April Ausência - or Allo Allotropy...
Amusing, is it not,
that, quite recently,
when asked about
what favorite TV shows
I held dear to my heart,
out of the deepest
reaches of memory
came surging back
the British sitcom
"Allo, Allo"
Most of the cast
of Allo, Allo
might be dead now
A quick search on
IMDB.COM
should let us know...
That is not, of course,
the true subject
this month...
Merely a preamble to it,
as an explanation
for the alliterative title
of this month's post...
Followed by the round-up
- as usual...
First things first though:
APRIL = AUSÊNCIA
to me, now,
because this month
means a lot of things
ever since
a certain event...
Two years ago,
on this month,
as the purported to be soft
rains of April
swoop down my visage,
I attended the funeral
I knew to be inevitable
and wished never to see
become the sad reality.
April is, thus, Ausência.
Ausência, meaning
the absence of someone;
someone near and dear,
someone we always had there
or thought we always would
have, right there...
ALLO ALLOTROPY...
Because, now,
in "death"
the dear one exists
in more than one form;
his soul soared
into the starry ways
as his corporeal self
was buried into the ground.
Memories of the dear one
represent another form.
As will any photographs,
footage on celluloid,
or video film
or digital pictures...
True allotropy -
and real ubiquity too.
May all your dear ones
live on the same way
as mine.
+++
And be grateful that I resisted temptation
and did not go with "April Fools' Exits" instead
as a title for this month's compilation!
I keep my sarcastic streak in check
- more often than not.
Especially this month:
when the ausência hits home
and even an old favorite
like Charlton Heston
Moses/Ben Hur/Omega Man himself
passes away as well...
Labels: B.H. Gottehrer, Beulah Work, Charlton Heston, J.D. Chamberlain, Nicole Waring, Seal hunters, Sri Lanka
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 5:56 PM
38 comments
38 Comments:
Hollywood legend Charlton Heston dead at 84
12 minutes ago (April 5th, 2008)
By Bob Thomas, The Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES - Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.
The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.
Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.
Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."
With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past. "I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.
The actor assumed the role of leader off screen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.
In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."
Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were "quite a ride. ... I loved every minute of it."
That same year, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour. "The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life," U.S. President Bush said at the time.
He engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter's tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.
As I commented on John Scalzi's Whatever...
Charlton Heston
My father's all-time favorite actor - and mine as well, by default.
I believe that we have lost another irreplaceable one now.
In his filmography here, they mercifully leave out his cameos in that Wayne's World film as well as the POTA remake...
Not so with Beneath the Planet of the Apes - his role there was essentially a cameo as well, which certainly elevated the film, but one cannot outright say the same thing about that cameo as the other two there: they were the best thing about the above-mentioned films while Mr. Heston's cameo in BTPOTA was an extra. James Franciscus starred in it and wasn't that bad. He was good enough to have a cameo in the POTA remake - but didn't, somehow...
Charlton Heston was as generous a "big star" as they come. He helped out so many projects with his mere collaboration to them. And he was one of those "activist-stars" - which is more reason to admire him, if you ask me.
I hope that, now, up there, my Dad gets to meet his favorite actor - at last.
Hey, if Moses/Ben Hur doesn't go straight to Heaven, nobody will henceforth.
1 dead, dozens hurt after bus full of students overturns on Minnesota highway
April 5, 2008 - 14:56
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBERTVILLE, Minn. - A student has been killed and dozens of other people are reported injured in a bus crash in Minnesota.
Officials say the bus was carrying students and their chaperones home from a band trip to Chicago.
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State police say the bus was travelling west on Interstate 94 when it rolled around 5:48 a.m. and slid into a ditch.
State Patrol dispatcher Tom Aspling says 47 people were on board.
Many were taken to area hospitals and at least one student, a girl, is reported in critical condition.
A website belonging to Pelican Rapids High School in western Minnesota says they bus was one of two carrying students from the school.
