Twitter Village

Keys, Lady Gaga to sign off Twitter for charity

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:46:00 +0000

Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga take charity work seriously, and they're going offline to prove it.

Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher and other celebrities have joined a new campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice on behalf of Keys' charity, Keep a Child Alive. The entertainers plan to sign off of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday, which is World AIDS Day. The participants will sign back on when the charity raises $1 million.

"It's really important and super-cool to use mediums that we naturally are on," Keys said in a phone interview from New York last week.

For the campaign — which also includes Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae and Keys' husband, Swizz Beatz — celebrities have filmed "last tweet and testament" videos and will appear in ads showing them lying in coffins to represent what the campaign calls their digital deaths.

"It's so important to shock you to the point of waking up," Keys said. "It's not that people don't care or it's not that people don't want to do something, it's that they never thought of it quite like that."

The campaign, she said, puts the disease in perspective.

"This is such a direct and instantly emotional way and a little sarcastic, you know, of a way to get people to pay attention," said Keys, who has more than 2.6 million followers on Twitter.

The foundation, which began in 2003, will accept donations through text messages and bar-code technology, which is featured in the charity's Buy Life campaign. Raised efforts support families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.

"We're trying to sort of make the remark: Why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?" said Leigh Blake, the president and co-founder of Keep a Child Alive.

"It's about love and respect and human dignity," she added.

Keys said recruiting celebrities was difficult because of scheduling, but "once I got people on the phone and I was able to paint the concept for them, everybody was in."

Not one person said no, Keys recalled.

"I have a feeling that Gaga is going to raise it all by herself," Blake said. Lady Gaga has more than 7.2 million followers on Twitter, and nearly 24 million fans on Facebook.

"She's got a very, very mobilized fan base and that's beautiful to watch I think (and) she's able to draw their attention to these issues that are very important, you know, and that people follow it and act."

Keys is hoping more people — both famous folks and non-celebs — get involved once the new initiative launches: "It just doesn't have to be just because you're a celebrity or something like that. It can be anybody."

Keys, 29, married rapper-producer Swizz Beatz in July. The two had their first son, Egypt, last month. The Grammy winner said that though her life's getting busier, being a mother and wife makes her want to help others even more.

"As a human being, you deserve to have a chance at life," she said.

____

Online:

http://www.aliciakeys.com

http://www.keepachildalive.org

http://www.buylife.org

UK police learn how to follow crooks — on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:21:00 +0000

LONDON – Trailing suspects is a staple of police work. Aspiring British detectives will soon be learning how to do it online.

Updated training for Britain's annual crop of 3,500 trainee detectives will include pointers on how to track criminals on micro-blogging site Twitter and mine Facebook pages for witnesses, a spokesman for the National Policing Improvement Agency said Friday.

"It's a way of tracking down criminals," the spokesman said. "Finding the sort of people they've contacted and the sort of groups they're a member of."

He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.

Facebook and Twitter are both enormously popular in Britain and online indiscretions regularly feature in accounts of how police and prosecutors secure convictions.

The new training, which will be available starting in January of next year, will also include information on how to gather clues from computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.

Kilmer slashes sale price for ranch by $10M

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:41:00 +0000

SANTA FE, N.M. – Actor Val Kilmer has dropped the asking price of his Pecos River Ranch by $10 million.

The 5,328-acre ranch includes a 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom, 11,573-square-foot house. Located about 22 miles southeast of Santa Fe, it went on the market in early 2009 for $33 million, but a Craigslist ad last week lowered the price to $23 million.

Neither Darlene Streit of Santa Fe Realty Partners, who posted the new ad, nor ranch manger Pam Sawyer responded to messages from The Santa Fe New Mexican asking about the price cut.

Real estate agents say the market for high-end ranches, like other housing, remains soft.

The advertisement describes the ranch as having two miles of direct frontage on the Pecos River and phenomenal fishing.

___

Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com

New sectarian slaughter rocks Nigeria

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:34:00 +0000

JOS, Nigeria — Muslim herdsmen disguised as soldiers Wednesday butchered and then torched around a dozen Christians in Nigeria, near the site of a recent sectarian massacre, officials and witnesses said.

Most of the victims of the raid on Byei and Batem villages in the Riyom region of the central Plateau state were women and children, state radio reported, as locals accused security forces of failing to act quickly to prevent the slaughter.

A reporter at the scene of the carnage in Byei said he had counted 12 bodies which bore deep machete cuts and had been partially burned.

"I can confirm that 13 people have died while six others have been critically injured," State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong told AFP.

A senior government official who visited the village told AFP that two teenagers, a young boy and three women in their 60s were among the victims.

"What I saw in the village was very sad. I saw corpses of some women, some of them very old, one of a child less than five years and that of a woman who was burnt with a baby on her back," he said.

Half a dozen homes had also been torched by the killers, said the reporter. Surviving residents could be seen crying and wailing in grief.

"We still have some relations still unaccounted for," a resident, who refused to be named, told AFP.

Seven suspects were arrested after the carnage outside Jos, the capital of Plateau State, a senior army officer said in a statement.

"We have succeeded in arresting seven of the assailants while our men are on the trail of others," General Donald Orji said in the statement.

"Items recovered from the suspects include three locally-made short guns with cartridges, bows, arrows, machetes, knives and cutlasses. They have been handed over to the police for further investigations," he said.

Police spokesman Lerama Mohammed said the pre-dawn attack was believed to have been carried out by members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group which was behind last week's massacre in three Berom villages near Jos.

Police said 109 people were killed in that attack although other officials put the figure at over 500.

Simon Mwadkon, chairman of the local municipality, told AFP: "so far, we have lost 12 people in the attack and 12 houses have been burnt while two other persons are still missing."

"The attack was launched around 0100 am but alerted security agents arrived one and a half hours later after the attack," he said.

The attackers were said to have been dressed in army camouflage when they stormed the village as residents were asleep, said the radio.

State police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba said 50 police and military personnel had been deployed to beef up security in the area.

But Emmanuel Jugu, a local lawmaker, called for the withdrawal of soldiers from the area in frustration at their failure to provide protection.

"It is better the military should go to their barracks ... We can protect and defend ourselves," he said.

Some residents said the killings were part of a spiralling feud between the Fulani, who are nomads, and Berom, who are farmers, which had been sparked by the theft of cattle, rather than for religious motives.

Previous violence in and around Jos has claimed thousands of lives in the past decade.

The city lies on the dividing line between the Christian majority south and the mostly Muslim north.

Analysts and critics have accused authorities of fostering a culture of impunity by failing to punish those arrested over previous attacks in Jos.

In a brodacast on state television late Wednesday, Plateau Governor Jonah Jang appealed for calm and vowed to find the murderers.

"I call for calm and restraint in this period of crisis. I sympathise with the residents of Byei and Baten villages that were attacked," he said.

"I assure the people of Plateau State that the state government will do everything possible to unmask the perpetrators of the mayhem in these villages," said Jang, a former senior air force officer.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is divided almost in the middle between the two faiths.

