IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Brazilian Army to Defuse Conflicts over Indian lands

    {{President Dilma Rousseff’s government said on Tuesday it would send 110 federal troops to the Brazilian farm state of Mato Grosso do Sul to try to prevent more violence between Indians claiming their ancestral territory and ranchers.}}

    The government has been struggling to defuse tensions with indigenous tribes over farmland in several states as well as over hydroelectric dams in the Amazon.

    Tensions escalated in a disputed property in Mato Grosso do Sul that was invaded last week for a second time by Terena Indians angered by the fatal shooting of one of their tribe’s members. Local media said the man’s cousin was shot and injured on a nearby ranch on Tuesday.

    “We must avoid radicalizing a situation that goes back a long way in Brazilian history,” Justice Minister Jose Cardozo told reporters after meeting lawmakers from Mato Grosso do Sul in Brasilia.

    “We’re not going to put out the flames by throwing alcohol on the bonfire,” he said.

    However, protests have now erupted across the country.

    In Rio Grande do Sul state, about 2,000 Kaingang and Guarani Indians were blocking roads to protest the government’s decision to put on hold the granting of ancestral lands to indigenous communities, a concession to Brazil’s powerful farm lobby.

    “The government has abandoned us. Dilma isn’t supporting indigenous peoples,” Indian chief Deoclides de Paula said by telephone from a blocked highway.

    In Curitiba, the Parana state capital, 30 Kaingang Indians invaded the offices of the ruling Workers’ Party on Monday and only agreed to leave 10 hours later when they were promised a meeting with Rousseff’s chief of staff, Gleisi Hoffmann.

    Hoffmann, who will run for governor of Parana next year, said last month that the role of the government’s Indian affairs office, Funai, in land decisions would be restricted.

    Cardozo, however, stressed on Tuesday that Funai would not be gutted and would continue to play a central role as the main institution that defends Indian rights, though others will be brought in to improve the process of deciding ancestral lands.

    {wirestory}

  • Syrian Army Captures Qusair Border Town

    {{Syrian forces and their Hezbollah militant allies seized control on Wednesday of the border town of Qusair, dealing a strategic defeat to rebel fighters battling for two years to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.}}

    Rebels said they had pulled out of Qusair, which lies on a cross-border supply route with neighboring Lebanon, after two weeks of fierce battles which marked Lebanese Hezbollah’s deepest military involvement yet in Syria’s civil war.

    One Hezbollah fighter told Reuters that they took the town in a rapid overnight offensive, allowing some fighters to flee. “We did a sudden surprise attack in the early hours and entered the town. They escaped,” he said.

    Qusair had been in rebel hands for over a year and television images from the town on Wednesday showed widespread destruction, with buildings reduced to rubble, the streets torn up and no residents in sight.

    Assad’s forces fought hard to seize it to reassert control of a corridor through the central province of Homs which links Damascus to the coastal heartland of Assad’s minority Alawites, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

    “Whoever controls Qusair controls the center of the country, and whoever controls the center of the country controls all of Syria,” said Brigadier General Yahya Suleiman, speaking to Beirut-based Mayadeen television.

    Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television showed a man climbing the bullet-pocked clocktower in the town’s central square to plant a Syrian flag, while tanks and troops moved through the streets.

    “Our heroic armed forces have returned security and stability to all of the town of Qusair,” a statement carried by Syrian state television said.

    It marked the latest military gain for Assad, who has launched a series of counter-offensives against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels battling to overthrow him and end his minority Alawite family’s four-decade grip on power.

    More than 80,000 people have been killed in the fighting and another 1.6 million Syrians refugees have fled a conflict which has fueled sectarian tensions across the Middle East, spilled over into neighbouring Lebanon and divided world powers.

    In the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut, residents fired celebratory fireworks as news of Qusair’s capture spread.

    The capture of Qusair strengthens Assad’s hand ahead of planned peace talks which U.S. and Russian officials were due to discuss in Geneva on Wednesday, with the United Nations and Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.

    {reuters}

  • Michelle Obama Clashes With Heckler at Fundraiser

    {{U.S. First lady Michelle Obama threatened to leave a fundraiser Tuesday night unless a heckler stopped interrupting her speech.}}

    Mrs. Obama was speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at a private home in Washington when a woman in the audience started shouting in support of an executive order on gay and lesbian rights.

    According to pool reports, Obama responded, “One of the things I don’t do well is this,” a remark which drew loud applause. She then left the lectern and approached the heckler, telling the woman she could “listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”

    The crowd begged for Obama to stay and one woman shouted at the heckler, “You need to go.” The protester was then reportedly escorted out of the event.

    She was later identified as Ellen Sturtz, 56, an activist for the pro-LGBT rights group GetEQUAL.

    Sturtz later told media that she hadn’t gone to the event intending to interrupt the first lady, but during the course of her speech she decided to speak up.

