Ramola Talwar Badam , The Associated Press , Mumbai Thu, 11/27/2008 3:57 PM World
Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a crowded train station and a Jewish center, killing at least 101 people and holding Westerners hostage in coordinated attacks on India's commercial center that were blamed on Muslim militants. Dozens of people were still trapped or held captive Thursday.
Police and gunmen were exchanging occasional gunfire at two luxury hotels and dozens of people were believed held hostage or trapped inside the besieged buildings. Pradeep Indulkar, a senior official at the Maharashtra state Home Ministry said 101 people were killed and 314 injured.
Among the dead were at least one Australian, Japanese and British national he said. Officials said eight militants had also been killed in the coordinated attacks on at least 10 sites that began around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Gunmen also seized the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch. Indian commandos surrounded the building Thursday morning and witnesses said gunfire was heard from the building.
Police loudspeakers declared a curfew around Mumbai's landmark Taj Mahal hotel, and black-clad commandos ran into the building as fresh gunshots rang out from the area, apparently the beginning of an assault on gunmen who had taken hostages in the hotel.
Soldiers outside the hotel said forces were moving slowly, from room to room, looking for gunmen and traps. At noon, two bodies covered with white cloth were wheeled out of the entrance and put in ambulances.
A series of explosions had rocked the Taj Mahal just after midnight. Screams were heard and black smoke and flames billowed from the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront. Firefighters sprayed water at the blaze and plucked people from balconies with extension ladders. By dawn, the fire was still burning.
At the nearby upscale Oberoi hoel, soldiers could be seen on the roof of neighboring buildings. A banner hung out of one window read "save us." No one could be seen inside the room from the road.
Officials at Bombay Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans had been admitted, tree of them in critical condition with gunshots. All had come from the Taj Mahal, the officials said.
At least three top Indian police officers - including the chief of the anti-terror squad - were among those killed, said and A.N. Roy, a top police official.
The attackers specifically targeted Britonsand Americans at the hotels and restaurant, witnesses said.
Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi, told Sky News television that a gunman ushered 30 to 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and, speaking in Hindi or Urdu, ordered everyone to put up their hands.
"The were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything - and thank God they didn't," he sid.
Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage.
The motive for the onslaught was not immediately clear, but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, inclding a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.
Mumbai, on the western coast of India overlooking the Arabian Sea, is home to splendid Victorian architecture built during the British Raj and is one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million crammed into shantytowns, highises and crumbling mansions. The Taj Mahal hotel, filled with Oriental carpets, Indian artifacts and alabaster ceilings, overlooks the fabled Gateway of India that commemorated the visit of King George V and Queen Mary.
A spokesman for the Lubavitch movement in New York, Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, said attacers "stormed the Chabad house" in Mumbai.
"It seems that the terrorists commandeered a police vehicle which allowed them easy access to the area of the Chabad house and threw a grenade at a gas pump nearby," he said.
Around 10:30 a.m., three people were led from the building and escorted away by poice: a woman, a child and an Indian cook, said one witness, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said he did not know the status of occupants of the house, which serves as an educational center and a synagogue.
Early Thursday, state Home Secretary Bipin Shrimali said four suspects had been killed in two incidents in Mumbai when they tried to flee in cars, and Roy said four more gunmen were killed at the Taj Mahal. State Home Minister R.R. Patil said nine more were arrested. They declined to provide any further details.
"We're going to catch them dead or alive," Patil told reporters. "An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country."
An Indian media report said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks in e-mails to several media outlets. There was no way to verify that claim.
The state government ordered schools and colleges and the Bombay Stock Exchange closed Thursday.
Police reported hostages being held at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, two of the best-known upscale destinations.
Gunmen who burst into the Taj "were targeting foreigners. They kept shouting: 'Who has U.S. or U.K. passports?"' said Ashok Patel, a British citizen who fled from the hotel.
Authorities believed up to 15 foreigners were hostages at the Taj Mahal hotel, said Anees Ahmed, a top state official.
