[Emirates 24/7] Former South African President Nelson Mandela left hospital on Friday after treatment for an acute respiratory infection, officials said.
Mandela, 92, was admitted on Wednesday, prompting fears for the anti-apartheid icon who led South Africa as its first black president and is revered at home and abroad as a symbol of reconciliation and hope.
"Madiba is well," Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said, using Mandela's clan name.
"He is fine. He's OK. He is in good spirits. He was joking with us," said Motlanthe.
South Africa's surgeon general told the same news conference Mandela was stable and was discharged after treatment for an acute respiratory infection.
"There is no need to panic or to try to see more in what we are saying. For a 92-year-old, he surprises us on a daily basis on his power of recovery," Vejayanand Ramlakan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
To observe the inevitable mourning ritual, I'll bet Winnie's stocking up on the Michelin's and gasoline as we speak. I know she's the ex, but some things must be done properly...
[Ennahar] The Algerian Minister of Commerce Mustafa Benbada said Thursday his country is ready to promote competition, as requested by the IMF, while noting the bureaucratic obstacles.
The Competition Council, established in 2003 but frozen since, should enter into force soon," he said on the sidelines of a plenary session of the National People's Assembly (Chamber of Deputies).
"There are problems with the administrative machinery" for implementing legislation, but if it does not advance, it is the government that will unlock the file, added the minister quoted by the agency APS.
Frozen since its inception in 2003, this Council was revived in 2008 but is still not in place.
The Head of Mission of International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Algeria, Joel Toujas-Bernaté, said Wednesday that the lack of competition in food distribution may have contributed to soaring prices in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Clashes broke out in the Tunisian capital on Friday between riot police and hundreds of demonstrators, as a new cabinet aimed at putting an end to mass protests was sworn into office.
Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas as some groups threw stones in the main government quarter, where protesters have camped out in front of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's offices for five days.
The protest camp was shut down and at least five people were maimed, a medic said. AFP news hounds saw police beating and arresting several protesters.
The head of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, Moktar Trifi, said he had asked Ghannouchi "to stop the firing of tear gas and release those jugged.
Running street battles continued into the evening in central Tunis.
The streets of Tunis had earlier returned to their normal bustle for the first time since president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's ouster on January 14, but cafes quickly cleared and shopkeepers drew down their metal blinds.
The government announced a new cabinet line-up on Thursday that culled key figures associated with Ben Ali's ousted regime but protesters in Tunis had remained in place, calling for Ghannouchi himself to resign.
But Ghannouchi seems to have won breathing space from some powerful critics.
The influential UGTT trade union, which had refused to endorse the government until there has been a clean break from the Ben Ali era, said it was now supporting the prime minister -- who has been in charge since 1999.
The government shake-up had replaced the foreign, defense, finance and interior ministers -- all hangovers from Ben Ali's last government -- and introduced new figures such as a human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... lawyer as agriculture minister.
"This is a temporary government with a clear mission -- to allow a transition to democracy," Ghannouchi said in an address on state television.
Kamel Morjane, who announced his resignation shortly before the reshuffle was announced, was replaced as foreign minister by Ahmed Ounais, a Gay Paree-educated career diplomat and former ambassador to Moscow and New Delhi.
Ounais is expected to visit Brussels next Tuesday, EU officials said.
European Union chief diplomat Catherine Ashton told Ounais that she would send an expert team to Tunisia next week to help prepare, her front man said.
La Belle France, which has come under fire for backing Ben Ali and failing to support protests early on, said it wished the new government "success".
Tunisian newspapers were generally positive about the government changes, with a headline in Le Quotidien daily reading: "Deliverance, At Last".
But the more ambiguous headline in Le Temps said: "The Appeasement?", hinting at the degree of skepticism still remaining.
Protesters earlier told AFP that the changes were not enough.
"The whole government has to go, especially Ghannouchi," said Khaled Salhi, a 22-year-old student who called the reshuffle just "playing for time."
Mokhtar Boubakar, a university lecturer, said: "It's a step forward. We have chased away the most symbolic RCD ministers" -- a reference to Ben Ali's still-potent Constitutional Democratic Rally party.
Mouldi Jandoubli, a bigwig within the UGTT union, said the key thing was that the prime minister stick to his earlier pledge to quit after elections are held in around six months time.
