China: West has no right to punish Zimbabwe

 China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi holds talks with Zimbabwe's PM MorganTsvangirai in Harare on Febuary 11
China's foreign minister pushed Friday for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe, saying no country has a right to dictate the internal affairs of another nation, state-run media reported.
Starting in 2002, the European Union and the United States imposed targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and some senior party members amid rampant reports of stifling his political opposition, human rights violations and his controversial land reform policy that has targeted white commercial farmers.
Mugabe blames the sanctions for his country's woes, which late last year included an unemployment rate of more than 90% and an inflation rate of 231,000,000%.
Speaking Friday during a two-day visit to Harare, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that "China believes that Africans have the right to choose their own way of development, as they are masters of the African continent. All others are just guests."
"We think that (lifting sanctions) is the voice of the Zimbabwean people, and that is also the view of all the parties concerned here in Zimbabwe," Yang said, according to the Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency.
As part of his trip, China extended an additional 50 million yuan ($7.5 million) in aid to the economically ravaged African nation, Xinhua reported. In addition, Yang and Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi signed an agreement on behalf of the two countries.
According to Xinhua, Mugabe on Friday said sanctions flew in the face of a 1979 agreement with Great Britain that land would be redistributed to compensate farmers.
"The Western countries have imposed sanctions on us for taking our land, although we had discussed this in 1979," he said. "That is what started the problem."
Last December, Mugabe threatened to seize all Western-owned investments in the country unless their governments remove targeted sanctions imposed on him and his senior ZANU-PF party members.
The 86-year-old former guerrilla leader said at the time that "the time has come for ... revenge" and suggested that Zimbabwe's Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act -- which gives foreign companies five years to submit plans for transferring 51% of their investments to black Zimbabweans -- did not go far enough.
Mugabe has held power since Zimbabwe became independent in 1980. A 2008 election resulted in a runoff between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Movement for Democratic Change, charging fraud in the election, eventually pulled out, and Mugabe was declared the winner.
In 2009, with ZANU-PF no longer a majority in the parliament, Mugabe formed a coalition government with Tsvangirai, who was named prime minister.
Mugabe said last December that he was tired of working with the opposition party, which he said "lacked ideology and policies." He termed the unity government a "creature."
At the time, he warned Western diplomats not to interfere in Zimbabwe's elections, which he said would be held next year. He said the West had contributed to his party's defeat in 2008.

Despite isolation from the West, Mugabe's supporters include his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Source:Cnn

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Obama hails Egyptian protesters

President Barack Obama: Their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same
The President Barack Obama of the United state of America has  hailed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s abrupt decision earlier today to step down, ending his 30-year-reign, as Egyptian armed forces took control of the country’s leadership.
“The people of Egypt have spoken. Their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same,” the president said.
“By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change, but this is not the end of Egypt’s transition. It’s the beginning.”
Obama hailed the protesters and their peaceful demonstrations that have rocked the country over the last 18 days.
“Over the last few weeks, the wheel of history turned at a blinding pace,” he said.
The president called on Egypt’s new leadership to lift the controversial emergency law that has been in place continuously since 1967 and gives the government far-reaching powers at the expense of judicial review and civil liberties. He also urged a peaceful and constructive transition to free and fair elections.
Egyptians across the country celebrated late into the night. People streamed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square dancing, honking their car horns and waving flags. Fireworks were later held in the square that has become the heart of the uprising.
As Mubarak’s long-awaited announced was made earlier by his vice president Omar Suleiman, crowds gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square erupted into loud cheers, chanting “Egypt is free, Egypt is free,” as the historic announcement was made.
“My fellow citizens. In this difficult time that the country is going through, President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has decided to relieve himself of his position as president and the Supreme military council has taken control of the state’s affairs. May God protect us,” Suleiman said in a somber one-minute announcement on TV.
The military’s spokesman went on state television to thank Mubarak for his service and said it is reviewing the situation. Saluting those who have died in these 18-day long protests, the military hailed the “martyrs” and said the army will guarantee that the demands of the Egyptian people be met.
He reiterated that the army is not a substitute for the legitimacy the people want and that the military will announce concrete steps soon.
Source:vanguardngr.com

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Former Argentine dictator sentenced to life

Jorge Rafael Videla on trial in Cordoba, Argentina, on July 22, 2010.
Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by a federal court Wednesday for human rights abuses during his rule.


Videla was among the coup leaders who overthrew then-President Isabel Martinez de Peron in March 1976. He ruled as dictator until 1981.
In a separate proceeding, Luciano Benjamin Menendez, former head of the Third Army Corps, was also sentenced to life in prison for violating the human rights of four people.
Another former dictator, Gen. Reynaldo Benito Bignone, was sentenced in April to 25 years in prison for kidnapping and torturing 56 people. He ruled Argentina from June 1982 until the nation's return to democracy in December 1983.
Up to 30,000 students, labor leaders, intellectuals and leftists who ran afoul of the dictatorship because of their political views disappeared or were held in secret jails and torture centers during the nation's eight-year "dirty war."
Videla and the others face charges related to abuses committed at a penitentiary in Cordoba and in the kidnapping and torture of six people, the information service said.
Videla, 84, has previously been found guilty of other human rights abuses, including kidnapping, torture and homicide. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 but released in 1990 under a pardon issued by then-President Carlos Menem to many former members of the military dictatorship.

Argentina's congress and courts have struck down the pardons and amnesty laws of the 1980s, clearing the way for rights trials to be held again.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/22/argentina.human.rights.trial/index.html

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Al Qaeda group contemplated poisoning food in U.S., officials say

 Next terrorist target: The salad bar?
The al Qaeda group that built two toner-cartridge bombs in an unsuccessful attempt to blow up planes in October also has contemplated spreading poison on salad bars and buffets at U.S. hotels and restaurants, U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.
But U.S. officials sought to downplay the threat -- first reported by CBS News -- saying it was months old, and that it was more in the nature of a discussion of "tactics" than an actual plot. Officials implied the tactic is beyond the capabilities of the terrorist organization, which is based in the Middle East.
The United States has received information the group -- al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- was considering the tactic of placing ricin and cyanide poisons into food supplies, Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed to CNN.
In response to that information, U.S. officials met through regular channels with representatives of the hotel and restaurant businesses to discuss the possibility that terrorists could target the food supply, and to reiterate "best practices" to ensure the food supply is safe.
Officials, however, likened the threat to numerous others discussed in jihadist publications such as the online magazine Inspire, where al Qaeda members and sympathizers discuss various ways to attack Western countries.
"We're talking months, not weeks (ago), that this came into the threat stream," one official said.
Earlier this year, the federal government staged a tabletop exercise, or role-playing drill, in which the government and industry practiced responses to a fictional incident involving "intentional contamination" of food. A Homeland Security Department official said the drill was not a direct response to the threat information, but that the threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, helped define the scenario and add to its authenticity.
The group that held the exercise -- the Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council -- declined to discuss the threat, referring CNN's calls to the Department of Homeland Security.
The CBS report quoted an unnamed intelligence source saying the threat was "credible."
But officials told CNN they did not believe the threat was in any advanced stage of planning.
"We're aware that terrorists have been interested in doing this kind of thing for a long time," one U.S. official told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. "They've said as much and, as a result, we take all of this very seriously. But we don't know of any current plotting along these lines."
Homeland Security Department's only official comment came in response to the CBS report.
"We are not going to comment on reports of specific terrorist planning. However, the counterterrorism and homeland security communities have engaged in extensive efforts for many years to guard against all types of terrorist attacks, including unconventional attacks using chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials," spokesman Sean Smith said in a prepared statement.
"Indeed, (al Qaeda) has publicly stated its intention to try to carry out unconventional attacks for well over a decade, and AQAP propaganda in the past year has made similar reference. Finally, we get reports about the different kinds of attacks terrorists would like to carry out that frequently are beyond their assessed capability," the statement said.
Some terror experts said food poisoning may be within al Qaeda's capabilities.
It's "easier to do this than get a bomb on a plane or make a sophisticated biological weapon that you would spray in the air," said Randall Larsen, a homeland security expert. "This is very crude, it's very simple, and with knowledge you get in a high school biology class, you could produce something that would cause a problem."
"It's good that the word is out there, because people in public health departments really need to know about this, so if they start seeing something coming into emergency rooms, they're kind of ready to look for it and to watch for it," Larsen said. "And ... restaurant owners and people like that (need) to know about this if there's a potential threat."
While ricin and cyanide can sicken or even kill people, neither is considered a weapon of mass destruction, Larsen said.
Experts say terrorists have long considered the possibility of contaminating water and food supplies with chemical or biological substances, and that both ricin and cyanide have been in the terrorists playbook. Ricin, a natural, highly toxic compound, is extracted from castor beans.
In 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was shot with a ricin-tipped dart fired from an umbrella while waiting for a bus in London. He died four days later. And in 2004, ricin was found in a letter in Sen. Bill Frist's mailroom in a letter demanding changes in truckers' sleep/work schedule rules.
The idea of contaminating salad bars also is not original. In 1984 members of an Oregon cult contaminated salad bars with salmonella, sickening hundreds of people in an attempt to influence a local election that day.
But if AQAP is contemplating such an attack, it would be a shift in direction.
CNN National Security Contributor Frances Fragos Townsend said AQAP "seems very focused on (creating) an improvised explosive device, preferably involving aviation."