Germany decides to buy Swiss tax-dodger data

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:59:00 +0000

BERLIN — Germany said Tuesday it would pay for data on some 1,500 suspected tax-dodgers with funds stashed in Swiss accounts, waving aside concerns that the allegedly stolen material would not stand up in court.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble gave a green light "in principle" to stumping up a reported 2.5 million euros (3.5 million dollars) to an anonymous whistle-blower for a disc that could net the taxman around 100 million euros.

In a pre-released interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine regional daily, Schaeuble said: "There was no other decision we could have taken" after a 2008 legal precedent whereby Germany paid for tax data from Liechtenstein.

He added that the government felt it was on solid legal ground as no court had yet questioned the validity of the Liechtenstein data.

However, the Financial Times Deutschland reported that Germany's constitutional court was already examining whether these data -- which resulted in the taxman clawing back some 180 million euros -- were admissible.

Analysts too said judges could throw out information obtained in this manner.

Tobias Singelnstein, a professor of law at Berlin's Free University, told AFP: "It is a bit absurd to prosecute a breach of the law by ourselves breaking the law."

The affair, which was splashed on the front page of most German newspapers, has also raised the moral question over paying for "stolen" information and has soured Germany's relations with its Alpine neighbour.

Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said he would have a problem with using data that was obtained by legally questionable methods.

One prominent legal expert quoted in the Financial Times Deutschland also warned that the government's purchase of this data could prompt copycat thefts.

"To buy stolen data for a second time is a clear incitement. The state is creating a climate in which every Tom, Dick and Harry will feel the urge to steal data from his employer," Erich Samson was quoted as saying.

The public and the press were also divided by the saga.

A poll by Stern magazine released on Tuesday showed a narrow majority of Germans -- 57 percent -- in favour of buying the names, with 43 percent opposed.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily described the disc as "forbidden fruit" and said the government "should not deal with data thieves".

On the other side of the fence was mass circulation daily Bild, which wrote in an editorial: "It is right and sensible that the chancellor spoke out so quickly in favour of buying the information."

"The federal government's message is crystal-clear: if you evade tax, your number is up."

It was also clear that Berlin was facing an increasingly vitriolic diplomatic showdown with Switzerland, which views the saga as another attack on its cherished tradition of banking secrecy.

A spokesman for the Swiss Banking Federation, Thomas Sutter, called into question the ratification of a tax treaty between the two countries.

"The German side cannot support a criminal act and then enter into negotiations with Switzerland," Sutter told the Frankfurter Rundschau.

Pirmin Bischof, a Swiss lawmaker, said: "The relations between Germany and Switzerland will clearly not be helped if Germany buys these data."

"This is a new form of bank robbery. Before, you had to go into the bank and extract the money using a gun. Today, you can do it electronically by stealing data," he told German radio.

"It is economic war disguised as a fiscal crusade," Yves Nidegger, a politician from the far-right Swiss People's Party, told newspaper Le Matin.

Another parliamentarian from the Liberal Party, Christian Luescher, accused European countries of "lecturing us when all they want is to get richer".

Jean-Marc Felix, spokesman of the Association of Private Bankers, said such behaviour was typical during crises.

"In general during and after a crisis, countries need money and we can understand that they try absolutely to find some... but it does not justify a criminal act, which is to steal the data," he said.

Felix warned that Germany's attitude could push others down the same route.

"If this is accepted by the government of an honourable country, it would incite other employees" to do the same.

"It is something that worries us," he said.

EU anti-terror chief favours airport body scanners

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:14:00 +0000

BRUSSELS — The EU's anti-terror coordinator Gilles de Kerchove backs the use of full body scanners at airports, saying they would be "very effective" as long as privacy concerns can be overcome.

"I am in favour of the body scanners, as long as there are rules in place" to assure passengers over the images displayed, he told AFP on Friday.

The Spanish EU presidency called Thursday for a common European stance on the use of body scanners at airports as member states bicker over the issue which has been highlighted by a failed plot to blow up a US airplane.

The controversial scanners are capable of peering through clothes to create three-dimensional images of passengers to reveal any concealed weapons or explosives.

The latest generation of scanners can, for example, prevent the naked image being identified, according to De Kerchove.

"Clearly there also needs to be rules so that the image is not conserved and that it is immediately destroyed," he added.

"It's useful, very useful even, for detecting cases such as the Detroit case where someone hid explosives around his private parts which are not searched by hand."

Several countries, led by the United States, have announced additional security measures at airports after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jet on Christmas Day.

It was foiled when explosives sewn into the man's underwear failed to detonate, and passengers jumped on him.

Britain and the Netherlands have already decided to install the scanners at airports.

Body scanners will also be introduced for experimentation in some French airports, France's civil aviation authority said Wednesday.

Other countries, such as Spain, are less enthusiastic.

De Kerchove said it was up to border agencies to decide whether the expensive scanners should be introduced in all European airports, saying the major air hubs should be the first to get the new technology.

He agreed with the Spanish that it would be a "paradox" if the 27 European Union nations all took unilateral decisions on the use of body scanners, urging the European Commission to swiftly draw up a proposition on the issue.

However De Kerchove said he recognised there is a political as well as a security aspect involved.

"A society which doesn't like risk is a society which will without doubt be less free, where data collection will multiply," he said.

Sri Lanka tsunami aid misappropriated: watchdog

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:18:00 +0000

COLOMBO — Nearly half a billion dollars in tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is unaccounted for and over 600 million dollars has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster, an anti-corruption watchdog said Saturday.

Berlin-based Transparency International demanded an audit of the money received by the Sri Lankan government to help victims of the Asian tsunami which hit the island on December 26, 2004, killing 31,000 people.

The group's Sri Lankan chapter said the public have a right to know how the aid money was spent as the tropical nation marked the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.

The group alleged that out of 2.2 billion dollars received for relief, 603.4 million dollars was spent on projects unrelated to the disaster.

Another half a billion dollars was missing, the group said.

"There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of 471.9 million dollars," the Transparency International statement issued in Colombo added.

An "audit should be done by the government to explain the utilisation of the money received and the challenges faced," the group said.

An government official declined comment Saturday on the allegations but Colombo has consistently rejected such accusations in the past.

An initial government audit in 2005 found that less than 13 percent of the aid had been spent, but there has been no formal examination since, Transparency International said.

Shiite pilgrims among 7 killed in Baghdad attacks

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:16:00 +0000

BAGHDAD — Seven people were killed, including two Shiite pilgrims, in attacks in and around Baghdad on Saturday ahead of the climax of Ashura commemoration ceremonies, officials said.

Two worshippers were killed and eight others wounded when a bomb struck a procession in the eastern neighbourhood of Baghdad Jadida (New Baghdad) in the afternoon, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The 10-day Ashura rituals commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.

Ashura, which means tenth in Arabic, falls on the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram. The festival's climax this year falls on December 27.

Tradition holds that Hussein was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies.

In a separate attack in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Fedhailia, three people were killed and five wounded by a bomb, according to an interior ministry official who did not want to be named.

Also on Saturday army Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Khalil was shot dead by unidentified gunmen along a main road in east Baghdad, the official added.

And in the predominantly Sunni town of Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital, tribal leader Mahmoud Jassim al-Obeidi was killed by a bomb exploded outside his home early Saturday, a local official said.

