IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Venezuela President Dead

    {{Grieving and stunned supporters of deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took to the streets on Tuesday weeping, chanting slogans and vowing to continue their hero’s revolution.}}

    Gathering in streets and squares across the South American nation of 29 million people, backers of the socialist leader shouted: “Chavez lives forever!” and “The fight continues!”

    “We have to show that what he did was not in vain,” said Jamila Rivas, 49, crying outside the military hospital where Chavez died. Hundreds of supporters flocked there.

    Venezuelans have been tracking the ups-and-downs of Chavez’s two-year battle against cancer, but some supporters felt a sense of disbelief that the flamboyant leader was gone.

    “He was our father. ‘Chavismo’ will not end. We are his people. We will continue to fight!” said Nancy Jotiya, 56, in Caracas’ downtown Bolivar Square, named for Venezuela’s independence hero and Chavez’s idol, Simon Bolivar.

    “I admired him. He was a great man,” said housewife Aleida Rodriguez, 50, who heard the news as she emerged from Caracas’ underground transport system.

    Venezuela’s opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, offered condolences and called for unity.

    Some opponents could not hide their happiness at the end to a rule they viewed as a cruel dictatorship.

    “At last!” shouted some women, coming out of their homes in one upscale neighborhood.

    Hatred for Chavez ran deep among the wealthier members of Venezuela’s population.

    Some openly celebrated his death on Twitter.

    There were reports of isolated incidents of looting and violence, including the burning of tents belonging to students who had been protesting in a Caracas street for the last week against secrecy over Chavez’s condition.

    Around Latin America and the Caribbean, where Chavez’s oil-fueled largesse was a source of support for various leftist governments, tributes and condolences poured in.

    Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close personal friend, wept as he spoke of Chavez.

    Brazil’s Congress held a minute of silence.

  • China Overtakes U.S. as World’s top Oil Importer

    {{China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest net importer of oil, in a generational shift that will shake up the geopolitics of natural resources.}}

    US net oil imports dropped to 5.98m barrels a day in December, the lowest since February 1992, according to provisional figures from the US Energy Information Administration.

    In the same month, China’s net oil imports surged to 6.12m b/d, according to Chinese customs.

    The US has been the world’s largest net importer of oil since the mid-1970s, shaping Washington’s foreign policy towards energy-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Venezuela.

    As China overtakes the US as the world’s leading net oil importer, Beijing is likely to face pressure to take a larger role in patrolling the world’s key shipping lanes.

    China has already taken a more assertive foreign oil policy in countries such as Sudan, Angola and Iraq, where state-owned Chinese companies have invested billions of dollars.

    “The US is taking strides towards energy independence,” said Eric G Lee, a commodities analyst at Citigroup who first reported the shift.

    Although December figures are often volatile due to end-of-the-year tax reasons, analysts and traders say the shift will continue, affecting global oil trade routers and the geopolitics of energy.

    The figures include crude and refined petroleum products such as diesel and kerosene.

    {Financial Times}

  • British Health Rankings Drop, Despite Free Treatment

    {{Years of universal healthcare, rising health spending, cancer screening, immunisation and anti-smoking laws have failed to stop Britain falling behind in reducing early death and disease, a study showed on Tuesday.}}

    Researchers who compared Britain’s health performance since 1990 with 14 European Union countries plus Australia, Canada, Norway and the United States said its pace of decline in premature death was “persistently and significantly” behind the average – a finding they described as “startling”.

    Chris Murray, who led the work at the University of Washington, said Britain’s poor performance was partly due to dramatic increases in Alzheimer’s disease and in drug and alcohol abuse problems, and to a failure to tackle leading killers such as heart disease, strokes and lung diseases.

    “Concerted action is urgently needed,” said Murray, director of the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

    Using data from a vast study called the Global Burden of Diseases, headline findings of which were published last year, researchers analysed patterns of ill health and death in Britain, calculated the contribution of various preventable risk factors, and ranked it among high-income countries that spent similar amounts on health in 1990 and 2010.

