We are saw this Daniel Sunjata Rocks New York - NYC CAN 9/11 Truth March 09/27/09
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Friday 27 August 2010
Watch Manny Badillo & Bob Mcilvaine: NYC CAN World Video Premiere on The Alex Jones Show 1/2
Watches this new video enjoy Manny Badillo & Bob Mcilvaine: NYC CAN World Video Premiere on The Alex Jones Show 1/2
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Coppied by http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel
Climate aid reaches $30 bln goal, but is it new?
Climate aid reaches $30 bln goal, but is it new?
OSLO (Reuters) - Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of that is old funding dressed up as new pledges.
A boy touches an ice sculpture of a polar bear as it melts to reveal a bronze skeleton in Copenhagen December 8, 2009. Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of that is old funding dressed up as new pledges. (REUTERS/Bob Strong/Files)
Officially, the promises total $29.8 billion, Reuters calculations show, apparently meeting a pledge of "new and additional" funds "approaching $30 billion" for 2010-12 made at the U.N. summit in Copenhagen in December.
But austerity policies to combat government debt problems and a re-labelling of past promises will undermine real funding that is vital to unlock a new U.N. climate deal by showing that the developed world is serious about taking a leadership role, analysts say.
"I'm afraid the pledges of Copenhagen will not be realised," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "It would be a little political miracle if it happened. I'm fairly pessimistic."
He said that Germany, the biggest European Union economy, was unlikely to fulfil its promises even though it had fewer economic problems than most EU nations, struggling to plug huge budget deficits.
Climate aid is widely seen as a key to build trust between rich and poor in the run-up to the 2010 U.N. meeting of environment ministers, in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29-Dec. 10.
The cash was meant as a "fast start" for action to slow floods, droughts, heat waves and rising seas. Donors say projects are starting, from Nepal to Mali.
Many poor nations say "new and additional" means cash above an unmet 1970 U.N. target for rich nations to give 0.7 percent of their gross national product in aid -- OECD figures show that aid totalled $120 billion, or 0.31 percent of developed countries' combined GNP, in 2009.
Developed nations have varying definitions of what counts.
RENAMING AID
"It's hard to know what's really new and additional," said Clifford Polycarp of the Washington-based World Resources Institute, which tracks pledges by all nations. Some funds were "restated or renamed commitments already made."
Japan's pledge of fast start funds is by far the highest -- $15 billion -- but much of the money stems from a "Cool Earth Partnership" agreed several years ago to run from 2008-12.
Among other big pledges, the EU plans $9.6 billion for 2010-12 and U.S. President Barack Obama plans $3.2 billion for 2010-11. But some money was committed before Copenhagen to climate funds, for instance managed by the World Bank.
coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/27/worldupdates/2010-08-26T202359Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510913-1&sec=Worldupdates
OSLO (Reuters) - Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of that is old funding dressed up as new pledges.
A boy touches an ice sculpture of a polar bear as it melts to reveal a bronze skeleton in Copenhagen December 8, 2009. Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of that is old funding dressed up as new pledges. (REUTERS/Bob Strong/Files)
Officially, the promises total $29.8 billion, Reuters calculations show, apparently meeting a pledge of "new and additional" funds "approaching $30 billion" for 2010-12 made at the U.N. summit in Copenhagen in December.
But austerity policies to combat government debt problems and a re-labelling of past promises will undermine real funding that is vital to unlock a new U.N. climate deal by showing that the developed world is serious about taking a leadership role, analysts say.
"I'm afraid the pledges of Copenhagen will not be realised," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "It would be a little political miracle if it happened. I'm fairly pessimistic."
He said that Germany, the biggest European Union economy, was unlikely to fulfil its promises even though it had fewer economic problems than most EU nations, struggling to plug huge budget deficits.
Climate aid is widely seen as a key to build trust between rich and poor in the run-up to the 2010 U.N. meeting of environment ministers, in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29-Dec. 10.
The cash was meant as a "fast start" for action to slow floods, droughts, heat waves and rising seas. Donors say projects are starting, from Nepal to Mali.
Many poor nations say "new and additional" means cash above an unmet 1970 U.N. target for rich nations to give 0.7 percent of their gross national product in aid -- OECD figures show that aid totalled $120 billion, or 0.31 percent of developed countries' combined GNP, in 2009.
Developed nations have varying definitions of what counts.
RENAMING AID
"It's hard to know what's really new and additional," said Clifford Polycarp of the Washington-based World Resources Institute, which tracks pledges by all nations. Some funds were "restated or renamed commitments already made."
Japan's pledge of fast start funds is by far the highest -- $15 billion -- but much of the money stems from a "Cool Earth Partnership" agreed several years ago to run from 2008-12.
Among other big pledges, the EU plans $9.6 billion for 2010-12 and U.S. President Barack Obama plans $3.2 billion for 2010-11. But some money was committed before Copenhagen to climate funds, for instance managed by the World Bank.
coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/27/worldupdates/2010-08-26T202359Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510913-1&sec=Worldupdates
Watch this Muslims 'being turned into terrorists in jail'
Muslims 'being turned into terrorists in jail'
Influential and behind bars: Abu Hamza, Ahmed Abdullah, Abdullah el-Faisal and Muktar Said Ibrahim
Britain faces a "new wave" of home-grown terrorist attacks led by up to 800 Muslim ex-prisoners who have been radicalised by jihadists while serving their sentences, a think-tank has warned.
Large-scale and co-ordinated attacks such as the 7 July bombings are likely to be replaced with terrorist assaults by highly motivated but poorly trained lone individuals whose lack of connection with any major terrorist organisation will make them more difficult for police or MI5 to detect.
A study published in the journal of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) warns that one of the key threats from this next generation of terrorists comes from within the ranks of the 8,000 Muslims currently serving prison terms who are at risk of being converted to extremism by hardcore inmates jailed for terrorist offences.
The report cites estimates by prison probation officers that up to one in 10 Muslim inmates are being successfully targeted while inside jail, leading to the creation of a new generation of potential attackers who are due for release in the next decade and whose previous convictions do not relate to terrorism.
All major sporting events such as this year's Commonwealth Games in India and 2012 Olympics in London should be considered as possible targets for this new generation of "lone killers" who have been radicalised by preachers in the hope that eventually at least one of their number will be successful.
Michael Clarke, director of Rusi and co-author of the study, said: "Perhaps some 800 potentially violent radicals, not previously guilty of terrorism charges, will be back in society over the coming five to ten years... The natural reaction to improved counter-terrorist operations is for jihadist attacks to evolve towards more individual efforts."
The report suggests that radicalisation is taking place in British prisons at a rapid rate, especially in the eight high-security establishments where most terrorism offenders are detained.
Abu Hamza, the former night-club bouncer who became a figurehead for radical Islam in Britain before being jailed for seven years for soliciting murder, is held in a special unit at Belmarsh Prison in south-east London partly to minimise the risk that he will indoctrinate other inmates.
The Rusi study said the evolution of the threat posed by Islamist groups away from highly organised attacks with a recognisable leader to unsupported individuals was already apparent in America, where the recent attempt by the Pakistani America Faisal Shahzad to carry out a car bombing in Times Square in New York showed a new reliance on untrained but radicalised attackers.
The Ministry of Justice said it did not agree that radicalisation was widespread within the prison system. A spokesman said: "We run a dedicated expert unit to tackle the risk posed by those offenders with violent extremist views and those who may attempt to improperly influence others."
Influential and behind bars
Abu Hamza
The former preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque was jailed for terrorism offences in 2006 and remains on remand in the high-security unit of Belmarsh prison, where he is isolated from other prisoners.
Abdullah el-Faisal
The Jamaican-born preacher, born Trevor Forest, was jailed in 2003 for stirring up racial hatred. A number of convicted terrorists, including the shoe bomber Richard Reid and the 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui, attended his sermons. He was deported from Britain in 2007.
Ahmed Abdullah Ali
The leader of the 2006 plot to blow up airliners with liquid bombs is serving a 40-year sentence after being convicted of helping to recruit and train fellow jihadists, persuading them to record suicide videos and prepare for martyrdom.
Muktar Said Ibrahim
The "emir" of the failed attacks on the London transport network on 21 July 2005 attended the Finsbury Park mosque and was found with recordings of preaching by El-Faisal. Ibrahim helped to recruit his co-conspirators for the botched attack. He is serving a 40-year sentence.
Coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/muslims-being-turned-into-terrorists-in-jail-2063313.html
Influential and behind bars: Abu Hamza, Ahmed Abdullah, Abdullah el-Faisal and Muktar Said Ibrahim
Britain faces a "new wave" of home-grown terrorist attacks led by up to 800 Muslim ex-prisoners who have been radicalised by jihadists while serving their sentences, a think-tank has warned.
Large-scale and co-ordinated attacks such as the 7 July bombings are likely to be replaced with terrorist assaults by highly motivated but poorly trained lone individuals whose lack of connection with any major terrorist organisation will make them more difficult for police or MI5 to detect.
A study published in the journal of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) warns that one of the key threats from this next generation of terrorists comes from within the ranks of the 8,000 Muslims currently serving prison terms who are at risk of being converted to extremism by hardcore inmates jailed for terrorist offences.
The report cites estimates by prison probation officers that up to one in 10 Muslim inmates are being successfully targeted while inside jail, leading to the creation of a new generation of potential attackers who are due for release in the next decade and whose previous convictions do not relate to terrorism.
All major sporting events such as this year's Commonwealth Games in India and 2012 Olympics in London should be considered as possible targets for this new generation of "lone killers" who have been radicalised by preachers in the hope that eventually at least one of their number will be successful.
Michael Clarke, director of Rusi and co-author of the study, said: "Perhaps some 800 potentially violent radicals, not previously guilty of terrorism charges, will be back in society over the coming five to ten years... The natural reaction to improved counter-terrorist operations is for jihadist attacks to evolve towards more individual efforts."
The report suggests that radicalisation is taking place in British prisons at a rapid rate, especially in the eight high-security establishments where most terrorism offenders are detained.
Abu Hamza, the former night-club bouncer who became a figurehead for radical Islam in Britain before being jailed for seven years for soliciting murder, is held in a special unit at Belmarsh Prison in south-east London partly to minimise the risk that he will indoctrinate other inmates.
The Rusi study said the evolution of the threat posed by Islamist groups away from highly organised attacks with a recognisable leader to unsupported individuals was already apparent in America, where the recent attempt by the Pakistani America Faisal Shahzad to carry out a car bombing in Times Square in New York showed a new reliance on untrained but radicalised attackers.
The Ministry of Justice said it did not agree that radicalisation was widespread within the prison system. A spokesman said: "We run a dedicated expert unit to tackle the risk posed by those offenders with violent extremist views and those who may attempt to improperly influence others."
Influential and behind bars
Abu Hamza
The former preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque was jailed for terrorism offences in 2006 and remains on remand in the high-security unit of Belmarsh prison, where he is isolated from other prisoners.
Abdullah el-Faisal
The Jamaican-born preacher, born Trevor Forest, was jailed in 2003 for stirring up racial hatred. A number of convicted terrorists, including the shoe bomber Richard Reid and the 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui, attended his sermons. He was deported from Britain in 2007.
Ahmed Abdullah Ali
The leader of the 2006 plot to blow up airliners with liquid bombs is serving a 40-year sentence after being convicted of helping to recruit and train fellow jihadists, persuading them to record suicide videos and prepare for martyrdom.
Muktar Said Ibrahim
The "emir" of the failed attacks on the London transport network on 21 July 2005 attended the Finsbury Park mosque and was found with recordings of preaching by El-Faisal. Ibrahim helped to recruit his co-conspirators for the botched attack. He is serving a 40-year sentence.
Coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/muslims-being-turned-into-terrorists-in-jail-2063313.html
baghdad Quarter of US Iraq deaths due to Iran groups - envoy
Quarter of US Iraq deaths due to Iran groups - envoy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Thursday he believed groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S. casualties in the Iraq war but that Tehran was not as influential in Iraq as thought.
More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, battling Shi'ite militia the U.S. military has long said were armed, funded and trained by Iran, and Sunni Islamist insurgents.
A soldier stands guard at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad August 25, 2010. (REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudan)
The U.S. military will formally end its combat operations in Iraq on Aug. 31 as President Barack Obama seeks to fulfil a promise to U.S. voters to end the war, despite continuing insecurity and political instability in Iraq.
Ambassador James Jeffrey said Tehran had not been able to dictate the outcome of Iraqi coalition talks after an election in March, despite efforts and widespread beliefs that Shi'ite Iran gained unprecedented influence in Iraq after the invasion.
The ousting of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein propelled Iraq's previously oppressed Shi'ite majority into power.
"My own estimate, based just upon a gut feeling, is that up to a quarter of the American casualties and some of the more horrific incidents in which Americans were kidnapped ... can be traced without doubt to these Iranian groups," Jeffrey said.
