PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - The gas and ash trail of the Kluchevskoi volcano erupting in Kamchatka stretches for over a hundred kilometers. According to the Kamchatka experimental seismological center, the trail can be clearly seen in satellite shots provided by the Alaska volcano observatory.
Lava masses are flowing along the western slope of the volcano, its temperature reaching about 1,100 degrees Celsius. The sharply changing temperature added to the snow and ice causes powerful phreatic explosions discharging ash. Lava fountains and volcanic bomb blasts can be seen at the summit crater. According to experts, the lava flowing down the Kluchevskoi slopes will inevitably give way to powerful mudflows that are usually 500 meters wide at the front and are flowing east of the Klyuchi village 30 km away from the foot of the volcano. The mudflows carrying huge stones with a diameter of up to three meters and tree trunks pose a serious threat to people and equipment on their way. The Kluchevskoi volcano, the highest in Eurasia (4,822 meters high), began erupting on January 17. I have seen a marked increased in volcanic activity over the last couple of weeks. I have no idea what it mean and I pretty sure nobody else does. What I do know is that major volcanic eruptions occur quite frequently - every hundred years or so.
#5
Volcanoes cause climate cooling becuase of all the dust and debris they inject into the atmosphere. The effect is marked and rapid. A large volcanic eruption would cool the world's climate within a couple of weeks. The 'year without a summer' in the nineteenth century was caused by a volcanic eruption.
#7
A really big volcanic eruption like the one that happened 70,000 years ago would be unimaginably catastrophic. Much of the world would be made unsuitable for agriculture and drastically changed in the rest.
Human activities may have averted the next ice age. This conclusion from recent research is sure to make global warming alarmists cringe. Ongoing human activities during the past 8,000 years likely have served to prevent us from falling into an ice age, says William Ruddiman, former chairman of the University of Virginia environmental sciences department and his research team in Quaternary Research Reviews.. "Without any anthropogenic warming," they write, "earth's climate would no longer be in a full-interglacial state [warm period] but be well on its way toward the colder temperatures typical of glaciations." The article has a couple of interesting graphs that show how CO2 and methane levels diverged from long term trends 8,000 and 5,000 years ago respectively, which seems to correspond with the advent of agriculture and then animal husbandry.
#8
This has got to be wrong. No changes occurred until Bush assumed control of the world's climate in January 2001. It's been all downhill since then.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/10/2005 19:22 Comments ||
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#9
This reminds me of one Larry Niven's novels that is online in a downloadable form--Fallen Angels. Situated in near future, sci environuts get blamed for causing an ice age and unfortunately, public opinion has turned violently against scientists and science in all forms as a consequence.
#12
I can't recommend Fallen Angels. It struck me as pretty sloppy and self-indulgent and larded with "in-references". They had too much fun writing it--they've done much better. Nice description of the Greens, though.
Posted by: James ||
02/10/2005 19:50 Comments ||
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#13
Sobiesky - Re: Vegans... Require them to take Beano as a Federally Mandated Daily Supplement.
Secret Rove Memo:
Once we've got them eating Beano, we buy GSK via a front company and we begin adding Soma to the formula. Gradually, we ween them from CNN with the VR Moron News (indistinguishable from the original) and then give then a taste of wireheading. It won't be long until they're begging for a permanent connection... soon they're meat puppets who don't reproduce. Viola!
#15
It appears to me from looking at that map and chart that, if we cut back on global warming, a lot of those blue states will get covered in glaciers. It just might be worth it.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/10/2005 21:11 Comments ||
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The UAE will take delivery of a first batch of the latest American-made F-16 fighter jets in May this year, UAE Air Force Commander has disclosed. "The UAE will start receiving the first batch of the 80 fighters in May," Major-General Khaled Mubarak Al Bu Ainan, Commander of the UAE Air Forces, said in an interview to Al Jundi magazine on the occasion of IDEX 2005, which will kick off on Saturday.
80 fighters? That does seem to be quite a few for the UAE.