    They found that only in men older than 55 years had Britain seen significantly faster drops in death rates than other nations over the last 20 years.

    Britain’s ranking in premature mortality rates for adults aged between 20 and 54 had “worsened substantially”, they found.

    This was partly due to dramatic growth in problems linked to drugs and alcohol, which were ranked among the least important causes of death in this age group in 1990 – ranked 32nd and 43rd respectively – but rose to sixth and 18th place in 2010.

    {Reuters}

  • Hugo Chavez Hit byNew, Severe infection

    {{President Hugo Chavez is breathing with greater difficulty as a new and severe respiratory infection has taken hold, Venezuela’s government said, describing the cancer-stricken president’s condition as “very delicate.”}}

    A brief statement read on national television by Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas late Monday carried the sobering news about the charismatic 58-year-old socialist leader’s deteriorating health.

    Villegas said Chavez is suffering from “a new, severe infection.” The state news agency identified it as respiratory.

    Chavez, 58, has been undergoing “chemotherapy of strong impact,” Villegas added without providing further details.

    Chavez has neither been seen nor heard from, except for “proof-of-life” photos released in mid-February, since submitting to a fourth round of surgery in Cuba on Dec. 11 for an unspecified cancer in the pelvic area. It was first diagnosed in June 2011.

    The government says he returned home on Feb. 18 and has been confined to Caracas’ military hospital since.

    {wirestory}

  • Malaysia attacks Filipinos to end Borneo siege

    {{Malaysia launched airstrikes and mortar attacks against nearly 200 Filipinos occupying a Borneo coastal village Tuesday to end a bizarre three-week siege that turned into a security nightmare for both Malaysia and the Philippines.}}

    The assault follows firefights this past week that killed eight Malaysian police officers and 19 Filipino gunmen, some of whom were members of a Muslim clan that shocked Malaysia and the neighboring Philippines by slipping by boat past naval patrols last month and storming an obscure village on Borneo’s eastern Sabah state.

    The crisis has sparked jitters about a spread of instability in Sabah, which is rich in timber and oil resources. Unknown numbers of other armed Filipinos are feared to have encroached on other districts in the area recently.

    More than seven hours after fighter jets were deployed, Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said no injuries occurred among Malaysian police and military personnel who went in to raid houses near palm oil plantations there.

    “On the enemy’s side, we have to wait because the operation is ongoing. We have to be careful,” the minister said, refusing to elaborate on whether there were Filipino casualties or captives.

    National police chief Ismail Omar said ground forces encountered resistance from gunmen firing at them.

    The clansmen, armed with rifles and grenade launchers, had refused to leave the area, staking a long-dormant claim to Malaysia’s entire state of Sabah, which they insisted was their ancestral birthright.

    Prime Minister Najib Razak defended the offensive, saying Malaysia made every effort to resolve the siege peacefully since the presence of the group in Lahad Datu district became known on Feb. 12, including by holding talks to encourage the intruders to leave without facing any serious legal repercussions.

  • 7 Saudis Appeal For Help to Stop Executions

    {{Speaking over a smuggled cellphone from his prison cell, one of seven Saudis set to be put to death Tuesday by crucifixion and firing squad for armed robbery appealed for help to stop the executions.}}

    Nasser al-Qahtani told The Associated Press from Abha General prison Monday that he was arrested as part of 23-member ring that stole from jewelry stores in 2004 and 2005.

    He said they were tortured to confess and had no access to lawyers.

    “I killed no one. I didn’t have weapons while robbing the store, but the police tortured me, beat me up and threatened to assault my mother to extract confessions that I had a weapon with me while I was only 15,” he said. “We don’t deserve death.”

    A leading human rights group added its appeal to Saudi authorities to stop the executions.

    Al-Qahtani, now 24, said he and the most of the ring were juveniles at the time of the thefts. They were arrested in 2006.

    The seven received death sentences in 2009, the Saudi newspaper Okaz reported then.

