Translate

Search This Blog

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hamas vows to 'act against' those firing rockets into Israel

Hamas vows to pursue those who fire rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, pledging to "act against those responsible". The statements come as Israel and the Islamist group controlling Gaza hold Egypt-brokered talks on a lasting ceasefire.Hamas spoke out on Thursday against firing rockets from Gaza into arch-enemy Israel for now and vowed to pursue those who do. The statements come as Israel and the Islamist movement ruling Gaza conduct Egypt-brokered talks on a durable truce and on a prisoner exchange. "The resistance movements have nothing to do with the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip" in recent days, the Hamas-controlled interior ministry said. "These firings come at a bad time," a statement added, vowing to "act against those responsible." On Sunday a leader of the Islamic Jihad group told AFP that 10 members of the group had been detained by Hamas and made to sign an agreement not to fire on Israel. Egypt is brokering talks to turn into a durable truce the mutual ceasefires Hamas and Israel declared on January 18 to end a devastating 22-day war in Gaza and to exchange Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza militants in June 2006, for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

German school shooter gave Internet chatroom warning

The interior minister of Baden-Württemberg announced Thursday the discovery that 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer, the boy responsible for a rampant school shooting in Winnenden, had warned of his actions in a chatroom seven hours prior.A German teenager who shot dead 15 people announced in an Internet chatroom before his rampage that he had weapons which he planned to use, an official said Thursday.Heribert Rech, interior minister of the state where the shooting took place, gave details of the Internet conversation at 2:45 am on Wednesday, seven hours before he started the killing spree."I have weapons here and tomorrow morning I will go to my old school." "You will hear about me tomorrow. Make note of the name of the place: Winnenden," 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer said. Rech said that the chat was with 17-year-old Bernd from Bavaria. The boy showed the chat to his father after he heard about Wednesday's massacre, and the father then contacted police."Shit, Bernd. I have had enough, I have had enough of this crummy life ... Always the same. People are laughing at me, no one recognises my potential," Rech cited the entry as saying. "I mean it seriously, Bernd."Kretschmer entered his old school in Winnenden at around 9:30 am, armed with a handgun taken from his father's bedroom and more than 100 rounds of ammunition. He shot dead eight girls, one boy and three female teachers. He fled and randomly shot dead three bystanders. Three hours later Kretschmer was dead after a manhunt ended in a shootout in a shopping centre car park 30 kilometres (20 miles) away.

Police detain protestors in fierce clashes

Pakistani police charged into protestors in Karachi, defying the thousands on a five-day march to Karachi, as they demonstrated for the reinstatement of judges sacked under former President Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan police baton-charged activists and manhandled dozens into vans in Karachi Thursday, as scores defied the government to launch a mass protest that has thrown the country into crisis. Lawyers in black suits and opposition party activists carrying flags and punching their fists in the air marched in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi, demanding that embattled President Asif Ali Zardari reinstate sacked judges. Organisers hope that hundreds of thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists will join a four-day convoy on the 1,500 kilometres (940 miles) route from Karachi to Islamabad, where it is supposed to arrive Monday.     In the third such annual march in Pakistan, the protesters want Zardari to act on a promise to reinstate judges after former military ruler Pervez Musharraf sacked around 60, including the Supreme Court chief justice in 2007. Main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, locked in a showdown with Zardari, has urged the masses to rise up against the weak civilian government, which is struggling with political crisis, economic meltdown and Islamist violence.  A nervous government banned all protests in Sindh, the province of Karachi, and Punjab, the country's most important political heartland, and security forces guarded key installations amid fears of violence. Protesters in Karachi chanted "Go, Zardari, Go" and "New Menace, Zardari" as riot police wearing helmets and carrying batons bundled more than 35 people into waiting prison vans outside the Sindh high court, witnesses said. Among those detained were Ghafoor Ahmed, vice president of Pakistan's biggest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the president of the Karachi bar association, Mohammad Ali Abbasi. About 100 lawyers left the Sindh high court, surrounded by riot police and armed paramilitary reinforcements, to march to the mausoleum of the country's founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, from where they will leave the city.     "Arrests cannot scare us. We will stage the march and reach Islamabad to restore the independent judiciary," said Muneer Malik, a leading lawyer.Zardari and Sharif have long fought over the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key US ally in the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militancy. Protests in 2007 ultimately led to Musharraf's resignation and patience is running out with the new civilian government, more than a year after parliamentary elections and six months after Zardari took office. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) quit the cabinet last year to protest against the government's failure to honour a deadline for reinstating the sacked judges. The biggest party in the government, the Pakistan People's Party of Zardari's assassinated wife Benazir Bhutto, has stalled over disagreements.

