The Kosovo police have announced that they received information at around 14:00 CET yesterday that two explosive devices had been planted in Priština town hall. Upon receiving the tip-off, police cordoned off the entrance to the town hall and nearby buildings, and evacuated staff.
Posts Tagged ‘town’
Eclipse casts shadow across Asia
July 22nd, 2009 |
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The eclipse was first sighted at dawn in eastern India near the town of Guahati before moving north and east to Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China
• Datablog: every eclipse until the year 2200
Tourists, astronomers and residents across a swath of Asia turned their eyes to the heavens today as the longest eclipse of the 21st century arrived.
Viewing for many was marred by heavy clouds and rain, but the drama of the total eclipse – as darkness swept a narrow path across the continent – was unmistakable.
Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, picked out by China’s National Astronomical Observatory as one of the best spots to view the phenomenon, was drenched by rain after days of fine weather. Forecasters had warned all eight of the selected sites could suffer bad weather.
Thousands of foreign tourists had come to the little-knownn city of 3.5 million inhabitants. They reportedly included a party from India who had feared monsoon rains might obscure their view at home.
Around a thousand gathered in a public square for an official ceremony to mark the occasion. There were cheers when a glimpse of sun briefly broke through the clouds, shortly before the eclipse was due to begin at 8.22.20.
Visitors grabbed their darkened glasses in anticipation, following reminders that viewing with the naked eye could damage their eyesight.
But they would have little chance to use them: shortly afterwards the heavens opened and torrential rain hit the six viewing spots across the city.
Said Jin Qinlong, director of the tourism administration, said it was the most popular event in the city.
Despite the stress of organising it, he added, he felt “a deep calm and peace” as darkness swept across the land.
The phenomenon began at dawn over the western coast of India, passing over Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi and Patna, Nasa said. It moved east across Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh and Bhutan and then along China’s Yangtze river valley, home to 300 million.
Thick cloud cover over India obscured the sun when the eclipse began but the clouds parted in several cities, minutes before the total eclipse took place at 6.24am.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, people came out in droves.
“It’s a rare moment, I never thought I would see this in my life,” said Abdullah Sayeed, a college student who traveled to Panchagarh town from the capital Dhaka to view it.
He said cars in the town needed to use headlights as “night darkness has fallen suddenly”.
One of the best views, shown live on several television channels, appeared to be in the Indian town of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges river, sacred to devout Hindus.
Thousands of Hindus took a dip in keeping with the ancient belief that bathing in the river at Varanasi, especially on special occasions, cleanses one’s sins. The eclipse was seen there for three minutes and 48 seconds.
From there it passed to southern Japan and across the Pacific Ocean, where it would reach its maximum length of six minutes and 29 seconds.
In Jiaxing, the sun began to slip behind the moon at 8.22.20 and reemerged completely 11.00.21, with total eclipse from 9.35.01 to 9.40.57.
According to Nasa, a total eclipse, when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, is only visible from a narrow strip – about 150km wide – of the Earth’s surface at any one time.
Humans have recorded eclipses for thousands of years, but they were often sources of fear rather than fascination. China’s cabinet – the state council – recognised their enduring power when it issued a directive urging local officials to ensure social stability during the event and urged academics and the media to explain the scientific principles behind it lest it caused blind panic.
Historic Chinese documents suggest that they are portents of change.
“There’s a long tradition in China’s past of the natural world and human world being interconnected so developments in one speak to the other,” said Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom of the University of California.
“From 2,000 years ago or so, the imperial family was interested in any kind of astronomical knowledge that could help predict eclipses. It’s an early version of spin … if you knew in advance the heavens were displeased you could interpret that as being about bad officials who needed to be reprimanded as opposed to the dynasty being imperilled.
“To what extent anyone thinks in those terms now is another matter.”
On a more prosaic note, Chinese authorities in many towns turned on street lights and ordered all police officers to remain on duty, fearing traffic accidents and other problems.
Yan Jun, director of the National Astronomical Observatories, told the official People’s Daily newspaper that the abrupt blackout might inflict dangers on road transport, shipping, air travel and even medical services and other activities. He suggested telecommunications and power transmission might also be affected due to sudden changes in astronomic gravity and light intensity.
In Jiaxing, residents expressed disappointment at the low visibility but tourists appeared to be taking it in their stride. Pupils from Southend boys high school struck up a rousing chorus of their school song and a briefer rendition of It’s Raining Men as they huddled beneath umbrellas in the square.