He said Iran has sought to use Iraqi proxies to destabilise its neighbour and make it inhospitable for foreign forces.
"But I don't see any long-term impact that it, however awful, has had on the development of politics and society here," Jeffrey told Western reporters.
"I believe ... that Iraqis are Iraqi patriots, that they do not want to be dominated or dictated to by anybody, not the United States, not Iran, not any of their other neighbours."
Coalition talks since the inconclusive election have failed to produce a government, despite early agreement between Iraq's main Shi'ite blocs to form a parliamentary alliance and efforts by Tehran to encourage Iraq's Shi'ite parties to unite.
Coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/27/worldupdates/2010-08-27T033048Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510970-1&sec=Worldupdates
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Thursday he believed groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S. casualties in the Iraq war but that Tehran was not as influential in Iraq as thought.
More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, battling Shi'ite militia the U.S. military has long said were armed, funded and trained by Iran, and Sunni Islamist insurgents.
A soldier stands guard at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad August 25, 2010. (REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudan)
The U.S. military will formally end its combat operations in Iraq on Aug. 31 as President Barack Obama seeks to fulfil a promise to U.S. voters to end the war, despite continuing insecurity and political instability in Iraq.
Ambassador James Jeffrey said Tehran had not been able to dictate the outcome of Iraqi coalition talks after an election in March, despite efforts and widespread beliefs that Shi'ite Iran gained unprecedented influence in Iraq after the invasion.
The ousting of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein propelled Iraq's previously oppressed Shi'ite majority into power.
"My own estimate, based just upon a gut feeling, is that up to a quarter of the American casualties and some of the more horrific incidents in which Americans were kidnapped ... can be traced without doubt to these Iranian groups," Jeffrey said.
He said Iran has sought to use Iraqi proxies to destabilise its neighbour and make it inhospitable for foreign forces.
"But I don't see any long-term impact that it, however awful, has had on the development of politics and society here," Jeffrey told Western reporters.
"I believe ... that Iraqis are Iraqi patriots, that they do not want to be dominated or dictated to by anybody, not the United States, not Iran, not any of their other neighbours."
Coalition talks since the inconclusive election have failed to produce a government, despite early agreement between Iraq's main Shi'ite blocs to form a parliamentary alliance and efforts by Tehran to encourage Iraq's Shi'ite parties to unite.
Coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/27/worldupdates/2010-08-27T033048Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510970-1&sec=Worldupdates
Enjoy Kenya's new constitution sparks hopes of rebirth
Kenya's new constitution sparks hopes of rebirth
Supporters of the new constitution say it brings much-needed changes
Nairobi's Uhuru Park is awash with the red, green and black of the Kenyan flag.
Workers have been painting the stones, trimming hedges, and sweeping the leaves.
Performers have been stamping up and down the road that runs past the official dias, rehearsing for the moment that the nation's intellectuals are calling "the birth of the second republic".
And there is plenty to celebrate.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We are trying to create a nation that runs on the competition of ideas and individuals rather than forcing people to coalesce around ethnicities in order to defend their interests”
Kwamchetsi Mokhoke
Political analyst
The debate over a new constitution began 20 years ago, then surged and receded with each national crisis. Finally, a referendum early this month approved the proposed document.
Through it all was a recognition that something fundamental had to change if Kenya was ever going to escape the repeated rounds of ethnic blood-letting that came with each election.
The fact that the troubles only emerged around election time was the clue to the problem.
It was not that there is anything inherently incompatible about the tribes; it was the way the original constitution encouraged politicians to exploit tribal differences.
Corruption 'rife'
The president was all-powerful; he was able to make appointments without parliamentary oversight.
Previous presidents were able to create a bloated cabinet filled with parliamentarians who owed them favours.
There was no clear separation between the government and the judiciary. The system of provincial government encouraged tribal competition for jobs and money. Corruption was rife, and accountability almost non-existent.
And land - an issue that lies at the very heart of tribal identity - was carved up and parcelled out as a way of manipulating electoral numbers and returning political favours.
Political analyst Kwamchetsi Mokhoke believes this new constitution tackles all those issues and more.
"It's a new experiment in which we are trying to create a nation that runs on the competition of ideas and individuals rather than forcing people to coalesce around ethnicities in order to defend their interests".
This is not just a tinkering at the edges of the way the country is designed.
The authors of the new document have utterly transformed the way power is distributed and managed.
The most significant changes include:
Parliamentary oversight of most presidential appointments and decisions
Constitutional limits on the number of cabinet posts
A senate to review parliamentary decisions
Powerful provincial governments replaced by a network of smaller counties
The creation of a Judicial Service Commission
A citizens' Bill of Rights
A land commission to return stolen property and review past abuses
All of those changes, in their own way, add checks and balances to the centres of power, and undermine tribal politics.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
I think the real changes will only come when the leaders also want to change”
Austin Ajowi
'Opened our minds'
The Kikuyus who live in the Pipeline camp for displaced people know about tribalism.
All 1,250 families who live in the squalid plastic tent city outside the Rift Valley town of Nakuru fled there to escape their neighbours after the elections of 2007.
Even now, almost three years later, they cannot go back. Yet people, like camp chairman Paul Thiongo, are surprisingly optimistic.
"Kenyans have now opened their minds," he said.
"They know what they are doing now. Not like before. They were being told things by their leaders and they were following them without question.
"Now we know our rights. And that's why I think everything will change."
Even so, a sceptical shadow still hangs over the celebrations.
Kenyan military have been rehearsing for the ratification ceremony
Austin Ajowi also experienced some of the worst of the bloodshed in the notorious Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi.
There, it was not only rival ethnic groups who were killing one another - the police got involved as well.
He organises football tournaments on a sloping, pitted and dusty square of reclaimed land, as a way of healing some of the rifts within his community.
"I think there will be some changes. But to me, I think the real changes will only come when the leaders also want to change," he said.
And asked about whether he thought the nation's politicians were ready for change, all he could do was shrug.
Still, there is a sense perhaps born of hope more than confidence, that something profound is about to happen in Kenya.
But the nation that is about to be reborn is far wiser than the one that emerged at independence almost half a century ago.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11103008
Supporters of the new constitution say it brings much-needed changes
Nairobi's Uhuru Park is awash with the red, green and black of the Kenyan flag.
Workers have been painting the stones, trimming hedges, and sweeping the leaves.
Performers have been stamping up and down the road that runs past the official dias, rehearsing for the moment that the nation's intellectuals are calling "the birth of the second republic".
And there is plenty to celebrate.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We are trying to create a nation that runs on the competition of ideas and individuals rather than forcing people to coalesce around ethnicities in order to defend their interests”
Kwamchetsi Mokhoke
Political analyst
The debate over a new constitution began 20 years ago, then surged and receded with each national crisis. Finally, a referendum early this month approved the proposed document.
Through it all was a recognition that something fundamental had to change if Kenya was ever going to escape the repeated rounds of ethnic blood-letting that came with each election.
The fact that the troubles only emerged around election time was the clue to the problem.
It was not that there is anything inherently incompatible about the tribes; it was the way the original constitution encouraged politicians to exploit tribal differences.
Corruption 'rife'
The president was all-powerful; he was able to make appointments without parliamentary oversight.
Previous presidents were able to create a bloated cabinet filled with parliamentarians who owed them favours.
There was no clear separation between the government and the judiciary. The system of provincial government encouraged tribal competition for jobs and money. Corruption was rife, and accountability almost non-existent.
And land - an issue that lies at the very heart of tribal identity - was carved up and parcelled out as a way of manipulating electoral numbers and returning political favours.
Political analyst Kwamchetsi Mokhoke believes this new constitution tackles all those issues and more.
"It's a new experiment in which we are trying to create a nation that runs on the competition of ideas and individuals rather than forcing people to coalesce around ethnicities in order to defend their interests".
This is not just a tinkering at the edges of the way the country is designed.
The authors of the new document have utterly transformed the way power is distributed and managed.
The most significant changes include:
Parliamentary oversight of most presidential appointments and decisions
Constitutional limits on the number of cabinet posts
A senate to review parliamentary decisions
Powerful provincial governments replaced by a network of smaller counties
The creation of a Judicial Service Commission
A citizens' Bill of Rights
A land commission to return stolen property and review past abuses
All of those changes, in their own way, add checks and balances to the centres of power, and undermine tribal politics.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
I think the real changes will only come when the leaders also want to change”
Austin Ajowi
'Opened our minds'
The Kikuyus who live in the Pipeline camp for displaced people know about tribalism.
All 1,250 families who live in the squalid plastic tent city outside the Rift Valley town of Nakuru fled there to escape their neighbours after the elections of 2007.
Even now, almost three years later, they cannot go back. Yet people, like camp chairman Paul Thiongo, are surprisingly optimistic.
"Kenyans have now opened their minds," he said.
"They know what they are doing now. Not like before. They were being told things by their leaders and they were following them without question.
"Now we know our rights. And that's why I think everything will change."
Even so, a sceptical shadow still hangs over the celebrations.
Kenyan military have been rehearsing for the ratification ceremony
Austin Ajowi also experienced some of the worst of the bloodshed in the notorious Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi.
There, it was not only rival ethnic groups who were killing one another - the police got involved as well.
He organises football tournaments on a sloping, pitted and dusty square of reclaimed land, as a way of healing some of the rifts within his community.
"I think there will be some changes. But to me, I think the real changes will only come when the leaders also want to change," he said.
And asked about whether he thought the nation's politicians were ready for change, all he could do was shrug.
Still, there is a sense perhaps born of hope more than confidence, that something profound is about to happen in Kenya.
But the nation that is about to be reborn is far wiser than the one that emerged at independence almost half a century ago.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11103008
Watch Galicians demand answers over 2002 Prestige oil spill
Galicians demand answers over 2002 Prestige oil spill
Galicians want reassurance that the Prestige disaster could never be repeated
The coastline of Galicia is green and rugged, dotted with deserted, sandy coves. But this enticing landscape was the site of one of Spain's worst environmental disasters.
On 13 November 2002, the Prestige oil tanker ran into trouble just offshore.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We'd never seen anything that big before... People had to scoop up the oil themselves with their hands, into their boats”
Francisco Iglesias
A week later, it broke up, spilling more than 60,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.
Now, a 266,000-page report into the accident is finally complete, paving the way for what has been dubbed a "mega-trial" later this year.
Unlike the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where BP is having to foot a huge bill for compensation, the complexities of international shipping meant Spain only recovered a small percentage of the estimated 660m euros ($832m; £541m) worth of damage caused by the Prestige.
But for most Galicians, the trial of the tanker's captain and crew - and the director of Merchant Shipping in Madrid - is about getting answers, not money.
They want to know who was responsible, and reassurance such an accident could never be repeated.
Back in business
Eight years on, though, this region's recovery has been remarkable.
The heavy fuel oil from the Prestige soaked the beaches of Galicia
For weeks, the toxic cargo that seeped from the Prestige soaked the beaches of Galicia.
As teams of volunteers cleared one thick coat of fuel from the sand another black
wave would wash in.
In a region renowned for an abundance of fine fish and seafood, fishermen feared their ruin.
Almost 26,000 people depend on the sea in Galicia for their livelihood, but as the slick spread all fishing was banned.
"We'd never seen anything that big before," remembers Francisco Iglesias, in the small town of O Grove.
"People had to scoop up the oil themselves with their hands, into their boats."
The fishing ban lasted for several months at the most lucrative time of the year.
Fish stocks have recovered and now fetch pre-Prestige prices at auction
Government compensation came quickly - around 1,500 euros ($1,892; £1,229) per month, per fisherman.
It was much less than they would have earned at sea, but helped them survive. Today, most boats are back in business.
Bringing in the day's catch, Mr Iglesias says the average haul shrunk by a third following the fishing ban. But stocks recovered and now fetch pre-Prestige prices at auction.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The government needs to explain why this disaster was so badly managed”
Xose Manuel
"Fortunately, fish aren't like humans who take so long to reproduce," he laughs. "If there's a good spot and the climate's good they reappear."
Hidden traces
Today, the grimly-named yet beautiful Costa de la Muerte (Coast of Death) looks pristine - the water is crystal-clear; beaches glisten with white sand.
Today, the Coast of Death looks pristine
We say that the human-being is the only animal that trips on the same stone twice”
Genotoxic analysis detected increased "damage values" in volunteers exposed to the oil over several months, suggesting a higher risk of certain illnesses, including cancer.
"Their risk is increased in the same way as heavy smokers, or people who live in highly contaminated cities," explains Blanca Laffon of O Coruna University, who is conducting the research.
She suggests that the protective clothing used by volunteers was inadequate, or that they were not shown how to use it.
"We say that the human being is the only animal that trips on the same stone twice," comments Dr Luis Cabanela, who treated many clean-up volunteers in 2002.
He says the teams who dealt with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico repeated Galicia's mistakes.
"We saw people cleaning the coast in Louisiana without masks and with bare hands. That has consequences," he adds.
