Friday, April 15, 2011

Vittorio Arrigoni, Human

It was not just a volunteer, Vittorio Arrigoni. He was an activist. He was a pacifist. He was an expert on the Palestinian question. He was a writer and a journalist. But above all, was a clear voice, a witness to a complex reality, one in Gaza, who lived inside. Of course, no Italian newspaper had prepared a "crocodile" celebration of Vittorio Arrigoni.

Not because it was known that he lived in a risky situation, but because the entries are entries like its uncomfortable. Why Arrigoni, who wrote the Human belRestiamo and told of Gaza on Guerrilla Radio, a blog, it was a difficult character to deal with, from Italy. Not content to be told from home the reality that he lived.

Netanyahu had assured the United States in 2008 of its desire for peace

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assured the United States in 2008, before his election, his ability to achieve peace with the Palestinians, according to a document found by Wikileaks, published Friday by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. "I shall succeed to mobilize two thirds of the right in any agreement" in peace, had told U.S.

Ambassador James B. Cunningham the leader of Likud, three months before the elections he must win, according to diplomatic telegram from the embassy in Tel Aviv, dated November 24. "If Obama wants to work with me, we will be able to advance in a real" peace process, Netanyahu had said, stressing that "it was able to compromise and achieve results." At the same time, he promised that if he carried the election "he would form a government of national unity, which does not happen in practice.

The government: "Italy will not participate in raids" rain of missiles on Saddam's Size: 8 dead

Italy does not participate directly in NATO raid. The Council of Ministers today confirmed the line kept far from our country. "We have enough," said Silvio Berlusconi's second government sources. The government's decision earlier in the same direction yesterday by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who yesterday, at the end of the Atlantic Alliance in Berlin, spoke of "reluctance" to take part in the bombing (read the record of 14 April ).

Moody's notes the degrade of Ireland

The rating agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded, Friday, April 15, two notches note of Ireland's "Baa1" to "Baa3", pushing the island at the lowest possible level for reliable borrowers, because of degradation of the country's economic prospects. The future trend of this note is "negative", which means that Moody's does not degrade further over the medium term.

"The main reason for the downgrade today is the further weakening of the financial soundness of the Irish government, because of sluggish economic activity and the implementation of new commitments to banks," explains agency. The deteriorating economic outlook of the former "Celtic Tiger" due process of fiscal consolidation, further contraction of credit in the private sector and a less favorable environment for interest rates, says Moody's .

Who was Arrigoni, the "Vik" and "Utopia" in Gaza

Vittorio Arrigoni on the cover of Courrier International, the French equivalent of our 'International' (photo taken from Facebook) In three years he had become a "national" of Gaza, respected by the people who attended a human shield by the farmers on the border with Israel or fishermen who ventured beyond three miles from the coast, where he takes the Israeli blockade.

And it is in Gaza that he met his death Vittorio Arrigoni, "Vik" to his friends, the 36-year old activist Lombard International Solidarity Movement. His group had already had one dead, the American peace activist Rachel Corrie, crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in March 2003 while trying to prevent the demolition of Palestinian houses in Rafah.

A year later, BP he cleaned the spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

They were likely to express their anger, Thursday, April 14, outside the headquarters of BP in London. Shareholders, artists, activists and even fishermen who had traveled from the United States disrupted the holding of the annual meeting of shareholders of British Petroleum, the first since the disaster last year.

Human remains, Victor

Vittorio Arrigoni was dead because we are not quite human remained. Or perhaps, the stories and the clouds over Palestine, we are not ever been. I heard the voice of Victor for the last time a few days ago, for an evening that we had organized in Milan on the next departure dellaFreedom Flottille. An evening of silent and dark.

Speaking in Milan of Palestine is like uncovering an island that no one wants to put on the map. His phone call that night was a bridge built in a moment that has led us to a heart so equal in so many different territories. His voice was firm, surgical and sharp man who can not avoid being aware of it.

