Satellite images obtained by the BBC show clearly the location of Syrian
military forces around the site of last week's massacre at Houla where
108 civilians died, including 49 children.
'Teaching a lesson' The first image showsthe general area of Homs province around the village of Houla and the lake to the south.
Locations A and B are the 2 villages, Al-Sharqliyah and Foulah, from where local eyewitnesses report that pro-government militia, known as the shabiha, set off on Friday afternoon.
The shabiha are described as armed paramilitary thugs drawn
from criminal gangs and with no official position in the military
command structure. They have been widely blamed for committing the bulk
of the killings at Houla. The government says "armed terrorist gangs"
are to blame.
Locations C - shown in close-up to the right of the main
image - and D are the Sunni suburbs of the town of Taldou that were
attacked from Friday afternoon by shellfire, followed up by shabiha on
the ground.
Locals detained are being held in detention centers in and around Lhasa
while many of those from outside the Tibet Autonomous Region have been
expelled, Radio Free Asia said.
On Sunday, two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in Lhasa, state news
agency Xinhua said, the first time in four years of a major Tibetan
protest against Chinese rule. One of the men died.
China has branded the self-immolators "terrorists" and criminals and has
blamed exiled Tibetans and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama, for inciting them.
Hao Peng, head of the Communist Party's Commission for Political and
Legal Affairs in the Tibet Autonomous Region, has urged authorities to
tighten their grip on the Internet and mobile text messaging, reflecting
government fears about unrest during a month-long Buddhist festival
which started last week.
Syria rebels give government truce ceasefire deadline
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has given the government of President Bashar al-Assad a 48-hour deadline to observe a UN ceasefire plan.
The BBC 31 May 2012 The FSA's Colonel Qassim Saadeddine said if there was no response by Friday lunchtime the FSA would consider itself "no longer bound by the.. peace plan".
The plan calls on government forces to withdraw to barracks.
On Wednesday, UN observers confirmed the discovery of 13 shooting victims near the city of Deir el-Zour.
Col Saadeddine said in a video published online that the government must "implement an immediate ceasefire, withdraw its troops, tanks and artillery from Syrian cities and villages".
Tens of thousands flee 'extreme violence' in Congo Aid workers say more than 100,000 people in North Kivu have fled mass executions, mutilations and rapes by armed militias
Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 May 2012 07.34 BST Villagers and townspeople in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are facing "extreme violence" with atrocities including mass executions, abductions, mutilations and rapes being committed almost daily, according to aid workers in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.
Fighting between the government army, the FARDC, and a group of mutineers led by a fugitive UN war crimes indictee, Bosco Ntaganda, has escalated since April. Armed militias including the notorious FDLR, a Rwandan rebel group based in Congo, have joined the fray in a multi-fronted battle for territory, money and power. But the violence has received relatively little international attention so far.
Markets in spin as anti-bailout party rises in Greek polls and Spanish borrowing costs soa Madrid government forced to deny plan to bail out troubled bank with state cash
Madrid Thursday 31 May 2012
A day after markets in Europe were calmed on news that Greece's pro-bailout New Democracy party appeared to be pulling clear in the polls ahead of next month's crunch general election, new polls yesterday threw the situation back into doubt after suggesting the vote was back on a knife-edge.
Three new polls painted a confusing picture of what might happen in Greece, ahead of next month's election, which may decide whether or not Greece remains in the euro.
Firefighters tell of Doha mall horror
May 31, 2012 - 4:14AM Firefighters in Qatar have told of how they tried to rescue 13 children trapped by a blaze in a shopping mall nursery but found most already dead, huddled in the arms of two fellow firemen who died in the rescue bid.
All 19 people killed in the inferno at Doha's Villagio mall on Monday were foreigners, including the two firefighters as well as 13 children and four teachers.
The authorities have ordered that the mall's owner and four of its senior staff be arrested, reports said.
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As smoke and flames engulfed the nursery, two of the four teachers sent farewell text messages and made their final calls to family letting them know they would not be coming home.
Business before rights in Southeast Asia
By Roberto Tofani
Impressive economic growth, democratic opening in Myanmar and prolonged financial crises in the West have renewed United States and European Union (EU) interest in Southeast Asia after a decade of relative neglect. But will Washington and Brussels sacrifice their long-standing advocacy of democracy and human rights on the altar of new economic and strategic interests?
The increasing geopolitical relevance of the South China Sea, where China has competing and contentious territorial claims with Southeast Asian neighbors, has helped to drive the US's declared strategic "pivot" towards Asia. Many analysts view that strategic shift as an attempt to counterbalance China's rising regional influence by courting and defending its Southeast Asian neighbors.
French journalist released by FARC says captors were respectful Romeo Langlois, who was captured by FARC 33 days ago and released today, criticized the rebels for using his release as propaganda, but also empathized with their plight.
By Fernando Vergara and Frank Bajak, The Associated Press A French journalist freed by leftist rebels Wednesday said he had no complaints about his captivity other than its 33-day duration and lamented that Colombia's war is an "invisible conflict" where the poor kill the poor.
Romeo Langlois said he was not embittered, but he criticized the rebels for using his capture for propaganda purposes. They freed him on their movement's 48th anniversary on a specially built stage, hanging pro-peace banners in this remote southern hamlet and organizing a barbecue.
But the rebels and the roughly 2,000 people they convened for the handover to a humanitarian commission coordinated by the International Red Cross applauded vigorously when Langlois said he appreciated how the guerrillas "live in the mud and risk their lives."
We follow a Sesame Street composer as he learns how his music has been used to torture detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Award-winning musician Christopher Cerf has composed music for the
famous children's television show Sesame Street for 40 years. During
this time, he has written more than 200 songs intended to help children
learn how to read and write.
But these innocent children's songs were abused for inhumane purposes.
"It
is music's capacity to take over your mind and invade your inner
experience that makes it so terrifying as a potential weapon." - Thomas Keenan, the director of the Human Right's Project at Bard College
In 2003, it transpired that US intelligence services had tortured
detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib with music from Sesame
Street.
