BEIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) — Egypt and the Democratic People\’s Republic of Korea have joined Russia in dismissing as intervention the U.S. human rights charges against these countries.
The three countries have reiterated their stance on opposing U.S. intervention with their internal affairs and stressed their determination to reject the U.S. charges.
Senior Russian lawmakers dismissed the U.S criticisms as an attempt to exert pressure on their country.
Oleg Morozov, first deputy speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, said his country had taken effective measures to improve human rights and to build a democratic society but the U.S. report did not reflect the real picture in Russia.
Morozov added the U.S. administration was trying to pressure Russia into making concessions on certain issues.
Leonid Slutsky, first deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma, said the U.S. Human Rights Report 2009 was neither objective nor comprehensive.
In Cairo of Egypt, the chief of the country\’s complaint office under the National Council of Human Rights (NCHR) played down the importance of the U.S. report.
\”The report released by the U.S. State Department on human rights conditions in Egypt is not new, and it is something usual and released every year on the same pattern,\” Mohamed Faeq was quoted by the state-run Middle East News Agency as saying.
\”We should not pay much attention to such a report, as local reports from the NCHR, civil societies and international, Arab and African mechanisms concerned outweigh such a report,\” he added.
The NCHR council has already submitted some proposals to the Egyptian government on further improving the human rights conditions in the country, he said.
In the Democratic People\’s Republic of Korea, the official KCNA news agency released a commentary, urging Washington to stop hatching plots on the human rights issue against the Asian country and to solve their own problems about human rights in the first place.
The article said that the United States was using the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council now underway in Geneva as a platform for \”hatching a politically-motivated sinister plot\” against the DPRK.
\”The U.S. is running the whole gamut of cynical ploys to gather together its followers in a bid to cook up an anti-DPRK resolution,\” KCNA said.
The commentary denounced the U.S. move as another \”infringement\” upon the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK and a \”violation\” of human rights and democracy.
The U.S. State Department has been issuing annual reports on human rights in various countries since 1977 and the reports have almost always drawn criticisms and rebuffs from the countries the reports criticize.
http://www.tbogg.com
SANTIAGO, March 7 (Xinhua) — Chile on Sunday began three days of mourning for those who died in the Feb. 27 devastating earthquake, as disaster relief and aid efforts have been rolled out.
Eight days after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake, normalcy is returning, thanks to domestic relief efforts and international help.
A charity fund-raising party, which drew celebrities from Chile and abroad, raised 30.2 billion pesos (about 60 million U.S. dollars), which would be used to provide shelter for 20,000 families, local media reported on Sunday.
The funds will be injected into a charity project headed by President-elect Sebastian Pinera.
On Saturday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Chile, vowing to help Chilean people with their relief efforts and offering 10 million U.S. dollars in aid to the quake-hit country.
\”I am very moved by such strong determination by the people on the ground,\” said Ban, who had promised to deliver a report on the quake to the United Nations next week.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said Friday that 35 nations had responded to specific aid requests, including tents from China, bottled water from Bolivia, seismic equipment from France, water purifiers from Russia, satellite phones from the United States, and pontoons from Sweden.
She welcomed the emergency aid worth 2 million U.S. dollars from China that arrived early Friday.
On Saturday, Japan delivered a batch of relief supplies worth around 30 million yen (332,000 U.S. dollars) to Chile as part of its promised 3 million-dollar aid.
Recovery efforts are being made in the quake-affected areas.
The authorities shortened a curfew from 18 to 13 hours in Concepcion on Saturday, and reduced curfews in Arauca, Nuble and Biobio provinces.
The military chief of the region, General Guillermo Ramirez, said: \”We think it is right to reduce the time of the curfew because it is producing traffic jams and because the normality state in Concepcion proves that people can have more free time during the day to do their daily activities.\”
In Concepcion, life is slowly returning to normal. People were queuing patiently for water and food. Troops were patrolling the streets. Electricity and water have been restored in most parts of the city.
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Chile\’s second-largest city Concepcion on Feb. 27, in which 452 had been confirmed dead all across the country and about 2 million people left homeless.
http://www.znnw.com
BOGOTA, March 13 (Xinhua) — Colombia rejected an annual human rights report of the U.S. State Department, saying criticisms against the South American country were based on false information.
The U.S. human rights report, which said there remain significant human rights abuses in Colombia, is based on false information and is manipulated, said Vice President Francisco Santos on Saturday.
