World News Post: Mar 21, 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

GERMANY - Berlin flip-flopped on nuclear power

A bar along the front of the entire German press: the face of disaster that threatens Japan, Berlin is reviewing its nuclear policy from top to bottom. March 14, Angela Merkel announced the suspension of the agreement extending the lifetime of nuclear power plants. "In his explanation lacked only the recognition of a dismal failure and an admission that the antinuclear activists were right," the newspaper said.

French fighters control that ensures no-fly zone in Benghazi

Paris .- French aircraft returned to their bases off today for the third consecutive day resume operations in Libya, the Ministry of Defence. Neither the Ministry nor the Army declined to give details on the program of the day, and referred to a press conference at 17.30 local (16.30 GMT), as two days ago, used to account for the intervention .

The only information was that French aircraft had not flown over Libyan airspace overnight, and neither had done in the night from Saturday to Sunday. French fighters did not shoot yesterday against the forces of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, because he respected the fly in the surveillance zone which are responsible in Benghazi region, and because it found no military attacks against civilians.

Japan, now WHO is warning food "seriously contaminated"

Fukushima, smoke from the reactors after the earthquake, the tsunamis and the nuclear nightmare, Japan is now warning food. The World Health Organisation, in fact, called 'serious' radioactive contamination of food in the country hit by the quake.

WHO: radiation in food is much more serious than expected

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the detection of radiation in food after the earthquake that damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan is a problem more serious than originally planned. "It's obviously a serious situation," he said from Manila Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the Office for the Western Pacific of WHO.

"It's much more serious than anyone thought in the early days, when we believed that this type of problem could be limited to 20 or 30 miles," he said. The radiation detected in vegetables, powdered milk and contaminated water are raising fears in the region, although officials have said that Nippon levels are not dangerous.

GUATEMALA - The victims of experiments wild attack the U.S. Justice

Between 1942 and 1944, hundreds of Guatemalans have been inoculated without their knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis and gonorrhea, to test the efficacy of penicillin. The researchers who conducted this study were chosen as guinea pigs for vulnerable persons, including mentally ill.

The United States, which officially recognized these experiments in 2010, are now facing a lawsuit, filed March 14 by the families of victims.

The IAEA acknowledges that the situation is still "very serious"

VIENNA. .- The Director of the International Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, acknowledged that the situation around the nuclear Fukushima-1 is "very serious" but he was convinced that Japan be able to overcome the crisis caused by the earthquake and tsunamidel March 11. "The crisis has not yet been resolved and the situation in central Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power is still very serious," said Amano during the emergency meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA, the highest body of the international agency.

Published photographs showing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan abuse

The German weekly Der Spiegel has published photographs are displayed as abuse of two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. They see the two soldiers with two bodies, which might be civilians, as if they were trophies. The Pentagon has sought to halt its publication, according to the weekly. A dozen soldiers in this unit are being tried by military courts for abuses committed during his mission.

Prosecutors said the soldiers made fun of the dead and that some of them dismembered body parts as if they were trophies. The U.S. military has officially apologized "for the suffering" caused by photos showing abuses by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

LIBYA - Qadhafi's troops marched on Benghazi

Is this "the end of the insurgency" in Libya? The daily wondered Oran, while "Gaddafi's troops advancing relentlessly towards Benghazi, the city where the Transitional National Council of Libya. In one week, the insurgents fell to 160 kilometers. "For the opposition, which begins to become disillusioned after the euphoria of the first times a foreign intervention, both in the form of a no-fly zone that targeted military strikes, has become vital," notes the newspaper.

Benghazi (geolocation) Benghazi (wikipedia)

Ivory Coast is stained with blood by religious disputes

Abidjan .- Members of the Young Patriots group and the Students Federation (FESCI), supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, killed a second magnet in Abidjan, Efe reported the president of the Higher Council of Imams of Ivory Coast (Cosima), Boikary Fofana, and relatives of the victim. According to sources, members of FESCI, supported by uniformed police broke into the residence of the imam of the mosque in the Williamsville district, Tijana Cisse, and in the presence of her mother, demanded that they hand over money, after which taken to an unknown location.

