The Comoran government is demanding France hand over a rebel leader for trial, but France says it is considering granting him asylum. Comoros Thursday said Mohamed Bacar should be returned to the African island nation to be tried for allegedly torturing his opponents when he illegally ruled the island of Anjouan.
Paris has confirmed Bacar is being held on the French-run island of Mayotte, where he escaped after Comoran and African Union forces seized control of Anjouan Tuesday. French officials say Bacar will be transferred to the French-administered island of Reunion while Paris considers his request for asylum.
Comorans angry about France's actions demonstrated outside the French embassy in the Comoran capital, Moroni, today. Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. The Comoran government says it will install an interim administration on Anjouan by the end of this week, and expects to hold general elections there on May 13. Comoros consists of three islands in the Indian Ocean. Each of the islands has a regional president under the country's main leader. Bacar, who was elected in 2001, refused to step down last July when the other islands held presidential elections. Comoros has a history of instability, having endured at least 19 coups or coup attempts since independence from France in 1975.
This article starring:
Mohamed Bacar
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Few parts of Zimbabwe would like to see the end of President Robert Mugabe's regime more than Matabeleland. Ethnic repression against the Zulu-speaking Ndibele tribes here killed at least 20,000 in the mid-1980s a sign of just how far Mr. Mugabe would go to hold onto power. Small wonder then that the people of Matabeleland and especially in the quiet regional capital, Bulawayo view Saturday's presidential elections with a mix of hope and realism, and the knowledge that Mugabe will not go without a fight. "If Mugabe wins, we'll have economic disaster in Zimbabwe, complete disaster," says Gordon Moyo, director of Bulawayo Agenda, a democracy-building nonprofit in Bulawayo.
"If [former finance minister Simba Makoni] wins, we'll have unrest, because Mugabe will fight. Either way, civil society should continue to press for our rights, and join hands with other democratic forces to make sure this government is delegitimized. Democracy is not final until it respects the will of the people," he says.
Zimbabwe has never been so close to economic collapse and oddly, to political renewal as it will be this month. An inflation rate of 100,000 percent, the result of socialist land redistribution, mismanagement, corruption, and the withdrawal of Western financial support, has created unspeakable hardship for the Zimbabwean people. But hardship has also hardened the feelings of many Zimbabweans that the time has come for a change in leadership. The question now is how Mugabe's own party, the ZANU-PF which controls the Army, police, the intelligence services, the election commission, and nearly all news media outlets will respond to the public mood.
My guess is that Bob will "win" the election by the simple expedient of counting the votes the way he wants them counted. Simba will go into exile, the state will crack down on MDC, Tsvangirai will get a few more broken ribs, and when Bob finally dies -- of old age -- someone like Simba will take over as Bob Lite.
This article starring:
Gordon Moyo
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Could Zimbabwe vote oust Mugabe?"
Over his dead body.
Say,......
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/28/2008 0:23 Comments ||
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#2
Yep, the cycle will repeat, starting with half the population and 1/10th the wealth next time.
Posted by: ed ||
03/28/2008 0:27 Comments ||
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#3
I love how "the withdrawal of Western financial support" is given equal weight to the cause of the crisis, along with such niggling factors as "socialist land redistribution, mismanagement, and corruption"
#4
They're doomed. The best and brightest have already fled the country. "Voting with their feet" and all that. Bob has turned a economic turndown and black nationalism into a major catastrophe that will take generations to repair.
If Bob and his allies were dead tomorrow, it would still take a decade or two for foreign investment to correct the damage he has done. Assuming no civil wars...
#5
Yeah, too bad all that money the elites want to pocket spend on global warming will instead have to be spent cleaning up Zim, Cuba and NKor...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/28/2008 8:35 Comments ||
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#6
it would still take a decade or two for foreign investment to correct the damage he has done
I'm all in favor of letting them do it entirely by themselves, They've lived off the public (International) Tit long enough, Start by raising their own food (Backyard gardens) and rise by their own bootstraps from there.
America did it.
