Newly released videos show Osama bin Laden inside his hideout, watching himself on television and rehearsing for propaganda videos.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Pentagon Releases Videos of Osama bin Laden
Newly released videos show Osama bin Laden inside his hideout, watching himself on television and rehearsing for propaganda videos.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Air Force grounds F-22s over oxygen system concerns
The stand-down order was made Tuesday but is just now becoming public. It's unclear how long the stand down will last.
There are about 165 Raptors in the fleet. Since January, the aircraft already had been kept at altitudes under 25,000 feet during an ongoing investigation into a November crash. Flying above that altitude could cause a pilot to black out from lack of oxygen and lose control.
The stand-down affects all routine training and other missions, Faerrau said.
The Air Force is looking at all the systems on this new-generation fighter jet, but one area of focus is the On-Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS), according to Ferrau.
The order came from Gen. William Fraser, commander of Air Combat Command, which is based at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Indian state chief declared dead
Indian home ministry spokesman Onkar Kedia confirmed the death of Dorjee Khandu, the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh state, and five others on board the helicopter.
The wreckage was sighted Wednesday after an aerial survey of the difficult terrain in the state's Tawang district, from where it had taken off on Saturday.
Earlier, authorities broadened their search for the missing helicopter into Bhutan. A district in the tiny neighboring kingdom was among three locations that satellites and jets zeroed in on looking for Khandu's helicopter.
Officials said the search operation involved at least 3,500 personnel.
The helicopter belonged to India's state-run Pawan Hans company. Authorities raised the alarm when it did not arrive at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday.
On April 20, at least 17 people were killed as a Pawan Hans helicopter caught fire upon landing in Tawang, officials said.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
President Obama's Speech On Death of Osama Bin Laden
President Barack Obama announced Osama bin Laden's death in a military operation. His death was the result of a U.S. operation launched on May 1st in Abbottabad, Pakistan, against a compound where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, according to U.S. intelligence. After a firefight, a small team of American forces killed bin Laden and took possession of his body, the president said.
The announcement that Obama would speak came at 9:45 p.m., less than an hour before he was initially scheduled to go on the air. The unusual hour, and the fact that the White House gave no details about the topic, set off a flurry of speculation
The State Department is putting U.S. embassies on alert and is warning Americans abroad of possible reprisal attacks from al Qaeda and its affiliates around the world after the killing of the group's leader Osama bin Laden by American forces in Pakistan.
The State Department is putting U.S. embassies on alert and is warning Americans abroad of possible reprisal attacks from al Qaeda and its affiliates around the world after the killing of the group's leader Osama bin Laden by American forces in Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden is Killed in Pakistan
Ten years after the worst ever terrorist attack carried out in New York that killed close to three thousand innocent US civilians, terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden-the mastermind of the ghastly attack was killed by a special force of the US Army in Abottabad of Pakistan, May 1, 2011.
Some sixty Kilometers from Pakistani Capital of Islamabad, Osama-Chief of the terrorist organization Al Qaida, was suspected to have been living in a fortified multi-million dollar mansion since five years period.
“Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan,” a beaming US President Barrack Hussain Obama said in his late-night statement on Sunday while formally announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden.
President Obama said “A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”
The military operation lasted for just 40 minutes.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Man opens fire on Americans in Kabul; 9 dead
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said an Afghan military pilot opened fire on international troops, sparking a "gunfight." The Taliban, however, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had been working with the shooter for some time -- an assertion that NATO denied.
Also denying the Taliban claim was the brother of the pilot.
"My brother had no connections with the Taliban, and I deny any claims of his connection by the Taliban," Dr. Mohammad Hosain Sahebi told a local Afghan TV station in a telephone interview.
He said his brother, Ahmad Gull, 48, was in the Afghan Air Force for several years and was injured many times in plane crashes. The Afghan military, however, listed the pilot as being 50 years old.
"My brother had mental sickness as the result of the plane crashes in '80s and also he had economic problems, too," Sahebi told local television.
One witness, Jon Mohammad, a military pilot at Kabul Airport, told CNN that he jumped from a second floor window to the ground during the incident. He saw foreigners laying on the ground inside the first floor, he said.
"He was religious person, but I'm not sure if he had mental illness," Mohammad said of Gull, the pilot.
The shooting started at the Afghan national air force compound at North Kabul International Airport after an argument between the Afghan pilot and an international colleague, officials said. The NATO-led force said the Afghan military pilot opened fire on international trainers and a "gunfight" ensued.
"A 50-year-old man opened fire at armed U.S. military soldiers inside the airport after an argument between them turned serious," said Col. Baha Dur, chief of public relations for the Afghan National Army at Kabul military airport.