“Unfortunately, everything’s eclipsed now,” said Dr Mahamarowi Omar, an amateur astronomer who had brought a tour group from Malaysia just to see the phenomenon.
“It’s something so great that humans should experience it. It’s not only science. We are Muslim and after this we will go and pray to God together. He has brought us the beautiful sky and earth and sun.”
There was still no sign of the sun when the rain cleared, but the sky was darkening second by second as the moon swept across its face somewhere behind the clouds. Grumbles and sighs of frustration turned to gasps.
Moments later Jiaxing enjoyed its second dawn of the day. This time, as the sky lightened, glimpses of an upside-down crescent of the sun could be caught through viewing glasses.
“There’s nothing greater than a solar eclipse,” said Sammy Grech, who had travelled all the way from Malta, where he heads the astronomical society.
“Except the rain,” he added thoughtfully.
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Riot Police Storm Texas Town After Black, White Protesters Clash Over Dragging Death
July 21st, 2009 |
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PARIS, Texas — State police in full riot gear rushed a downtown street in this eastern Texas town Tuesday to break up a tense standoff between hundreds of black and white protesters who exchanged screams of “Black power!” and “White powe…
Neil and Anoushka Sharma set the ramp afire
July 21st, 2009 |
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She is just one film old in the tinsel town, but before she stepped into the Bollywood zone she was and is still a well-known name in the world of modeling and ramps.
Talking about Anoushka Sharma, who had a dream debut opposite SRK in ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’, the gal meets her first love [...]
Switched on
July 20th, 2009 |
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Veronica Psetizki
BBC Mundo, Suarez
This is not a typical town square in Uruguay.
The square, in the town of Suarez some 40km from the capital Montevideo, has gone over to solar energy and LED technology.
The aim is to reduce electricity costs and at the same time light more streets.
If it works, the plan could serve as a model for other towns across the country.
In the current economic crisis and upward pressure on electricity prices, it should be a way of reducing energy costs.
Energy savings
"The energy crisis will continue to get worse and city councils and the state will have to deal with that," Leonardo D’Andrea of the local town council explained to BBC Mundo.
TAKING THE PULSE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY- The BBC is Taking the Pulse of the Global Economy, looking at a range of subjects this summer
- Food prices – which remain a concern particularly in many developing economies
- Highly volatile energy prices – which have been a major issue in the past year
- The plight of migrant workers – as the global recession takes hold in many economies
- Housing markets – which have turned from boom to bust in many countries
- Rising unemployment levels – as firms cut back because of falling orders
"We decided to try out solar energy lamps in the town square and if it works, then we will apply it to all public lights in the town," he said.
"The lighting had been very unstable and a few years ago we installed sodium lights, which are more modern but use a lot of energy and are more polluting."
"Each lamp costs $30 a month (£18) and we know that with LED lamps we would save between 70% and 90% on energy costs."
Light emitting diodes (LED) are semi-conductors which give bright light but use very little energy.
They can be charged with solar energy as well as electricity and can give light for up to four days.
"These lamps are very expensive if you buy them from China, Taiwan or Japan," says Juan José Marchelli, director of Uruled, the local firm which proposed the experiment.
Locally made
This is why he decided to import the diodes but manufacture the bulbs locally.
"We recycled lamp posts which had fallen into disrepair."
"Instead of glass, we put in anti-vandal polycarbonate and we adapted lamps that were made in Uruguay."
"Then we introduced solar panels into the supports," he said.
The authorities are examining how cost-effective they are.
If they prove worthwhile they will buy equipment to make the lamps in Uruguay.
"The idea is to manufacture the lights in Uruguay and replace high energy lighting with these low energy ones. At the same time we’ll create jobs in the community," says Mr Marchelli.
Savings
Nicolas Vilaro, director-general of public works in Canelones said: "With electricity prices continuing to rise, we are trying to find alternatives, however small the scale."
The city council’s energy bill comes $400,000 and about 70% of that is for street lighting.
"For that reason we are keen to make even the smallest of energy savings so we can free up money for other projects," says Mr Vilaro.
"We are going to install some 20 columns with solar panels and energy accumulators to test out their efficiency," he says.
"Maybe in a few years’ time you won’t see single posts with a bulb – they’ll all have solar panels behind them."