The report is hypocritical and exposes the U.S. double standards on the human rights, said Santos in a meeting with President Alvaro Uribe.
The U.S. report issued on Thursday listed official corruption among other cases of human rights abuses.
It also mentioned multiple violations of human rights in the country\’s 45-year-long internal conflict involving government forces, terrorist groups other illegal armed groups.
http://www.lersus.com
VANCOUVER, March 13 (Xinhua) — Three people were killed in a massive avalanche which occurred Saturday afternoon in western Canada\’s British Columbia.
A dozen were injured, some in critical conditions. With many more unaccounted for, a large-scale search and rescue operation has been underway in Boulder Mountain, near southeastern BC\’s Revelstoke, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said.
It\’s not clear how many people were missing, but the slide happened when hundreds were attending an annual snowmobiling event. There were reports that 20 to 30 people could be missing.
According to the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC), the area has been struck by 10 avalanches since Friday when CAC issued an extreme avalanche warning for the area.
Revelstoke is located within the Columbia Mountains in the Interior of BC, 641 km east of Vancouver.
http://www.gtrip.net
A soldier takes pictures at a crime scene where an American couple were killed in a drive-by shooting in the border city of Ciudad Juarez March 13, 2010. Three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Mexico\’s most violent border city were murdered, police said on Sunday, prompting U.S. President Barack Obama to respond with outrage and sadness. Minutes after the American couple were shot, another man with ties to the consulate was murdered in a different area of the city at the center of a bloody turf war between drug cartels, according to a police source. Picture taken March 13, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) — A female employee of a U.S. consulate in Mexico, along with her U.S. husband and the husband of another consular employee, have been killed by unidentified murderers, the White House said on Sunday.
President Barack Obama was \”deeply saddened and outraged\” by the news of the murders of three people associated with the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Jurez, Mexico, said White House spokesman Mike Hammer in a statement.
? Photo taken on March 13, 2010 shows the bodies of an American couple who were killed in their car in the city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, bordering the United States. A female employee of a U.S. consulate in Mexico, along with her U.S. husband and the husband of another consular employee, were killed by murderers Saturday afternoon in the city of Ciudad Juarez. According to shared information between Mexican and U.S. federal agencies, the attackers were believed to be from a gang known as \”the Aztecas,\” which works for the Juarez Cartel, the Chihuahua state government said in a press release.
Hammer gave no more details on the murders. Reports here quoted a U.S. official as saying that the three victims were killed in drive-by shootings on Saturday afternoon in Ciudad Juarez, where some 2,600 people were killed last year in drug-related violence.
\”We will continue to work with Mexican President Felipe Calder n and his government to break the power of the drug trafficking organizations that operate in Mexico and far too often target and kill the innocent. This is a responsibility we must shoulder together,\” said Hammer.
In light of the situation in Mexico, U.S. State Department on Sunday issued travel warning to inform Americans traveling to and living in Mexico of concerns about the security situation in Mexico.
The State Department has also authorized the departure of the dependents of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the Northern Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros until April 12.
The vehicle where an American couple were killed in a drive-by shooting is seen next to the bridge that connects Mexico and U.S. in the border city of Ciudad Juarez March 13, 2010. Three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Mexico\’s most violent border city were murdered, police said on Sunday, prompting U.S. President Barack Obama to respond with outrage and sadness. Minutes after the American couple were shot, another man with ties to the consulate was murdered in a different area of the city at the center of a bloody turf war between drug cartels, according to a police source. Picture taken March 13, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) — A senior adviser to President Barack Obama on Sunday criticized Israel\’s plan to build more homes in East Jerusalem of undermining peace process.
\”This was an affront, it was an insult but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region, \” David Axelrod told NBC\’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
\”We have just started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy, between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and for this announcement to come at that time was very destructive,\” he said.
The Obama administration has been very angry over the Israeli government\’s approval of 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem on Tuesday when Vice President Joe Biden was pushing both Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks.
Both Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have condemned the Israeli move, with Clinton describing it as \”a deeply negative signal\” about Israel\’s approach to relations with Washington.
The Obama administration has been exerting pressure on the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to resume talks so that the two sides could reach a permanent peace agreement that leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within two years.
PNA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas insists that the talks would not be resumed until the Israeli government totally freezes the Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, while the Israeli side accuses the PNA of setting precondition for the peace talks and claims to ensure the \”natural growth\” of the Jewish settlements.