AQAP, was behind the October attack on two cargo planes. The group created bombs out of printer toner cartridges, but the devices were discovered and disarmed before they detonated. AQAP also has claimed credit for the September 6 crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai, but U.S. authorities say there is no evidence they played a role in the crash.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/12/21/al.qaeda.poison.plot/index.html
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Report: Release of Pan Am bomber not medically justified

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988.
An investigation into the release of convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbeset al Megrahi has found the medical prognosis used to justify his release from a Scottish prison "was inaccurate and unsupported by medical science," according to a U.S. Senate report released Tuesday.
The release of the report, led by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, coincided with the 22nd anniversary of the bombing, which occurred over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, killing 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 and 11 on the ground.
Al Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison last year on the grounds that he had cancer and was not likely to live more than three more months -- a prognosis Menendez has questioned.
The report, titled "Justice Undone: The Release of the Lockerbie Bomber," was the result of a five-month investigation led by Menendez's office and was co-signed by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Charles Schumer, D-New York.
It is based on interviews with officials from the United Kingdom, Scotland and the United States, including "substantive experts" within the U.S. State and Justice departments. Also interviewed were U.S. and British prostate cancer specialists, "academic experts on Libya and energy policy, and business executives with operations in Libya," the report says.
"The three-month prognosis given to al Megrahi by Scottish doctors was inaccurate and unsupported by medical science," the report said.
The report also took issue with the Scottish government's decision to grant al Megrahi compassionate release, indicating the process was determined by general practitioners without expertise in prostate cancer who were "clearly involved in political, inter-governmental discussions."
"In view of the flawed process, we believe that the Scottish government simply intended to use compassionate release as political cover for returning al Megrahi to Libya -- regardless of whether his physical condition met the requirements," the report said.
Menendez, a Democrat, said he undertook the investigation after British and Scottish officials refused to testify at a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing he was scheduled to chair in July.
"Instead of living three months, he's lived 13 months and counting," Menendez said in a September committee hearing on the matter.
At the hearing, Menendez questioned what he characterized as contradictory medical information from the Scottish government.
He played a videotape that showed al Megrahi walking up a flight of stairs to board a plane to Libya after his prison release, despite allegedly being near death.
A State Department official testified that commercial concerns may have influenced Scottish consideration of al Megrahi's release.
"There were political, security and economic considerations that were involved in the decision making," said Nancy McEldowney, the deputy assistant secretary of European affairs at the State Department.
The report expanded on that allegation, saying "the threat of commercial warfare was a motivating factor."
"The U.K. knew that in order to maintain trade relations with Libya, it had to give in to political demands," the report said.
McEldowney said the United States never supported the decision of releasing al Megrahi.
Menendez said he asked representatives from oil giant BP to testify at the hearing regarding allegations that the British company urged the Scottish government to release al Megrahi in exchange for a multimillion-dollar oil deal with Libya. No one from BP would testify, Menendez said.
Al Megrahi was the only person convicted in the bombing. Most of the victims were Americans. The flight was heading to New York from Frankfurt, Germany, via London, England, when it blew up.

A special Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted al Megrahi in 2001. Released in August 2009 after serving eight years of his life sentence, he returned to Libya.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/21/lockerbie.report/index.html

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Iran deploys police as gas, food prices go up

Iranian motorists queue for fuel on December 19, after the government cuts fuel subsidies to boost the country's economy
Iranians coped with soaring gas and food prices sparked by the government's removal of massive revolutionary-era subsidies as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Wednesday for a two-day economic summit in Turkey. In the Iranian capital, Tehran, police manned gas stations as some cab drivers hiked fares and residents complained about prices going up fourfold for essential items after the government began slashing subsidies to help bolster the Islamic republic's sagging oil-based economy.
The government began its plan to remove subsidies on Sunday and deployed security forces to several major gas stations in the capital city, Tehran, to offset the threat of potential protests.
In 2007, protesters torched a dozen gas stations after the government's abrupt decision to ration monthly fuel allotments.
The cuts in subsidies are far more severe but the response has been muted. Iran observers attribute it to a climate of fear following a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election controversy.
Still, Tehran residents said the government was beefing up security. Witnesses saw up to 20 police officers at three major gas stations in central and northern Tehran.
"I hope enough people will protest these ridiculous changes, but they are scared of the security forces because of the past protests where our citizens were beaten," said a civil engineer, who like others interviewed by CNN did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions.
"A lot of people are anxious and confused," said a taxi driver, "They don't know what's coming next but they don't have much choice."
But a courier said he didn't have time to protest.
"They just make prices go higher and life more difficult," he said.
By Iran's own admission, the subsidies have cost the government around $100 billion a year, according to a report on state-run Press TV this week.
Iran was forfeiting potentially huge revenues, according to the International Monetary Fund.
"With the removal of subsidies on oil and gas, domestic demand for energy in Iran is expected to decline, leaving more energy resources available for export. If all goes according to plan, the strategy should serve the dual purpose of generating more revenue for the country and curbing the wasteful use of energy," IMF Senior Economist Roman Zytek and Iran Mission Chief Dominique Guillaume said on the organization's website.
Adding to Iran's economic woes are the effects of blistering international sanctions, imposed for its nuclear program, which Iran says it is developing for peaceful purposes but many other nations fear is aimed at producing a weapon.
On Tuesday, the United States Treasury announced a new round of sanctions against five Iranian companies, including two banks and the country's national maritime carrier, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
The United States says these companies are directly associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Both the Revolutionary Guards and the shipping line "are major institutional participants in Iran's illicit conduct and in its attempts to evade sanctions," said Stuart Levey, the U.S. under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "We will therefore continue to target and expose their networks."
Ahmadinejad is expected to deliver a keynote address at the Economic Cooperation Organization on Thursday. The group aims to develop economic cooperation among Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and seven other regional nations.
In erasing the subsidies, Ahmadinejad was keenly aware he was treading on the promises made to the people in the 1979 Islamic revolution, said Iranian-American journalist and author Azadeh Moaveni. But the subsidies had become unsustainable and Ahmadinejad had prepared Iranians for the need to pump more money into the economy.
"We have been told for many years that subsidies are ruining the economy and must be eliminated, but no government up to now had the determination to actually go ahead and do it," said a mechanic who gave his name as Abbas.
Around the city, taxi drivers reacted to the cuts differently.
One said he has raised his rates for rides.
"When gasoline prices almost double, my fares should also double," he said.
But another said his company told him not to charge riders extra.
Despite the rise in gasoline prices to as much as 7,000 rials (70 cents) a liter, the driver said that if he makes up to eight trips a day in his taxi, he will make up the difference in the higher price of gasoline.
Iran's gas rationing program previously allowed people to buy up to 50 liters per month at around 10 cents a liter, far below what they or people anywhere else would pay on the world market.
Now, Iranians are paying at least four times that -- 40 cents per liter for the first 50 liters each month and 70 cents above that.
Iran has $10 trillion in oil resources alone, plus natural gas reserves worth between $3.5 trillion and $4.5 trillion, the International Monetary Fund has said. But its economy nonetheless has seen lackluster growth, including between 1% and 2% of GDP this past year.
While gas prices will affect the middle and upper echelons of society, what is most worrying to others are rising prices for food. Working class Iranians will pay as much as 10 times more for bread.