Click here for more from BBC World Service on Taking the Pulse of the Global Economy
</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Stats Guru Nate Silver Issues Financial Challenge To Climate Skeptics
July 18th, 2009 |
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John Hinderaker at the popular conservative blog PowerLine reports that it’s been cold, cold, cold in his home town of Minneapolis, Minnesota, going to far as to compare it with “The Year Without a Summer”, 1816, when global temperatures were …
No comment
July 17th, 2009 |
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By Gabriel Gatehouse
BBC News, Suleimaniya
More than a month after the disputed presidential election in Iran, much of the country is still closed to the outside.
Following the street demonstrations in Tehran, the Iranian authorities have expelled and barred some foreign journalists and restricted others to reporting only from the capital.
Little news about the aftermath of the election and the subsequent street demonstrations is coming out of the smaller provincial towns, simply because there is no one there to report it.
But it is still possible to speak to the people who travel from those towns and villages to other places where journalists can work more freely.
One such place is Iraqi Kurdistan, near the Iranian border.
The main street in the town of Suleimaniya is a teeming mass of shops and stalls, selling almost anything you might want to buy, from nuts to vegetables to second-hand mobile phones.
Many of the wares, cosmetics and cheap clothes, come from Iran, but one product that most definitely did not was the whisky.
Tight lipped
A small shop on the high street was piled with bottles from floor to ceiling: Scotch, Irish, American bourbon.
Our translator pointed to three men, crammed into the little store, busy filling their bags. "Iranians," he said.
The Iranian authorities have blamed "foreign powers" for stoking the unrest that followed last month’s elections. Since then, many people in Iran have been nervous about talking openly to foreigners, especially journalists.
I thought that here, in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, on the steps of a liquor store, we might find tongues a little looser. I was wrong.
The three men were ethnic Azeris, one of Iran’s largest minority communities. They live mostly in the north-west of the country.
In 2006, clashes between Iranian Azeri demonstrators and police left five dead, according to reports at the time.
But despite this history of tension with the central authorities in Tehran, these three had nothing to say.
Had there been any demonstrations in their home town following the elections They were not interested in politics. How was the economy, how was business They were satisfied with their lives.
What did they think of Mir Hossein Mousavi, supposedly a liberal, a reformer (I eyed their plastic bags stuffed with booze.)
Might he have made life at home a little more relaxed They were, again, satisfied with their lives. Or was it fear
Spot the police
The following morning we drove up through the hills of Kurdistan towards the border with Iran. The little town of Bashmagh is the main frontier post in this area.
A steady stream of vehicles and pedestrians were crossing over mainly in one direction – from Iran into Iraq.
These people were lorry drivers and traders, or simply families going to visit relatives on the other side of the border.
Watching over them were two brooding portraits – those of Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei, the father of the Iranian revolution and his successor, the current supreme leader.
As if aware of their gaze, most of the people crossing here were even more reluctant to speak than the Iranians in Suleimaniya.
Some said they were convinced the Iranian secret police had agents watching and listening to them, even on the Iraqi side of the border.
I looked around. I saw a plethora of men in different uniforms, border guards, customs officers, policemen.
Three money-changers sat behind fold-up tables counting wads of brightly coloured bank notes. Old men wearing turbans and baggy pantaloons stood around doing nothing much, apart from smoking.
"This government is not the elected government of the people"
Hadi
Kurdish trader
In the eyes of a wary traveller, any one of them could be an Iranian agent. The nervousness was easy to understand. And yet there were those who were willing to talk.
Hadi is an Iranian Kurd in his mid-twenties. He lives in Mariwan, a small town not far from the border, and makes his living trading in cosmetics, crossing back and forth between Iran and Iraq.
He voted for Mr Mousavi, he said, in the hope that the economy would improve. But he believes his vote was stolen.
"This government is not the elected government of the people," he said. "It is a fake and a coup d’etat. Nothing can change this system except force."
Watching the protests in Tehran over the past month, Hadi and his friends had wanted to demonstrate too. But, he said, in Mariwan it was simply too dangerous.
"There were more police than civilians in the streets, we couldn’t do anything in these small towns, because if you talk freely it could cost you your life. Everybody wanted to take part in the demonstrations. But we couldn’t."
"This government it so repressive," he went on, "we are afraid even when we are in our own homes."
Friend of the poor
It is unusual to hear someone speak so openly and critically of the Iranian authorities.
Reading between the lines though, many seemed unhappy with the events of the past month. But not everyone.
A short while after we spoke to Hadi, a vast yellow truck rolled across the border. Out of the cab jumped Sayyad, the driver.
He was transporting a consignment of rice from Pakistan, destined for Iraqi consumers.
Sayyad, who is from another town in western Iran, voted for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he said, because the president was on the side of poor people.
