Friday, December 01, 2006

International News for December

12-31-06
Ethiopian troops head for Somali Islamist outpost
By C. Bryson Hull
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Ethiopian and Somali government troops moved closer to Kismayu on Sunday for a possible attack on the Islamists’ last outpost, while a blast in Mogadishu stirred fears of a guerrilla war.

Two days after a joint Ethiopian-government force chased the Islamists out of Somalia’s capital, a missile apparently aimed at one of their positions rocked a Mogadishu neighbourhood overnight as it smashed into a family home.  Continue reading . . .
Ethiopian Troops Head for Somali Islamist Outpost

Indonesian Teams Find 177 Survivors After Ferry Sinks
By Leony Aurora
(Bloomberg)—Indonesian rescue teams and fishermen found 177 survivors from a ferry that sank off the coast of Central Java province two days ago, and search efforts are continuing for the hundreds still missing, officials said.

Among the 177 survivors, 151 are on land while 26 are being transported on two boats, state news agency Antara reported today, citing Soeharto, the ministry’s head of sea transportation. A fisherman’s boat is carrying 11 survivors and the first dead victim found, Soeharto said in the Antara report.  Continue reading . . .
Indonesian Teams Find 177 Survivors

12-30-06
AWJA, Iraq - Residents in the impoverished village where Saddam Hussein was born seethed with anger on Saturday at the hanging of the ousted president and said he was now a martyr in the fight against the U.S.-backed government.

“If Saddam is executed he will be a martyr and he will enter history,” a young man in his 20s said, apparently sceptical that Saddam had in fact been hanged.

“This is a mercenary court. Iraqi people reject this court. Saddam is the legal president of Iraq. If they execute him we will rise up. We will all become a bomb,” another young man told Reuters in Awja, a village of orchards and palm groves next to the Tigris river, 150 km (90 miles), north of Baghdad.  Continue reading . . .
Not all Iraqis Happy with Execution

Robert Fisk: A dictator created then destroyed by America
Saddam to the gallows. It was an easy equation. Who could be more deserving of that last walk to the scaffold - that crack of the neck at the end of a rope - than the Beast of Baghdad, the Hitler of the Tigris, the man who murdered untold hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis while spraying chemical weapons over his enemies? Our masters will tell us in a few hours that it is a “great day” for Iraqis and will hope that the Muslim world will forget that his death sentence was signed - by the Iraqi “government”, but on behalf of the Americans - on the very eve of the Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, the moment of greatest forgiveness in the Arab world.
Continue reading . . .
A Dictator Created and Destroyed by America

Saddam Hussein executed before dawn
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise Saturday, executed by vengeful countrymen after a quarter-century of remorseless brutality that killed countless thousands and led Iraq into disastrous wars against the United States and Iran.

The death penalty was carried out following the guilty verdict in Saddam’s trial for the killing of 148 Shiite men and boys from the town of Dujail after militants tried to assassinate him there in 1982, during Iraq’s war with Shiite Iran.
Saddam Executed

Iraqi PM pledges no delay in Saddam execution
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki pledged on Friday that there would be no delay in the execution of the ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

“After the endorsement of the court ruling, no one can prevent the execution sentence against Saddam. There will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence,” Maliki said in statement released by his office.

“Those who reject the execution of Saddam are insulting the souls of the martyrs of Iraq,” said Maliki when receiving families of victims killed during Saddam era.  Continue reading . . .
Saddam’s Hanging is Imminent

12-29-06
Iraq poll: U.S. troops departure is asset
BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 (UPI)—About 90 percent of Iraqis feel the situation in the country was better before the U.S.-led invasion than it is today, according to a new ICRSS poll.  Continue reading . . .
90% Iraqis think Situation is Worse Now than Before Invasion

Saddam to be hanged by Sunday
Ex-dictator’s execution expected to be carried out by start of Eid holiday
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins at sundown Saturday.

