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Tag: InternationalNews

  • President Chavez returns to Venezuela from Cuba

    {{Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery.}}

    Chavez announced his return in a series of message on his Twitter account, saying “we will continue our treatment here.”

    They were the first messages to appear on Chavez’s Twitter account since Nov. 1.

    “I’m clinging to Christ and trusting in my doctors and nurses,” Chavez said in another tweet. “Onward toward victory always!! We will live and we will triumph!!”

    Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on television that Chavez at arrived at 2:30 a.m. and was at a military hospital in Caracas.

    Chavez also thanked Fidel and Raul Castro, who have overseen his treatment in Cuba, and thanked his country’s people “for so much love.”

    Chavez’s return to Caracas came less than three days after the government released the first photos of the president in more than two months, showing images of him smiling alongside his daughters.

    The 58-year-old president hasn’t spoken publicly since he left for Cuba on Dec. 10. He underwent his fourth cancer-related surgery on Dec. 11, and the government says he is now breathing through a tracheal tube that makes talking difficult.

    Chavez is also undergoing other treatments that have not been specified.

    He has been receiving cancer treatment in Cuba on-and-off since June 2011.

    He has said he has had tumors removed from his pelvic region and has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

    Throughout the treatments, Chavez has not revealed the type of cancer or the exact location of the tumors.

    AP

  • Iran Impounds Buddha statues from shops

    {{An Iranian newspaper is reporting that government authorities are confiscating Buddha statues from shops in Tehran to stop the promotion of Buddhism in the country.}}

    Sunday’s report by the independent Arman daily quotes Saeed Jaberi Ansari, an official for the protection of Iran’s cultural heritage, as saying that authorities will not permit a specific belief to be promoted through such statues.

    Ansari called the Buddha statues symbols of “cultural invasion.”
    He did not elaborate on how many have been confiscated so far, but said more would be seized from shops.

    Iran has long fought against items, such as Barbie dolls and Simpsons cartoon characters, to defuse Western influence, but this appears to be the first time that Iranian authorities are showing an opposition to symbols from the East.

    AP

  • US Warns N Korea Against ‘Provocative Actions’

    {{The United States has called on North Korea not to take any further provocative actions after report of plans for more nuclear tests.}}

    Friday’s statement came after the North conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing global condemnation.

    Barack Obama, the US president, has pledged after this week’s nuclear test “to lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats” and diplomats at the UN Security Council have already started discussing potential new sanctions.

    Meanwhile, North Korea’s leader has made his first public appearance since Tuesday’s controversial nuclear test.

    Kim Jong-un handed out awards in memory of his late father Kim Jong-il to mark what would have been his 71st birthday.

    Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said: “Kim Jong-il’s birthday has been celebrated in a number of ways in the days leading up to it.

    On Tuesday came the third nuclear test which was seen by many as timed to coincide with Kim’s birthday.

    “On Thursday there was a mass rally in Pyongyang in celebration of that achievement, and on Friday it was the first appearance of Kim Jong-un’s since the tests, where he was giving out awards to members of North Korea’s elites, scientists and technicians.”

    wirestory

  • Moscow Exchange IPO Yields $500Bln

    {{The Moscow Exchange began trading of its own shares Friday in a successful conclusion to the largest initial public offering carried out solely in Russia.}}

    The bourse sold 15 billion rubles ($500 million) worth of shares for 55 rubles each, the lower end of the previously stated price range.

    The success of the Moscow Exchange, which was formed from the merger of the MICEX Index and the dollar-denominated RTS, is a positive development for the Kremlin’s stated goal of turning Moscow into an international financial center.

    Experts had suggested that restricting the IPO to the Moscow Exchange’s own trading platforms in Russia, and not pursuing a dual listing abroad, could dampen demand and deter foreign investors.

    But the offering attracted twice as much demand as there were shares available, said Moscow Exchange chief executive Alexander Afanasiev. Investors had come from Europe, Asia and the United States, he added.

    China’s sovereign wealth fund and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, or RDIF, both took big stakes in the bourse. The biggest stake taken by any one investor was the RDIF, which bought $80 million worth of stock.