After Israel\’s announcement to build more homes in East Jerusalem, the PNA decided to suspend the indirect talks with Israel, which was brokered by U. S. special envoy George Mitchell following tough shuttle mediation between Israel and the Palestinians.
http://www.minamik.com
WASHINGTON, March 8 (Xinhua) — Defense contractor Northrop Grumman announced on Monday it is dropping the bid for U.S. Air Force\’s 35-billion-dollar oil tanker project, saying the terms of the bid favor main competitor Boeing.
In a statement on the company\’s website, Wes Bush, CEO and President of Northrop Grumman, said the company has determined it will not submit a bid to the Department of Defense for the refueler program.
\”We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology\” of the Air Force, which \”clearly favors Boeing\’s smaller refueling tanker,\” said Bush.
He said this precluded Northrop, which had planned to transform the larger Airbus A-330, \”from any competitive opportunity.\”
He noted Northrop and its partner, EADS, the European aviation giant which is the parent company of Airbus, won the Air Force\’s previous competition for the oil tanker project, saying the two companies are \”very disappointed\” at the revised source selection methodology.
The Air Force chose Northrop and EADS over Boeing for its refueler in 2008, but Boeing complained, and the contract was pulled after the Congress stepped in.
Bush said Northrop Grumman will not protest this time, even though the decision \”likely creates a sole-source outcome for Boeing.\”
Some of the oil tankers the Air Force currently uses are built in the 1950s. The service has been trying to replace them, but has failed to secure a contractor. Boeing has offered to convert its 767 commercial aircraft, which is smaller than the A-330, for the new generation of refuelers.
http://www.qb-china.com
People sit outside a house during a blackout in Vina del Mar city, about 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Santiago, March 14, 2010. Cities throughout Chile were without power on Sunday evening due to a problem with one of the country\’s main power grids, according to witnesses and local media.?(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
SANTIAGO, March 14 (Xinhua) — Power was returning to Santiago Sunday night after a massive power blackout hit most of Chile and officials were expecting a full recovery of power to the affected area in a few hours.
Electricity could be fully restored by midnight (0300 GMT Monday), Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter told local radio.
Power returned to some parts of Santiago at 10:00 p.m. (0100 GMT Monday), about an hour after the power stoppage began, but radio reports said many other areas in the South American country were still without power.
Media reports said the blackout might have been caused by problems with a main power grid in central Chile.
Hinzpeter said the blackout was not directly related to the massive earthquake that hit Chile on Feb. 27, but investigation would be carried out to see whether there was an indirect cause.
The area affected by the power cut includes the southern regions of Maule and Bio Bio, which were hit hardest by the devastating earthquake.
Related:
Massive power cut hits Chile
SANTIAGO, March 14 (Xinhua) — A massive power blackout struck most of Chile Sunday night, plunging the capital Santiago and many other cities into darkness.
Media reports said the blackout might have been caused by problems with a main power grid in central Chile and authorities said they were trying to restore power to parts of Santiago in three to four hours. Full story
http://www.tbogg.com
People ride a bus during a blackout in Vina del Mar city, about 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Santiago, March 14, 2010. Cities throughout Chile were without power on Sunday evening due to a problem with one of the country\’s main power grids, according to witnesses and local media.?(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
SANTIAGO, March 14 (Xinhua) — Power is expected to return to the regions affected by the massive power blackout that hit much of Chile Sunday night, a government minister said.
Power could be fully restored by midnight (0300 GMT), Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter told local radio.
http://www.ceshq.comMEXICO CITY, March 14 (Xinhua) – Juarez Cartel was behind the assassination of a U.S. consular worker in Mexico, government sources said Sunday. http://www.kphy.com
MEXICO CITY, March 14 (Xinhua) — A drug cartel was behind the assassination of a U.S. consular worker in Mexico, local government said Sunday.
According to shared information between Mexican and U.S. federal agencies, the attackers were believed to be from a gang known as \”the Aztecas,\” which works for the Juarez Cartel, the Chihuahua state government said in a press release.
A female employee of a U.S. consulate in Mexico, along with her U.S. husband and the husband of another consular employee, were killed by murderers Saturday afternoon when they were driving at different locations in the city of Ciudad Juarez.
U.S. President Barack Obama was \”deeply saddened and outraged\” by the murders, a White House spokesman said shortly after the news reached Washington.