The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.  Continue reading . . .
Saddam to be Hanged in a Few Days

Ancient ice shelf breaks free
A giant ice shelf, the size of 11,000 football fields, has snapped free from Canada’s Arctic, scientists said.

The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 km south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada’s remote north.  Continue reading . . .
Ice Breaking Free

12-28-06
Indonesian Flood Survivors Receive Aid
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Authorities deployed boats and helicopters on Thursday to shift aid to survivors of floods and landslides in northwestern Indonesia that have killed at least 109 and displaced more than 400,000.

Heavy rain continued to fall over the hardest-hit districts in Aceh province on Sumatra, complicating relief efforts and adding to the misery of survivors, said local government spokesman Nadir Musa.
Indonesian Flood Survivors

UN Security Council disagree on Somalia
New York, UN, 12/28 - The UN Security Council was due to continue an emergency meeting on Somalia Wednesday, after failing Tuesday to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, according to diplomats here.

The 15-member Council met behind closed doors for more than four hours Tuesday, but after the session the Council was split, the diplomats added.

“The majority of the Council members disagreed on a draft presidential statement circulated by Qatar calling for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all foreign forces, specifically Ethiopian troops,” one of the diplomats said.

It was learnt that the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and African members - Ghana and Tanzania - objected to singling out Ethiopia in the draft, but called for talks among all the concerned parties for a political agreement and stability before foreign forces could withdraw from Somalia.
Security Council Disagrees on Somalia

12-27-06
Ethiopian, Somali Troops Regain Jowhar
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Attacking at dawn, Ethiopian and Somali government troops on Wednesday drove Islamic fighters out of the last major town on their road to the Islamic-held capital.

A former warlord who ruled the town of Jowhar before it was captured by the Council of Islamic Courts in June led the Somali government troops as they drove into the city, a resident said.  Continue reading . . .
Ethiopian, Somali Troops Regain Jowhar

12-26-06
Iraqi court upholds Saddam’s death sentence
Ex-leader must be hanged within 30 days for killing of Shiites, judge rules
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq’s highest appeals court on Tuesday upheld Saddam Hussein’s death sentence and said he must be hanged within 30 days for the killing of 148 Shiites in the central city of Dujail.

The sentence “must be implemented within 30 days,” chief judge Aref Shahin said. “From tomorrow, any day could be the day of implementation.”

On Nov. 5, an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam to the gallows for ordering the 1982 killings following an attempt on his life.  Continue reading . . .
Saddam’s Death Sentence Upheld

Israel to remove some military roadblocks in the West Bank
Gesture is aimed at boosting Abbas
By Mark Lavie, Associated Press
JERUSALEM—Israel agreed yesterday to remove some of the military roadblocks that have hindered Palestinian travel in the West Bank, one of several gestures aimed at boosting moderate President Mahmoud Abbas in his bitter struggle with the militant Islamic Hamas.  Continue reading . . .
Israel to Remove Some Roadblocks

12-25-06
Asia remembers 2004 tsunami
Warning drills held along beaches where hundreds of thousands died
The Associated Press
BALI, Indonesia - Thousands of people fled beaches on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali in a tsunami drill Tuesday, kicking off remembrances across Asia two years after devastating waves crashed into coastlines and killed 230,000 people.  Continue reading . . .
Asia Remembers 2004 Tsunami

12-24-06
Defying U.N., Iran vows to accelerate nuke work
TEHRAN - Iran condemned a U.N. sanctions resolution as “a piece of torn paper” that would not scare Tehran and vowed on Sunday to accelerate uranium enrichment work immediately.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran’s trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology, in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material to be used in bombs.  Continue reading . . .
Iran Condemns U.N. Sanctions

12-23-06
Sex does the body good
Regular romps can provide a host of physiological benefits
Forbes
The best that modern science can say for abstinence is that it’s harmless when practiced in moderation. “Saving yourself” before the big game, the big business deal, the big hoe-down or the big bakeoff may indeed confer some moral advantage; but physiologically it does zip.