Human rights researcher Thomas Keenan explains:
"Prisoners were forced to put on headphones. They were attached to
chairs, headphones were attached to their heads, and they were left
alone just with the music for very long periods of time. Sometimes
hours, even days on end, listening to repeated loud music."
"The
music was so loud," says Moazzam Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo
Bay and Bagram. "And it was probably some of the worst torture that they
faced.
Washington has agreed in principle to install weapons on Italy’s
fleet of unmanned aircraft in spite of concerns about a new arms race
among nations to acquire and deploy robot drones capable of deadly
force.
As President Barack Obama has come to rely more and more on armed
drones to erase terror threats in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and
protect troops in Afghanistan, other nations have begun more urgently to
covet them. Today, Britain is the only country using drones loaded with
US-provided weaponry.
The WWF is the most powerful environmental organization in the
world and campaigns internationally on issues such as saving tigers and
rain forests. But a closer look at its work leads to a sobering
conclusion: Many of its activities benefit industry more than the
environment or endangered species.
Want to protect the rainforest? All it takes is €5 ($6.30) to get
started. Save the gorillas? Three euros and you're in. You can even do
your part for nature with only 50 cents -- as long as you entrust it to
the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which is still known by its
original name of the World Wildlife Fund in the United States and
Canada.
Last year, the WWF, together with German retail group Rewe, sold almost
2 million collectors' albums. In only six weeks, the program raised
€875,088 ($1.1 million), which Rewe turned over to the WWF.
Bangkok's pop-star welcome for Aung San Suy Kyi
Lindsay Murdoch
May 30, 2012 - 1:49PM Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suy Kyi was jostled and pushed by excited well-wishers outside the Thai capital today.
Security officials were overwhelmed by a surging crowd of
mostly Burmese migrant workers on her first day in a foreign country in
24 years.
Ms Suu Kyi, 66, was visiting a market near Bangkok to see the working conditions of Burmese migrants.
Women in Libya are hoping to draft a constitution to show they can
be much more than just sexy bodyguards or accessories to murder.
“Women gave a lot of hard work to support the revolution, so why
not enter the government now?” asked Samira Karmusi, who is running with
the Justice and Construction Party.
The party brings together members of the Muslim Brotherhood with
other Islamists and independents. Like most emerging parties, it wants
to legislate in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law.
Karmusi said the men in her party, most of them professionals and
some like her husband former political prisoners, welcome women on
board.
“We feel that we can do it, that we can make it,” she said.
Najia Gajem, a university lecturer who is running as an independent
candidate in the district of Ein Zara, says not all men are so
open-minded.
On a recent visit to Caracas,
it was Friday early evening after an intense week (as usual) there. I
decided to stay home, relax, watch a Red Sox game. I did need to get a
medicine, so I went home and waited for traffic to decrease, which
begins to happen around 7:30 p.m. It should only take ten minutes to go
to Locatel and get what I need. Then relax!
But it was not to be.
At the Locatel drugustore they were out not only of what I had the
prescription for, but also for the competing product. But they were very
helpful, told me that I could find the competing product in either
their Caricuao or Alto Prado store, a little bit far from where I stay
when I go to Caracas.
Chen Guangcheng, now in U.S., poised to play role in yet another abortion debate
Conservatives are seizing on the high-profile story of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist who recently arrived
in the United States, hoping that the spotlight on his human rights
work will bolster their efforts to curb abortions domestically and in
China.
Antiabortion groups, including National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List, are highlighting Chen’s work
exposing forced abortions and sterilizations in China in hopes that it
will help them with their current priority in the United States, passing
legislation banning abortions performed because of a child’s gender.
Chen’s plight also has led congressional Republicans to plan hearings
this summer on China’s one-child policy.
In July 2010, US President Barack Obama signed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as the Dodd-Frank bill, aimed at reforming Wall Street and eliminating the practices that caused the 2008 financial crisis, which some have suggested were criminal.
However, legal enforcement has been slow and critics warn of powerful lobbyists preventing real progress from being made. The lack of prosecutions of American financial institutions has led to increased frustration and played a role in the birth of “Occupy” movements around the world. Within the American "Occupy" movement, a small group of former Wall Street bankers, business analysts, traders and hedge fund managers have been quietly working within the system to eliminate bad practices.
WARNING: video contains graphic images Unverified video uploaded to a social media website purports to show the shelling of Houla in Syria on Friday, which left 108 people dead. People are seen fleeing as explosions and gunshots are heard, and several people appear to help an injured person on the ground. Survivors have told UN investigators that most of the victims died in two bouts of summary executions carried out by pro-government militia
Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will
By JO BECKER and SCOTT SHANE
Published: May 29, 2012 This was the enemy, served up in the latest chart from the intelligence agencies: 15 Qaeda suspects in Yemen with Western ties. The mug shots and brief biographies resembled a high school yearbook layout. Several were Americans. Two were teenagers, including a girl who looked even younger than her 17 years.
President Obama, overseeing the regular Tuesday counterterrorism meeting of two dozen security officials in the White House Situation Room, took a moment to study the faces. It was Jan. 19, 2010, the end of a first year in office punctuated by terrorist plots and culminating in a brush with catastrophe over Detroit on Christmas Day, a reminder that a successful attack could derail his presidency. Yet he faced adversaries without uniforms, often indistinguishable from the civilians around them.
Fukushima inquiry: I felt helpless, says former PM Naoto Kan urges Japan to abandon nuclear power, as the industry attempts to bring closed reactors back into operation
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 May 2012 08.13 BST
Japan's prime minister at the height of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis has admitted he often felt "helpless" during the early days of the disaster, adding that the facility's triple meltdown had brought the country close to "national collapse".
Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the incident on Monday, Naoto Kan urged Japan to abandon nuclear power, as the industry attempts to bring closed reactors back into operation.
Kan, who resigned last September amid criticism of his handling of the crisis, has become one of Japan's most vocal opponents of nuclear power.
