The Zimbabwe opposition said Monday that one of its lawmakers was in intensive care after being beaten up by President Robert Mugabe's supporters ahead of an aborted campaign rally.
The Movement for Democratic Change said in a statement that the newly elected Thamsanga Mahlangu, a deputy for a constituency in the country's second largest city of Bulawayo, "is battling for his life in intensive care unit after armed ZANU-PF militia attacked him yesterday".
The party decided to call off the rally after hundreds of pro-Mugabe supporters occupied a city stadium and reportedly beat up opposition members who tried to enter the venue.
Shortly after the rally was cancelled, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced he was pulling out of the race against Africa's oldest leader and long time president Robert Mugabe due to violence which rendered the poll unfair.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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A former U.S. ambassador or some such thing was on NPR today talking about the horror of the situation over there. The majority of those calling in wanted either to negotiate or blamed the whole thing on the White Colonizers who raped the country for so long before President Mugabe took over, and how it isn't his fault. The ambassador objected valiently to such nonsense. NPR really does seem to be trying to show the arguments against the conventional Progressive memes recently. Perhaps their last fund drive didn't go well.
President Mbeki of South Africa is expected to travel to Harare tomorrow to make one final attempt to push Robert Mugabe into negotiating a settlement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, The Times has learned.
Mr Mbeki's decision to travel to Zimbabwe for the second time in a week came after a day of frantic diplomatic activity in which governments worldwide condemned Mr Mugabe for a campaign of violence which forced Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, to withdraw from this Friday's election run-off.
Thabo's talking to the wrong man -- shouldn't he be talking with the general-thugs who now are in charge?
Britain appeared to be taking the hardest line with diplomats revealed to be circulating a draft UN resolution which declared that - in the absence of a second round of voting - the result of the first round should be made binding. Mr Tsvangirai defeated Mr Mugabe in that contest, held in late March, although by an insufficient margin to win without a second ballot.
Mr Mbeki's impending visit comes after the Zimbabwean President rejected a similar call for national unity last week and reflects the growing pressure by the West on southern African leaders to take a stand against Mr Mugabe, 84.
The opposition says Mr Mugabe and his armed militia are responsible for the deaths of more than 80 activists during the election campaign, which Mr Tsvangirai said left him with no choice but to withdraw. The opposition leader was tonight under the protection of the Dutch embassy in Harare, as threats to his safety increased.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Cut off EVERYTHING. Let nothing in or out of Zimbabwe until Mugabe resigns and leaves the country, and the ZANU-PF is totally disbanded. It'll be easier to cap Bob once he's out of Zim-land.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/24/2008 18:45 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- The Jeddah energy summit on Sunday called for 'improved' transparency and regulation in oil production and financial markets dealing in crude oil, said a final communique of this summit. As for the financial markets, which have been playing an active role in the oil price hike, leaders and ministers from the 36 nations said 'the transparency and regulation of financial markets should be improved through measures to capture more data on index fund activity and to examine cross-exchange interactions in the crude market.'
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Damn! I agree with Arabs. NYMEX gurus are leading vendors to inflate prices. And that undue influence can be directly traced to Bill Clinton's energy policy.
A court here yesterday sentenced Sylhet city BNP President Ariful Haque Chowdhury to 10 years imprisonment while his wife to three years in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Ariful Haque Chowdhury, also commissioner of ward no 18 of the city corporation, is now in Sylhet Central Jail. His wife Shama Haque Chowdhury is still at large.
District and Sessions Judge M Abdul Gafur pronounced the judgment at around 5:00pm.
Nasiruddin, deputy director of the ACC Sylhet office, filed the case on September 9, 2007 against the couple on charge of amassing wealth worth over Tk 2.63 crore through corruption. In the case, the complainant alleged that Ariful and his wife concealed information about property worth Tk 1.5 crore and amassed property worth over Tk 1.58 crore illegally.
Later on March 3, Assistant Director of the ACC Comilla office Shahin Ara Momtaj filed charge sheet accusing them of accumulating wealth worth over Tk 2.5 crore through corruption. Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sylhet Rafiqul Alam accepted the charge sheet on March 5 and forwarded it to the District and Sessions Judge's Court for trial.
The court framed charges against the accused on April 22 under section 26 (2) and 27 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004.
Known as a close aide to former finance minister and BNP stalwart M Saifur Rahman, Ariful's name was in the first list of corruption suspects published in January last year. The joint forces arrested him on February 25 last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Bolivia's gas-rich Tarija province has voted overwhelmingly in favour of greater autonomy, exit polls suggest. About 80% of the voters backed the measure in a referendum, several pollsters said.