Wildlife decimated
In the immediate aftermath of the Prestige incident, rescue teams found more than 22,000 dead birds. It is thought that was a fraction of the total number killed.
He points out rocks part-coated in black; there are still clumps of moist tar beneath.
"The government needs to explain why this disaster was so badly managed," Mr Manuel says of the upcoming trial.
Like many, he argues that the Prestige should have been brought into port and not towed out to sea, making any spill easier to contain.
Environmentalists say what oil remains on land today presents no danger.
'Damage values'
But a scientific study suggests clean-up workers may have been exposed
But this was the worst affected stretch of coast, and traces of oil are still easy to find.
"Cleaning these rocks completely was impossible," explains Xose Manuel, one of many volunteers who worked here.
After the Prestige incident, rescue teams found 22,000 dead birds
The Cies Islands are important breeding grounds for cormorants, but scientists say the population has never recovered.
"It was a huge blow," says Cristobal Perez of Vigo University.
His research suggests the birds' food-supply was disrupted; more females were killed, affecting breeding, and he detected toxins in the birds' blood.
Today, cormorants bask in the sunshine on the island rocks. But Mr Perez's count shows their number has fallen 50% since 2002.
"I want those responsible to pay for what they did," he says of the trial, "So they realise such a disaster affects marine birds and animals as well as people."
'Hope'
It affects a region's reputation too, as the US is finding out.
The number of cormorants on the Cies Islands has fallen 50% since 2002
Tourism accounts for 10% of the Galician economy, so rebuilding the region's image was vital.
In the US, President Barack Obama took his family to Florida to urge tourists back to its deserted beaches.
In Galicia, a multi-million dollar PR campaign did the same.
"The government has to prioritise all its efforts on image campaigns - but not just for one year," explains Carmen Pardo, of Galicia's tourist board.
"It took at least six years of hard work to recover the situation here," she says. "But it can work. There is hope."
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11078772
Galicians want reassurance that the Prestige disaster could never be repeated
The coastline of Galicia is green and rugged, dotted with deserted, sandy coves. But this enticing landscape was the site of one of Spain's worst environmental disasters.
On 13 November 2002, the Prestige oil tanker ran into trouble just offshore.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We'd never seen anything that big before... People had to scoop up the oil themselves with their hands, into their boats”
Francisco Iglesias
A week later, it broke up, spilling more than 60,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.
Now, a 266,000-page report into the accident is finally complete, paving the way for what has been dubbed a "mega-trial" later this year.
Unlike the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where BP is having to foot a huge bill for compensation, the complexities of international shipping meant Spain only recovered a small percentage of the estimated 660m euros ($832m; £541m) worth of damage caused by the Prestige.
But for most Galicians, the trial of the tanker's captain and crew - and the director of Merchant Shipping in Madrid - is about getting answers, not money.
They want to know who was responsible, and reassurance such an accident could never be repeated.
Back in business
Eight years on, though, this region's recovery has been remarkable.
The heavy fuel oil from the Prestige soaked the beaches of Galicia
For weeks, the toxic cargo that seeped from the Prestige soaked the beaches of Galicia.
As teams of volunteers cleared one thick coat of fuel from the sand another black
wave would wash in.
In a region renowned for an abundance of fine fish and seafood, fishermen feared their ruin.
Almost 26,000 people depend on the sea in Galicia for their livelihood, but as the slick spread all fishing was banned.
"We'd never seen anything that big before," remembers Francisco Iglesias, in the small town of O Grove.
"People had to scoop up the oil themselves with their hands, into their boats."
The fishing ban lasted for several months at the most lucrative time of the year.
Fish stocks have recovered and now fetch pre-Prestige prices at auction
Government compensation came quickly - around 1,500 euros ($1,892; £1,229) per month, per fisherman.
It was much less than they would have earned at sea, but helped them survive. Today, most boats are back in business.
Bringing in the day's catch, Mr Iglesias says the average haul shrunk by a third following the fishing ban. But stocks recovered and now fetch pre-Prestige prices at auction.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The government needs to explain why this disaster was so badly managed”
Xose Manuel
"Fortunately, fish aren't like humans who take so long to reproduce," he laughs. "If there's a good spot and the climate's good they reappear."
Hidden traces
Today, the grimly-named yet beautiful Costa de la Muerte (Coast of Death) looks pristine - the water is crystal-clear; beaches glisten with white sand.
Today, the Coast of Death looks pristine
We say that the human-being is the only animal that trips on the same stone twice”
Genotoxic analysis detected increased "damage values" in volunteers exposed to the oil over several months, suggesting a higher risk of certain illnesses, including cancer.
"Their risk is increased in the same way as heavy smokers, or people who live in highly contaminated cities," explains Blanca Laffon of O Coruna University, who is conducting the research.
She suggests that the protective clothing used by volunteers was inadequate, or that they were not shown how to use it.
"We say that the human being is the only animal that trips on the same stone twice," comments Dr Luis Cabanela, who treated many clean-up volunteers in 2002.
He says the teams who dealt with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico repeated Galicia's mistakes.
"We saw people cleaning the coast in Louisiana without masks and with bare hands. That has consequences," he adds.
Wildlife decimated
In the immediate aftermath of the Prestige incident, rescue teams found more than 22,000 dead birds. It is thought that was a fraction of the total number killed.
He points out rocks part-coated in black; there are still clumps of moist tar beneath.
"The government needs to explain why this disaster was so badly managed," Mr Manuel says of the upcoming trial.
Like many, he argues that the Prestige should have been brought into port and not towed out to sea, making any spill easier to contain.
Environmentalists say what oil remains on land today presents no danger.
'Damage values'
But a scientific study suggests clean-up workers may have been exposed
But this was the worst affected stretch of coast, and traces of oil are still easy to find.
"Cleaning these rocks completely was impossible," explains Xose Manuel, one of many volunteers who worked here.
After the Prestige incident, rescue teams found 22,000 dead birds
The Cies Islands are important breeding grounds for cormorants, but scientists say the population has never recovered.
"It was a huge blow," says Cristobal Perez of Vigo University.
His research suggests the birds' food-supply was disrupted; more females were killed, affecting breeding, and he detected toxins in the birds' blood.
Today, cormorants bask in the sunshine on the island rocks. But Mr Perez's count shows their number has fallen 50% since 2002.
"I want those responsible to pay for what they did," he says of the trial, "So they realise such a disaster affects marine birds and animals as well as people."
'Hope'
It affects a region's reputation too, as the US is finding out.
The number of cormorants on the Cies Islands has fallen 50% since 2002
Tourism accounts for 10% of the Galician economy, so rebuilding the region's image was vital.
In the US, President Barack Obama took his family to Florida to urge tourists back to its deserted beaches.
In Galicia, a multi-million dollar PR campaign did the same.
"The government has to prioritise all its efforts on image campaigns - but not just for one year," explains Carmen Pardo, of Galicia's tourist board.
"It took at least six years of hard work to recover the situation here," she says. "But it can work. There is hope."
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11078772
San farando Mexico starts identifying 72 massacred migrants
Mexico starts identifying 72 massacred migrants
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO - Associated Press Writer
SAN FERNANDO, Mexico -- Heavily guarded mortuary workers have begun identifying 72 migrants massacred near the U.S. border, while human rights advocates are demanding Mexico do more to stop the exploitation and abuse of migrants that they say led to the heinous crime.
Marines are protecting the pink, one-story funeral home where the bodies were taken after being discovered on a ranch Tuesday, bound, blindfolded and slumped against a wall.
Tamaulipas state Assistant Attorney General Jesus de la Garza said Thursday that 15 bodies had been identified: eight from Honduras, four from El Salvador, two from Guatemala and one from Brazil. Diplomats from several of those nations traveled to Mexico to help identify them, and Mexico's National Human Rights Commission sent investigators to monitor the process.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html#ixzz0xmxt8ZyL
AP - Map locates San Fernando in Tamaulipas, Mexico, where authorities have taken 72 bodies discovered on a remote ranch for identification
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html#ixzz0xmyKKFyP
The government's chief security spokesman said the migrants were apparently slain because they refused to help a gang smuggle drugs.
"The information we have at this moment is that it was an attempt at forced recruitment," Alejandro Poire told W radio. "It wasn't a kidnapping with the intent to get money, but the intention was to hold these people, force them to participate in organized crime - with the terrible outcome that we know."
The victims of what could be Mexico's biggest drug-gang massacre were traversing some of the nation's most dangerous territory, trying to reach Texas. The lone survivor said the assassins identified themselves as Zetas, a drug gang that dominates parts of the northern state of Tamaulipas.
In San Fernando, a crumbling colonial town of about 30,000 on Mexico's Gulf coast, most people interviewed by The Associated Press were afraid to give their names.
A funeral home employee said the dead were stored in a refrigerated truck in the parking lot, where flies buzzed above white powder spread over bloodstains.
"This is frightening. It's horrible," said a tortilla stand worker in the crumbling colonial town of about 30,000 on Gulf coast.
"It smells like death. I vomited," his friend added.
Rights advocates warn that migrants are increasingly being kidnapped, killed and exploited by gangs as they travel through Mexico toward the United States, and they say Mexican authorities' indifference is letting the problem escalate.
"We disagree with the government that it is a consequence of battles between criminal groups," said the Rev. Pedro Pantoja, director of the Casa del Migrante in Saltillo in neighboring Coahuila state. "The permissiveness and complicity of the Mexican state with criminals ... is just as much to blame."
The National Human Rights Commission estimated in a report presented last year that nearly 20,000 migrants are kidnapped each year based on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009 - numbers the federal government disputes.
Mauricio Farah, who coordinated the report, said goverment corruption is at the heart of migrant abuse in Mexico.
"We are talking about the complicity of several authorities along the migrant route," Farah told MVS Radio on Thursday. "Forty, 80, 100 migrants inside trucks or on the trains can not pass unnoticed by the authorities ... on the contrary what happens is that they are in collusion with drug gangs."
Commission president Raul Plascencia said Thursday that authorities never responded to its recommendations or demands for greater security for migrants.
"This escalation of the violence ... demands results from the government in finding who is responsible," he said.
In an April report, Amnesty International called the plight of tens of thousands of mainly Central American migrants crossing Mexico for the U.S. a major human rights crisis.
The report said that although the government has made some small improvements, it continues to give the issue low priority, despite the widespread involvement of corrupt police.
Marines discovered the horrific massacre after the survivor, 18-year-old Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla of Ecuador, staggered wounded to a military checkpoint. He is now recovering from a gunshot to the neck at a hospital.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html#ixzz0xmyFOHnl
Coppied by http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO - Associated Press Writer
SAN FERNANDO, Mexico -- Heavily guarded mortuary workers have begun identifying 72 migrants massacred near the U.S. border, while human rights advocates are demanding Mexico do more to stop the exploitation and abuse of migrants that they say led to the heinous crime.
Marines are protecting the pink, one-story funeral home where the bodies were taken after being discovered on a ranch Tuesday, bound, blindfolded and slumped against a wall.
Tamaulipas state Assistant Attorney General Jesus de la Garza said Thursday that 15 bodies had been identified: eight from Honduras, four from El Salvador, two from Guatemala and one from Brazil. Diplomats from several of those nations traveled to Mexico to help identify them, and Mexico's National Human Rights Commission sent investigators to monitor the process.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html#ixzz0xmxt8ZyL
AP - Map locates San Fernando in Tamaulipas, Mexico, where authorities have taken 72 bodies discovered on a remote ranch for identification
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html#ixzz0xmyKKFyP
The government's chief security spokesman said the migrants were apparently slain because they refused to help a gang smuggle drugs.
"The information we have at this moment is that it was an attempt at forced recruitment," Alejandro Poire told W radio. "It wasn't a kidnapping with the intent to get money, but the intention was to hold these people, force them to participate in organized crime - with the terrible outcome that we know."
The victims of what could be Mexico's biggest drug-gang massacre were traversing some of the nation's most dangerous territory, trying to reach Texas. The lone survivor said the assassins identified themselves as Zetas, a drug gang that dominates parts of the northern state of Tamaulipas.
In San Fernando, a crumbling colonial town of about 30,000 on Mexico's Gulf coast, most people interviewed by The Associated Press were afraid to give their names.
A funeral home employee said the dead were stored in a refrigerated truck in the parking lot, where flies buzzed above white powder spread over bloodstains.
"This is frightening. It's horrible," said a tortilla stand worker in the crumbling colonial town of about 30,000 on Gulf coast.
"It smells like death. I vomited," his friend added.
Rights advocates warn that migrants are increasingly being kidnapped, killed and exploited by gangs as they travel through Mexico toward the United States, and they say Mexican authorities' indifference is letting the problem escalate.
"We disagree with the government that it is a consequence of battles between criminal groups," said the Rev. Pedro Pantoja, director of the Casa del Migrante in Saltillo in neighboring Coahuila state. "The permissiveness and complicity of the Mexican state with criminals ... is just as much to blame."
