Germany’s Merkel to Seek EU Help for Wronged Spanish Farmers

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 8:25 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has agreed to push for European Union financial assistance for Spanish farmers whose export income dropped sharply after German officials erroneously blamed them for causing the deadly outbreak of E. coli bacteria.

Mrs. Merkel told her counterpart, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, on Thursday that she regretted the damage that had been caused. Officials in Hamburg at first voiced the suspicion that cucumbers imported from Spain had sparked the widespread infections that now have killed 18 people and sickened more than 1,700 others.

But investigators searching for the cause and origin of the disease have now rejected the Spanish cucumber theory and say they have yet to determine how the disease started. The contagion has now spread to 12 countries, although all but one of the deaths and hundreds of the illnesses have been recorded in Germany.

A Spanish farming group says that the country's farmers stand to lose $287 million a week if import bans against the country's agricultural products are not lifted. With the crisis unsolved, Russia said this week said it is banning the import of all fresh vegetables from the European Union — an action the EU immediately called “disproportionate.” The EU, which exported $853 million worth of vegetables to Russia last year, said it would seek an explanation from Moscow.

The World Health Organization says the E. coli bacteria outbreak is a unique strain that has never been found in infected patients before.

The United Nations agency said Thursday that preliminary genetic tests suggest that the highly contagious strain behind the outbreak could be a genetic recombination of two different E. coli bacteria.

Scientists in China who have analyzed the bacteria behind the German outbreak confirmed that this variant has not been involved in any previous infections.

The outbreak is the deadliest in modern history to involve E. coli, and appears to be the second- or third-largest in terms of the number of people who have become ill.

A food safety expert at the WHO, Hilde Kruse, said the deadly strain has various characteristics that make it more toxic and more virulent than other strains.

With the uncertainty surrounding the latest outbreak, concern about European produce is spreading. The United Arab Emirates on Thursday banned the import of cucumbers from Spain, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Russia said vegetables already imported from EU countries will be seized. The chief of Russia's consumer protection agency, Gennady Onishchenko, urged his countrymen to avoid imported vegetables in favor of domestic products.

The World Health Organization said Thursday that it does not recommend any trade restrictions related to the outbreak.

Iraqi Bomb Blast Kills 16 at Mosque

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 8:20 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

At least 16 people were killed and more than 50 wounded Friday morning when a bomb exploded at a Sunni mosque in the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Investigators say the blast took place as worshippers were leaving the mosque in Tikrit, a city about 130 kilometers north of Baghdad.

The mosque is part of a series of palace grounds built during the Hussein era.

The violence took place a day after at least nine people were killed in a series of explosions that rocked the western city of Ramadi.

Investigators says least two of Thursday's blasts occurred in a market that is near government offices.

Syrians Protest Troops’ Killing of Children

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 8:00 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Demonstrations erupted across Syria on Friday in response to opposition groups' call for protests about casualties among children during in recent weeks of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Reuters news agency reported Syrian troops were firing on protesters in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor as rallies continue nationwide in defiance of a government order against gatherings.

Opposition organizers say at least 25 children have died in the recent violence, which has killed about 1,000 people.

Among the young victims is a 13-year-old boy who activists say was tortured and killed by security forces. Syrian authorities say unspecified arfmed groups killed the boy, not government forces.

Syrian opposition figures wrapped up a two-day meeting in Turkey Thursday with a call for President Assad's immediate resignation. They said they are committed to do whatever is necessary to “bring down” Mr. Assad's regime and begin the process of holding new elections to end autocratic rule.

The 300 delegates issued the call in a joint declaration as Syrian forces continued to pound the central town of Rastan, killing at least 15 people, according to activists.

Witnesses say a number of buildings in Rastan have been destroyed. On Wednesday, rights groups put the civilian death toll in that part of Syria at 41 or more, including two young girls.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the legitimacy of President Assad's government has “nearly run out,” but that the international community is not yet united on how to deal with the Syrian government's violent tactics.

U.S. officials say they are in contact with the Syrian opposition.