The result is being seen as a rejection of President Evo Morales' drive to redistribute wealth in South America's poorest nation.
Tarija is the fourth province to back greater autonomy. The central government says the polls are illegal.
According to several exit polls, just over 80% of those voting in Tarija voted Yes in the referendum. However, pollsters say that most supporters of President Morales did not vote.
Their loss. Boycotting an election never works.
Some voters were deterred by unusually cold weather and a few minor outbreaks of violence, the BBC's Daniel Schweimler says. Electoral officials have said final results are expected later this week.
A new Bolivia must be built on a foundation of autonomy. Centralism has left a bad legacy.
Tarija Governor Mario Cossio
Autonomy backers celebrated in Tarija's capital after the exit polls were released. 'A new Bolivia must be built on a foundation of autonomy. Centralism has left a bad legacy,' regional Governor Mario Cossio told a crowd of supporters late on Sunday.
Earlier this year, the provinces of Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando also voted to distance themselves from the central government in La Paz. Tarija's referendum is another brick in the wall that is increasingly dividing the poorer, predominantly indigenous western half of Bolivia from the gas and oil-rich eastern half, our correspondent says.
President Morales, who has more than two years left in office, faces a recall referendum on his leadership in August. If successful in the ballot, Mr Morales says he wants to hold a public referendum on a draft constitution which has been awaiting approval since last year. The constitution aims to enshrine reforms such as land redistribution to Bolivia's indigenous majority and sharing of wealth with the poorer western regions.
However, critics say it cedes too much control to the government in La Paz. Mr Morales's opponents in the eastern states argue that his plans would unfairly privilege indigenous groups and would mean greater central control.
The proposals also include allowing the president to stand for re-election for another five-year term.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Not unlike VENEZUELA, Bolivia is jockeying wid local States for POLE POSITION as per the future OWG CARIBBEAN/LATIN ZONE.
A senior Russian general says Russia will conduct military exercises in the Arctic to uphold the country's claim to the region's vast natural resources.
Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, in charge of military training at Russia's Defense Ministry, also said planning for the exercises began after several nations disputed Russia's Arctic claims. 'Modern wars are won or lost long before they start,' Shamanov told the military daily Krasnaya Zvezda in an interview published Tuesday.
He noted that 5,000 U.S. troops were involved in the Northern Edge military exercise in Alaska last month. Canada and Denmark have also been involved in the race to claim the area's extensive oil and other resources.
Russia last August sent two mini-submarines to plant a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole, staking its claim on an underwater mountain range that is believed to contain huge oil and gas reserves. A U.S. study suggests the area may contain as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.
After the Russian expedition, Canada vowed to increase its icebreaker fleet and build two new military facilities in the Arctic. The U.S. government also sent an icebreaker for a research expedition.
Russian officials say preliminary results on soil core samples gathered by the expedition show that the 1,240-mile Lomonosov Ridge under the Arctic is part of Russia's shelf. More geological tests are planned.
Denmark has also sent scientists to seek evidence that the underwater ridge is attached to its territory of Greenland.
The dispute over who controls what in the Arctic has become more heated with growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice, opening up new shipping lanes and resource development possibilities.
Yet in May, representatives from Denmark, Norway, Russia, Canada and the United States met in Ilulissat, 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle, to reaffirm their commitment to international Arctic treaties. Under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Arctic nations have 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All countries with claims to the Arctic have ratified the treaty, except for the United States.
#1
Further south, I wonder if Viktor Bout sold any Russian mini subs to Chavez or FARC? I saw a fiberglass submersible being towed by a supply ship in the Caribbean recently, and was thinking of the drug smugglers newest tactics, but they can just as easily hold Hezbollah agents, explosives, or other WMD's. Glasnost didn't erase ingrained prejudices and greed, and privatization only stoked competitiveness against the Americans. "Trust but verify" in all arenas will always be necessary.
#2
See SPACEWAR > seems GLOBAL WARMING is melting Russ once stolid PERMAFROST to such an extent that it may endanger RUSSIAN MILFACS IN VARIOUS NORTHERN REGIONS [think Leaning Tower of PISA + Florida Sinkholes]; + new international efforts to save Africa's NIGER RIVER from completely drying up.
HMMM, MAP OF RUSSIA + MELTING PERMAFROST + NIGER > anuther old dream of mine.