To prove the point, he told us how he had recently bought his own lorry, at a good price and in instalments.
So he was pleased his man had won the election. He was also relieved that the authorities had restored law and order.
Of all the people we spoke to at Bashmagh, whatever part of Iran they came from and whoever they had voted for in the election, they all appeared to agree on two things.
Firstly, the Iranian economy is in bad shape. Many complained of high unemployment and of having difficulty making ends meet.
The other was that – excepting Tehran – there had been no recent demonstrations on the streets of their hometowns. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Explosive mix
July 17th, 2009 |
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By Stephanie Holmes
BBC News, Ortona
Warmed by the sun, the famous Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes are slowly sweetening in vineyards that slope gently towards the sea. It seems an unlikely scene for a battle.
Yet the fight over the future of this tiny patch of land in central Italy symbolises the conflict between the country’s need for energy and its goal – affirmed once more at the G8 summit in the same region – to reduce its use of carbon-based fuels and protect the environment.
Italy is one of the most energy-dependent states within the G8 – importing at least 80% of its oil and gas needs. It sources some 7% of its energy needs from oilfields within Italy, and the Abruzzo region is believed to have untapped supplies beneath its mountains, olive groves and beaches.
In the coastal town of Ortona, the struggle between an oil giant, local politicians and entrepreneurs on the one hand and web-savvy campaigners, residents and agriculturalists on the other over plans for an oil refinery in the middle of a prime, wine-producing land has reached a tense stalemate.
Walking along a white-pebbled beach lined by dense bamboo, Elga Tenaglia, a campaigner in her 30s, gestures out across the Adriatic Sea.
"I see these cargo ships – oil ships, I call them – and it disturbs me," she says. "Before, when I saw the sea I could breathe, I could relax. Not any more. Now I see them and it makes me think that things are about to change."
From wine to oil
For years, the Italian oil giant ENI – one of the biggest firms in the country – has invested in this region, uncovering potential oil reserves off the coast and inland.
Campaigners from the conservation group WWF claim that now 50% of the region is being explored for oil – right to the edge of its vast national parks, home to a rare species of bear.
Just a few miles up the coast from the beach, ENI – in which the government holds a 30% golden share – has bought some 12 hectares of prime vineyard.
Supported by local politicians and businessmen keen to bring much-needed investment to the region, they chose this site to build an oil centre. It was, according to local officials, to be a desulphurisation plant, the first stage of purifying and filtering crude oil.
Oil on ice
Down a bumpy track between rows of vines that overlook the sea, I find Lina, a 60-year-old farmer who sold some of her land to the oil company. Spray-painted to the wall of a store in the middle of the vineyard there is a message, telling ENI to "get out".
But, she tells me, she was under no pressure to sell her land, that it was a collective decision made by the farmers. "They say it’s bad, this oil centre. Is it bad They’re not going to build it now, are they" she asks, confused.
"When it is over there won’t be a future – no sea, no hills, no green. I don’t want that – not for me but not for anyone else either. I’d fight this battle anywhere"
Elga Tenaglia, campaigner
In May, ENI did indeed quietly announce that it would not go ahead with the Ortona plant. The news came as it announced plans to invest in the nearby University of L’Aquila – the city devastated by April’s earthquake.
It pledged to look into the viability of building a heating plant, partly fuelled by biomass and "based on rigorous environmental sustainability standards" near the town.
But, so far, despite repeated requests, it has refused to clarify its future plans for the Ortona site.
For the mayor of the town of Ortona, with a population of 23,000 and a faltering tourism industry, the company’s decision to put the project on ice is a disaster.
I meet Nicola Fratino under the clock of the small town’s main square, as swallows dive overhead. He doesn’t hide his fury at how a project he worked on for years has disappeared into thin air.
"It’s a tragedy for this town," he says. "We’ve chased away the 16th largest corporation in the world from this region, we’ve said no to a company that wanted to invest 600 million euros here, we’ve lost 1,000 jobs and entrepreneurs like myself – and hundreds of others – are going to suffer massively."
Allegations
Campaigners allege that a firm linked to Mr Fratino, called Bonefra, stood to gain directly from ENI’s presence in the region. They claim he won two contracts worth a total of more than one million euros from ENI. It is a claim he denies. ENI has refused to comment on the allegations.
"First of all, I’m a shareholder, not a CEO of the firm. Bonefra – a company which, by the way, I only hold shares in, I’m not the CEO, never got a single contract – not for a million euros, not even… Listen, we took part in about 50 bids and I think we might have won one to manage the transfer of goods in the port for about four or five thousands euros, no more."