Having regular and enthusiastic sex, by contrast, confers a host of measurable physiological advantages, be you male or female. (This assumes that you are engaging in sex without contracting a sexually transmitted disease.) Continue reading . . .
Sex is Good for the Health

Somali Islamists seek global Muslim help for jihad
By Guled Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamists urged foreign Muslim fighters on Saturday to join their “holy war” against Ethiopia as rockets ricocheted for a fifth day over a frontline between Islamist and pro-Somali government troops.

“Our country is open to Muslims worldwide. Let them fight in Somalia and wage jihad, and God willing, attack Addis Ababa,” defence chief Yusuf Mohamed Siad “Inda’ade” said in the Islamists’ first threat to take the fight to Ethiopia’s capital.  Continue reading . . .
Somali Islamists Urge Others to Join Jihad

12-22-06
Ethiopian tanks roll in Somali battle’s fourth day
By Hassan Yare
BAIDOA, Somalia, (Reuters) - Ethiopian tanks rolled to the battle front on Friday as Somali Islamists and pro-government troops pounded each other with artillery and rockets in a fourth day of clashes starting to take the shape of a war.

Witnesses near the fighting on two fronts to the southwest and southeast of the government’s encircled stronghold, Baidoa, said they heard the rumble of armour before dawn.

If the tanks engage in the battle it would raise the stakes in what is already the most sustained combat so far in a fight many fear could mushroom across the Horn of Africa.  Continue reading . . .
Somalia’s Troubles

NKorea Nuke Talks End With No Breakthrough
By AUDRA ANG
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
BEIJING - The first talks on North Korea’s nuclear program since the communist nation tested an atomic device ended Friday without an agreement to move ahead on disarmament or schedule further negotiations.  Continue reading . . .
Six-Party Talks End

12-21-06
U.S. and Britain to Add Ships to Persian Gulf in Signal to Iran
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON — The United States and Britain will begin moving additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region in a display of military resolve toward Iran that will come as the United Nations continues to debate possible sanctions against the country, Pentagon and military officials said Wednesday.

The officials said that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was expected this week to approve a request by commanders for a second aircraft carrier and its supporting ships to be stationed within quick sailing distance of Iran by early next year.  Continue reading . . .
U.S. and Britain Moves More Ships into Gulf

12-20-06
Heavy fighting erupts in Somalia
Heavy fighting has broken out on at least two fronts near the weak Somali interim government’s base in Baidoa.
A deadline from Islamists for Ethiopia to withdraw troops from Somalia or face “major attacks” expired on Tuesday.

Residents say pro-government forces and the Islamic militia exchanged mortar shells at Daynunay, 20km from Baidoa.

A European Union envoy was in Baidoa to meet officials. There are fears an all-out war would plunge the entire Horn of Africa region into crisis.

The EU’s development commissioner, Louis Michel, has now travelled on to the capital, Mogadishu, to meet Union of Islamic Court (UIC) leaders on a mission to get peace talks to resume.  Continue reading . . .

Heavy Fighting in Somalia

12-19-06
Lethal tensions everywhere in Gaza
By Martin Patience
BBC News, Gaza
You only need visit Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ presidential compound in Gaza city to get a feel for how tense it is here.

Clutching Kalashnikov rifles, members of the elite Force 17 unit and the presidential guard watch through the slits of their black balaclavas at every corner.

They have set up roadblocks made up of crash barriers and big rubbish bins at a 300m (980ft) radius of the president’s compound.

Cars approach the soldiers warily. Every driver is asked for identification papers. They are all forced to open up their car boots. The soldiers check for weapons and explosives.  Continue reading . . .
Lethal Tensions in Gaza

US, N. Korea hold first talks on financial sanctions issue
Beijing, (PTI): In an apparent sign of a rapprochement, arch-rivals North Korea and the United States met for the first time here today to discuss the possibility of lifting of financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang by Washington for alleged money laundering.