The West is horrified by children's slaughter now. Soon we'll forget The Algerian FLN regime got away with it, after 200,000 dead – compared to the mere 10,000 killed so far in Syria's war
Robert Fisk Tuesday 29 May 2012
Bashar al-Assad will get away with it. He got away with Deraa. He got away with Homs. And he'll get away with Houla. So will the armed opposition to the regime, along with al-Qa'ida and any other outfits joining in Syria's tragedy. Yes, this may be the critical moment, the "tipping point" of horror, when Baathist collapse becomes inevitable rather than probable. And dear Mr Hague may be "absolutely" appalled. The UN, too. We all are.
But the Middle East is littered with a hundred Houlas, their dead children piled among the statistics, with knives and ropes as well as guns among the murder weapons. And what if Assad's soldiers let their Alawite militia do their dirty work?
Grand designs of Georgia's president not welcomed by all The Irish Times - Tuesday, May 29, 2012
DANIEL McLAUGHLIN Luxury hotels, sleek public buildings and plans for a new city: is Georgia’s president building a foundation for the future or is this the work of a megalomanic?
THE GRANDFATHER clock in the parlour is English, but the piano is French, like the fine porcelain that sits on the dining table between glinting Russian cutlery.
The Chavchavadze family brought the best of Europe, east and west, to their Italianate villa in Georgia, and made it an oasis for cultured society in the shadow of the wild Caucasus.
'Fundamentalists Can't Take a Joke' Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi has been in hiding in Germany since a fatwa was pronounced against him three weeks ago. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he discusses the fear Iranian leaders have of young people and his conviction that change will come to his country sooner or later.
SPIEGEL, SPIEGEL: Mr. Najafi, you've been hiding for nearly three weeks now. What's your everyday life like?
Najafi: I read, I write, I have my guitar with me. I'm trying not to think about the threat.
SPIEGEL: Does anyone visit you?
Najafi: No, nobody. Only my manager and Mr. Wallraff.
SPIEGEL: You are married here in Germany. How is your family dealing with the situation?
Najafi: It's difficult; I'd rather not say anything more about it.
SPIEGEL: Are you in contact with your family in Iran?
Najafi: I'm in contact with a few friends. They haven't had any problems so far. My mother knows what has happened. She's very old.
UN, Africa Development Bank back youth wage subsidy As SA grapples with the idea of a youth subsidy, an international report has recommended providing firms with such incentives to hire young people.
29 May 2012 08:08 - Lynley Donnelly But these must be designed to avoid negative side effects and the displacement of workers, according to the African Economic Outlook 2012 report.
Unemployment rates among young South Africans has soared to double the national average, hitting 50.5% in 2010, according to the report.
The problem is prevalent across the continent, where unemployment rates among people aged 15 to 24 are hitting all-time highs.
Young people make up 60% of Africa’s unemployed adults.
Kan says pro-nuclear mentality to blame for Fukushima disaster
The grip of the nuclear lobby in Japan before the Fukushima disaster was akin to that of the military in the run-up to World War II, the prime minister at the time of last year’s catastrophe said Monday.
At a parliamentary inquiry into the world’s worst atomic crisis in 25 years, Naoto Kan said the lion’s share of the blame for the tsunami-triggered disaster lay with the state for its unquestioning promotion of nuclear power.
“The nuclear accident was caused by a nuclear plant which operated as national policy,” Kan said.
“I believe the biggest portion of blame lies with the state,” said the former premier, who has come out strongly against the technology since the Fukushima disaster in March last year.
But, he said, the “nuclear village”—a term critics often use to refer to the pro-atomic lobby of academics and power companies—had blinded the government in a way analogous to the rise of the powerful military elite that led Japan into the vicious colonialism that precipitated World War II.
“Before the war, the military came to have a grip on actual political power… Similarly, plant operator TEPCO and FEPC (Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan) held sway over the nation’s nuclear administration over the past 40 years,” Kan said.
Annan to visit Syria as UN condemns Houla massacre
Special envoy Kofi Annan is to visit Damascus on Monday, the day after
the UN condemned Syria for its use of heavy weaponry in the town of
Houla, where at least 108 people were killed.
Syria's ambassador to the UN rejected what he called a "tsunami of lies" from some Security Council members.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is going to Russia, which views Syria as a vital ally in the region.
The BBC's Daniel Sandford, in Moscow, says Mr Hague will
argue that this could be the last opportunity to secure a "political
transition" in Syria and avoid all-out civil war.
Russia and China have blocked previous attempts to impose UN sanctions on Syria.
Robert Fisk: The going price of getting away with murder... would $33m be enough?
The Long View: Are the Pakistanis being so dastardly when they lock up a national who has helped in a murder?
Monday 28 May 2012
La Clinton hath spoken. Thirty-three million smackers lopped off
Pakistan's aid budget because its spooks banged up poor old Dr Shakeel
Afridi for 33 years after a secret trial. And, as the world knows, Dr
Afridi's crime was to confirm the presence of that old has-been Osama
bin Laden in his grotty Abbottabad villa.
Well, that will teach the Pakistanis to mess around with a brave
doctor who is prepared to help the American institution that tortures
and murders its enemies. Forget the CIA's black prisons and rendition
and water-boarding, and the torture of the innocents in the jails of our
friendly dictators.
PNG tension rises as judge arrested
May 28, 2012 - 4:59PM
A second judge of Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court has been arrested
on charges of sedition as police call for an end to political tensions.
Justice Nicholas Kirriwom was arrested at Waigani national court today.
It is understood he was quietly led by police into his chambers, where he is now being interviewed.
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Police spokesman Dominic Kakas said Justice Kirriwom, one
of three judges who ruled today for a second time that Sir Michael
Somare is the nation's legitimate prime minister, is likely to be
charged with sedition.
Sudan, S.Sudan to meet for crisis talks after fighting
By AFP
Posted
Monday, May 28
2012 at
09:31
Sudan and South Sudan are due to restart African Union-led talks in the
Ethiopia Tuesday in the first face-to-face meeting since bitter border
fighting took the foes to the brink of all-out war.
International pressure has pushed both sides to return to the
long-running talks stalled by the fighting last month, when Southern
troops seized an oil field from Khartoum's troops for ten days as Sudan
launched repeated air strikes.
Tensions remain high, but Southern President Salva
Kiir stressed ahead of the talks that "amicable dialogue on the
outstanding issues with Khartoum is the only option for peace,"
according the South Sudan government website.