Niger Delta: the intractable conflict?

Goodluck Jonathan would in all likelihood, win the presidential election of April 16, in Nigeria, which would be a first for a man from the Niger Delta since independence in 1960. However, this oil-rich region, regularly beset by tension, is far from pacified. Does it succeed, if elected, to curb violence residual MEND activists and preserve a fragile amnesty? Response elements.

Marked by a succession of coups and military dictatorships, including the latest, that of General Sani Abacha (1993-1998), left a grim reminder, the recent history of Nigeria's most populous country in Africa with about 158 million people, has written in the shadow of weapons. South, the Niger Delta area is rich in raw materials, especially oil, has not been spared by the violence.

Three killed in Uganda during a demonstration

.- At least three people were killed Sunday during clashes with police at a demonstration to protest rising food in the city of Gulu, 300 miles north of Kampala. Protesters clashed with police when it arrested Norbert Mao, a former candidate for president in the elections last February and regional government chairman.

Two people were shot by members of the security forces while the third victim died of a lynching, local media reported. The demonstration was part of the campaign 'Go to work', organized by the political opposition in Uganda against rising food and fuel prices, and similar actions made yesterday in various cities including the capital Kampala.

Gaza, kidnapped and killed Arrigoni Previous

A photo of Vittorio Arrigoni taken from his Facebook profile Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian activist for Human Rights International Solidarity Movement kidnapped yesterday in Gaza, was killed. His body was found in an abandoned house during a raid by Hamas forces. It is not the first time activists, volunteers and Italian journalists engaged in missions abroad are kidnapped, in some cases, the seizure had a happy ending, in some it has ended tragically.

Burkina Faso: President Compaore faces a mutiny

Burkinabe President, Blaise Compaore, announced on the evening of Friday, April 15, the dissolution of his government and appointed a new Chief of Defence Staff, following a mutiny within his own presidential guard. The movement began Thursday night and ended the day Friday after the soldiers had finally received the payment of housing allowance and food they wanted.

Because of this mutiny, President Compaore left Ouagadougou, the capital, on the night of Thursday to Friday for several hours to reach his native village, Ziniaré, about thirty miles away. The revolt of the soldiers had been preceded by a protest movement of young students following the death in late February, one of their number killed during a demonstration.

At least one dead and 17 wounded in bomb attack in Indonesia

.- At least one person died and 17 others injured when a bomb exploded today at a mosque inside a police station in western Indonesia, police said. "It was a suicide attack and the author died," said Anton Bahcrul Alam, a local police spokesman was quoted as saying. The bomb exploded at the end of Friday prayers in the city of Cirebon in East Java province, where two months ago a similar attempt was foiled in the same church, and among the wounded an unknown number of policemen.

Libya has 10 tons of mustard gas but can not use

.- The Spanish commander René Pita, professor of Chemical Defense at the Military Academy of Defense Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Hoyo de Manzanares (Madrid), said today that Libya stores still about ten tons of mustard gas, but lacks the means to use them. Pita was speaking to Reuters in Valencia (eastern Spain), before working on the course on nuclear risks, biological and chemical organized by the Catholic University of Valencia.

Vittorio Arrigoni, the first kidnapping in the Gaza Strip since 2007

Vittorio Arrigoni where she lived in Gaza since August 2008 seizure of Vittorio Arrigoni, which ended with his death (see news), is the first against a foreign national in the Gaza Strip since March 12, 2007. The last was kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston, BBC correspondent Palestinian Enclave, taken hostage by another group Salafi, the Army of Allah, close to Al Qaeda.

Johnston was released July 4, after 114 days of captivity and tortured negotiations directly tied to Hamas. Data since the conflict between the Islamic Resistance Movement, which controls the small territory since mid-June 2006, and the ultra-fundamentalist formations active in Gaza, promoting relentless application of Sharia law in its interpretation more rigid, and then accuse Hamas over secularism and moderation.