It was also unclear where the hostages were in the Taj Mahal, which is divided into an older wing that was in flames, and a more modern tower.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said U.S. officials were not aware of any American casualties, but were still checking.
"We condemn these attacks and the loss of innocent life," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Blood smeared the grounds of the 19th century Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station - a beautiful example of Victorian Gothic architecture - where attackers sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal.
Photos in the Mumbai Mirror newspaper showed a young gunman - dressed like a college student in cargo pants and a black T-shirt - walking casually through the station, an assault rifle hanging from one hand and two knapsacks slung over a shoulder.
Nasim Inam, a witness said four of the attackers gunned down scores of commuters. "They just fired randomly at people and then ran away. In seconds, people fell to the ground."
Other gunmen attacked Leopold's restaurant, a landmark popular with foreigners, and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. The restaurant was riddled with bullet holes and there was blood on the floor and shoes left by fleeing customers. Gunmen also attacked Cama and Albless Hospital and G.T. Hospital, though it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed.
Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among those who barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel complex and one of the city's best-known destinations.
"I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside," said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai ahead of a European Union-India summit.
As he turned to get away, "all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction," he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone.
Hours later, Karim remained holed up in a hotel restaurant, unsure if it was safe to come out.
India has been wracked by bomb attacks the past three years, which police blame on Muslim militants intent on destabilizing this largely Hindu country. Nearly 700 people have died.
Since May a militant group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has taken credit for a string of blasts that killed more than 130 people. The most recent was in September, when explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in the capital, New Delhi, killing 21 people and wounding about 100.
Relations between Hindus, who make up more than 80 percent of India's 1 billion population, and Muslims, who make up about 14 percent, have sporadically erupted into bouts of sectarian violence since British-ruled India was split into independent India and Pakistan in 1947.
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fredag 28 november 2008
Indian commandos storm besieged Jewish center
Fri, 11/28/2008 10:37 PM World
Masked Indian commandos dropped from helicopters Friday onto the roof of a Jewish center where suspected Muslim militants were holed up, possibly with hostages, as sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the five-story building.
The assault came as commandos freed several dozen captives — including one clutching a baby_ from the nearby Oberoi hotel as they searched the building for attackers, on the third day since a chain of militant attacks across India's financial capital left at least 119 people dead.
Security officials insisted their operations were almost over.
"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj told reporters.
But less than an hour later, two loud explosions and gunfire rang out at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, which, on Thursday night, authorities had insisted was cleared of gunmen.
The commando attack on the center run by the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch was punctuated by gunshots and explosions from within the building as forces cleared it floor by floor, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
One camouflaged commando came out with a bandage on his forehead, while soldiers fired smoke grenades into the building and a steady stream of gunshots reverberated across the narrow alleys.
Hundreds of onlookers, many with binoculars, crowded onto roofs and in narrow alleys of south Mumbai, trying to catch a glimpse of the dramatic commando assault.
It was not immediately clear if there were hostages in the building or their fate.
At the Oberoi hotel, groups of captives were rushed out and loaded into waiting cars, buses and ambulances.
Among those released were a group of about 20 airline crew members, almost all Westerners.
Several of the rescued airline staff were in Lufthansa and Air France uniforms.
South African state radio reported that seven South African crew members had also been released from the Oberoi. Lufthansa said that all its seven crew members inside have now been rescued.
Among the others rescued from the hotel several clutched passports, including at least two Americans, a Briton, two Japanese nationals and several Indians.
Some carried luggage with Canadian flags, and two women were dressed in black abayas, traditional Muslim women's garments. The group included one man dressed in chef's uniform who was holding a small baby.
Kuwaiti state media said that at least eight Kuwaiti nationals had been released from the hotel.
"I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife," said Mark Abor, with a huge smile on his face after being released from the Oberoi hotel.