NATO said the confrontation took place at 10:25 a.m. at the airport, where a quick-reaction force responded to a "small arms fire incident." The airport is home to NATO Air Training Command Afghanistan.
An initial report indicates the attack occurred in a meeting room at the Afghan Air Force headquarters, a location operated and secured by Afghans, a U.S. military official told CNN. The NATO-led force is investigating, the official said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings "by an Afghan military pilot."
Zaher Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the killings upset Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and that "he shares the pain with the families of the victims."
Despite the account by international troops, a Taliban spokesman said a man named Azizullah was responsible.
"One suicide attacker ... managed to attack an Afghan military unit and has managed to kill many Afghan and international soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.
The Taliban said the man killed nine foreigners and five Afghans before being killed by the Afghan army.
"We had worked hard on this plan for a long time," Mujahid told CNN. "He was cooperating with us since long time and he was providing us information about military air operations for a long time."
NATO disputed the Taliban claim.
"We do not know why it started but there is no indication that a suicide bomber was involved and there are no reports that someone managed to get into the base to do this," the NATO-led force said in a statement.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for previous conflicts between NATO service members and members of the Afghan military. CNN could not independently verify the group's claims.
The Taliban said the man was once a pilot in an Afghan regime in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"Since the current Afghan air forces have no planes, he was just going to Kabul airport to show up and earn his salary for a long time," Mujahid told CNN.
The man "was holding the rank of colonel at the time and he had an AK-47 with him. After his bullets were finished, then he was shot to death by armed forces," Mujahid told CNN.
There was confusion about the death toll. The NATO-led force initially said six service members were killed. It raised that toll to nine but backed away temporarily before saying again that the shooting killed nine people -- eight international service members and a civilian contractor. The Pentagon confirmed that all were Americans.
Later Wednesday NATO announced that two additional service members were killed in attacks elsewhere in the country, bringing the day's total number of NATO casualties to at least 11.
Violence between Afghan forces and NATO troops is a matter of extreme concern for NATO officials, and it is growing in frequency.
There have been 36 NATO deaths in the past two years attributed to attacks by people perceived to be Afghan soldiers or police. Officials fear that the increasing frequency of the attacks could undermine trust between NATO troops and the Afghans they are working hard to prepare so they can eventually take over security in the country.
The Taliban's claim that the Afghan gunman was their recruit follows a now-familiar pattern of the insurgency stating that attacks are theirs, even though NATO later suggests the gunman was acting out of personal motivation.
Out of 16 incidents of Afghan forces shooting NATO personnel that NATO has investigated, eight have been determined to be motivated by combat stress on the part of the Afghan attacker. The other eight investigations are undetermined.
UEFA to probe Madrid-Barca controversy
UEFA said on Thursday that Real coach Jose Mourinho could be punished for being sent to the stands after Pepe was sent off, and then making an "inappropriate statement" after his team's 2-0 home first-leg defeat.
His club could also be in trouble due to missile-throwing by fans and a pitch invasion at the Santiago Bernabeu, as well as Portugal international Pepe's dismissal for a lunge at Barcelona's Daniel Alves.
Barcelona may also be charged at the May 6 hearing -- which comes after Tuesday's second leg in the Catalan capital -- due to the sending-off of reserve goalkeeper Jose Pinto during a halftime scuffle between both sets of players.
Barca later said on Thursday that the club would report Mourinho to UEFA for his astonishing tirade, which came despite the European body delaying the post-match interviews in order to give both teams time to calm down.
Lionel Messi's double saw Barca plant one foot in the final, with both goals coming after makeshift midfielder Pepe was sent off by German referee Wolfgang Stark.
Mourinho, who was sent to the stands after the red card for his ironic applause at the match officials, suggested that UEFA shows favoritism towards Barcelona.
He claimed Barca's relationship with world children's charity UNICEF, and with Spanish football federation president Angel Maria Villar, contributed to their "power" and that the return leg next week was "mission impossible."
Barcelona's official website reported Mourinho as saying: "Josep Guardiola is a fantastic football coach, but he has won one Champions League which would embarrass me after the scandalous goings on at Stamford Bridge and this year if he wins it again it will be after the scandalous goings on at the Bernabeu.
"I don't know if it's the UNICEF publicity or the friendship of Villar at UEFA, where he is vice-president, I don't know if it's because they are so nice, but they have got great power. The rest of us have no chance."
After an extraordinary meeting of the club's board of directors, Barcelona spokesman Tony Freixa said a complaint would be made to UEFA's disciplinary committee.
"We want to defend the history, prestige and reputation of our members, fans, players, coaches and directors, who with their hard work and their effort succeeded in winning the Champions League in 2009," Freixa said.