The meeting is going on between the US Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, Daniel Glaser and the president of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, O Kwang Chol on the sidelines of the six-party talks, a US diplomat confirmed.  Continue reading . . .
U.S. and N. Korea Hold talks over Sanctions

12-18-06
North Korea demands end to sanctions
First 6-country session in more than a year; U.S. issues warning to North
The Associated Press
BEIJING - North Korea defiantly proclaimed itself a nuclear power Monday and demanded an end to sanctions before it disarms, while the U.S. said it was running out of patience with the communist regime at the first six-nation arms talks since its nuclear test.

The talks on the North’s nuclear program resumed at a Chinese state guesthouse in Beijing after the North ended a 13-month boycott over U.S. financial restrictions. Prospects for progress were uncertain, as North Korea issued a list of preconditions before it would dismantle its atomic program.

Among the North’s demands at the talks, involving China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas, were the lifting of all U.N. sanctions and U.S. financial restrictions, along with being given a nuclear reactor for power generation and energy aid until it is built, according to a summary of opening speeches released by one of the delegations involved.  Continue reading . . .
North Korea Demands End to Sanctions

12-16-06
North Korean negotiator arrives in Beijing for nuclear talks
By DPA
Beijing - North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan arrived in China on Saturday with a delegation to the six-nation nuclear talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme, Chinese state media reported.

The talks involving North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia are scheduled to resume on Monday after stalling for more than a year.

US chief negotiator Christopher Hill is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Sunday, reports said.

Delegations from the six nations are expected to hold several bilateral sessions before and during the formal talks.

Chinese analysts expect little progress in the talks, saying North Korea is unlikely to alter its policy of nuclear armament.

The meetings will be the first for the six countries since North Korea detonated its first nuclear device in October, drawing massive international condemnation.
Continue reading . . .
North Korean Negotiator Arrives

12-15-06
Stardust may be basis of life on Earth
Alok Jha
Guardian Unlimited
Comets could have brought the basic ingredients of life to Earth, scientists revealed yesterday.
The first analysis of samples that Nasa’s Stardust mission brought back to Earth from a comet earlier this year has revealed that comets contain a richer range of ingredients than previously thought, including the complex molecules needed to kick-start biology.

The findings will force a re-evaluation of the traditional thinking on comet formation. “We think we know what these things are made of and then suddenly we find that, no, we don’t,” said Monica Grady, an astronomer at the Open University who worked on the Stardust samples.

Nasa launched Stardust to test the standard concept that comets are just dirty balls of snow left over from the early solar system. It was sent to examine the comet Wild 2 in February 1999.

The probe flew through the tail of dust and debris the comet had emitted and, after travelling 2.88bn miles, returned to Earth earlier this year with a payload of thousands of tiny particles from the comet.

The results of the first investigations of the trapped dust were presented yesterday at the American Geophysical Union’s autumn meeting in San Francisco and simultaneously published in the journal Science.

To their surprise, scientists found a huge range of minerals in Wild 2. In particular, the samples showed evidence of aluminium- and calcium-rich minerals that could only have formed at very high temperatures, presumably close to the sun.  Continue reading . . .
Stardust

New U.N. chief sworn in
By William M. Reilly
UNITED NATIONS, United States (UPI)—Ban Ki-moon, taking the oath of office to become the eighth U.N. secretary-general starting Jan. 1, 2007, placed his left hand on the 61-year-old world organization`s charter, beginning famously ‘We the peoples ... ‘ and raised his right hand, standing before the green marble dais of the U.N. General Assembly.

‘To illustrate my faith in the charter, today I asked the secretariat to create a new practice by placing my left hand on the charter while taking my oath,’ he said in his opening remarks Thursday in the assembly`s Great Hall.