"The economy has to get back on track," he said.
A taxi driver said the protesters should not be able to bring the country to a halt permanently. "I think the vast majority of Tunisians are happy now and just want things to return to normal," he said.
The government has lifted strict controls on the media, released political prisoners and legalized previously banned political parties -- unprecedented freedoms for a country ruled by Ben Ali with an iron fist for 23 years.
It has also frozen Ben Ali's assets and issued international arrest warrants for the ex-ruler and six members of his once all-powerful extended family.
Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the popular Ennahdha [Awakening] Islamist movement, meanwhile prepared to return to Tunisia on Sunday after more than 20 years of forced exile, a front man for the movement in Gay Paree told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2011 00:00 ||
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The world faces a chocolate 'drought' over the next few years, an expert warned yesterday.
Political unrest in the Ivory Coast, where 40 per cent of the world's cocoa beans are grown, has 'significantly' depleted the number of certified fair trade cocoa farmers. Many have fled the West African country, while fair trade training programmes have also come to a halt.
Fairtrade training programmes have ground to a halt because of the danger farmers face in rural areas.
The situation is already affecting chocolate manufacturers, who are facing the highest cocoa prices for over 30 years. Prices jumped by 10 per cent this month alone. Analysts are predicting they could soon hit $3,720 per metric tonne - a level last seen in January 1979.
It follows a curb on international cocoa exports initiated earlier this week by the country's new president, Alassane Ouattara. So don't go Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and expect to spend a bit more for the Valentine Chocolates. Save up!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
SIGN OF THE APOCALYSPE NO. ******, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US IS CONSIDERING RUSSIAN PROPOSAL FOR JOINT PRODUCTION OF AN-124 CONDOR: RUSSIAN DEPUTY PM.
#2
seems i remember something else that was significant happening in 1979...
Posted by: abu do you love ||
01/29/2011 1:19 Comments ||
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#3
I remember previous problems like this too abu. I can remember years ago an investment book said buy for this reason chocolate.
A chocolate price increase has two big problems, the first is substitutes. If the prices goes up, people buy other products and the second is that the chocolate market is a an oligopsony. There are many sellers but only a few big buyers.
#4
I think the real problem is "trade" vs. "fair trade".
The "fair trade" movement demands the payment of higher wages to workers as well as requiring producers to meet "social" and environmental standards. In other words, a boycott of producers who don't want to conform to leftist liberalism standards of production.
Which, when markets get tighter, is most of them. They want to make a living, not advance someone else's social and political agenda. So they will still sell cocoa, just not to western traders required to do things the western liberal way.
#5
Does "fair trade" mean that there aren't slaves involved in the cultivation & harvest process? Or does it mean that the plantation owners have kicked up to the right NGOs?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/29/2011 7:27 Comments ||
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#6
Fair trade plantations have 'inspections' by the fair trade groups, but all the plantations have to do is kick into the fair trade group's local charities and they get a clean bill of health. Just another PC shakedown by the Left, sort of like Jesse Jackson's 'minority participation levels' at Fortune 500 companies - kick into his Rainbow Coalition and suddenly you are golden.
#9
"Does "fair trade" mean that there aren't slaves involved in the cultivation & harvest process? Or does it mean that the plantation owners have kicked up to the right NGOs?"
I'll take Door #2, Mitch. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/29/2011 11:50 Comments ||
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#10
Some investor purchased tons of cocoa not long ago. He had done it once before. Futures idea to drive up the price of cocoa. The first time it didn't work as I recall. Then you have this "significantly' depleted the number of certified fair trade cocoa farmers" and political unrest. This sounds like the new president has investor relations. Then you will have; "chocolate market is a an oligopsony. There are many sellers but only a few big buyers" then substitutes. Pepsi Co. already uses many sugar subtitutes. Throwback is natural sugar product.Oligopsony good word.
[Pak Daily Times] Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Albanian capital Tirana Friday for a silent protest closely monitored by police, a week after another demonstration turned deadly.
The opposition went ahead with the protest in defiance of international appeals and police warnings, insisting it would be a peaceful gathering to honour the three people killed last week.
