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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Ecuador Volcanic ash cleaning started

Cleaning work has been started in Ecuador’s Banos city where a volcano erupted two days ago. The Friday s eruption at the Tungurahua volcano hurled truck sized boulders around 2 km away. For the past 3 days Tungurahua volcano is spewing ash that has forced to close the schools. The city administration has started to clean the ash. At least 300 people have been evacuated from the region. Authorities are advising tourists not to visit the region. There is a temporary ban on tourists from visiting the Tungurahua volcano.

US helps Libyan rebels, fighting rages in west

The  United States took steps to throw a financial lifeline to rebels controlling eastern Libya while forces loyal to Muammar Qadhafi focused their firepower on pockets of resistance in the west. Rebels said Qadhafi’s forces fired Russian-made Grad rockets, which rights groups, say should not be used in civilian areas, at the rebel-held western towns of Misrata and Zintan following Nato strikes to free Misrata’s port. In Zintan, the rebels struck back. “Rebels attacked posts belonging to Qadhafi forces east of Zintan in the early evening. The posts have been used to fire rockets into Zintan,” the spokesman, called Abdulrahman, told Reuters. “The rebels destroyed at least three tanks and captured two others.” Remoter areas of western Libya also came under fire from forces loyal to Qadhafi, trying to break an uprising against his four-decade rule that has put most of the east in rebel hands since it began in mid-February. “Many in the Western Mountains in towns such as Yefrin, Zintan and Kabau are being killed by this indiscriminate shelling,” senior rebel National Council spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told a news conference in Benghazi in the east. The United States voiced confidence in the Benghazi-based main opposition council Wednesday as the US Treasury moved to permit oil deals with the group, which is struggling to provide funding for the battle-scarred areas under its control. The order by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control may help to clear up concerns among potential buyers over legal complications related to ownership of Libyan oil and the impact of international sanctions. The first major oil shipment from rebel-held east Libya, reported to be 80,000 tonnes of crude, was expected to arrive in Singapore on Thursday for refuelling but oil traders told Reuters finding a buyer was not straightforward, with many of the usual traders still worried about legal complications. A tanker booked for Italian oil company Eni to carry crude to Italy from Qadhafi-held territory in Libya never arrived in port and left empty last week because the sanctions meant the government would not have got paid, trade sources said. “They didn’t want the crude to go, because they wouldn’t have gotten any money for it,” an industry source said on Wednesday, adding, “They could use it to refine into gasoline.” Residents say pro-Qadhafi forces have been surrounding mountain-top towns in western Libya, cutting them off from food, water and fuel supplies and unleashing indiscriminate bombardments on their homes with rockets and mortars. Libyan officials deny targeting civilians, saying they are fighting armed gangs and al Qaeda sympathisers who are terrorising the local population. Rebels who seized a remote post on the western border with Tunisia hurriedly dug trenches after hearing that forces loyal to Qadhafi were on their way to re-take the crossing. The sound of distant explosions could occasionally be heard coming from the Libyan side of the border, signs of a battle that has been going on for weeks in the Western Mountains region, largely out of sight of the outside world. The rebel spokesman in the Western Mountains town of Zintan, scene of some of the region’s most intense fighting, said there was heavy bombardment there on Wednesday, that at least 15 people were wounded and five houses destroyed. Misrata also came under fire from Grad missiles, the rebels said, after Nato air strikes forced Qadhafi’s troops away from the port, the only connection the besieged city has with the outside world. Both the rebels and the European Union said the shelling of the Misrata port threatened a vital supply and rescue route. “We are receiving reports of hospitals being overwhelmed by a growing number of wounded,” EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement. An aid ship took advantage of a brief lull in the fighting to rescue Libyans and a French journalist wounded in the fighting in Misrata, along with migrant workers, from the western rebel enclave and headed for Benghazi, centre of the rebel heartland in the east. “Despite heavy shelling of the port area about 935 migrants and Libyans have been rescued and are now safely en route to Benghazi,” the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. A UN human rights group is in Libya to investigate accusations pro-Qadhafi forces have violated human rights and attacked civilians.

zaviews NeWz ( Syria, Saudi Arab, Yemen, Thai and Cambodian, United States)

Syria          Syrian troops have killed six people as they opened fire inside the restive southern town of Deraa. According to the witnesses, the Syrian troops and snipers targeted people in the town of Deraa early morning on Saturday. They (witnesses) said that the troops had sieged the city for a week and allowed no one to enter or leave. “The city has gone short of food, water and medicine due to the siege. The snipers holding position on the tall buildings are targeting the citizens who get into the streets.” Witnesses said that some troops refused to open fire on the protestors. 33 people were killed in Deraa on Friday. 582 people have been killed during protests against the President Bahsar Al Asad since 15 March, 2011.
Saudi Arab     Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has imposed new media restrictions in the country. The king threatened hefty fines and closure of news organisations allegedly undermining national security, press reports said on Saturday. Under a decree, the media will be prohibited from reporting anything that contradicts the strict Islamic sharia law or serves "foreign interests and undermines national security." The decree requires publishers to stick "to objective and constructive criticism that serves the general interest," media reports said, adding that violators face fines of up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000). In addition to a threat to close publishers who violate the decree, the authorities can also ban a writer for life from contributing to any media organisation.
Yemen       At least six people including two soldiers were killed during anti-government protests in Yemen. According to the state officials, the protesters opened fire on the soldiers when they stopped them from removing the barricades in Al-Mansoura. Meanwhile the soldiers rushed to the firing scene and targeted the protesters. According to the sources, at least 6 people including 2 soldiers were killed and 23 were injured during anti-government protests. On the other hand, a debate has heated in capital city Sana’a whether President Saleh would sign on the accord of acquitting power or he would move it to the ruling party for verification.
Thai and Cambodian forces clashed again, marking the ninth straight day of fighting.

Thai and Cambodian    forces have clashed again, marking the ninth straight day of fighting between the two neighbors. No casualties were reported on Saturday, but the border skirmishes have killed at least 16 people and displaced nearly 100,000 on both sides since they began on April 22. Cambodian Col Suos Sothea says calm has returned to the border after the dawn clash. A Thai soldier gave a similar account, saying the fighting lasted about half an hour. Thailand and Cambodia have clashed six times since 2008 over the border, where several crumbling ancient Hindu temples sit atop cliffs and in jungles mined in wars past. The land has been disputed for more than half a century, but analysts say domestic politics on both sides is driving the conflict.
United States     The storm affected residents have started removing debris of the buildings in Alabama State. At least 228 people were killed and 1,700 were injured in Alabama after a massive storm ripped through the area battering homes and cars and knocking out power lines. Don Bryan s business was completely destroyed by the tornado but he said in spite of the damage he is grateful to be alive. "It looks like a cluster bomb went off. We are just fortunate to be alive. God has truly blessed us. When you look around the area and see what everyone else has been through we are very fortunate," Bryan said. President Barack Obama promised federal aid on Friday to the tornado-ravaged U.S. South, where deadly twisters have killed at least 328 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.