World News Post: Apr 19, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Hungary: Parliament approves new constitution

The Hungarian Parliament voted on Monday for a new constitution. The draft of the national conservative government coalition of the Civic Alliance (Fidesz) of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Christian-Democratic People's Party (KDNP) voted to 262 MPs, five more than the required two-thirds majority, which the government parties Citizens Alliance (Fidesz) and the Christian-Democratic People's Party (KDNP ) have the basic law was approved.

Misurata: thousand dead, so far this conflict

The struggles that have occurred in the Libyan town of Misurata since late February have left over 1,000 dead and 3,000 wounded, according to sources have confirmed the direction of the hospital in this rebel town, besieged by forces loyal to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. "80% of the dead are civilians," said the journalists responsible for the administration of the hospital, Dr. Khaled Abou Falgha, indicating that 60 hospital beds are occupied by the wounded. At least 17 people were killed and 71 others injured during Sunday's in the large coastal city, located 200 kilometers east of Tripoli, according to the doctor. The physician has stated that it has found, from last week, serious injuries caused by cluster bombs, banned weapons to forces loyal to Gaddafi being used, as has denounced the humanitarian organization Human Rights Watch.

DIPLOMACY - Small jealousy between friends

Here, we only missed more than that: the French enemy. "In France, oil, us immigrants," we read some of the posters appeared on these days in Rome. In Italy, anti-French movement brings together the champions of the right social Gianni Alemanno [the mayor of Rome, today's neo-fascist ally Silvio Berlusconi] and supporters of Umberto Bossi [President of the Northern League party and xenophobic populist].

The Mubarak family has a luxurious estate more than the declared

Cairo. .- An official report of the Administrative Control Authority released Monday has revealed that former President Hosni Mubarak and his family have an estate that exceeds the officially reported, as recorded by the daily "Al Masry Al Youm." The report has already been submitted to the Authority of Illicit Profits from the Ministry of Justice to investigate where they come from these assets.

Soini wants to renegotiate the Portuguese rescue

The leader of right-wing True Finns party, Timo Soini, who starred in Finnish elections held yesterday after becoming the third force in the Nordic country, said today that the European Union (EU) should renegotiate the bailout of Portugal. Speaking on public television YLE, Soini said "have to be changes" in European plans to build a financial stability mechanism, but declined to give details on what items should be modified.

SYRIA - Reform or punish, we must choose

After the events of March 25 and 26, we can say that the regime of Bashar Assad is facing an unprecedented popular uprising, "says Ammar Abdulhamid, Syrian installed between the United States. "The discontent has snowballed." For now, avoid the protesters demand the departure of President Assad, but protests are gaining momentum, fueled by a cycle of violence and ill will from the Syrian government.

At least 85 injured in clashes between police and demonstrators in Yemen

Sana'a. .- At least 85 people were injured in clashes between Yemeni police and protesters calling for the downfall of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in the coastal city of Al Hudaida, in western Yemen, according to medical sources. The same sources told Efe that 22 people had gunshot wounds and were admitted to two hospitals in Al Hudaida, located in the Red Sea.

The other 63 injured were injured by the blows inflicted by the police who used batons to disperse the demonstrators. Several witnesses to the incident reported that the clashes erupted when demonstrators marched from the square in which were concentrated in the center of Al Hudaida to a street that connects to the main entrance of the city, where they set up barriers.

Suicide bombing in Kabul

An officer and three suspected terrorists were killed Monday and seven others wounded in a suicide attack by Taliban insurgents in the Afghan Ministry of Defense in Kabul, said a police source told Efe. The official who is one of the bodyguards of Afghan Deputy Minister of Defense, and among the wounded is the secretary of the Chief of Staff, told Efe the head of the research section of Kabul, Mohammad Zahir, who said the attackers wore uniforms Army.

SYRIA - It is not enough to break the wall of fear

I saw them drag him brutally, two men held him under the arms to drag away from the place Marjeh [center of Damascus], while a third gave him a kick. Arrived near a power pole on the sidewalk, they have him hit his head against the post. "A witness tells what processes the security services were restricted to great intellectual Syrian Tayeb Tizin dispersing a peaceful rally to call family political prisoners that resulted in the arrest of dozens of demonstrators.

Election results outbreak of violence in northern Nigeria

Nairobi. .- Several violent incidents were recorded in the last hours in northern Nigeria, a Muslim majority, to protest the results of Saturday's presidential elections, showing a near-certain victory of the highest representative of the country, Goodluck Jonathan, Christian south. The local press reported today that a crowd surrounded the jail in Zaria, set fire to the building and forced the guards to open the doors to free inmates.