"It's unacceptable that someone questions our titles and our links with UNICEF."
The build-up to the match had been dominated by a war of words between Mourinho and Guardiola.
Barca's players have been criticized for the pressure they put on the referee during the match but Guardiola refused to be drawn on Mourinho's outburst, telling reporters: "I have nothing to say."
Mud-slinging continued between the players, however, with Real striker Emmanuel Adebayor telling Spanish newspaper AS: "Whenever you play against Barca, whenever you touch them, they are on the floor crying like a baby."
Madrid also claimed that Barcelona players Pedro and Sergio Busquets overly reacted when challenged by Alvaro Arbeloa and Marcelo during the game.
The website published quotes from England footballers Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen condemning Alves for diving, along with Irish golf star Rory McIlroy and NFL player Chad Ochocinco -- who also plays soccer.
It's not about his birth, it's about his race
President Barack Obama makes a statement on his birth certificate on Wednesday, calling it a sideshow issue.
Baltimore, Maryland -- I will not click on the link to view the long form of President Obama's birth certificate. I will not participate in this final humiliation -- in the president's reluctant acquiescence in this ongoing smear.
The release of the president's long-form certificate proving his birth in Hawaii will not stop the attempts to discredit his leadership. The so-called "birther" movement veils a much more basic challenge to Obama's legitimacy. And yes, that challenge has a great deal to do with his race.
This is not new. Black leaders always have had to prove their "legitimacy" and their allegiance to America. The way to smear the NAACP in the '40s, and leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King in the '60s, was to suggest that they were Communists working against America.
The release of the president's long-form certificate proving his birth in Hawaii will not stop the attempts to discredit his leadership. The so-called "birther" movement veils a much more basic challenge to Obama's legitimacy. And yes, that challenge has a great deal to do with his race.
This is not new. Black leaders always have had to prove their "legitimacy" and their allegiance to America. The way to smear the NAACP in the '40s, and leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King in the '60s, was to suggest that they were Communists working against America.
FBI given piece of Pentagon wall hit during 9/11 terror attack
During a military ceremony, the FBI received an 800-pound limestone block that was recovered from the west facade of the Pentagon and has been kept in storage for almost 10 years.
The head of the FBI's Washington office, assistant director James McJunkin, said the stone will be permanently displayed in the building's lobby "so that every visitor who enters this building, every employee who walks through these doors, and every agent assigned to this post will remember what happened on that horrific day, what the bureau did in response to that attack and the unending commitment we have to never letting it happen again."
McJunkin said FBI agents arrived at the Pentagon six minutes after the plane hit the building. "We found the scene reflected what America saw on their televisions that day: confusion, destruction, dread," he said. By day's end, the bureau had 700 agents and support staff on site who set up a security perimeter to guard against possible follow-up attacks. Agents then began to collect evidence while simultaneously respecting the remains of those who died. The evidence-gathering continued for three weeks.
Maj. Gen. Karl Horst, of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, said FBI agents responded "with extraordinary heroism when -- without warning -- they were called upon to perform their duty in the midst of an unimaginable act of terrorism."
Horst and FBI officials said September 11 required law enforcement, the military, fire departments and medical teams to work closely together without regard for jurisdictional issues.
John Perren, one of the FBI officials who rushed to the scene, warned, "Al Qaeda will not go quietly, it is resilient, it adjusts its tactics." Perren led the local Joint Terrorism Task Force on September 11.
The military reserved two other 800-pound chunks of Pentagon wall, one for the Arlington County (Virginia) Fire Department, which responded to the Pentagon attack, and one for the New York City Fire Department.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Blast at Egyptian gas terminal near border with Israel!!
EL-ARISH, Egypt - Egyptian security officials say an explosion at a gas terminal near Egypt's border with Israel has sent flames shooting into the air and forced the shutdown of the pipeline.
It is the second attack on the al-Sabil terminal near the town of El-Arish. On March 27 gunmen planted explosives at the terminal, which failed to detonate.
The officials said Wednesday the valves controlling the flow of gas to neighbouring Jordan had been shut down.
The flames sent residents scurrying from their homes, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
On Feb. 5, an explosion at a different section of the pipeline severed gas exports to neighbouring Israel and Jordan for a month.
Content Provided By Canadian Press.
Japan’s sovereign-rating outlook was cut to “negative”!!
Japan’s sovereign-rating outlook was cut to “negative” by Standard & Poor’s as the nation’s reconstruction needs following last month’s earthquake will likely add to what’s already the world’s biggest debt load.
The outlook on Japan’s local-currency government debt rating, at AA-, the fourth-highest grade, was lowered from “stable,” S&P said in a statement today. The company had reduced the rating by one step in January in the first cut since 2002.
