Category Archives: News: International

News, articles, photos and videos about news all over the world.

20,000 protest in Athens Greece as bonds plunge. Footage and photos. Reply

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According to the Wall Street Journal, the financial markets, Greece’s bedgraggled bonds are getting wacked as Eurocrats continue to bicker over how to rescue Greece once more. The cost to insure against a Greek debt default has also risen to fresh records. It now costs $1.725 million a year to insure $10 million of Greek debt, according to data provider Markit.

An estimated 20,000 protestors took to the streets in uproar over the market.  Description in the Occupied London blog:

People were trampled over tents, gassed like ants, fainting all over. By the time that the Delta motorcycle police tried to come into play, people had learnt the rules of the game — and they pushed them off. Twelve hours of nearly uninterrupted beating, tear-gassing, running, fighting.

 

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High level of strontium found at Fukushima plant Reply

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Radioactive strontium up to 240 times the legal concentration limit has been detected in seawater samples collected near an intake at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday.

The utility said the substance was also found in groundwater near the plant’s Nos. 1 and 2 reactors. The government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it is the first time that the substance has been found in groundwater.

The agency said it is necessary to carefully monitor the possible effects of the strontium on fishery products near the plant.

Strontium tends to accumulate in bones and is believed to cause bone cancer and leukemia.

Meanwhile, Tepco on Sunday completed preparations to begin testing a newly installed radioactive water treatment system at the Fukushima plant soon, after it finished fixing an adsorption device designed to remove radioactive substances, company officials said.

The utility is expected to begin testing the system, intended to decontaminate highly radioactive water that is accumulating at the site and hampering work to restore the damaged plant, as early as Monday. The company is a couple of days behind the schedule to put the system into full operation, initially planned for June 15, it said.

The utility’s preparations to begin testing the system hit a snag Sunday as the amount of water run through the adsorption device was lower than planned, indicating the possibility that piping or other parts may be clogged. The planned level of water recovered later, it said.

The utility is investigating the cause of the snag, the officials said.

Tepco initially planned to begin testing the radioactive water treatment system last Friday but postponed it because water leaks were found in the equipment that day.

The utility said that even if the start of the system’s operation is delayed, it does not mean that leaks of contaminated water into the environment would occur “immediately.”

The operation of the system is seen as crucial to containing the three-month-old nuclear crisis, as the decontaminated water is expected to eventually be recycled as a coolant for the reactors, which lost their cooling functions as a result of the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

Water has been injected into some of the reactors to keep the nuclear fuel cool, but vast pools of water containing large amounts of radioactive substances have been found on the plant’s premises as a side effect of the water-injection measure.

The system, set up at a facility where the highly radioactive water from the Nos. 2 and 3 units has been transferred, is expected to be able to treat about 1,200 tons per day, reducing the concentration of radioactive substances to around one-thousandth to one-ten thousandth.

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Source:  Japan Time online

Ash from volcano eruption brings on threat of Chile flood and forces evacuation Reply

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A river in southern Chile has overflowed is banks, after it was blocked by volcanic ash and mounting debris. The area around the Nilahu river has been evacuated as a result.

The raised water levels follow the eruption of a volcano in the city of Puyehue on Saturday, which sent a huge ash cloud across nearby towns and all the way to Buenos Aires, the capital of neighbouring Argentina.

The ash has also damaged swathes of crops and killed many fish.

Click on images below to view full size.

Syria demonstrators erupt by 13-year-old’s death amongst other child killed Reply

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As demonstrations erupted Friday across Syria, child deaths are being marked after the United Nations agency UNICEF said at least 30 children have been shot dead in anti-government protests since they first started. A rallying point is Hamza al-Khatib, a 13-year-old boy who was killed in April, and who the opposition says was tortured.

The country’s opposition movement marked Friday as “Children’s Friday” – a tribute to the dozens of young people who have died since demonstrations began in March.

The focus, said Neil Sammonds of the human rights group Amnesty International, is one death, that of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib, who died under mysterious circumstances.

“So he is one of 30 or more children who have died in the protests so far, all of them believed to have been shot by the security forces,” said Sammonds. “But in his case, most tragically and horrifically, he appears to have been tortured to death.”

Hamza al-Khatib disappeared during an April protest, where the government says he was shot and killed. The opposition says marks on his body, however, which was returned to his family in May, show the boy was tortured.