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Analyst downgrades Potash to 'Sell' on prices

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:40:00 +0000

NEW YORK — Shares of Potash Corp. slid Friday after an analyst downgraded the fertilizer company to "Sell" from "Hold" on tumbling potash prices.

A ton of the fertilizer in China, the largest buyer and lowest-cost importer of potash, is expected to drop in price to $300 from $400 a few weeks ago, Soleil Securities analyst Mark Gulley wrote in a client note. Potash prices hit a record of more than $1,000 a ton last year.

Gulley was also concerned about Brazilian mining giant Vale's plans to build a greenfield mine in Argentina, which will boost supply and drag prices lower.

Still, falling prices could result in stronger demand, Gulley said, maintaining a price target of $85. The fertilizer is also best positioned over the long term compared with others such as phosphates and nitrogen, he said. Potash accounted for essentially all of the company's gross profit this year.

Shares of Potash fell $6.83, or 6.11 percent, to $105.01 in trading Friday. The stock has traded between $63.65 and $124.10 over the past year.

Al-Qaida denies killing civilians in Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:58:00 +0000

CAIRO — Al-Qaida issued a new English-language video Saturday denying it was behind a series of bombings in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of civilians, calling such attacks un-Islamic.

U.S.-born al-Qaida operative Adam Gadahn, who commonly delivers the organization's English messages, said the extremist network was being framed for the bloodshed by the U.S. and Pakistani intelligence services .

"The perpetration of such deplorable acts and the pinning of responsibility for them on the mujahideen, only serves the enemies of Islam and Muslims, who are today staring defeat in the face," he said, blaming the media for implicating al-Qaida in the attacks.

"The mercenaries of the ISI, RAW, CIA or Blackwater are the real culprits behind these senseless and un-Islamic bombings," he added.

The ISI and RAW are the Pakistani and Indian intelligence agencies, respectively, while Blackwater is the private security firm — now called Xe Services — whose involvement in the killings of Iraqi civilians have tarnished its reputation throughout the Muslim world.

More than 500 people have died in a slew of attacks in Pakistan that began in October, just as the Pakistani army started waging a ground offensive against the Taliban network in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

A single truck bomb in the northwest city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people at a market that sells mostly women's clothes and children's toys. More recently, twin bombs at a similar market in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed nearly 50.

Pakistani authorities have laid blame for the recent spate of attacks on the Pakistani Taliban or their affiliates, which include al-Qaida and other local militant groups.

Such groups, which analysts say are increasingly intertwined, most often to attack security targets. But the militants generally avoid claiming responsibility for assaults that kill a large number of civilians.

In a transcript of the video released by the SITE Intelligence Group, a Washington-based monitor of militant Web sites, Gadahn told Pakistanis their real enemies were secular regimes, corrupt police, judges and tribal nationalists.

In Pakistan, where conspiracy theories are rife, support for militancy has only recently taken a downturn, and anti-Americanism is widespread, Gadahn's message may have some resonance.

After the market blast in Peshawar, many Pakistanis expressed disbelief that Islamist groups could have attacked other Muslims in such a manner. And in some corners of the Pakistani media, Blackwater has increasingly been floated as a culprit in nefarious events.

Gadahn grew up in Los Angeles and then moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI. He is said to have attended an al-Qaida training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group.

Al-Qaida's media arm, al-Sahab, is increasingly using English-language videos to address Muslims in Pakistan who are unlikely to speak Arabic. Gadahn's message specifically addressed Muslims in south Asia, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

China assert early authority at East Asian Games

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:39:00 +0000

HONG KONG — China stole an early lead on Saturday in the medals table at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong, hours before the event was officially due to open.

For the first of what is likely to be a glut of golds at the four-yearly meet for China, Tian Pengfei beat compatriot Yu Delu in the men's snooker final, while Ma Liyun won gold in the women's elite competition of BMX biking.

Hong Kong also bagged their first gold of the Games, which run until December 13, in the men's elite BMX.

Although the Games were officially to open later Saturday, 10 of the 22 sports were already underway.

However, the first major event is on Sunday, when a strong China team will be looking to assert its dominance in the swimming pool.

Nine teams are taking part in the East Asian Games, which Hong Kong authorities are billing as the biggest international multi-sports event ever held in the southern Chinese city.

Indian climate envoy resists emission targets

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:48:00 +0000

NEW DELHI — India's chief climate change negotiator has flatly rejected taking on emission reduction targets a day after Premier Manmohan Singh said the country would commit to cuts conditionally.

India, one of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters, has yet to offer figures on reining in its carbon output, with just over a week to go until UN climate talks start in Copenhagen.

Singh said on Saturday that India was "willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emissions reductions or limiting temperature increase" provided developed countries shared in the burden of funding mitigation.

But in an interview broadcast Sunday, chief negotiator Shyam Saran told the NDTV news channel that India was under no pressure to join the United States and China -- the world's top two carbon sources -- in announcing firm numbers ahead of the summit.

"There cannot be any emission cuts," said Saran, adding that the developed world did not expect countries like India to adopt emission reduction targets but instead to accept "deviation from business as usual."

"The only difference of opinion is whether or not this deviation...can be quantified. But signing on to emission reduction targets in the same manner as developed countries, that's simply not possible," he added.

Last week's pledges by the US and China to cut emissions have boosted hopes of some sort of consensus at Copenhagen, and Saturday's statement by Singh looked to be the first sign of flexibility on the issue.

India has refused to accept binding emission cuts that it says could slow its economic growth and has instead highlighted voluntary actions to stem emissions, such as renewable energy.

It says rich nations historically responsible for global warming should pay for reduction efforts in developing countries, and has favoured sticking to a framework at Copenhagen which mirrors the Kyoto Protocol, which sets rich and poor countries apart.

Saran reiterated that Singh's pledge to keep India's per capita emissions below average per capita emissions in industrialised countries would remain a "major commitment."

"We have already committed ourselves to a lower trajectory, but we are saying that to quantify it is not easy."

The December 7-18 Copenhagen negotiations are aimed at drafting a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Rare Charles Darwin book in toilet in Britain

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:37:00 +0000

LONDON — A first edition of Charles Darwin's seminal "On the Origin of Species" will be sold this week after it was found in a family's toilet in southern Britain, an auction house said Sunday.

The book, which was first printed in 1859, was bought by a family for just a few shillings in a shop about 40 years ago, Christie's auction house said.

The family has since kept the work on a bookcase in the guest lavatory at their home in the Oxford area, it said.

The book will go under the hammer in London on Tuesday, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of the father of the theory of evolution's famous work.

The book, about 1,250 copies of which were first printed, is expected to fetch 60,000 pounds (66,000 euros, 99,000 dollars).

Margaret Ford, head of books and manuscripts at Christie's, said the book would have been a bargain when it was bought by the present owner.

"It's incredibly important," Ford said, adding of the current owner: "He knew it (the book) was textually important.

"He maybe did not know how much of a bargain he was getting."

Christie's said the son-in-law of the current owners was at an exhibition on Darwin and spotted a picture of the spine of the work.

