Monday, June 6, 2011

POLLS - The daughter of former dictator slight favorite

At three weeks of the second round of the June 5, the two presidential candidates, Keiko Fujimori (Forza, 2011, right) and Ollanta Humala (Peru Gana, a coalition of left), are elbow to elbow. While there a few weeks left of the candidate Ollanta Humala was ahead by six points over his opponent, according to recent polls published by the Peruvian press, the trend now seems to favor the daughter of former dictator.

GERMANY - A nuclear phase-out from 2021?

Given the risk of nuclear accident, the ethics committee set up by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has called for phasing out nuclear power by 2021 at the latest. The seven reactors that have already been arrested by the interim government should not be returned to service at the expiration of the moratorium of three months, according to the commission [the government had decided to stop the oldest plants in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident].

Alan Garcia is committed to working with the next government

President of Peru, Alan Garcia, pledged today to support his successor, regardless of whether the right or left Keiko Fujimori Ollanta Humala, because, he argued, what the country needs good governance conditions. "I do not believe in competitions premature," Garcia said after casting his vote in a local San Borja Lima district, which was accompanied by supporters.

"The important thing is that the next president remains committed to maintaining economic growth and employment generation," added the president, who has low levels of popularity despite the successes in macroeconomics. Garcia also regretted what happened on Saturday in the department of Cusco, where three NCOs from the Army, which he called "martyrs of democracy", were killed in an ambush by ultra-leftist group Shining Path on their way to guard polling stations in the district of Choquetira.

Yemen's vice president assumes power in the absence of Saleh

Sana'a. .- The vice president of Yemen, Abdorabu Mansur Hadi, has taken over the country, according to the Constitution and order after the head of state, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Efe reported a source of high-ranking government. Following the departure of Saleh to Saudi Arabia for treatment of injuries he suffered after the attack carried out on Friday by rival groups on the presidential palace, Hadi took office yesterday for sixty days, as established by the constitution, the source stressed that gave no further details.

The Tiananmen Mothers have not forgotten

The Tiananmen Mothers, the group who today remembers the death of students in central Beijing 22 years ago, has announced that the Beijing government would be considering the possibility of buying the silence of the families of the victims. The group has documented the deaths of 203 citizens who demanded political reforms and freedoms that morning from 3 to June 4, 1989, but believes that many more could lose their lives at the hands of the People's Liberation Army.

SYRIA - Assad is he caught in his own trap?

While arrests are increasing, supporters of President Bashar Assad think having subdued the fledgling protest movement. That may be true, but nothing is settled yet. One thing is sure: the repression will not solve the difficulties of Mr. Assad. His regime was unable to undertake reforms, and to silence the Syrian society by force will not solve the country's problems.

It might even make them insoluble. From the beginning of the uprising, foreign governments have urged Mr. Assad to make reforms. But in the Syrian context, reforms lead straight to the collapse of Assad. Unblocking the political system and allow free elections, given the freedom of the press, establish the rule of law, limit the rule of the Baath party and reduce the powers of too many security services would be political suicide.

The Peruvian military leadership hopes to collect the election results

Lima. .- The members of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Peru, in an unusual, wait together the results of the election day today, according to news media reports from military sources. The head of the Joint Chiefs, Louis Howell, and the commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy, among other senior officers, will be with the Defense Minister Jaime Thorne, who called.

The newspaper La Republica, which supports the candidacy of leftist Ollanta Humala, emphasized the unusual appointment, as usual is that the heads of the various weapons wait for the results in their respective institutions. Apparently, said the newspaper, the objective is to examine together the popular reactions that may occur after the vote, which comes at a tense and polarized atmosphere with great parity of power between Humala and right Keiko Fujimori.

Syrian opposition condemns the discovery of 23 bodies in the city of Hama

Cairo. .- The opposition group "The Syrian Revolution, one of the most active in protests against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, denounced the discovery of 23 bodies in the city of Hama, where 80 people died last Friday . According to the website of this group in Facebook, the bodies were found in the park Um al-Hasan, and were given as missing since Friday, when Syrian forces harshly suppressed a demonstration in this town in central Mexico.

Pope Visits Croatia and Zagreb defends entry in the EU

The Serb General Ratko Mladic is not the only war criminal who has left the Balkan conflict. The proof is in the Croatian General Ante Gotovina, former military commander of Croatian forces, convicted just last month by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to 24 years in prison for the operation ethnic cleansing that took place in 1995 in the Krajina region, which killed about 150 Serb civilians and expelled from the area to about 150,000.

Socrates himself "confident and serene" and avoids talking about the future

Lisbon. .- The Portuguese prime minister, socialist Jose Socrates, said he was "confident and calm" before today's elections in Portugal, where the conservative opposition is favored by polls to replace him in power. By going to vote in Lisbon, Socrates refused to comment on his political future when asked by journalists, but stressed that the election day today is a manifestation of freedom and democracy "and he lives" with the prospect of great happiness ".

A party that got out of hand

About 1,600 strangers gathered in the evening on Saturday in Hamburg before the house of a girl who had invited his friends to her birthday via Facebook without having marked the event as private, concentration which resulted in six men, reported German police. Although the party had been called off at the many confirmations of attendance, a 15,000-young went to the address on the network where they remained until well into the night.