The aircraft will be exported to the UAE under the terms of contractual agreements signed in March 2000 with the US aerospace company Lockheed Martin. First announced in May 1998, the estimated $6.4 billion deal calls for delivery of 80 F-16C/D aircraft to the UAE starting from the end of 2004 through 2007. "The highly sophisticated multi-role "Block 60" fighters purchased from the US Lockheed Martin will be a valuable addition to our air force capabilities," he added. He said the F-16 fighter deal was an important step towards boosting defence capabilities of the UAE and building an affective defence system based on a conventional deference force. Maj-Gen Al Bu Ainan said there were ambitious plans to modernise the air force and defence force to keep abreast with requirements of the third millennium. The $8.6 billion package, which involves the purchase of 80 F-16s, includes delivery, training, construction of air bases and other related facilities, spare parts and maintenance. Tailored to the UAE specifications, the Block 60 platform, according to industry sources, will include additional fuel tanks for extended range, a new electronic warfare system, a new mission computer, new cockpit displays, a new internal sensor suite, and a new Agile Beam Radar for improved tracking of multiple targets at longer ranges.
Mighty attractive package. Wonder who's got them worried?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Now all they've to do is to get 80 qualified F-16 pilots.
#4
includes delivery, training, construction of air bases and other related facilities, spare parts and maintenance
Could this mean USAF and retired USAF? Just a thought. Sounds like a lot of Americans involved in this. So, just another way of getting 80 planes in this region?
#8
The UAE is almost "normal", as far as the M.E. goes, anyway.
First time I went to Abu Dhabi My friend and I got out of the taxi at the hotel and went around to the trunk to wait for the driver to open it up so we could grab our luggage. There was this strange thumping sound coming from the hotel. My friend and I looked at each other - neither of us knew what it was. Then someone came out of the hotel front door - and we realized it was the disco club. After 6 months in Saudi, we had fogotten what disco mega-bass felt like, lol!
Bikinis on the beach, bangers for breakfast, and an amazing 6 ft blonde BA Stew I met in the bar helped me rediscover all sorts of real world, um, stuff, lol!
#9
And if our Air Force guys are included in the package, it would be easy peasy in case of emergency to call them up on that 8-year recall thingy that had some Reservists up in arms last week. I realize that fancy airplanes without pilots or mechanics are very pretty hunks of metal, but during a shooting war thems the breaks.
RIYADH - Saudi men vote on Thursday in the country's first ever elections, a municipal vote barred to women that represents a cautious initial step towards reform for the ultra-conservative kingdom. Only around 148,000 men, representing 37 percent of an estimated 400,000 eligible voters in the capital and its surroundings, have registered to cast their ballots, with many Saudi men expressing apathy over the vote.
Although the voting regulations made no specific reference to women, who make up more than half of the population, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz ruled out their participation.
A reported 140 polling centres in the capital Riyadh and 67 others in its surrounding areas will open between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm (0500 and 1400 GMT) to receive male voters, who will be exercising their right to vote for the first time.
Elections are a foreign concept in the absolute monarchy, where public offices have always been filled by nepotism and inbreeding appointment. More than 1,800 candidates are running in the first round, with 646 in Riyadh proper to fill just half of its 14-seat council.
Voting in the second round, which covers the eastern and southwestern regions, will take place on March 3. Voters in the western regions of Mecca and Medina, as well as the northern regions, will not be going to the polls until April 21.
The ballot is part of a drive to introduce limited reforms, which Riyadh insists must be tailored to Saudi specifications and not necessarily follow a Western pattern. The landmark vote represents a cautious initial step towards reform in the loopy ultra-conservative kingdom which has been battling a deadly wave of hand biting its masters terror since May 2003.
Despite the low voter registration, the election campaign has been a crash course in democracy for Riyadh residents. Posters of aspiring council members were have been splashed across the capital while campaigning centres were set up in every neighbourhood. Local newspapers were festooned with candidates' pictures and their extensive manifestos, while tents have been set up along main roads to receive voters and hold press conferences.
"Vote for Mahmoud, he'll get this country back to work supervising worthless infidels who do the real labor!"
Some Saudis have said the low proportion registering was mainly due to the fact that authorities failed to provide proper explanations for the polls in a kingdom traditionally ruled by fiat tribal structures.
The elections come a week after US President George W. Bush issued a rare rebuke to Saudi Arabia, urging the kingdom to "demonstrate its leadership in the region by expanding the role of its people in determining their future".
