challenges". "Just as our two great countries stood together in the past, so we must stand shoulder to shoulder today," he said. The leaders' arrival at the home of the Chelsea Pensioners was greeted with a flypast of a Spitfire, Typhoon and French Air Force Rafale. Troops from the Household Cavalry Mounted Detachment attended the hospital while bands played the two countries' anthems. A student from the Charles de Gaulle school in London then read the general's speech to Mr Sarkozy. The UK visit began at BBC Broadcasting House, where Mr Sarkozy unveiled a plaque and viewed a tapestry presented in thanks to the BBC by France after World War II. The president then met Prince Charles at Clarence House before laying wreaths at the statue of George VI on the Mall. More wreaths were then laid at Gen de Gaulle's statue, near the headquarters of the Free French forces during the war. Limited audience Mr Cameron also held an hour of talks with Mr Sarkozy at Downing Street, focused on efforts to boost European growth, the conflict in Afghanistan and other foreign policy matters. In total about 800 people from the Charles de Gaulle Foundation, the Free French Foundation and other groups visited London to join events. Many had made the journey on a specially chartered Eurostar. DE GAULLE'S HISTORIC BROADCAST Continue reading the main story Gen de Gaulle fled France on 17 June 1940 as a new administration sought an armistice with Hitler The next evening he urged the French to fight on in a BBC radio address from Broadcasting House Britain had turned his request to broadcast down, but the decision was reversed after PM Winston Churchill intervened To the general's fury, his speech was not recorded, so he returned four days later to deliver his message again Blog: Head of BBC History on visit Speech changed fate of France Mr Sarkozy's visit was the first by a French president to mark Gen de Gaulle's broadcast on 18 June 1940. The general had fled his country the day before as a new administration, headed by Philippe Petain, sought an armistice with Hitler. In the stirring radio appeal Gen de Gaulle declared himself leader of the "Free French", spawning the French Resistance, which went on to play a crucial role in defeating the Germans. He told his nation that "the flame of the French resistance must not and will not be extinguished". Posters displaying his words were put up all over London in the days that followed the broadcast, to galvanise French exiles. Gen de Gaulle was given a hero's welcome after the liberation of Paris in August 1944, but historians point out that he was not seen as a saviour in 1940. They say his now revered broadcast went almost unnoticed at the time, with a very limited audience on the BBC French Service. Mr Sarkozy made a state visit to the UK with his supermodel-turned-singer wife in March 2008. ||||| Sarkozy Visits UK For De Gaulle Anniversary David Williams and Emma Langman, Sky News Online Nicolas Sarkozy has hailed Britain's support for the French Resistance as he marked the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's wartime call to arms with a visit to London. To view this content you need Flash and Javascript enabled in your browser. Please download Flash from the Adobe download website. The French president and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy visited the BBC's Broadcasting House in central London from where de Gaulle delivered his legendary address in the early days of the Second World War. Mr Sarkozy paid tribute to Britain, who he said "made possible the very existence of the French resistance" by recognising General de Gaulle's right to speak. As Ms Bruni-Sarkozy helped Mrs Cameron by flicking a fly away from her dress, the French head of state talked about the unity of the two countries and how proud he was to be in London. He said: "By recognising (Gen de Gaulle's) legitimacy, Britain made known forever that ... the only true France could be that France which had not stooped to betrayal, the only true France was that that had the will to fight on, the only true France was that which did not accept defeat." He ended by saying: "Prime Minister, my dear David, Mrs Cameron - long live France, long live Britain and long live friendship between our two nations and our two peoples." No Flies On sam, thanks to carla Earlier in the day, three British veterans were presented France's highest honour by Sarkozy. The Legion d'Honneur was awarded to Glynne Medlicott, Alexander Sutton and Walter Freegard at a ceremony in London's Royal Hospital Chelsea for their role in the Allied invasion of France during World War Two. "Whenever I talk about it, I choke up," Mr Medlicott, from Shrewsbury, said. On June 18, 1940, as the defeated French government prepared to sign an armistice with the Nazis, General de Gaulle called on French citizens to continue the war against Germany and appealed to all troops to rally under his command in London. "The flame of French Resistance must not and will not be extinguished," he said. Some 200 French veterans of the Resistance and World War II have made the trip to London to mark the anniversary. They travelled on board a special Eurostar train, whose side was emblazoned with the General's image. De Gaulle's former colleagues travelled on board a customised Eurostar service "We were but a group of determined and courageous men. But in fact it was General de Gaulle who changed the fate of France and not us," said veteran Emile Chaline, 78, who was a vice admiral under the French leader. Another veteran, 95-year-old George Zwang, said: "We have to think about those who aren't here, those we left behind." Prince Charles accompanied Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni-Sarkozy on a tour of the London headquarters of the Free French - the fighters led by de Gaulle, who rejected their country's surrender to Nazi Germany. The French president was the first foreign leader to be invited on an official visit to Britain by David Cameron when he became Prime Minister last month. Mr Cameron said: "The importance of General de Gaulle's words has not been dimmed by history. The Sarkozys with Prince Charles "It was a call for freedom; a call to fight tyranny; a call that inspired countless acts of bravery. "Today we honour and remember the courage of all those who fought for the cause of freedom. "And today we celebrate the relationship between France and Britain." On a previous visit to Britain in March, Mr Sarkozy was forced to laugh off rumours about his marriage amid claims circulating on the internet that they were both having affairs. Although the rumours were largely ignored by the French media, Mr Sarkozy was questioned about them by British journalists, prompting him to say: "I love Britain - don't make me bite back those words." Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni-Sarkozy made a state visit to Britain in March 2008. The Sarkozys with the Queen and Prince Philip in London in 2008 ||||| Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron today marked the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's second world war broadcast which rallied the French against Nazi Germany. The visit to London is the first by a French president to mark De Gaulle's historic broadcast on 18 June 1940. De Gaulle, then a brigadier, had fled France the day before as a new administration, led by French first world war hero Philippe Pétain, sought an armistice with Hitler. At a formal ceremony at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a home for former soldiers, Sarkozy presented the Légion d'honneur to six second world war veterans, three British and three French, before an audience of 1,500 people. A Spitfire, a Typhoon and a French air force Rafale made a flypast through cloudy skies, while red-jacketed veterans – Chelsea Pensioners – and guards in plumed helmets mingled with dignitaries. Soldiers from both countries formed a joint guard of honour. Cameron, accompanied by his wife Samantha, welcomed Sarkozy by highlighting the close ties between Britain and France. "Britain and France are not just neighbours in the geographical sense but also in an emotional sense forged by two world wars," said Cameron. Sarkozy expressed appreciation for Britain supporting De Gaulle "when France had been overwhelmed and betrayed by its leaders". De Gaulle's appeal, which was largely unheard in France when initially broadcast, was read aloud during the event, followed by the French army choir's rendition of the wartime resistance song Le Chant des Partisans. Earlier, the Prince of Wales greeted Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, as they arrived at Clarence House during a day of official engagements. The French first couple began the day with a visit to the B2 studio at BBC Broadcasting House from where De Gaulle's original appeal was made. They were met by the BBC chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, and then visited an exhibition of the BBC's part in the second world war before unveiling a commemorative plaque. British officials initially refused De Gaulle's request to air his appeal to French soldiers, engineers and armament workers to support him. The broadcast was eventually aired with the backing of Winston Churchill, despite opposition from the cabinet. De Gaulle's subsequent speeches on 19 and 22 June reached a much wider audience. "Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not and will not be extinguished," De Gaulle said in his first speech. A large chunk of the French empire in French Equatorial Africa responded positively. They gave the Free French a strategic asset that was put to good use later when the Leclerc division crossed the Sahara from Chad to join up with the campaign in the western desert. For the hundreds of French veterans who had come over this morning on a specially chartered Eurostar emblazoned with images of De Gaulle, the commemoration was a moving and fitting tribute to their wartime battles. "For those Free French who arrived that June, [the ceremony] comes as no surprise. You had already set a good precedent. You accepted us completely," said Pierre Sylvain Crosnier, who was 18 when he arrived in Britain on 23 June. Like most members of the resistance, he had not heard the appeal of 18 June. But he was infused with the desire to battle for freedom, he said. "France didn't want to fight any more. So we came to the one country that was still fighting," said Crosnier, now 89. Serge Borochovitch, also 89, added: "It was a question of carrying on the fight. For us, what was happening in France at that time was a crime. It was a betrayal. By coming to London we were fighting for the survival of European civilisation." Sarkozy's visit, coming against a backdrop of economic crisis in the eurozone, provides an opportunity for Cameron to follow up discussions at a European Union summit on financial supervision. "The importance of General De Gaulle's words has not been dimmed by history," Cameron said ahead of the visit. "Today we celebrate the relationship between France and Britain. At a time of enormous international challenges, the president's visit underlines the importance of those bonds." Sarkozy and Cameron were expected to focus on closer co-operation between Britain and France over defence projects, seen in part as a chance to share costs in the tough economic climate. Following his trip to London, Sarkozy will lay a wreath at statues of De Gaulle on the Champs Elysées in Paris, and Winston Churchill on the nearby Avenue Winston Churchill. Other commemorations are planned across the country and include the projection of images from the second world war on to the facade of Les Invalides, the gold-domed complex in Paris where Napoleon is buried, this evening. | Charles de Gaulle during the Second World War Nicolas Sarkozy visited the UK today to celebrate the 70th anniversary since made his war broadcast. The French president and the laid wreaths at the statue of Charles de Gaulle in Earlier, Mr Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni visited the BBC radio studio where the famous broadcast was made on BBC France. The broadcast at the time was said to have been listened to by a very small number of listeners. Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a plaque and viewed a tapestry given to the BBC by France as a note of gratitude after World War II. Nicolas Sarkozy and British PM David Cameron met with 200 veterans during a ceremony at the . Nicolas Sarkozy awarded the to six World War II veterans, three of whom were British. In a short speech, Mr Cameron said the anniversary was a "reminder that Britain and France are not just neighbours in the geographical sense but also in the emotional sense." Mr Cameron held an hour of talks with the French president at Downing Street primarily focusing on economics, Afghanistan, and other foreign policy matters. The visit is the first by a French president to mark Gen de Gaulle's broadcast on June 18, 1940. In the stirring radio appeal, Gen de Gaulle declared himself leader of the "Free French", spawning the French Resistance, which went on to play a crucial role in defeating the Germans. Mr Sarkozy's last official visit to the UK was in March 2008, when he was also accompanied by his wife. |
YEVPATORIA, Ukraine (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through an apartment building in southern Ukraine, killing 19 people, and officials said Thursday they expected the toll to rise. Twenty-four people were still unaccounted for, Emergencies Ministry spokesman Ihor Krol said, after 21 residents were pulled out alive from the five-storey block in the Black Sea resort of Yevpatoria in the Crimea peninsula. The blast, probably caused by canisters of oxygen stored in the basement, flattened all five floors, leaving rubble several meters high strewn with wires, smashed furniture, children's teddy bears and shoes. "As I was walking by, I heard a bang, and then I saw this building crumble," one eyewitness said. Another, who lived opposite the apartment block, said: "We heard a terrible bang. We though our balcony crashed because of the way the windows vibrated. But when I went onto the balcony I saw smoke from the other side." Television footage showed rescuers dragging out a man from underneath a heavy slab. Others scrabbled through wires, construction rods and boulders. From time to time, they paused in silence, and incoming mobile phone calls were heard from under huge piles of debris. Crimea's deputy prime minister, Eduard Grivkovsky, said rescuers were working through the rubble of the third floor to get to the first and second floors, "where there are probably more dead," Interfax Ukraine news agency reported. President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko set aside their feuding to arrive in town together. Continued... ||||| Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko gave the Ministry of Emergency Situations a task to manage debris of the exploded house in the town of Yevpatoria by the end of the day. This was disclosed by the Head of Government summing up a meeting with leadership of the AR of Crimea which was held after the governmental delegation’s arrival to the city of Simferopol. According to Yulia Tymoshenko, more than 500 rescuers and 50 units of technical equipment are operating in the place of tragedy now, “There is everything necessary, in manual mode and if necessary – using technical equipment to clear away debris. We should rescue all the people who can be rescued by the end of the day”. Besides, as the Prime Minister says, according to the outcomes of experts, the explosion was caused by gas escape. Yulia Tymoshenko informed that by prior conclusions of the MES the tragedy had occurred over the oxygen cylinder blast which were kept in the basement of tenement house in 67 Nekrasova street, where unlicensed jobbing shop was arranged. At the same time, according to the Head of Government, to get firsthand information about the content of cylinder – oxygen or acetylene – will be possible only when rescuers get to the basement. ||||| Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko expressed condolences to the families and relatives of died from explosion which occurred in a five-storey apartment building in the town of Yevpatoria According to the Prime Minister, the Government will spare no effort to support the families of died and suffered from the explosion. In accordance with the preliminary information provided by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 19 people died from the explosion in a five-storey apartment building in Yevpatoria but 21 people are rescued from under the rubble. According to Yulia Tymoshenko, every family which lost relatives will obtain compensation amounting UAH 100 thousand for each died person. Note: This morning the governmental delegation chaired by Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko departed for the AR of Crimea. ||||| Yevpatoria dwellers who lost their accommodation because of a gas explosion will obtain pecuniary compensation from the Government of Ukraine and new apartments. Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko stated. According to the Head of Government, already today the Cabinet of Ministers will approve a relevant decision on appropriating means from the reserve fund of the State Budget of Ukraine. ||||| W celu świadczenia usług na najwyższym poziomie stosujemy pliki cookies. Korzystanie z naszej witryny oznacza, że będą one zamieszczane w Państwa urządzeniu. W każdym momencie można dokonać zmiany ustawień Państwa przeglądarki. Zobacz politykę cookies. | At least 27 people, including three children, have been killed and about twenty are still missing after a Wednesday gas explosion in an apartment building in the Ukrainian town of Yevpatoria, Crimea. Five injured are treated in local hospitals, one of them in a serious condition. According to Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry, the blast occurred at about 9:45 p.m local time on Wednesday, destroying 35 apartments of a five-storey post-Soviet block. The rescuers, in the number of 565, managed to pull out alive 21 residents of the building; about twenty people are still unaccounted for, the Ministry spokesmen said. The search was regularly suspended so the rescuers could hear voices of victims still trapped under the rubble, the AFP reports. Olexander Mazilin, head of the regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said that 26 out of 27 bodies have been identified so far. He told the journalists that entire families, including one family of five, were among the dead. Eduard Grivkovsky, the Crimea's deputy prime minister, told the reporters that there are likely more casualties, as the rescuers were working through the rubble of the third floor to get to the lower floors and basement. According to the outcome of the government experts, the blast was caused by a leak of oxygen; the gas is reported to have been stored in cylinders in the building's basement. Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, however, told the journalists that a certain information about the content of the cylinders, which is to be oxygen or acetylene, will be revealed only when rescuers get to the basement. ""According to preliminary expert conclusions, there was a workshop in the building's basement where explosive materials have been used without any kind of permission," she said. The Ukrainian government has allocated UAH 70 million (about US$ 13.865 million) for work against the effects of the blast. According to the official website of the Prime Minister, the funds will be used to pay peculiarly compensations for lost properties and purchase temporary accommodations for the victims of the blast. Gas explosions are not rare in the post-Soviet and poorly maintained areas of Ukraine. In 2003 and 2007, such blasts happened in Dnipropetrovsk in the south-central region of the country. In 2003, ten buildings, including a nine-story apartment building, were destroyed after a series of gas blasts; the occurrence resulted in 23 victims. One year ago, a nine-story building was partially destroyed with 15 people dead. |
Posties sorted mail while dust, feared to contain asbestos, billowed around them in the 27-year-old Christchurch Mail Centre which will become the new city council headquarters. The entire Hereford Street building was evacuated yesterday when the dust became so thick posties on the fourth floor refused to keep working. They will not be back at work until at least Monday, stalling Christmas mail deliveries to 35,000 inner-city residents. The company set up to build the new city council buildings, Tuam 2 Ltd, has known about asbestos in the building since at least May. Tests are under way to determine whether the dust clouds that billowed out yesterday contained more asbestos. The Department of Labour said it was contacted by Hawkins Construction after the renovation work it was doing at the mail centre raised concerns about potential asbestos exposure. Hawkins Construction was ensuring that the area was cleaned and tested for any asbestos contamination, a statement from the department said. Councillor Helen Broughton the only councillor to vote against the new council buildings has asked for an urgent explanation from the council's chief executive, Tony Marryatt. "Councillors made an assumption that the building had been checked by a professional and that's the question I'm going to ask the CEO now," Broughton said. "I've asked him for a report on it and I want to see the professional opinion from a building consultant who said that the building was sound and able to be refitted and didn't have any major problems." A man who had been working at the mail centre for 20 years, but did not want to be named, yesterday said posties started complaining of heavy dust on Thursday. "The place is getting all ripped apart now because the city council is going to be moving in there, but the workmen have disturbed some(thing) in the ceiling," the man said. "They were a bit worried about it getting through the air conditioning system and getting all through the building." New Zealand Post Christchurch delivery business leader Duncan Burman said NZ Post had been told by Tuam 2 Ltd that a small amount of asbestos was removed this year, but testing last month had found no more asbestos "in that area". The spokesman for the civic building project, Tony Sewell, said the Ngai Tahu and city council joint venture renovating the building had been aware of small areas of asbestos before buying the building. "(We have) engaged expert consultants to advise and manage the removal of that asbestos in accordance with industry standards," Sewell said. "Every precaution is being taken to ensure there is no health or safety risk to either tenants or site workers in its removal. There is no reason to suspect there is any asbestos in the air within the building." Tests so far had met statutory health and safety levels, Sewell said. Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national postal and logistics organiser Anna Kenny said posties would not go back to work until the air was clear. "We have people working on a construction site and there hasn't been adequate or appropriate controls put in place to stop dust interfering with people's health and safety," she said. The Christchurch contractor for Andy Andersons Industrial Services, Gerry McKeever, said he would not take a job where there was any suggestion of asbestos involved. "What I've learned over the years is one particle can affect you in your lungs and you end up with asbestosis," McKeever said. A June paper on the disposal of asbestos issued by Environment Canterbury states exposure to asbestos fibre is associated with lung and mesothelioma (chest) cancer as well as asbestosis. "Exposure can occur when materials containing asbestos are sanded, sawn, drilled or handled in maintenance or removal tasks," the paper says. ||||| Friday, 12 December, 2008 - 16:31 Postal services in central Christchurch today are being affected by dust caused by building work in the Hereford Street premises occupied by New Zealand Post's mail delivery branch and PostShop. New Zealand Post has temporarily closed the mail delivery branch, box lobby and PostShop while tests are carried out into whether the dust is harmful. Christchurch Delivery Business Leader, Duncan Burman, said today New Zealand Post is working with the building owners and contractors and intends to resume normal operations no later than Monday. If necessary, this will be through an alternative location. Mr Burman said New Zealand Post has been advised by the building owners, following the removal of a small amount of asbestos earlier this year, that testing last month had confirmed the absence of asbestos in that area. He said about 50 posties operate from the Hereford Street building, servicing approximately 35,000 addresses in central Christchurch. There will be no deliveries on these routes today. He regretted the inconvenience caused to customers but the health and safety of staff was paramount. Staff at the location are advising customers of the situation, and notices are being mounted. PostShop customers are able to use other central outlets at Colombo Street South and Cathedral Square North Customers with inquiries, and box holders expecting urgent or legal documents, should contact New Zealand Post's customer services on 0800 501 501. ||||| Asbestos scare in Christchurch building An asbestos scare has closed New Zealand Post's headquarters in Christchurch. Between 50 and 70 workers have been sent home from the Hereford St office. Contractors are working in the building are converting it to new city council offices. EPMU spokeswoman Anna Kenney says there were concerns about huge plumes of dust this morning. It was thought to be asbestos, but Ms Kenney says there has been no confirmation of that yet. She says air quality checks are now taking place to see what the dust was. Share this Article: Related Stories Asbestos being cleared from fire site 12/01/2009 10:16:02 Specialists being brought in to clear asbestos after fire which destroyed five shops in Dargaville last week Read More Auckland meatworks fire finally under control 22/12/2008 5:28:01 Medical officer of health says no need to worry about health risks after Akl fire on Saturday which is still burning Read More Listen Live ||||| Posties are in an uproar and mail will not be delivered in central Christchurch today after heavy dust, which workers fear could be asbestos, closed the city's mail hub. Construction workers transforming the Hereford Street New Zealand Post building for the new city council headquarters turned up heavy dust yesterday. This morning, posties on the fourth floor of the building were sent home because of fears for their health. Engineers Printers and Manufacturers Union national postal and logistics organiser Anna Kenny said workers had been stood down for 24 hours pending a check of air quality. The building was checked for asbestos in November and none was found, he said. "Having said that, however, given that the dust is particularly unpleasant and unsafe and of an unknown source, we've asked for further air quality checks to be done before people go back in to that environment and we also want the hazard eliminated," Kenny said. A New Zealand Post employee working on the ground floor said the building was cleared. "We've had to have the building evacuated - all the posties are all up in arms. And the (workers on the) private boxes and the post shop have all been sent home for the day now," the man, who did not want to be named, said. Kenny said he understood there would be a reassessment of mail delivery tomorrow morning at 7am. "But it's still subject, in our view, to confirmation that the air quality is safe." New Zealand Post is yet to reply to a request for comment. | The Christchurch Mail Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, was evacuated Friday after employees refused to continue working due to exposure to heavy amounts of dust suspected to be asbestos. Tuam 2 Ltd, the company set to convert the 27-year-old Christchurch Mail Centre into a new city council building, has been aware of the presence of asbestos in the building since May 2008. Hawkins Construction contacted the New Zealand Department of Labour, voicing concerns of possible exposure to asbestos material. Testing is currently underway at the facility to determine the nature of the exposure. The Christchurch Mail Centre is operated by New Zealand Post. According to Christchurch Delivery Business Leader Duncan Burman, approximately 50 post workers operate out of the facility, which services about 35,000 addresses in the central Christchurch region. blue asbestos'', a type of asbestos found in Africa and Australia According to a paper released in June by the Environment Canterbury on the subject of asbestos removal: "Exposure can occur when materials containing asbestos are sanded, sawn, drilled or handled in maintenance or removal tasks." Exposure to asbestos fibers can lead to the diseases mesothelioma, lung cancer, chest cancer, and asbestosis. Tony Marryatt, chief executive of the city council, was asked by Councillor Helen Broughton for an explanation of the incident. Councillor Broughton is the only councillor who voted against construction of new city council buildings. "Councillors made an assumption that the building had been checked by a professional and that's the question I'm going to ask the CEO now. I've asked him for a report on it and I want to see the professional opinion from a building consultant who said that the building was sound and able to be refitted and didn't have any major problems," said Broughton in a statement in ''The Press''. The owners of the Christchurch Mail Centre informed New Zealand Post that testing performed in November confirmed there was no asbestos "in the area". Anna Kenny, a spokesperson for the New Zealand trade union Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said concerns were raised about plumes of dust Friday morning suspected to be asbestos, but that there has been no confirmation of this yet. According to ''The Press'', Kenny also confirmed that no asbestos was found in a check of the building in November. "Having said that, however, given that the dust is particularly unpleasant and unsafe and of an unknown source, we've asked for further air quality checks to be done before people go back in to that environment and we also want the hazard eliminated," stated Kenny. |
Three firemen die battling blaze in China Beijing (PTI): Three firemen died and another was injured as they fought a towering blaze which engulfed a 12- storey building and spread to a neighbouring hotel at Urumqi downtown in northwestern China, officials said. The fire broke out at the Dehui International Plaza late Wednesday night and raged till Thursday afternoon before the fire brigade gave up efforts to put out the blaze as they felt the building might collapse. There were no reports of civilian casualties so far and the fire had been brought under control, a municipal government spokesman said. The leaping flames spread to a 20-storeyed neighbouring hotel which had been cleared of occupants before. The fire in the first seven floors had been extinguished, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A spokesman of the Xinjiang regional brigade quoted an eye witness as saying that the fire started from a mop stall on the first floor of the market building. The lower floors where vendors stalls were located were totally burnt. The plaza housed the booths of more than 2,000 vendors selling clothes, cosmetics, toys and various kinds of commodities from the basement up to its fourth floor. The fifth to 12th floors were used as offices. The market was cleared of customers at 8:00 pm and not many people were left in the building when the fire broke out at 8:20 pm last night, said a security guard. A woman vendor surnamed Tan said she rushed with her husband to the building in an attempt to transfer their goods after hearing about the fire. But they had to stand 100 meters away and helplessly watch as the blaze engulfed the market. International ||||| URUMQI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A blaze was put off Thursday evening after raging through a 12-floor market and office building for 22 hours in the northwestern city of Urumqi, leaving three firemen dead and another injured. Dense smoke was still hovering around part of the Dehui International Plaza and an adjacent hotel, but no flames were seen in the two constructions as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the downtown area of the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Rescuers were still not able to get into the plaza, which was completely burnt down, due to the extreme heat. There have been no reports of civilian injuries or deaths. Preventive measures have been taken in case the steel and iron framework of the plaza would collapse in a chilly night when the temperature fell to a low of minus 20 degrees Celsius, fire fighters said. The blaze erupted in a mop stall on the first floor of the market building at 8:20 p.m. Wednesday, a security guard told Xinhua. He reported the fire and firemen arrived in 15 minutes. The fire then spread to the 20-storey hotel, forcing the evacuation of all guests. The hotel was not badly damaged as fire fighters had put off the blaze before it spread to higher rooms from the seventh floor. Some 100 firemen were checking inside the hotel to confirm all minor blazes were extinguished. The market had already been closed to customers at 8:00 p.m., so few people were in the building when the fire broke out, said another security guard. Dehui Plaza housed more than 2,000 vendors selling clothes, cosmetics, toys and other items from the basement up to the fourth floor. The fifth to 12th floors were used as offices. As many as 435 fire fighters and 84 fire engines managed to put the rare blaze under control Thursday afternoon, however, it claimed the lives of Zhu Xiaolei, Zhang Yu and Gao Feng, who were searching for anyone who might have been trapped in the fire. The injured fireman was hospitalized in stable condition, according to a spokesman for the Urumqi city government. A vendor surnamed Tan said she rushed with her husband to the building in hopes of rescuing their goods after hearing about the fire. But they had to stand 100 meters away and helplessly watch as the blaze engulfed the market. She said she had lost merchandise worth more than 200,000 yuan (about 27,400 U.S. dollars). Investigation into the cause of the accident is underway and the economic loss is yet to be calculated. ||||| Fire fighters Zhu Xiaolei and Zhang Yu died while searching for people who could have been left stranded in the fire, Xinhua quoted local fire officials as saying. The 12-storey Dehui International Plaza normally houses thousands of people in its shopping centre and the upper office floors. The fire reportedly began shortly after 8pm local time, as the shopping area was preparing to close. After battling the blaze for several hours, by Thursday morning firefighters had been forced to retreat from the main fire fearing the tower may collapse. Instead they focused their efforts on putting out the fire in a neighbouring hotel where it had spread from the Dehui building. | An office block fire in Ürümqi, northwest China has claimed the lives of three firefighters and injured a fourth. The 12-storey dual-purpose office and market building was completely destroyed in the blaze, which also spread to and severely damaged an adjacent hotel. According to a spokesman for Xinjiang fire brigade, an eyewitness reported that the fire, which started at around 8:20 p.m. local time on Wednesday night, originated in a stall selling mops on the first floor of the Dehui International Plaza. According to a security guard, the building had been emptied of customers 20 minutes before and consequently few people remained in the building at the time of the fire. Fire crews arrived within 15 minutes of the fire starting. The plaza's basement up to its fourth floor contained a total of approximately 2,000 stalls selling items such as clothes, cosmetics and toys. Floors five to 12 housed offices. All 12 floors were engulfed by fire, and fire crews eventually abandoned efforts to tackle the conflagration amid fears of a collapse. The fire continued into Thursday afternoon, but has since been controlled. It burned for a total of nearly 22 hours. A neighbouring 20-storey hotel also caught fire; only the seventh floor was affected before the second building was put out. All guests were evacuated. As of 6:30 p.m. there was still much smoke in the area, but no visible flames. Rescue workers remained unable to access the building due to continued intense heat. A total of 435 fire fighters and 84 fire engines were involved in the emergency response. 100 firefighters continue to check the hotel for any small fires, which may remain to be extinguished. Structural measures have been undertaken to prevent the steel framed plaza from collapsing when the metal comes into contact with cool night air, which typically falls to temperatures of minus 20 degrees centigrade. The injured fireman has been hospitalised and is in a stable condition. The deceased were identified as Zhu Xiaolei, Zhang Yu and Gao Feng. They had been conducting a search of the building to check for anyone who may have been trapped. Feng was initially considered missing, but was subsequently confirmed to have died. It is presently believed no civilians were injured in the blaze. A quantification for the value of damages caused is not yet available. Authorities have launched an investigation into the disaster. |
Former Indonesian dictator Suharto waves as he leaves a hospital after having a pacemaker fitted in Jakarta, Indonesia, in this June 15, 2001 file photo. Former dictator Suharto, an army general who crushed Indonesia's communist movement and pushed aside the country's founding father to usher in 32 years of tough rule that saw up to a million political opponents killed, died Sunday January 27, 2008. He was 86. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) Ex-Indonesian Dictator Suharto Dies JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Suharto, the U.S. Cold War ally who led one of the 20th century's most brutal dictatorships over 32 years that saw up to a million political opponents killed, died Sunday. He was 86. The former leader and army general had been ailing in a hospital in the capital, Jakarta, since Jan. 4 when he was admitted with failing kidneys, heart and lungs. Doctors prolonged his life through dialysis and a ventilator, but he stopped breathing on his own overnight before slipping into a coma Sunday. He was declared dead at 1:10 p.m. when his heart stopped. The cause of death was multiple-organ failure, Chief Presidential Dr. Marjo Subiandono said. "My father passed away peacefully," sobbed Suharto's eldest daughter, Tutut. "May God bless him and forgive all of his mistakes." A week of national mourning was declared by the office of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was to oversee a state funeral after Suharto's body had been flown by a fleet of seven Air Force planes to be put in the family mausoleum. In a televised address, Yudhoyono called on "the people of Indonesia to pay their last respects to one of Indonesia's best sons and national leader who has done very great service to his beloved nation." Finally toppled by mass street protests in 1998, Suharto's departure opened the way for democracy in this predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million people and he withdrew from public life, rarely venturing from his comfortable villa on a leafy lane in the capital. Suharto had ruled with a totalitarian dominance that saw soldiers stationed in every village, instilling a deep fear of authority across this Southeast Asian nation of some 6,000 inhabited islands that stretch across more than 3,000 miles. Since being forced from power, he had been in and out of hospitals after strokes caused brain damage and impaired his speech. Blood transfusions and a pacemaker prolonged his life, but he suffered from lung, kidney, liver and heart problems. Suharto was vilified as one of the world's most brutal rulers and was accused of overseeing a graft-ridden reign. But poor health — and continuing corruption, critics charge — kept him from court after he was chased from office by widespread unrest at the peak of the Asian financial crisis. The bulk of political killings blamed on Suharto occurred in the 1960s, soon after he seized power. In later years, some 300,000 people were slain, disappeared or jailed in the independence-minded regions of East Timor, Aceh and Papua, human rights groups and the United Nations say. Suharto's successors as head of state — B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono — vowed to end corruption that took root under Suharto, yet it remains endemic at all levels of Indonesian society. With the court system paralyzed by corruption, the country has not confronted its bloody past. Rather than put on trial those accused of mass murder and multibillion-dollar theft, some members of the political elite consistently called for charges against Suharto to be dropped on humanitarian grounds. Some noted Suharto also oversaw decades of economic expansion that made Indonesia the envy of the developing world. Today, nearly a quarter of Indonesians live in poverty, and many long for the Suharto era's stability, when fuel and rice were affordable. But critics say Suharto squandered Indonesia's vast natural resources of oil, timber and gold, siphoning the nation's wealth to benefit his cronies and family like a mafia don. Jeffrey Winters, associate professor of political economy at Northwestern University, said the graft effectively robbed "Indonesia of some of the most golden decades, and its best opportunity to move from a poor to a middle class country." "When Indonesia does finally go back and redo history, (its people) will realize that Suharto is responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century," Winters added. Those who profited from Suharto's rule made sure he was never portrayed in a harsh light at home, Winters said, so even though he was an "iron-fisted, brutal, cold-blooded dictator," he was able to stay in his native country. Like many Indonesians, Suharto used only one name. He was born on June 8, 1921, to a family of rice farmers in the village of Godean, in the dominant Indonesian province of Central Java. When Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch in 1949, Suharto quickly rose through the ranks of the military to become a staff officer. His career nearly foundered in the late 1950s, when the army's then-commander, Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, accused him of corruption in awarding army contracts. Absolute power came in September 1965 when the army's six top generals were murdered under mysterious circumstances, and their bodies dumped in an abandoned well in an apparent coup attempt. Suharto, next in line for command, quickly asserted authority over the armed forces and promoted himself to four-star general. Suharto then oversaw a nationwide purge of suspected communists and trade unionists, a campaign that stood as the region's bloodiest event since World War II until the Khmer Rouge established its gruesome regime in Cambodia a decade later. Experts put the number of deaths during the purge at between 500,000 and 1 million. Over the next year, Suharto eased out of office Indonesia's first post-independence president, Sukarno, who died under house arrest in 1970. The legislature rubber-stamped Suharto's presidency and he was re-elected unopposed six times. During the Cold War, Suharto was considered a reliable friend of Washington, which didn't oppose his violent occupation of Papua in 1969 and the bloody 1974 invasion of East Timor. The latter, a former Portuguese colony, became Asia's youngest country with a U.N.-sponsored plebiscite in 1999. Even Suharto's critics agree his hard-line policies kept a lid on Indonesia's extremists. He locked up hundreds of suspected Islamic militants without trial, some of whom later carried out deadly suicide bombings with the al-Qaida-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah after the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Meanwhile, the ruling clique that formed around Suharto — nicknamed the "Berkeley mafia" after their American university, the University of California, Berkeley — transformed Indonesia's economy and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment. By the late 1980s, Suharto was describing himself as Indonesia's "father of development," taking credit for slowly reducing the number of abjectly poor and modernizing parts of the nation. But the government also became notorious for unfettered nepotism, and Indonesia was regularly ranked as one of the world's most corrupt nations as Suharto's inner circle amassed fabulous wealth. The World Bank estimates 20 percent to 30 percent of Indonesia's development budget was embezzled during his rule. Even today, Suharto's children and aging associates have considerable sway over the country's business, politics and courts. Efforts to recover the money have been fruitless. Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was released from prison in 2006 after serving a third of a 15-year sentence for ordering the assassination of a Supreme Court judge. Another son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, joined the Forbes list of wealthiest Indonesians in 2007, with $200 million from his stake in the conglomerate Mediacom. Suharto's economic policies, based on unsecured borrowing by his cronies, dramatically unraveled shortly before he was toppled in May 1998. Indonesia is still recovering from what economists called the worst economic meltdown anywhere in 50 years. State prosecutors accused Suharto of embezzling about $600 million via a complex web of foundations under his control, but he never saw the inside of a courtroom. In September 2000, judges ruled he was too ill to stand trial, though many people believed the decision really stemmed from the lingering influence of the former dictator and his family. In 2007, Suharto won a $106 million defamation lawsuit against Time magazine for accusing the family of acquiring $15 billion in stolen state funds. The former dictator told the news magazine Gatra in a rare interview in November 2007 that he would donate the bulk of any legal windfall to the needy, while he dismissed corruption accusations as "empty talk." Suharto's wife of 49 years, Indonesian royal Siti Hartinah, died in 1996. The couple had three sons and three daughters. ||||| JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Former Indonesian dictator Suharto -- the "smiling general" who ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades -- died Sunday at a hospital in Jakarta, said his doctor. He was 86. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, center, stands by body of Suharto at his house in Jakarta. more photos » He was rushed to Pertamina Hospital on January 4 for treatment of a failing liver, heart and lungs, his doctors said. He had been suffering at home for five days. His death comes just a day after his doctors said he appeared to be making a remarkable recovery. Watch as Indonesians reflect on Suharto » "My father passed away peacefully," cried Suharto's eldest daughter, Tutut, according to The Associated Press. "May God bless him and forgive all of his mistakes." A week of national mourning was declared by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is taking charge of a state funeral after Suharto's body is flown by Air Force planes to the family mausoleum. In a televised address, Yudhoyono called on "the people of Indonesia to pay their last respects to one of Indonesia's best sons and national leader who has done very great service to his beloved nation." Suharto, who, like other Indonesians, only has one name, was president of Indonesia from 1967 until he was forced to resign -- amid immense political pressure and mass street protests -- in 1998. Poor health kept him from court after he left office. Suharto was vilified as one of the world's most brutal rulers and was accused of overseeing a reign of corruption and, later, economic decline. Most of the political killings blamed on Suharto took place in the 1960s. Later about 300,000 people were killed, disappeared or jailed in the fight for independence in East Timor, Aceh and Papua, human rights groups and the United Nations say. But he is also credited with shaping modern Indonesia, a mainly Muslim country of 235 million people, by boosting its economy and making the sprawling archipelago a regional power. "He was known as the smiling general. He could be very charming, but behind that smile was this streak of steel," said Richard Woolcott, Australia's former ambassador to Indonesia. "In the short term, he'll probably be judged fairly harshly by Australian critics and others in the West, but in the longer term, I suspect historians will see his contributions to Indonesia in a very positive light," Woolcott told CNN. But Jeffrey Winters, associate professor of political economy at Northwestern University, told AP corruption effectively robbed "Indonesia of some of the most golden decades, and its best opportunity to move from a poor to a middle class country." "When Indonesia does finally go back and redo history, (its people) will realize that Suharto is responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century," Winters added. E-mail to a friend Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. All About Suharto • Indonesia • Southeast Asia • Asia • Human Rights Policy | Suharto Suharto, second president of Indonesia, has died today in a Jakarta hospital at the age of 86. The cause of death was announced as multiple-organ failure. He had been in the hospital since January 4, when he was admitted with failing kidneys, heart and lungs. A week of national mourning was declared by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In a televised address, the current president described Suharto as "one of Indonesia's best sons and national leaders who has done very great service to his beloved nation" and called for all Indonesians to pay their respects. The president is to oversee a state funeral after Suharto's body is taken to his family mausoleum in Surakarta, Central Java by a fleet of seven Air Force planes. Suharto was born Raden Suharto on June 8, 1921 in Kemusu Argamulja, Java, Indonesia. He was president of Indonesia from 1967 - 1998. Suharto is survived by two sons and one daughter. His eldest daughter, Tutut, said, "My father passed away peacefully. May God bless him and forgive all of his mistakes." |
By STEPHANIE HOO, Associated Press Writer Sat May 21, 5:24 PM ET GACHUURT, Mongolia - For most of her 53 years, she has lived as a nomadic herder under Mongolia's wide blue skies, raising nine children, surviving snowstorms and drought, and hauling the family's white felt tent to a new site each season in search of grass for their sheep. But never did Tsahiriin Daariimaa think life would be as hard as it is now, on the eve of Sunday's presidential elections. With the end of communism in Mongolia 15 years ago, Daariimaa said she and her husband are no longer guaranteed monthly wages from a government farm, but must sell their wool in a market of fluctuating prices and nervy Chinese traders. Under communism, "everyone worked for the collective farm," Daariimaa said. Today, none of her children has a steady job. "Communism was much better," she said. Nostalgia for the old ways might stun the founders of democratic Mongolia, who defied police and took to the streets in 1990 to bring down one-party rule. But polls indicate that on Sunday, many Mongolians plan to vote for the candidate of their former communist rulers the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. The MPRP says it is committed to democracy. Its candidate, Nambariin Enkbayar, leads a four-way race in this impoverished country of 2.5 million people wedged between Russia and China. Free-market economics has brought poverty, Daariimaa said, as she served bowls of milk tea and yogurt in her tidy ger, a traditional round tent with wooden poles painted orange to symbolize the sun. Her husband, Sharaviin Baatar, nodded in agreement. "We are loyal friends of the MPRP," he said. That talk infuriates Sambuu Ganbaator, a member of the Democratic Party, who was building himself a simple Russian-style dacha, or summer house, just over the next hill. "Too many people forget what the MPRP did to Mongolia," he said. "They kept Mongolia under a brutal dictatorship. You weren't allowed to speak your mind." Now, he said, "you can say anything you want to say and do what you want to live a happy life." Ganbaator, a retired driller for a geology company, said he supports the Democratic Party's Mendsaikhanin Enkhsaikhan for president. "He was one of the founding members of democracy. He crushed communism," Ganbaator said. "To vote for the Democratic Party is to vote for more democracy." But few of his neighbors have much affection for the Democrats. To them, rule by a coalition of anti-communist parties in 1996-2000 was chaotic, with a new prime minister nearly every year. As the coalition splintered under the weight of personal rivalries, the MPRP roared back to power in the parliamentary vote of 2000. The current president came from the MPRP. "I will support the MPRP," said Tseveenjav, a 70-year-old herder who uses one name. "They always do the right thing." Wearing a traditional Mongolian felt hat and heavy boots, he sat atop his horse and watched over 500 sheep with help from his faithful dogs, Falcon and Tiger. A dead marmot hung from his saddle. While city dwellers say their main concerns are poverty and corruption, Tseveenjav's worries were more pastoral. "I would say my main concern is that I hope in the summer there will be good grassy areas, so my sheep will become fat enough to survive the winter," he said. Tseveenjav has little interest in government, but under communism he picked up the habit of always voting for the MPRP. Myatav Choijav, also on horseback, greeted foreign visitors by shouting cheerfully in Russian: "Hello!" and "Mongolia is great!" He, too, supports the MPRP. "Everyone was equal under communist rule," Choijav said. "Now, some people are very rich and some are very poor." When the country was under Russia's influence, all schoolchildren learned Russian, and Soviet aid made up as much as one-third of Mongolia's gross domestic product. That aid disappeared overnight with the Soviet Union's collapse, and Mongolians miss it. "In the old times, the government took better care of us ordinary people," Choijav said. "Now, the government is very far away from us, especially if you live in the countryside and take care of sheep." ||||| ULAN BATOR, Mongolia: After a campaign dominated by promises to end widespread poverty, Mongolians were voting for a new president on Sunday, with polls showing the candidate of the former communist ruling party leading three rivals. If none of the four candidates wins more than 50 percent, a run-off would be held June 5 between the top two. Voters began lining up even before polls opened at 7 a.m. (2200 GMT), many wearing traditional Mongolian costumes just for the occasion. Voter turnout is typically very high in Mongolia — in the last presidential vote it was 83 percent — a legacy of communist rule before 1990 when voting was compulsory. But unlike under communism, "now we can choose," said Janchiv Tserev, 82, who wore his World War II medals pinned to his knee-length maroon tunic. "Before we could vote for only one person. Now there are four candidates," he said. For elderly nomads to frail to make it to their voting site, poll workers took ballot boxes to them — driving out in sport-utility vehicles to the round white tents that dot Mongolia's grasslands. "It's good to be old, because people come out and take our vote," said Batsukh Tseveenchimed, 62, as she offered bread and tea to the six poll workers — including opposition party monitors — who descended on her tent. "All the candidates sounded the same to me, so I just voted for my old party," she said later of Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, which governed the country under communism. "We know that party. That's the party that used to rule Mongolia," she said.Older voters' loyalty to the ex-communist MPRP has helped put its candidate Nambariin Enkhbayar ahead in opinion polls. The MPRP gave up its monopoly on power in 1990 and has since been voted out and back into power. Mongolia's economy collapsed after Soviet subsidies ended, and MPRP supporters say they hope the party's experience in government will bring greater stability. Opposition parties complain that MPRP members still dominate the local election commissions that register voters and staff the polls. Activists demonstrated in the capital earlier this month against the election bodies and said they would be on guard against voter intimidation. International observers were visiting polling sites Sunday to investigate any complaints. The Democratic Party's Mendsaikhanin Enkhsaikhan draws his support from anti-communists, who defied police to take the streets in 1990 and bring down one-party rule. He advocates direct subsidies to poor families, lower taxes for private businesses, and keeping a larger share of profits from foreign mining operations. The Democrats are hurt by division within their ranks and the memory of their term in power in 1996-2000, when a coalition of anti-communist parties splintered and collapsed. The other two candidates say Mongolia needs an alternative to the larger parties. The Republican Party's Bazarsadyn Jargalsaikhan is one of the country's richest men. His Buyan Co. processes cashmere, and he says his success as a businessman shows he can bring prosperity. The Motherland Party's Badarchyn Erdenebat supports a national referendum to give more power to the presidency, in a country where parliament is splintered among many parties and the prime minister changes frequently. The current president, Natsagiin Bagabandi, is from the MPRP. Final results weren't expected until Monday. | Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia "Communism was much better," said Tsahiriin Daariimaa Saturday on the eve of Mongolia's presidential elections. Polls predict that many Mongolians plan to vote for their former communist rulers — the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP). Under communism, "everyone worked for the collective farm," Daariimaa said. None of her children has a steady job these days. Myatav Choijav is a Mongolian who shares that view; "Now, some people are very rich and some are very poor. In the old times, the government took better care of us ordinary people," Choijav said. "Now, the government is very far away from us, especially if you live in the countryside and take care of sheep. Everyone was equal under communist rule," Choijav said. Tseveenjav, a 70-year-old sheep herder, agrees: "I will support the MPRP. They always do the right thing." Tseveenjav wears the traditional Mongolian thick boots and hat while sitting upon his horse with a dead marmot hung from his saddle. Falcon and Tiger, his sheepdogs, help him keep watch over 500 sheep. Sambuu Ganbaator, a member of the Democratic Party, has a different opinion from most of his neighbors. "Too many people forget what the MPRP did to Mongolia," he said. "They kept Mongolia under a brutal dictatorship. You weren't allowed to speak your mind." Now, he said, "you can say anything you want to say and do what you want to live a happy life." The MPRP's candidate, Nambariin Enkbayar, leads the polls and the ex-communist party has said that it is now committed to democracy. |
FCC to limit VoIP E911 enforcement By Carol Wilson Sep 28, 2005 10:21 AM Implement Innovative & Effective Solutions Learn how to improve VoIP performance, drive growth with IPTV deployments and innovate the service provider business model. View White Paper now. Sponsored by Texas Instruments. Once again backpedaling from its once-onerous deadline on E911 compliance, the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday that it will not take enforcement action against the Voice over IP service providers who have successfully notified at least 90% of their customers of the limitations of VoIP in emergency calling. Last May, when the FCC issued the order requiring VoIP providers to implement E911 for their subscribers within 120 days, the agency also required them to notify their current users that VoIP service does not always provide automatic location information to first responder when a 911 call is made. Any customer who did not acknowledge receipt of that information was to be cut off from service. VoIP providers have been scrambling ever since, both to put in place E911 infrastructure and to notify customers. The FCC extended the original deadline by a month and now has conceded that those providers being diligent in their efforts to contact customers should not have to cut off service to the stragglers. In a public notice, the FCC said “it is evident that many providers have devoted significant resources to notifying each of their subscribers of the limitations of their 911 service and obtaining acknowledgements from each of their subscribers.” Twenty-one VoIP providers have hit the 100% notification goal already and another 37 are over 90%, the agency said. Those companies will not face enforcement of the original ruling. VoIP providers who haven’t hit the 90% goal could face enforcement proceedings on Oct 31, 2005. They must file an update on their compliance efforts with the FCC as of Oct. 25. ‘We commend the FCC's decisive action to extend the enforcement deadline and on behalf of our nearly one million customers, thank them for their consideration of this critical public safety issue,” said Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman and CEO, Vonage Holdings Corp., in a prepared statement. “The Commission has put much thought and deliberation into establishing a baseline threshold of 90% affirmative acknowledgement and should be praised for their leadership.” Want to use this article? Click here for options! © 2005, PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. © 2005, PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. ||||| Industries FCC Extends VoIP 911 Deadline VoIP providers won't be penalized over 911 service waivers until the end of October. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it would give VoIP providers more time to receive acknowledgements from customers if their network doesn’t provide access to 911 emergency lines. The FCC said it won’t begin enforcing the rule until October 31, instead of this Wednesday, but only if the VoIP providers submit a status report by October 25. Many VoIP providers have already submitted reports, and the FCC has felt encouraged so far by the level of compliance. The growing VoIP market has started to displace standard telephone service as Internet companies such as Vonage, as well as cable companies and even traditional phone companies, offer VoIP as a less expensive alternative. Access to the 911 network remains a thorny problem for many VoIP providers, and until the problems can be fixed, the FCC has required that VoIP companies at least notify their customers of the limitations and receive an acknowledgement that the customers are aware they may not be able to reach 911. ‘It seems the FCC did not handle this particularly well.’ -Brian Washburn, Current Analysis “It is evident that many providers have devoted significant resources to notifying each of their subscribers of the limitations of their 911 service and obtaining acknowledgements from each of their subscribers,” said the FCC public notice. The September reports indicate that at least 21 VoIP providers received acknowledgements from 100 percent of their subscribers. Another 32 VoIP companies have obtained acknowledgements from 90 percent or more of their customers. Shutdown Averted The extension prevents a total shutdown of service to VoIP customers who have not responded to the request for a waiver. “The whole idea was pretty preposterous,” said Brian Washburn, an analyst with Current Analysis. “Either you get them onto 911 or else you’re forced to disconnect them. It seems the FCC did not handle this particularly well. They could only say we want 911 and do it, or else. It’s no surprise that they’ve extended it. I don’t know what else they would be able to do.” Nevertheless, the FCC intends to keep pushing the VoIP providers to receive acknowledgements from all of their customers and eventually to make sure their customers can reach 911. “To the extent that a provider has not received acknowledgements from at least 90 percent of its subscribers, we intend to continue forbearing from enforcement of our acknowledgement requirement until October 31, 2005 , provided that these providers submit a status report to us by October 25, 2005 ,” said the notice. The FCC had required the VoIP operators to comply with the rule within 120 days after it was issued, and VoIP companies complained that wireless carriers had been given years to comply with a similar request. The deadline extension could be a response to the efforts of several VoIP providers, such as Nuvio, to get their own extensions from the FCC (see Nuvio Seeks Delay on VoIP 911). The extension will apply to Nuvio as well as to other companies, giving them some extra time to warn their customers. Still, the VoIP providers will need to continue to make an effort to connect their networks to the emergency 911 networks. According to an FCC spokesperson, the deadline for that to happen is November 28, and that deadline has not been extended. | right The US Federal Communications Commission has extended the deadline for Enhanced 911 compliance by (Voice over Internet Protocol) providers until Oct 31, 2005. Last May, the FCC issued an order requiring VoIP providers to implement E911 within 120 days. This order also required providers to notify customers of the 911 limitations. Customers who did not acknowledge these limitations would have their services terminated. This extension gives providers extra time to connect the networks to 911 services, and warn users of the limitations. If the FCC had not granted this extension, at least 10,000 users would have been disconnected. According to the FCC at least 21 VoIP providers have received an acknowledgment from all customers of the 911 limitations. 32 additional VoIP providers have received an acknowledgment from 90 percent or more of their customers. VoIP providers who have not met the 90% goal could face enforcement proceedings starting October 31, 2005. FCC said in a statement “it is evident that many providers have devoted significant resources to notifying each of their subscribers of the limitations of their 911 service and obtaining acknowledgements from each of their subscribers.” |
SANTIAGO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Chile's government has reduced the death toll of the Feb. 27 earthquake to 452 from over 500 previously estimated, with 359 people identified as having died as a direct result of the disaster, Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said on Friday. Hinzpeter said that still there are 96 cases of missing people and 800,000 victims in the affected zones. He also said that there are 200,000 destroyed houses and 40,000 schools with grave structural damages, which affects one million students in the country. "We believe that our methods represent a responsible working method, because each number represents a person and a family," said Rodrigo Ubilla, the junior interior minister with special responsibility for the quake, at a broadcast press conference. "We do not want to play with the pain suffered by Chilean families." He said that 359 people have been identified and family members have received death certificates for them. Another 77 are close to a clear identification, but awaiting paperwork from the civil registry. Nine bodies have proved very difficult to identify, although it is clear the disaster is the cause of death. Finally, 17 people died in the days shortly after the quake, but authorities doubt that the quake or the tsunami that followed it are the cause. Chile's previous government, which left office eight days ago, had at one stage reported up to 800 dead, but reduced the number 10 days after the quake to just over 200 after realizing that some of the bodies had been counted twice. On Thursday, Chilean police estimated that the final toll could reach 630, saying that close to 500 had been identified and a further 130 people remain missing. On Friday, Ubilla said that the government would not publish an estimate of those missing because they are far more likely to be inaccurate than confirmed deaths. The full list of those whose death certificates had been issued to their families will be published on the Interior Ministry's web site on Friday, he added. The quake, which measured 8.8 degrees on the Richter scale, made 500,000 people homeless. Sebastian Pinera, who has been president for eight days, estimated the cost of reconstruction at around 30 billion U.S. dollars. ||||| SANTIAGO.- El director de la Policía de Investigaciones de Chile, Marcos Vásquez, informó que hasta el momento la institución ha recibido 130 denuncias por presunta desgracia a causa del terremoto y tsunami que afectó al país el 27 de febrero pasado. "Hay cerca de 130 denuncias por presunta desgracia que podrían tener relación con los desaparecidos, pero se está viendo cada caso. Mientras no aparezcan no podemos decir que fallecieron", declaró Vásquez, luego de reunirse en La Moneda con el ministro del Interior, Rodrigo Hinzpeter. El jefe de la policía civil afirmó también que poco más de 500 víctimas fatales han sido identificadas, de las cuales "más de la mitad ya está con su respectivo certificado de defunción y causa de muerte". Asimismo, aseguró que las Unidades de Reconocimiento de la PDI continúan su labor porque han aparecido otros cuerpos. En este punto, indicó que se está trabajando "caso por caso" para lograr la identificación de las víctimas y así tener "muy luego" la cifra real de fallecidos. Vásquez se reunió hoy con el ministro Hinzpeter para informarle que 71 cuarteles de la PDI se encuentran con problemas en las regiones del Maule y Biobío a raíz de la catástrofe. Según dijo, "algunos de ellos cuentan con seguros, otros tienen daños menores y alrededor de nueve daños mayores que tuvimos que evacuar y otros están funcionando en otros lugares". | Damage produced by the earthquake and tsunami in Pichilemu. Chilean Government confirmed 452 deaths caused by the earthquake and tsunami that struck the central and south zones of Chile on February 27 and the Pichilemu earthquake on March 11. The official death toll was released yesterday by the Interior Undersecretary Rodrigo Ubilla. Ubilla explained that "after a rigorous work in which participated Carabineros, the Investigation Police, the Medical Legal Service, and the Civil Registry, and was later checked by the Interior Undersecretary, we made a unique list of dead people and of denunciations of presumed dead." In spite of this, Ubilla said that there are just 359 identified dead people, with death certificates and cause of death. He added that in 67 other cases, the dead people were identified by RUT (identification number), but there are no death certificates issued, that is the tool "that allows us to clarify if the death was produced directly by the earthquake or the tsunami." Carabineros reports, at least, 97 presumed disgraces denunciations, related to the cataclysm. |
OTTAWA The national Conservative Party is taking a tough line over the federal government's plan to use its budget bill to help meet Canada's Kyoto accord targets. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said Thursday his party will vote against the omnibus budget bill if the government includes in it an amendment to control greenhouse gas emissions. Indepth: Kyoto "This is an attempt by the government to get unlimited power to impose multimillion-dollar fines on any basis, without any parliamentary approval or discussion, whatsoever," Harper said. "It is completely unacceptable." The budget bill includes an amendment to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act that would add greenhouse gas emissions to the list of controlled substances, so Ottawa could regulate those emissions. When the budget was first tabled last month, the Conservatives said they would support it. But Harper said Thursday the party will vote against the budget unless the Liberals withdraw the Kyoto change. The NDP and Bloc Québécois have said their MPs will vote against the budget. If all four parties maintain their positions, the minority Liberal government would be defeated. It would be up to Prime Minister Paul Martin to decide whether a defeat should trigger an election, Harper said. Environment Minister Stéphane Dion said he would be "very, very pleased" to fight an election over climate change. Alberta has maintained a strong opposition to the Kyoto accord, arguing it would hurt the province's oil and gas industry. ||||| Sparring officials to delay Kyoto proposals Environment Minister Stéphane Dion's effort to have a $10-billion Kyoto implementation plan in place by April 4 is in jeopardy because of a battle between his officials and those in Natural Resources Canada over the effectiveness of proposals to cut greenhouse gases. The plan is already overdue, given that the Kyoto Protocol on climate change became international law Feb. 16, and Mr. Dion now has set April 4 as the new deadline for making an announcement, government sources say. Two important elements of a Kyoto implementation were nailed down in the past three days: -- After a lengthy cabinet debate, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and other ministers in the minority Liberal government agreed to include controversial amendments to environmental protection laws as part of the omnibus budget-implementation bill that will be debated in the coming weeks. It's a controversial move, however, and has the opposition vowing that the bill could be defeated, forcing an election. Advertisements -- Meanwhile, Natural Resources Minister John Efford announced on Wednesday that the government had reached a voluntary agreement with auto makers on steps to improve fuel efficiency for new vehicles, and thus reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Details are to be announced soon. But still unresolved, officials say, are the vast differences in the estimates produced by the Environment and Natural Resources bureaucracies as to whether Canada can meet its Kyoto targets for cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions and still keep the cost under $10-billion. The $10-billion figure is already twice what Mr. Goodale announced in February's federal budget. The Kyoto target for Canada is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 270 megatonnes between now and 2012. Environment Canada's draft implementation plan has Canada reaching that target. But analysts for Natural Resources Canada say the country can probably achieve reductions of only about 131 megatonnes. Asked to outline the economic and other technical assumptions behind Environment Canada's numbers, departmental spokesman Sébastien Bois said the government will produce its figures when the implementation plan is rolled out "in coming weeks." Mr. Bois also dismissed the Natural Resources Canada numbers as "rumours and speculation." But Natural Resources officials say their colleagues at Environment have greatly underestimated the cost of new measures to capture the carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere during the production of energy. Moreover, they say Environment Canada is being overoptimistic in calculating the ability of Ontario to phase out coal-fired electrical generation plants by instead purchasing power from Manitoba and Quebec. Natural Resources officials also warn of "staggering" costs of administering a fund that will reward projects that cut energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions. For Canada to meet its Kyoto commitments, they say, the country will have to spend at least $1.7-billion a year more than Environment Canada is figuring on. This is money that would be spent overseas on "international credits" from foreign enterprises that have done better than required under Kyoto in cutting emissions. The $1.7-billion estimate assumes credits could be purchased at $10 for each one-tonne reduction. Some economic analysts say the cost of credits could be substantially higher. The Liberal government is already sensitive to the Conservatives' charge that the credit-purchase system is simply "buying foreign hot air." Officials in the two departments are expected to continue their efforts to reconcile the vastly different sets of numbers next week while the House of Commons is in recess and most politicians will be out of town. But some officials are skeptical that they will be able to square the circle before April 4, the deadline Mr. Dion is pushing. A draft "Project Green" rollout communications plan has already been prepared, one source said. One of its key messages is to "demonstrate government unity." ||||| Tories threaten to force election Ottawa Opposition Leader Stephen Harper threw down the gauntlet to the Liberals yesterday, saying a controversial environmental provision must be removed from a budget implementation bill or the country will go to the polls. If the Liberals are willing to let the minority government fall over a move to bring greenhouse gas emissions under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, something the Conservatives say would amount to a carbon tax, “well, then, we'll have an election,” Mr. Harper said. “We make our decisions here based on what we think is in the best interest of the country, but obviously I've said the country is ready for an election at any time.” The provision was included in the omnibus budget implementation bill introduced in the House of Commons yesterday after what sources described as heated debate within the Liberal cabinet over whether it is a good time to test Conservative resolve. Mr. Harper and the rest of his caucus are enjoying renewed confidence after a successful policy convention last weekend. Advertisements a) Vienna b) Moscow c) Brisbane d) Cancun The fact that the Liberals were willing to take the gamble knowing that the Conservatives would oppose the confidence bill — and knowing that the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrats have said they would vote against the legislation — had some backroom observers suggesting that the Liberals were engineering their own defeat. They speculated that Prime Minister Paul Martin, who ignored all questions on the issue after a cabinet meeting yesterday, would rather have an election soon on an environmental matter than wait for a potentially devastating report that could come next fall from the Gomery commission reviewing the sponsorship scandal. Environment Minister Stéphane Dion, who pushed to have changes to the CEPA included in the budget bill, was certainly not willing to back down in the face of Mr. Harper's opposition. “I don't want to go in an election,” he said. “But if, one day I have to go to an election and say to Canadians ‘Don't you think Canada should do its share for climate change?' and, ‘Don't you think Canada should do its share for Kyoto?' obviously I would be very pleased to do that because I know Canadians, in a very large part, disagree with the Conservative Party about that.” The mammoth bill introduced in the House of Commons yesterday must go through second and third reading and be debated at a parliamentary committee before it can become law. Liberal House Leader Tony Valeri said he hopes to have it passed by the end of the spring. It could be amended to remove the offending provision before it is put to a final vote. The bill contains a wide range of measures, including equalization payments for eastern provinces, an extension of the jurisdiction of the auditor-general to examine foundations receiving federal funds, and $100-million to halt the spread of the pine beetle in British Columbia and Alberta. Some of the items, particularly those related to tax cuts and bestowing increased powers on the auditor-general, are proposals for which the Conservatives have lobbied. But the CEPA provision wasn't mentioned in the budget released last month that the Conservatives said they would not defeat, Mr. Harper said. “We will not be intimidated into supporting a provision that is so dangerous,” he said. “This is an attempt to get unlimited power to declare any element of the Kyoto plan to affect any industry to impose multimillion-dollar fines on any basis without any parliamentary approval or discussion whatsoever and it is completely unacceptable.” Mr. Dion disagreed with the assertion that the change was not contained in the budget. Climate change was a large part of that budget and, in order to control climate change and meet Canada's obligations under the Kyoto accord, there needs to be a regulatory tool, he said. “That's what CEPA is giving to Canada.” Some Liberals said yesterday that a deal would be struck to end the standoff, but it was unclear whether that meant they would back down and take the clause out of the bill, or whether they believed the Conservatives could be forced to compromise. In the meantime, NDP Leader Jack Layton accused the government of playing games with the environment. “Canadians don't particularly want an election,” he said. “Canadians want us to get down to getting the work done. We're prepared to do that, but when we see this kind of game playing with budgets, it makes it very difficult.” But Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe said he was not afraid of an election because he would have no problem explaining his position to Quebeckers. Mr. Duceppe is not satisfied with a number of provisions in the bill, including the portion on the CEPA. “First of all it's not enough on Kyoto. We don't know the plan, we didn't discuss the plan first of all. Secondly, I mean there's nothing on employment insurance, there's nothing on the fiscal imbalance,” Mr. Duceppe said. “I'm ready to have an election any time if this is what they want,” he said. With a report from Daniel Leblanc ||||| Print Story E-mail Story STAR COLUMNISTS > Miro Cernetig > Graham Fraser > Richard Gwyn > Stephen Handelman > Chantal Hebert > James Travers > Ian Urquhart > Thomas Walkom Battle over new budget bill could lead to snap election Opposition parties threaten defeat Harper dislikes Kyoto-linked plan TONDA MACCHARLES OTTAWA BUREAU OTTAWA—A standoff is building on Parliament Hill over a budget measure to enforce new greenhouse-gas emission standards. The three opposition parties vow to defeat it, a move that all acknowledge could trigger a snap federal election. The environmental measure was tucked into a bill tabled yesterday to implement parts of the budget plan, along with myriad other measures, and it set opposition parties howling. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper slammed Prime Minister Paul Martin for trying to sneak in a Kyoto plan — "amendments that would give the government unlimited power to implement Kyoto without ever bringing a plan to Parliament." "This is a back-door manoeuvre to give the government a blank cheque," Harper told Martin in the Commons. "It is a dangerous way of proceeding. It will certainly not have the support of this party." Martin did not address the question, but outside the Commons, Environment Minister Stéphane Dion said the Liberal government is not picking a fight. "It's a good policy. And it is in the budget plan, page 191." Right now, the government says the whole package is a matter of "confidence" — an issue the government could fall on — but if the opposition parties stand firm, the Liberals have two choices: drop the measure or go to an election over it. Dion said the full plan for Canada to meet its Kyoto commitments to reduce greenhouse gases will be introduced soon, and opposition parties clearly know "the consequences" of voting against the measure: to go to an election. Dion suggested the issue would be easy to pitch to voters. "I don't want to go to an election, but if one day we have to ... if we say to Canadians, `Don't you think Canada should do its share for climate change? Don't you think Canada should do its share for Kyoto?' Obviously, I will be very pleased to do that because I know Canadians at a very large rate disagree with the Conservative party about that." Harper, fresh off a successful policy convention last weekend and an 84-per-cent vote backing his leadership, talked tough outside the Commons. "This is clearly not in the national interest and unless it is removed we will not support this piece of legislation," he said. In the budget speech, the government pledged to spend $5 billion over the next five years to meet its "green economy" promise. Now it proposes to amend an existing law, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, to list carbon dioxide gas as "toxic" so that emissions by large industrial polluters can be regulated. Conservative critic Bob Mills said it was just a way to bring in a "carbon tax" on manufacturers. Outside the Commons, the other two federal party leaders — who support the Kyoto Protocol — weighed in with threats to defeat the measure, too. "First of all it's not enough on Kyoto," said Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who said he'd have no problem explaining his stand to Quebecers. Duceppe is widely believed to be itching to go to the polls to take advantage of Liberal weakness in Quebec, where the sponsorship scandal is hurting them. "The Liberals will have a lot of problems explaining to Quebecers there's nothing on the fiscal imbalance, with a gift to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. There's nothing on employment insurance. It's not enough on Kyoto. I'm ready to have that election any time if this is what they want." NDP Leader Jack Layton voiced his opposition to the budget measure and slammed the Liberals for trying to tack on environmental measures to the budget bill. "We're going to vote against what's been put on the table. No question about it," Layton told reporters. "The Liberals are playing games with the environment. Paul Martin doesn't care about the Kyoto plan. He cares about playing politics and that is what's going on here." Asked whether it was an issue he'd be ready to fight an election over, Layton said Canadians are in no mood for another vote less than a year after the last one. "Canadians want us to get down to getting work done. We're prepared to do that," he said. "But when we see this kind of game-playing with budgets it makes it very difficult." Harper, in an interview with CBC Newsworld's Politics, called the measure "ludicrous" and "dangerous." "The bottom line is ... the government wants the power to determine at any moment, without reference to Parliament, that any substance in the country could be regulated and massive penalties could be imposed for that substance being produced, or emitted or existing, regardless what the substance is," he said. "If they have a Kyoto plan, they can bring it to Parliament and we'll debate it and vote on it." › Get the NEW Sunday paper! Save 50% now! Print Story E-mail Story > ADVERTISEMENT | The Canadian Conservative Party plans to reject the federal budget. A recently amended provision allowing the government to control greenhouse gas emissions is "completely unacceptable," says its leader Stephen Harper. Harper said Thursday his party plans to vote against the omnibus budget bill if it includes the amendment to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. It would add greenhouse gas emissions to the list of controlled substances, allowing the Canadian government to regulate those emissions, he contends. "This is an attempt by the government to get unlimited power to impose multimillion-dollar fines on any basis, without any parliamentary approval or discussion, whatsoever." Harper said. The controversial amendment was introduced after a lengthy cabinet debate between Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and others. When the budget was tabled last month, Harper initially said his party would support the bill. He now says the party will oppose it unless the Liberal government removes the amendment. Environment Minister Stéphane Dion, who is attempting to have a $10 million Kyoto implementation plan in place by April 4, said he would be "very, very pleased" to fight an election over climate change. The NDP and Bloc Québécois have both said they will oppose the bill. The Liberal Party of Canada has 133 seats, so its defeat seems certain if all four parties hold their positions. Both the NDP and the Bloc also accuse the Liberal party of trying to tack the Kyoto amendment onto the bill without sufficient debate. Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe said that he was not satisfied with a number of provisions in the bill. “First of all it's not enough on Kyoto. We don't know the plan, we didn't discuss the plan," Duceppe said. “I'm ready to have an election any time if this is what they want." NDP leader, Jack Layton, said "The Liberals are playing games with the environment. Paul Martin doesn't care about the Kyoto plan. He cares about playing politics and that is what's going on here." It will be up to Prime Minister Paul Martin whether a defeat triggers an election. |
