Deadly clashes as anger with Egypt military boils over
February 4, 2012
AFP – A second day of clashes with Egyptian police left five more people dead as anger against the ruling military boiled over amid fury at the recent deaths of 74 people in football-related violence. Marchers took to the streets across the country to demand that the generals cede power immediately after a night of violence in several cities. Two protesters died in Cairo of tear gas inhalation after being rushed to hospital unconscious from outside the interior ministry, where clashes raged into Friday night. Another two protesters died in violence in the northeast canal city of Suez, according to a security source. Meanwhile the official Mena news agency reported that a soldier injured…
Greece Talks Enter ‘Final Phase’ on Second Bailout to Secure Place in Euro
February 4, 2012
Greece may conclude a seven-month effort to wrap up its second bailout in the coming days with the country’s stability hanging in the balance. A plan that’s been in the works since July may emerge from parallel talks among caretaker Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s coalition members; international monitors and Greek officials; and Greece’s government and its creditors, as well as tussles involving European central bankers and political leaders. “We are in the final phase of this very critical process to shape a new financing program for Greece and to complete the loan agreement which will lighten the burden of public debt and ensure funding for years to come,” Papademos said in a statement…
Civilian deaths in Afghanistan at highest level in a decade
February 4, 2012
A string of bigger and more complex suicide attacks by insurgents in Afghanistan have pushed civilian deaths to their highest level in a decade a United Nations report says. Georgette Gagnon, director of human rights for the UN’s Kabul mission, said: “To the Afghan people, the credibility and value of a negotiation process and progress toward peace will be measured by reduced civilian casualties and real improvements in security’ Photo: Mark Jones/AFP/Getty Images tag –> By Ben Farmer, Kabul 7:30AM GMT 04 Feb 2012 Comments The number of civilians killed in the conflict rose eight per cent last year to reach 3,021 – with more than three-quarters caused by attacks from the…
More than 220 dead as big freeze grips Europe
February 4, 2012
Temperatures have plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap has now claimed more than 220 lives as forecasters warned that the big freeze would tighten its grip over the weekend. A total of 223 people have died from the cold weather in the last seven days according to an AFP tally, with Ukraine suffering the heaviest toll. People have been found dead on the streets in some countries, while thousands have been trapped in mountain villages in Serbia. In Italy, Venice’s canals started freezing over and even Rome was dusted in snow. The lowest temperatures recorded in Europe were in the southwest of the Czech Republic, where the mercury dropped as low as minus 38.1 degrees…
Hubble snaps stunning barred spiral galaxy image
February 3, 2012
The Hubble space telescope has captured an image of a “barred spiral” galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way. Most of the…
Cold weather death toll passes 100 in Ukraine
February 3, 2012
More than 100 people have now died as a result of freezing weather in Ukraine since last Friday, the government has announced in Kiev. Most of the 101 who died were homeless people and 64 of them were…
Tibetan PM in-exile demands UN intervention in Chinese hardliner policies
February 3, 2012
Dharamshala, Feb 3 (ANI): Tibetan Prime Minister in-exile Lobsang Sangay has expressed concern over rising Chinese military repression against Tibetans and urged the United Nations to send a fact-finding delegation to China to investigate its…
U.S. scrambles to avoid Israeli attack on Iran which ‘could come in months’
February 3, 2012
The West is trying desperately to talk Israel out of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities amidst fears that a strike could come in the next few months. The United States is leading the persuasion initiative, even though Washington has largely concluded that outside argument will have little effect on Israeli decision-making. Iran’s regime says it wants to extinguish the Jewish state, and the West accuses it of assembling the material and know-how to build a nuclear bomb. Israel fears that Iran is fast approaching a point at which a limited military strike no longer would be enough to head off an Iranian bomb. Iran: The country’s nuclear programme is the target for western sanctions and…
Panetta surprises with Afghanistan comments
February 3, 2012
WASHINGTON • President Barack Obama’s administration scrambled Thursday to tamp down the fallout out from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s surprise announcement that the United States would end its combat role in Afghanistan a year earlier than expected — a revelation that heightened confusion over U.S. strategy and stoked Afghan distrust of American intentions. The U.S. decision also could…
Germany’s Merkel holds talks with China’s president
February 3, 2012
AFP – German Chancellor Angela Merkel met China’s president on Friday as she seeks to lift Beijing’s confidence in Europe where the sovereign debt crisis threatens to tip the region into recession. China, the world’s second-biggest economy, has watched with increasing concern as…
