World News Post: Feb 18, 2011

Friday, February 18, 2011

ECONOMY - The G20 goes to agriculture

Known for his obsession with culinary perfection, France has decided to make food a priority of the meeting of G20 finance ministers held in Paris on 18 and 19 February. Largest producer of cereals in Western Europe, this country wants to fight against soaring global food prices by improving market transparency.

Among the solutions presented, are the limiting positions [purchases or sales] taken by some traders on the futures markets, the regulation of trade conducted outside formal markets and publication of the profile of investors. "We must regulate this market, otherwise it is the law of the jungle, the fittest," said Nicolas Sarkozy last month.

Controversy on the first ballot Tiririca clown in the Brazilian Congress

Rio de Janeiro. .- The official Brazilian Congressman Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, the clown Tiririca, whose election was challenged because he claimed to be illiterate, supported an opposition initiative in its first vote as a legislator and it seems that he did knowingly, though, as his party was wrong.

Tiririca was one of the 120 deputies who voted last night in favor of an opposition amendment proposing to raise the minimum wage to 600 reais (359 dollars) despite the Government's proposal expected to be of 545 reais (326 dollars). The proposed increase was approved by the Government in the House of Representatives by a majority, demonstrating the tremendous support that President Dilma Rousseff has in the legislature, but the clown vote today became controversial.

Dignity Day in Morocco gaining more social support

Leaflets with the date and claims the appointment go hand in hand in cities such as Marrakech, Casablanca, Kenitra and Rabat. Four of the nearly twenty cities in Morocco have been called pro-democracy demonstrations in Morocco on Sunday. At the rate they are distributed the pamphlets, the arrests also happen.

Two minors in Kenitra, and four young men (one in Casablanca and Marrakech three) have been questioned today by police before being released, denounced the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH), which has added to the claims and called the Movement of February 20. An integrated motion at first for only six young people encouraged by the revolutions in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, created a Facebook group to demand democracy in their country, separation of powers and social rights.

MEXICO - Seeking desperately Examiner

Mexico is a victim of the biggest wave of violence in its history and all these deaths result in a severe shortage of forensic pathologists. Official figures identify to date about 34 000 deaths linked to organized crime, but only 2,000 physicians have received specific training in this discipline. Forensic teams found in every state in the country are overwhelmed and denounce the lack of seriousness or the deadlock against the majority of autopsies related crimes.

Iranian opposition calls for a new demonstration for Sunday

Tehran. .- The Iranian opposition has called a new demonstration on Sunday reported today the websites related to the leaders of the reformist movement green, Mehdi Mir Hussein Mousavi Karroubi and, respectively. According to a statement released through those websites, the reason for the march to honor the memory of the two people killed in Monday's mobilization, suppressed by security forces after it was outlawed by the regime.

The Egyptian prosecutor ordered preventive detention for three former ministers

The Egyptian prosecutor ordered preventive detention for three former ministers, including Interior Habib al Adli and a former senior official of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Ahmad Ezz, sources told Efe the prosecutor's office. The sources, who preferred anonymity, claimed that two former ministers to be investigated is that of Ahmad al Magrabi Housing and Tourism Zoher Garana.

Air attack near Kunduz: No new trial against Colonel Klein

The German Colonel Georg Klein ordered the air strike nearly one and a half years after the devastating air attack in Kunduz, the Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf stopped another attempt at criminal processing. A father who had lost two sons in claims to the bombing, wanted to achieve, that is on trial for the murder of Colonel George Klein.

The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court rejected the so-called Klageerzwingungsverfahren but from reasons of form, as a spokesman announced on Friday. In the bombing on 4 September 2009, two fuel tankers were stolen by the Taliban, according to the Bundeswehr 91 people killed and 11 injured.

Yemen, three dead in clashes, police fire on crowd

Clashes and protests continue in the Middle East and the Maghreb. Three anti-government demonstrators were killed Friday in rounds of gunfire in the city of Aden in southern Yemen. He reports to the effect that Al Jazeera, the wounded dozens. Tension even in Bahrain where the police opened fire on a crowd of protesters near the Piazza della Perla in Manama.

According to CNN, which sued the drivers of an ambulance, four protesters were killed. Other people were injured. "VIA THE ROYAL FAMILY" - in the country were held funerals of Shiites killed in police raid against the protests of Manama. The former deputy, Jalal Firouz, the Shiite movement that on Thursday resigned from parliament bloc, said at first the demonstrators commemorated the victims of recent days in another part of town, where riot police fired tear gas at them.