    The pricing of the shares in the IPO valued the Moscow Exchange at about $4.2 billion.

    The IPO was a step on the way towards Moscow being able to compete with London, New York and other international financial centers, head of the Federal Financial Service Dmitry Pankin told reporters.

    Moscowtimes

  • Crowds gather for pope’s Sunday blessing

    {{Crowds are gathering in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict XVI’s first Sunday window blessing since his retirement announcement, and the second-to-last before he leaves the papacy.}}

    The traditional Sunday appointment normally attracts a few thousand pilgrims and tourists, but city officials expect that this historic occasion may draw up to 150,000 people.

    The city threw on extra buses and subway trains, and is offering free shuttle vans for the elderly and disabled.

    Free hot tea is also being prepared to ward off the early morning chill.

    Benedict shocked the world last week by announcing he is resigning on Feb. 28 — the first papal abdication in 600 years.

    He will live essentially a cloistered life in a monastery behind Vatican City’s walls.

  • Death toll in Pakistani bombing climbs to 81

    {{The death toll from a horrific bombing that tore through a crowded vegetable market in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood of southwestern Pakistan climbed to 81 with many of the severely wounded dying overnight, a Pakistani police official said Sunday.}}

    Police official Fayyaz Saumbal said 164 people also were wounded by the explosion Saturday in the city of Quetta just as people shopped for produce for their evening meal.

    The bomb was hidden in a water tank and towed into the market by a tractor, Quetta police chief Zubair Mahmood told reporters.

    It was the deadliest incident since bombings targeting Shiites in the same city killed 86 people earlier this year, leading to days of protests that eventually toppled the local government.

    Shiites have been increasingly attacked by militant groups who view them as heretics and non-Muslims in the country, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims.

    Many of the Shiites in Quetta, including those in the neighborhood attacked Saturday, are Hazaras, an ethnic group that migrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan more than a century ago.

    The remote-controlled bomb destroyed shops, caused a two-story building to collapse and left a massive crater where it exploded.

    Local residents rushed the victims to three different area hospitals, often in private vehicles because there weren’t enough ambulances to transport them.

    Angry members of the minority Shiite sect protested in the streets, blocking roads with burning tires and throwing stones at passing vehicles.

    Some fired into the air in an attempt to keep people away from the area in case of a second explosion.

    Sometimes insurgents stagger the explosions as a way to target people who rush to the scene to help those killed or wounded in the first, thus increasing the death toll.

    On Sunday morning, the city was completely shut down as people observed strike called by the Hazara Democratic Party as a way to honor the dead and protest the repeated slaughter of members of their ethnic and religious community.

    Bostan Ali, the Quetta chief of the Hazara Democratic Party, said the group is planning another protest in the city similar to one held in January after twin bombings in Quetta killed at least 86 people.

    During that protest, Hazaras refused to bury their dead for four days, instead protesting in the streets alongside coffins holding their loved ones.

    “We will not bury our dead until stringent action is taken against terrorists who are targeting and killing Shiites,” Ali said.

    The rally in January sparked similar events across the country and an outpouring of sympathy for Shiites.

    The prime minister flew to Quetta and after meeting with protesters dismissed the local government.

    AP

  • Beyonce Talks Relationship With Jay-Z & Pregnancy Weight Gain

    Beyonce is unstoppable lately – and she is thanking husband Jay-Z for helping along the way.
    “I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man,” the music superstar told Oprah Winfrey for “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” airing Saturday, February 16, at 8/7c on OWN.

    Bey explained that the rap star has been integral to her life “on so many levels.”
    The 31-year-old, who welcomed daughter Blue Ivy a little over a year ago, credits their strong relationship to their long courtship.

    “You know we were friends first for a year-and-a-half before we went on any date — on the phone for a year-and-a-half,” she said.
    “And that foundation is so important in a relationship. And just to have someone that you just like is so important and someone that is honest.”

    Motherhood hasn’t stopped Beyonce – who recently rocked the Super Bowl Halftime Show – from keeping her sights set on performing.