He realised the book in the toilet was something special, matching the binding of the work in the picture.

Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" set out his theory of evolution, by which species develop from generation to generation by a process of natural selection.

Czechs celebrate fall of communism 20 years ago

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:12:00 +0000

PRAGUE — Thousands marched through the Czech capital Tuesday in commemoration of a student protest 20 years ago that grew into the human tidal wave sweeping away the communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia.

Today, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are European Union and NATO members. While the world recession has left its mark, their economies are among the strongest of the continent's former communist nations, and their democracies among the most resilient. Pragmatic Czechs in particular have moved into the European mainstream, with most citizens spending little time on any normal day looking back on their Velvet Revolution.

But Tuesday was no normal day for the several thousand Czechs gathered to relive the hours that led to their nation's democratic triumph.

Nov. 17, 1989, began with fiery speeches at a university campus in Prague, inspiring thousands of students to march downtown toward Wenceslas Square. As darkness fell, police cracked down hard, beating demonstrators with truncheons and injuring hundreds in the melee.

Unbowed, the crowds mushroomed in the ensuing days, with demonstrators chanting: "You have lost already!"

They were right. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and communism in the region, by Dec. 10, Czechoslovakia had a new government. On Dec. 29, Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who had spent several years in prison, was elected the country's first democratic president in a half century by a parliament still dominated by communist hard-liners.

For many retracing the march, it was a joyful return to a time when repression proved no match for people power, which in a string of protests brought down the Iron Curtain across East Europe.

"I came here with hope," said Renata Krbcova, 45, who studied at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in 1989 and joined the ranks of those that rolled through the capital.

"It was a wonderful feeling, after all we hoped that something had to happen," she said.

On Tuesday, Havel, President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer joined hundreds of people laying flowers and lighting candles at a monument marking the site of the brutal clash.

"The demonstration, the march set the history into motion," said Havel, who was applauded by the surrounding crowd.

Prominent outsiders joined in the praise.

"I congratulate the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 20 years of democracy and reaffirm the commitment of the United States to our strong alliance," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement.

Czechs remain relatively optimistic, 20 years on.

A Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, conducted among respondents of nine post-communist countries, has only Czechs and Poles feeling they are better off now than back then. The Aug. 27 survey had a percentage of error between plus or minus 3.5 and 5 percentage points, depending on the country.

But on most days, the euphoria of those revolutionary days is hard to find.

Besides an economic downturn, the country has been in political limbo since the government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in March in the middle of the Czech EU presidency, just days before President Barack Obama's visit to Prague.

Havel said his nation of 10 million is still on the right track, enjoying a democratic society with the rule of law, respect for human rights and a free-market economy. But he expressed concern about "a loss of trust in politics, the gap between the public and the politicians."

In a disquieting sign of the freedom of expression that has grown from the Velvet Revolution, hundreds of supporters of the far right extremists Workers' Party staged a protest rally near the National Theater, briefly disrupting the festivities.

CT24 news television reported the extremists attacked two people. Police said 48 extremists were detained, both from that protest and from a clash between 100 neo-Nazis and police.

Man dies after seniors complex fire

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:37:00 +0000

The man who was taken to hospital after an early-morning fire Friday in an Edmonton seniors complex has died, fire officials said.

Crews were called at 5:40 a.m. to a unit on the fourth floor of the Avenwood Corner seniors apartments at 88th Street and 119th Avenue. When they arrived, they forced their way into the suite and found a man in his 70s inside.

The man was in critical condition when he was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

The fire was contained to the man's unit. The third and fourth floor were evacuated, but residents were allowed to return to their suites shortly afterward.

The fire was caused by "smoker's material," fire officials said. The suite suffered extensive fire and smoke damage. There was also minor smoke damage in the hallway.

Damage is estimated at $100,000.

Crash in Calgary between school bus, minivan leaves children with cuts, bruises

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:36:00 +0000

CALGARY — A tall spruce tree in Marilyn Gunn's front yard was all that prevented a large yellow school bus from crashing through her front window Thursday.

The school bus that had been carrying about three dozen elementary school children to morning classes smashed into the evergreen after rear-ending a minivan.

"All of a sudden I saw this tree ... shaking violently and coming toward the house and then I heard the big crash," Gunn told The Canadian Press. "I got up and stood here in the window and I saw the school bus in the tree. I ran out immediately and heard the children crying inside and screaming," she said.

"Then our neighbour came out. We were trying to get the kids to open the back door and they couldn't, so we went out and got a crowbar. Then we helped the children across the street and sat them on the lawn and then went and got blankets. It was quite the morning."

Seventeen children, between the ages of five and 10, were taken to hospital with minor cuts and bruises.

The minivan had been turning left in front of Gunn's home on a quiet residential street in northwest Calgary when it was hit. The vehicle rolled through her yard and flipped over against a retaining wall on the driveway.

The drivers, both women in their 30s, had non-life-threatening injuries, police and emergency officials said.

Bill Russnak, still wearing his pyjama bottoms and holding a cup of coffee, didn't see the accident but he certainly heard it.

"It was loud. It was as if you took two of those big garbage buckets and dropped one on top of the other at about 50 miles per hour," he said.

Russnak managed to get the rear door of the bus open so the kids could get out.

"The door would not open. We tried with our fingers. We got the crowbar, got the door pried open and started taking the kids out," he recounted.

"When we opened the door, it was a great feeling because they had relief and they weren't trapped anymore. Each one of them walked off the bus."

The children were understandably upset, said Gunn.

"They were scared. They were all crying and they were panicking. It was the most heart-wrenching sound. When you hear children screaming, your heart just melts. Especially as a mom and a grandma."

Police Insp. Curtis Olson said the outcome could have been a lot worse.

"They were all transported to the children's hospital. They are all in fine condition. There was minor bumps and bruising, but they have all been accounted for and are with their parents."

The cause of the accident was still under investigation, but there was a suggestion the brakes on the bus may have failed as it came down the hill to the corner where the collision occurred.

"Was it a matter of vehicle malfunction or was there some driver error? We can't say for sure right now," Olson said. "We're most concerned about the ... safety of the children and the safety of the community.

"What we will be doing at this point is assessing all the damage and determining what did take place and why it occurred."

Speed may have also been a factor, but alcohol was not, he added.

First Student Canada, the company that owns the bus, was also investigating.

Six fire trucks and about 15 firefighters responded to the crash. Two large tow trucks worked with the fire department for over an hour trying to free the bus, which was entangled in the tree and heavily damaged in the front. Officials brought out chainsaws to help.

Education advocates urge Ont. to turn mothballed schools into community hubs

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:18:00 +0000

TORONTO — An education advocacy group called on the province Monday to turn potential school closures into opportunities to deliver community services.

But Education Minister Kathleen Wynn disputed the number of schools the group said were slated to close.

At the same time Wynn said her ministry does not have a solid count of how many schools are on the chopping block, saying that's a moving number.

There are 172 Ontario schools scheduled for shutdown and 163 more under review, according to People for Education.

Instead of shutting them down, consideration should be given to keeping some open, and using the extra space to set up child, family and youth resources and programs, said the group's Executive Director Annie Kidder.

