Thursday, February 16, 2006
Nyon — The prosecutor did not withhold complains for “simple” and “severe” physical harm by negligence against gendarmes Poget and Deiss in the trial of the Aubonne Bridge affair. Verdict will be given of Friday in the morning.
Monday, May 11, 2009
On May 9, Moscow heralded its celebrations of Victory Day with one of the largest military parades seen since the fall of the Soviet Union through the Red Square and the streets of Moscow. Signifying the defeat over Nazi Germany in 1945 in World War 2, Victory Day continues to be one of the most poignant and emotional celebrations and national holidays in Russia. Estimates of more than 27 million lost lives during the war continues to leave a vein of sadness in Russia.
Victory day began early in Moscow with inner city streets being closed from 6am and the major entrance of Tverskaya Ulitsa completely locked down with all access to non-military blocked until the end of the parade. Tens of thousands of people lined the upper parts of Tverskaya to see the exit of the military as well as the air force fly-over on their entrance to Red Square. In total more than 9,000 troops, 69 planes and a huge collection of armored vehicles, tanks, and massive anti-aircraft missile defense systems ensured that Moscovites and the rest of Russia will remember Victory Day 2009.
In scenes reminiscent of the end of the war military bands played around the city until all hours of the night. At Leningradsky station departing veterans and widows danced and celebrated with younger generations whilst loudly singing the national anthem. As trains departed, staff handed out flowers in recognition of the contributions made and loud cheers were heard across the many platforms. In a touching event it seemed to bond the generations of yesterday and today.
Preparations for the military parade began months ago with regular rehearsals in Alabino including the erection of a mock Red Square and Kremlin to ensure authenticity. Final dress rehearsals took place in Moscow on May 7 including a full practice of the air show. On display for the first time was the S-400 air defense system which is capable of intercepting airborne targets at ranges up to 400 kilometers (249 mi).
Following the official parades and ceremonies, Red Square and the the inner city was opened to the public, albeit under extreme security and an ever watching eye from Interior Ministry troops. During the afternoon there was an estimated crowed of over 100,000 which entered Red Square to admire the parade ground and decorations, including the official stand for the dignitaries.
Closing the festivities was a series of fireworks in fourteen different locations throughout Moscow including the grand display over the Kremlin and Red Square.
Monday, October 10, 2005
The sets and props of popular claymation characters Wallace and Gromit have been destroyed in a warehouse blaze this morning in Bristol, UK.
The disaster comes only days after the US release of Nick Park‘s latest film featuring the characters, The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, which topped the box office chart and took US$16.1 million (GB£9.1 million) over the weekend. The film is scheduled for UK release this Friday.
Sets and models from the new film escaped as they had not yet been added to the Aardman Animation collection hosted in Bristol. Among the damage caused by the blaze, the character Morph was lost; for many UK children the appearance of this character in Tony Hart‘s BBC art programmes was their first introduction to stop motion animation.
The warehouse, located near Bristol’s central railway station, dated from the Victorian era and was formerly part of Ismbard Kingdom Brunel‘s Great Western Railway.
Ten fire crews attended the blaze, in which flames shot 100ft into the air, from 0600 BST into the afternoon, but were unable to prevent the collapse of the roof, interior walls and all three floors of the building.
An investigation will begin once the building has been made safe.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
A suicide attacker detonated a bomb near the home of a prominent Pakistani Shia Muslim cleric in Karachi yesterday, killing the cleric and two other people, police said.
The death of Allama Hassan Turabi is likely to raise tensions in Karachi, which is often the scene of violence between Shias and Sunnis. Allama Turabi had narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in April 2006 when a bomb was exploded just after his car crossed the area. He was the leader of a Shia party, Islami Tehreek Pakistan, and a vice provincial chief for Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal Sindh (MMA), an opposition religious coalition.