The government is paying $800 for two months for people who registered for help in buying bread at the higher prices.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/12/22/iran.subsidies/index.html

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South Korea says it will hold large land and air drills Thursday

South Korea's war shift

Tensions rippled across the Korean peninsula as South Korea geared up for its largest land and air winter drills on Thursday, maneuvers choreographed in the shadow of its reclusive tough-talking communist neighbor. The South Korean army said Wednesday that the long-planned drills will be held just 15 miles from its longtime adversary North Korea, whose nuclear aspirations strike worry in Seoul and in capitals across the world.
More than 800 military personnel will take part in the exercise in Pocheon, a media officer from the South Korean army said, and it will include six fighter jets, anti-tank missiles, and involve more than 100 types of weapons.
The drills -- scheduled in 2009 -- come at a time when the country is on high-alert, after Pyongyang shelled a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea that resulted in four deaths.
And, the hostilities come as North Korea is undergoing a transition -- the ailing leader Kim Jong Il is believed to be in the process of transferring power to his son, Kim Jong Un. Some analysts believe the upcoming internal changes have prompted the North to flex its military muscle.
After Japan's defeat in World War II, Korea became a divided nation, the free-enterprise South and the communist North.
Over the past six decades, small-scale skirmishes have flared repeatedly along both land and sea borders as each state aimed to reunify the peninsula according to its own terms and system of government. Deadly naval clashes have occurred along the demarcation line in 1999, 2002 and 2009.
Over this past year, the Korean peninsula has been gripped by anxiety over the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship. Forty-six sailors died in the March incident, widely blamed on North Korea -- which denies responsibility.
Tensions rose higher last month, when North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians. The North accused the South of provoking the Yeonpyeong attack because shells from a South Korean military drill landed in the North's waters.
South Korea's navy also opened regular exercises in the East Sea on Wednesday that will run for four days, and Seoul held a live-fire naval drill that ended peacefully Monday after an hour and 34 minutes.
North Korean military leaders said retaliation wasn't necessary but issued a stern warning to South Korea and the United States, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Seoul has not ruled out the possibility of unforeseen provocations in borders areas and possibly on large civilian gatherings.
The key South Korean government official dismissed North Korea's lack of military response as a calculated political decision to build goodwill with China, Russia and other allies.
In recent days, some developments generated optimism.
The North agreed to allow U.N. inspectors access to its uranium-enrichment facility and take other steps that could defuse tension if implemented, including consideration of the formation of a military commission among North Korea, South Korea and the United States.
The latest developments in North Korea came amid a visit to North Korea by Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current governor of New Mexico. Richardson was acting as a private citizen and not a U.S. envoy.
"Maybe we had a little impact with them," he said Monday of the North Korean leaders.
But a South Korean government official viewed Richardson's visit skeptically, saying Pyongyang took advantage of the governor.
Seoul had no official reactions to two proposals -- one to set up a hot line between South and North Korean military leaders and another to have a commission to settle simmering disputes before they flared into full-on military confrontations -- that, Richardson said, North Korean leaders were receptive to.
There have been other recent events that have suggested the possibility of a thaw in relations.

North and South Korea had begun discussions on the possible resumption of reunions of family members separated by the Korean War, and North Korea has requested military talks. In early September, the South offered food aid to the impoverished North for the first time in three years.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/22/south.korea.drills/index.html

 

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Turkish town cashes in on Saint Nick legacy

The hometown of the man who inspired the legend of Santa Claus is a long way from the snow and arctic lights of the North Pole.

The land Saint Nicholas is originally from rarely sees snowflakes -- it is a village of palm trees and orange groves on the Mediterranean Sea in what is modern-day Turkey. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors and children, lived and died there nearly 18 centuries ago.
The legend of the 4th century bishop who gave gifts to the poor has spread since the earliest days of Christianity.
Eventually, Saint Nicholas evolved from the bald and bearded man depicted in Orthodox icons -- dressed in long robes and clutching a bible -- to the more rotund and secular character of jolly old Saint Nick.
Though Santa Claus is today inextricably intertwined with Christmas, hardly any of the residents of Saint Nicholas' hometown celebrate the holiday.
Demre is an overwhelmingly Muslim town where the call to prayer periodically echoes from minarets over the sun-bleached stones of chapels and a sprawling Roman amphitheater that was constructed long before the days of Saint Nicholas.
"Nobody celebrates Christmas here. It's interesting," said Baris Yuksel, speaking in his shop amid a sea of gold-framed icons of Saint Nicholas -- a man locals know here as "Noel Baba," or Father Christmas.
Like many other residents of Demre, Yuksel grows and exports tomatoes from some of the many greenhouses that surround this small community.
But in recent years he has also made a lucrative business selling images of Demre's most famous son to the hundreds of thousands foreign tourists who visit the Church of Saint Nicholas every year.
"We are so happy with Saint Nicholas," Yuksel said. "After lots of centuries we are earning money thanks to Saint Nicholas."
Demre's gratitude is evident in the town's official logo -- which features the familiar bearded face of Santa Claus -- and a bronze statue of a slimmer Saint Nicholas holding hands with two smiling children, which overlooks the central town square.
The man behind the legend is believed to have died in Demre in 343 AD, when the city was then known as Myra and many of the inhabitants spoke ancient Greek.
"Nicholas is a real man. He lived here and he died here, and he talked about Christianity in a widespread area," said Nevzat Cevik, a Turkish archaeologist unearthing history about one of the world's earliest Christian civilizations.
Cevik said Nicholas of Myra was a Christian bishop, who is depicted in ancient engravings chopping down a tree that symbolizes the region's earlier pagan Roman religion.
"He destroyed pagan temples also," Cevik said, referring to the Temple of Artemis, which is believed to have been razed to the ground on Nicholas' order. "They destroyed the pagan buildings ... and then they used the materials of those buildings to build their churches."
As evidence, Cevik points to a 12th century Byzantine chapel his team recently discovered buried next to the house of an elderly Turkish man named Ahmet Gezer, whose bushy white beard was surprisingly Santa shaped.
Part of the floor of the chapel is constructed out of stones pillaged from the sarcophagi of earlier pagans.
After his death, Saint Nicholas was honored as a martyr. Cevik argues that his legend began to grow after it was retold by another Christian priest named Nicholas of Sion, who lived in the area more than 100 years after Saint Nicholas' death.
Cevik theorizes that Christian believers began combining the stories of the two men named Nicholas. "After the 6th century AD, there are 2 Nicholases in one figure," Cevik said. "They come together and we know only one Saint Nicholas."
In subsequent centuries, the tomb of Saint Nicholas became a place of pilgrimage for Christians traveling from around the Mediterranean Sea.
Gradually, other European cultures adopted the popular saint, and added their own twists to his image.
The Santa Claus we see today appears to have evolved out of a Scandinavian version of the saint, who was later popularized by 19th century American writers and U.S. companies like Coca Cola, which used Santa's image to promote their products.
The mayor of Demre is a big fan of this contemporary Santa Claus, which some Turks refer to as the "Coca Cola Santa."
"Indeed, he is something that the Americans invented," said Mayor Suleyman Topcu, "[but] he is nice and colorful."
Topcu said he planned to put a big red Santa statue up overlooking the new street and beach he recently named after Father Christmas.
But some of Demre's younger residents want to set the record straight on their town's most famous son.
"He didn't have magic powers or flying reindeer. That's only in the cartoons," said 10-year old Habip Erdogan. His friend, Batuhan Katilimis, also 10, said: "He was a good man who gave gifts."