TEPCO begins to compensate families evacuated

8300 euros is the amount pledged the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to each household forced to leave their home or live caulked due to radioactive emissions. "We decided to pay quickly," said the CEO of TEPCO, Masataka Shimizu, during a press conference Friday. But it is only a preliminary estimate, said the company president said that he was unable to say how much the final Tokyo Electric Power should pay.

China's economy grows 9.7 percent

.- China's economy strengthened in the second place in the first quarter of 2011, with an annual rise of 9.7% GDP, but also had high inflation of 5.4% in March, a figure that raises questions about stability the greatest emerging power. While neighboring Japan, relegated to third place in the global economy in 2010, trying to recover from its worst crisis since the Second World War, China's Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2011 totaled 9.63 trillion yuan (1.67 billion U.S.

The contradictions in Washington DC / 1

"Rome - The city police have arrested the mayor Alemanno protesting without a permit against the government's economic choices. The mayor was detained in jail for 6 hours and then released for a deposit of 50 €. This could be the equivalent of throwing Italian agency, if the event had happened in Rome.

Instead it happened in Washington, District of Columbia, the mayor of U.S. capital is called Vincent Gray, and the security (for him and six other councilors) amounted to $ 50. For the rest, everything is the same as the launch of my imagination. The episode, certainly unusual, given the right has the worst Italian press to question whether the U.S.

A pro-Palestinian activist killed in Gaza Italian

Iraq, near the border with Kuwait recognize

The Government of Iraq would recognize Kuwait's borders early and end two decades of UN sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of former leader Saddam Hussein to his neighbor, said UN special envoy. Despite the fall of Hussein in 2003, the United Nations has not lifted all sanctions imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which sparked the Gulf War led by the U.S.

in 1991. The Security Council adopted resolutions to begin to eliminate the sanctions in December and urged Baghdad to normalize ties with Kuwait. Iraq has yet to reaffirm the land and maritime borders of Kuwait in a letter to the Security Council. Baghdad has asked Kuwait to address concerns about access to its port of Umm Qasr.

Charges brought against Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Israel, was informed by the Attorney General against him alleged crimes of fraud, money laundering, abuse of confidence and witness tampering. Lieberman, founder and leader of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu third political force in the country, seemed set to continue in Government until it was formalized processing.

The process could take six months. Lieberman's complaint, after 10 stormy years of research, medium term could give rise to a deep political crisis. Lieberman is seen as the future leader of the Israeli right, Benjamin Netanyahu overflowing by the nationalist and anti-Palestinian side, and could force early elections if he saw fit to halt the judicial process.

Gadhafi forces continue to violent acts

Moammar Gadhafi's forces continued their fierce bombing in the western city of Misrata in Libya, which led to the destruction of a cement factory and freight containers, said a resident. The report of the bombing came a day after an international leader warned that Gadhafi was destroying essential food supplies in the warehouses of the city in an attempt to starve the people in the besieged city.

Gaza, Hamas killed Italian volunteer: "It 's been hanged"

Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza (by the NGO International Solidarity Movement website) The body of Vittorio Arrigoni (Read the portrait), the Italian pro-Palestinian activist kidnapped in the Gaza Strip last week by a commando ultra-Salafi extremist, was found in a apartment in Gaza City by Hamas militants at the end of a raid conducted in the middle of the night.

Arrigoni, who lived in Gaza since August 2008, was hanged (other sources suffocated) several hours before the expiry of the ultimatum that the kidnappers had imposed. Maybe just three hours after the kidnapping, claimed in a video on YouTube. The militants threatened to kill 16 to volunteer today if Hamas had not issued their "brethren" detainees.

Oncologists want to store the stem cells of workers Fukushima

Cancer specialists in four hospitals in Japan have explained in a letter to the British weekly The Lancet, it would be wise to store stem cells for hundreds of workers who attempt since the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March of avoid a nuclear disaster site in Fukushima, north-eastern Japan. The letter is signed by a team of five physicians led by Tetsuya Tanimoto Cancer Institute at the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research and Shuichi Taniguchi Toranomon Hospital, both in Tokyo.