"Children and families are like an ecosystem, that health is connected to education, is connected to poverty, is connected to housing, that mental health is connected to youth engagement, physical health affects kids ability to succeed. All these things are connected but we still don't have a framework."

The report says as well as being used for their traditional purpose, schools could become community hubs providing services such as daycare, parenting centres, community kitchens, public libraries and health clinics.

"That's exactly what we're attempting to do ... we're doing what we can to make it clear to the system that we expect this to happen" said Wynn of the idea to make schools into a "hub" of services for children, families and youth.

Enrolment is down primarily because of declining birth rates and people moving, says Kidder.

Even the substantial number of immigrants calling the province home isn't enough to make up for the shortfall caused by people having fewer children.

The number of new students enrolling in Ontario's elementary schools has dropped by 15 per cent since 1997 and by 14 per cent in secondary schools since 2002, according to earlier figures released by the group.

By 2012, there will be 140,000 fewer students than seven years ago, according to the new report.

It also pegs the average number of students in elementary schools at 310, with secondary schools averaging 812.

"We're moving to a system of larger and larger schools. It doesn't necessarily make educational sense though," says Kidder.

"These school closings actually end up changing the face and the look of Ontario. They affect much more than just the education of the students in those buildings, they affect whole communities and whole neighbourhoods."

But the question is whether the "hub" idea is affordable at this time, says Conservative Opposition critic Elizabeth Witmer.

People for Education is calling for a review of the way schools are funded.

Currently, the province uses a formula based on dollars per student and square footage of schools to calculate how much money a school will be given to operate.

As the number of students declines, schools receive less money and say they are struggling to hire enough specialty teachers and librarians and to pay for busing.

The current formula originated with the Conservative government of Mike Harris in 1997 but has been revamped several times by the provincial Liberals.

Witmer accuses the Liberals of hiding their heads in the sand over the issue.

"The problem is this government has refused to consider this whole issue of whether or not schools need to be closed or whether we can afford to keep them open," Witmer said. "Yes, I support the idea of schools as community hubs, but can we afford it?"

Obama, House Dems press for health care votes

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:30:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and House Democrats scrambled on Thursday to secure the votes to pass a historic health care overhaul initiative, working to ease disagreements with rank-and-file lawmakers over abortion and illegal immigrants.

Obama met at the White House with several Hispanic lawmakers who oppose any prohibition on the ability of illegal immigrants to use their own money to purchase health coverage in a new government-run marketplace.

"He listened to us. We listened to him," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "We made it very clear that 20 votes in the Hispanic caucus" depend on the language in the House bill. Currently, there is no prohibition in the House bill against illegal immigrants buying insurance in the exchange, but the White House backs such a ban and one exists in the Senate bill.

"I think that he got our message," Velazquez said.

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said later that she did not believe there would be any change to the House bill on immigration.

The second-ranking Democrat in the House said lawmakers would debate and vote Saturday on the $1.2-trillion, 10-year measure that expands coverage to millions of uninsured. In a major boost, the American Medical Association and the powerful seniors' lobby AARP both threw their weight behind the bill. AARP, with its 40 million members, promised to run ads and contact activists to gin up support.

Obama planned a rare visit to the House to persuade wavering Democrats. It had been set for Friday morning but after the fatal shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, the White House rescheduled it until Saturday.

Democratic opponents of abortion — under pressure from Catholic bishops — want stronger provisions written in the bill that no federal funds would be used to finance abortion in coverage bought in the government-run exchange.

Language being circulated by one anti-abortion Democrat, Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, seemed likely to be the basis for an agreement. Ellsworth's language aims to strengthen stipulations already in the bill against federal money being used to pay for abortions. It would still allow people to pay for abortion coverage with their own money.

The language was still being negotiated late Thursday, but Slaughter said she expected it to be included in the bill.

Obama heralded the support of the two groups — AARP and the AMA.

"I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it," Obama told reporters during an unannounced visit to the White House briefing room after the endorsements were announced.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Democrats were listening.

"We are right on the brink," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "We have an historic opportunity for us to again provide quality health care for all Americans. It is something that many of us have worked our whole political lifetimes on."

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were working to nail down the majority votes they'll need to pass the bill.

They were optimistic, but work remained to be done, and a much slower timeline in the Senate made the ultimate outcome unpredictable. Action in the Senate may not come until next year, and legislation passed by the two chambers would have to be reconciled before a bill could go to Obama.

Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and other House leaders spent Thursday in back-to-back meetings on final details of the bill. Hoyer, D-Md., predicted a tight vote.

"I wouldn't refer to it as a squeaker, but I think it's going to be close," Hoyer said in an interview with wire service reporters. "This is a huge undertaking."

If Democrats were coalescing, so were their opponents. Thousands of conservatives rallied outside the Capitol on Thursday, chanting "Kill the bill!"

When it comes time to vote Pelosi will have two more Democrats to count on in the wake of Tuesday's elections. Former California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi was sworn in Thursday to a Northern California congressional seat after telling fellow lawmakers he had campaigned for health care in his race. Democrat Bill Owens is being sworn in Friday to represent a New York district long held by the GOP.

The House bill would cover 96 percent of Americans, providing government subsidies beginning in 2013 to extend coverage to millions who now lack it. Self-employed people and small businesses could buy coverage through the new exchanges, either from a private insurer or a new government plan that would compete. All the plans sold through the exchange would have to follow basic consumer protection rules.

For the first time, almost all individuals would be required to purchase insurance or pay a fine, and employers would be required to insure their employees. Insurance companies would be barred from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions or charging much higher rates to older people.

Associated Press writers David Espo, Laurie Kellman and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Climate talks face difficult road ahead of meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Boycotts on either side of the Atlantic on Tuesday showed just how difficult it will be to clinch an agreement on global warming next month.

At U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, Spain, African nations walked out of meetings to protest rich nations' reluctance to make substantial carbon-cutting commitments. In Washington, some conservative Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, fearful of the cost to the U.S. economy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a bid to support the Democratic-sponsored climate bill, told a rare joint session of Congress "there is no time to lose" in tackling climate change.

But the lukewarm response to her comments on global warming — in contrast to the ovations she received at other times — only underscored the skeptical mood in the United States about climate action, which would require a shift away from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, smaller cars and — the Republicans argue — more expense to consumers.

GOP senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee shunned the planned startup of voting on amendments to the bill. Only Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, showed up and he stayed only for 15 minutes to give the reasons for the Republicans' absence.

African countries ended a boycott of meetings in Spain at U.N. climate negotiations, having reset the talks' agenda to spend more time on complaints that industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

The parallel actions were elements of a dramatic finale leading up to the 192-nation conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18, which is meant to adopt a treaty regulating carbon emissions that will shake economies around the globe.

The African revolt was largely symbolic, since it was clear that industrial countries cannot alter their positions without high-level political decisions by governments.

But it was a signal that hard-liners would dominate negotiations by the developing countries at the decisive Copenhagen forum, and marked the 50-nation African group as an influential player on the global stage.

The Africans, supported by about 70 other developing countries, including China, say the industrial world is failing to live up to pledges of deep cuts in emissions, while droughts and floods already are causing death and devastation on the badly hit continent.