No matter what version you believe in, everyone in Demre seems to agree -- it is the spirit of Saint Nicholas giving to those who are in need that is the legendary man's most enduring legacy.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/21/turkey.saint.nicholas/index.html

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Abbey Road crosswalk named historic landmark

The Beatles made it famous by walking across it on the cover of their "Abbey Road" album.
A striped crosswalk in London entered the history books Wednesday for a second time.
First, the Beatles made it famous by walking across it on the cover of their "Abbey Road" album, prompting millions of imitators.
Then, this week, the British government declared the zebra crossing a historic landmark -- the first street crossing ever to get the designation.
"It is a fantastic testimony to the international fame of the Beatles that -- more than 40 years on -- this crossing continues to attract thousands of visitors each year, trying to mimic their iconic 'Abbey Road' album cover," British heritage minister John Penrose said.
The street crossing is near the Abbey Road music studios, where the album was recorded. The studios themselves were declared a historic landmark in February.
Paul McCartney, who appears barefoot on the album cover, said he and the Beatles had had a great year and that the designation of the crosswalk was "icing on the cake."

He and Ringo Starr are the only two living Beatles. John Lennon was shot and killed in 1980, and George Harrison died of cancer in 2001.

 Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/22/england.abbey.road/index.html


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Colombian military's new weapon against rebels: Christmas trees

 Colombian soldiers pause from their work stringing lights on a tree in rebel-held territory as part of the "Operation Christmas" campaign to persuade guerrillas to lay down their arms, in this video grab from the Colombian Defense Ministry's website.
This holiday season, the Colombian military is trying a unique angle to get guerrillas to lay down their arms: It is creating Christmas trees deep in the jungle in hopes the holiday spirit will tug the rebels back home.
The first tree of "Operation Christmas" was decorated in the jungle of southern Colombia, the military said.
Two units in two Blackhawk helicopters dropped in on a supply path that the guerrillas are known to use and picked a 25-meter (82-foot) tree to decorate with sparkling blue lights.
A commercial made by the military shows the soldiers, dressed in camouflage uniforms and face paint, wrapping 2,000 lights around the branches and trunk.
The tree was rigged with a motion sensor that will turn the lights on when someone walks by. A banner next to it says,
"If Christmas can come to the jungle, you too can come home. Demobilize. At Christmas, everything is possible."
Officials hope the gesture will be enough to lure rebels away from the jungle.
"For us, the most important month is December," Colombian military spokeswoman Marcela Duran said.
"Many make the final decision about demobilizing this month."
She says that traditionally, the holiday season sees a larger number of defections as rebels reflect on the positives and negatives of their situation. When they were recruited, many of the rebels did not know that it would mean being isolated from their families, she added.
The tactic is a shift from what has been an aggressive military campaign against the rebels this year.
In September, a military raid claimed the life of the No. 2 leader in a Marxist guerrilla group that has been at war with the Colombian government since the 1960s. Victor Julio Suarez Rojas, also known as Jorge Briceno Suarez and by the nom de guerre Mono Jojoy, was the military leader for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly called the FARC.
It was one of a number of military successes for the government this year.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister, was known for his tough line against the rebels, but he also has a softer side, an analyst said.
During his time as defense minister, the government began using billboards and radio advertisements in areas where the rebels operate at an unprecedented level, said Adam Isacson, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America.
Operation Christmas sounds a bit gimmicky, he said, but "rather than trying to kill all the rank-and-file guerrillas, it's better to try to convince them to leave."
FARC leaders tell their followers that they will be killed if they turn themselves in, but the advertisements and Christmas trees give another message, he said.
Despite the military successes this year, "the challenge is that their recruitment at the youngest levels is very easy," Isacson said.
The tree decorating is probably aimed at those young recruits.
In all, 10 jungle trees throughout the country will be decorated as part of Operation Christmas.
This year, 2,411 guerrillas have demobilized, including 140 during this holiday season, the military said.

In 2009, a total of 2,638 rebels laid down their arms.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/20/colombia.operation.christmas/index.html

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Heathrow boss declines bonus amid travel chaos

The chief executive of British airport operator BAA, which is responsible for London's Heathrow, says he will not be taking his bonus for 2010 following the travel chaos caused by heavy snow.
Colin Matthews told CNN: "I am focusing 100% on passengers, we haven't got everyone home yet, there is still a backlog." He refused to comment on the size of the bonus he has declined.
"I do not want to talk about my renumeration. I will be foregoing my bonus for the calendar year 2010," he said. When questioned about a rumored "secret bonus" based on profits, Matthews said: "There is no secret bonus."
BAA would not discuss its bonus schemes but last year Matthews' salary and bonuses totalled £944,000 ($1.45 million), according to the British Press Association.
Asked how Heathrow will respond to the crisis, he said: "It is clear that we will need to buy new equipment... and purchase that as quickly as possible. What has caught us out is the intensity of the snow."
His comments came as tens of thousands of stranded passengers across Europe were finally starting their Christmas holidays Wednesday after airport and rail operators made the most of a clear weather spell and began addressing a huge backlog.
Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe and one of the hubs most affected by winter weather, opened its second runway Tuesday evening and said it was operating at between 70% and 80% of capacity Wednesday.
However, around 400 flights have been canceled. Travelers were advised to check with their airlines before traveling to the airport.
Malcolm Robertson, head of communications at BAA, told CNN: "We're making progress... 100% of our infrastructure is clear and we're in a good position to increase the number of people we move."
Robertson said that he expected Heathrow to be fully open on Thursday and that the airport was "as prepared as we can be" for further predicted snow later this week.
On Wednesday British Airways said that it would operate a "full longhaul departure schedule" on Thursday and Friday from Heathrow.
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, the second busiest airport in Europe, was also slowly returning to normal. However, forecasted snow on Wednesday forced an expected 15% reduction in flight schedules between 18:00 GMT and 23:00 GMT.
Airlines were expected to cancel one-quarter of scheduled flights on Thursday at Charles de Gaulle, said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
At Frankfurt, another major European hub, 1,400 flights were expected to operate Wednesday, according to Juergen Harrer, an airport spokesman. All three runways were open, although there were 70 flight cancellations due to other airports not being operational, he said.
Harrer told CNN, "There are still many passengers in the terminals but we are doing our best to get them to their destinations."
An official at Gatwick Airport, London, also warned of "some knock-on delays and cancellations Wednesday," due to the ongoing impact of snow.
Meanwhile, the long queues that had been winding down the street outside Eurostar's London rail terminal, St. Pancras International, had largely cleared on Wednesday.
A Eurostar spokesman estimated around 500 people were queuing for check-in early Wednesday, far fewer than the thousands seen Tuesday.
"People seem to be respecting our advice not to come to the terminal unless they have a valid ticket for today, and not to arrive more than one hour before their train's departure. This is helping the terminal to get back to normal," Eurostar spokesman Leigh Calder said.
Eurostar has stopped selling new tickets for travel before December 26 in an effort to get pre-booked passengers on trains in time for Christmas.
"We are confident we will get everyone with a valid ticket to their destination before Christmas Eve," Calder said.
Eurostar was running at 80% of normal capacity, taking passengers across the Channel Tunnel to Paris and Brussels, Belgium. Nine trains have been canceled out of 52 scheduled services on Wednesday.
Speed restrictions have been applied, so each journey is taking longer than usual and creating knock-on delays for other services.