GERMANY - A shelter for gay older

Like other industrialized countries, the population pyramid has changed in Germany so that the senior class is now better represented. According to official figures, nearly 10% of Germans say they are gay or lesbian, yet the service offerings are lacking for these populations are also aging. Early 2012, Berlin should host the first European project aimed at gays and lesbians older.

Work currently underway in a house Niebuhrstrasse in the Charlottenburg district, will offer 24 rooms, single or double, from 33 to 100 m2 and a library and a cafe - the Oscar Wilde [game words referring to the British writer and the German word wild, "wild"] - as a meeting place on the ground floor.

Hundreds of Algerian students maintain their protest at the Ministry of Education

Algiers. .- Hundreds of students from different regions of Algeria, who have resumed their protest on Wednesday before the Higher Education Ministry in Algiers against a presidential decree to consider devaluing their degrees, according to EFE found. At least 600 university students today remained concentrated at the ministerial headquarters in central Algiers, after dozens of them spend the night camped out with blankets on sidewalks and streets near the Ministry.

Feminist concentration against Berlusconi in Madrid

"Berlusconi resigned, for machismo and corruption." So chanted some thirty women who have hotbed against the Italian Embassy in Madrid to protest against 'Il Cavaliere'. Despite the limited success of the call - "not just because of this rain, is that we are called too late," explains Estíbaliz - one who has called the protest, Rodrigo, explains that this discourages them not to follow calling other acts like this.

FRANCE - DSK, patented scrambler

A wink? A thumbs up? A foot that moves as a sign of impatience? From this Friday [18 February] and throughout the weekend, the smallest actions and gestures of Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be scrutinized. The IMF chief will attend the Paris meeting of G20 finance ministers. To say that he will steal the limelight from central bankers around the world.

Especially as DSK, great goldsmith of communication, a customized media plan: an encounter with the readers of Le Parisien and an interview with "twenty hours" France 2 Sunday night. Will benefit there to declare his candidacy for the Socialist primary, for the 2012 presidential election? Very unlikely.

Ben Ali, in coma

Barcelona. (Writing and agencies) .- Former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali would be admitted for two days in the hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in a coma, reports the French newspaper Le Monde, citing sources close the family. The former president, 74, may have suffered a stroke. After ruling for 24 years in Tunisia, Ben Ali was ousted last January after a popular revolt.

ElBaradei criticized the work of the Egyptian army after the departure of Mubarak

The Nobel Peace Prize and opposition Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei on Wednesday criticized the army of his country by the way is leading the transition after the departure of Hosni Mubarak. "I am critical of his performance because so far they have not done enough. Nor is his work. Do not they know how to run a country," said ElBaradei developed in extracts of an interview today issued information on Austrian public television.

BELGIUM - It is a country that we need four!

February 17, Belgium beat the world record 249 days without government. The same day, the Flemish Johan Vande Lanotte has thrown a cat among the pigeons: the former Ombudsman, who was waived on January 26 to find a compromise between political parties on institutional reform, has proposed creating a Belgian Union formed four entities, Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia and speaking cantons.

The country would cease to be a federal state and adopt a structure inspired by the European Union.

Obama ordered a secret study of possible riots in Egypt

Washington. .- Criticism of the government Barack Obama as "sorpendido" which saw protests in Egypt might not be as successful: the U.S. president ordered his aides last August a "secret survey" of possible unrest in the region, reveals The New York Times today. According to the newspaper, quoting unidentified government sources, the classified report, 18 pages, concluded that, in the absence of "broad political changes, countries from Bahrain to Yemen" was ripe for a popular revolt.

Michelle Obama turns the war of breast

The last thing Michelle Obama was expected to result in a 'war' dialectical account of breastfeeding. The First Lady of the United States wanted to celebrate the first anniversary of its campaign against obesity, 'Let's Move', appealing to mothers to breast-feed their children while they can, "Children who are breastfed longer, are less likely to obesity.

" Michelle Obama has been limited to encouraging private companies to take measures to facilitate breastfeeding. He has not even dared to put forward a fact that is obvious: America is the Western country recognizes fewer rights for working mothers. But the Tea Party Congressman Michele Bachman, the mother of five children, could not contain his anger and accused the first lady of wanting to impose a "nanny state." The Republican has aired the specter of "socialism"-the same argument used against health care reform "to attack his near namesake (an" L "separates them):" Does Michelle Obama really help mothers or want in background control them? ".