Israel curbing Arab enrollment in medical schools, activists say
The rising ranks of Arab medical students have caused alarm and led
to rules to d
iscourage non-Jewish applicants, critics say. Schools
dispute the assertion.
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2012, 12:34 a.m
Israeli medical student Mohammad Hijazi seems the ideal candidate to alleviate the country's looming doctor shortage.
He graduated first in his high school class, scored in the top 5% of Israel's version of the SAT and rounded out his resume by founding a grass-roots organization that encourages blood donation.
.Yet for the four years he applied to all five of Israel's medical
schools, Hijazi was repeatedly rejected. Officials told him he kept
failing the pre-admission personality interview, but the 25-year-old
Arab Israeli suspects another reason: He believes that recent changes in
the enrollment process are designed to discourage non-Jewish
applicants.
"And it works," said Hijazi, 25, who is now pursuing a medical degree in Poland.
U.S. officials among the targets of Iran-linked assassination plots
In November, the tide of daily cable traffic to the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan
brought a chilling message for Ambassador Matthew Bryza, then the top
U.S. diplomat to the small Central Asian country. A plot to kill
Americans had been uncovered, the message read, and embassy officials
were on the target list.
The details, scant at first, became clearer as intelligence
agencies from both countries stepped up their probe. The plot had two
strands, U.S. officials learned, one involving snipers with
silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, apparently intended
to kill embassy employees or members of their families.
Syria massacre in Houla condemned as outrage grows
Western nations are pressing for a response to the massacre in the Syrian town of Houla, with the US calling for an end to what it called President Bashar al-Assad's "rule by murder"
The BBC 27 May 2012 UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council this week.
The UN has confirmed the deaths of at least 90 people in Houla, including 32 children under the age of 10.
The Syrian government blamed the deaths on "armed terrorist gangs".
Houla, in the central province of Homs, came under sustained bombardment by the Syrian army after demonstrations on Friday.
Activists say some of the victims died by shelling, while others were summarily executed by the regime militia known as the "shabiha".
Gorilla areas bombed by Congo rebels Fighting in the central African state has reached the national park where a dwindling population of primates lives
Sunday 27 May 2012
One-quarter of the world's entire mountain gorilla population is under threat from sustained fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Just over 800 gorillas remain in the world, with 210 living in the Virunga National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site. A rebel army calling itself M23 entered the gorillas' habitat in the early hours of 8 May, and set up an operating base at Runyoni, a strategic peak in the Rutshuru territory, close to the border of Uganda. For more than two weeks, the rebels have been under siege as FARDC, the Congolese national army, fires rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft guns towards Virunga, Africa's oldest national park.
Fight goes on, without athletes The rebel runner John Carlos doesn't expect to see anything like his Black Power salute at the London Olympic Games, writes Gary Younge
May 27, 2012 You almost certainly know this image featuring John Carlos. It's 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics and the medals are being hung round the necks of Tommie Smith (US, gold), Peter Norman (Australia, silver) and Carlos (US, bronze).
As The Star-Spangled Banner begins to play, Smith and Carlos, two black Americans wearing black gloves, raise their fists in the Black Power salute. It is a symbol of resistance and defiance, seared into 20th-century history, that Carlos feels he was put on Earth to perform
In Brazil, a showdown over rainforest deforestation Brazil's president is scheduled to sign a reform package today that could retroactively legalize the deforestation of millions of acres in the Amazon.
By Taylor Barnes, Correspondent A throng of students, young professionals, and activists gathered on the lawn as dusk took over the towering parliament and Planalto, Brazil’s executive branch. They took their tambourines and whistles, promising to camp out until midnight and serenaded the president: “Oh Dilma! You can veto it! Brazil will support you!
Theirs was the latest in a series of nationwide protests in recent months over a proposed reform of the 1965 “Forest Code” that will, as currently written, effectively legalize the deforestation of tens of millions of Amazon jungle after the fact and reduce requirements on landowners to reforest protected areas.
Later today, President Dilma Roussef is expected to sign part of the "amnesty" bill into law, though she's signaled that some amendments will be made in response to environmental concerns. But whether they go far enough to mollify an angry movement of citizens and environmental activists remains to be seen.
In Mexicali, a haven for broken lives The once-grand El Hotel Centenario is now the decrepit El Hotel del Migrante Deportado — the Hotel of the Deported Migrant. It hosts a procession of lost souls.
By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Mario Ramos stirs a pot of beans with a bent spatula as the men crowd into the kitchen, the ragged line stretching out the splintered doorway.
Years ago, Ramos, 45, grilled up pricey seafood in a tiki-themed restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. Now, he's serving starchy meals on plastic plates. One of his busboys worked at the Shanghai Grill in Beverly Hills; another is a 28-year-old U.S. Marines veteran.
India's Hampi heritage site families face eviction from historic ruins Hampi's 2,000 temples and ancient stones attract half a million pilgrims and tourists each year. Conservationists want the site in Karnataka restored to its medieval glory – but the price is the eviction of those who live in its old bazaar
Gethin Chamberlain
The Observer, Sunday 27 May 2012 The men came in the middle of the night and painted red crosses on the houses chosen for demolition. In the morning the people who had lived and traded in the ruins of the old Hampi bazaar stood by helplessly as the bulldozers moved in. The past, they were to discover, had come back to haunt them.
Hampi is India's Pompeii. Once home to half a million people, it was sacked in 1565 by the armies of the Bahamani sultanates. For hundreds of years, the City of Victory lay abandoned until it was rediscovered by the British in the 19th century. Now it is a place of sprawling beauty, a world heritage site of 2,000 monuments scattered across a landscape of enormous granite boulders, pulling in nearly half a million visitors a year from around the world.
Given the events of the last 24 hours: UN confirms 'massacre' of children in Houla and that the Russian government continues to support the al-Assad government politically and militarily through arms shipments: So why anyone outside of Syria is surprised that an incident such as this has taken place is beyond me.
Even with Syrians risking their lives to get the story out the worlds governments have done nothing but allow the Syrian government to play for time and continue its assault on the opposition.