Activists to launch nationwide protest

Pakistan is beset with fears of increased violence as thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters, and activists mobilise for a nationwide protest to force the government to reinstate judges sacked under then-President Pervez Musharraf. Pakistani lawyers and activists were set to set out on a "long march" from Karachi to Islamabad Thursday, defying a ban on demonstrations as they try to force the government to reinstate sacked judges. Several hundred activists were detained Wednesday as authorities attempted to thwart the protest, which is expected to further weaken a government struggling with political crisis, economic meltdown and Islamist violence. Security forces are on alert amid fears of violence, and a 19th century British law has been invoked banning protests in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, as well as their respective provinces of Sindh and Punjab. Organisers are hoping that hundreds of thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists will join the four-day convoy on the 1,500-kilometre (940-mile) journey to Islamabad, where it is expected to arrive on Monday. They want unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari to act on his promise to reinstate judges sacked in 2007 by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, including Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the most popular opposition leader, has joined forces with the lawyers and on Wednesday urged people to rise up to "change the destiny of Pakistan" in what will be the third such annual march.Earlier this week, the government threatened charge Sharif with sedition for inciting public rebellion since he was disqualified from contesting elections by the Supreme Court in late February.  Zardari and Sharif have long fought over the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key US ally in the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militancy. Protests in 2007 ultimately led to Musharraf's resignation and patience is running out with the new civilian government, more than a year after parliamentary elections and six months after Zardari took office. The authorities braced for possible clashes. "We have declared a security alert in the city and taken all possible measures to maintain peace," said Karachi city police chief Waseem Ahmed.In Sindh, thousands of troops were on alert, according to a spokesman for the Rangers unit."Our paramilitary troops are deployed in and around sensitive places in Karachi including government buildings, major hotels, Western food franchises, diplomatic missions and other installations," Major Mohammad Ali said. Nevertheless, organisers have vowed to flout the clampdown. "A large number of activists from political parties and civil society will join us from dozens of cities in Sindh," said Rashid Razvi, president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association. Sardar Rahim, a spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said party members would join the lawyers outside the Sindh High Court on Thursday.The PML-N quit the cabinet last year to protest the government's failure to honour a deadline for reinstating the sacked judges. The biggest party in the government, the Pakistan People's Party of Zardari's assassinated wife Benazir Bhutto, has stalled over disagreements.