Taking the oath, administered by General Assembly President Sheikha Haya al-Khalifa, Ban swore ‘to discharge these functions and regulate my conduct with the interests of the United Nations only in view, and not to seek or accept instructions in regard to the performance of my duties from any government or other authority external to the organization.’ Continue reading . . .
New UN Chief

12-14-06
Pan-Asian vision

N Chandra Mohan
Indo-Japan relations are poised to enter a qualitative new phase when India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Japan’s premier Shinzo Abe this week. The new relationship will go well beyond steps to improve economic cooperation, as a radical transformation in the strategic aspect of the relationship is on the cards. Abe writes in his book, Towards a Beautiful Society, that it will not be surprising if Japan-India relations overtake Japan-US and Japan-China relations in 10 years. One vision that Japan and India have in common is of pan-Asian integration.  Continue reading . . .
Increase Ties Between India and Japan

12-13-06
Israel, Alone
The nuclear cat is out of the bag – and Olmert issues a warning…
by Justin Raimondo
Israel’s long-standing policy of nuclear ambiguity came to an end the other day when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in answer to a question about his country’s rumored WMD arsenal, replied,

“Iran openly, explicitly, and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they [the Iranians] are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?”

Ha’aretz avers, “It is not clear whether this was a slip of the tongue on the part of Olmert or an intended statement” – and his aides and supporters are certainly scrambling to explain his comments away as a linguistic mix-up. Yet, taken in context – not only the context of the interview, but the context of Israel’s present position – I would argue the Israeli Prime Minister was sending a message not only to Iran, but also to the U.S.  Continue reading . . .
Isreal Alone

12-12-06
Olmert’s stray comment fuels the nuclear debate
Martin Hodgson
The Guardian
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, stumbled into controversy last night after apparently admitting that his country possesses a nuclear arsenal. Although widely believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, Israel has for decades refused to confirm or deny the existence of a nuclear weapons programme.
But arriving in Berlin for talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Mr Olmert seemed yesterday to undercut the longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity”. He is on a three-day trip to Germany and Italy, to lobby for stronger action to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Asked by a television interviewer if Israel’s alleged nuclear activities weakened his argument against Iran’s atomic plans, Mr Olmert said: “Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level - when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons - as America, France, Israel, Russia?”.  Continue reading . . .
Olmert Said Israel has Nuclear Weapons

UN chief blasts U.S. in last speech
Steven Edwards, The Ottawa Citizen
UNITED NATIONS - Kofi Annan used his final address yesterday as United Nations secretary general to directly attack the policies of George W. Bush—all without uttering the U.S. president’s name.

With personal attacks on world leaders a protocol no-no for a UN chief, Mr. Annan berated Mr. Bush by comparing him to the late president Harry S. Truman, at whose library he was speaking in Independence, Missouri.

He said Mr. Truman had realized the importance of collective security, whereas Mr. Bush—referred to only by inference—had failed to show the global leadership of his predecessor.  Continue reading . . .
Annan Blasts Bush

12-11-06
Three boys, driver killed amid mounting Palestinian tensions
Sapa-AFP
GAZA CITY - Three young children of a senior Fatah official and their driver were killed in a drive-by shooting in Gaza today, amid mounting tensions between the party of moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the ruling Islamist Hamas movement.

The three Baalusha brothers - Salam, six, Osama, seven, and Ahmed, eight - were killed along with their driver, Mahmud al-Habil, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their car near a school in the Rimal district of Gaza City, medics and security officials said. Continue reading . . .
Mounting Palestinian Tensions

Nobel laureate fears effects of economic free-for-all
OSLO: The Bangladeshi banker who established the practice of making small, unsecured loans to the very poor, has warned that the globalised economy is becoming a dangerous “free-for-all highway”.

“Its lanes will be taken over by the giant trucks from powerful economies,” Muhammad Yunus said as he was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Sunday. “Bangladeshi rickshaws will be thrown off the highway.”

While international companies motivated by profit may be crucial in addressing global poverty, Dr Yunus said, nations must also cultivate grassroots enterprises and the human impulse to do good.