The demonstrators headed by the leadership of the opposition socialists and the families of the victims started their march on the government buildings, passing by the spot where the people were shot, placing flowers at the scene in silence. Organisers said there were 200,000 protesters but AFP journalists put the number at several tens of thousands. Police would give no figure.
People poured into the downtown area near the government buildings, bringing traffic in central Tirana to a standstill.
In the square in front of the government a stage had been set up and opposition leader Edi Rama, the mayor of the capital, was expected to address the crowds. Pictures of the three fatalities of the last rally were placed on stage with the words 'justice' written on them in Albanian and English. Security was beefed up around Tirana with hundreds of anti-riot police deployed around government buildings alongside units of armed elite officers.
The protest was the main item on all Albanian TV channels which repeatedly broadcast an earlier statement by Rama pledging that the rally would be peaceful.
'I want to assure you that it will be peaceful and quiet, there will be flowers and candles,' Rama said late Thursday, urging everybody to resist possible provocation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Never did understand what Mussolini/Italy saw in this place.
#4
I know and agree with #2 and #3 - thx for input. To me Italy absorbing Albania seems as useful as the Dominican Republic invading its neighbor Haiti. What are the positives to be gained?
[Iran Press TV] Turkey is facing an impasse over joining the European Union as the members of the bloc have still blocked a major part of its accession chapters after reviewing a few ones.
Only 13 of 35 accession chapters have been opened, while 18 others are currently blocked by EU countries, a Press TV correspondent reported Thursday.
Turkey's top EU negotiator Egemen Bagis says that Brussels needs to show more good will.
Turkey, which straddles Asia and Europe, entered formal membership talks with the EU in 2005, but a row with Cyprus and reluctance among some EU states to admit Turkey has slowed progress to a near standstill. Cyprus has been the main official reason for the freeze. The whole island is a member of the EU. However, The infamous However... EU laws do not apply in the north of the island, which is governed by Turkey and is known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey.
The two sides of the island, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, have not yet achieved reunification.
Because Cyprus is an EU member, Brussels requires Turkey to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots. But Ankara says it will do that only when the EU, as promised, lifts the Turkish part of Cyprus from economic isolation by allowing it to trade directly with EU member states.
Ankara says the EU has not kept its word due to opposition from Greek Cypriots, who say this would amount to EU recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Analysts say the major unspoken reason is that Turkey is a strong, Mohammedan nation. Because of its size, Turkey would have significant decision-making power in the EU, something observers say makes many Europeans uneasy amid growing Islamophobia on the continent.
Turkey now has the fastest growing economy in Europe. Its population is younger than that of the European Union and it has long been known as a bridge between the East and the West.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2011 00:00 ||
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The American Federation of Government Employees today praised Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole for putting a stop to the privatization of this country's airport screening function, also known as the Screening Partnership Program (SPP).
"The nation is secure in the sense that the safety of our skies will not be left in the hands of the lowest-bidder contractor, as it was before 9/11" AFGE National President John Gage said. "We applaud Administrator Pistole for recognizing the value in a cohesive federalized screening system and workforce."
Airports have had the option of opting out of the federal screener system since TSA was created, but in those nine years only a handful out of 450 have chosen to do so. Today, Pistole issued a memo to the TSA workforce stating "to preserve TSA as an effective, federal counterterrorism security network, SPP will not be expanded beyond the current 16 airports, unless a clear and substantial advantage to do so emerges in the future."
AFGE is the nation's largest federal employee union and the only union to represent TSOs since the agency's inception. With more than 12,000 dues-paying members in 38 AFGE TSA Locals across the country, AFGE is the union of choice for TSOs across the country.
AFGE is the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia, including tens of thousands of DHS employees in Border Patrol, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FEMA, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Federal Protective Service, Office of Immigration Statistics and TSA.
#2
I thought I remembered that back in the early days of 2001-2002, when TSA was being formed -- didn't everyone promise they would never be unionized?
Must be those "faulty memories" Winston Smith was talking about.
Posted by: Bill ||
01/29/2011 12:32 Comments ||
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#3
Just another example of unions strangling and sucking the life blood out of our country.
#4
Unions have served their purpose, but now they are the weight that is dragging this country into poverty and stagnation. They need to be destroyed and their power broken.