Number of billionaires plummets, Forbes magazine reports

The number of billionaires in the world fell by one third last year, from 1,125 to 793, according Forbes Magazine. Microsoft founder Bill Gates remains the world's richest man, worth 40 billion dollars, followed by Warren Buffet with 37 billion.US tycoons are back on top with Microsoft founder Bill Gates again the world's richest man in a year when even billionaires felt the heat of the global recession, Forbes magazine said Wednesday. The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires -- down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 -- plummeting to 2.4 trillion dollars from 4.4 trillion, Forbes said."The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires," Forbes spokeswoman Monie Begley joked at a press conference.     The much-watched annual rich list put Gates back on top with a net worth of 40 billion dollars, although he saw his bank balance lose 18 billion over the last 12 months.     In second came investor Warren Buffett with 37 billion dollars, despite losing 25 billion dollars this year in the value of his Berkshire Hathaway shares. Also losing 25 billion dollars, Mexican telecoms king Carlos Slim still managed to come in third with 35 billion dollars. The US surge sent billionaires from India, Russia and Turkey into retreat. US rich filled 10 of the 20 top spots and New York replaced Moscow as home to most billionaires, with 55 to 27. London comes in second with 28.     Russia, where wealth is closely tied to commodity prices, lost almost two thirds of its billionaires, down from 87 to 32. Russian oligarchs have long been famous for flaunting their wealth, but this year, none of them make it into the elite top 20, compared to four in the 2008 list. India lost more than half of its billionaires, with the total going from 53 to 24.  Two Indians appear in the top 20, notably steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal with just 19.3 billion dollars after losing 25.7 billion dollars over the last year. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at number 17, was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain.That was not because of his salary, which is a symbolic one dollar a year, but thanks to re-evaluation of Bloomberg financial news agency after the mayor bought a 20 percent stake from Merrill Lynch last year for 4.5 billion dollars.     About 64 percent of the billionaires are self-made and their average age is 63.7, a slight rise resulting from the lower number of rich Russians and Chinese, whose average ages last year were 46 and 48.     By contrast with that aging trend, Gates is a relatively youthful 53. The youngest billionaire prize this year goes to Albert von Thurn und Taxis of Germany, who is 25 and listed as having 2.1 billion dollars. But one of the young success stories from last year -- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg -- dropped off the list altogether. The top concentrations of billionaires in the United States are in California, then New York and Texas.One billionaire unlikely to welcome the attention though is Joaquin Guzman Loera, 54, whose one billion dollars is derived from cocaine trafficking.

West Indies survive to win series

The West Indies endured nervous moments to cling on for a series-clinching draw against England with eight wickets down on the last day of the fifth and final Test at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. The home team, set a target of 240 to win off 66 overs, preferred to defend and just avoided defeat at 114-8. The West Indies won the five-match series 1-0 and regained the Wisden Trophy for the first time since 2000. The series victory was the West Indies' first against any opponent since June 2004 when they defeated Bangladesh at home. 

Sangakkara is Sri Lanka captain

Kumar Sangakkara has been appointed captain of the Sri Lanka cricket team just over a week after they were attacked by gunmen in Lahore. Sangakkara, 31, the vice-captain since 2006, was the obvious heir to Mahela Jayawardene, who announced he was stepping down before this month's Pakistan tour, which was abandoned when the team bus was attacked on the way to the stadium. Six players were injured and seven Pakistanis killed in the incident on March 3.Off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been appointed as Sangakkara's deputy. Sangakkara's first tournament in charge will be the World Twenty20 in England in June. The selectors have also finalised a provisional 25-member squad for the tournament. The final 15 will be picked after an Inter-provincial Twenty20 tournament which will be held from March 25 to April 5

Sri Lanka squad:Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Muttiah Muralitharan (vice-captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilan Thushara, Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Kaushal Weeraratne, Upul Tharanga, Isuru Udana, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Chintaka Jayasinghe, Nuwan Zoysa, Gihan Rupasinghe, Thilina Kandamby, Malinga Bandara, Dilhara Fernando.

A nation mourns after school bloodbath

Germany was in mourning Thursday after a teenage gunman ran amok at a school and the local area, killing at least 15 people and finally himself in a shootout with police. Seventeen-year-old Tim Kretschmer Wednesday burst into his former secondary school in Winnenden, a picturesque town in southern Germany, and opened fire, leaving nine pupils aged between 15 and 16 and three teachers dead.Another three bystanders also died during a massive manhunt involving hundreds of armed police commandos and snipers in black body armour, assisted by helicopters and dogs. Less than three hours after the killing spree began, the gunman eventually turned his weapon on himself after being injured in a fire-fight with police, bringing the death toll to 16. A visibly shaken Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, described the crime as "incomprehensible". "It is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany. Our thoughts go out to the families and the friends. We are thinking of you and we are praying for you," she added. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble ordered flags across Germany to be flown at half mast Thursday as a mark of respect for the slain. Church services took place Wednesday in the town, which has a population around 27,000.