Separately, the U.N. secretary-general's special advisers on genocide prevention expressed grave concern over the loss of life in Syria. They said Thursday they are particularly alarmed by reports that security forces deliberately attacked unarmed civilians.

US Jobs Rate Likely to Show Drop in Hiring

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 7:35 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Economists are predicting the U.S. Labor Department will issue a report Friday showing anemic job growth during May.

The forecasts vary on how many Americans were hired last month, with many economists settling on just over 160,000 jobs created – a sharp decline from the 244,000 increase reported in April. The U.S. unemployment rate will likely fall just a fraction from its current 9.0 percent rate.

Economists say at least 200,000 jobs need to be created each month to bring the jobless rate back down to pre-recession levels.

The dire employment forecast for May comes after a number of recent reports suggesting the economic recovery has stalled. The number of people applying for jobless benefits remains high, while a firm that handles U.S. payrolls reported last this week that private employers added only 38,000 jobs.

Soaring prices for oil and food have led to a decline in consumer spending, which has been a key factor in the current economic stagnation.

Iraqi Bomb Blast Kills 5 at Mosque

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 7:35 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

At least five people were killed and more than 25 wounded Friday morning when bomb detonated at a Sunni mosque in the town of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Officials in Tikrit, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, say the wounded are being treated at a hospital.

Accounts conflict as to whether the bomb went off inside the mosque or on the grounds. The mosque is part of a series of palace grounds built during the Hussein era.

Indian State Yields to Farmers on Land Policy

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 7:15 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

One northern Indian state is hoping a new land acquisition policy can calm rising tensions between farmers and industrialists.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati says the changes will remove the government as the middleman in land deals between farmers and private companies.

She says the government would still act as a facilitator but that farmers and companies would negotiate the price directly, allowing farmers to earn more money. The changes will also require major land deals to get the approval of 70 percent of the farmers in the affected area.

Mayawati first spoke about the reforms with reporters on Thursday.

Farmers and industrialists have increasingly clashed in India, where demand for more space and infrastructure is growing quickly as the country's economy expands.

The Indian government has come under criticism for several recent land deals which allowed companies to buy property at deeply discounted rates.

Just last month, Indian lawmaker Rahul Ghandi was arrested after joining farmers protesting a government land-grab in a village in Uttar Pradesh.

The farmers accuse the government of not paying enough for the land where it wants to build a $2 billion highway linking New Delhi to the city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal.

In 2008, farmers in West Bengal blocked Indian automaker Tata Motors from building a factory to make its low-cost Nano cars.

Yemen Fighting Escalates Further

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 7:05 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Clashes in the Yemeni capital escalated further on Friday, with the destruction of the headquarters of an opposition TV station.

Reports say the fighting in Sana'a is expanding into new neighborhoods of the city, and tribesmen loyal to the opposition are traveling to the capital city to take part in the fighting.

The rising chaos is pushing the conflict closer to an all-out civil war. Opposition groups say government troops have killed 50 opposition members in fighting this week.

Yemen is engulfed by multiple conflicts, with the street battles raging in Sana'a, popular unrest by anti-government demonstrators throughout the country and fighting against Islamist militants who have seized the southern city of Zinjibar.

In the southern city of Taiz, government forces and protesters clashed Thursday. At least 25 people have died in the violence in Taiz in the past few days.

Sana'a is split, with Yemeni security forces holding the southern part of the city against tribesmen and renegade military units in the north. The opposition is calling for the resignation of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The clashes threatened to close the Sana'a airport, which lies 10 kilometers north of the city. The streets of the capital are now largely deserted, as thousands of residents flee to safer ground.

U.S. envoy John Brennan, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, left the U.S. Thursday to travel to the United Arab Emirates to continue talks on Yemen. He is seeking help to pressure President Saleh to accept a deal brokered by regional powers that would secure a peaceful end to his nearly 33-year rule.

The fighting in Sana'a broke out last week when pro-Saleh forces moved against the al-Ahmar compound in Hasaba, a district of the capital. In March, the al-Ahmar family had announced that the Hashid confederation – the country's most powerful tribal alliance – would back the protest movement, but its armed fighters had avoided clashes with Mr. Saleh's forces.