#6
"The nation is secure in the sense that the safety of our skies will not be left in the hands of the lowest-bidder contractor, as it was before 9/11"
To imply that 9/11 was the result of private security is beyond dishonest. And personally, I would rather have a low bidder contractor who actually does the job instead of "who gives a crap?" unremovable union employees.
#7
"The nation is secure in the sense that the safety of our skies will not be left in the hands of the lowest-bidder contractor, as it was before 9/11"
In essence, doesn't the government get away with the lowest bid process for the [non-unionized] military. They raise and lower bonuses to argument base pay to attract just enough people to fill the ranks?
#8
My gut instinct tells me that we are at a tipping point in this country regarding socialism and unions. When it tips public opinion will shift against them hard and even the good will applied to cops, firemen and teachers won't protect them from harsh feelings because of their unions.
#10
Question
Since the TSA is setting itself up as THE inspection system,can we sue the shit out of them whenevr the next Bomber figures a clever way to sneak something illicit on board?
Betcha they'll say no, an thousands of lawyers will say YES, HELL YES.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/30/2011 0:02 Comments ||
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Authoritarian governments across the world are aggressively stockpiling food as a buffer against soaring food costs which they fear may stoke popular discontent.
Commodities traders have warned they are seeing the first signs of panic buying from states concerned about the political implications of rising prices for staple crops. However, the tactic risks simply further pushing up prices, analysts have warned, pushing a spiral of food inflation.
Governments in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa have recently made large food purchases on the open market in the wake of unrest in Tunisia which deposed president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Resentment at food shortages and high prices, as well as repression and corruption, drove the popular uprising which swept away his government.
Youths reportedly chanted "bring us sugar!" in the demonstrations which toppled his regime.
#2
Not really. There is inflation. The areas mentioned have both poor agriculture and distribution systems. Infrastructure is in short supply, but corruption isn't.
It's also not the first time. There is plenty of historical data, if you bother to look.
#5
They are going to just hand out the food to everyone, the very people who are attempting to topple the gov, just the poor and starving, just to the most loyal, or just to those who are officially government workers?
If they use that time to figure out and fix what is wrong, fine. If Government Pita as Policy happens because the population is just pissed and hate getting sawdust bread from corrupt gov, I'm going to just have to plant a crapload of wheat to meet that demand because the 6 star hotel building king from sod starts splashing around a wheat price 1.5 or whatever times US domestic price to guar-un-tee sale and delivery in a high demand market...except farming makes dust, which according to the EPA is no legal and requires a fine. So assuming these countries don't cull their population one way or another, or the perpetually pissed are placated, the US et al countries who still have people who know how to farm should be revving up yet the US government is attempting to make that offer and ability less accessable. Who else can produce grain big time - Poland? Ukraine? Russia? Canada? Who am I missing (and I don't mean to exclude people who do it well like Italy et al, but when I'm talking 1000 acre farm I'm talking about a very small farm)
So yes bully for them nice move, not my point it will fan the anger if they don't get it fixed however that may be the first go-round, a move to bide time. Wasn't it 2008 when the price of pasta went ape in Europe and people got a little pissed about it?
#6
They don't "hand out food". It gets sold in the shops, like nearly everything else. The major problems are that it's highly regulated and, again, there's lots of inefficiencies and corruption in the systems.
As far as "Government Pita as Policy"- it's standard in many countries. It's nothing new and is more of a 'social justice' thing than trying to calm the population. Mexico subsidizes maize, for example. And Japan cuts its farmers a lot of slack legally and monetarily, essentially subsidizing rice.
The UC Irvine students who interrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech last year are likely to face a grand jury in the weeks ahead, a lawyer representing some of the students said Friday.
Carol Sobel, a lawyer representing six Muslim Student Union supporters, said her clients were subpoenaed this month and have testified to the Orange County Grand Jury.
"It's pretty much a certainty," Sobel said, later stating, "In light of the fact that all the physical evidence was available publicly, including video of the students engaging in the protest, I don't see what the secret goal of a grand jury is, except to file a felony conspiracy charge."
#1
which takes it out of compliant symp Academic authorities hands and into the legal realm. Get your things in order, bitches. You're going back to your shithole homelands
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2011 14:01 Comments ||
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#2
They've been complaining that the Juices were picking on them since the original complaint.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