The UK's Met Office has issued weather warnings for parts of central England Wednesday but said it was not expecting further snow in London Wednesday and that Heathrow and Gatwick airports "should remain dry."

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/12/22/europe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

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U.N.: Thousands flee Ivory Coast amid fears of regional conflict

Ivorian refugees walk in the village of Loguatuo on December 14. About 4000 people have flooded into Liberia since early this month, according to the UN refugee agency.

A political standoff has forced nearly 4,000 citizens of northwest Ivory Coast to flee to neighboring countries, prompting fears of regional insecurity, according to the United Nations. The disputed presidential election outcome between opposition leader Alassane Ouattara and incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has threatened to derail a fragile peace process in the west African nation.
The renewed refugee flow has also put neighboring Liberia and Guinea on high alert.
"In my village the majority voted massively for President Laurent Gbagbo, and [the New Forces soldiers] threatened us because of that. They came to our houses and started to harass us, to mistreat us," said Jean-Jacques Issignate, 19, from Nyale, an Ivorian village along the Guinea border. "We fled to the forest ... I spent one week in the forest."
Provisional results from a November presidential runoff intended to end more than 10 years of civil war showed Ouattara as the winner with a nearly eight-point margin.
Earlier this month, the nation's highest court, headed by an ally of Gbagbo, canceled thousands of votes from the north -- Ouattara's stronghold -- and declared Gbagbo the winner with 51 percent of the vote.
Both candidates have said they won and set up parallel governments in the city of Abidjan, where violence between their supporters has killed dozens since results were announced.
Britain's Foreign Office Sunday urged British people to leave the country "due to the threat of widespread instability and violence in Abidjan and other major cities."
Ouattara has unanimous international support. He urged his supporters to forcefully "liberate" the country's national television station and parliament building, sparking a standoff with soldiers loyal to Gbagbo.
The U.N. security council and other world bodies called for Gbagbo to step down, with many world leaders saying Ouattara won.
Political intimidation has forced nearly 4,000 Ivorians to flee to neighboring Liberia and Guinea, according to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.
Red Cross representatives in Guinea say many more have been separated from their families.
"They're spread out all over. There are others who are in the bush, there are others who we haven't seen, there are small children who have come here without their brothers, there are mothers who are still in the bush, there are fathers who fled to Liberia," said Mayoh Bohmimy, who is managing a U.N.-sponsored camp for displaced Ivorians in Bossou, a Guinean village near the Liberian border.
Clutching silver pots and pans, and hoisting plastic buckets filled with clothes and blankets on their heads, Ivorians such as Jean-Jacques fled without food and water for days.
Their new neighbors include wild chimpanzees that inhabit a reserve in Bossou.
Sebastien Gome, 18, is a Ouattara supporter who left town because his parents had voted for Gbagbo.
He said he found many people sleeping in the forest after he split with his parents for safety.
"I arrived by bicycle at the border, but they told me the road was closed and I should turn around. I had to pass by the forest. I saw many people there so I spent the night with them ... they had set up a tarp and we slept underneath it," he said. Eloi Onseu, a farmer from Nyale, sought refuge in Guinea.
"Our village was majority Gbagbo, so the New Forces were not happy with that," he said. "They entered the village around 3 p.m. one day and started to beat people."
Onseu said they beat residents and and shot in the air.
"That was when people started to flee," he said.
Authorities for the New Forces denied any violence or the existence of refugees.
"We heard reports of Ivorian refugees who fled to Guinea, which is surprising because we haven't seen any ... everything is fine here and people are living in harmony," said Lounceny Ouattara, a commander in the New Forces army.
Meanwhile Sunday, Navi Pillay, the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, warned of "growing evidence of massive violations of human rights," according to a statement.
Pillay said that more than 50 people have been killed in the past three days and more than 200 injured.
"When people are victims of extrajudicial killings there must be an investigation, and there must be accountability," Pillay said. "However, the deteriorating security conditions in the country and the interference with freedom of movement of U.N. personnel have made it difficult to investigate the large number of human rights violations reported."
The tensions in Ivory Coast have spiked fears that refugees could destabilize neighboring states, and armed groups could attack across porous borders.
"There is the risk any time conflict flares up that ex-combatants ... will follow the potential looting and fighting opportunities in neighboring countries, and will thus become active fighters again, setting the process of post-conflict peace-building back to zero," said Mike McGovern, an expert on Ivory Coast at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Astrid Castelein, interim head of UNHCR's operations in southeast Guinea, said that contingency plans have been set up in all countries bordering Ivory Coast amid fears of a conflict.
"We have about 3,500 refugees in Liberia, here we have 227 registered by today, and we are really preparing for an emergency situation especially in Liberia where there is already a big amount and they are facing already hard challenges in housing and foodstuffs," Castelein said.
Guinea has mobilized a special commando force to patrol its borders with Ivory Coast since the start of the Ivorian election process, while Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf recently warned ex-rebels in her country not to get involved in Ivory Coast's problems.
The southeastern forest region in Guinea saw an influx of refugees from civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast in the past two decades, and the country's authorities are keen to avoid a similar situation.
Guinean forces are on high alert and have been ordered to patrol the dirt roads, tall grass and thick forest that separate the country from Ivory Coast.
But villagers threatened by political intimidation are concerned about their safety.

"Bullets don't have bias toward supporters of Ouattara or Gbagbo," Onseu said. "I want peace in my country so that my family and I can return home."

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/19/ivory.coast.refugees/index.html?hpt=T2

 

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Ivory Coast conflict -- what's at stake

Supporter of Alassane Ouattara stand next to the bodies of two men reportedly killed by Ivorian police and army forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo on December 16.