"I don't think we can get to a result in the way we're going now," said Algerian negotiator Kamel Djemouai, who chairs the Africa group. "The figures that are now on the table are not really ambitious."

The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress have essentially abandoned prospects of getting a climate bill to President Barack Obama's desk before the Copenhagen meeting. But they hope a show of progress in the Senate — along with the House having passed a bill and Obama's call for more fuel-efficient cars — will show the world the U.S. is taking climate change seriously.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged the climate change treaty may not be resolved this year, adding that nations may be unable to commit to firm emissions limits at Copenhagen.

"We may not be able to agree (on) all the words," Ban said after meeting in London with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Ban said he would push leaders to strike a pact in Copenhagen, but that it was more likely to be an agreement on principles — rather than specific targets for cuts.

"We need at this time the political will — if there is a political will, there is a way we can come to a binding agreement in Copenhagen," Ban said.

Scientists say industrial countries should reduce emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, but the targets announced so far amount to far less than the minimum.

The Africans say new climate studies show the dangers are even greater than thought just a few years ago, and that industrial nations should reduce emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020.

The U.S. delegation has refused to say what its figure will be until it gets a green light from Congress.

"It's really good that the Africans have finally been able to stand up together," said Fiona Musana of Greenpeace Africa. "That sends a strong signal."

A new study published Tuesday says the glaciers on Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, have lost 85 percent of the ice they had in 1912, with more than a quarter present in 2000 gone by 2007.

The study, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, cited Earth's rising temperatures as at least a partial cause. It said similar changes have occurred at Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains in Africa, as well as at glaciers in South America and the Himalayas.

Climate negotiators are closely watching events in Washington. The standoff in the Senate committee was precisely the kind of confrontation that aroused concern among the delegates and calls for the U.S. to declare its intentions before the Copenhagen meeting.

The Copenhagen measure would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which called on 37 industrial countries to reduce heat-raising gas emissions by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. It made no demands on developing countries such as India and China.

The Clinton administration signed the protocol but never sent it to the Senate for ratification, saying it wanted the agreement to include developing nations first. The treaty is not binding on the United States unless the Senate ratifies it.

Then, former President George W. Bush said he would not send it to the Senate for ratification, making the U.S. the only country to have signed the accord to say it has no intention of ratifying it.

Merkel assured Congress that China and India will agree to accept limits on their own carbon emissions as part of a Copenhagen pact, if the U.S. does.

After meeting the German leader in the White House, Obama reiterated his determination to join an international climate regime.

"The United States, Germany and countries around the world, I think, are all beginning to recognize why it is so important that we work in common in order to stem the potential catastrophe that can result if we continue to see global warming continue unabated," he said.

Obama also met with European Union leaders hoping to advance a climate policy. He said he and the European leaders agreed it is imperative that they redouble efforts to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he emerged from the talks more confident about climate progress.

Barroso said forging a climate deal would be "a defining moment" for his generation of world leaders, and that he was worried by the lack of progress toward a final agreement in Copenhagen. But he dismissed the suggestion of aiming for a watered-down treaty.

"If you start to speak of Plan B in Copenhagen, you will probably end up with Plan F," he said.

Max reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press writers Desmond Butler and Randolph E. Schmid in Washington and Michelle Faul in Johannesburg contributed.

Honduran Congress to review crisis accord Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:36:00 +0000

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Lawmakers will wait until Tuesday to consider a U.S.-brokered agreement that could return deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, despite diplomats' pleas to not delay an end to the country's 4-month-old political crisis.

Monday is a holiday in Honduras, and many legislators are busy campaigning for Nov. 29 elections that will also elect a successor to Zelaya.

Nonetheless, Zelaya said Saturday that he hopes he will be back in office by Thursday, the deadline for the two sides to establish a power-sharing government.

"By Thursday, the government of national unity should be installed," he said in a meeting broadcast by Radio Globo. "By that day, point No. 5 has to be resolved," he added, referring to the clause of the agreement that covers his return to office.

While he did not say what he would do if the Thursday deadline was not met, Zelaya said "that day will either be a celebration, or a day of mourning."

Diplomats have urged lawmakers not to delay; if Congress approves the pact, a unity government including members of the major parties will be installed and the country will win international recognition for the elections. Many countries have warned they would not accept the elections' results if the June coup is not reversed.

Ramon Velasquez, the congressional secretary who is in charge of handling submitted measures said Saturday that consideration of the deal "will not be until Tuesday, because I'm in full swing campaigning for my re-election to Congress."

Legislators also suggested it would take time to debate. "It is important to give Congress space, without pressure, to be able to reach the best decision," said Congressman Juan Orlando Hernandez of the opposition National Party, which has 55 seats in the 128-seat body.

Zelaya's Liberal Party controls 65 seats. However, the party is split between those who support him and those who don't.

The legislature backed his removal, but congressional leaders have since said they won't stand in the way of an agreement that would end Honduras' diplomatic isolation and legitimize the presidential elections.

Diplomats urged the body not to delay.

"I am sure the members of Congress will fully realize the importance and political urgency of these matters, and I hope they will act as quickly as possible," said Organization of American States Political Affairs Secretary Victor Rico.

The top U.S. envoy for the Americas has told both sides time is running out.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said this week that "there was no more space for them to dither."

Tensions are still high. On Saturday, authorities evacuated the home of interim government Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez after a suspicious-looking suitcase was found on the sidewalk outside.

Government spokesman Rene Zepeda said police removed the bag and determined it did not contain explosives. He said officers also searched Lopez's house without finding anything suspicious.

Zelaya was rousted from his bed by soldiers on June 28 and flown out of the country. He has been inside the Brazilian Embassy since Sept. 21, when he made a surprise return to the Honduran capital.

Passports linked to 9/11 found along Afghan border

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:25:00 +0000

SHERWANGAI, Pakistan — Pakistani soldiers battling their way into a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border have seized passports that may be linked to 9/11 suspects, as they confront an enemy skilled in operating in a mountainous terrain with endless ways to wage a guerrilla war.

The military on Thursday took foreign and local journalists for a first look inside the largely lawless territory since it launched a ground offensive here in mid-October. The U.S.-backed operation is focused on a section of the tribal region where the Pakistani Taliban are based and are believed to shelter al-Qaida.

Soldiers displayed passports seized in the operation, among them a German document belonging to a man named Said Bahaji. That matches the name of a man thought to have been a member of the Hamburg cell that conceived the 9/11 attacks. Bahaji is believed to have fled Germany shortly before the attacks in New York and Washington.

The passport included a tourist visa for Pakistan and a stamp indicating he'd arrived in the southern city of Karachi on Sept. 4, 2001.

Another passport, from Spain, bears the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia. Spanish media have reported that a woman with the same name is married to Amer Azizi, an alleged al-Qaida member from Morocco suspected in both the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Her family in Madrid has had no news of her since 2001, according to Spanish media. Her passport included visas to India and Iran, and the army displayed a Moroccan document with Burgos Garcia's photo and other information.