    “I feel like I did a show three months after I gave birth which was really crazy. I had clearly never given birth and didn’t know that I would gain 60 pounds,” she told, and then quickly clarified that she gained a total of 57 pounds. “But I really wanted to know. I feel so fortunate to do my job. I love my job. I love singing. I love the way it feels.”

    In addition to her “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” Beyonce will be seen this weekend in her new HBO documentary, “Beyonce: Life Is But A Dream,” on Saturday at 9 PM.

    read more…..http://news.yahoo.com/beyonce-talks-relationship-jay-z-pregnancy-weight-gain-214341628.html

  • Canadian minister quits over inappropriate lobbying

    {{Canadian Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan resigned unexpectedly on Friday after admitting he had inappropriately written a letter to a tax court on behalf of a constituent.}}

    Duncan leaves a month after thousands of unhappy natives mounted protests across Canada about poor living conditions.

    Duncan is the first minister to resign on a point of accountability since the Conservatives of Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to power in early 2006 vowing to clean up Ottawa.

    Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was formally reprimanded last month for urging the telecommunications regulator to grant a radio license to a company in his Parliamentary constituency. He kept his job.

    Duncan said he had sent a character reference letter to the court in June 2011 on behalf of a constituent who was dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency.

    “While the letter was written with honorable intentions, I realize that it was not appropriate for me, as a Minister of the Crown, to write to the Tax Court. I have therefore offered my resignation,” Duncan said in a statement.

    Government ministers are not allowed to lobby regulators or other authorities in their capacity as cabinet members.

    The official opposition New Democrats said the case showed the government had ethics problems and complained that it was inconsistent for Duncan to resign and Flaherty to stay in his job.

    “It seems like they’re increasingly out of touch with everyday people in terms of how you apply fair rules,” senior legislator Paul Dewar told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

    WRITING TO JUDGE “A DEFINITE NO-NO”

    A government official said there was a big difference between writing to a regulator about a radio license and Duncan’s lobbying of the federal Tax Court.

    “Writing a letter to a judge … is a definite no-no,” the official told Reuters, referring to Duncan’s case.

    Parliament is not sitting next week so the opposition will not have a chance to raise Duncan’s resignation quickly in elected House of Commons.

    Although Harper is in no danger of losing power – the Conservatives have a majority of seats in the House of Commons and the next election is not until late 2015 – the resignation follows a series of setbacks.

    Earlier this week, a Conservative member of the upper Senate chamber was suspended after being charged with sexual assault. Two other Conservative senators are being probed over whether they claimed excessive expenses.

    Last March, the federal ethics commissioner ruled that Industry Minister Christian Paradis had violated ethics rules by telling bureaucrats to set up a meeting with a former Conservative legislator who wanted to do business with Ottawa.

    Agencies

  • Clashes near Syria airport kill 150

    {{Intense clashes between the Syrian army and rebel fighters near the country’s second-largest airport killed around 150 people in recent days, anti-regime activists said Friday, pointing to the significance both sides in the country’s civil war place on controlling key infrastructure.}}

    The battle for the international airport near Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, resembles other battles over strategic assets that could provide an edge in the larger fight for the country.

    This week, rebels seized a hydroelectric dam and a major oil field, cutting off President Bashar Assad’s regime from key resources necessary for its long term survival. On Friday, activists also reported that rebels seized an air defense base and fought near two other army installations in Syria’s north.

    Rebels have been trying for months to capture Aleppo’s international airport, which lies east of the city in a complex with a smaller military airfield and an army base charged with protecting the area.

    The base, home to the Syrian army’s 80th Brigade, fell to rebel forces on Wednesday, and fighting has continued over the airports since, with both sides shelling each other’s positions.

    The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that some 150 people had been killed in the fighting over the last two days, roughly half of them rebels and half of them government troops.

    “The operation will continue until we control the airport and Nairab,” Col. Abdul-Jabbar al-Aqidi, commander of the rebels’ Military Council in Aleppo, told pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV.