Manzoor Mughal, a police investigator, said a lone attacker on foot had detonated the bomb at the gate of Allama Turabi’s house as he was getting into a car. He died of his injuries at a private hospital in Karachi, and his guard, a cousin, and the attacker, were also killed. It was initially reported that the attacker was in a car. Mr Mughal said police had collected body parts, including the head of the attacker.
About 300 youths gathered near Allama Turabi’s house after the blast, weeping and chanting slogans against the US and Israel. Reports said that public buses were damaged and set alight in disturbances following the killing, and one person was reported killed. Hours before the attack, Allama Turabi had addressed an anti-Israel rally organised by the MMA. The MMA is strongly opposed to the US led War on Terror and Pakistan’s support of it.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Heavy rains in Indonesia yesterday triggered widespread flooding and landslides across the nation. It has emerged that last night a bridge was swept away by the swollen river it stretched across, leaving around 40 to 50 people missing in Madiun, East Java. Meanwhile, the total toll of those known or feared to be dead has reached 130.
According to local police chief Supardi in a telephone conversation with Xinhua the flood waters weakened a foundation, resulting in the collapse. At least twenty motorcyclists, car drivers and passengers are thought to be dead, but as of midnight, no bodies had been recovered. However, three bikes have been retrieved. 100 rescuers have been dispatched to the scene. Continuing heavy rain forced the search to be abandoned temporarily.
Java as a whole is the worst affected island; in addition to the bridge collapse most of the landslides occurred in two Central Java districts. Health ministry official Rustam Pakaya told reporters that at least 28,000 people have been forced to abandon their homes in central Java, although exact figures are not yet available. The Red Cross commented that 45,000 East Javanese people have been similarly displaced. Thousands are seeking shelter in mosques and other public buildings.
Landslides buried houses and made roads impassable, while hundreds police officers, military personnel, local officials and volunteers have been digging with farm tools and even their hands to search for survivors. Heavy machinery is available but the road conditions have prevented it arriving at the areas where it is required. Jakarta has dispatched aid in the form of five tonnes of biscuits and instant meals, ten tonnes of baby food and multiple boats.
Heru Aji Pratomo, head of the disaster management centre in the worst-hit district of Karanganyar has confirmed the recovery of twelve more bodies. This brings the total confirmed death toll in the area to 48. He said that most bodies were recovered from three metre deep mud and required heavy digging machinery to retrieve. 28 remain missing.
Local resident Siswo told AFP “Suddenly I felt my house shaking, and I thought it was an earthquake. When I got outside, I saw that the houses next to mine were already covered by earth,” and that it struck twelve neighbouring houses.
In the next district, Wonogiri, disaster management centre head Sri Mubadi told reporters they had retrieved two more bodies, reaching a total of six, with eleven more missing. He also confirmed that they currently have no access to heavy equipment.
In Tawangmangu about 1,000 rescuers were also searching for bodies and survivors without the aid of heavy machinery. Three more bodies were retrieved today.
Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir toured a Karanganyar village, at which time he commented that he felt the disaster had been caused as a form of divine revenge, saying “This was likely caused by immoral acts going on here,” and “This could be a lesson to be learned.” The 69-year-old served two years after being linked to the 2002 Bali bombings, before having his conviction overturned last year.
Chalid Muhammad, director of Walhi, an Indonesian environmental group, had a different opinion. “For five consecutive years landslides and floods have occurred in Java, claiming many lives. The main trigger is ecological destruction caused by deforestation, forest conversions and chaotic spatial planning,” Chalid told Reuters.
“There have been no adequate efforts by the government to protect the people from disasters. When the landslides happened officials were on holiday and there was no access of heavy equipment to the affected areas.”
Submitted by: Chris Sargent
Are you a small to medium sized business in the Birmingham area?
Most businesses these days rely heavily on their IT infrastructure and simply could not operate without their computers, internet or access to their data and programs.
So much of today s business is now proposed, negotiated and agreed through technical vehicles such as email and the internet. It is therefore essential that you IT systems are reliable, efficient and secure.