The National Human Rights Commission estimated in a report presented last year that nearly 20,000 migrants are kidnapped each year based on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009 - numbers the federal government disputes.
Mauricio Farah, who coordinated the report, said goverment corruption is at the heart of migrant abuse in Mexico.
"We are talking about the complicity of several authorities along the migrant route," Farah told MVS Radio on Thursday. "Forty, 80, 100 migrants inside trucks or on the trains can not pass unnoticed by the authorities ... on the contrary what happens is that they are in collusion with drug gangs."
Commission president Raul Plascencia said Thursday that authorities never responded to its recommendations or demands for greater security for migrants.
"This escalation of the violence ... demands results from the government in finding who is responsible," he said.
In an April report, Amnesty International called the plight of tens of thousands of mainly Central American migrants crossing Mexico for the U.S. a major human rights crisis.
The report said that although the government has made some small improvements, it continues to give the issue low priority, despite the widespread involvement of corrupt police.
Marines discovered the horrific massacre after the survivor, 18-year-old Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla of Ecuador, staggered wounded to a military checkpoint. He is now recovering from a gunshot to the neck at a hospital.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html#ixzz0xmyFOHnl
Coppied by http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/26/1408981/mexico-starts-identifying-72-massacred.html
Secrifice this Angelina donates $100,000 to Pakistan for flood relief
Angelina donates $100,000 to Pakistan for flood relief
Angelina has expressed her desire to visit Pakistan and communicate with the people directly on the ground zero. Justifying her stature, the actress has once again won the hearts of millions with her noble gesture.
HOLLYWOOD'S LEADING actress, Angelina Jolie has set great example for others once again when it comes to express sympathy and compassion for calamities across the world. The leading celebrity of silver screen poured her heart out for the victims of devastated flood across many parts of Pakistan. The devastating natural calamity according to official resources has claimed over 2000 lives and left over two million people homeless.
The actress has donated $100,000 for the rehabilitation of flood victims. Besides, she has also asked her fans across the globe to come forward and donate wholeheartedly for the flood victims, who need immediate assistance in terms of food, shelter and medicine.
Angelina is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations; she is one of those actors in the world, who are often seen playing key role in the rehabilitation of victims affected by war, flood or any other calamity. The actress recently donated $1 million to help the survivors of devastated earthquake that rocked Haiti. To build a girl school in war ravaged Afghanistan the actress contributed $75,000.
The flood has displaced over 20 million people; however donations are far below than expected. World is slowly realizing the gravity of the catastrophe and donations are pouring in from the countries across the world.
Angelina has expressed her desire to visit Pakistan and communicate with the people directly on ground zero. Justifying her stature, the actress has once again won the hearts of millions with her noble gesture. Hats off to you Angelina for your great move.
Coppied by http://www.merinews.com/article/angelina-donates-100000-to-pakistan-for-flood-relief/15829357.shtml
Angelina has expressed her desire to visit Pakistan and communicate with the people directly on the ground zero. Justifying her stature, the actress has once again won the hearts of millions with her noble gesture.
HOLLYWOOD'S LEADING actress, Angelina Jolie has set great example for others once again when it comes to express sympathy and compassion for calamities across the world. The leading celebrity of silver screen poured her heart out for the victims of devastated flood across many parts of Pakistan. The devastating natural calamity according to official resources has claimed over 2000 lives and left over two million people homeless.
The actress has donated $100,000 for the rehabilitation of flood victims. Besides, she has also asked her fans across the globe to come forward and donate wholeheartedly for the flood victims, who need immediate assistance in terms of food, shelter and medicine.
Angelina is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations; she is one of those actors in the world, who are often seen playing key role in the rehabilitation of victims affected by war, flood or any other calamity. The actress recently donated $1 million to help the survivors of devastated earthquake that rocked Haiti. To build a girl school in war ravaged Afghanistan the actress contributed $75,000.
The flood has displaced over 20 million people; however donations are far below than expected. World is slowly realizing the gravity of the catastrophe and donations are pouring in from the countries across the world.
Angelina has expressed her desire to visit Pakistan and communicate with the people directly on ground zero. Justifying her stature, the actress has once again won the hearts of millions with her noble gesture. Hats off to you Angelina for your great move.
Coppied by http://www.merinews.com/article/angelina-donates-100000-to-pakistan-for-flood-relief/15829357.shtml
Thursday 26 August 2010
Insurgent Militants kill eight policeman in Northern Afghanistan
Militants kill eight policeman in Northern Afghanistan
Insurgents killed eight Afghan policemen in a raid this morning on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz, the provincial chief of police said.
Abdul Raziq Yaqoubi said police suspected the raid was carried out by militants from Russia's restive Chechnya region who are active in the surrounding province, also called Kunduz.
More than 10 militants took part in the attack, two or three of whom were believed to have been wounded when the police fought back, Yaqoubi said.
The militants apparently hoped to steal the policemen's weapons, but were beaten back before they could do so, he said.
Kunduz has seen an increasing number of attacks on Afghan and foreign coalition forces who rely on a supply line running south through the province from neighboring Tajikistan. Foreign fighters from Chechnya, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf are smuggled into the area over the rugged mountainous border with Pakistan to the east.
Also Wednesday, investigations continued into an infiltration attack at a coalition base in the northwestern province of Badghis in which two Spanish police trainers and their Iranian-born Spanish translator were killed.
Spain's Interior Ministry says the officers' driver opened fire on the men during a training exercise Wednesday morning. The driver was killed shortly afterward in a hail of gunfire.
Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, described the incident as a "terrorist attack."
"I can't say if the Taliban were behind this or not," he told reporters in Madrid. "But what is clear is that it was a premeditated attack. The person who opened fire knew exactly what he was doing."
Perez Rubalcaba said the assailant had worked with the Spanish Civil Guard, a paramilitary force, since the unit arrived in Afghanistan five months ago to train Afghan police.
After word of the shooting spread, several hundred angry men gathered outside the walls of the Spanish compound, shouting "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, hurling stones and ripping down fences around the installation, Associated Press Television video showed. At least one vehicle was torched and gunshots were fired, although it was unclear who was shooting.
Provincial health director Abdul Aziz Tariq said 25 people were wounded in the protest, most of them by bullets, with two in critical condition. Seven of those hospitalized were under 18 years old but their wounds were not life threatening, he said.
The protest underscored the brewing resentment among many Afghans over the presence of foreigners on their soil, further encouraged by the insurgents as a way of turning the population against the national government in Kabul.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Taliban on either incident.
Meanwhile, NATO reported that three Afghan civilians were killed Wednesday by a homemade bomb in southern Kandahar province's Arghandab district, a Taliban stronghold that has seen a growing coalition presence.
Two Taliban commanders were also killed Wednesday in fighting with a joint Afghan-Taliban force in neighboring Uruzgan province, along with 12 regular insurgent fighters, the Afghan National Police reported. Four insurgents were captured in the operation, the police said.
One Taliban fighter and one policeman also died in a shootout in Helmand province to the west, it said.
coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/militants-kill-eight-policeman-in-northern-afghanistan-2062568.html
Insurgents killed eight Afghan policemen in a raid this morning on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz, the provincial chief of police said.
Abdul Raziq Yaqoubi said police suspected the raid was carried out by militants from Russia's restive Chechnya region who are active in the surrounding province, also called Kunduz.
More than 10 militants took part in the attack, two or three of whom were believed to have been wounded when the police fought back, Yaqoubi said.
The militants apparently hoped to steal the policemen's weapons, but were beaten back before they could do so, he said.
Kunduz has seen an increasing number of attacks on Afghan and foreign coalition forces who rely on a supply line running south through the province from neighboring Tajikistan. Foreign fighters from Chechnya, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf are smuggled into the area over the rugged mountainous border with Pakistan to the east.
Also Wednesday, investigations continued into an infiltration attack at a coalition base in the northwestern province of Badghis in which two Spanish police trainers and their Iranian-born Spanish translator were killed.
Spain's Interior Ministry says the officers' driver opened fire on the men during a training exercise Wednesday morning. The driver was killed shortly afterward in a hail of gunfire.
Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, described the incident as a "terrorist attack."
"I can't say if the Taliban were behind this or not," he told reporters in Madrid. "But what is clear is that it was a premeditated attack. The person who opened fire knew exactly what he was doing."
Perez Rubalcaba said the assailant had worked with the Spanish Civil Guard, a paramilitary force, since the unit arrived in Afghanistan five months ago to train Afghan police.
After word of the shooting spread, several hundred angry men gathered outside the walls of the Spanish compound, shouting "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, hurling stones and ripping down fences around the installation, Associated Press Television video showed. At least one vehicle was torched and gunshots were fired, although it was unclear who was shooting.
Provincial health director Abdul Aziz Tariq said 25 people were wounded in the protest, most of them by bullets, with two in critical condition. Seven of those hospitalized were under 18 years old but their wounds were not life threatening, he said.
The protest underscored the brewing resentment among many Afghans over the presence of foreigners on their soil, further encouraged by the insurgents as a way of turning the population against the national government in Kabul.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Taliban on either incident.
Meanwhile, NATO reported that three Afghan civilians were killed Wednesday by a homemade bomb in southern Kandahar province's Arghandab district, a Taliban stronghold that has seen a growing coalition presence.
Two Taliban commanders were also killed Wednesday in fighting with a joint Afghan-Taliban force in neighboring Uruzgan province, along with 12 regular insurgent fighters, the Afghan National Police reported. Four insurgents were captured in the operation, the police said.
One Taliban fighter and one policeman also died in a shootout in Helmand province to the west, it said.
coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/militants-kill-eight-policeman-in-northern-afghanistan-2062568.html
Watch North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, 'visiting China with his son'
North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, 'visiting China with his son'
Speculation is growing that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, is preparing to hand over power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, after reports that the two have travelled to China to win support for the change.
The reported visit comes weeks before a rare meeting of the North Korean Workers' party is expected to set in motion Kim Jong-un's accession in the world's only communist dynasty.
The South Korean broadcaster YTV and other media said the two were on their way to China, North Korea's only remaining ally, today. It would be Kim Jong-il's second visit this year.
Yonhap news agency quoted a senior official in Seoul as saying that "signs have been detected" that Kim had begun the journey on his special armoured train. "We are still trying to grasp the exact destination and purpose of the visit."
Kim is said to be afraid of flying, partly because travelling by plane makes him an easier target for assassination attempts.
Analysts believe the trip could be designed to introduce Jong-un to senior Chinese officials, and possibly to request aid and lay the groundwork for the resumption of six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
The visit comes a day after the former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Pyongyang to seek the release of an American who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for entering the country illegally.
There was no word today on the progress of Carter's mercy mission, although reports suggested that the 85-year-old would return to the US with Aijalon Gomes, a 31-year-old an English teacher and Christian missionary, by Friday.
Carter, who arrived yesterday on a private jet accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, is also expected to use the visit to engage in unofficial diplomacy with the regime, although the Obama administration has been quick to stress that he is on a private humanitarian visit.
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/26/North_Korean_leader_Kim_Jongil_visiting_China_with_his_son/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt
Speculation is growing that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, is preparing to hand over power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, after reports that the two have travelled to China to win support for the change.
The reported visit comes weeks before a rare meeting of the North Korean Workers' party is expected to set in motion Kim Jong-un's accession in the world's only communist dynasty.
The South Korean broadcaster YTV and other media said the two were on their way to China, North Korea's only remaining ally, today. It would be Kim Jong-il's second visit this year.
Yonhap news agency quoted a senior official in Seoul as saying that "signs have been detected" that Kim had begun the journey on his special armoured train. "We are still trying to grasp the exact destination and purpose of the visit."
Kim is said to be afraid of flying, partly because travelling by plane makes him an easier target for assassination attempts.
Analysts believe the trip could be designed to introduce Jong-un to senior Chinese officials, and possibly to request aid and lay the groundwork for the resumption of six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
The visit comes a day after the former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Pyongyang to seek the release of an American who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for entering the country illegally.
There was no word today on the progress of Carter's mercy mission, although reports suggested that the 85-year-old would return to the US with Aijalon Gomes, a 31-year-old an English teacher and Christian missionary, by Friday.
Carter, who arrived yesterday on a private jet accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, is also expected to use the visit to engage in unofficial diplomacy with the regime, although the Obama administration has been quick to stress that he is on a private humanitarian visit.
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/26/North_Korean_leader_Kim_Jongil_visiting_China_with_his_son/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt
S Africa workers hold mass protests
Million set to march in S Africa
Strikes began last week and saw clashes between protesters and police [
South African civil servants are marching across the country over a wage dispute, with more than one million people expected to participate in strikes.
Labour unions planned the action on Thursday as part of continued pressure on the government to agree to improved pay terms and benefits.
Around 1.3 million state workers have been on strike since last Wednesday, picketing outside schools, hospitals and government offices.
