Society's Child

Lebanese observer: only a matter of time before Tunisian revolution sweeps through Arab world

Press TV
Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:57 UTC

© Unknown
People celebrate in their vehicles in front of the Tunisian Interior Ministry after Tunisian President Ben Ali's address to the nation in Tunis

The Tunisia crisis could highly spread throughout the Arab world and threaten the "authoritarian" Arab governments, says a former ambassador to the UN.

In an interview with Press TV, Clovis Maksoud, Lebanon's former ambassador and permanent observer of the League of Arab States at the United Nations added that Tunisia uprising is a wake-up call for the Arab world.

"It's going to be infectious in several other areas in a manner that might not necessarily lead to bloodshed but [could] weaken the authority [in many Arab countries]," Maksoud told Press TV.

Tunisian President Zine El Abidin Ben Ali fled the country on Friday after a month of popular revolt that claimed dozens of lives. He had earlier fired his government and announced early elections.

Tunisia to hold polls in 60 days after President flees revolution

Press TV
Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:49 UTC

Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali addresses the nation in this still image taken from state TV. He then fled to Saudi Arabia

The council, Tunisia's highest legal authority on constitutional issues, decided to formally oust president Zine El Abidin Ben Ali and put Speaker Fouad Mebazaa in charge based on Article 57 of the Constitution.

Premier Mohammad Ghannouchi had earlier taken over from Ben Ali.

Tunisian airports were reopened after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia for more than two decades. His era was marred by repeated human rights violations and torture.

Meanwhile, unrest continues in the capital Tunis where the central railway station and a market were set on fire. Witnesses have reported lootings in shopping centers.

Police have arrested several people in central Tunis during the overnight curfew.

Analysts believe the ouster of the Tunisian president is a warning to authoritarian regimes across the Arab world.

European tourists flee Tunisia as new interim president sworn in

Press TV
Sat, 15 Jan 2011 05:31 UTC

Violence continues to rage in various parts of Tunisia one-day after a historic revolution ousted president Zine El Abidin Ben Ali from power.

Parliament speaker Fouad Mebazaa was sworn in as the interim president on Saturday.

In a televised address, Mebazaa said all political parties including the opposition would be consulted in the country's new political atmosphere.

"All Tunisians without exception and exclusion must be associated in the political process," he said after taking the oath. Under the constitution a new presidential election must be held within 60 days.

Soon after taking office, Mebazaa called on Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi to form a unity government.

Russia puts blame on Poland for crash

Press TV
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:11 UTC

A report released by Russian investigators blames Poland for of the April plane crash which killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.

The report released on Wednesday said that Russian air traffic controllers were not to blame for the April 10 plane crash. It said pressure exerted on the pilot by officials on board led to the disaster.

The investigation focuses on the commander of Polish air force, General Andrzei Blasik, who reportedly had a high level of alcohol in his blood when entering the cockpit before the crash.

Tatyana Anodina, the head of Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee -- a regulatory body overseeing aviation in several former Soviet countries -- said that psychologists, including those from Poland, found Blasik's presence behind the pilot's decision to take a fatal risk.

French man in debt kills family, himself

Press TV
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:55 UTC

A retired elderly French man under severe financial debt pressure has killed himself after ending the lives of his wife, daughter, and mother.

The 62-year-old killed his family with a knife before ending his own life, leaving a suicide note, which explained his cause of his actions citing thousands of euros of consumption debts, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to France 24, the man's body was found hanging in his residential yard shortly after the discovery of the three bodies. The body of his 90-year-old mother was also found in her flat in Amiens.

The mayor of Pont-de-Metz Gerard Arlacon, an usher, and a policeman discovered the bodies after they went into the house to make an inventory of equipment before a referral.

Police clash with protesters in Athens over proposed border fence with Turkey

Press TV
Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:48 UTC

© Unknown
A protestor holding a Greek flag looks towards police forces in the neighborhood of Agios Panteleimonas in Athens.

