generalspeaking

The News Today

• China - China's latest cultural revolution is a government campaign to silence unofficial voices and re-assert control over the news media, the Internet and all independent forms of expression. Zhang Jianhong, a 48-year-old Internet blogger, known to readers as Li Hong, became the latest victim this week when he was sentenced to six years in prison for posting articles on his Web site calling for political reform.
• New York - For years New York and Los Angeles have stationed safety officers and armed police in schools. One in five middle and high schools in New York have metal detectors, while a 1996 survey shows half of public high school students in Los Angeles must pass through them to attend class. A survey found students feel police and safety officers are "intervening in everyday disciplinary issues and treating young people like criminals for behaviour that would not be considered criminal in any other setting."
• Nigeria - Muslim students at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria beat a teacher to death yesterday after accusing her of desecrating the Koran. Uluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was invigilating an Islamic religious knowledge exam at the school in Gombe state when the incident occurred. The students attacked her outside the school compound after the exam and killed her. In February 2006, at least five people were killed and several churches burned down in neighbouring Bauchi by Muslims infuriated that a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class.
• Israel - The country came to a grinding halt temporarily yesterday after the powerful Histadrut labour union called a one-day nationwide strike that stopped international flights and public services. The union said thousands of municipal workers it represents have not been paid for months. The strike was called off late in the day after union and Finance Ministry officials hammered out a deal with the help of a labour court.
• Russia - More than 100 residents of a Russian village have refused to switch to new passports because they believe the documents' bar codes contain satanic symbols. "We believe these new passports are sinful," said an elderly resident of Bogolyubovo, about 210 kilometres east of Moscow. Some villagers have even stopped collecting their pensions because the payment slips also have bar codes that might contain the mark of the devil.
• Paris - Jacques Chirac finally gave his official blessing yesterday to centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy to succeed him as French president. The two men have been bitter rivals for years and disagree on many domestic issues.
• New York - Coffee lovers who are in good health may have little reason to cut back, at least as far as their blood pressure is concerned, a new study suggests. Because the caffeine in coffee and other foods can cause a short-term spike in blood pressure, there has been concern that coffee drinking may, over time, raise the risk of high blood pressure. Studies, however, have come to inconsistent conclusions. In the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that healthy women who drank upwards of 6 cups of coffee per day were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure over the next decade. On the other hand, women who drank coffee in moderation, zero to three cups a day,had a higher risk of developing high blood pressure than the heavy drinkers or the abstainers. Go figure.
• Baghdad - Police said yesterday that children were used in a weekend car bombing in which the driver gained permission to park in a busy shopping area after he pointed out that he was leaving his children in the back seat. Once the vehicle was parked the men leaped from the car, leaving the children inside as it exploded. In addition to the two children, three Iraqi bystanders were killed in the attack near a marketplace in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Azamiyah, and seven people were injured.
• London - An American Airlines pilot arrested at an airport security check-in after apparently arriving for duty drunk was found not guilty by a court yesterday, after telling a jury that he must have consumed a third of a bottle of Irish whisky in his sleep.
• Pakistan - Fighting this week between area and foreign militants near the Afghan border was cited yesterday by Pakistan's government as a testament to the success of efforts to get tribesmen to root out al-Qaeda fighters. But the bloodshed underscored the government's inability to police the region and could unleash a cycle of violence between the warring factions, experts warned.
• Iran - Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday warned that his country will pursue "illegal actions" if the UN Security Council insists it halt uranium enrichment, an apparent reference to nuclear activities outside international regulations. Mr. Khamenei also warned the United States that Iran would fight back with "all its capacities" if attacked.
  
• Marshall Islands - The government of the Marshall Islands dispatched a ship to supply drinking water to outlying islands yesterday, after declaring a state of emergency amid a prolonged drought. Many islands in the western Pacific island nation of 60,000 people have had little rain since January and, earlier this week the former U.S. territory declared an emergency for six islands and appealed for international help.
• Zimbabwe - About 2,500 Angolan paramilitary police, feared in their own country for their brutality, are to be deployed in Zimbabwe, raising concerns of an escalation in violence against those opposed to President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe's home affairs minister confirmed their imminent arrival. Angola is regarded as the most powerful military nation in Africa, after South Africa. The deployment comes amid reports of concern in Mr. Mugabe's government over the capability of the country's own police force to suppress outbreaks of unrest, mostly in Harare's volatile townships. Dubbed "ninjas" for their all-black uniform of combat trousers and tunics, boots and balaclavas, the Angolan paramilitaries form part of the presidential guard of Jose Eduardo dos Santos. They patrol in pickup trucks with mounted heavy machine guns and are notorious for their violence.

Labels: World News

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, March 22, 2007