It was impossible to determine whether the passports are genuine, and German and Spanish officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the army's chief spokesman, said he had not realized the passports matched any prominent names, and declined further comment other than to say European militants were sprinkled throughout the area.

The U.S. has maintained for years that South Waziristan and other parts of the rugged frontier have sheltered Osama bin Laden and his senior lieutenants.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visiting this country on Thursday, said Pakistan squandered opportunities over the years to kill or capture al-Qaida leaders responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton said in an interview with Pakistani journalists in Lahore. "Maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."

Although the military spent months using airstrikes to soften up targets in South Waziristan, nearly two weeks into the ground offensive it has captured only a few areas, none with significant strategic value. The army has seized weapons but is still trying to secure the main roads and regularly comes under rocket fire.

"It's a long-drawn haul," Abbas said. "They are offering resistance, and we are also striking them hard."

Pakistan's tribal belt, a semiautonomous stretch of land where the government has long had little influence, is usually off-limits to foreigners. In recent years, as the militants' influence has spread, even many Pakistanis dare not venture here.

The tribal regions are some of the poorest, most underdeveloped areas in the world and have long been guided by traditional codes and councils. The Taliban have slaughtered hundreds of tribal elders in their rise to power.

In Sherwangai, a sparsely populated district along one of the offensive's three major fronts, army commanders said they had killed 82 insurgents and lost six soldiers in their attempt to secure the area, where the hills are covered in brush, rocks and dust and strong winds whip high ridges. Many battle-hardened Uzbek militants are believed to have taken shelter here.

The military is slowly capturing isolated hamlets as it encircles the small town of Kaniguram, its next target in the push forward. But even where the army has taken control, much of the area remains dangerous, filled with land mines and roadside bombs.

After an initial surge of resistance, many militants have been fleeing. Because the army has sealed off the main passes, "they will not be able to go out in a major way," said Maj. Gen. Khalid Rabbani, a top battlefield commander.

Yet, he added, "If somebody chooses even to cross Mount Everest, he will be able to do it. So there are going to be a few, changing their disguise — taking care of their beards and long hair — they will be able to get out."

In addition to the passports, the military displayed papers and dozens of weapons and large amounts of ammunition it said it had recovered from Sherwangai.

Civilians were nowhere to be seen during Thursday's trip — some 155,000 have left the region in the past few months. South Waziristan normally has about 500,000 people.

At one military outpost, in a large mud compound in Sherwangai, smoke could be seen rising in the distance from villages under army fire. Officials assured reporters the civilians had left those areas.

The military previously estimated that the South Waziristan offensive would take at least two to three months, and officials were hesitant Thursday to give a deadline. They also declined to give a time frame for how long troops would have to stay to prevent militants from returning.

It also is unclear whether Islamabad has any plans for how to govern the territory effectively and prevent the insurgency from again taking root.

The army has deployed three divisions — about 30,000 troops — to take on some 5,000 to 8,000 militants, Abbas said, lowering a previous estimate of 10,000 militants. His estimate included up to 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them Uzbeks. Afghan fighters are also reportedly filtering in from across the border.

This is the fourth major offensive the Pakistani army has launched in South Waziristan since 2004, and this time the military has promised a fight to the finish. The previous operations ended in setbacks or peace deals that left the militant groups even stronger.

CAW emphasizes importance of new Ford contract as negotiations resume

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:41:00 +0000

TORONTO — As talks with Ford Canada resume, the Canadian Auto Workers union wants its members to reflect on possible cost concessions in a new deal with the carmaker, even if Ford's U.S. parent turns a profit when it reports third-quarter results this week.

Analysts from JP Morgan said last week the automaker - the only one of the so-called Detroit Three to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this year - could find itself in the black for the July to September quarter thanks to a gain in North American market share.

But CAW president Ken Lewenza said this doesn't negate the need for a new labour contract in Canada that will cut costs for the company.

The two sides will return to the bargaining table Monday after earlier rounds made no progress. Ford says it needs workers to give it the same concessions they gave competitors General Motors and Chrysler earlier this year in order to stay competitive. In exchange, the union is asking for a guarantee the company will maintain current production levels in Canada.

"When Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) looks like they're starting to turn a profit, then workers themselves ask, 'Why are sacrifices necessary?"' Lewenza said.

"But Ford in terms of cost structure is at a disadvantage today based on what we did at GM and Chrysler."

That said, Lewenza said he's "frustrated" at Ford's refusal to date to make any promises regarding production or jobs at its Canadian plants.

"We've had lots of bargaining sessions, lots of exchanging of information, and the job quite frankly should be done by now and it isn't," he said.

"It's really all about future investment and future security of Ford workers in Canada, but we haven't been able to get it done."

Since the CAW and Ford broke off official talks, the United Auto Workers in the U.S. have reached their own agreement with the company which includes a six-year ban striking over wages or benefits and a wage freeze for new hires. In exchange, the company has promised a US$1,000 one-time bonus and has made some production commitments.

However, many UAW workers are angry about the no-strike clause and it is by no means assured that the contract will be ratified by the union's membership, who will vote on it throughout the week.

"It's going to be a very tough vote, and that would change things for the CAW if the UAW membership voted down those concessions. That would help the CAW a lot," said Tony Faria, co-director of the automotive research centre at the University of Windsor.

The main issue in the ongoing negotiations on this side of the border is the future of an assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ont.

Currently, the 1,600-employee plant builds the Ford Crown Victoria, the Lincoln Town Car and the Mercury Grand Marquis - all full-sized cars, demand for which is limited to niche markets. The Crown Victoria is only included in sales of fleets, such as those run by police departments and taxi companies.

Ford has said repeatedly that it has no plans to manufacture vehicles in St. Thomas beyond 2011. Lewenza has suggested Ford could increase production at its other Canadian plants to offset the closure of St. Thomas, but Ford won't release any details on its plans.

"We've asked them to take a look at where existing work is being sourced and see if there's a possibility to source more work into our workplaces and those are the options we're going to have to talk about (this) week, but to be honest we haven't made much headway," Lewenza said.

Ford spokeswoman Lauren More said the company doesn't discuss future production or product plans for competitive reasons.

She would only say the company is looking forward to "working with the CAW to find additional cost savings in order to ensure the competitiveness of our manufacturing operations in Canada."

Faria said there may be ways to increase production at Ford's two engine plants in the Windsor, Ont., area.

"I think in terms of getting a commitment from Ford for some future investment and future jobs, I think their engine facilities in Windsor are a better bet. Ford is always going to need engines, power trains and transmissions for their vehicles," he said.

According to the CAW's own data, which is supported by independent data from industry adviser AutomotiveCompass, Ford intends to slash its Canadian manufacturing presence from 13 per cent to eight per cent of total North American production by 2013.

CAW economist Jim Stanford has said the company's plans for its southern Ontario operations include closing the St. Thomas plant by 2011, permanently shrinking production in Oakville from three shifts to two, and cutting back the workforce at an engine plant in Windsor.

The union has accused Ford of asking for the same concessions given to General Motors and Chrysler in negotiations earlier this year, without being willing to make the same promises in return.

Chrysler committed to maintaining 20 per cent of its assembly operations in Canada, while GM promised to keep 18 per cent of its operations here.