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Mourners pay final respects to sealers
Last Updated: Saturday, April 5, 2008 | 12:15 PM AT Comments24Recommend30
CBC News
Bells tolled as thousands of people packed a white church in the Îles de la Madeleine, Que., on Saturday for the funerals of three sealers who died last week.
====================================================
The casket of seal hunter Marc-André Déraspe is carried from church by his hockey teammates after Saturday's funeral services for him, Bruno Bourque and Gilles Leblanc in Cap-aux-Meules in Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec. The casket of seal hunter Marc-André Déraspe is carried from church by his hockey teammates after Saturday's funeral services for him, Bruno Bourque and Gilles Leblanc in Cap-aux-Meules in Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
=======================================================
Their disabled trawler, L'Acadien II, was being towed by a coast guard icebreaker when it hit a block of ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and capsized. The bodies of Capt. Bruno Bourque, Gilles Leblanc and Marc-André Déraspe were recovered. A fourth sealer, Carl Aucoin, is missing and presumed dead. His family will hold a funeral at a later date.
Two other crew members from the 12-metre-long vessel survived.
There were lineups early Saturday afternoon outside the Saint-Pierre de Lavernière church, where friends and family members gathered to mourn the dead sealers.
Bourque's daughter Audrey called her father a "hero," while Leblanc's sister Carmen said her brother was "the captain of our family."
Mourners clapped as a sealskin was placed over one of the coffins as a show of pride in the men's profession.
"Sometimes the sea gives us food, but another time the same sea takes our men," said Rev. Mario Doyle.
Îles-de-la-Madeleine Mayor Joel Arseneau said while the week has been an emotional roller-coaster, the funerals mark the start of a long healing process.
"Well today it's sad, but at the same time, it's like life is still there and that's what we saw in the service," he said. "Life will go on and people will never forget this emotional week. Now it's part of our history, part of our identity."
All six crew members are from the Îles de la Madeleine, a chain of islands that are part of Quebec and home to about 13,000 people.
Several questions have been raised about the accident. Witnesses and survivors have said that there was no one on the icebreaker's deck monitoring as the L'Acadien II ran into trouble.
On Friday, Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn announced that retired navy rear admiral Roger Girouard will be in charge of an investigation into the accident.
The investigation will look into coast guard policies and work practices, particularly as they relate to towing.
Girouard is expected to present his final report to Hearn and the commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard in the fall. It will then be released to the families of those involved and, finally, the public.
With files from the Canadian Press
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A quote, before any comments...
The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller
Indeed, the seal hunters are neither heroes, as the first commenter below points out, nor even the true definition of what a "honest worker" should be - because killing in a very inhumane way as they did for a living, no matter what their financial situations were, cannot be "honest"... When it is inhumane and amoral.
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Hmmmmm.... wrote:
Posted 2008/04/05 at 11:22 PM ET
This is a tragedy for the families involved, but these men were certainly not heroes.
My condolences.
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kester wrote:Posted 2008/04/05 at 11:16 PM ET
I believe there is no reason in a country such as Canada to force men and women into dangerous conditions to sustain the livelihood of their families.
The seal hunt is not humane, it is not humane to the animals that are killed with cruel barbaric methods. It is also inhumane to see fishermen force to participate in this to earn money. Especially when this is only possible with government subsidy. Let's think about it for a while.... Couldn't the government be more creative and fund another type of industry to give these communities a steady source of income that did not involve dangerous conditions, large sums of money to ensure their security by ice breakers and would avoid numerous innocent animals brutally killed each year? Does the world is in an absolute necessity of seal by-products? Couldn't we learn to live without it? Couldn't we find a better way to provide for these communities? In our 21st century, why do we still have to think like the middle ages?
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Rory C urrie wrote:Posted 2008/04/05 at 9:36 PM ET
Swamprat,
The reason why the seal hunt is bad is beucause the pups are cute and may resemble a dog? Thats no reason. A reason would be more along the lines of like: they are under-populated, its a slow death, its having a drastic impact on the local foodchain
etc...