Felt that, did they?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Candidate Debate for Mayor of Riyad...
Swords and Pistols encouraged...
#1
Indeed, they advocate a return to the preâColumbian Inca state, with the European cultural and ethnic (i.e. âwhiteâ) additions removedâby force.
I understand that the "white additions" in questions has been very vocal on the "rights" of Palestinians. Gloat, gloat.
#2
I find it amusing that the descendants of European immigrants in Latin America are extremely anti-American, but may yet need Uncle Sam's help in hauling their ashes out of the fire at some future date.
#3
Do you think that the Native Latin Americans are any less anti-American?
I think you are deluding yourselves if you think that an Native American-fascist resurgence will be any better in regards to how it treats Israel.
In the "anti-colonialist" rhetoric, where white "Westerners" are seen as imperialist overlords, where democracy itself is seen as an imperialist intrusion of the West to native traditions, in their contempt for democracy as compared to their ideals of historical-racial-tribal purity...
...it's itself the Arab rhetoric against the very existence of the state of Israel.
How long do you think before the Indio-fascists (I am using the term used in the article) redefine their ideology to say that instead of four there exist "five races", one of them being the Arabs, and reapply their calls for the expulsion to whites from South America to also cover the expulsion of Jews from the Middle-East?
Presenting itself as "anti-colonialism", treating democracy as if it's nothing but an element of western cultural imperialism; this is the new face of global fascism. You can also see clearly it in the black racism of Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa.
And, though more subtly in Ukraine, you could see it in all the claims by mostly far-left fascists that such democratic revolutions were "imported" from the West, aka imperialism (instead of what it really was: namely the opposite of imperialism, the right of self-determination), while supposedly Russia had a "historical" right to intervene because of the racial-tribal-historical connections.
Once again: this is the face of a new-rising global fascism that sees the racial-ethnic connections as superior in priority to democracy or individual freedoms, those supposedly both western instead of pan-human ideas. In the Middle-east it shows itself as hatred of the Jews. In Native America and Subsaharan Africa as hatred of white people.
This is Huntington's world, except that instead of being merely *descriptive*, these fascists want it to be a *prescriptive* vision.
#4
If its ashes they are, hauling out of the fire won't interest them much anymore ;-) As for the Inca thing, didn't they indulge in massive human sacrifices to their gods? How then do these people expect to get support from their neighbors long -- or even medium -- term?
#5
Last time I was there (1999), this stuff was just getting started. Graffitti about indianismo, road blocks exhorting money from criollos (natives of European descent) and turistas, demonstrations, etc. The same kind of movement is growing in the Mayan highlands and lowlands in Guatemala and Yucatan. It's hard to say how serious it is. There were outbursts of this movement in the 1800s, which never came to anything. They certainly have some real greivances. Latin racism, while largely hidden, is pretty bad. They've been under the thumb of the criollos for 500 years.
This is part of the "blowback" from globalization. TV, remittances from abroad, increased education and the Internet empower people who haven't had power in half a millenium. The same sort of thing is happening with the Kurds and Shiites in Iraq and has already happened with the Shiites in Lebanon (Hezbollah).
So we have a positive model of how this might turn out (Kurds) and a negative model (Lebanese Shiites). Both are very weak analogies and don't provide a lot of insight into the Andean and Mayan problems. The role of Evangelical Christianity complicates things immensely in Latin America, too. Despite keeping an eye on this area for the last half a decade, I don't have a clue how it will turn out. But it bears watching.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/10/2005 22:59 Comments ||
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#9
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
and then run?....
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load,
OR DOES IT EXPLODE?
Langston Hughes
In studying History with my daughter, we keep running into times--the Reformation, the French Revolution, Ireland after the Famine--in which the combination of ignorance and gross repression explodes into the kind of madness the article describes. It's what led to the Peasants' War in the German territories, with thousands killed; it's what led to the French Revolutionary judge chopping Lavoisier's head off, saying "The Revolution doesn't need scientists." Hate plus ignorance plus suffering equals hell.
In Bolivia, only a few families have any power. Anyone without the select surnames is nobody. A Bolivian lady of my acquaintance was shaking her head about the Bolivians who have settled in the US that bring those mindsets into the US. They are nobody. They have the wrong surname. Or if they have the right one they think they can lord it over the others in the same way they did back home.