Unverified videos that appear to show his body have been posted on the website YouTube and the images have stoked fury in Syria.

 

The government of al-Assad made concessions this week, freeing hundreds of prisoners in an amnesty, and setting up a committee for national dialogue.

But the country’s exiled opposition, meeting this week in Turkey, said Assad should step down immediately. They vowed Thursday to work to bring down his government.

Their effort may be boosted by the symbolic power of Khatib’s death, but it’s not likely to be enough to bring down the government, said David Hartwell, at the IHS Jane’s analysis group in London.

“If Khatib’s death was going to spark off a national uprising, if you like, it probably would have done so by now,” said Hartwell. “I think what remains the key is the sentiment on the street in Damascus particularly, and the ability of the regime to keep the sources of protest and the sources of discontent separate from each other. If it can do that it should be able to crack down fairly successfully.”

With more deaths reported Friday in Syria, it’s yet unclear how severe that crackdown will be.

Germany to shut down nuclear reactors by 2022 Reply

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Angela Merkel has committed to shutting down all of the country’s nuclear reactors by 2022, a task said by one minister to be as mammoth as the project to reunite East and West Germany in 1990.

Monday’s announcement, prompted by Japan’s nuclear disaster, will make Germany the first major industrialised nation to go nuclear-free in decades. It gives the country just over 10 years to find alternative sources for 23% of its energy.

The move, hammered out at a mammoth 14-hour overnight sitting at the Bundestag, came amid mass nationwide protests against nuclear power and at a low point for the chancellor’s Christian Democratic party (CDU), support for which has crumbled at the ballot box in five regional elections this year.

Although the proposal was welcomed among the general population, who have long been opposed to nuclear power, it was a move derided by one of Merkel’s own MPs as “knee-jerk politics”.

The plan is to keep shut eight reactors which were suspended in March in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, and to close the rest by 2022.

The phase-out must be ratified in parliament and is likely to face strong opposition from utility companies. On Monday a spokesman for the energy giant RWE said that “all legal options” were on the table.

 

Last week, grid operators warned the phase-out could result in winter blackouts – a prospect Merkel scoffed at . She insisted the decision would not lead to Germany simply importing nuclear power.

“We will generate our own electricity from other sources,” the chancellor told a press conference in Berlin. She said the plans would give Germany a chance to be a “trailblazer” for renewable energy, suggesting it could eventually earn, rather than cost, the country money.

Energy firms warned that the decision – a total policy reversal – would require significant investment in energy infrastructure. Philipp Rösler, new head of the FDP party, which rules in coalition with the CDU, agreed, likening the task ahead to that which faced Germany in 1990 after reunification. A study in 2009 showed that €1.3 trillion (£1.1tn) had been transferred from the West to rebuild the East.

This comparison was also made in an editorial by the left-leaning Tageszeitung newspaper on Monday, which said Merkel’s decision was “historic” and “a moment like the fall of the Berlin Wall”.

The government’s vocabulary seemed to consciously echo the reunification process, with Merkel heralding an “Energie-Wende” – “die Wende” is the word for change which became shorthand for the fall of communism and reunification.

Die Welt, a conservative daily, said the policy U-turn demonstrated a “creeping rejection of the economic model which has transformed Germany into one of the richest countries in the world”.

The French poured scorn on Germany’s decision. “Germany will be even more dependent on fossil fuels and imports and its electricity will be more expensive and polluting,” said the French industry minister, Éric Besson. German households pay twice as much for power than homes in France, where 80% of electricity comes from atomic plants, he said.

Germany last year was a net exporter of power to France, according to data from the French grid operator, RTE. This trend was reversed last month after the accident at Fukushima and Merkel’s decision to halt Germany’s oldest reactors.

“Germany’s energy policy will only work if there are improvements at the same time,” the EU energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, said on Monday.

He said there was a need for better grid infrastructure, storage capacity and forward planning as well as a more pronounced rise in renewable supply.

Germany plans to cut electricity usage by 10% and double the share of renewable energy to 25% by 2020.

Merkel first mooted an accelerated exit from nuclear power within days of the Fukushima meltdown, ordering a three-month “moratorium” during which nuclear power could be debated.

It was a remarkable U-turn. In September 2010, she had committed to extending the lives of Germany’s 17 nuclear plants.

Many of her party are unhappy with her handling of the situation.