What would you do if one morning you arrived at the office and your PC or laptop would not turn on? What if that proposal you spent 4 hours compiling yesterday had disappeared or worse still all of your data was no longer there! Imagine not being able to communicate by email or access the internet for a whole day or multiple days, how would this affect your business?
Reliable backups are one of the most critical elements to any IT solution, a good backup strategy removes the worry over losing your data and combined with a well designed archive solution you should always be able to retrieve that deleted email or lost proposal.
A local IT support company is the answer, imagine being able to have the skills and support of your very own IT manager but without the high cost. Someone to call when something goes wrong; someone to provide expert advice on how to develop and improve your IT systems; or simply someone to speak to third parties, such as internet service providers or telecom companies, so that you have a technical expert talking on your behalf and you no longer have to worry about understanding all of the technical jargon these salesmen use!
All of these are services you can expect from a good IT support company, you should also look for a company that can provide you with other IT related services such as web design, mobile data solutions, print and copy document management solutions, telecom (VOIP) systems, disaster recovery planning, email security, voice and data cabling, network installation services, backup solutions etc.
With so many different IT solutions in the market place from hundreds of different vendors, look for an IT support company that is independent of hardware or software vendors. That way you know that they will be recommending solutions to you that really are the best available and not just because they are from the vendor that they are in partnership with.
Most problems these days can be resolved remotely so you should look for a company that uses modern remote access technologies allowing them to take control of your desktops and servers without waiting for them to drive to your office. Proactive monitoring of your systems will also help prevent lengthy downtime and improve your employees productivity, look for a support company that offers 24/7 monitoring of your critical servers.
The best IT support companies will offer you flexible support contracts, tailored to fit your business model. They will take the time to understand your day to day business and get to know your staff, putting them in the best possible position to provide advice and guidance that is relative to your business.
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Source:
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Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Over 60 miners were killed in an abandoned gold mine shaft near Welkom, in the Free State province of South Africa, after a fire broke out inside the mine.
36 bodies from the Harmony Gold mining company Eland mine shaft were brought up earlier on the weekend from depths up to 1.4 kilometers (1 mi). On Tuesday, 25 more bodies were recovered by other illegal workers.
“We suspect there was a fire on the 18th of May. We never saw any smoke. Over the weekend [30 May] we were informed by other illegal miners that people had died,” said Tom Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Harmony’s South Region, “The bodies are not burnt. It seems more of a case of gas or smoke inhalation. I don’t know if there are any more bodies down there, we just have to wait.”
The workers may have died from poisonous gasses, smoke inhalation, suffocation, cave-ins or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Harmony gold mine will not send anyone in to the mine as the conditions are extremely dangerous and abandoned shafts are without safety equipment. Illegal workers may gain access bypassing security at one mine site, and exit via a series of interconnected underground tunnels many miles away.
Harmony is internationally the fifth largest gold mining company and has bought up old, abandoned mines.
Police were seeking relatives to help identify the bodies, and are instigating an investigation into the circumstances.
Almost 300 “gold pirates” were arrested over the past two weeks at the Eland mine shaft alone. Thousands of illegal workers can be underground, and remain working for weeks and months continuously. “These are ex-miners and unemployed people – we need to target the syndicates,” said Smith.
There are over 4.18 million unemployed in South Africa due to the economic decline, and another 1 million may soon join the ranks.
Susan Shabangu, the minister of mining, extended her condolences.
Welkom, with a population of over 400,000 is located 160 kilometers (99 mi) northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Twin blasts, allegedly caused by improvised explosive devices, rocked two upscale malls in the main financial district in Aguinaldo Street in Iligan City on Thursday. At least three people were killed and forty-seven were wounded when two improvised crude bombs exploded and damaged the Unicity Commercial Center at 1:35 p.m. and the nearby Jerry’s Shoppers Plaza 10 minutes later.