If they're forced to do it themselves, they'll be a lot less likely to let it be stolen next go-round, if it's from "Somebody else's" (Read UN) they just don't care.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/28/2008 15:38 Comments ||
Top||
#7
it would still take a decade or two for foreign investment to correct the damage he has done
I'm all in favor of letting them do it entirely by themselves, They've lived off the public (International) Tit long enough, Start by raising their own food (Backyard gardens) and rise by their own bootstraps from there.
America did it.
If they're forced to do it themselves, they'll be a lot less likely to let it be stolen next go-round, if it's from "Somebody else's" (Read UN) they just don't care.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/28/2008 15:40 Comments ||
Top||
#8
MOSCOW NEWS > for some mysterious reason which I'm still trying to comprehend, this Zimbabwe vote is seen as a vote for = against Great Britain even though Zimbabwe has been independent for decades already.
TAIPEI - Taiwans defence minister on Thursday said the island did not dismantle and examine nuclear missile parts mistakenly shipped by the United States, in an incident which has angered China and embarrassed Washington.
The U.S. military was supposed to ship helicopter batteries to Taiwan, but instead sent fuses used as part of the trigger mechanism on Minuteman missiles, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Taiwan returned the parts to the U.S. last week. No nuclear material was shipped to Taiwan, Pentagon officials said.
Wonder if they re-counted the nukes at Minot ...
Taiwans Defence Minister Tsai Ming-hsien was asked in parliament by Nationalist Party legislator Lin Yu-fang whether the parts had been inspected by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, a weapons development body in Taiwan. As far as I know, no, Tsai said.
And he'll keep denying it ...
Lin wondered if that was not a little like looking a gift horse in the mouth. Taiwan has developed a range of weapons on its own, often with U.S. help, because many countries will not sell the island weapons due to Chinese pressure. Sometimes you cant have gifts from heaven, the minister replied.
A Taiwan defence official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters that Taipei had alerted the United States to the fact they had shipped the wrong equipment over a year ago, but only this month received a reply asking for the parts back. It said on the side of the box it was batteries. Upon opening it was not what we had ordered. We didnt know what it was as we dont have that equipment, so we told the United States theyd sent over the wrong stuff, the official said.
After they checked it carefully, copied all the manuals that came inside, X-rayed the parts ...
The erroneous fuse shipment was the Pentagons second embarrassing misplacement of nuclear or nuclear-related equipment announced in recent months. An Air Force bomber mistakenly carried nuclear warheads over the United States in August 2007.
It was unclear what led to the fuse shipment, and the Pentagon said it does not yet know who was responsible.
The fuses, which send an electronic signal to the device that starts the nuclear weapons trigger process, are among a class of sensitive equipment that must be accounted for on a quarterly basis.
So these aren't missile warhead separation fuses, as first speculated, but real trigger parts. Heh ...
Based on the information now known, the four fuses, which do not resemble helicopter batteries, were wrongly placed in an unclassified storage area. They were then shipped in late 2006 to Taiwan, which placed them in storage.
Four? I thought we had shipped fourteen. Or was it forty? Oh well, never mind, Taiwanese would never short us ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ION, TOPIX > ASIA NEWS > NORTH KOREA EXPELS ALL SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS, SOUTH THREATENS [preemptive] ATTACKS.; + RENSE > SOUTH KOREA THREATENS NORTH WITH INVASION.
ALso from TOPIX > NORTH KOREA TEST-FIRES SHORT-RANGE/TACTICAL MISSLES INTO SEA; + NORTH KOREA MILITARY UNITS ON ALERT AFTER SOUTH THREAT.
Lev Andropov: Excuse me, but I think I know how to fix this.
Watts: Move it! You don't know the components!
Lev Andropov: [annoyed] Components. American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!
#3
REDDIT > Bloggers claim Chinese PLA soldiers were allegedly observed and pic'ed putting on the dress of Tibetan Monks and impersonating same, etc.???
(AKI) - The European Commission set a Thursday deadline for the Italian authorities to supply further details of buffalo mozzarella production after samples were found to have higher than permitted levels of cancer-causing dioxins.