“Knee-jerk politics like the reaction to Fukushima does not pay dividends,” said Mike Mohring, the head of the CDU faction in the Thuringian state parliament, last week.

Among other G8 nations, only Italy has abandoned nuclear power.

Article from The Guardian

Incredible water-spout footage off of New South Wales coast of Australia Reply

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Waterspouts fall into two categories: fair weather waterspouts and tornadic waterspouts.

Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.

Fair weather waterspouts usually form along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds. This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms. While tornadic waterspouts develop downward in a thunderstorm, a fair weather waterspout develops on the surface of the water and works its way upward. By the time the funnel is visible, a fair weather waterspout is near maturity. Fair weather waterspouts form in light wind conditions so they normally move very little.

If a waterspout moves onshore, the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning, as some of them can cause significant damage and injuries to people. Typically, fair weather waterspouts dissipate rapidly when they make landfall, and rarely penetrate far inland.

Information from National Ocean Service website

Footage of Spain police beating protesters, over 100 injured Reply

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More than 100 people were injured in Spain as riot police clashed with protesters on Friday, as authorities cleared away a makeshift camp set up as part of a Spain-wide demonstration against the country’s economic problems. The trouble started when police tried to clear the protesters from a main square in Barcelona. Many of the protesters, who are angry about high unemployment, anti-austerity measures and politicians’ handling of the economy, refused to move. Video from a local broadcaster showed officers beating the demonstrators and dragging them on the ground.


Women in China, and a school for women on marrying a billionaire Reply

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I just finished watching this video uploaded by Al Jazeera regarding a school in China for women which teaches girls the skills to win the heart of wealthy men. This report is not what really bothered me, it was the majority of the responses given. Here are a few examples (and I’m ignoring the trolls):

I hate gold diggers >.<

I like how china is trying to become like the next america

They just simply sell themselves for Money and that will not have a good end i am sure.

Just more evidence that women want money, not happiness or love.. just throw money at them and they’re all yours…… until it runs out.

A fool and his (or her) money will soon part. That $46/hr could be better spent than on a scam like this.

this is sick….

iam sure everyones parents would want their daughters to marry rich people,its completely different dude,the chinese girls are gold diggers!

Everyone is quick to be a critic, but not move to make any changes. Plus the ignorance in these replies is simply overwhelming. Personally, this school is a very smart decision upon the founders only because of the circumstances the women in China face from the day they were born until the day they die.

It is a survival move….

Because of a Confucian tradition, boys have always been valued more than girls. Males carry on the family name, are considered better workers, receive higher wages and are viewed as the parents’ insurance during old age. When parents are restricted to having only one child, they much prefer that it be a baby boy.

The People’s Republic of China is a totalitarian state. The Communist Party is the only political entity allowed to exist within its borders. Because of this fact, much of the information on women’s rights can be classified as secret. Many statistics on kidnapping and the trafficking in girls and women, induced abortions, sterilizations, infanticides and other human rights violations are unknown.

Statistics from China are sketchy at best. They purposely remain cut off from the western world in order to minimize our influence over their people. And those statistics that do make it out of China are most likely skewed to reflect more reform for women than what is actually occurring. I have found various statistics throughout the past 15 years, and they all follow the same trend.

Illiteracy is predominant amongst women. As much as 70% of the illiterate are women during recent years.

Only slightly more than a third of college students are women. Even less go on to graduate school.

On average, women were paid only 70-80 percent of what men received for the same work. Most women employed in industry work in lower skilled and lower paid jobs.

With the one-child-per-couple law, there are still gender-based abortions occurring. Factually, men have a better life in China than women. It is also part of Chinese tradition for the children to care for their parents during their elderly years. Parents will have more security knowing a son is more apt to care for them than a daughter. This may be harsh, but the truth does not change the facts of survival.

So what is a woman to do in China? They are fighting for more equal rights, but they have thousands of years of traditional to battle against. Progress will be slow. In the meantime, each person, each family must survive. With all these cards stacked up against women, then seeking a wealthy husband is a reasonable solution. Parents will gladly pay for their daughters “education” if this helps ensure they will be taken care of by their wealthy son-in-law.

Cannot say that I blame them.

Womens Rights in China may be on the rise, but they still have a long way to go.