Ciudad Juarez is notorious for drug-related violence, which killed some 2,600 people last year.
\”We will continue to work with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his government to break the power of the drug trafficking organizations that operate in Mexico and far too often target and kill the innocent. This is a responsibility we must shoulder together,\” said a White House spokesman.
In light of the situation in Mexico, the U.S. State Department has issued travel warning to inform Americans traveling to and living in Mexico of concerns about the security situation in Mexico.
The State Department has also authorized the departure of the dependents of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the northern Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros until April 12.
http://www.ceshq.com
NEW YORK, March 14 (Xinhua) — High winds coupled with heavy rains have mopped northeastern United States over the weekend to leave half a million people in the dark, police said on Sunday.
Winds blowing at 112 kilometers per hour uprooted trees and downed power lines in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
The storm came two weeks after snow storms left more than 1 million people in another power outage in the same region.
Local media reported that six people had died in storm-related accidents in the region over the weekend.
The New York Police Department said that it had received 65,000 calls, the second-highest emergency calls in a 24-hour period, during the storm which still left thousands of people in the dark in the city.
At the peak of the storm, more than 265,000 New Yorkers were without power.
Across the river in New Jersey, hundreds of thousands of people are still without power after the weekend weather left extensive damage throughout the state.
Some New Jersey residents were fearing that they might have to wait until Tuesday to have their power supply restored.
Related:
Storm leaves hundreds of thousands of families in northeast U.S. in dark
NEW YORK, March 13 (Xinhua) — Powerful winds are ripping through northeast U.S. Saturday with winds gusting over 80 km per hour, and as much as 12 cm of rain falling across parts of the region.
According to local media reports, strong winds and heavy rain have knocked out power to more than 450,000 customers, diverting international flights, killing and injuring people. Full story
http://www.zokn.com
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Xinhua) — A U.S. Defense Department official used private contractors to help track and kill suspected militants in Afghanistan, violating rules. Pentagon says the situation is under investigation, local media reported on Monday.
The official, Michael Furlong, was accused of running an \”off- the-book\” operation under the guise of benign government information-gathering program, the New York Times reported.
Furlong set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan, gathering information on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of militant camps. The information was in turn sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action, which may involve unmanned, remote-controlled drone strikes.
The tactic, generally considered illegal, might have been improperly funded by diverting money from a program designed to gather general information about the region. The secret use of private contractors may also be used to circumvent Pakistani rules prohibiting U.S. military operating in the country.
Furlong is investigated for contract fraud and other charges, and his program seemed to be shut down. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the story makes \”serious allegations\” that warrant further review by the department.
http://www.kphy.com
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Xinhua) — The 2010 Census forms began arriving in 120 million mailboxes across the United States on Monday, signaling the beginning of the once-a-decade population count.
\”When you receive your 2010 Census, please fill it out and mail it back,\” Robert Groves, Director of U.S. Census Bureau, said in a press release Monday.
The current economic downturn has made the census more challenging, since \”housing crisis has resulted in higher rates of vacant housing that must be visited to ensure a complete count\”, said the agency.
The population-counting body estimated that it will have to send census takers to an estimated 48 million households that do not respond by mail, even though it has shortened the question list of the form to make it less time-consuming.
In 2000, about 72 percent of households returned their forms.
The census data is very important because it serves as the basis for the distribution of congressional seats among states.
It also help determine how more than 400 billion U.S. dollars in federal funds are distributed to tribal, state and local governments every year — including funding for schools, roads, healthcare and other critical programs, according to the bureau.
http://www.ceshq.com
LOS ANGELES, March 15 (Xinhua) — As Congress is working on major environmental legislation on climate change, fewer Americans viewed environmental issues as the most important facing the nation, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday.
Of those polled, only two percent said environment was the most important problem today, while 11 percent said they saw the environment as the most important problem facing the country in future decades, compared with 14 percent in 2007 and 2008.
It has been for more than 10 years that a small percentage of Americans have cited the environment as the most important problem facing the country, according to the poll.
The poll also found that a majority of Americans — 53 percent – - continue to rate the nation\’s environment as only fair or poor.
Overall, 46 percent of respondents said they rated the quality of the environment as excellent or good, up from 39 percent in March 2009.
The poll surveyed 1,014 adults from March 4 to March 7, with a 4 percentage-point margin of error.
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