What I don't get is that millions of livestock and poultry are killed every year and yet the seals seem to recieve the most media coverage. The difference that I can tell so far is that seals are cute and all the other species we kill are not.
OK, clubbing puppies. Sounds harsh but millions of spring lambs are sluaghtered every year. Although I haven't study the situation, I wonder if the reason why the seal hunt is sanctioned, its becaues it searves as population control.
How do I feel? Amoral I guess. IF there are no real consequences to the seal hunt (such as the reasons listed above), then why do people get so up in arms? Why don't the bear, lobster, moose hunts get as much heat as the seal hunt? So, unless you name REAL reasons why the seal hunt is bad, I'll remain indifferent.
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swamprat wrote:Posted 2008/04/05
at 8:54 PM ET
Has anyone ever watched this. If you have I shred of humanity in you, it will make you physically sick. Of course, I'm thinking of people who having watched puppies being clubbed to death, have a problem.
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swamprat wrote:Posted 2008/04/05 at 8:41 PM ET
Rory C Urrie
Watch a 2 minute film. Imagine your favourite baby dog about 1 month old lying there helpless. Then imagine that baby dog looking up at you with its big brown eyes. The imagine yourself hitting that baby puppy in the head with an axe.
How are you feeling, so far?
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No further comment -
except for: "R.I.P."
Two things I never liked: the bus, on the interstate or any highway for that matter - and Mississauga. Okay, that might be 3 or 4 things in fact - but anyway... My point is: I always felt uneasy around ALL of those (much more so when they were somehow COMBINED...)
But I survived them all, to this day, so far...
Others were not so fortunate -
and here are a few of those unfortunate ones:
Student dead, dozens hurt after bus overturns on Interstate
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April 05, 2008
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBERTVILLE, Minn. - A student has been killed and dozens of other people are reported injured in a bus crash in Minnesota.
Officials say the bus was carrying students and their chaperones home from a band trip to Chicago.
State police say the bus was travelling west on Interstate 94 when it rolled around 5:48 a.m. and slid into a ditch.
State Patrol dispatcher Tom Aspling says 47 people were on board.
Many were taken to area hospitals and at least one student, a girl, is reported in critical condition.
A website belonging to Pelican Rapids High School in western Minnesota says they bus was one of two carrying students from the school.
Police investigate murder at Mississauga strip club
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April 05, 2008
THE CANADIAN PRESS
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Peel Police are looking into the death of a 19-year-old man who was found behind a Mississauga, Ont., strip club.
Officers say the man was found with stab wounds in the rear parking lot of Kennedy's club around 2 a.m. Saturday.
CITY TV says he is a resident of Brampton, Ont.
He was taken to hospital for treatment, where police say he died from his wounds.
The murder is Peel Region's eighth of the year.
Police say they're canvassing the area, which is just north of Highway 401 and Highway 410, in the hopes of finding witnesses.
When even politicians are not safe - we know that we're ALL in danger...
Minister among 12 killed in Sri Lanka suicide blast: official
41 minutes ago
COLOMBO (AFP) - A senior Sri Lankan government minister and 11 others were killed and more than 90 people wounded Sunday in a powerful suicide bomb attack outside the capital, the defence ministry said.
The blast occurred as highways minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle launched festivities to mark next week's traditional New Year, the ministry said.
"According to latest reports received, at least 12 people were killed and over 90 injured in the explosion," the ministry said in a statement.
Among the others killed were former national athletes and the country's top athletics coach Lakshman de Alwis, police said.
Heavy fighting kills 43 in Sri Lanka: defence ministry
Wed Apr 2, 10:34 AM
COLOMBO (AFP) - Government troops Wednesday captured a strip of land from Tamil Tigers after heavy fighting across the island's north left 42 rebels and a soldier dead, the defence ministry said.
Security forces killed the guerrillas from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in separate clashes in the Mannar, Weli Oya and Jaffna district since Tuesday evening, the ministry said.