#3
See SPACEWAR > seems GLOBAL WARMING is melting Russ once stolid PERMAFROST to such an extent that it may endanger RUSSIAN MILFACS IN VARIOUS NORTHERN REGIONS [think Leaning Tower of PISA + Florida Sinkholes]; + new international efforts to save Africa's NIGER RIVER from completely drying up.
HMMM, MAP OF RUSSIA + MELTING PERMAFROST + NIGER > anuther old dream of mine.
#1
"The nuclear weapons are a hangover from the Cold War and must go," Guido Westerwelle, the head of the liberal opposition Free Democrats, told the Berliner Zeitung daily.
GUIDO??
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2008 19:05 Comments ||
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Fine with me. We can always redeploy them to your country via missile if needed.
(Xinhua) -- A European Parliament delegation visited Pyongyang on Monday, holding talks with officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said the official news agency KCNA. The delegation, led by Hubert Pirker, an Austrian politician and a member of the European Parliament, held talks with Choe ThaeBok, chairman of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, on 'further developing relations between the two parliaments and a series of matters of mutual concern,' said the KCNA.
Some events are simply beyond caricature.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Shoulda gone to Dublin. Then, then again, they support democracy which apparently the EU doesn't support recognize.
20+ grafs and no idea what party she belongs to...hmmmmm
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2008 18:41 ||
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and the Baltimore Sun
apparently can't figure out what party she belongs to either, with their layers of investigative reporters and editors. A mystery!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2008 18:46 Comments ||
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It's a "chocolate city" Frank. I think we're required to simply look the other way.
As the Senate continues to debate the Chris Dodd-Bank of America Lender Bailout Act of 2008, another of the Dems' poster children for housing-market mischief pops up in the news: House majority leader Steny Hoyer is hosting a fundraiser for 'deadbeat congresswoman' Laura Richardson less than a week after calling for an investigation into her financial chicanery.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/24/2008 14:11 ||
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Oh, yes! Let us punish those evil corporations! Of course, this doesn't address the supply/demand problem in any way whatsoever. But we'll all feel better about being reamed, somehow.
#13
But the good news is that he took down his 'great seal of Obammy' after the press called him on it. must have been a slow news day and nothing from the McCain camp to pick on....
#15
We need to put a tax on hot air. I think it would rake in a fortune, especially from such idiots as Obama, Gore, Pelosi, Reid, et. cetera, ad nauseum.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/24/2008 19:19 Comments ||
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The construction of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, crossed a mega milestone on Tuesday when its massive safety vessel, a critical component, was installed inside the reactor vault.
The cavernous vessel, made of special stainless steel, weighs 160 tonnes. It is 13.5 metres in diameter, 13.5 metres in height and 43 metres in circumference. Seventy petals were welded together by Larsen and Toubro to make it.
It was a spectacular sight as a heavy-duty crane with a long boom gingerly lifted the vessel from inside a tall supporting structure on the ground. As it dangled in mid-air, the thermal insulation panels on its outer wall dazzled in contrast to the greenish waters of the Bay of Bengal in the background. The crane then slowly swung around the vessel over an aerial distance of 57 metres and lowered it precisely inside the concrete reactor vault, which is 13.8 metres in diameter and 17 metres in height.
As the critical operation, which lasted two hours, ended successfully, applause rang out from several hundreds gathered around.
Preparations got under way from Monday night with Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), present at the site.
The PFBR, which will generate 500 MWe, will use plutonium-uranium oxide as fuel and liquid sodium as coolant. The safety vessel will prevent the liquid sodium in the main vessel from coming in contact with the reactor vault. The main vessel will be placed inside the safety vessel.
Dr. Kakodkar described the event the most important milestone in the history of Indias Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) programme and a very happy moment. He told The Hindu, It is a great effort on the part of a large team and I congratulate the entire team led by Prabhat Kumar, Project Director, PFBR.
Mr. Jain called it the beginning of the march towards reaching maturity in building breeder reactors. Other components of the PFBR were in an advanced stage of fabrication. We are on course for the completion of this prestigious project, he said.
Mr. Prabhat Kumar said handling the large-sized, heavy, thin-walled safety vessel posed several challenges. It had to be lowered within a narrow radial gap of 160 mm without any impact on the vault so that the thermal insulation panels would not be damaged.
Baldev Raj, Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, said the vessel was a difficult component to install. It was manufactured to world-class specifications and it will send a strong message about our capability in building fast breeder reactors, he added.