COTE D'IVOIRE - Laurent Gbagbo takes control of several banks

"Closing of the misuse and Biçici SGBCI: State takes control of banks," as the daily pro-Gbagbo. Since February 14, several foreign banks, whose French BNP-Paribas and Societe Generale, have closed their Ivorian subsidiaries. They fear the country's instability, while Gbagbo is still refusing to hand over power to Ouattara, who was elected president in November.

In response to this closure, Gbagbo announced Feb. 17 that the state would take "full participation in the capital" of these subsidiaries.

Laurent Gbagbo (answerscom) Laurent Gbagbo (homepage) Laurent Gbagbo (wikipedia) Elections in Côte d'Ivoire (wikipedia)

At least one dead and 25 injured in protests in Iraqi Kurdistan

Baghdad. .- At least one person died and more than 25 injured today when police dispersed a rally for political reform in the northern city of Al Sulaimaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to security sources. The sources told Efe that dozens of people gathered after noon in the plaza at Serray requiring the adoption of political reforms and an effective fight against corruption.

The casualties occurred when police opened fire in an attempt to prevent the protesters stormed the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by the president of the autonomous region, Massoud Barazani.

Survived four years with a knife in the skull

A Chinese man has lived for four years with a blade about 10 centimeters lodged in his skull. Had to undergo emergency after doctors found it through an x-ray, as recorded by the Daily Mail The man has suffered headaches, excruciating migraine, as well as speech difficulties, and even spontaneous bleeding problems speech.

Symptoms that were wandering for four years by several hospitals in China. The surprise came when one of the doctors did an x-ray, where he discovered a piece of four-inch knife lodged in his head. Apparently, Li Fu, suffered four years ago, a heist, in which the attacker stabbed him with that same knife jaw, leaving the blade lodged in the right side of his face for four years.

UGANDA - Voting day for 14 million voters

"Today will not mark the end of the world. Life will resume its course when the last ballot has been counted. We must return to our families, our work and our hobbies," the Daily Kampala editorial. He advocates a peaceful election when general elections were held this February 18 in Uganda. In power since 1986, Yoweri Museveni seems set to be extended to the presidency.

The opposition, divided, fears of fraud.

Libya protests claiming the lives of 14 people

London / Tripoli. .- Fourteen people were killed during protests against régimendel Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, which began Tuesday night, according to Al Jazeera. the online edition of the newspaper Al Youm casualties number eleven. According to this latter source, the police killed five demonstrators in the town of al Baidha and six from the city of Benghazi, which also wounded at least 38 people.

Killed and burned at a man and his eight years in Ciudad Juárez

A man and his eight year old son were shot dead by several gunmen who also torched his car to burn their bodies in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico, said Thursday the Attorney General. The crime happened late on Wednesday afternoon in a neighborhood of the city, which borders El Paso (USA), when several people were in a van fired on the victims and then sprayed the vehicle with gasoline and set on fire, he added the source.

Obama met leaders of the Web There's also Steve Jobs

President Barack Obama and 12 leading companies in Silicon Valley have debated how to work together to promote investment in innovation and employment growth in the private sector at a meeting Thursday night in San Francisco Bay area, which was also attended by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Google Eric Schmidt and Apple founder Steve Jobs.

The latter was present at the meeting even though the National Enquirer has slammed the dramatic front-page photo of the guru of Apple almost skeletal, the output of the Stanford Cancer Center where he is again receiving treatment for a recurrence of pancreatic cancer diagnosed the first time in 2004.

The bird of the Pentagon spying on the enemy at the front

A hi-tech spy disguised as a bird. It is called "Nano Hummingbird" and measures just 16 cm the last invention of DARPA, the Pentagon research agency. It seems a harmless hummingbird, the smallest bird in the world, but is a powerful electronic device with remote control, which hides a tiny camera that can travel up to 17 kilometers per hour.

According to the designers who have committed five years to develop, will be used by the U.S. military to spy on enemy positions at the front and the areas occupied by the armies of antagonists. This spy bird is not the first artificial volatile built by AeroVironment Inc, the leading technology companies working for the Pentagon.

Elections in Uganda: The President and his personal physician

Ballot boxes in Kampala: This Friday the Ugandans to decide on their president - for fair elections Yoweri Museveni sees no cause for concern. On the contrary, the victory in the presidential election this Friday in Uganda, the longtime head of state considers it a matter of form, and the result would be "devastating for the opposition," exulted the 66-year-old Museveni on Wednesday.

He is the favorite in the vote. Whether it is the predicted walk is open to question. Although the Ugandan opposition was able to not even agree on a common candidate, thereby dramatically lessened their chances. One of the seven challengers, however, Kizza Besigye, is credited as a surprise.