Recent school slayings worldwide
  • Sept 2008, Finland: Eleven people, including the gunman, die in a massacre at a training school at Kauhajoki.

 

  • April 2007, United States: A South Korean student kills 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in Blackburg, VA.

 

  • Mar 2005, United States: A 16-year-old boy kills two people at his home in Minnesota, then goes to school where he kills seven other people, including his teacher and turns the weapon against himself.

 

  • Apr 2002, Germany: A 19-year-old student kills 16 people, including 12 teachers, at his high school in Erfurt (Thuringen.)

 

  • June 2001, Japan: A man kills eight children in a Tokyo school.

 

  • Apr 1999, United States: A 17 and a 19-year-old go on a rampage in at their Colombine highschool in Littleton, CO, and kill 12 students and one professor. They then both commit suicide.

Pyongyang announces satellite launch for early April, reports

North Korea announced Thursday it has notified an international shipping agency of its planned satellite launch, which South Korea's Yonhap news agency said would happen early next month. South Korean and US officials see such a launch as a disguised missile test and have urged the communist state to scrap its plans.     The North gave the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and other world bodies "necessary information for the safe navigation of planes and ships" as part of  preparations for launching "an experimental communications satellite," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.     Yonhap, quoting a Seoul intelligence source, said the North had informed the London-based IMO that it plans to fire the rocket between April 4-8. There was no immediate confirmation. The North has asserted its right to peaceful space research and says any attempt to shoot down its rocket will be seen as an act of war.  KCNA said Pyongyang has also joined an international treaty and convention on the peaceful use of space.  "The DPRK's (North Korea's) accession to the said treaty and convention will contribute to promoting international confidence and boosting cooperation in the scientific research into space and the satellite launch for peaceful purposes," it said. There have been reports for weeks that the North is preparing to launch its longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, from a base at Musudan-ri on its northeast coast. The missile could theoretically reach Alaska (USA).

Hundreds held in massive crackdown! No more violence, US tells Pak

WASHINGTON The United States on Wednesday said Pakistan should allow its citizens to protest government actions and the government should avoid violence, but refrained from criticizing a massive government clampdown against opposition activists. Pakistani police said they arrested more than 300 people earlier on Wednesday on the pretext of avoiding violence ahead of a cross-country protest march planned for later this week. Opposition groups said the arrests numbered in the thousands. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Pakistan was a sovereign country and should take steps to reduce violence, but he also noted the US supports the rights of free speech and protest. "It's certainly fair to say that we would want to see, in the midst of all of this, respect for the right for people to freely assemble and to be able to express their views," Wood said. Most of the arrests were made in the eastern province of Punjab, the power centre of popular opposition leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The government also imposed a ban on public gatherings in Punjab, following a similar ban in the southern Sindh province.

Pakistan detains opposition members

Pakistani authorities have launched a crackdown on lawyers and political activists before a planned protest march in the eastern province of Punjab, police say. Dozens of people were detained or placed under house arrest during overnight raids which continued into Wednesday. "Raids are being conducted at various places in the city and some arrests have been made," Amjad Saleemi, a senior police official, told AFP news agency. "The government has provided lists of people to police and raids are being made to arrest them." Those detained include members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is headed by Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister who last month was disqualified from running in elections. Anti-government lawyers and opposition parties are expected to launch a cross-country protest rally from Punjab to the capital Islamabad, known as the long march, on Thursday. The parties are calling for the reinstatement of Iftikhar Chaudhry, a former supreme court justice, and other judges dismissed by Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former president.

