IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Man Finishes Writing Entire Bible by Hand

    {{Four years after he began his project to write out every word of the Bible, Phillip Patterson penned the very last lines Saturday at an upstate New York church.}}

    “Every single curly-q, every single loop, it was all worth it,” said Patterson, 63, moments after inking the final two verses of the King James Bible. “I’m really going to miss this writing.”

    It took Patterson just a few minutes to copy the final lines of the Book of Revelation before a crowd of about 125 people at St. Peter’s Presbyterian Church in Spencertown. He ended the ceremony by saying “Amen.”

    Patterson, of Philmont, began copying the complete King James Bible in his neat, looping handwriting in 2009. He spent two years copying the first five books of the Bible as a prototype before starting fresh.

    He said he’ll spend about another year working on the book’s binding and covers before donating the fully completed Bible — more than 2,400 pages — to St. Peter’s as a gift.

    For now, he said, he’ll just have to get used to his new life without holding a Pigma Micron pen every day.

    “I’m going to miss the writing, that’s what I’m going to miss,” he said. “My fingers are fine, no callouses.”

    Patterson has said he started the project to learn about the Bible, not as a spiritual quest. But he said the project has helped him become more patient, confident and loving.

    The project was slowed by his health problems, including AIDS and anemia. The retired interior designer relies on two canes and leans on walls and furniture to get around his apartment near the Massachusetts border.

    Paterson worked as much as 14 hours a day on his project.

  • Putin Says Russian Soldiers Freed Europe

    {{President Vladimir Putin has praised Russian soldiers as “the liberators of Europe” at a Victory Day parade with more than 11,000 soldiers and 100 military vehicles on Red Square.}}

    “We will always remember that it was the Red Army that didn’t allow the fascists to occupy the world,” Putin said a speech at the parade Thursday.

    He ended the speech by saying, “Glory to Russia!” a slogan often used by the nationalist politicians.

    The parade was attended by veterans, government officials and foreign guests and chaired for the first time by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

    Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whose Cabinet lost a senior member with the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov a day earlier, stood beside Putin at the event, but a Channel One anchorwomen didn’t mention his name when both leaders shook hands with veterans.

    “President Putin is shaking hands with veterans,” she said.

    Cadets from a Rostov region Cossacks military academy took part in the parade for the first time since 1945, a move that seemed to raise the profile of the Cossacks, who are now used to help police in patrolling streets in southern Russian regions.

    Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachyov has said Cossacks also would help maintain order in the city of Krasnodar.

    Cossacks on horseback took part in the first Victory Parade in May 1945 to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

    Among the marchers were soldiers from a Kantemirovskaya tank division that bears the name of former Soviet leader Yury Andropov.

    {The Moscow Times }

  • Guatemalan ex-ruler Denies Massacre Charges

    {{A former Guatemalan military ruler has denied charges that he ordered the extermination of Ixil Mayas while testifying for the first time at his genocide trial.}}

    Efrain Rios Montt, 86, who ruled Guatemala from March 1982 to August 1983 during the height of its civil war, argued on Thursday that prosecutors had failed to prove his involvement in the killings.

    “I declare myself innocent,” the former general told the three-judge tribunal as many in the audience applauded.

    “It was never my intention or my goal to destroy a whole ethnic group.”

    Rioss Montt said: “I never ordered attacks on a specific race. I never did it, and of everything they have said, there was no clear participation.”

    The hearing was attended by representatives of indigenous, human rights and student groups as well as former soldiers and family members of victims.

    Benjamin Geronimo, president of the Justice and Reconciliation Association, told the tribunal that he survived massacres and killings that claimed the lives of 256 members of his community.

    “I saw it with my own eyes, I’m not going to lie. Children, pregnant women and the elderly were killed,” Geronimo, an Ixil Indian who spoke on behalf of the victims, said.

    “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a genocidist to enter the kingdom of God.”

    The remark prompted applause and cries of “justice” from the audience.

  • U.S.-EU pact will be trade ‘game changer’

    {{European Union officials on Thursday touted the huge economic potential of a proposed free trade pact with the United States the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.}}

    “We’ve launched this strange animal called TTIP (‘tee tip’),” EU Ambassador to the United States João Vale de Almeida said at a reception to mark Europe Day. “This is a game-changer. As I like to say, this is the mother of all free trade areas.”

    The two sides are expected to begin talks on the pact in July and hope to finish in one to two years. If successful, the final agreement would cover half the world’s economic output and about a third of global trade.

    The proposed pact “sends a strong signal … that despite our economic challenges (in the EU and United States), we are all open for business and trade,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the group.