And for those fools who posted such ignorant comments… You are (obviously) on the internet. Crawl out from under your rock and start googling and learning. The world is at your fingertips.

I have my own saying, “Ignorance is not bliss when someone elses ignorance interferes with my bliss.”

Tell Secretary Clinton to Say No to the Kochs Reply

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the ability to stop Koch Industries, Inc. from profiting off a pipeline that would carry the dirtiest oil on Earth through six states, one of America’s most important aquifers and almost 2,000 miles of American homes and farmland.

Help us reach our goal of 50,000 individuals telling Secretary Clinton to say No to the Kochs and Yes to protecting Americans at http://kochbrothersexposed.com/tellclintonno

Other articles about the TransCanada pipeline:

Are the Koch Bros. Stonewalling Congress on Their Keystone XL Pipeline Interest?

Koch Brothers Positioned To Be Big Winners If Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved

Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth

Are the Koch Bros. Stonewalling Congress on Their Keystone XL Pipeline Interest? 2

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Rep. Waxman is seeking answers from the Kochs, after a SolveClimate News article first exposed the brothers’ deep involvement in the oil sands industry.

By Elizabeth McGowan, SolveClimate News

WASHINGTON—Rep. Henry Waxman’s attempts to find out if a proposed controversial Canada-to-U.S. Gulf Coast oil sands pipeline will benefit Koch Industries appears to have hit a dead end.

More…

Koch Brothers Positioned To Be Big Winners If Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved 2

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Obama’s bitterest political enemies already import and refine 25 percent of oil sands crude reaching the U.S., and stand to profit from an increased flow.

The Keystone XL pipeline, awaiting a thumbs up or down on a presidential permit, would increase the import of heavy oil from Canada’s oil sands to the U.S. by as much as 510,000 barrels a day, if it gets built.

Click here for more information on the Canadian oils sands – which is considered to be the most destructive project on Earth

More…

Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth 5

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Environmental Defence has released a report calling the Alberta Oil Sands the most destructive project on Earth.

Few Canadians know that Canada is home to one of the world’s largest dams and it is built to hold toxic waste from just one Tar Sands operation,” Rick Smith, the executive director of Environmental Defence.

More…

Photos from Libya: Rebellion, life, and the children Reply

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Libya is entering the third month of fighting since a rebellion began in February. Today prosecutors from the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, his son Saif al-Islam Khadafy, and his brother-in-law Abdullah Al-Sanousi for organizing attacks on civilians during the uprising. Last week, rebels pushed out government troops from the Misrata airport, ending the shelling of that city. Despite air support from NATO, a grinding stalemate endures. Collected here are pictures of the rebellion and daily life in the country of over six million. — Lane Turner
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Artist Salhen Obaidi cleans his hands after painting a mural in downtown Benghazi on May 15. Hundreds of new paintings and graffiti decorate the city of Benghazi since the rebels took control of the city. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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A boy jumps from the seaside boulevard to the beach in Benghazi on May 14. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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Women observe an anti-Moammar Khadafy demonstration from a burnt building in central Benghazi on May 14. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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A boy attends a rally near the courthouse in Benghazi May 14. The protesters were calling on the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Libya’s leader Moammar Khadafy. They got their wish. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

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Tribesmen in traditional garb ride their horses into town to declare allegiance to the rebels in Revolution Square in Benghazi on May 4. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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A wounded rebel fighter is given aid in an ambulance at the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Wazin May 8. (Zohra Bensemra/AP)

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Libyan rebels walk in a stairwell after firing a rocket-propelled grenade towards pro-Khadafy forces from a high vantage point in Misrata on May 8. (Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AP)

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People stand next to caricatures of Moammar Khadafy in Benghazi May 8. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

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Libyan men react as the main fuel depot in Misrata burns after a bombing by government forces on May 7. (Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AP)

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Ramzy Elshahiebi smokes a cigarette while assembling homemade bombs in Benghazi. Elshahiebi used to fish with dynamite and now makes bombs that serve the rebel army. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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A rebel fighter stands guard outside Kabaw in the Western Mountain region of Libya on May 11. Fighting in the Western Mountain region, home to the Berber ethnic minority, has intensified since the rebels seized the Dehiba border crossing into Tunisia last month, opening a key artery for supplies. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