    Last Saturday, he said, Saudi King Abdullah ratified the death sentences and sent them to Abha.

    Authorities set Tuesday for the executions. They also determined the methods.

    The main defendant, Sarhan al-Mashayeh, is to be crucified for three days. The others are to face firing squads.

    Al-Qahtani faced a judge three times during eight years in detention.

    He said that the judge didn’t assign a lawyer to defend them and didn’t listen to complains of torture.

    {wirestory}

  • China Defends Growing Military Spending

    {{China has defended its booming military spending saying vast investments in the armed forces have contributed to global peace and stability, despite concerns among the US and Beijing’s Asian neighbours over sharpening territorial disputes.}}

    However, in a break with previous years, no figure for this year’s defence budget was presented on the eve of the annual legislative session which will see new leaders placed into top government positions after they were elevated at November’s Communist Party congress.

    Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Fu Ying, a spokeswoman for the National People’s Congress, said the figure would appear in the overall budget to be released Tuesday.

    On the same day, party leader Xi Jinping will take over from Hu Jintao as president, as well as head of the government’s Central Military Commission, as part of China’s once-a-decade power transition.

    In addition, the session approves top cabinet appointments such as the defence minister.

    China’s defence spending has grown substantially each year for more than two decades, last year rising 11.2 percent to $106.4bn, an increase of about $10.7bn.

    Only the US spends more on defence.

    Wirestory

  • Israel on Alert as Locusts Attack Egypt

    Israel is on a locust alert as swarms of the destructive bugs descend on neighboring Egypt ahead of the Passover holiday.

    Israel’s Agriculture Ministry set up an emergency hotline Monday and is asking Israelis to be vigilant in reporting locust sightings to prevent an outbreak.

    Locusts have a devastating effect on agriculture by quickly stripping crops.
    Swarms of locusts have descended on Egypt, raising fears they could spread to Israel.

    The locust alert comes ahead of the Passover festival, which recounts the biblical story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. According to the Bible, a plague of locusts was one of 10 plagues God imposed on Egyptians for enslaving and abusing ancient Hebrews.

  • Queen in Hospital With Stomach Bug

    {{The queen went into hospital in London on Sunday with symptoms of gastroenteritis, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.}}

    The 86-year-old monarch first developed symptoms of the stomach bug on Friday and the decision to take her to hospital was a precautionary measure.

    She was in good spirits and her condition was not deteriorating, the palace spokesman said.

    All the queen’s engagements for the coming week, including a trip to Italy scheduled for March 6-7, have been cancelled or postponed. It is unusual for the monarch, who is very diligent in carrying out her royal duties, to cancel any engagement.

    The queen last appeared in public on Thursday, when she bestowed honours on British Olympic medallists including heptathlon star Jessica Ennis.

    The queen appeared well and happy in a salmon pink outfit in photographs of that event.

    The head of state, who last year celebrated 60 years on the throne, is known for her robust health. She was last hospitalised in 2003 when she had a knee operation.

    The palace spokesman said she had been spending the weekend at Windsor Castle, outside of London, and was driven by private car from there to the King Edward VII hospital in central London at about 3 p.m. (1500 GMT).

    The spokesman said she was there for precautionary assessments and may remain there for a couple of days.

    {Reuters }

  • Brazil’s GDP Grows 0.9 % in 2012

    {{The Brazilian government says the country’s gross domestic product grew just 0.9 percent in 2012. }}

    It’s the worst result since 2009, when the economy contracted 0.3 percent.

    In 2011, GDP grew 2.7 percent and in 2010 it expanded 7.5 percent.

    The IBGE statistics bureau says Friday on its website that the service sector posted the best performance last year, growing 1.7 percent.

    Industrial output dropped 0.8 percent and agricultural production fell 2.3 percent.

    The IBGE says the country’s GDP totaled 4.4 trillion reals ($2.2 trillion) last year, while per capita GDP amounted to 22,400 reals ($11,200).