Glorification of the entrepreneurial spirit has led to “one-dimensional human beings” motivated only by profit, he said.  Continue reading . . .
Yunus Wins Nobel Prize

Chileans cheer as former dictator Pinochet dies
Even in death, Augusto Pinochet managed to outfox his enemies. Despite numerous attempts to prosecute him, the former Chilean dictator, who died of heart failure Sunday at 91, goes to his grave without ever being convicted of a crime.

In Santiago, some Chileans blasted car horns and danced in the street upon hearing that Gen. Pinochet who seized power in a military coup that toppled the elected Marxist government of Salvadore Allende in 1973 was dead. Continue reading . . .
Pinochet Dies

12-10-06
Saudi king: Spark could ignite region
Arab summit discusses Iraq panel’s report, worries about Iran standoff
The Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia’s king warned Saturday that all of the Middle East is threatened by escalating conflicts around the region, from spiraling sectarian violence in Iraq to rising tensions in Lebanon to fighting among Palestinians.

“Our Arab region is surrounded by dangers,” King Abdullah said at the opening of a summit for leaders of the oil-rich Arab nations around the Persian Gulf. “It is like a keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark to explode.”

Palestinian factions are fighting each other, and Iraq is slipping into “the darkness of strife and mad struggle,” a danger that also looms over Lebanon’s diverse communities, he said in a speech before the leaders began a closed session.

The two-day meeting of the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations is focusing on how to head off wider strife exploding from those conflicts or the nuclear standoff between a defiant Iran and the West.  Continue reading . . .
Saudi King Warns About Danger

12-8-06
Warm welcome in Washington, cold shoulder elsewhere
Tim Reid, Ned Parker and Stephen Farrell
The recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group were broadly welcomed by most Republicans and Democrats in Washington yesterday, but received a far cooler reception in Iraq, Iran, Israel and from the US military.
The report, which calls for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008, negotiations with Iran and Syria, and a renewed Middle East peace initiative, was a rare triumph of political compromise in Washington.

But for those directly affected by the Iraq war and the wider regional instability — the Iraqis themselves, Israel and the US troops on the ground — the report was widely seen as unrealistic and provocative. In Baghdad, it was branded by some influential Sunnis as designed to solve American, rather than Iraqi, problems.  Continue reading . . .
Baker Report Gets Cold Shoulder Outside Washington

12-7-06
Gunmen attack Nigerian oil installation, take 3 Italians hostage
By KATHARINE HOURELD
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen attacked a southern Nigerian oil installation belonging to a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni SpA early today, taking three Italians hostage and killing another person, Italian and Nigerian officials said.

Bayelsa state Police Commissioner Hafiz Ringim said “two or three” foreign hostages were taken in the attack on the Agip oil export station.

Italy’s foreign ministry said that three Italians were kidnapped.

“The attackers were wearing camouflage and came in about seven boats,” Ringim said. “They burnt some vehicles and killed one person.”

The identity of the dead man was not immediately clear, although it appeared he was a bystander rather than one of the attackers or an Agip employee, Ringim said.

Such attacks — common in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta — usually aim to take foreign hostages who can be traded for ransom or political influence.

Since the beginning of 2006, militant groups have attacked pipelines and taken workers hostage in violence that has cut crude output by about 25 percent in Africa’s largest oil producer. The West African country would normally expect to produce about 2.5 million barrels daily.

Foreign captives are usually freed after a ransom is paid by the companies and the government, according to security analysts. Continue reading . . .
Nigerian Gunmen Attack Oil Rig

12-6-06
France “in a hurry” to reach Iran sanctions deal
By Francois Murphy
PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Wednesday world powers must agree quickly on sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme or put the credibility of the United Nations at risk.

Senior officials from the six countries—France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and the United States—were unable to agree a draft U.N. resolution at a meeting on Tuesday and France said several key differences remain between the West and Russia.

“Are we in a hurry or not?” French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said at a news conference. “Yes, because I believe, as someone said earlier, that the credibility of the United Nations Security Council is at stake.”

