3 Bangladeshis die in Libya evacuation

Mon Mar 7, 2011

At least three Bangladeshi nationals have died and 11 others have gone missing as they fled from a ship transporting them from Libya to Greece.

The Cypriot-flagged ship was carrying 1,280 evacuees, most of them from Bangladesh, to the island of Crete in Greece on Sunday, AFP reported.

"Forty-nine people left the ship" while it was preparing to dock in Souda Bay. "They used a rope to climb down," local coast guard chief Antonis Daskalakis said.

Two of the Bangladeshi nationals drowned at sea and the third died on the way to a hospital, the merchant marine ministry said in a statement.

Coast guard vessels and a rescue helicopter were dispatched to search for the missing, Greece's Ministry of Maritime Affairs said.

It is speculated that the passengers left the ship stealthily because they did not have official papers and feared they would be sent back to Bangladesh.

From the beginning of unrest, the United States, European countries and some Asian countries, including China sent warships and planes to Libya to evacuate thousands of nationals.

However, Bangladesh and African countries have not been able to save their people from the mounting unrest in Libya.

Libyan migration officials say about 2.5 million foreigners, including one million Egyptians, worked in Libya, mostly in the eastern city of Benghazi, before the revolution.

UN refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said on Saturday that most of migrant workers in Benghazi have been evacuated and her agency is gearing up efforts to get out 8,000 others, most of whom are from Bangladesh, India and Sudan.

The influx of people to Libya-Tunisia border has been increasing by thousands every day to reach over 100,000 refugees, creating a humanitarian crisis.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168600.html.

Discovery arrives at ISS

Sun Feb 27, 2011

The space shuttle Discovery, which is on its final voyage, has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) and will spend at least a week at the orbiting outpost.

Discovery is carrying a closet-style chamber full of supplies as well as the first humanoid robot to fly in space, reported USA Today.

The compartment will be attached permanently to the space station early next week.

Altogether, there are 12 people aboard the joined spacecraft, representing the United States, Russia and Italy.

In a historic first, four of the five major partners have vessels docked there right now, including cargo ships from Japan and Europe.

The entire conglomeration has a mass of 1.2 million pounds (540,000 kilograms), including the shuttle.

The station is so sprawling and packed with vehicles that it took longer than usual for Discovery to be tightly cinched down.

Discovery is the first in a fleet of three to be retired this year. Endeavor and then Atlantis will close out the 30-year shuttle program by midsummer.

Discovery is the oldest of the three and the most traveled, with 143 million miles (230 million kilometers) logged over 39 flights and 26 years.

The robot launched aboard Discovery - Robonaut 2 or R2 for short - will remain at the space station, all boxed up for at least another few months.

The robot is an experimental machine from the waist up that will be tested before attempting simple jobs inside the orbiting complex.

The idea is for R2 to eventually serve as an astronaut assistant.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167354.html.

New octopus fossil found in Lebanon

Sun Mar 6, 2011

A fossil octopus which has been found in Lebanon has dramatically changed the approach of zoologists towards the origin of these creatures.

Keuppia levanter is one of several newly-discovered fossil octopus species found in Lebanon that challenge previous assumptions about the origin and age of the Octopoda, reports The Guardian.

Along with Keuppia hyperbolaris and Styletoctopus annae, this species is now the earliest unequivocal fossil for the group, adds the British daily.

Truly remarkable anatomical details were observable due to the fine-grained Cenomanian limestone in which these species were entombed more than 95 million years ago.

Octopods were previously thought to have arisen in the mid-Cretaceous era. Thanks to characters observed in these newly discovered species, scientists now think octopods appeared significantly earlier, possibly even in Jurassic era.

Back in February 2011, The Guardian reported the discovery of a new species of sharks known as Chlamydoselachus Africana, which was the first frilled shark species discovered since 1884.

The Caught off the coast of Namibia, the newly-discovered shark appears to feed on smaller sharks and squid. Its snakelike head and long, distensible jaws with multiple needle-like, inwardly directed spines on its teeth are capable of snagging prey as large as half its own body length.

The only other species of frilled shark was discovered in 1884 off the coast of Japan.

Whether this new shark is geographically widespread like its sister species has yet to be determined.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168531.html.

Egypt names new cabinet in post-Mubarak purge - Summary

Sun, 06 Mar 2011

Cairo - Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf named the bulk of his cabinet choices Sunday, replacing the holders of the key portfolios of foreign affairs, justice, and the interior.

Sharaf named former attorney general Mohamed Abdelaziz el-Guindy as minister of justice to replace Mamdouh Marie, who has been widely accused of corruption.

Nabil el-Araby, a former judge at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, was named as minister of foreign affairs.

El-Araby would replace Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, who has held the post since 2004.

General Mansour el-Essawi was selected as interior minister to replace Mohmoud Wagdi, who was appointed by former president Hosny Mubarak in the wake of the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters by security forces on January 28.

El-Essawi is a former head of security for Giza, which is in greater Cairo, and is an ex-governor of Minya in Upper Egypt.

The list of candidates remains subject to the approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has been in charge of the country since Mubarak's ouster on February 11.