Poland waltzes away with Eurovision Dance Contest LONDON (AFP) — Poland waltzed off with the Eurovision Dance Contest title on Saturday in a glitzy final watched by millions of viewers across the continent. Actor Marcin Mroczek and professional dancer Edyta Herbus won the event at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow with a fusion of Rumba and Cha-Cha with Modern Jazz. Voters from the 14 participating countries as well as a professional jury awarded the Polish pair 154 points in an event broadcast across Europe. Russia came second with 121 points and Ukraine third with 119 points. Each couple comprised a professional dancer and a national celebrity and had just two minutes to wow the judges. Last year's inaugural contest in London was won by Finnish couple Jussi Vaananen and Katja Koukkula. "It was an exciting evening full of great entertainment and very high quality performances, supported by an amazing audience of more than 2,000 people, who raised the roof with enthusiasm," said Tal Barnea, the contest's executive supervisor. "We are very impressed with the way the event grew so much from year one to year two and with the high level of the production." The Eurovision Song Contest annual extravaganza has been running since 1956. Eurovision TV director Bjoern Erichsen added: "With this competition, we created a fantastic new Eurovision tradition, which we are confident will last for many years to come." Final rankings (points): 1 Poland 154 2 Russia 121 3 Ukraine 119 4 Lithuania 110 5 Azerbaijan 106 6 Denmark 102 7 Greece 72 8 Portugal 61 9 United Kingdom 47 10 Finland 44 11 Ireland 40 12 Sweden 38 13 Austria 29 14 Netherlands 1 ||||| Sunday, September 7 2008, 09:22 BST By Daniel Kilkelly, Entertainment Reporter Poland triumphed in the Eurovision Dance Contest last night, beating off competition from 13 rival countries.Marcin Mroczek and Edyta Herbus topped the leaderboard with a grand total of 154 points, which were based on viewer votes and scores given by an independent judging panel.Russia, represented by dancing duo Alexander Litvinenko and Tatiana Navka, came second with 121 points, followed by the Ukraine's Serhij Kostetskiy and Liliya Podkopaeva with 119 points in third place.The UK's representatives Louisa Lytton and Vincent Simone finished in ninth position with 47 points. They had previously been paired together on series four of Strictly Come Dancing.The contest was held at Glasgow's Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and was hosted by Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman. Strictly stars Len Goodman and Craig Revel Horwood were among the judges who provided commentary on each routine, but the result was eventually determined by a separate panel.Last year's competition was won by Finland, while the UK's Brendan Cole and Camilla Dallerup finished second from last. ||||| Marcin Mroczek and Edyta Herbus from Poland won the second Eurovision Dance Contest, which took place tonight in Glasgow, Scotland. Millions of viewers from 21 countries across Europe saw Russia and Ukraine finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Televoters from the 14 participating countries, as well as a professional jury awarded the winning couple with 154 points. Actor Marcin Mroczek and professional dancer Edyta Herbus managed to charm the European audience with their fusion of Rumba and Cha-Cha with Modern Jazz Dance flavour. "It was an exciting evening full of great entertainment and very high quality performances, supported by an amazing audience of over 2,000 people, who raised the roof with enthusiasm! We are very impressed with the way the event grew so much from year one to year two and with the high level of the production," says Tal Barnea, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Dance Contest on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union. Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman hosted the show, which featured 14 couples from the following countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Viewers in 10 additional countries around Europe were watching the show, as well as on the Internet via the official website. "With this competition, we created a fantastic new Eurovision tradition, which we are confident will last for many years to come," says Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision TV. The final ranking Rank Country Total 1 Poland 154 2 Russia 121 3 Ukraine 119 4 Lithuania 110 5 Azerbaijan 106 6 Denmark 102 7 Greece 72 8 Portugal 61 9 UnitedKingdom 47 10 Finland 44 11 Ireland 40 12 Sweden 38 13 Austria 29 14 Netherlands 1 | Edyta Herbuś, one of the winners The Polish team of Edyta Herbuś and Marcin Mroczek have won the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008. The pair performed a version of the Rumba, Cha-Cha and Jazz Dance. The pair were given 20 points by the jury and 134 points from the voting public with a total of 154. They were given the maximum 12 points by Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Russia came second with 121 points and Ukraine with 119 points. This years contest was held at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. This is only the second Eurovision Dance Contest. The first contest was held at the BBC Television Centre, London. Three countries withdrew from the competition Germany, Spain and Switzerland. Azerbaijan debuted and came in 5th. |
When Ferrari wrapped up the front row of the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamiltons only real hope of victory seemed to lie in the hands of the weather gods. It duly rained before the start, but after six laps the Englishman walloped the wall hard on the exit to the Swimming Pool, while trailing poleman Felipe Massas Ferrari. Into the pits he came, and at that stage the race seemed to belong to the Brazilian. McLaren, however, brimmed the MP4-23 with fuel, and Hamilton caught his first break when the safety car was deployed on the eighth lap after Red Bulls David Coulthard and Toro Rossos Sebastien Bourdais went off at Massenet. The racing resumed on the 11th lap, and two laps later Kimi Raikkonen dropped out of second place when he had to serve a drive-through penalty for having his tyres fitted too late in the grid. Now BMW Saubers Robert Kubica moved up to push Massa, and was able to snatch the lead when the latter slid momentarily up the escape road at Ste Devote on the 16th lap. Hamilton was chasing hard after them, with Raikkonen now trailing in fourth place. Kubica stayed ahead until he refuelled on the 26th lap, whereupon Massa went back into the lead until his stop on the 33rd lap. By then Hamilton was up to second, and after moving into the lead he just kept going. He did not have to refuel until the 54th lap, and that lengthy stint proved absolutely crucial. Kubica had already stopped for the second time a lap earlier, so was no further threat, and having built a lead of 37.6s Hamilton could refuel, switch to Bridgestones soft tyres, and resume still in the lead. Still he was not home and dry, however. He was 40 seconds ahead when Nico Rosberg, running a lap down after two pits stops to replace damaged noses, tanked his Williams hard into the walls on the exit to the Swimming Pool on the 61st lap. Out came the safety car again, and suddenly Hamiltons huge advantage had been eroded completely. He kept his head when the race restarted on the 68th lap, however, and was able to pull away to what he described as a very emotional triumph. The highlight of my career. Behind him, Kubica had no trouble fending off Massa for second for BMW Sauber. Adrian Sutil could have finished fourth for Force India - yes, thats right - having driven a superb race with a heavy fuel load. But he was the biggest loser in the second safety-car incident. He had been comfortably ahead of Raikkonens Ferrari when Rosberg crashed, and was later assaulted by the red car going into the chicane as the race resumed. Raikkonen had got into the same sort of tank-slapper as David Coulthard did in qualifying, and though the Finn kept control of his car he smacked hard enough into the back of Sutils car to remove his own front wing and put the unfortunate German out of the greatest race of his life. Stewards subsequently investigated the incident, but decided no action was necessary. As Raikkonen fell back, Mark Webber finished fourth for Red Bull ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who finally got a break to bring his new Toro Rosso STR3 home fifth in front of Rubens Barrichellos Honda, Kazuki Nakajimas Williams and Heikki Kovalainen, all of whom fought throughout. The McLaren driver had to start from the pit lane after his MP4-23 stalled on the grid, and scooped the final point by keeping Raikkonen at bay to the flag, which fell two laps sooner than scheduled as the race reached the two-hour mark. Behind Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso was 10th for Renault after a series of collisions, then came Jenson Button, who lost his Hondas front wing on the opening lap in a brush with Nick Heidfeld, the Toyotas of thrice-spinning Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli, and Heidfeld himself, who was assaulted by Alonso in a brush at the Loews hairpin. Besides Sutil, Rosberg (who was subsequently sent to hospital for precautionary checks), Coulthard and Bourdais, Nelson Piquet dropped out of a tough fight with Vettel after brushing a wall, and Giancarlo Fisichellas 200th race ended in retirement too. The result of a nail-biting race puts Hamilton back in the championship lead with 38 points to Raikkonens 35, Massas 34 and Kubicas 32. In the constructors stakes, Ferrari have 69 to McLarens 53 and BMW Saubers 52. The battle for the world championship has suddenly come alive again. ||||| Stewards warn Sutil after overtaking under yellow flag The misery of Force India driver Adrian Sutil didn't seem to pass after the Monaco Grand Prix. After being driven out of the race by Kimi Raikkonen, Sutil has been cautioned for overtaking under yellow flags. Sutil passed Rubens Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet Jr. on lap 13, but under a yellow flag. A statement of the stewards read: "The stewards do warn the driver of car no.20 as to his future behaviour in relation to appendix H, Chapter 2, Article 4.1.2b of the International Sporting Code." ||||| By Andrew Benson Hamilton has realised his greatest ambition by winning Monaco McLaren's Lewis Hamilton survived a collision with the barriers to win an incident-packed Monaco Grand Prix and take the world championship lead. The Englishman's early error punctured a rear tyre but worked in his favour in a race defined by changeable weather. His team refuelled his car at the tyre change, enabling him to delay his final pit stop and build a decisive lead. BMW's Robert Kubica beat Felipe Massa's Ferrari to second. Force India's Adrian Sutil lost fourth in a late collision. The German's superb performance in an unfancied car on a difficult afternoon came to a heartbreaking end on lap 68. Raikkonen, close behind Sutil after a late safety car period, lost control while braking for the chicane and slalomed into the back of Sutil. The pace I had was ridiculous. I had one second on some people and it was quite easy Lewis Hamilton The Force India was forced to retire, while Raikkonen, who had an otherwise low-key race, was able to rejoin to finish ninth after fitting as new nose cone. Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull, regaining thanks to the Raikkonen-Sutil incident a place he lost when he chose to put on dry-weather tyres at his final pit stop on lap 48. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel was fifth, ahead of Honda veteran Rubens Barrichello. Kazuki Nakajima was seventh for Williams, with Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen eighth after starting from the pit lane. Webber's team had no choice but to fit dry tyres at his stop and the Australian had to come in at that time to refuel, but it was a couple of laps too early for the dry tyres. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Hamilton's final stop was six laps later, by which time the track had dried sufficiently for the McLaren driver to be at no risk by putting on dry tyres. It was a remarkable turnaround for the 23-year-old, whose chances of a victory at his favourite track appeared over when he slid wide at the Tabac corner as the rain began to come down heavier on lap six. Hamilton drove superbly in treacherous conditions after an early lucky break The race started on a wet track, with drizzle coming down, and all the drivers chose the less extreme of the two wet-tyre options. Despite the slippery track, Hamilton was the first driver caught out, although his former team-mate Fernando Alonso lost control of his Renault at the Massenet corner early in lap eight. Hamilton said: "As the rain came down, there was a lot of spray and coming into Turn 12 it was like a river. "I hit the river and just slid into the barrier. I knew I only touched it but I had a rear puncture. Thankfully the team acted quickly and I was able to resolve it. "When the weather is like this the important thing is to keep on the track but I can't explain how difficult that is, you are almost just tip-toeing along. "We changed the strategy and it played into my hands." We changed to one stop and that was a big mistake Felipe Massa Alonso was also able to rejoin the race after pitting to change his punctured tyre - but Red Bull's David Coulthard and Sebastian Bourdais of Toro Rosso were less fortunate when they crashed at the same spot as Alonso seconds later. Coulthard went in nose first, badly damaging the front of his car, which was then smashed into from behind by Bourdais. That incident brought out the safety car, and Hamilton found himself in fourth place after rejoining from his stop. He was behind Massa, who had held the lead from the start after successfully converting pole position, Kubica and Raikkonen. The Finn was removed from contention when he was forced to take a drive-through penalty for not having his tyres fitted in time before the start of the race. Massa and Kubica swapped places when the Brazilian was caught out by the slippery track at Sainte Devote on lap 16, but the Ferrari re-took the lead when the Pole made his first stop for fuel and tyres on lap 26. The safety car came out twice following crashes in the difficult conditions Massa came in six laps later, and that was when Hamilton started to build his lead. He set a succession of fastest laps as he extended his lead by more than a second a lap, and his lead was more than 30 seconds - comfortably enough to rejoin in the lead. "The pace I had was ridiculous. I had one second on some people and it was quite easy," Hamilton said. "There was a point when I was 40 seconds ahead when the safety car came out." Massa blamed Ferrari's decision to fuel him to the end of the race at his first pit stop for his defeat. "I was so quick in the first stint," he said. "I put down a good pace and I knew the strategy was working but then suddenly we changed to one stop and that was a big mistake because the track was getting drier and we expected some more rain but it didn't come and by the time Kubica had stopped. 606: DEBATE Great win for Lewis - so sad for Sutil kevlegs ""I wanted to stop again and we took too long too change the tyres. It was a shame we made a mistake on the strategy. "But it's good to be on the podium and we know the championship is long. We have a great car. Unfortunately the strategy did not work." Hamilton now had the race in his hands, but behind him the drama was not over. The safety car came out for the second time when Nico Rosberg crashed heavily at the Swimming Pool - and the accident between Sutil and Raikkonen happened at the re-start. The result gives Hamilton a three-point lead over Raikkonen in the world championship standings, while Massa is a further point behind. Result of Monaco Grand Prix after 76 laps*: 1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes two hours 0 minutes 42.742 seconds 2 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 3.064 secs behind 3 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari +4.811secs 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +19.295 5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +24.657 6 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +28.408 7 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota +30.180 8 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +33.191 9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +33.792 10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault one lap behind 11 Jenson Button (GB) Honda one lap 12 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota one lap 13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap 14 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber four laps R Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 67 laps completed 16 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 59 laps 17 Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 47 laps 18 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 36 laps 19 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault seven laps 20 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari seven laps Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:16.689, lap 74. * Race shortened by two laps because of two-hour time limit Key: R = retire Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? | Lewis Hamilton at Stars and Cars in 2007. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has won the FIA Formula-1 2008 Grand Prix de Monaco on the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco on May 25. It became the first time in the 23 year old Briton's career in F1. Last year, he finished in second place after his former teammate Fernando Alonso. In this race Alonso finished on a distant 10th place in his Renault car. The last British winner at Monaco was Graham Hill in 1969. Rain over the weekend causes a wet start to the Sunday race, causing driver mistakes, however no rain fell during the race or qualifying. Robert Kubica from BMW Sauber finished behind Hamilton, after gaining 3 positions since the race start. Strategists at Ferrari underestimated the weather condition and the pace of their McLaren and BMW rivals, so Felipe Massa dropped to the third place starting from the brilliant pole. Lewis Hamilton driving in Monaco, 2008. Adrian Sutil was set to win 4th place until he was hit in the rear by Kimi Räikkönen, who lost control of his car while braking at the chicane after the tunnel. Räikkönen himself dropped from 5th to 9th place and Sutil was out of the race. Sutil qualified only 19th only ahead his Force India teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Later Sutil was warned by the race stewards that he overtook other cars (Rubens Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet Jr.) on lap 13 under a waived yellow flags condition, but went unpunished. Circuit de Monaco Australian driver Mark Webber secured 4th for Red Bull-Renault after Sutil and Räikkönen collided. Sebastian Vettel scored his first points in 2008 season as the Toro Rosso's STR3 car debut. Rubens Barrichello made 6th for Honda. This race became the 600th race for Frank Williams as his team's young driver Kaz Nakajima scored 2 points. Heikki Kovalainen, Hamilton's teammate closed top eight with one additional point. Lewis Hamilton is now leading the Championship with 38 points, 3 ahead of Räikkönen, 4 ahead of Massa and 6 ahead of Kubica. Ferrari team still 16 points ahead of McLaren and 17 points ahead of BMW. The race finished about 43 seconds after 2 hour limit expired. |
A catalogue of failures by police and care agencies to protect teenage girls from being raped and sold for sex is forcing the Government to pursue abusers. This week it will publish a National Action Plan on child sexual exploitation. It is the response to an inquiry that began after The Times exposed a pattern of street-grooming involving groups of men and vulnerable girls in their early teens. Today, we report further harrowing evidence of teenagers lured into sex and of their parents’ desperate attempts to rescue them. All but one of the victims were groomed by Asian men. In one of a series of cases in West Yorkshire, a girl from Leeds was groomed, gang-raped and sold for sex after police and care agencies failed to act on intelligence that might have caught her abusers. She attempted suicide last year by jumping from a motorway bridge. New investigations by The Times have revealed: · A young boy was killed in 2009 after his family home was set on fire by men targeting his 15-year-old sister; · Leeds City Council hired a private detective this year in a bungled attempt to trail a 14-year-old girl who was leaving a children’s home to spend days and nights with men in Bradford; · A mother took her daughter, 14, to New Zealand and left her with relatives in an attempt to help her to break free from men who fed her drugs and raped her; · A father from Keighley, near Bradford, was told that police did not receiv ||||| 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 ||||| Kyrgyzstan President orders election probe Advertisement Advertisement Osh, Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev on Monday ordered the Central Election Commission and Supreme Court to investigate alleged violations in the recent parliamentary vote that have triggered weeks of opposition protests in Kyrgyzstan, his office said. More than 17,000 people rallied Monday against Mr. Akayev, calling for his resignation, and some of them took over government buildings in at least four cities. Mr. Akayev ordered the commission and court "to pay particular attention to those districts where election results provoked extreme public reaction ... and tell people openly who is right and who is wrong," his office said. "The (election) disputes need to be solved fully and fairly," said Mr. Akayev, who added that the results of the investigations must be made public "so that all speculations and accusations of arbitrariness will be removed." Advertisements The unrest began early this month to protest alleged election breaches in the Feb. 27 parliamentary polls. It intensified after the subsequent March 13 run-offs that the opposition, European countries and the United States said were seriously flawed, a charge denied by the government. The opposition has charged that Mr. Akayev, who is prohibited from seeking another term, planned to manipulate the parliamentary vote to gain a compliant legislature that would amend the constitution to allow a third term. The 60-year-old leader has denied wanting another term. Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the protests, saying "extremist forces must not be allowed to use political instability to create a threat to the democratic foundations of Kyrgyz statehood." It also rebuked the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for its critical evaluation of the Kyrgyz elections, urging it to "be more responsible in formulating their conclusions to prevent destructive elements from using these assessments to justify their lawless actions." Monday's biggest demonstration drew about 15,000 people to the southern city of Jalal-Abad, a local government spokesman said. There were no reports of violence a day after demonstrators there burned down much of the police headquarters, freed 70 detained protesters and occupied the governor's office. Protesters dumped stones on the runway at Jalal-Abad airport, making it difficult for security forces to rush in reinforcements to quell the protests, which some analysts have compared to peaceful revolutions that swept two other former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine in the past two years. Mr. Akayev has led this mainly Muslim nation for 15 years. In Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city, about 1,000 protesters armed with clubs and flammable liquid and chanting "Akayev go!" took control of the governor's building. Activists first stormed the building Friday, were ousted by security forces Saturday but retook it Monday. The protesters then grew in number to about 2,000 and overran the regional police and security stations in the city, about 300 kilometres south of the capital, Bishkek. Those buildings had been largely evacuated by officials who were anticipating the takeovers. Protesters gathered on the city's main square and burned a large picture of Mr. Akayev. "This is a new day in our history," said Omurbek Tekebayev, an official of the opposition, which he said would create alternative government bodies throughout the country. Mr. Tekebayev said the deputy regional police chief had joined the opposition and would be in charge of police under the region's new government. Another opposition member, Anvar Artykov, told the crowd that "power in Osh has been taken over by people! ... I congratulate you on our victory and urge you to maintain order." The crowd began to disperse in the afternoon. The opposition also was occupying government buildings in four other cities and towns, Interior Ministry spokesman Nurdin Jangarayev said. Hundreds rallied Monday in at least two other towns in this mountainous nation of 5 million people, he said. Protesters in the southern town of Toktogul held captive for a third day a district governor and a chief district prosecutor, both of whom are accused of colluding with Mr. Akayev's government, police said. Akayev aide Abdil Seghizbayev said security forces would not take action against the protesters but said talks would only be possible after order is restored. "Neither authorities nor opposition leaders can control the crowd right now," he said. "If an (opposition) leader emerges who can control the protesters, the government will be ready to talk to him." Kyrgyzstan's opposition parties have long been fractured and have resisted moves to unite them. With pressure on Akayev to step down, rival opposition leaders are positioning themselves to be seen as a possible successor. Roza Otunbayeva, leader of the Ata-Jurt Movement, one of the main opposition groups, and a former foreign minister, ruled out any talks with Akayev. "We have one aim only: to oust this government ... There is no need for talks anymore," she said. Mr. Otunbayeva said the opposition would guarantee the security of Akayev and other government officials if they go, "like it was in Georgia and Ukraine." But another opposition leader, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said talks would be possible if Mr. Akayev attended. Mr. Akayev was long regarded as the most reform-minded leader in ex-Soviet Central Asia and the country won praise for its comparative openness. But he has recently shown increasing signs of cracking down. In 2002, his reputation was tarnished after police killed six people protesting the arrest of an opposition lawmaker. Also Monday, Ukraine recalled its ambassador for allegedly exceeding his responsibilities, the Foreign Ministry said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Dmytro Svystkov said Oleksandr Baldynyuk, Kiev's temporary representative in Kyrgyzstan, was summoned home because of a letter he wrote supporting the regional governor of Jalal-Abad. Mr. Baldynyuk's position "contradicted the position of official Ukraine," Mr. Svystkov said. ||||| Kyrgyzstan protesters hold towns, talks awaited Source: Reuters By Michael Steen OSH, Kyrgyzstan, March 22 (Reuters) - Opposition protesters held two southern Kyrgyzstan towns on Tuesday, as they maintained pressure on President Askar Akayev who has pledged to hold talks to defuse the crisis. The anti-Akayev protests in Kyrgyzstan followed revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia as the latest outburst of anger against internationally criticised elections in an ex-Soviet state, and have forced the veteran leader onto the defensive. On Monday, tens of thousands of protesters armed with petrol bombs and sticks drove police out of Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second city, having gained the nearby town of Jalal Abad on Sunday. By evening the low-rise town was calm. People, many wearing traditional white Kyrgyz hats, went about their business along the dusty streets but the normally omnipresent police were gone. Akayev's spokesman pledged on Monday to hold talks with the protesters in a bid to find common ground. Akayev earlier warned that attempts to copy Kiev's "Orange Revolution" could lead to civil war in the ethnically divided Central Asian state. "The most important thing right now is to let people calm down, assess what has happened and then start negotiations with them about their demands," spokesman Abdil Segizbayev said. Mass protests against parliamentary polls that routed the opposition and were criticised by international observers have been confined to the south, which has an ethnic Uzbek minority and is poorer than northern regions around the capital Bishkek. But opposition activists called a demonstration for Tuesday afternoon in Bishkek, in a protest that threatened to clash with government efforts to rally supporters. "I think people have to oppose this mob," said Osmanakun Ibraimov, a state secretary, in an appeal for government supporters to take to the streets. It was not clear when talks between the government and opposition could take place, but Akayev -- who cancelled a planned speech on Monday but was shown on television meeting the Election Committee and Supreme Court heads -- ordered a review of the election results disputed by the protesters. The opposition has feared he could use his majority in parliament to change the law and extend his 14-year hold on power beyond the legal maximum, although he has said he intends to step down as the constitution demands in October. In contrast to Ukraine and Georgia, where Russia backed the unpopular incumbents, former imperial power Moscow has stood back from the unrest in Kyrgyzstan. Russia and the United States have air bases near Bishkek. (Additional reporting by Oleg Dzyubenko in Bishkek) AlertNet news is provided by Printable view | Email this article | Send comments | SKopp''Thousands of protesters seized control of a second city in Kyrgyzstan as President Askar Akayev ordered a probe into allegations that the elections were seriously flawed on Monday. “The south of the country is under the control of the people. Now we should concentrate on the capital of Bishkek,” said former ambassador to Britain and opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva to ''The Times''. “We have only one demand — that Akayev should resign.” President Akayev ordered the Central Election Commission and Supreme Court to begin an investigation into allegations that sparked the protests. According to his office, he ordered them "to pay particular attention to those districts where election results provoked extreme public reaction ... and tell people openly who is right and who is wrong." About 1,000 protesters armed with flammable liquid and clubs seized the governor's building in Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city. The crowd of protesters, which swelled to 2,000, then seized the regional police and security stations of the city located 300 kilometres south of Bishkek. "This is a new day in our history," said an opposition official named Omurbek Tekebayev. He also said the opposition would hold elections for alternative executive bodies throughout the country, and that they plan to call the presidential election, which is scheduled for October of 2005, within three months. According to Tekebayev, the deputy regional police chief has joined the opposition and will be in charge of police under the new regional government. Elsewhere in the country, at least 17,000 people continued to protest the alleged electoral fraud. Protesters also seized control of the southern city of Jalal-Abad on Sunday. |
more top stories Isaac Theatre Royal facing closure Christchurch theatre seeking donations as impact of Covid-19 takes hold. Evicted tenant leaves filth behind A mother-of-three who was renting a Cromwell home left it in a state of filth after being evicted this week. Golf's surprising Covid-19 boost Unable to play winter sport, some amateur athletes are switching to golf. Christchurch homes selling at a pace Property investors say the weeks post-lockdown have been amongst their busiest ever. Medical schools boost Māori student numbers A four-fold increase in Māori and Pasifika student doctors at Otago is intensifying competition for remaining places. Med school: Who gets in and why New Zealand medical schools are now boosting Māori, Pasifika and rural student numbers but have they got the balance right? 'Do first, ask for forgiveness later' OBITUARY: Dr Jane Nugent started her career as a hospital cleaner and moved through the ranks to become a doctor. Instagram friend becomes surrogate Rebecca Keil got to know Tess Dunford and her partner through Instagram. Now she's carrying their baby. Unemployment 'tsunami' coming Totally Tourism director Mark Quickfall has been operating in the Queenstown tourism industry for 40 years and has never experienced times so tough. ||||| Your news how you want it. On the go and no time to finish that story right now? Your News is the place for you to save content to read later from any device. Register with us and content you save will appear here so you can access them to read later. ||||| The New Zealand Parent Teacher Association (NZPTA) says a Christchurch high school's practice of making students on detention walk around in orange overalls is "unacceptable humiliation". Shirley Boys' High School principal John Laurenson has defended the practice saying that the overalls, which have 'work crew' printed on the back, were not intended to humiliate but to keep the boys' uniforms clean. "It is usually a punishment to fit the crime. If a boy's seen dropping litter, he picks up litter. If he's treading all over the rose garden, he might do weeding," he told the Press newspaper. | Pupils who are given detention at a Christchurch, New Zealand high school are being forced to wear orange overalls with the words 'Work Crew' on the back. The New Zealand Parent Teacher Association (NZPTA) have said that this is unacceptable humiliation and will make each student stand out. The vice-president of the NZPTA, Margaret Mooney described the overalls as radical. The principal of Shirley Boys' High School, John Laurenson, denied these allegations, stating that the only reason for the overalls is to keep uniforms clean. Since each pupil's punishment is the opposite of what they committed, then the uniforms need to remain clean. "The average fellow, he sic doesn't want to get mud or muck on his uniform." "If a boy's seen dropping litter, he picks up litter. If he's treading all over the rose garden, he might do weeding," he said. He added that the school has received no complaints about the overalls from students or parents, and that the system has been running for many years. |
Associated Press - September 26, 2007 2:53 PM ET BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) - Authorities in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, say a Catholic school was evacuated today after some children became sick during a church service. Officials say Saint Hugo of the Hills Catholic School shut down classes shortly after 9 a.m. when at least three students passed out. They say 2 of the children were taken to local hospitals, but their conditions were not believed to be serious. Emergency medical crews and hazardous materials teams were sent to the school and officials were trying to determine what caused the illnesses. The school has about 860 students and is located about 15 miles northwest of Detroit. Students and staff walked across the street to Oakland Community College where parents were directed to pick up their children. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. An 860-student Catholic school was evacuated after some children became sick during a church service Wednesday, authorities said. At least two were taken to the hospital. St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School shut down classes shortly after 9 a.m. when at least three students passed out, said Bloomfield Hills Public Safety Director Rick Matott. Two of the children were taken to local hospitals, but their conditions were not believed to be serious, Matott told WJBK-TV. Emergency medical crews and hazardous materials teams were sent to the school about 15 miles northwest of Detroit. Officials worked to determine what caused the children to become ill. Bloomfield Hills fire crews could not find any indication that carbon monoxide was the cause, Matott said. Students and staff walked across the street to Oakland Community College where parents were directed to pick up their children. | Location of MichiganA Catholic school in Michigan, United States was evacuated today after several students became sick during a church service. Bloomfield Hills Public Safety Director Rick Matott said St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School evacuated its 860 students around 9 a.m. EDT today. At least three children had passed out during the church service. Two children reportedly had to be taken to area hospitals. Medical crews and hazardous material experts responded to the school to determine the cause of the illness. However, it is still not known what caused the students to become sick. Students walked to the nearby Oakland Community College campus while they waited for their parents to pick them up. St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School is about 15 miles northwest of Detroit. |
Home > News & Policies For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary March 23, 2005 Fact Sheet: Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America "In a rapidly changing world, we must develop new avenues of cooperation that will make our open societies safer and more secure, our businesses more competitive, and our economies more resilient." Joint Statement by President Bush, Prime Minister Martin, and President Fox, March 23, 2005 Today, President Bush, Prime Minister Martin of Canada, and President Fox of Mexico announced the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Through the SPP, the United States, Canada, and Mexico seek to: Establish a cooperative approach to advance our common security and prosperity. to advance our common security and prosperity. Develop a common security strategy to further secure North America, focusing on: to further secure North America, focusing on: Securing North America from external threats; Preventing and responding to threats within North America; and Streamlining the secure and efficient movement of legitimate and low-risk traffic across our shared borders. Promote economic growth, competitiveness, and quality of life. Through cooperation and information sharing, the SPP will work toward: Through cooperation and information sharing, the SPP will work toward: Improving productivity; Reducing the costs of trade; and Enhancing the joint stewardship of our environment, facilitating agricultural trade while creating a safer and more reliable food supply, and protecting our people from disease. The SPP is based on the principle that our prosperity is dependent on our security, and recognizes that our three great nations are bound by a shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions. At the meeting, President Bush, Prime Minister Martin, and President Fox released Security and Prosperity Agendas to further protect and secure North America from 21st Century threats and to increase economic opportunities for the people of North America while maintaining high standards of health and safety. Following the meeting, and based on the content of the Security and Prosperity Agendas, each nation will establish ministerial-level Security and Prosperity Partnership working groups. The working groups will: Consult with stakeholders (in the business sector, state and local governments, and non-governmental organizations) in their respective countries; Set specific, measurable, and achievable goals and implementation dates; Identify concrete steps the governments can take to achieve these goals; Within 90 days (June 2005) report back to the Heads of Government with their initial report; and semi-annual progress reports thereafter. Areas of Focus and Responsibility The following U.S. working groups will be established: Security working groups chaired by Secretary Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security will address: External Threats to North America Streamlined and Secured Shared Borders Prevention/Response within North America Prosperity working groups chaired by Secretary Gutierrez and the Department of Commerce will address: Manufactured Goods Energy Food and Agriculture Business Facilitation E-Commerce and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Transportation Environment Financial Services Rules of Origin Secretary Rice and the Department of State will work with the Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce to integrate the work of the Security and Prosperity working groups, and ensure that it advances U.S. foreign policy goals and enhances our strong relations with Canada and Mexico. Relationship to Other Initiatives The SPP will complement, rather than replace, existing bilateral and trilateral fora and working groups that are performing well. It establishes leader-level priorities for ongoing and new trilateral and bilateral initiatives, giving existing efforts additional momentum, and creating new programs and initiatives where necessary and appropriate. The SPP will enhance and strengthen our ongoing security efforts, such as the Smart Border Accord, the Border Partnership Action Plan, and the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) Initiative. The SPP builds upon, but is separate from, our long-standing trade and economic relationships, and it energizes other aspects of our cooperative relations, such as the protection of our environment, our food supply, and our public health. The issues of immigration and trade disputes will be dealt with outside the SPP thru existing treaties and congressional action. # # # ||||| Home > U.S. News Bush holds summit with Fox, Martin [U.S. News] WACO, Texas, March 23 : President Bush and his counterparts from Mexico and Canada were meeting in Texas Wednesday over the North American security and economic initiative. The venue for the trilateral was Baylor University in Waco, Texas, which administration officials said provided better working space for the staff each side brought with them to work on issues to improve border security and build upon the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Administration officials said it was expected that Bush, President Vicente Fox and Prime Minister Paul Martin would later announce an agreement on new security measures, including procedures for better pre-clearance of cross-border cargoes. The summit is the first between the three since Bush's re-election. Bush traveled to Texas Tuesday night at the end of a two-day, three-state tour promoting Social Security reform. - -- Copyright 2005 by United Press International. ||||| Top Worldwide Bush, Fox, Martin Agree to Increase Trade, Security (Update2) March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Canada and Mexico pledged to coordinate regulations and border controls to increase economic growth on the continent through trade and migration while boosting security. At a meeting held at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, U.S. President George W. Bush said he, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox agreed to work on streamlining the border crossing process for travelers and goods and stepping up security for aviation and shipping. ``We've got a lot of trade with each other and we intend to keep it that way,'' Bush, 58, said at a news conference today, flanked by Fox and Martin. The three men agreed to ``outlast'' political differences that have arisen, Bush said. Bush also promised to renew his efforts at overhauling U.S. immigration law, creating a guest worker program. ``I will push our Congress to come up with common-sense, rational policies.'' ``Today, we begin a new phase'' of cooperation to achieve ``objective balance'' between security and ``an agile flow'' of goods and people, Fox, 62, said. ``North America should be the most competitive region in the world and the safest region in the world,'' he said through an interpreter. ``We cannot be complacent,'' said Martin, 66. ``The economic powerhouses of China and India are rising.'' Cooperation They promised new avenues of cooperation to make societies safer, business more competitive and economies more resilient, the leaders said in a joint statement, before they convened a lunch meeting at Bush's ranch in nearby Crawford, Texas. Putting aside some thorny disputes over trade and immigration, Bush, Martin and Fox signed an accord called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. The North American leaders said the partnership would boost border security through common inspection rules at frontiers, bio- protection plans, and uniform responses in case of an emergency. There would be added security steps in the aviation and maritime industries, and more intelligence sharing. On trade and the continental economies, the leaders pledged to develop more uniform regulations throughout the three countries in the areas of energy, financial services and technology to speed the movement of goods and services. The governments cited cross-border electronic access to stock exchanges and improved insurance coverage in commerce as services they would help facilitate. Setting Goals All of this would be accomplished through the creation of a ministerial-led group that will set ``specific, measurable and achievable'' goals, a joint statement said. A preliminary report from the ministers is due in 90 days. At stake is U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico, which totaled $712.7 billion for all of 2004, Commerce Department figures show, or almost one-third of U.S. trade worldwide worth $2.289 trillion. The U.S. buys about 85 percent of the exports of both Mexico and Canada, including oil, auto parts and other manufactured products from both nations. ``I'm not sure this new proposal will fix things in the short run,'' said Mickey Kantor, former U.S. trade representative and Commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton. Still, it may help stem illegal immigration, and ``begin to raise wage rates, labor rates in Mexico, so people won't find it necessary to immigrate into the U.S. illegally,'' he said in an interview. Security James Carafano, a national security analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said more uniformity on border crossings and drug fighting will help trade and security. ``The biggest problem is the legal structure at the border, and U.S.-Canada trade is outpacing the ability of the border to handle it,'' he said. ``The best way to keep the bad guys out is keep the bad guys out of Canada, and I think Canada gets that.'' Martin, during the news conference said the trio is ``getting rid of nuisance regulations'' partly because of the ``threat of rising economies elsewhere.'' The meeting comes amid a raft of trade spats and diplomatic friction between the U.S. and Canada. Mexico and Canada opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent war forced Bush to focus his attention on the Middle East. Canada refused to take part in a planned ballistic-missile defense system after a personal appeal by Bush during his visit to Ottawa in November. Martin, who favored such a plan before becoming prime minister, reversed course because of opposition from Liberal Party members and polls showing public disapproval. Trade A four-year-old trade spat over Canadian exports of softwood lumber used in home building has festered, and tensions have deepened because of the U.S. Senate's vote March 3 to block a U.S. plan to resume imports of Canadian cattle, because of concerns about mad cow disease. Fox pressed for easier immigration policies that Bush has been unable to deliver because of opposition from his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Congress. Bush wants an immigration overhaul that would increase the number of guest worker visas available to Mexicans. ``There are some million people a day crossing the border from Mexico to the United States, which presents a common issue, and that is, how do we make sure those crossing the border are not terrorists or drug runners or gun runners or smugglers?'' Bush said. The administration proposed in January 2004 an overhaul that says if there's an opening for a job an American doesn't want to take, the job should be filled by a legal immigrant. Bush said the U.S. ``ought to have a policy that does not jeopardize those who've stood in line trying to become legal citizens.'' He said the best way to enforce border security ``is to be compassionate and decent about the workers who are coming here to the United States.'' Fox got a promise from Bush to ``push our Congress to come up with rational, common-sense immigration policy,'' but Bush said, ``You don't have my pledge that Congress will act.'' ||||| > WASHINGTON, March 23 - President Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada pledged today to work through their differences and toward more secure borders and easier, more profitable trade. "I will continue to push for reasonable, common-sense immigration policy with the United States Congress," Mr. Bush said in Waco, Tex., appearing with President Vicente Fox of Mexico and Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada. Mr. Bush went on to say, in remarks meant especially for President Fox, that he would continue to push for compassion as well as practicality in the United States' dealings with Mexico on border issues. In other words, Mr. Bush said, "if there is a job opening which an American won't do," a Mexican ought to be able to cross the border into the United States, work, and then go home. | North America, as seen from spaceAmerican President George Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, and Mexican President Vicente Fox met at Baylor University in Waco, Texas on Wednesday. The leaders discussed cooperation in the areas of border security, trade, and immigration, signing an accord called the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America." "In a rapidly changing world, we must develop new avenues of cooperation that will make our open societies safer and more secure, our businesses more competitive, and our economies more resilient," read a joint statement released by the three leaders. The agreement calls for greater sharing of intelligence and the strengthening of infrastructure security. It also seeks to develop a common system for screening travellers, and promotes collaboration in the sectors of transportation, energy, technology, and financial services. Each nation will set up ministerial-level working groups that will "set specific, measurable, and achievable goals and implementation dates" and "identify concrete steps the governments can take to achieve these goals," according to a White House press release. The initial reports are due within 90 days. President Bush, while not offering specific details, also said that he would "continue to push for reasonable, common-sense immigration policy with the United States Congress." |
PARIS, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Airbus would fund an extended search for flight recorders of an Air France A330 airliner that crashed into the Atlantic on Jun. 1, Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders said Thursday. "We want to know what happened, as improving air safety is our top priority," Enders was quoted by the financial newspaper La Tribune as saying. "We are supporting an extended search by making a big contribution," he said. According to La Tribune, Airbus would spend between 12 and 20 million euros (about 16 and 28 million U.S. dollars) to support an extended investigation of "at least three months." Air France Airbus A330 Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic on Jun. 1 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people on board. Investigators have so far failed to find the flight recorders, and the second phase of the search is due to end on Aug. 22. ||||| PARIS The chief executive of Airbus said Thursday that the company would contribute a “significant” sum to help finance an extended search for the flight recorders and undersea wreckage of an Air France A330 jetliner that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean two months ago, killing all 228 people aboard. “We want to know what happened, as improving air safety is our top priority,” the chief executive, Thomas O. Enders, said in a statement. “Thus we are fully committed to support the extension of the search with a significant contribution.” Aircraft manufacturers and airlines routinely provide technical support to accident investigators in the event of a crash, but it is unusual for them to share in the financing of any phase of the investigation, which is supposed to be impartial. Stefan Schaffrath, an Airbus spokesman, said the Flight 447 case was the first time that Airbus had offered to “sponsor” a search mission. “This is an exceptional accident and an exceptional situation,” Mr. Schaffrath said. Air France Flight 447 had left Rio de Janeiro and was en route to Paris on June 1 when it went down during strong thunderstorms in an area 600 miles off northern Brazil. Search teams recovered more than 600 pieces of debris from the ocean, representing only about 5 percent of the airframe, investigators have said. The bulk of the wreckage, including the critical “black box” data and cockpit voice recorders, has not been found and is presumed to be lying somewhere on the mountainous seabed, miles below the ocean surface. ||||| Due to internet piracy we needed to close access to proxies. If you have to use the proxy of your company, contact us. We'll check the IP address and possibly reenable access. 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Sign your account up or login below: UserID: Password: The Aviation Herald iOS App iPhone & iPad Version 1.03 Support The Aviation Herald one time Monthly support 1 €/month Interview: The human factor named "Simon Hradecky" and the team of man and machine | An Air France A330. Airbus have announced that they will be willing to contribute between €12 million and €20 million (about US$16 million to $28 million) to fund an extended search for the black boxes from Air France Flight 447. The jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June, killing all 228 people on board. Chief executive Thomas Enders said in a statement, "We want to know what happened, as improving air safety is our top priority. We are fully committed to support the extension of the search with a significant contribution." Although airframers normally supply technical assistance to investigations, the required impartiality makes funding rare, with Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath saying the company's move was unprecedented. "This is an exceptional accident and an exceptional situation," Schaffrath explained. France's investigative agency BEA has requested financial assistance for the search from both Airbus and Air France. Air France have discussed this possibility with the BEA. Investigators have already given up looking for the and using the conventional method of tracing audio 'pingers', the batteries of which would have expired after 30–40 days. Efforts are ongoing using sensitive equipment under tow from a French naval vessel, but if this search proves fruitless then the BEA will seek money for a further three-month search. The jet's (ACARS) was able to transmit information regarding problems on board prior to the crash. The ACARS data suggests that the plane had suffered from a loss of valuable readings including airspeed, leading suspicion to fall on the which supplies various measurements. Airbus had already recommended that one component of this system, the , be replaced on A330s. Air France had not done this on the accident airplane although the entire fleet now features the modified design. Three other incidents have been identified since that may involve similar circumstances. The United States National Transportation Safety Board is probing two over American soil while earlier this month another Air France A330 equipped with the new tubes suffered a similar series of problems enroute from Italy to France. |
France: Youths Attack Police Station PARIS (AP) — Dozens of youths pelted a police station in the northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles with Molotov cocktails Sunday following an accident involving a patrol car that left two teenage motorcyclists dead, police said. Shots were fired at the officers in the station and a police captain was hospitalized with a serious injury to the face after he tried to negotiate with the mob, a police union official said. The youths also torched several cars and set garbage cans alight, officials said. Reinforcements were called in to secure the police station. The clash came hours after a motorcycle crashed into a patrol car in the nearby town of Villiers-le-Bel. The driver and passenger, aged 15 and 16, were both killed in the accident. Police officials said the two were riding a mini-motorcycle and that neither was wearing a helmet. "We are sorry about the death of these young people, but it appears that they were unfortunately the victims of a traffic accident," said Francis Debuire, of the Force Ouvriere police union. Rumors had circulated that officers in the patrol car were responsible for the crash. In late 2005, the accidental deaths of two youths who were electrocuted as they hid from police sparked weeks of riots in the poor, immigrant-heavy suburbs that ring many French cities. Thousands of cars and many public buildings were torched during the unrest. ||||| Rioters blocked roads with burning cars Aftermath of riots Police said 21 officers were injured in the rioting in the northern suburbs of Villiers-le-Bel and Arnouville. A prosecutor has ordered an internal police inquiry into possible manslaughter and "non-assistance to persons in danger". The violence - reminiscent of riots in 2005 - lasted for more than six hours. In 2005, the deaths of two youths in nearby Clichy-sous-Bois led to France's worst civil unrest in more than 40 years. On Sunday night Villiers-le-Bel police station was set ablaze and another in Arnouville was pillaged, police say. At least seven people were arrested. Burning cars Clashes broke out on Sunday night after two teenagers - aged 15 and 16 - were killed when the motorcycle they were driving collided with a police car. Police sources said the two were riding a stolen mini-motorcycle, and that neither was wearing a helmet. The police car was on a routine patrol and the teenagers were not being chased by police at the time of the accident, police said. The collision wrecked the front of the car and smashed the windscreen. Witnesses have accused the police of leaving the scene and of preventing local people from trying to help the youngsters as they lay in the road. The brother of one of the victims has called for the officers involved to be convicted. After the accident, dozens of youths went on a rampage, setting the police station in Villiers-le-Bel on fire, ransacking the Arnouville police station and torching two petrol stations. Riot police were sent to the area, but youths blocked their way with burning cars. French media report that the rioters also damaged the Arnouville-Villiers-le-Bel railway station and nearby shops. Police inquiry Meanwhile, a state prosecutor ordered the National Police General Inspectorate (IGPN) to carry out a detailed inquiry on the circumstances in which the two teenagers - named only as Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16, lost their lives. The Interior Minister, Michelle Alliot Marie, visited the trouble spots In a preliminary report, the IGPN excluded any responsibility of the policeman driving the car. "The driver did not see the motorcycle arrive and was surprised by the violence of the collision," the report says. Two witnesses said the police car was driving at 40 - 50kph (25 - 30mph) and had no revolving lights or siren on. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, speaking in Villiers-le-Bel, deplored the deaths and called for "responsibility from everyone", adding "of course the circumstances [of the accident] have to be totally clarified and this will be the job for the judiciary." The mayor of Villers-le-Bel, Didier Vaillant, appealed for calm and said he would ensure there was "an impartial investigation, for full light to be shed" on the accident. A brother of one of the dead teenagers, Omar Sehhouli, said the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage". In 2005, country-wide riots erupted after the electrocution of two teenagers from another Parisian suburb - Clichy-sous-Bois - in an electricity sub-station. They were reported to have been fleeing police at the time. Relations between police and young people in many deprived areas have continued to be tense ever since. Are you in the area? Have you been affected? Send us your experiences using the form below: You can send pictures and video to: yourpics@bbc.co.uk or to send via mobile please dial +44 (0)7725 100 100. If you have a large file you can upload here. Do not endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments ||||| Two teenagers aged 15 and 16 riding a stolen motorcycle were killed in a collision with a police vehicle in Villiers-le-Bel on Sunday, triggering the unrest. Police said there were reports of looting and of "small groups attacking shops, passers-by and car drivers". Firemen doused flames that engulfed a garage in Villiers before it could spread to a neighbouring garage and a nearby petrol station. Tense situation Nicolas Carrier, the mayor's chief of staff, told Reuters: "The situation is tense tonight. We do not know how it will evolve during the night." French television showed burning rubbish bins and the charred wreckage of a car at the scene, while witnesses said they saw Molotov cocktails being prepared. At least seven policemen and a fireman were injured in the incident, a local official said, adding that a youth has been arrested for suspected robbery. In November 2005, two immigrant youths fleeing the police in Clichy-Sous-Bois a suburb northeast of Paris died after being electrocuted in an electrical sub-station, sparking the worst urban unrest France had seen in 40 years. But a police union source said the circumstances in Sunday's case were different. "It was not a chase but apparently a traffic accident," he said. ||||| a ville de Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d'Oise) a connu une nuit de désolation. Pendant plus de six heures, plusieurs dizaines de jeunes ont procédé à des dégradations et ont violemment attaqué les forces de l'ordre après la mort de deux adolescents âgés de 15 et 16 ans, renversés en moto par une voiture de police dans l'après-midi de dimanche 25 novembre. Le bilan est lourd : un poste de police incendié, un autre saccagé, de très nombreux commerces dévastés, des dizaines de voitures incendiées ou dégradées, une vingtaine de policiers blessés. Aux alentours de 17 h 15, sur la rue Louise-Michel, au niveau d'une intersection, une voiture de police heurte une mini-moto de cross, une Kawasaki verte, sur laquelle se tiennent deux adolescents, sans casques de protection. Le choc est violent : selon nos constatations, effectuées un peu plus de deux heures après l'accident, alors que la police n'avait toujours pas commencé ses investigations, les traces au sol montrent que la moto a été traînée sur plus de vingt mètres. La voiture de police s'est, elle, immobilisée une quinzaine de mètres après l'impact : l'avant du véhicule a été défoncé et le pare-chocs arraché; le pare-brise avant a été profondément enfoncé, au niveau du conducteur, lorsque les victimes l'ont heurté. Dans le quartier, classé "zone urbaine sensible", la tension monte rapidement. Comme le montre une vidéo tournée par un habitant, que Le Monde a pu visionner, les policiers sont rapidement pris à partie verbalement. Sur les images, pendant que les pompiers effectuent des massages cardiaques sur les deux adolescents, on constate que plusieurs dizaines de personnes assistent aux opérations de secours dans une ambiance tendue. De nombreux habitants reprochent aux policiers de ne pas avoir immédiatement porté assistance aux deux blessés. "Une deuxième équipe de policiers est venue récupérer leurs collègues. Mais ils ont laissé les deux gamins sans rien faire", témoigne Younès B., 31 ans. Les premiers affrontements débutent peu de temps après l'accident. Un commissaire présent sur place est frappé par des jeunes. "On a essayé de le protéger mais ils l'ont attaqué avec des bâtons", raconte un adulte, en demandant l'anonymat. Des bandes commencent à incendier des véhicules et dégrader le mobilier urbain (abribus, cabines téléphoniques). Vers 19h30, le groupe que nous avons pu approcher, à 300 mètres de l'accident, compte plus d'une centaine de membres, dont beaucoup d'adolescents, presque tous cagoulés et armés de barres de fer, planches en bois, bombes lacrymogènes et bouteilles en verre. "A la mairie!", hurlent certains d'entre eux autour d'une voiture en feu. Extrêmement agressifs, deux jeunes nous empêchent de rester sur place, allant jusqu'à nous porter des coups pour interdire toute présence extérieure. "C'EST LA PIRE DES SITUATIONS" Dans la fumée des poubelles et des voitures qui brûlent, des jeunes courent dans tous les sens. Certains arrivent sur le site en voiture, d'autres à pied. Les insultes fusent : "On va les niquer", disent les plus survoltés à propos des policiers qu'ils qualifient de "fils de pute" ou d'"assassins". Régulièrement, résonne le bruit d'explosions sans qu'il soit possible de distinguer s'il s'agit de véhicules en feu ou de l'usage par les forces de l'ordre d'armes défensives (lacrymogènes, flash-balls). On entend les sirènes des pompiers et des policiers qui se tiennent à distance. Dans une ambiance de tension continue, les assaillants attaquent un nombre inhabituel de cibles, parfois très éloignées les unes des autres, compliquant à l'extrême les opérations de maintien de l'ordre. Devant la caserne des pompiers, située à 600 mètres environ du lieu de l'accident, ils s'en prennent directement et très violemment aux policiers : face aux jets de pierres, de bouteilles en verre, de barres en fer et de planches en bois, ceux-ci répliquent avec des dizaines de tirs de grenades lacrymogènes et de flash-balls. A proximité, les jeunes réussissent à incendier un concessionnaire automobile, y compris les véhicules à l'intérieur. Après ces premiers affrontements, qui ont eu lieu dans la cité, plusieurs dizaines d'individus se dirigent vers la gare RER. Sur leur passage, ils dégradent des commerces et des véhicules. Puis attaquent le bureau de police de Villiers-le-Bel et l'incendient intégralement. A près de deux kilomètres de leur point de départ, ils réussissent à pénétrer dans le bureau de police d'Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, situé près de la gare, en tordant un rideau de fer : selon un policier, ils "saccagent" l'intérieur des locaux, brisent les vitres et jettent des ordinateurs et un siège par les fenêtres du premier étage. Dans la principale rue commerçante d'Arnouville, ils dégradent des voitures et des commerces : selon notre décompte, les vitrines de dix-neuf magasins ont été brisées à cet endroit; l'intérieur de plusieurs commerces, non protégés par une grille en fer, a été dévasté. Malgré les renforts venus de toute l'Ile-de-France, les forces de police, casquées, équipées de gilets pare-balles, de flash-balls et de grenades lacrymogènes, éprouvent les plus grandes difficultés à reprendre le contrôle. Elles tentent de bloquer les déplacements de groupes "très mobiles", selon un commissaire présent sur place, mais sans y parvenir. "C'est la pire des situations : des jeunes qui décèdent lors d'un accident avec la police, au cœur d'une cité, en fin d'après-midi, alors qu'il y a un maximum de monde", se désole la même source. Les patrouilles de police qui tentent de pénétrer dans la cité sont l'objet de tirs de plombs ou de grenaille. "Je pense qu'il y avait un fusil à pompe", relève un des policiers visés. Les radios des forces de l'ordre ont fait état de l'usage, à plusieurs reprises, de cocktails Molotov. De nombreux habitants insultent les policiers sur leur passage – ce à quoi les fonctionnaires n'hésitent pas à répondre sur le même ton. Selon la préfecture, vingt et un policiers ont été blessés. Un calme précaire est revenu après minuit. Les habitants comme les forces de l'ordre attendent avec beaucoup d'appréhension les prochaines nuits. ||||| PARIS (Reuters) - Dozens of youths clashed with police and set fire to buildings in a Paris suburb on Sunday after two teenagers were killed in a crash with a police car. Slideshow ( 2 images ) The pair were riding on a stolen motorcycle when the accident happened on Sunday in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris, a police union source said. France’s worst urban unrest in 40 years broke out in the northeastern Paris suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois in November 2005, after two teenagers died electrocuted in an electricity sub-station after apparently fleeing police. The circumstances in this case, however, were different. “It was not a chase but apparently a traffic accident,” a police source said. The town’s police station caught fire and that of the neighbouring town, Arnouville-les-Gonesse, was ransacked, the local authority said. A Villiers garage was set ablaze and fires were put out before they could spread in a neighbouring garage and a petrol station in the same town. “The situation is tense tonight. We do not know how it will evolve during the night,” the mayor’s chief of staff, Nicolas Carrier, told Reuters. Large numbers of police were sent to the town from neighbouring departments and Paris. “We made (police) immediately available for a dramatic situation in which two young people died and there has been damage and thefts,” a local authority official said. “There are small groups of vandals who have started to loot shops,” the official said, adding that a young person had been arrested. The local authority said seven policemen and a fireman were injured. A police officer who went to the scene was attacked by youths who had gathered there. Several rubbish bins were torched and the burned out wreckage of a car was visible on French television footage. | Strasbourg during the 2005 civil unrest in France. In six hours, dozens of young people in Sarcelles and Villiers-le-Bel, a suburb of Paris, France, attacked a police station, burned cars and broke into shops after two teenagers were killed in a car crash with a police vehicle. The station was pelted with Molotov cocktails and guns were fired at officers inside the station. A police captain, who tried to negotiate with the youths, had to be hospitalized with serious injuries to the face. The youths also set several cars ablaze. According to police, at least 21 officers were injured in rioting in Villiers-le-Bel and Arnouville. The police station in Villiers-le-Bel was set on fire and the one in Arnouville was ransacked. Two hours before, a police patrol vehicle collided with two teenagers riding a stolen green mini cross motorbike without helmets. The teens, aged 15 and 16, were both killed in the accident which took place in Villiers-le-Bel. Didier Vaillant, mayor of Villers-le-Bel, appealed for calm and assured there will be "an impartial investigation, for full light to be shed" on the accident. Omar Sehhouli, brother to one of the dead teenagers, said the unrest "was not violence but an expression of rage." |
AFP The death toll in flash floods on the Portuguese island of Madeira has risen to 40 with more than 70 injured, authorities say, warning that the number is likely to rise. The regional government issued the new toll on Sunday and said the search for more bodies was going on. Officials said that for the moment no foriegn tourists were among the dead. Seventeen of the bodies were found in the island's main city, Funchal, and its mayor, Miguel Albuquerque, told reporters: "It is very probable that we will find more bodies." Advertisement: Story continues below Around 250 people had been left homeless, the Civil Protection authorities said on their website. Torrential rains caused flooding and landslides on Saturday, particularly in the south of Madeira, which is 900km southwest of the Portuguese mainland. The Portuguese military rushed medical teams and relief supplies to the Atlantic tourist island on Sunday. The main airport was closed, power and telephone lines torn down and authorities told people not to risk their lives by venturing onto the streets. People left their homes in the main city, Funchal, struggled to keep their feet in torrents of muddy water that poured down the hillsides and out of alleyways, television images showed. The flash floods destroyed houses and bridges, particularly around Funchal and the Ribeira Brava region, both on the south of the island. The Portuguese naval frigate Corte-Real set off from Lisbon for Madeira late on Saturday with helicopters, a medical team and relief supplies, a military statement said. Two helicopters and two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft were also en route. Eighty-nine police and firefighters were to leave Lisbon for Funchal on Sunday. The head of the regional government held talks late Saturday with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a bid to get EU aid. Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva, said King Juan Carlos of Spain had promised any aid needed. The strong winds and heavy rain caused flooding and landslides, particularly in the south of Madeira, which is 900km southwest of the Portuguese mainland and 500km from the African coast. Winds exceeding 100km/h, high seas and blocked roads made rescue attempts even more difficult for emergency services, though weather experts said the worst of the storms was over. Electricity and telephone networks were severed in many areas. In Funchal, an elderly woman died when the roof of her house caved in and two others were crushed by a crane, local media reported. Several residents were evacuated from their homes. "I am very worried because I only know what I see from my window," Funchal resident Margarida Freitas Vieira told the Lusa news agency. "The sea is all brown, there are enormous waves." By late on Saturday, the town had no electricity and phone lines were also down. The island's authorities advised people to stay at home and appealed for doctors and other medical staff to come in to help relieve the pressure on overworked hospital staff. Officials evacuated the lower part of Funchal, which has a population of 100,000. "It had been raining since dawn and our hotel was evacuated as it is near a river in the city centre," said Aymeric Payan, a French hotel employee in Funchal. Portuguese media said the storms were the deadliest in Madeira since October 1993, when eight people died. Prime Minister Jose Socrates expressed shock at the deaths and promised support for the islanders. ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Rescue workers are searching mud-filled streets and houses on the Portuguese island of Madeira after flash floods left at least 42 people dead. More than 120 others were injured and an unknown number are missing, raising fears that the death toll could rise. Heavy rains brought tonnes of mud and stones down the slopes of the island, flooding the streets of the regional capital, Funchal, and other towns. Water, power and telecommunications were cut in some areas. In pictures: Flood aftermath Briton dies in Madeira floods Your pictures The weather improved on Sunday following Saturday's rains, making it easier for rescue workers. But regional social services spokesman Francisco Ramos said there were "great difficulties" in communications and that the death toll "will likely increase, given the circumstances of this flood". Three remote areas in the south of the island have been cut off. Officials fear more bodies may be found there. The Portuguese cabinet is due to discuss the crisis in an extraordinary meeting on Monday, and expected to announce three days of national mourning. Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who is on the island, said he was "profoundly shocked" by the severity of the floods, and promised that his government would help Madeira recover as quickly as possible. The military has sent specialist rescue and medical teams to the island. Construction companies on the island have lent equipment to clear the streets. MADEIRA FACTS Autonomous region of Portugal with population of around 250,000 Lies just over 480km (300 miles) from West African coast The European continent is more than 900km away The Spanish government has offered its help with the rescue effort. Madeira, located about 900km (560miles) from the Portuguese mainland, is popular with foreign tourists. The Foreign Office in London said a British national had died in the floods, and that a small number of Britons were in hospital on Madeira. The world's most famous Madeiran, Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo, said he was "shocked and dismayed" by the floods. "Nobody can remain indifferent to the disaster," he said. "I want to express my willingness to, as far as I can, help agencies and authorities to overcome the effects of this devastation." The BBC Weather Centre says the severe weather was due to a low pressure system, and that while Madeira can expect further rain with heavy downpours on Sunday, there is no danger of a repeat of the flash floods. Do you live in the area? Have you been affected by the floods and mudslides? Are you visiting the island? Send your comments using the post form below. A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to +44 7725 100 100. If 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. 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 ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement At least 32 people have been killed in floods and mudslides after torrential rains hit the Portuguese island of Madeira, local authorities say. Sixty-eight others were reported to have been taken to hospital for treatment on the Atlantic island, which is popular with foreign tourists. It is not yet clear whether tourists are among the casualties. The local civil protection service was "overwhelmed" by calls for help, a duty officer told Reuters news agency. According to Portuguese media, the storms were the deadliest on Madeira since October 1993, when eight people died. 'Ghost town' The main city, Funchal, and other towns and villages on the south coast are thought to have been worst affected after strong winds and heavy rain early on Saturday caused flooding and landslides. Television pictures showed muddy torrents coursing down narrow channels and spilling over the sides, roads awash with water and streets littered with debris. In pictures: Flood aftermath Your pictures The island's airport was closed and Funchal mayor Miguel Albuquerque advised people to stay at home. Trees have been brought down and rocks carried away by the floodwaters, blocking roads and hampering emergency services. Some bridges and roads have been washed away and cars were swept away. One woman was killed when the roof of her house caved in. Some residents had to be evacuated. Power and telephone services were disrupted in some places. British holidaymaker Cathy Sayers told the BBC Funchal was like a ghost town. She said the infrastructure had been "decimated" by the water. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. "The drains just cannot cope with the water that's coming down from the mountains - they are just overfilled with sludge." There had not really been any warning that it would be quite so bad, she said. "I think everyone is extremely shocked that this has happened at this time of year," she said. Local media say the authorities' main concern now is for residents of Nuns valley - an isolated mountainous region that rescue workers have been unable to reach. National response Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said he was "absolutely saddened and shocked with the images, with the consequences of this calamity", Reuters reported. MADEIRA FACTS Autonomous region of Portugal with population of around 250,000 Lies just over 480km (300 miles) from West African coast The European continent is more than 900km away He is expected to go to Madeira shortly to inspect the worst-affected areas and co-ordinate aid. "The problem requires a response on the national level," Interior Minister Rui Pereira was quoted as saying. He said Lisbon was considering declaring a state of emergency in the region. Regional government leader Alberto Joao Jardim said the authorities were making temporary shelters available for hundreds of people left homeless. The BBC Weather Centre says the severe weather was due to a low pressure system, and that while Madeira can expect further rain with heavy downpours on Sunday, there is no danger of a repeat of the flash floods. Do you live in the area? Have you been affected by the floods and mudslides? Are you visiting the island? Send your comments using the post form below. A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to +44 7725 100 100. If you have a large file you can upload it here. Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. 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 ||||| 1 of 8. People look on as a street with vehicles is engulfed by heavy flooding in downtown Funchal, Madeira February 20, 2010. FUNCHAL, Portugal | FUNCHAL, Portugal (Reuters) - At least 32 people have been killed by torrents of water and mud unleashed by a violent rainstorm on the Portuguese resort island of Madeira, officials said on Saturday. The deluge felled trees, washed away bridges, blocked roads with rocks and mud and cut off parts of the Atlantic island, a popular tourist destination about 1,000 km southwest of Lisbon. "The areas of Funchal and Ribeira Brava suffered from major floods and mudslides, and that's where we have most of the 32 dead. Some people are also unaccounted for," said Pedro Barbosa, deputy chief of the regional civil protection service in Madeira's capital Funchal. "Now the weather conditions have improved and we are starting to evaluate the damage," he told Reuters. Alberto Joao Jardim, the leader of the regional government , said 68 people were in hospital emergency wards and the government was making temporary shelters available for several hundred people left homeless. Roaring streams of water and mud from the hills above Funchal coursed through the streets of the town, dragging and overturning cars and vans. Three underground parking levels at a shopping mall were completely flooded, but it had been evacuated in time. "I am absolutely saddened and shocked with the images, with the consequences of this calamity," Prime Minister Jose Socrates said. Socrates and Interior Minister Rui Pereira were travelling to Madeira to assess the damage and coordinate aid. "The problem requires a response on the national level," Pereira said. Meteorologists said no heavy rainfall was expected on Madeira in the next few days after the violent downpour that capped an unusually rainy February. It was not immediately clear whether any tourists were among the victims, said Barbosa from the civil protection service. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip, editing by Mark Trevelyan) | 42 people are reported dead and more than 120 are reported injured on the Portuguese island of Madeira after severe rainstorms triggered floods and mudslides. There are still people missing, and authorities say that the death toll will likely rise further. The worst affected area of the island is the southern coast, including the largest city, Funchal. According to an eyewitness, the infrastructure of the area was "decimated" by the flooding; water flooded down streets, leaving debris in its wake and destroying roads and bridges. In some localities, residents were evacuated, and services such as power and telephone lines have been severely disrupted. Emergency services have been hampered by the damage, and rescue crews are still unable to reach some mountainous regions. The storms have left hundreds of people homeless, in addition to the dead and injured. The government is considering declaring a state of emergency on the island, and local authorities have authorized relief supplies such as temporary housing for the homeless. Prime minister Jose Socrates has issued a statement saying "I am absolutely saddened and shocked with the images from the scene, and with the consequences of this calamity." He is expected to travel to Madeira sometime soon to inspect the damage and co-ordinate relief efforts. The Portuguese military has already sent rescue teams to the area to aid in the recovery efforts, and the Spanish government has offered assistance. |