Arbor, from Britian had locked himself in his room during the siege. "These people here have been fantastic, the Indian authorities, the hotel staff. I think they are a great advertisement for their country," he said as security officials pulled him away.
It was unclear how many people remained inside.
The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked.
Late Thursday, authorities said they had completed a rescue operation at the Taj Mahal hotel after about 400 people were brought out and officials said it had been cleared of gunmen. But on Friday morning, army commanders said two to three more militants were still inside with about 15 civilians. "We need to get them out of the rooms they have locked themselves into," said Brig. Bobby Mathews.
A few hours after that, Thamburaj, a security official, said at least one gunman was still alive inside the hotel and had cut of electricity on the floor where he was hiding.
Shortly after that announcement, another round of explosions and gunfire was heard inside the building.
State officials said 119 people had died and 288 were injured in the attacks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces" for the violence — a phrase sometimes used to refer to Pakistani militants, whom Indian authorities often blame for attacks.
The gunmen were well-prepared, even carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during the fight. Their main targets appeared to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seemed to be Indians and foreign tourists caught in the random gunfire.
The gunmen — some of whom strode casually through their targets in khakis and T-shirts — clearly came ready for a siege.
"They have AK-47s and grenades. They have bags full of grenades and have come fully prepared," said Maj. Gen. R.K. Hooda.
A U.S. investigative team was heading to Mumbai, a State Department official said Thursday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S. and Indian governments were still working out final details. The official declined to identify which agency or agencies the team members came from.
India has been shaken repeatedly by terror attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent years, but most of them were coordinated bombings striking random crowded places: markets, street corners, parks. Mumbai — one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million people — was hit by a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.
These attacks were more sophisticated — and more brazen.
They began at about 9:20 p.m. with the shooters spraying gunfire across the Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station, one of the world's busiest terminals. For the next two hours, there was an attack roughly every 15 minutes — the Jewish center, a tourist restaurant, one hotel, then another, and two attacks on hospitals. There were 10 targets in all.
Analysts around the world were debating whether the gunmen could have been tied to — or inspired by — al-Qaida.
"It's clear that it is al-Qaida style," but probably not carried out by the group's militants, said Rohan Gunaratna, of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore and author of "Inside Al-Qaida."
Indian media reports said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility in e-mails to several media outlets. The Deccan is a region in southern India that was traditionally ruled by Muslim kings.
Survivors of the hotel attacks said the gunmen had specifically targeted Britons and Americans.
One of the gunmen "stopped once and asked, 'Where are you from? Any British or American? Show your ID," Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen dining at the Oberoi, told reporters.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Relations between Hindus, who make up more than 80 percent of India's 1 billion population, and Muslims, who make up about 14 percent, have sporadically erupted into bouts of sectarian violence since British-ruled India was split into independent India and Pakistan in 1947.
Masked Indian commandos dropped from helicopters Friday onto the roof of a Jewish center where suspected Muslim militants were holed up, possibly with hostages, as sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the five-story building.
The assault came as commandos freed several dozen captives — including one clutching a baby_ from the nearby Oberoi hotel as they searched the building for attackers, on the third day since a chain of militant attacks across India's financial capital left at least 119 people dead.
Security officials insisted their operations were almost over.
"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj told reporters.
But less than an hour later, two loud explosions and gunfire rang out at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, which, on Thursday night, authorities had insisted was cleared of gunmen.
The commando attack on the center run by the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch was punctuated by gunshots and explosions from within the building as forces cleared it floor by floor, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
One camouflaged commando came out with a bandage on his forehead, while soldiers fired smoke grenades into the building and a steady stream of gunshots reverberated across the narrow alleys.
Hundreds of onlookers, many with binoculars, crowded onto roofs and in narrow alleys of south Mumbai, trying to catch a glimpse of the dramatic commando assault.
It was not immediately clear if there were hostages in the building or their fate.
At the Oberoi hotel, groups of captives were rushed out and loaded into waiting cars, buses and ambulances.
Among those released were a group of about 20 airline crew members, almost all Westerners.