The PFBR will be built at a cost of Rs. 3,500 crore and attain criticality in September 2010.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/24/2008 15:51 ||
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This will allow India to recycle spent fuel rods from conventional light water plants. They won't need a burial facility and what waste there is will decay in only a few centuries instead of tens of thousands of years.
In fact, they could reprocess US spent fuel for us if they wanted to.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/24/2008 18:05 Comments ||
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India's Chidambaram on Yucca Mountain
While talking about nuclear waste management, he said India uses closed fuel cycle and this is also required because the same amount of uranium, when you recycle it through fast breeder reactors, will give you 50 times more power and if you close the fuel cycle with thorium, maybe it will give you 600 times more power.
"So if you want to optimally utilise nuclear fuel resources of the world uranium and thorium, you will have to close the nuclear fuel cycle. So, the importance of the three-stage programme goes beyond just building the first generation of reactors," Chidambaram said.
Americans have access to cheaper uranium but now they are also looking at reprocessing but the plutonium stored over a period as waste disposal Yucca mountain is actually a plutonium mine and since the half-life of plutonium is over 24,000 years, it could be used later as other radioactive products in the spent fuel would have died down.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/24/2008 18:10 Comments ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
06/24/2008 19:09 Comments ||
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WAFF.com Thread > NAVY.RU - RUSSIA WILLING TO HELP UK SCRAP REACTORS FROM NUCLEAR SUBMARINES [11 decommissioned RN nuke subs].
A Pakistani court on Monday barred former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is one of the leaders of the ruling coalition, from contesting a by-election on June 26, a court order said. Sharif and his younger brother were previously not allowed to take part in February's general elections due to criminal convictions dating back to a 1999 coup in which he was thrown from power.
'Nawaz Sharif is not a qualified candidate to contest a by-election,' the court order issued by Lahore High Court said. His brother's case was referred to the chief election commissioner.
The court did allow Sharif to continue as chief minister until a final decision on the case was made.
Sharif's rival candidates had argued that loan defaulters and people convicted of criminal charges could not contest elections.
The judges who gave the ruling were appointed by President Pervez Musharraf after he sacked some 60 judges under emergency rule fearing a Supreme Court verdict against his election candidacy.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party has joined forces with slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which won the most seats in the February polls, in which Musharraf's allies were trounced.
Sharif, a two-time prime minister, has refused to appear before Musharraf-appointed judges. His party wants to reinstate judges sacked by Musharraf. Sharif pulled out his minister from the cabinet after the coalition failed to reinstate judges in on May 12.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Imperial powers are tightening the circle around Pakistan, Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) spokesman Faisal Muhammad said on Monday, adding that Pakistan faced more danger than Iran. According to Geo News, the OIC spokesman said in Kuwait City that Pakistan was an important member of the organisation and all Muslim countries were therefore keeping a close watch on changes taking place in the country. Muhammad said the lawyers struggle for the reinstatement of sacked judges in Pakistan had been hijacked by personal enemies and turned into a go-Musharraf movement. However, he said President Pervez Musharraf had kept crises away from Pakistan through a solo flight.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Imperial powers are tightening the circle around Pakistan
Well, somebody needs to. If only they were...
(Xinhua) -- Israeli Labor Party decided Monday to vote this Wednesday in favor of the motions calling for the Knesset's dissolution, which was called by the party chairman Ehud Barak.
The decision was supported by all of Labor Knesset members (MKs) present at the party's meeting, the website of local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Barak made the call Sunday despite Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's threat to dismiss Labor ministers who vote in favor.
Barak last month demanded that Olmert step aside in light of a corruption investigation against him. He gave Olmert until June 25to step aside, or face the dissolution of the Knesset.
According to senior Shas officials, the religious party will also vote in favor of a Knesset dissolution bill if their demand to increase Child Welfare Payments will not be settled.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2008 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.
Bolivia's gas-rich Tarija province has voted overwhelmingly in favour of greater autonomy, exit polls suggest. About 80% of the voters backed the measure in a referendum, several pollsters said.
(Xinhua) -- A European Parliament delegation visited Pyongyang on Monday, holding talks with officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said the official news agency KCNA. The delegation, led by Hubert Pirker, an Austrian politician and a member of the European Parliament, held talks with Choe ThaeBok, chairman of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, on 'further developing relations between the two parliaments and a series of matters of mutual concern,' said the KCNA. 