WIPO's "Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations" [PDF] is protection, all right: a protection racket for middlemen in the TV and Internet worlds. If adopted, the WIPO treaty will give broadcasters copyright-like control over the content of their broadcasts, even when they have no copyright in what they show. A TV channel broadcasting your Creative Commons-licensed movie could legally demand that no one record or redistribute it -- and sue anyone who does. And TV companies could use their new rights to go after TiVo or MythTV for daring to let you skip advertisements or record programs in DRM-free formats. If that wasn't bad enough, the US contingent at WIPO is pushing to have the treaty expanded to cover the Net. That means that anyone who feeds your "sound and images" through a web server would have a right to meddle with what you do with the webcast simply because they serve as the middleman between you and the creator. John Naughton of the London Observer called the treaty "a control freak's charter." Mark Cuban, Tim O'Reilly, and 18 other Net experts called its webcasting provisions "unnecessary," and "likely to constrain, not increase, the creation of more information products for the public." And yet, the US WIPO representatives are still pushing for it to go forward. We don't think they are working in the best interests of the American public, nor do they have any sort of mandate to create new "rights" for middlemen to be used to restrict what ordinary Americans can do with their media. We think that the Library of Congress and the US Patent and Trademark Office should invite formal public comment on what they're doing to our networks, and Congress should hold public hearings so that the audience can have its voice heard. Write to Congress and remind them that it's government's job to protect all of us, not just the broadcasting industry. ||||| James Boyle: More rights are wrong for webcasters Published: September 26 2005 18:58 | Last updated: September 26 2005 18:58 I teach intellectual property law, a subject that is attracting attention from economists, political scientists and people who simply want to make money. These, after all, are the rules that define the hightechnology marketplace. Are we doing a good job of writing those rules? The answer is no. Three tendencies stand out. First and most lamentably, intellectual property laws are created without any empirical evidence that they are necessary or that they will help rather than hurt. Second, the policymaking process has failed to keep track of the increasing importance of intellectual property rights to everything from freedom of expression and communications policy to economic development or access to educational materials. We still make law as though it were just a deal brokered between industry groups – balancing the interests of content companies with those of broadcasters, for example. The public interest in competition, access, free speech and vigorous technological markets takes a back seat. What matters is making the big boys happy. Finally, communications networks are increasingly built around intellectual property rules, as law regulates technology more and more directly; not always to good effect. The World Intellectual Property Organisation has now managed to combine all three lamentable tendencies at once. The Broadcasting and Webcasting Treaty, currently being debated in Geneva, is an IP hat trick. Much of what is broadcast over the airwaves is copyrighted – the broadcaster licenses the film or song from a copyright holder and then plays it to you at home. What you probably do not know is that nearly 50 years ago broadcasters in some countries got an additional right, layered on top of the copyright. Even if the material being broadcast was in the public domain, or the copyright holder had no objection to redistribution, the broadcaster was given a legal right to prevent it – a 20-year period of exclusivity. The ostensible reason was to encourage broadcasters to invest in new networks. The US did not sign this treaty. Has the US broadcast industry stagnated, crippled by the possibility that their signals will be pirated? Hardly. Copyright works well and no additional right has proved necessary. Has WIPO commissioned empirical studies to see if the right was necessary, comparing those nations that adopted it with those that did not? Of course not. This is intellectual property policy: we do not need facts. We can create monopolies on faith. But now a new diplomatic conference is being convened to reopen the issue. Doubtless the goal is to abolish this right? There was never any empirical evidence behind it. Broadcasters in countries that did not adopt it have flourished, albeit casting envious eyes to the legal monopolies possessed by their counterparts in more credulous nations whose politicians are more deeply in the pockets of broadcasting interests. The right imposes considerable costs. It adds yet another layer of clearances that must be gained before material can be digitised or redistributed – compounding the existing problems of “orphan works”, those whose owners cannot be identified. So is the broadcast right on the way out? No. In the funhouse world that is intellectual property policy, WIPO is considering a proposal to expand the length of the right by 30 years and a US-backed initiative to apply it to webcasts as well. After all, we know that the internet is growing so slowly. Clearly what is needed is an entirely new legal monopoly, on top of copyright, so that there are even more middlemen, even deeper thickets of rights. What is the rationale for this proposal? Parity: “If the broadcasters have the right, we should too.” But wait. There was never any evidence that even broadcasters needed the right. And the capital requirements and business models of the two industries are entirely different. And the reach of the webcasts would in effect be global. And there is no evidence at all that webcasters need any kind of protection. And, and . . . But to make these arguments is to be naive. WIPO is in the grip of the belief that more rights are better. Yahoo and a few other webcasting entities have very slick lobbying operations. The US representatives have, shamefully, caved in to them. To their credit, not many countries have yet accepted the need for a webcaster’s right, but it is unclear if their resistance will last. The “affected industries” have loud voices. Eventually, a new treaty will be produced. A new round of “harmonisation” will begin – upwards, always upwards. An unnecessary set of rights will have been created and created without evidence, perhaps reaching the heart of our new communications technology. And the lobbyists will return to their desks to plan again. Perhaps the growing furore about the webcast right will drive it off the agenda eventually. Yet the larger pattern of making decisions without evidence, as a contract among the affected industries, will continue. This is a scandal. But at WIPO, it is business as usual. The writer is professor of law at Duke Law School, a board member of Creative Commons and the co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain ||||| Copyright scholar James Boyle has a brilliant Financial Times column on the WIPO broadcasting/webcasting treaty that threatens to gum up the Internet with a new layer of "middleman" rights, for the nonsensical reason that it will create "parity" between broadcasters and webcasters: Much of what is broadcast over the airwaves is copyrighted -- the broadcaster licenses the film or song from a copyright holder and then plays it to you at home. What you probably do not know is that nearly 50 years ago broadcasters in some countries got an additional right, layered on top of the copyright. Even if the material being broadcast was in the public domain, or the copyright holder had no objection to redistribution, the broadcaster was given a legal right to prevent it -- a 20-year period of exclusivity. The ostensible reason was to encourage broadcasters to invest in new networks. The US did not sign this treaty. Has the US broadcast industry stagnated, crippled by the possibility that their signals will be pirated? Hardly. Copyright works well and no additional right has proved necessary. Has WIPO commissioned empirical studies to see if the right was necessary, comparing those nations that adopted it with those that did not? Of course not. This is intellectual property policy: we do not need facts. We can create monopolies on faith. But now a new diplomatic conference is being convened to reopen the issue. Doubtless the goal is to abolish this right? ...No. In the funhouse world that is intellectual property policy, WIPO is considering a proposal to expand the length of the right by 30 years and a US-backed initiative to apply it to webcasts as well. After all, we know that the internet is growing so slowly. Clearly what is needed is an entirely new legal monopoly, on top of copyright, so that there are even more middlemen, even deeper thickets of rights. ||||| The Bush administration on Wednesday announced new plans to expand its crackdown on intellectual-property infringement overseas. During California visits with high-tech and movie industry representatives, Commerce Department secretary Carlos Gutierrez described two new programmes aimed at eroding intellectual property infringement, which the department claims costs US businesses $250bn (£138bn) and 750,000 jobs per year. "The protection of intellectual property is vital to our economic growth and global competitiveness, and it has major consequences in our ongoing effort to promote security and stability around the world," he said. One programme would place intellectual property experts on the ground in regions where infringement is considered a concern. There they would work with overseas US businesses and native government officials to advocate improved intellectual-property rights protection, according to a department fact sheet. Experts will be sent to Brazil, India, Russia, Thailand, China and the Middle East and serve a five-year tour of duty, the fact sheet said. One such expert is already on the job in Beijing, but it was unclear when the others would be dispatched or who they would be. Another programme, called the Global Intellectual Property Rights Academy, would train foreign judges, enforcement officials and other stakeholders in international intellectual property "obligations" and best practices. The academy, overseen by the US Patent and Trademark Office, plans to convene in 24 sessions in 2006, paying all travel expenses for the foreign participants, who will come from many of the same areas where experts will be working. The Commerce Department has recently taken other actions intended to combat international intellectual-property infringement. In July, President Bush created within the department a senior-level position — the coordinator for international intellectual-property enforcement. The department also plans to continue holding small-business outreach seminars nationwide. The Business Software Alliance was quick to applaud the announcement. In a press release, the organization cited survey results that pegged rates of usage of unlicensed software at 90 percent in China, 87 percent in Russia, 74 percent in India, 70 percent in Thailand, 64 percent in Brazil and 58 percent in the Middle East. "In all those countries, there's a long history of bilateral discussions on IPR issues," said Robert Holleyman, chief executive of BSA. "So I think they will be very receptive to getting on-the-ground systems to help with this effort." Holleyman said he hoped the programmes would ultimately raise revenue for US companies and resellers selling in foreign markets and for companies native to those markets. | Government delegates are meeting this week at the (WIPO) general assembly in Geneva to discuss the . The meeting will determine how developing countries must implement existing controversial intellectual property rights laws including , , and . They will also consider the disputed proposal for a global . The Broadcastings/Webcasting Treaty proposal, pushed by traditional broadcast organizations, and lobbyists for a handful of Internet publishers, including Yahoo, is being pushed hardest by the United States government, which ironically, has never considered such legislation domestically. The treaty would create a new layer of intellectual monopoly rights for broadcasters, potentially including 'webcasters'. Broadcasters would then be able to claim rights over material they broadcast–even material that was in the or licensed under creative commons or licenses. Many developing countries including Brazil, South Africa, India, Iran, Chile, and Venezuela are asking for time to evaluate and study the proposals, and opposition to the treaty has been registered by numerous and public interest advocates. Fearing a repeat of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), when US copyright law was made more strict to conform to WIPO standards, a coalition of U.S. NGOs is currently circulating a sign on letter calling for public hearings on the implications of the Broadcaster Treaty. In a recent Financial Times article Professor James Boyle (Law, Duke University) raised objections to the Broadcasting/Webcasting Treaty, saying "intellectual property laws are created without any empirical evidence that they are necessary, or that they will help rather than hurt". He elaborated that such laws are made "as though it were just a deal brokered between industry groups," and that concerns for "public interest in competition, access, free speech, and vigorous technological markets takes a back seat." Professor Boyle fears that "communications networks are increasingly built around intellectual property rules" with harmful effects. |
Evacuations from Indonesian island after deadly volcanic eruption Posted Indonesian rescuers battled to evacuate thousands from an island where a volcanic eruption killed six people, with the volcano still spewing out rocks and ash at "dangerous levels". Mount Rokatenda, on tiny Palue island in East Nusa Tenggara province, was sending large clouds of red-hot ash up to 600 metres into the air. "The activity ... remains high and at dangerous levels. There are no signs it will stop erupting any time soon," Surono, an official from the state vulcanology agency, said. On Saturday the volcano threw rocks and ash 1.2 miles into the sky and sent torrents of molten lava onto a beach, killing three adults and three children as they slept. Activity had been increasing at Rokatenda, one of numerous active volcanoes in the vast Indonesian archipelago, since October and there had been a series of small eruptions before Saturday. A rescue team was seeking to evacuate some 2,000 people inside a three-kilometre exclusion zone and a group of "traumatised" inhabitants had already left the island, Eduardus Desa Pante, a local disaster management agency official said Bakri Kari, one of the team, said rescue efforts were difficult as roads were blocked by ash and people were reluctant to leave their homes. "It was tough trudging through hot ground covered in ash that was 10 to 20 centimetres thick," he said. "Everything was burnt by the lava. "People were scared and many were crying. They wanted to get away from the volcano but at the same time they were reluctant to leave their livestock and homes." As the volcano began to rumble into life last year, the authorities set up the exclusion zone, with people living inside urged to leave and all activities within the area banned. Mr Pante said 127 people had already been sent by motor boat to a temporary shelter on Flores island, south of Palue. "They are traumatised by yesterday's eruption," he said. Rescuers had recovered the bodies of the adults killed on the beach but the children had still not been found, he said. Some 2,000 people had already been evacuated to Flores before Saturday's eruption, leaving around 8,000 people still on the island. Indonesia has dozens of active volcanoes and straddles major tectonic fault lines known as the "Ring of Fire" between the Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of violent eruptions in 2010. AFP Topics: volcanic-eruption, disasters-and-accidents ||||| Mount Rokatenda has been spewing hot ash into the air on the tiny island of Palue. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Gushing hot lava from an erupting volcano killed six people sleeping in a beach village in eastern Indonesia on Saturday, after ash and smoke shot up to 2,000 metres into the air, a disaster official said. Mount Rokatenda in East Nusa Tenggara province erupted early Saturday morning, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. Nearly 3,000 people were evacuated from the area on Palue island. The volcano has been rumbling since October 2012. The victims included three adults and two children, said agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. He said the age of the sixth person killed was unclear and that the children's bodies had not yet been recovered from Ponge beach in Rokirole village. Video footage on Indonesia's TVOne showed giant plumes of white and gray smoke and ash belching from the volcano into a sunny blue sky. Prior to Saturday's eruption, many residents had already been moved to safer areas. The disaster agency said the volcano spewed ash and smoke about two kilometres into the air. The eruption lasted about seven minutes, said Frans Wangge, who heads the volcano's monitoring post. He said the hot lava burned trees around the beach and villages, and made it difficult to reach the area where the victims were killed. Domi Dange, a Catholic priest helping those who fled to the district town of Maumere on nearby Flores island, said some residents, who had refused to leave when the area was earlier cleared, were sleeping under tents near the beach. However, details about the six people who were killed and where they were located at the time of the eruption remained unclear. Local authorities, including police and army officials along with members of a search and rescue agency, were heading to tiny Palue island to help with evacuations. "We will see the best steps to be taken, but clearly they have to be evacuated," said Yoseph Ansar Rara, chief of Sikka District, which oversees the island. He said those already evacuated had agreed to be relocated to Flores island. Mount Rokatenda is one of about 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that's home to some 240 million people. The country is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines. | Mount Rokatenda, also known as the Paluweh volcano. Rescuers are still searching for the bodies of three children, presumed dead, after an eruption by an Indonesian volcano on Saturday. Located on the Island, threw rock and ash into the sky causing local destruction. spilled onto the beach, killing three adults and three children in their sleep. Rescuers have recovered the bodies of the adults but the children’s remains have still not been found. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Tini Thadeus, head of the local disaster agency, says he is pessimistic about recovering the bodies. Due to the remains being buried under hot material, Thadeus believes they will be difficult to reach. Indonesian rescuer Bakri Kari raises more doubt about the recovery as he describes the scene, saying that it was "tough" walking in the area as the ground is "covered in ash 10 to 20 centimeters thick." Despite this, the search for the bodies continues. When the volcano became active, 2,000 people evacuated the island, while 8,000 remained. == Sources == * * |
Scientists: Appendix Protects Good Germs WASHINGTON (AP) — Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week. For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function, surgeons removed them routinely, and people live fine without them. And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food. But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case. The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location — just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac — helps support the theory, he said. Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said. That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy. In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said. He said the appendix may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system. Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly, Parker said. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC. Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke theory makes sense and raises interesting questions. The idea "seems by far the most likely" explanation for the function of the appendix, said Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. "It makes evolutionary sense." The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: "I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils." ||||| Some of the subjects that The Lede likes to return to from time to time just seem to be bottomless wells of potential items. For example: The strange byways of the criminal mind: Al Parish, a 50-year-old former economist accused of bilking 500 investors out of about $90 million, gave up trying to fight the charges today and entered guilty pleas in federal court in Charleston, S.C., to two counts of fraud and lying to investigators. What did he do with the money he swindled? According to The Associated Press, he bought pens. Fountain pens. Very expensive ones. One diamond-encrusted model cost $170,000. Mr. Parish amassed a collection of $1.2 million worth of pens before the authorities caught up with him. He evidently also splashed out for some of the more usual high-life indulgences, like fancy cars, fancy watches, and cases of personalized hot sauce ( “Al Parish’s Bottle of Death” ). A bit more sensibly, he also bought the Fender Stratocaster guitar that Jimi Hendrix reportedly used to record “Foxy Lady.” When he is sentenced, Mr. Parish could be looking at a maximum of 45 years in the, um, pen. The strange byways of medical science: Scientists have been saying for generations that the human appendix appeared to serve no purpose at all, which raised the question of why we ever had them to begin with. Some scientists at Duke University Medical School have now published a proposed explanation: They’re petri dishes. Their paper, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology and noted by the Associated Press, argues that because people in most of human history lived in fairly small, scattered populations, it was not as easy as is today for their bodies to repopulate their digestive tracts when necessary with the helpful germs that we all depend on to live. (Fun factoid: A healthy human body contains more bacteria than human cells. Ew.) So when some illness or other wiped out the good germs in the main part of the gut, it would have been very helpful to have a supply of them tucked away in a sheltered corner, ready to restore a healthy equilibrium again. Ergo, the appendix. Nowadays people can manage fine without the little organ, and its welcoming way with germs is more a hazard than a help — 321,000 cases of appendicitis a year in the United States, the paper says. But there may be comfort in the idea that, like buggywhips, phonograph needles and little toes, the appendix had a real use once after all. The strange byways of wayward transport: Peter Halmos is finally getting his yacht unstuck from a shoal about two miles off Key West, Fla., where it has been aground for two years since being blown there by a hurricane. All that time, Mr. Halmos and the government have been arguing over how to free the 158-foot yacht without doing too much damage to the beds of seagrass around it, the A.P. reports. Meanwhile, Mr. Halmos has been living on houseboats moored nearby so he could keep vandals and thieves off his vessel, which he bought in 1995 for $16 million. The solution they ultimately hit upon involves pumping water around the boat’s hull and slowly tugging it off — very slowly, only about 10 feet a day. At that rate, it’ll be weeks before the yacht reaches water deep enough to navigate. Afterward, Mr. Halmos has to replant the disturbed seagrass. On top of all that cost, he’s kept his captain and two crew members on the payroll all this time to help him keep the boat safe and minimally seaworthy. Add it all up, and Legacy may be the ultimate proverbial hole in the water for throwing money in. “Luckily, I have enough zeros after my name that I can absorb it,” Mr. Halmos told the A.P. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week. For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them. And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most are good and help digest food. But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case. The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location _ just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac -- helps support the theory, he said. Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said. That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, it can usually be repopulated easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy. In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said. He said the appendix may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system. Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly, Parker said. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC. Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke theory makes sense and raises interesting questions. The idea "seems by far the most likely" explanation for the function of the appendix, said Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. "It makes evolutionary sense." The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: "I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils." 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • Appendicitis | Illustration showing make-up of the human appendix. Researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States believe that they have found the purpose of the vermiform appendix, long thought to be useless. The theory, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology this week, is that the appendix creates and protects helpful microorganisms for a person's digestive system. For years, scientists believed that the appendix served no purpose, and wondered why it was even present in the human body. Surgeons removed them regularly, and it seemed to have no ill effects on the health of patients. In addition, when infected the appendix became harmful and even deadly. Inflammation occurs quickly and can cause death if the infected organ is not removed in time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2005 321,000 Americans were stricken with appendicitis. On average, 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year. The new theory, proposed by surgeons and immunologists at the Duke University School of Medicine, says that people throughout most of human history lived in small, spread out groups. As a result, their contact with other people was far more limited than it is today in modern industrialized societies. Today, if a person's digestive tract lacks helpful bacteria, they can regain the needed germs from contact with large numbers of other people. In times when populations were less dense, and cholera epidemics purged large numbers of people's useful digestive bacteria, the appendix was able to restore the digestive system's supply of helpful germs. "The appendix acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a co-author in the study. He said the appendix's location--below the one-way passage of food and germs through the large intestine in a digestive cul-de-sac--helps validate the theory. The worm-shaped appendage also acts to manufacture these helpful germs, Parker said. Parker added that in less developed societies with lower population densities, the appendix may still be useful and rates of appendicitis are lower. However, regardless of the appendix's apparent function, Parker confirmed that those suffering from appendicitis should still have it removed. Scientists not affiliated with the study have come out in favor of the theory. Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald said the idea was the most likely purpose of the appendix. "It makes evolutionary sense." |
Maoist guerillas are believed to be behind the blast in their West Bengal stronghold. If confirmed it would mark a major escalation of their insurgency in the state and a shift from military to civilian targets. Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist rebellion as the country's greatest internal security challenge - they are a powerful force in one-third of India's 600-plus districts. The explosion follows a number of Maoist attack attacks in recent weeks, including an ambush which killed 76 Indian paramilitary police in Chhattisgarh and an attack on a bus which left 35 dead. This time the attackers struck at 1:30am as the Mumbai-Calcutta Gyaneshwari Express passed through Jhargram in West Midnapore, West Bengal, just over 80 miles from its destination. The driver heard an explosion which derailed 13 of the train's coaches and hurled five of them into the path of an on-coming freight train. Ten of those derailed were sleeper coaches. India's railways minister Mamata Bannerjee said the incident was "definitely sabotage" and that a bomb attack had derailed the train. "From whatever I have been told the apprehension is the Maoists were involved," she said. Police investigating the attack said they were also exploring whether the removal of the track's "fish plates" by saboteurs had caused the derailment and collision. "The driver heard a loud noise which indicates there could be a blast. A detail investigation will reveal more, but definitely there was lot of tinkering done to the tracks," Vivek Sahay, a senior railway official, said. Television pictures showed the mangled carriages as rescue workers fought to cut survivors from the wreckage. One reporter described a scene of chaos and panic. "People are crying. Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out," Naresh Jana said. "I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels. I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches." The Maoists insurgents are known in India as "Naxalites" – they began their campaign in Naxalbari, in northern West Bengal in support of peasants demanding land reform in 1967. They have since grown in strength in India's poorest and most rural states. They now are a powerful force in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Their popularity has grown in the last few years among peasants and tribesman as government-backed mining companies have moved into their districts and seized their land. They have threatened to launch a new terror campaign in Orissa to halt plans by Britain's wealthiest man, Lakshmi Mittal to open steel plants in state Their recent attacks have been in response to an operation by government forces to flush them out from their jungle strongholds. ||||| Sabotage by Maoist rebels was suspected after an Indian passenger train derailed early Friday, sending railroad cars crashing onto an adjoining track. An oncoming freight train slammed into many of those cars, killing at least 65 people and injuring 200.The area of West Bengal state where the disaster occurred, near the city of Sardiha and about 90 miles southwest of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, is a known Maoist stronghold that has seen several recent attacks.There was initial confusion on the exact cause of the disaster, with some officials and the engineer on the passenger train blaming an explosion, some uninjured passengers saying they heard no blast, and police saying metal parts used to hold sections of track together were missing and apparently removed in an act of sabotage.India's aging railroads experience their highest volume of travelers in May, with more than 20 million passengers each day on the 69,300-mile system.The disaster occurred about 1:30 a.m., when most passengers were sleeping, and it took more than an hour for police and medical crews to reach the site.Even then, rescue operations were hampered by the lack of roads, the blocked tracks and concern that the Maoists might have set an ambush or booby trap to kill rescue crews rushing to the scene.Angry passengers complained of the slow response, with some claiming that luggage and valuables were stolen by onlookers in the confusion.E. Mitra, a doctor at nearby Kharagpur Railway Hospital, said 30 bodies had been taken there, but "a lot of dead bodies are strewn under the derailed carriages."Samar Ghosh, home secretary of West Bengal state, said that 65 bodies had been found.As dawn broke, air force helicopters scrambled to assist as video footage showed crowds of onlookers standing on the roof of derailed carriages, watching soldiers cutting holes in a rail car roof with a gas-powered circular saw.Authorities said 13 cars of the Gyaneshwari Express traveling to Mumbai from Howrah derailed. Three were mangled. Many of the casualties were reportedly caused by the collision with the freight train. Video showed the freight train engine fused at a right angle to one of the rear passenger cars.Vivek Sahai, a Railways Ministry official, said Maoists had declared a "black week" starting midnight Thursday, a period of strikes and stepped-up activities against the government, so transportation workers were on alert."There was a massive jerk, and we thought the Maoists had stopped the train to hijack it," an unidentified witness told a local TV station. "But thank God it was an accident … at least many people are saved. This area is very dangerous, very dangerous."A railway worker reportedly examined the section of track at 11 p.m., a little more than two hours earlier, and reported no problem. Four trains had reportedly passed over the line in the previous 90 minutes.Mamata Banerjee, India's railways minister and a politician from West Bengal, rushed to the scene to announce compensation of $11,000 and a job in her ministry for the families of those killed and $2,200 for anyone injured.In October, a train in the area was seized for several hours by Maoists before being released. In March and earlier this month, Maoists blew up railroad tracks nearby."Police in the area now have raised quite a good force and have been carrying out operations, so they are targeting weak spots," said B.K. Ponwar, head of the Counter-Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College based in Jharkhand state, also a Maoist stronghold. "It's easy to make [an explosive] contraption; only one person can set it."The easiest is railway tracks," Ponwar added. "They can't be guarded everywhere."Maoists, who have been battling the government for decades, operate in 20 of India's 28 states and have 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to the Home Ministry.Concentrated in some of India's most impoverished states, the Maoists have won support from the poor, especially landless peasants angry over local corruption, weak governance and the growing wealth gap. Despite India's high economic growth rates, vast numbers of people have not seen much improvement in their lives.In many places, the government controls the roads, but the Maoists control the jungle and villages. Aware that their strength depends on the state's continued ineffectiveness, militants often attack infrastructure as well as police and army patrols.In recent months, the militants have increased attacks in response to a police and army offensive initiated late last year across several "red corridor" states.The rebels are funded in part by hundreds of millions of dollars that they extort each year by threatening companies. Their arsenal includes automatic rifles, shoulder-fired rocket launchers, mines and related explosives, some of which have been stolen from Indian authorities and some purchased from Chinese smugglers.Anshul Rana in The Times' New Delhi Bureau contributed to this report. ||||| Indian Train Wreck Kills At Least 65 Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS In eastern India, at least 65 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a high speed train derailed and collided with another train. Police officials say several carriages of the passenger train packed with sleeping travelers derailed and fell onto the path of a freight train near a small town in West Bengal state. Some of the carriages were badly crushed. The passenger train was traveling from Kolkata in West Bengal state to Mumbai. Officials say the number of casualties is could rise as rescuers struggle to reach a large number of passengers trapped in the mangled carriages. Survivors described scenes of chaos. Helicopters were used to evacuate the injured. The head of police in West Bengal state, Bhupinder Singh, called it a clear case of sabotage. Singh said Maoist rebels were to blame for the derailment. He says police found Maoist leaflets at the site. The area where the crash occurred is a stronghold of Maoist rebels. The rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and the landless, have stepped up attacks in recent months. ||||| MS Dhoni, Shatrughan Sinha at an event in Ranchi Anil Ambani at Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala Maria Sharapova at the French Open tourney in Paris PDP Prez Mehbooba Mufti at Rafiabad in Baramulla district Pratibha Advani at an event at Ravindra Bhawan in Bhopal Lewis Hamilton at Istanbul Park circuit racetrack in Turkey Mamata Banerjee arrives to cast her vote in Kolkata Women arrive on a cycle rickshaw to cast their votes in WB Swift cars lined up to take part in a rally in Gurgaon Miss Universe 2009 during an event at Kamatipura Sand structure on 'No smoking' at Puri beach in Orissa | At least 65 people were killed and over 200 injured when a train derailed in West Bengal, India. Suspected rebels triggered the attack which occurred in the Howrah-Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express. The train, which runs from Kolkata to Mumbai, had thirteen coaches derailed, five of which were subsequently struck by a freight train coming in the opposite direction. The train derailed near the city of Sardiha, about 90 (150 ) southwest of the state capital of Kolkata. The region is a Maoist stronghold where multiple attacks have occurred in the recent past. The exact cause of the disaster was unclear, with some officials claiming an explosion had led to the attack, while some unaffected passengers stating they heard no blast. Police officials, including Bhupinder Singh, the head of police of the state, said the metallic parts which held parts of the rail track together were missing and labeled this as an act of sabotage. Singh blamed the Maoists for the attack stating policemen had found Maoist leaflets at the scene. However, the driver said he had heard an explosion in the attack which derailed as many as ten passenger coaches. The country's railways minister said the combined effect of sabotage to the tracks and a bomb blast led to the incident. According to her, there was "definitely sabotage" and the bomb blast had led to the derailment. "From whatever I have been told the apprehension is the Maoists were involved," she added. Police officials mentioned they were investigating whether the removal of the "fish plates" was the primary cause of the attack. "The driver heard a loud noise which indicates there could be a blast. A detail investigation will reveal more, but definitely there was lot of tinkering done to the tracks," a senior railway official, Vivek Sahay, said. The incident occurred at around 1:30 a.m. local time, and police forces and local medics took an hour to rech the site. Lack of roads and the fear of an ambush by Maoists slowed rescue operations. Passengers complained of the slow operations; some of them claimed luggage and valuables were stolen in the confusion. E. Mitra, a doctor at the nearby Kharagpur Railway Hospital, noted 30 bodies had been taken to the hospital. But "a lot of dead bodies are strewn under the derailed carriages," he added. Home Secretary of the state, Samar Ghosh, said 65 bodies had been found till then. helicopters came to the scene at dawn as local television footage showed onlookers standing on the top of the affected carriages, as soldiers cut holes in the roofs with a gas-powered circular saw. "People are crying. Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out," Naresh Jana, a witness, said. "I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels. I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches." "There was a massive jerk, and we thought the Maoists had stopped the train to hijack it," another unidentified witness told local media. "But thank God it was an accident ... at least many people are saved. This area is very dangerous, very dangerous." The railways minister of India announced a compensation of $11,000 and a job in her ministry for the families of the dead and $2,200 for those wounded. The Maoists guerillas who are known as "Naxalites" in India are powerful force in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, which are the relatively poorer states of India. In the past few years, poor or landless peasants and tribesman have rendered their support towards the insurgents, due to the wealth gap and as a result of the former losing their land to government-aided mining companies. |
Login Enter your details below to login Email address Password Keep me logged in information Keeps you logged in for a rolling 15 days or until you logout Forgot your password? ||||| There are no main images NEWS AFRICA French aid workers on kidnap charge An orphanage in Abeche has been caring for the 103 children that were to be flown to France [AFP] Chad has charged six French charity workers from Zoe's Ark and three journalists with kidnapping after attempting to fly more than 100 children to France, according to prosecutors. Seven Spanish crew from the aeroplane that was to have flown the children out of the country and two Chadians were also charged with complicity on Tuesday. The French citizens were accused of "kidnapping of minors with the aim of compromising their civil status" and "swindling," an official in the eastern town of Abeche told the AFP news agency. Ahmat Bachir, Chad's interior minister, said that if found guilty the charity workers would face up to 20 years in jail with hard labour. A judicial source said they would be transferred to the capital N'Djamena "for reasons of security" and because Abeche had no proper court. Adoption The charity workers have said that the children were 103 orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur province. But the UN children's agency said after interviewing the children that most appeared to be Chadian and there was no evidence they were orphans. "They wanted to do things differently, that doesn't mean they wanted to do it dishonestly" Gilbert Collard, lawyer for Zoe's Ark The children, aged one to 10, were reportedly to be adopted or fostered by families who each paid up to $8,600, allegedly to cover evacuation costs. They are currently being cared for at an orphanage in Abeche. Idriss Deby, Chad's president, has promised "severe punishment" for what he has described as a "kidnapping" or "child trafficking". He suggested that the group planned to sell the children to paedophiles or "kill them and remove their organs". "These people ... treat us like animals. So this is the image of the saviour Europe, which gives lessons to our countries. This is the image of Europe which helps Africans," the official website of Chad's presidency quoted Deby as saying. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, telephoned Deby on Sunday to denounce the planned airlift as "illegal and unacceptable". 'Rescue' operation Zoe's Ark has insisted that it mounted the "Children Rescue" operation in good faith, hoping to take a group of orphans away from Darfuri refugee camps in Chad to a better life in France. It says it was given statements from tribal leaders that the children were orphans with no known relatives, and that the Chadian and French authorities had full knowledge of their activities. Charity workers from Zoe's Ark say that they were taking the children to a better life [AFP] "We are dealing with humanitarian hardliners who walked off the beaten track," Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for Zoe's Ark, said in the southern French city of Marseille. "They wanted to do things differently, that doesn't mean they wanted to do it dishonestly." However, the French news agency CAPA released footage of interviews with members of Zoe's Ark in which one person said they could never be completely sure the children were orphans in need of help. "We tried to verify as much as possible. We can never be sure, of course. We cannot be sure about this information," said one unidentified man who was among those arrested. The 16 Europeans were arrested on Thursday just before the flight was due to take off from the town, 700km east of the capital N'Djamena.Ahmat Bachir, Chad's interior minister, said that if found guilty the charity workers would face up to 20 years in jail with hard labour.A judicial source said they would be transferred to the capital N'Djamena "for reasons of security" and because Abeche had no proper court.The charity workers have said that the children were 103 orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur province.But the UN children's agency said after interviewing the children that most appeared to be Chadian and there was no evidence they were orphans.The children, aged one to 10, were reportedly to be adopted or fostered by families who each paid up to $8,600, allegedly to cover evacuation costs.They are currently being cared for at an orphanage in Abeche.Idriss Deby, Chad's president, has promised "severe punishment" for what he has described as a "kidnapping" or "child trafficking".He suggested that the group planned to sell the children to paedophiles or "kill them and remove their organs"."These people ... treat us like animals. So this is the image of the saviour Europe, which gives lessons to our countries. This is the image of Europe which helps Africans," the official website of Chad's presidency quoted Deby as saying.Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, telephoned Deby on Sunday to denounce the planned airlift as "illegal and unacceptable".Zoe's Ark has insisted that it mounted the "Children Rescue" operation in good faith, hoping to take a group of orphans away from Darfuri refugee camps in Chad to a better life in France.It says it was given statements from tribal leaders that the children were orphans with no known relatives, and that the Chadian and French authorities had full knowledge of their activities."We are dealing with humanitarian hardliners who walked off the beaten track," Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for Zoe's Ark, said in the southern French city of Marseille."They wanted to do things differently, that doesn't mean they wanted to do it dishonestly."However, the French news agency CAPA released footage of interviews with members of Zoe's Ark in which one person said they could never be completely sure the children were orphans in need of help."We tried to verify as much as possible. We can never be sure, of course. We cannot be sure about this information," said one unidentified man who was among those arrested. A reporter for French news agency CAPA was among the French nationals arrested. The French government has said it warned Zoe's Ark months ago that it risked breaking the law if it carried out the operation. Source: Agencies Related: Charity accused of smuggling minors (28 Oct 2007) Chad angry at 'child smuggling' (26 Oct 2007) Tools: Email article Print article Send your feedback Top news Israel threatens Gaza invasion Mosul dam in danger of collapse Al-Hariri claims plot to kill him Deadly blast near Pakistan army HQ Iraq law to close security loophole AFRICA news Korean vessel attacked off Somalia Darfur peace talks falter Somali prime minister resigns DR Congo militia leader surrenders Kenya fixes election date ||||| Authorities in Chad today charged six French nationals with kidnapping after they tried to take 103 children to Europe in an incident that threatens to complicate relations between the two countries. Seven Spanish citizens, the crew of the charter plane in the operation, were also charged with being accessories to crime, said the communications minister, Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor. Those accused of kidnapping are the president and other members of the French charity Zoe's Ark including two journalists. The charity said it was trying to help the children, not abduct them, and that it acted legally. European families had each paid the group several thousand euros for a child. Zoe's Ark said the children - described as orphans from Sudan's Darfur region - would have a better life in Europe. More than four years of conflict in Darfur has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced - many to eastern Chad. Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for Zoe's Ark, accused Chad's government of using the situation for political ends. He said the children were from a region on the border between Chad and Sudan and "we are unable to tell which country they are from". Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, has called the operation "pure and simple abduction" and demanded tough penalties for those responsible. He suggested the children could have ended up being sold to a paedophile ring or used to supply human organs. "These people ... treat us like animals. So this is the image of the saviour Europe, which gives lessons to our countries. This is the image of Europe which helps Africans," he was quoted as saying on Chad's presidency website. French diplomats said they had warned Zoe's Ark for months against the project, but Christophe Letien, a spokesman for the charity, insisted its intentions were humanitarian. "The team is made up of firemen, doctors and journalists," he said at a news conference. "It's unimaginable that doubts are being cast on these people of good faith, who volunteered to save children from Darfur." In France, police searched the charity's offices as well as the apartment of its founder as part of an inquiry into whether the group broke adoption laws. The group had initially promised some families that they could adopt - not merely host - children from Darfur, French officials have said. The arrests come as a predominantly French EU force is preparing to deploy in eastern Chad, one of Africa's most violent regions, to protect refugees on the border with Darfur. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, called Mr Deby this weekend to discuss the case. France has led the push for the peacekeepers, and the uproar over the charity's actions risks complicating efforts to ensure a smooth start for the force, which Chad initially had resisted. Chad is said to have assured France that the row will not affect the deployment. "Because this affair has nothing to do with the deployment of the multidimensional force, there are no possible consequences," France's minister for human rights, Rama Yade, told Europe-1 radio. "And Mr Deby assured us of that." | Darfur refugee camp in Chad. Nine French nationals, that were arrested after they were caught trying to airlift over a hundred children from the country, will face charges of kidnapping, officials in Chad say. Seven Spanish nationals, who were the crew of the plane, will face charges of being complicit. Two Chadians were also charged. The French, six of whom are members of a charity by the name of "Zoe's Ark," say that they were trying to rescue the children from the humanitarian crisis that is resulting from the Darfur conflict. The other three are journalists, there to cover the "rescue." The prosecutor in Abéché, Ahmat Daoud, said: "For the nine French people it is a matter of kidnapping of minors...as well as extortion." They face 20 years in prison if convicted. "Zoe's Ark" describes the children as orphans and says that they would have a better life in Europe. "The team is made up of firemen, doctors and journalists," said spokesperson, Christophe Letien, at a news conference. "It's unimaginable that doubts are being cast on these people of good faith, who volunteered to save children from Darfur." However, French news agency CAPA published an interview in which a "Zoe's Ark" member said they could not be completely sure the children were orphans in need of help. According to Annette Rehrl, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, few of the children appear to actually be orphans. "They keep saying that they want to return to their parents. Most of them are between three and six years old. It’s very difficult to ask three-year-olds their names and where they come from. Also, some children have already changed their names and stories," Rehrl said. French officials say that they warned the group against this operation for months. "Zoe's Ark" offices in France were searched to see if the group broke French adoption law by promising families that they could adopt and not just host the children. The President of Chad, Idriss Déby, says that it is a case of "kidnap, pure and simple." He further suggested that "Zoe's Ark" may have sought to supply the children to pedophile rings or use them as donors for organ transplant. The European Union is about to deploy a peacekeeping force, which includes French soldiers, along the border between Chad and Sudan. Déby has assured his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, he will not attempt to block the EU troops. |
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. ||||| Associated Press Canadian National Reaches Labor Deal Canadian National Railway Co. said Friday that it reached a tentative labor deal with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, averting a strike planned for the next day. Details of the four-year contract - retroactive to Jan. 1, 2004 - are being withheld pending approval by union members. The deal provides improvement in salaries and benefits, Canadian National said. Earlier this week, the union's 644 electrical workers at Canadian National had threatened to strike on Saturday if an agreement had not been reached by then. The company said it would maintain normal operations in the event of a labor disruption. Two mediators appointed by Joe Fontana, Federal Minister of Labour and Housing, facilitated the negotiation, the company said. Subscriptions > ||||| 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. ||||| Jump to: Newspapers, TV, Radio --NEWSPAPERS-- National Post Victoria Times Colonist The Province (Vancouver) Vancouver Sun Edmonton Journal Calgary Herald Regina Leader-Post Saskatoon StarPhoenix Windsor Star Ottawa Citizen The Gazette (Montreal) DOSE Vancouver Island Newspapers VANNET Newspapers --TELEVISION-- Global CH PRIME CoolTV DejaView Fox Sports World Canada LONESTAR Men TV Mystery X-TREME Sports --RADIO-- CoolFM 99.1 91.5 The BEAT Marketplace: Jobs, cars... --MARKETPLACE-- working.com driving.ca homes shopping --ANNOUNCEMENTS-- celebrating remembering --GENERAL CLASSIFIEDS-- Local classifieds Selling? Place an ad Connecting | '''March 26, 2005''' The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Canada National Railway (CN) have worked out a tentative agreement, avoiding a walkout scheduled for midnight on the 26th by 604 workers. The previous contract expired 31 December 2003, and the union notified CN of their intent to strike 23 March. The IBEW members covered under the contract maintain the track signals, and radio and data networks which monitor the movement of trains. Federal mediators helped facilitate the agreement, invited by both the union and company. Montreal-based CN announced the four-year deal via a Business-wire release, but withheld the terms of the agreement pending a ratification vote, but did say the agreement is retroactive to 1 January 2004. CN resumed talks earlier in March with 1,750 engineers after the union and company agreed possible work stoppages would be after 12 May 2005. Track maintenance workers signed a 4-year contract deal with CN in February, as well as a tentative settlement with conductors, yard service employees and traffic co-ordinators. In 2004 a 28-day strike by 5,000 clerical and cargo terminal workers cost the company an estimate CA$24 million. |
Freitas do Amaral demitiu-se por razões de saúde (act.) O primeiro-ministro, José Sócrates, solicitou esta sexta-feira ao Presidente da República, Cavaco Silva, a demissão de Freitas do Amaral do cargo de ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros, a pedido deste e por motivos de saúde. «O primeiro-Ministro solicitou hoje ao Senhor Presidente da República a exoneração, a seu pedido, do ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros, professor doutor Diogo Freitas do Amaral, por motivos imperiosos de saúde que requerem uma intervenção cirúrgica», refere a nota oficial do gabinete de José Sócrates. Esta é a segunda remodelação governamental feita por José Sócrates desde que o PS chegou ao Governo, em 2005, após a demissão do ministro das Finanças, Campos e Cunha, em Julho do ano passado. Na nota oficial, José Sócrates refere ter proposto ao chefe de Estado a nomeação do actual titular da pasta da Defesa Nacional, Luís Amado, para substituir Freitas do Amaral como novo ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros. Para a pasta da Defesa Nacional, José Sócrates propôs a nomeação de Nuno Severiano Teixeira, que, no segundo executivo liderado por António Guterres (1999/2001), exerceu as funções de ministro da Administração Interna. «Nesta ocasião, o primeiro-Ministro deseja sublinhar o extraordinário contributo que, com toda a sua experiência e prestígio internacional, o professor doutor Diogo Freitas do Amaral deu ao Governo e aos interesses nacionais na condução da política externa portuguesa», refere a nota de José Sócrates. O primeiro-ministro sublinha ainda «o modo como Freitas do Amaral exerceu as altas funções que lhe foram confiadas como ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros». «[Freitas do Amaral] foi sempre revelador de um elevado sentido de Estado e de enorme dedicação à causa pública. É justo reconhecer, de modo especial, o seu papel determinante no sucesso de Portugal nas negociações das perspectivas financeiras da União Europeia, tão importantes para o futuro do País», salienta a nota de José Sócrates. «Por estas razões, entende o primeiro-ministro ser seu dever manifestar, em nome de todo o Governo, público reconhecimento pelos distintos serviços que o professor Freitas do Amaral, mais uma vez, soube prestar a Portugal, na certeza de que muito terá ainda a dar ao País, logo que alcance o pronto restabelecimento que todos lhe desejamos», acrescenta. A escolha do fundador do CDS para ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros em Março do ano passado foi considerada a principal novidade apresentada pelo executivo liderando por José Sócrates após a vitória do PS nas legislativas de Fevereiro de 2005. O porta-voz do Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Carneiro Jacinto, faz uma declaração à imprensa pelas 16:00, no Palácio das Necessidades. Diário Digital / Lusa 30-06-2006 14:59:00 ||||| Freitas do Amaral operado 2ªfeira à coluna cervical O ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros demissionário, Freitas do Amaral, é operado segunda-feira a uma lesão na coluna cervical que o impede de viajar de avião nos próximos meses, informou o seu porta-voz, António Carneiro Jacinto. «A demissão não foi motivada por divergências políticas de qualquer espécie, que não existiram nem existem. Tem a ver com o agravamento do estado de saúde» de Diogo Freitas do Amaral, disse o porta-voz numa conferência de imprensa. Freitas do Amaral, 64 anos, tem ainda «outras duas lesões na coluna» que vão obrigar «provavelmente a mais uma intervenção cirúrgica», disse Carneiro Jacinto. Segundo explicou, este tipo de intervenções exige, no pós- operatório, «repouso absoluto durante algumas semanas» e «proibição de viajar de avião nos próximos meses», pelo que Freitas do Amaral «não tem condições físicas que lhe permitam continuar a exercer um cargo que exige deslocações constantes». Segundo o porta-voz, o ministro explicou estas razões numa carta enviada quinta-feira ao primeiro-ministro, José Sócrates, depois de ter consultado o médico na segunda-feira e uma junta médica na quarta-feira. Freitas do Amaral «lamenta ser obrigado a tomar esta decisão, mas sai com a consciência de dever cumprido e manifesta a sua solidariedade política com o primeiro-ministro e com o seu governo». Questionado sobre se confirma a notícia do Expresso de sábado passado, segundo a qual Carneiro Jacinto estava a preparar a sua saída do Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, o porta-voz declarou que «nunca deixaria o professor Freitas do Amaral se decidisse ficar no governo». Diário Digital / Lusa 30-06-2006 16:38:00 ||||| Novos ministros tomam posse segunda-feira em Belém A posse dos novos ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros e Defesa realiza-se segunda-feira ao meio-dia no Palácio de Belém, disse sexta-feira à agência Lusa fonte da Presidência da República. O gabinete do primeiro-ministro, José Sócrates, anunciou hoje que o titular da pasta dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Freitas do Amaral, pediu a demissão por motivos de saúde, sendo substituído no cargo pelo ministro da Defesa, Luís Amado. Na pasta da tutela militar será empossado Nuno Severiano Teixeira, antigo ministro da Administração Interna do segundo governo de António Guterres, entre 2000 e 2002. Diário Digital / Lusa 30-06-2006 18:19:11 ||||| O primeiro-ministro, José Sócrates, pediu esta sexta-feira, ao Presidente da República, a demissão do cargo de Freitas do Amaral, a pedido deste último e por motivos de saúde. «O primeiro-ministro solicitou hoje ao Senhor Presidente da República a exoneração, a seu pedido, do ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros, professor doutor Diogo Freitas do Amaral, por motivos imperiosos de saúde que requerem uma intervenção cirúrgica», refere a nota oficial do gabinete de José Sócrates. A nota do gabinete do primeiro-ministro informa, também, que José Sócrates pediu a nomeação de Luís Amado como novo ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros e Nuno Severiano Teixeira, antigo ministro da Administração Interna, como novo ministro da Defesa Nacional. Na carta de demissão que enviou ao primeiro-ministro, e à qual o semanário Expresso teve acesso, Freitas do Amaral refere que este pedido de demissão não é motivado por divergências políticas mas pelo agravamento do seu estado de saúde. Freitas lembra que tem três lesões na coluna vertebral sendo que a mais séria e dolorosa vai ser tratada através de uma intervenção cirúrgica na segunda-feira. A convalescença obriga a repouso absoluto nas próximas semanas e impõe a proibição de viajar de avião nos próximos meses. A decisão da cirurgia é a conclusão de uma consulta permanente com médicos que disseram a Freitas do Amaral que o ministro demissionário não tem condições físicas para continuar a exercer a pasta de chefe da diplomacia nacional. Sócrates elogia trabalho de Freitas «Nesta ocasião, o primeiro-ministro deseja sublinhar o extraordinário contributo que, com toda a sua experiência e prestígio internacional, o professor doutor Diogo Freitas do Amaral deu ao Governo e aos interesses nacionais na condução da política externa portuguesa», refere a nota de José Sócrates. O primeiro-ministro elogia, ainda, a o desempenho de Freitas do Amaral enquanto ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros. Freitas do Amaral «foi sempre revelador de um elevado sentido de Estado e de enorme dedicação à causa pública. É justo reconhecer, de modo especial, o seu papel determinante no sucesso de Portugal nas negociações das perspectivas financeiras da União Europeia, tão importantes para o futuro do País», salienta a nota de José Sócrates. «Por estas razões, entende o primeiro-ministro ser seu dever manifestar, em nome de todo o Governo, público reconhecimento pelos distintos serviços que o professor Freitas do Amaral, mais uma vez, soube prestar a Portugal, na certeza de que muito terá ainda a dar ao País, logo que alcance o pronto restabelecimento que todos lhe desejamos», acrescenta. Esta é a segunda remodelação governamental feita por José Sócrates desde que o PS chegou ao Governo, em 2005, após a demissão do ministro das Finanças, Campos e Cunha, em Julho do ano passado. | The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Freitas do Amaral has resigned from his position. Replacing Freitas do Amaral in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be Luís Amado, current Minister of National Defense. Prime Minister José Sócrates requested President Cavaco Silva to relieve Freitas do Amaral of his posts of minister of state and foreign affairs, on his request, for reasons of health, according to a cabinet press release. In the press release, José Sócrates also proposed the nomination of the current minister of defense, Luís Amado, to replace Freitas do Amaral. José Sócrates also proposed the nomination of Nuno Severiano Teixeira as the new defense minister. Teixeira was the Internal Administration Minister in the second executive lead by António Guterres (1999/2001). Both possessions are scheduled for next Monday morning. "In this occasion, the Prime Minister desires to underline the extraordinary contribute which, with all his experience and international prestige, the professor Diogo Freitas do Amaral gave to the Government and the national interests in the conduction of the Portuguese external politics", the press release stated. In a press conference this Friday afternoon, Foreign Affairs spokesman António Carneiro Jacinto said that Freitas do Amaral will be operated next Monday (July 3) to an injury in the cervical column which hinders him from travelling by airplane in the coming months. "The resignation was not motivated by politic divergences of any type, which had not existed, nor exist. It's because the aggravation of the health" of Diogo Freitas do Amaral, said the spokesman in the press conference. The resignation of Freitas do Amaral was expected has for some time. On March, in an interview to the Portuguese newspaper "Expresso", the Minister said that he arrived home "at the end of the day completely tired" and admitted that he would not be able to handle the work of the ministry when Portugal starts to exercise its presidency of the European Union in 2007. |
The video will start in 8 Cancel Sign up to FREE email alerts from Wales Online - daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email A woman has died after being rescued from a fire at a former luxury hotel in Snowdonia National Park. North Wales Fire and Rescue Service was called to a fire at the historic Bontddu Hall in Gwynedd shortly after 9am on Friday, June 5. Firefighters rescued a woman from the building but she was pronounced dead at the scene. (Image: Keith Williams) A spokeswoman for the service said: "A woman has died following a fire in a property in Bontddu. "North Wales Fire and Rescue Service was called to a report of the fire at a property on the A496 in Bontddu at 9.09am this morning. "Fire appliances from Dolgellau, Harlech, Barmouth, Bala and Blaenau Ffestiniog, an aerial ladder platform, high volume pump and the incident command unit were mobilised to the incident. "The cause of the fire will be the subject of a joint investigation by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and North Wales Police." Bontddu Hall Hotel was built in 1873 as a 20-room mansion that overlooked Mawddach estuary before being turned into a hotel. It was once considered the jewel of North Wales and attracted wealthy clients including former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Richard Burton, who stayed there while filming The Last Days of Dolwyn. In 2004 an application was made to turn the 23-bedroom hotel into a private residence. ||||| The video will start in 8 Cancel Sign up to FREE email alerts from NorthWalesLive - daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email A woman has died in a fire at the historic Bontddu Hall in Gwynedd. Fire crews were called to a blaze at the property on the A496 at Bontddu near Dolgellau at around 9.10am today. Firefighters managed to rescue the woman but she died at the scene. A North Wales Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said: "A woman has died following a fire in a property in Bontddu. "North Wales Fire and Rescue Service was called to a report of the fire at a property on the A496 in Bontddu at 9.09am this morning (Friday 5th June). "Fire appliances from Dolgellau, Harlech, Barmouth, Bala and Blaenau Ffestiniog, an aerial ladder platform, high volume pump and the incident command unit were mobilised to the incident. "A woman was rescued by firefighters but sadly died at the scene. The cause of the fire will be the subject of a joint investigation by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and North Wales Police." (Image: Keith Williams) Witnesses reported huge plumes of smoke coming from the historic mansion with police and the air ambulance attending the scene. Bontddu Hall was built in 1873 in the Snowdonia National Park. Decades ago, it attracted the wealthy and famous from across the world - with famous faces including Richard Burton who stayed there during filming of the The Last Days of Dolwyn. It was also once the country residence of Birmingham's Lord Mayor and a regular haunt of former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. However, in 2004 an application was made to turn the 23-bedroom hotel into a private residence. ||||| Image copyright Keith Williams Image caption Fire crews, police and the ambulance service were seen at the building, which was built in 1873 A woman has died in a fire at a former hotel in north Wales. North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to a fire at a property on the A496 in Bontddu at about 09:10 BST. Fire crews from Dolgellau, Harlech, Barmouth, Bala and Blaenau Ffestiniog attended Bontddu Hall, which is between Barmouth and Dolgellau in Gwynedd. A woman was pulled from the building, but died at the scene, the fire service has said. North Wales Police is investigating the cause of the blaze alongside the fire service. Local councillor Peredur Jenkins said it was a "tragedy" and offered his sympathies to the family of the woman who died. "I would like to express my gratitude to the emergency services for their attendance at the scene." Bontddu Hall was a well known luxury hotel until about 15 years ago, and it has since been used as a private residence. Recently some building work was being carried out on the property and scaffolding had been erected. Image caption Bontddu Hall is often used as a wedding venue The property overlooks the Mawddach Estuary, and former guests at the hotel include actor Richard Burton. Before it became a hotel, it was known as Bryn Tirion, and was used as the country residence of the Mayor of Birmingham. Former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is also known to have stayed there. ||||| Sign up to FREE email alerts from Wales Online - daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email A FAVOURITE hotel of film legend Richard Burton is facing closure - with the prospect of being turned it into a dream home for a millionaire businessman. Tourism chiefs are furious that picturesque Bontddu Hall Hotel in Snowdonia National Park could be converted into a family house after a 100 years of welcoming guests. Burton stayed at the luxury three-star hotel, near Dolgellau, when he made his 1949 film debut The Last Days of Dolwyn. The 20-room mansion overlooking Mawddach estuary became the jewel of North Wales attracting wealthy clients including former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. But now the new owner, London-based businessman Tong Yung-soo, has applied to the Snowdonia National Park Authority to turn it into a home. Tourism chiefs slammed the proposed conversion of the hotel saying it would be a "sad loss" for an area which has already suffered hundreds of tourism job losses. Mid Wales Tourism Partnership director David Clay said, "Bontddu Hall once attracted high-calibre, high- spending guests from overseas. "Closing it down is definitely a retrograde step". The hall was built originally in 1873 for a wealthy English family. Later the hall passed into the ownership of the Hall family who also owned other hotels in the region. Mr Tong, who bought the hotel three years ago, said, "We want to restore the hall to its former glory. "We think it will take us some time and if anyone can help us with information or drawings of how the house used to look, we would like to hear from them." A spokesman for the park authority said the application for change of use would be considered within the next couple of months. ||||| Sign up to FREE email alerts from NorthWalesLive - daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email DECADES ago, Bontddu Hall Hotel in south Gwynedd attracted the wealthy and famous from across the world. Richard Burton stayed there during filming of the The Last Days of Dolwyn and its sumputous luxury and views over the Mawddach Estuary between Dolgellau and Barmouth gained it an enviable reputation at home and abroad. It was also once the country residence of Birmingham's Lord Mayor and a regular haunt of former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. But the hotel's current owners now plan to turn it into a private residence. If approved, the 23-bedroom hotel will follow five others in Dolgellau and Harlech to close in recent years. The hotel remained closed over Easter, with its London-based owners Mr and Mrs Tong spending the weekend having debris cleared from the grounds and maintenance work done on the roof. Mrs Tong confirmed her husband had submitted a planning application to convert the hotel into a private residence. She said: "We have tried to run it as a hotel, but have been having staffing difficulties and have decided to stop trading as a hotel". Snowdonia National Park Authority will have to decide on the application. Conservative AM for Mid and West Wales and former hotelier Lisa Francis said: "A relative of mine got married at the Bontddu Hall Hotel in 1996. It was wonderful. "You could say that the area was losing an amenity if it was allowed to be turned into a private residence. The owners could have sold it and given someone else a chance. "It will be interesting to see what the Snowdonia Park planners decide". David Clay, manager of Barmouth Publicity and Director of Mid Wales Tourism Partnership, said it was a sad state of affairs. "The hotel has 23 rooms and can cater for between 40 and 45 people of the high spend category," he said. "It used to attract large numbers of over-seas visitors and at one time had an excellent restaurant reputation. "An area like this cannot afford to lose such a quality hotel, although I understand that the present owners were having staffing problems." The local community council discussed the application and decided to offer no objection to the change of use to a private residence. Councillor Llew Williams said it was a shame such an application had been made. "A lot people used to be employed there many years ago," he added. | A fire broke out yesterday at Hall near in , Wales. The historic mansion is a former hotel with high-profile guests. A rescued woman died at the scene. Bontddu Hall, pictured in 2007. were called to the building, located off the overlooking the Estuary in , at 09:09am local time. Resources sent included from Dolgellau, , , , and according to a fire service statement, as well as an , high volume pump, and the service's . Police, the ambulance service, and an also attended. Photos and video from the blaze showed thick smoke with flames visible at windows. The fire service indicated an investigation working alongside was underway. Bontddu Hall recently underwent building work and scaffolding was still erected at the time of the fire. File photo of Bontddu with the Mawddach Estuary in the background. Bontddu Hall dates to 1873, originally a 20-room mansion, and was a country retreat for the Mayor of Birmingham called Bryn Tirion before becoming a hotel. Guests include regular visitor ex-UK Prime Minister and actor who stayed at Bontddu Hall while filming his 1949 movie debut ''''. The hotel closed around fifteen years ago, with local press reporting in 2004 then-new owner Tong Yung-soo, who had purchased Bontddu Hall in 2001, and his wife applied to make it a residence once more. The move was met with what WalesOnline called "fury" from local tourism chiefs. The then-manager of Barmouth Publicity and Director of Mid Wales Tourism Partnership, David Clay, called it "a retrograde step" and said "an area like this cannot afford to lose such a quality hotel." The Tongs indicated issues staffing the hotel, something Clay recognised, and Mr Tong had said they intended to "restore the hall to its former glory." Following the hotel's closure it has remained a private home. |
A judge known for jailing pirates and Islamists has been shot dead in Somalia's northern Puntland region. Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware was killed outside a mosque in Bossaso, capital of the semi-autonomous region, where many pirates are based. Mr Aware had recently sent to jail four members of the Islamist al-Shabab group, which is fighting Somalia's UN-backed government. Bossaso is also a hub for smuggling people from the region to Yemen. The high court judge was shot several times in the head and chest by two masked men, an eyewitness said. Three suspects have been arrested, said Puntland Security Minister Mohamed Said Samatar. Mr Aware was also a member of Puntland's Supreme Judicial Council which supervises the judiciary and nominates senior judicial officials. "He sentenced hundreds of pirates, people-smugglers and members of al-Shabab during his work in Bossaso," said a cousin, Abdulahi Jama. "These gangs hate him for his justice. We suspect one of them may have something to do with his assassination." Also on Wednesday evening masked gunmen killed a Puntland lawmaker as he was heading to his house. ||||| Pirates have exploited the lawlessness to launch attacks from many towns along Somalia's coastline Pirates have exploited the lawlessness to launch attacks from many towns along Somalia's coastline Mohamed Abdi Aware was shot several times in the head and chest by two masked men as he left a mosque, the police said on Thursday. A judge who jailed pirates and members of Somalia's anti-government group, al-Shabab, has been shot dead in Bossaso, a port in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, police say. Puntland is a base for pirates operating in the strategic shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa, and is home to criminal gangs and human traffickers, many of whom Aware had jailed. Aware was also a member of Puntland's supreme judicial council, which supervises the judiciary and nominates senior judicial officials. MP killed Ibrahim Elmi Warsame, a local member of parliament, was also killed on Wednesday as he sat at a tea shop in Puntland's capital of Garowe. Police said they were investigating both incidents, and extra security officials were deployed in Bossaso overnight. It was not immediately clear if the killings were linked. Targeted killings are rarer in Puntland than in south central Somalia, where the embattled UN-backed government is fighting al-Shabab, a powerful group of fighters with suspected links to al-Qaeda. Pirates have exploited the lawlessness to launch attacks from many towns along Somalia's coastline, including several in Puntland. Somalia has not had an effective central government for 18 years, although Puntland has set up a semi-autonomous government and the northern region of Somaliland has declared its independence. About 19,000 civilians have been killed in fighting since the start of 2007 while another 1.5 million have been forced out of their homes. | Piracy is a big problem in Somalia A judge known for jailing pirates and Islamists in Somalia has been shot dead by gunmen. Sheik Mohamed Abdi Aware was shot in the head and chest by two masked men outside a mosque in Bossaso. As well as being a High Court judge, Aware was also a member of Puntland’s supreme judicial council. During his work in Bossaso, Aware had sentenced several Islamists, pirates and people smugglers. His cousin Abdulahi Jama said to reporters: "These gangs hate him for his justice. We suspect one of them may have something to do with his assassination". Three people are in custody after being arrested. On Wednesday, Ibrahim Elmi Warsame, a local member of parliament was shot dead as he sat in a tea shop. It was not immediately known if the shootings were related. |