    “I want to talk about the children,” she said. “I want to talk about the LGBT young people who are … being told, directly and indirectly, that they’re second-class citizens. I’m tired of it.”

    Sturtz said she was disappointed in the first lady’s response.

    “Basically, I was asked by the first lady to be quiet, and I can’t be quiet any longer. … I was surprised by how negative the crowd seemed to be. It was actually a little unsettling and disturbing,” said Sturtz.

    “She obviously thought she was going to make an example of me or something. I wasn’t scared at all.”

    {Agencies}

  • Hong Kong Man Finds he is a Woman

    {{A 66-year-old who lived his whole life as a man was given a surprising diagnosis after visiting the doctor in Hong Kong with a swollen abdomen – he was a woman.}}

    Doctors realised the patient was female after they found the swelling came from a large cyst on an ovary, the Hong Kong Medical Journal reported.

    The condition was the result of two rare genetic disorders.

    The subject had Turner syndrome, which affects girls and women and results from a problem with the chromosomes, with characteristics including infertility and short stature.

    But he also had congenital adrenal hyperplasia, increasing male hormones and making the patient, who had a beard and a “micropenis”, appear like a man.

    “Were it not due to the huge ovarian cyst, his intriguing medical condition might never have been exposed,” seven doctors from two of the city’s hospitals wrote in the study published on Monday.

    The 1.37 meters (4.5 feet) tall patient, who grew up as an orphan, was found to have no testes, a history of urinary leakage since childhood, and stopped growing after puberty at the age of 10.

    The doctors said there have been only six cases where both genetic disorders have been reported in medical literature. Turner Syndrome on its own affects only one in 2,500 to 3,000 females.

    The Vietnam-born Chinese patient decided to continue “perceiving himself as having a male gender with the possible need of testosterone replacement,” according to the journal.

    Most men have a X and a Y chromosome and most women have a pair of X chromosomes. But people with Turner Syndrome tend to have only one X chromosome or are missing part of their second X chromosome.

    {AFP}

  • China’s Manned Space Mission to Launch June

    {{China will launch its next manned rocket in the middle of this month, carrying three astronauts to an experimental space module, state media said on Monday, the latest stage of an ambitious plan to build a space station.}}

    The Shenzhou 10 space ship and its rocket had already been moved to the launch area at a remote site in the Gobi desert.

    Once in orbit, the Shenzhou 10 will link up with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module, which was moved into the correct orbiting position last month.

    Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with the module for the first time last June.

    Rendezvous and docking exercises between the two vessels are an important hurdle in China’s efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long periods.

    China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia. The Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not the building block of a space station.

    But this summer’s mission will be the latest show of China’s growing prowess in space and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back U.S. manned space launches.

    It will be China’s fifth manned space mission since 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei became the country’s first person in orbit.

    China also plans an unmanned moon landing and deployment of a moon rover. Scientists have raised the possibility of sending a man to the moon, but not before 2020.

    While Beijing insists its space program is for peaceful purposes, a Pentagon report last month highlighted China’s increasing space capabilities and said Beijing was pursuing a variety of activities aimed at preventing its adversaries from using space-based assets during a crisis.

    Xinhua

  • Iran Leader tells Candidates not to Appease Enemies

    {{Iran’s top leader is urging presidential candidates not to make concessions to the West.}}

    The Tuesday remarks by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei follow statements by several of the eight candidates running in June 14 elections that they would focus on improving Iran’s relations with other countries.

    “Some, following this incorrect analysis — that that we should make concession to the enemies to reduce their anger — have put their interests before the interests of the Iranian nation.

    This is wrong,” said Khamenei during a televised speech marking the anniversary of the June 3, 1989 death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

    Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said candidates “must promise” to put Iranian interests before foreign interests.

    {wirestory}

  • U.S. Says Apple Conspired on e-book Pricing

    {{Apple Inc conspired with publishers to raise the price of e-books in a scheme costing consumers “hundreds of millions of dollars,” a U.S. government lawyer said.}}

    A three-week trial got under way before a federal judge in New York in a case pitting the Justice Department against the popular iPad and iPhone maker that could shine a light on the secretive Silicon Valley giant’s business practices.

    “Apple told publishers that Apple – and only Apple – could get prices up in their industry,” Lawrence Buterman, a lawyer at the Justice Department, said during opening arguments.

    The trial came more than a year after the Department sued Apple and five of the largest U.S. publishing houses, accusing them of working together illegally to increase e-book prices and undo Amazon.com Inc’s market control.

    Orin Snyder, an attorney for Apple, described the case as “bizarre.” Apple acted in its own business interests in negotiating deals with publishers in the run up to the debut of its iPad in January 2010, he said.

    “What the government wants to do is reverse engineer a conspiracy from a market effect,” Snyder said.

    Apple is going to trial alone after the five publishers agreed to eliminate prohibitions on wholesale discounts and to pay a collective $164 million to benefit consumers.