Morocco frees 92 political prisoners after protests

Morocco on Thursday released 92 political prisoners, including a prominent anti-corruption activist and a controversial preacher, following a pardon issued by the king after protests demanding democratic reforms. Forgiveness also commuted death sentences to prison sentences limited to five inmates. Thirty-seven life sentences were reduced, according to the National Council for Human Rights.

Also reduced prison sentences to 53 other prisoners. Most released prisoners whose sentences were reduced or were members of the Islamist group Salafist Jihad. Mohamed Sebbar, appointed general secretary in March by King Mohamed VI, said the pardon was the prelude to a thorough review of cases of political prisoners in Morocco.

Japanese police find 10 bodies in radiative zone

The Japanese police said they found the bodies of 10 victims of the tsunami around the troubled nuclear power plant in Fukushima, where workers were still pumping tons of contaminated water. Some 330 police officers, wearing protective uniforms and masks began a search in a radius of 10 km around the nuclear power plant for the first time since the magnitude nine earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku coast in the Pacific Ocean.

Continue operations in Libya until Qaddafi go

The allies continue military operations in Libya until Qaddafi leaves office, said today in a joint article the U.S. and French presidents, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, respectively, and the British prime minister, David Cameron. In the article, published in Friday's edition of the newspaper "The Times" of London, "Le Figaro" in Paris, the U.S.

"International Herald Tribune" and the pan-Arabic "Al Hayat", the three leaders stressed that Gaddafi "must go, and go forever," so that Libya can form a new government. "While Gadhafi continue in power, NATO and coalition partners will maintain their operations so as to protect civilians and increase pressure on the regime," he explained.

Gaza, kidnapped voluntary italianoI Salafi blackmail the government of Hamas

Vittorio Arrigoni is on his knees, his arms tied behind his back and a thick strip of black electrical tape over his eyes. He has a wound to his head and spots of blood on his face. Someone holds the hair. The video appeared today on canale'ThisisGazaVoice 'is what we know so far of the kidnapping of the Italian volunteer in Gaza City by three armed militants of the Islamic Salafist group.

The kidnappers threaten to kill if Arrigoni within 30 hours - from 11 am this morning (the 10 in Italy) - The Hamas government will not release prisoners held in prisons Salafi Strip. The Foreign Ministry has received through the Italian Consulate in Jerusalem, the news of the kidnapping of Arrigoni and "has already made the appropriate steps for each action to protect the fellow," he wrote in a note.

Argentina's last dictator sentenced to life imprisonment

The last dictator of Argentina (1982-1983), Reynaldo Bignone, 85, was sentenced Thursday, April 14, to life imprisonment for violation of human rights by the federal court in San Martin, north of Buenos Aires. In 2010, Bignone had already been sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for "unlawful deprivation of liberty and torture of political prisoners," facts that he committed during the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.

Financial crisis: U.S. Senate makes a damning report for Goldman

The U.S. Senate delivered a damning verdict on how the financial system of the United States, including pinning the investment bank Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, its sister for their role in the crisis of 2008, reveals the press. In a report of 652 pages, the New York Times posted on its website, a commission of inquiry bipartisan Senate involves the failure of regulators and rating agencies, but also a system that s' has been unable to avoid the worst economic crisis in the U.S.

"Get out!" : Retrieves the advertising revolution in Tunisia

The four cans of tuna, including a free one at 9.95 dinars: offer unbeatable wants. Revolutionary. "Get out the expensive life!" Also boasts the poster for the supermarket chain where "promotions make their revolution." In Tunisia, the dictator ousted, the street subsided, revolutionary slogans of the protesters left the signs to billboards.

"Road to Freedom", seeks to instill a French carmaker to sell a model that has just hit the market. "The design revolution" boasts another manufacturer that uses the same tricks advertising than its competitor. But the sector that surfs on the net the most revolutionary is the same one that was used to support the rebellion: the Internet and its corollary, the mobile phone.