Japan’s struggle to rein in budget deficits will escalate as Prime Minister Naoto Kan enacts reconstruction packages in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. At the same time, government revenue will be pressured by the economic hit, with a report today showing that retail sales in the nation tumbled the most in 13 years last month.
The fiscal outlook will depend on political leadership to manage Japan’s debt challenge, S&P said in its statement today. The company predicted that rebuilding will cost 20 trillion yen ($245 billion) to 50 trillion yen.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano declined to comment on the move, speaking to reporters in Tokyo. He said that policy makers will work to ensure confidence in government bonds. The yen fell after the announcement, trading at 81.73 per dollar at 11:21 a.m. local time, from 81.55 late yesterday in New York.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
120 dead after 2 days of unrest in Syria
The resignations were a possible sign of cracks developing in the regime's base in a nation where nearly all opposition figures have been either jailed or exiled during the 40-year dynasty of the Assad family.
"I cannot tolerate the blood of our innocent sons and children being shed," Sheikh Rizq Abdul-Rahim Abazeid told The Associated Press after stepping down from his post as the mufti of the Daraa region in southern Syria.
The lawmakers, Nasser Hariri and Khalil Rifai, also are from Daraa, which has become the epicenter of the protest movement after a group of teenagers were arrested there for scrawling anti-regime graffiti on a wall in mid-March.
Since then, the relentless crackdown on demonstrations has only served to invigorate protesters whose rage over the bloodshed has all but eclipsed their earlier demands for modest reforms. Now, many are seeking Assad's downfall.
Each Friday, growing numbers of people in cities across the country have taken to the streets despite swift attacks from security forces and shadowy pro-government gunmen known as "shabiha."
Ammar Qurabi, the head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said 112 people were killed Friday and at least 11 on Saturday. Friday was by far the deadliest day of the uprising, with security forces beating back protesters with bullets, tear gas and stun guns.
"If I cannot protect the chests of my people from these treacherous strikes, then there is no meaning for me to stay in the People's Assembly. I declare my resignation," Hariri told Al-Jazeera in a televised interview.
Radwan Ziadeh, a visiting scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, said the resignations were largely symbolic because the parliament has no real power. But their dissent could encourage others to step down, such as Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa, who is from Daraa, Ziadeh said.
He added Assad met with the lawmakers in recent weeks, promising them that security forces would not shoot protesters.
The uprising in Syria takes its inspiration from the popular revolts that toppled the leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. But Syria is a highly unpredictable country, in part because of its sizable minority population, the loyalty of the country's military and the regime's web of allegiances to powerful forces including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Shiite powerhouse Iran.
Serious, prolonged unrest in Syria would almost inevitably hurt Hezbollah and weaken Iran's influence in the region. But it is not at all clear what factions would have the upper hand if a power vacuum emerges in Syria. There are no organized, credible opposition leaders who can rally followers on the ground or be considered as a possible successor.
The heavy security crackdown on Friday and Saturday came after Assad warned a week ago that any further unrest would be considered "sabotage" after he made the gesture of lifting long-hated emergency laws, which gave security forces almost blanket powers for surveillance and arrest.
One man who took part in Friday's protests outside Damascus said the country's security forces are everywhere.
"The garbage collectors are intelligence agents," he told the AP in a telephone interview. "Sometimes we think even our wives are working with the intelligence. All the phones are monitored. We live in hell."
Another man said plainclothes officers are becoming more apparent in the crowds, with security agents wearing orange bracelets so other agents don't mistakenly hit them with stun guns.
The snipers, he said, wore yellow pieces of cloth on their shoulders.
The witness accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has expelled journalists and restricted access to trouble spots. Witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Elias Muhanna, a political analyst at Harvard University, said the protests have crossed a threshold and serious pressure could be building on Assad.
The protest movement has been the gravest challenge to the autocratic regime led by Assad, who inherited power from his father 11 years ago in one of the most rigidly controlled countries in the Middle East.
"It remains to be seen whether this was a tipping point in the struggle between the opposition and the regime," said Muhanna, author of the Lebanese affairs blog Qifa Nabki. "But one thing is certain: The regime can no longer claim that the demonstrations are a fringe phenomenon."
Assad has blamed most of the unrest on a "foreign conspiracy" and armed thugs trying to sow sectarian strife. Fears of sectarianism resonate in Syria, with the dangers of fractured societies so apparent in neighboring Iraq and Lebanon.
Unknown assailants attacked a security checkpoint in the southern town of Nawa on Saturday, killing five people, the state news agency reported, quoting a military official. Two of the attackers were also killed in a shootout. It described the attackers as an "armed criminal group."
