Masked attackers have stabbed and wounded an outspoken Yemeni journalist known for his anti-government writings, his family said. The attackers stabbed Nabil Sabaie in his arms, then fired a few shots in the air to disperse passers-by who gathered during the attack on one of the main streets of the capital on Saturday, his father Muhsin Subaie said. "They pushed him to the ground, then pulled a knife, and stabbed him in his right and left arms and now he is in the hospital," Sabaie said.
Doesn't sound like they wanted to bump him off, though...
No further details were available on who is behind the attack and no one has claimed responsibility. Sabaie is known for strong criticism of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his policies. In a recent article, he condemned the president for grooming his son to succeed him and appointing family members in key government positions. Yemeni journalists have reported a concerted campaign of abuse and harassment by the government in recent weeks.
All these "presidents" want to have their sons follow them. Why don't they just call themselves "kings" and have done with it?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/13/2005 00:00 ||
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A BRITISH man is believed to have become the first person in the world to beat HIV.
Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed as HIV positive in August, 2002. However, tests 14 months later showed the virus had completely gone from his body, despite taking no medication to combat it.
His doctors are adamant there were no mix-ups with his tests and the sandwich maker will now offer his body for medical research to help doctors in their quest to find a cure for HIV, which causes AIDS.
"I remember after the repeat tests my doctor came into the room saying, 'You've cured yourself. This is unbelievable. You're fantastic'," he told the News of the World.
"It's so amazing to think that one day I was staring death in the face and now I am waving it goodbye."
Mr Stimpson was all the more surprised given that on hearing he had tested positive, he gave up safe sex with his HIV-positive boyfriend, 44-year-old Juan Gomez.
On hearing of the negative tests, he considered suing his hospital over what he thought must have been bungled earlier tests.
"There had been no error in labelling or testing of the samples," the hospital wrote to him.
"The fact that you have recovered from a positive antibody result to a negative result is exceptional and medically remarkable. I understand the (hospital authority) trust have written to you highlighting your importance to other HIV patients."
Mr Stimpson said: "I will do anything I can if it will help find a cure for HIV."
Australian Federation of Aids Organisations president Ian Rankin said insights gained from Mr Stimpson's case could help millions of HIV sufferers.
Mr Stimpson's case was extremely rare, the only confirmed case when over 40 million people worldwide were infected with HIV, he said.
"We need to be careful that rare events like this don't affect everyone's understanding of how seriously HIV infection affects people," he said.
Mr Stimpson, from the Scottish coast west of Glasgow, went for tests in May 2002 after feeling weak and feverish. They came back negative. However, tests in August that year found an exceptionally low level of HIV antibodies.
Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, who carried out the initial tests, said Mr Stimpson has so far declined to undergo further tests with them.
A spokeswoman confirmed Mr Stimpson had had a positive and a negative test for the virus, but stopped short of saying he had been cured.
#1
The usual natural process. While billions are flowing to unending and non-productive university studies and subsidies for drug companies, the medical community should have been spending its time to identify people who beat it or resist it. With the human gnome now known, the community should be able to isolate the factor that grants the immunity. Natural selection at work. Use it. Quit wasting time and money to support dead end welfare for the intellectually gifted.
#3
Mr Stimpson was all the more surprised given that on hearing he had tested positive, he gave up safe sex with his HIV-positive boyfriend, 44-year-old Juan Gomez.
Bright lads they are. Was that 'T' in Stimpson a misprint?
#4
Besoeker, what don't you understand? He was tested positive, and stopped using a rubber with a guy who also tested positive. Two people who are already infected may as well not worry about infecting each other.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/13/2005 21:09 Comments ||
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The European Commission has been accused of trying to have troublesome staff declared mentally ill in order to provide an excuse for giving them the sack.
Bwa. Ha. Ha.
Critics claim that the commission has resorted to tactics "worthy of the KGB" by pronouncing staff unfit for work after grillings from psychiatrists.
*Snicker*
The practice is alleged to have developed unofficially because the commission's generous employment terms make it all but impossible to dismiss staff. In the past, employees who have had run-ins with the commission, or simply underperformed, have generally had to be persuaded to leave by offers of expensive early retirement packages.
Heh. Can't fire an employee, so they have to declare them insane and ruin their lives. Good work, EU.