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A man waves a national flag from the pre-Moammar Khadafy era on the seafront in Benghazi on May 11. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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A Libyan teenager salutes as he controls traffic at a busy junction in Benghazi on May 9. Children in Benghazi are not being sent to fight on the frontline, but they are helping Libya’s revolution by cleaning streets, working as traffic cops, and dishing up rations to rebel soldiers. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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In this photo taken on a government-organized tour, the Marriott hotel is seen in the background as youths enjoy the beach in Tripoli on May 3. The Tripoli Marriott closed 10 days after it opened, as an armed uprising swept the country. (Darko Bandic/AP)

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A Libyan rebel fighter walks near a checkpoint outside Ajdabiya on May 10, where fighting between rebels and forces loyal to leader Moammar Khadafy was ongoing. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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Rebel fighter Abdel Rahaman Faraj, 15, grimaces as he is treated by a nurse in a public hospital in Benghazi on May 10. Faraj was injured two months ago in Bisher during fighting against Moammar Khadafy’s troops. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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Libyan youths sing near a courthouse in Benghazi May 12. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

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An injured Libyan rebel fighter flashes a victory sign from an ambulance after being evacuated from Misrata at the port in Benghazi on May 12. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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A wounded girl evacuated from the besieged Libyan city of Misrata waits to be transported to an ambulance at the port in Benghazi on May 12. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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A rebel fighter patrols in the desert south of the Libyan rebel-held town of Zintan in the Western Mountains on May 12. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

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A boy rests on a street light pole in downtown in Benghazi on May 5. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

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A Libyan girl looks at pictures of people killed or missing since the uprising began three months ago on the wall of court house in Benghazi’s Revolution Square on May 15. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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Libyan volunteers prepare food for rebel fighters and internally displaced people at a kitchen in Benghazi on May 15. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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Libyan rebels surround a house where a soldier loyal to Moammar Khadafy took refuge after killing a rebel during a battle in the town of Tamina, Libya on May 13. (Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AFP/Getty Images)

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A Libyan rebel stands guard on top of a roof overlooking thousands performing noon prayers in Revolution Square in Benghazi on May 13. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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A Libyan woman walks on a street of Benghazi May 9 holding a picture of her late son, who allegedly died in a Libyan prison in 1996. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

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Volunteers work to recover and bury dead bodies for health and religious reasons in Misrata on May 4. Misrata doctors estimate that more than 1,000 people have been killed in their city in two months of fighting. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

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Relatives mourn during the funeral of Abdul-Gader Al-Faitori, a rebel fighter who died after being injured a month ago during combat in Benghazi on May 4. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

UPDATE: More on the man who beheaded the British woman in Los Cristianos Spain Reply

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Wild-eyed, he held his hands wide apart and declared: ‘I want a knife this big – I’m going to kill someone.’

Caught on a supermarket CCTV camera, this is Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, the vagrant held over the beheading of a British grandmother in Tenerife.

Footage shows him walking into the store in the resort of Los Cristianos and explaining what he was about to do.

Unable to obtain a knife, he left and went to a Chinese souvenir shop where, 20 minutes later, he snatched a knife from the shelf and attacked 60-year-old Jennifer Mills-Westley, stabbing her 14 times before running down the street carrying her severed head.
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The killer on camera: Deyan Valentinov Deyanov pictured in a local supermarket just before the attack

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The shopkeeper who saw Deyanov minutes before the bloodbath yesterday told how the 28-year-old Bulgarian was agitatedly walking through the Avenidas supermarket in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops on Friday morning.

The man, who gave his name as Carlos, said: ‘He had a note in his hands which he showed me. It said, “I am God”. I asked him what he was looking for and he held his hands far apart and said, “I’m looking for a knife this big”. I said we didn’t have knives and asked what he wanted it for. He said, “I want to kill someone”, and gestured across his neck.’

Yesterday the family of mother-of-two Mrs Mills-Westley, a retired road safety officer from Norwich, questioned why her killer had been free to walk the streets despite a history of mental illness and violent behaviour.

Deyanov spent time in a mental hospital this year after attacking a security guard with a brick on New Year’s Eve and knocking out his front teeth.
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Squalid: The derelict house where Deyanov has been living

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Shrine: The makeshift home Deyanov lived in also featured an altar made from breeze blocks and a collection of books

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Locals at the resort described him as a madman who was constantly prowling the streets talking to himself, smoking cannabis and telling passers-by: ‘I am God and I’m going to strike you down.’