It said the air force carried out attacks against suspected Tamil Tiger targets on Tuesday, but did not give details of casualties or damage.
However, it said troops wrested control over an area known as Kallaiadanchan in the coastal Mannar district early Wednesday.
There was no immediate word from the Tigers.
In another development, two civilians were shot dead by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the Wilpattu wildlife park on Wednesday, the ministry said. The motive for the killing was not clear.
The latest casualty claims brings to at least 2,562 the number of rebels said to have been killed by security forces since January, according to defence ministry data.
The ministry has reported losing 152 of its soldiers in the same period.
Casualty figures given by both sides in the decades-old ethnic conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives cannot be independently confirmed as journalists and rights groups are barred from front-line areas.
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Wis. house fire kills 3 college students
By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 5, 7:31 PM ET
MENOMONIE, Wis. - A smoky house fire near a University of Wisconsin campus killed three students who never made it out of the rooms where they were sleeping early Saturday, even though neighbors said they heard alarms.
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Rescuers found two women and a man in three second-floor bedrooms near the University of Wisconsin-Stout. All three were pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said.
The smoke detectors were working, and neighbors called police when they heard the alarms, said Menomonie Police Chief Dennis Beety. Police don't know why the three victims didn't wake up and leave, and it was unclear whether alcohol was a factor.
"There was a bottle of alcohol and the top was off of it," Beety said. "But that's no indication they were drinking at the time."
The cause of the fire was still being investigated Saturday.
The university identified the victims as April C. Englund, 21, of West St. Paul, Minn.; Amanda Jean Rief, 20, of Chaska, Minn.; and Scott A. Hams, 23, of Hayward. All three appeared to have died of smoke inhalation, said Menomonie police Lt. Wendy Stelter. There were no obvious signs of foul play.
"It's a tragedy that no campus prepares for," Chancellor Charles Sorensen said. "We'll grieve in this together."
Emergency workers arrived shortly after a call made about 3:30 a.m. to find smoke coming from the basement, first floor and second floor of the duplex, university spokesman Doug Mell said.
Beety, the police chief, said an officer entered the building but couldn't get to the second floor because of the heavy smoke.
Firefighters used thermal imaging to find the victims, said Fire Chief Jack Baus.
Englund was the only victim who lived in the front unit of the white house, in a row of well-kept properties blocks away from campus. Rief and Hams were sleeping over because Englund's roommates had left town, Englund's father and authorities said. All occupants of the back unit were able to escape.
Students and neighbors on Saturday quietly walked over to the police tape that blocked off the street.
"It's pretty scary," said Erik Vilstrup, 23, as he smoked a cigarette and gazed at the house, which was missing windows and had a hole in the roof. The smell of smoke and charred wood still lingered.
University counselors were on hand to help students, and the school encouraged students to call their families. Pictures of the students were posted on a wall in a campus building, along with markers and paper where students left notes such as "You will be missed" or "RIP."
Hams had his own Web page with pictures of him water skiing, doing stunts with a motocross dirt bike and flying a small airplane. He said he liked snowboarding, wakeboarding and skateboarding.
"I can't believe it's real," said his father, Allen Hams. "I know there's a reason. God's got a plan. He's such a good kid; he'd do anything for anybody."
Scott Hams was to graduate in May with a degree in business administration with an emphasis on risk control, and he had an internship lined up, his father said.
Hams, who has a 14-year-old brother, lost his mother to cancer three years ago.
"The police came over with the pastor and I said, 'What's going on here?'" Hams said. "They told me to sit down, and then we all had a good cry together."
Englund, a senior, was majoring in retail merchandising with a minor in business. Bill Englund said his daughter had worked at a women's clothing store for five years.
"She loved it. She loved fashion, colors, design," Englund said. "She studied to do that. She was already promised a job when she graduated next year."
One of the family's highlights every year was a canoe trip that included her 80-year-old grandmother.
"She looked forward to that every year, being with family, being out in the woods," Englund said. "She was a city girl otherwise."