Besides the government crackdown, Assad has been trying to defuse the protests by offering a series of concessions: granting citizenship to thousands among Syria's long-ostracized Kurdish minority, firing local officials, releasing detainees and forming a new government. The recent lifting of emergency laws once had been a top demand.
But many protesters said the concessions have come too late and that Assad does not even deserve the credit because the protest movement is forcing his hand.
The increasing death toll also has brought international condemnation.
In Washington on Friday, President Barack Obama condemned the latest use of force by Syria against anti-government demonstrators and said the regime's "outrageous" use of violence must "end now."
Syria's state TV quoted an unnamed official as saying Damascus "regrets" Obama's comments.
"They are not based on an objective vision," the official said, without elaborating.
Ex-Sony chief, father of the CD, dies
The music school graduate served as president from 1982 to 1995 and led the evolution of the electronics manufacturer into a global entertainment empire covering music, movies and computer games.
Ohga, whose talents were spotted when as a student he complained about the quality of a tape recorder made by Sony's predecessor, died on Saturday from multiple organ failure.
"By redefining Sony as a company encompassing both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed," Sony chief executive and president Howard Stringer said in a statement.
The honorific -san is used in Japan to show respect.
"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's foresight and vision."
Along with development of the CD format, Ohga led Sony's negotiations in 1968 with CBS Corp, which resulted in the creation of CBS/Sony Records, now Sony Music Entertainment.
His decision to purchase Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion in 1989 cemented Sony's position as an entertainment conglomerate, despite initially facing criticism that the Hollywood studio should not be sold to the Japanese firm.
He also designed the Sony corporate logo and oversaw Sony's late entry into the video game market.
In 1993, Ohga launched Sony Computer Entertainment Inc into a sector dominated by established players including Nintendo and Sega.
Despite scepticism even within Sony, the PlayStation console was launched in 1994 and later became a core part of the company's business.
Ohga's career began after the self-taught engineer approached Sony's predecessor, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp, to point out the shortcomings of its tape recorder and suggested ways to improve it, according to the company's corporate history.
Impressed with his insights, Sony co-founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita made the aspiring baritone singer a consultant in 1953 while he was still studying at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.
Under Ohga's leadership, Sony revolutionised the music industry with the CD format in 1982, co-developed with Royal Philips Electronics, which paved the way for other digital formats such as DVD and Blu-ray.
Ohga pushed for the 12-centimetre format with 75 minutes of recording capacity to fit all of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without interruption.
While the CD took off, Ohga suffered a setback when Sony's Betamax video format lost a fierce battle to rival format VHS, which then became the global consumer standard.
But he proved he had not lost his pioneering vision and promoted the video game business with the launch of the PlayStation console despite opposition within his firm.
Mindful of the importance of the brand image, he designed the Sony logo and always stressed that the "four letter word" was the company's biggest asset.
It was Ohga who built upon the innovative engineering of the firm's early days to define Sony's emphasis on design and its brand image to build a global consumer base, the company said.
Ohga, who retired as the chairman in 2000, was the "Embodiment of Sony spirit," the Asahi Shimbun said while the Tokyo Shimbun said even from his early days he brought a sense of unity to product design.
Never forgetting his first love, music, Ohga befriended Austrian maestro Herbert von Karajan and conducted an orchestra himself.
After his retirement, he donated some 1.6 billion yen (20 million dollars) to build a concert hall in a mountain resort of Karuizawa, where he spent time undergoing medical treatment.
He also had served as the chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999 and was the head of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall.
Japan recognised his achievements by presenting him with some of the nation's top honours and France awarded him the Legion d'Honneur.
Sathya Sai Baba no more
Sai Baba was suffering from multi-organ dysfunction and was undergoing treatment at the Sathya Sai Baba super-speciality hospital. He left his body at around 7.40 this morning due to cardi-respiratory failure.
He was hospitalised on March 28 following problems related to heart and respiration.
Meanwhile, thousands of devotees have been thronging the hospital following the death of the spiritual leader.
Born Nov. 23, 1926, in Puttaparti, the Sai Baba was first named Sathyanarayana Raju.
In 1940, he declared himself an "avatar," or reincarnation, of another Hindu holy man called the Sai Baba of Shirdi, a town in the western Indian state of Maharashtra who had died in 1918.
RR vs KTK: Rajasthan Royals crush Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 8 wickets
Coming into the game after three losses from last four matches, skipper Shane Warne, who put Tuskers in after winning the toss, starred with the ball as the visitors were dismissed for just 109.
The 41-year-old combined well with Johan Botha, who replaced Shaun Tait after recovering from a finger injury, to finish with 3-16 from his four overs. Paceman Siddharth Trivedi made short work of the middle-order with 3-19.
