DumbAgent.com - Current Events

Bulgaria opposition wins election

Ocean — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:37:01 +0000

The centre-right opposition party led by Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov has won Bulgaria’s parliamentary election by a wide margin, preliminary results show.
With 99.88% of ballots counted, the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (Gerb) have 39.7% of the vote, 22% more than the governing Socialists.
But a BBC correspondent says that while it is a remarkable win, it is not enough for Gerb to govern alone.
Mr Borisov has vowed to end corruption and tackle the economic downturn.
“Those who have stolen should be very afraid… The thieves will go to jail,” the 50-year-old former bodyguard told reporters, adding that “updating the budget was the first thing” his government would do.

[SOurce]

Thousands flee China floods

Ocean — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:35:50 +0000

At least 700,000 people are now reported to have fled rising flood waters in southern China, as rainstorms continue to drench large areas of the country.

Twenty people are also reported to have died in some of the worst flooding seen in China for more than a decade.

Across several provinces heavy rains have toppled houses, flooded roads and seriously damaged a dam, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

In some towns and cities main roads have been rendered impassable by waters up to 2.5 metres deep.

In worst-hit Guangxi region, 300 students have been trapped inside their school since Saturday by the high flood waters.

[Source]

Honduras thwarts Zelaya’s return

Ocean — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:34:54 +0000

The military has foiled an attempt by Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president of Honduras, to return to his country, but clashes between his supporters and security forces have led to at least two deaths.

The main airport in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, was the scene of an extraordinary drama on Sunday as thousands of Zelaya supporters gathered outside in anticipation of his announced arrival.

But soldiers blocked the runway with a military vehicle and refused the aircraft carrying Zelaya and his close aides permission to land.

Zelaya told Venezuelan network Telesur from his aircraft that the pilot flew low and circled around the airport but decided that landing was “totally impossible”.

[Source]

Scores dead in Xinjiang riot

Ocean — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:33:35 +0000

China’s government has blamed Uighur exiles for inciting a riot in the country’s western Xinjiang region that it says left 140 people dead and more than 800 injured.

According to the official Xinhua news agency the deaths occurred in the city of Urumqi on Sunday after a protest against the government’s handling of an industrial dispute turned violent.

The agency said rioters burned and smashed vehicles, and fought with police, while state broadcaster CCTV showed footage of people throwing rocks at police and overturning a police car.

Xinhua had reported earlier that three people died in the clashes, all of them ethnic Han Chinese, as well as one police officer.

[SOurce]

Bulgarians elect new parliament

Ocean — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:39:35 +0000

Bulgarians have begun voting in parliamentary elections.
The main issues in the run-up to the polls were the impact of the global economic crisis and the Socialist-led cabinet’s efforts to fight corruption.
Opinion polls give an opposition party, Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, a comfortable lead over the Socialists.
At each general elections for the past 19 years, Bulgarians have voted the incumbent government out of power.
Polls across the Balkan country opened at 0300 GMT and will close at 1600 GMT.
Nearly seven million people are entitled to vote.
The European Union, which Bulgaria joined in 2007, remains very critical of Sofia’s record in fighting corruption.

[Source]

Floods in China wreak deadly havoc

Ocean — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:38:49 +0000

At least 16 people have died, dozens of others are reported missing and 320,000 people have been displaced as rainstorms sweep southern and central China, the state-run Xinhua news agency says.

In central Hunan province three days of downpours have left eight people dead and forced 140,000 to relocate, Xinhua said on Sunday.

Elsewhere in Hunan one person was killed and six others are missing after a ferryboat capsized early on Friday.

The boat travelling to Yongzhou City was overturned by the torrential flow of the river after a night of heavy rains.

Five people were killed and two others remain missing in the southeast province of Fujian.

[Source]

OAS suspends Honduras over coup

Ocean — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:32:01 +0000

The Organisation of American States has suspended Honduras after the military-backed interim government ignored a deadline to reinstate the country’s deposed president.

Manuel Zelaya was ousted from power by a coup and forced into exile by the Central American nation’s military on June 28 after a dispute over presidential term limits.

The OAS, a hemispheric bloc dedicated to strengthening political co-operation and reforms, had given Honduras until Saturday to restore Zelaya to office.

Following the OAS announcement, Zelaya said he would return to Honduras on Sunday.

He was removed him from power as he was about to press ahead with a non-binding referendum that his domestic critics said was aimed at changing the constitutional to enable him to run again for office.

[Source]

Former NFL star McNair found dead in Nashville

Ocean — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:30:58 +0000

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - Former star NFL quarterback Steve McNair was found shot to death in a Nashville condominium on Saturday, police said. A woman’s body was also found at the scene.

McNair, who was 36, suffered several gunshot wounds, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper reported, citing police. A 20-year-old woman was found alongside him with a single gunshot wound to her head and a pistol near her body, it reported.

The newspaper described the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide.

Police were called to the scene in the early afternoon.

“The circumstances surrounding the shooting deaths remain under active investigation,” Nashville told Reuters in a statement. Police department spokesman Don Aaron said no suspects had been taken into custody.

[Source]

Russia ‘agrees US troop transit’

Ocean — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:50:39 +0000

A senior Obama administration official has told the BBC that Russia has agreed to let US troops bound for the war in Afghanistan fly through its airspace.
The deal, which opens up an important new corridor for the US military, is to be officially announced when President Barack Obama visits Moscow next week.
Speaking separately, a Kremlin official confirmed a deal was on the table but suggested it referred to weapons only.
The reported agreement marks a major development in US-Russian relations.

[Source]

UN chief denied Suu Kyi meeting

Ocean — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:49:48 +0000

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has been denied permission by Myanmar’s military rulers to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s imprisoned opposition leader.

“I’m deeply disappointed,” Ban said on Saturday after a 30-minute meeting with Than Shwe, Myanmar’s junta leader.

The UN chief, who was on a two-day visit to promote democratic reform in Myanmar, met Than Shwe twice in a plea to hold talks with the detained Nobel Peace laureate.

Ban, one of the few top world figures the Myanmar supremo is willing to meet, also presented Than Shwe with a number of proposals to help the development of democracy.

[Source]