    If the rebels were to capture the two airports, it would be a symbolic blow to the regime and could shift the strategic balance in northern Syria.

    The regime has used the airports to ferry supplies to its forces bogged down in the stalemated fight for Aleppo, though recent clashes near the airport have halted air traffic.

    Rebel leaders hope their forces will someday use the airports to fly in aid and other supplies — a scenario that for the moment appears unlikely.

    The rebels have captured military airports before but have never managed to use captured aircraft. And the airport would remain vulnerable to attack by Assad’s air force, which regularly bombs areas after the rebels take them.

    Elsewhere, the Observatory reported on Friday that rebels has seized an air defense base in the village of Hasil, southeast of Aleppo, and were clashing with the army at the nearby Kuwiras air base and around the Wadi al-Deif army base in Idlib province.

    AP

  • London Fashion Week kicks off

    {{Monochrome dresses with bold bursts of colour and dashes of feathers and fur kicked off London Fashion Week on Friday as designers showcased elegant and minimalist creations for Autumn/Winter 2013.}}

    Blacks, whites and greys formed the base palette for the collections that hit the runway on the London leg of the international fashion circuit, but outfits were spiced up with splashes of neon and exotic motifs.

    PPQ, formed from fashion duo Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker, showcased lime green outerwear and a hand-painted surrealist print before eveningwear of black velvet gowns with feathered cuffs swept down the catwalk.

    “I was looking at doing a print that was a bit more freestyle this season, so I delved into surrealist shapes that weren’t so regimented,” Molyneaux told Reuters.

    One of the big four catwalk fixtures alongside Paris, New York and Milan, London Fashion Week is best known as a cradle for cutting-edge talent and avant-garde trends.

    Monochrome dominated other collections including that of British designer Zoe Jordan, who opened Fashion Week.

    Jordan, an architect by training, said Italian cathedrals and the urban skyline of Hong Kong inspired the sharp silhouettes and metallic finishes of her designs.

    “What we are trying to do is that nonchalant glamour, it’s a very London thing, you know, the girl who doesn’t try too hard,” Jordan told Reuters after the show.

    LONDON TALENT

    Jordan praised London Fashion Week for nurturing new talent.
    The city’s art and design schools have been a treasure trove for fashion talent, producing designers such as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and a raft of others.

    “London really stands out as a fashion week because they are trying to help support younger designers and find emerging talent. It’s not just about praising the big guys, they’re looking for the next big thing,” Jordan said.

    London blends its up-and-coming names with veteran designers like Vivienne Westwood in a semi-annual burst of creativity to entice recession-weary consumers back into shops.

    The direct value of the British fashion industry to the United Kingdom’s $2.5 trillion economy is 21 billion pounds ($32.60 billion), the British Fashion Council (BFC) said.

    Jean-Pierre Braganza, a graduate of London’s Central Saint Martins fashion school, looked east with his tribal collection, dominated by geometric panelling and eastern designs reminiscent of Chinese dragon shapes in navy and grey.

    Burnt pumpkin offset fashion duo Fyodor Golan’s collection of black, ivory, adorned with baroque sketches or embellished with beads.
    Skirts and dresses were subtly sexy keeping thighs and chests covered while showing off shoulders and the nape of the neck.

    “For us it’s all about sexuality – exploring, showing it but not in a perverse way – just going for it,” Fyodor Podgorny, who shares the label with Golan Frydman, said of London Fashion Week.

    ROARING TWENTIES

    Contrasts of colour and texture also starred in London-based Turkish designer Bora Aksu’s collection, which drew inspiration from the opulence of the roaring Twenties.

    Models floated down the runway in leather corsets, loose shift dresses with high lace collars and cropped jackets in dove greys and bright fuchsias.

    “The whole idea of the Twenties is this contrast,” Aksu, who has dressed Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller told Reuters.

    “There is this structure (to the clothes) but with it is such floatiness and dreaminess, like a fairytale kind of mood,” he said.

    Sheer capes were layered over fitted leather dresses, knitted jumpers were paired with sheepskin jackets and crochet and lace details were fused onto silky separates.

    Agencies