Iran denies Western charges that its nuclear programme is a cover for an atomic weapons programme but was ordered by the Security Council to freeze enrichment for failing to convince the world that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. Continue reading . . .
France About Iran

Ex-spy probe continues in Russia
By Richard Balmforth
MOSCOW (Reuters) - British police met Russian justice officials in Moscow on Wednesday as part of their probe into the Litvinenko poisoning, but there was still no sign they had been able to contact star witness, ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy.

Russia’s chief prosecutor Yuri Chaika on Tuesday virtually relegated British police to the role of observer and said it would be Russian authorities who would question witnesses in the case. Continue reading . . .
Ex-spy Probe Continues

12-5-06
Iran defiant, big powers seek progress on sanctions
Tue Dec 5, 2006 6:25 AM ET
By Jon Boyle
PARIS (Reuters) - Six world powers were to meet in Paris on Tuesday to try to break the deadlock over U.N. sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, but Tehran said any denial of its rights would be seen as “enmity”.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally that his country was in the final stages of its nuclear program and suggested it would reconsider its dealings with three European states if they tried to block Iran achieving its atomic rights.

“If you insist on your path against the Iranian nation’s right, the Iranian nation will count it as enmity against the Iranian nation and the Iranian nation will reconsider its relation to you,” he said in an apparent reference to France, Britain and Germany which are party to the Paris negotiations.

The West suspects Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as cover to build an atomic bomb but Tehran says its work is peaceful.

Senior diplomats from U.N. Security Council permanent members Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States, plus Germany, were due in Paris later for a new round of talks on Iran. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will also attend.
Continue reading . . .
Talks Abut Iran

12-4-06
Chavez’s anti-US rhetoric supported by Venezuelans
By DPA
Caracas - With President Hugo Chavez heading toward re-election, Venezuela’s electorate was giving its overwhelming support to a man who combines an aggressive anti-US rhetoric and a buoyant oil business with the United States.

The charismatic Chavez, 52, has cultivated a controversial style that reached its zenith in September, when he called US President George W Bush ‘the devil’ before the UN General Assembly in New York.

An eloquent, verbose and often amusing orator, he presents himself as the representative of the people and speaks to Venezuelans through his weekly TV programme and in frequent radio and television addresses.

In comparison, opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, a quiet man and a teacher by training, appeared uncharismatic and dull.

Partial official results in Sunday’s voting showed Chavez would gain a further six-year mandate. With 78 per cent of the votes counted, the left-wing populist incumbent was receiving 61 per cent of the ballots to social democrat Rosales’ 38 per cent, electoral authorities said late Sunday.

The populist Chavez has proclaimed his wish to apply ‘21st-century socialism’ in the world’s fifth-largest crude oil exporter and has adopted red as the colour of his ‘revolution,’ inspired by Christ and the ideas of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, he said.

Indeed, the close friend of Cuban President Fidel Castro defined his campaign in his ever-present rhetoric of US ‘imperialism.’

‘[The opposition] defends capitalism,’ he said. ‘We defend socialism and sovereignty - a free, developed country, a Venezuela that turns into a power. There are simply two positions, the rest are fairytales.’

A soldier by training, Chavez jumped into the national spotlight in February 1992 when he led a failed military coup. Chavez was arrested and tried but went free after a presidential pardon in 1994.

He finally reached the presidency in 1998 through democratic means at the head of a left-wing coalition that won 57 per cent of the votes.
Continue reading . . .
Chavez Wins in Venezuela

Iraq violence ‘much worse’ than recent civil wars, Annan says
By DPA
Dec 4, 2006, 9:49 GMT
London - The violence going on in Iraq is ‘much worse’ than what was seen in recent civil wars around the world and life for average Iraqis have worsened since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a BBC interview.

‘A few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse,’ Annan said after making statements in September that Iraq was headed for civil war.