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to release its classified files regarding UFO sightings to the public. According to an article in yesterday's Guardian, the MoD will publish its files dating back to 1967 "within weeks", following the French government's decision to do so in March. David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and author of Flying Saucerers: A Social History of UFOlogy , reckoned that opening the MoD's files could calm down the conspiracy theorists. "The more of this stuff that they put on their website or put in the national archives, the less it will cost the taxpayer, because at the moment people are writing in about individual incidents and they are having to respond," he told the Guardian. In fact, it seems unlikely that any true conspiracy theorist worth his tinfoil hat would be pacified by anything short of spaceships and dead aliens on display in the Science Museum - and even then there would surely be some asserting that the real good stuff was being kept hidden. In particular, a lot of people believe that the UK's version of Area 51/Roswell took place at Rendlesham Forest in 1980. The MoD has already made available reams of old bumf covering the incident, much of which is splendid conspiracy fodder: mysterious glowing objects, farm animals going into a frenzy, curious depressions left in the ground. And - aha! - cameras recording the air-defence radar picture were switched off at the time. If that's not evidence of a secret government conspiracy, we don't know what is. Even better, there is talk of heightened radiation levels in the forest. It's hard to imagine any new documentation convincing people that nothing happened there. If the MoD is lucky it might see a slight drop in Freedom of Information Act requests and general time wasting, but quite likely not. As the Air Staff officer who handles such requests revealed last year, the level of public interest in UFOs is much more affected by the film industry than it is by anything that the MoD or (presumably) even the aliens may get up to. ® ||||| The Ministry of Defence plans to open its "X-Files" on UFO sightings to the public for the first time. Officials have not yet decided on a date for the release of the reports, which date back to 1967, but it is hoped to be within weeks. The move follows the decision by the French national space agency to release its UFO files in March, the first official body in the world to do so. UFO buffs will be keen to find out what officials knew about some of the UK's most famous sightings and whether any action was taken. One celebrated event - at Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, in 1980 - has been dubbed "Britain's Roswell" after the UFO incident in the US in 1947. At Rendlesham there were several witness reports of a UFO apparently landing. The released files should support or discount claims that radiation was detected at the site after the event. David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and author of Flying Saucerers: A Social History of UFOlogy, said opening the MoD's files would make it harder to sustain the idea that evidence for the existence of aliens has been suppressed. "The more of this stuff that they put on their website or put in the national archives, the less it will cost the taxpayer, because at the moment people are writing in about individual incidents and they are having respond," said Dr Clarke, referring to requests under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents due for release are witness reports of apparent UFO sightings, many by civil pilots and military personnel. Most were simply collected and filed by a small, secret unit within defence intelligence called DI55. A few are thought to have been investigated further by the military, but the details have never been made public. There are 24 files due for release, each containing 200-300 reports of sightings, plus internal MoD briefings and correspondence. | The United Kingdom's Ministry Of Defence has announced that they plan to release their UFO files to the public, 7 weeks after France's space agency CNES opened its UFO file to the public in March 22, 2007. The ministry has not decided on which day this event will occur, but confirmed that it would be happening within the upcoming weeks. The files will include UFO sightings reported by civilians, pilots, and military personnel dating back to 1967. Some people, such as David Clarke, have expressed their delight to the release of the files: "The more of this stuff that they put on their website or put in the national archives, the less it will cost the taxpayer, because at the moment people are writing in about individual incidents and they are having respond." Clarke is author of the book ''Flying Saucerers: A Social History of UFOlogy'' and currently a journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. The files will include the famous December of 1980 Rendlesham Forest Incident, also called ''Britain's Roswell'' after the Roswell UFO incident that occurred in the United States in 1947. |
Google has removed the German Web site of BMW from its Internet search index, saying that the company was redirecting users from requested information to another page selling luxury cars. Pages on the Web site, BMW.de, included hidden software that moved visitors from a page that Google had found to another page with flashier graphics. That practice breaks Google's guidelines, a Google engineer, Matt Cutts, wrote in a posting on his Web site on Saturday. BMW, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, said the company did not believe that the practice manipulated Google's search engine. ||||| www Google boicota BMW alemã nos resultados das pesquisas O motor de busca Google anunciou ter retirado dos seus resultados de pesquisa o site oficial em alemão da BMW. A medida é uma represália contra o fabricante germânico, que usava um truque para pôr o seu site em evidências nos resultados. De acordo com a versão online da revista Forbes, a palavra alemã gebrauchtwagen (carro usado) aparecia 42 vezes numa página doorway criada pela BMW. As páginas doorway contêm diversas palavras-chaves que vão atrair robôs de captura dos sites de busca. Estas páginas são vistas pelos utilizadores, o seu objetivo é pescar os cibernautas, que são redirecionados para uma página oficial. Neste caso, a www.bmw.de. De acordo com o engenheiro de software da Google, Matt Cutt, no seu blog, citado pela Forbes, «a iniciativa vai contra a nossa política de qualidade», que impõe aos webmasters que «não usem truques para melhorar o resultado dos sites no ranking». A BMW já reagiu à medida, garantindo que não tinha a intenção de manipular os resultados. A empresa admitiu, no entanto, ter usado as páginas doorway com o objetivo de «oferecer um melhor serviço» aos utilizadores que procuram carros usados. 06-02-2006 20:20:28 ||||| Remember my previous post noting that Google would be paying more attention to webspam in other countries and languages this year? This week our webspam team continued ramping up our anti-spam efforts by removing bmw.de from our index, and ricoh.de will be removed soon for similar reasons. When a search engine visited a page like www.bmw.de/bmw-neuwagen.html, it would see a page like this: However, a user’s browser would immediately trigger a JavaScript redirect to a completely different url which looked like this: That’s a violation of our webmaster quality guidelines, specifically the principle of “Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users.” It appears that at least some of the JavaScript-redirecting pages have already been removed from bmw.de, which is very encouraging, but given the number of pages that were doing JavaScript redirects, I expect that Google’s webspam team will need a reinclusion request with details on who created the doorway pages. We’ll probably also need some assurances that such pages won’t reappear on the sites before the domains can be reincluded. I’m leaving comments turned off on this post; there are no doubt plenty of other search engine optimization areas to discuss this. Finally, as long as we’re on the subject of cars: to the domestic car maker whose European domain had hidden text on the front: your 30 day removal was set to expire in two days, but the hidden text has been taken off the page, so I’m scheduling the domain for reinclusion now. ||||| Webmaster Guidelines Following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site, which is the best way to ensure you'll be included in Google's results. Even if you choose not to implement any of these suggestions, we strongly encourage you to pay very close attention to the "Quality Guidelines," which outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index. Once a site has been removed, it will no longer show up in results on Google.com or on any of Google's partner sites. Design and Content Guidelines: Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link. Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages. Create a useful, information-rich site and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content. Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images. Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate. Check for broken links and correct HTML. If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a '?' character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them small. Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100). Technical Guidelines: Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as Javascript, cookies, session ID's, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site. Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session ID's or arguments that track their path through the site. These techniques are useful for tracking individual user behavior, but the access pattern of bots is entirely different. Using these techniques may result in incomplete indexing of your site, as bots may not be able to eliminate URLs that look different but actually point to the same page. Make sure your web server supports the If-Modified-Since HTTP header. This feature allows your web server to tell Google whether your content has changed since we last crawled your site. Supporting this feature saves you bandwidth and overhead. Make use of the robots.txt file on your web server. This file tells crawlers which directories can or cannot be crawled. Make sure it's current for your site so that you don't accidentally block the Googlebot crawler. Visit http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html for a FAQ answering questions regarding robots and how to control them when they visit your site. If your company buys a content management system, make sure that the system can export your content so that search engine spiders can crawl your site. When your site is ready: Once your site is online, submit it to Google at http://www.google.com/addurl.html. Make sure all the sites that should know about your pages are aware your site is online. Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!. Periodically review Google's webmaster section for more information. Quality Guidelines - Basic principles: Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users, or present different content to search engines than you display to users. Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?" Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links. Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google. Quality Guidelines - Specific recommendations: Avoid hidden text or hidden links. Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects. Don't send automated queries to Google. Don't load pages with irrelevant words. Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content. Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. These quality guidelines cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative behavior, but Google may respond negatively to other misleading practices not listed here, (e.g. tricking users by registering misspellings of well-known web sites). It's not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique isn't included on this page, Google approves of it. Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles listed above will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit. If you believe that another site is abusing Google's quality guidelines, please report that site at http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html. Google prefers developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize hand-to-hand spam fighting. The spam reports we receive are used to create scalable algorithms that recognize and block future spam attempts. | Google logo BMW logo The search engine Google announced the removal of the official German BMW web site from its search results today. Google is reported to have removed the website due to the use of a trick to raise its website ratings in the search engine's results. The online version of Forbes magazine reported that the German word for used car, ''Gebrauchtwagen'', appeared 42 times in a doorway web page created by the German car manufacturer. Doorway web pages contain many keywords designed to attract search robots. The page presented to Google's robot for indexing was significantly different from the page presented to the site's visitors. According to a recent blog post by Matt Cutts, one of Google's software engineers, this technique is "a violation of our webmaster quality guidelines." These guidelines encourage webmasters to "avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings." BMW reacted to the measure by claiming that it had no intention of manipulating the search results, but instead used the doorway pages with the objective of "offering a better service" to those looking for used cars. |
NAZARETH -- Israel is preparing for what is being described by its army as the “mother of all flotillas,” which could include up to 20 different ships planning to set sail for the Gaza Strip in the coming months, Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. Ahlul Bayt News Agency, NAZARETH -- Israel is preparing for what is being described by its army as the “mother of all flotillas,” which could include up to 20 different ships planning to set sail for the Gaza Strip in the coming months, Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday.. The English language newspaper said that the army is closely tracking the planned flotilla, preparing for wide-range of scenarios including the possibility that due the large number of ships, it will need to stop the flotilla far from regional shores. Anwar Gharbi, a member of the European campaign to end the siege on Gaza which is one of the founders of the freedom flotilla, said that hundreds of NGOs were backing the Freedom Flotilla 2. He told Quds Press that alliances were made in various European countries, which include tens of human rights groups, to support the fleet. “We hope to have a broad coalition from European countries, and also maybe the United States,” Dror Feiler, an Israeli-Swedish musician and artist who lives in Stockholm – and one of the organizers behind the flotilla – told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. “We would like it to be double the size of the last flotilla, with at least a dozen ships and more than thousand people.” Organizers of the fleet decided to delay its sail until the end of year in view of the expanding number of institutions and individuals wishing to participate in it. The Israeli navy violently intercepted the first Freedom Flotilla last May and killed nine Turkish activists and wounded dozens others. End item/ 129 ||||| By Dan Williams and Jonathan Saul JERUSALEM/LONDON (Reuters) - Anticipating fresh bids by pro-Palestinian activists to sail against its Gaza Strip blockade, and hoping to avoid a repeat of its bloody boarding of a Turkish aid ship in May, Israel has turned to maritime law. Israeli officials say vessels will be warned in advance that they face costly impoundment and the possible detainment of crews -- a strategy first floated in July when the threat of such action helped turn a Libyan-chartered ship away from Gaza. "The legal approach proved effective as a deterrent, and we're prepared to see it through as a punishment," said one senior government official, declining to be named. "If we are to pay a price for defending the blockade, the other side will pay a price for challenging it." Israel triggered world outcry in May after its forces killed 9 Turks in brawls aboard the Mavi Marmara, a converted cruise liner that tried to lead an aid flotilla to impoverished Gaza, whose 1.5 million Palestinians are ruled by Hamas Islamists. Israel says its blockade is needed to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel. Maritime specialists say international law allows a sovereign nation to seize a vessel that runs a declared blockade. That could discourage firms renting out ships to pro-Palestinian campaigners but, arguably, less so in cases like the Mavi Marmara, where the activists buy the ship outright. "Many ship owners will look at the possibility or likelihood that their vessel will be impounded or fined or seized outright," said J. Peter Pham, a strategic adviser to the U.S. and European governments. "Those are losses for which they are not insured and for which the non-governmental groups are not going to make good on for them." THREATS AT SEA In July a charity belonging to one of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons chartered the cargo ship Amalthea for a Gaza aid run. Israeli media aired recordings of the navy warning the captain he would be held responsible for any showdown at sea. According to Israeli and Libyan officials, a dispute ensued aboard the ship over where to dock. The captain and crew prevailed, taking the Amalthea to El Arish in nearby Egypt. "Israeli authorities, through the navy, threatened legal action against the ship," said Alex Angelopoulos of Greece's ACA Shipping Corp, which owns the Amalthea. "The threats were taken into consideration, but the decision (to change course) was taken after long talks with the ship's charterers," he said, adding that were the ship impounded it would mean losses of some 5,000 euros ($6,350) a day. Another Israeli official said permanent confiscation of ships was "out of the question." "It would simply be untenable both legally and practically. But we can exert pressure by virtue of the fact that a ship owner stands to lose a lot of money for each day of temporary impoundment in Israel, not to mention the long-term cost of the vessel going rusty and neglected," the official said. The Israelis say they are bracing for possible new Gaza flotillas by groups from Lebanon, Europe and the United States. Activists might be willing to lose their ships if they thought their actions would bring them global publicity or dent Israeli prestige -- as happened with the May flotilla. But some shipping experts doubt whether impoundment could be a feasible long-term solution for Israel. "The real question should be: how long can Israel detain the ship? My guess is not long without positive proof that there was something more than humanitarian aid on board," said John Dalby, chief executive of maritime asset recovery firm MRM. Daniel Reisner, a former commander of the Israeli military's international law department, said he knew of no legal basis to try foreigners specifically for violating the Gaza blockade. "In general, the more innocent the cargo, the more this diminishes the chances of a prosecution," he said. Of the seven ships in the Mavi Marmara flotilla, four remain berthed in Israel after the three Turkish-owned vessels were returned unconditionally as a fence-mending gesture to Ankara. Israel's Defence Ministry said unspecified "private entities" had sought to reclaim two of the impounded ships but had yet to furnish proof of ownership. The remaining two ships have gone unclaimed while Israel tries to locate their owners. "It's a double-edged sword: if you have no hope of recovering the actual impound fees then you are stuck with a boat that you neither want nor will be able to get rid of easily," said Pham. ||||| (L to R) Aid flotilla organizers Dror Feiler, Vangelis Pissias, Huwaida Arraf and Mattias Gardell say they will make a new attempt to reach Gaza before the end of 2010. AFP photo Israel is bracing for what is being described by its military as the “mother of all flotillas,” comprising up to 20 ships planning to set sail for the blockaded Gaza Strip, a report said Tuesday. The flotilla is being organized by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations from Europe and the United States, including a group calling itself European Jews for a Just Peace, Israel’s Jerusalem Post reported. The groups hope to set off within the coming months. “We hope to have a broad coalition from European countries, and also maybe the United States,” Dror Feiler, a Stockholm-based Israeli-Swedish musician and artist who is one of the organizers behind the flotilla plans, told the Post on Monday. “We would like it to be double the size of the last flotilla, with at least a dozen ships and more than a thousand people.” According to the newspaper, the Israeli military is closely tracking the planned flotilla and is preparing for a wide range of scenarios, including the possibility that due to the large number of ships, it will need to stop the vessels far from Israel’s shores. “The Israeli army can stop 12 or 50 ships if it wants,” Feiler said. “[Nonetheless] there are so many ships since so many people want to get together to stop the siege, which is a collective punishment on the people of Gaza and is unacceptable.” The May 31 attack The last flotilla aimed at breaking the Gaza blockade was stopped by Israeli commandos at the end of May. Nine activists, including eight pro-Palestinian Turks and one U.S. citizen of Turkish descent, were killed during the May 31 attack, which reduced already-tense relations between Turkey and Israel to historic lows. The coalition behind the new flotilla effort includes the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, and the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the flotilla stopped in May, the Post said. The newspaper also reported Tuesday that the Israeli commission investigating the Gaza flotilla attack requested that the Israeli chief of staff’s assistant, Col. Erez Weiner, give the court further information on the May 31 raid. The Turkel Committee, headed by retired high court judge Yaakov Turkel, asked for electronic data and other materials that a committee headed by Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland analyzed when investigating the military aspect of the Gaza flotilla raid. Turkel’s probe also asked for explanations of the soldiers’ behavior on the Mavi Marmara, the ship where the nine activists were killed, and for answers to additional questions that the Eiland Commission did not probe. Uzi Arad, the head of the Israeli National Security Council, is expected to testify next week before the committee, as is Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service. Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal will testify Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Olmert and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi have previously testified before the Turkel Commission. | Banner of flotilla stopped in May Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout Europe and the United States are currently assembling a flotilla of up to 20 ships, which will set sail for the Gaza strip in the coming months in an attempt break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory. Israeli-Swedish activist Dror Feiler said that the goal of the new flotilla is to double the size of the previous one, and for it to include more than a thousand people. "The Israeli Army can stop 12 to 50 ships if it wants," Feiler said. "Nonetheless there are so many ships since so many people want to get together to stop the siege, which is a collective punishment on the people of Gaza and is unacceptable." The Israel Defense Force is monitoring the actions of the planned flotilla, according to a report in the '''' on Tuesday. The Israeli army is calling this new fleet of ships "the mother of all flotillas." A wide range of scenarios is being prepared for which include the possibility that due to the larger number of ships reported to be part of the flotilla, the Israeli navy may need to intercept it before the ships get close to Israel's shoreline. Officials say that Israel will warn ship operators that their crew may be detained and the vessel held until impound fees are paid, claiming the backing of international maritime treaties. "The legal approach proved effective as a deterrent, and we're prepared to see it through as a punishment. If we are to pay a price for defending the blockade, the other side will pay a price for challenging it," a senior Israeli government official. The official declined to be named. A European campaigner against the blockade, Anwar Ghabi, told Arabic news agency Quds Press that the new flotilla will be backed by hundreds of NGOs, including several human rights groups. The first flotilla to challenge the blockade was stopped by Israeli naval commandos in May this year. Nine activists were killed, and several dozen activists and seven Israeli commandos were wounded after Israeli troops clashed with activists. Harsh international and domestic criticism followed. Subsequent aid ships were seized or diverted to Egypt. |
Sign-up to receive the weekly top stories, contest and promotion announcements every Tuesday Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of Canada.com Newsletter will soon be in your inbox. ||||| BEIJING A Chinese man wielding a knife attacked an American couple related to a United States Olympic volleyball coach on Saturday, killing the man and wounding his wife and their Chinese guide atop an ancient tower in central Beijing. The attacker then killed himself by leaping from the tower, American and Chinese officials said. The attack on the tourists occurred on the first day of competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing, after a dazzling opening ceremony the previous night in which China sought to project an image of power and strength while welcoming hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors. As news of the killing spread, it darkened the mood somewhat in the city, from the warrens of old alleyways where Chinese are eager to open their homes to foreigners, to the stadiums where visitors waited in line for events like swimming and gymnastics. The dead American was Todd Bachman of Farmington, Minn., the 62-year-old father-in-law of Hugh McCutcheon, the head indoor men’s volleyball coach, American Olympic officials said. Bachman’s wife, Barbara, 62, was in critical but stable condition after eight hours of surgery. The Chinese guide is a woman, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. She was not identified. McCutcheon’s wife, Elisabeth, a member of the 2004 United States women’s Olympics volleyball team, was with her parents when they were attacked. ||||| Thank you for visiting TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press. We are sorry the article that you requested is no longer available. Please search for this article in our archive search. Like this story? Buzz it up on The Pioneer Press is happy to host community conversations about news and life in the Twin Cities. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all. POST YOUR COMMENTS: ||||| Todd L. Bachman ©2008 Hilary Bullock POSITION: Chairman / Chief Executive Officer INDUSTRY AFFILIATIONS: Hortica Insurance Company – Edwardsville, IL: (insurance company for the horticulture industry): Board of Directors / 1996 to Present Chairman – Marketing Committee Chairman of the Board – 2008 to Present (insurance company for the horticulture industry): Yoder Brothers, Inc. – Barberton, OH: (international horticultural corporation): Board of Directors / 2000 to Present (international horticultural corporation): Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association Foundation: Board of Trustees / 2003 to Present American Floral Endowment: Board of Trustees / 1987-1998 Chairman / 1997-1998 Ohio State Florists’ Association: Board of Directors / 1981-1984 Society of American Florists: Chairman – Foundation for Floriculture /1975-1977 North Central Florists’ Association: Board of Directors / 1977-1980 Chairman-Finance and Formula Committee / 1979-1980 Vice President / 1983-1985 President / 1985-1987 Minnesota Commercial Flower Growers: President / 1972-1974 University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences: Donor and Volunteer; established Todd and Barbara Bachman Chair in Horticulture Marketing, 2004 EDUCATION: BS from the University of Minnesota in 1968: Major: Horticulture Science Minor: Business Administration OUTSIDE AFFILIATIONS: Member – Delta Theta Sigma Professional Agriculture Fraternity Member – Pi Alpha Psi Honorary Floriculture Fraternity Past President – Christiania Lutheran Church, Lakeville, Minnesota Past President – Christiania Lutheran Church Foundation Past Member – Board of Regents of Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa Download Todd Bachman Biography | Two relatives of a coach for the American Volleyball team, and their tour-guide, were attacked by a knife-wielding Chinese man Saturday. Beijing's Drum Tower Todd and Barbara Bachman of Farmington, Minnesota USA, in-laws of Hugh McCutcheon- head U.S. indoor men’s volleyball coach, were touring the Drum Tower in central Beijing when the attack occurred. Mr. Bachman was killed, his wife and their tour-guide were injured and are undergoing treatment at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon, wife of Hugh McCutcheon and a member of the 2004 United States women’s Olympics volleyball team, was also present for the attack on her parents, but was herself uninjured. The attacker, identified by Chinese state sources as Tang Yongming, a 47 year old from Hangzhou, Zhejiang leapt to his death from the tower's second story in what was labeled a suicide. A United States Olympic Committee spokesman stated that the victims weren't wearing anything that might have marked them as Americans or as associated with a US team. He further stated that it wasn't known whether the U.S. men's volleyball team would compete in a match scheduled for Sunday and that no extra security was planned for U.S. athletes. U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura were in the city for the Olympic games. Mr. Bush stated, “Laura and I were also saddened by the attack on an American family and their Chinese tour guide today in Beijing. The United States government has offered to provide any assistance the family needs.” Todd Bachman was the CEO of Bachman's, Inc; a regional chain of garden centers based in Minneapolis. He was sixty-two years old. |
NEWS ASIA-PACIFIC N Korea stalls disarmament talks Hill, left, was greeted by Ri Gun, right, the foreign affairs minister, upon his arrival in Pyongyang [AFP] A US nuclear envoy has made a surprise trip to North Korea only to be informed that nuclear plant shutdown talks are on hold until Pyongyang receives funds withheld over financial irregularities. Christopher Hill arrived in Pyongyang , days after the East Asian country indicated it would move to shut its Yongbyon nuclear reactor. North Korea refused to shutdown the plant until $25m frozen at Macau 's Banco Delta Asia was released with US help. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had planned to visit Pyongyang next week but the visit is lkely to be stalled over the transaction. Your Views "How can a country possibly give up it own deterrence?" Lebambi, Harare, Zimbabwe Send us your views Hyon Yong Man, a counsellor at Pyongyang 's embassy in Vienna , where the IAEA is based, said that $25m in frozen North Korean funds that were expected to reach a North Korean account in Russia had not yet arrived, contradicting previous reports. Hyon Yong Man, a counsellor at's embassy in, where the IAEA is based, said that $25m in frozen North Korean funds that were expected to reach a North Korean account inhad not yet arrived, contradicting previous reports. "As of now, the frozen funds had not reached our bank account. Nobody knows why the remittance is delayed," he said. "Our side has informed the IAEA that we have no objection to them preparing the visit as a plan, but we are not ready to give our official confirmation for the visit as scheduled by the agency." Funds transfer A Russian diplomatic source meanwhile said the release of the frozen funds to North Korea will be completed by Friday, . "It will be completed by June 22, this Friday," the source said, according to Itar Tass news agency on Thursday. Hill had said that six-country talks on the deal, under which the impoverished country would receive hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, would likely resume in early July. "We hope that we can make up for some of the time that we lost this spring and we are looking forward to good discussions about that," South Korean broadcaster YTN showed Hill saying upon arrival in Pyongyang . Hill is the most senior US state department official to visit North Korea since October 2002, when James Kelly, the former US envoy, confronted Pyongyang with evidence that Washington said pointed to a covert uranium enrichment programme. Hill will stay in Pyongyang until Friday and meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, the vice-foreign minister, a US state department spokesman said. On Saturday, North Korea , which conducted its first nuclear test last October, had said it would re-admit inspectors from the IAEA as required under the accord clinched in Beijing on February 13. Source: Agencies ||||| He added, ¡°We have no objection to them preparing the visit as a plan, but we are not ready to give our official confirmation for the visit as scheduled by the agency.¡± The IAEA planned to send working-level delegates to Pyongyang to discuss ways to monitor North Korea¡¯s shutdown of nuclear facilities. (englishnews@chosun.com ) | After , the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. met with North Korean (DPRK) diplomats on Thursday, the country decided not to give (IAEA) inspectors permission to enter the country, claiming that the $25,000,000 remitted to them has not yet arrived. "As of now, the frozen funds had not reached our bank account. Nobody knows why the remittance is delayed. Our side has informed the IAEA that we have no objection to them preparing the visit as a plan, but we are not ready to give our official confirmation for the visit as scheduled by the agency," said counsellor Hyon Yong at North Korea's embassy located in . The money is believed to still be in the possession of the of Russia, which received control of the funds after they were transferred via the United States Federal Reserve System to Macau's Banco Delta Asia. Russian officials state that the funds transfer was to "be completed by today," but as of now the funds have not yet arrived to N. Korea. Earlier this week North Korea invited IAEA inspectors into the country to monitor the shutting down of their nuclear reactor located in Yongbyon. |
CTV.ca News Staff The U.S. military was unable to save the lives of four Americans who were slain at sea Tuesday, when their pirate captors suddenly shot them on their yacht off the coast of Somalia. The hostages were travelling aboard a yacht called the S/V Quest when they were hijacked Friday off the coast of Oman. The boat was moving closer to the Somali coast over the weekend, and the U.S. Central Command said negotiations were underway to free the two couples at the time that they were killed. A U.S. warship had been shadowing the yacht for several days. U.S. Vice Adm. Mark Fox, the commander of U.S. naval forces for Central Command, said that the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the nearby USS Sterett during the early hours of Tuesday morning. The projectile missed its target and gunshots were soon heard coming from the yacht, Fox said in a televised briefing. U.S. forces rushed to the yacht, but the captured Americans could not be saved. An initial statement from Central Command said that "the forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds." When U.S. forces rushed to the Quest on Tuesday, they killed two pirates and arrested 13 others. A U.S. forces member killed one of those two pirates with a knife as he went inside the yacht, Fox said. The bodies of two other pirates were found on board the yacht, whom Central Command said were "already dead." White House spokesperson Jay Carney said that U.S. President Barack Obama had given the military clearance on the weekend to strike against the pirates if there was an imminent threat to the hostages on board the yacht. Fox publicly identified the dead as Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Ray, Calif., and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, both of Seattle. Gen. James N. Mattis, the Central Command commander, said in a statement that the military offered its "deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest." It is believed that the Quest victims are the first American hostages to be slain by pirates. Pirates warned of attack repercussions Minutes before the U.S. military reported that the U.S. hostages had been killed, a Somali pirate told The Associated Press that "the hostages will be the first to go" if the Quest were to be attacked. In a telephone interview, Abdullahi Mohamed told AP that "some pirates have even suggested rigging the yacht with land mines and explosives so as the whole yacht explodes with the first gunshot." Mohamed claimed that he was a friend of the pirates involved in the hijacking. Graeme Gibbon-Brookes, the head of Dryad Maritime Intelligence, said it was unclear why the pirates would provoke the U.S. by killing the hostages they held. "We have heard threats against the lives of Americans before but it strikes me as being very, very unusual why they would kill hostages outright," Gibbon-Brookes said Tuesday. Typically, pirates have held hostages for lengthy periods of time, in order to extract hefty ransom payments from the businesses and families to whom their captives belong. But there has been a recent trend toward a more aggressive treatment of hostages by pirates. Yacht owners at sea for years Earlier this year, the Quest had been taking part in an international yacht race known as the Blue Water Rally. But the yacht left the race to chart an independent course from India to Oman. The yacht was owned by the Adams. Macay and Riggle were travelling with them. The Adams kept an online blog that chronicled their travels at sea since the Quest's first voyage in December 2001. According to the svquest.com website, the couple had travelled 50,000 nautical miles -- or more than 92,000 kilometres -- in trips from New Zealand to Los Angeles, as well as trips to Mexico, Canada and elsewhere. Their website indicates that they had planned to stop in Salalah, Oman, before sailing on to the capital of Djibouti. One section of the website indicates that the Adams took part in "friendship evangelism," in which they brought donated bibles to many remote communities they visited in their travels. With files from The Associated Press ||||| CNN and MSNBC were both reporting this morning that all four Americans aboard a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates had been killed. CNN said the hostages were shot during negotiations for their release.The yacht was owned by Jean and Scott Adam. Also on board were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle. They had been traveling with yachts participating in the Blue Water Rally since their departure from Phuket, Thailand, rally organizers said Sunday.The group said the Adams' yacht, S/V Quest, broke off last week after leaving Mumbai, India, to take a different route.A U.S. Navy warship and helicopters were trailing a boat believed to be the one that was hijacked by Somali pirates, a senior military official said Monday. ||||| Four Americans captured by Somali pirates while sailing in the Indian Ocean have been shot and killed, NBC News reported Tuesday. The two couples, Phyllis Macay, 59, and Robert Riggle, 67, of Seattle, and the yacht's owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, California, were on an around-the-world sailing trip when they were captured by pirates Friday. Military officials told NBC News that about 1 a.m. ET shots were heard aboard the yacht, called Quest. Negotiations had been under way with the pirates at the time. The officials said U.S. military personnel boarded the yacht and discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. The officials said two pirates were killed and 13 others captured after a brief gun battle as U.S. forces took control of the boat. "We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest," Gen. James N. Mattis, U.S. Central Command Commander, said in a statement. Two pirates already dead The statement added that in addition to the 15 dead or captured pirates, U.S. forces had found the remains of two pirates on the vessel who were already dead. It did not say how they had died. The statement also said two pirates had been in U.S. custody before the Quest was boarded — as part of the negotiation process — and that in total it was believed 19 pirates had been involved. They are thought to have used a so-called mother ship to reach the Quest which was about 190 miles off the Oman coast. The statement said U.S. forces had been "closely monitoring" the Quest for approximately three days with four Navy warships tasked to recover the yacht: the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, the guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Bulkeley. Vice Adm. Mark Fox, Commander of the US Navy 5th fleet, told a news conference that negotiations were taking place between the U.S. forces and the pirates Tuesday morning when they suddenly fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Sterett, which was about 600 yards away. The RPG missed. Fox said gunfire was heard "almost immediately" afterward and then several pirates appeared on the deck of the yacht with their hands in the air, wanting to surrender. A boarding party of U.S. special forces was sent across to the Quest but "despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four American hostages died of their wounds," Fox said. He said no shots were fired by the U.S. personnel as they boarded the yacht. However, as the yacht was being cleared later, the special forces shot dead one pirate and killed another with a knife. Fox said they had not planned to launch a military operation against the yacht. "The intent always had been this would be a negotiated process and not ever go to the point where we had gunfire," he said. Asked about the two pirates who were already dead when the troops arrived, Fox said he did not know the circumstances of their deaths. "We've seen a growing problem here in terms of pirate activity off the coast of Somalia," he said, with the mother ships allowing the pirates to strike as far away as the coast of India. After the pirates captured the yacht off the coast of Oman, they headed for waters between Yemen and northern Somalia. The yacht Quest which was hijacked by Somali pirates Friday. Pirates vow revenge Two Somali pirates who spoke with Reuters by telephone Tuesday said the hostages were ordered killed since the pirates themselves were under attack by U.S. forces. "Our colleagues called us this morning, that they were being attacked by a U.S. warship," Mohamud, a Somali pirate, told Reuters. "We ordered our comrades to kill the four Americans before they got killed." Pirate leader Farah, speaking from Bayla, a pirate haven in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland, vowed to avenge the deaths and capture of his comrades. "I lost the money I invested and my comrades. No forgiveness for the Americans. Revenge. Our business will go on," he said, adding he had spent $110,000 so far in the hijacking, including on weapons and food and salaries. Pirates have increased attacks on ships off the coast of East Africa, but Americans have rarely been targeted. The last attack against a U.S. crew, which happened in 2009, ended with Navy sharpshooters killing two pirates and rescuing the ship's captain. ||||| Updated 3:51 p.m. ET A pirate fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. Navy destroyer shadowing a hijacked yacht with four Americans aboard Tuesday. Then gunfire erupted, the military said. U.S. special forces rushed to the yacht only to find the four Americans fatally wounded. The experienced yacht enthusiasts from California and Washington are the first Americans killed by Somali pirates since the start of attacks off East Africa several years ago. One of the American couples on board had been sailing around the world since 2004 handing out Bibles. PICTURES: 4 Americans on hijacked yacht dead off Somalia Their deaths appeared to underscore an increasingly brutal and aggressive shift by pirates in their treatment of hostages. Killing hostages "has now become part of our rules," said a pirate who identified himself as Muse Abdi and referred to last week's sentencing of a pirate to 33 years in prison for the 2009 attack on the U.S. cargo vessel the Maersk Alabama. "From now on, anyone who tries to rescue the hostages in our hands will only collect dead bodies," he said. "It will never ever happen that hostages are rescued and we are hauled to prison." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly condemned the killings, saying in a statement that the slayings were "deplorable" and underscored the need for international cooperation in fighting the scourge of piracy in waters off the Horn of Africa. Pirates had hijacked the 58-foot yacht Quest south of Oman on Friday. Since then, four U.S. warships and sky-high drones shadowed the vessel's movement as pirates tried to sail it to the Somali shore. U.S. officials negotiated with the captors via radio. On Monday, two pirates had peacefully come aboard the USS Sterett to negotiate with naval forces for the release of the hostages, and remained aboard overnight. But at 8 a.m. East Africa time Tuesday, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired from the Quest at the USS Sterett, a guided-missile destroyer 600 yards away. The RPG missed and almost immediately afterward small arms fire was heard coming from the yacht, said Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain. U.S. forces converged on the Quest in small boats and some pirates moved to bow and put up their hands in surrender. A member of a U.S. special operations force killed one of the pirates with a knife, Fox said. A second pirate was also killed, and the bodies of two other pirates were discovered on board, bringing to 19 the total number of pirates involved. The U.S. military didn't say how those two died and it was not known if the pirates had fought among themselves. There were no injuries to U.S. forces or damage to U.S. ships, Fox said. The Quest was the home of Jean and Scott Adam, a couple from California who had been sailing around the world since December 2004 with a yacht full of Bibles. The two other Americans on board were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, of Seattle, Wash. Adam, in his mid-60s, had been an associate producer in Hollywood when he turned in a spiritual direction and enrolled in the seminary a decade ago, said Robert K. Johnston, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and a friend of Adam's. "He decided he could take his pension, and he wanted to serve God and humankind," he said. Johnston and Adam worked together to start a film and theology institute. Adam also taught a class on church and media at the school. Since 2004, the Adams lived on their yacht in Marina Del Rey for about half the year and the rest of the year they sailed around the world, often distributing Bibles in remote parts of the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia, Johnston said. Scott and Jane Adam documented their maritime missionary work on their website, S/V Quest Adventure Log. "Great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to do, but that's small comfort in the face of this," said Joe Grande of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club, where Riggle and Macay were members. Pirates have increased attacks off the coast of East Africa in recent years despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults. But the conventional wisdom in the shipping industry had been that Somali pirates are businessmen looking for a multimillion-dollar ransom payday, not insurgents looking to terrorize people. "We have heard threats against the lives of Americans before but it strikes me as being very, very unusual why they would kill hostages outright," said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the head of Dryad Maritime Intelligence, adding that the pirates must realize that killing Americans would invite a military response. President Barack Obama, who was notified about the deaths at 4:42 a.m. Washington time, had authorized the military on Saturday to use force in case of an imminent threat to the hostages, said White House spokesman Jay Carney. Around Christmas the Quest joined the Blue Water Rally, an around-the-world race. But race organizers said the Quest recently left the race despite what Fox said were warnings about the dangers of sailing in Horn of Africa region. The Blue Water Rally said in a statement Tuesday that though yachtsmen are discouraged from sailing in the region, the only other choices are to sail around the stormy and dangerous tip of South Africa or sail back across the Pacific. The Adams were skilled and experienced sailors, having traveled from Panama in 2005 to Fiji in 2007 and Cambodia last year. They most recently sailed from Thailand to Sri Lanka and India, and were on their way to Oman when captured. Johnston said that despite an adventurous spirit, the Adams were meticulous planners who knew the dangers they faced. The couple had sailed with a large flotilla to stay safe from pirates near Thailand earlier in the trip. Motivated by million-dollar ransoms, pirates have become increasingly bold in their attacks despite a flotilla of international warships patrolling the waters off East Africa. The last time pirates kidnapped a U.S. citizen during the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama Navy sharpshooters killed two pirates and rescued the ship's captain. But Tuesday's bloody events are apt to leave U.S. military planners in a quandary: Do they go after the pirates harder? Do they attack their bases on Somalia's ungoverned shores? One maritime expert said it's too early to tell. "This is a first," said Gibbon-Brooks, the analyst. "We don't know if the situation is related to a straight execution. We don't know if it was related to an attempt to break free. We don't know if it was related to an accident." Gibbon-Brooks said the killings were "extremely unwise" by the Somalis, and that the deaths threaten what has been a successful and lucrative business model. Two days before the hijacking, a New York court sentenced a pirate to 33 years in prison for the 2009 attack on the Maersk Alabama, a U.S. cargo vessel. A pirate in Somalia told the AP last week that pirates were more likely to attack Americans because of the sentencing. "It's a black day for us and also the Americans, but they lost bigger than us," a pirate who said his name was Bile Hussein said. "If they still want a solution and safety for their citizens in the oceans, let them release our men they arrested." Only minutes before the military announced that the four Americans had died, a Somali pirate told AP by phone that if the yacht were attacked, "the hostages will be the first to go." "Some pirates have even suggested rigging the yacht with land mines and explosives so as the whole yacht explodes with the first gunshot," said the pirate, who gave his name as Abdullahi Mohamed, who claimed to be a friend of the pirates holding the four Americans. Pirates who currently hold 30 ships and more than 660 hostages typically win a multimillion ransom for releasing their captives, a huge sum that is shared among investors and pirates. The money is often spent on alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. One ransom paid last year was reported as $9.5 million. Most ransoms are worth several million dollars. Given that typical financial motivation, Tuesday's killings left several unanswered questions, such as whether the pirates, being trailed by the Americans, believed there was no way to avoid spending years in a U.S. prison, or if the American forces spooked the pirates by approaching the yacht, or even if the hostages had tried to retake the yacht from the pirates. The military said U.S. forces have been monitoring the Quest for about three days, since shortly after the Friday attack. Four Navy warships were involved, including the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Mohamed, the pirate in Somalia, told AP that pirate leaders had been expecting the yacht to make landfall soon. Five cars full of pirates were headed toward the pirate dens of Eyl and Gara'ad in anticipation of the Quest reaching land Monday, he said. Had the four reached land, they may have faced a long hostage ordeal like the 388 days that the British sailing couple Paul and Rachel Chandler spent in the hands of pirates. The two were released in November. "This incident is a clear message and alarm that it's time the world community quickly steps up to stop these pirate criminal activities. They should be treated mercilessly," said Gen. Yusuf Ahmed Khayr, the security minister in the northern Somalia region of Puntland, a pirate haven. The Adams ran a Bible ministry and had been distributing Bibles to schools and churches in remote villages in areas including the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia. At the Seattle Singles Yacht Club, friend Hank Curci said Riggle and Macay were carrying out a lifelong dream. "Now that they're gone it's just difficult for us to accept because it's like having a family member killed," he said. ||||| cbs3.com An elderly man has been arrested after his wife was found strangled to death in the couple's Montgomery County home. Rudi Koos, 80, is has been charged with first degree murder and related offenses in connection with the death of his 75-year-old wife, Waltrude. | According to , the four Americans taken hostage after their yacht was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Oman in the have been killed. Pirates hijacked their yacht, named ''The Quest'', on February 18. The U.S. Naval ship that was following the yacht, which was traveling off the coast of Somalia, heard gunshots and attempted a rescue operation. Naval personnel had been negotiating with pirates when the incident occurred. After boarding the vessel, soldiers killed 2 pirates and detained at least 13 others. During the process they discovered that the pirates had shot and killed all four hostages. "The forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds," said a statement issued by the U.S. Central Command. The hostages were identified as Scott and Jean Adam, husband and wife who owned the yacht, from Marina Del Rey, California. Their two friends were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle from , Washington. Two other bodies were found on the yacht, believed to be pirates. The party was taking place in a race with other boats, which started in Thailand, when they decided to leave it after scheduled stop in Mumbai, India. Reports say they spent some of their time distributing bibles around the world. They changed course and were hijacked by the pirates off the coast of Oman. |
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney introduced Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice presidential running mate, turning to the architect of a deeply conservative and intensely controversial long-term budget plan. NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Saturday he has chosen Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate, a move that will bring the debate over how to reduce government spending and debt to the forefront of the race for the White House.Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, announced that he has tapped the House of Representatives Budget Committee chairman at an event at the retired battleship USS Wisconsin - coincidentally named for Ryan's home state."His leadership begins with character and values. ... Paul Ryan works in Washington but his roots remain in Janesville, Wisconsin," Romney said.Romney said Ryan, 42, "has become an intellectual leader of the Republican Party," and stressed that their campaign will focus on ways to create jobs, protect Medicare and Social Security, and repeal the health care law enacted under Democratic President Barack Obama.The announcement marked the end a months-long search by Romney for a running mate to join him in facing Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the November 6 election.His choice of running mate is a bold one and comes after polls this week showed him falling slightly behind Obama in what is still a close race, in a campaign that is focused largely on the weak U.S. economy.The selection of Ryan brings a measure of youthful exuberance and energy to the Republican ticket as party activists prepare to gather in Tampa, Florida, late this month for a convention to formally choose Romney as their presidential nominee.Ryan's selection also immediately draws attention to a budget plan he proposed as House budget chairman that would include controversial cuts in government health programs for the elderly and poor."We're in a different and dangerous moment. We're running out of time and we can't afford four more years of this," Ryan told the crowd. "Politicians from both parties have made empty promises which will soon become broken promises with painful consequences if we fail to act now."He drew his biggest reaction, saying: "0ur rights come from nature and God, not from government."Conservative leaders, increasingly anxious over the state of Romney's campaign, had urged him to pass over reliable - but not particularly inspiring - figures such as Ohio Senator Rob Portman and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, and instead go for Ryan.The Wisconsin congressman is a favorite of the conservative Tea Party, an anti-tax, limited-government movement that helped Republicans take over the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010.Democrats are eager to pounce on Ryan's budget plan with its proposed cuts to programs for the elderly - particularly in Florida, where many seniors live and which could be a crucial state in the November election. Ryan's selection makes the Florida leg of Romney's bus tour an instant test for the new ticket.Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement that Ryan shares Romney's commitment to "the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy."Romney starts a bus tour on Saturday through four politically divided states that he needs to win in November: Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio.A NEW TARGET FOR DEMOCRATSRomney's decision to select Ryan suggests he is willing to have a debate over government spending and its role in the daily lives of Americans. He has endorsed parts of Ryan's budget."Conservatives are going to be very energized because this is a demonstration that Romney was willing to make a bold pick," said Republican strategist Matt Mankowski. "It may not be what he wanted to do three or six months ago, but I think this is as significant a choice as he could have made."Bill Burton, senior strategist at the pro-Obama group Priorities USA, indicated that Ryan being on the Republican ticket would open a new avenue of attack for Democrats. ||||| In Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has picked a running mate who’s expected to drive enthusiasm among staunch conservatives to cut checks and potentially draw new donors to the presidential race. While Romney has outraised President Barack Obama in the past three months, there’s little question that adding Ryan will help with conservatives who may not have been giving their all. Text Size - + reset (PHOTOS: Scenes from Romney's VP announcement) “He’s got real strong ties into the Club for Growth and the National Review-type crowd, but he also has a huge following amongst the low-donor conservative base and I think that is really going to kick in the low dollar donor Internet and mail for Romney,” said Matt Keelen of the Keelen Group, who worked as a D.C.-based consultant on Ryan’s first congressional race. Romney’s team has already scheduled a 10-stop fundraising tour for August. The House Budget Chairman status in the Republican party went from House leader to national figure during the health care debate and fight over the future of medicare. Over the past year, Ryan has gone toe-to-toe with President Barack Obama, trading barbs over Obama’s health care law and his budget plan. A growing recognition among GOP lawmakers that Ryan was the intellectual backbone for the future of the party and ability to spar with Obama drew major conservative backers. “With energy and vision, Paul Ryan has become an intellectual leader of the Republican Party,” Romney said Saturday. Over the past week, while the veep stakes intrigue reached new heights, Ryan’s darling status among the intellectual right was on full display. “If Ryan’s budget is going to be a central part of the debate over the next three months, who better to explain and defend it than Paul Ryan?” wrote William Kristol and Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard. In addition to Kristol, Ryan is known for speaking regularly with Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot. ||||| early and often Mitt Romney Introduced Paul Ryan in Front of a Battleship for Some Reason Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was never shy about his desire to be Mitt Romney's running mate, so it was kind of sad, this morning, to see him forced up onstage to give the introduction at Paul Ryan's unveiling. Also, nobody watching or in attendance wanted to hear from Bob McDonnell in the least. The setting was a stage situated directly in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin, a decommissioned battleship now serving out retirement as a museum in Norfolk, Virginia. Why do this in front of a battleship? Unclear. If there were ever a campaign less focused on war and foreign policy, it is the Romney-Ryan ticket in 2012. When McDonnell's tragic intro was complete, Romney emerged from the Wisconsin to some patriotic fanfare, which happened to be the soundtrack from Air Force One. Romney spent much of his short speech boasting of Ryan's character, sometimes in comically overwrought language. "Paul also combines firm principles with a practical concern for getting things done," Romney said at one point. "He has never been content to simply curse the darkness; he would rather light candles." I hope you dance, Paul Ryan. Today represents something of a fresh start for Romney's struggling campaign, and he has every reason to be excited. However, he was perhaps a little too excited for his own good by the time he introduced Ryan. "Join me," Romney announced, "in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan!" The music swelled again, the crowd cheered, and Ryan emerged onstage, joining Romney in a session of smiling and lazy, indiscriminate waving. Romney went to his seat, but upon being informed by Ann of his error, returned to the microphone just as Ryan was set to begin his speech. "Every now and then I’m known to make a mistake,” Romney said, sheepishly. “I did not make a mistake with this guy. But I can tell you this, he’s going to be the next Vice-President of the United States." If it makes him feel any better, Barack Obama, bizarrely, made the same mistake when introducing Joe Biden in 2008. Not the most auspicious start, but Ryan went on to rile up the crowd with a solidly delivered speech about the need to "make difficult decisions," something Romney has studiously avoided in his campaign so far, but won't be able to now that his candidacy is tied, for better or worse, to the controversial Ryan budget plan. ||||| NBC News is proudly declaring itself the winner in the race to break Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as running mate. "Based on information from multiple sources inside the Romney campaign, NBC News tonight broke the news that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is expected to formally announce Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his vice presidential running mate at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday in Norfolk, VA," the network announced in a press release at 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning. The race to break the VP selection, a small matter for most Americans, has become one of the most obsessive contests in the world of political reporting. Reporters who have broke the news in elections past, including NBC's Andrea Mitchell (Dan Quayle '88, John Edwards '04) and CNN's John King (Lloyd Bentsen '88, Joe Biden '08), tout the scoops in their official biographies. "At 12:01am ET, NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd reported live on MSNBC citing several sources who indicate that Gov. Romney has chosen Rep. Ryan," this morning's press release read. "The report included accounts from NBC News campaign embeds live in Wisconsin, Virginia, and other locations with potential VP picks." "At 12:22am ET, the NBC broadcast network broke in with a special report from Chuck Todd and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell." Read more about: NBC News, Paul Ryan ||||| Transcript: Ryan Makes First Remarks As VP Choice Enlarge Win McNamee / Getty Images Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin speaks after being announced by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as his running mate in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday. Win McNamee / Getty Images Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's remarks after being announced as GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's running mate, as released by the Romney campaign: Thank you Governor Romney, Ann. I am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate. Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background and the character that our country needs at a crucial time in its history. Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim; and they need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment; and he and I share one commitment: we will restore the dreams and greatness of this country. I want you to meet my family. My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our sons, Charlie and Sam. I am surrounded by the people I love, and I have been asked by Governor Romney to serve the country I love. Janesville, Wisconsin, is where I was born and raised, and I never really left it. It's our home now. For the last 14 years, I have proudly represented Wisconsin in Congress. There, I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, and turning ideas into action; and action into solutions. I am committed, in heart and mind, to putting that experience to work in a Romney Administration. This is a crucial moment in the life of our nation; and it is absolutely vital that we select the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness. That man is standing next to me. His name is Mitt Romney. And he will be the next president of the United States My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. I still remember a couple of things he would say that have really stuck with me. "Son you are either part of the problem or part of the solution." Regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem ... and Mitt Romney is the solution. The other thing my dad would say is that every generation of Americans leaves their children better off. That's the American legacy. Sadly, for the first time in our history, we are on a path which will undo that legacy. That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution — new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth, and jobs. It is our duty to save the American Dream for our children, and theirs. And I believe there is no person in America who is better prepared — because of his experience; because of the principles he holds; and because of his achievements and excellence in so many different arenas — to lead America at this point in its history. Let me say a word about the man Mitt Romney will replace. No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation. And, in his first two years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didn't make things better. In fact, we find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt and despair. This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression. Families are hurting. We have the largest deficits and the biggest federal government since WWII. Nearly 1 out of 6 Americans are in poverty — the worst rate in a generation. Moms and dads are struggling to make ends meet. Household incomes have dropped by more than $4,000 over the past four years. Whatever the explanations, whatever the excuses, this is a record of failure. President Obama, and too many like him in Washington, have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation. We might have been able to get away with that before, but not now. We're in a different, and dangerous, moment. We're running out of time — and we can't afford 4 more years of this. Politicians from both parties have made empty promises which will soon become broken promises — with painful consequences — if we fail to act now. I represent a part of America that includes inner cities, rural areas, suburbs and factory towns. Over the years I have seen and heard from a lot from families, from those running small businesses, and from people who are in need. But what I have heard lately troubles me the most. There is something different in their voice and in their words. What I hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures. I hear some people say that this is just "the new normal." High unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal. It's the result of misguided policies. And next January, our economy will begin a comeback with the Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class that will lead to more jobs and more take home pay for working Americans. America is on the wrong track; but Mitt Romney and I will take the right steps, in the right time, to get us back on the right track! I believe my record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful complement to Governor Romney's executive and private sector success outside Washington. I have worked closely with Republicans as well as Democrats to advance an agenda of economic growth, fiscal discipline, and job creation. I'm proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience, that if you have a small business—you did build that. At Bain Capital, he launched new businesses and he turned around failing ones – companies like Staples, Bright Horizons and Sports Authority, just to name a few. Mitt Romney created jobs and showed he knows how a free economy works. At the Olympics, he took a failing enterprise and made it the pride of our entire nation. As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with Democrats and Republicans to balance budgets with no tax increases, lower unemployment, increase income and improve people's lives. In all of these things, Mitt Romney has shown himself to be a man of achievement, excellence and integrity. Janna and I tell Liza, Charlie and Sam that America is a place where, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. We Americans look at one another's success with pride, not resentment, because we know, as more Americans work hard, take risks, and succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit, and individual lives will be improved and uplifted. But America is more than just a place ... it's an idea. It's the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. This idea is founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination and government by consent of the governed. This idea is under assault. So, we have a critical decision to make as a nation. We are on an unsustainable path that is robbing America of our freedom and security. It doesn't have to be this way. The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this: We won't duck the tough issues ... we will lead! We won't blame others ... we will take responsibility! We won't replace our founding principles ... we will reapply them! We will honor you, our fellow citizens, by giving you the right and opportunity to make the choice: What kind of country do we want to have? What kind of people do we want to be? We can turn this thing around. Real solutions can be delivered. But, it will take leadership. And the courage to tell you the truth. Mitt Romney is this kind of leader. I'm excited for what lies ahead and I'm thrilled to be a part of America's Comeback Team. And together, we will unite America and get this done. ||||| * Deficits of $3.13 trillion over next 10 years * Savings from dismantling healthcare law, other programs * Plan has little chance of becoming law By David Lawder WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans placed a major election-year bet Tuesday on a deficit-slashing budget proposal the party hopes will win over voters and quell any concerns about the plan's most controversial element - a sweeping revamp of Medicare. The plan, authored by Congressman Paul Ryan, seeks to draw a sharp contrast between Republicans' vision of a smaller, less-intrusive federal government with that of President Barack Obama, who often stresses the importance of social safety nets. In offering a well-defined conservative alternative to the Democratic president's approach to solving the nation's long-term problems, Republicans are hoping to win over voters profoundly worried about huge U.S. deficits and Obama's stewardship of the economy. "We have a choice of two futures," Ryan said at a speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is often mentioned as a possible Republican vice presidential candidate. He said Obama's 2013 budget proposal would lead the country down a path of "debt and decline" and "more dependency on government." After a string of debacles ranging from last summer's debt-limit standoff to a near-revolt over extending a payroll tax cut, Republicans want to exploit what they see as an advantage over Obama on taxes, spending and rising debt levels. They also aim to portray themselves as the party best equipped to govern responsibly and make brave fiscal choices. Where Obama and many fellow Democrats wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and boost near-term spending on infrastructure and education, the Republicans want to cut taxes and spending on federal pensions and healthcare and social safety net benefits - programs used more by the poor and middle classes. While the Republican plan has little chance of becoming law due to opposition in the Democratic-controlled Senate, it may have some real-world consequences. The overhaul of the popular but increasingly expensive Medicare plan sets up Republicans for another round of damaging election-year attacks from Democrats, who have vowed to preserve the fee-for-service program. The Republican budget also seeks to cap discretionary federal spending on education, transportation and other government programs at $1.029 trillion, roughly $18 billion less than Democrats want. That sets up a battle over spending that could potentially shut down the government just weeks before the Nov. 6 election. But the Ryan plan would wrestle U.S. deficits down to a cumulative $3.13 trillion in the next 10 years - less than half the $6.39 trillion in deficits the Congressional Budget Office says Obama's fiscal 2013 budget plan would rack up. The Republican plan claims to put U.S. debt on a downward path, to 62.3 percent of U.S. economic output by 2022, versus Obama's 76.3 percent, which is slightly above current levels. DISMANTLING HEALTHCARE REFORM The Republican budget achieves much of its deficit-reduction goals through savings gained by dismantling Obama's 2010 healthcare reform law and by turning social safety net programs like food stamps and the Medicaid program for the poor into block grants for states. It also slashes pension benefits for federal workers. After proposing last year to convert Medicare into a voucher-like program to allow seniors to purchase private health insurance, Ryan has modified his reforms in a bid to blunt criticism that it would shift too many costs onto the elderly. The new plan offers so-called premium support to allow beneficiaries to purchase either traditional Medicare or competing plans through a government-run exchange But political strategists say the party will still struggle to sell it to older voters who worry about their benefits. The plan also drew a quick rebuke from the Federation of American Hospitals, which said it would "make it difficult for hospitals to meet the healthcare needs of seniors and the most vulnerable in our communities." Democrats say Ryan's determination to push ahead with the Medicare revamp in an election year is a huge mistake that will prove politically toxic for Republicans in congressional races. They are targeting Medicare-focused campaigns against some 41 House Republicans that they see as vulnerable in November. House Democrats labeled it a "vicious plot to destroy our nation's promise to our seniors." BRASH REFORMER, VP CANDIDATE? But the political risk on Medicare has not daunted Ryan, the 42-year-old House Budget Committee chairman who fashions himself as a brash young reformer determined to shrink government. The budget gives him a huge platform to influence his party's direction and influence the campaign debate. Known for his slick YouTube videos to illustrate his dire predictions of the U.S. debt trajectory and for slipping in iPod earbuds sometimes when reporters are around, Ryan has kept the debt debate on the boil since Republicans took control of the House two years ago. But for some House conservatives, the Ryan budget, which seeks to reduce fiscal 2013 discretionary caps agreed with Democrats last year by $18.4 billion, may not go far enough. Democrats warn that the cut breaks last year's debt-limit agreement meant to keep fiscal peace and risks a government shutdown by causing conflict over spending bills. Some Tea Party Republicans who wanted deeper cuts may balk at the plan, but it does offer them some comfort by shielding defense and security spending from automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to kick in next January. The Ryan plan contains another element popular with Republicans across the board: tax reform. It proposes to cut top rates for individuals, paring back the number of tax brackets to two - 25 percent and 10 percent - from six now. The current top rate is 35 percent, but it is set to rise to 39.6 percent at the beginning of next year if the tax cuts enacted during President George W. Bush's presidency are allowed to expire. | Yesterday, in front of the in Norfolk, Virginia, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Mitt Romney selected Congressman of Wisconsin as his . Paul Ryan prepares to deliver his acceptance speech after Mitt Romney's introduction. After an introduction from Virginia , who himself had been considered a potential running mate, Romney officially made the announcement. He referred to Ryan as "an intellectual leader of the Republican Party" and initially labeled Ryan as the "next president of the United States" before correcting himself after Ryan reached the podium. Ryan, 42, has represented since 1999 and serves as chairman of the . Last year, he authored the budget proposal, '''', which promotes reductions in federal spending of $6.2 trillion from the Obama plan through a repeal of the , a reformation of , and capping of federal . During his acceptance speech, Ryan said that his "record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful complement to Governor Romney's executive and private sector success outside of Washington." He added that the campaign "won't duck the tough issues—we will lead" and went after the record of President Barack Obama, arguing that his policies "didn't make things better." On the announcement, senior Obama staffers explained that Ryan's selection "makes clear that Romney would be a rubber stamp for the congressional GOP" and that the choice provides the Obama campaign with "clear advantages". According to '''', Romney made the decision on August 1 after returning from his international trip. Four days later, Ryan was secretly flown to , Massachusetts to meet Romney at the home of Beth Myers, who was running the vice presidential search. Ryan was supposed to be announced on Friday in New Hampshire, but he had to return to Wisconsin to attend a memorial for victims of the . Thereafter, the campaign decided to make the announcement in Virginia, and so Ryan was once again secretly flown, this time to , North Carolina near Norfolk, where he met with Romney and prepared his acceptance speech. ''NBC News'' first announced the decision, and the Romney campaign announced the news to supporters through a phone application at seven a.m., a couple of hours before the official announcement. == Sources == * * * * * * * |