He slept in a derelict hut on the beach, where he kept a Bible mounted on a breeze block, and had been arrested only two days before the murder for pestering girls at a nightclub.

The Tenerife newspaper La Opinion reported that a judge had issued a search and arrest order for him on May 10, three days before the killing.

He was said to have been involved in a fight a few days earlier in the Veronicas district of Playa de Las Americas. The newspaper said that witnesses had reported that Deyanov appeared to be on drugs.

Mrs Mills-Westley’s ex-husband Peter said: ‘It goes without saying that we need to know why this man was out on the streets, and that needs to be looked into.’

The retired heating engineer, who now lives in Wexford, Ireland, added: ‘Jenny was a wonderful wife and a brilliant mother for my children. She was a wonderful woman, I loved her dearly and she was brilliant in so many ways.’
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MailOnLine
By TAMARA COHEN
Last updated at 11:51 AM on 16th May 2011

UPDATE: IMF Chief to Remain Jailed at Rikers Island in NYC Sex-assault 1

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A New York City judge says the head of the International Monetary Fund must remain jailed at least until his next court hearing for attempted rape and other charges. A tired and grim-looking Dominique Strauss-Kahn appeared Monday before a judge. (May 16)

New York (CNN) — The head of the powerful International Monetary Fund arrived Monday at New York’s Rikers Island jail complex, dispatched there after a judge denied him bail for allegedly chasing and sexually assaulting a hotel employee.

At least until his next court appearance on Friday, he will be in protective custody, staying in an 11-by-13 foot cell by himself and having no contact with other inmates — steps taken because he is considered a high-profile detainee, the spokesman said. His new neighbors will include 14,000 men and women who are being held or have been convicted for a host of violent and other crimes committed in New York City.

His arrest rattled the financial world, given his leadership directing multi-billion-dollar loans and financial policy that regularly affect tens of millions of people. But its impact was most felt in France, where Strauss-Kahn had been not only a leading contender to be the Socialist party’s presidential nominee but a favorite to unseat incumbent President Nikolas Sarkozy.

Prosecutors argued Monday, during the IMF chief’s arraignment, that they believed Strauss-Kahn would right now be there in France, living “open and notoriously,” if two plainclothes Port Authority police officers had not detained him in the first-class cabin of an Air France plane Saturday minutes before take-off.

About midday Saturday, Strauss-Kahn was in his suite in the 30-story hotel when the housekeeping employee came in to clean it, said New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. He shut the door, preventing the woman from leaving, according to a criminal complaint released by prosecutors.

Strauss-Kahn emerged from a room naked, according to Browne, and ran after her down the hallway of the suite.

“He grabbed the victim’s chest without consent, attempted to remove her pantyhose” and forcibly grabbed her between her legs, the complaint said. He also forced her to perform oral sex on him, Assistant District Attorney John McConnell said at Monday’s arraignment.

The 32-year-old woman said Strauss-Kahn pulled her into a bedroom and started attacking her, police said. She fought him off, she told investigators, but he then dragged her into the bathroom and forced himself on her.

Afterward, the employee ran to the front desk, Browne said. Hotel staff alerted New York police.

By the time officers arrived, Strauss-Kahn had left, leaving his cell phone behind at the hotel, according to Browne.

He departed in a hotel limo, according to the law enforcement source. He called the hotel to say he had left his phone behind and asked if it could be brought to him. That call came in about the same time police arrived to investigate the alleged sexual assault, the source said. Investigators told the hotel staff to advise him the phone would be taken to him and went to the airport. Two plainclothes Port Authority police detectives led him off the plane, the source said.

For the full story from CNN, click here.

Planking? What is this craze that just resulted in a death…. Reply

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Planking is the action of lying face down with arms to the sides, in unusual public spaces and photographing it. It has become particularly popular on Facebook with thousands of photos of planking in odd places, multiple people, and anything unique and different all trying to outdo one another.

Planking began as the lying down game in Europe and Japan in the late 2000s. The term “planking” was coined in Australia and became an internet meme in 2011.

Planking is also known as an abdominal exercise as seen in About.Com Sports Medicine site.

However, those plankers who are planking for the craze of planking, have now resulted in a death. A young man in Australia was attempting to have his photograph taken in a most extreme planking on the rail of a 7th floor balcony… and plummeted to his death.