He said the plant would have brought valuable jobs to the region, as well as the massive investment the oil firm would have made to compensate for the environmental impact.
He even expresses grudging admiration for the work of campaigners – spearheaded by Italo-American physicist Maria-Rita d’Orsogna – whose flurry of blog postings, video clips and public meetings succeeded in raising public awareness of the project.
But why, I ask Ms Tenaglia, should Italy’s pretty countryside be spared this fate for other places in the world to supply the country’s energy needs
"The other day I read that they were going to build a refinery in the middle of the rainforest. And I thought – why am I complaining about what is happening here, in Abruzzo" she says.
"But this oil, it’ll be here for 20 years and then what When it is over there won’t be a future – no sea, no hills, no green. That’s it. I don’t want that – not for me but not for anyone else either. I’d fight this battle anywhere." </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Taste of change
July 17th, 2009 |
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By Heather Sharp
BBC News, Nablus
Business has more than doubled in recent months, said sweet shop owner Magdi Abu Salha, taking a break from slicing up knefi, the sticky cheese-based dessert for which his home town of Nablus is famed.
Two years ago the northern West Bank town was a stronghold of armed Palestinian militant groups.
And just three months ago, the six Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints that had ringed it for nine years had all but killed its economic life.
Most residents could leave only by two routes – on foot or through checkpoints which often had long queues.
Israel says its system of closures and checkpoints in the West Bank is necessary to stop potential suicide bombers and other attackers, but many Palestinians have long viewed it as a form of collective punishment.
International efforts to boost the Palestinian Authority security forces have already borne fruit in Jenin, which saw movement restrictions eased last year.
And in recent weeks, Israel has deemed security gains sufficient for it to take what it describes as the "calculated risk" of removing and easing many key roadblocks and checkpoints across the West Bank.
Checkpoints lifted: Nablus journeys
Cars now drive within a few minutes through Hawarra, Nablus’s main checkpoint; the other roads in and out of the city have reopened.
Headscarved women pick through piles of shoes and bags as Arabic pop plays from loudspeakers on the newly bustling streets.
A cinema opened its doors in the city last month for the first time in 20 years.
Dozens of busloads of Israeli-Arabs have been coming to shop on Saturdays since April, when Israel began allowing them to cross the West Bank barrier from northern Israel, one day a week.
Political graffiti and posters of militants that have died are being replaced with signs saying "Welcome to Nablus, the economic capital". Palestinian policemen are enforcing new seat belt laws.
‘Change is possible’
In a complex perched on a rubble-strewn hill outside the town centre, Tony Blair, Middle East envoy for the international community and former British PM, toured the gleaming tiled floors of the Nablus Hyatt this week.
"We didn’t bring the swimming trunks," he quipped by the new hotel’s large, pristine pool.
Tasked with improving the economic situation in the West Bank, he has pushed hard for the removal of the checkpoints.
"Two years ago, I couldn’t have come here, there were militia in the streets," he said.
"There’s still massive amount to do, but providing we keep building on the security and the economics, and then we add to that a credible political negotiation, what Nablus shows is that change is possible."
Suleiman Daifi, a member of the hotel’s board, says the $3.1m that a group of local figures ploughed into the facility was a "very dangerous investment".
The complex opened in April and is not yet covering its costs. But the management say the removal of the checkpoints and Israeli-Arab visitors have boosted business 20-30%.
Israel’s new, right-leaning prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made much of the phrase "economic peace".
In opposition, he used it to refer to plans to boost economic activity in the West Bank as he did not consider the Palestinians, split between the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority and Hamas, ready for serious negotiations to end the decades-old conflict.
"Netanyahu wants to concentrate on the economic situation – as if all Arabs become rich they will forget the political issue… that’s wrong"
Essam al-Qudu
Businessman
Since coming to office, and under pressure from US President Barack Obama to kick-start peace talks, he has advocated political negotiations alongside economic measures.
But while he reluctantly backed the principle of a demilitarised Palestinian state, he has issued the new demand that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state, and refuses to freeze all settlement activity.
Mr Daifi said he believes the peace process is "stuck".
"I think economic peace is a joke," he said. "The economy will not be sustainable if there is not a sustainable political situation."
Mr Blair said he believes American efforts will lead to the relaunch of a "credible" peace process "in the next few weeks, next few months".
‘Root of the problem’
On Wednesday, the IMF issued an unusually upbeat economic forecast for the West Bank, predicting 7% growth – but only if Israel continues to ease restrictions.