Mohammed Abdel-Mawla al-Hariri is a Syrian social media activist who, like many others before him, gave an interview to Al Jazeera's Arabic news channel to denounce the al-Assad regime. But the interview looks set to be his last. Shortly after giving it, he was reportedly taken from his home, tortured and charged with 'high treason and contacts with foreign parties'. The Syrian government allegedly sentenced him to death.
This case is significant because of the chilling effect it may have on opponents of the government and its potential impact on the flow of information coming out of the country. Around the same time, Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, spoke to a Russian TV channel and conceded that his government lost the media war the day the uprising began. In this week's News Divide, we look at the case of a Syrian activist and what the consequences will be for news coverage on Syria.
With the first round of the presidential election in Egypt concluded the results show that the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate has a slim lead over Hosni Murbarak's last Prime Minister the media and the Right Wing in America will soon light the fear mongering rocket. The pontificating will range from here comes the Taliban to this is the Second Coming of Al Qaeda or perhaps the Mickey Mouse Club who knows? Whatever the out the come of Egypt's first free presidential election it isn't America's right to decide what is best for the Egyptian people that's up to them.
For years the Muslim Brotherhood was officially banned by Egypt's government, but following the 2011 revolution, the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the country's first free parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood - with its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party - has emerged as Egypt's most powerful political force.
This film traces the Muslim Brotherhood's gradual integration into the Egyptian political system - despite the attempts of Mubarak to suppress the organisation during his 30-year rule.
In a political game of cat-and-mouse, as the Brotherhood's influence grew, Mubarak sought to oppose its rise - even to the point of amending the constitution to ban religious-based political parties.
Germany Looks to Its Own Costly Reunification in Resisting Stimulus for Greece
By NICHOLAS KULISH MUNICH — When Germany wants to understand Greece and the crisis afflicting Europe it not only looks south to the Continent’s periphery but also turns inward, to the former East Germany, still struggling more than two decades after German reunification.
To an extent not often appreciated by outsiders, the lessons provided by that experience — with the nation pouring $2 trillion or more into the east, by some estimates, to little immediate benefit — color the outlook and decisions of policy makers and the attitudes of voters, a majority of whom would like to see Greece leave the euro zone, polls show.
Assad's troops 'kill 50 people' in Homs
Saturday 26 May 2012
President Bashar Assad's forces killed at least 50 civilians, including 13 children, in central Syria, activists said.
It is one of the highest death tolls in one specific area since an internationally-brokered ceasefire went into effect last month.
Syrian troops using tanks, mortars and heavy machine guns pounded the area of Houla, a region made up of several towns and villages in the province of Homs, yesterday, British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Co-ordination Committees activist groups said.
Support at record high for Greece's radical-left party The Irish Times - Saturday, May 26, 2012
DAMIAN Mac CON ULADH in Athens ONE WEEK into the campaign for the second Greek general election, to be held on June 17th, a poll shows the country’s main anti-bailout leftist party has overtaken its principal promemorandum conservative rival.
Support for the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza), led by Alexis Tsipras, is now at 30 per cent, an all-time high and a solid four points ahead of New Democracy, according to the Public Issue/ Kathimerini poll, which was published late on Thursday.
Growth in support for the two main parties has been at the expense of the plethora of parties that failed to make the parliamentary threshold in the inconclusive May 6th contest and reflects the increasing polarisation around the memorandum issue.
Mob attacks cast doubt on withdrawal of Solomons mission
Rory Callinan
May 26, 2012 WHEN a mob started yelling death threats and burning down homes in Koa Hill, an impoverished settlement in the Solomon Islands, last month, residents started asking themselves one question: what were the police and the Australian-led assistance mission going to do to stop the violence quickly? The answer was - nothing.
The response of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force to the revenge attack on April 21 after the murder of a prominent bureaucrat, Simon Fuo'o, in the town centre, was considered severely lacking by residents in Koa Hill, a collection of shanties on the south-western side of the Honiara hills.
Somali militants vow to intensify war against AU troops Despite the fall of their key stronghold of Afgoye, Al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants vowed to intensify the war against government and AU troops
26 May 2012 09:54 - Sapa-AFP Al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants vowed on Saturday to intensify the war against government and African Union troops, despite the fall of their key stronghold of Afgoye, the latest in a string of military losses.
“God willing we will continue the war and we will win the battle without doubt,” said Sheik Abdiaziz Abu Musab, spokesman for the hardline Shebab, a day after AU and Somali troops entered Afgoye, a former strategic rebel base.
The bulk of Shebab fighters left ahead of an advancing column of hundreds of AU and Somali government troops, who launched a long-awaited assault on the town, which controls key roads some 30km northwest of the capital Mogadishu.
Eurovision: Singing in Baku for prizes and freedom Twenty-six countries will be competing at the Eurovision Song Contest in the Azeri capital Baku on Saturday, but away from the performances, a battle for free speech and democracy is taking place on the capital's streets.
By Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Azerbaijan There cannot beanyone in Baku who does not know that the Eurovision Song Contest has come to town.
Everywhere you look there are signs declaring "Light Your Fire!" - this year's competition slogan.
You can see them on advertising hoardings, on the sides of buildings, and also on the 1,000 London cabs that Baku has bought to make it feel more like a European city.
By the way, Baku's taxis are not black - they have all been re-painted purple - which has earned them the nickname "aubergines on wheels".
Ban Ki-moon blames the regime for "violence and abuses" as activists say at least 50 civilians killed in Homs province.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, has blamed the
government of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, for much of the
"unacceptable levels of violence and abuses" occurring every day in the
14-month-long crisis in Syria.
In a report to the UN Security Council, issued on Friday, Ban cited
the government's continued use of heavy weapons, reports of shelling and
"a stepped-up security crackdown by the authorities that has led to
massive violations of human rights by government forces and
pro-government militias".
Ban, who is scheduled to brief the Security Council on Wednesday,
said there has only been "small progress" on implementing the six-point
joint UN-Arab League plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan
Spain races to bail out bank as debt fears stalk Europe
Euro plunges as Bankia shares are suspended
Spain's economic crisis intensified yesterday as Madrid prepared to
pump at least €15bn (£12bn) into the country's fourth-biggest bank,
sending the euro plunging on a fresh day of turmoil for the eurozone.