The total was never going to prove a challenging one and Royals just needed 14.1 overs to overhaul the target. Shane Watson (49; 40b, 4x4, 2x6) and Rahul Dravid (44; 37b, 4x4, 1x6) led the way with 71-run opening stand.
Dravid and Watson were dismissed eventually, but Botha, along with Ross Taylor, completed the chase successfully. None of the bowlers could make an impression as top-order tore into their attack. Ravindra Jadeja was the lone wicket-taker for Tuskers.
Royals are now second on the points table, behind Mumbai Indians, while the loss pushed Tuskers down to fifth from third spot.
Rajasthan Royals will now take on Mumbai Indians on Friday.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Japan faces lengthy recovery from Fukushima accident
Tokyo (CNN) -- The worst may have passed in the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl, but cleaning up when it's finally over is likely to take decades and cost Japan an untold fortune.A six- to nine-month horizon for winding down the crisis, laid out by plant owner Tokyo Electric Power this week, is just the beginning. Near the end of that timeline, Japan's government says it will decide when -- or whether -- the nearly 80,000 people who were told to flee their homes in the early days of the disaster can return.
Friday marks six weeks since the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that triggered the crisis.
Some of those who have already spent six weeks in emergency housing, like Tomioka funeral director Kazuhiro Shirato, say they don't expect to return to what was home.
"I've been told by TEPCO since I was very small that the nuclear power plant was safe, so I never imagined this would happen," Shirato told CNN. "I hope now that the whole town will move to another place and rebuild."
Many of those displaced by the disaster have spent a month living in government shelters -- sometimes just gyms -- and are running low on money. Tokyo Electric has promised to make a down payment on compensation of 1 million yen (about $12,000) per household, with the intention of sending out checks by late April.
Another 66,000 have been told to prepare for evacuations in towns where radiation readings are at levels that could increase the long-term risk of cancer for anyone who stays. That will certainly add to what is likely to be a staggering tab for the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric, the country's largest utility.
"We are mobilizing our resources in order to tackle the situation, to relieve the burdens on those people who have evacuated from the area," Cabinet spokesman Noriyuki Shikata said. "We know that it's going to cost a quite significant amount. But at this juncture, I don't think we have come to a specific kind of budget size."
The shadow cast by Fukushima Daiichi has inflicted yet-unknown losses on farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers. And looming compensation costs have darkened the future of Tokyo Electric, a $157 billion company that may be driven into some form of government receivership.
For those displaced, Japanese authorities have promised to decontaminate "as much of an area as possible," as Goshi Hosono, an adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, told reporters earlier this week. But they have no decontamination plans prepared, and no real model for trying to clean up whole municipalities.
"We may be talking about something very new," Shikata said. "We will have to be creative."
The few precedents that do exist are daunting.
In Hanford, Washington, a plutonium plant built during the Manhattan Project created 43 million cubic yards (33 million cubic meters) of radioactive waste over four decades of fueling the U.S. nuclear weapons program, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The United States is projected to spend at least $77 billion and another 30-plus years to fully decontaminate the surrounding area, according to a 2009 report by congressional auditors.
After Chernobyl -- the worst nuclear disaster to date -- the former Soviet Union and now-independent Ukraine essentially abandoned a 30-kilometer radius around the plant. A quarter-century later, a forest is reclaiming the city of Pripyat, where nearly 50,000 people lived before the accident. About 116,000 were resettled, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and published estimates put the cost of cleanup at more than $350 billion.
Shikata said the situation at Fukushima Daiichi was "somewhat different" than at Chernobyl, were the amount of radioactivity released was 10 times higher that is believed to have escaped from Fukushima Daiichi.
The biggest city covered by the evacuation orders so far is Minami Soma, with a population of about 70,000. The twin disasters of March 11 have already driven away most of its population, most of those remaining have been told they will be evacuating soon and the rest have been told to stand by.
"We will rebuild," said Shinkoh Ishikawa, a Buddhist monk at the Senryu temple just outside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone. "I'm confident about that because we had done the same after the second World War."
For those displaced, there are social concerns as well. For decades, the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- known as "Hibakusha" -- complained of discrimination due to fears of radiation. Reports that evacuees from Fukushima were getting similar treatment brought a high-level chiding from Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, on Tuesday.
"I would like to ask the public to understand that the radiation would not transfer from person to person by touching the person or his or her clothes," said Edano, the government's point man for the crisis.
As for Fukushima Daiichi itself, fully closing up the crippled plant may take decades, said Jack DeVine, a U.S. nuclear engineer who helped lead the cleanup of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. There, it took about three years for engineers to get a look inside the damaged core of the reactor that suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 -- and what they found was "absolutely shocking" at the time, he said.