A day after they began, the strikes became violent with police using rubber bullets and water cannons against teachers and other civil servants, who threw stones and bricks at them when trying to enter a hospital in Johannesburg.
The unions have set a deadline of September 2 for the government to provide a 8.6 per cent rise in salaries and a 1,000 rand ($138) monthly housing allowance, otherwise more state workers are slated to join the strikes.
Government 'worried'
The South African government is offering a seven per cent pay hike and 630 rand for housing.
Government services and the economy have already been disrupted by the strikes.
Themba Maseko, the government spokesman, said the strike had raised concern and efforts were being made to resolve it.
"We're obviously worried about the strike, especially the impact it is having on the lives of ordinary South Africans. We're actually at a point where our students are supposed to be writing their examinations in about 50 days' time," he told Al Jazeera.
"Many South Africans who are ill [and] need urgent medical treatment are being deprived of the opportunity to get that treatment. We also have a lot of South African citizens who want to volunteer their services by assisting hospitals; by assisting learners to prepare for their examininations and yet they are being prevented from doing so.
coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/08/20108265325707917.html
Strikes began last week and saw clashes between protesters and police [
South African civil servants are marching across the country over a wage dispute, with more than one million people expected to participate in strikes.
Labour unions planned the action on Thursday as part of continued pressure on the government to agree to improved pay terms and benefits.
Around 1.3 million state workers have been on strike since last Wednesday, picketing outside schools, hospitals and government offices.
A day after they began, the strikes became violent with police using rubber bullets and water cannons against teachers and other civil servants, who threw stones and bricks at them when trying to enter a hospital in Johannesburg.
The unions have set a deadline of September 2 for the government to provide a 8.6 per cent rise in salaries and a 1,000 rand ($138) monthly housing allowance, otherwise more state workers are slated to join the strikes.
Government 'worried'
The South African government is offering a seven per cent pay hike and 630 rand for housing.
Government services and the economy have already been disrupted by the strikes.
Themba Maseko, the government spokesman, said the strike had raised concern and efforts were being made to resolve it.
"We're obviously worried about the strike, especially the impact it is having on the lives of ordinary South Africans. We're actually at a point where our students are supposed to be writing their examinations in about 50 days' time," he told Al Jazeera.
"Many South Africans who are ill [and] need urgent medical treatment are being deprived of the opportunity to get that treatment. We also have a lot of South African citizens who want to volunteer their services by assisting hospitals; by assisting learners to prepare for their examininations and yet they are being prevented from doing so.
coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/08/20108265325707917.html
How The Edict of Warsaw?
The Edict of Warsaw?
Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
"Paris is well worth a Mass." --Henry of Navarre
As thousands of protesters gathered in Warsaw to either protect or remove a cross that honored the victims of the plane crash killing the late Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, long ago this very week, but not very far away, the Edict of Nantes was signed allowing religious freedom and toleration.
The religious wars that had torn France apart when Protestant Jean Valliere was burned at the stake in 1523, and which Huguenots (French Protestants) and Catholics resorted to murder and war (actually eight wars were fought) in defense of God's true faith, as they saw it, came to an end when Henry of Navarre became king.
Although he was a Huguenot and had been at the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre-where Huguenot nobles were attending a marriage ceremony and were slaughtered by Catholics, symbolizing the folly of religious fanaticism and the complete breakdown of order in France-for the sake of his war-weary nation Henry chose to become Catholic.
In 1598, Henry established the Edict of Nantes which allowed French Huguenots to live in peace with Catholics, fortify their cities, and to have houses of worship in some cities.(1) Even though it did not grant Huguenots absolute freedom, still they could practice their religion in certain cities, hold public offices, and sat in mixed Catholic-Protestant meetings.
But as often happens, the toleration of the Many is sacrificed for the religious and political ambitions of the Few. In 1610, a fanatic, who hated Henry's religious compromises, leaped into the royal carriage and stabbed Henry to death. The Edict of Nantes was repealed when a new king, Louis XIV, argued the unity of France was at stake.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes aroused anger and fear. While King Louis XIV was demolishing Huguenot churches, thousands of Protestant families fled. Not only did France lose 500,000 people with talents, wealth, skills and industrial know-how, but hundreds of French soldiers deserted and joined forces with William of Orange against Louis XIV.(2)
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/26/The_Edict_of_Warsaw/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt
Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
"Paris is well worth a Mass." --Henry of Navarre
As thousands of protesters gathered in Warsaw to either protect or remove a cross that honored the victims of the plane crash killing the late Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, long ago this very week, but not very far away, the Edict of Nantes was signed allowing religious freedom and toleration.
The religious wars that had torn France apart when Protestant Jean Valliere was burned at the stake in 1523, and which Huguenots (French Protestants) and Catholics resorted to murder and war (actually eight wars were fought) in defense of God's true faith, as they saw it, came to an end when Henry of Navarre became king.
Although he was a Huguenot and had been at the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre-where Huguenot nobles were attending a marriage ceremony and were slaughtered by Catholics, symbolizing the folly of religious fanaticism and the complete breakdown of order in France-for the sake of his war-weary nation Henry chose to become Catholic.
In 1598, Henry established the Edict of Nantes which allowed French Huguenots to live in peace with Catholics, fortify their cities, and to have houses of worship in some cities.(1) Even though it did not grant Huguenots absolute freedom, still they could practice their religion in certain cities, hold public offices, and sat in mixed Catholic-Protestant meetings.
But as often happens, the toleration of the Many is sacrificed for the religious and political ambitions of the Few. In 1610, a fanatic, who hated Henry's religious compromises, leaped into the royal carriage and stabbed Henry to death. The Edict of Nantes was repealed when a new king, Louis XIV, argued the unity of France was at stake.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes aroused anger and fear. While King Louis XIV was demolishing Huguenot churches, thousands of Protestant families fled. Not only did France lose 500,000 people with talents, wealth, skills and industrial know-how, but hundreds of French soldiers deserted and joined forces with William of Orange against Louis XIV.(2)
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/26/The_Edict_of_Warsaw/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt
Watch Pakistan orders nearly half a million to evacuate
Pakistan orders nearly half a million to evacuate
Filed Under: Flood, Weather, Disasters (general), Evacuation(General), Foreign Aid, Relief & Aid Organisations
THATTA—Pakistan ordered nearly half a million people to evacuate towns on Thursday as rising floods threaten further havoc in a country straining to cope with its worst humanitarian disaster.
Torrential monsoon rains triggered massive floods affecting a fifth of the volatile country – an area roughly the size of England – where a US official warned that foreign aid workers are at risk from Taliban attacks.
Villagers in the south fled from where the Indus delta merges with the Arabian Sea, trailing north in vans laden with furniture or crowded into buses, or in carts pulled by oxen. Some people were on foot, leading their livestock.
Water lined the road from Hyderabad to Thatta town, as workers frantically used bulldozers to dig embankments only just higher than the flooding, and where people camped out under open skies or in makeshift tents.
The catastrophe has already affected more than 17 million people and left eight million dependent on aid to survive.
The Pakistani government has confirmed that 1,600 people have been killed and 2,366 wounded, but officials warn that millions are at risk from diseases and food shortages.
Coppied by http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20100827-288993/Pakistan-orders-nearly-half-a-million-to-evacuate
Filed Under: Flood, Weather, Disasters (general), Evacuation(General), Foreign Aid, Relief & Aid Organisations
THATTA—Pakistan ordered nearly half a million people to evacuate towns on Thursday as rising floods threaten further havoc in a country straining to cope with its worst humanitarian disaster.
Torrential monsoon rains triggered massive floods affecting a fifth of the volatile country – an area roughly the size of England – where a US official warned that foreign aid workers are at risk from Taliban attacks.
Villagers in the south fled from where the Indus delta merges with the Arabian Sea, trailing north in vans laden with furniture or crowded into buses, or in carts pulled by oxen. Some people were on foot, leading their livestock.
Water lined the road from Hyderabad to Thatta town, as workers frantically used bulldozers to dig embankments only just higher than the flooding, and where people camped out under open skies or in makeshift tents.
The catastrophe has already affected more than 17 million people and left eight million dependent on aid to survive.
The Pakistani government has confirmed that 1,600 people have been killed and 2,366 wounded, but officials warn that millions are at risk from diseases and food shortages.
Coppied by http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20100827-288993/Pakistan-orders-nearly-half-a-million-to-evacuate
Watch Brazil government gives go-ahead for huge Amazon dam
Brazil government gives go-ahead for huge Amazon dam
The proposal to build a dam on the Xingu river has long been a source of controversy
Brazil's government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world's third biggest hydroelectric dam.
After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium.
Critics say the project will damage the local ecosystem and make homeless 50,000 mainly indigenous people.
But the government says it is crucial for development and will create jobs.
Bidding for the project had to be halted three times before a final court appeal by the government allowed Norte Energia, led by the state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, to be awarded the contract.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We will persuade them that we took seriously into account the environmental and social issues”
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Brazilian president
'Death warrant'
At the contract signing ceremony in Brasilia on Thursday, President Lula said he himself had criticised the dam before he learnt more about it.
"You cannot imagine how many times I spoke against Belo Monte without even knowing what it was about, and it is precisely during my government that Belo Monte is being unveiled," he said.
"I think this is a victory for Brazil's energy sector.
"We will persuade them that we took seriously into account the environmental and social issues," he added.
The proposal to build a hydro-electric dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon in the northern state of Para, has long been a source of controversy.
The initial project was abandoned in the 1990s amid widespread protests both in Brazil and around the world.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11101842
The proposal to build a dam on the Xingu river has long been a source of controversy
Brazil's government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world's third biggest hydroelectric dam.
After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium.
Critics say the project will damage the local ecosystem and make homeless 50,000 mainly indigenous people.
But the government says it is crucial for development and will create jobs.
Bidding for the project had to be halted three times before a final court appeal by the government allowed Norte Energia, led by the state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, to be awarded the contract.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We will persuade them that we took seriously into account the environmental and social issues”
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Brazilian president
'Death warrant'
At the contract signing ceremony in Brasilia on Thursday, President Lula said he himself had criticised the dam before he learnt more about it.
"You cannot imagine how many times I spoke against Belo Monte without even knowing what it was about, and it is precisely during my government that Belo Monte is being unveiled," he said.
"I think this is a victory for Brazil's energy sector.
"We will persuade them that we took seriously into account the environmental and social issues," he added.
The proposal to build a hydro-electric dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon in the northern state of Para, has long been a source of controversy.
The initial project was abandoned in the 1990s amid widespread protests both in Brazil and around the world.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11101842
claimed that the Chilcot Derisory' Iraq inquiry blasted
Derisory' Iraq inquiry blasted
Campaigners have claimed that the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War had paid only "derisory" attention to Iraqi casualties in the conflict.
The UK-based Iraq Body Count project, which compiles figures for Iraqi civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion, suggested a separate full judicial inquiry into all those killed or injured in Iraq might be needed.
The group said the Chilcot Inquiry had "obsessed minutely" about battles between politicians and generals in Whitehall to the "detriment" of everything else.
"One would almost think that the Iraq war largely took place in Britain," it said in a statement.
Iraq Body Count said it received a letter from inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot in November, in which he said the information collated by the group would be "very useful" for him and his team.
Former armed forces minister Adam Ingram admitted in his evidence to the inquiry last month that the British Government probably should have tried to establish how many Iraqi civilians were killed in the war.
But he said: "Establishing that fact wouldn't have altered where we were because we couldn't, in one sense, easily have stopped the civilian casualties... The establishment of the facts probably should have been carried out by elsewhere in Government. I don't really think it was a Ministry of Defence function in that sense."
Mr Ingram also said British lives would have been put at risk to make an accurate calculation of the number of Iraqi deaths in the conflict.
He said: "If I had been asked as the minister of the armed forces 'are you prepared to put units in every one of the hospitals to count the bodies in and the bodies out?' and it was my choice, 'no' would have been my answer."
Iraq Body Count has recorded up to 106,000 documented violent Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003, although the true figure is likely to be much higher.
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9238005
Campaigners have claimed that the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War had paid only "derisory" attention to Iraqi casualties in the conflict.
The UK-based Iraq Body Count project, which compiles figures for Iraqi civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion, suggested a separate full judicial inquiry into all those killed or injured in Iraq might be needed.
The group said the Chilcot Inquiry had "obsessed minutely" about battles between politicians and generals in Whitehall to the "detriment" of everything else.
"One would almost think that the Iraq war largely took place in Britain," it said in a statement.
Iraq Body Count said it received a letter from inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot in November, in which he said the information collated by the group would be "very useful" for him and his team.
Former armed forces minister Adam Ingram admitted in his evidence to the inquiry last month that the British Government probably should have tried to establish how many Iraqi civilians were killed in the war.
But he said: "Establishing that fact wouldn't have altered where we were because we couldn't, in one sense, easily have stopped the civilian casualties... The establishment of the facts probably should have been carried out by elsewhere in Government. I don't really think it was a Ministry of Defence function in that sense."