Shares in Bankia, which has already been propped up by the Spanish
taxpayer, were suspended on the Madrid stock exchange ahead of the move.
Spain's cost of borrowing on international money markets also soared as
Catalonia – the country's wealthiest region – said it may need a
handout from the central government to pay its bills.
When Modern Cities Become Ghost Towns
Urban researchers in Berlin are exploring an eerie phenomenon --
the modern ghost town. From a deserted Cypriot holiday resort to a
brand new Chinese city devoid of inhabitants, they are asking why people
abandon their communities and exploring the stories that make these
empty places so compelling.
The Japanese island of Hashima was once among the most densely
populated areas in the world. But with the decline of the coal industry,
the island was deserted in the 1970s. Now history enthusiasts like to
explore it in hopes of discovering remnants of the mining town it once
was. The desolate ruins of the settlement also inspire filmmakers to
replicate the haunting setting in their movies.
Hashima is just one example of a number of modern "ghost towns" around
the world that has drawn the attention of urban researchers, who opened
an exhibition on the topic on Thursday in the German capital of Berlin.
American CEOs hauled in record pay in 2011
Typical CEO made $9.6M last year, AP study finds
By BERNARD CONDON, CHRISTINA REXRODE
Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.
The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011,
according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from
Equilar, an executive pay research firm.
That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year, and is the
second year in a row of increases. The figure is also the highest since
the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006.
Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards. For
shareholder activists who have long decried CEO pay as exorbitant, that
was a victory of sorts
Between the 1970s and 1990s, Cambodia was ravaged by civil war. Since
its return to peace there has been a boom in tourism with over two
million visitors every year. Keen to help this war-torn country,
increasing numbers of tourists are now also working as volunteers. Most
come with the very best of intentions - to work in schools and
orphanages, filling a gap left by a lack of development funding.
But, inadvertently, well-intentioned volunteers have helped to create
a surge in the number of residential care homes as impoverished parents
are tempted into giving up their children in response to promises of a
Western-style upbringing and education. Despite a period of prosperity
in the country, the number of children in orphanages has more than
doubled in the past decade, and over 70 per cent of the estimated 10,000
'orphans' have at least one living parent.
And perhaps most disturbingly, stories have emerged that Cambodian
children are being exploited by some of the companies organising the
volunteers or running the orphanages.
In his first major interview the Chinese activist said since his escape the retribution against his family has intensified
Chinese activistChen Guangcheng has attacked "despicable" retaliation against his family and supporters, and warned that the treatment of his detained nephew, Chen Kegui, is a litmus test for the rule of law in China.
"Of course, I'm very worried. We can see their retribution against my family since my escape has continued and been intensified," Chen said, giving his first major interviews in years.
Chen's eldest brother Chen Guangfu also managed to flee the village on Tuesday, coming to Beijing to seek legal help for his son, Kegui. Kegui is charged with voluntary manslaughter after using knives in a clash with officials who broke into the family's home after realising Chen Guangcheng had escaped. Lawyers appointed by his wife say he did not kill anyone. But they have been refused access to the 32-year-old, with authorities saying he has accepted government-appointed representation.
Chen Guangfu arrives in Beijing after following in activist's footsteps to seek help for arrested son
He offered a grim account of the repercussions of his younger
brother's flight, saying plainclothes officers scaled the wall of his
home and kicked the door in just after midnight on 27 April, after learning of Chen Guangcheng's escape
a few days before. They hooded him and took him to a police building
where they handcuffed him, chained his feet, slapped him and stamped on
his feet, he said. They lifted his handcuffed hands behind him so that
he could not sit straight and used his belt to whip his hands while they
repeatedly demanded to know how his brother had got out.
The beatings lasted "a long time" and his left thumb lost feeling, he said.
Chen Guangfu said his wife, Ren Zongju, told him that after he was taken
away a second group of men – this time uniformed police with shields
and truncheons – charged into the home and beat her and their son, who
was bleeding and calling for help. It was around this time that Chen
Kegui took a knife and slashed at three officials.
Hopes fade for quick progress at Iran nuclear talks
May 23, 2012 Hopes for quick progress on Iran’s disputed nuclear program faded rapidly Wednesday, as diplomats from six world powers and Iran collided bitterly in daylong talks intended to resolve their differences over an effort many nations fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.
In their second high-level meeting in as many months, representatives of the two sides offered packages of proposals designed to open a path to what is expected to be a long and difficult negotiation. But the yawning gap between the parties quickly became apparent.
The world powers pushed Iran to give up key pieces of its nuclear program, while Iran complained that they were not offering a “balanced” proposal.
EU urges Greece to stay in euro, but plans for possible exit
Thursday 24 May 2012
European Union leaders, advised by
senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to
quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on
austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout programme.
After nearly six hours of talks held during an informal dinner, leaders said they were committed to Greece remaining in the eurozone, but it had to stick to its side of the bargain too, a commitment that will mean a heavy cost for Greeks.
'Right Now, We Need Expansion In a SPIEGEL interview, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that this is not the time to worry about debt and inflation. To save the euro zone, he argues that the European Central Bank should loosen monetary policy and the German government should abandon austerity.
SPIEGEL SPIEGEL: Mr. Krugman, does Greece have to leave the euro zone?
Krugman: Yes. I don't see too much alternative now. It's going to be terrible in the first year if they do leave. So I am really reluctant to say that it's a little bit like shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater, but what is the realistic option here? It's not as if anything anyone's proposing has any hope at all of getting them out of the mess they're in.
SPIEGEL: If Greece should leave, will this finally contain the euro crisis or, rather, make things worse?
Krugman: What happens if Greece leaves? Then you have again a bank run in other peripheral countries because they've set the precedent. But, again, that could be contained with lending from the ECB (European Central Bank). What has to happen is that the ECB has to be willing to replace all euros withdrawn as is necessary. And I think the case we're making for that lending becomes a lot easier because the Greeks were actually irresponsible. The Greeks actually did behave badly, and so the political case for unlimited exposure to Greece is very hard to make. A much easier case to make is for Spain and then Portugal and Italy, all of which did nothing wrong on the official side. So you could argue that the bad actor has been ejected, but we need to save the good actors.