European Markets Flat at Midday

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 7:05 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

European stock markets were flat in midday trading Friday.

London's Financial Times 100 index was nearly unchanged , to 5,850. The CAC-40 in Paris was down slightly , to 3,888. And the DAX in Frankfurt was up a quarter of a percent , at 7,092.

The S&P futures contract was down six points, indicating a lower opening for U.S. markets.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost two-thirds of a percent , to close at 9,492.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.31 percent , to end at 22,950.

Gold was trading at $1,526.20 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar was unchanged against other major currencies.

Indian Yoga Guru Ready to Begin Fast

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 6:55 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

India's most famous yoga guru says he is ready to begin his “fast unto death” against corruption if the government does not take action on the country's deep corruption problems.

Baba Ramdev said Friday he will not succumb to pressure from Indian Prime Minister Monmahan Singh and other senior government officials.

The yoga guru has erected a huge tent in New Delhi where his hunger strike is set to begin Saturday.

Ramdev says more than 10-million people will join him on the first day of the fast. He says millions of people who want to see the country free of corruption and get social justice will participate in the campaign.

His hunger strike picks up where a similar movement by 73-year old social activist Anna Hazare left off in April. Both are aimed at pushing the government to pass a bill establishing a new, citizen-led organization with power to identify and prosecute corrupt officials.

News of billion-dollar scams in real estate, telecommunications, and last year's Commonwealth Games in India have fueled popular anger at the government. Earlier this year, a U.S. research group report estimated nearly one-half-trillion dollars had been illegally moved out of India during the past six decades.

Ramdev says it is time to get some of that “black money” back, and bring those responsible to justice.

Ramdev's organization of yoga-related media and health products reaches tens of millions of people in India and around the world.

Mladic Refuses to Offer a Plea to ‘Obnoxious’ Charges

Posted June 3rd, 2011 at 6:45 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic has made his first appearance before the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague, but refused to enter a plea to what he said are “obnoxious” charges of genocide against him.

Mladic told the court's three judges on Friday that he was defending “my people and my country” during the fighting in the 1990s that splintered the one-time country of Yugoslavia. He said he needed “more than a month” to read the “monstrous words” in the indictment. Mladic is accused of masterminding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys — Europe's worst mass killing since World War II — and the 44-month siege of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo in which 10,000 died.

Alternately subdued and feisty, Mladic told the court he did not want “a single letter or sentence” of the indictment read in court. But Presiding Judge Alphons Orie ignored the request and read all 11 charges against Mladic.

The 68-year-old Mladic told the court he is “gravely ill,” but also asked for the hearing to go into private session so he could discuss his health with the judges without a worldwide television audience hearing the conversation. Back in open court, the somewhat frail Mladic pointedly said he did not want guards helping him to walk unless he asked for assistance.

Orie set July 4 for Mladic's next hearing, when Mladic will be required to offer a plea to the charges. If he does not, an automatic not-guilty plea will be entered on his behalf.

He was once a burly, intimidating figure on the battlefield. But Mladic, wearing a light gray suit, appeared somber as Orie read the charges against him.

Mladic said he had not read the indictment and needed “a bit more time” to think about the allegations. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.

He has been at The Hague since Tuesday after being flown there from Serbia where he was arrested last week.

In advance of the hearing, his court-appointed attorney, Aleksandar Aleksic, said Mladic has not had proper health care for years. Aleksic said Mladic spent Thursday night in a prison hospital, but the tribunal said Mladic's medical supervision was routine.

The lawyer said he would ask the war crimes tribunal to approve more medical tests for his 69-year-old client. The exact state of Mladic's health sparked a dispute when another of his attorneys, Milos Saljic, said he has a document claiming that Mladic suffered from lymph node cancer and underwent surgery for it in 2009.

But a Serbian prosecutor, Bruno Vekaric, said the document “looks like a hoax.”

Calendar

March 2024
M T W T F S S
« Jan    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Archives

Categories