WASHINGTON, May 17 - In an unusual appearance today before a Senate subcommittee, a British lawmaker vehemently denied any role in diverting money from the United Nations oil-for-food program and bitterly condemned the Iraq war, saying that the Bush administration built it around "a pack of lies" and now sought to divert attention with "the mother of all smokescreens." The member of Parliament, George Galloway, seemed to catch the panel off guard with his intensely delivered denials of accusations that Iraqi officials had given him the right to export 20 million barrels of oil as part of a secret Baghdad initiative to enlist international politicians to support Iraq before the Security Council. Mr. Galloway is accused of having funneled allocations through a fund he established, the Mariam Appeal, to help a 4-year-old Iraqi girl suffering from leukemia. The accusations against Mr. Galloway, and similar ones against Charles Pasqua, a French senator and former interior minister, and Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, an ultranationalist Russian lawmaker, are contained in a new report from the permanent investigations subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Mr. Galloway appeared before that subcommittee today. ||||| PARIS, May 16 - Charles Pasqua, a French senator implicated in the Iraqi oil-for-food abuse scandal, accused American investigators on Monday of a deliberate attempt to link France's political decisions before the current war in Iraq to reports of bribes paid by Saddam Hussein. "Probably, they think I am close to Jacques Chirac and that I am his adviser," Mr. Pasqua told reporters on Monday, referring to allegations reiterated last week by the United States Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that he received lucrative oil contracts from Mr. Hussein. He repeated past denials that he had received anything. Mr. Pasqua, a former French interior minister who broke with Mr. Chirac in 1998, bristled at being portrayed as a traitor to the United Nations, which administered the program under which Iraq was permitted to sell limited quantities of oil and use the proceeds to purchase food, medicines and other goods despite strict sanctions. Mr. Hussein used the program to distribute rights to purchase oil at below-market prices to people he thought could influence international opinion on Iraq. While Mr. Pasqua's name appeared in Iraqi Oil Ministry documents as one of the recipients of those rights, he insisted that he never visited Iraq, never discussed oil with the Iraqis and never instructed anyone else to do so on his behalf. "If my name appears in certain Iraqi documents, that can only be the result of fraudulent behavior on the part of certain people who have used my name," he said. ||||| British MP denies oil-for-food charges Called the probe the 'mother of all smokescreens' WASHINGTON (CNN) -- British Member of Parliament George Galloway angrily denied Tuesday that he profited from Saddam Hussein's regime and criticized a Senate panel probing alleged corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. Galloway, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, called the panel's investigation the "mother of all smokescreens" used to divert attention from the "pack of lies" that led to the 2003 invasion. "I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims, did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11, 2001," he told the panel's Republican chairman, Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota. "Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong. And 100,000 people have paid with their lives -- 1,600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies, 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever, on a pack of lies." He added, "Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported." Galloway's appearance Tuesday before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee was the first by an official allegedly involved in the scandal. In a report last week, the subcommittee stated that deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein granted Galloway vouchers for 20 million barrels of oil between 2000 and 2003. He strongly disputed that allegation Tuesday. "I am not now or ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one, and neither has anybody on my behalf," Galloway testified. He also said he did not own a company that trades in oil. "If you had any evidence of that I had ever engaged in any actual oil transaction, if you had any evidence that anybody ever gave me any money, it would be before the public and before this" committee today, Galloway said. Coleman, a former district attorney, told Galloway before his sworn testimony that "senior Iraqi officials have confirmed that you, in fact, received oil allocations and that the documents that identify you as an allocation recipient are valid." Galloway challenged that accusation in his opening statement. "Now, I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer, you're remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice," he told Coleman. Galloway, 51, is a leading critic of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his alliance with President Bush in the war in Iraq. He was re-elected on an antiwar platform earlier this month. He said he was "friendly" with former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz and met him many times but that he met with Saddam only twice in his career -- in 1994 and in 2002 -- the last time to persuade Saddam to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into the country. He said he had met with Saddam "exactly as many times as Donald Rumsfeld has met with him." "The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and give him maps," Galloway said in a heated opening statement. "I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second occasion, I met him to try and persuade him to allow Hans Blix and U.N. inspectors back into country," Rumsfeld visited Baghdad to meet Saddam as President Reagan's Middle East envoy in the 1980s, when the U.S. sided with Iraq in its war with Iran. Blix was chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq before the war. Galloway complained that the panel had determined his guilt without speaking to him. "You have my name on lists provided to you... by the convicted bank robber and fraudster and con man Ahmed Chalabi, who many people, to their credit, in your country now realize played a decisive role in leading your country into the disaster in Iraq," Galloway told the Senate panel. Other allegations reportedly came from Iraqi detainees. "In these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, in Bagram Air Base [Afghanistan], in Guantanamo Bay -- including, if I may say, British citizens being held in those places -- I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on anything you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances," he said. The Senate subcommittee has alleged in recent days that a number of European politicians were rewarded by Saddam for supporting Iraq's bid to lift economic sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The subcommittee report, relying on Iraqi Oil Ministry documents and interviews with detained Saddam loyalists, alleged that Galloway received allocations for 20 million barrels from June 2000 to June 2003 and arranged for two companies, Aredio Petroleum-France and Middle East Advanced Semiconductor Inc., to take delivery of the crude. Galloway said he never heard of Aredio, but confirmed that the president of Middle East ASI, Jordanian businessman named Fawaz Zureikat, was a good friend and the second-biggest benefactor of a British charity he started called Mariam's Appeal. Zureikat donated about $600,000. A British probe of the charity "found no impropriety" in fund-raising, Galloway said. "He may have signed an oil contract. It had nothing to do with me," Galloway said. "I was aware he was doing extensive business with Iraq. I did not know the details of it. It was not my business." Europeans implicated In addition to Galloway, the panel also implicated former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, who allegedly was allocated 11 million barrels. "I wrote to Mr. Coleman," Pasqua said Sunday, "and I told him that all allegations about myself are false." Russian Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who was accused Monday of receiving 76 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil, denied the accusation. "I've never signed any contract and never received a cent from Iraq," Zhirinovsky told a Russian TV interviewer. Oil ended up in U.S. The panels seem to agree that three-quarters of the oil Iraq was permitted to export under oil-for-food ended up in the United States, though U.S. firms directly purchased less than 1 percent of the crude. A new report from Democrats on the Senate subcommittee concludes the United States ended up with a majority of the oil lifted from Iraq after vendors paid illicit surcharges of 10 cents to 30 cents a barrel to Saddam. Investigators have estimated Saddam pocketed at least $2 billion by extorting the surcharges and kickbacks on humanitarian goods purchased. While oil-for-food was operating from 1996 to 2003, Saddam got to choose the buyers of 3.4 billion barrels of oil that sold for $64 billion. The oil revenue went into a U.N.-controlled bank account that doled out money for U.N.-approved sales of food, medicine and supplies to Iraq. The illicit surcharges were typically wired into Iraq-controlled bank accounts in Lebanon, Oman and an Iraqi-front company in the United Arab Emirates, or paid in cash to Iraqi embassies and flown to Baghdad. Of the $228 million in surcharged oil, the Democratic report found the United States imported 525 million barrels, or 52 percent of it. Among the biggest end users of this oil were Valero, Premcor, Alon USA, and Exxon, according to the report. ||||| Article réservé à nos abonnés La nouvelle sectorisation des lycées à Paris crispe des parents qui se sentent « assignés à résidence » Beaucoup d’entre eux essaient de comprendre une petite révolution aux règles complexes dans le cadre de la procédure d’affectation des élèves. ||||| jeudi 28 avril 2005, 22h01 "Pétrole contre nourriture": un proche de Pasqua mis en examen agrandir la photo PARIS (AFP) - L'ex-conseiller diplomatique de Charles Pasqua, Bernard Guillet, a été mis en examen jeudi à Paris dans le cadre d'une enquête judiciaire visant, pour la première fois en France, les contournements du programme onusien "pétrole contre nourriture" dans l'Irak de Saddam Hussein. M. Guillet a été mis en examen pour "recel d'abus de biens sociaux et trafic d'influence aggravé" par le juge Philippe Courroye, a précisé une source judiciaire. Il a été laissé en liberté sous contrôle judiciaire par le juge des libertés et de la détention contre l'avis du parquet de Paris qui avait requis son placement en détention provisoire. Cette mise en examen s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une instruction du juge Philippe Courroye visant un système opaque de versement présumé de commissions occultes, entre 1996 et 2001, destinées à favoriser les intérêts de grandes entreprises françaises dont Total. Bernard Guillet est soupçonné d'avoir perçu des commissions inexpliquées de la part d'un intermédiaire spécialisé dans les affaires de pétrole en Irak, à l'occasion de la revente de pétrole irakien à l'époque de Saddam Hussein. Le juge Courroye avait obtenu dans la journée une extension de sa saisine visant Bernard Guillet pour "recel d'abus de biens sociaux et trafic d'influence passif commis par une personne chargée d'une mission de service public". Le parquet a également accordé au juge un réquisitoire supplétif contre X pour "abus de biens sociaux, complicité, recel et trafic d'influence actif par personne chargée d'une mission de service public", afin de poursuivre ses investigations sur ce dossier. Le programme "pétrole contre nourriture", en vigueur de 1996 à 2003, permettait à Bagdad, sous embargo, de vendre une quantité limitée de pétrole en échange de biens de première nécessité pour sa population, malgré les sanctions imposées par l'ONU après l'invasion du Koweït en 1990 et la Guerre du Golfe. Mais, selon le rapport d'une commission d'enquête de l'ONU publié le 29 mars, ce programme aurait été manipulé par le gouvernement irakien afin de toucher plusieurs milliards de dollars et d'importer des biens prohibés, notamment avec la complicité de certains membres des Nations Unis. Le juge Courroye à New York Selon une source proche du dossier, le juge Courroye s'est rendu à New-York pour obtenir des documents onusiens concernant l'implication supposée de personnalités ou d'entreprises françaises dans le versement de pots-de-vin liés au contournement de l'embargo pétrolier en Irak. Les noms de Bernard Guillet et du sénateur des Hauts-de-Seine Charles Pasqua avaient été cités en janvier 2004 par un quotidien irakien "Al-Mada" parmi une liste de plus de 270 personnalités et sociétés qui auraient obtenu des largesses du régime irakien, sous forme de barils de pétrole, en participant au contournement du programme. Les deux hommes avaient alors démenti. Charles Pasqua a également été mis en cause, fin octobre 2004, avec une dizaine d'autre personnalités, par Charles Duelfer, chef du groupe américain chargé d'inspecter l'armement irakien, l'Iraq Survey Group (ISG) qui l'accusait d'avoir touché des pots-de-vin de la part de l'Irak. "Comme je ne suis pas concerné par cela, si on s'est servi de mon nom, j'en tirerai les conséquences, y compris judiciaires", a réagi jeudi Charles Pasqua en expliquant ne pas avoir été contacté personnellement dans le cadre de l'enquête parisienne. "Je ne peux souhaiter qu'une seule chose, c'est que cette enquête aille à son terme, que ça aille jusqu'au bout, et qu'on sache qui a bénéficié de ces bons de pétrole, qui les a commercialisés et qui a encaissé l'argent", a ajouté l'ancien ministre de l'Intérieur. Bernard Guillet est déjà mis en examen par le juge Philippe Courroye pour "recel d'abus de bien sociaux", depuis décembre 2002 dans l'affaire de la Sofremi et depuis avril 2001, dans l'enquête sur les ventes d'armes à l'Angola. Aux USA, trois hommes d'affaires, un Texan et ses deux collaborateurs, un Britannique et un Bulgare, ont été inculpés le 14 avril à New York, accusés d'avoir oeuvré pour "verser au régime de Saddam Hussein des millions de dollars de pots-de-vin secrets" dans ce même cadre du programme Pétrole contre nourriture. Rubrique : France Article précédent : Arrestation en France d'un responsable d'ETA et d'un complice ( AFP) Article suivant : Un membre important d'ETA interpellé dans le sud de la France, selon Madrid ( AP) Dossier : Irak : toute l'actualité et les analyses du conflit irakien Dossier : Justice : toute l'info judiciaire Article suivant : Financement de terrorisme: deux nouvelles mises en examen ( AP) Envoyer cette page · Pages les plus envoyées · Imprimer cette page (Publicité) ||||| Tuesday, May 17, 2005 PHOTOS VIDEO STORIES BACKGROUND WASHINGTON Saddam Hussein ( search ) and his government bribed Russian officials, paying them millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations, as part of the Oil-for-Food program, a congressional investigation concluded. The payments were made so that Iraq could buy support for lifting sanctions against Iraq in the U.N. Security Council, former Saddam officials told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (search) investigations subcommittee. Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan (search), told investigators that the allocations were "compensation for support," according to one of two reports released Monday. Click here to read the report about Iraqi oil allocations to the Russian presidential council (pdf). The Senate subcommittee holds a hearing Tuesday into the allegations that Saddam spread billions in bribes and kickbacks to buy support in Russia and other governments around the globe. The hearing will examine Saddam's use of oil vouchers, which allowed the bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices and could be sold for a profit. Saddam also demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions. ADVERTISEMENTS "This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food to line his own pocket and to curry political favor," said subcommittee chairman Norm Coleman, R-Minn. Russia's foreign ministry declined comment on the reports. It said it would be "unethical to make any statements" until a U.N.-appointed commission investigating the Oil-for-Food (search) program releases its third and likely final report this summer. The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government add to evidence in previous probes linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion U.N. program. It was designed to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items. Among the officials implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, and ultranationalist Russian lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Zhirinovsky denied wrongdoing. He told Ekho Moskvy radio that he never received money from Iraq or from companies that bought oil from Saddam Hussein's government. Click here to read the report about Iraqi oil allocations to Vladimir Zhirinovsky (pdf). Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of Foreign Ministry's information department, said Russia has cooperated with the U.N. commission's investigation, which is led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Documents released by Coleman's subcommittee last week claimed former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and British politician George Galloway also accepted allocations, charges both men deny. Galloway has said he will appear at Tuesday's hearing to defend himself. He was flying to Washington on Monday. In Paris, Pasqua said he was caught up in the crossfire of what he described as an American campaign against France. "I have never been to Iraq, I have never met Saddam Hussein. I have never received anything from the Iraqis, in any domain," he said at a news conference. He said he is ready "when the time comes" to talk to the U.S. Senate committee. Coleman said he has not reached any conclusion about whether U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan should have been aware of the abuses of vouchers, but the senator renewed his call for Annan to resign. "It's a matter of accountability," he said. The latest report by the subcommittee deals with allocations given to Zhirinovsky, Voloshin and Sergey Issakov, an aide to Voloshin. Investigators said they interviewed 16 former Iraqi officials, but they identified only Ramadan and Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister. The report said the Russian Presidential Council, led by Voloshin, received allocations worth more than $16 million, according to Iraq's oil ministry. The subcommittee said Zhirinovsky got allocations worth $8.7 million. On six occasions, investigators said, he sold allotments to the Texas oil company Bayoil, whose owner, David B. Chalmers, has been indicted on charges related to the oil-for-food scandal. The panel's report said about 30 percent of the oil sold in the oil-for-food program was allocated to Russia, even though Russia is an oil-exporting country. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Thursday, May 12, 2005 PHOTOS STORIES BACKGROUND UNITED NATIONS Two European politicians received millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support of Saddam Hussein's regime, a U.S. Senate committee probing corruption in the U.N. Oil-for-Food program found. The report, released late Wednesday, accused British lawmaker George Galloway (search) and former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua (search) accepted oil allocations under the Oil-for-Food scheme. The allegations against the the two men, outspoken opponents of U.N. sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s, are not new. What is new is the documentation that the committee offered, which it said proves the misconduct. "This report exposes how Saddam Hussein turned the Oil-for-Food program on its head and used the program to reward his political allies like Pasqua and Galloway," Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman (search), chairman of the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations, said in a statement. • Senate Subcommittee Report (pdf) Coleman's committee said Pasqua had received allocations worth 11 million barrels from 1999 to 2000, and Galloway received allocations worth 20 million barrels from 2000 to 2003. Among the other claims: New evidence suggests that a children's leukemia charity founded by Galloway was in fact used to conceal oil payments. ADVERTISEMENTS The report included information from interviews with former high-ranking officials now in U.S. custody, including former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz (search) and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan (search). 'I Deny Them One More Time' Both men denied the report's claims. On Thursday morning in Britain, Galloway, who was re-elected to Parliament in the national election last week as a representative of his own anti-war Respect party, denied the report's claims. Galloway described the Senate committee as a "lickspittle Republican committee, acting on the wishes of George Bush." "Let me repeat. I have never traded in a barrel of oil, or any vouchers for it," he said in a written statement. "And no one has acted on my behalf, trading in oil — Middle Eastern, olive, patchouli (search) or any other — or in vouchers, whatever they are." Galloway said he had sent letters and e-mails asking to appear before the Senate committee to provide evidence and deny their claims, but had not received a response. The flamboyant Galloway, nicknamed "Gorgeous George" by the British press for his expensive suits, pugnacious manner and far-left politics, defeated a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party and strong supporter of the Iraq war, Oona King, in a largely Muslim district of East London. Pasqua also issued a statement Thursday denying he ever received benefits from Saddam's regime. The French senator said the committee's probe repeated claims already made last year. "I deny them one more time," Pasqua said. Detailing the Charges The Oil-for-Food program was designed to let Saddam's government sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods to help the Iraqi people cope with U.N. sanctions imposed in 1991 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. But Saddam manipulated the $64 billion program to earn illegal revenues and peddle influence, by awarding former government officials, activists, U.N. officials and journalists vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit. Coleman claimed Saddam also approved Pasqua's allocations himself. The report cites Ramadan as saying in an interview that Galloway was allocated oil "because of his opinions about Iraq." The report includes what Coleman said was a copy of a contract from Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization that mentions Mariam's Appeal (search), a fund Galloway established in 1998 to help a 4-year-old Iraqi girl suffering from leukemia, Mariam Hamze. It says the fund may have been used to conceal the transfer of 3 million barrels of oil. Coleman's subcommittee said the evidence it found against Galloway was different from documents reported in the Daily Telegraph newspaper in April 2003 alleging that he took money from Saddam's regime. Galloway filed a libel suit over the story and won $1.4 million from the Daily Telegraph last year. Galloway also accepted undisclosed damages and a public apology from the Christian Science Monitor over an article it published alleging he took money from Saddam's regime. That report was based on documents that later proved to be forgeries. As for Pasqua, the report claims the State Oil Marketing Organization wrangled with one of his aides over the best way to deliver oil allocations to him. SOMO wanted it done through a French company, but Pasqua's aide, Bernard Guillet (search), insisted it be done through a Swiss company called Genmar (search), Coleman's committee said. The organization requested a letter to that effect. "According to SOMO, Guillet refused to send such a letter, explaining that 'they cannot do that fearing political scandals,'" the report said. Genmar was eventually approved and SOMO went on to allocate millions of barrels of oil to it, Coleman claimed. The report said Guillet received 5 million barrels. Guillet is currently under investigation in France for suspected influence-peddling and receiving misappropriated funds. Coleman's subcommittee is one of several U.S. congressional bodies investigating allegations of wrongdoing in Oil-for-Food. The panel has a hearing scheduled Tuesday and Galloway has indicated he would attend. Another panel, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has scheduled a hearing Monday to look at Saddam's relationship with the U.N. Security Council. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | Following accusations issued by the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), British Member of Parliament George Galloway and Senator Charles Pasqua of France have vehemently denied any wrongdoing. '''George Galloway''' declared: ''I've now had a chance to read the report which was compiled without this Senate committee asking me a single question about these absurd allegations. I repeat once more. I have never traded or benefited from any oil deals with Iraq.'' ''One of the companies named, with ostensible links to me-- Aredio Petroleum-- I have never heard of until today and I have certainly had no dealings with. The other company, Middle East Advanced Semiconductors, was owned by Fawaz Zureikat, who was the chairman of the Mariam Appeal. It is well-known that Mr Zureikat traded with Iraq but he did not do so on my behalf. I have not received a penny piece or any oil voucher from Iraq, directly or indirectly.'' ''You would have thought that natural justice would have demanded that these allegations would have-- must have been!-- put to me, but they haven't been. Senator Joseph McCarthy would have been proud of this committee.'' On May 17, Galloway appeared before the U.S. senatorial panel and vehemently denied any wrongdoing in a tone seldom used in a senatorial hearing. He accused the U.S. administration of creating a "smoke screen" to divert attention away from the situation in Iraq. He also declared, "The biggest sanctions busters were not me or Russian politicians or French politicians. The real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own government." Galloway denied receiving any money out of the scheme. Galloway demanded, "What counts is, where's the money, senator? Who paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars? The answer to that is nobody," while glaring toward U.S. senator Norm Coleman (Republican from Minnesota), according to a New York Times report. Galloway also accused the US senators, especially senator Coleman, of shoddy standards of justice. He claimed they have already ruled him guilty, and that they rely on dubious evidence and wrongful or coerced testimonies. Galloway declared: ''You have my name on lists provided to you... by the convicted bank robber and fraudster and con man Ahmed Chalabi, who many people, to their credit, in your country now realize played a decisive role in leading your country into the disaster in Iraq.'' ''In these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison1, in Bagram Air Base Afghanistan, in Guantanamo Bay -- including, if I may say, British citizens being held in those places -- I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on anything you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances.'' 1. Alluding to the acknowledged Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. '''Charles Pasqua''' also denies any personal wrongdoing in the case. Pasqua indicated that he was "serene" and that he hoped the investigations by the U.S. Senate would probe the matter to the bottom. Pasqua judged the situation detrimental to relationships between the United States and France. For this reason, Pasqua declared that he had asked the president of the French Senate for the creation of an investigation commission, wishing that the French and U.S. senatorial commissions should collaborate. Pasqua declared himself convinced that misconduct took place in the oil-for-food program, and that it was probable that some French people were involved. He then wished that they should be sought and prosecuted. "If one wants to find the origin of the financial streams, one can do so." Pasqua mentioned the Swiss company Genmar, which the U.S. report claims to have served as Pasqua's intermediary. Pasqua denied information presented as facts in the report. For instance, he denied having met Tariq Aziz, former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. Pasqua pointed out that nothing in the senatorial evidence indicates that he had benefited from vouchers, only that one of his former advisers, Bernard Guillet, had received oil allocations in his name. From December 2000 onwards, allocations meant for Pasqua ceased and were replaced by allocations to Bernard Guillet. Guillet was arrested by French authorities in April in connection with abuses under the oil-for-food program. Mr Guillet has been put under formal investigation for allegedly participating in a system of occult kickbacks and fees between 1996 and 2001 involving major French companies, including Total. He is suspected of having received amounts of money without good explanation from an intermediary specialized in the resale of Iraqi oil. |
LIBYA'S Supreme Court upheld death sentences yesterday against six foreign medical personnel for allegedly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. But officials said they could win a reprieve by as early as next week. Libya's Foreign Minister, Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam, said the Government-controlled High Judicial Council, which has the power to commute the sentence or even pardon the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, will consider the case on Monday. The European Union and Bulgarian leaders have expressed regret at the ruling, the latest twist in the highly politicised trial, but said a solution may still be reached. There have been lengthy efforts to secure a deal with families of the children. "The court rejects the appeals of the defendants and confirms the death penalty," judge Fathi Dhan told a five-minute hearing. The six people were not in court to hear his ruling. They were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the deadly virus while they worked at the children's hospital in Benghazi in the 1990s. In jail since 1999, they say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess. Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene were the real culprits and that the six were made scapegoats. Bulgaria's President, Georgi Parvanov, said the decision was no surprise. "We expect and insist (on) a swift solution by Libya's High Judicial Council to finally complete the case," Mr Parvanov said. The case has blocked Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's efforts to deepen links with the West after shaking off decades of isolation in 2003 when Libya scrapped a prohibited weapons program. Hopes were raised for a deal to win their release on Tuesday evening when Libya's Gaddafi Foundation charity said it had reached an accord with the children's families that "puts an end to the crisis". Libyan officials say the judicial council would only agree to the release of the six people if a settlement were reached in private talks between the families and the EU on funding for the children's medical care. Behind-the-scenes talks have been taking place between the EU and the association of the families of the children on just such a possible deal to provide a fund of tens of millions of dollars for the families to pay for the children's future care. Libya calls the cash "compensation" a term Bulgaria rejects as it says it implies the people are guilty. The charity, run by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, has been a central player in facilitating the talks. The sister-in-law of one of the nurses, Tsvetanka Siropoulu, said the case was always likely to be resolved out of court. "It was clear from the very beginning that this fabricated trial will not have a judicial solution but a political one," she said. REUTERS ||||| The Libyan Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences for six foreign medical workers imprisoned on disputed charges that they infected Libyan children with HIV. But there is still a chance they could be spared execution. The ruling has been greeted with dismay in Europe, where only a day earlier hopes had been raised that a deal was in the works to free them. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough reports from our Middle East bureau in Cairo. Libyan Judge Fathi Dahan, center, and his assistants leave Supreme Court, 11 Jul 2007 Libya's Supreme Court rejected the medics' appeal and upheld the death penalty against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. The case now moves onto the government-controlled High Judicial Council, which still has the power to commute the death sentences or pardon the medics. The Council will consider the matter on Monday. Bulgarian and EU officials immediately condemned the Supreme Court ruling, a day after reports that a deal had been reached to free them. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov called for a quick solution. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament he remains hopeful that the medics will receive clemency. "We regret that these decisions have been made, but I also want to express my confidence that a solution will be found," he said. Late Tuesday, the non-profit Gaddafi Foundation, run by the son of Libya's leader, said a deal had been reached to free the health workers. Intense behind-the-scenes negotiations have been aimed at securing their release. EU officials say the European Union has agreed to establish a fund to pay for the children's future medical care. Libya considers the payments to the families to be compensation, but Bulgaria has rejected that term, saying it implies that the nurses are guilty. Bulgaria and the European Union are calling it humanitarian aid. EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said the ruling is likely to hurt recent efforts for European-Libyan cooperation on a number of issues, including migration. "This decision taken by the supreme court does not encourage the EU to strengthen relations because frankly speaking, we have to react, from my point of view, negatively, totally negatively, to the fact that a group of European citizens are condemned to death, and they are not guilty from our point of view," he said. The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor have been in Libyan prisons since 1999. Several of them have said they were tortured to extract confessions. They were convicted of deliberately infecting 483 children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Many international scientists and medical experts have testified that the first children were infected before the medics even arrived in Libya. They say the infections were really caused by negligence and poor hygiene procedures in the Benghazi hospital. Bulgaria recently gave Bulgarian citizenship to the Palestinian doctor who is imprisoned alongside the Bulgarian nurses, to ensure that he is included in any deal to free them. ||||| (Adds U.S. State Department comment paragraph 8) TRIPOLI, July 11 (Reuters) - Libya's Supreme Court upheld death sentences on Wednesday against six foreign medics for infecting Libyan children with HIV, but officials said they could win a reprieve next week. Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said the government-controlled High Judicial Council, which has the power to commute the sentence or even pardon the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor, will consider the case on Monday. European Union and Bulgarian leaders expressed regret at the court ruling, the latest twist in a highly politicised trial, but said they remained confident. There have been lengthy efforts to secure a deal with families of the children. "The court rejects the appeals of the defendants and confirms the death penalty," judge Fathi Dhan told a five-minute hearing. The six medics were not in court to hear his ruling. The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the deadly virus while they worked at the children's hospital in the city of Benghazi in the 1990s. In jail since 1999, they say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess. Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene were the real culprits and that the six were made into scapegoats. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said Wednesday's decision was no surprise. "We expect and insist for a swift solution by Libya's High Judicial Council to finally complete the case," he told reporters. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the medics should be "returned immediately", but noted that Wednesday's court ruling was not the last word in the process. The case has blocked Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's efforts to deepen links to the West after ending decades of isolation in 2003 when Libya scrapped a prohibited weapons programme. HOPES FOR DEAL Hopes were raised for a deal to win their release on Tuesday evening when Libya's Gaddafi Foundation charity said it had reached an accord with the children's families that "puts an end to the crisis". Libyan officials say the High Judicial Council would only agree to the release of the nurses if a settlement were reached in private talks between the families and the EU on funding for the children's medical care. Behind the scenes talks have been taking place between the EU and the association of the families of the children on just such a possible deal -- to provide a fund of tens of millions of dollars for the families to pay for the children's future care. Libya calls the cash "compensation" -- a term Bulgaria rejects as it says it implies the medics are guilty. The Libyan families have asked for 10 million euros ($13.3 million) for each child, far in excess of what observers say the EU has been prepared to pay. The Gaddafi Foundation charity, run by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, has been a central player in facilitating the talks. Tsvetanka Siropoulu, sister-in-law of one of the nurses, said the case was always likely to be resolved out of court. "It was clear from the very beginning that this fabricated trial will not have a judicial solution but a political one," she said. Bulgaria and its allies in Brussels and Washington have all been trying to win their release, and failure to free the nurses would carry a diplomatic cost for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Libya expert Saad Djebbar, a London based Algerian lawyer, said the Gaddafi Foundation's announcement of a deal on the eve of the ruling was a signal from authorities to say: "Don't worry. The sentences will be commuted." (Additional reporting by Anna Mudeva and Kremena Miteva in Sofia, and by Sue Pleming in Washington) ||||| Bulgarian nurse Snezhana Dimitrova sits in the caged dock at the trial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Tripoli, Libya on Tuesday, December 19, 2006. (Ben Curtis/AP) Libyan court upholds death sentences in HIV case TRIPOLI, Libya — The Libyan Supreme Court upheld Wednesday the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting children with HIV. But the verdict, which has caused an international outcry, could still be overturned by Libya's Supreme Judiciary Council due to meet on Monday. Two dozen family members of the over 400 children contaminated with the AIDS virus rejoiced in front of the Supreme Court in Tripoli at the announcement of the verdict. "The court has accepted the appeal in principal but rejects its content, therefore the court decided to uphold the verdict against them," Judge Fathi Dahan said. "This is a victory for the Libyan judiciary system. We are awaiting the execution of the death sentence," said the families' lawyer Al-Monseif Khalifa. The five nurses and the Palestinian doctor, who have been jailed for the past eight years, were not present in the court for the appeal hearing. The detainees deny the accusations, saying confessions that they infected the children were extracted under torture. Defense experts and outside scientific reports have stated the children were contaminated because of unhygienic conditions at the hospital where they worked. In announcing the verdict, the judge mentioned nothing about a settlement with families of victims announced Tuesday by a foundation headed by the son of longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. But Salah Abdessalem, the spokesman for the Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, said a deal had been reached that was "acceptable to all parties" and would "end the crisis." Abdessalem told The Associated Press after the Court's verdict Wednesday that "There is still a settlement." He would not elaborate. Libyan officials close to the arrangement said it involved financial compensation for the families and that the death sentences were expected to be commuted to prison time. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. On Tuesday, Idriss Lagha, the head of the Association for the Families of the HIV-Infected Children, also said that a deal would be announced in a couple of days. Often referred to as "blood money," compensation for death or suffering is a legal provision in the traditional Islamic code that is widespread in parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Libya has been under intense international pressure to free the six medics and the case has become a sticking point in the regime's attempts to rebuild ties with the United States and Europe. Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said Libya's highest judicial authority, known as the Supreme Judiciary Council, would meet to statute on their case Monday. The council, which is headed by the minister of justice, could approve or reject the convictions, or set lighter sentences. Several European leaders on Wednesday expressed disappointment at the court's ruling but said they remained hopeful that the case would still be resolved. "We regret that these decisions have been taken, but I'd also like to express my confidence that a solution will be found," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said he expected "a swift solution by Libya's Supreme Judicial Council to finally complete the case." In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also called for the medics to be set free despite the latest verdict. Support for the nurses has become a national cause in Bulgaria, and relatives of the detainees gathered in front of the Libyan embassy in Sofia to release white doves in the sky in a sign of hope that their loved ones will be soon free to return home. The six began working at the hospital in the city of Benghazi in 1998 and were arrested the next year after more than 400 children there contracted HIV. Fifty of the children have died. They were convicted and sentenced to death in 2004, but the Supreme Court ordered a retrial after an international outcry over the verdicts. In a ruling that shocked many in Europe, the second trial ended with the same verdict in December despite a scientific report weeks earlier saying HIV was rampant in the hospital before the six began working there. The Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, which announced the settlement Tuesday, is headed by Gadhafi's son, Seif al Islam. He has been active for months in trying to resolve the case of the medics. | The Association "Freedom for the Bulgarian Nurses" uses this symbol to represent the cause of the Bulgarian nurses. It represents a ribbon with the colours of the Bulgarian flag, with the words "You are not alone" in Bulgarian and English. The Supreme Court in Libya has upheld the death sentence for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medical intern condemned for infecting 426 children with HIV. Just one day ago, a deal to free the foreign medics was announced. The six defendants were not present at the court ruling, while family members of the children rejoiced when the judge confirmed the verdict. "This is a victory for the Libyan judiciary system. We are awaiting the execution of the death sentence," said Al-Monseif Khalifa, a lawyer for the plaintives. E.U. Commission President remains hopeful that the medics will receive clemency. "We regret that these decisions have been made, but I also want to express my confidence that a solution will be found," Barroso told the . called for a quick solution. He said the verdict came as no surprise, and expressed his hope for a swift final solution. The case will now move to the Supreme Judiciary Council which will hear the case on Monday, according to Libya's Foreign Minister, Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam. The Council is headed by the Justice Minister of Libya. Late Tuesday, the Gaddafi Foundation, a non-profit run by the son of Libya's ''de facto'' leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, said a deal had been reached to free the health workers. The head of the Association for the Families of the HIV-Infected Children, Idriss Lagha, also said announced that a deal could be reached soon. After the verdict today, Salah Abdessalem, a spokesman for the Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, reconfirmed to the ''Associated Press'' that a settlement to free the detainees still exists, which he said was acceptable to all parties and would end the crisis, without giving further details. Unnamed officials who wished to remain anonymous disclosed the deal would involve financial compensation in exchange for the death sentences being commuted to a prison sentence, according to the Associated Press. E.U. officials say the European Union would agree to establish a fund of tens of millions of dollars to pay for the children's future medical care. Bulgaria and the European Union are calling it humanitarian aid instead of compensation, which would imply that their citizens would be guilty. The convicted nurses and medical intern began working in the El-Fath Children's Hospital in Benghazi in 1998, and were arrested and jailed one year later when over 400 children were found to be infected with HIV -over 50 have died since. They were sentenced to death in 2004, and again after a retrial last December which came after an international outcry about the affair. A scientific report by professors (one of the original discoverers of the virus causing AIDS) and used as evidence for the defence in the case said that the virus causing AIDS was widely spread in the hospital before the health workers even arrived, and that the infections were due to negligence and poor hygiene procedures in the Benghazi hospital. The prosecution introduced a report of Libyan scientists saying that this was not the case. The detainees have said that they have been tortured to make confessions. |
404 We're sorry but the page you requested could not be found.Please try again from the home page or contact us ||||| A Canadian Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) is seen in this file photo while travelling in a convoy near Kandahar in Afghanistan. (Sergeant Carole Morissette / Task Force Afghanistan) Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt's remains are carried aboard a military transport.(CTV photo/Steve Chao) No injuries after rocket attack on Kandahar base CTV.ca News Staff The base where Canadians are stationed in southern Afghanistan came under attack on Monday for the second consecutive night, officials reported. A NATO spokesman told The Canadian Press there were no injuries nor damage after the rocket struck the Kandahar Air Field at about 11 p.m. local time (2 p.m. EDT). On Sunday, three rockets struck the base in attacks that came about a half-hour apart. The rockets were launched shortly after a Taliban spokesman threatened to ramp up attacks against foreign troops stationed in the war-torn country. There were no injuries nor significant damage in those attacks. Thirty-seven rockets have been fired at the base since nearly 2,200 Canadian troops moved into the air field in February. Soldiers' remains on way home The remains of the fifth Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan in the past week are on their way home and are due to arrive on Canadian soil on Tuesday. Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt -- a 32-year-old Peers, Alta. reservist from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment -- died in a vehicle crash on Saturday. Arndt was killed when the G-Wagon he was travelling in as part of a resupply convoy collided head-on with a civilian truck about 35 kilometres southeast of Kandahar. His death occurred as the remains of four other Canadian soldiers who were killed in combat began their journey home. More than 2,000 NATO troops lined the runway at Kandahar Airfield to pay their respects on Monday morning as Arndt's remains left Afghanistan. A lone piper played and a long corridor of uniformed soldiers stood at attention as Arndt's flag-draped coffin was carried onto a military transport plane for the journey to Ontario's CFB Trenton. Arndt is believed to be the first reservist with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment to die overseas in recent history. Until now, the regiment had gone unscathed in the Afghan conflict which has claimed 24 Canadian lives since 2002, including five in the last week alone. 'A stand-up guy' About 20 members of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment gathered at an Edmonton armoury on Sunday to remember their fallen comrade. They tried to come to terms with the fact their friend was gone and discuss his life and the impact of his death. They described him as a passionate and proud but friendly and fun-loving solider who was a drummer in the regiment band. "He was a stand-up guy," one told CTV News. In a letter that was sent to the regiment from Cpl. Greg O'Neill in Afghanistan, Arndt was described as a soldier who "had a hard jaw, but soft eyes; and he was always up for a joke or a laugh.'' The exact circumstances of the accident that claimed Arndt's life and injured three others are not yet known, although enemy action has been ruled out. The reservists were travelling to Spin Boldak, an outpost near the Afghan-Pakistani border, when the armoured G-Wagon collided with a local truck. The reservists were delivering medical supplies as part of a resupply convoy. Cpl. Jared Gagnon of Sherwood Park, Alta., suffered head injuries and is in serious condition. Cpl. Ashley Van Leeuwen of St. Paul, Alta., is recovering from a broken leg, ankle and rib, and Pte. Adam Keen of Edmonton has returned to duty. The accident is being investigated by Canadian and Afghan authorities. With files from The Canadian Press ||||| 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 | Over 2,000 NATO troops stood at attention at Kandahar Airfield Monday morning to mourn the death of the fifth Canadian soldier in a week to die in Afghanistan. Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt, a 32 year-old reservist from Peers, Alberta, was killed in a traffic accident August 5th when the G-Wagon he was travelling collided head-on with a civilian truck 35 kilometres southeast of Kandahar. The vehicle was part of a convoy delivering medical supplies. Three other soldiers were injured in the crash which occurred as the military was preparing to transport home the bodies of four other Canadian soldiers who were killed August 3rd during heavy combat with Taliban insurgents. Sgt. Vaughn Ingram, Cpl. Bryce James Keller, Cpl. Christopher Jonathan Reid and Pte. Kevin Dallaire, all members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade near the village of Pashmul, west of Kandahar. Their bodies were returned to Canadian Forces Base CFB Trenton on Sunday where a memorial service was held. Master Cpl. Arndt's remains will arrive at the eastern Ontario military base on Tuesday. In all, 24 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed since the beginning of Canada's military presence in Afghanistan in March 2002. Sixteen soldiers have died in the past six months. Canada has approximately 2,000 soldiers stationed around Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan where Taliban resistance is strongest. |
French midfielder Laurent Robert comes to Toronto FC by way of the English Premier League. (Toronto FC) Toronto FC announced the signing of French midfielder Laurent Robert. The former French international has agreed to terms with Toronto after being freed of his contractual obligations with Derby County of the English Premiership. Per team and league policy no details of the contract were released. Robert, 32, is a proven veteran with a resume that lists a number of Europe's biggest clubs including Newcastle United, Benfica, and Paris Saint Germain. We are thrilled to have Laurent join Toronto FC and become part of our club", said manager Mo Johnston. "He's a tremendous player with a lot of talent and we expect him to come in and make an impact with our team straight away. He's played at every level, and is a true professional in every respect." Robert's biggest career move came when the winger signed with one of England's most storied teams, Newcastle United, where he played under current Toronto FC head coach John Carver. "I've spent a lot of time with him, and I know a lot about his game," said Carver. "He'll be a big asset to the team, he's got pace, his ability on free kicks is top class and he's a great finisher." Robert joined the Magpies in 2001 from Paris St. Germain for a fee of 9.5 million pounds and quickly became recognized as having one of the most powerful shots in the league and clinical in dead ball situations. He made 181 appearances (in all competitions) for the club, scoring 32 goals. At Newcastle he participated in a number of big European competitions such as the Champions League, and UEFA Cup qualification. Robert started his career at Montpellier in 1994 (France, Ligue 1) before making a move to Paris Saint-Germain in 1999. While with PSG he went to the League Cup Finals in 2000. It was not long after he joined PSG that he made his debut for France's National team - August 18, 1999 against Northern Ireland. He was also part of the squad's 2001 FIFA's Confederation Cup victory over Japan. He appeared a total of nine times for France, scoring once in France's 4-0 win over Turkey on November 15, 2000. Robert will be available for selection for Toronto's game on Saturday against D.C. United, pending the completion of his International Transfer Certificate. ||||| Toronto FC signs French midfielder Laurent Robert Toronto FC bolstered its midfield by signing Frenchman Laurent Robert on Wednesday. Robert and the Major League Soccer club agreed to terms after he was released from his current contract with Derby County of the English Premiership. French midfielder Laurent Robert is expected to start for Toronto FC on the right side of midfield. (Andre Alves/Associated Press) Terms of the deal were not released. Robert is expected to start for Toronto FC on the right side of midfield, replacing Irishman Ronnie O'Brien who was traded by the club to the San Jose Earthquakes before the start of the regular season. "We are thrilled to have Laurent join Toronto FC and become part of our club”, said general manager Mo Johnston. “He’s a tremendous player with a lot of talent and we expect him to come in and make an impact with our team straight away. He’s played at every level, and is a true professional in every respect.” Robert, 32, is a veteran midfielder who is best remembered for his successful stint with Newcastle United where he scored 32 goals in 181 games in all competitions for the English club from 2001-2006. It was at Newcastle that Robert played under current Toronto FC head coach John Carver, and won plaudits for his quickness, powerful shot and ability to score from free kicks. “I’ve spent a lot of time with him, and I know a lot about his game,” said Carver. “He’ll be a big asset to the team, he’s got pace, his ability on free kicks is top class and he’s a great finisher.” Aside from Newcastle, Robert has also played in Spain (with Levante), Portugal (Benfica) and his native France (Montpellier and Paris Saint Germain). Robert, who has one goal in nine appearances for the French national team, will be eligible to make his debut for Toronto in Saturday's road game against D.C. United, pending the completion of his International Transfer Certificate. With files from the Associated Press | Toronto FC signed midfielder Laurent Robert after Derby County freed him of his contractual obligations. details of the contract were not released per team and league policy. Laurent Robert has been capped by France and have been with number of Europe's biggest clubs in England, Portugal, and his native France. Laurent Robert is no stranger to Toronto FC head coach John Carver. He played for Carver while he was with Newcastle United. Robert will be available the game on Saturday against D.C. United, pending the completion of his International Transfer Certificate. |
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 ||||| Now that George Lucas has the final installment ofunder his belt, sci-fi's most famous film director plans to adapt the movie series as a 3-D animated TV show. Lucas' company is creating an animated program for television called Clone Wars, that will be produced in a new studio it's building in Singapore, Lucas said in a keynote at the Siggraph 2005 computer-graphics conference in Los Angeles on Monday. Lucas, chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the creator of Star Wars, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and American Graffiti, also said he's working on a live-action Star Wars-based TV show that he'll shoot with a Sony consumer digital camcorder. "It's a little different way of looking at Star Wars," Lucas said of the animated series, and a way to "get my foot into anime." Producing Clone Wars in Asia would save costs and speed up production, he said. "I have hundreds of projects I want to do, and I'm running out of time, I'm afraid to say." Lucas called television "a great world to experiment in without much downside." Three-dimensional computer animation is expected to be a $9.1 billion market between now and 2010, according to the Association for Computing Machinery's Siggraph trade group. The group's annual conference meets July 31 to Aug. 5. In May, Lucasfilm released Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, the last movie in the series, which began in 1977. It has taken in nearly $800 million in box-office receipts. The film embodies an approach to filmmaking--heavy use of computers--that Lucas predicted would be commonplace in the near future. Only half of Episode III was shot in live action; the rest consisted of digital sets and characters. "It's a different way of dealing with filmmaking," Lucas said. "This is the future. ... It's not going to be too much longer before people look back at films and say, 'That was so 19th century.' " By the time he undertook Episode III, many of the computer-graphics hurdles of previous Star Wars films had been overcome, Lucas said, though the company and its Industrial Light & Magic subsidiary had to design new techniques for effects like lava and flames. "We were able to take on the whole enchilada," Lucas said. "Star Wars was originally written around the technology." Now, the digital editing, postproduction, and storyboards that portend the future of filmmaking are common tools. Lucasfilm is designing new computer-aided editing and storyboard systems, he added. "Anybody who works in the arts eventually runs into a technology ceiling," Lucas said. "I'm not one to take risks unless I know I can win. The problem with leading-edge technologies is you can't win. If you're the first one out of the box, you're guaranteed to lose." A new digital-production facility that opened in San Francisco's Presidio in June consolidates production teams scattered around the Bay Area's Marin County into one facility to encourage collaboration. Lucas said he's planning to set up a film school at the facility to teach Bay Area high school and college students computer-generated animation techniques. But Lucas said he doesn't plan to expand his Industrial Light & Magic effects shop into a full-fledged studio. Lucasfilm is headed more into television, and Lucas said he wants to return to "pure filmmaking. A big company has its downsides," he said. "Companies are kind of like sharks--if they don't swim, they die." | At the Siggraph 2005 computer graphics convention in Los Angeles, California Tuesday, ''Star Wars'' creator George Lucas unveiled plans for a weekly computer-animated series based on the science fiction saga. The new show, to be called ''Clone Wars'', will be a 3-D animated spinoff of the series and is to be produced in a Lucas facility in Singapore. Lucas already has done limited-run 2-D traditional animated television with ''Star Wars: Clone Wars'' shorts on the U.S. cable channel, Cartoon Network. Lucas said advances in digital technology allow an animated television series to do what otherwise would be too expensive. |
Dr Izzat Atiya of Egypt's al-Azhar University said it offered a way around segregation of the sexes at work. His fatwa stated the act would make the man symbolically related to the woman and preclude any sexual relations. The president of al-Azhar denounced the fatwa, which Dr Atiya has since retracted, as defamatory to Islam. According to Islamic tradition, or Hadith, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers. 'Family bond' In his fatwa, Dr Atiya, the head of al-Azhar's Department of Hadith, said such teachings could equally apply to adults. He said that if a woman fed a male colleague "directly from her breast" at least five times they would establish a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work. "Breast feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage," he ruled. "A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breastfed." The legal ruling sparked outrage throughout Egypt and the Arab world. On Sunday, Dr Atiya retracted it, saying it had been the result of a "bad interpretation of a particular case" during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Egypt's minister of religious affairs, Mahmoud Zaqzouq, has called for future fatwas to "be compatible with logic and human nature". ||||| CAIRO (Reuters) - Cairo's al-Azhar Islamic University on Monday suspended a lecturer who suggested that men and women work colleagues could use symbolic breastfeeding to get around a religious ban on being alone together. The lecturer, Ezzat Atiya, had drawn on Islamic traditions which forbid sexual relations between a man and a woman who has breastfed him to suggest that symbolic breastfeeding could be a way around strict segregation of males and females. But after controversy in the Egyptian and Middle East media, university president Ahmed el-Tayeb suspended Atiya pending an urgent investigation into his opinions, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported. Atiya is the head of the department which deals with sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and the university is part of the al-Azhar institute, one of the most prestigious in Sunni Islam. Atiya's unusual opinion was widely publicised by Arabic-language satellite television channels and featured in a discussion in the Egyptian parliament. The Dubai-based channel Al Arabiya quoted him as saying that after five breastfeedings the man and woman could be alone together without violating Islamic law and the woman could remove her headscarf to reveal her hair. But a committee from al-Azhar said his proposal contradicted the principles of Islam and of morality. Atiya had said he had drawn on medieval scholarship to justify his position. The opposition party newspaper al-Ahrar on Monday quoted him as saying he retracted his views because they were based on the opinions of a minority of scholars. ||||| The rise of Prof 'Crocodile' - a hardliner to terrify hardliners By Colin Freeman (Filed: 20/11/2005) With his fierce anti-Western rhetoric and ever-ready quotes from the Koran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was widely seen as the authentic mouthpiece of Iran's theocracy when he swept to power in last summer's elections. Yet while his hardline attitudes have horrified Iran's defeated reformists, they have also unnerved the all-powerful mullahs who backed him in the first place. The reason is that Mr Ahmadinejad takes his spiritual cue from a man whose views go beyond even the orthodoxy of Iran's religious establishment - a little-known cleric nicknamed "Professor Crocodile" because of his harsh conservatism. Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who espouses total isolation from the West, has a blunt message for anyone who veers from his fundamentalist readings of Koranic texts: "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth." An enthusiastic supporter of both the death penalty and public floggings, and the use of suicide bombers against "enemies of Islam", the bespectacled 70-year-old is viewed as an extremist even by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current religious leader who is Iran's supreme authority. But since Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi issued a fatwa, or holy order, in support of Mr Ahmadinejad's presidential bid, his influence has expanded hugely, possibly eclipsing even that of Ayatollah Khameini. From his seminary in Qom, the holy city north of Teheran, he dispenses regular wisdom to the new president as he seeks to fulfil his quest to return Iran to the spiritual values of the Islamic revolution of 1979. Some of the choicer remarks from his fiery sermons over the years give disturbing clues to the likely mindset of his disciples, not least the man now in charge of the country. Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi accuses America, for example, of trying to banish Islamic values for ever in its bid for world domination, a stance that may explain Mr Ahmadinejad's decision to reverse the detente with the United States that his reformist predecessors tried to broker. The president's recent rejection of a European deal to end the stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme may also have been influenced by his mentor's suspicion of Western blandishments. In a sermon at Teheran University, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi reminded worshippers: "We should know that 1,400 years ago the Koran said that the enemies of Islam will always fight while chanting peace-seeking slogans." The ayatollah's hostility towards allowing Iranians to be exposed to challenges to Islamic dogmas may also have spurred Mr Ahmadinejad's enthusiasm for censorship in the public realm, including, last month, a ban on foreign films. In a veiled reference to the democratic principles ushered in by the previous government, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi said: "An Islamic government must combat this, because injecting misleading ideas is like injecting the Aids virus!" Young Iranians who questioned the regime after studying abroad did so only because they had been trained in "psychological warfare" by foreign universities, he added. Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi's notoriety is not just confined to rhetorical flourishes, however. In addition to being an enthusiastic endorser of the fatwa against the author Salman Rushdie, he was accused of giving religious sanction to government death squads which assassinated political opponents both at home and abroad in the 1990s, a scandal that helped to produce the reform movement. But his greatest notoriety comes from the fate of the man who gave him his nickname. Nikahang Kowsar, Iran's most famous cartoonist, was slung into prison for his depiction of "Professor Crocodile", a reptilian academic who was shown strangling a journalist with his tail. Kowsar, who was satirising the way that Iranian clerics stifled freedom of expression, insisted the cartoon was not based on any particular individual. But his defence proved unworkable - and not just because the ayatollah's name rhymes with the Farsi word for crocodile. Among his accusers were Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi's own seminary students, who knew that there was only one person to whom it could possibly refer. | An Islamic cleric named Ezzat Atiya issued a '''' to get around and ''hijab'' in Islam. He stated that ''symbolic'' breastfeeding could be used to make it permissible for male and female colleagues to work together alone. Dr. Atiyah had stated that the breastfeeding does not have to be by the woman herself. "This can also be achieved by means of the man's mother or sister suckling the woman, or by means of the woman's mother or sister suckling the man" he wrote. Atiya works at the Al-Azhar University, an Islamic seminary in Egypt. The seminary was established by a Shi'a and is named after . Zahra was the wife of . Al-Azhar University has a fatwa that officially sanctioned with one condition only: martyrdom operations are only allowed in Israel. The university has had this ruling for a long time and has stood by it. Atiyah had said, According to , "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth." |
Hunt for 'beast of Sydenham' By Justin Davenport, Evening Standard 22 March 2005 Police have launched a huge search after sightings of a "cat-like" animal the size of a labrador in a London suburb. An armed police response vehicle with officers equipped with rifles and Taser stun guns has been called in to patrol the area. Scotland Yard appealed for vigilance after a member of the public and a police officer saw the black creature, which has been likened to a panther. The "Beast of Sydenham" was spotted at about 2am today by a man in Sydenham Park putting his cat out. The man was attacked and scratched. He called an ambulance and police. One officer believes he also saw the animal which he described as being as large as a labrador. Scotland Yard said it was seeking specialist advice from experts from the RSPCA and London Zoo. A spokeswoman said: "We are trying to establish exactly where the animal may have come from. "In the meantime we are asking the public to to be vigilant." She added: "If anyone does see the animal, do not approach it but dial 999 immediately." People are also being advised to keep pets indoors. The sighting comes as farmers near Burford in Oxfordshire have offered a £5,000 reward for the capture of a large black creature suspected of being responsible for the deaths of livestock in the area. Sightings of big cats have become far more common in recent years. The British Big Cat Society estimates that 50 to 100 are roaming across the country. ||||| Cops hunt London 'beast' print article email a friend London - A giant puma-like cat is feared to be on the loose in one of London's leafiest suburbs after a man was attacked in his own garden, police said on Tuesday. Police were called to a house in Sydenham Park, a suburb in the southeast of the capital, in the early hours of Tuesday morning after the man saw a cat-like creature about the size of a Labrador dog roaming in his garden. The man went out to investigate and was attacked by the creature, which he described as looking like a puma, later requiring treatment by an ambulance crew for scratches. A police spokesperson said officers had searched the garden and were seeking advice from London Zoo and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which deals with stray animals in Britain. "We are advising the local public if they see the animal, do not approach it and to report it to police using (emergency number) 999 and to keep pets indoors," he said. In recent years, sightings of giant cats have been reported throughout Britain, but although livestock have supposedly been attacked a number of times there have been virtually no instances of encounters with humans. Initially dismissed by scientists as unlikely, evidence from footprints and droppings has led many to conclude that a number of big cats, perhaps released into the wild from private zoos, are roaming the country. The notion of a puma living in London is also not as far-fetched as it might seem. Despite its size and population, London has far more green spaces than most similar-sized cities, both in hundreds of public parks and squares and through the gardens of terraced homes, which form the bulk of its housing stock. | Jaguar (Panthera onca). Black jaguars are also known to exist. Police organized a search in the Sydenham Park area of south-east London after a local, Anthony Holder, was attacked by a 6ft long black animal while looking for his kitten in his back yard that borders a woodland. Holder said the animal pounced, knocked him to the ground, and then he was "in its claws for about 30 seconds. Its teeth were out and I tried to defend myself and eventually I got the thing off my body." Holder was scratched all over his body and suffered swelling and bruising to his hand and the back of his head. He called the police at about 2:15 am while the animal sat in the garden next door. While Holder was being treated by paramedics, the Metropolitan Police conducted a search of the area. A citizen and a police officer saw the creature, believed by some to be a panther. Another officer also believed he saw the animal and reports it as approximately the size of a Labrador Retriever. The neighbourhood is being patrolled by an armed police response vehicle staffed by officers equipped with rifles and Taser stun guns. Scotland Yard is currently seeking specialist advice from experts from the RSPCA and London Zoo. A spokeswoman said: "We are trying to establish exactly where the animal may have come from. In the meantime we are asking the public to be vigilant. If anyone does see the animal, do not approach it but dial 9-9-9 immediately." People are also being advised to keep pets indoors. Sightings of big cats have increased in recent years. The notion of a large predator in London was initially dismissed by scientists, but evidence from footprints and droppings has led to other conclusions. The British Big Cat Society estimates 50 to 100 are currently loose across England. Livestock has supposedly been attacked a number of times. Farmers near Burford in Oxfordshire have offered a £5,000 reward for the capture of a large black creature suspected of killing livestock in the area. However, there have been virtually no human encounters. |
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- President Omar al-Bashir said Wednesday that he would bar Danes from Sudan and told tens of thousands of people at a government-backed rally that the Muslim world should boycott Denmark because of a reprinted cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. Tens of thousands of Sudanese protest at a government-backed rally in Khartoum, Sudan. "We urge all Muslims around the world to boycott Danish commodities, goods, companies, institutions, organizations and personalities," al-Bashir told the crowd outside the Republic Palace in downtown Khartoum. "Down, down, Denmark!" shouted the crowd. Al-Bashir vowed that "not a single Danish foot will from now on desecrate the land of Sudan." It was not clear whether al-Bashir planned to act on his rhetoric and force out the hundreds of Danes who work in Sudan, most in aid organizations, with a dozen in the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Sudan. Danish diplomats in Khartoum said they had not been notified of a new trade boycott and that Sudanese authorities had not notified them about expelling Danes. Seventeen Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoon showing Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban this month in a gesture of solidarity after police said they uncovered a plot to kill the cartoon's artist. Sudan was one of the nations where large protests were held against Denmark in 2006 when the cartoon and 11 others depicting Mohammed and Islam were first published. In riots that followed around the Muslim world, dozens of people were killed and several Danish embassies were attacked, while Danish goods were boycotted. Danish exports to Sudan are minimal, consisting mainly of dairy products. In 2006, they amounted to $23 million, a drop of 26 percent over the previous year. But Sudan is one of the largest recipients of Danish aid and Danish aid groups that operate there include the Danish Refugee Council and the Danish Red Cross, which runs large projects to alleviate suffering in the western Darfur region. Sudan received $26 million in Danish aid in 2006 and a $100 million humanitarian and reconstruction package is planned through 2009. Sudan said Tuesday that it had enacted a ban called by al-Bashir on imports of Danish goods in response to the cartoon reprint. Al-Bashir came to power in an Islamist and military coup in 1989 and has since imposed Muslim Sharia law on the country's predominantly Arab north. The Khartoum protesters were organized by a group known as The Popular Front for the Defense of Faith and Religion, which backs the ruling National Congress party. Al-Bashir also spoke in support of Palestinians and called for holy war to "liberate" Jerusalem. He warned of "other measures" against Denmark apart from boycotting Danish products and institutions but did not elaborate. Germany's interior minister expressed respect for the newspapers' decision to reprint the cartoon, according to comments released Wednesday. "I have respect for the fact that Danish newspapers have now all printed the Mohammed caricatures, on the basis (that) we will not let ourselves be divided," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as saying by the weekly Die Zeit. "Actually, all European newspapers should now print these caricatures, with the explanation: 'We also find them lousy, but the exercise of press freedom is no reason to practice violence,"' Schaeuble added. E-mail to a friend Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. All About Sudan • Denmark ||||| Sudan: Alle bør boykotte Danmark Offentliggjort 27.02.08 kl. 13:57 - opdateret kl. 15:10 Ingen dansker får længere lov at sætte fod på sudansk jord, fastslår præsident al-Bashir under massedemonstration i Khartoum. Sudan er blandt de største modtagere af dansk bistand. Den svulstige retorik fik frit løb, da titusinder af sudanesere i dag gik på gaden i Sudans hovedstad, Khartoum, i protest mod offentliggørelsen i 17 danske aviser af Kurt Westergaards Muhammed-tegning. Bred boykot "Vi opfordrer alle muslimer i hele verden til at boykotte danske varer, virksomheder, institutioner, organisationer og personligheder," sagde præsident Omar al-Bashir til forsamlingen. al-Bashir svor, at "ikke en eneste dansk fod fra nu af får lov til at besudle Sudan". En talsmand for udenrigsministeriet bekræfter over for Reuters, at Sudan nu vil iværksætte sanktioner. 500 mio. kr. i bistand Det står ikke klart, om det fattige afrikanske land dermed vil afvise planlagt dansk bistand på i alt 500 mio. kr. frem til udgangen af 2009. Sudan er blandt de største modtagere af dansk ulandsbistand, og bl.a. Dansk Flygtningehjælp og Dansk Røde Kors arbejder i landet, hvor tusinder af mennesker lider nød i den problemfyldte Darfur-region. Dagens demonstration i Khartoum er organiseret af gruppen Folkefronten for Forsvar af Tro og Religion, der støtter regeringen. Fra tidlig morgen blev demonstranter bragt ind til centrum, og arrangørerne håbede på en million deltagere. Danmark, Jerusalem og USA "Ned med Danmark," råbte demonstranterne, der bar bannere med slagord som "Skam over islams fjende" og "Boykot danske varer". Præsident al-Bashir nåede vidt omkring i sin tale til forsamlingen. Foruden fordømmelsen af Danmark agiterede han for at føre jihad, hellig krig, for at "befri" Jerusalem fra israelerne. Også demonstranterne slog flere kæpheste sammen. Blandt kampråbene lød det ifølge nyhedsbureauet AP: "Vi vil beskytte vores profet! Vi vil ikke lade os skræmme af Amerika!" Demonstranterne mener tilsyneladende, at Morgenavisen Jyllands-Postens Muhammed-tegninger er resultatet af en amerikansk-israelsk sammensværgelse. Opfordring til Al Qaida En gruppe demonstranter opfordrede ifølge nyhedsbureauet Reuters terroristen Osama bin Laden og hans Al Qaida-netværk til at angribe Danmark: "København, åh, bin Laden," fremgik det af et banner. Den 35-årige civilingeniør Mo'tasim Salaheddin råbte ifølge Reuters' journalist på stedet: "Sudan har 35 millioner mennesker. De er alle bin Laden. Enhver, der fornærmer islam, er et åbent mål." ||||| Muhammed-krise koster arbejdspladser Offentliggjort 27.02.08 kl. 15:00 - opdateret kl. 21:14 Arla må reducere produktionen og fyre medarbejdere som følge af faldende salg til Mellemøsten. Fortsat særdeles usikkert om situationen udarter til en regulær boykot. Den fornyede strid om tegningerne af profeten Muhammed koster nu de første danske arbejdspladser. Arla reducerer produktionen på Bislev Mejeri med 25 pct. og fyrer 8 – 10 medarbejdere. Netop Bislev Mejeri var den første danske arbejdsplads, der blev ramt, da Muhammed-krisen brød ud januar 2006 og på få dage udraderede Arlas milliardforretning i Mellemøsten. Tøvende indstilling Handelskrisen i 2006 blev udløst, da religiøse ledere i Mellemøsten opfordrede forbrugerne til at boykotte danske produkter for at protestere mod de omstridte tegninger, der blev bragt i Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten i 2005. Også denne gang er det opfordringer fra religiøse ledere, der får forbrugerne i Mellemøsten til at reagere. Hermed synes lighedspunkterne i de to forløb imidlertid at være udtømte: "Denne gang er kundernes indstilling tøvende og afventende. Man er usikker på, hvordan det hele udvikler sig, og nogle vælger derfor at udskyde bestilling af nye varer," fortæller Arlas kommunikationschef, Astrid Gade Nielsen. Ikke reel boykot I 2006 var der ingen tøven. På få dage blev Arlas varer fjernet fra hylderne i stort set hele Mellemøsten. De aktuelle problemer har endnu ikke udartet til en reel boykot, men den generelle tøven hos kunderne har nået et omfang, der tvinger Arla til at reducere produktionen. Mejeri ramt Reduktionen rammer i første omgang Bislev Mejeri, hvor den ugentlige produktion skæres ned med 150 tons til 400 – 500 tons. Mejeriet fremstiller især feta og smøreoste til markederne i Mellemøsten. Astrid Gade Nielsen oplyser dog, at den faldende ordreindgang ikke alene skyldes den fornyede strid om Muhammed-tegningerne. "Vi hævede salgspriserne i Mellemøsten i januar. Det fik nogle kunder til at blive mere tilbageholdne og udsætte nye ordre. Denne tilbageholdenhed forstærkes af den aktuelle strid og medfører samlet set, at vi må reducere produktionen," siger Astrid Gade Nielsen. Næsten normalt salg Arla kunne for få uger siden meddele, at koncernens salg i Mellemøsten var næsten normaliseret efter det voldsomme tilbageslag i 2006. Også det langt mindre Sædager Andelsmejeri blev hårdt ramt i 2006, men har siden formået at genopbygge forretningen i Mellemøsten. Selskabets bestyrelsesformand Niels Bruun har de seneste dage været til fødevaremesse i Dubai. "Vores kunder hernede er afventende, men vi har ikke oplevet faldende ordreindgang. Alle kender til sagen, og der skrives om den i de lokale aviser – men ikke på forsideplads," fortæller Niels Bruun. ||||| Politiet brød denne dør i Gellerup Parken op for at foretage en af morgenens anholdelser. Foto: Emil Ryge Christoffersen Tre anholdt for mordplan - to udvises Offentliggjort 12.02.08 kl. 07:15 - opdateret kl. 13:39 To tunesere og en dansk statsborger er anholdt for konkrete mordplaner mod Morgenavisen Jyllands-Postens bladtegner Kurt Westergaard, bekræfter Politiet Efterretningstjeneste. Udlændingene udvises administrativt, mens danskeren ventes løsladt efter afhøring. Chefen for PET, politimester Jacob Scharf, oplyser, at en af de anholdte ved morgenens aktion er en 40-årig dansk statsborger af marokkansk oprindelse. Han er sigtet for forsøg på overtrædelse af straffelovens § 114 om terrorisme. ”Da PET har valgt at skride ind i en tidlig fase for at afbryde planlægningen og gennemførelsen af et terrorrelateret drab, er det imidlertid PET’s forventning, at den pågældende vil blive løsladt efter afhøring, medmindre der fremkommer yderligere oplysninger, som giver grundlag for at fortsætte efterforskningen og eventuelt søge den pågældende varetægtsfængslet,” siger Jacob Scharf i en pressemeddelelse. Den 40-årige vil efter sin eventuelle løsladelse ”fortsat være genstand for PET’s interesse,” siger PET-chefen. Tunesere skal udvises De to andre anholdte er tunesiske statsborgere. ”For begge de to tuneseres vedkommende er der efter udlændingeloven truffet bestemmelse om udvisning, da de må anses for en fare for statens sikkerhed. De to tunesere er indtil videre frihedsberøvet efter udlændingeloven med henblik på udsendelse af Danmark,” oplyser Jacob Scharf. Politiaktionen skete klokken 04.30 i Århus-området, efter at PET gennem længere tid har overvåget de anholdte. ”Jeg kan bekræfte, at formålet med PET’s indsats i Århus natten mellem den 11. og 12. februar har været at forhindre et planlagt drab på en af tegnerne bag de Muhammed-tegninger, som Jyllands Posten offentliggjorde den 30. september 2005.” ”PET har ikke ønsket at løbe nogen unødig risiko og har derfor valgt at gribe ind i en meget tidlig fase for at afbryde planlægningen og gennemførelsen af drabet. Nattens indsats skal således først og fremmest ses som en præventiv foranstaltning, hvor målet er at forhindre en lovovertrædelse i at blive begået,” siger Jacob Scharf. Trods anholdelserne fastholder PET den nuværende trusselvurdering i forhold til terror i Danmark. Bor på skiftende adresser Den 73-årige Kurt Westergaard er en af de 12 tegnere, som den 30. september 2005 offentliggjorde en tegning af den muslimske profet Muhammed. Gennem mere end tre måneder har Kurt Westergaard og hans 66-årige hustru Gitte stået under PET’s intensive beskyttelse og måttet leve på skiftende, hemmelige adresser, fordi PET havde afsløret attentatplanerne mod Kurt Westergaard. Planerne var tilsyneladende ganske konkrete, og gik ifølge Jyllands-Postens oplysninger ud på at Kurt Westergaard skulle myrdes ved et attentat mod hans eget hjem. Ifølge Jyllands-Postens oplysninger er der både danske og udenlandske statsborgere i gruppen bag mordplanerne. Anholdelserne baserer sig på, at Politiets Efterretningstjeneste i flere måneder har overvåget gruppen. Danmark i modvind Tegningerne og den ledsagende artikel førte til den såkaldte Muhammed-krise, som inkluderede voldelige demonstrationer, boykot af danske varer og afbrænding af danske ambassader. Kurt Westergaards tegning af profeten med en tændt bombe i turbanen har påkaldt sig særlig interesse. Tegnerens budskab var, at mange misbruger profeten til at legitimere terror, men tegningen er i vide kredse blevet set som en fremstilling af profeten som terrorist. Efter anholdelsesaktionen udtaler Morgenavisen Jyllands-Postens ansvarhavende chefredaktør Carsten Juste her til morgen: "Avisens ledelse har gennem flere måneder med dyb bekymring fulgt Politiets Efterretningstjenestes diskrete bestræbelser på at beskytte Kurt Westergaard mod konkrete mordplaner. Efter anholdelserne tidligt tirsdag morgen er mordtruslerne forhåbentligt afværget. Vi føler med Kurt Westergaard og hans familie, som må leve under et ganske urimeligt pres. Det er beskæmmende, at en mand, som på bedste vis passer sit arbejde og udfører det i fuld overensstemmelse med dansk lov, dansk presseetik og dansk avistradition, skal belønnes med dæmonisering og konkrete mordtrusler. Vi er myndighederne taknemmelige for den professionelt udførte beskyttelse af vores medarbejder." Vred og forbitret Tegner Kurt Westergaard udtaler: "Vist frygter jeg for mit liv, når Politiets Efterretningstjeneste fortæller, at bestemte personer arbejder med konkrete planer om at slå mig ihjel. Men jeg har vendt frygten til vrede og forbitrelse. Jeg er vred over, at en ganske almindelig dagligdags handling, som jeg har udført i tusindvis af, skal misbruges til at udløse et sådant vanvid. Jeg har passet mit arbejde, og det gør jeg stadig. Hvor længe jeg skal leve under politibeskyttelse kan jeg ikke vide, men jeg tror, at efterdønningerne af den vanvittige reaktion vil vare så længe, som jeg lever. Det er trist, men det er nu blevet mit livsvilkår. " | Scan of the cartoons as printed on page 3 of the "KulturWeekend" section of ''Jyllands-Posten'''s September 30, 2005, edition. The country of Sudan has initiated an official boycott of Danish products, after the controversial Muhammad cartoons have been reprinted by a series of newspapers in Denmark and other European countries. Yesterday, President Omar al-Bashir expressed his concerns at a government-backed rally in the nation's capital, requesting that all Muslims in the world take a stand against Denmark by boycotting “businesses, institutions and individuals,” adding that “no Danes shall ever again be able to set foot in Sudan,” however, no Danish emergency workers in the country have yet been asked to leave. The crisis, which appeared to have been averted two years ago after a near-omnipresent boycott of Danish goods in the Middle East and other Muslim countries, has re-surfaced after three men were apprehended earlier this month, charged with plotting to murder the cartoonist of what is considered the most offensive caricature, portraying the prophet Muhammad with a turban in the shape of a bomb on his head. Two of the men, both Tunisian citizens, have since been expelled from the country. === Considering dropping financial backing === Several Danish politicians have openly suggested dropping the development aid offered to Sudan. The Danish Minister of Development understands the concerns expressed by party associates and states that she cannot promise not to take action. The strongly-nationalist party, the Danish People's Party, has stated that any financial support to the country should cease immediately. Other politicians, especially members of the opposition social democratic party believe that removing the financial support to Sudan will only hurt the refugees in the Darfur and other poor regions of the country, rather than the government and people of the capital, Khartoum. In addition, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Per Stig Møller, has also stated, that Sudanese government might want to reconsider their methods, if they wish to become members of the World Trade Organization, which the nation has previously stated its interests in. The organisation does not permit consumer boycotts of other countries by its members. Since the cartoons were published by 17 Danish newspapers earlier this month—along with a number of foreign ones—there have been demonstrations and attacks on Danish embassies and consulates in Pakistan, Jordan and Indonesia. The Sudanese boycotts and demonstrations throughout the Muslim world have already claimed the first jobs at Arla, the main Danish provider of dairy products, who has seen itself forced to fire 8–10 employees due to lowered demand. |