Amnesty slams UN peace failures, Malaysia solution
Ben Doherty, New Delhi
May 24, 2012 - 11:01AM The United Nations Security Council is “redundant as a guardian of global peace”, and its failure to intervene in global conflicts has allowed human rights violations to flourish, a scathing report from Amnesty International has alleged.
Amnesty International's The State of the World's Human Rights report for 2012, released this morning, says the 66-year-old council is unable to meet its mandate of maintaining international peace.
Egypt's revolution won't end with the presidential election Beyond Tahrir Square, Egypt's uprising is one that intersects with grassroots struggles in Europe and that's what the elites fear most.
24 May 2012 08:38 - Jack Shenker A stone’s throw from Tahrir Square, they have been enveloped in teargas, pockmarked by Molotov cocktails, pressed into use as urban barricades by both revolutionaries and pro-Mubarak militias and provided the backdrop for some of the post-Mubarak military generals’ most violent assaults on the citizens they swore to protect. They gaze over the gardens of the Egyptian Museum – a regular home for one of the army’s pop-up torture and detention centres where those still daring to rally for meaningful change have been brutally acquainted with the realities of a junta-curated “transition” to democratic rule.
This month, my buildings’ latest revolutionary iteration was unveiled – two giant billboards sporting beaming mugshots of Ahmed Shafiq: former Mubarak-era prime minister, current presidential candidate and feloul (“regime remnant”) figurehead par excellence.
Olympian effort behind the saving of the Hitchcock nine The British Film Institute (BFI) is celebrating the work of film-maker Alfred Hitchcock with a season of screenings, including nine of his little-known silent movies, restored to their original glory after a painstaking and time-consuming restoration project. We went behind the scenes to see the meticulous work of the BFI conservationists.
By Stuart Hughes BBC News The instantly recognisable figure of Alfred Hitchcock stares out from a giant outdoor poster at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
His jowly face is twisted into a grimace. His index finger points accusingly. More than 30 years after his death, Hitchcock remains one of the towering icons of cinema history.
Egyptians are voting in their first free presidential election, 15
months after ousting Hosni Mubarak in the Arab Spring uprising
Fifty million people are eligible to vote, and large queues have formed at some polling stations.
The military council which assumed presidential power in February 2011 has promised a fair vote and civilian rule.
The election pits Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against Mubarak-era ministers.
But the BBC's Wyre Davies, in the second city of Alexandria,
says that for many people the election is not about religious dogma or
party politics, but about who can put food on the table.
The frontrunners are:
Ahmed Shafiq, a former commander of the air force and briefly prime minister during February 2011 protests
Amr Moussa, who has served as foreign minister and head of the Arab League
Mohammed Mursi, who heads Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate
Quarter of deposits withdrawn from Greek banks
But while Greek deposits have fallen over two years, those at Portuguese
banks have risen to record highs and Spanish and Italian deposits have
fallen just 3% and 2%
Almost 25% of deposits have been withdrawn from Greek banks in the
last two years but outflows have been small from other banking systems
inside the so-called periphery, according to Barclays analysts.
While
Greek deposits are falling, those at Portuguese lenders have risen to
record highs, and Spanish and Italian deposits have fallen 3% and 2%
respectively.
"Talk of a possible exit of Greece
from the European monetary union has sparked fears about deposit
outflows from other peripheral countries, but these concerns are not new
and evidence does not indicate material outflows from Spain, Italy,
Ireland, and Portugal," the analysts said.
Manal al-Sharif: 'They just messed with the wrong woman'
She is the Saudi woman who became a symbol of
female emancipation when she was filmed behind the wheel of a car. In a
rare interview, she tells Guy Adams of the persecution she has endured
in her fight for equality – and why she will not be silenced
Wednesday 23 May 2012
She was the plucky young woman who, in splendid defiance of one of
the world's most repressive societies, steered a car through the streets
of the city of Khobar, railing as she went against the misogyny of laws
that make it illegal for women in Saudi Arabia to drive.
Manal al-Sharif was arrested for her pains and spent nine days in
jail on suspicion of a crime called "incitement to public disorder". She
emerged, almost a year ago, to worldwide fame: an eight-minute film of
her protest drive, shot on a friend's smartphone, spread across YouTube,
in various iterations, at a rate of a million hits per day.
Mali transition off to a rocky start after attack on president
Sapa-AFP | 23 May, 2012 08:33
Mali's one-year transition back to democratic rule got
off to a shaky start on Tuesday amid fears the process may be derailed
after president Dioncounda Traore was attacked by angry protesters.
The Economic Community of West African States mediators of the
transition deal threatened sanctions against those responsible for the attack,
which they said cast a shadow over the entire process.
The attack was also condemned by the United Nations chief, the
African Union and Mali's
own parliament, with all urging that authorities ensure security of
transitional government officials.
ECOWAS "will carry out the necessary investigation to
identify those responsible for this reprehensible attack and will apply the
required sanctions," said Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, head of the ECOWAS
commission, in a statement.
Syria and Lebanon stare into the
abyss
By Victor Kotsev
The Syrian infection is spreading. Whether
Lebanon will be fully set aflame by the violence
in its northern neighbor is as difficult to answer
as who precisely started the clashes which
engulfed at least two Lebanese cities over the
past week.
Regardless, the chaos in both
countries is growing, and the United Nations peace
plan for Syria (dubbed the "Kofi Annan plan" after
the former UN secretary general who spearheads the
initiative) has practically collapsed.
Indeed, the current UN secretary general,
Ban Ki-moon, said on Monday that Syria had reached
a "pivotal" moment and was teetering on the brink
of a full-blown civil war.
Filipinos back government on China dispute, but want more diplomacy
While most Filipinos say that
their government should not yield to to Chinese pressure in the South
China Sea, others say that Manila could improve its diplomatic efforts
to resolve the issue.
By
Simon Roughneen, Correspondent
As a territorial row between China and the Philippines continues in the South China Sea – known here as the West Philippine Sea – Filipinos are nervously gauging how that will impact relations between the two countries.