"A substantial amount of core had melted and burned its way into the reactor vessel, which we previously didn't know about," said DeVine, now retired. About 25 percent of the fuel assembly had melted, leaving behind a depression in the center of the core "like a giant ice-cream scoop."
Cleaning up and shutting down the damaged Unit 2 took 10 years, Devine said -- and unlike Fukushima Daiichi, little radiation was released at Three Mile Island. In Japan, workers are dealing with "essentially four Three Mile Islands," plus levels of radioactivity "which will be an impediment for all the work on-site."
"What we're hearing about over there is very, very different in that respect," he said.
British cruise ship passenger dies
Janet Richardson, 73, who was being carried off the ship on a stretcher, dies after falling into sub-zero ocean
A British tourist who fell into the North Sea in sub-zero conditions as she was being carried on a stretcher off a cruise ship has died.
Janet Richardson, 73, from near Penrith, Cumbria, was taken ill on the Ocean Countess and fell into the sea while being stretchered onto a rescue vessel. She spent eight minutes in the water before being rescued and taken to hospital in Norway.
The grandmother died on Thursday evening at Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle.
Richardson had begun to suffer internal bleeding on the voyage from Hull to Norway on a trip to see the Northern Lights with her husband George, 78.
The captain of the Ocean Countess, operated by UK company Cruise and Maritime Voyages, had called for a rescue boat to take her to hospital.
However, while the rescue teams were moving her on a stretcher to a rescue boat, she fell into the sea – which was about -3C at the time. The incident is under investigation by the cruise company and the Norwegian rescue authorities.
She was eventually transported to hospital in Bodø, Norway, accompanied by her husband, who remained by her bedside for several days before she was airlifted to Cumberland infirmary.
In a statement, North Cumbria University Hospitals said: "It is with regret that Mrs Janet Richardson passed away on Thursday evening, 21 April. Respecting the family's wishes, we have no further comment at this time."
Saleh leaving Yemen presidency
President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days, and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, Yemen’s state TV said on Saturday evening.
His imminent departure from office made Mr. Saleh the third key Arab leader to step down in the face of social and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. The other leaders are Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia. Mr. Mubarak is under detention at a military hospital in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh; Mr. Ben Ali is reported to be gravely ill in Saudi Arabia.
The protest movement demanding Mr. Saleh’s immediate departure said Saturday it also has agreed to the mediators’ proposal but with reservations. It objects to an article that gives parliament the right to reject the president’s resignation.
Members of the 68-year-old Mr. Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress, dominate the parliament. Mr. Saleh, who has been in power for the last 32 years, steadfastly refused to resign from the presidency in the face of more than two months of massive street protests against his authoritarian rule.
State TV said Saturday evening that Yemen’s foreign minister delivered the government’s acceptance to mediators from the Gulf Cooperation Council earlier on Saturday.
Hours after the government officially accepted the GCC new proposal to tackle the Yemeni crisis, the Joint Meeting Parties, representing the opposition coalition, said it had accepted the Gulf initiative too. The coalition held a meeting to discuss the proposal; it backed down from an earlier insistence that Opposition leaders lead a new government.
Instead, a spokesman for the coalition, Muhammad Qahtan, said: “We agreed that the General People’s Congress, the governing party, forms the national unity government from the government, the opposition and other political forces on condition the protests continue on the streets.” Sultan Al-Atwani, Secretary General of the Nasserite Unionist People’s Organization, said that the proposal was to be welcomed in general, but he added that his group needed further clarification regarding the GCC-brokered deal.
President Saleh seemed predictably bitter in accepting the deal. He warned on Saturday of civil war unless the current crisis was tackled. In a speech to deans, commanders and students of Yemen’s military and security colleges, Mr. Saleh accused his foes of receiving funds from unnamed countries “to incite chaos and oust the regime.”
“The Joint Meeting Parties receive dirty money to topple the government, and those who joined them from the ruling party were agents for the opposition,” Mr. Saleh said. “We are very interested in preventing bloodshed because the Yemeni blood is very precious and the opposition can’t drag us to killing each other. Civil war will not only affect Yemen, but also the whole region and the international security. Change is necessary but through peaceful means and without destruction or sabotage. The demands of the youths, who are on the streets, are the people’s demands and I truly support these demands and suggest that the youth form their own political party.”
The Wall Street Journal broke the story of his resignation on Saturday evening. It quoted a presidential aide, Tariq Shami, as saying, “Though President Saleh has constitutional rights to stay in power, he is willing to leave office willingly.”