Azeri police beat, detain demonstrators after opposition's vote protest rally BAKU - Reuters People attend an opposition rally in Baku, Oct. 12. Police beat and detained demonstrators after an opposition rally in Baku, capital of the oil-rich Azerbaijan. AP photo Police detain an opposition supporter in Baku, Oct. 12. REUTERS photo Police beat and detained demonstrators in the capital of Azerbaijan on Oct. 12 after a protest against a disputed presidential vote that gave President Ilham Aliyev a third consecutive term in the oil-producing former Soviet republic.Reuters witnesses saw police kick and thump protesters as scuffles broke out following the rally, which drew thousands in protest at the election dismissed by international monitors and government critics as unfair.News agency Interfax-Azerbaijan reported that around 10 people were arrested. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the number.Billions of dollars in oil revenues have flowed into the strategically located South Caucasus country, boosting living standards and its international clout, since Aliyev succeeded his father a decade ago. Official results show Aliyev won with close to 85 percent of the vote.But a gaping divide between rich and poor, and allegations that the authorities carried out a pre-election crackdown on dissent that doubled the country's number of political prisoners, have attracted criticism at home and abroad.Around 4,000 people gathered at the sanctioned protest, accusing the government of vote fraud and demanding a new poll."Aliyev and his New Azerbaijan Party will answer for their actions and for trampling on the rights of the Azeri people," defeated opposition candidate Jamil Hasanli told the crowd."They are responsible for the condition that Azerbaijan's people are in," said the 61-year-old former parliamentarian, who managed to unite a fractured opposition for the first time in a presidential poll, scoring around 5 percent of the vote.Hasanli has promised to challenge the results in court.Protesters alleged dozens of cases of ballot stuffing, multiple voting and police interference.Natavan Salimzade, a college teacher, said she was instructed to vote for Aliyev or lose her job and that she was to take a picture of her marked ballot to prove that she had followed instructions. She said she disobeyed and voted for Hasanly."Of course I'll get fired now, somehow, one way or another. I'll be implicated in some scandal," she said at the protest in a soccer stadium far from the designer boutiques and five-star hotels that have come to symbolise the influx of oil revenues enjoyed by the country's elite."But I'm not afraid for myself anymore. I'm only worried about my children," she said, crying.International monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the vote was marred by a "restrictive media environment" and allegations of intimidation of candidates and voters.The OSCE monitors said they reported clear indications of ballot-stuffing at 37 polling stations, and said the counting was assessed negatively at an unprecedented 58 per cent of stations observed.The election commission said no electoral violations were reported. The presidential office said the poll was open and transparent and called the OSCE statement prejudiced, politicised and of "the theatre of the absurd." ||||| BAKU | BAKU Oct 12 (Reuters) - Police beat and detained demonstrators after an opposition rally on Saturday in Baku, capital of the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. Several thousand people had gathered in a stadium on the outskirts of the city to protest against alleged electoral violations during a presidential election which returned President Ilham Aliyev to office. Although the rally had been officially approved by authorities, a Reuters witness saw some participants beaten and arrested by police. One man was led away with his head covered in blood. Interfax-Azerbaijan reported that around 10 people were arrested. Reuters was unable to confirm the number. Aliyev was re-elected for a third five-year term on October 9, with 85 percent of the vote according to the official count, in an election that many said was a foregone conclusion. | Azerbaijan-Baku Approximately four thousand people rallied in an anti-government protest in , Azerbaijan on Saturday. The protest took place on the outskirts of the city to oppose alleged electoral fraud during the most recent presidential election that returned President to office for his third consecutive term. The protesters accused the government of voter intimidation and ballot stuffing, and were rallying in a demand for a new poll. Although the protest had been initially approved by authorities, police began to use violence against protesters when scuffles broke out amongst the group. According to , some protesters were beaten and detained by police. reported approximately 10 people were detained during the protest. == Sources == * * |
Questão Nuclear: Líderes Ocidentais Advertem o Irão Filipe Vieira - Download (MP3) Filipe Vieira - Ouvir (MP3) Os líderes dos EUA, a Grã-Bretanha e a França afirmam que o Irão tem que esclarecer o que se passa com o seu programa nuclear, advertindo Teerão de que será responsabilizado perante a comunidade internacional. Esta tomada de posição ocorreu depois das autoridades iranianas terem anunciado que dispõem de um novo centro de enriquecimento de urânio. O presidente Obama afirmou que aquela revelação de que o Irão está a construir uma segunda central para o enriquecimento de urânio e que tem tentado, durante anos esconder, mostra as verdadeiras intenções do governo de Teerão. Obama diz que o Irão tem que dizer a verdade sobre o seu programa nuclear ou, então, terá que ser confrontado com as consequências: "O governo iraniano tem que demonstrar agora, através das suas acções as suas intenções pacíficas ou será responsabilizado face aos padrões e à lei internacionais." O presidente americano falava na cidade de Pitsburgo, menos de uma hora antes das deliberações terem recomeçado no âmbito da Cimeira dos G-20. Obama disse que esta não é a primeira vez que o Irão tentou esconder as suas actividades nucleares do mundo. O Irão revelou, esta semana, a existência de um centro de enriquecimento subterrâneo, quando descobriu que os serviços secretos ocidentais já sabiam da sua existência. O presidente Obama disse que aquelas instalações, localizadas a 160 kms de Teerão, são mais um sinal de desafio por parte do Irão: "O Irão tem o direito à energia nuclear para fins pacíficos para fazer face às necessidades energéticas do seu povo. Mas, a dimensão e a configuração destas instalações não são consistentes com um programa pacífico." Também o primeiro-ministro britânico, Gordon Brown reagiu: "Confrontado com uma série de decepções ao longo dos anos, a comunidade internacional não tem escolha, hoje, a não ser estabelecer os limites." Por seu lado, o presidente da França, Nicolas Sarkozy disse que, para o Irão, o prazo está a expirar. Palavras de Sarkozy, na voz de um intérprete: "Se, até Dezembro, não houver uma mudança profunda por parte dos líderes iranianos, terão que se aplicadas sanções."A Casa Branca adiantou que os serviços secretos americanos, franceses e britânicos têm, ao longo dos anos, têm recolhido informações acerca do programa nuclear iraniano. E-mail Imprima Digg Yahoo Buzz Facebook del.icio.us StumbleUpon ||||| A nuclear facility near Isfahan was reopened in 2005 Iran has been subjected to three rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions in relation to its nuclear programme. In spite of this, it has continued its uranium enrichment operations and there is growing pressure for sanctions to be tightened further. The following are the UN resolutions relating to Iran's nuclear programme. DEMAND TO END ENRICHMENT - RESOLUTION 1696 In March 2006, the issue was discussed at the UN Security Council, which called for a report by the IAEA to establish Iran's compliance with the terms of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The treaty allows for the use of nuclear technology for peaceful energy purposes, as long as countries can demonstrate that their programmes are not being used for the development of nuclear weapons. In July 2006, the Security Council said it was "seriously concerned" that the IAEA was unable to provide assurances about Iran's undeclared nuclear material. It demanded that Iran "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development", giving it one month to do so. Failing that, it would face the possibility of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Iran asserted that its nuclear programme was for civilian use permitted by the NPT. On this basis it said it rejected the validity of the Security Council's calls. It claimed that while subscribers to the NPT were being punished, those who had not signed up to the agreement were being rewarded by generous nuclear cooperation agreements. RESOLUTION 1696 (2006) FIRST ROUND OF SANCTIONS - RESOLUTION 1737 The deadline for Iranian compliance with the Security Council's demands passed without being heeded. In December 2006, the Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1737 (2006). This called on states to block Iran's import and export of "sensitive nuclear material and equipment" and to freeze the financial assets of those involved in Iran's nuclear activities. The Council decided that all countries should prevent the supply or sale of equipment and technology that would aid Iran's nuclear programme in any way. RESOLUTION 1737 (2006) SECOND AND THIRD ROUNDS OF SANCTIONS Arms With Iran's nuclear programme ongoing, in March 2007 the Security Council voted to toughen sanctions. It banned all of Iran'S arms exports. It also froze the assets and restricted the travel of people it deemed involved in the nuclear programme. RESOLUTION 1747 (2007) Financial and trade Further restrictions imposed in March 2008 encouraged scrutiny of the dealings of Iranian banks. It also called upon countries to inspect cargo planes and ships entering or leaving Iran if there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they were goods prohibited by previous resolutions. RESOLUTION 1803 Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama's accusations that Iran's nuclear program runs afoul of international agreements are "baseless," the Islamic republic's president told CNN's Larry King on Friday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says President Obama's accusations are "baseless." "We did not expect Mr. Obama within less than 48 hours, to basically violate the commitment that he spoke of at the United Nations," said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader was referring to Obama's Wednesday speech to the U.N. General Assembly, where Obama called for international unity in attacking the world's challenges. Asked if he was expressing disappointment in the U.S. president, Ahmadinejad responded, "We simply didn't expect him to say something that was ... was baseless." Earlier Friday evening Obama said "Iran is on notice" regarding its nuclear efforts, and that the international community is united in its opposition to Tehran's nuclear program. "They are going to have to make a choice: Are they willing to go down the path to greater prosperity and security for Iran, giving up the acquisition of nuclear weapons ... or will they continue down a path that is going to lead to confrontation," he said at a news conference at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Obama's comments came hours after Iran acknowledged the existence of a second uranium enrichment facility and ahead of next week's planned meeting between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, plus Germany. The October 1 meeting will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. Obama said he would not speculate on any course of action absent a satisfactory response from Iran. "Even countries who a year ago or six months ago might have been reluctant to even discuss things like sanctions," are starting to become concerned, Obama said. Obama said his "preferred course of action is to resolve this in a diplomatic fashion. It's up to the Iranians to respond." The U.S. president said the conclusions about Iran's nuclear ambitions came as a result of the work of three intelligence agencies -- those of Britain, France and the United States. The work, Obama said, was done "to make sure that we were absolutely confident about the situation there." Exclusive: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Primetime exclusive! Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Iran's nuclear program, what he thinks of President Obama's accusation that he's breaking rules, and his controversial re-election. Tonight, 9 ET see full schedule » The United States has known about the unfinished site since the Bush administration, according to senior U.S. officials who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations. French intelligence officials were also aware of the facility for several months at least, a U.S. diplomatic source said. It wasn't until Monday that Iran wrote a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, revealing the existence of the underground facility on a military base near the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom. The facility is thought to be capable of housing 3,000 centrifuges, which is not enough to produce nuclear fuel to power a reactor but is sufficient to manufacture bomb-making material, according to a U.S. diplomatic source who read the letter. Iran told the IAEA there is no nuclear material at the site, an agency spokesman said. Once Iran alerted the IAEA, Obama began sharing U.S. intelligence on the nuclear site with allies, particularly with Russia and China in an effort to get those countries on board with new sanctions against Iran, the officials said. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Friday that Iran admitted the existence of the "new pilot fuel enrichment plant," prompting Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to respond at the G-20 economic summit. "Iran's decision to build yet another nuclear facility without notifying the IAEA represents a direct challenge to the basic compact at the center of the nonproliferation regime," Obama said, with Brown and Sarkozy standing at his side. Watch world leaders react to Iran » Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not mention the Qom plant during his visit to New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly sessions. He reiterated earlier claims that Iran has fully cooperated with nuclear inspectors. He emphasized this again Friday afternoon at a news conference, where he said Iran complied with IAEA regulations requiring it be informed at least six months before an enrichment facility becomes operational. "We still have a year left before that six months kicks in," Ahmadinejad said. "I thought we were supposed to be encouraged for taking this action," he said. Watch Ahmadinejad hit back at Obama » Iran's revelation of a new nuclear site could actually "strengthen their hand" as Tehran heads into next week's talks, according to Paul Ingram, an analyst who studies Iran and nuclear nonproliferation. "It will be seen as an indication that they are willing to play by the rules," said Ingram, the executive director of the British American Security Information Council in London, England. He said the timing of Iran's revelation, between the U.N. General Assembly sessions and the October 1 meeting, is deliberate on Iran's part. "This will make it more difficult to persuade them to abandon enrichment," Ingram said. Iran claims its nuclear enrichment program is intended for peaceful purposes, but the international community accuses it of continuing to try to develop nuclear weapons capability. iReport.com: Dissidents discuss Iran enrichment plants Iran had acknowledged only a uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, which nuclear inspectors visited recently. Iran also has an unfinished nuclear research reactor in Arak, and U.N. nuclear inspectors were allowed access to that facility this month. Other important nuclear sites in Iran include its Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Isfahan uranium conversion plant. Map: Iran's nuclear sites » Washington became aware of the covert facility near Qom several years ago, but a clearer picture about the facility emerged later, a U.S. counter-proliferation official said. The enrichment facility would probably not be operational for another year, the official said. The official said the newly unveiled facility "doesn't really change the baseline" conclusion of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Iran could manufacture a nuclear weapons between 2010 and 2015. The official added that there are suspicions about other possible hidden or undeclared nuclear-related facilities. CNN's Ed Henry, Dan Lothian, Pam Benson, Matthew Chance and Moni Basu contributed to this report. All About Iran • International Atomic Energy Agency ||||| Amid revelations about a new under-construction nuclear enrichment facility in Iran, the leaders of the United States, France and Britain accuse the country of deception in its pursuit of nuclear energy. According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the Iranian government in a letter on September 21 informed the agency that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant, allegedly near the central city of Qom. Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the new plant will produce enriched uranium up to 5 percent, consistent with its nuclear energy program, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported. Before President Barack Obama of the US, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain made their case against Iran on Friday, the New York Times reported that the secrecy of the project had been breached by Western intelligence agencies before Iran announced its existence. With the revelation, however, the program, which is one of the most polarizing issues in the world with world powers accusing Iran of seeking nuclear weaponry on one side and developing countries supporting Tehran's right to nuclear energy on the other, has taken a new turn. Appearing before reporters in Pittsburgh on Friday, Obama charged Iran with attempting to cover the project for years and urged Tehran to re-energize its efforts to build the trust of the international community. The US president, accompanied by Sarkozy and Brown who are in the city for the meeting of the Group of 20, also urged the UN nuclear watchdog to thoroughly investigate the new plant, which, he said, was a "direct challenge" to international non-proliferation rules. President Sarkozy seconded Obama's stance and accused the Tehran government of taking the world down a "dangerous" path. He also threatened new sanctions if the leaders of Iran did not change course by December. "We cannot let the Iranian leaders gain time while the motors are running," Sarkozy said. "Everything must be put on the table." The news about the new plant comes ahead of a much-anticipated meeting in Geneva on October 1 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Iran, already under three rounds of UNSC sanctions, insists that its program is solely for the purpose of producing fuel for nuclear power plants, citing domestic enrichment as the heart of its nuclear policy. The six, however, are expected to press the country to abandon its enrichment activities. Prime Minister Brown, who echoed Obama and Sarkozy, said Iran's "serial deception of many years" in its nuclear work demanded a tougher action by the international community. There is "no choice but to draw a line in the sand," he said. President Obama, meanwhile, repeated his veiled warning that he delivered before the UN General Assembly, warning that Tehran would "be held accountable to international standards and international law" should it fail to demonstrate its "peaceful intentions." He also said that the second enrichment facility -- which will reportedly house up to 3,000 centrifuges -- "is inconsistent with a peaceful (nuclear) program." However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quick to respond to what appears to be an emerging united stance by the West toward Tehran's nuclear program. "This does not mean we must inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have," he told Time in New York as Obama was speaking to reporters in Pittsburgh. He also warned the US president not to pressure Iran on its nuclear program. "If I were Obama's adviser, I would definitely advise him to refrain from making this statement because it is definitely a mistake," Ahmadinejad said. "It would definitely be a mistake." MD/CS ||||| NEW YORK, Sept 25 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday the United States, Britain and France would "regret" accusing Iran of hiding a nuclear fuel facility, saying it was not a secret site. Ahmadinejad, speaking at a New York news conference, said Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency early about the facility, which the Western leaders on Friday labeled a direct challenge to the international community. "It's not a secret site. If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time," Ahmadinejad said. "They (the United States, Britain and France) will regret this announcement." (reporting by Lou Charbonneau and Parisa Hafezi; editing by Jackie Frank) | The Iranian government has announced that the nation is near completion of a second nuclear power facility. The announcement was made in a September 21 letter from the Iranian government to the United Nations Security Council that a second nuclear plant was being constructed in the city of . In the letter to the U.N., the Iranian government states that the plant will contain 3,000 and produce roughly 5% . According to , the Iranian government made the announcement after the nation received word that the United States had already known about the facility. CNN cites an unnamed U.S. government official as saying the U.S. was made aware of the facility at some point during the presidency of George W. Bush. Today the U.S., along with France and the United Kingdom, condemned the new plant. "Iran's decision to build yet another nuclear facility without notifying the IAEA represents a direct challenge to the basic compact at the center of the non-proliferation regime. The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program," said U.S. president Barack Obama during a press conference. French president and Prime Minister of the UK stood next to Obama as he made the statement. The Iranian government has repeatedly stated that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and for the production of electricity. In response, the country's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the new plant was not a secret and that the knew the plant existed. He also called the statements made by Obama, Brown, and Sarkozy a "mistake." "It's not a secret site. If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time. They (U.S., UK & France) will regret this announcement. If I were Obama's adviser, I would definitely advise him to refrain from making this statement because it is definitely a mistake. It would definitely be a mistake," said Ahmadinejad to reporters in in the U.S. The U.N. Security Council has passed several resolutions ordering Iran to stop its enrichment of uranium, or face sanctions. The first resolution, , passed the council in July of 2006 with 14 nations agreeing to the resolution and one opposing it. The resolution ordered Iran to stop enrichment and in December 2006, the council unanimously voted on , which enacted sanctions banning the supply of nuclear related materials to the country, and froze assets of individuals and companies connected to the country's nuclear program. |
premium_icon Where to order fresh food boxes and hampers If the extent of your cooking has been lifting the lid off takeaway containers, go back to making magic in the kitchen with the boxes and hampers of fresh ingredients prepared for you by some of the best chefs around Sydney. ||||| Fixed wing aircraft and a number of helicopters continue to support ground operations. Crews are working in and around Korrindiri Ridge today. Conditions are expected to worsen later in the day and this weather will test containment lines. Residents in the area are advised to prepare their properties for the possibility of fire and residents to the south west of Evans Head can expect to see fire crews working in the area implementing containment strategies. Gap Road, which provides access to Bundjalung National Park and Black Rocks camping ground remains closed to the general public. In addition, Woodburn Street, near the bridge, Evans Road and Bundjalung Street, remain closed to all traffic, except residents. Gumma Garra picnic area also remains closed. The public is reminded a Total Fire Ban applies to the Far North Coast/Northern Rivers Area on Wednesday 3 October. All fire permits are suspended until further notice. The cause of the fire is currently being investigated. To report new fires or request urgent assistance residents should call Triple Zero (000). ||||| Major Fire Updates Port Stephens (Lower Hunter Complex) Fires Update - 5.00pm 3/10/07 03/10/2007 More than 100 fire fighters are working on fires burning in the Tilligerry Peninsula area and any new fire outbreaks in the Port Stephens area. The fires have burnt out about 860 hectares of National Parkland, private property and Hunter Water Catchment land. One home was destroyed by fire in Salt Ash on Monday afternoon. Around eight aircraft are currently supporting ground operations. Strike teams will be deployed to provide property protection as required. These crews will be supported by water bombing aircraft. Other crews will continue to work to minimise spot fire activity and protect property with the onset of the predicted strong westerly winds. Fire has broken containment lines south of Medowie, near the RAAF bombing range, and RAAF crews are working on scene. The Oyster Cove fire has also broken containment lines to the south of the township. A temporary road closure is now in place on Lemon Tree Passage Road between Oyster Cove and Nelson Bay Roads. Local traffic is still being allowed through at this stage. Further road closures in the area may occur without warning. Several remote residences in Moffats Lane, west of 12 Mile Creek, may also come under threat later today. NSW Fire Brigades are now providing property protection to homes in the area. Residents are reminded to be aware of falling embers and smoke and should report any fire that is unattended by calling triple zero (000) immediately. Residents should prepare their properties for the onset of fire and decide early whether they will stay and defend well prepared properties or relocate early to an area not affected by fire. Residents surrounding the fire should continue to remain aware of the situation by listening to local radio. Weather Forecast Wednesday – TOTAL FIRE BAN weather conditions are extreme with temperatures reaching the mid 30’s, humidity dropping to nine percent and strong north westerly winds gusting up to 70k/ph. Thursday – dry westerly winds turning SE in the afternoon. Maximum temperature in mid to high 20’s. If you need to report a new fire or need urgent assistance call Triple Zero (000). ||||| Major Fire Updates Cowan Fire Update - 6.15pm 3/10/07 03/10/2007 The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) wishes to advise that there are a number of major road closures currently in place due to fires burning in the Ku-ring-gai area. Approximately 19 fire crews are currently working to contain the fires. Police are advising motorists heading home this evening to Central Coast locations to delay their travel. The F3 Freeway is closed south bound at the Hawkesbury River and north bound from Wahroonga. The Old Pacific Highway is closed in both directions at Brooklyn. Both roads are expected to re-open in the next 30 minutes. Train services between Hornsby and Gosford are currently suspended, but are also expected to open in the next half an hour. There is no indication at this stage how long these arrangements will be in place. For further information regarding the fires, members of the public are encouraged to contact the RFS on 1800 679 737. | The official New South Wales bushfire season for 2007 has been declared for only three days and already 46 fires burn across the state. It is believed that at least some of the fires have been deliberately lit. Weather conditions are hampering firefighting efforts, with high temperatures and strong winds helping to fan the flames. Major fires are currently burning at Little Pittwater Bay on Sydney's West Head, Cowan North of Sydney, Port Stephens and at Evans Head on the NSW North coast. The fire at Cowan has caused transport chaos as it caused the closure of the Pacific Highway, F3 Freeway and the Northern railway line for several hours this afternoon. Residents around the fires at Port Stephens and Evans Head have been advised by the NSW Rural Fire Service to prepare their properties for the onset of fire. With many of the fires thought to of been started by arsonists, NSW Premier Morris Iemma warned that arsonists would face imprisonment. "It makes you sick. There are sadly too many people out there that don't get the message," Mr Iemma. "They are sick minds who deliberately light these fires, or even to recklessly do it". A police strike force with 10 officers and two support staff to investigate the fires had also been set up with Mr Iemma stating that if more resources were required, the strike force would be provided with them. |
A controversial occupational safety campaign will relaunch in January after a brief pause in December, the chairman of the Workplace Safety and Information Board of Ontario said Thursday. WSIB chairman Steven Mahoney told CBCNews.ca in an interview that a December break in the campaign had always been scheduled. He rejected reports that suggested the ads were being pulled. "It's totally erroneous to suggest we're pulling anything," Mahoney said. "Our plan from Day 1 was to stop the ads around the middle of December when most of the advertising that's in the media is focused on Christmas and purchasing gifts. We just didn't want to be competing with all that stuff." The advertisements feature cautionary graphic tales, including a young woman working in a kitchen who slips on spilled grease while carrying a large, steaming pot. A second ad involves a construction worker who is killed while wearing a faulty harness. Mahoney said response to the commercials has been largely positive, with viewers flocking to YouTube to see the ads. He also said the commercials have been viewed about 70,000 times through the WSIB's website. "The critics amount to about 25 per cent rating, and I'm delighted they're upset about the ads because I wouldn't want anyone to enjoy watching them," he said. Ontario cities running modified ads The Transit Windsor board of directors said they won't place the ads in their bus shelters, while Guelph Transit is considering running the ads in their shelters. Mahoney said transit authorities in Hamilton and Mississauga, Ont., have accepted modified advertisements. But, he notes, the WSIB makes no apologies for the graphic nature of the campaign, saying the ads are purposely controversial to spur reaction and awareness. The chairman said in 2006, 101 people were killed in workplace safety accidents. In 2007, there have been 98 deaths with three more pending review. ||||| WSIB ads too graphic for Transit Windsor Sonja Puzic, The Windsor Star Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario's ubiquitous ad campaign aimed at preventing workplace injuries may be getting a lot of air time on television, but Windsor commuters will be spared the graphic images of disfigured workers while waiting for the bus. Transit Windsor is refusing to place WSIB's print ads in bus shelters, citing their "disturbing" nature and gory images. One ad shows a construction worker laying on the ground in a pool of blood, an oversized forklift operation manual piercing his chest. The message: "Lack of training can kill." Another poster shows an unconscious and bloodied man whose arm is severed by a "danger" sign. One of his legs is stuck in a machine he was operating. "Ignoring safety procedures can kill," is written at the bottom. "We're not against workplace safety, but this is too graphic," Coun. Caroline Postma, chair of the Transit Windsor board, said Wednesday. "It may scare some kids. If we put this in our bus shelters, I'm sure we're going to get complaints." Postma said Transit Windsor is asking the WSIB for "toned down" versions of the attention-grabbing ads. "Take the blood out," she said. "That's what we're asking." Transit authorities in Mississauga also rejected the bus shelter ads, and Hamilton is considering modified versions for its shelters. WSIB's TV commercials are even more sensational than the print ads, showing horrendous workplace accidents. Viewers are shown a sous chef who slips on kitchen floor grease and pours a vat of hot oil on herself, screaming in agony as blisters quickly form on her face. In another commercial, a young woman in a retail store falls off a ladder into a glass table. As blood oozes from her head and face, she tells a co-worker how the fall could have been prevented. Each commercial ends with the tag line: "There really are no accidents." The WSIB campaign has been widely debated, with some people criticizing the explicit images and others applauding the bold approach to getting the message across. According to the WSIB, five Canadians die of workplace injuries or occupational diseases every working day. -- With files from CanWest News Service © The Windsor Star 2007 | Controversial and explicit Canadian workplace safety ads have been pulled from television, and paper ads from some bus shelters for the Christmas season. However, the ads will return to air in January. "It's totally erroneous to suggest we're pulling anything," chairman of the Workplace Safety and Information Board of Ontario, Steve Mahoney said. "Our plan from Day 1 was to stop the ads around the middle of December when most of the advertising that's in the media is focused on Christmas and purchasing gifts. We just didn't want to be competing with all that stuff." In one of the TV ads a woman accidentally slips on grease on the floor and a large steaming pot falls onto her face, and she starts screaming to death. The ads end with the message "There really are no accidents". A paper ads shows a construction worker who is in a pool of blood with a forklift operation manual stuck in his chest. Another with a man who is slit by a "Danger" sign with his leg stuck in a machine. They show the messages: "Lack of training can kill" and the other "Ignoring safety procedures can kill". "The critics amount to about 25 per cent rating, and I'm delighted they're upset about the ads because I wouldn't want anyone to enjoy watching them." The videos have been viewed more than 70,000 times on the Board's website and are gaining large amounts of views on YouTube. The transit authorities of Hamilton and Mississauga will show modified advertisements. The transit authority of Guelph will show the ads in bus shelters, but the transit authority of Windsor will not because of the graphic nature. "We're not against workplace safety, but this is too graphic," said Caroline Postma, chair of the Transit Windsor board. Mississauga city councillour Carolyn Parrish said: "My son-in-law was telling me that they shouldn't be on in prime time because when my grandson watches them he just about bursts into tear. Now he follows his mom around the kitchen to make sure she doesn't spill grease. And he's only four. There's too much of a chance that ... people are really badly affected by it, and can't really do anything about it anyway." She suggested the ads only be aired to workers with the jobs shown in the commercials. Mahoney changed the earlier promise to air the ads only after 8:00pm to after 9:00pm at last nights meeting with Mississauga city council. Mahoney said the commercials and paper ads are not "too graphic at all". And they are "absolutely appropriate and they're doing what they're intended to do, they're creating what I call a water cooler topic of conversation." Ninety-eight Canadian workers so far have been killed on the job this year. |
A barrister and renowned radio and television producer, who has worked with the likes of Anthony Minghella, Michael Frayn and David Mamet, is facing jail after being found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Bruce Hyman, chief executive of Above The Title Productions, has pleaded guilty to attempting to falsely incriminate the husband of a client he was representing in the family court. If jailed, it is believed it would be the first time that a barrister had been sent to prison for such a crime. His admission of guilt represents a remarkable fall from grace for a man who has produced more than 150 plays, musicals and comedy shows and written scripts for Angus Deayton and Johnny Vegas. Stars such as Maureen Lipman, Patricia Hodge and Peter Capaldi have appeared in Hyman's productions, which include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for Radio 4. He also produced Unreliable Evidence, the acclaimed BBC radio series, fronted by his close friend Clive Anderson, that examines complex aspects of the law. As a practising barrister, Hyman was able to bring a wealth of knowledge to the programme, which attracted the biggest names in the legal profession. But in an act that seems worthy of discussion on Anderson's programme, Hyman emailed a bogus legal judgment he had forged to his client's former husband, who was trying to gain greater access to the couple's daughter. The email, sent from what Hyman thought was an untraceable address, carried the logo of Families Need Fathers, the charity that campaigns for fathers' rights. It appeared to bolster the father's claim that he should be granted greater access to his daughter and, believing it to be a genuine judgment, he presented it before the judge at Taunton family court in Somerset. Within minutes of doing so, Hyman pounced, suggesting not only that the judgment was a forgery but that the father, who was representing himself, might have been responsible for faking it. The father suddenly found himself facing a charge of perverting the course of justice and the prospect of having to pay substantial costs. 'I cannot describe the feelings that went through me,' the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told The Observer. 'To be accused in court of what the judge had no trouble reminding me was a serious crime was horrendous. I was frantic, panic stricken; not to mention angry.' Baffled as to how such a 'mistake' had been made, he learnt that electronic documents could be traced via specialist online applications. Soon he had tracked the email via an internet server in Manchester to a shop in Tottenham Court Road in London. The shop denied sending the email and offered to check its CCTV footage for the day the email was supposedly sent. 'I couldn't believe it when they emailed me some 12 or 13 of the CCTV stills,' he said. 'I almost fell off my chair.' The pictures showed Hyman entering the shop, removing a motorcycle helmet and sending an email from a laptop. It seemed an open and shut case. 'But the police would not investigate initially,' said the father, who was eventually put in touch with a helpful police officer by a Families Need Fathers member. 'As it was, my local force didn't follow up my report until some months after Hyman's arrest. If FNF hadn't put me in touch with a police officer who took the case seriously, I might well have been facing a lengthy prison sentence.' What motivated Hyman, a happily married man with four children, to break the law in a way that could have sent an innocent man to prison is not clear. He is not a specialist in family law, nor is he from the area where the case was heard. Further, he had passed his bar exams only a couple of years earlier and the case was one of his first. With a home in Hampstead, London, and a chalet in the Alps, which he is believed to have sold recently, he was wealthy and had an enviable social life. His dinner parties were eagerly anticipated, thanks to his skills in the kitchen and ready wit. It might have been that he took the case because he knew his client extremely well. The two had set up a company together shortly after the beginning of the millennium and they had known each other for many years. Even after Hyman was arrested, documents show he continued to work on the case and picked up his client's daughter from school at least once. Records obtained by the police show Hyman telephoned the mother on the day he emailed her ex-husband the fake judgment. Although arrested, the mother was not charged and there is no suggestion she knew of his plan. Hyman, who faces sentencing on 19 September, declined to comment, but those who know him express bafflement at what he has done. They say that after passing his bar exams he seemed to change his image. 'He was in love with the law in the way some middle-aged men are in love with the idea of being a rock star,' said an acquaintance. 'When he became a lawyer some of his friends started to see a lot less of him.' Meanwhile, the father has been left deeply bruised by what has happened. He still does not see his daughter as much as he would like. He is disillusioned with the courts system. 'Anyone who contemplates going through the family courts system should consider pulling their own fingernails out instead; it's less painful,' he said. 'Appearing at these private hearings, where parties and their lawyers too often seem to have the smearing of their opponents at the top of their agendas, robs you of your dignity and your belief in the system.' Fathers' rights groups say the case highlights concern about the closed nature of the family courts. 'There's a lot of what I call "micro-shittiness" in the family courts,' said Jim Parton of Families Need Fathers. 'There are low-level acts of bullying by the lawyers in the corridors that go on all the time, but none of it gets reported.' ||||| Hyman faces a jail term Bruce Hyman was caught on CCTV sending a fake legal document to his opponents in a child custody case. The document was designed to show his client's opponent - the child's father - in a bad light. Sentencing was adjourned at Taunton Crown Court on Monday, and Hyman was released on bail. Simon Eades, the father in the custody case, said: "To be accused in court of something that the judge makes very plain could lead to a term of imprisonment, cannot be decribed. It's horrifying." Hyman is a barrister, a radio and theatre producer, and script writer. | An English lawyer has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He faked a legal judgment and sent it to a father who was pleading in Taunton family court to be able to remain involved in his child's upbringing. The lawyer, London barrister Bruce Hyman, now awaits his sentence. The judge indicated that he could receive a prison sentence. Bruce Hyman is well-known in media circles, having produced ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' on BBC Radio. He also produced a series with Clive Anderson, at Above the Title Productions, called ''Unreliable Evidence''. The father, a former City financier, had attended a series of court hearings in order to make suitable arrangements to see his child following an acrimonious divorce. Shortly before one of these hearings he received an email, ostensibly from a self-help group to which he belonged, which had attached a Court of Appeal case that appeared favourable to an application he had made for the judge to stand down from the case. The father, who was representing himself, duly showed the case to the judge. At this point, Bruce Hyman, the lawyer representing the former wife, claimed to the judge that the case was a forgery, which indeed it turned out to be. After confirming that the self-help group had not sent him the email, the father then embarked on some detective work his own. The fraudulent email was traced via its header to a dial-up internet connection and a phone number belonging to a shop in London. The shop was able to recover CCTV footage which showed a man sending the email from an Apple laptop. The man turned out to be Bruce Hyman. Sentencing of Hyman is due in Bristol Crown Court on the 19th of September. |
Ballot Access Open and equal access to the ballot is the political rights issue of 21st Century America. Without all political ideologies having a place in the free marketplace of ideas, on an equal footing with the top two in power, life is like an ice cream shop that only serves two flavors – customers grow weary and no longer buy. America flourishes when its citizens have real choices with which they identify philosophically. America’s representative system of constitutional governance is doomed to fail if voters continue to be offered only vanilla and chocolate when what they really want is mint chocolate chip or a hot fudge sundae. WHAT IS BALLOT ACCESS? Ballot access is the process by which candidates are allowed to place their name on the ballot, according to the rules of their state. WHO IS IN CHARGE OF BALLOT ACCESS? Ballot access is defined by each state legislature. The rules and regulations are put into place by each state’s Secretary of State, then filtered down to the county, parish, or borough auditors, who run and monitor each election in their respective jurisdictions. These virtually always consist of Republicans and Democrats whom greatly benefit from impeding in the rise of minor political parties in America. IS BALLOT ACCESS EQUAL FOR ALL POLITICAL PARTIES? No. Ballot access is generally free and open to all candidates running as Republicans and Democrats. Alternative parties and independents have other steps they must follow which vary from state to state. These steps are often expensive, time-consuming, and convoluted. HOW CAN I HELP THE CONSTITUTION PARTY GAIN BALLOT ACCESS IN MY STATE? Contact your Secretary of State’s Office and ask the Elections Department how ballot access works in your state. Most states have a signature petition requirement with very specific rules to follow. You can also: contact your state party leadership to find out how you can help the Constitution Party gain ballot access in your state. to find out how you can help the Constitution Party gain ballot access in your state. sign a petition when asked and/or serve as a volunteer petition gatherer. donate to your state or national party. It costs money to pay signature gatherers and occasionally there are court costs associated with litigation regarding ballot access. LEARN MORE ABOUT BALLOT ACCESS IN AMERICA Richard Winger of Ballot Access News is the most highly respected expert on what is happening with ballot access in America today. Visit his website to find out more. Open and Equal Elections: Home Front with Cynthia Davis podcast featuring an engaging discussion on the topic with former national Constitution Party chairman Jim Clymer and Gary Odom, former national field director. They discuss Ron Paul, George Washington, lawsuits, and why they continue to fight the battle against all odds. ||||| The Constitution Party is ballot-qualified in Wyoming, but its presidential nominee, Don Blankenship, is not on the ballot because the state party didn’t certify his name immediately after its state convention. It did certify the names of its presidential elector candidates, and its nominees for congress and state office. The Wyoming law says parties that nominate by convention must certify their nominees “immediately after the state convention.” The major parties have more time to do that. President Trump was not even nominated by the Republican Party until August 24, but the Secretary of State says the Constitution Party’s deadline was August 17. ||||| On August 25, the South Carolina Constitution Party informed the State Elections Commission that it will not have a presidential candidate this year. It is ballot-qualified. If it were to change its mind, it has until September 8. ||||| Even though the national convention of the Constitution Party chose Don Blankenship for president at its national convention earlier this month, the New Mexico Constitution Party and the Virginia Constitution Party have nominated Sheila “Samm” Tittle for president. She sought the presidential nomination at the national convention, but was defeated there, placing fourth in the final round. The New Mexico Constitution Party is ballot-qualified. It will go off the ballot unless it polls at least one-half of 1% for president in November 2020. Tittle is not likely to poll that well. In 2012, when she was an independent presidential candidate, she was on the ballot in two states and polled 2,559 votes in the entire nation. The Virginia Constitution Party is not ballot-qualified. The state organization had disaffiliated from the national party a year ago, but it did send delegates to the national convention this month and asked to re-affiliate. However, the national committee denied that request. ||||| Convicted Coal Mine CEO Is Taking His Case To The U.S. Supreme Court Enlarge this image toggle caption John Raby/AP John Raby/AP Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is marking his release from federal custody with an appeal for vindication by the U.S. Supreme Court. Blankenship served a one-year federal prison sentence after being convicted of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety laws. The charges stemmed from the disaster at a Massey Energy mine in West Virginia in 2010 that left 29 coal miners dead. "We never give up," says Blankenship attorney William Taylor, who notified the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday that Blankenship will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. In his first two days of freedom, Blankenship has posted a blizzard of tweets declaring his innocence and blaming the Upper Big Branch mine disaster on federal regulators and what he says was a natural inundation of natural gas. Multiple investigations blamed the explosion that ripped through the mine on inadequate safety protections, including excessive explosive coal dust, inadequate ventilation and worn out equipment. Federal prosecutors cited Blankenship's micromanagement and obsessive focus on coal production in the conspiracy trial that resulted in his conviction and imprisonment. The charges were based on safety practices at Massey Energy and Upper Big Branch but were not directly related to the deadly explosion. Blankenship's conviction was upheld by the federal appeals court. Taylor argued that the jury instructions during Blankenship's trial were unfair, pinning conviction on "reckless disregard" of mine safety laws rather than intent to violate the law. As Ken Ward, Jr., reported in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the defense argued on appeal that "the government fully exploited these novel willfulness instructions to obtain a conviction for not doing enough concerning safety rather than for intending to violate the law." Taylor is confident the Supreme Court will take the case. "It's a pretty clear issue," he says. "We're either right or wrong about that." Taylor also insists that the timing of the Supreme Court petition notice "has nothing to do with [Blankenship's] incarceration status," even though it was filed the day after Blankenship's release, and as Blankenship took to Twitter with a spirited defense. ||||| CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Reuters) - Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $250,000 on Wednesday for his role in a 2010 West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 workers. Blankenship, known as West Virginia’s “king of coal” for his rags-to-riches background and tough approach to business, was given the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor conviction by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger. He also was sentenced to a year of supervised probation after release. Blankenship, who headed Massey from 2000 to 2010, was convicted in December of conspiring to falsify dust samples at the Upper Big Branch mine, site of the blast. He was acquitted on felony charges related to the accident. “I want to express sorrow to the families for what happened and I hope that what I have to say can help them find peace,” Blankenship, 66, said before sentencing. He thanked his supporters and called those who died “great coal miners.” Blankenship’s lawyers said they would appeal the sentence. Relatives of those killed and prosecutors have hailed the conviction as sending a message on mine safety in coal-rich West Virginia. The sentencing marks a dramatic turnaround for Blankenship, who for decades been one of West Virginia’s most influential figures. As head of Massey Energy, the largest coal producer in Appalachia, he employed thousands of people and operated more than 40 mines. Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship is talking on his mobile phone as he walks into the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse in Charleston, West Virginia in this December 3, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Chris Tilley/Files Berger said Blankenship would have a 10-day period before he must surrender. The blast that tore through the Upper Big Branch mine, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Charleston, took place about 1,000 feet (300 m) underground and about three miles (five km) inside. Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship (3rd L) and his attorney Bill Taylor (4th R) are met by media outside the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse in Charleston, West Virginia in this December 3, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Chris Tilley/Files Federal investigators have said a fire caused by a methane or natural gas leak likely set off the coal dust explosion. Worn teeth on cutting equipment may have showered the area with sparks that set off the leak. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who was West Virginia governor when the disaster occurred, said it had caused the state to put the safety of workers first. “No sentence is severe enough and no amount of time in jail time will heal the hearts of the families who have been forever devastated,” he said in a statement. The death toll was the highest in a U.S. mine accident since 91 workers died in a 1972 Idaho silver mine fire. Massey Energy was bought in 2011 by Alpha Natural Resources Inc ANRZQ.PK for about $7 billion. | Don Blankenship Businessman Don Blankenship of West Virginia, the U.S. Constitution Party's 2020 presidential nominee, answered some questions about his campaign from ''Wikinews'' accredited reporter William S. Saturn. Blankenship, reportedly nicknamed the "king of coal", was chairman and CEO of from 2000 to 2010. During his tenure, the occurred, which resulted in the deaths of 29 miners. A jury convicted Blankenship of misdemeanor conspiracy to violate safety standards willfully, and he received a one year prison sentence in 2016. He maintains his innocence and blames federal regulators for the disaster. After his release from prison, Blankenship ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party's US Senate in West Virginia. He subsequently sought the Constitution Party's nomination for President. At the virtual 2020 this past May, Blankenship won the party's nomination on the second ballot. He selected chairman as his running mate. Mohr spoke about Blankenship with ''Wikinews'' in June, describing him as "a good man with vast knowledge in the political field who stands firm on his positions, aligns well with the party platform and has an abundance of ability to lead this nation in the direction it needs to go." Mohr lauded Blankenship's "ability to influence leaders around him" and claimed the nominee "has a backbone superior to most men and will be the strongest President we have seen in decades." The Constitution Party was founded in 1991 as the U.S. Taxpayers Party. It changed to its current name in 1999. The party advocates , gun rights, limited government, protectionism, and non-interventionism. It strongly opposes abortion and illegal immigration. In 2016, the party's presidential nominee received 203,091 votes (0.15 percent) with ballot access in 24 states. The Blankenship-Mohr ticket is on the ballot in 18 states with write-in access in a few others. With ''Wikinews'', Blankenship discussed his background, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on his campaign, what a Blankenship presidency would entail, and policy matters. Additionally, he delivered his final plea to voters ahead of Election Day. |
Deutsche Boerse shareholders had opposed the LSE bid move The company said in a statement it had failed to convince the London Stock Exchange to recommend the offer. It also acknowledged widespread opposition among its own shareholders. On Monday shares in the LSE lost 7.8%, those in Deutsche Boerse fell 2.6%, while shares in another potential LSE suitor, Euronext, rose by 4.2%. The LSE said it was still prepared to talk to Euronext about a possible offer. It said Deutsche Boerse's 530 pence per share offer undervalued the company and its growth prospects. Deutsche Boerse said it reserved the right to come back with another bid for the London exchange if a rival buyer appeared. The German pull-out does not guarantee the LSE's continued independence - rather, it clears the way for a possible bid from rival exchange Euronext. Euronext combines the stock exchanges of Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon and also runs the London-based international derivatives market Liffe. 'User issues' The withdrawal is a considerable setback for Deutsche Boerse chief executive Werner Seifert. He has borne the brunt of shareholder criticism and may now face questions about his future. Those in favour of the merger said it could have led to reduced trading costs Shares trader Alpesh Patel His critics said trading in Frankfurt would suffer. "The noise has been increasing from both Deutsche Boerse shareholders and the Frankfurt community that if Deutsche Boerse bought the London Stock Exchange then business would gravitate to London," said Angela Knight, chief executive of the London-based Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers. There had also been misgivings about the proposed takeover in the UK. "We said there were a number of user issues we wanted any proposed bidder to take into account," she said. THE PURSUIT OF THE LSE May 2001: LSE and Deutsche Boerse announce plans for pan-European bourse called iX August 2001: Sweden's OM bids for LSE, forcing it to withdraw from iX deal September 2001: LSE bids for derivatives exchange LIFFE, which is eventually bought by Euronext December 2004: Deutsche Boerse bid for LSE rejected, but door left open for more talks December 2004: Euronext says it is also interested in bidding for LSE January 2005: Deutsche Boerse sets out its bid March 2005: Deutsche Boerse ditches LSE bid LSE's share price Deutsche Boerse's share price She said it was important for LSE users' views to be taken into account over things like costs, UK registration of the market, and open share registers. "It doesn't necessarily follow that Euronext will not take over, " she added. "But they are clever people at Euronext and I would expect to see some sort of move." Independent shares trader Alpesh Patel said the arguments surrounding the Deutsche Boerse approach had a lot to do with trading costs. "Those in favour of the merger said it could have led to reduced trading costs," he said. "Those who weren't in favour said costs might have been initially reduced, which would then have driven away the competition, only for prices later to be raised due to the virtual monopoly position." Damage limitation It is the second time Deutsche Boerse has failed to buy the LSE. In 2000, the two exchanges agreed a merger plan which fell apart when the LSE received a rival, hostile bid from the Swedish OM exchange. Deutsche Boerse shareholders have questioned the wisdom of the proposed takeover, seeing it as costly and unlikely to bring significant benefits. Opponents of the plan to buy LSE are thought to own at least half of Deutsche Boerse's shares. In recent weeks, any setback for the bid has given a fillip to the German firm's share-price, mostly recently when the finance minister of the exchange's home state of Hesse condemned it. Deutsche Boerse has now embarked on damage limitation with its own shareholders. It said it would work with investors on a plan to make "a significant distribution of funds" available to shareholders on top of the share dividend payout for 2004. And on Monday a spokesman said chief executive Werner Seifert's post was safe, despite giving way to shareholder pressure over the LSE issue. "The question of a resignation is not being posed," the spokesman said, when asked about Mr Seifert's future. ||||| The surprise move to withdraw the 530p a share offer for the LSE was taken at meeting of the Frankfurt exchange's management board yesterday. The LSE, led by Clara Furse, had refused to recommend the Deutsche Börse offer to its shareholders when it was informally tabled in December on the basis that it undervalued the market. Instead, she opened talks with the Frankfurt market and its Amsterdam rival Euronext in the hope of creating a bidding war. She will now face fresh scrutiny. The LSE share price has already fallen from above 580p shortly after the Deutsche Börse bid on the hope of an auction and last week fell below the 530p German offer price as opposition increased among the exchange's investors. The focus may turn to Euronext, which has said it wants to submit an offer for the LSE but which is yet to a name its price. It may now feel vindicated by its decision not to enter a war over price and feel the pressure is off to show its hand. Mr Seifert, who has faced calls for his resignation, said the money that would have been spent on the bid will instead be used for a buy-back of its shares. In so doing, he addressed one of the main concerns of a group of rebel investors, led by hedge fund The Children's Investment Fund (TCI). Mr Seifert, who has tried unsuccessfully to do a deal with the LSE before, said: "We continue to believe that shareholders, issuers, investors and intermediaries would all benefit from consolidation of the European exchange landscape as contemplated in our proposal ... However, the London Stock Exchange does not find itself in a position to recommend a transaction at a price we find supportable." In a sign that the withdrawal was being made in order to heed the pressures from investors, he said: "We believe the proposed transaction would have been value enhancing for Deutsche Börse shareholders. "At the same time, we recognise that a significant portion of our shareholder base is focused on return of capital in the short term." The rebel group had lined up an alternative management team to replace Mr Seifert and his colleagues. The City will be surprised that Mr Seifert made the concession to investors ahead of a decision by the Office of Fair Trading, expected later this month, on the competition implications for an LSE takeover. The OFT had already said it would not refer the matter to the Brussels authorities, despite the possible implications for Europe's capital markets from the takeover. The OFT is considering the possible offer from Euronext, which has always been careful to say that there is no certainty it will make offer. In withdrawing it current offer, the German exchange said it retained the right to reenter the fray if Euronext or any other party bid for the LSE. In deciding whether to make a formal offer for the LSE, Euronext might face some of the issues that have been encountered by Deutsche Börse since some of the hedge funds, which own shares in the German market, also invest in Euronext. There had been some speculation that the hedge funds might try to stop Deutsche Börse in an attempt to clear the way for Euronext. ||||| In a statement, Deutsche Börse chief Werner Seifert said the decision was taken after it was concluded that the LSE "was not ready to recommend (to its shareholders) a transaction at a price that we can consider as acceptable," as well as opposition by some Deutsche Börse shareholders. Deutsche Börse offered to purchase LSE at the end of January for 530 pence per share or just under €2 billion ($2.6 billion). The LSE had twice rejected informal offers from Deutsche Börse at that price. In the statement, the Deutsche Börse chief added that after withdrawing its offer, the company would make "a significant distribution of funds" to its investors,"in a move to pacify those involved with the major shareholder revolt which prompted the withdrawal. Börse still believes in consolidation The chairman of the board of German stock exchange, Deutsche Börse AG, Werner G. Seifert. "We recognize that a significant portion of our shareholder base is focused on return of capital in the short term," Seifert said. "We continue to believe that shareholders, issuers, investors and intermediaries would all benefit from consolidation of the European exchange landscape as contemplated in our proposal." "However," he continued, "the London Stock Exchange does not find itself in a position to recommend a transaction at a price we find supportable." Seifert added that despite this, Deutsche Börse reserved the right to make another offer if any other company makes a bid for the venerable LSE. Dissident shareholders issued warning In February, two dissident shareholders went public with fears that Deutsche Börse would pay over the asking price for the LSE and argued that the company should return around €726 million ($961 million) of its cash to shareholders. They warned Deutsche Börse that the majority of investors opposed the bid for the London market and could take action to oust its supervisory board at the next shareholder meeting in May. Porsche, the German car maker, became the first big company on the German exchange to publicly express opposition to the takeover bid last week as opposition grew. Rival records share price leap Euronext, the pan-European stock market operator, which is also continuing talks with the LSE, sees synergies worth €203 million from a merger. The amount was twice that of its German rival Deutsche Börse, which predicted synergies of €100 million from 2008 if it won the battle to acquire the LSE. Euronext shareholders were said by sources to be "particularly interested" in the projected financial advantages of the deal. The company operates the exchanges in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon. The price of shares in Euronext rose by 9.16 percent in early dealing on Monday. Shares in Euronext gained 9.16 percent to 31.10 euros. The overall Paris stock market, which Euronext operates and where it is quoted, was showing a slight gain of 0.16 percent to 4,097.84 points. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) building in Paternoster Square, London. Meanwhile, shares in the London Stock Exchange plummeted almost 10.0 percent after Deutsche Börse withdrew its takeover offer. LSE shares lost 9.65 percent to 487 pence in early morning trade. The FTSE meanwhile nudged up 0.05 percent to 5038.80 points. | The owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse has said it is quitting the takeover of the owner of the London Stock Exchange, LSE. Its planned GBP 1,3 billion (EUR 2 billion) takeover (530p per share) was stopped by opposition for various shareholders from both parties. Its announcement is a setback for the chief executive Werner Seifert. This just leaves the Euronext NV as the sole bidder of the LSE. It owns the stock exchanges in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and the tiny London-based exchange Liffe. |
Verbeek announces Socceroo Squad Qantas Socceroos Head Coach Pim Verbeek has selected an extended 30-player squad for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Asian Qualifier Round 4 matches against Qatar, Bahrain and Japan in June.Joining the Qantas Socceroos squad for the first time are Rhys Williams and Dario Vidosic, who have both been rewarded with selection following their outstanding form at their respective clubs.20-year old Rhys Williams recently publically declared his desire to be selected for the Qantas Socceroos after previously representing the Welsh Youth National team on 10 occasions. Williams, was loaned out to English Championship Club Burnley by his club Middlesbrough for the past season and helped the Clarets to the Football League Championship play-offs.After moving from the Queensland Roar to FC Nurnberg in 2007, Dario Vidosic has became a regular member of his club’s first team squad this season. Having been used mostly as a substitute, Vidosic has made 11 appearances and scored 3 goals and is currently involved in the club’s play-off matches against Energie Cottbus for promotion to the German Bundesliga.Nick Carle, Brad Jones, Adrian Madaschi, Mark Milligan, Matthew Spiranovic and Shane Steffanuto all return to the Qantas Socceroos squad after various lengths of time out of selection.In particular, this will be Adrian Madaschi’s first Qantas Socceroos Squad since 2004. Perth–born Madaschi made his senior international debut for the Qantas Socceroos in 2004 against New Zealand, at the OFC Nations Cup in Adelaide, which was part of the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. His last match for the Qantas Socceroos was against Fiji at the same tournament. Currently playing in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione in Italy with Portogruaro-Summaga, Madaschi was previously a team mate of Carl Valeri at Grosseto in 2005 following stints at Partick Thistle & Dundee United in Scotland. Madaschi was also member of the Qantas Olyroos team that represented Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.The Qantas Socceroos will assemble for a training camp in Dubai ahead of their 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Asian Qualifier Round 4 match against Qatar in Doha on Saturday 6 June, before returning to Australia to face Bahrain in Sydney on Wednesday 10 June and then Japan in Melbourne on Wednesday 17 June.The Qantas Socceroos need only a point from the three remaining qualifier matches to secure a place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa.Australian fans can show their support for the Qantas Socceroos in their journey to South Africa by purchasing tickets from Ticketek either online (www.ticketek.com.au), over the phone (132 849) or at any Ticketek outlet or agency.All Qantas Socceroos matches will be broadcast “Live and Exclusive” on FOX SPORTS.QANTAS SOCCEROOS SQUAD – Wednesday 27 May 2009NAME CLUB COUNTRY "A"- Internationals (goals)Mark BRESCIANO U.S. Citta di Palermo ITALY 48 (11)Jacob BURNS FC Unirea Valahorum ROMANIA 9 (0)Tim CAHILL Everton ENGLAND 31 (14)Nick CARLE Crystal Palace FC ENGLAND 7 (0)David CARNEY Sheffield United FC ENGLAND 18 (1)Scott CHIPPERFIELD FC Basel SWITZERLAND 60 (12)Chris COYNE Colchester United FC ENGLAND 5 (0)Jason CULINA Gold Coast United AUSTRALIA 38 (1)Bruce DJITE Genclerbirligi SK TURKEY 7 (0)Richard GARCIA Hull City FC ENGLAND 4 (0)Vincenzo GRELLA Blackburn Rovers ENGLAND 37 (0)Brett HOLMAN AZ Alkmaar HOLLAND 23 (1)Mile JEDINAK Genclerbirligi SK TURKEY 4 (0)Brad JONES Middlesbrough FC ENGLAND 1 (0)Josh KENNEDY Karlsruher SC GERMANY 12 (6)Harry KEWELL Galatasaray SK TURKEY 39 (13)Adrian MADASCHI Portogruaro-Summaga ITALY 4 (2)Scott McDONALD Celtic FC SCOTLAND 11 (0)Mark MILLIGAN Shanghai Shenhua CHINA 6 (0)Lucas NEILL West Ham United FC ENGLAND 48 (0)Jade NORTH Incheon United FC KOREA REPUBLIC 23 (0)Michael PETKOVIC Sivasspor TURKEY 6 (0)Mark SCHWARZER Fulham FC ENGLAND 65 (0)Matthew SPIRANOVIC FC Nurnberg GERMANY 2 (0)Shane STEFANUTTO FC Lyn Oslo NORWAY 1 (0)Mile STERJOVSKI Derby County FC ENGLAND 39 (7)Carl VALERI U.S. Grosseto FC ITALY 16 (0)Dario VIDOSIC FC Nurnberg GERMANY -Luke WILKSHIRE FK Dinamo Moscow RUSSIA 33 (0)Rhys WILLIAMS Middlesbrough FC ENGLAND - ||||| MARK Viduka's may have one last chance to rescue his Socceroo career after he was not named in a 30-man squad for next month's World Cup qualifiers. Viduka's exclusion is the major talking point of a squad for matches against against Qatar, Bahrain and Japan which includes bolters Rhys Williams and Brisbane product Dario Vidosic. Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has given Viduka – part of a Newcastle United team relegated from the English Premier League – until the end of the week to decide if he wants to be included in Australia's plans. "He has this week to make up his mind," Verbeek said. "I have one spot open and that's the spot for him. It's up to him. "We all know his situation at Newcastle, a very tough year, a long time injured, missed a lot of games, played the final five or six games in a row, relegated, end of contract and not the youngest player anymore, so I think he has enough things on his mind. "If he makes the decision not to play anymore, then we have to respect his decision." Former Roar attacker Vidosic has been rewarded for his good with form German second division club Nurnberg, while defender Williams recently declared his desire to play for the Socceroos after previously representing the Welsh youth team. Nick Carle, Brad Jones, Adrian Madaschi, Mark Milligan, Matthew Spiranovic and Shane Steffanuto are all back in selection favour. The squad also includes big guns Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill, Mark Schwarzer and Mark Bresciano. Australia needs just one point from the three matches next month to qualify for next year's World Cup in South AfricaViduka's exclusion against Qatar, Bahrain and Japan is the major talking point of a squad that includes bolters Rhys Williams and Brisbane product Dario Vidosic. Verbeek made several interesting selections including 20-year-old Middlesbrough defender Rhys Williams, who recently chose to commit to Australia over Wales. Williams made 17 appearances on loan this season for Burnley, who won promotion to the English Premier League this morning, through he was ineligible for the playoffs. Verbeek also called up former Queensland Roar midfielder Dario Vidosic, following his impressive form with German club Nuremburg. Former A-League player of the year Nick Carle earned his first call-up under Verbeek following a strong season with Crystal Palace. The squad also included Middlesbrough goalkeeper Brad Jones, Italian based-defender Adrian Madaschi and Asian-based defenders Mark Milligan and Jade North. Midfielder Jason Culina, who recently joined Gold Coast, was the only A-League player in the squad with defender Craig Moore unavailable due to injury. Australia needs just one point from the three matches to qualify for next year's World Cup in South Africa. Socceroos squad: Mark Bresciano (Palermo) Jacob Burns (Unirea Valahorum) Tim Cahill (Everton) Nick Carle (Crystal Palace) David Carney (Sheffield United) Scott Chipperfield (Basel) Chris Coyne (Colchester United) Jason Culina (Gold Coast United) Bruce Djite (Genclerbirligi) Richard Garcia (Hull City) Vincenzo Grella (Blackburn Rovers) Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar) Mile Jedinak (Genclerbirligi) Brad Jones (Middlesbrough) Josh Kennedy (Karlsruher) Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) Adrian Madaschi (Portogruaro-Summaga) Scott McDonald (Celtic) Mark Milligan (Shanghai Shenhua) Lucas Neill (West Ham) Jade North (Incheon United) Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor) Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) Matthew Spiranovic (Nurnberg) Shane Stefanutto (Lyn Oslo) Mile Sterjovski (Derby County) Carl Valeri (Grosseto) Dario Vidosic (Nurnberg) Luke Wilkshire (Dinamo Moscow) Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough). | Tim Cahill Mark Schartzer Mark Bresciano Lucus Neill Australian national football coach Pim Verbeek has named the Socceroos team to participate in the teams remaining qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All but one of the squad play in foreign leagues. Jason Čulina, who has signed with Gold Coast United FC, is the exception. Rhys Williams and Dario Vidosic were called up to the national team for the first time after impressing for their respective clubs. Williams has previously represented the Wales national under-21 football team on ten occasions but recently declared his desire to be selected in the Australian senior side. Long-time national team member Mark Viduka was left out of the 30-man squad. Coach Verbeek gave Viduka a week to decide whether he wants to be part of Australia's plans in the future. "He has this week to make up his mind," Verbeek said. "I have one spot open and that's the spot for him. It's up to him. We all know his situation at Newcastle, a very tough year, a long time injured, missed a lot of games, played the final five or six games in a row, relegated, end of contract and not the youngest player anymore, so I think he has enough things on his mind. If he makes the decision not to play anymore, then we have to respect his decision." Nick Carle, Brad Jones, Adrian Madaschi, Mark Milligan, Matthew Spiranovic and Shane Steffanuto, who have been out of the side for varying lengths of time, all return for the qualifiers. Australia currently head Group A in round four of Asian Football Confederation qualifying. They need to one point (a draw) from their remaining three games to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. |