The mall blasts occurred a day before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s scheduled visit to the City, her maternal hometown. Lanao del Norte police Superintendent Dimacuta Sanggacala said he “corrected the earlier report that six people had been killed, saying that some of those whom they thought were dead were seriously hurt.” “Forty-five people were injured and being treated at the Sanitarium City Hospital and Dr. Uy City Hospital,” he added.
The City of Iligan (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Iligan; Filipino: Lungsod ng Iligan) is a highly urbanized city North of the province of Lanao del Norte, Philippines, and the province’s former capital. It is approximately 795 kilometers southeast of Manila with a population of 308,046 people as of 2007.
The provincial police said that CCTV video footages from both malls show two men both wearing scarfs, had placed the explosives inside bags and left at the package or baggage counters of the malls. An L-300 van was also destroyed in the blasts. The local SOCO forces, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (bomb experts) and the bomb-sniffing K9 unit of the 403rd Brigade were immediately dispatched to search the site for more victims.
Col. Nicanor Dolojan, commander of the Army’s 403rd said that “our suspect here are the lawless MILF group because of the type of the (improvised explosive device) that were used. That IED manifest their signature, using mortar rounds. Terrorism, which is their real intention, to sow terror in the area.That is our initial findings.” Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said that his local government received several “threats to bomb establishments – department stores, churches, schools, public places, and markets.”
Continuous clashes began in August between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, after the High Court annulled a Memorandum of Agreement on peace. Reuters reported that “five people were wounded in two blasts on December 4 in another part of Mindanao, which army officials blamed on rogue Muslim rebels fighting a long-running insurgency in the south.” “There have been at least three bomb attacks on bus terminals in the south since July as violence escalated after Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, failed to sign a territory deal in August.” it added. In November, three people were also injured in the blasts of the Traveler’s Inn and the Caprice Lodge in Iligan City.
The Abu Sayyaf Group (lang-ar????? ??? ????; Jam??ah Ab? Sayy?f, ASG), also known as ‘al-Harakat al-Islamiyya’ is one of several militant Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern islands of the Philippines, in Bangsamoro (Jolo, Basilan, and Mindanao) where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for a state, independent of the predominantly Catholic Philippines.
The Times of India reported that “the southern Philippines region of Mindanao is the hotbed of a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency that has, in recent years, been suspected of harbouring Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden.”
Saturday, April 23, 2005
What was once the most widely sold contraceptive for millions of women, the Today® Sponge, has been re-approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be brought back for sale to the American marketplace, as early as this summer.
The reintroduction of the sponge, demanded by many women for years, is noteworthy because it offers certain distinct advantages versus other forms of contraceptive:
The sponge does not, however, protect against sexually transmitted diseases, and it carries with it certain minor risks which should be noted by potential users.
The sponge has also been found less effective as a form of birth control than oral contraceptives, Depo-Provera injections or an intrauterine device (IUD), although similar in effectiveness to the male condom. A pregnancy rate of 13 to 16% is expected from a year of “typical use” as a standalone method of birth control. The product varies in effectiveness depending on if the woman forgets to insert the device before intercourse, uses the device incorrectly, or fails to wait at least 6 hours after intercourse before removing the device.
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, has accused the United States of supporting a separatist movement in the oil-rich state of Zulia. Zulia has a large portion of Venezuela’s oil and gas reserves and is ruled by governor Manuel Rosales, a friend of the United States.
The Zulian political organization, Own Course, a group of right-wingers opposed to Chávez, has proposed holding a referendum to form a neo-liberal capitalist economy in the Zulia state which shares borders with Colombia.
Chávez described the secessionist attempts as a crazy move and warned that the separatists could face military action. He said that the imperialists are attempting to give strength and form to the secessionist movement, with the goal of controlling the oil in the region.
President Chávez also claimed the secessionist movement is part of a plan by the U.S. to overthrow and kill him.