In the end, President Saleh had little choice but to yield to pressure from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two Gulf States most vigorously involved in diplomatic efforts concerning the Yemen crisis. Although Mr. Saleh remained defiant in speeches on Friday, vowing to complete his term until 2013, backdoor diplomacy by Gulf states—worried at the possible gains made by Al-Qaeda network in Yemen—was able to convince Mr. Saleh that he would be accorded a dignified exit, according to The Journal.
Analysts will now eagerly await the opposition’s reaction to this deal as various groups are divided on the controversial clause of the president and his aides receiving any form of immunity from prosecution. While some have agreed to President Saleh handing over power to the vice-president in 30 days and his son and nephew, who hold key positions in the military and national security, handing over their posts within 60 days, it is the youth movement that remains adamant in their stance, The Journal said.
“We the youth of revolution reject any proposal that does not hold Saleh accountable for the killing of more than 140 revolutionary protesters during the street demonstrations this year,” said a statement released by the students’ organizing committee.
Earlier in the day on Saturday, Yemenis boarded up their shops and businesses across the country in protest against the president’s rule.
According to a Reuters witness, up to 90 percent of shops, markets and schools were closed in the southern port city of Aden. There were few pedestrians in the streets and hardly any traffic.
Many businesses were also closed for the day in Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city and an epicenter of opposition to the 69-year-old-president, and Hodeida on the Red Sea.
Yemenis flooded the streets of Sana’a and Taiz on Friday in rival demonstrations for and against Mr. Saleh, who offered guarded approval to a Gulf Arab plan for a three-month transition of power.
The proposal of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called for Mr. Saleh to hand power to his vice president, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, one month after signing an agreement.
He would appoint an opposition leader to lead an interim cabinet charged with preparing presidential elections two months later, a Yemeni official said on Friday.
The plan, presented on Thursday, also gives immunity from prosecution to Mr. Saleh, his family and aides—anathema to his foes, who would also have to end protests under the proposal.
“We stress that we will hold on to the constitutional legitimacy, in loyalty to our people, as we categorically reject the attempted coups on freedom, democracy, and political pluralism,” Mr. Saleh told regime supporters in Sana’a.
As on past Fridays, a huge rival rally by anti-regime protesters kept up the pressure for Mr. Saleh’s immediate departure on what they branded a “Last Chance Friday.”
A correspondent of Agence-France Presse said the gathering covered a four-kilometer stretch, in what appeared to be the largest anti-Saleh rally since protests erupted in late January.
Yemeni army and police were deployed in force to prevent clashes between the two camps.
Parliamentary opposition groups are still studying the GCC plan, but the spokesman of the Common Forum coalition said that “forming a national unity government while the president is still in office is not accepted.”
“The president’s departure is essential to any solution,” he told AFP.
Many protesters on the streets on Friday dismissed the proposal out of hand.
“Neighboring countries: no negotiations, no dialogue,” read posters carried by demonstrators.
Mr. Saleh has since January faced anti-regime protests calling for his ouster in which more than 130 people have been killed in clashes with security forces and rival demonstrators.
Meanwhile al-Qaeda militants and tribesmen gunned down 13 soldiers in separate attacks in the eastern Marib province.
Another soldier was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the restive southern province of Abyan.
Mr. Saleh’s long-time Gulf and Western allies, concerned that the chaos in Yemen will open more opportunities for ambitious al-Qaeda militants, are trying to broker an orderly transition to the president’s 32-year rule.
Libyan children suffering rape, aid agency reports
Libyan children as young as eight have suffered sexual assaults, including rape, amid the worsening conflict across the country, a British aid agency has warned.
Although Save the Children said it could not confirm the reports, the charity said the accounts by children were consistent and they were displaying signs of physical and emotional distress.The allegations come from 200 children and 40 adults who have fled from Misrata, Ajdabiya and Ras Lanuf and are now in temporary camps in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
The families told the charity's staff that children as young as eight had been sexually assaulted, sometimes in front of their relatives.
In one reported case, mothers claimed a group of girls had been abducted, held hostage for four days and raped, and were unable to speak when they were released.
Michael Mahrt, Save the Children's child protection adviser, said: "The reports of sexual violence against children are unconfirmed, but they are consistent and were repeated across the four camps we visited.
"Children told us they have witnessed horrendous scenes. Some said they saw their fathers murdered and mothers raped. They described things happening to other children, but they may have actually happened to them and they are just too upset to talk about it – it's a typical coping mechanism used by children who have suffered such abuse."
Mahrt said some children were displaying signs of physical and emotional distress: being withdrawn, refusing to play and waking up crying in the night.
The charity, along with other agencies, is conducting a 13-day assessment of the situation. It called on "the international community to ensure that all parties respect children's right to be protected from violence and abuse".
The charity said it was increasing its child protection work in Benghazi, training social workers to provide youngsters with psycho-social support.
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