[Al Ahram] A protest in the northwest Tunisian city of Kef turned violent Thursday, leaving 15 injured, as a strong police cordon in Tunis held another demonstration by unemployed university graduates at bay.
Police fired teargas to disperse a protest by hundreds of residents of Kef when demonstrators tried to storm the local government headquarters, chanting "no to exclusion, marginalisation and contempt," public broadcaster Radio Kef reported.
The protesters, who in turn threw stones at police, complain their region is not receiving its fair share of public spending and accuse governor Abdelkader Trabelsi of failing to protect his constituents' interests.
Demonstrators are demanding more jobs, infrastructure spending and a university hospital, according to information posted on Tunisian websites.
"There are some injuries, people who fainted because of the teargas, and there are festivities between police and youths who are throwing stones," a protester named Hichem told AFP by phone.
Fifteen people were maimed, one of them badly, said a hospital source.
Kef, a city of some 50,000 people, is about 175 kilometres (110 miles) west of Tunis and is the capital of the region of the same name.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] Egypt's press on Thursday hailed the country's first presidential election since a popular uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... as "free and historic," despite the looming uncertainty.
"We have achieved a dream," read the headline on the state-owned al-Akhbar newspaper.
"On May 23, 2012, Egyptians went to the polls to choose their leader for the first time in their history, freely and without fraud," said the daily.
Photos of smiling voters waiting in line to cast their ballots were plastered on the front pages of most newspapers.
The election which sees 12 candidates vying to succeed Mubarak is in its second day, with results expected on Sunday.
Among the contenders is former foreign minister and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ... , who is seen as an experienced politician and diplomat. But like Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister; he is accused of ties with the old regime.
The powerful Moslem Brüderbund's candidate, Mohammed Mursi, faces competition from Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former member of the Islamist movement who portrays himself as a consensus choice with a wide range of support.
A run-off is scheduled on June 16 and 17 should there be no outright winner.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11122 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Zim-bob-we President Bob Muggsy Mugabe's Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... Zanu PF party on Thursday told its members harbouring presidential ambitions to wait until 2014 to express their interest.
The instruction came a week after a Zanu PF founding member told journalists the 88-year-old leader had told him he was tired and wanted to retire.
Former Defence Minister Enos Nkala met President Mugabe in the second city of Bulawayo last Friday for close to an hour.
He said the former guerilla leader who has led Zim-bob-we since independence in 1980, told him the only thing delaying his retirement was a fear that Zanu PF was in danger of splitting.
But Mr Nkala is now backtracking saying his statements were taken out of context by journalists itching for a "big story."
Zanu PF front man Mr Rugare Gumbo said President Mugabe's opponents from within the party must wait until the 2014 elective congress to throw their hats into the ring.
"Let us focus on strengthening the party rather than destabilise it, which is the position of the politburo (Zanu PF secretariat)," he told the state owned Herald newspaper.
"If there is anyone who is interested in the leadership of the party, they should wait for the party's congress in 2014, where they should express their interests."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
Noble Energy today opened a new operations center in Greeley and plans to double the number of horizontal wells drilled this year to 175, the company said. It employs about 750 people in Colorado and uses 120 contractors with several thousands workers, Davidson said.
Drillers sink wells that run horizontally through the shale formation and then "frack" the rock by pumping in fluid under pressure to release the oil.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2012 13:39 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
[Al Ahram] A protest in the northwest Tunisian city of Kef turned violent Thursday, leaving 15 injured, as a strong police cordon in Tunis held another demonstration by unemployed university graduates at bay.
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
Zim-bob-we President 