Bolivia's natives have nothing to hope for, so they will follow these demons, as the German population followed Hitler and the Russians followed Lenin and Stalin. First they think these leaders offer them some hope; then they find they've been lied to but the leaders are in place and they have the guns.
They are friendly with GOP frontrunner Mark Kennedy, an accountant. Money quote: "Which raises the possibility that if Franken gets the nomination, Mark may run against the only man in America who is NOT funnier than he is."
#1
This doesn't jive with what I heard yesterday on Fox. They said that he might be revealed now that he is DEAD. I think that was from Woodward's mouth - but I didn't really see the whole segment.
This is probably just red meat thrown to the occupy the dimmy crowd before the real name comes out.
#2
Time to have a series of meetings, expense account lunches and dinners, and order to discuss the importance of rewarding a $5 million dollar contract, to a crony organization, to study the use of child soldiers and conclude that the use of child soldiers is bad. Then another set of lunches to draft the resolution condemning use of child soldiers.
As for the punishment - it will be a "strongly worded" condemnation of those who employ the children.
#8
I should think a resolution condeming Israel should be sufficient to close out this item.
What's next on the agenda?
Posted by: Michael ||
02/10/2005 15:32 Comments ||
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#9
I'm certain we can count on the UN organizing a week long conference on this issue at a five star hotel in Europe. From that will emerge an important white paper and perhaps a permanent standing committee. The committee will consist of dedicated UN staff who will meet annually at a five star European hotel to report on the status of the issue.
UNITED NATIONS - UN peacekeepers have been banned from having sex with the local population in Congo following allegations of widespread abuse of women and girls, the United Nations said on Wednesday. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan disclosed the new "non-fraternisation" regulations in a letter to the Security Council in which he called for 100 extra police and French-speaking investigators to "root out" the abuse and prevent further sexual exploitation.
French-speakers to root out sex crimes? The mind boggles.
Over the past year the United Nations has probed 150 allegations against some 50 soldiers of sexual exploitation of women and girls, including gang rapes. Children as young as 12 or 13 were bribed with eggs, milk or a few dollars in exchange for sex, UN reports said.
The new measures were put into place last week by U.S. diplomat William Swing, head of the UN Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo, known by its French acronym of MONUC, which has some 13,000 military and civilian staff. The new rules would apply only to Congo, which has the largest of the 16 UN peacekeeping missions around the world, UN spokesman Ari Gaitanis said.
Yeah, no fair making UN soldiers elsewhere put up with these rules, eh?
UN regulations for soldiers usually forbid sex with anyone under 18 years of age and forced prostitution. But often officials found there was a fine line between forced and willing sex.
No, there really isn't.
Annan listed the new measures as "establishment of a non-fraternization policy, installation of a curfew for military contingents" as well as specialized training and recreation facilities "to alleviate the concentrated stress present in field missions."Â Gaitanis said the "non-fraternization" policy applied only to the military but "there is a possibility it may be extended to civilian personnel as well."
Cheez, first they cut the per-diem, then they send the guy to the Congo, and now he can't force the native girls to have sex with him. What's a young Euro-staffer to do in the UN service?
UN officials acknowledged that enforcement would be difficult but said they believed the strict policy would eliminate many abuses.
In the grand European tradition of talking about a problem rather than doing something about it.
Annan vowed that the "entire chain of command" would be held accountable for enforcing a "zero-tolerance" standard.
The United Nations has little recourse against sent as peacekeepers by individual nations except to send them home and insist their country of origin take action. Annan said some 20 cases against military personnel been substantiated. So far the only known prosecution has been by South Africa against two of its soldiers. Among civilians, France jailed a UN staff member on charges of rape and making pornographic videos of children. Allegations have also been made against soldiers from Uruguay, Morocco, Tunisia and Nepal.
No! Not the mighty Uruguayans!
In his six-page letter to the council, Annan recalled that he had expressed "my personal outrage." "I reiterate my stance—one which I know the members of the council share—that we cannot tolerate even one instance of a United Nations peacekeeper victimising the most vulnerable among us," he said.