Rief was a sophomore majoring in business administration. She worked at the front desk in a dorm, said her boss, Allison Shuldhiess, also a UW-Stout student.
"She was very friendly and good at her job," Shuldhiess said. "She was very helpful, and she didn't complain about work."
The school of 8,400 students is about 70 miles east of Minneapolis.
___
Associated Press writer Colin Fly in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
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R.I.P.
Former Lindsay aide Gottehrer dead at 73
WILMINGTON, N.C., April 13 (UPI) --
Journalist Barry H. Gottehrer, who served on former New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay's staff, has died in Wilmington, N.C., at the age of 73.
Gottehrer, who helped Lindsay into office with his "City in Crisis" newspaper series, died of pancreatic cancer near his home Friday,The New York Times reported Sunday.
Gotterhrer's famed series of articles began with line "New York is the greatest city in the world -- and everything is wrong with it."
The series eventually caught the attention of Lindsay, who used it in his successful campaign for the mayor's office, the Times said.
Hired as a mayoral assistant by Lindsay, Gottehrer organized neighborhood watch groups called Urban Action Task Forces and helped keep racial tensions at a minimum.
The Times said Gottehrer is survived by his wife Patricia, three children and two grandchildren.
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NAACP official Work dead at 94
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., April 13 (UPI) --
Beulah Work, whose work with the Detroit branch of the NAACP helped the drive for equal voting rights, has died in Southfield, Mich., at the age of 94.
Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who worked with Work in the NAACP branch, called her a "role model" when it came to pushing for African-Americans' right to vote, The Detroit News reported Sunday.
"She was our role model of role models," Watson said. "She told us what she thought."
In a 2000 tribute at the Lewis College of Business, Work detailed how she was motivated by her activist grandfather's near-death experience with a Ku Klux Klan mob in Kentucky.
"Because of the strength and courage of my grandfather, my family has always believed in upholding our right to self-determination, dignity, education, the vote and justice," Work said. "And I will uphold those principles all of the days of my life."
The newspaper said Work, who died last Wednesday of unspecified causes, is survived by her sister, Dorothy White, and several nephews, nieces and cousins.
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67 bodies secretly exhumed from NM grave
By MELANIE DABOVICH,
Associated Press writer
Tue Apr 8, 6:30 PM ET
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Working in secret, federal archaeologists have dug up the remains of dozens of soldiers and children near a Civil War-era fort after an informant tipped them off about widespread grave-looting.
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The exhumations, conducted from August to October, removed 67 skeletons from the parched desert soil around Fort Craig — 39 men, two women and 26 infants and children, according to two federal archaeologists who helped with the dig.
They also found scores of empty graves and determined 20 had been looted.
The government kept its exhumation of the unmarked cemetery near the historic New Mexico fort out of the public's eye for months to prevent more thefts.
The investigation began with a tip about an amateur historian who had displayed the mummified remains of a black soldier, draped in a Civil War-era uniform, in his house.
Investigators say the historian, Dee Brecheisen, may have been a prolific looter who spotted historical sites from his plane. Brecheisen died in 2004 and although it was not clear whether the looting continued after his death, authorities exhumed the unprotected site to prevent future thefts.
"As an archaeologist, you want to leave a site in place for preservation ... but we couldn't do that because it could be looted again," Jeffery Hanson, of the Bureau of Reclamation, told The Associated Press.
The remains are being studied by Bureau of Reclamation scientists, who are piecing together information on their identities. They will eventually be reburied at other national cemeteries.
Most of the men are believed to have been soldiers — Fort Craig protected settlers in the West from American Indian raids and played a role in the Civil War. Union troops stationed there fought the Confederacy as it moved into New Mexico from Texas in 1862.
The children buried there may have been local residents treated by doctors at the former frontier outpost, officials said.
Federal officials learned of the looting in November 2004, when Don Alberts, a retired historian for Kirtland Air Force Base, tipped them off about a macabre possession he'd seen at Brecheisen's home about 30 years earlier.