I do not quite understand this craze, but in every generation, there is always a fad to follow… So, if you do participate in planking, please do so wisely.

Police attacking protestors outside Israel Embassy, Egypt Reply

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At least 120 people were injured after Egyptian security forces fired tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at pro-Palestinian protesters who were trying to storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Thousands of protesters had massed outside of the embassy in the capital on Sunday to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the “Nakba” or “catastrophe” – the day Israel declared its independence and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes.

Witnesses said a group of demonstrators later tried to storm the entrance of the embassy. Police used rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. At least 20 people were arrested.

Al Jazeera’s Rob Gilles, who was at the scene, said that some protesters responded by burning tires in the middle of the road and throwing stones.

“The security forces have made a charge outside the embassy to clear the street in front of it and most of the protesters are being forced back,” he said.

‘Determined protesters’

“They’ve sealed off the main area into it but there is still a determined presence here, they are determined not to move, spurred on by the images they’ve seen of the Nakba protests in other parts of the Middle East.

“We’ve seen a few people laid out on the floor mainly suffering from gas inhalation more than anything else.”

Activists had earlier called for marches to start on Sunday to reach the Rafah border crossing between Israel and Egypt.

The incident followed the visit to Egypt by a senior Israeli defence ministry official – the first trip by a top Israeli official since a popular uprising toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Amos Gilad was to hold talks with several Egyptian officials “to discuss the latest developments in the region, in light of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement”, MENA, Egypt’s state news agency reported on Sunday.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended a four-year feud at a reconciliation ceremony in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, earlier this month, which Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu termed “a tremendous blow to peace”.

The long-awaited accord, inked by the two rivals among 13 factions, aims to put a stop to the animosity which has split the Palestinian territories into opposing camps since 2007.

The agreement envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are unaffiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year.

IMF Chief arrested in NYC for allegedly forcing hotel maid to give him oral sex Reply

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UPDATE MAY 16, 2011: Click here

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), was arrested in New York on allegations that he forced or attempted to force a maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex on him.

The New York Post was first to break the news that the IMF chief was hauled off an Air France flight two minutes before it was due to take off, and taken into custody by the NYPD.

Here’s its description of the events that transpired in the hotel:

The trouble began around noon today, when a housekeeper entered Strauss-Kahn’s room at the Sofitel on West 44th Street.

Strauss-Kahn was in his bathroom, said sources. He emerged from the bathroom naked, said the sources, and grabbed her.

Then, Strauss-Kahn allegedly threw the housekeeper on the room’s bed and forced her to perform oral sex on him, said the sources.

The New York Daily news puts it a different way, saying that the maid escaped:

Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly crept up behind a maid after she entered his room and forced her to perform oral sex on him, sources said.

The woman broke free and ran out of the room. Strauss-Khan quickly headed for the airport, sources said.

He has been seen as a potential future candidate for Prime Minister of France.

This is not the first time he’s been involved in a sex scandal. Back in 2008 there was a story of the IMF investigating an improper sexual relationship with a subordinate.

And approximately a year ago, a book described his string of extra-marital affairs.

The Telegraph wrote this almost exactly one year ago:

The leader French Socialist and former finance minister is considered perhaps the only politician in a position to beat President Nicolas Sarkozy should he run against him in elections in 2012. But according to the book – said to be written by a close female aide – his penchant for the opposite sex could knock him out of the race even before it starts.

Meanwhile, The Guardian has a story — actually dated tomorrow — about how Strauss-Kahn is suing a French newspaper that made claims about his super-rich lifestyle, such as buying expensive, tailored suits.

He was due to meet with Angela Merkel this weekend on Euro-crisis matters.
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Here are the details of the allegations:

The 32-year-old woman told authorities that she entered Strauss-Kahn’s suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel not far from Manhattan’s Times Square at about 1 p.m. Eastern time (1600 GMT) Saturday and he attacked her, Browne said. She said she had been told to clean the spacious $3000-a-night-suite suite, which she had been told was empty.

According to an account the woman provided to police, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he began to sexually assault her. She said she fought him off, then he dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear. The woman was able to break free again and escaped the room and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said. They called police.

When detectives arrived moments later, Strauss-Kahn had already left the hotel, leaving behind his cellphone, Browne said. “It looked like he got out of there in a hurry,” Browne said.