    The United States is already negotiating another free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 countries in the Asia Pacific region, so there is symmetry in the moniker for the proposed U.S.-EU pact.

    {agencies}

  • New Venezuela Leader Gets Brazilian Backing

    {{Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro got strong backing from regional heavyweight Brazil on Thursday on a tour of South American allies to cement his legitimacy as political heir to the late Hugo Chavez.}}

    The clear endorsement from the largest and most influential Latin American nation will strengthen Maduro’s grip on power following his contested election in the oil-producing nation last month.

    “We wish you great success with your presidential mandate and your government,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said after a meeting in which she promised Venezuela food supplies, expanded trade and cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

    Maduro announced that Brazilian construction and engineering conglomerate Odebrecht will build a 1.5-million-tonne-a-year urea plant in Venezuela. He said Brazil and Venezuela agreed to strengthen military ties.

    Maduro met earlier with former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose moderate leftist government backed Chavez’s socialist revolution but did not share his anti-U.S. policies and rhetoric.

    Rousseff said she offered Maduro the same level of close relations that she and Lula had with Chavez.

    In private, though, Rousseff was expected to advise Maduro to tone down his aggressive rhetoric against his opponents for the sake of political stability, said a diplomat who was briefed ahead of the meeting.

    Rousseff delivered a similar message to Maduro on the need to treat the opposition better at a regional meeting on the eve of his April 19 inauguration, the diplomat said. Following that meeting, Venezuela’s electoral authority announced that it would conduct an audit of the election results, which is still underway.

    Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost the April 14 vote to Maduro by less than two percentage points, insists the election was stolen and has demanded a full recount. He is now contesting the result in the nation’s top court.

    reuters

  • SKorea Leader sacks Spokesman amid Abuse Claims

    {{President Park Geun-hye’s office says she has fired her chief spokesman after a “disgraceful incident” during Park’s trip to the United States. Media reports say the spokesman was accused of sexual abuse.}}

    The presidential Blue House said Friday on its website that unspecified actions by Yoon Chang-jung marred the government’s dignity.

    It didn’t elaborate. But South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cites a Washington police complaint that says Yoon grabbed a Korean-American intern’s buttocks on the night of the summit between Park and U.S. President Barack Obama.

    An email seeking police confirmation wasn’t immediately answered. Yoon couldn’t be reached for comment.

    The Blue House says its embassy in Washington is investigating.

    Yoon was a conservative columnist before joining Park’s team last year. He became spokesman after her February inauguration.

  • Boston Bomber Burried

    {{The body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in an undisclosed location outside the city of Worcester, where it had been held for a week at a funeral home, police said Thursday.}}

    “As a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased,” Worcester police said in a statement.

    Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said the body was no longer in Worcester and is now entombed. Police did not disclose where the body was taken.

    Tsarnaev’s body had been at the Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors for a week.

    Director Peter Stefan says he could not find a community willing to take the body, including Cambridge, where the family had lived for a decade. Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, had custody of the body.

    Meanwhile, Tsarnaev’s widow continues to face questions from federal authorities and has hired a criminal lawyer with experience defending terrorism cases.

    Katherine Russell added New York lawyer Joshua Dratel to her legal team, her attorney Amato DeLuca said Wednesday. Dratel has represented a number of terrorism suspects in federal courts and military commissions, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee David Hicks, who attended an al-Qaida-linked training camp in Afghanistan.

    {wirestory}

  • Son of ex-Pakistan PM kidnapped after Gun Battle

    {{The son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has reportedly been kidnapped during a campaign rally in his hometown of Multan, sources have said.}}

    Ali Haider Gilani was taken during a gunfire at the rally, which apparently killed his personal secretary and injured others.

    “People came on a motorbike. They also had a car with them and they opened fire and abducted Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Haider in a black Honda,” police officer Khurram Shakur said.

    He is running from two constituencies – NA-151 and NA-152 – as an independent candidate, but is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party which completed its five years in government.

    Rehman Malik, the former interior minister and a PPP leader, spoke to Al Jazeera in the aftermath of the kidnapping.

    “There is a war going on between pro- and anti-Taliban forces in this country. They have captured the son of our leader. We are saddened by this and praying that he is safely recovered.”

    {aljazeera}

  • Petronas Buys Brazil’s Batista with $850M Oil-Field

    Malaysian state oil company Petronas agreed to pay $850 million for a stake in two Brazilian offshore oil blocks, bolstering billionaire Eike Batista who is selling assets to keep his energy, mining, port and shipbuilding empire afloat.