Finnish extreme right hampers rescue

The dramatic improvement of the far right in elections this Sunday in Finland threatens European stability as its eventual entry into a coalition government with the conservative party won the bailout could cripple the countries of the eurozone. At the end of the election, the Conservative Party Kokoomus the Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen, won 20.4% of the vote and 44 of the 200 seats in the Eduskunta (parliament), six fewer than in previous elections.

SYRIA - Assad's son is worse than his father

The blood of the Syrians has often cast in mass killings during the thirty-year rule of Hafez al-Assad (1970-2000). It is not surprising to see Bashar al-Assad to resume the bloody legacy of his father, with the same barbarity, in the province and the city of Deraa. The few differences, all relative, take the personality of an heir unwise, inexperienced, arrogant, short-sighted and has a fantastic attitude, which keeps the illusion of popularity.

The 'likvidátor' human shield Chernobyl

Moscow. .- Whenever fewer likvidátor, those heroes who served as human shield for the radiation to stifle the fire shirt sleeves and cover the gaps of the fourth reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power plant 25 years ago. "The liquidators are heroes, like war veterans. Many of them were subjected for days to high doses of radiation, which cost the disability and ultimately death," he told Efe Viacheslav Grishin, President Russia's Chernobyl Union (UCR).

Shot and killed an Iraqi family

The four members of an Iraqi family were shot dead early on Monday by a group of strangers who broke into her home in western Baghdad, police sources reported. The attackers used guns with silencers to kill the father, his wife and their two daughters, and after committing the mass murder fled to an unknown destination.

Not informed of the identity of the deceased or the motives of the attack. On the other hand, the same sources said that two car bombs have exploded at a checkpoint outside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, killing at least nine people, including five Iraqi soldiers and 23 wounded.

Twenty new killed in Syria during opposition protests

Cairo. .- At least twenty people were killed and one hundred were injured in the last hours in the riot near the Syrian city of Homs, where the funerals were held today for victims of past protests, according to the Qatari Al-Jazeera network. The television gave no details about the identity of the victims, who died last night at Homs confusing incidents and surroundings, where there was an opposition protest and an armed clash between security forces and unknown.

Five committees discussed a reform plan

The Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC only) began on Sunday with the discussion of draft amendments to update the country's economic model in five working committees also reviewed the report submitted by President Raul Castro at the opening of conclave. Thousand delegates taking part in a conference considered crucial because it will be responsible for ratifying the plan to upgrade the island's economic model and it is called to be the last of the historical generation of the revolution, as has repeatedly reminded President Raul Castro .

UNITED STATES - Obama not good enough teacher

A young Egyptian journalist, Ibrahim Merette, participated in the roundtable organized ised on the occasion of the visit in Cairo Minister of Defense, Robert Gates, March 23. In view of the enthusiasm she showed for the new Egyptian democracy, one would think that it ranked among the supporters of President Obama, who supports the political revolution underway in the country.

But this was not the case: the Egyptians, she said, consider the policy of Mr. Obama disconcerting. Welcome to the club - a club which is also booming. Obama promotes change, but fails to present a convincing way for young Arabs. Egyptian journalists have noted that I met some of his contradictions: Obama was opposed to military action in Libya until he supported it, he argued Hosni Mubarak until where he stated that it was immediately stepping down and has promised a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian talks, but it did not materialize.

Brussels is inhibited to punish France for its migration policy

..- Brussels European Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom, said today that the Schengen agreement enables France to temporarily block "for reasons of public policy" train traffic from Italy and has said that a Europe without borders is not at risk. The head of the Interior of the European Commission (EC) has confirmed in a press conference that the French authorities have sent today to the EU executive a letter explaining its decision last week to temporarily suspend train traffic arriving from Italy , fearing a flood of migrants fleeing conflict in northern Africa.

The dramatic decline of the Mubarak family

The Egyptian agora assists with excitement at the end of the nightmare. The decline of Hosni Mubarak and his family, which monopolized the country's political life for three decades, occupying the front pages of newspapers and encourages conversations in vans or buses and in cafes and tea between puffs sobos of 'shisha' ( water pipe).

The lightning trip to the underworld clan Mubarak was unimaginable in January. The Egyptians opened the year with the aftermath of parliamentary elections marked by voter fraud and allegations of vote buying. In those elections, the National Democratic Party (NDP), the formation of the former was dissolved on Saturday for justice, won 420 of the 508 seats in the People's Assembly.

Angela Maria Kelley, a specialist in immigration policy in the United States - Lucid

"I think we should study the issue more deeply. But to say that we must change the Constitution to that, it is like trying to get a fly with a machine gun. "About women who come to give birth in the United States to have U.S. citizen babies. (The New York Times, USA)

U.S. has funded the Syrian opposition, according to Wikileaks

Washington .- The U.S. government has funded opposition groups in Syria, according to diplomatic documents published by the website Wikileaks, said today the Washington Post. Among the programs of U.S. assistance to the Syrian opposition figure Barada television channel based in London, which began broadcasting in April 2009 and has intensified its work "with the coverage of street protests" that are now occurring in Syria.