The commission has said it does not rule out some form of ban on Italian buffalo mozzarella. "The information we received is incomplete, much is missing. This is why we sent a letter to Rome yesterday evening," spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki told Adnkronos International (AKI). "We want information on all the dairies involved, a list of distributors of all the contaminated products, so we can know which countries and regions they have been sent to, and the immediate recall of all the contaminated products."
"We also want systematic monitoring of all the farms and equipment that may have been contaminated, to ensure no contaminated cheese enters the market," Papadoulaki said.
The highly popular mozzarella cheese is made from buffalo milk in the southern Campania region, where there are fears the cheese may have been contaminated by dioxins and other chemicals from illegally dumped toxic waste.
Papadoulaki said four farms and 23 dairies had been found to be contaminated, according to information supplied from Rome.
This article starring:
Nina Papadoulaki
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2008 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
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#1
The first big dioxin accident was in Italy. Seveso Disaster but this was far north of the Campania region.
#3
Dioxin has gained media attention since Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yuschchenko was poisoned with the chemical. Alarmists refer to it as "the most deadly chemical known," but such is not the case, says Michael Fumento of the Hudson Institute.
Dioxin is a byproduct of certain industrial processes such as incineration and bleaching. Humans carry small amounts of dioxin in their fat and blood, but the myth of "deadly dioxin" began with an experiment with guinea pigs, who were fed 1,000 times as much before they died.
Even though large amounts killed guinea pigs, the facts are:
* Yuschchenko carried about 6,000 times as much dioxin as the average person; furthermore, the skin disease brought about by dioxin is a result of direct contact with the skin.
* Vietnam vets were monitored for high dioxin levels allegedly resulting from exposure to Agent Orange, but the Centers for Disease Control reports that the dioxin levels among Vietnam vets were similar to non-Vietnam vets.
* The controversial Love Canal area, which was reportedly dioxin-contaminated decades ago, was blamed for various illnesses; but biologist Michael Gough notes that no studies have proven the link, despite clean-up projects that continue to cost U.S. industries.
Furthermore, worldwide studies examining the effect of dioxin on exposed workers or townspeople show no evidence that dioxin is a carcinogen (as the International Agency for Research on Cancer calls it).
Viktor Yuschchenko may not look that great for awhile, says Fumento, but he could have had it worse -- such as death by a few drops of strychnine or even a teaspoon of iron.
#4
Zhang Fei, good points. Of course, Botulinum toxin is much, much more lethal. It is estimated that one nanogram/kilogram is enough to kill a human.
On the other hand, Botox, made from Botulinum toxin, is one of the most popular cosmetic treatments today, especially among aging Hollywood types and politicians.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/28/2008 12:42 Comments ||
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#8
I remember reading about that accident in Italy, and those guinea pigs. I think it was in a Scientific American article, many decades ago. It seems that guinea pigs are extremely sensitive to dioxin--they keeled over quickly. Lab rats took 100 times that dose before suffering ill effects, and the humans were exposed to 10 times more than the lab rats--without more than skin rashes. (I may have the 10 and 100 factors switched, but I remember the claim that the human dose was 1000x the guinea pig dose.)
Posted by: James ||
03/28/2008 18:26 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I've read about a guy who gives talks about dioxin that eats a tablespoon of if in front of the audience. He claims it has saved more lives than any other chem ever made. It stopped a tuberculosis outbreak during WWII, I think, that was caused by body lice, and it has helped control mosquitoes all over the world. Mosquitoes have probably killed more humans than any other insect, so he may be right.
#10
Okay, I'll bite - TMK MOZZARELLA CHEESE in general, and BUFFALO MOZZARELLA in particular, are well known for being high/excellent-quality cheese that is also hazardous = deadly to human health iff not prepared andor aged properly.
THIS DIOXIN DANGER/THREAT IS OLD AND ALREADY KNOWN, AT LEAST SINCE 1970's IFF NOT EARLIER- WHATS THE BEEF??? IIRC, THE DIOXIN BACK THEN WAS SCIENTIFICALLY HELD TO HAD PREDOMIN OCCURRED NATURALLY AS PART OF THE NORMAL MOZZA PRODUCTION PROCESS.