Mr Ingram also said British lives would have been put at risk to make an accurate calculation of the number of Iraqi deaths in the conflict.
He said: "If I had been asked as the minister of the armed forces 'are you prepared to put units in every one of the hospitals to count the bodies in and the bodies out?' and it was my choice, 'no' would have been my answer."
Iraq Body Count has recorded up to 106,000 documented violent Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003, although the true figure is likely to be much higher.
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9238005
watch UN draft report calls DR Congo crimes genocide
UN draft report calls DR Congo crimes genocide
Thousands of Rwandan Hutus fled to then-Zaire, now DR Congo, after the Rwanda genocide
The BBC has seen a draft UN report that says crimes by the Rwandan army and allied rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo could be classified as genocide.
The report details how they targeted Rwandan Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutus in DR Congo, from 1993-2003.
It lists human rights violations committed by security forces from all countries involved in what has been called an "African world war".
The final report should be made public in the next few days.
The draft sheds light on 10 years of atrocities committed against civilians on the Congolese territory. The country was known as Zaire until 1997.
But more importantly, it brings details to the unresolved debate over the question of alleged genocide of ethnic Hutus between 1996 and 1998.
'Rwandan pressure'
About 20 human right officers have documented, through hundreds of pages, what they call widespread and systematic attacks by the Rwandan army and the Congolese AFDL rebel movement.
Those targeted were Rwandan Hutus who had fled into Congo after the genocide against ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda.
But the report says that attacks against Hutus who were not refugees seem to confirm that all Hutus were targeted.
In some regions, it says, checkpoints were used to identify people of Hutu origin and eliminate them - estimating that tens of thousands had been killed.
According to the report, such acts suggest a premeditated and precise methodology. Moreover, many of the victims were children, women, elderly people and the sick.
The UN investigators have also gathered information on alleged crimes committed by the security forces of many of the countries and armed groups involved in what had become a regional war.
However, Congo expert Jason Stearns says this report will greatly tarnish the reputation of the current Rwandan government that prides itself on having brought to an end the genocide against Tutsis in 1994.
Sources close to the investigation say that the Rwandan authorities have put pressure on the UN to tone down the report.
But the UN High Commission for Human Rights has refused to comment until the final report is published.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11105289
Thousands of Rwandan Hutus fled to then-Zaire, now DR Congo, after the Rwanda genocide
The BBC has seen a draft UN report that says crimes by the Rwandan army and allied rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo could be classified as genocide.
The report details how they targeted Rwandan Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutus in DR Congo, from 1993-2003.
It lists human rights violations committed by security forces from all countries involved in what has been called an "African world war".
The final report should be made public in the next few days.
The draft sheds light on 10 years of atrocities committed against civilians on the Congolese territory. The country was known as Zaire until 1997.
But more importantly, it brings details to the unresolved debate over the question of alleged genocide of ethnic Hutus between 1996 and 1998.
'Rwandan pressure'
About 20 human right officers have documented, through hundreds of pages, what they call widespread and systematic attacks by the Rwandan army and the Congolese AFDL rebel movement.
Those targeted were Rwandan Hutus who had fled into Congo after the genocide against ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda.
But the report says that attacks against Hutus who were not refugees seem to confirm that all Hutus were targeted.
In some regions, it says, checkpoints were used to identify people of Hutu origin and eliminate them - estimating that tens of thousands had been killed.
According to the report, such acts suggest a premeditated and precise methodology. Moreover, many of the victims were children, women, elderly people and the sick.
The UN investigators have also gathered information on alleged crimes committed by the security forces of many of the countries and armed groups involved in what had become a regional war.
However, Congo expert Jason Stearns says this report will greatly tarnish the reputation of the current Rwandan government that prides itself on having brought to an end the genocide against Tutsis in 1994.
Sources close to the investigation say that the Rwandan authorities have put pressure on the UN to tone down the report.
But the UN High Commission for Human Rights has refused to comment until the final report is published.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11105289
The peak of the new Skyscraper near Empire State Building wins backing
Skyscraper near Empire State Building wins backing
The peak of the new building (centre) will fall just short of the top of the Empire State Building's broadcast tower
A new 67-storey skyscraper has won the approval of the New York authorities despite efforts to stop the construction by the owner of the Empire State Building.
The full city council backed the 15 Penn Plaza by a 47-1 vote.
The office building will stand nearly as tall as the 102-storey Empire State Building (ESB), two blocks away.
ESB owner Anthony Malkin had argued the new building would ruin the "uniqueness" of the city's skyline.
But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Manhattan should embrace new investments, adding: "Anybody that builds a building in New York City changes its skyline.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
This is not about banning tall buildings, but about preserving the very uniqueness of the New York City skyline”
Anthony Malkin, Owner
Empire State Building
"We don't have to run around to every other owner and apologize," Mr Bloomberg told a news conference.
"One guy owns a building, and he'd like to have it be the only tall building. I'm sorry that's not the real world," he added.
A spokesman for the building's developer said the building would be an "an outstanding addition to New York's skyline".
In a statement, Mr Malkin said: "This is not about banning tall buildings, but about preserving the very uniqueness of the New York City skyline."
The Empire State Building, which stands 1,250ft (381m), was the tallest building in New York City until the construction of the World Trade Center in Manhattan's Financial District in 1970.
The building, built in 1931, once again held the title following the 9/11 attacks.
The new skyscraper will stand 1,190ft-tall (363m). Its development is still in the planning stages.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11091931
The peak of the new building (centre) will fall just short of the top of the Empire State Building's broadcast tower
A new 67-storey skyscraper has won the approval of the New York authorities despite efforts to stop the construction by the owner of the Empire State Building.
The full city council backed the 15 Penn Plaza by a 47-1 vote.
The office building will stand nearly as tall as the 102-storey Empire State Building (ESB), two blocks away.
ESB owner Anthony Malkin had argued the new building would ruin the "uniqueness" of the city's skyline.
But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Manhattan should embrace new investments, adding: "Anybody that builds a building in New York City changes its skyline.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
This is not about banning tall buildings, but about preserving the very uniqueness of the New York City skyline”
Anthony Malkin, Owner
Empire State Building
"We don't have to run around to every other owner and apologize," Mr Bloomberg told a news conference.
"One guy owns a building, and he'd like to have it be the only tall building. I'm sorry that's not the real world," he added.
A spokesman for the building's developer said the building would be an "an outstanding addition to New York's skyline".
In a statement, Mr Malkin said: "This is not about banning tall buildings, but about preserving the very uniqueness of the New York City skyline."
The Empire State Building, which stands 1,250ft (381m), was the tallest building in New York City until the construction of the World Trade Center in Manhattan's Financial District in 1970.
The building, built in 1931, once again held the title following the 9/11 attacks.
The new skyscraper will stand 1,190ft-tall (363m). Its development is still in the planning stages.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11091931
Enjoy Palin and McCain biggest winners in US primaries
Palin and McCain biggest winners in US primaries
LARA MARLOWE in Washington
SARAH PALIN and John McCain, who headed the Republican ticket in the 2008 presidential election, were the biggest winners in Tuesday’s primaries, 70 days before all-important mid-term elections that will renew the entire US house of representatives and one-third of the senate.
Their relative influence has been reversed, with Palin playing kingmaker in contests from Florida to Alaska, and McCain indebted to his former vice-presidential running mate for her support in fending off a challenger from the far right, populist Tea Party movement.
By the time ballots were counted yesterday morning, Palin could revel in confirmed victories for four candidates who she endorsed in Arizona and Florida, with an apparent fifth victory in her native Alaska.
Palin and the California-based Tea Party Express may have unseated Lisa Murkowski, one of the most powerful Senate Republicans, in the Republican primary in Alaska.
The Tea Party earlier triumphed in Nevada and Kentucky on a platform opposing taxation and government spending.
In league with Palin, the Tea Party propelled Joe Miller, a virtually unknown lawyer from Fairbanks who attended West Point and Yale and won a Bronze star in the 1991 Gulf War, to a surprise 1,960-vote lead over Murkowski, the scion of an Alaskan political family who have repeatedly clashed with Palin.
Definitive results will not be known for two weeks, when all absentee ballots have been counted.
Murkowski enjoyed a seemingly unassailable 37-point lead in an opinion poll last month, and far outspent Miller. Buoyed up by $600,000 (€473,000) in advertising money from the Tea Party, Miller portrayed Murkowski as the heir to a dynasty, and a pro-abortion liberal.
Palin made pre-recorded, automated “robocalls” on Miller’s behalf. “I am absolutely certain that [Palin’s support] was pivotal,” Miller told the Anchorage Daily News .
Murkowski blamed Palin for her probable defeat, saying, “I think she’s out for her own self-interest. I don’t think she’s out for Alaska’s interest.”
In Arizona, Palin played the opposite role, supporting McCain, the establishment Republican incumbent, over his Tea Party challenger.
coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0826/1224277610078.html
LARA MARLOWE in Washington
SARAH PALIN and John McCain, who headed the Republican ticket in the 2008 presidential election, were the biggest winners in Tuesday’s primaries, 70 days before all-important mid-term elections that will renew the entire US house of representatives and one-third of the senate.
Their relative influence has been reversed, with Palin playing kingmaker in contests from Florida to Alaska, and McCain indebted to his former vice-presidential running mate for her support in fending off a challenger from the far right, populist Tea Party movement.
By the time ballots were counted yesterday morning, Palin could revel in confirmed victories for four candidates who she endorsed in Arizona and Florida, with an apparent fifth victory in her native Alaska.
Palin and the California-based Tea Party Express may have unseated Lisa Murkowski, one of the most powerful Senate Republicans, in the Republican primary in Alaska.
The Tea Party earlier triumphed in Nevada and Kentucky on a platform opposing taxation and government spending.
In league with Palin, the Tea Party propelled Joe Miller, a virtually unknown lawyer from Fairbanks who attended West Point and Yale and won a Bronze star in the 1991 Gulf War, to a surprise 1,960-vote lead over Murkowski, the scion of an Alaskan political family who have repeatedly clashed with Palin.
Definitive results will not be known for two weeks, when all absentee ballots have been counted.
Murkowski enjoyed a seemingly unassailable 37-point lead in an opinion poll last month, and far outspent Miller. Buoyed up by $600,000 (€473,000) in advertising money from the Tea Party, Miller portrayed Murkowski as the heir to a dynasty, and a pro-abortion liberal.
Palin made pre-recorded, automated “robocalls” on Miller’s behalf. “I am absolutely certain that [Palin’s support] was pivotal,” Miller told the Anchorage Daily News .
Murkowski blamed Palin for her probable defeat, saying, “I think she’s out for her own self-interest. I don’t think she’s out for Alaska’s interest.”
In Arizona, Palin played the opposite role, supporting McCain, the establishment Republican incumbent, over his Tea Party challenger.
coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0826/1224277610078.html
Woods and former wife break silence about their divorce
Watch Woods and former wife break silence about their divorce
LARA MARLOWE in Washington
TIGER WOODS and his former wife, Elin Nordegren, have broken their silence about their divorce, he in a press conference at a golf tournament in New Jersey, she in an exclusive interview with People magazine.
Ms Nordegren said she has been on an “emotional roller coaster” since the scandal broke last Thanksgiving Day weekend.
“I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children,” she said in excerpts from the interview released by People before the magazine reaches newsstands tomorrow.
In 19 hours of interviews over four days in Windermere, Florida, where she has rented a home, Nordegren said she had lost weight, could not sleep and her hair fell out due to the stress of the break- up of her six-year marriage to Woods. She said speculation that she attacked Woods with a golf club on the night of the car crash that made the scandal known was truly ridiculous.
The 30-year-old former au pair said she felt stupid as more and more of Woods’s infidelities were revealed. “How could I have not known anything? The word betrayal isn’t strong enough. I felt my whole world had fallen apart.”
At The Barclays in Paramus, New Jersey yesterday, where he practised for the FedEx Cup play- off yesterday, Woods bumped fists with fans and signed autographs. He stopped smiling, however, during a news conference where he again assumed responsibility for the break-up of his marriage.
“My actions certainly led us to this decision and I have made a lot of errors in my life and that is something I’m going to have to live with.”
Woods twice failed to answer when reporters asked whether he still loved his ex-wife.
“I wish her the best in everything. You know, it’s a sad time in our lives and we’re looking forward to [rebuilding] our lives and how we can help our kids the best way we possibly can. And that’s the most important thing.”
Woods now stands 112th on the FedEx Cup points list and must make a decent finish this week if he is to advance to the next stage in the championship.
He acknowledged that his game was affected by the break-up. “At times it was difficult [to focus]. Certainly you try and block it out as best you can and focus on a shot. But at times it certainly was, yes.”
Nordegren is reported to have received between $100 million and $750 million in the still-undisclosed divorce settlement, which became final on Monday.