    Petronas PETR.UL, which is expanding abroad to shore up future earnings as production slows at home, also said it has an option to buy a 5 percent stake in OGX Petroleo e Gas SA (OGXP3.SA), the Batista company that controls the blocks.

    The OGX sale extends a Petronas buying spree that includes a $5.1 billion acquisition of Canadian oil and gas company Progress Energy Corp. Petronas gets 40 percent of the BM-C-39 and BM-C-40 blocks northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

    The blocks contain the Tubarão Martelo, or “Hammerhead Shark” oil field, which is under development, and three oil accumulations being evaluated for development, according to OGX documents.

    After the deal was announced, shares in OGX and its sister companies in Batista’s EBX Group jumped in Sao Paulo trading Wednesday, with OGX rising more than 8 percent.

    Batista was Brazil’s richest man until lower-than-expected output from OGX, an oil exploration and production company founded in 2007 and the flagship of his EBX Group, sent the company’s shares plunging.

    Troubles at OGX also pulled down the market value of other EBX companies, cutting Batista’s fortune by $20 billion in the past year. He is now under pressure to divest up to half of his 60 to 70 percent stake in EBX so that his firms can find funds for expansion.

    In early afternoon trading EBX-controlled mining company MMX Mineração e Metalicos SA (MMXM3.SA) rose 3 percent on Wednesday, shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA (OSXB3.SA), which depends on OGX for much of its expected revenue, rose 3.1 percent and LLX Logistica SA (LLXL3.SA), a port operator leasing land to OSX for its shipyard and OGX for oil storage and transport, rose 2.1 percent.

    OGX trimmed earlier gains of 8 percent to rise 5.6 percent to 2.06 reais in Sao Paulo.

    MMX Energia SA (MPXE3.SA), a natural gas and electricity company in which OGX shares natural gas output in Brazil, rose 1.4 percent.

    The sale “addresses our main short-term concern with OGX shares, which is the need of alternative sources of cash in 2013,” Bruno Montanari and Guilherme Bellinetti, oil and gas company analysts with Morgan Stanley in Sao Paulo, said in a note to investors.

    While complete terms of the sale were not revealed, the Petronas option to buy 5 percent of OGX is priced at 6.3 reais a share. That stake would be worth about $160 million, based on the share price before the deal was announced.

    “The interest demonstrated by Petronas … to acquire 5 percent in our company in the future shows the quality of our team of executives and our opportunities for growth,” OGX Chief Executive Luiz Carneiro said in a statement.

    The sale, though, was made under pressure. While it alleviates OGX’s immediate needs for capital, it gives Petronas assets on the cheap, Morgan Stanley’s Montanari and Bellinetti said.

    The pair values the oil and natural gas resources in the BM-C-39 and BM-C-40 blocks purchased by Petronas at $10 a barrel, or 23 percent below their own $13.1 a barrel “base case” estimate.

    The deal may also demand that Batista and OGX prove their assets’ value. Citing a report in Brazil’s Valor Economico newspaper, the Morgan Stanley analyst said OGX may only receive $250 million from Petronas up front, followed by $500 million on first output and $100 million contingent on output levels.

    For Batista, 56, who holds several power-boat championship titles and once predicted he would be the world’s richest man by 2015, the Petronas sale is only the latest in a flurry of deals aimed at shoring up his companies and his personal fortune.

    On March 7, he announced a partnership with Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual Group (BBTG11.SA), run by fellow Brazilian billionaire Andre Esteves. The bank has helped to find buyers for stakes in EBX companies and improved their access to capital.

    On March 28, German energy company E.ON SE (EONGn.DE) more than doubled its stake in Batista’s natural gas producer MPX to 36 percent from 11.7 percent, for $1 billion.

    {Agencies}

  • UAE Coup Suspects Claim Abuse in Custody

    {{A group of 94 suspects charged with plotting against the United Arab Emirates is seeking an independent investigation into their claims of abuses in custody.}}

    Their letter to the UAE’s president, released by activists on Thursday, comes after the prosecution wrapped up its case this week, claiming the Emirati suspects are linked to Islamist networks opposed to the country’s Western-backed ruling system.

    The charges reflect wider crackdowns across the Gulf Arab states.

    The letter repeats claims of torture and harassment of their families. It says their Islamic society, known as Al-Islah, had the backing of UAE leaders in the past and is loyal to the UAE’s leadership.

    It urged for an independent probe and to “hold accountable” police and others.
    A verdict in the trial is expected later this month.