The tensions that have swept Ivory Coast show no signs of abating as incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo ordered U.N. peacekeeping forces out of the country on Saturday. At stake is the leadership of the country and its contested presidential election, as well as the stability of the region.
The U.S. and EU have threatened sanctions against the west African nation if Gbagbo doesn't vacate office. The United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union and the African Union have all declared Alassan Ouattara as the winner of the November 28 presidential runoff, but the country's Constitutional Council invalidated those results and declared Gbagbo the winner.
Violence has broken out between supporters of Gbagbo and Ouattara. On Friday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on Gbagbo to step down.
Here's a look at the critical factors in the presidential standoff:
Will Gbagbo back down?
Gbagbo shows no signs of relinquishing power. Before these recent elections, he postponed elections six times in five years to maintain power. He's ignored all threats by the international community so far and used security troops to crackdown on Ouattara's protests. On Saturday he ordered the U.N. to leave Ivory Coast -- although it's unlikely the U.N. will listen to a man they don't recognize as president.
Is the threat of international sanctions likely to work?
Gbagbo has the support of the military and still controls many of the state institutions such as state-run television stations (some people in Ivory Coast are unaware of the ongoing crisis and presume Gbagbo is the president, as is being reported by state TV). As long as the military support him, Gbagbo's position is protected. Ouattara is meanwhile "governing" from a hotel in Abidjan, the nation's largest city. His is being guarded by the U.N., which has about 10,000 troops in the nation.
International sanctions and regional threats will likely to continue to have little effect. However, if agencies can cut off his ability to pay the military and civil service -- as some agencies are threatening to do -- that may push more people to support Ouattara.
One concern is that the international pressure may be push Gbagbo into a corner from which he will feel no safe way to back down. The White House has talked of him taking up exile in a neighboring country. But that may not comfort Gbagbo -- former Liberian President Charles Taylor's exile in Nigeria ended up with him being taken to the Hague, where he is on trial for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
What is Ouattara's game plan?
Ouattara continues to plan protests and attempts to seize state institutions from Gbagbo with U.N. support. These attempts have so far been met with violence by Gbagbo's security forces. Both sides are being careful about escalating the situation for fear of shouldering the blame and losing what they perceive as the moral high-ground. Neither candidate appears ready to spark a civil war.
The only way Ouattara's can respond with force is from his support base in the north (the country was effectively split in the 2002 civil war). But they will likely be of limited capability and unable to 'march' on Abidjan unless supported by a foreign power.
Will the street violence get worse?
At the moment, the stalemate is likely to mean more violence. The French still remain very concerned about violence against the thousands of French citizens in the nation, who are increasingly at risk because of France's support of Ouattara.
That plays to a dynamic that Gbagbo has seized upon to hold onto power: the question of citizenship and 'Who is Ivorian?' has fed the tensions that dog Ivory Coast. Many in the south accuse those in the north as being foreigners; Gbagbo has reportedly accused Ouattara of being a foreigner who therefore should not be running the country.
Is civil war likely?

As long as the military supports Gbagbo it remains a viable and dangerous option. The concern is a civil war in Ivory Coast will drag in other very vulnerable states in the region -- especially Liberia, whose warlords will likely be courted by Gbagbo to counter official opposition by the Liberian government. A civil war in Ivory Coast could tip the whole region back into chaos.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/19/ivory.coast.qanda/index.html?hpt=C2

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Korean tension: A look at the conflict

A disputed maritime border. Long-standing tensions. And on Monday, South Korea ordered residents of five border islands -- including one that was shelled by North Korea in November -- to take shelter as it prepared to start military exercises that have raised fears of a new conflict with North Korea. How did the latest hostilities begin?
South Korea said North Korea fired artillery November 23 toward the border between the two nations. The attack killed four people -- two marines and two civilians; 18 soldiers and civilians were wounded.
South Korea had been conducting maritime military drills, which the North called "war maneuvers."
The North accused the South of "reckless military provocation" for firing dozens of shells inside North Korean territory around the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the island of 1,300 people but it was not immediately clear how much damage was incurred. Many residents were fleeing to the South Korean port of Incheon.
See more of CNN.com's special coverage of the Koreas
Why did this happen?
Tension has been running particularly high in the Korean peninsula after the March 26 sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan. The November 23 shelling, however, is one of the most serious that has occurred in recent years.
The hostilities come as North Korea is undergoing transition -- the ailing and reclusive leader Kim Jong Il is believed to be in the process of transferring power to his son Kim Jong Un. Some analysts believe upcoming internal changes have prompted North Korea to flex its military muscle in recent days.
November's violence was also preceded by the revelation of a North Korean uranium enrichment program.
Has this happened before?
Yes, Yeonpyeong Island has come under attack before. Last January, South Korea reported that the North had fired shells that fell in waters north of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean maritime border.
North Korea wants that border redrawn farther south.
Over the past six decades, small-scale skirmishes have flared repeatedly along both land and sea borders as each state aims to reunify the peninsula according to its own terms and system of government. Deadly naval clashes occurred along the demarcation line in 1999, 2002 and 2009.
What is the history of conflict?
After Japan's defeat in World War II, Korea became a divided nation, the capitalist South supported by the United States and its Western allies and the communist North an ally of the Soviet Union.
Cold War tensions erupted into war 1950, devastating the peninsula and taking the lives of as many as 2 million people. The fighting ended with a truce, not a treaty, and settled little.
Technically the two Koreas are still at war.
Besides the border skirmishes, other incidents also have proven provocative. In 1968, North Korea dispatched commandos in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate South Korea's president. In 1983, a bombing linked to Pyongyang killed 17 high-level South Korean officials on a visit to Myanmar. In 1987, the North was accused of bombing a South Korean airliner.
What happened with the Cheonan?
South Korea said a North Korean torpedo last March sent the warship Cheonan to the bottom of the Yellow Sea off the Seoul-controlled island of Baengnyeong. The sinking, also in the border area, killed 46 South Korean sailors.
South Korea was outraged by the incident. North Korea vehemently denied any responsibility, even after an international investigating team blamed North Korea. The United Nations Security Council statement condemned the attack but stopped short of placing blame on the North.
Will the two nations go to war?
South Korea put its military on high alert following November's exchange of fire. But whether that will translate into further military action is impossible to predict.
Events in the past few months suggested a slight thawing of icy relations.
North and South Korea had begun discussions on the possible resumption of reunions of family members separated by the Korean war and North Korea has requested military talks. In early September, the South offered food aid to the impoverished North for the first time in three years.
Given the closed nature of North Korean politics, it is hard to tell what changes the new leadership of Kim Jong Un will entail or whether re-engagement is on the table. Another wild card is the influence of China; some South Koreans fear a Chinese takeover in the event of a North Korean collapse.
Some analysts viewed November 23 exchange as North Korea flexing its military muscle in the light of its leadership transition. Others said it was related to the nuclear issue.
How will nuclear talks be affected?
Washington accuses Pyongyang of running a secret uranium-based nuclear program. The United States, along with the two Koreas, Russia, Japan and China, have been involved in what is called the six party talks.
But those talks have been slow and arduous and in limbo since 2008. And after the recent revelation of the North Korean uranium enrichment facility, the resumption of talks seemed in jeopardy.
Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy on North Korean denuclearization, said recent hostilities will prove a further obstacle.
Choi Jin-wook, senior researcher at the Korea Institute of National Unification, said the North is "frustrated with Washington's response to their uranium program and they think that Washington has almost given up on negotiations with North Korea."

"I think they realize they can't expect anything from Washington or Seoul for several months, so I think they made the provocation," Choi said.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/koreas.clash.explainer/index.html?hpt=C1

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US lifts gay soldier ban

The Senate voted to end the 17-year ban on openly gay troops, overturning the Clinton-era policy known as ”don‘t ask, don‘t tell.”

”It‘s one step in a very long process of becoming an equal rights citizen,” said Warren Arbury of Savannah, Georgia, who served in the Army for seven years, including three combat tours, before being kicked out two years ago under the policy. He said he planned to re-enlist once the policy is abolished, the independent news reports.

”Even though this is really huge, I look at it as a chink in a very, very long chain,” he added.

Supporters declared the vote a civil rights milestone.

Aaron Belkin, director of the California-based Palm Center — a think tank on the issue — said the vote ”ushers in a new era in which the largest employer in the United States treats gays and lesbians like human beings.”
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201012200441379 Read more...

UN chief rejects Ivorien pullout

Laurent Gbagbo faced growing confrontation with foreign peacekeepers as the United Nations rejected his demand that they leave Cote d’Ivoire, in the tense aftermath of an election he insists he won and the outside world says he lost, Reuters reports.

