generalspeaking

World News - Christ Has Risen

Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari is to celebrate Good Friday mass in the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila in the central Appenine mountains. He mourned along with hundreds of worshippers in one of the tent camps, now home to earthquake victims. The good man, overcome with grief spoke of "the suffering of so many of our brothers and sisters".
I can't say any learned words to explain what happened but I can say that Christ has risen", the archbishop said, offering comfort to the grievously afflicted.

An armed French foreign legionnaire who killed four people in Chad, then fled across the southern Sahara on a stolen horse is the subject of an international military manhunt. "The guy is dangerous because he is armed and he has a psychological problem, said a French military source, adding the soldier had been trained in survival techniques for hostile environments. The private, attached to a European force in the north-central African desert state, killed two fellow legionnaires and a Togolese soldier attached to a UN force taking over peacekeeping operations.

Three Britons, two men and a woman, and another French manager, were released yesterday after having been held captive 18 hours overnight at the Scapa adhesive factory at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, just across the border from Geneva. Labour union members prevented them from leaving after negotiations over the loss of 68 jobs collapsed on Tuesday. The company says the job cuts are necessary because sales have collapsed, falling by 34% in December alone. It's a uniquely Gallic response to the prospect of job cuts - take the bosses hostage.

An Egyptian man beat his 17-year-old daughter to death after she received a telephone call from her boyfriend. The 45-year-old farmer identified as Mursi A. from the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh, caught his daughter Nur talking to her boyfriend on the phone and "beat her with a large stick before electrocuting her", an official said yesterday. Relations between unmarried men and women are deemed improper in Egyptian conservative society, particularly in rural areas. Police were alerted to the crime after the girl's body was taken to a hospital and Mr. Mursi was arrested. Last May, a farmer from the conservative south of Egypt decapitated his daughter after discovering she had a boyfriend.

More than 100,000 Thai protesters rallied outside the home of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's top advisor, whom they accuse of masterminding a 2006 coup against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Demonstrators banged clappers and cheered as protest leaders shouted for Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda, 88, and two fellow advisers to step down. The rally is the biggest test of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's four-month-old administration and his backers as he prepares to host a summit of Asian leaders tomorrow.

Britain's most senior anti-terrorist police officer resigned after making a blunder that forced an operation against a suspected al-Qaeda cell to be brought forward. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick was photographed entering the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street carrying a secret briefing note on which details of the undercover operation could be seen. The documents headed SECRET, set out the strategy for smashing an alleged cell based in the North West. As a result, 11 men (of Pakistani origin) were held in daylight raids in Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe, Lancashire.

The U.S. electricity supply is at 'increasing risk' to computer hackers, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said following reports cyberspies from China and Russia have targeted the grid. Experts fear stealth software has been placed in the system that could be used to disrupt networks at a time of war or crisis.

The U.S. economic crisis and soaring job losses have triggered a rash of killings across the United States with at least 58 fatalities in eight incidents over the past month. In January a man in Los Angeles shot his wife and five children before killing himself. In Oakland, California, a 26-year-old parolee shot and killed four police officers after a routine traffic check. In New York state a Vietnamese immigrant recently unemployed stormed into an immigration centre and killed 13 people before killing himself.

At least 60,000 Georgians rallied at the start of a campaign to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili resign, led by opponents emboldened by last year's disastrous war with Russia. Opposition leaders have promised to demonstrate daily outside parliament in Tbilisi until Saakashvili quits, accusing him of monopolizing power and stifling reforms promised in the 2003 Rose Revolution that swept him to power.

The top UN official in Congo complained to the Security Council that a continued shortage of helicopters would hamper the ability of peacekeepers to protect civilians in the violence-torn nation. Alan Doss, special UN envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo, said continuing threats to civilians in the east of the country underlined the importance of a reinforcement to the peacekeeping mission agreed by the council last year.

Convicted terrorist Momin Khawaja has launched an appeal of his six terrorism-related convictions and the 10-1/2 year sentence imposed for those crimes. During last year's 27-day trial, Khawaja's lawyer suggested Khawaja's jihadist activities were consistent with his plan to fight with Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan. Khawaja, a 29-year-old Ottawa computer specialist, was found guilty on October 29 of participating in, contributing to, financing and facilitating a group of British Islamist extremists. The group plotted to bomb British targets in 2004 and wage a wider Islamic jihad against the West.

Denmark's Free Press Society is selling copies of the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad that angered the Muslim world. One thousand prints of the drawing, which features the prophet wearing a turban with a lit fuse stuck in it, are up for sale for US$250 on the group's Web site. Each print is numbered and signed by the cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard. "Now you can own an exclusive print of the most famous picture of our time", the society advertised. The 73-year old artist is one of 12 cartoonists whose drawings were first published in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, sparking controversy among Muslims worldwide, forcing Mr. Westergaard to live under constant police protection.

Labels: World News

posted by Pieface @ Friday, April 10, 2009