Last week China denied it was increasing military readiness one month into a stand-off, which started April 10 after the Philippine Navy boarded Chinese fishing boats allegedly-poaching near the Scarborough Shoal.
While
most Filipinos say that their government is correct in not yielding to
Chinese pressure over its claims to the South China Sea, and there has
been something of a cooling-off in recent days, others say that Manila
could better manage the finer points of its diplomacy and engage the
country's Chinese-Filipino community to build bridges with mainland
Chinese.
North Korea vows to launch pumpkins into space while setting fire to South Korea with a Zippo lighter.
North Korea has warned that it will bolster its nuclear programme and
take unspecified counter-measures unless the US eases diplomatic
pressure on it.
Experts have spotted what they say is heightened activity at Punggye-ri nuclear test site
Satellite images show activity at the North's nuclear test site, experts say.
"Images taken by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in the past month
show mining carts and excavation equipment present at the active
tunneling site, yielding the largest amount of spoil - or debris
recovered from inside the tunnel - around the tunnel entrance to date,"
James Hardy of Jane's Defence Weekly told South Korea's Yonhap News
Agency.
He said a 9 May DigitalGlobe image showed new road networks
within the spoil piles at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North
Korea's north-east, as well as "carts and a vehicle in the site
operations facility".
Yes, ladies and gentlemen North Korea vows to hit you in the face with a whip cream pie while calling you names.
Was the appropriation of Palestinian books and manuscripts in 1948 a case of cultural theft or preservation?
When the Arab-Israeli war raged in 1948, librarians from Israel’s National Library followed soldiers as they entered Palestinian homes in towns and villages. Their mission was to collect as many valuable books and manuscripts as possible. They are said to have gathered over 30,000 books from Jerusalem and another 30,000 from Haifa and Jaffa.
Officially it was a 'cultural rescue operation' but for Palestinians it was 'cultural theft'.
It was only in 2008 when an Israeli PhD student stumbled across documents in the national archive that the full extent of the 'collection' policy was revealed.
Using eyewitness accounts, this film tries to understand why thousands of books appropriated from Palestinian homes still languish in the Israeli National Library vaults and why they have not been returned to their rightful owners. Was it cultural preservation or robbery?
California's SpaceX has launched on a mission to re-supply the space station - the first cargo delivery to the orbiting outpost by a private company.
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News The firm's Falcon rocket, topped by an unmanned Dragon freight capsule, lifted clear of its Florida pad at 03:44 EDT (07:44 GMT; 08:44 BST).
The initial climb to an altitude some 340km above the Earth lasted a little under 10 minutes.
Within moments of being ejected, Dragon opened its solar panels.
It will take a couple of days to reach the station. The plan currently is for the vessel to demonstrate its guidance, control and communications systems on Thursday, at a distance of 2.5km from the International Space Station (ISS).
If those practice proximity manoeuvres go well, Dragon will be allowed to drive to within 10m of the station on Friday. Astronauts inside the platform will then grab the ship with a robotic arm and berth it to the 400km-high structure.
Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim charged over defying protest ban Opposition leader faces jail sentence after being charged with breaking law during Kuala Lumpur rally demanding fair elections
Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 May 2012 07.39 BST
Prosecutors have charged the Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, and two of his allies with breaking the law during a massive street rally to demand fair elections.
The men were charged in court with defying a ban against assembling at a public square in Kuala Lumpur last month and inciting demonstrators to breach a police barricade.
The three men, who pleaded not guilty, face a maximum jail sentence of six months and fines totalling 12,000 ringgit (£2,400) if convicted. The court scheduled a preliminary hearing on 2 July to determine further trial dates.
Afghans face terror threat after Nato exit, Obama admits President and British advisers acknowledge Afghans face tough future as West looks to open exit routes through Pakistan
Chicago Tuesday 22 May 2012
Barack Obama was joined by British officials in admitting that
Afghanistan could be left unstable and vulnerable to terrorist
activity once the Nato-led troops leave the country in less than
two years.
As the US President said that "bad moments" were likely to come in the course of the alliance's withdrawal, an unnamed UK official was quoted as saying that it was "unrealistic to assume that Afghanistan is going to be completely secure and there is no possibility of a terrorist threat re-emerging".
Why Greeks Will Vote for Tsipras Greeks have spurned the politicians who represent the country's broken system, and many are now following rising star Alexis Tsipras. The radical left-wing politician has pledged to free Greece from painful austerity measures while keeping the euro, but no one knows how he plans to fulfill his promises.
By Julia Amalia Heyer Alexis Tsipras, the man who will very likely emerge again as the winner of the upcoming Greek parliamentary election, is campaigning throughout the country primarily under one slogan: "We won't pay any more."
He doesn't say what would replace the "barbarism of the austerity dictates," which he maintains that the European Union partners, above all German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have forced upon his country. He argues that the Europeans are only bluffing -- and he promises that they will continue to help, even if the Greeks no longer service their debts. He says: Elect me and all this misery will come to an end.
Congo fever for Vodacom Vodacom says it will fight a court ruling that it must pay $21-million in consultancy fees or submit to the mandatory sale of its shares in its joint venture in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Reuters | 22 May, 2012 01:00 The company yesterday posted a modest 8% rise in full-year earnings, just short of expectations after a hefty tax bill and high capital expenditure.
CEO Pieter Uys said Vodacom was appealing against the recent Congolese court ruling that it must pay a local firm, Namemco Energy, $21-million in consultancy fees or face the sale of some of its stake in its local business by June 3.
"The bottom line is that we will not let that asset go," he said.
Robotic fish to patrol for pollution in harbours In the shallow waters of Gijon harbour, in northern Spain, a large, yellow fish cuts through the waves.
By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News, Gijon, Spain But this swimmer stands apart from the marine life that usually inhabits this port: there's no flesh and blood here, just carbon fibre and metal.
This is robo-fish - scientists' latest weapon in the war against pollution.
This sea-faring machine works autonomously to hunt down contamination in the water, feeding this information back to the shore.
Here in Spain, several are undergoing their first trials to see if they make the grade as future marine police.