I don't see any of the Euros formally banning a quality product they and the world's been successfully + joyfully consuming for decades already.
And then they exposed lawyers to it. The lawyers were immune, except for additional frothing at the mouth. That was considered an expected side effect, and not very remarkable.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/28/2008 23:40 Comments ||
Top||
#2
FOX NEWS AM > DNC Chair HOWARD DEAN reportedly wants the HILLARY-BARACK SUPERDELEGATES controversy to be formally settled by JULY 1st, 2008 in order for the Dems to be able to unifiably focus on defeating MCCAIN-GOP???
(AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Pakistan's ruling coalition of parties have been unable to agree on how to split the boodle who will control the key ministries in the country's new cabinet.
No! Who'da ever expected that?
The coalition partners - the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) - had agreed on the nomination of Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani as prime minister.
However, a source close to the PPP, which won the most votes in the February elections, told Adnkronos International (AKI) there were major disagreements about ministerial portfolios and that had delayed the cabinet's formation. "Both parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz group and the Pakistan Peoples Party have an eye on the position of foreign affairs ministry," said the source on condition of anonymity. "But none of them wants to have the ministry of finance while facing a tough economic situation ahead due to high oil prices and the overall recession."
Similarly, the party which plays a lead role in the formation of the government wants to control foreign policy. In addition, foreign policy has been the Pakistan People Party's forte and not the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz which has been more committed to local issues," the source told AKI. The PPP information secretary Sherry Rahman told AKI that a decision on the cabinet will be made by the end of the week.
This article starring:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Sherry Rahman
Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[7 views]
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#1
How about a suicide vest bomb-off to settle who gets what?
Posted by: ed ||
03/28/2008 2:03 Comments ||
Top||
This was supposed to be the week that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. returned to the pulpit to preach for the first time since his anti-American sermons generated nationwide outrage and drew condemnation from his longtime parishioner, Barack Obama. But, citing security concerns, Wright canceled his speaking engagements in Florida and Texas. A spokeswoman at his former church in Chicago said his schedule is pending.
A two-week FOX News investigation, however, has uncovered where Wright will be spending a good deal of his time in retirement, and it is a far cry from the impoverished Chicago streets where the preacher led his ministry for 36 years. FOX News has uncovered documents that indicate Wright is about to move to a 10,340-square-foot, four-bedroom home in suburban Chicago, currently under construction in a gated community.
While it is not uncommon for an accomplished clergyman to live in luxury, Wrights retirement residence is raising some questions. Some people think deals like this are hypocritical. Jeremiah Wright himself criticizes people from the pulpit for middle classism, for too much materialism, said Andrew Walsh, Associate Director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life with Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. So hes entitled to be tweaked here. So the question really is, how unusual is this? Somewhat unusual, he said.
According to documents obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds, Wright purchased two empty lots in Tinley Park, Ill., from Chicago restaurant chain owner Kenny Lewis for $345,000 in 2004.
Documents show Wright sold the property to his church, Trinity United, in December 2006, with the proceeds going to a living trust shared with his wife, Ramah. The sale price for the land was just under $308,000, about $40,000 less than Wrights original purchase two years earlier.
Public records of the sale show Trinity initially obtained a $10 million bank loan to purchase the property and build a new house on the land. But further investigation with tax and real estate attorneys showed that the church had actually secured a $1.6 million mortgage for the home purchase, and attached a $10 million line of credit, for reasons unspecified in the paperwork. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
03/28/2008 12:41 ||
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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.
Ndibele tribes here killed at least 20,000 in the mid-1980s a sign of just how far Mr. Mugabe would go to hold onto power. Small wonder then that the people of Matabeleland and especially in the quiet regional capital, Bulawayo view Saturday's presidential elections with a mix of hope and realism, and the knowledge that Mugabe will not go without a fight. "If Mugabe wins, we'll have economic disaster in Zimbabwe, complete disaster," says 
(AKI) - The European Commission set a Thursday deadline for the Italian authorities to supply further details of buffalo mozzarella production after samples were found to have higher than permitted levels of cancer-causing dioxins. 
(AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Pakistan's ruling coalition of parties have been unable to agree on 