“She is very unselfconscious about the fact that yes, she is going to be a very wealthy woman,” said Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, the journalist who interviewed Nordegren for People . “It will make it easier for her to get through this, because she can stay home with her children. She doesn’t have to go right out and get a job and she can travel, to take her children back to Sweden.”
Nordegren also said though that “money can’t buy happiness or put my family back together”.
She is studying for a university degree in psychology and says that despite her ex-husband’s infidelity, “I also feel stronger than I ever have. I have confidence in my beliefs, my decisions and myself.”
Coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0826/1224277610097.html
LARA MARLOWE in Washington
TIGER WOODS and his former wife, Elin Nordegren, have broken their silence about their divorce, he in a press conference at a golf tournament in New Jersey, she in an exclusive interview with People magazine.
Ms Nordegren said she has been on an “emotional roller coaster” since the scandal broke last Thanksgiving Day weekend.
“I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children,” she said in excerpts from the interview released by People before the magazine reaches newsstands tomorrow.
In 19 hours of interviews over four days in Windermere, Florida, where she has rented a home, Nordegren said she had lost weight, could not sleep and her hair fell out due to the stress of the break- up of her six-year marriage to Woods. She said speculation that she attacked Woods with a golf club on the night of the car crash that made the scandal known was truly ridiculous.
The 30-year-old former au pair said she felt stupid as more and more of Woods’s infidelities were revealed. “How could I have not known anything? The word betrayal isn’t strong enough. I felt my whole world had fallen apart.”
At The Barclays in Paramus, New Jersey yesterday, where he practised for the FedEx Cup play- off yesterday, Woods bumped fists with fans and signed autographs. He stopped smiling, however, during a news conference where he again assumed responsibility for the break-up of his marriage.
“My actions certainly led us to this decision and I have made a lot of errors in my life and that is something I’m going to have to live with.”
Woods twice failed to answer when reporters asked whether he still loved his ex-wife.
“I wish her the best in everything. You know, it’s a sad time in our lives and we’re looking forward to [rebuilding] our lives and how we can help our kids the best way we possibly can. And that’s the most important thing.”
Woods now stands 112th on the FedEx Cup points list and must make a decent finish this week if he is to advance to the next stage in the championship.
He acknowledged that his game was affected by the break-up. “At times it was difficult [to focus]. Certainly you try and block it out as best you can and focus on a shot. But at times it certainly was, yes.”
Nordegren is reported to have received between $100 million and $750 million in the still-undisclosed divorce settlement, which became final on Monday.
“She is very unselfconscious about the fact that yes, she is going to be a very wealthy woman,” said Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, the journalist who interviewed Nordegren for People . “It will make it easier for her to get through this, because she can stay home with her children. She doesn’t have to go right out and get a job and she can travel, to take her children back to Sweden.”
Nordegren also said though that “money can’t buy happiness or put my family back together”.
She is studying for a university degree in psychology and says that despite her ex-husband’s infidelity, “I also feel stronger than I ever have. I have confidence in my beliefs, my decisions and myself.”
Coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0826/1224277610097.html
Enjoy Google offers free voice calls via Gmail
Google offers free voice calls via Gmail
Google's Craig Walker said the product promotes "cheap easy communication"
Google is taking on internet telephone companies like Skype by allowing users to call from its free web-based email service.
The service allows users to make calls to landlines and mobiles from inside their Gmail account.
Phoning anywhere in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to the UK, France, China and Germany will cost 2 cents a minute.
Until now Google offered computer-to-computer voice and video chat services.
"This is a real big deal because now hundreds of millions of Gmail users can make phone calls right from their Gmail page," Craig Walker, product manager for real-time communications told BBC News.
"They don't need to download an additional application or anything to start making really high-quality low-cost calls. For the user it means much more efficient and low-cost communications."
The product will initially be rolled out in the US, the firm said, although some users in other countries have already reported that they can use the feature.
The product link will appear on the left hand of the Gmail page within the "chat" window. A "call phone" option will pop up along with a number pad to let you dial the number of the person you want to talk to.
Google said money raised from international calls will pay for the free US and Canadian calls.
"What surprised me was that they actually said they hope to make money off the calls," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of technology blog SearchEngineLand.
"Normally Google is like 'We don't know how we are going to make the money' or 'We will make money down the way, don't worry about it' and this stands out as a big benefit that they get actual revenue early on."
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11092212
Google's Craig Walker said the product promotes "cheap easy communication"
Google is taking on internet telephone companies like Skype by allowing users to call from its free web-based email service.
The service allows users to make calls to landlines and mobiles from inside their Gmail account.
Phoning anywhere in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to the UK, France, China and Germany will cost 2 cents a minute.
Until now Google offered computer-to-computer voice and video chat services.
"This is a real big deal because now hundreds of millions of Gmail users can make phone calls right from their Gmail page," Craig Walker, product manager for real-time communications told BBC News.
"They don't need to download an additional application or anything to start making really high-quality low-cost calls. For the user it means much more efficient and low-cost communications."
The product will initially be rolled out in the US, the firm said, although some users in other countries have already reported that they can use the feature.
The product link will appear on the left hand of the Gmail page within the "chat" window. A "call phone" option will pop up along with a number pad to let you dial the number of the person you want to talk to.
Google said money raised from international calls will pay for the free US and Canadian calls.
"What surprised me was that they actually said they hope to make money off the calls," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of technology blog SearchEngineLand.
"Normally Google is like 'We don't know how we are going to make the money' or 'We will make money down the way, don't worry about it' and this stands out as a big benefit that they get actual revenue early on."
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11092212
party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa Japan DPJ Ozawa to bid for PM in party vote - media
Japan DPJ Ozawa to bid for PM in party vote - media
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will run in a party leadership vote on Sept. 14 in a challenge to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Kyodo news agency and other Japanese media said on Thursday.
His candidacy risks a bitter battle within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as it tries to deal with a soaring yen and a fragile economic recovery.
Japan's ruling Democratic Party former secretary general Ichiro Ozawa delivers a speech at a political seminar in Tokyo August 25, 2010. Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will run in a party leadership vote on Sept. 14 in a challenge to Prime Minister Naoto Kan. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao)
The head of the DPJ will be the prime minister by virtue of the party's majority in the parliament's powerful lower house.
Veteran lawmaker Ozawa, who stepped down last year as party leader after a political funding scandal, has been an outspoken critic of Kan's decision to float the idea of a future sales tax hike ahead of a July upper house election, which the party lost.
Coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/26/worldupdates/2010-08-26T051804Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510699-1&sec=Worldupdates
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will run in a party leadership vote on Sept. 14 in a challenge to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Kyodo news agency and other Japanese media said on Thursday.
His candidacy risks a bitter battle within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as it tries to deal with a soaring yen and a fragile economic recovery.
Japan's ruling Democratic Party former secretary general Ichiro Ozawa delivers a speech at a political seminar in Tokyo August 25, 2010. Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will run in a party leadership vote on Sept. 14 in a challenge to Prime Minister Naoto Kan. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao)
The head of the DPJ will be the prime minister by virtue of the party's majority in the parliament's powerful lower house.
Veteran lawmaker Ozawa, who stepped down last year as party leader after a political funding scandal, has been an outspoken critic of Kan's decision to float the idea of a future sales tax hike ahead of a July upper house election, which the party lost.
Coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/26/worldupdates/2010-08-26T051804Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510699-1&sec=Worldupdates
Excited At least 53 dead as car bombs target Iraq police
At least 53 dead as car bombs target Iraq police
AFP – An injured child is carried by her mother following a car bomb in a residential neighbourhood in the
BAGHDAD (AFP) – More than a dozen apparently coordinated car bombs targeting Iraqi police and other attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda killed 53 people on Wednesday, just days before the US military ends its combat mission.
The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north and south of the country, hitting 10 cities and towns in quick succession in tactics that bore the hallmark of the jihadist network.
Some 250 people were also wounded, security officials said, as a total of 14 car bombs wrought havoc for police and soldiers whose ability to protect the country is under close scrutiny as US forces have drawn down.
In the deadliest attack, a car bomb at a passport office in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, killed 20 people, including 15 police, and wounded 90 others, most of them police, Lieutenant Ali Hussein told AFP.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a police station in the northeastern suburb of Qahira, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more, security and medical officials said.
The attack in the mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood took place at around 8 am (0500 GMT), according to an interior ministry official who gave the toll. "The victims included policemen and civilians," he said.
A doctor at Medical City Hospital said they had received the bodies of two women, two children and two police officers, and that 44 other people were receiving treatment.
A spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, especially with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Wednesday's attacks on Al-Qaeda and remnants of the Baath party of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, who he said wanted "to shake people's confidence in the security forces."
"They (the security forces) are ready to bear the responsibility after US (combat) forces withdraw at the end of August," Maliki said in a statement.
The US army announced on Tuesday that troop levels were below 50,000 in line with President Barack Obama's directives as part of a "responsible drawdown" of troops, seven years on from the invasion which ousted Saddam.
The reduction has raised fears that Qaeda-linked insurgents will step up their attacks.
A separate car bomb in Baghdad killed two police and wounded seven civilians in the city centre, while two other police were shot dead in Al-Amel, a southern district, the interior ministry official said.
In the north of the country, a car bomb in the ethnically divided, oil hub of Kirkuk killed one person and wounded 11, said Colonel Adel Zain al-Abideen, the city's acting chief of police.
In Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, a car bomb killed four civilians and gunmen killed a lieutenant colonel at a police checkpoint.
In Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded as a police patrol passed, killing three civilians. When troops arrived to investigate, a second bomb exploded, wounding six soldiers.
In western Iraq, three people, two of them police, were killed and 16 wounded in two car bombs, one of them at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a security official said.
coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100825/wl_afp/iraqunrestpolice
AFP – An injured child is carried by her mother following a car bomb in a residential neighbourhood in the
BAGHDAD (AFP) – More than a dozen apparently coordinated car bombs targeting Iraqi police and other attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda killed 53 people on Wednesday, just days before the US military ends its combat mission.
The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north and south of the country, hitting 10 cities and towns in quick succession in tactics that bore the hallmark of the jihadist network.
Some 250 people were also wounded, security officials said, as a total of 14 car bombs wrought havoc for police and soldiers whose ability to protect the country is under close scrutiny as US forces have drawn down.
In the deadliest attack, a car bomb at a passport office in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, killed 20 people, including 15 police, and wounded 90 others, most of them police, Lieutenant Ali Hussein told AFP.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a police station in the northeastern suburb of Qahira, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more, security and medical officials said.
The attack in the mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood took place at around 8 am (0500 GMT), according to an interior ministry official who gave the toll. "The victims included policemen and civilians," he said.
A doctor at Medical City Hospital said they had received the bodies of two women, two children and two police officers, and that 44 other people were receiving treatment.
A spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, especially with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Wednesday's attacks on Al-Qaeda and remnants of the Baath party of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, who he said wanted "to shake people's confidence in the security forces."
"They (the security forces) are ready to bear the responsibility after US (combat) forces withdraw at the end of August," Maliki said in a statement.
The US army announced on Tuesday that troop levels were below 50,000 in line with President Barack Obama's directives as part of a "responsible drawdown" of troops, seven years on from the invasion which ousted Saddam.
The reduction has raised fears that Qaeda-linked insurgents will step up their attacks.
A separate car bomb in Baghdad killed two police and wounded seven civilians in the city centre, while two other police were shot dead in Al-Amel, a southern district, the interior ministry official said.
In the north of the country, a car bomb in the ethnically divided, oil hub of Kirkuk killed one person and wounded 11, said Colonel Adel Zain al-Abideen, the city's acting chief of police.
In Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, a car bomb killed four civilians and gunmen killed a lieutenant colonel at a police checkpoint.
In Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded as a police patrol passed, killing three civilians. When troops arrived to investigate, a second bomb exploded, wounding six soldiers.
In western Iraq, three people, two of them police, were killed and 16 wounded in two car bombs, one of them at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a security official said.
coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100825/wl_afp/iraqunrestpolice
commited this Jimmy Carter Tries to Free American in North Korea
Jimmy Carter Tries to Free American in North Korea
A child greeted former President Jimmy Carter as he arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday.
SEOUL, South Korea — Former President Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea on Wednesday to seek the release of an American held by the North, its state-run media reported.
Related
Kim Jong-il Reported to Be in China (August 26, 2010)
Analysts in Seoul said Mr. Carter, who helped defuse a Korean nuclear crisis more than 16 years ago, could also try to help end the two countries’ impasse.
The man Mr. Carter is seeking to free is Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a 30-year-old Christian from Boston who was arrested in January for crossing into North Korea and sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000. Last month, North Korea said he tried to kill himself out of “frustration with the U.S. government’s failure to free him.”
The visit by Mr. Carter, an evangelical Christian, is the second to North Korea by a former American president in a year on what the United States described as a private humanitarian missions. Last August, Bill Clinton flew there and met with the reclusive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, to secure the release of two American journalists held for five months for illegal entry.