"Not when there's money to be made!" he added.
Annan noted that the United Nations had sent Angela Kane, an assistant secretary-general, for further investigations and to develop a "sustainable response." Her efforts in the short term would result in a likely increase rather than a decrease in the allegations, he said.
Despite the probes and programs, the UN watchdog agency reported last month that the abuse was continuing. The report in January on the peacekeepers came from the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and concentrated on Bunia, in the eastern part of the vast central African nation where fighting was intense last year.
Charges of abuses among peacekeepers are not new. Canada and Italy, for example, disclosed more than a decade ago that their soldiers had tortured Somalis. But media reports, especially during the Bosnian war in the 1990s on sex abuse, have multiplied and now UN officials speak about them openly.Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#2
What about Bosnia? Wasn't this also true of the UN Peacekeepers there? (or was it somewhere else... Its getting hard to track all these UN scandals nowdays).
#4
In the former Yugoslavia, UN and NATO peacekeepers fueled the prostitution racket and the attendent sex slave trafficking of several thousand local, Moldovan, Russian, Romanian, and Ukrainian women.
Posted by: ed ||
02/10/2005 15:02 Comments ||
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#5
Identification of culprits should be fairly straightforward: just look for genetically identical venereal disease organisms. In fact, the list of potential culprits would automatically be reduced by those whose disease profiles don't intersect with that of the particular complainant.
One recent Saturday night, Sarinah Majid, a 23-year-old accountant, was dancing the night away with her Chinese boyfriend at Zouks nightclub - the most happening night spot here in Malaysia's capital city. Then suddenly the world as she knew it collapsed dramatically around her.
"The music suddenly stopped, the lights came on and dozens of uniformed and plainclothes Islamic police were crowding the dance floor, shouting, gesticulating and ordering," said Sarinah, using a pseudonym to avoid legal complications.
"What happened that night in January was humiliating, inhuman and thoroughly disgusting ... I felt ashamed to be a Muslim," Sarinah told Inter Press Service, relating to the shame and agony she and about 100 other Muslim youths suffered that night.
Police from the Federal Territory's Islamic Department separated Muslims from non-Muslims. While non-Muslims were told to party on, Muslims were herded into trucks and taken to the department's head office, where the youths' particulars were taken. They were held overnight and released the next day.
They were then ordered to return for counseling sessions with Islamic clerics to learn the "true" Islam. Some will be prosecuted under Shariah (Islamic) laws for "indecent behavior".
"They leered, jeered and ogled at us, took photographs of us and thoroughly humiliated us ... one of us even urinated in her pants out of shock and fright," Sarinah said.
"That night I became a criminal ... the Islamic police told me I had committed heinous sins forbidden by Islam," said Sarinah, who studied at top schools here and in Australia. "I have to appear before a Shariah court next month and be charged for indecent behavior and punished accordingly.
"I don't know what crime I had committed," she said, spitting out the words with bitterness. "I feel helpless and completely violated."
Many moderate Muslims in Malaysia are showing the same shock and anger felt by Sarinah. The incident has sparked a fiery debate focusing on morality, tolerance and compulsion in Islam and the clash between a secular constitution that guarantees fundamental rights and freedom of choice and Islamic Sharia laws that prescribe what a Muslim can and cannot wear and with whom he or she keeps company and where, and many other things.
The raid at Zouks has shaken moderate Muslims - and their fear and anger are palpable.
Moderate Muslims had felt comfortable and safe with the election of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and the elevation of his Islam Hadhari, or moderate Islam, to official status. They felt that the fundamentalist wave that had gripped the country with the ascendancy of the opposition Parti Islam seMalaysia (PAS) was defeated and over.
"We were naive to think fundamentalism was done away with when PAS was defeated at the polls last year and Abdullah announced his Islam Hadhari," said a prominent Muslim political analyst who declined to be named for fear of persecution by fundamentalist opponents.
Last March, in his first election since taking over as prime minister, Abdullah swept through parliament, with his coalition winning 198 out of the 219 parliamentary seats. The opposition only secured 20 seats, with PAS seeing its number of seats decline from 27 in 1999 to just seven.
"Fundamentalism and intolerance run very deep in Malay-Muslim society," the political analyst told IPS. "It is everywhere in the schools, academia, media, politics and everyday life.