Ford employs about 7,000 hourly workers in Canada and more than 70,000 in North America. Its North American workforce has shrunk by more than 40 per cent since late 2006, when it employed more than 112,000 workers.

Agrium warns of Q3 profit plunge

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:52:00 +0000

Fertilizer producer Agrium Inc. warned Friday that its third-quarter profit will be 90 to 95 per cent lower than last year's third-quarter results.

Agrium reported a profit of $2.31 US a share last year as high grain prices helped to bolster demand for fertilizers. A profit drop of 90 to 95 per cent would translate into earnings of 12 to 23 cents US a share.

The Calgary-based company blamed "significantly lower prices and margins" for all of the fertilizers it produces, especially phosphate and potash.

In a statement, Agrium said margins have been squeezed and its fungicide sales declined 40 per cent this summer.

It said U.S. customers are increasingly saying they'll soon revert to their normal fertilizer application levels "particularly now that corn prices have increased again to well above historic levels."

Agrium said it was well positioned for what it called a "strong recovery" in demand in 2010.

"If the wet weather in the U.S. continues and shortens the fall application season, it is expected to push fall nutrient demand into the spring of 2010," the company said in a statement.

Agrium will provide final third-quarter financial results on Nov. 4.

Shares fall 7 per cent

Agrium shares were down $4.12 to $55.61 at the close of TSX trading Friday, but were still twice their 52-week low of $28.70.

Agrium's profit warning followed similarly gloomy reports from other fertilizer makers, which have been hobbled by a global financial crisis as well as lower grain prices in the last year.

On Thursday, Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan reported third-quarter earnings that came in 80 per cent lower than last year's as sales fell by more than two-thirds.

The world's biggest fertilizer producer said low crop prices had slashed demand for crop nutrients like potash.

"The agricultural industry has not yet broken free of this uncertainty," Potash Corp. CEO Bill Doyle told a conference call.

Potash Corp. shares closed at $105.84 in Friday afternoon trading on the TSX, down $2.24.

Harper says no regrets about posting deficit to help Canada's economy

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:53:00 +0000

TORONTO — Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday there are signs of a fragile recovery for the Canadian economy, but warned there could be more job losses if the U.S. sputters.

"We shouldn't kid ourselves, we were pulled into this recession by events outside of our borders and we very much could get surprises," Harper said.

"We could still see some job losses."

Speaking during a question and answer session at an economic conference in Toronto, Harper said he believed the world was in the beginnings of a global recovery, but added it's one he would currently class "as very fragile."

"We can be optimistic but we should not be over-confident."

For the immediate future, he said, the focus has to continue to be on stimulating the economy.

The prime minister also said he had no regrets about posting a deficit, arguing it was the best move under the circumstances, and noted that several measures the government has taken will benefit the economy in the longer term.

"I actually do think we are in a rare period ... where deficits are not only necessary but actually advisable," said Harper.

"It actually makes sense for the government to come in to the market place, to borrow funds, and ... put those funds to productive work."

Canada's deficit, he added, is small and manageable compared to those of other countries.

Canada will wrap up the current level of stimulus spending in the spring of 2011.

AP source: Karzai expected to accept he fell short

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:34:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials expect Afghan President Hamid Karzai to concede on Tuesday that he fell short of the 50 percent vote share in August's election that he needed to win outright, but it was unclear Monday whether that would lead quickly to a runoff election with his nearest challenger, a U.S. government official said.

Karzai could opt to embrace a runoff, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday was logistically feasible within weeks, or he could attempt to negotiate a power-sharing arrangement with former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who finished second in the August balloting.

The U.S. government official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because Karzai had not yet announced his decision, said it was not clear Monday which of the two avenues to settling the political crisis Karzai would pursue.

The U.S. preference is for a power-sharing deal to avoid the expense and risk of a second election.

Clinton said that Karzai intends to announce Tuesday how he will "set the stage" for resolving the country's postelection political stalemate.

"He is going to announce his intentions," Clinton told reporters at the State Department after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "I am going to let him do that, but I am encouraged at the direction the situation is moving."

Clinton declined to say whether Karzai has decided to accept the findings of a U.N.-backed fraud investigation that threw out nearly a third of Karzai's ballots from the disputed August election and set the stage for a possible runoff.

Zalmay Khalilzad, who was U.S. ambassador to Kabul from 2003 to 2005 and who is in Kabul in a private role seeking to resolve the political standoff, said Monday that a power-sharing arrangement may be the best solution. He said he thinks that both Karzai and Abdullah are willing to work out a unity government.

"There is every indication that the Obama administration favors a unity government rather than another vote," Khalilzad said in an interview with ABC News. He added that such an arrangement could be problematic.

"I think the most likely outcome is a unity government, but a government that will take a long time to put together, may not be very strong and will not be necessarily a very effective partner given the internal disagreements within that government," he said.

Clinton did not address the prospect of a coalition, or unity, government headed by Karzai and Abdullah.

"I am very hopeful that we will see a resolution in line with the constitutional order in the next several days," Clinton said. "But I don't want to pre-empt in any way President Karzai's statement, which will set the stage for how we go forward in the next stage of this."

Clinton said she has spoken a number of times to Karzai in recent days.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meanwhile, said the Obama administration needs to decide on a war strategy and not "sit on our hands" waiting for election results and a government to emerge in Kabul. In remarks to reporters traveling with him to Asia, the Pentagon chief said President Barack Obama will have to make his decisions in the context of "evolving" issues.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, a spokeswoman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Karzai assured the U.N. chief that he will "fully respect" the constitutional process even if it means a runoff election.

The spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said Ban spoke with Karzai on Monday morning.

Among those most closely involved in seeking a resolution of the crisis is Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said in interviews over the weekend from Kabul that the election process must be settled legitimately before the Obama administration can make a reasoned decision about whether to send additional troops and to commit other resources to stabilizing Afghanistan.

A Kerry spokesman in Washington, Frederick Jones, said Kerry returned to Kabul on Monday after meetings in Pakistan and met with Karzai again. It was Kerry's fourth meeting with the president in as many days, and the first since the U.N. commission's announcement that it found substantial numbers of fraudulent votes.

"He is looking for a way forward to legitimize the election and empower effective government," Jones said.

Kerry will remain in Kabul on Tuesday, with further meetings scheduled, Jones added.

In Kabul, Karzai campaign spokesman Waheed Omar said the president was waiting for the Afghan-led Independent Election Commission to decide whether to accept the fraud panel's findings that dropped Karzai's vote share to 48 percent of the total, below the 50 percent threshold needed for him to avoid a runoff.

The original vote count had given Karzai 54 percent of the total.

Once the independent commission has accepted and certified the findings, they have force of law and the Karzai campaign would comply, the spokesman said.

Clinton said she has received assurances from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, as well as from Afghan authorities, that it's possible to conduct a second election before the onset of paralyzing winter snows.

She declined to say whether Obama would withhold a decision on U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan until the election crisis is over.

"But obviously this is a major part of our strategic review as to, you know, getting the election behind us, getting a new government that can represent the partnership we're seeking as we move forward," she said.

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