Portugal begins to negotiate the terms of the bailout

The details of the bailout to Portugal began to be discussed today between Lisbon government and opposition parties and so-called 'troika', consisting of representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (BEC) and European Commission (EC), which are in Portugal for a week to analyze the real situation of the Portuguese public accounts.

During the next few weeks will have to reach an agreement on the austerity program implemented in Portugal, in exchange for financial assistance, estimated at 80,000 million euros. The starting point of negotiations is the fourth Plan Stability and Growth Pact (SGP IV), which was rejected by Parliament in March, prompting the resignation of José Socrates and sparking a political crisis that ended in the inevitable request for aid external.

Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League - Angry

"This man is an ass." The Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi accused him of having received bribes, kickbacks. Moussa later denied the remarks. (Al-Nahar al-Jadid, Algiers)

Amr Moussa (homepage) Amr Moussa (wikipedia)

Armenia chess as a sport including national education

Barcelona (Editorial / Agencies) .- Armenia has made chess a compulsory subject in primary school, aiming to become a global force in the game, as said the education ministry. According to the Armenian government has confirmed local media, this game will be considered mandatory in the country's education system.

The ministry official said Arman Aivazian: "Teaching chess in schools will create a solid foundation for the country to become a chess superpower." With three million inhabitants, Armenia has won the last two men's chess world championships, beating rivals such as Russia, China and the U.S..

Honors Gaza activist Vittorio Arrigoni

The Foreign Ministry and Planning Hamas government in Gaza on Monday held a "national funeral" to pay tribute to Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian activist killed by a Salafist group. The ceremony will take place in Gaza City and is expected to bring together representatives of all Palestinian factions, NGOs and international agencies working in the Gaza Palestinians.

Last Friday, hundreds of Palestinians marched through the streets of Gaza and Ramallah in the West Bank to show their revulsion at the murder of Arrigoni, at dawn on Thursday after being kidnapped by a radical jihadist group. Arrigoni was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and lived since 2008 in Gaza, where he arrived on a boat "Free Gaza Movement 'to break the Israeli blockade and remained to carry out peace and awareness projects and non-violent struggle against occupation.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a spokesman for the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad - Distracted

"We decided to lift state of emergency [in force for forty-eight], but it is unclear from what date." (Al-Arabiya, Dubai)

Bouthaina Shaaban (homepage) Bouthaina Shaaban (wikipedia)

The force of volunteers brings out a sunken city after the tsunami

Maribel Izcue. Ishinomaki (Japan) .- Clean mud, repairing houses and delivering food, hundreds of volunteers work these days in the city of Ishinomaki Japan, devastated by the tsunami on 11 March and which little by little, some streets are returning to life. The campus of the University of Senshu in the upper part of the city, has become the headquarters of the young people from all over Japan to lend a hand after the worst tragedy in living memory in this country since World War II.

Playa Giron, a battle between brothers

Five decades after one of the worst U.S. military defeats, two lags are kept strictly equal erect on the shores of the Straits of Florida, pathetic symbols of a fratricidal battle in the maelstrom of the Cold War. Air Force Base in San Antonio de los Banos, near Havana, is exposed to one of the B-26 bombers used by the forces of Fidel Castro defeated the Brigade 2506.

Some 450 miles north, Tamiami Airport, south of Miami, another B-26 piloted by Cuban exiles were also reminded those three days in April 1961. Twins are kept at a distance. The memories of the deeds are diametrically opposed, as was the ideological opposite of the men who piloted the two bombers.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Social-Democrats (SPD) in the Bundestag - Skeptic

"It would have been possible to remove the initiative from the French, saying, along with some Arab countries and the United States, we would impose a naval blockade to prevent tankers loaded with oil and gas leaving the country, "says the former head of German diplomacy. About the military action in Libya.

(Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Germany)

Frank-Walter Steinmeier (wikipedia) Social Democratic Party of Germany (homepage) Social Democratic Party of Germany (wikipedia) Bundestag (geolocation) Bundestag (homepage) Bundestag (wikipedia)

The bombing of Qadhafi on Misrata cause dozens of deaths

Algiers .- At least 17 people were killed and 70 wounded by intense shelling in the last hours by troops loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi at the battered town of Misrata, rebel sources said the Qatari Al-Jazeera network. The gadafistas launched, first thing in the morning, Grad missiles and tanks shells, after a lull in attacks during the night, reported the same sources.