Several of the rescued airline staff were in Lufthansa and Air France uniforms.
South African state radio reported that seven South African crew members had also been released from the Oberoi. Lufthansa said that all its seven crew members inside have now been rescued.
Among the others rescued from the hotel several clutched passports, including at least two Americans, a Briton, two Japanese nationals and several Indians.
Some carried luggage with Canadian flags, and two women were dressed in black abayas, traditional Muslim women's garments. The group included one man dressed in chef's uniform who was holding a small baby.
Kuwaiti state media said that at least eight Kuwaiti nationals had been released from the hotel.
"I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife," said Mark Abor, with a huge smile on his face after being released from the Oberoi hotel.
Arbor, from Britian had locked himself in his room during the siege. "These people here have been fantastic, the Indian authorities, the hotel staff. I think they are a great advertisement for their country," he said as security officials pulled him away.
It was unclear how many people remained inside.
The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked.
Late Thursday, authorities said they had completed a rescue operation at the Taj Mahal hotel after about 400 people were brought out and officials said it had been cleared of gunmen. But on Friday morning, army commanders said two to three more militants were still inside with about 15 civilians. "We need to get them out of the rooms they have locked themselves into," said Brig. Bobby Mathews.
A few hours after that, Thamburaj, a security official, said at least one gunman was still alive inside the hotel and had cut of electricity on the floor where he was hiding.
Shortly after that announcement, another round of explosions and gunfire was heard inside the building.
State officials said 119 people had died and 288 were injured in the attacks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces" for the violence — a phrase sometimes used to refer to Pakistani militants, whom Indian authorities often blame for attacks.
The gunmen were well-prepared, even carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during the fight. Their main targets appeared to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seemed to be Indians and foreign tourists caught in the random gunfire.
The gunmen — some of whom strode casually through their targets in khakis and T-shirts — clearly came ready for a siege.
"They have AK-47s and grenades. They have bags full of grenades and have come fully prepared," said Maj. Gen. R.K. Hooda.
A U.S. investigative team was heading to Mumbai, a State Department official said Thursday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S. and Indian governments were still working out final details. The official declined to identify which agency or agencies the team members came from.
India has been shaken repeatedly by terror attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent years, but most of them were coordinated bombings striking random crowded places: markets, street corners, parks. Mumbai — one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million people — was hit by a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.
These attacks were more sophisticated — and more brazen.
They began at about 9:20 p.m. with the shooters spraying gunfire across the Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station, one of the world's busiest terminals. For the next two hours, there was an attack roughly every 15 minutes — the Jewish center, a tourist restaurant, one hotel, then another, and two attacks on hospitals. There were 10 targets in all.
Analysts around the world were debating whether the gunmen could have been tied to — or inspired by — al-Qaida.
"It's clear that it is al-Qaida style," but probably not carried out by the group's militants, said Rohan Gunaratna, of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore and author of "Inside Al-Qaida."
Indian media reports said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility in e-mails to several media outlets. The Deccan is a region in southern India that was traditionally ruled by Muslim kings.
Survivors of the hotel attacks said the gunmen had specifically targeted Britons and Americans.
One of the gunmen "stopped once and asked, 'Where are you from? Any British or American? Show your ID," Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen dining at the Oberoi, told reporters.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Relations between Hindus, who make up more than 80 percent of India's 1 billion population, and Muslims, who make up about 14 percent, have sporadically erupted into bouts of sectarian violence since British-ruled India was split into independent India and Pakistan in 1947.
lördag 22 november 2008
Space tourist Simonyi returns
KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) — An American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to outer space returned to Earth on Saturday in a space capsule that also carried a cosmonaut and an American astronaut, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe.
The capsule carrying Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software engineer who helped develop Microsoft Word and Excel, arrived after a more than three-hour return trip from the orbital station, a spokesman said at Mission Control outside Moscow, describing the touchdown as a "soft landing."