"Muslims have few choices ... our life is regulated and regimented," he said.
The country's constitution guarantees fundamental freedom for all citizens, including Muslims. Nonetheless, Muslims are further governed by Sharia laws that each of the country's 13 states have enacted in the last decade. Within the capital, the applicable law is the Syariah (Sharia) Criminal Offenses (Federal Territories) Act of 1997.
Section 19(1) prohibits Muslims from imbibing any intoxicating drink and Section 19(2) refers generally to the selling of alcohol.
Section 29 is the catch-all killer. It states, "Any person who, contrary to Islamic Law, acts or behaves in an indecent manner in any public place shall be guilty of an offense." Under this vague section, Muslims are regularly arrested for "indecent" attire or behavior such as holding hands with someone from the opposite sex, an act that is common among non-Muslims.
Muslims charged under Section 29 usually plead guilty and quietly pay a fine, typically less than RM1,000 (roughly US$263).
But the raid as Zouks was different. This time it took place at a top nightclub frequented by Muslim youths from influential upper-class families with connections to powerful politicians. This time it was the cream of Malay society that was belittled and humiliated by the Islamic police.
Moreover, the law does not specify what constitutes "indecency", which, in light of the recent raid at Zouks, raises the question: is it an act of indecency to wear tight jeans or tank tops or dance at a nightclub where alcohol is served?
Human-rights activist Elizabeth Wong points out that there is nothing in Sharia law that says a Muslim can't be in a club, cafe, bar, restaurant or venue that serves alcohol.
"There is nothing that says one can't dance or listen to very loud mind-numbing music," said Wong, a lawyer and director of HAKAM, a human-rights organization. "The mere presence of Muslims in the nightclub does not constitute a criminal offense," she told IPS. "What constitutes indecent behavior is also highly subjective.
"The problem is not whether the religious authorities did their job in accordance with procedure. It's the existence of such laws that 'govern' moral behavior, which violates fundamental liberties," said Wong. "These laws should never exist in the first place."
(Inter Press Service)
Posted by: tipper ||
02/10/2005 1:05:02 AM ||
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#2
"Mind numbing" BS. If a law is wtrong you resist it. Problem is muslims are told they must submit. If you want freedom you have to move to a non muslim society and stay away from Islam.
#5
Welcome... to the real Islam Sarinah. Dont you love it? Didn't you realize that 'Islam' does not mean 'Peace' as they would like you to think but 'Submission'!
Unfortunately conversion (from Islam) can mean a death sentence. Resistance often means beatings, rape, and disfigurement.
#6
CF, EUrope looks almost like you just can stick a fork in it. Canada goose is getting cooked too, but not there yet. I suppose before well done, it would split apart, the western wing still able to fly.
#9
"I donât know what crime I had committed," she said, spitting out the words with bitterness. "I feel helpless and completely violated."
I believe that, under Islam, the crime you committed is called "being born female".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/10/2005 14:47 Comments ||
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#10
CrazyFool: Welcome... to the real Islam Sarinah. Dont you love it? Didn't you realize that 'Islam' does not mean 'Peace' as they would like you to think but 'Submission'!
Unfortunately conversion (from Islam) can mean a death sentence. Resistance often means beatings, rape, and disfigurement.
Not in Malaysia. I've never read about anyone being killed for apostasy in Malaysia. Jailed, yes. But not killed. As far as reactions from family members go, I have read that the common reaction is shunning.
Malaysia is pretty Islamic, though - I saw a lot of head-coverings there during my last swing through Southeast Asia. I would venture to say that they're pretty religious, but don't get murderous about it. In terms of religious freedom, Malaysia appears to be a pretty relaxed place - un-Islamic items like alcoholic beverages and pork products are readily available. Also, despite Islam's prohibition on gambling, Genting Highlands, Southeast Asia's version of Atlantic City, happens to be located within a short bus ride of the Malaysian capital. Malaysia may actually represent the Sin Capital of the Muslim world.
GENEVA — A UN human rights investigator on Tuesday criticised Iran over "arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment" of women and called on the Teheran authorities to abolish the death penalty. Yakin Erturk, a Turkish law professor, also urged Teheran to adopt a national action plan to promote and protect human rights which would emphasise the elimination of violence against women.