The NYPD discovered he was at the airport and contacted Port Authority officials, who plucked Strauss-Kahn from first class on the Air France flight that was just about to leave the gate.

The maid was taken by police to a hospital and being treated for minor injuries.
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Update: With the news about 12 hours old, here’s a bit more of what has been learned.

Already many in France are raising questions about whether there is some kind of plot by the far-right. He had been riding high in the polls, and it seems his people were expecting more and more smears.

The IMF now faces a leadership vacuum. It’s not clear what his future is at the organization — regardless of the outcome in this particular case. Per this WSJ article, his #2 John Lipsky had planned to leave this August. Strauss-Kahn has been a forceful defender of the current bailout approach in Europe, for better or worse.

And the IMF has put out this brief statement:

“IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York City. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has retained legal counsel, and the IMF has no comment on the case; all inquiries will be referred to his personal lawyer and to the local authorities.

“The IMF remains fully functioning and operational.”

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Article from Business Insider

British woman decapitated in Los Cristianos Spain Reply

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UPDATE May 16, 2011: More on the man who beheaded British Woman, click here

A British woman has been stabbed and decapitated in Tenerife. The 60-year-old woman was reportedly attacked in a supermarket in the town of Los Cristianos on the island.

A Bulgarian man, believed to be homeless, has been detained by Spanish police. He was reportedly admitted to the psychiatric unit after knocking a stranger’s teeth out on the street.

Colin Kirkby, a 50-year-old British journalist who witnessed the attack, told MailOnline that the man probably picked up the knife inside the shop – and there was no apparent motivation.

‘A middle-aged English couple in the shop said it came out of the blue and there was no real disturbance, there are security guards in the centre that would have been on the scene quickly,’ he said.

‘The shop sells cheap souvenir sword-like blades and I think if he had walked into the shop with the blade he would have been stopped by security and that’s what people are thinking.’

Mr Kirkby added that it was so surreal he thought the ‘scruffy’ man, aged in his 20s, was carrying a ‘joke’ head.

‘I could hear people shouting and screaming and the guy was walking along the footpath slowly muttering to himself carrying the head – it was very surreal,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t hear what he was muttering and seemed to be oblivious to everything around him and was sort of rambling.

‘He was holding the head by the hair and I couldn’t help but think of the image in the Clash of the Titans where a man is beheaded.

‘One of the things was there wasn’t a lot of blood everywhere and there was no weapon on him.

‘He was not the smartest looking of guys and not well groomed, I don’t know if he was sleeping rough.’

He added that when the man was bundled to the floor by security he was not screaming and thrashing to get away.

For the full story on DailyMail.co.uk, please click here
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Haunting: The victim’s head lies on the ground covered only by a sheet as stunned crowds held back by police tape look on.

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Gruesome: The victim’s body is carried away on a stretcher from the shop where she was decapitated. Police arrived on the scene and sealed off the area.

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Wrestled to the ground: The man had been running through the town brandishing the woman’s head before being tackled by a motorcyclist.

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Popular: Millions of British tourists flock to Los Cristianos every year but this is understood to be the first attack of its kind on a holidaymaker in the area.

Mt Etna erupts May 12, 2011. Footage of nighttime eruption. 1

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Most active volcano in Continental Europe, Mount Etna, on Thursday (12 / 5) morning, again erupted. Mountain located on the island of Sicily, Italy, was accompanied by bursts of backfire hot lava and ash into the air.

Etna eruption occurred between the hours of 02:00 until 06:00 local time. Italian authorities closed the airport services in the city of Catania, the town nearest to Mount Etna, after warnings from the specialist mountain Institute of Volcanology in Catania.

In addition, workers also attempted to clear the airport runway from volcanic ash. The eruption of Mount Etna would create problems. Section, will take place next Sunday racing bike from the city of Messina to the Etna.

Etna, with an altitude of 3295 meters, is the most active volcano in Continental Europe. The mountain had last erupted in 1992.





Close-up underwater footage of Fukushima reactor spent fuel pool in debris Reply

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TEPCO released footage for the first time on Wednesday of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant Unit 3 reactor’s spent fuel pool. The fuel rods, covered in debris from the March explosions, weren’t visible in the footage but officials believe they are largely undamaged. In an operation filmed by a robot camera, 40 milliliters of water was collected from the spent fuel pool. The water is contaminated with high levels of radioactive material which needs further analysis for evaluation.