Simonyi looked ecstatic after rescuers removed him from the capsule, which lay askew on the bleak grassland. He smiled and grinned as he spoke with the support crew.
Also on the return journey were Mikhail Tyurin and Michael Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months on the international space station.
Tyurin looked pale and tired, but managed a smile in a video link with Mission Control. Lopez-Alegria, the last out of the capsule, sighed with relief.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Earth Moscow Kazakhstan Martha Stewart Microsoft Word Nicholas Baikonur Mir Dennis Tito Michael Lopez-Alegria Fyodor Yurchikhin Russian Mission Control Oleg Kotov Space Adventures Gregory Olsen Microsoft Excel Mikhail Tyurin Anousheh Ansari Charles Simonyi Mark Shuttleworth Russian-leased Daria Soyuz TMA-9
The capsule raced down to Earth after separating from the two other sections of the Soyuz TMA-9 craft following its departure from the station, where one of the final tasks the travelers performed was to move containers with biological experiments from refrigerators on the station into the Soyuz.
"I crossed my fingers all the way, and I am very happy now," Simonyi's brother Tamas said at Mission Control. "Yes, I was nervous, but now it's a big relief to know that he's safe and sound and that the crew is safe and sound."
Simonyi arrived at the station on April 9 — also courtesy of a Soyuz, which flew into space atop a Russian rocket launched from the Russian-leased launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan — along with cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who remained on the station.
Wiping tears from her eyes with a tissue, Lopez-Alegria's wife, Daria, said she was not nervous "until the last minute."
"He missed him much more," she said, pointing to their 7-year old son Nicholas.
Simonyi, 58, amassed the fortune that made his $25 million voyage possible through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
He is also associated with another major American household name: Martha Stewart.
Simonyi was seen off at Baikonur by Stewart, who is a friend, and who also watched the Soyuz dock from Russian Mission Control outside Moscow and spoke to him during a video linkup after he boarded the station. U.S.-based Space Adventures Ltd., which arranged Simonyi's trip, had said Stewart would not be at the site in Kazakhstan or at Mission Control for the landing.
The capsule was initially to return a day earlier, but spring floodwaters in the usual landing area forced space officials to postpone the arrival and use a reserve landing site.
Simonyi followed in the footsteps of Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari — all "space flight participants" who have traveled to the international space station aboard Russian rockets in trips brokered by Space Adventures.
Briton Helen Sharman in 1991 took a trip to the Soviet station Mir that she won through a contest, and a Japanese journalist traveled to Mir in 1990 with a ticket that reportedly cost $12 million.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The capsule carrying Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software engineer who helped develop Microsoft Word and Excel, arrived after a more than three-hour return trip from the orbital station, a spokesman said at Mission Control outside Moscow, describing the touchdown as a "soft landing."
Simonyi looked ecstatic after rescuers removed him from the capsule, which lay askew on the bleak grassland. He smiled and grinned as he spoke with the support crew.
Also on the return journey were Mikhail Tyurin and Michael Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months on the international space station.
Tyurin looked pale and tired, but managed a smile in a video link with Mission Control. Lopez-Alegria, the last out of the capsule, sighed with relief.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Earth Moscow Kazakhstan Martha Stewart Microsoft Word Nicholas Baikonur Mir Dennis Tito Michael Lopez-Alegria Fyodor Yurchikhin Russian Mission Control Oleg Kotov Space Adventures Gregory Olsen Microsoft Excel Mikhail Tyurin Anousheh Ansari Charles Simonyi Mark Shuttleworth Russian-leased Daria Soyuz TMA-9
The capsule raced down to Earth after separating from the two other sections of the Soyuz TMA-9 craft following its departure from the station, where one of the final tasks the travelers performed was to move containers with biological experiments from refrigerators on the station into the Soyuz.
"I crossed my fingers all the way, and I am very happy now," Simonyi's brother Tamas said at Mission Control. "Yes, I was nervous, but now it's a big relief to know that he's safe and sound and that the crew is safe and sound."