    The five publishers were Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group Inc and MacMillan.

    The U.S. government is not seeking damages, but instead an order blocking Apple from engaging in similar conduct. However, if Apple is found liable, it could still face damages in a separate trial by 33 state attorneys general, who would seek civil penalties on behalf of consumers.

    {reuters}

  • Understanding Protests in Turkey

    {{Turkey’s Islamic-led government is facing its biggest protests in years. Here is a look at the protests and what may be driving them:}}

    Q: {{What’s going on in Turkey?}}

    A: Demonstrators were camping out in Istanbul’s landmark Taksim Square to protest plans to rip out trees and redevelop the area when authorities launched a violent pre-dawn raid Friday to clear them out.

    Protests against the police’s heavy-handed response quickly spread to cities across the country. Monday was the fourth day that riot police used tear gas in Istanbul and Ankara against protesters.

    Q: {{Are the protests just about trees — or something more?}}

    A: Demonstrators are also venting pent-up resentment against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in office for 10 years.

    Many secular Turks see him as an authoritarian figure who is trying to exert his conservative religious Islamic views on them. Erdogan rejects those accusations, insisting he respects all Turks and is a “servant” of the people.

    Q: {{Who are the protesters?}}

    A: Most of the tens of thousands of protesters on Turkey’s streets appear to be urban, secular Turks, frustrated by what they see as Erdogan’s close ties to development interests and his alleged attempts to force his religious outlook on them.

    Erdogan says the protests have been stirred up by Turkey’s opposition and extremists who are trying to force their will on the majority who backs him.

    Q: {{What has Erdogan done?}}

    A: Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 after winning three landslide elections, has been credited with boosting economic growth in Turkey and raising the country’s international profile.

    But he has been a divisive figure at home, with his government cracking down on journalists, passing laws to curb the sale of alcohol and taking a strong stand against the Syrian regime — a stance that some believe has put Turkey’s security at risk.

    Some Turks see him as a meddler in their personal lives, speaking out against Caesarean births, telling women they should have at least three children and even advising how TV characters should behave.

    Q: {{Why are protesters angry at police?}}

    A: Social media has been awash with reports and videos of police abuse during the protests. Authorities have said police excesses would be investigated, but they appeared to continue unabated.

    Turkey’s Human Rights Foundation says more than 1,000 protesters were subjected “to ill-treatment and torture” by police.

    Q: {{What does the president of Turkey think?}}

    A: President Abdullah Gul has taken a more conciliatory line, celebrating peaceful protests as a democratic right. “Democracy does not mean elections alone,” he said Monday.

    Q: {{What’s next? Is Turkey the next country to fall to an Arab Spring revolution?}}

    A: Turkey will be holding a presidential election next year in which Erdogan — who will hit his term limit as prime minister — could run against Gul. Despite images that resemble the Arab Spring protests that brought down leaders across the region, Erdogan is unlikely to fall.

    Turkey has a stable democracy and his backing by the silent majority still appears to be strong. “We already have a spring in Turkey,” he said Monday, alluding to the nation’s free elections.

    {compiled from internet}

  • Floods Hit Central Europe, 5 Dead

    {{Four people have died and at least eight are missing as torrential rains in central Europe caused landslides and took rivers to dangerously high levels.}}

    Emergency operations are under way in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic to deal with record levels of flooding in some places.

    Thousands of homes across the region have been evacuated.

    The Czech capital, Prague, is on high alert amid fears that floodwater could swamp its historic centre.

    Main roads in many areas of central Europe have been closed and rail services cut. In some areas, electricity has been turned off as a precaution.

    In Prague, underground stations were closed and businesses and schools shut as city officials braced themselves to see whether the Vltava River would flood its banks. Animals from the city’s zoo were also evacuated.

    Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas called a special cabinet session on Sunday to co-ordinate the emergency response, and around 1,000 troops have been mobilised to help erect metal barriers and fill sandbags.

    “We will do everything to protect people’s lives and health,” he said. “Tonight and tomorrow will be critical.”

    {BBC}

  • Fire Kills 119 at Chinese Poultry Slaughterhouse (UPDATED)

    {{A fire at a locked poultry slaughterhouse in northeastern China killed at least 119 people on Monday with several people still unaccounted for, the local government and state media said.}}

    The fire broke out just after dawn near Dehui in Jilin province, the provincial government said on its official microblog.

    More than 300 workers were in the plant when the fire broke out, with employees reporting hearing a sudden bang and then seeing dark smoke.

    “About 100 workers have managed to escape from the plant whose gate was locked when the fire occurred” .

    “The complicated interior structure of the prefabricated house in which the fire broke out and the narrow exits have added difficulties to the rescue work,” it added.

    The exact number of people unaccounted for was unclear, as was the cause of the fire.

    The Jilin government said 54 people were injured and had been rushed to hospital.

    {Xinhua}