But Essam al-Qudu, who has to travel all over the West Bank as manager of a company which installs security systems, said there is no guarantee the checkpoints will even stay open.
He says there is already a "different atmosphere" in Nablus.
But he remembers the short-lived wave of optimism and freedom of movement in the wake of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, which gave way to heavy closures as the second Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000.
"Netanyahu wants to concentrate on the economic situation – as if all Arabs become rich they will forget the political issue… that’s wrong."
"The main root of the problem is the political situation – an independent state for us," he said.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Elizabeth O’Neill: Huffpost Review: Evanston: A Rare Comedy
July 16th, 2009 |
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If you think all suburban communities are filled only with the inane, the dull and the quietly desperate, prepare to be rocked by Michael Yates Crowley’s new play.
Ramon Resa, MD: Prison Prevention for Kids – A Little Money Well Spent
July 16th, 2009 |
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Our Rotary club had an interesting and thought-provoking speaker today, given California ‘s current budget crunch. It makes you wonder whether we could be spending…
The Carbon Neutral Town
July 15th, 2009 |
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One community that is trying to become the first zero carbon village in England is Ashton Hayes, Cheshire.
Pakistan’s displaced begin to return
July 13th, 2009 |
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The Pakistani military is preparing to reopen roads into the conflict-hit Swat valley and neighbouring regions.
The move is intended to encourage people displaced by earlier fighting against the Taliban to return home.
About two million have already returned to the area, but damage to the region’s infrastructure means returnees will rely on aid for months to come.
The UN has stressed that the return, which will begin with people living in temporary camps, must be voluntary.
See a map of the regionOnce people have been moved from the camps, the army will begin returning people who have been living in schools and other places since they fled the fighting between Taliban militants and government forces.
The return is being overseen by the substantial military presence established in the Swat, Malakand and Buner regions after Taliban militants were dislodged.
Damaged infrastructure
General Nadeem Ahmad, who is coordinating the operation, said every family leaving the camps would receive cash support from the government.
Fears abound in Swat’s main town
Gen Ahmad had a similar role following the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.
A computerised identity card system, which was developed then through the banks, is being used again to help registered users access state aid.
However, much of the infrastructure in the Swat region was severely damaged in the months of fighting.
Power and water supplies have been shattered and the reconstruction is expected to take many months.
A resident of the town of Sultanwas, in Buner province, told the Associated Press that if the government failed to provide for people’s needs, "no one will stand against militant extremism in the future".
"In this war we lost and gave everything, saw our village destroyed," said Muhamed Shereen.
"So now the people of Sultanwas look to the government and the whole country and world to come forward and help us."
The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan, who recently visited Swat’s main town, Mingora, said the town was largely intact, with markets and residential areas still standing.
But the security situation remains uncertain and supplies are critically low, he says.
Click here to return
</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mike Ragogna: HuffPost Review: Daughtry – Leave This Town
July 13th, 2009 |
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“I practiced this for hours, gone round and round, and now I think that I’ve got it all down…I’m not taking the easy way…
Bosnia buries Srebrenica victims
July 11th, 2009 |
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The remains of 534 newly-identified Bosniak Muslim victims of the Srebrenica massacre have been buried 14 years after the event.
Some 8,000 Bosniak Muslims, mainly men and boys, were killed by Bosnian Serbs near the town of Srebrenica in 1995 and buried in mass graves.
About 5,000 of the victims have been identified to date.
Thousands of mourners attended the ceremony, an annual reminder of the Bosniak Muslims’ suffering in the war.
At the Potocari memorial cemetery just outside Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, victims’ names were read out as coffins wrapped in green cloth were passed through the crowd.
"Although we were desperately searching for his remains for years, it was so hard to receive a telephone call telling us that my father had been identified," Nurveta Guster, 27, told AFP news agency.
"I saw him for the last time at our house in Srebrenica. He left with other men through the woods trying to escape."
Fugitive general
Srebrenica was attacked by Bosnian Serb forces on 11 July 1995, virtually ignoring Dutch UN troops who were stationed by the town, which had been designated a UN "safe haven".
The troops, operating under a restrictive UN mandate allowed Bosnian Serb forces into the town. Relatives of those killed have brought unsuccessful claims against the government of the Netherlands in an effort to claim compensation.
Speaking at the latest burial ceremony, Charles English, US Ambassador Bosnia-Hercegovina, said: "The world failed to act, failed to protect the innocent of Srebrenica."