Simonyi arrived at the station on April 9 — also courtesy of a Soyuz, which flew into space atop a Russian rocket launched from the Russian-leased launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan — along with cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who remained on the station.
Wiping tears from her eyes with a tissue, Lopez-Alegria's wife, Daria, said she was not nervous "until the last minute."
"He missed him much more," she said, pointing to their 7-year old son Nicholas.
Simonyi, 58, amassed the fortune that made his $25 million voyage possible through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
He is also associated with another major American household name: Martha Stewart.
Simonyi was seen off at Baikonur by Stewart, who is a friend, and who also watched the Soyuz dock from Russian Mission Control outside Moscow and spoke to him during a video linkup after he boarded the station. U.S.-based Space Adventures Ltd., which arranged Simonyi's trip, had said Stewart would not be at the site in Kazakhstan or at Mission Control for the landing.
The capsule was initially to return a day earlier, but spring floodwaters in the usual landing area forced space officials to postpone the arrival and use a reserve landing site.
Simonyi followed in the footsteps of Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari — all "space flight participants" who have traveled to the international space station aboard Russian rockets in trips brokered by Space Adventures.
Briton Helen Sharman in 1991 took a trip to the Soviet station Mir that she won through a contest, and a Japanese journalist traveled to Mir in 1990 with a ticket that reportedly cost $12 million.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated document.write(niceDate('4/22/2007 4:53 AM')); 4/22/2007 4:53 AM
Hollywood actors guild to seek strike
The Associated Press , Los Angeles Sat, 11/22/2008 6:54 PM Life The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.The guild said it adjourned talks overnight with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after two marathon sessions with federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez.SAG - representing more than 120,000 actors in movies, television and other media - said in a statement it would launch a "full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization.""We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement," the statement said. "Now it's time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them."The statement did not specify what led to the impasse, saying only that "management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept." A SAG spokeswoman said she would not comment further. A call to the movie producers group, known as the AMPTP, was not immediately returned.SAG's national board has already authorized its negotiating committee to call for a strike authorization vote if mediation failed. The vote would take more than a month and require more than 75 percent approval to pass.SAG is seeking union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productions replayed online, as well as continued actor protections during work stoppagesBut the studio alliance said it was untenable for SAG to demand a better deal than what writers, directors and another actors union accepted earlier in the year, especially now that the economy has worsened.Earlier this week, the producers' group said it had reached its sixth labor deal this year, a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the local branches of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts, accounting for 35,000 workers.The stagehands alliance accepted Internet provisions that were modeled on agreements with other unions, the producers group said.Actors in prime-time television shows and movies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, with the hope of avoiding a repeat of the 100-day writers strike which shut down production of dozens of TV shows and cost the Los Angeles area economy an estimated $2.5 billion.
Israel to free 250 prisoners before Muslim holiday
The Associated Press , Nablus Sat, 11/22/2008 7:31 PM World Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Israel will free hundreds of prisoners as a goodwill gesture before an upcoming Muslim holiday.Abas said at a conference in the northern West Bank town of Nablus on Saturday that Israel will release 250 prisoners before Eid al-Adha, an important Muslim holiday.The holiday is expected to take place on Dec. 8. Muslims follow a lunar calendar, and the expected date of religious holidays can vary slightly.Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he'd release the prisoners.A spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister says Olmert is expected to set a release date after he meets with Abbas again.The issue of thousands of prisoners are in Israeli jails is extremely sensitive for Palestinians.