A resident of the city, the third largest in the country and under siege for the past seven weeks, said government forces attacked residential quarters voluntarily, with women and children as primary victims. Also, try to end the bombing systematically with the economic structures of the town, such as factories and dairy food products, which have been completely destroyed by bombs in the last 24 hours "in an apparent effort to increase the hunger of population.

U.S. and allied countries seeking a haven for country-Gaddafi exile

Wanted country which has not signed the agreement of the International Criminal Court and is willing to host a Libyan dictator. This is the message they have put into the 'world map' the governments of the U.S., UK and France, to try to find an exile to Muammar Gaddafi, where the allies manage to put the Libyan regime on the ropes.

The intense search for a state to accept Colonel Gaddafi has been carried out with discretion by the Obama Administration and its allies, according to the American newspaper The New York Times. And that the Libyan leader has proved challenging in recent days, saying he has no intention of yielding to the demands of exile and intensifying bombardment of the rebel cities.

EDITORIAL - What if it attacked Syria?

In the realm of terror and cruelty, the Syrian regime of Assad and his son is worth that of Colonel Gaddafi. The first lasted from 1970, the second since 1969 ... Both play skillfully divisions of their people in a religious event, the other clan, and are using alternately the carrot of corruption and the stick of repression.

Perhaps, on this ground, the prize goes it to Syria, which the authorities have not hesitated to give the artillery against the people, especially in Hama in 1982 where 20,000 people were massacred. And yet, despite shooting into the crowd last week, there is no question of Security Council resolution in the UN against Damascus and even less for intervention "to protect civilians." Instead, Washington had it - and still has - on Damascus to reach a negotiated peace with Israel.

Syrian police killed 14 people in the opposition protests

Cairo .- At least 14 people died in the last hours near the Syrian city of Homs for an opposition protest and an armed clash between security forces and unknown, reported the Qatari television network Al Jazeera. The chain did not elaborate on the identity of the victims who perished in incidents confused with differing versions of who provoked them and the exact number of deaths.

The riots occurred last night in the town of Talbisa, near the city of Homs, north of Damascus, near the border with Lebanon, where today there lived a great strain on the streets, according to Al Jazeera. Interior Ministry sources said that an unknown armed group killed four civilians there.

The PackBot robots Fukushima

The company that operates the Fukushima nuclear power plant, TEPCO, is using remote-controlled robots to measure radiation, temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactors at the nuclear plant. The company wants to ensure that levels are safe for employees to continue working. Photographs released by TEPCO show these robots, called "PackBot", working in Fukushima.

The machine has the ability to maneuver within the building, taking pictures and measuring the levels of radioactivity. Although Japan is a world leader in robotics, he seemed to resist the use of equipment in nuclear power. To date, there was no evidence to show that they were using, although a week after the earthquake and tsunami, the great state groups French nuclear sector in the country sent a shipment with robots and other materials to help solve Fukushima problems.

Côte d'Ivoire - The beginning of the end for Gbagbo

The regime of Laurent Gbagbo is on the verge of collapse. General Philippe Mangou, Chief of Defence Staff, has dropped. Since March 30 the night he fled with his family at the Embassy of South Africa. The forces pro-Ouattara took on March 31 the strategic town of San Pedro and they are at the gates of Abidjan, the economic capital.

Côte d'Ivoire (geolocation) Côte d'Ivoire (wikipedia) Laurent Gbagbo (answerscom) Laurent Gbagbo (homepage) Laurent Gbagbo (wikipedia)

Abdul-Jabbar in Israel documented the liberation of Buchenwald by her father

Jerusalem .- The legendary former Los Angeles Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will travel to Israel to meet with one of the children then rescued his father from the Buchenwald concentration camp, the now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Meir Lau. The father of Abdul-Jabbar, Ferdinand L. Alcindor, was a member of the U.S.

Army armored unit fully formed by African Americans who liberated the Nazi concentration camps in Europe at the end of World War II. The legendary former basketball star, all-time leader in scoring, is preparing a documentary about this little-known military unit, from the historical narrative 'Brothers In Arms', who co-wrote in 2004.

The Conservatives defeat in elections in Finland but the far-right gains ground

The Conservative party Kokoomus Economy Minister Jyrki Katainen, has won a narrow general election in Finland on Sunday ahead of the Social Democrats and the far right, has finally fallen to third place. With 100%% of votes counted, the Conservatives achieved 20.4% of the vote and 44 of the 200 seats in the Eduskunta (Finnish Parliament), two more than the Social Democratic Party, which received 19.1% of the vote.

Poland - The irreducible autonomy of Silesia

Silesians have their own language, a long common history and live in one of the richest regions of Poland. Their demands for autonomy are now becoming more pressing, writes the Czech daily Hospodářské noviny.