Among those who claims to have been a victim of the new tactic is Jose Sequeira, 58, a Portuguese official who is now taking the commission to court over what he says was a deliberate attempt to sack him using psychiatric tests.Mr Sequeira, who worked in the commission's ministry for development, says he was astonished to read personnel reports which said his behaviour "sowed doubt regarding the state of his mental health". He was put on permanent sick leave after tests found he suffered "verbal hyper-productivity" and a "lack of conceptual content" in his speech. "They offered me early retirement in February 2004 and I refused," he said. "The medical service then began to call me straight away asking me to come in for consultations, which I thought was strange. A month later I received notice that I had been placed on compulsory medical leave for psychiatric reasons but told that the commission would drop the issue if I agreed to early retirement. I protested, and a few days later the doctor came to my desk with security guards to physically remove me from my building. There is a system of psychiatric trials in place in the commission and I am a victim. I am not the only one, but the first to decide to fight the system." Mr Sequeira, a career diplomat first employed by the commission in 1987, claims that his relationship with his superiors soured when they became wrongly convinced that he was planning to blow the whistle on an internal fraud scandal. He says that he had no knowledge of any fraud, but that he then fell victim to a campaign to discredit him. A document sent to his private e-mail from the commission's personnel department claimed that his "perturbing" behaviour dated to 1999. In 2001, according to the same document, an internal report on his mental health revealed signs of "megalomania and paranoia". Another document said that he "suffers from an astonishing lack of daily awareness in the world of work". It concluded: "All this signals a pathological state."
To prove that he was of sound mind Mr Sequeira underwent psychiatric tests at four different hospitals, seen by the Sunday Telegraph, all of which found nothing wrong with him. Their findings were declared inadmissible by the commission as it would accept testimony from only its own accredited medical list.
Mr Sequeira's case has been taken up by a Dutch Euro MP, Paul van Buitenen, who tabled a question at the European Parliament about his treatment. "Following his refusal to accept early retirement the official was forced under duress to consult a psychiatrist, even though he had just received the results of his biannual medical examination, which made no mention of any anomaly or pathological condition," he wrote.
Mr van Buitenen added: "The commission is violating the most fundamental rights of an official in its unstatutory [sic] abuse of the remit of the institution's medical services."
In a written reply Siim Kallas, the Finnish commissioner responsible for internal administration, said: "As a rule no communications are made relating to individual staff issues." He added that it was inappropriate to comment further while the court case was pending.
"NÞ cÞmment, ja?"
Mr Sequeira is not the only former employee to accuse the commission of using specious medical grounds to prise him from office. Ataide Portugal, a colleague of Mr Sequeira, left the commission two years ago after a long dispute. "They said that if I wanted they would declare me unfit to work as a way of solving my problems," he said. In the end he declared himself unfit to work.
A third employee, still at the commission, has also begun court proceedings after being summoned for psychiatric testing.
The method of getting rid of targeted employees through psychiatric reports was described by a lawyer in Mr Sequeira's defence team as "worthy of the KGB".
Also worthy of much mockery at the 'Burg.
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/13/2005 00:00 ||
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Lol, lotp - so true. I've come to believe the EU will likely crumble and fracture under its own bureaucratic weight - much like the Kyoto BS. I figure there have to be scores of Ministers of Finance or similar breathing a heavy sigh of relief that Kyoto has finally nosedived into oblivion. Likewise, the current EU monster will, I hope anyway, reach the status of parody. Then they might be able to crank up something that could actually work and benefit them. A capitalist and economically solid Europe would able to pay its own way and be a partner, unlike the anemic socialist paperweight we see today.
#3
An interesting point from the story that is sorta lost as we read this man's situation is this bit:
"they became wrongly convinced that he was planning to blow the whistle on an internal fraud scandal"
I wonder if he would like to illuminate that point just a bit, lol. It implies, and no one here would be surprised, that there many financial scandals that never surface - and the poor EUniks pay for the scam and for the cover-up, normally.
#4
In fact ten times in a row the European Accounting Comission or whetever its name has refused to certify the EU balance because some 90% of EU spendings cannot be traced.
#5
Come on Italy! - pull out of the Euro, then we can watch this whole house of cards start tumbling down...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/13/2005 5:04 Comments ||
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#6
Oh. My. Gawd.
These people have no shame, do they? Remember the journalist whose records were seized illegally - by Belgian legal authorities? Someone help me remember the name ... he was investigating financial fraud at the Commission IIRC.
Posted by: too true ||
11/13/2005 6:17 Comments ||
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#7
"sowed doubt regarding the state of his mental health".:crazy as a 3 peckered billy goat.
"verbal hyper-productivity" and a "lack of conceptual content":diarria of the mouth.
"megalomania and paranoia".:afraid of his own shadow.
#8
One minor note, on the use of the word "tabled". In the EU, this means "introduced"; however, in the US, "tabled" means to essentially kill a measure.
By the typical committee rules of order, "a motion to table is always in order." This provides a quick way of killing a divisive measure that was introduced to be divisive, usually with intent to disrupt and seize the agenda. It is also used when there is a stalemate, or if debate of an issue becomes unexpectedly heated.
