Tag: Open Thread

Funerals took place for victims of the three-hour orgy of violence on Sunday in three Christian villages close to the northern city of Jos, blamed on members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group.

While troops were deployed to the villages to prevent new attacks, security forces detained 95 suspects but faced bitter criticism over how the killers were able to go on the rampage at a time when a curfew was meant to be in force.

As expected, Icelanders overwhelmingly voted down the deal in Saturday’s referendum, with some 93.6 percent of voters lined up on the “no” side after more than 50 percent of the votes had been counted.

Only 1.5 percent of voters had so far voted “yes” to the Icesave deal, said RUV public broadcaster which compiles all electoral statistics.

“I will vote ‘no’ simply because I disagree very strongly with us… having to shoulder this burden” from the 2008 collapse of the online Icesave bank, Ingimar Gudmundsson, a 57-year-old truck driver, told AFP.

The issue is whether Iceland should honour an agreement to repay Britain and the Netherlands 3.9 billion euros (5.3 billion dollars).

Brown distanced himself from military moves or diplomatic negotiations in the run-up to the conflict, but said he had always been fully informed and did everything required of him as finance minister under former premier Tony Blair.

“Nobody wants to go to war, nobody wants to see innocent people die, nobody wants to see their forces put at risk of their lives,” he said, but added: “I think it was the right decision and made for the right reasons.”

The blasts wounded 48 people, including 25 Iraqi soldiers, and came despite massive security, with troops, prisoners and the sick casting their ballots ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election.

Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has threatened to disrupt the election by “military means” and 200,000 police and soldiers have been deployed in the capital alone to try to prevent attacks.

The blasts in Baquba, the deadliest to hit the country in nearly a month, also wounded 55 people and spurred security forces to clamp an immediate curfew on the city, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

At least 10 policemen were among the 33 dead, a security official said.

Negotiators opened talks at a resort hotel in Saint Pete Beach, near Saint Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf coast, participants said. Media were not allowed into the talks in the hopes of encouraging a more open dialogue.

The delegates will review through Thursday a proposal by Cristian Maquieira, chairman of the 88-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC), that aims to work toward a grand compromise bringing aboard all sides on the debate.

President Michelle Bachelet doubled the number of troops patrolling the worst hit areas to 14,000, as people in ravaged Concepcion were barred from leaving their homes from 6:00 pm to midday.

“Military personnel will be present in the streets of Concepcion until midday to maintain public order, and they will not waver in carrying out their duties,” warned General Guillermo Ramirez.