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) The NFL folded its development league in Europe after 16 years on Friday, calling the decision a sound business move that will allow for a stronger international focus on regular-season games outside the United States. The announcement came less than a week after the Hamburg Sea Devils beat the Frankfurt Galaxy 37-28 in the World Bowl championship in Frankfurt before a crowd of 48,125. Five of the league's six teams are in Germany, with the other in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A statement on the German-language edition of the NFL's website said the NFL decided to concentrate its "strategies and resources" on regular-season games outside the United States in an effort to reach as many people as possible. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell thanked the fans for their support but said it was time to develop a new international strategy, terming the move to fold NFL Europa the "best business decision." The league reportedly was losing about $30 million a season. "From now on we will focus on regular-season games and use new technologies to make NFL more popular worldwide," he said. NFL team owners decided in October to play up to two regular-season games outside the United States. The first such game is Oct. 28 in London between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants. The league said it is looking toward other regular-season games in Germany, Mexico and Canada, with Germany a strong candidate for 2008. "NFL Europa has created thousands of passionate fans who have supported that league and our sport for many years," said Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International. "And we look forward to building on this foundation as we begin this new phase of our international development." The league began in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams from the United States and Europe, spreading from Scotland to Spain. After closing for two seasons in 1993 and 1994, the league returned with six European teams and retained the same format until the end. The league was used by NFL teams to test young talent and produced players such as quarterback Kurt Warner, who led the St. Louis Rams to the 2000 Super Bowl championship and won two NFL Most Valuable Player awards; Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme; and star Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri. NFL Europa managing director Uwe Bergheim said the league had succeeded in establishing a fan base for football in important European markets. "Despite the great support of fans, business partners and the cities where we were active, we decided that it was time to change the strategy," Bergheim said. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map. ||||| June 28 (Bloomberg) -- The National Football League today closed its development league in Europe after 16 years, changing its international strategy that now includes playing NFL regular-season games in other countries. The NFL will shutter NFL Europa, which played its World Bowl title game in Frankfurt, Germany, last week, to focus on ``presenting the NFL to the widest possible global audience, including broader media visibility and the staging of international regular-season games.'' the league said in a news release. NFL Europa lost about $400 million since it began operating under the name World League of America Football in 1991, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported citing Uwe Begehim, the league's managing director. ``We will continue to build our international fan base by taking advantage of technology and customized digital media that make the NFL more accessible on a global scale than ever before and through the regular-season game experience,'' said Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International, in the release. The league, which switched to its current format in 1995, played its season from April to June. It produced players such as quarterback Kurt Warner, who led the St. Louis Rams to the 2000 Super Bowl championship and won two NFL Most Valuable Player awards; Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme; and Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, a two-time Pro Bowl pick. All-European Format NFL Europa played its first season in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams located in North America and Europe. After a two-year hiatus in 1993 and 1994, the league returned with a six-team all-European format in London, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Scotland and Dusseldorf. The league last had teams in Amsterdam, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin. NFL Europa averaged a record 20,024 fans a game this season, up from the previous all-time high of 18,965 in 2005, according to the NFL. Its games were broadcast on cable television in the U.S. on the league-owned NFL Network. Carl Peterson, president of the Kansas City Chiefs, said in an interview last week that the European league helped teams develop players and gave the U.S.'s most-watched sport an international presence. ``We invest in a lot of other things and spend a lot of other money on some things that are not directly related to football,'' Peterson said. ``This is football.'' Recent Chiefs who spent time in Europe include quarterback Damon Huard and offensive lineman Brian Waters, a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Talent Development Oliver Luck, 47, the back-up to Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon from 1983-1986, and the European league's president from 1995 to 1999, said that talent development wasn't the intention when the league was formed. ``Originally, the goal was to give Europeans a chance to watch a good level of football live, with the hope that the media would pick up the game and the fans and the business community would be won over,'' said Luck, now president of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo. ``When we started, it was truly ground zero,'' he said. ``Most folks had never seen a game. And if you threw a football to a European kid, he'd either try to kick it with his feet or throw it underhand like a rugby ball.'' Luck said that while the NFL was better at marketing, licensing, merchandising and hospitality than Europeans, they struggled with simple cultural differences. ``We spent a lot of time discussing what time to start the games,'' said Luck. ``In Barcelona, young folks eat at 10 p.m. and stay out until 4 and 5 in the morning. Meanwhile, the Germans keep a schedule similar to people in the U.S.'' To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kuriloff in New York at akuriloff@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net. | NFL Europa logo The NFL has announced that its "farmer-league" NFL Europa has been discontinued after 15 seasons. Instead, the NFL will change "the focus of its international business strategy to presenting the NFL to the widest possible global audience, including broader media visibility and the staging of international regular-season games." "The time is right to re-focus the NFL's strategy on initiatives with global impact, including worldwide media coverage of our sport and the staging of live regular-season NFL games,'" said Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International, to NFL.com The NFL is focusing on the international market now. In October, the owners passed a resolution to set up to two regular-season games in international stadiums per year. The first of these games will be played at Wembley Stadium in London on October 28 when the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants meet. In 2006, NFL Europa changed its name from NFL Europe to NFL Europa to focus more on the German and Dutch markets. When NFL Europa shut down, it had six teams based in Holland and Germany. The Hamburg Sea Devils won the last World Bowl (number 15) last Saturday. Two of the players that were developed in NFL Europa were Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner and Indianapolis Colts K Adam Vinatieri. |
Diez estudiantes detenidos durante la toma del liceo María Luisa Bombal de Rancagua denunciaron que tras ser apresados personal de Carabineros los obligó a desnudarse en la comisaría. La movilización estudiantil se produjo para exigir que se reconstruya su establecimiento educacional, que sufrió daños estructurales en el terremoto de 2010 y no ha sido reparado. La dirigenta Jennifer Olivares relató que "a las ocho llegó el director con carabineros, los que no iniciaron diálogo. Fue muy rápido. No dieron la opción de salir voluntariamente. Al llegar a la comisaría nos desnudaron. Es un poco ilógico que nos desnuden habiendo menores de edad y no siendo delincuentes, sino estudiantes que estábamos en una toma que había sido pacífica". El coronel de Carabineros Iván Guajardo reconoció que se les pidió a los jóvenes que se sacaran la ropa en el cuartel: "El protocolo de Carabineros indica que todo detenido que ingrese en nuestro cuartel debe ser revisado minuciosamente. No es que se realice un retiro de las vestimentas completas, pero sí parcialmente. Quedan en ropa interior, tanto mayores como menores de edad". La policía afirmó que los detenidos serán pasados a la Fiscalía por robo en lugar no habitado, pues habrían sustraído alimentos del liceo durante la ocupación. ||||| $ El Internado Nacional Barros Arana (Inba) se sumó a las tomas y elevó a ocho el número de establecimientos movilizados en Santiago. Los colegios y liceos en toma son: Barros Borgoño, Pedro Aguirre, Abdón Cifuentes, Darío Salas, Confederación Suiza, Liceo Cervantes, el Industrial de San Fernando y el liceo industria Pedro Aguirre Cerda de Temuco. Mientras lo que han sido desalojados son el Insuco 2, el A-70, el Arturo Alessandri, el Betsabé Hormazábal y los liceos Pablo Neruda de Temuco, Francisco Frías Valenzuela y el Alcántara Cordillera. ||||| “La idea es poder informar a la comunidad sobre su estado y poder conseguir apoyo, donadores de sangre y ayuda económica", explicó la dirigente Catalina Guerman. Tras los últimos acontecimientos ocurridos en la comuna de San Fernando, en relación al estudiante Guillermo Horta, presidente del Centro de Alumnos del Liceo Industrial de la capital de Colchagua, quien fuera apuñalado por otro menor, la Agrupación Comunal de Estudiantes Secundarios y la Coordinadora Nacional de Liceos Técnicos Profesionales convocaron para hoy a una marcha pacífica, en apoyo al joven, quien se encuentra fuera de riesgo vital. Según la dirigente estudiantil de la Agrupación Comunal de Estudiantes Secundarios, Catalina Guerman, esta “marcha se convoca para el día de hoy a las 17:30, en apoyo al estudiante y presidente del Centro de Alumnos del Liceo Industrial de San Fernando, Guillermo Horta, así como también en adhesión a la convocatoria nacional de Coordinadora Nacional de Estudiantes Secundarios (Conec)”. A lo que agregó que “ésta es una convocatoria hecha por dirigentes estudiantiles. Sabemos que hay otra agrupación que llamó a una marcha para el mediodía, pero en esa no estamos participando, ellos no son estudiantes y queremos aclarar eso, para que no haya malos entendidos. Como estudiantes secundarios sólo organizamos la que se realizará durante la tarde, y esperamos que todos los estudiantes que quieran sumarse, lleguen a la plaza de Los Héroes”. “La idea es poder informar a la comunidad sobre el estado del estudiante de San Fernando y poder conseguir apoyo, donadores de sangre y ayuda económica para él, ya que tendrá que someterse a tratamientos, lo que implicará diversos gastos. Esperamos que se pueda conseguir ayuda, ya que la necesitará para poder salir adelante luego del ataque que sufrió”, puntualizó la dirigente estudiantil. En relación a la situación que se vive en el Liceo Industrial de San Fernando, Catalina Guerman añadió que “el establecimiento sigue en toma, a la espera de que el presidente del Centro de Alumnos se recupere para ver de qué manera continuar”. Por su parte, el vocero de la Coordinadora Nacional de los Liceos Técnicos, Robinson Storey, sostuvo que “nuestra idea es poder comenzar a movilizarnos, cuando se convoquen a marchas nacionales. Estamos sacando un compendio de propuestas que se entregarán en el Ministerio de Educación, ya que no hemos recibido respuestas concretas y que reafirmen las propuestas estudiantiles. Sólo han dado propuestas paliativas o parches, que simplemente no da una solución a las demandas que hemos presentado”. A esto “se suma la reunión que tuvimos con el Consejo de Rectores y la mesa ejecutiva de la coordinadora nacional para ver el tema del ranking, el cual creemos que es otra medida paliativa que avala un sistema que está podrido, como es la PSU, prueba que consideramos que es desigual y que no mide la realidad sobre las capacidades de los estudiantes”. Por último, Storey explicó que “a nivel nacional nos estamos reuniendo en distintas regiones, es así como ahora en agosto se hará una asamblea nacional en Santiago, en donde estaremos presentes como región, exponiendo las demandas locales”. ||||| Con diagnóstico de gravedad permanece en la UCI del Hospital Regional de Rancagua, el presidente del Centro de Alumnos del Liceo Industrial de San Fernando, Guillermo Ignacio Horta Farías luego de ser apuñalado anoche en un enfrentamiento entre los estudiantes del establecimiento y jóvenes desconocidos que quebraron vidrios y lanzaron piedra contra el recinto. Así lo confirmó el Dr. Carlos Ureta director (s) hospital Rancagua, quién explicó que el joven "tuvo una herida cortopunzante en el glúteo y sufrió daño en los vasos sanguíneos muy importantes, con una fuerte hemorragia". Ureta señaló que Guillermo está estable dentro de su gravedad, pero no descartó consecuencia debido a la cantidad de sangre que perdió. El joven ingresó al recinto hospitalario a las 3 de la madrugada y segçun Ureta, podría tener secuelas como compromiso motor y sensibilidad en espalda, gluteos o piernas, aunque la prioridad es que evolucione satisfactoriamente. Según la profesora del Liceo María Ferrada, los alumnos le señalaron que Carabineros llegó a los enfrentamientos a eso de las 22 horas, pero se retiro sin detener a ninguna persona. A los minutos después, los manifestantes regresaron y se enfrentaron con los estudiantes provocando las heridas en el joven de 18 años, que cursa 4to medio. En tanto, los estudiantes mantienen la toma del recinto y desde el establecimiento hicieron un llamado a dadores de sangre para el estudiante. | Liceo María Luisa Bombal of Rancagua. , Chile — Ten students from the of Rancagua, O'Higgins Region were detained by the local police yesterday. Following their release, the students told the media they were required to remove their clothes at the police station. The students, seven men and three women, took control of the building of the school early yesterday morning in response to the long delay in re-construction of the ''liceo'', following the earthquake of 2010. At around 08:00 local time (1200 ), Leonardo Fuentes, general secretary of the Municipal Educational Corporation of Rancagua, authorized the police to clear out the students. Pedro Larraín in October 2011. Student leader Jennifer Olivares told ''Diario VI Región'' the police upon their arrival at the police station, Comisaría de Rancagua, something which Lieutenant Colonel of Carabineros Iván Guajardo did not deny. However, police stated the students will be charged by the public prosecutor with robbing food from the school. , said Olivares. Ignacio Muñoz, former leader of the occupation of the Liceo María Luisa Bombal, told ''El Rancahuaso'' . Education Regional Secretary (''Seremi de Educación'') Pedro Larraín said the government such actions, . The Region of Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins was one of the first in 2012 to resuscitate the previous year's student protests, more specifically at the , which was taken control by the students in late July, and which as of yesterday was still taken. The students of the Liceo Industrial were particularly affected, after the president of the school's Guillermo Horta Farías was stabbed outside the educational establishment on July 31; his fellow schoolmates subsequently organized a march in his honour in Rancagua, on August 8. As of August 11, eight high schools have been taken control of by students, in response to the government's failure to satisfy the secondary and university students' requests. |
Baby born after rare ovarian pregnancy SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A woman in a northern Australian city gave birth to a healthy baby girl after a rare full-term ectopic pregnancy, a hospital official said Friday. Meera Thangarajah, 34, had no symptoms or complications during her pregnancy, so doctors performing a routine Caesarean section Thursday were shocked to find that the baby had developed in the ovary rather than the uterus. An ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when a fertilized egg develops outside of the uterus, usually miscarries or is terminated by doctors because of the threat it can cause to the mother. Baby Durga weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and both she and her mother are healthy, said Robyn Cahill, general manager of the Darwin Private Hospital. "We're calling it a miracle," Cahill told The Associated Press. The baby's father, Ravi Thangarajah, told Nine Network television that doctors had told him, "You're one of the luckiest men in the world at the moment." But Cahill said the mother had no complications or symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, and it did not show up on a scan halfway through the pregnancy. She said only 1 in 40,000 fertilizations implant in the ovary, and it is unheard of that one of those fetuses grow to full term, generally 37 weeks. Durga was born at 38 weeks. "It is extremely rare," said Mark Erian, a specialist in high-risk obstetrics at the University of Queensland. "I have never seen a case that progresses until fetal viability. She was absolutely lucky to have the pregnancy progress." ||||| THE proud father of a miracle baby born in Darwin has described his wife's pregnancy as a time bomb. Durga Thangarajah is the only child in Australia -- and possibly the world -- to survive a full-term ovarian pregnancy. But the healthy 2.8kg bundle was yesterday oblivious to all the fuss caused by her remarkable entry into the world at 8.47am Thursday. "This form of pregnancy is rare enough, but to have it full-term is unheard of," said obstetrician Andrew Miller, from Darwin Private Hospital. "I have never come across it in any hospital . . . "It truly is a miracle she got a living baby out of it." Ovarian pregnancies are the rarest form of ectopic pregnancies and occur when the egg fails to travel down the fallopian tube and into the uterus. Instead, the fetus fertilises inside the ovary itself. Midwife Dee Keogh said the operating room was astonished when 34-year-old Meera Thangarajah was cut open to deliver her second child during a routine caesarean section at 38 weeks. "We could see the baby straight away," she said. "Normally the baby is inside the uterus (but) we could see the baby clearly, its hair, all its features. I think everybody just thought wow -- she is one lucky lady." Ovarian pregnancies affect one in every 40,000 pregnancies and are a life-threatening complication. Such pregnancies are usually terminated before 10 weeks. Ms Keogh said most expectant mothers suffering from the condition experienced pain or bleeding. Ravi Thangarajah, 40, was all smiles as he spoke about his new daughter Durga, which means goddess in Hindu. "The doctor and the paediatrician came in and told me it was like a miracle baby -- you're one of the luckiest men in the world at the moment," he said. "When you look at all the odds against us . . . I work for Sportingbet Australia and people reckon it's all about the odds. I tell you we beat all the odds!" Mr Thangarajah said he had to "go to Google" to find out about the condition. "It's slowly sinking in for me what happened. They keep telling me how risky it was for the mother. We didn't know it was this time bomb," he said. "It could have been a disaster." AAP ||||| Healthy baby Durga was born at 38 weeks weighing 6lb 3oz A woman in Australia has given birth to a healthy baby girl after a rare full-term ectopic pregnancy. Against all odds, baby Durga survived despite developing in her mother's ovary instead of her uterus. Her mother Meera Thangarajah, 34, had shown no signs of abnormality and doctors only realised when they performed a Caesarean section. Most ectopic pregnancies end in miscarriage or are terminated early because of the risk to the mother. With an ectopic pregnancy, the embryo can rupture the fallopian tube, leading to massive internal bleeding - and possibly death - for the mother. Just 1-2% of all pregnancies are ectopic, and in 95% of those cases the egg is fertilised in the fallopian tubes on its way to the uterus. In 0.5% of cases, including this one, the baby grows inside the ovary itself. Pre-natal scan Mrs Thangarajah gave birth on Thursday at the Darwin Private Hospital in Australia's Northern Territory. General manager Robyn Cahill told the Associated Press news agency that mother and baby were both doing well. There is a great risk in such a pregnancy of bleeding Dr Maggie Blott Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Q&A;: Ectopic pregnancy Normally, a woman with an ectopic pregnancy would present with severe pain and bleeding in the first few weeks after conception. But Ms Cahill said Mrs Thangarajah had experienced no symptoms, and the abnormality did not show up on a pre-natal scan. She said only 1 in 40,000 fertilisations implant in the ovary, and it was unheard of for one of those foetuses grow to full term. But despite those statistics, Durga - meaning Goddess - was born at 38 weeks weighing 6lb 3oz (2.8 kg). "We're calling it a miracle," Ms Cahill said. Risk of bleeding The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the odds of survival in such a pregnancy were "no more than one in a million". Spokeswoman Dr Maggie Blott said: "One that goes to produce a live healthy baby is very unusual. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. "There is a great risk in such a pregnancy of bleeding. "And had it been picked up at six to eight weeks, it would have been removed because of the risk to the mother. "This type of pregnancy is very rare indeed." Obstetrician Dr Andrew Miller, who delivered Durga, told AFP news agency that he had not realised there was a problem until he saw the ovary stretched almost to breaking point. "And you can't believe that the baby, just by normal movement, wouldn't have caused the sac [inside the ovary] to rupture," he said. "It was so paper thin you could see the baby's hair." The baby's father, Ravi, told local television that doctors had told him: "You're one of the luckiest men in the world at the moment." E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| Baby defies the odds to survive ectopic birth Posted Updated Doctors are stunned at the birth of what they are calling a miracle baby in the Northern Territory. Dhurga Thangarajah is one of very few, if any, to survive an ovarian - or ectopic - pregnancy. Ovarian pregnancies are a one in 40,000 occurence and are usually terminated before 10 weeks. But what could have been a tragedy turned into a dream come true for the baby's parents. When the baby's mother, Meera, had an ultrasound more than half-way through her pregnancy the complication was not picked up. The severity of the case was only realised when she went for a caesarean at the Royal Darwin Hospital this morning. Dhurga means goddess in Hindu, a name her father says suits their new arrival. | Doctors performing a Caesarian delivery in a Darwin, Australia hospital were stunned to discover a rare ovarian ectopic pregnancy. According to Robin Cahill, general manager of the Darwin Private Hospital, ovarian pregnancies occur in only 1 in every 40,000 fertilisations. Darwin Private Hospital An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilised egg implants in a woman's body in a location other than the uterus. The most common place for an ectopic pregnancy to occur is the Fallopian tubes, accounting for roughly 95% of all ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies are generally discovered early, especially as they tend to cause bleeding in the mother, and tend to miscarry or be terminated due to the health risks they pose. The mother, Meera Thangarajah, however, suffered no complications during her pregnancy, and an ultrasound performed mid-way through the pregnancy did not discover the complication. The hospital's obstetrician Andrew Miller says that having an ovarian pregnancy survive to full-term is "unheard of". The British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists agrees, with a representative saying the odds of a successful ovarian pregnancy are "no more than one in a million", taking into account both the difficulty of bringing such a pregnancy to term and the tendency for the pregnancy to be terminated when it is discovered early. The baby, a girl, was named Durga, a Hindu name meaning "goddess", and weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces (2.8 kg). The father, Ravi Thangarajah, says that doctors told him he was "one of the luckiest men in the world". |
Biographical sketch My name is Adrianne Wadewitz. Currently I am a Mellon Digital Scholarship Fellow at Occidental College. In 2011, received a PhD from Indiana University in English literature. My dissertation was on the self and sensibility in eighteenth-century British children's literature. You can find me on the web here. Partially because of my work on Wikipedia, the digital humanities has become an interest of mine and I have presented academic papers and published on how to integrate Wikipedia into the classroom. I am involved in the Wikipedia Education program and am on the Wiki Education Foundation Board of Directors. I have worked on various Wikimedia education initiatives and written a brochure on how to use Wikipedia in the classroom. My courses on Wikipedia: Apart from my interest in literature and history (which are integrally tied together for me), some of my hobbies include playing classical piano, reading popular science books, rock climbing, and hiking. Conflict of interest statement I am employed by Occidental College and am currently working on Sociological Images, an article about a blog maintained by a faculty member at that institution. I myself have no connection to the blog but do know the faculty member. Alternate account used for outreach events: User:Queeralice Wikium vitae I made my first edit to Wikipedia on 18 July 2004. In the past, I have reviewed at Featured article candidates, Peer Review and Good article nominations. I particularly enjoy reviewing literature articles, since that is my area of expertise, and science articles to ensure their accessibility to the general public. If you would like me to review your article, please leave a message on my talk page and I will give it a careful and thoughtful review. I will also respond to specific copy editing requests. Currently, I am engaged in outreach work, encouraging professors to contribute to and teach with Wikipedia. I worked in the Public Policy Initiative as a Campus Ambassador to further these goals and am now part of the United States Education Program. I would specifically like to thank Kaldari who helped initiate a wiki-newbie on Mary Wollstonecraft and encouraged me to take it to FAC. I would also like to thank the following editors for their insightful contributions to projects I have worked on: Opabinia regalis, lquilter, qp10qp, WillowW, scribblingwoman, AnonEMouse, Markus Poessel, Outriggr, Scartol, Roger Davies, Ruhrfisch, Maria, Moni3, Brianboulton, Xover, Simmaren, Ealdgyth, Elcobbola, Laser brain, Shoemaker's Holiday, Durova, Cirt, and Casliber. I would also like to thank Jeeny who polished up many images for me. I wish that there were more Wikipedia editors such as these and that I could work with them more often. DYK contributions that I have made Pages that I've created Awards that have been kindly bestowed upon me WP:WBFAN ||||| Attachment Size Website Expanding Cyber Mar 23 2006.ppt 3.89 MB A consortium of humanists, artists, scientists, social scientists and engineers from universities and other civic institutions across the U.S. and internationally, HASTAC ("Haystack") is committed to new forms of collaboration across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology.Since 2003, we have been developing tools for multimedia archiving and social interaction, gaming environments for teaching, innovative educational programs in information science and information studies, virtual museums, and other digital projects. HASTAC leaders have served as consultants to U.S. and international organizations and governments on grid computing and cyberinfrastructure.Our aim is to promote expansive models for thinking, teaching, and research. To view a presentation on HASTAC, please click on the presentation attached. ||||| Σύμφωνα με έρευνα της ίδιας της Wikipedia οι άνδρες συνεργάτες της αποτελούν το 91% του συνόλου, καταδεικνύοντας μια άμεση ανάγκη για περισσότερες γυναίκες συντάκτες. Η Wikipedia είναι μια από τις δέκα πιο δημοφιλείς ιστοσελίδες παγκοσμίως με 4,4 εκατ. δημοσιευμένα άρθρα ως τώρα. Όπως δήλωσε το μέλος του διοικητικού συμβουλίου Adrianne Wadepitz και μετέδωσε το Πρώτο Θέμα, το ίδρυμα θα προσπαθήσει να προσελκύσει και γυναίκες συντάκτες επειδή με το σημερινό του καθεστώς ίσως κάποια θέματα που θεωρούνται πιο γυναικεία να μη προβάλλονται όπως θα έπρεπε. Σύμφωνα με την ίδια, ένα χαρακτηριστικό παράδειγμα που δείχνει την επιρροή των ανδρών στη σελίδα, είναι οι πολύ περισσότερες σελίδες που αφιερώνονται σε γυναίκες ηθοποιούς παρά σε γυναίκες με δυνατή προσωπικότητα και προσφορά. Και ο Andrew Li, συντάκτης στη Wikipedia, συμφωνεί ότι αν αυξηθεί ο αριθμός των γυναικών συντακτών στην σελίδα θα εμπλουτιστούν τα περιεχόμενα θεμάτων που σχετίζονται με τις γυναίκες. ||||| This summer I went hiking several times in California's Eastern Sierra. Each time I went I counted the number of male to female hikers and ended up with a 5:1 ratio. This reflects many women's experience of the wilderness and outdoor sports such as rock climbing or mountaineering. These are male-dominated arenas. One of the reasons for that is because these activities are advertised to women as an escape from their stressful lives, not as a sport meant to challenge their physical ability. Outdoors equipment marketed towards women, then, consistently focuses on comfort and style, in contrast to men's marketing. Moreover, much of the gear that is produced for women assumes less of a desire to do activities that are as physically demanding as men -- the gear is often less hardy and more decorative. The assumptions behind these marketing strategies reinforce stereotypical ideas of gender: that women are physically weak, that women are fascinated by fashion, that there is one specific female body type, and that women are "soft." Exhibit #1: Women's backpacks Osprey is generally acknowledged as the maker of the best backpacks for hiking and backpacking. Their top-of-the-line backpack for long multi-day backpack trips for men, the Xenith, can hold 105 L and between 60-80 lbs. The women's pack, the Xena, on the other hand, can hold 85 L and between 50-70 lbs. This is because the women's pack is shorter. Osprey is betting that most women have a shorter torso and thus need a shorter pack. While this might be true for some women, they could attempt to engineer another type of pack that would allow women to carry the same poundage as men. Moreover, it is unclear why these packs are labeled "men's and women's." Plenty of women have longer torsos and men shorter ones. And, indeed, on backpacking forums on the internet, you constantly see stories of people buying gear of the "wrong sex" so that it actually fits. Exhibit #2: Choose your sex! Many hikers and backpackers buy gear online and oftentimes the structure of the websites of the major companies who sell gear reveals the companies' assumptions about the interests of their consumers. Some, such as Arc'teryx, open their websites with gender distinctions. One must choose men's or women's products immediately upon going to their site. Other companies, such as REI, open their site with the opportunity to choose an activity, such as hiking, climbing, cycling, running, etc. or sex category, which is better. By so dividing their products, Arc'teryx is making it harder for those who need to buy gear from the "wrong" sex or to market unisex gear while REI is making consumers feel part of a larger community of climbers or backpackers or hikers. Exhibit #3: Playful gear The marketing of backpacking gear is itself highly gendered, with women's gear being presented as comfortable and stylish. Oddly, it is not marketed with an eye towards serious wilderness excursions. Take, for example, the Yumalina pant manufactured by Mountain Hardwear. The men's version is described as "Durable softshell seriously protects on the outside, while lightweight fleece on the inside keeps you warm on those chilly hikes" while the women's version is described as "Serious on the outside and soft on fuzzy on the inside. Perfect for work or play during the winter." The women's pant is thus not seen as for someone who is serious about backpacking. Exhibit #4: Decorative, sexy climbing The naming and color palette of much women's gear also reflects the idea in the backpacking industry that women needed to be treated delicately. Black Diamond, which manufactures popular rock climbing harnesses, has named their women's harnesses "Primrose," "Siren," "Aura," and "Lotus," emphasizing the stereotypical connection between women and flowers and sexuality. Women are connected to passive agents. The harnesses themselves are typically in pastel colors as well. This is in contrast to the men's harnesses, which are named "Chaos," "Focus," "Flight," and "Momentum," which are strikingly active words in comparison and are designed in bright, bold colors. As Brendan Leonard points out in his post, Girly Girls and Manly Men, "No company feels like they have to do anything special to men's gear, or 'masculinize it' it. Yoga is arguably maybe the most feminine (or just female-dominated) of any active pursuit, but you don't see any companies making yoga mats with patterns on them that look like cascades of hammers or football helmets or beer mugs, to encourage men by saying, 'It's OK, dude. You can own one of these and still love Home Depot.'" Why do companies thus feel that women cannot be serious backpackers, hikers or climbers without feminized gear? Adrianne Wadewitz, PhD is a Mellon Digital Scholarship Postdoctoral Fellow at Occidental College specializing in emerging media from the 18th-century to the present. Peter James is an avid outdoor photographer and wilderness traveler. This piece first appeared on thesocietypages.org. Follow Peter James on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PBJamesPhoto Follow Adrianne Wadewitz, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/wadewitz | A video from 2012 where Wadewitz discusses the impact of Wikipedia News broke early this morning on Facebook that Adrianne Wadewitz died while rock climbing recently. Wadewitz was well known in the community for her activism drawing attention to the lack of female contributors on Wikipedia. She was also very involved in the Wiki Education Foundation, serving as a member of its board of directors. Wadewitz was one of the most visible women in the media on the under-representation of women amongst contributors to Wikipedia, talking to media organizations like the , the '''' and non-English publications like . Some estimates put female participation rates at around 10% of contributors and there is a body of academic work talking about systemic bias against topics featuring women on Wikipedia. She was involved in organizing several aimed at encouraging greater female participation and improving content about women, including Wikipedia Takes America: Los Angeles, FemTech Edit-a-thon, Wikipedia Loves Eagle Rock, Wikipedia Loves WeHo, and Feminists Engage Wikipedia. Wadewitz's own work to address systemic bias as an article contributor included improving English Wikipedia articles relating to women, including: * *'''' *'''' *'''' *'''' * * * * * * The funerary arrangement picture decorating the top of Wadewitz's Wikipedia talk page. She started contributing to English Wikipedia in July 2004. She had taught two classes on collaborative work on the project, and was involved with FemTechNet Wikistorming, an academic effort to encourage more women involved in academia to contribute to Wikipedia. In the past month, she had written several blog entries on , an online collaborative platform dedicated to changing the way people learn, about how to write about academics on Wikipedia. Fellow activist said in a public post on Facebook, "My heart hurts. Adrianne was a leading voice - and her legacy still is - in the work we have been doing to get more women and more diverse peoples contributing to Wikipedia. Two days ago she was quoted in the BBC, for godsake." Stierch went on to say, "A sarcastic, feminist, smart, brilliant, to the point delivery type of academic genius who held an honest love life for all to see and a life in LA that was becoming one she owned." At the time of her death, she was a Mellon Digital Scholarship Fellow at . In 2011, she earned her PhD from . Wikimedians are memorializing her on her Wikipedia talk page, which is adorned with a picture of a funerary arrangement of flowers. A notice at the top of the page invites condolences, which have been arriving in their dozens. "This is a crushing loss, for the Wikipedia community and the world. There was no one else like her." wrote one contributor. Another noted "Adrianne embodied brilliance, determination, and enthusiasm in everything she did." == Sources == * * (access date) * (access date) * * * |
Benet dominates Glenbard East in sectional final Add Glenbard East to the list of teams that Benet was not supposed to beat and has. The Redwings simply dominated the top-seeded Rams on Friday night while scoring an impressive 68-54 victory to claim the Class 4A Neuqua Valley Sectional championship. The victory is the Redwings 16th straight and gives the school its first sectional title since the 1982-83 season, which also happens to be the last time Benet advanced to the Class AA state tournament where it lost to Thornton in the quarterfinals. I think were finally starting to prove to people that we can play with the best of the best, said junior guard David Sobolewski, who finished with 32 points. Glenbard East came into this game at 27-1 and we took them out of everything they wanted to do. We won the game defensively. We just did a great job of getting low in our stances and buckling down to get the win. The Redwings (26-3) played their usual tough man-to-man defense and it gave the Rams (27-2) fits right from the start. Glenbard East, which had won 21 straight, led twice 3-0 and 7-5 other than those two instances the Redwings pretty much dominated. Benet led 12-7 after the first quarter and established control in the second quarter when fellow junior guard Matt Parisi and Sobolewski scored all of Benets 15 points, including a Sobolewski 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Redwings a 27-16 lead as they raced off the floor at intermission. Parisi was the only other Benet player in double figures with a season-high 19 points. He said Benets hot start shooting, making 10 of 14 shots in the first half, was all the Redwings needed. It was a great start for us that we shot the ball really well, Parisi said. We were extremely confident and we carried that momentum with us the whole game. Everyone in the gym waited for Glenbard East a team that averaged 70 points per game during the season to make a run, but it never materialized. Instead, the Redwings maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half. The closest the Rams came was 10 points. You have to give Benet a lot of credit defensively. They did a nice job, Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said. I just felt that they controlled the glass and I think that was the difference in the game. Benet held a 31-14 advantage in rebounding and held Glenbard East to 21 of 55 shooting (38 percent). The Redwings also checked Rams leading scorer Jon Hill by limiting him to two points. Hill entered averaging 17 points per game. Hill was stuck in foul trouble from the start, committing two fouls in the first quarter before fouling out with 6 minutes, 25 seconds remaining. When Hill, who stands 6 feet 3 inches, was on the floor, it was the much shorter Parisi, at 5-11, who hounded Hill all over the court. Parisi is one of the best defensive players in the Western suburbs, Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. Parisi also defended East Auroras Ryan Boatright in the sectional semifinal. The Redwings insisted that they didnt do anything special with their defense. There wasnt any magic formula, Benet forward Mike Runger said. We made them play to their weaknesses instead of letting them get comfortable doing what they want to do. Benet spent most of the second half breaking Glenbard Easts pressure or at the free-throw line. For the game, the Redwings made 25 of 34 free throws and shot 18 of 29 (62 percent) from the field, including 7 of 12 3-pointers. Benet advances to the Hinsdale Central Super-Sectional and will play Chicago Simeon at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. ||||| Blake Lantero,left, and Kevin Doyle of Benet are all smiles after their win in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley sectional final with Glenbard East Friday . Great start lifts Benet past Glenbard East Benet did so much right early in Friday night's game, the Redwings left nothing for Glenbard East to call its own. The third-seeded Redwings cruised to a 68-54 victory against Glenbard East at a soldout Class 4A Neuqua Valley sectional final in Naperville. The Redwings will meet Simeon in Tuesday night's Hinsdale Central supersectional. "I'm sure there were some little things here and there, but it was definitely a great start for us," Benet senior Mike Runger said. Those little things were turnovers, and Benet collected 19 for the game, including 5 on their first six possessions. Those early turnovers only delayed the Redwings instead of stopping them. Benet (26-3) took the lead for good on a Dave Sobolewski 3-pointer late in the first quarter. Another Sobolewski 3-pointer two seconds before the halftime buzzer made it 27-16. Benet made 71 percent of its first-half shots, holding the Rams (27-2) to 27 percent. "It was a great start," added Benet junior Matt Parisi. "We shot the ball really well. That just helped us throughout the whole game because when you come out with a great start you just feel so confident." "Looking back on the whole thing I just felt the first half we dug ourselves too big a hole," Glenbard East coach Scott Miller added. "We forced some shots and didn't get looks we normally do, and when we did get good looks we didn't knock them down." The Benet defense had a lot to do with that, holding Rams All-Area players Lee Skinner and Johnny Hill scoreless in the first half. "Those are two great players, and if you let them get comfortable they're going to score points, so we really wanted to attack them on defense and make them uncomfortable," Runger said. "Coach set us up with a great defensive game plan." "To hold that team to 16 points at half is a real nice half for us," Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said after holding the Rams to a season-low point total. "They're a very explosive basketball team. So I was pleased with our execution in the first half. But we knew they were going to come at us and give us a ton of pressure. We were a long, long way from being comfortable at halftime." The lead ranged between 10 and 18 points in the second half, as Glenbard East mounted a furious comeback attempt. Senior guard Jack Merrithey led the way, hitting four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but Benet always seemed to have an answer. "They hit some huge shots to cut it back down, but we ended up breaking their pressure and getting some easy baskets," Parisi said. "That helped us stabilize our lead." "We felt like we gave them a couple times too many good looks, but they just made more plays than we did tonight too," Miller added. "They made plays and we didn't, and that was the difference." Sobolewski led all scorers with 32 points to raise his postseason average to 29 a game. He also controlled the pace of the game from his point guard spot. "He's kind of got that 'wow' factor where anytime he's got the ball you know something can happen," Runger said of Sobolewski. "Especially at the end of games he does a great job of controlling the tempo and making sure the other team doesn't get any life." Parisi added 19 points and did yeoman's work defensively. Merrithey finished with 15 points to lead Glenbard East, with senior center Shawn Havenga adding 12, Zach Miller 11 and Skinner 10. "I don't know if we controlled the game, but we wanted to make them earn everything that they had," Heidkamp said. "The tempo was more to where we wanted it. I know they average 70 points a game. They're explosive and very talented and well-coached, and we knew if the game ever got to that tempo we would have difficulty." | Benet Academy Redwings logo Top-seeded Glenbard East High School was expected to win the Class 4A Neuqua Valley High School Sectional championship on Friday night. Yet with a lot of determination and a strong defense, the Benet Academy varsity boys basketball team defeated the Rams 68–54. The game marks Benet's sixteenth straight victory this season, giving the Redwings a 26–3 overall record. It is also their first sectional championship since the 1982–1983 season, which was the last time Benet advanced to the Class AA state tournament; there they lost to Thornton Township High School in the quarterfinals. The Redwings' aggressive man-to-man defense certainly kept the Rams out of their comfort zone amidst the crowds in the sold-out Neuqua gym. As Benet forward Mike Runger said, "We made them play to their weaknesses instead of letting them get comfortable doing what they want to do.” Benet scored 71 percent of its shots in the first half, while Glenbard East scored only 27. While the Rams led twice in the first few minutes (3–0 and 7–5), the Redwings led 12–7 after the first quarter. A three-point shot made by Dave Sobolewski two seconds before the buzzer gave Benet a 27–16 lead at the end of the first half. Glenbard East desperately attempted a comeback in the second half, but Benet maintained a lead ranging from 10 to 18 points. Rams guard made four three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but to no avail. As Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said, "...we knew they were going to come at us and give us a ton of pressure. We were a long, long way from being comfortable at halftime." Benet will play Simeon Career Academy from Chicago in the supersectionals at Hinsdale Central High School on Tuesday night. |
«Es tut uns schrecklich leid» Beim schwersten Seilbahnunglück in der Schweiz seit acht Jahren wurden auf der Kleinen Scheidegg ein Deutscher getötet und drei weitere Personen verletzt. Kurz vor dem Unglück wurde mehrmals der Windalarm der Anlage ausgelöst - dann sprang das Seil aus der Rolle. Der Sessellift auf der Kleinen Scheidegg. (Bilder: Andi Jacomet/ skiliftbilder.ch Infografik: Skigebiet der Kleinen Scheidegg Christoph Egger, Leiter Angebot Berg, links, und Walter Steuri, CEO der Jungfraubahnen an der Medienkonferenz. (Bild: Keystone) Wie wichtig ist diese Story? unwichtig sehr wichtig Kontext-Box Chronik: Todesfalle Sessellift Bei dem Skifahrer, der am Donnerstag bei einem Sesselliftunglück auf der Kleinen Scheidegg ums Leben gekommmen ist, handelt es sich um einen deutschen Staatsangehörigen. Auch die schwer verletzte Frau ist eine Deutsche. Die Frau erlitt mittlere bis schwere Rücken- und Lendenwirbelverletzungen, sie hat jedoch keine Lähmungserscheinungen, wie Christoph Egger, Leiter Angebot Berg der Jungfraubahnen, am Abend vor den Medien in Interlaken sagte. Die Frau befindet sich im Spital Interlaken und ist bei Bewusstsein. Bei den beiden leicht Verletzten handelt es sich um einen Mann und eine Frau aus Australien. Der Mann erlitt Prellungen und eine Hirnerschütterung, er konnte das Spital am Abend verlassen. Die Frau erlitt Rissquetschwunden und Knieverletzungen. Mehrere weitere Personen haben laut Egger «leichte Kratzer» erlitten. Die anderen Passagiere mussten sich am Nachmittag zunächst gedulden, bis sie gerettet wurden. Denn wegen des starken Föhns konnten die Helikopter keine Rettungsaktionen durchführen. Die Passagiere mussten von Bergführern abgeseilt werden. Mehrmaliger Windalarm Das Windmesssystem des «Fallboden»-Sesselifts hat vor dem Unglück beim kritischen Wert von 60 km/h «ein bis zweimal einen Windalarm angezeigt», sagte Christoph Egger, Leiter Angebot Bern bei den Jungfraubahnen, am Abend in Interlaken BE vor den Medien. Bereits vor dem Unfall jedoch sei der Lift mindestens einmal vorübergehend abgestellt worden, noch vor dem Unglück seien auch die Vorbereitungen zur Ausserbetriebsetzung des Liftes und zwei weiterer Anlagen angelaufen. «Zum Zeitpunkt des Unfalls um 12.50 Uhr war der Zugang zu den drei Liften Fallboden, Wixi und Lauberhorn bereits geschlossen.» Die Bahn werde nicht automatisch abgeschaltet, die Verantwortlichen seien angewiesen, darauf situativ zu reagieren. Sie müssen beachten, ob noch Passagiere in Sesseln unterwegs sind. Der letzte Alarm sei «wenige Minuten» vor dem Unglück erfolgt. «Das Seil entgleiste bei einem Masten, dann stürzten die Sessel ab», so Egger zum Unfallhergang. Er habe keine Zweifel, dass die internen Vorschriften eingehalten worden seien, sagte Egger. «Wir haben nicht auf Risiko gespielt». Der Bergwind sei ein sehr lokales Phänomen, die Firstbahn etwa sei bis Betriebschluss normal gefahren. Föhnspitzen mit 90 km/h Auf der Kleinen Scheidegg blies der Föhn am Donnerstag mit Geschwindigkeiten von bis zu 90 Kilometern pro Stunde. Diese Böenspitzen wurden laut Angaben von MeteoSchweiz bei der Messstation Eigergletscher gemessen. Noch sei unklar, ob der starke Wind für den Unfall überhaupt ursächlich sei, betonte Walter Steueri, Direktor der Jungfraubahnen. Allenfalls seien auch mehrere Faktoren gleichzeitig für das Unglück verantwortlich. Den Angehörigen des Unglücks drückte Steuri sein Beileid aus. «Es tut uns schrecklich leid, wir sind alle sehr betroffen.» Laut den Aussagen eines einheimischen Tourismusfachmanns ist der betroffene Sessellift besonders anfällig auf Windböen. Weil er nur 2,3 Meter pro Sekunde zurücklegt, entwickelt er eine kleinere Eigendynamik als andere Lifte, die bis fünf Meter pro Sekunde zurücklegen. Kantonspolizei und Untersuchungsrichter sind laut Angaben der Jungfraubahnen vor Ort. Beim Sessellift Fallboden handelt es sich um eine Anlage mit Zweiersesseln der Firma Garaventa AG. Der Lift befindet sich auf der Wengener Seite der Kleinen Scheidegg. Bei der Firma Garaventa AG war niemand für eine Stellungnahme zu erreichen. Bund schaltet sich ein Die Sesselbahn Fallboden war vom Bundesamt für Verkehr letztmals im Januar 2006 auf die Sicherheit hin überprüft worden. Gemäss der Sesselbahnverordnung des Bundes muss eine Sesselbahn so gebaut werden, dass sie einen vom Wind erzeugten Staudruck von 0,25 Kilonewton pro Quadratmeter aushalten kann, erklärt Gregor Saladin vom Bundesamt für Verkehr. Gesetzliche Grenzwerte, ab welchem Staudruck respektive ab welcher Windgeschwindigkeit Sesselbahnen abgestellt werden müssen, gebe es aber nicht. Jedes Unternehmen sei laut der Verordnung des Bundes für den sicheren Betrieb seiner Anlagen verantwortlich. In die Untersuchung des Unfalls hat sich laut Saladin aber bereits die Unfalluntersuchungsstelle für Bahnen und Schiffe des Bundes eingeschaltet. Auf Grund ihres Berichts wird das BAV dann entscheiden, ob allfällige Massnahmen notwendig sind. (thi/tif/sda) Starke Bilder Faszinierendes, Lustiges und Berührendes von Fotografen aus aller Welt. Bildstrecke DJ Bobos gesucht DJ Bobo wird 40 - das sind «40 Jahre of Dance». Sie können es bestimmt besser. Schicken Sie uns Ihre Fotos und Videos als DJ Bobo. Story Mobbing Haben Sie schon einmal Mobbing miterlebt? Gibt es Mobbing in Ihrem Umfeld? Machen Sie mit bei unserer grossen Umfrage. Umfrage UMFRAGE Sollten stark alkoholisierte Notfallpatienten die Arztrechnung aus der eigenen Tasche zahlen? Story Ja, da sie fahrlässig handeln. Nein, da die Schuld oft nicht klar ermittelbar ist. Kleinvieh Die wahren Herzensbrecher sind Tierbabys. Neu dabei: Ein Pandababy und ein Zebrafohlen. Bildstrecke Bubbles Die Fotoaussellung «Bubbles» zeigt in Bern Luftblasen, Sprechblasen, hohle Phrasen, Traumbilder und Utopien. Story Bildstrecke 20 Minuten Shop Tipp Odys MP3-Video-Player Odys X38 4GB für nur sFr. 169.00 Shopping Knut – die Tradition Schweizermeister im Christbaum-Weitwurf gesucht. Games Patrick Dempsey Der Frauenschwarm aus „Grey's Anatomy“ ist im Weihnachtsfilm „Verwünscht“zu sehen – Goodies zu gewinnen W'bewerb Simple Plan Exklusiv! Videopremiere „When I’m Gone” ab heute auf 20 Minuten TV. Video Bye Bye Plüsch! Am 18.01.2008 ans Abschlusskonzert der Berner Band Plüsch - 20 Minuten verlost die letzten 10 x 2 Tickets. W'bewerb Lauberhorn-Game 2008 Der Sieger reist ans Lauberhorn-Rennen inkl. Übernachtung im Luxus-Hotel & Heli-Flug. W'bewerb ||||| Archivbild des Sessellifts «Fallboden» auf der Kleinen Scheidegg. (Bild: PD) Archivbild des Sessellifts «Fallboden» auf der Kleinen Scheidegg. (Bild: PD) Toolbox Druckansicht Bei einem Unfall mit einer Sesselbahn im Skigebiet Kleine Scheidegg ist eine Person umgekommen. Drei weitere sind verletzt worden. Der Unfall ereignete sich um die Mittagszeit beim Sessellift «Fallboden». (sda) Beim Absturz mehrerer Sessel eines Sessellifts an der Kleinen Scheidegg ist am Donnerstag ein deutscher Wintersportler getötet worden. Drei weitere Passagiere aus Deutschland und Australien wurden verletzt. Zum Zeitpunkt des Unfalls blies starker Föhn. Das Unglück ereignete sich um 12.50 Uhr wegen einer Seilentgleisung beim Sessellift Fallboden, wie Christoph Egger, Leiter Angebot Berg bei den Jungfraubahnen, am Abend in Interlaken vor den Medien sagte. «Das Seil entgleiste bei einem Masten, dann stürzten die Sessel ab.» Ein deutscher Passagier starb noch auf der Unfallstelle. Eine Deutsche erlitt mittlere bis schwere Verletzungen an Rücken- und Lendenwirbeln. Eine Australierin und ein Australier wurden leicht verletzt. Der Mann erlitt Prellungen und eine Hirnerschütterung, die Frau Rissquetschwunden und Knieverletzungen. Weitere Passagiere bekamen leichte Kratzer ab. Föhnsturm im Oberland Innert anderthalb Stunden wurden laut Egger die übrigen Passagiere evakuiert. Wegen des starken Windes geschah dies nicht per Helikopter: Die Passagiere mussten von Bergführern abgeseilt werden. Zur Unglücksursache machten die Untersuchungsbehörden am Montag keine Angaben. Im Berner Oberland war zur Unglückszeit ein Föhnsturm im Gang. Gemäss Meteo Schweiz wurde bei einer Messstation auf dem Eigergletscher, etwas oberhalb der Unfallstelle, eine Windgeschwindigkeit von 90 km/h gemessen. Windalarm ausgelöst Egger räumte ein, das Windmesssystem des Fallboden-Sessellifts habe «Minuten vor dem Unglück» bei der kritischen Windgeschwindigkeit von 60 km/h «ein bis zweimal» einen Windalarm ausgelöst. Ein solcher Alarm sei jedoch nichts Aussergewöhnliches. Die Bahn werde nicht automatisch abgeschaltet, die Verantwortlichen seien angewiesen, darauf situativ zu reagieren. Unter anderem müsse darauf geachtet werden, ob sich noch Passagiere auf der Bahn befänden. «Nicht auf Risiko gespielt» Bereits vor dem Unfall sei der Lift jedoch mindestens einmal vorübergehend abgestellt worden, sagte Egger. Auch seien die Vorbereitungen zur Ausserbetriebsetzung des Liftes und zwei weiterer Anlagen zum Zeitpunkt des Unglücks angelaufen gewesen. «Der Zugang zu den drei Liften Fallboden, Wixi und Lauberhorn war bereits geschlossen.» Er habe keine Zweifel, dass die internen Vorschriften eingehalten worden seien, sagte Egger. «Wir haben nicht auf Risiko gespielt». Mehrere Ursachen denkbar Noch sei unklar, ob der starke Wind für den Unfall überhaupt ursächlich sei, betonte Walter Steuri, Direktor der Jungfraubahnen. Allenfalls seien auch mehrere Faktoren der Grund. Den Angehörigen drückte Steuri sein Beileid aus. «Es tut uns schrecklich leid, wir sind alle sehr betroffen.» Die Sesselbahn Fallboden war vom Bundesamt für Verkehr letztmals im Januar 2006 auf die Sicherheit hin überprüft worden, wie Sprecher Gregor Saladin sagte. Gesetz oder Verordnungen machten keine Vorschriften darüber, bei welcher Windgeschwindigkeit Sesselbahnen abgestellt werden müssten. Dafür verantwortlich seien die Betreiber. Immer wieder schwere Unfälle Sessellift- oder Gondelbahn-Unfälle mit tödlichem Ausgang hat es in den letzten Jahren in der Schweiz immer wieder gegeben. Meist waren unvorsichtiges Verhalten der Passagiere oder Pannen die Ursache. An Ostern 2007 ereigneten sich gleich drei Unfälle mit drei Verletzten Unfälle innerhalb von vier Tagen. Vergleichbar mit dem Unfall auf der Kleinen Scheidegg war ein Vorfall am Tag des Orkans «Lothar» vom 26. Dezember 1999 im Wallis. Zwei Touristen starben, als Sturmwinde einen Baum auf das Tragseil einer Seilbahn bei Crans gekippt hatten. Eine Kabine mit sechs Personen stürzte ab. ||||| On Thursday afternoon a chairlift accident occurred in the Kleine Scheidegg ski region. One person, a German national, was killed and three others injured. The cause of the accident is currently under investigation. Tha accident happened at 12.50 h on the Fallboden chairlift. According to initial knowledge, the cable slipped off the roller unit at a pylon. The cableway personnel began to evacuate guests 15 minutes later. The three injured persons were flown to hospital. The rescue was completed 90 minutes later, with a total of 75 persons evacuated. The cause of the accident is under investigation. The authorities will issue further information as soon as this is available. The wind conditions on Thursday were partly gusty. The Fallboden chairlift is fitted with a wind-measuring system. At 40 km/h a warning is signalled, at 60 km/h an alarm is given. The wind conditions were regionally very varied and for this reason it is impossible to determine the exact situation at Fallboden at the time of the accident. The Fallboden chairlift received its first concession in 1982. In 2002 the chairlift was converted from a three-seater to a two-seater chairlift. In 2002 the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) granted a concession valid to 31 October 2022. In 2005, the operational licence was also extended until 2022. Jungfrau Railways are profoundly shocked at the accident. We offer our deepest sympathy to the relatives of the person who was killed. We wish those injured a speedy recovery. | The cable derailed from a mast during a windstorm peaking 90km/h and fell down with the chairs. The accident happened in the Swiss ski resort of Kleine Scheidegg. At 12:50 pm on January 3, a ski chairlift ride cost a German skier's life and another German woman was left with serious injuries after the lift cable derailed from the mast sheaves in a windstorm. The derailed chairlift is the two-seater Fallboden lift at Kleine Scheidegg, next to the Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland. Two more Australian tourists were lightly injured. About 20 further people had to be evacuated from the stopped chairlift. Wind velocity peaking at 90km/h prevented a helicopter from rescuing the trapped passengers, complicating the rescue. According to 20min.ch, the lift was manufactured by Garaventa AG, a major Swiss ski lift company, now a part of an international group Doppelmayr/Garaventa. When contacted no one was available for comment. Shortly before the accident, a wind alarm was activated few times by a 60km/h wind. The operator decided to close the lift and waited for the lift to unload all passengers; at the moment of the catastrophe the bottom station of the lift was already closed, but 75 passengers were still on the lift. According to the Swiss law, every chair lift must be designed to withstand a lateral wind load of 250 newtons (approx. 25kg) per square meter. However there is no law limit at which wind speed or lateral loads the chair lifts have to be stopped. This safety aspect is left to the responsibility of the operator. The safety of the lift was checked by the Swiss Federal Office of Transport in January 2006. This chairlift accident is said to be the worst in Switzerland for the last 8 years. |
Photo: PA The 60-year-old writer invited television cameras to follow the "dark path" of his condition over the course of a year for a BBC Two documentary. Viewers will see him struggling to write his Discworld books and trying out experimental "cures" as he attempts to stave off the symptoms of the degenerative brain disease. Pratchett was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's in December 2007 and donated $1 million to fund research into the condition. In the two-part documentary, Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer's, the author says: "I've decided I'm not going to go down without a fight. For me, this really is a matter of life and death. This damn disease is not going to go away, it's only going to get worse. There is a war being fought out there and maybe it's time to go and join the troops." He suffers from posterial cortical atrophy (PCA), a rare form of the disease which affects the part of the brain that deals with vision. He has difficulty with spelling and reading, and it takes him several minutes to perform simple functions such as knotting a tie. In one uncomfortable scene, Pratchett is forced to halt a book reading when he loses the ability to read the words on the page. He acknowledges: "What may look like a nightmare from the outside is just one day at a time for me." Among the unproven treatments he tests out is a bizarre-looking helmet invented by a GP, Dr Gordon Dougal, who claims it can halt degeneration by firing infrared light at brain cells. Pratchett admits: "Like anyone who suffers from an incurable disease, I will grab hold of even the slightest promise of hope. There is a kind of empowerment in knowing that you are doing something." Throughout all, Pratchett maintains his black humour and is determined not to be seen as a victim. "I don't particularly want to be 'Terry Pratchett, the famous Alzheimer's sufferer'. Everywhere I go, people expect me to be some kind of a wreck and it's beginning to get on my nerves." :: Terry Pratchett - Living With Alzheimer's is on Wednesday at 9pm, BBC Two ||||| Sir Terry films Alzheimer's battle Sir Terry Pratchett will expose the perils of "snake oil peddlers" in a hard-hitting documentary on treatments for Alzheimer's. The award-winning author, who was diagnosed with the condition at 59, continues his battle to show how dementia sufferers are treated as "superfluous old farts" in the new film. His campaigning for the Alzheimer's Research Trust has inspired £200,000 of donations on top of the £500,000 he has already pledged, a spokesman for the charity said. Sir Terry, who has a particular strain of Alzheimer's called Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), has been trialling a new device that claims to slow, and even reverse, the effects. The documentary, to be screened in two parts on BBC2 on February 4 and 11, follows Sir Terry as he learns about the work of scientists searching for a cure. Professor Simon Lovestone, one of the scientists who will feature on the programme, said: "It is vital that the public understands the importance of dementia research. "Through his candid and positive response to his diagnosis, Sir Terry has been a great help in bringing scientists and the public together in our fight against dementia. He has not only raised awareness of dementia research, but also inspired many scientists working in the field." The award-winning author, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2007, is one of the first patients in the UK to try the anti-dementia helmet. The device sends intense bursts of light at a particular wavelength into a patient's skull. The 60-year-old is a staunch campaigner for Alzheimer's sufferers, and recently handed a petition to Downing Street calling for an increase in funding for dementia research. Sir Terry said at the time that the issue was "a matter of urgency". | Terry Pratchett in 2005 The ''Discworld'' author Sir Terry Pratchett is to appear in a BBC documentary covering a year of his struggle with the brain disorder Alzheimer's disease. Pratchett, 60, asked the BBC to spend a year documenting any decline in his condition and seeing him experiment with various supposed cures. One alleged cure involved firing infrared light at his brain via a helmet invented by a general practitioner doctor. Pratchett also examines the serious research into dementia and its cure. The author has donated £500,000 to the Alzheimer's Research Trust and his campaigning has raised another £200,000. Pratchett has posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of the disease which affects vision, causes him to forget words and makes dressing confusing. He has written 36 ''Discworld'' novels amongst other works and was knighted in the 2009 New Years Honours. Posterior cortical atrophy is also known as Benson's syndrome. It is the progressive shrinking of the back of the brain. It is a form of Alzheimer's disease, and the wider disease affects some 26.6 million people worldwide. The documentary - ''Terry Pratchett: Living with Alzheimer's'' - will air on BBC Two on February 4 at 21:00. |
Hurricane Bill revs up at sea on path to Bermuda PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — A tropical storm that lost steam after blowing ashore Monday dumped rain on Florida and Alabama, while the first hurricane of this year's Atlantic season picked up strength over open waters on a path toward Bermuda. Hurricane Bill was expected to become a major hurricane in the next couple of days, with winds topping 110 mph. Hours after becoming a hurricane Monday, Bill's top wind speed jumped to 90 mph. Along the Florida Panhandle, a man in his mid-20s died after being pulled from surf as Claudette approached Sunday. In Bay County, authorities searched for another man whose boat ran aground Sunday night, though they believe he eventually made it ashore. Neither man's identity was released. The weakening storm wasn't expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage as it moved farther inland. The first named storm to hit the U.S. mainland this year was downgraded to a tropical depression with winds of 30 mph hours after it made landfall near Fort Walton Beach. Parts of the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama were expected to receive rainfall of 2 to 4 inches, and Claudette was headed across Alabama toward northeastern Mississippi. Over the Atlantic, Hurricane Bill quickly strengthened, and forecasters think it could be a major hurricane by Wednesday. "We do believe (Bill) could become a major hurricane during the next couple of days," said Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist for the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Bill was centered about 1,080 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and moving west-northwest at 16 mph at 11 a.m. EDT. The five-day forecast shows the storm passing northeast of Puerto Rico and heading toward Bermuda, though a storm's track is difficult to accurately predict several days in advance. On the Gulf Coast, the center of Claudette was about 80 miles southwest of Montgomery, Ala., at 11:00 a.m. EDT. "We may see some heavy rains as a result, but we don't expect any high winds or coastal flooding," said John Dosh, manager of Emergency Management for Escambia County, where Pensacola is located. Pensacola Beach condominiums had warned residents to bring balcony furniture indoors. After the storm passed farther east, early morning joggers and tourists seeking sea shells dotted the early morning sands. Surf shop instructor Ben Martin pulled up on the beach in his pickup truck with surfboards in the back around 6:30 a.m. Official surf conditions were moderate, but Martin predicted a great day. "We are going to get some pretty good surf," Martin said. "Every surfer that owns a board is going to call in sick." Far out in the Pacific, Hurricane Guillermo weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds near 60 mph. Guillermo was centered about 695 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii, and moving west-northwest near 18 mph. Heavy thunderstorms rolled over the northeastern Caribbean as Ana, the first named storm of the season, moved quickly toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which is still struggling to recover from last year's four devastating storms. Tropical storm watches for Antigua, Barbuda and Montserrat were discontinued. But watches remained in effect for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and several other islands in the area. Ana was forecast to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain. Despite the storms, a warmer weather pattern called El Nino over the Pacific Ocean is generally expected to damper the formation of tropical storms in the Caribbean and Atlantic this year, said Brian Daly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile, Ala. Forecasters revised their Atlantic hurricane season predictions after the first two months of the season passed without any named storms developing. Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy in Miami contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ||||| The second named storm of the 2009 season has grown into a minimal hurricane, the season's first, according to the National Hurricane Center. Bill now sports top sustained winds of 75 mph as it churns across the Atlantic. While it is still far east of any landmass, Bill is expected to continue to strengthen, reaching Category 3 on the Safif-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity in the next few days, with top sustained winds fo 155 mph. Here is the latest advisory on Bill. Here is the forecast storm track. And here is the view from orbit. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Claudette (map above) has come ashore in the panhandle of Florida, where it has begun to weaken. High winds and heavy rains are the main story down there. The storm's remnants are expected to drop 3 to 6 inches of rain - and in spots up to 10 inches - along a path through Alabama, Mississippi, and reaching inland as far as Tennessee in the next few days. Here is the latest advisory. Here is the forecast storm track. And here is the view from space. And here is the forecast for Montgomery, Alabama. Finally, what was once Tropical Storm Ana remains badly disorganized in the northeastern Caribbean. But the depression remains a heavy rain threat to the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Here is the latest advisory. Here is the forecast storm track. And here is the view from space. In the meantime, our forecast continues to call for more hot, humid, summery weather, with highs near 90 degrees for the rest of the week. Rain won't become a factor for another day or two. And we won't see a break from the heat until the weekend. Sticky. | Hurricane Bill, 2009 , the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic storm season, recently formed over the ocean. The storm is expected to gain strength over the next few days, with maximum wind speeds reaching 90 miles per hour, and sustained winds up to 75 mph. Bill is expected to reach the third category on the . As of 11.00 EDT, Bill was centered approximately 1,080 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, heading east-northeast at about 16 miles per hour. Forecasts suggest the storm may pass northeast of Puerto Rico and advance toward Bermuda. US National Hurricane Center meteorologist Daniel Brown said that "we do believe the storm could become a major hurricane during the next couple of days." Bill may also impact the U.S. East Coast by next weekend. All interests potentially in the path of the storm are advised to track its progress over coming days. |
Airlines Last Dawn For Eos Airlines Eos Airlines , the all business class transatlantic airline, has become the latest casualty of the credit crunch. The "challenging economic and credit environment" forced the company to file a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy," chief executive Jack Williams said in a statement late Saturday night. The airline's flights between London's Stansted Airport and New York's Kennedy Airport Sunday will be its last. The Purchase, N.Y.-based company intends to eliminate most of its work force. The airline launched round-trip service for business travelers from New York to London in 2005. It was named after the Greek goddess of the dawn. Last August, the young airline struggled to arrange a fourth round of financing before securing $50 million of additional equity from institutional and private capital, with one unnamed investor, thought to be from Dubai, said to account for 70% of the total. U.S. venture outfits Golden Gate Capital, Sutter Hill Venture and Maveron had backed the company earlier. Williams said that the airline was "working toward closing on an investment that would have carried us to corporate profitability in 2009 ... we were unable to close on the financing we needed. That leaves us with insufficient cash on hand to continue operations." In December, MAXJet, a rival business class transatlantic airline, filed for bankruptcy protection and ceased operations on its routes between London and New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. MAXJet left passengers stranded on Christmas Eve and raised questions about the viability of smaller transatlantic carriers who are fighting rising fuel costs while trying to win market share from much bigger rivals. Stocks Stage Late Rally On The Move: Citigroup More On This Topic Related Sections Home > Markets Advertisement: Related Business Topics > Subscriptions > ||||| UPDATE: Eos Airlines, All-business Carrier, Will Close Operations TEL AVIV (Dow Jones) - Eos Airlines, a premium-class airline operating flights between New York and London , said on Saturday that it filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy law and would wind down its operations. The all-business-class carrier had needed, and was unable to secure, additional capital in "today's extremely challenging economic and credit environment," the carrier's chief executive officer, Jack Williams , said in a statement. The company said it was close to agreeing on an investment that would have enabled its operations to turn profitable in 2009, but "some issues arose that we could not overcome." The company filed its petition for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York . It said it would operate two flights on Sunday - both from Stansted London to Kennedy Airport in New York . It canceled all other flights and said it would cut almost all its staff and end operations. Eos, based in Purchase, N.Y., is the latest of several U.S. and foreign airlines that have closed shop because of high jet-fuel costs, difficult credit markets, tough competition, and wavering consumer demand. And of the four carriers launched in the all-business niche over the past two years, the closings of Eos this weekend and MaxJet in December leave only Silverjet of the U.K. and L'Avion of Paris . The stock of Silverjet, which flies London-Dubai and London - New York , jumped earlier this month when the carrier said it was in talks about a possible takeover. The company didn't name the suitor. L'Avion last week reported an improved load factor, the critical airline- industry metric that shows how full a carrier's planes are. Analysts had considered Eos the strongest of the rivals in the group, and its failure may spark concern for the future of the remaining competitors. | All-business transatlantic company has filed for bankruptcy protection. The United States based company ran flights between London and New York's . Eos, named after Greek , flew what will likely be its last service on Sunday. Founded in 2005, the airline had had difficulty in securing investment to keep it going, starting last year. Plans had been aiming for securing funding to keep the service running up until 2009, but this failed and the business has insufficient funds to continue. Several other airlines have closed worldwide recently over difficult conditions in the industry, including all-business carriers like Eos. Last year the sudden collapse of left passengers stranded on Christmas Eve. The company offered services connecting London with New York, and . Eos had been considered by analysts as the most viable of the transatlantic all-business carriers. |
Original posting at 8:21 a.m. ET: God has spoken. Court officials says the deity somehow submitted court papers in response to a lawsuit filed last week by a Nebraska lawmaker known as "King Cobra." "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here — poof!" John Friend, the court clerk in Douglas County, says. "God," who lists Archangel St. Michael as a witness, argues in the response that the local court doesn't have jurisdiction to hear the case. Either way, the filing says Sen. Ernie Chambers was wrong to blame him/her/it for the suffering of mankind. "I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," the response says, according to the Associated Press. The document didn't include any contact information. Update at 9:17 a.m. ET: We called the clerk's office to request a copy of God's filing. We were rebuffed. The clerk's office says we have to send someone to pick it up or send a written request by mail. God, if you're reading this, please fax (703-854-2409) or e-mail (ondeadline (at) usatoday.com) your response to On Deadline. Update at 2:51 p.m. ET: It took a while, the big guy came through for us. After an early assist by reader Chris Schiltz, who was unable to procure the document despite his best efforts, Michael Friedman of the American Humanist Association obtained the filing and faxed it to On Deadline. You can read it here. The filing challenges the court's jurisdiction and says "GOD does not issue terroristic threats, but HE will visit an appropriate punishment upon the blasphemous Complainant by seeing that he is removed from office next year." It's signed "God, Defendant." ||||| LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said he sued God last week to make a point about frivolous lawsuits. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha. "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here -- poof!" Friend said. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants." Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to make the point that anybody can sue anybody. Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction. It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point. "I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend. There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said. A second response from "God" disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday. Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful. 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 Nebraska ||||| LINCOLN, Neb. A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha. "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here _ poof!" Friend said. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants." Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody. Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction. It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point. "I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend. There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said. A second response from "God" disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday. Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful. ___ Associated Press Writer Anna Jo Bratton in Omaha contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Michelangelo's face detail of God. Two court filings in response to a lawsuit brought by Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers were filed on behalf of God, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha, Nebraska. "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here -- poof!" said Mr. Friend. In one filing, St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness. The response argues that the defendant is not subject to the jurisdiction and laws of the court. According to the response read by Friend, God said, "I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you." Reports say that the papers were filed by "King Cobra", a lawmaker in Nebraska. Chambers had sued God for "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants." Chambers, an agnostic, argues that his lawsuit is "frivolous" and "anybody can sue anybody." |
Did India's Navy Sink Wrong Ship? By MUNEEZA NAQVI CNN NEW DELH (Nov. 26) - The pirate "mother ship" sunk last week by the Indian navy was actually a Thai fishing trawler seized hours earlier by pirates, a maritime agency said Wednesday. The Indian navy defended its actions, saying it fired in self-defense. One Thai crew member died when the Indian frigate INS Tabar fired on the boat in the Gulf of Aden last week, according to Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. One Cambodian crew member was rescued four days later by passing fishermen, but 14 other sailors remain missing, Choong said. The maritime bureau received a report on the apparent mistake late Tuesday from Bangkok-based Sirichai Fisheries, which owned the trawler, the Ekawat Nava5, he said. "The Indian navy assumed it was a pirate vessel because they may have seen armed pirates on board the boat which had been hijacked earlier," Choong said. India's navy said last week that the INS Tabar, which began patrolling the gulf on Nov. 2, battled a pirate "mother ship" on Nov. 18, setting the vessel ablaze. inputstring pmmsid:2336364 width 400 hidethumbs 1 In New Delhi, Indian navy spokesman Commander Nirad Sinha said Wednesday that the INS Tabar was responding to threats to attack from pirates on board the ship. "Insofar as we are concerned, both its description and its intent were that of a pirate ship," he said. "Only after we were fired upon did we fire. We fired in self-defense. There were gun-toting guys with RPGs on it." Sirichai Fisheries said its information about the battle came from the Cambodian sailor, who is now recuperating at a hospital in Yemen, said Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, the company's managing director. "We are saddened with what has happened. It's an unfortunate tragedy. We hope that this incident won't affect the anti-piracy operation by the multi-coalition navies there," Choong added. Warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia, the U.S. and NATO patrol the vast international maritime corridor, escorting some merchant ships and responding to distress calls in the area. The Thai foreign ministry said it was investigating whether the Indian ship correctly followed the rules of engagement and was reviewing reports from the Thai Embassy in New Delhi, the International Maritime Bureau and coalition forces patrolling the waters. The ministry was also seeking more information on the missing sailors, it said in a statement. Sirichaiekawat said his company had contacted the International Maritime Bureau after getting messages from other boats in the region that the Ekawat Nava5 had been attacked by pirates. Sirichai Fisheries asked if any naval ships were close enough to help the stricken boat. The British navy responded, asking for more information, but later said pirates had already boarded the ship and that any sort of naval action would risk harming the crew. "The British navy instructed us to wait until the pirates contacted us," he said. Meanwhile, the International Maritime Bureau alerted coalition forces patrolling the region and other military agencies in the area, sending them photos of the vessel, Choong said. It was unclear if the Indian navy had received the information because it has no direct communication links to the maritime bureau, he said. "We hope that individual navy warships that are patrolling the gulf would coordinate with the coalition forces or request information from us" to avoid such incidents, Choong added. It was unclear whether darkness played a role in what happened. The Indian navy said earlier that the final showdown occurred after nightfall. Somalia, an impoverished nation caught up in an Islamic insurgency, has not had a functioning government since 1991. Somali pirates have become increasingly brazen recently, seizing eight vessels in the past two weeks, including a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil. There have been 96 pirate attacks this year in Somali waters, with 39 ships hijacked. Fifteen ships with nearly 300 crew are still in the hands of pirates, who have demanded multimillion dollar ransoms. Shippers worldwide have called for a military blockade of the waters off Somalia's coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea, but NATO officials said there were no such plans. Associated Press Writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur and Ambika Ahuja in Bangkok contributed to this report. ||||| NEW DELHI, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A ship sunk by the Indian navy as a pirate vessel actually was a trawler out of Thailand, the boat's owner said Tuesday. Sixteen sailors were aboard Ekawat Nava 5 when it was sunk by the Indian navy last week -- one crew member was found alive after six days adrift in the Gulf of Aden, one was confirmed dead and the rest are missing, CNN reported. India's navy reported last week the INS Tabar fought with a pirate "mother vessel" in the gulf Nov. 18, setting the ship afire leaving it to sink. However, Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the vessel, said the ship was a trawler he owned and it was being hijacked by pirates when it came under naval attack, CNN said. Indian authorities said that their ship took action against the vessel because it threatened to attack the Tabar. "We fired in self-defense and in response to firing upon our vessel. It was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was aggressive," Indian naval spokesman Commodore Nirad Sinhatold CNN. Wicharn said the vessel was traveling from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when pirates boarded it off the Horn of Africa. | The INS ''Tabar''. A man has come forward to say he is the owner of a Thai ship that was being hijacked by pirates then sunk by the Indian navy. The incident took place in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of the African nation of Somalia on November 18. The owner, Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, says that the boat was a fishing trawler, but the pirates had just got on board the vessel when it was fired upon. The Indian Navy had claimed that the INS ''Tabar'' attacked the vessel because they believed it to be a "pirate mother ship". They also said that the ship was preparing to attack their vessel, despite the sending of a warning message. "We fired in self-defense and in response to firing upon our vessel," said Commodore Nirad Sinhatold of the Indian Navy to CNN. The Navy also claimed the pirates had "guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers". Although the crew was able to send out a distress call while they were being chased, communication had been cut off shortly before the pirates boarded. Sixteen people were on board the vessel when it was sunk. At least one person has died, and after six days of searching, only one survivor was found. Fourteen are still missing. The trawler was transporting fishing goods from Yemen to Oman when it was hijacked off Somalia's coast. It has been added to the list over over 90 ships seized or hijacked by pirates in the region this year. |
But Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas was due to convene leaders of 12 Palestinian factions in Gaza City Thursday evening to discuss a draft proposal for ending an Israeli offensive in Gaza begun after the June 25 abduction of 19-year-old Gilad Shalit. 'Efforts are in place that lead us to believe a solution is imminent,' Abbas told reporters in Rome after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. 'I hope that the soldier is in good health and can soon return to his family,' he added. Shalit's capture by Hamas and two other groups from an Israeli army outpost bordering Gaza had triggered the ongoing offensive in Gaza. Since then, the July 12 capture of two other soldiers by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement has sparked the current Israel- Lebanon crisis. If true, Abbas' statements would mean a breakthrough in the two-front Middle East crisis. But Hamas's armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, quickly issued a leaflet saying 'what was announced by President Abbas that the captive soldier Gilad Shalit will be handed over is untrue.' 'There is nothing new from our side regarding the issue,' said also a Hamas spokesman, Abu Obaida. 'We heard this news from the press and our stance remains as it was: The case is in the hands of resistance fighters.' Haniya and representatives of other Palestinian factions will 'discuss the possibility of reaching a ceasefire deal to stop the bloodshed,' a source in Hamas close to the premier said. However, the deal depends on Israel's readiness to accept it in principle, the source said. Hamas however has not backed down from its demand that Israel release Palestinian militants from its jails in return for Shalit's freedom, while Israel continues to demand the soldiers' unconditional release. The initiatives do not include 'any thing saying that the soldier has to be handed over for free. No politician dares to demand handing the soldier over without a return,' Abu Obaida told reporters. And Defence Minister Amir Peretz reiterated in a news conference in Tel Aviv Thursday night that 'we have no intention whatsoever to negotiate with Hamas.' Abbas, ahead of his meeting with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah Wednesday, had earlier proposed a deal that would include a cessation of rocket fire from Gaza at southern Israel, but the militant factions rebuffed it, the Hamas source said. A group of Palestinian lawmakers were now drawing up a new plan. As Israel's offensive in Gaza continued unabated, an airstrike on Gaza City's al-Sha'af neighbourhood Thursday killed two Palestinian militants of the radical Islamic Jihad faction. Another 13 people were injured, three of them critically, hospital officials said. A 75-year-old Palestinian woman was killed and her two sons injured earlier Thursday when an Israeli artillery shell hit their house in north-east Gaza City. Some 23 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in one of the heaviest days of fighting since the offensive began one month ago, as local militants confronted Israeli troops entering the northern Gaza Strip. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur ||||| Gilad Shalit was the gunner on a tank when it was attacked Cpl Gilad Shalit, 19, was seized in an attack on an Israeli military post near Gaza on 25 June. The armed wing of militant group Hamas swiftly rebutted Mr Abbas' comments. Israel has launched regular air strikes and military incursions into the Gaza Strip to try to force the soldier's release, killing 140 Palestinians. One Israeli soldier has also been killed in action. Denial Mr Abbas spoke in Rome at a news conference with the Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. "I told the prime minister that as far as the question of the abducted Israeli soldier is concerned efforts are undergoing continuously that lead us to believe that the solution will be imminent," he said. Efforts are being exerted but I wouldn't jump to any premature conclusions at this stage Saeb Erekat Palestinian negotiator Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also played down Mr Abbas' comments, suggesting that they had been taken out of context. "I do not think that the president meant to say that the release was imminent. Efforts are being exerted but I wouldn't jump to any premature conclusions at this stage," he told CNN. Cpl Shalit was abducted when Palestinian militant groups launched a surprise joint assault on an Israeli army position at Kerem Shalom, just outside the Gaza Strip. Two soldiers were killed in the attack, and Cpl Shalit was seized and taken back into Gaza. ||||| Go to: Guardian Unlimited home UK news World news Comment is free blog Newsblog Sport blog arts & entertainment blog Podcasts ---------------------- Archive search Arts and entertainment Books Business EducationGuardian.co.uk Environment Film Football Jobs Life and health MediaGuardian.co.uk Money Music The Observer Politics Science Shopping SocietyGuardian.co.uk Sport Talk Technology Travel Been there ---------------------- Audio Email services Special reports The Guardian The northerner The wrap ---------------------- Advertising guide Crossword Events / offers Feedback Garden centre GNM press office Graduate GuardianFilms Headline service Help / contacts Information Living our values Newsroom Notes & Queries Reader Offers Soulmates dating Style guide Syndication services Travel offers TV listings Weather Web guides Working for us ---------------------- Guardian Abroad Guardian Monthly Guardian Weekly Money Observer Public Learn Guardian back issues Observer back issues Guardian Professional ||||| Hello Create Profile Creating your profile will enable you to submit photos and stories to get published on News24. Please provide a username for your profile page: This username must be unique, cannot be edited and will be used in the URL to your profile page across the entire 24.com network. | Hamas has denied claims made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, 19, captured on June 25, will be released. "Nothing has changed in the case of the Israeli soldier. The file remains in the hands of the resistance factions and not in the hands of any politician even if that politician is Abu Mazen Mahmoud Abbas. We heard this news from the press and our stance remains as it was: The case is in the hands of resistance fighters," said spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida. Ubaida also said that handing over the soldier doesn't come "free. No politician dares to demand handing the soldier over without a return." Abbas was quoted as saying earlier in a press conference, held in Rome, by an Italian translator that talks were leading to an "imminent solution" that would allow for the release of the soldier. "With regards to the issue of the abducted Israeli soldier, I have reiterated that there are ongoing efforts that lead us to believe in an imminent solution. I hope that the soldier is in good health and can soon return to his family," said Abbas, according to the official Italian translator. However; the Associated press quoted Abbas as saying that "intense negotiations" were taking place. |
German drivers parked their trains on Friday morning after a labor court ruled they could strike on local and regional train routes. Though the ruling forbade strikes on long-distance and high-speed trains in the country, it still left hundreds of thousands of commuters and tourists stranded. DPA Humans weren't the only ones left stranded by the train drivers' strike on Friday. Here, the bulldog "Dolly" waits at Hamburg's Altona station, wondering if the next train will ever come. German train drivers walked off the job on Friday morning in the wake of a court ruling that gave the green light for a limited strike on local and regional trains. Friday's strike lasted from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and left tens of thousands of commuters stranded across the country. All of Germany was affected by the strikes. In Stuttgart some local trains were completely removed from the schedule. Around 330,000 passengers travel the S-Bahn in the larger area of Stuttgart each day. The long-distance connection between Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Munich was postponed. Hamburg was also hit hard, with many commuters opting to take the bus rather than wait in long lines at S-Bahn stops. Bavaria saw the loss of one of two regional and local trains, the former running every two hours and the latter at 40 to 60 minute intervals. An emergency plan was put into effect at 4 a.m. in the capital of Berlin, where fewer than 60 percent of the trains were running. Some lines were running at regular 20 minute intervals and others at 60. Court Decision The legality of the strike was determined at a labor court in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, which issued its ruling at 2 a.m. on Friday morning, permitting the German train drivers union GDL to go forward with a strike on local and regional trains nationwide. Long-distance trains, including the country's intercity and ICE high-speed rail networks, and freight transports, the court decided, were forbidden from participating in the strike. The leading judge in the case said the court had sought to find a balance between supporting the right of the train drivers to strike while minimizing the economic damage. In the run-up to the work stoppage, German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee warned in SPIEGEL that "a strike could have a devastating effect on the economy and the current economic growth." PHOTO GALLERY: TRAIN STRIKES STRAND THOUSANDS IN GERMANY Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (5 Photos) Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned train system challenging the GDL in the labor dispute over wages and tariffs, decided ahead of the decision -- and in preparation for a broader strike -- to cancel one-third of its long-distance trains. It had also prepared an emergency plan to keep the nation's trains running on a pared-down schedule. Spokesperson Gunnar Meyer said Deutsche Bahn planned to keep half of the country's 19,000 regional trains running by using non-GDL drivers. GDL union boss Manfred Schell has been locking horns for months with Deutsche Bahn CEO Hartmut Mehdorn now on the issue, with neither side ready to come to a final agreement. And on Thursday, Schell challenged Deutsche Bahn to reassess its position and come up with a new offer for train drivers by the beginning of next week. Schell is demanding a 31 percent pay increase to bring train drivers up to the levels his union claims its European counterparts are paid. "If they are not able to do this," Schell said, "then they have to be prepared for further labor disputes." Currently, starting train drivers with Deutsche Bahn earn €1,970 ($2,781) per month, but the union is demanding a beginning wage of €2,500. The union also wants to have its own tariff agreements with the passenger rail and logistics company. Deutsche Bahn has refused to meet that demand, but has repeated its offer for GDL to join in with the agreement that it made in July with the Transnet and GDBA railway workers unions that Schell had turned down at that time. However, Deutsche Bahn made a new offer last week after lengthy negotiations with Schell: Drivers were offered a 5 percent wage increase if they were willing to work two more hours per week. And train drivers willing to work even longer hours could get an increase of up to 9.5 percent, paid out in the form of wages and overtime bonuses. But Schell rejected the offer out of hand. On the eve of the strike, Deutsche Bahn issued a statement criticizing Schell's recent verbal affronts against the national railway, saying that he appeared to be "losing touch with reality." Deutsche Bahn estimates that the strike on local and regional trains and the loss of passengers is costing the company €1 million a day in lost revenues. GDL said Friday that if it doesn't reach a deal with Deutsch Bahn, the strike could resume on Monday. rjm/reuters ||||| Bahnstreik führt bundesweit zu Behinderungen und Zugausfällen Bundesweit Behinderungen und Zugausfälle 'Notfallplan richtet mehr an als Streik' [Bildunterschrift: Nichts geht mehr - stillstehende Züge am Frankfurter Hauptbahnhof ] Mit einem Streik im Regionalverkehr zwischen 8.00 und 11.00 Uhr hat die Lokführergewerkschaft GDL am Morgen einen großen Teil des Bahnverkehrs blockiert. Für weitere Behinderungen sorgte der Notfahrplan, den die Bahn vorsorglich für heute in Kraft gesetzt hatte. Insgesamt fuhren nach Konzernangaben zwei Drittel der 750 Fernverkehrszüge und bis zu 50 Prozent der 19.000 Regionalzüge planmäßig. Nach Ansicht der GDL gehen die Zugausfälle weniger auf die Streiks als vielmehr auf die Reaktion der Bahn zurück. "Die Notfallpläne haben mehr angerichtet als der Streik", sagte GDL-Vize Günther Kinscher. Die Streiks seien beendet, erklärte eine Sprecherin der Gewerkschaft. "Wenn es jetzt noch zu Behinderungen kommt, liegt dies am Ersatzfahrplan der Bahn." Neue Streiks frühestens am Dienstag Neue Streiks werde es frühestens am Dienstag der kommenden Woche geben, erklärte eine GDL-Sprecherin. Die Bahn habe bis "Dienstagmittag um 13.00 Uhr" Zeit, der Gewerkschaft ein Angebot über einen eigenständigen Tarifvertrag vorzulegen. "Sollte der Tarifvertrag eine tragfähige Grundlage für Verhandlungen sein, wird die GDL auch für die Zeit der Verhandlungen keinen Arbeitskampf führen", sicherte sie zu. Wenn die Bahn allerdings bis zum genannten Zeitpunkt kein Angebot vorlege, provoziere sie weitere Streiks. Bahn-Personalvorstand Magret Suckale sagte, ein neues Angebot der Bahn werde es nicht geben. das Unternehmen halte an den angebotenen zehn Prozent mehr Gehalt fest. Die Gewerkschaft müsse zurück an den Verhandlungstisch kommen. Die Gewerkschaft transnet forderte Bahn und GDL zu neuen Gesprächen auf. Gerichte machen Weg nur teilweise frei [Bildunterschrift: Nicht einsteigen, sondern abwarten: Ein Lokführer während des dreistündigen Streiks in Frankfurt ] Das Arbeitsgericht Chemnitz hatte in der Nacht den Streik der GDL im Nahverkehr zugelassen. Die Richter untersagten aber Arbeitskampfmaßnahmen im Fern- und Güterverkehr. Wegen der späten Gerichtsentscheidung setzte die Bahn trotzdem einen umfassenden Notfahrplan in Kraft, der den gesamten Bahnverkehr betrifft - und der die Streichung zahlreicher Zugverbindungen vorsieht. "Wir haben so entschieden, wie es für den Kunden am besten ist", sagte der stellvertretende Sprecher für den Personenverkehr, Achim Stauß. Mit dem Notfahrplan sei eine Planbarkeit für die Kunden gewährleistet worden. Stauß wies darauf hin, dass dieser Fahrplan bis in die Nacht zum Samstag gelten werde, also weit über das Ende der Streikaktion um 11.00 Uhr hinaus. Die Verluste für die Bahn bezifferte er auf rund eine Million Euro pro Streiktag. Informationen der Bahn : Über den Notfahrplan informiert die Bahn unter der kostenlosen Service-Hotline 08000 996633. Reisende aus dem Ausland erreichen diese Hotline über die Nummer +49 1805 334444 (Gebühren je nach Land und Provider). Informationen gibt es auch unter www.bahn.de/aktuell. Nutzer eines WAP-fähigen Mobiltelefons können aktuelle Reiseinformationen über mobile.bahn.de/ris abrufen. Bundesweit Zugausfälle und Verspätungen Millionen Kunden kamen nach Angaben der Bahn zu spät zur Arbeit. Die Bahn wertete den Verlauf der dreistündigen Arbeitsniederlegung im Nahverkehr trotzdem als Teilerfolg. "Wenn die Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokführer ihre Streikziele durchgesetzt hätte, wäre ganz Deutschland lahm gelegt worden", sagte die Personalchefin des Konzerns, Margret Suckale. [Bildunterschrift: Unregelmäßig läuft der Zugverkehr am Freitag auch in Berlin ] Betroffen von dem Streik war das gesamte Bundesgebiet. Ein Bahnsprecher in Stuttgart sagte, dort seien schon am Morgen im Nahverkehr zwei S-Bahn-Linien komplett ausgefallen. Von den Einschränkungen seien aber auch die ICE-Verbindungen von Stuttgart in Richtung Karlsruhe und nach München betroffen gewesen. An normalen Werktagen benutzen den Angaben zufolge rund 330.000 Pendler die S-Bahn im Großraum Stuttgart. In Bayern fielen jeder dritte Fernzug und jede zweite Regional- und S-Bahn aus. Die S-Bahnen verkehrten nur alle 40 oder 60 Minuten, die Regionalzüge nur alle zwei Stunden. Auch Hamburg war stark betroffen. An den S-Bahn-Haltestellen bildeten sich lange Schlangen. Im Berliner S-Bahnnetz galt seit vier Uhr morgens ein Ersatzfahrplan. Der reguläre Betrieb konnte laut Bahn nach 8.00 Uhr zu weniger als 60 Prozent aufrecht erhalten werden. Einzelne Bahnhöfe wurden am Morgen gar nicht angefahren. GDL: "Streikziel erreicht" [Bildunterschrift: GDL-Chef Schell will gegen den Beschluss des Arbeitsgerichts in die nächste Instanz ziehen. ] GDL-Chef Manfred Schell erklärte, der Streik sei ein Erfolg. "Wenn die Bahn selbst im Regionalverkehr dafür sorgt, dass 50 Prozent der Züge nicht fahren, dann hat man schon 50 Prozent des Streikziels erreicht", sagte Schell, der zugleich die Entscheidung des Arbeitsgerichts als "nicht nachvollziehbar" kritisierte. "Wir sind nach Chemnitz gefahren, um durch das Gericht dort verboten zu bekommen, im Nahverkehr Arbeitskampf durchzuführen. Während des Prozesses ist Fernverkehr und Güterverkehr nachgereicht worden, und das Ergebnis ist: Jetzt dürfen wir im Nahverkehr streiken, aber nicht im Fernverkehr und im Güterverkehr." Er kündigte in der ARD an, die Gewerkschaft werden nun das Landesarbeitsgericht anrufen, um gegen den Beschluss des Arbeitsgerichts vorzugehen. Experten halten die Begründung verschiedener Gerichte, wonach die Streiks "verhältnismäßig" sein müssen, für problematisch. Jeder Streik solle "ja gerade Schäden anrichten, das ist das Druckmittel der Arbeitnehmer", sagte der Arbeitsrechtler Thomas Lobinger gegenüber tagesschau.de zu einer ähnlichen Begründung des Arbeitsgerichts Nürnberg im August. Er sei sich sicher, dass eine solche Begründung vor der nächsthöheren Instanz nicht halten werde. Die GDL will mit dem Streik einen eigenständigen Tarifvertrag durchsetzen, der Entgelt und Arbeitszeit für Lokführer regelt. Die Gewerkschaft fordert deutlich höhere Einstiegsgehälter von mindestens 2500 Euro. Beides lehnt die Bahn ab. Stand: 05.10.2007 17:25 Uhr | On Friday morning, commuters and travelers in Germany were forced to find alternative methods of transportation as train drivers walked off the job. Between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Friday morning, a German court gave the authorization for a strike. The strike was permitted only for drivers of local and regional trains. Drivers of long-distance and intercity trains, ICE high-speed rail networks and freight transports were forbidden from participating due to possible impact on the German economy. Germany's public workers' union is demanding a 31 percent wage increase that would put the German train drivers' wages equal with their counterparts in other European countries. Currently, starting drivers earn €1,970 per month. The union is pushing for a pay increase of €2,500 per month for starting drivers. The Deutsche Bahn, Germany's government-owned train system, has so far refused to increase the drivers' wages. They have, however, offered to give train drivers a five percent pay increase if the drivers are willing to work two extra hours every week. The offer also stated that if the train drivers are willing to work even more hours per week, they could be eligible for a pay increase of up to 9.5 percent. The union has also demanded equal pay for drivers in former East Germany. Georg Milbradt, chief negotiator for Germany's state governments, said that giving equal wages to the drivers in former East Germany would be extremely difficult. |
STATEMENT USDA Forest Service Washington, D.C. Release No. FS- 0625s Contact: Press Office, (202) 205-1134 by Dale Bosworth, Chief U.S. Forest Service Fire Fighter Deaths and Injuries Near Palm Springs, California October 27, 2006 "It is with deep sorrow that we learn of the deaths of four firefighters from the San Bernardino National Forest in California. Another firefighter is being treated for serious burns, suffered while the crew was battling a wind-whipped wildfire that drove hundreds of people from their homes. My heartfelt sympathies go out to these families, friends and loved one affected by this tragedy." "This incident reminds all of us that firefighting is a dangerous business. Our firefighters' and the public's safety is and always will be our first priority." # ||||| By ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 28, 7:44 PM ET SOBOBA HOT SPRINGS, Calif. - The mother of one of the four firefighters who died battling a wildfire that authorities blamed on arsonists urged those who set it to turn themselves in Saturday. "I firmly believe you didn't believe that things were going to turn out the way they did, but they did," said Bonnie McKay, whose son Jason, 27, died Thursday. "Don't let the remorse eat you alive. Come forward. ... I for one will try not to judge you. There is only one who can judge you." Meanwhile, firefighters took advantage of calm weather and dissipating Santa Ana winds, making headway against the 62-square-mile conflagration by dumping water and retardant on flames using a fleet of helicopters and airplanes, including a DC-10 jumbo jet. "Today is a turning point that will tell if our containment survives," said Janet Upton, a California Department of Forestry spokeswoman at the command post in Beaumont, 90 miles east of Los Angeles. The 39,900-acre blaze blaze was 40 percent contained, two days after blowtorch gusts overran a U.S. Forest Service crew, killing four of its members and leaving a fifth clinging to life with burns over most of his body. Firefighter Pablo Cerda, 23, was listed in critical condition Saturday at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center after surgery Friday to remove damaged skin. A reward for information leading to the arsonist soared to $500,000 Friday, as $100,000 posted by Riverside County quickly multiplied with matching offers from the state, neighboring San Bernardino County, Rancho Mirage resident Tim Blixseth and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Investigators were looking into whether the wildfire was related to other blazes in recent months, including a canyon fire last weekend, though a sheriff's spokesman said there was no immediate indication of a serial arsonist. Residents said they saw two young men leaving the area where the fire broke out early Thursday west of the San Jacinto Mountains. Fire officials said there had been six other minor injuries to firefighters and, after completion of damage assessments, raised the number of destroyed homes to 27, up from earlier estimates of 10. Evacuation orders remained in effect for about 500 homes in Twin Pines and Poppet Flat, communities where homes burned. Residents were allowed back in for several hours to retrieve personal items and feed or remove animals. Forecasters predicted winds would ease and temperatures would drop slightly throughout the weekend, which could help as crews work to build firelines around the blaze. The north side of the fire, paralleling Interstate 10, was considered well-contained. On the west flank, Highway 79 was reopened after firefighters stopped the fire's advance in that direction. Major firefighting activity focused on the south side of the fire to prevent any southerly spread toward small communities including Soboba Hot Springs and San Jacinto. Water-dropping helicopters operated from a landing zone in a grapefruit orchard on the Soboba Indian Reservation as retardant bombers flew overhead, and a half-dozen bulldozers lined up at the mouth of Castile Canyon, ready to move in to cut fire breaks. Hotshot crews of reinforcements moved in as fire Battalion Chief Art Nevarez and his crew from neighboring Orange County came out of the canyon after a night of firefighting in what one called "goat country." "We were real fortunate last night because the wind lay down for us," said Nevarez, who helped fight another major wildfire last month. "When the Santa Anas come through, then it's really the big finale," he said of the fire season. On Saturday, fire vehicles were gathered in the area and investigators walked with heads down as they looked for evidence around the ignition point near Esperanza Avenue. One law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity described the investigation as being in its "infancy." Authorities declared the fire arson within hours of its start but have withheld details of any evidence they have. Fire officials have noted an unusual number of fires in the area in recent months, including one in a nearby canyon a week ago. ___ Associated Press writer Andrew Glazer contributed to this report from Beaumont and Cabazon. | The reward for the nation's worst arson-related attack was increased to $500,000 today after the arsonist caused four deaths to firefighters, and serious burn injuries to a fifth. The injured firefighter has burns covering almost 90 percent of his body. The blaze, which was ignited in uninhabited brushlands, dictated a mandatory evacuation of the thousands of civilians in the area and destroyed more than 24,000 acres of land. No evidence has been produced to show an arsonist was involved, however an investigator, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the person or people responsible could face first-degree murder charges. Dale Bosworth, Chief of the US Forest Service released a public statement on the Forest Service website, "It is with deep sorrow that we learn of the deaths of four firefighters from the San Bernardino National Forest in California. Another firefighter is being treated for serious burns, suffered while the crew was battling a wind-whipped wildfire that drove hundreds of people from their homes. My heartfelt sympathies go out to these families, friends and loved one affected by this tragedy." |
Mr Sarkozy's family applauded his inauguration Ceremony highlights The new centre-right president succeeded his former mentor after defeating the Socialists' Segolene Royal in the 6 May run-off election. In his inaugural address, Mr Sarkozy called for change and national unity. He said his first decision was to make all schools read a letter home written by a World War II resistance fighter. 'We need results' Mr Sarkozy said France needed "to take risks and follow initiatives". The country also needed to "rehabilitate the values of work, effort, merit and respect" and defeat intolerance, he said. We need to invent new solutions Nicolas Sarkozy Key inauguration quotes In pictures: Sarkozy's day A 21-gun salute marked his assumption of the presidency, after a brief private conversation with Mr Chirac. One of Mr Chirac's last tasks was to hand over the launch codes of France's nuclear arsenal. Mr Sarkozy, 52, was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife Cecilia, wearing an eye-catching golden dress, and other family members - their son Louis and four children from their previous marriages. In his speech Mr Sarkozy attacked racism and stressed that "order and authority is needed" to deal with security challenges. CHIRAC'S LEGACY Unemployment 8.3%, highest for 25 years Sluggish economic growth Social tensions, especially in deprived Paris suburbs Championed failed European constitution Led French opposition to invasion of Iraq The house that Jacques built "We need results because the French people in their daily lives need improvements... We need to invent new solutions." He warned that "never have the risks of inertia been so great for France" as in today's fast-moving world. But he vowed to "defend the independence of France... the identity of France". He also called for "a Europe that protects" and the development of "a Mediterranean union". Mr Sarkozy later rekindled the flame on the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. He said he could never read the letter from a young resistance fighter, Guy Moquet - who was executed in 1941 - to his parents without being "profoundly moved". Mr Sarkozy said it was essential children knew the horror and barbarism of war and the extent of Moquet's sacrifice. Berlin trip On Tuesday, Mr Chirac bade farewell to the nation in a televised address after 12 years at the Elysee. The BBC's Paris correspondent Caroline Wyatt notes that Mr Chirac leaves behind unemployment of more than 8% and a nation uncertain of its place in the world and divided over its future. Mr Sarkozy, formerly interior minister, has a reputation as a law and order hardliner. He made the fight against illegal immigration and crime prominent in his election campaign, along with the issue of national identity. For the first time modern France is now being ruled by an immigrant's son. "The people conferred a mandate on me... I will scrupulously fulfil it," he promised. He won with 53% of the vote and enjoys a powerful mandate after a massive turnout by the electorate. He praised Mr Chirac's contributions to peace and the environment. The two men have been both allies and foes over the past 30 years. Mr Sarkozy is later to travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a key ally and the current president of the European Union. Mr Sarkozy is not expected to name his prime minister and cabinet until Thursday. A former minister, Francois Fillon, is expected be made prime minister. Reports also suggest that a senior member of the defeated Socialist party, Bernard Kouchner, is a leading candidate for the post of foreign minister. ||||| PARIS (Reuters) - Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded Jacques Chirac as French president on Wednesday with a promise to usher in an era of change, and flew immediately to Germany for talks on shaking the European Union out of its paralysis. In a day of high pageantry and symbolic gesture, Sarkozy made his inaugural speech under the chandeliers of the Elysee Palace, which will be his home for the next five years. “I will defend the independence of France. I will defend the identity of France,” said the conservative leader, who is the first French head of state to be born after World War Two. “There is a need to unite the French people ... and to meet commitments because never before has (public) confidence been so shaken and so fragile,” he said in an apparent dig at Chirac, a former political mentor with whom he now has strained relations. Chirac, who ruled for 12 years, met Sarkozy in private to give him the launch codes for France’s nuclear strike force before driving off into retirement, with Sarkozy applauding and waving goodbye from the Elysee Palace courtyard. Sarkozy, who scored a comprehensive election victory on May 6, also pledged to put the fight against global warming and the defense of human rights at the heart of his foreign policy. His first act after his speech was to greet family members, including his wife, Cecilia, who has hardly been seen in public this year, fuelling speculation about their marriage. Sarkozy rode in an open-top car up the Avenue des Champs Elysees, escorted by the mounted Republican Guard, and rekindled the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe. He laid wreaths at statues of France’s World War One and Two leaders, Georges Clemenceau and General Charles de Gaulle, before honoring 35 resistance fighters killed by the Nazis on the outskirts of Paris. He then left for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying the Paris-Berlin axis was “sacred” and that the two nations had to work together to put the EU back on track after French and Dutch voters rejected an EU constitution in 2005. “The first emergency is to get the European Union out of its current paralysis,” he told reporters in Berlin. NEW GOVERNMENT “For that, it is necessary that Germany, which today holds the EU presidency, and France, which has always been its privileged partner in Europe, see eye to eye on this.” Slideshow ( 16 images ) The two allies also needed to work on industrial policy, notably European aerospace group EADS, he said, referring to Franco-German differences over the Airbus maker’s public-private shareholder structure. In Paris, Sarkozy’s office said his new prime minister, expected to be moderate conservative Francois Fillon, would be named on Thursday. A streamlined cabinet that includes centrists and high-profile leftists will likely be unveiled on Friday. Sarkozy is set to reach across political divides by appointing as foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, a Socialist former health minister and human rights campaigner. Slideshow ( 16 images ) The new head of state inherits a fractured society, dispirited by years of high unemployment, and says he will take a more hands-on approach than his predecessor. “From this day on and for the duration of your mandate, you embody France, symbolize the republic and represent all the French people,” Constitutional Court president Jean-Luis Debre said as he proclaimed Sarkozy France’s 23 president. Sarkozy wants to be judged on his record in trying to revive the economy. He got good news on Wednesday with data showing the private sector adding jobs at the fastest rate in six years and growth seen picking up in the second quarter. But unions and students have warned Sarkozy not to ram through reform without negotiations. | Élysée Palace the official residence of the President of France Today, the official ceremony ushering in Nicolas Sarkozy as the new president of France took place at Élysée Palace. A 21-gun salute marked the moment he assumed power from his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. Jean-Louis Debré, president of the Constitutional Council, received the oath of office from Sarkozy. "From this day on and for the duration of your mandate, you embody France, symbolize the republic and represent all the French people," he said as he made Sarkozy the 23rd President of France. Sarkozy's wife, Cecilia, and their five children were among the attendees. "I will defend the independence of France. I will defend the identity of France," said Sarkozy in his inaugural address. "There is a need to unite the French people ... and to meet commitments because never before has public confidence been so shaken and so fragile." France needs "to take risks and follow initiatives," he said, as well as "rehabilitate the values of work, effort, merit and respect." He also said he would place defense of human rights and the fight against global warming at the center of his foreign policy. Handing over the launch codes for France's nuclear arsenal, was one of the final tasks of Chirac's presidency. After a private meeting with Sarkozy, Chirac drove off, ending his 12 years as president, with Sarkozy waving goodbye from the courtyard of Élysée Palace. Tuesday, Chirac had made his farewells to the nation in a televised address. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe Sarkozy rode in convertible up the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, where he rekindled the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He said that he was moved by a letter written by Guy Môquet to his parents. Môquet was executed by the Germans in 1941, along with Jean-Pierre Timbaud. It is essential that children know the horrors of war, he said. Coincidentially, Sarkozy is the first president of France to have been born after World War II. After that, Sarkozy flew to Germany for talks about the future of the European Union. "The first emergency is to get the European Union out of its current paralysis," Sarkozy told reporters in Berlin. "For that, it is necessary that Germany, which today holds the EU presidency, and France, which has always been its privileged partner in Europe, see eye to eye on this." |
December 12, 2006 Tuesday Ziqa'ad 20, 1427 Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window) Discord over US-India nuclear deal? By Anwar Iqbal WASHINGTON, Dec 11: US President George W. Bush had not signed the Indo-US nuclear deal till late Monday afternoon, causing speculations that last minute differences with India could delay the signing. Mr Bush was scheduled to sign the US-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 into law early Monday and the White House had already issued a statement praising Congress for passing the bill. US officials, when asked for comments, said the president was likely to sign it late Monday but diplomatic sources said that last minute differences between India and the United States had delayed the signing. In India, opposition parties as well as some in the ruling alliance have described some of the conditions retained in the final version of the bill as “humiliating” and urged the government to reject them. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to fight the deal in the Indian parliament, with strong backing from India’s influential nuclear scientists. Some left-wing parties in the ruling alliance are also opposing the deal and have threatened to abstain in the parliamentary vote. The opposition claims that the main purpose of the deal is to limit India’s nuclear weapons programme by subjecting it to highly intrusive inspections and effectively banning future Indian nuclear tests. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window) ||||| Politics & Economics U.S. and India, Nuclear Bedfellows The countries' nuclear cooperation deal has detractors such as Pakistan. But it promises to be a bonanza for U.S. reactor builders Back in March, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George Bush announced their intention to push for a historic civilian nuclear energy tie-up deal. And the backlash was almost immediate. U.S. war-on-terror ally Pakistan wasn't thrilled. Critics in the U.S. argued passage of what became known as the United States and India Nuclear Cooperation Act of 2006 would demolish global compliance among other countries that (unlike India) had signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Indian detractors at home feared New Delhi's freedom to conduct foreign policy as it sees fit would be compromised. Yet on Dec. 9, the U.S. Congress approved the legislation and Bush is certain to sign this bill into law. In the end, the prospect of a huge business windfall for U.S. reactor builders and energy companies, and India's fear of an energy crunch down the road, trumped foreign policy concerns on both sides. Security Needs Will Grow The deal, which still must be approved by the Indian Parliament, opens the way for the U.S. to provide India with fuel and reactor technology for its civilian nuclear program in return for extra safeguards imposed on India's nuclear weapons activities. This represents a significant win for India as it would get access to nuclear fuel supplies despite not being a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. There is also serious money to be made for U.S. and other foreign companies, given the vast nuclear reactor build-out that India will need to improve its energy security now that it has better access to international uranium supplies and reactor technology. As it stands, nuclear energy only kicks in 3% of India's energy needs. Up for grabs is what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is up to $100 billion in reactor and related supply contracts in the coming decades if India's nuclear power industry acquires access to international fuel supplies, investment, and expertise. No Liability Limits in Place Small wonder the Bush Administration has pushed mightily for legislative approval of the deal, arguing that India deserves special treatment given its solid track record in not spreading nuclear weapons technology. A largely unspoken incentive, of course, is the huge commercial potential for U.S. companies such as General Electric (GE), nuclear fuel supplier U.S. Enrichment (USEC) (USU), and contractors and material suppliers such as Bechtel, Lockheed Martin (LMT), and Boeing (BA) (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/2/06, "India's Nuclear Build-Out"). A U.S.-India nuclear deal still has some hurdles to overcome. One crucial issue to U.S. companies still in need of resolution: India doesn't yet have a law that limits liability claims on private investors in the event of a nuclear plant accident or mishap—equal to the Price-Anderson Act in the U.S. No foreign private company will bet big on India without that kind of assurance. "A big one for us is going to be the liability issue," says Pratyush Kumar, president and chief executive of General Electric Infrastructure, India. "Other power companies from France and Russia are government-owned, but we belong to the private sector." Still Suffering From Sanctions India clearly must reconfigure, expand, and diversify its energy industry. The country is already failing to meet its energy demands, and that's constraining economic growth. Without additional electric power generation, New Delhi will have a tough time boosting annual gross domestic product growth to 10% by 2010, from around 8% now. At the moment, India has about 16 nuclear reactors and seven are under construction, including two large ones and a fast breeder reactor. Some of them were built decades ago, are small-scale, and are administered by the federally run Nuclear Power Corp. And they've all been suffering from lack of modern technology as well as a fuel shortage, the result of sanctions imposed on India when it tested a nuclear device. Assuming the U.S.-India deal goes through, India realistically won't start letting out international contracts for its nuclear build-out until late 2007. And it will be seven years from now before the first unit of electricity from a new nuclear power plant is released. Still, the industry is eager, hopeful, and looking forward to a dramatic expansion. "Changes the Scene" Reliance Energy (RELFF) and Tata Power, the two largest private power players in India, are both actively preparing for new business ahead. Another big beneficiary would be Larsen & Toubro, an engineering and construction firm that has had a virtual monopoly on building India's nuclear plants, mostly heavy water reactors. A nuclear industry expansion would give a big boost to L&T's future growth as India tries to meet growth targets for its nuclear industry expansion through 2030. "The nuclear deal changes the scene," says M.V. Kotwal, an executive vice-president with the company. Other foreign companies outside of the U.S. are sure to make an aggressive play for new reactor work in India. Among them are France's Areva Group, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Russia's Atomstroyexport, and Siemens (SI) of Germany. Lakshman covers India business for BusinessWeek. | United States President Bush signed the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act which provides for cooperation between the US and India in civilian nuclear matters. The deal would also open 14 of India's nuclear plants to international inspection while leaving eight military nuclear sites closed to outside access. Critics say that the deal will undermine pre-existing nuclear non-proliferation treaties, embolden other nuclear and near nuclear powers and erode American credibility when dealing with proliferation issues with other countries such as Iran. In India, the deal has also come under criticism with the oppostion asserting that the deal primarily acts to limit India's nuclear capabilities. |
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of thousands of people marched in cities across France after unions called for a second general strike in two months to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s “inadequate” response to the economic slump. Civil servants and employees from the private sector demonstrated in cities from Paris and Toulouse to Marseille. France’s eight main unions say Sarkozy, who offered 2.6 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in tax cuts and aid to low-paid workers and the unemployed after a similar protest on Jan. 29, isn’t doing enough to counter rising unemployment and boost incomes. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde expects the economy to shrink 1.5 percent this year, after French companies shed the most jobs in 40 years in the fourth quarter and manufacturing slumped amid the worst recession since World War II. The government, which predicts its budget deficit will swell this year to 5.6 percent of gross domestic product, has said it’s not ready to spend more. If the government says “‘we won’t change anything,’ there will be other protests,” Bernard Thibault, general secretary of the Confederation Generale du Travail, the country’s second- largest union, told reporters. “It should come as no surprise if the climate gets tougher.” Protestors marched in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille and in Lyon earlier in the day, with the main demonstration taking place in Paris in the afternoon. The police put the number of protesters in Paris at 85,000, more than in January. The CGT union says 350,000 are taking part. Minimum Service The mounting unrest comes amid job cuts and plant closures at companies including Sony France and Continental AG. While France has a history of street protests, the global financial crisis has sparked similar demonstrations and unrest in countries from China and Greece to Iceland. A law pushed through by Sarkozy in August 2007 that requires “minimum service” to be guaranteed by workers and companies, particularly in public transport, has limited somewhat the impact of the strike. The law has curbed the ability of unions to bring the country to a standstill. In 1995, unions paralyzed France for three weeks as public transport ground to a halt. The subway and bus service in Paris ran at close to normal today. According to Agence France-Presse, the second-largest Paris subway union, UNSA, has called on members not to strike in order to ensure maximum attendance at today’s protest march. Popular Strike About 78 percent of the French people said the strike today is “justified,” according to a poll by Ifop for Paris Match magazine. That compares with 75 percent for the January protest. Public schools were closed or operated with skeleton staff. About 20 percent of civil servants and postal workers participated in the work stoppage. At France Telecom SA, the number was 25 percent. Unions for teachers, hospital workers and other civil servants say Sarkozy’s measures since a Feb. 18 meeting with unions, including tax cuts and benefits for jobseekers and low-waged workers, don’t go far enough. “The crisis needs a response on a totally different scale,” the unions said in a statement. “The increase in job cuts, the use of temporary layoffs contribute to amplifying the recession and weigh heavily on purchasing power.” The government says the plans it has unveiled will rekindle the economy and limit job losses. “The president has defined a response that is coherent and complete,” Budget Minister Eric Woerth told parliament yesterday. Planes and Trains Air France-KLM Group said it’s operating all its long-haul flights and “nearly all” of its short- and medium-haul flights out of the Charles de Gaulle airport, while canceling 30 percent of its flights at the Orly airport. Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, or SNCF, France’s national railway, said on its Web site at 11:41 a.m. local time today that disruption on its domestic high-speed lines ranged from zero to 80 percent. Up to 70 percent of the Corail domestic trains were canceled, it said. Eurostar and Thalys services to London and Brussels were running normally, SNCF said. Most overnight domestic and international trains were canceled. RATP, the Paris transport authority, said the city’s subway and bus service was close to normal. The service on the RER A regional train line was normal, while on RER B, one in three trains is running, it said. Marseille transport operated normally, while in Lyon a quarter of the metro lines and two-thirds of tramways were canceled. In Strasbourg, three in five tramways were running. Energy, Refineries EDF workers cut power output by as much as 10,000 megawatts, or 16 percent of the country’s installed capacity, Marie-Helene Gourdin, head of power and gas at the Confederation Francaise du Travail, or CFDT union, said today by telephone. A strike at Total SA’s refineries in France cut production and disrupted deliveries of oil products, according to a union official. The union action comes after Europe’s third-largest oil company announced this month a plan to cut 555 refining and petrochemicals jobs in France. “There are sites where output has dropped and products aren’t being shipped out,” Charles Foulard of the CGT at Total, said in a telephone interview. Unions have called on strikers to lower output at French nuclear reactors to a level that would be “enough to curb EDF’s ability to export electricity and maybe even force it to import power,” said Gourdin. French ports, including the largest at Marseille and Le Havre, halted operations last night in the run-up to the 24-hour action, according to workers’ unions and harbor authorities. To contact the reporters on this story: Sandrine Rastello in Paris at srastello@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Fraher at jfraher@bloomberg.net ||||| PARIS, Jan 27 (Reuters) - France’s eight labour unions have called on public and private workers to go on strike on Thursday to demand that the government and company managers do more to protect jobs and salaries during the economic crisis. Both the unions and the government expect massive turnout, with an opinion poll published by the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche saying 69 percent of French people backed it. Following are some facts about the planned strike. WHAT IS AT STAKE FOR THE UNIONS? Credibility. The unions have been seething since President Nicolas Sarkozy said last July that France had changed so rapidly under his stewardship that “these days, when there is a strike, nobody notices”. The unions want to prove him wrong. WHAT IS AT STAKE FOR THE GOVERNMENT? Momentum for its reform programme. After a first 18 months in power when no amount of protest could deter Sarkozy from pushing through his reform plans, he has recently shelved an unpopular shake-up of the high school system after street protests. If there is massive participation in the strike, that could further discourage Sarkozy from attempting tough reforms. WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT OF THE STRIKE? It could potentially hobble France, with strikes expected to hit schools, hospitals, law courts, public transport, flights, postal services, France Telecom FTE.PA, energy providers EDF (EDF.PA) and GDF Suez GSZ.PA, shipyards, public television and radio stations. WHAT DO THE UNIONS WANT? The eight unions issued a joint document listing demands on both the government and company managers. Here are some of them: - Any state aid to companies must be conditional on them supporting jobs and salaries. - Companies that reduce working hours or ask staff to take leave as ways of coping with a slowdown in activity must negotiate such arrangements with the workers. Staff on a temporary break from production should be offered training. - The government must immediately drop plans to cut 30,000 public sector jobs by not replacing some retiring employees. - State stimulus measures must be directed at consumers, not just firms. They should revive the economy through consumption. - The government must repeal legislation that has relaxed rules on the 35-hour working week. - The government must withdraw its bill proposing to make it easier for shops to open on Sunday. - The European Union must be at the forefront of efforts to curb financial speculation, get rid of tax havens and increase transparency on financial markets. ||||| Nicolas Sarkozy this week faces the first mass-protests over his handling of the financial crisis as unions prepare to paralyse France in a general strike uniting train-drivers, air traffic controllers, journalists, bank staff and even ski-lift operators. "Black Thursday" is the first general strike since the French president's election in 2007. All the leading unions have joined forces to protest that the government's stimulus plans should focus less on companies and more on workers' job-protection and purchasing power. The protests reflect a mood of social unrest that has been building for months. Unemployment had dropped in the first half of last year but it is now spiralling, particularly among the young, and is forecast to reach 10% in 2010. The recession is predicted to be worse than thought while flagging exports and consumer sales have hammered the manufacturing sector. The strike will unite private and public sector workers from schools, hospitals national TV and radio to postal services, bank clerks and supermarket employees. Even helicopter pilots and staff from the company that operates the French stock exchange are taking part. High school pupils, university lecturers, lawyers and magistrates will also protest a raft of Sarkozy's reforms and planned job cuts. Despite the predicted chaos, one poll found that 70% of French people either support or sympathise with the strikes. "It's very rare for our bank workers to join in this kind of strike action," said Lionel Manchin, of the SNIACAM independent union at the bank Credit Agricole. "This is about protecting jobs and protecting our purchasing power. The bosses have been well protected with their salaries, it's now time to protect the workers." The strikes follow months of tension after high school students delayed an education reform with sit-ins, strikes and demonstrations. Earlier this month a radical union led a strike that shut down Paris's second biggest railway station, leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded. In the past two weeks, Sarkozy has criss-crossed the country giving more than 17 new year speeches, but protesters have been kept in check by riot police. Describing the general mood of discontent, the MP Philippe Cochet, from Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, told Le Monde, "I feel a violence being born. In schools, for example, there's a very strong mobilisation." Bernard Thibault, leader of the powerful, communist-leaning CGT union, said the protests could be bigger than those of 2006 which saw 3 million take to the streets against a new youth employment contract, the CPE. Sarkozy will today make a speech on measures for the unemployed in an attempt to defuse tension. At the weekend, a coalition of psychiatrists, health workers, judges, teachers and researchers will meet to discuss their joint appeal in protest at a range of the president's reforms. Oliver Besancenot, leader of the Communist Revolutionary League, is then hoping to benefit from the mood by launching his anti-capitalist party. The strike action kicked off yesterday with stoppages by university lecturers and researchers over higher education reform. High school pupils also hope Thursday's strike will boost their demonstrations against school reform. Zaki Marouane, 19, secretary general of the Lycee pupils' union, FIDL, said: "We're taking to the streets again and our banners will read: "We refuse to be the children of the financial crisis!" ||||| BERLIN, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Two main German rail unions will stage a one-day strike this week over pay and working hours at operator Deutsche Bahn DBN.UL, the unions said on Monday. “Transnet and rail workers’ union GDBA call for warning strikes on Thursday,” the Transnet and GDBA unions said in a joint news release. Transnet, the biggest of three unions representing Deutsche Bahn’s 130,000 workers, and GDBA demand more flexible control of working hours and a ten percent pay rise, against management’s offer of a one percent increase. A Deutsche Bahn spokesman said there had been progress in the negotiations and blamed the unions for the strike. “Our customers will not understand it. There has been progress in the negotiations and further sessions have been agreed upon,” he said. GDL train drivers’ union, which brought much German rail traffic to a standstill during strikes in 2007 and which is also at loggerheads with management, will not participate in the action and has said it would not strike before February. (Reporting by Brian Rohan and Angelika Gruber; Editing by Diane Craft) | France's two largest trade unions have called for a general strike on Thursday. The Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (French Democratic Confederation of Labour) and the Confédération générale du travail (General Confederation of Labour), along with six other labour groups, have called upon French workers to stop work on January 29 and take to the streets to protest the handling of the economic downturn by President Nicolas Sarkozy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. The strike call is aimed at both the private and the public sectors. It would affect public services like hospitals, schools, mail, Air France, rail company SNCF and national broadcasting, as well as private sectors such as banks, supermarkets and the stock exchange. A poll found 70% of the French public sympathise with or are in support of the action. The unions fear job losses and wage cuts as France tips into recession following the credit crunch. They are against the President's plans to loosen restrictions on the length of the working week, which currently stands at a legal maximum of 35 hours, and on Sunday trading. The unions oppose allowing 30,000 public sector jobs to go by natural wastage. The European Union expects the unemployment rate in France to reach 10.6% next year. In the National Assembly, the opposition Socialists have proposed a vote of no confidence in Sarkozy's right-of-centre government. The Assembly will debate the motion today, however Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party has a majority in the Assembly so he is expected to win. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Germany, the national railway network is expected to be disrupted after the two main rail unions, Transnet and the GDBA, called for strike action against Deutsche Bahn as part of a campaign for greater flexibility in worknig and a 10% pay increase. Deutsche Bahn has offered 1%. |
Some inmates have been at the detention camp since 2002 The US defence department has released the names and nationalities of some of the inmates detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for up to four years. The names do not appear as a simple list, but are included within 6,000 pages of documents posted on the Pentagon's website. They are transcripts of tribunals in which the 500 detainees were screened and their combat status assessed. The transcripts have been released before, but with the names blacked out. SOME OF THE NAMED DETAINEES Feroz Ali Abbasi, British - submitted written complaints about military police Abdul Gappher, Uighur from western China - accused of seeking to join Uzbek Islamist group but says he was training to fight the Chinese Mohammed Sharif, Afghan - accused of serving as a Taleban guard but said he was forced to work for them Abdullah Mohammed al-Hamiri, Yemeni - accused of association with al-Qaeda Zahir Shah, Afghan - accused of being member of radical group Hizb-i-Islamia Mahbub Rahman, Afghan - accused of spying on US forces Naibullah Darwaish, Afghan - accused of being Taleban-appointed police chief of Zabul province Testimony excerpts Veil of secrecy lifted The files have been released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Associated Press. It is the first time most of the names have been made public. However, is unclear how many names the transcripts contain. In most cases the person speaking is identified only as "detainee". Names appear only when court officials or detainees refer to people by name. However, human rights groups say the release of the full transcripts is a significant blow against US government secrecy. Activists say the new information will help in piecing together the personal histories of the detainees and in judging how many of them really pose a threat to the US as the US military insists they do. 'Ghost' detainees Detainees were screened at the Combatant Status Review Tribunals with a view to categorising them as "enemy combatants". HAVE YOUR SAY It is about time that we start playing by the same rules we expect the rest of the world to play by Maxin, Orange, USA Send us your comments The BBC's Pentagon correspondent, Adam Brookes, says it will take days, or even weeks, for the documents to be read and analysed, but soon much more will be learned not only about who the detainees are, but also the circumstances of their capture and detention. However, our correspondent says only inmates who underwent Combatant Status Review Tribunals have been named - it is possible there are other prisoners, known as "ghost" detainees, at Guantanamo. Force feeding On Friday, a Kuwaiti man being held at Guantanamo Bay gave a rare interview to the BBC in which he described the force-feeding of hunger strikers at the camp, something which he says amounts to torture. Answering the questions from the BBC's Today Programme through his lawyer, Fawzi al-Odah said hunger strikers were strapped to a chair and force-fed through a tube three times a day. Mr Odah, who has been held at the base since 2002, was one of 84 inmates at Guantanamo who went on hunger strike in December. Just four are still refusing food. He told how detainees were given "formulas" to force them to empty their bowels and were strapped to a metal chair three times a day, where a tube was inserted to administer food. The UN Human Rights Commission said recently that it regarded force-feeding at Guantanamo as a form of torture, a charge the US firmly has repeatedly denied. E-mail this to a friend Printable version LINKS TO MORE AMERICAS STORIES Select New Orleans votes for new mayor Afghan blast kills Canada troops Colombian rebel ambush kills 17 Guyana minister shot dead at home Worker fired over CIA leaks named Haitians vote for new parliament Brazil meets oil needs with rig Man 'smuggled Europeans' into US Hu heckler on harassment charge LeBron shines on play-offs debut Klitschko ends Byrd's IBF reign Missile exports to Iran alarm US Former Brazil football coach dies US police 'foil attack on school' Merck to pay $32m in Vioxx ruling Children among French Guiana dead Canada tribes fight off eviction US problems fuel huge Ford loss Two die in clashes at Mexico mine US steps up fight on child porn Survivors recall San Francisco quake Analysis: Latin America's new left axis Vocal Rumsfeld critics break ranks US pressure on 'criminal' N Korea Programmes and Schedules ||||| WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. Defense Department released on Friday the names of hundreds of detainees held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The names were contained in documents that the Pentagon released following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Associated Press. The documents were previously released in June last year also in a lawsuit by the Associated Press but with the detainees' names and nationalities blacked out. The U.S. government has kept secret the names, home countries and other information about the detainees at Guantanamo, but a federal judge ordered the release by March 3, rejecting government arguments that releasing the identities would violate the detainees' privacy and could endanger them and their families. An Associated Press report said the names were scattered throughout more than 5,000 pages of transcripts of hearings in which detainees defended themselves against allegations that they were "enemy combatants." Earlier on Friday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Pentagon would release 317 sets of records of hearings into the status of detainees as "enemy combatants," but the records did not include all 490 people currently detained at Guantanamo. The United States opened the prison on its Navy base in Guantanamo in January 2002, and so far 490 prisoners are still being held there. Most of the detainees were captured in the US-led war in Afghanistan, but only 10 of them have been charged with crimes so far. Enditem ||||| WASHINGTON, March 3, 2006 DoD has released 317 "unredacted" records on detainees being held at the U.S. facility in U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The records, containing about 5,000 pages, are being released as part of an Associated Press Freedom of Information Act litigation decided in late January. A federal judge in New York ordered DoD release records of combatant status review tribunals and administrative review board summaries to the Associated Press by March 3. Those documents were originally provided to AP, but with names and identifying information redacted for privacy reasons, as part of a Freedom of Information Act request in June 2005. "The court's ruling applies to those documents that have been provided under FOIA in June 2005," a senior official speaking on background said. The list does not give the names of all 490 detainees being held at Guantanamo. Senior defense officials said the 317 records only cover the previously released redacted documents. These will be "unredacted," and names, nationalities and other personal identifying information will be released. Other protected information -- names of American servicemembers for example -- will remain redacted, officials said. This is only a portion of the combatant status review tribunals and administrative review boards that have been held to date. There have been 558 tribunals and 463 administrative boards, officials said. The judge ordered DoD to release personal information that DoD originally withheld because it feared the release could endanger lives or safety. "We removed the information from the transcripts that identified the detainees," the official said. "Detainee personal information was removed ... because of concern of potential harm to detainees if the documents were made public." In some cases, detainees made incriminating statements about other detainees or about others in their home countries. In others, detainees made statements that could be taken by enemy forces as "disloyal acts" against them, and in other transcripts detainees indicated that they had cooperated with U.S. forces, acts that could be held against them in their countries. These situations and others "could result in retaliation against the detainee from other detainees at Guantanamo or against their families in their home countries," the official said. The documents are available on the Defense Department's Freedom of Information Act Web page at http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/index.html. | The United States Pentagon, under court orders, has released the names of hundreds of Guantánamo detainees. An Associated Press request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) brought about the release of the information, but the U.S. military is not being cooperative in doing so. The Pentagon has released 6,000 pages of documents on a website. The documents are the transcripts of Combatant Status Review Tribunals of 500 detainees. The transcripts were released in June 2005 in response to an Associated Press FOIA request, but with the names blacked out. |
By Kim Yeon-hee SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired up to two short-range missiles off its west coast on Thursday, said U.S. and South Korean officials, prompting quick U.S. criticism of Pyongyang over the second such launch in as many weeks. The launch occurred a day after U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed at a bilateral meeting there were limits to their patience with Pyongyang's failure to honour a nuclear disarmament agreement. "What I have been advised is that it (was) a cruise missile test," White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters. "We saw I think in the last week or 10 days a similar test." A South Korean Defence Ministry official confirmed reclusive communist North Korea had fired at least one missile but could not specify the exact number or type. White House National Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said North Korea's missile test activity was "not constructive" and Pyongyang should focus on dismantling its nuclear programme. "The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," Johndroe said in a statement to reporters on the sidelines of a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. BARRAGE North Korea fired a barrage of long and short range missiles last year, triggering United Nations sanctions. It drew more punitive measures with its first nuclear test in October. Continued... ||||| They are believed to be ground-to-ship or ship-to-ship missiles with a range of some 100km (60 miles), they say. They landed in North Korean waters. Pyongyang test-fired at least one short-range missile at the end of May - off its east coast - as part of what appeared to be military exercises. North Korea's military programme is a major source of international concern. "I believe North Korea launched two missiles into the West Sea today [Thursday] - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon," a South Korean intelligence official is quoted as saying by South Korean news agency Yonhap. Thursday's suspected test off the west coast may have been carried out after a similar test failed on 25 May, when the North test-fired missiles off the east coast, a South Korean official was quoted as saying earlier. "It's seen as the North firing the missile that it didn't launch at that time," he said. The US condemned the launches, describing them as "not constructive". "The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. The North "should focus on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and fulfil its obligations" under a February agreement to close down its only nuclear reactor, he added. Missed deadline South Korea confirmed at least one missile was test-fired into the Sea of Japan on 25 May, although earlier reports suggested several had been fired. It coincided with the launch of South Korea's first destroyer equipped with US-supplied high-tech Aegis radar. Despite international alarm at the North's long-range missile and nuclear tests last year, the US and Pyongyang's regional neighbours played down the May test. The US state department described it as a "routine exercise" that would not affect six-party talks regarding the North's nuclear programme. The tests come weeks after the North missed the February deadline to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in return for economic and energy aid. Pyongyang has refused to move forward on the deal until it has access to North Korean funds in a Macau bank, which had been frozen amid claims the money was linked to counterfeiting and money-laundering. ||||| Story Highlights • North Korea test-fires several missiles • Not known how many or what kind of devices • Intelligence officials tell Yonhap news agency they were short-range Adjust font size: SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles Thursday off its west coast, South Korea's defense ministry officials told CNN. The test comes nearly two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a short-range missile off its east coast. Short-range missiles have an approximate range between 90 and 500 miles (150-800km), according to the U.S. State Department. After North Korea's May 25 missile test, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said "this is not unusual." "From time to time, their military tests these short range missiles," Hill told reporters. "It is obviously not anything that is ever going to contribute to their security, and we would prefer they spend their time figuring out how to denuclearize and how to join the international community. But this is not unusual." Hill is the chief U.S. negotiator for talks on North Korea's nuclear program. CNN Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae contributed to this report ||||| - Politics/Diplomacy - Society - N.K this week - Vantage point - Industry - Economy - Market - Culture - Sports Home North Korea NorthKorea (4th LD) N. Korea believed to have fired missiles: S. Korean intelligence officials By Kim Hyung-jin SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is believed to have test-fired two short-range missiles off its western coast Thursday, South Korean intelligence officials said, as the communist country has been under increasing pressure to keep its promise of dismantling its nuclear weapons program. "I believe North Korea launched two missiles into the West Sea today -- one in the morning and the other in the afternoon," a South Korean intelligence official said, on condition of anonymity. Both missiles are believed to have landed in the North's territorial waters, the official said, adding the rockets that the communist country fired were either a surface-to-ship type or a ship-to-ship type, both with a range of less than 100 km. "North Korea conducts this kind of missile test several times a year," the official said. "We saw the test as part of a routine military exercise." The purported test came about two weeks after North Korea fired a short-range guided missile into the East Sea. Some analysts and media said that the missile test may have been a response to South Korea's launch of its first Aegis-equipped destroyer, but South Korean and U.S. military authorities downplayed the view, saying it was part of military training. Another South Korean intelligence official said his agency has also obtained intelligence that the North fired one or two short-range missiles into the West Sea. "We are confirming intelligence that North Korea fired short-range missiles into the West Sea on Thursday morning," the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. "The number of missiles fired today is estimated at one or two." Along with its nuclear weapons program, North Korea's missile program has posed a constant threat to security in the region. In July last year, the North tested multiple missiles, including a long-range rocket believed to be able to reach as far as the U.S. West Coast, triggering a chorus of international condemnation. Thursday's missile firing came as North Korea has been under increasing pressure to honor a Feb. 13 international accord, in which the communist country agreed to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return for aid. The North, however, has yet to take initial disarmament procedures, citing a banking dispute with the U.S. over the release of US$24 million in a Macau bank blacklisted by the U.S. The stalled denuclearization procedures forced last week's Cabinet-level talks between the divided Koreas to end without a substantial agreement, as South Korea insisted it will resume its rice aid to North Korea only after the North moves on to honor the February disarmament accord. The South halted its humanitarian rice aid after the North's defiant missile tests. The second South Korean intelligence official, meanwhile, said one of the two rockets the North fired Thursday was the one it initially planned to launch on May 25. "The North, which fired one short-range missile into the East (Sea) on May 25, initially planned to fire another in the West Sea, too. It's seen as the North firing the missile that it didn't launch at that time." hyungjin@yna.co.kr (END) | North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles off its west coast, South Korea's Yonhap news service reported today. "I believe North Korea launched two missiles into the West Sea today, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon," an unnamed South Korean intelligence official was quoted as saying by Yonhap, the South Korean government news service. The official added that the rockets were either a surface-to-ship type or a ship-to-ship type, both with a range of less than 100 kilometers (60 miles), and landed in North Korean territory. "North Korea conducts this kind of missile test several times a year," the official was quoted as saying. "We saw the test as part of a routine military exercise." The last missile test was on May 25, which at the time South Korean and US officials said was routine. But the latest launches occurred a day after US President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on the G8 nations to put more pressure on North Korea to comply with an international agreement to shut down its main nuclear reactor. The U.S. criticized today's launch as "not constructive." "The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement from the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. "North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and fulfill its obligations," Johndroe said, mentioning an international agreement North Korea made on Feb. 13 that it would to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for financial and diplomatic incentives. |
People wade through floodwaters to reach safer areas in Kurnool, southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 02 Oct 2009 Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP. Officials in southern India say four days of torrential rains and flash floods have killed more than 130 people.The army sent troops and helicopters into Karnataka state and neighboring Andhra Pradesh to rescue stranded families and deliver emergency food and medical supplies.Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated.Officials say the rains destroyed thousands of homes. Flooding has also destroyed crops, washed away roads and disrupted communication links.Officials expect the death toll will rise as they reach areas that remain inaccessible.Weather experts say the intense rains stem from a storm in the Bay of Bengal. ||||| A main street is flooded in Kurnool near Hyderabad, capital of south India's Andhra Pradesh State, on Oct. 2, 2009. With incessant rains lashing southern India, over 130 people have been killed so far in flash floods caused by four days of heavy downpour and storms that wrecked havoc particularly in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, said government officials.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> NEW DELHI, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- With incessant rains lashing southern India, over 130 people have been killed so far in flash floods caused by four days of heavy downpour and storms that wrecked havoc particularly in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, said government officials. Most victims were either washed away in rivers or died as their homes collapsed, while hundreds are still waiting to be rescued. As an alert is sounded, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force have been pressed into action to rescue those still trapped in floods as well as distributing food packets and medical aid in areas cut off by flood waters, with the central government closely monitoring the situation which is going from bad to worse. "The situation is serious. We have asked for more helicopters from the Indian Air Force to help us," B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, the most affected state, told the media. Residents stay at the tax collector office in Kurnool near Hyderabad, capital of south India's Andhra Pradesh State, on Oct. 2, 2009.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said the flood situation was grim and army personnel have been deployed for rescue operations. "Six chopper have been pressed into service to immediately rescue people. While four helicopters are being used to airlift the flood-hit people in Kurnool district, two choppers were deployed in Mahabubnagar district. A helicopter rescued 15 people in the pilgrim town of Mantralayam," a state government official told the media. Experts have blamed the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal for the deaths and collapse of 22,000 houses in the south Indian states --Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the least affected. They claim that the incessant rains have not only damaged crops but also disrupted communication and transport linksin many areas of Karnataka and neighboring Andhra Pradesh. "India's monsoon season usually brings rains from June and withdraws by the end of September. But, this year some parts of the country were actually drought affected due to inadequate and untimely rainfall. Moreover, the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal did the damage in south India which is battling floods after rivers breached their banks. This is a calamity. The central government is also closely monitoring the situation," said weather analyst Prof D.K. George. The Indian Meteorological Department has warned of further heavy showers in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh over the next 24 hours, he added. family look at the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam after the flood gates were opened south India's Andhra Pradesh State, on Oct. 2, 2009.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> Meanwhile, Andhra Chief Minister has claimed that the flood situation in Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar districts has improved with water levels receding. "I have information from Kurnool district that water levels have come down by two-three-feet; people are feeling safe for now in Mahaboobnagar district also as water has come down by a couple of feet," Rosaiah told the media in state capital Hyderabad. In fact, according to the experts, Andhra's tryst with rains and floods have been continuing for years. Unseasonal heavy rains in March 2008 and consequent floods in 22 districts led to the death of 36 people. In August 2008 floods affected 15 districts, killing 130 people. Nine people were killed in the cyclone "Nisha" in November 2008. Summed up another expert, Professor Ajay Singh: "What's more shocking is that the Climate Prediction Centre of the U.S. National Weather Services has put the Bay of Bengal under cyclone watch during October 7 to 12. This means the worse is not over yet. The states should be prepared to face any upcoming calamity. But, India is also developing a disaster management system, better late than never. Once it's in place properly, any calamity could be better managed." | Officials in southern India have said that flash floods killed more than 130 people in the southern part of the country, following four days of heavy rain. The Indian army dispatched troops and helicopters to the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to rescue people stranded by the flooding. They also delivered emergency medical supplies and food provisions. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated out of the vicinity. The rains damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, the authorities have said. The waters have also ruined crops, blocked roads, and disrupted communication links. The death toll is expected to rise as search teams reach areas previously rendered inaccessible. The Chief Minister of Karnataka, B. S. Yeddyurappa, said that the current situation was "serious". "We have asked for more helicopters from the Indian Air Force to help us," he told media. Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said that army personnel had dispatched to assist with rescue efforts. "Six chopper ''sic'' have been pressed into service to immediately rescue people. While four helicopters are being used to airlift the flood-hit people in Kurnool district, two choppers were deployed in Mahabubnagar district. A helicopter rescued 15 people in the pilgrim town of Mantralayam," he said. Weather analysts have said that the intense rains come from a storm in the Bay of Bengal. "India's monsoon season usually brings rains from June and withdraws by the end of September. But, this year some parts of the country were actually drought affected due to inadequate and untimely rainfall. Moreover, the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal did the damage in south India which is battling floods after rivers breached their banks. This is a calamity. The central government is also closely monitoring the situation," said Professor D.K. George, a weather specialist. The Indian Meterological Department has said it expects more heavy rains over the next day in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. |
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