Germany's chancellor designate Angela Merkel yesterday promised to restore Germany's place among Europe's leading countries, amid growing public outrage over her plans to increase taxes. Merkel, speaking a day after her Christian Democrats reached a historic coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats, said she intended to reverse Germany's 'downward trend'.
'Our aim is to stop this and reverse it,' she said. 'We want Germany within 10 years to be among the top three countries in Europe.' Merkel - who will replace Gerhard Schroeder as chancellor on 22 November - also promised to bring Germany back into line with the EU's strict growth and stability pact by 2007. But the austerity measures unveiled by Merkel yesterday, after weeks of tough coalition negotiations, met with almost universal disapproval.
Business leaders, pensioners' groups and unions queued up to denounce plans to increase VAT from 16 to 19 per cent - in an effort to reduce the country's â¬35 billion budget deficit. Merkel also announced a raft of other unpopular measures yesterday - drastic cuts to tax subsidies for commuters and homeowners, a rise in the retirement age from 65 to 67 and an increase in pension contributions. Under pressure from the Social Democrats, the new coalition is also imposing a new tax on the rich - the top rate rising from 42 to 45 per cent.
Yep, raising taxes always stimulates the economy. Ask any liberal Democrat, they'll tell you.
'The negotiations over a grand coalition over the past weeks have ended as was feared: with a programme of disastrous contradictions. It will not solve our country's problems: neither the mass unemployment nor the over-regulation of economy and business,' Die Welt newspaper said yesterday. Bild, Germany's best-selling tabloid, was damning. 'The two big parties, after decades of inactivity, have led the country to the verge of bankruptcy. They are now helping themselves from those who can't defend themselves - our citizens,' it raged. Ordinary Germans also expressed dismay. 'I don't think this coalition is going to create jobs. That's what Germany needs,' Karen Sievert, 44, said yesterday.
'Putting up VAT is bad for the economy. It will kill consumption,' Toralf Thieme, 42, a businessman, added. But Merkel defended her strategy - set out in a 143-page coalition contract entitled Together for Germany. 'It would be a lot simpler if we could dodge reality. But we can't,' she said, flanked by the Social Democrats' outgoing party chairman Franz Muentefering. The challenge was to maintain Germany's costly 'social market' model at a time of globalisation, she said. All three parties in the 'grand coalition' - Merkel's Christian Democrats, her Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union and the SPD - will vote on the deal this week. Once approved, Merkel will then become Germany's first ever woman chancellor.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/13/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I remember an article some months back that Germany had decided (Greebs) to outlaw nuke power plants and buy their energy from France which has nuke power plants (And aparently no such stupidity about generating power by atom-splitting)
It seems to me that the first thing Germany should do is build power plants (Yes Nuke) and partly copy the French, sell power.
This would start a considerable industry, (actualy several industries,) and result in a general German prosperity.
For that very reason, look for the idea to fail miserably.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/13/2005 10:34 Comments ||
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#2
I just gotta use spell check more often, that should read GREENS.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/13/2005 10:36 Comments ||
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#3
Read her lips. Angela Herbert Walker Merkel.
She's just guaranteed the SDP and commies will win the next election.
#4
I shouldn't chime in here, because I don't understand German politics, but from what little I do know, I think they will cut her some slack. They know that she's doing the best she can given her circumstances. She's certainly better than Schroeder. If I was a German I'd just be glad for whatever improvements she does make.
I don't know, maybe it is the worst of all worlds. I'll let the Germans work it out.
Japan's space agency suffered another glitch in its mission to collect surface samples from an asteroid and return to Earth when a can-sized robot lander apparently became lost in space while attempting a practice touch down.
The rehearsal landing followed an earlier attempt that was aborted due to mechanical trouble, but the space agency said it is still targeting actual landings on the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25.
The Hayabusa probe successfully released the Minerva surface-exploring robot on Saturday, but Minerva appeared to start drifting away from the asteroid's surface, according to a release from JAXA, Japan's space agency. Minerva was expected to land and hop around on the asteroid's surface collecting data with three small color cameras.
'Unfortunately, it appears Minerva did not recognize the surface,' JAXA said.
Minerva was still in radio contact with Hayabusa late Saturday, and mission controllers were trying to find out more about its condition and location, JAXA said. Officials, however, expected the transmissions to give out soon, Kyodo News agency reported.
'It is very disappointing that it did not work out nicely,' JAXA official Junichiro Kawaguchi was quoted as saying by Kyodo. 'We found out various things about the asteroid, so we will study the data and hope it will lead to the successful landing of Hayabusa.'
Another procedure Saturday to collect surface data with laser altimeter was largely successful, the agency said. ...more...