Found the body of the Italian aid worker kidnapped in Gaza

The body of Italian aid worker kidnapped in Gaza has been found in an abandoned house in the strip, said a source in the Hamas security services to the agency. A radical Islamist group had announced a few hours before the kidnapping of Vittorio Arrigoni, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian NGOs, and had said he would assassinate him today at ten o'clock local time (eleven, Spanish CET) If the Hamas government did not release several detainees.

Tunisia: eighteen lawsuits launched against the former president Ben Ali

In an interview on national television Wednesday night, the Tunisian minister of justice, Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said that the charges against ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are "intentional homicide, conspiracy against state security and use and drug trafficking. " The Minister of Justice has also indicated that the transitional authorities were putting together a legal case to obtain the extradition of former president, a refugee with his family in Saudi Arabia since he fled.

Villepin forward proposals for the 2012 elections

Former Prime Minister and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin, Nicolas Sarkozy intimate enemy (with whom he shared position in the Government of Jacques Chirac) has taken another step towards the 2012 elections, which in principle , we voters will play his old rival of the French right.

Villepin, who in June last year formed a new party around himself, Republic Development, presented yesterday a sort of government program with a bunch of new proposals that stirred some excitement in France. Among them is the creation of a sort of universal income of 850 euros for all French over 18 years without resources.

Libya: NATO stalled, allies seek a political solution

Doha (Qatar), Special Envoy - Nearly a month after it began, the armed intervention in Libya exchange parameters. Lack of penetration of rebels, seeking a "political process" is now formally acted. The contours of this initiative, announced by the Contact Group on Libya, meeting in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, April 13, however, remain fuzzy, a sign of the difficulty of finding a solution to the crisis.

An Argentine court sentenced to life imprisonment to former dictator Bignone

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 14. A court in Buenos Aires was sentenced Thursday to life imprisonment last Argentine dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, for crimes against humanity committed against ten opponents during the last military government between 1976 and 1983. Specifically, the Federal Court in San Martin has given the maximum sentence to recognize Bignone involvement in illegal deprivation of liberty, torture and disappearances that occurred during his administration 'de facto'.

Life sentence for Argentine dictator Bignone by crmenes against humanity

The military regime's last dictator, Reynaldo Benito Bignone, was sentenced today to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity at the expense of 10 victims. With him were sentenced to life imprisonment also, the former military Santiago Omar Riveros and Martin Rodriguez and former assistant commissioner Luis Patti, while Juan Fernando Meneghini excomisario was sentenced to six years of house arrest.

The search for bodies began around Fukushima

About 330 police officers wearing masks and suits searched the rubble, looking for victims of the tsunami on 11 March. Ten bodies have been recovered. The scene takes place near the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Thursday, April 14. First time since the earthquake in this zone of 10 km radius around the site, so far unexplored.

Indeed, after the nuclear disaster at the plant, authorities had evacuated the population inhabiting a belt of 20 km around, due to radioactive releases. On 3 April, police had conducted searches but only in the remote zone of 10-20 km. "It is difficult to estimate the number of people still missing in the region.

"Dialogue is the only way out of crisis"

The press and the media have extensively reported the situation in Bahrain. The opposition has expressed freely. Today I want to clarify: The claims that could result if the national dialogue had been accepted by the opposition were diverted to other purposes, even though the Crown Prince of Bahrain, Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa Benhamadi , agreed to discuss these proposals, that the order had been given to the police not to intervene and that political prisoners were released.

Three Afghan policemen killed, injured in suicide bombings

Three policemen were killed and several policemen and civilians wounded in a series of suicide attacks, partly aborted, Thursday morning, in several provinces of Afghanistan. The deadliest attack was carried out by three suicide bombers who targeted a training center for local police in Afghanistan (ALP) in Paktia province, south-eastern Afghanistan, killing three policemen and wounding two .