Yudhoyono : RI, Brazil should help solve global problems
Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:05 WIB
WASPADA ONLINEBRASILIA - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said that Indonesia and Brazil need to develop the potentials they have in common in order to contribute to the solution of global problems such as the present world financial crisis. "Indonesia and Brazil are not merely a natural partner but also a partner in seeking for important contributions and solutions to global issues," the president said after a bilateral meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, here on Wednesday. After the bilateral meeting, the relevant ministers of the two countries signed several memorandums of understanding (MoU) in the framework of a strategic partnership cooperation agreed earlier. The MoUs among other things contained agreements to cooperate in the fields of energy, agriculture and poverty eradication. The president said that the partnership cooperation would further step up meaningful relations and cooperation in various fields particularly in the current global financial crisis. "This endeavor is increasingly important amid the global financial crisis which needs our common efforts to overcome it. I see the need for us to unite our respective potentials, excellence and experience," Yudhoyono said. He said that Indonesia and Brazil as a country with big agricultural potentials could exchange and complement their respective products. The president said that the two-way trade between the two countries in the last nine months reached US$1.7 billion and needed to be further increased. In the meantime, President Lula also hoped that the trade volumes of the two nations would be increased in order to improve the welfare of both nations. President Lula said that the trade volumes of the two states were recorded at US$1.5 billion in 2007. This year it was expected to reach UA$2 billion and US$3 billion next year.(ann)
WASPADA ONLINEBRASILIA - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said that Indonesia and Brazil need to develop the potentials they have in common in order to contribute to the solution of global problems such as the present world financial crisis. "Indonesia and Brazil are not merely a natural partner but also a partner in seeking for important contributions and solutions to global issues," the president said after a bilateral meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, here on Wednesday. After the bilateral meeting, the relevant ministers of the two countries signed several memorandums of understanding (MoU) in the framework of a strategic partnership cooperation agreed earlier. The MoUs among other things contained agreements to cooperate in the fields of energy, agriculture and poverty eradication. The president said that the partnership cooperation would further step up meaningful relations and cooperation in various fields particularly in the current global financial crisis. "This endeavor is increasingly important amid the global financial crisis which needs our common efforts to overcome it. I see the need for us to unite our respective potentials, excellence and experience," Yudhoyono said. He said that Indonesia and Brazil as a country with big agricultural potentials could exchange and complement their respective products. The president said that the two-way trade between the two countries in the last nine months reached US$1.7 billion and needed to be further increased. In the meantime, President Lula also hoped that the trade volumes of the two nations would be increased in order to improve the welfare of both nations. President Lula said that the trade volumes of the two states were recorded at US$1.5 billion in 2007. This year it was expected to reach UA$2 billion and US$3 billion next year.(ann)
lördag 15 november 2008
Indonesia to buy 6 jet fighters, 18 armored vehicles from Russia
Friday, 14 November 2008 19:16 WIB
WASPADA ONLINEMOSCOW - Rosoboronexport has signed deals to sell six Su-30 Flanker-C jet fighters and 18 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles to Indonesia, an official at Russia`s arms export monopoly said on Wednesday.Nikolai Dimidyuk, Rosoboronexport`s special programs director, said Indonesia could also buy other Russian warplanes as well as Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters."Indonesia is still very interested in Russian fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft," he told Ria Novosti.He expressed confidence the Russian Finance Ministry would soon approve a $1 billion loan for Indonesia. "We are sure that this loan will be used to buy arms," Dimidyuk said. He added that Indonesia had asked Russia to modernize its Soviet-era weapons and equipment. "All of their Soviet-made weapons are obsolete," he said.(lnd/ann)
WASPADA ONLINEMOSCOW - Rosoboronexport has signed deals to sell six Su-30 Flanker-C jet fighters and 18 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles to Indonesia, an official at Russia`s arms export monopoly said on Wednesday.Nikolai Dimidyuk, Rosoboronexport`s special programs director, said Indonesia could also buy other Russian warplanes as well as Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters."Indonesia is still very interested in Russian fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft," he told Ria Novosti.He expressed confidence the Russian Finance Ministry would soon approve a $1 billion loan for Indonesia. "We are sure that this loan will be used to buy arms," Dimidyuk said. He added that Indonesia had asked Russia to modernize its Soviet-era weapons and equipment. "All of their Soviet-made weapons are obsolete," he said.(lnd/ann)
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