IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • US General in Afghan Fired Over Comments in Media

    {{A senior US commander has been dismissed after he made disparaging comments about Afghanistan’s leaders.}}

    Maj Gen Peter Fuller, deputy commander of Nato’s Afghan training mission, said in an interview with Politico the country’s leadership was “isolated from reality”.

    It is not clear whether Gen Fuller will be reassigned or will retire.

    The head of US forces in Afghanistan says Gen Fuller’s comments do not represent the US-Afghan relationship.

    Gen John Allen described the two countries as “solid”, adding: “The Afghan people are an honourable people, and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission – bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”

    Pentagon spokesman George Little said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta was aware of the remarks but said that Gen Fuller had been speaking for himself and not the Department of Defense.

    {{‘Poke me in the eye’}}

    Speaking while visiting Washington, Gen Fuller told Politico on Thursday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai was an unimpressive public speaker.

    “When they are going to have a presidential election, you hope they get a guy that’s more articulate in public,” he said.

    Gen Fuller also said that he tried to make Afghan generals understand that the US was involved in Afghanistan despite economic uncertainty at home.

    “You think that America has roads paved in gold, everybody lives in Hollywood,” he said.

    “They don’t understand the sacrifices that America is making to provide for their security.”

    Politico have reported that the general appeared to be irritated when referring to a recent comment made by Mr Karzai – that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan if the country ever went to war with the US.

    “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6bn (£7.2bn) and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care?’” Gen Fuller said.

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Afghan president’s statement has been misinterpreted.

    The general also likened the Nato training mission in Afghanistan to teaching a man to fish.

    “You can teach a man how to fish, or you can give them a fish. We’re giving them fish while they’re learning, and they want more fish!

    “[They say] ‘I like swordfish, how come you’re giving me cod?’ Guess what? Cod’s on the menu today,” he told Politico.

    Gen Fuller is not the first senior military figure to find themselves in hot water over comments made to the media.

    BBC

  • Fidel Castro Attacks ‘Lies’ About His Health

    {{Cuba’s revolutionary former leader Fidel Castro has written a strongly-worded article condemning persistent rumours that he is on his death bed.}}

    The 86-year-old attacked international media “lies”, and published photos of himself in Cuba’s state media.

    He said he was in good health, and could not even remember the last time he had a headache.

    Venezuelan politician Elias Jaua said on Sunday he had a five-hour meeting with Mr Castro the previous day.

    He presented a photo of the encounter, and said the former Cuban leader was “very well, very lucid”.

    The last images of Mr Castro to be made public had been from March, when the Cuban ex-leader briefly met Pope Benedict during the pontiff’s visit to the Communist island.

    Mr Castro’s long absence from the public stage had fuelled rumours on social media sites that his health had deteriorated, or that he may even have died.

    “Although a lot of people in the world are taken in by the organs of information, almost all of which are in the hands of the privileged and the rich that publish these stupidities, people are increasingly believing less and less in them,” Mr Castro said in his article.

    He went on to say that he was keeping himself busy writing and studying, but had decided to step back from public life “because it certainly is not my role to occupy the pages of our newspaper”.

    He finished off by saying: “I don’t even remember what a headache is. To show what liars they are, I’m offering these photos to accompany this article.”

    A series of photos, taken by his son Alex, show him outside wearing a cowboy hat and a checked shirt. In some photos, he is reading Friday’s copy of the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

    Fidel Castro led Cuba after the revolution in 1959, first as prime minister (1959-1976) and later as president.

    In 2006, surgery took Fidel Castro out of public view. His brother Raul became acting president.

    In February 2008, Fidel Castro officially handed over power to Raul who has been leading the country since then.

  • Japan Makes Phone Call Translater App

    {{In Japan , an app offering real-time translations is to allow people in Japan to speak to foreigners over the phone with both parties using their native tongue.}}

    NTT Docomo – the country’s biggest mobile network – will initially convert Japanese to English, Mandarin and Korean, with other languages to follow.

    It is the latest in a series of telephone conversation translators to launch in recent months.

    Lexifone and Vocre have developed other products.

    Alacatel-Lucent and Microsoft are among those working on other solutions.

    The products have the potential to let companies avoid having to use specially trained multilingual staff, helping them cut costs. They could also aid tourism.

    However, the software involved cannot offer perfect translations, limiting its use in some situations.

  • France Says Ready to Work With Rwanda at UN

    {{France has announced, its ready to work with Rwanda after joining the Security Council of the UN as a non-permanent member.}}

    “We hope that Rwanda, as a new member of the Security Council, will fully contribute to the maintenance of peace and international security, in accordance with the role that is assigned to this chamber by the UN Charter,” said Philippe Lalliot, spokesman of the Quai d’Orsay, in a press briefing.

    Outside Rwanda, four other countries (Argentina, Australia, South Korea and Luxembourg) were elected as non-permanent members of the Security Council of the UN.

    France welcomed the five states of their election and congratulate them for non-permanent position to serve on the Council from 1 January 2013.

  • Whitney Houston Daughter to Inherit US$20million

    {{The family of the late Whitney Houston is battling over a $20 million inheritance to the singers daughter.}}

    Houston’s 19-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was slated to receive the money in a trust set up before the singer’s death just before the Grammy Awards broadcast in February.

    But now Whitney’s mother, the singer Cissy Houston, and Marion Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law and business manager, have filed a petition as executors of the Houston estate against Brown in Georgia state court.

    Cissy Houston wants to restrict the inheritance payments to Brown, calling Brown ” a highly visible target for those who would exert undue influence over her inheritance and/or seek to benefit from respondent’s resources and celebrity.”