Ranging in age from 14 to 72, most of latest victims to be buried were found in secondary mass graves where they had been moved from initial burial sites in a bid by Serb troops to cover up war crimes.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide.
The court is currently trying former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic on genocide charges. He was arrested in 2008, but denies his guilt.
Gen Ratko Mladic, who led the Bosnian Serb troops involved in the killings, remains in hiding. He is said to be in Serbia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic has said his country is doing all it can to track him down and send him to The Hague.
The Bosniak people, most of whom are Muslims, first settled in Bosnia in the Middle Ages</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Town of fear
July 11th, 2009 |
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Pakistan says the army has almost ended operations against the Taliban in the former tourist resort of Swat and nearby districts. Some two million people are being urged to return to their homes in the north-west. The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan reports from Swat’s main town, Mingora.
As we move deeper into the Swat valley, the ravages of war are all around us.
Destroyed buildings and broken roads mark the passage of fighting which was heaviest close to Mingora.
There is also a steady stream of people moving to and from the region.
"We came back to check out whether our house and belongings had survived the fighting," Abdullah, a Mingora resident, told us.
"Thanks to Allah, it has survived intact. Now I am going back to my family, who are in a camp in Mardan."
See a map of the regionAbdullah tells us the situation has improved greatly and the army is largely in control.
"Hopefully, we can come back soon."
He had just one complaint: "The army is still making it very hard for us to get around. We have to stop at every checkpoint and identify ourselves.
"This makes it impossible for most public transport to move about."
Because of such restrictions, most travellers we met, including Abdullah, were on foot.
Curfews can leave people stranded for hours – after nearly three hours of arguments and phone calls with local military and civil authorities, we were able to get a curfew pass.
But even so, it took us nearly four and a half hours to cover a distance which usually takes two. The main reason were security checkpoints lining the road to Mingora.
In addition, bands of soldiers on patrol would also stop anyone they deemed suspicious.
‘Like doomsday’
We pass the village of Qamber, strategically located on a hill outside Mingora guarding the road into town.
"This is where the Taliban made their stand against the army," says Mingora resident Yousuf Khan.
There are no buildings left in Qamber, just ruins, pieces of brick and scorched roads, a testament to the intensity of the fighting that went on here.
But the militants finally had to retreat and Mingora is now in complete control of the army.
Contrary to many reports, most of the town is largely intact.
Fighting has taken place in some quarters of the city, and a number of buildings and premises have been damaged.
But, by and large, the markets and residential areas are still standing.
"Most of the fighting in Mingora took place in the first three days," Yousaf Khan tell us.
"It began after the army moved to seize control of the emerald mines."
Mr Khan stayed behind during the entire conflict and says he still feels shaken when he thinks about those events.
"After all that has happened, this is our greatest fear – the Taliban can still return"
Mingora resident Yousuf Khan
"It was like doomsday. My children were very scared but there was nothing we could do."
Another Mingora resident, Wasif Ali, agrees.
"The gunships were right over the neighbourhood when they shelled the mountainside."
He adds that the exchange of fire went on for three days, after which the Taliban were pushed out of the mines.
"A lot of them were using the tunnels in the mines as cover to fire back at the army."
Mr Ali explains that the army then used aircraft and artillery to target the mountainside, which collapsed.
"Many of the militants were buried alive when that happened.
"But others managed to escape using passages they had dug connecting the mines to wells inside the nearby houses.
The passages were built to take take away the emeralds safely, but ended up providing an unlikely escape route for the Taliban.
"They escaped through the narrow lanes and into the fields," Wasif Ali explains.
Subsequently, the army was able to quickly oust the militants, who did not put up much of a fight.
‘We can hear firing’
Thanks to the curfew, Mingora resembles a ghost town.
Only army patrols moved through the streets.
The only real sign of life was the presence of dozens of locals outside a military-run relief goods distribution centre.
They were waiting to get a bag of wheat, as food supplies remain drastically low.
While some were highly critical of the government, others were hopeful that peace would now be restored.
But almost all were critical of the army, which they say has done little to help residents.
"Their attitude is like we are all supporting the Taliban."
We witness this ourselves when a man is arrested and driven away in a security convoy.
And when we are leaving town, we also encounter another detainee being dragged half naked to a building next to the relief goods office.
As we leave Mingora, we cannot help but wonder at the prime minister’s announcement that refugees can return from 13 July.
"The army may have seized the region, but it still does not control all of it," Yousuf Khan says.