YEMEN - Three protesters killed in clashes with police

On 17 February, the demonstrations continued in several cities in Yemen to demand the departure of President Saleh, in power for thirty-two years. The deployment of the army did not stop the opponents to take to the streets of the capital Sanaa, the port city of Aden (South) or Ta'izz. In Aden, violent clashes between police and demonstrators have been 3 dead and 19 wounded.

This brings to five the number of people killed in this city in the space of forty-eight hours.

Trois (rottentomatoes) Trois / Trois 2: Pandora's Box (amazon) Trois (wikipedia) Trois (imdb)

Murdered outside his home to a well-known Iraqi journalist

Mosul. .- A well-known Iraqi journalist died today assassinated outside his home in Mosul, northern Iraq, reported the Al Iraq news agency. Hilal Al Ahmady, a prominent columnist for several newspapers in Mosul 50, was attacked by unknown assailants outside his home. According to security forces, is still not known why the murder.

Bahrainis demand the fall of the Al Khalifa after the brutal repression

The brutal crackdown by the regime in Bahrain against demonstrators protesting peacefully to demand reforms (in which four people died and more than 300 injured) further increased the anger of the Bahrainis, who this evening were concentrated in Salmaniya Area Hospital, the largest in Manama. And not only demanded economic and political reforms but the fall of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the emir of Bahrain.

PANAMA - Indian mobilization against the new mining code

Since a new mining code was adopted February 11, thousands of Indians have decided to rally in protest against projects that they deem harmful to their territories. In particular, they blocked several roads and burned lands. Faced with these protests, President Ricardo Martinelli has tried to reassure February 17 Indian communities.

On his Twitter account, he pledged not to exploit new deposits in the Cerro Colorado copper belt.

Prison riot in Ouagadougou

Ouagadougou. Prisoners .- Ouagadougou prison today started a riot that members of the police attempts to quell Burkina Faso, told Efe the state prosecutor, Placide Nikiema. According to the source, the revolt began when inmates began to break down the doors of their cells to try to escape from prison.

Witnesses say they can see clouds of smoke over several points in the main prison building and you hear noises that indicate that the police had begun firing tear gas. The human rights activist Pagomziri Alexandre Ouédraogo, who frequently visits the prison, told Efe that the poor living conditions in prison may be the cause that has brought the prisoners to riot.

Controversy in Turkey for a video in which a military endangers soldiers

"If there are cowards out there who can not stand, let them go now," shouts the captain, gun in hand. No wonder: the target that triggered it support two groups of soldiers. Nobody moves. "Run for your lives!" adds. Soldiers endure and the captain pulls the trigger. Once another. Then he turns around.

"Do not do that" begs someone. But yes, the captain, identified only with initials MG, crouches and shoots through his legs. Three times. After approaching the target: in fact, all the bullets have hit the mark. Fortunately, for those who supported it and now stare at the camera. The video, broadcast on the Internet, has been published on the website of several Turkish newspapers as the "Hürriyet".

ISRAEL - Colonization voted on by the Council of the UN Security

"Washington made a last effort to prevent the UN to prohibit the continued Israeli settlement activity," as the newspaper in Tel Aviv. This February 18 a resolution of the Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority must be submitted to a vote of the Security Council. It aims to declare illegal West Bank settlements.

The newspaper said the U.S. should put their veto. February 17, Obama spoke by phone with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

France summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the arrest of the Spanish consul

Madrid. .- France has called on Thursday the Iranian ambassador in Paris, Seyed Mahdi Miraboutalebi in protest at the arrest "unacceptable" on Monday in Tehran Spanish diplomat Javier Pérez Ignacio Cambra, announced the French Foreign Ministry. The head of French diplomacy, Michèle Alliot-Marie, called for the convening of the Iranian representative this morning at the Quai d'Orsay to transfer the "condemnation" of France for four hours to the arrest of Perez Cambra.

U.S. urges restraint and that the perpetrators are punished

The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the Government of Bahrain "deep concern" over the violent suppression of protests, and called for calm and containment. The U.S. diplomat spoke by telephone with Foreign Minister of Bahrain, Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa to "express their deep concern," said official sources at NBC and ABC.

He also called on the Government of Bahrain to fulfill its commitments and punish those officers who have used violence against peaceful demonstrators. Since the outbreak of public protests in Bahrain three protesters were killed and over 200 were injured in the brutal police raids. The Government of Bahrain is willing to discuss possible political reforms but first have to agree the various opposition parties said today the deputy speaker of parliament, Adel al Moauda.