TUNIS â A French journalist investigating human rights abuses in Tunisia was gassed, beaten and stabbed on the eve of a United Nations information technology summit, his editors said yesterday.
Christophe Boltanski, 43, a reporter for the left-leaning daily Liberation, was attacked in âsuspicious circumstancesâ on Friday night near his hotel in the embassy district of the capital Tunis, the newspaper said. The journalist, his face marked by grazes and bruises, described being assaulted by four hard boyz men with cropped hair and wearing sports clothing who blinded him with a canister of tear gas before throwing him to the ground, punching and kicking him.
He also suffered a knife wound three centimeters long and one centimeter deep to his heinie lower back, before one of the men shouted in French âThatâs enoughâ and the men fled.
They stole a bag containing a small amount of cash, notebooks, a USB computer memory key, telephone and a return air ticket to Paris. The journalist said he shouted for help, but several police guarding the nearby Czech Republic embassy did not intervene.
"What's that guy yelling?"
"Beats me, I don't speak French."
"How do you know it's French?"
"Because I can't understand him!"
On Friday, Liberation published a report by Boltanski about clashes between police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers campaigning for the release of 400 âpolitical prisonersâ jailed as common criminals.
âIt was surprising because itâs a quiet street. There is a synagogue and numerous embassies guarded by police not far from the hotel,â the reporter told AFP, without suggesting a hypothesis for the attack.
A Tunisian official told AFP an inquiry was activated immediately after the assault and two of the usual suspects were arrested. âThe Tunisian authorities give an assurance they wonât spare any effort to arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators of this criminal assault,â the official said.
Then he laughed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/13/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
A French journalist investigating human rights abuses in Tunisia was gassed, beaten and stabbed...
HAFIZABAD: A Qadiani was sentenced to life imprisonment on Saturday for burning the Holy Quran. Hafizabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Qaisar Nazeer Butt announced the judgment of the case, in which two other Qadianis were acquitted. The case was registered a few months ago against Hafizur Rahman, a local Qadiani leader, Shahadat Mangat and Masoom for desecrating the Holy Quran in Mangat Uchha. Masoom was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, while the other two were acquitted. Tight security measures were in place for the announcement of the judgment.
Gotta watch out for that Holy Koran. There's all sort of malefactors just waiting to try and desecrate it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/13/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
It is an irony that the groups in British India most supportive of the two nation theory (that muslims could not live in a country where they would be in a minority) - the Bengalis, the Ismailis (followers of the Aga Khan) and the Ahmadiyas (Qadianis) have been on the recieving end of the worst form of persecution in the nation they helped create.
Posted by: john ||
11/13/2005 6:47 Comments ||
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#2
Fascinating look into the Pak mind courtesy Pak journalist Ayaz Amir
Posted by: john ||
11/13/2005 10:16 Comments ||
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#4
He continues... unintentionally showing the roots of modern islamism...
With the coming of the British, however, another transformation was also underway. Muslims lost their pre-eminent status, a process beginning with the disintegration of the Mughal Empire but carried much further as the British consolidated their hold on India. Knocked off their pedestal, Muslims were now amongst the subjugated. But another discovery awaited them too. Outnumbered by the Hindu population, even amongst the subjugated they were not of the first rank. Their overall position in India was thus relegated to number three, after the British and the Hindus, this being a measure of the shift in the historical calculus.
From mid-19th Century onwards, beginning with the first stirrings of a modern Muslim consciousness as expressed by the Aligarh school, Muslims may have agitated for jobs and special safeguards, such as separate electorates, but informing and indeed fuelling their quest was a vision of the past when they were great and the whole of India, not just a part, was their happy hunting ground.
Posted by: john ||
11/13/2005 10:24 Comments ||
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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.
Masked attackers have stabbed and wounded an outspoken Yemeni journalist known for his anti-government writings, his family said. The attackers stabbed Nabil Sabaie in his arms, then fired a few shots in the air to disperse passers-by who gathered during the attack on one of the main streets of the capital on Saturday, his father Muhsin Subaie said. "They pushed him to the ground, then pulled a knife, and stabbed him in his right and left arms and now he is in the hospital," Sabaie said.
HAFIZABAD: A Qadiani was sentenced to life imprisonment on Saturday for burning the Holy Quran. Hafizabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Qaisar Nazeer Butt announced the judgment of the case, in which two other Qadianis were acquitted. The case was registered a few months ago against Hafizur Rahman, a local Qadiani leader, Shahadat Mangat and Masoom for desecrating the Holy Quran in Mangat Uchha. Masoom was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, while the other two were acquitted. Tight security measures were in place for the announcement of the judgment.