Beijing bans advertising of luxury to preserve social harmony

Beijing banned the advertising of luxury items designed to promote the worship of foreign products, "" hedonism "or use adjectives such as" supreme "," real "or" luxury "in order to protect social harmony, as local newspaper 'Metro'. According to a circular of the Administration of Industry and Commerce shall enter into force in April as banning advertising of "high quality" or "upper class", which often appear in ads for apartments, cars and wine.

FRANCE - At Renault, the espionage affair ends in farce

"The Renault case ended as strangely it had started," notes the financial daily. On 14 March, the car company introduced its "sincere apologies" for three executives fired in January, falsely accused of espionage. She was the victim of an attempted scam. It is "a shame", denounced the newspaper editorial: "Renault has given the impression of being paranoid and act rashly - poor image for a company which, for better or worse, a hexagonal symbol.

EU approves block attacks on Libya

Brussels .- The majority of foreign ministers of the EU has advocated "unity" within the Twenty-seven against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi and insisted that the Arab League continues to support the involvement of a coalition of countries Libya to enforce resolution 1973 Security Council of the UN, which has cast doubt on Germany.

German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle has stated that his Government, by failing to participate in military intervention in Libya, has "done well" after criticism of the way has been launched this military operation expressed Sunday by the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Musa.

A missile destroyed part of the residential complex of Gaddafi in Tripoli

Shortly after 20.00 pm on Sunday began the second day of attacks by the military operation 'Dawn of the Odyssey. " The antiaircraft artillery pieces of the armed forces loyal to soar to heaven Gaddafi in Tripoli by the planes flying over the Western alliance. A missile has achieved part of the residential complex of the Libyan leader, according to a reporter found the French agency AFP.

Anti-aircraft fire has joined the sound of loud explosions in this sector, from which rose a huge column of smoke. The demolished building is about 50 meters from the tent where Colonel Gaddafi welcomes its guests. This is a "tremendous bombardment may have affected hundreds of civilians gathered near the complex," said Moussa Ibrahim, spokesman for the Gaddafi regime.

MIDDLE EAST - Saudi armed forces to enter Bahrain

"The Saudi kingdom is the first to assist in Bahrain," as the English-language newspaper in Jeddah. "Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council responded positively to Bahrain and its request for military assistance to quell protests that have shaken the country," reports the newspaper.

According to him, "hundreds of Bahrainis" would have called radio stations and television channels from their country to welcome the initiative of Saudi King, imitated by the UAE.

Shot dead a mayor who worked with the president of Corsica

Paris .- Dominique Domarchi, mayor of a town in northern Corsica, a close associate of President of this region of France, Paul Giacobbi, was killed early yesterday near his home by shooting of a hunting weapon, prosecutors said. Bastia prosecutor, Dominique Alzeari, who moved to the scene, said relatives were themselves Domarchi, 63, who discovered his lifeless body after hearing several shots.

A satellite to detect tsunamis from space

Seismographs and buoys in the sea are the only tools that currently allow the population to alert several minutes before the imminent arrival of a tsunami (in the best case, the population has less than a time to get to safety). When seismographs recorded an undersea earthquake of magnitude greater than 6.5 on the Richter scale, there is a risk of occurrence of a tsunami.

Automatically triggers an alert if he is not certain that it will reach the coast. However, in a few years of space technology could significantly improve the prediction of these devastating tidal waves that have caused a major catastrophe in Japan. A project of the European Space Agency (ESA) signed by the Spanish engineer Manuel Martín-Neira uses technology from satellites observing the Earth to measure the height of the ocean surface.

JAPAN - A nuclear crisis may hide a financial crisis

In its evening edition dated March 15, the daily Tokyo is obviously worrying about the situation at the plant in Fukushima Daiichi. "The level of radioactivity reached an abnormal level," says the business newspaper, recalling the advice given by the authorities, asking people in a radius of 30 km around the plant to remain housebound.