UNITED KINGDOM - London accused of having armed the oppressive regimes of the Arab world

"Britain is under fire for selling weapons to Bahrain," the London daily basis. Since taking office, the Conservative government David Cameron has approved arms sales to many countries in North Africa and the Middle East, which now use force to quell the protests of opponents. With the backing of Downing Street, the arms manufacturers have sold between other tear gas to Bahrain and non-lethal weapons to Libya.

A group of thugs attacked a reporter for ABC in Bahrain

Madrid. .- A reporter for U.S. broadcaster ABC that was covering the protest in the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, was beaten by thugs last night during the intervention by the Bahraini police to dismantle the camp that the protesters had set up at this point heart of the capital of the island. Miguel Marquez was live on the phone telling the police intervene to disperse the "2,000 or 3,000" protesters camped by tear gas when he was attacked.

The word wrath falls short. This is the beginning of the revolution of Bahrain

Doctors Salmaniya Hospital, the largest of Manama, recounted grisly scenes of arrival at the medical center for the wounded in the repression of peaceful camping called reforms to the system of Bahrain. "Most of them have head injuries, there are wounded by live ammunition, we are overwhelmed," explained one of the doctors in statements to Al Jazeera.

Another doctor, fresh from the Plaza de la Perla, scene of the brutal police charge, was even more explicit. "On the pavement had brains of the demonstrators," he said between gasps. The explicit photographs hung by protesters confirm the scene: one of them can see a middle-aged man with his skull wide open.

LIBYA - The protests continue despite a bloody crackdown

The Italian daily takes on its website information to Human Rights Watch (HRW), in which at least 24 protesters killed in Libya since February 15, early protests against the regime of Colonel Gaddafi. On 17 February, several hundred people marched in the cities of Al-Baida, Benghazi, Zentena, Derna and Ajdabiya.

Meanwhile, government supporters have massed in the center of Tripoli to defend the Islamic Cultural Revolution.

Recorded several companies in the ex wife of Moscow Mayor

Moscow. .- The Committee of Education of Russia (CIR) today made a series of records in Bank Moskvy and several companies belonging to Yelena Baturina, the country's richest woman and wife of former Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov. Records in the offices of the construction Kuznetski Most Developement, the bank and the company Russkii Zemelni Inteco were made in the investigation of an alleged scam amounting to 13,000 million rubles, more than 330 million euros, according to a statement.

The former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in a coma for two days

The former dictator Tunisia Ben Ali, 74, remains in a coma for two days in a hospital in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Saudi officials said. Ben Ali visited the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea after being expelled by a popular revolt in Tunisia on 14 January. "He went into coma for two days.'s In a hospital in Jeddah," said a source close to the family reached by telephone.

"He had a stroke accident. It is very serious," added the source. The interim government of Tunisia, for its part has refused to "neither confirm nor deny" the rumors about his hospitalization.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (homepage) Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (wikipedia)

BAHRAIN - The army took control of the capital Manama

"Bloody Thursday of Bahrain", as the only pro-opposition newspaper, repeatedly censored. He spends much of his edition to events instead of the Pearl in Manama on February 17. He argues the numbers of at least 4 dead and 250 injured after the assault by the forces of order - at night and without warning, according to witnesses - against protesters who occupied the premises, and whose Most were sleeping in their tents.

Suez Canal: No passage for Iranian warships

A 15 February published picture of the American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which traverses the Suez Canal on its way to the Persian Gulf. The Israeli government has warned that two Iranian warships were the first time after 1979 on the way to the Mediterranean. A frigate and a support vessel crossed but so far no information to the Egyptian Suez Canal.

Also on Friday is not Iranian warship was on the waiting list, said a representative of the canal administration. Military vessels need for a permit from the Foreign and Defence Department in Cairo, which was made at short notice. The Iranian news agency Fars had reported in late January, the two ships had to travel a one-year training for naval cadets broken, they lead to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Hezbollah in Egypt: Terror planners used to flee riots

Mohammed Yusuf Mansur is celebrated on his return to Beirut. The unrest in Egypt escaped from prison the leader of a Hezbollah cell was celebrated on Wednesday evening in Lebanon network. At a rally in southern Beirut was Mohammed Yusuf Mansur, alias Sami Schehade as "liberated prisoners" and "brother in our struggle" welcomed.

Schehade 2010 was been by the Supreme State Security Court in Cairo sentenced for planning terrorist attacks to 15 years in prison. Also 26 other members were between late 2008 and early 2009 disrupted Hezbollah cell convicted in April of last year, four of them in absentia. Most of them were Egyptians.