    Court documents say that the schedule of distributions of Brown’s inheritance aren’t in keeping with Whitney’s “intent to provide long-term financial security and protection for her child.”

    Media reports say Cissy Houston is worried that the money will make Brown a target for financial predators or tempt her into a dangerous lifestyle.

    While the Houston family has its own particular problems (and there have been many), wealthy families frequently confront the same question: how to leave millions to your kid without ruining her life?

  • Pope Names first Native American saint

    {{Pope Benedict XVI will name 17th century Mohawk Kateri Tekakwitha the first Native American saint.}}

    Another newly named saint is Marianne Cope, a German-born woman who emigrated to the United States as a child, became a nun and went on to devote 30 years of her life helping lepers in Hawaii.

    Their canonization, along with that of five other saints, will be celebrated at a special Mass in St. Peter’s Square Sunday morning.

    “This is a great weekend for America in the Vatican, and it’s really a great weekend for Native Americans. Sainthood is the guarantee that this person is close to God,” said Vatican senior communications adviser Greg Burke.

    “There’s a vast history of people the Catholic Church has made saints over the centuries. Holiness is absolutely a matter of equal opportunity, but this certainly is special because it marks the first time a Native American becomes a saint.”

    Kateri Tekakwitha’s canonization follows what has been judged a miracle by the Roman Catholic Church in the 2006 case of an American boy with a flesh-eating bug.

    Jake Finkbonner was only 5 when he became infected by the bacterium after falling down while playing basketball, CNN affiliate King 5 News in Seattle reported. The infection spread quickly through the tissue of his face, with drugs and surgeries apparently powerless to stop its progress.

    “It was dire,” his mother, Elsa Finkbonner, told the network. “He was air-lifted to children’s hospital, and he was fighting for his life at that point.”

  • US: Romney Says Obama Has no Agenda

    In the ongoing US presidential campaigns, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has said that President Barack Obama has “no agenda” worthy of a second term in office.

    At a campaign rally in Florida, he said the Obama campaign had been “reduced to petty attacks and silly word games”.

    Hours earlier, Mr Obama decried Mr Romney for shifting his positions as election day draws nearer, saying the Republican suffers from “Romnesia”.

    The two meet for their final debate, on foreign policy, in Florida on Monday.

    Mr Romney and the Republicans are continuing to focus on the Obama administration’s handling of a deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans including the US ambassador were killed.

    The incident provoked a flashpoint during Tuesday’s second debate, and is likely to be hotly debated again in Boca Raton.

  • Ugandan Doctor Heads World Medical Association

    {{Dr. Margaret Mungherera a Ugandan National has been elected to head the World Medical Association.}}

    Dr Mungherera, 54, has been a doctor for 30 years and a psychiatrist for 20 years with forensic psychiatry as her special area of interest.

    “My focus will be on urging national medical associations of poor countries to join and to participate in the activities of the WMA,”said Dr Mungherera.

    A statement from the World Medical Association says Dr Mungherera was elected unopposed during WMA’S annual general assembly held in Bangkok, Thailand.

  • Archbishop Sentamu Criticises African Nations

    {{UK’s Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu has criticised African nations for blaming their former colonial masters for their problems.}}

    Sentamu said, “Europe may have underdeveloped Africa, but I believe we have had the opportunity since then to shape our future and destiny and are in danger of squandering these opportunities”.

    Sentamu noted that African countries are bedeviled with corruption and lack of democracy, with several leaders amending constitutions to stay in power.

    Sentamu, the only black bishop in the Church of England, is a renowned speaker against racism.

    He has told young black people in the UK to stop blaming racism for their problems.

    Sentamu told Black people in UK that success does not lie in guns, gangs, knives or worshiping celebrities, observing that prisons, mental health units and young offender institutions are holding up too many black people.

  • Google Shares Drop 9%

    {{Google suffered an embarrassing gaff when its third quarter financial results were accidentally released early, which ultimately led to its stock price falling by more than $60 a share Oct. 18 while the markets remained open.}}

    Times got a bit rocky for Google Oct. 18 as the search company announced that its third-quarter profit totaled $2.18 billion, down from $2.73 billion a year ago.

    However, that wasn’t the worst of it – Google also suffered an embarrassing early release of its third-quarter Form 8-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Web site, which meant the financial data was accidentally available four hours before the stock market was set to close.

    That accidental report release triggered an early selloff in Google shares, with share prices dropping by about 9 percent before the sale of shares were eventually halted, according to a report by Barron’s.

    Google’s third-quarter revenue for the period ending Sept. 30, 2012, totaled $11.33 billion, which is lower than the expectations of a survey of financial analysts, who expected revenue of $11.87 billion.

    In his opening remarks during the earnings call with analysts, Google CEO Larry Page said the early report at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time was accidentally caused by the company’s financial printer.

    “I’m sorry for the scramble early today,” said Page. “Our printers have said that they sent out the release just a bit early.”

    Google’s revenue for the third-quarter is listed by the company at $14.1 billion, which is before the deduction of traffic acquisition costs totaling $2.77 billion. Q3 revenue for the same period one year ago totaled $9.72 billion.

    This was Google’s second quarterly earnings report since acquiring its Motorola Mobility unit in May for $12.5 billion. In its second quarter earnings report this past July, Google posted revenue of $12.2 billion, which was a 35 percent year-over-year increase from 2011.

    “We had a strong quarter,” said Page. “Revenue was up 45 percent year-on-year, and we cleared our first $14 billion revenue quarter. Not bad for a teenager,” alluding to the 14 years since Google was incorporated.