The consequences of the earthquake and the nuclear crisis on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are also one of the newspaper. The Nikkei index plummeted by 10.55% in just one day on Tuesday - a drop greater than had been recorded at the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, the newspaper said.

The tsunami, as seen from offshore

Barcelona. (Editorial) .- Images of the brutal wave that hit northeastern Japan on March 11 after 9 earthquake we still have goose bumps. There have been many videos that have come to show how the tsunami swept away everything I could find, houses, cars, trees. But we had not seen the appearance of the tidal wave at sea.

A Japanese ship was able to film as the tsunami was moving towards them at a place on the high seas that this newspaper has not been determined. The ship barely reaches beyond the wall of water, which fortunately passed by without causing damage.

Follows the division in NATO over the air exclusion zone

The ambassadors of the Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have failed to catch on Sunday agreed to a mandate to monitor the no-fly zone over Libya, after holding extensive meetings. "Above all, Turkey blocks," said a NATO diplomat in Brussels this evening. Turkey, which does not participate in the international mission, he regretted the civilian casualties of the mission and warned of negative consequences for NATO.

Tibetans in exile elect their new prime minister after the Dalai goodbye

Thousands of Tibetans in exile vote to elect their "Kalon Tripa" or prime minister, as the three candidates who opt in through the formal request from the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, to transfer political responsibility. About 83,400 Tibetans are called to the polls, which most will do it from the seat of the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India, but also from the 86 polling stations enabled the rest of the world, as said the head of the electoral commission, Jampal Chosang.

JAPAN - The public expects the truth and nothing but the truth

The nuclear crisis caused by the earthquake in Sendai continues: failure of the cooling relief, releasing fumes containing radioactive substances, melting of the core, the explosion of the central building, injecting sea water into the reactors, and Irradiation locals. Each episode is in itself very serious.

In this critical hour, the most important task of government is to ensure public safety. For that doubt does not reclaim the residents and local communities, it is essential to provide accurate information quickly. However, we can not say that the information provided so far by the utility company Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and the government regarding the chain of events that occurred in reactor No.

The international alliance against Gaddafi war begins

Barcelona (Editorial and agencies) .- By nightfall the French aircraft have launched attacks against targets of the forces of Muammar Qaddafi who then have joined U.S. and British forces, the latter not to aircraft, but missile bombardment from ships deployed in the Mediterranean. The operation has already been named: Dawn Odyssey.

In particular, U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney has indicated that the ships and submarines of the United States and Britain have launched more than 110 Tomahawk missiles against 20 targets in Libyan territory as "first phase of a phased military operation designed to implement the resolution United Nations remove the Libyan regime's ability to use force against its own people.

Lessons from Japan to the West (and vice versa)

I am not surprised that the Japanese have not responded to their plight with the looting and "every man for himself" that often accompanies disasters in other parts of the world. Some years ago I wrote a story about the lost property office in Tokyo. What most struck me was the thousands of returned products had half-finished sandwich.

Someone had bothered to bring it, if its owner had lost and went without lunch .. I was not surprised the much-discussed lack of hysteria scenes, drama and tears among the victims, perhaps influenced by Hollywood, and increasingly television that invites the most boorish exhibitionism, we expect to be showing everything all the time worldwide.

NUCLEAR ENERGY - Fukushima relaunch the debate in Europe

Whatever the ultimate size of the nuclear accident in progress at the Japanese central Fukushima, its effects are already being felt in Europe. "The debate seemed to shrink at the same rate as the memory of Chernobyl reappears abruptly," says Le Figaro. The Paris daily that explains what is happening in Japan is "an extremely hard blow that has descended upon the nuclear world." While soaring oil prices in 2008 "was permitted to speak of civilian atomic clock worldwide" and that "Brussels, at the instigation of Paris, just enter explicitly among the nuclear, carbon-free energy ', as well as hydro, solar or wind power.

Comune (wikipedia)

Libya (geolocation) Libya (wikipedia) La 1 (Spain) (homepage) La 1 (Spain) (wikipedia)