Launch of Discovery mission to space station set for Wednesday

After several delays, Discovery's launch on a mission to the International Space Station has been set for Wednesday, NASA announced. The space shuttle will carry Japan's first astronaut to serve aboard the station and deliver solar wing panels. NASA cleared space shuttle Discovery for a Wednesday launch to complete the International Space Station's power system and deliver Japan's first live-aboard astronaut, officials said on Monday. Lift off is scheduled for 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 Thursday) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Right now we're not tracking any issues," said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach. "The team is anxious to go." The weather is expected to be nearly ideal, with a 90 percent chance of suitable launch conditions. "It should be a really nice night for a launch," said shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters, noting that there will be a full moon rising about an hour before launch. The shuttle will be carrying a $300 million set of solar wing panels for the space station, the last major U.S.-built component for the $100 billion complex. The station, a project of 16 nations, has been under construction in orbit for more than a decade. It is scheduled to be finished next year. Discovery also will deliver Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, a 45-year-old aerospace engineer who will become the first from his country to serve aboard the station. "This week will be a historic week for Japan's space program," said Kuniaki Shiraki, executive director of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's human space program. "We have been waiting a long time." Wakata will replace NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who has served as a flight engineer on the station since November.

Sehwag smashes NZ to seal series

Virender Sehwag smashed the fastest century by an Indian to lead his country to a crushing win over New Zealand in their rain-shortened fourth one-day international at Hamilton. Sehwag pounded an unbeaten 125 from just 74 balls to help India pile on 201 without loss in less than 24 overs when a fifth rain delay forced an early end to the match. New Zealand had made 270 for five from their 47 overs but India, who were 84 runs ahead of the par score when the match was abandoned, were awarded a 10-wicket victory under the Duckworth-Lewis method. The win gave India an unbeatable 3-0 lead and their first one-day series victory on New Zealand soil in 33 years, with Saturday's final game at Auckland still to be played. 

HK's Cathay Pacific loses $1.1bn

Hong Kong based airline Cathay Pacific has reported a loss of US$1.1bn, on the back of falling cargo demand and volatile fuel prices. Announcing the loss on Wednesday, the airline said it was bracing for "an extremely challenging year in 2009". In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Christopher Pratt, Cathay's chairman, said high oil prices in the first half of the year had hit the carrier's bottom line. The loss - the airline's first since the Asian financial crisis of 1998 - compares to a profit of US$900m for 2007.  Pratt said that the tumbling oil price in the second half of 2008 had also caused heavy losses from hedging contracts taken out to protect it against the previously high cost of fuel. "Having made a painful adjustment to high fuel prices, the aviation industry now has to adjust to a severe economic downturn," he said.

US calls on Hamas, Hezbollah to recognise Israel

The White House said Tuesday that both Hamas and Hezbollah must renounce violence and recognize Israel before they can expect even low-level US engagement.The comments came after US ally Britain confirmed last week that it had authorized low-level contact with the political wing of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, to stress the urgency of disbanding militias. "The president has stated on a number of occasions that, in order for anything like that to happen, there are certain responsibilities that those individual organizations have," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Those requirements include recognizing the right of Israel to exist and renouncing "terrorist activities," he said, also referring to the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip."There are activities and responsibilities that have to be undertaken by those organizations well before this administration can render a judgment," Gibbs said. The State Department said last week that the United States was not ready to follow Britain's move. Britain has had no official talks with Hezbollah since 2005, and last July added its military wing to a blacklist of designated terror groups.

Arab leaders aim to boost relations

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has hosted a four-way meeting of Arab leaders aimed at  closing ranks ahead of an Arab summit in Qatar at the end of the month. The meeting between king Abdullah, Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria, Hosni Mubarak, president of Eypt and Sheikh Sabah al-ahmad al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, was taking place at a Riyadh air base, the Saudi state news agency SPA said. "Bilateral relations ... and ways of strengthening them in various fields in addition to regional and international issues of common concern" will be discussed, SPA reported. The visit by Assad marks a relaxing of tensions between the Syrian and the Saudi government after years of differences over Damascus' links to Iran and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia organisation.