Although they had seen some advances, Iranian women still face violence in and outside the home and are blocked from defending their rights by discriminatory laws and an unfair justice system, Erturk said. "Discriminatory laws and malfunction in the administration of justice result in impunity for perpetrators and perpetuate discrimination and violence against women," she said.
Like for example, hanging handicapped young girls for 'sex crimes'.
Erturk issued her criticism in a preliminary report for the world body's Human Rights Commission — which holds its annual six-week session in Geneva in March and April — following a government-approved visit to the country.
She said she was "troubled by the widespread practice of arrest for political opinion, including of female human rights defenders, and for 'moral offences'," and by the failure of the judicial system to enforce safeguards ensuring fair trials.
Don't worry, the UNHRC will vote this down and silence her.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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I'm sure the Saudis (they're on the HRC, right? Correct me if I'm wrong...) will be right up there championing the women of Iran! Yah, you betcha.
India's air force said on Thursday it plans to sign a deal worth up to 900 million dollars with state-owned aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics to buy as many as 40 supersonic fighter jets. The planes will use GE-404F engines made by US-based General Electric after Kaveri engines developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation suffered development problems, Air Chief Marshal S.P.Tyagi said. The deal would involve a commitment to buy 20 Light Combat Aircraft and an option to purchase an additional 20. "The cost of each aircraft is around one billion rupees (22.9 million dollars)," Tyagi said. He gave no time for the deal to be concluded but said it would be soon. The planes are intended to replace India's ageing mainstay MiG fighter fleet and will take to the skies after 2008, Tyagi told reporters at Aero India 2005, a five-day international aerospace and defence show.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2005 2:25:09 PM ||
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The LCA was originally meant to use modified GE-404's, and they've had a lot of problems from trying to switch to use something else after the US embargoed them after their nuclear tests.
Has the US had a change in policy?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/10/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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Yes, I think the ban was lifted a couple of years ago. Some more details:
[India News]: Bangalore, Feb 10 : The Indian Air Force (IAF) will acquire at least 20 indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft (LCAs) soon, Air Chief SP Tyagi said today.
The Air Force will ink the 914 million-dollar deal for "Tejas", a multi-role fighter plane, with the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), he said. The contract allows the force to acquire another 20 aircraft at a later stage.
"We will sign a contract for 20 LCAs, and with an option of getting 20 more I would say that up to 40 aeroplanes. The contract will come up very, very quickly," Tyagi told reporters at an international Aero show ongoing in Bangalore.
The single-engine supersonic fighter is expected to replace the IAF's aging fleet from 2010 but Tyagi assured the latest induction will in no way interfere with other acquisitions of the Air Force.
"All air forces in the world need big aircraft like SU-30, there is a place for more. I don't think we should mix the 126 aircrafts with the requirement of the LCA," he said.
The world's lightest combat aircraft, the eight-tonne "Tejas" has been designed by the government's Aeronautical Development Agency and built by the HAL. India tested its first LCA in 2001 and another version last year, and has used software-driven "fly-by-wire" technologies and advanced lightweight composite materials to build the aircraft that can be used for attack, defence and spying. (ANI)
Egyptian security services have arrested an opposition figure shortly after he flew in from a trip to Britain, airport officials said. They said Musa Mustafa Musa, deputy head of the newly founded al-Ghad party, was detained on Wednesday on a warrant issued by the attorney-general in connection with an investigation of the party's leader, Ayman al-Nur. An Egyptian state security judge on January 31 ordered the detention of Nur for 45 days pending a fraud investigation. Aljazeera reports that the arrest was ostensibly related to a case of forgery of which the detained al-Nur was a beneficiary.
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al-Ghad party
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Musa Mustafa Musa
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
One recent Saturday night, Sarinah Majid, a 23-year-old accountant, was dancing the night away with her Chinese boyfriend at Zouks nightclub - the most happening night spot here in Malaysia's capital city. Then suddenly the world as she knew it collapsed dramatically around her.
Egyptian security services have arrested an opposition figure shortly after he flew in from a trip to Britain, airport officials said. They said 