The Obama administration kept its distance, emphasizing that Mr. Carter not an envoy. “I’ll just say that President Carter is on a private humanitarian mission and I’m not going to comment more beyond that,” said Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman.
But as with Mr. Clinton’s visit, Mr. Carter’s has deeper diplomatic undercurrents. The North Koreans have used the captive Americans as bargaining chips, promising to release them in exchange for visits from specific high-profile Americans. North Korea can portray the meetings domestically as evidence of its international importance, while the United States has a high-level direct encounter that it cannot officially engage in.
But Mr. Carter has a long history as an independent agent, and some administration officials worried that he might undercut their policy in some way and make it harder to keep up the pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.
It was not immediately clear who among the North Koreans would meet with Mr. Carter. The North Korean media reports said that he was greeted at the airport in Pyongyang, the capital, by Kim Kye-gwan, a senior diplomat who has been the North’s main envoy to the six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program. The talks have been stalled for more than two years, but the North recently said it was willing to return to the discussions.
Higher-level meetings would appear to be likely, since Mr. Carter’s visit comes at a fraught time for North Korea. Its economy remains deeply troubled, and its ravaged agricultural sector has been further damaged by recent flooding. A March torpedo attack that sank one of the South’s warships, killing 46 sailors, drove inter-Korean relations to their lowest point in years and added to tensions with the United States. In addition, there may be a struggle over succession within the government of Kim Jong-il, who has had serious health problems.
The case of Mr. Gomes also touches on efforts of Christians in South Korea and the United States on behalf of North Koreans. His illegal entry was made in support of Robert Park, a fellow Christian from the United States who crossed from China in December to call attention to the dismal conditions in the North’s prison camps. Mr. Park was expelled after about 40 days.
Coppied by http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/asia/26korea.html
A child greeted former President Jimmy Carter as he arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday.
SEOUL, South Korea — Former President Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea on Wednesday to seek the release of an American held by the North, its state-run media reported.
Related
Kim Jong-il Reported to Be in China (August 26, 2010)
Analysts in Seoul said Mr. Carter, who helped defuse a Korean nuclear crisis more than 16 years ago, could also try to help end the two countries’ impasse.
The man Mr. Carter is seeking to free is Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a 30-year-old Christian from Boston who was arrested in January for crossing into North Korea and sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000. Last month, North Korea said he tried to kill himself out of “frustration with the U.S. government’s failure to free him.”
The visit by Mr. Carter, an evangelical Christian, is the second to North Korea by a former American president in a year on what the United States described as a private humanitarian missions. Last August, Bill Clinton flew there and met with the reclusive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, to secure the release of two American journalists held for five months for illegal entry.
The Obama administration kept its distance, emphasizing that Mr. Carter not an envoy. “I’ll just say that President Carter is on a private humanitarian mission and I’m not going to comment more beyond that,” said Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman.
But as with Mr. Clinton’s visit, Mr. Carter’s has deeper diplomatic undercurrents. The North Koreans have used the captive Americans as bargaining chips, promising to release them in exchange for visits from specific high-profile Americans. North Korea can portray the meetings domestically as evidence of its international importance, while the United States has a high-level direct encounter that it cannot officially engage in.
But Mr. Carter has a long history as an independent agent, and some administration officials worried that he might undercut their policy in some way and make it harder to keep up the pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.
It was not immediately clear who among the North Koreans would meet with Mr. Carter. The North Korean media reports said that he was greeted at the airport in Pyongyang, the capital, by Kim Kye-gwan, a senior diplomat who has been the North’s main envoy to the six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program. The talks have been stalled for more than two years, but the North recently said it was willing to return to the discussions.
Higher-level meetings would appear to be likely, since Mr. Carter’s visit comes at a fraught time for North Korea. Its economy remains deeply troubled, and its ravaged agricultural sector has been further damaged by recent flooding. A March torpedo attack that sank one of the South’s warships, killing 46 sailors, drove inter-Korean relations to their lowest point in years and added to tensions with the United States. In addition, there may be a struggle over succession within the government of Kim Jong-il, who has had serious health problems.
The case of Mr. Gomes also touches on efforts of Christians in South Korea and the United States on behalf of North Koreans. His illegal entry was made in support of Robert Park, a fellow Christian from the United States who crossed from China in December to call attention to the dismal conditions in the North’s prison camps. Mr. Park was expelled after about 40 days.
Coppied by http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/asia/26korea.html
maxico city Victims of Massacre in Mexico Said to Be Migrants
Victims of Massacre in Mexico Said to Be Migrants
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: August 25, 2010
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MEXICO CITY — The bullet-pocked bodies of 72 people, believed to be migrants heading to the United States who resisted demands for money, have been found in a large room on a ranch in an area of northeast Mexico with surging violence, the authorities said Wednesday.
Initial reports after the victims were found Tuesday suggested that the mass of bodies was the largest of several dumping grounds, often with dozens of dead, discovered in recent months and attributed to the violence of the drug business.
But if the victims, found after a raid on a ranch in Tamaulipas State by Mexican naval units, are confirmed as migrants, their killings would provide a sharp reminder of the violence in human smuggling as well.
It was not clear if the victims, from Central and South America, were shot all at once. The police were relying on a harrowing but sketchy account from a wounded survivor, published by the newspaper Reforma and confirmed by government officials, who said several people were killed in short order after the migrants refused to pay or cooperate with the gunmen.
A law enforcement official said all were found in a large room, some sitting, some piled atop one another.
Alejandro Poiré, the government’s spokesman for security issues, said that though the investigation was just beginning, the killings seemed to be an outgrowth of pressure on drug gangs by a government crackdown.
“This act confirms that criminal organizations are looking to kidnapping and extortion because they are going through a difficult time obtaining resources and recruiting people willingly,” Mr. Poiré told reporters here.
United States law enforcement officials have warned that drug trafficking groups have increasingly moved into the lucrative business of human smuggling, extorting fees from migrants for safe passage across the border and sometimes forcing them to carry bundles of drugs. Smugglers are also known to rob, kidnap and sometimes kill migrants on both sides of the border.
coppied by http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/americas/26mexico.html?_r=1
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: August 25, 2010
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MEXICO CITY — The bullet-pocked bodies of 72 people, believed to be migrants heading to the United States who resisted demands for money, have been found in a large room on a ranch in an area of northeast Mexico with surging violence, the authorities said Wednesday.
Initial reports after the victims were found Tuesday suggested that the mass of bodies was the largest of several dumping grounds, often with dozens of dead, discovered in recent months and attributed to the violence of the drug business.
But if the victims, found after a raid on a ranch in Tamaulipas State by Mexican naval units, are confirmed as migrants, their killings would provide a sharp reminder of the violence in human smuggling as well.
It was not clear if the victims, from Central and South America, were shot all at once. The police were relying on a harrowing but sketchy account from a wounded survivor, published by the newspaper Reforma and confirmed by government officials, who said several people were killed in short order after the migrants refused to pay or cooperate with the gunmen.
A law enforcement official said all were found in a large room, some sitting, some piled atop one another.
Alejandro Poiré, the government’s spokesman for security issues, said that though the investigation was just beginning, the killings seemed to be an outgrowth of pressure on drug gangs by a government crackdown.
“This act confirms that criminal organizations are looking to kidnapping and extortion because they are going through a difficult time obtaining resources and recruiting people willingly,” Mr. Poiré told reporters here.
United States law enforcement officials have warned that drug trafficking groups have increasingly moved into the lucrative business of human smuggling, extorting fees from migrants for safe passage across the border and sometimes forcing them to carry bundles of drugs. Smugglers are also known to rob, kidnap and sometimes kill migrants on both sides of the border.
coppied by http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/americas/26mexico.html?_r=1
The WikiLeaks website WikiLeaks releases CIA memo on U.S. terror recruits
WikiLeaks releases CIA memo on U.S. terror recruits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The WikiLeaks website released a secret CIA memo on Wednesday warning of fallout if the United States came to be seen as an "exporter of terrorism," given al Qaeda's interest in American recruits.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation headquarters in Stockholm August 14, 2010. The WikiLeaks website released a secret CIA memo warning of fallout if the United States came to be seen as an "exporter of terrorism," given al Qaeda's interest in American recruits. (REUTERS/Scanpix/Bertil
The document by the CIA's so-called "Red Cell" was the latest classified memo to be published by the whistle-blowing website, which last month released more than 70,000 secret U.S. military documents on the war in Afghanistan.
It has threatened to release some 15,000 more, despite Pentagon criticism that the leaks endangered the lives of sources and exposed sensitive intelligence gathering methods to enemy fighters.
The three-page CIA memo released by WikiLeaks did not appear to expose any state secrets and one U.S. official quipped it was hardly a "blockbuster." Indeed Red Cell reports are meant to provoke thought, rather than provide an authoritative assessment.
But it addressed the hypothetical and highly sensitive question about the potential impact on the United States if allies saw it as a nation whose citizens frequently operate abroad to carry out acts of terrorism.
It said the United States could lose leverage over allies to cooperate on terrorism -- particularly on "extra-judicial activities." Foreign governments might even take the extraordinary step of secretly extracting U.S. citizens suspected of carrying out extremist acts abroad.
"Primarily we have been concerned about al Qaeda infiltrating operatives into the United States to conduct terrorist attacks, but AQ may be increasingly looking for Americans to operate overseas," the document proposes.
coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/26/worldupdates/2010-08-26T030359Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510682-1&sec=Worldupdates
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The WikiLeaks website released a secret CIA memo on Wednesday warning of fallout if the United States came to be seen as an "exporter of terrorism," given al Qaeda's interest in American recruits.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation headquarters in Stockholm August 14, 2010. The WikiLeaks website released a secret CIA memo warning of fallout if the United States came to be seen as an "exporter of terrorism," given al Qaeda's interest in American recruits. (REUTERS/Scanpix/Bertil
The document by the CIA's so-called "Red Cell" was the latest classified memo to be published by the whistle-blowing website, which last month released more than 70,000 secret U.S. military documents on the war in Afghanistan.
It has threatened to release some 15,000 more, despite Pentagon criticism that the leaks endangered the lives of sources and exposed sensitive intelligence gathering methods to enemy fighters.
The three-page CIA memo released by WikiLeaks did not appear to expose any state secrets and one U.S. official quipped it was hardly a "blockbuster." Indeed Red Cell reports are meant to provoke thought, rather than provide an authoritative assessment.
But it addressed the hypothetical and highly sensitive question about the potential impact on the United States if allies saw it as a nation whose citizens frequently operate abroad to carry out acts of terrorism.
It said the United States could lose leverage over allies to cooperate on terrorism -- particularly on "extra-judicial activities." Foreign governments might even take the extraordinary step of secretly extracting U.S. citizens suspected of carrying out extremist acts abroad.
"Primarily we have been concerned about al Qaeda infiltrating operatives into the United States to conduct terrorist attacks, but AQ may be increasingly looking for Americans to operate overseas," the document proposes.
coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/26/worldupdates/2010-08-26T030359Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510682-1&sec=Worldupdates
Watch As the US troops depart, bombs rip through Iraq
As the US troops depart, bombs rip through Iraq
US soldiers at the site of an explosion yesterday in Kut, 100 miles south-east of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber killed at least 19 people and wounded scores in the attack on a police station, a police officer said
Al-Qa'ida showed that it has the strength to strike all over Iraq yesterday by making a string of attacks that left at least 56 dead, half of them policemen and soldiers, and 250 wounded, across at least thirteen cities and towns.
The bombings came a day after the US cut the number of its troops in Iraq to below 50,000 and withdrew the last of its combat brigades. The attacks undermine the Iraqi government's claim to have succeeded in greatly improving security and weakening al-Qa'ida.
The heaviest casualties were in the city of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad on the Tigris river. A suicide bomber in a car penetrated security barriers and detonated his explosives between a police station and provincial government headquarters, killing 19 people, 15 of them policemen.
coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/as-the-us-troops-depart-bombs-rip-through-iraq-2062208.html
US soldiers at the site of an explosion yesterday in Kut, 100 miles south-east of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber killed at least 19 people and wounded scores in the attack on a police station, a police officer said
Al-Qa'ida showed that it has the strength to strike all over Iraq yesterday by making a string of attacks that left at least 56 dead, half of them policemen and soldiers, and 250 wounded, across at least thirteen cities and towns.
The bombings came a day after the US cut the number of its troops in Iraq to below 50,000 and withdrew the last of its combat brigades. The attacks undermine the Iraqi government's claim to have succeeded in greatly improving security and weakening al-Qa'ida.
The heaviest casualties were in the city of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad on the Tigris river. A suicide bomber in a car penetrated security barriers and detonated his explosives between a police station and provincial government headquarters, killing 19 people, 15 of them policemen.
coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/as-the-us-troops-depart-bombs-rip-through-iraq-2062208.html
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