Sharaf was appointed last week by the country's Supreme Council to create a new government after widespread protests demanding the cabinet be purged of Mubarak's allies and associates.

Sharaf's recommendations come as protests against the State Security Investigations Services (SSIS) continued.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Lazoughly SSIS office in central Cairo, demanding to be let in to ensure that evidence of wrongdoing by Mubarak's administration was not being destroyed by security officers.

A similar protest took place in Banha, just north of Cairo.

Protesters forced their way into SSIS offices in Cairo and Alexandria on Saturday and took hundreds of files into their possession.

Egypt's armed forces asked protesters to hand over the files, warning that they should not be spread around because this would threaten national security.

But documents were already being uploaded by protesters onto the internet and disseminated via Twitter and other social media sites.

Protesters said they found documents burnt, cut and shredded inside the offices, fueling suspicions that officers from the service were trying to destroy evidence which would incriminate members of the old regime.

Activists have been calling on Egypt's transitional military government to suspend the SSIS, which has been blamed for violence against protesters that left more than 350 dead during crackdowns on recent anti-government protests.

However, the Interior Ministry is studying a plan to restructure the security body, state media reported.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/370498,post-mubarak-purge-summary.html.

French foreign minister expresses support for Egyptian democracy

Sun, 06 Mar 2011

Cairo - Alain Juppe, France's newly appointed foreign minister, expressed his country's support for Egyptians in their quest for democracy as he visited the Egyptian capital Sunday.

"The Egyptian revolution was truly moving," Juppe said at a press conference in Cairo during his first international trip as foreign minister.

"France is keen for the establishment of democracy and human rights in Egypt," he said.

Juppe said France was willing to support the Egyptian economy in several fields, including tourism.

He added that the French Development Agency was prepared to increase its support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the country.

During his two-day visit, which began on Saturday, Juppe met with the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who has been in charge of the country since president Hosny Mubarak was ousted last month.

Juppe delivered a letter from French president Nicolas Sarkozy to Tantawi.

He also met with a delegation of opposition activists, including representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Juppe said the Brotherhood representatives claimed to follow a liberal Islam and were keen on upholding democratic principles in the country, adding that dialogue with the group should continue within Egyptian society.

The question of whether France could forgive the debts owed to it by Egypt needed to be studied closely, in order to assess the impact of debt forgiveness on Egypt's credit trustworthiness, Juppe said.

"It is not a positive thing for a country to not repay its debts," he said.

Juppe also met the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, with whom he discussed the ongoing crisis in neighboring Libya.

"Moamer Gaddafi and his regime have lost all credibility and they must leave," he said.

"We must study the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone," he said, adding that this could only happen with authorization from the United Nations and with the participation of the Arab League and the African Union.

France has been calling for a no-fly zone over Libya, where violence between forces loyal to Gaddafi and anti-government protesters has killed at least hundreds of people over the past three weeks.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/370507,expresses-support-egyptian-democracy.html.

Lebanese protest anew to end religious-based political system

Sun, 06 Mar 2011

Beirut - About 9,000 people took to the streets of Beirut Sunday in the second march in less than a week to call for an end to a system that divvies up political power based on religious denomination.

"We want an end to the confessional political system in the country once and for all," read one banner.

"Revolt to topple the agents of confessionalism," read another banner at the rally.

The demonstrations were mobilized via a page on the networking website Facebook titled "Lebanese People Want to Topple Confessional Regime."

Last Sunday, a smaller protest took place near the country's courthouse to call for an end to the interplay between religion and politics in their country's political system.

The protesters were adopting similar slogans to those used by anti-government protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, who recently toppled long-time leaders Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosny Mubarak.

Lebanon is home to 18 religious sects. Under a 1943 power-sharing constitution, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim.

Other government posts are also allocated according to religion.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/370512,anew-religious-based-political-system.html.

Shiite cleric released in Saudi after series of protest - Summary

Sun, 06 Mar 2011

Riyadh - Saudi authorities have released Shiite cleric Tawfiq al-Amer, a source from the kingdom's minority said Sunday, after a series of protests demanding his release along with that of other prisoners.

Authorities of the eastern province in Saudi Arabia released al- Amer, who was arrested after his calls for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights for minority Shiites, the source added.

Authorities were recently criticized by rights groups, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, for the arrest al-Amer.

The Interior Ministry issued a ban on all demonstrations Saturday after a series of protests by Shiites over the past week demanding the release of prisoners.

Some 40 women were arrested after they held a protest Saturday in front of a government building in Dammam city, demanding the release of Shiite prisoners jailed since 1996 in connection with the Khobar bombing that killed 19 US soldiers, eyewitnesses said.

The women were also beaten before they were detained, they added.

The Interior Ministry issue a ban on Saturday on all kinds of demonstrations, saying they go against Islamic law and traditions of the oil-rich kingdom.

The ministry said security forces would take all necessary action against those who violate the regulations.

The ban comes ahead of a Facebook group call for "Day of Rage" protests on March 11 calling for political reforms, the release of political prisoners, more employment opportunities, and greater freedoms.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/370492,series-protest-summary.html.