The world‘s top cocoa grower is locked in a dispute over a November 28 presidential vote that both Gbagbo and rival, Alassane Ouattara claim to have won, Ouattara with backing from foreign governments and the UN Security Council.

A top Gbagbo aide said late on Saturday he would never step down and accused Western powers of attempting a ”recolonisation” of the West African state, by installing their ”puppet.”

Election commission results showed Ouattara won by some eight percent. But Gbagbo claims victory with backing from the Constitutional Council, headed by an ally, which erased nearly half a million votes in Ouattara strongholds, alleging fraud.

The United Nations, former colonial power France, the United States, the European Union, the African Union and West African regional bloc ECOWAS have all urged Gbagbo to admit defeat and accept an offer of exile.

“That is unimaginable,” Gbagbo aide Pascal Affi N‘Guessan told Reuters in an interview.

”Everyone involved in this crisis needs to exclude this hypothesis of Gbagbo leaving from their schemes.”

Ouattara has said he is only willing to talk to Gbagbo if he steps aside.

Gbagbo‘s Young Patriot supporters were due to a hold a rally close to Abidjan airport on Sunday. Their leader, Ble Goude, who is also Gbagbo‘s youth minister, has called on them to ”liberate” Cote d’Ivoire and defend its sovereignty.

Gbagbo‘s government said on state TV it wanted the UN peacekeeping and French forces out of the country, accusing them of interfering in Cote d’Ivoire internal affairs, after the UN envoy recognized Ouattara.

UN Secretary-General Ban ki-moon responded with his own statement issued by UN spokesman Farhan Haq, who made clear the force had no intention of pulling out. Diplomats said he had no authority to kick them out as he lost the poll.

”We consider this intolerable interference in our affairs,” N‘Guessan said. ”It obeys their interests to side with Ouattara. We consider this a conspiracy ... even a recolonisation.”

The UN mission includes some 10,000 soldiers and police, and is supported by the French LICORNE force. Hundreds of peacekeepers have been deployed to defend Ouattara‘s makeshift headquarters in Abidjan‘s lagoon-side Golf Hotel.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201012200404926 Read more...

Kosovo militia may have stolen prisoners' organs, report alleges

 Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has been named in a report regarding the country's alleged illegal organ trafficking
The authorities who control Kosovo may have stolen organs from prisoners of war and political rivals when the Kosovo Liberation Army was fighting Serbian forces for control of the territory, European authorities allege in a new report.

"Numerous indications seem to confirm that ... organs were removed from some prisoners ... to be taken abroad for transplantation," according to a draft report from the Council of Europe.
Investigators have "made progress" toward "proving the existence of secret KLA places of detention in northern Albania where inhuman treatment and even murders are said to have been committed," draft author Dick Marty says.
Illegal organ trafficking continued after the war ended, the draft suggests.
Nearly 1,900 people who disappeared during the conflict still have not been found, and another 500 disappeared after NATO troops arrived in June 1999, Marty says.
And links between "criminal activity" and "certain KLA militia leaders ... has continued, albeit in other forms, until today," he report charges.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo is one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The report names him as the "boss" of a prominent faction in the militia that "apparently wrested control" of "illicit criminal enterprises" from rivals across the border in Albania.
His office refused to comment on the allegations.
Kosovo's government called the report "defamatory" and "mendacious," saying the allegations "have been constructed to damage the image of Kosovo and the Kosovo Liberation Army."
Kosovo's acting President Jakup Krasniqi -- a Thaci ally -- expressed deep indignation about the report, saying it was "nothing but fabricated and irresponsible statements."
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said it was "based on no facts, evidence or reality. Thus it proves political line of the author, who flagrantly abuses the authority of the Council of Europe."
European Union officials in Kosovo said that anyone with concrete evidence of war crimes or organized crime should come forward.
"The mission is already investigating and prosecuting a number of cases related to war crimes and organized crimes," spokesman Blerim Krasniqi said.
On Thursday, the report will be debated by a committee of the Council of Europe, an organization with 47 member countries that seeks to promote democracy and human rights. The council's parliament plans to debate it in January.
The report is based partially on investigations by European Union officials and was written by Dick Marty for the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
Investigators are not getting enough cooperation from either Albania or Kosovo, the report adds.
Kosovo's majority population is ethnic Albanian. Serbs are the minority.
The KLA was backed by NATO bombing when it fought for independence from Serbia in the late 1990s.
Kosovo has made it "complicated" to dig for missing bodies, and Albania has refused to allow it, Marty says, adding: "Serbia ultimately cooperated."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday, "We are very seriously concerned about the published information."
He was appearing in a joint news conference in Moscow with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.
The report from the Council of Europe -- which is separate from the European Union -- was prompted partly by allegations made in a book in 2008.
Carla Del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia, leveled the accusation in her memoir "Madame Prosecutor."
The court opened an investigation into the allegations but dropped it, the Council of Europe said, without explaining why. Evidence has since been destroyed, Marty's draft says.
He acknowledges the chaotic situation in Kosovo after the war but also criticizes the international community for tending to see Serbs as aggressors and Kosovars as victims.
"The reality is less clear-cut and more complex," Marty writes.
But the international authorities who took control after the 1999 war felt that they "needed to promote short-term stability at any price, thereby sacrificing some important principles of justice."

Kosovo was a province of Serbia but declared independence in 2008. About 70 countries have recognized the declaration, but Serbia does not, and international organizations including the United Nations and European Union continue to have administrators in Kosovo.

Journalist Vlora Rustemi in Pristina, Kosovo, and CNN's Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/15/kosovo.organs/index.html?hpt=T2

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Long-range missile defense test fails

An interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Wednesday. The test failed
A test of the United States' only long-range missile defense system failed Wednesday -- the second failure this year in two tries. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said both the intermediate-range ballistic missile target and the long-range interceptor missile launched successfully, radar and sensors worked properly and the "kill vehicle" deployed. But the "kill vehicle" didn't hit the target.
"Program officials will conduct an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the failure to intercept the target," the agency said. "The next flight test will be determined after identification of the cause of the failure."
The last test, in January, failed because of a problem with the sea-based X-band radar, the agency said.
The X-band radar sits atop a modified floating oil platform and provides information about incoming missiles so military officials can launch a response.
In both Wednesday's test and the test launched earlier this year, the target missile launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The $100 billion missile shield program has had numerous problems. In December 2008, an interceptor launched from Vandenburg "killed" a target launched from Kodiak, Alaska. But the test wasn't able to determine a key aspect -- whether the interceptor could tell the difference between a decoy and a real missile -- because the decoy failed to launch.
Riki Ellison, chairman and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the deployment of missile defense systems, said the failure "is a tremendous setback," noting three major test failures in the past two years.
Ellison said many of the country's interceptors are nearly identical to the one that failed Wednesday, and he questioned the military's confidence in the ground-based system deployed in Alaska and California.

So far, the Defense Department has deemed eight of the program's 15 tests successful. 

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/12/15/missile.defense.fail/index.html?hpt=T2

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22 dead in Nepal plane crash

  A DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft that went missing en route from Lamidanda to Kathmandu in eastern Nepal crashed in a mountainous area east of the capital, killing all 22 people aboard, an airport spokesman said Thursday.

"The aircraft seems to have hit a mountainside," Purusottam Shakya, operations supervisor at Tribhuwan International Airport, which serves Kathmandu, told CNN.
The plane disappeared Wednesday, and search and rescue teams looked for it until night fell. A search team in a helicopter found pieces of the aircraft Thursday morning about 150 kilometers east of Kathmandu, said Shakya.
Lamidanda is about 200 kilometers east of Kathmandu.
Shakya said the plane carried 18 passengers -- including one U.S. national -- and three Nepalese crew members. The other 17 passengers were Nepalese.