Athens police clash with demonstrators who were protesting against a planned fence on the Greek-Turkish border to stop illegal immigration.

Around 3,000 left-wing activists gathered in the city to demonstrate against xenophobia, when police clashed with rival groups for and against immigration in the Agios Panteleimon area, which has a large immigrant population.

Protesters carried banners reading, "Kick out the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the EU (European Union), not migrants," and "No to racist attacks."

Extreme-right protesters, members of the Chrysi Avgi, or Golden Dawn also attended the protest.

Some left-wingers fled into a local church after throwing stones at the police. Officers reacted to the move by firing tear gas inside the church.

Feds say Wash. dairy cows had unlawful drug residues

Associated Press
Sun, 16 Jan 2011 02:50 UTC

Seattle - Federal authorities have sued a northwest Washington dairy that they claim has a long history of selling cows for slaughter even though their tissues contained drug residues deemed unsafe to eat.

The 850-cow Rhody Dairy LLC of Sumas was charged civilly in U.S. District Court in Seattle this week with violations of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

The complaint says that seven times in the past decade, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued letters to the dairy warning that cows it offered for sale tested positive for illegal levels of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications or other drugs.

The Justice Department said that despite the warnings, the dairy administered the drugs to its cattle in unapproved dosages or without prescriptions, or that it failed to observe proper drug withdrawal times before offering the cows for slaughter. They also say the dairy refused to keep treatment records for the animals.

"Defendants' poor record-keeping and improper drug administration practices constitute insanitary conditions whereby the food (edible tissues of their animals) may have been rendered injurious to health," the complaint said.

Thousands Demonstrate Against Hungary Censorship Law - test case for EU?

Raw Story
Sat, 15 Jan 2011 17:32 UTC

Thousands of people protested against Hungary's controversial new media law on Friday, demanding the legislation -- which has come under widespread fire internationally -- be withdrawn.

The rally, organised via online social networks and blogs, was the second such protest to be held in front of the Hungarian parliament in three weeks,

Many of the demontrators had their mouths taped over in protest against what they see as restrictions on media freedom.

Budapest has come under fire from media and rights groups, as well as European governments, for the legislation, which came into force on January 1, just as Hungary took over the presidency of the European Union.

Under the legislation, a new authority -- headed by a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- has the right to impose major fines on media outlets and force journalists to reveal sources on issues related to national security.

Orban and his centre-right government has rejected the criticism, insisting the law conforms to European norms.

Global food chain stretched to the limit

John W. Schoen
MSNBC
Sat, 15 Jan 2011 17:14 UTC

Strained by rising demand and battered by bad weather, the global food supply chain is stretched to the limit, sending prices soaring and sparking concerns about a repeat of food riots last seen three years ago.

Signs of the strain can be found from Australia to Argentina, Canada to Russia. On Friday, Tunisia's president fled the country after trying to quell deadly riots in the North African country by slashing prices on food staples.

"We are entering a danger territory," Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said last week.

The U.N.'s fear is that the latest run-up in food prices could spark a repeat of the deadly food riots that broke out in 2008 in Haiti, Kenya and Somalia. That price spike was relatively short-lived. But Abbassian said the latest surge in food stuffs may be more sustained.

US: Mother Accused of Playing on Facebook While Baby Died

Keith Coffman
Reuters
Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:24 UTC

An American mother who told police her 13-month-old son drowned in the bathtub while she was playing a game on Facebook was charged on Friday with child abuse resulting in death.

Shannon Johnson, 34, of Colorado was advised of the charge against her via a video hookup from the jail where she is being held on a $100,000 bond, said Jennifer Finch, spokeswoman for the Weld County District Attorney's Office.

Johnson requested a public defender during the brief hearing and another hearing was set for later in the month, Finch said.

Under questioning by police after the boy died at a Denver-area hospital last September, Johnson admitted she placed the baby in the bathtub and went into another room to play the Facebook game Cafe World.

She also checked in with friends and watched videos on the site while the boy bathed alone, according to an affidavit filed in the case.