SIx In The Morning Monday February 24

Will Rio Be Ready? Countdown Begins to 2016 Summer Games

BY BILL NEELY AND DANIEL ARKIN

Hours after the Olympic flag was lowered in Sochi, many eyes were already fixed on Rio de Janeiro, the city of sun, samba and soccer — and soon the host of the 2016 Summer Games.

Rio is set to bask in the global spotlight with back-to-back hosting duties for two of the crown jewels of the sporting world. "Futbol" fans will descend on the Brazilian city for soccer's World Cup this June — and just two years later, the Olympic torch will blaze in sparkly Rio.

But amid the fanfare greeting these mega-events, local officials are faced with big-league financial headaches and a chorus of public complaints, leaving many asking: Will Rio be ready in 2016?

The bustling metropolitan capital — the first South American city to host the Summer Games — is feeling the heat from Olympics officials worried about busting budgets, delayed construction projects and sewage-filled waters around the site of the future Olympic Park.

Brazil is scrambling to avoid the embarrassment Russia suffered amid reports of filthy water, unheated hotel rooms, stray dogs, balky toilets and other logistical quirks. But the preparations come with challenges.

Poison feared as seven Sumatran elephants found dead

Dozens of the critically-endangered animals have been killed on Indonesian island in recent years

• AFP in Jakarta
• theguardian.com, Monday 24 February 2014 08.37 GMT
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Seven Sumatran elephants have been found dead in western Indonesia and it is thought they were poisoned, a wildlife official said on Monday.

Dozens of the critically-endangered animals have died after being poisoned in recent years on Sumatra as the creatures come into conflict with humans due to the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations which destroy their habitat.

The latest to die were an adult female, five male teenagers, and a male calf believed to be from the same herd, said local wildlife agency spokesman Muhammad Zanir.

ROBERT FISK

Pluralism was once the hallmark of the Arab world, so the exodus of Christians from the Middle East is painful to one Islamic scholar

“It is a tragedy and a blow to the basic pride of Arab Islamic civilisation"

Tarif Khalidi is a big, bearded bear of a man, the kind you would always choose to play Father Christmas, or perhaps a Cossack leader sweeping across the Russian steppe, reins in one hand, sword in the other. But Tarif – or Uncle Tarif as I invariably call him – is an Islamic scholar, the most recent translator of the Koran and author of a wonderful book of Muslim stories about Jesus. I am thus surprised – but after a few seconds not at all surprised – to hear how well this Palestinian from Jerusalem got on with the Imam Musa Sadr, the Shia leader in southern Lebanon who did more to lift his people from squalor than any I can think of – until Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had him murdered in Libya in 1978.

“He took on the Christians of Lebanon in an extraordinary manner,” Tarif says. “He revived Islamic interest in Jesus and Mary. He was an extraordinary performer. He almost embraced Christian theology. He would lecture in churches with the cross right behind him!” But as we weave our way between religions, I realise what is grieving this most burly of professors – he teaches at the American University of Beirut – as he speaks slowly and eloquently of the almost biblical exodus of Christians from the Middle East.

Madrid rash to respond so half-heartedly to Eta arms handovers

Analysis: Eta’s efforts should be received more warmly in the interests of peace

Paddy Woodworth

You could be forgiven for thinking that the bloody conflict between the Basque terrorist group Eta and the Spanish state was well and truly over. Eta’s “permanent, general and verifiable ceasefire” has indeed held remarkably firm since it was declared in January 2011.

However, the release of a video last Friday showing two masked Eta members handing over weapons – a risibly small quantity, it must be said – to an “international verification commission” is a reminder of serious unfinished business in this often shameful chapter in Basque and Spanish history.

Eta (“the Basque Country and Liberty”) was born in 1959 to campaign for Basque independence and to combat the dictatorship of Gen Franco.

Trained snipers escalate violence in Bangkok

February 24, 2014 - 7:03PM

Lindsay Murdoch

South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Bangkok: Mysterious gunmen who appear to be highly trained are backing anti-government protesters on Bangkok’s streets as Thailand’s three-month political crisis becomes increasingly violent.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has acknowledged the presence of the gunmen despite claiming his movement to topple prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is peaceful, telling his supporters: “They are helping us. They help us as we are fighting Yingluck with only our bare hands.”

The gunmen have become known as the “popcorn shooters” after one of them used a popcorn bag to cover his automatic rifle during a gun battle outside a shopping centre in a northern Bangkok suburb on February 1.

24 February 2014 Last updated at 08:16

Ugandan President Museveni 'to sign' anti-gay bill

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is set to sign into law a controversial new bill under which homosexuals could be given long prison terms.

He wants to approve the law before foreign media to assert "Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure", a spokesman said.

US President Barack Obama has cautioned the bill would be a backward step.

Mr Museveni had previously agreed to put the bill on hold pending US scientific advice.

"The president is signing the anti-homosexuality bill today [Monday] at 11:00 [0800 GMT]," government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told Reuters news agency.