Asked about the opinions of some Iraqis that their lives are harder since Saddam’s fall in 2003, Annan said: ‘I think they are right in the sense of the average Iraqi’s life. If I were an average Iraq, obviously, I would make the same comparison, that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets. They could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying, ‘Am I going to see my child again?’’

‘The Iraqi government has not been able to bring the violence under control,’ said Annan, who will end 10 years as secretary general at the end of this month. ‘... Without security not much can be done - not recovery or reconstruction.’

The Ghanaian, who is to be succeeded by South Korean Ban Ki Moon, also described the US-led invasion of Iraq without a Security Council resolution as ‘extremely difficult’ for him ‘because I really believed that we could have stopped the war.’

He added that the war has been decisive for the world and the United Nations, which is still recovering from the rifts.
Continue reading . . .
Violence in Iraq is Much Worse

12-3-06
Philippines buries typhoon victims in mass graves
By Pedro Uchi

DARAGA, Philippines (Reuters) - Villagers in the central Philippines buried hundreds of relatives and friends in mass graves on Sunday as hopes faded of finding survivors from Typhoon Durian.

Officials fear the death toll from Durian, which swept into the South China Sea on Friday, could reach 600 after torrential rain and winds of up to 225 kph (140 mph) sent waves of mud crashing down an active volcano into nearby villages.

Soldiers, miners and locals, some using their bare hands, pulled corpses and body parts from areas surrounding Mount Mayon, about 320 km (200 miles) south of Manila. There was little hope of finding anyone alive under the fetid sludge.

“We owe it to the people to recover their relatives but at some point in time, we could have to declare closure,” Senator Richard Gordon, head of the local Red Cross, said.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said 309 people had been killed due to landslides, flooding and flying debris and 298 were still missing across the central Bicol region.
Continue reading . . .
Typhoon Tragedy in the Philippines

12-1-06
Up to 200 killed in Philippine typhoon, dozens more missing

MANILA, Philippines (AP): Typhoon Durian smashed into the Philippines with heavy rains and winds gusting up to 265 kph (165 mph), spawning flash floods and sending walls of muddy volcanic ash and red-hot boulders crashing down on several villages, officials said Friday.

The death toll rose to 146 _ including 109 from mudslides on the slopes of the Mayon volcano that also left 159 people missing and 130 injured _ said Fernando Gonzalez, governor of worst-hit Albay province. Glen Rabonza, head of the Office of Civil Defense, said provincial officials had requested 200 body bags.

“The disaster covered almost every corner of this province _ rampaging floods, falling trees, damaged houses,’’ Gonzalez said.

With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cut-off areas. Officials estimated that the storm had affected some 22,000 people.

“Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops,’’ Rabonza said after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was briefed on the storm’s devastation.
Continue reading . . .
200 Dead in the Philippines

North and south
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff
1.The third Lebanon war

There will be a war next summer. Only the sector has not been chosen yet. The atmosphere in the Israel Defense Forces in the past month has been very pessimistic. The latest rounds in the campaigns on both fronts, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, have left too many issues undecided, too many potential detonators that could cause a new conflagration. The army’s conclusion from this is that a war in the new future is a reasonable possibility. As Amir Oren reported in Haaretz several weeks ago, the IDF’s operative assumption is that during the coming summer months, a war will break out against Hezbollah and perhaps against Syria as well.

At the same time, the IDF does not anticipate a long life for the cease-fire achieved last Saturday night with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. When the present tahdiya (lull) joins its predecessors that fell apart - the hudna (cease-fire) of summer 2003 (which lasted for a month and a half) and the tahdiya of winter 2005 (which was in its death throes for months until its final burial at the end of the disengagement) - there is a danger that the big bang will take place in Gaza. At its conclusion, like a self- fulfilling prophecy, IDF soldiers will return to the heart of Rafah for the first time in 13 years.
Continue reading . . .
North and South

Weather Forecasts | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

• Japan

  Current news in Japan.

• U.S.

  A daily news highlight from the U.S.

• Other Locations

  Breaking news from around the world.

Play Recording:

More..