"The Taliban, despite Maulana Fazlullah being seriously injured, are still very strong. At night, we can hear the exchange of fire between them and the army.
"After all that has happened, this is our greatest fear – the Taliban can still return."
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Libya’s struggles
July 9th, 2009 |
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Travelling to the Libyan town of Sirte to report on the African Union summit, Christian Fraser considers whether Libya is ready for an era of mass tourism.
It is midnight at Tripoli airport, across the road from the arrivals hall. Beyond high mesh fences and the white glare of towering floodlights, a Chinese workforce is labouring through the night on a new terminal.
The air is hot and heavy. The face of Muammar Gaddafi stares out from a nearby billboard, as if micromanaging his country’s construction boom.
En route to the African Union summit, I had just emerged from the old arrivals hall – dour, disorganised and full of government spooks. I was delayed for an inordinate amount of time while they checked, then rechecked, that rarest of Libyan commodities, a journalist’s visa.
The two faces of Libya, a perfect illustration of where the country has come from, and where it is going.
Once the international pariah, now a state in full-speed transition.
Embracing capitalism
In the past year, Muammar Gaddafi has travelled the world signing profitable oil and gas deals that will help transform Tripoli into the new Mediterranean destination – or so they hope – for an influx of adventurous tourists.
There is still some way to go, but the beachfront is awash with five-star developments the government is building with its millions of petrodollars. No more sanctions, no more socialism.
"Twenty-five thousand new flats," beamed Ahmed, my government minder, as we sped into town past another busy building site – $200,000 (£125,000) each," he marvelled.
I could tell he was an enthusiastic proponent of the new Libyan capitalism. And a loyal subject – a Gaddafi key-ring was hanging from his trouser pocket.
Tourist restrictions
There is much to see and enjoy in Libya.
Spectacular Greek and Roman remains, the open-air galleries of prehistoric rock art and glorious largely uninhabited sandy beaches.
Plus, of course, that frisson that is always associated with visiting a country previously off-limit to Westerners.
And therein lies the rub. As much as Libya may like the idea of tourists, and the hard currency they bring, it has yet to embrace the reality.
Tourists must still travel in organised groups with a government-approved guide.
There is no opportunity to wander unfettered around the well-preserved Roman city of Leptis Magna or the magnificent theatre at Sabratha.
Accommodation shortage
Pity the poor tourist who runs into the Libyan control freakery I experienced last week on the way to this African Union summit.
It was held in Sirte, an undistinguished coastal town just along the way from Tripoli.
The flight to Sirte is a short one. A journey across a long stretch of barren coastline.
Beneath us those remote beaches from which hundreds of illegal African migrants escape to Europe every year. These are the people currently flooding into Tripoli.
I could see why stopping their advance proves such an enormous challenge. Aside from sporadic roadblocks, there is very little between the vast expanse of Sahara and the shoreline from where they set sail in their makeshift rafts and boats.
The building frenzy of Tripoli is yet to reach the distant outpost of Sirte.
"Mr Gaddafi cruised around his manor in one of those ostentatiously large buses favoured by touring rock stars"
Tourists might find a hotel room, but such was the shortage of accommodation during the summit, that journalists and dignitaries would be sleeping on a clapped-out, Panamanian-registered, car ferry brought in specially for the event.
No five-star facilities, these.
We paid top dollar for a cabin cloaked in the faintest whiff of diesel. Mine was already occupied by a cockroach and each day he raced me for the shower attached to the sink.
When Mr Gaddafi travels abroad he takes a Bedouin tent with him. I should have followed suit.
Closely watched
So why would you drag hundreds of summit delegates, 12 African leaders, diplomats, politicians and journalists to a one-horse town in the middle of nowhere
Simple really. It is the ancestral home of Libya’s egocentric leader, who for 39 years has fostered this one-man personality cult.
Throughout the week, he cruised around his manor in one of those ostentatiously large buses favoured by touring rock stars.
For his opening speech, he wore the golden robes of a king. One invited dignitary was so overcome in his presence, she fell to her knees at his feet.
Not satisfied with this all-encompassing power in Libya, the Colonel is even pushing a bold ambition for a unified continent, a United States of Africa modelled on the European Union.
EU ideals Tell that not just to the journalists, but also the VIPs at this summit who were herded from one location to another, closely observed at all times – and whose contact with the outside world was sorely limited by the electronic equipment used by state security, whenever the Colonel was in town.
Is Mr Gaddafi and his "new Libya" really prepared for all that comes with mass tourism The evidence of this African Union summit suggests not yet.
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