In August, 14 people were killed when a plane crashed in central Nepal.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/15/nepal.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T2

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iReport Global Challenge: Earth's most fascinating places

iReport covers the globe

Four years ago, CNN's citizen journalism community, iReport, was born. Today, we have an iReport from every country in the world. Our global community has documented Iran election protests after reporters left the country, joined thousands to witness Obama's inauguration, used iReport to find missing loved ones after the Haiti earthquake and given a voice to victims of domestic violence. Our more than 700,000 registered iReporters have taken us to places that are rarely talked about and opened our eyes to settings of extreme beauty and harsh poverty.
iReport Global Challenge: See an iReport from every country
In 2010, we discovered we had iReports from all but about 50 of the world's 194 countries. So we embarked on a quest for the remaining nations. The iReport Global Challenge, as we called the project, ended last week with Nauru, the world's smallest republic.
From majestic castles in the Pyrenees mountains, to a flaming gas crater in the middle of the desert, to a diver's paradise in the South Pacific, we introduce you to 10 of the most fascinating places:
1. Andorra (Population: 85,000)
When Rebecca Florence first visited Andorra in 2007, she fell in love with the little-known country tucked between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains.
"How had I not even heard of this place?" she thought.
Picturesque landscapes, clean air, top-notch ski resorts and low crime rates are just a few of the many things that make the Catalan-speaking country special, says Florence, who moved with her husband to Andorra in 2009. She was so passionate about the region that she created a website to share the country's secrets for English-speaking tourists.
View more submissions in the iReport Global Challenge
2. Tuvalu (Population: 10,500)
It looks like paradise, but this South Pacific country has become the face of global climate change. Experts have warned that in the next 50 years, Tuvalu could be the first country to totally disappear under water.
Florent Baarsch, 23, of Lyon, France, moved to the island nation in September for a yearlong climate change research project. He says rising sea levels have already caused significant coastal erosion, and parts of the capital island, Funafuti, flood once a month from salt water seeping through the ground. But Tuvaluans aren't going anywhere, Baarsch says.
"The Tuvaluans want to stay on this place, and carry on living as they have always lived for centuries," he says.
3. Eritrea (Population: 5.8 million)
Railway enthusiast George Hart traveled from the United Kingdom to this Horn of Africa country in March 2009 for one reason: To ride, photograph and film the Eritrea Railway, a 74-mile mountain pass railway constructed between 1887 and 1932.
Passing through wild scenery, 39 tunnels and more than 65 bridges, he says the railway is "one of the most spectacular in the world."
While the railroad was the high point of his trip, Hart also enjoyed visiting the capital city of Asmara, an immaculate city -- "not a scrap of litter to be found" -- with Italian roots, Art Deco buildings, and an unusual open-air market selling household items made from scrap materials.
4. Djibouti (Population: 740,000)
Djibouti -- Eritrea's neighbor to the south and one of the hottest places on earth -- was one stop on a long voyage in the Indian Ocean for Amalvict Oliver of Nimes, France.
Oliver confessed that the small country, with its hostile climate and intense poverty, was not his favorite. But he captured stunning images of Lake Abhe Bad, the salt lake where the final scene of Charlton Heston's 1968 movie "Planet of the Apes" was filmed. Oliver's photos show a harsh landscape marked with craters that resemble Mars or the moon.
Oliver also visited the Moucha Islands, located a few miles off the coast. Djibouti has a thriving tourism and diving industry, and Oliver, a diver, took advantage of the chance to photograph the beautiful marine life he found

Gallery: 10 fascinating countries

5. Turkmenistan (Population: 5 million)
When Andrey Shapenko traveled from Moscow to this Central Asian country in September to give a talk about the gas industry, he made stops at the National Museum and other tourist sites.
But by far the best part of his visit was a gaping, flaming gas crater in the middle of the desert -- the result of a 1971 Soviet gas exploration accident, the crater has burned for nearly 40 years.
"In simple words, it was awesome ... There's nothing and nobody around. It's just in the middle of desert. Nobody cares about it, nobody looks for safety -- it's at your own risk," said Shapenko, who works for a Russian oil company. "You understand the power of nature and real force of Earth when you stand near it."
6. Guinea (Population: 10.3 million)
Few people know about Guinea, an impoverished West African country where life is hard but joyful, and filled with dance and drumming, says Pam Camara of High Falls, New York.
Camara's husband, Mimo, was a lead dancer with Guinea's national dance troupe for 18 years. They go back as often as they can, bringing American dancers and drummers to train with members of the troupe.
"The same way you might go to Little League here, kids in Guinea will go to their community centers or wherever they can find a gathering space, and they choreograph routines," she said.
7. Tonga (Population: 123,000)
Elena Borquist Noyes and her husband Mark have noticed that the residents on this archipelago in the Pacific can do many things well: Open a green coconut in just a few hacks of a machete, sew an outfit with no pattern in less than a day, weave a palm leaf basket in 10 minutes.
But celebrations are their true forte, complete with "throngs of people, heaps of food, a huge roast pig, and some spectacular dancing," says Noyes, who arrived with her husband in Tonga in October 2009 to volunteer with the Peace Corps.
The annual yam harvest is one, bringing communities together to help harvest each others' fields, "often with much teasing about the size and quality of each others' yams." When all the yams are successfully dug up, everyone gathers to feast and give prayers of thanks. This country takes their yams seriously, Noyes says: One big tuber can fetch more than $30.
The country had even more to celebrate with its first Democratic elections in November.
8. Papua New Guinea (Population: 6 million)
Warriors covered in body paint are the common face of this collection of islands east of Indonesia, but Brian Malone found so much more to discover: Japanese World War II wrecks, clear blue waters "teeming with dolphins and fish," and a volcano that erupted in 1994 and by 2009, was still spewing enough ash that locals needed to use umbrellas to protect themselves from the debris.
Malone works in Papua New Guinea as a sales manager for Digicel, an Irish mobile phone company covering the Caribbean and the Pacific. The country got its first nationwide cellular service two years ago, and he says it's common to drive through the Southern Highlands "and see people walking by in full tribal gear with a mobile phone glued to their ear."
9. Palau (Population: 21,000)
The most beautiful place on the planet -- that's how many visitors describe this Pacific island nation, which draws scuba divers, snorkelers and kayakers from all over the world to its coral reefs and other underwater delights.
Ethan Daniels of Berkeley, California, lived in Palau for nine years as a dive guide and biologist and still dreams of being in the sparkling waters. The small-town feel of the country along with its natural beauty, vibrant sea life and warm, welcoming inhabitants keep him going back every year.
"It was a fascinating culture to spend a good chunk of my adult life," Daniels says. "It was really hard to leave when I did."
10. Nauru (Population: 9,300)
The Global Challenge came down to Nauru, the tiniest republic in the world.
Lee Miller had read about "pretty much every country" and was looking for a vacation spot where he would see no tourists. He found it, on this remote island just below the equator.
iReporter and CNN special contributor Johnny Colt reports from Nauru
Nauru has had plenty of struggles. The country once enjoyed great wealth from mining phosphate for fertilizer, but those resources are nearly exhausted, and Miller observed dilapidated homes and beaches strewn with garbage.
But there was a lot more about the country waiting to be seen. In 2008, sitting on a beach where one could go hours without seeing another human being, Miller basked in the feeling that he was "on the edge of the world."

"Overall, I had a great experience and met a lot of great people," says Miller, who plans to return with his brother in 2011. "For this, I would go back."

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/IREPORT/12/15/global.challenge.irpt/index.html?hpt=C1

 

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