Alberts described seeing the mummified remains of a black soldier with patches of brown flesh clinging to facial bones and curly hair on top of its skull. Alberts said the body had come from Fort Craig.
"The first thing we did was laughed because who would believe such a story," Hanson said. "But then we quickly decided we better go down and check it out."
Weeks later, Hanson and fellow archaeologist Mark Hungerford surveyed the cemetery site and found numerous holes — evidence of unauthorized digging.
While records show the cemetery had been disinterred twice by the Army in the late 1800s, it wasn't known how many bodies remained. Hanson said ground-penetrating radar revealed the Army left behind about one-third of the bodies.
A lack of funding and various federal procedures delayed the excavation until last summer.
Brecheisen's son told authorities where the mummified remains from his father's home were, and a person who hasn't been publicly identified handed over a more-than-century-old skull packaged in a brown paper bag. Alberts said that skull, which still had hair attached, was the one he'd seen years earlier.
Authorities also found some Civil War and American Indian artifacts in Brecheisen's home, but the display rooms that showcased Brecheisen's collections had already been emptied out and auctioned off by his family after his death, Hanson said.
Investigators believe Brecheisen did most of his looting alone, but they also know he dug with close friends and family at the Fort Craig site. Some who accompanied him led authorities to the grave sites, Hanson said.
Brecheisen was a decorated Vietnam veteran and flew for the Air National Guard during a 26-year military career. His family described him as "one of the state's foremost preservationists of historical facts and sites" in his obituary.
Those close to Brecheisen said his looting may have been motivated by anger toward the Bureau of Land Management, but no further details were available. Alberts described him as a collector; it wasn't clear whether Brecheisen sold any of the items.
Investigators believe he also dug up grave sites in Fort Thorn and Fort Conrad in southern New Mexico as well as prehistoric American Indian burial sites in the Four Corners region.
Hungerford said they also believe he may have taken the Fort Craig burial plot map, which is missing from the National Archives.
The criminal case against Brecheisen was closed upon his death and there are no plans to investigate his family members, assistant U.S. Attorney Mary McCulloch said.
Alberts said he asked Brecheisen to come clean.
"I had urged him to simply return the remains, about 10, 15 years before he got ill. I offered to act as an honest broker to the deal and see that they were returned, but I didn't get a response," Alberts said. "I didn't want to get a friend in trouble."
He added: "But you look back and think you would have done everything differently if you would have known everything was going to disappear."
Police: Vermont woman drowns self, child
By LISA RATHKE,
Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 26 minutes ago
WARDSBORO, Vt. - A woman waded into a brook carrying her 6-year-old daughter and purposely eluded the grasp of a police officer attempting to rescue her before being swept downstream, police said Sunday.
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Both Nicole Waring and the child died, and a search continued Sunday for Waring's 2 1/2-year-old daughter.
"For whatever reason, it was a deliberate action," said Vermont State Police Capt. David Covell, who stopped short of calling the river plunge a suicide.
Waring, 40, was reported missing early Saturday after she disappeared from her parents' Wardsboro house with the two girls, the state police said.
As troopers began preparing a search party, State Police Sgt. Robert McCarthy spotted Waring and a child standing on the edge of Wardsboro Brook, about 100 yards from the parents' home, Covell said.
Normally placid, the brook was swollen with rain and snowmelt and had a swift current. The water was about 3 feet deep Sunday, but authorities said it was deeper on Saturday.
McCarthy tried to talk to Waring, but she ignored him and walked into the water holding the child, police said.
She was standing near a rock in turbulent, waist-deep water when McCarthy reached for her, but she pushed away from the rock and eluded his grasp, plunging into the brook with daughter Dakota in her arms before being swept away, Covell said.
"The sergeant tried to communicate with her. She didn't respond at all. He was in close enough proximity that she should've recognized his presence," Covell said.
The bodies of Waring and her 6-year-old were recovered downstream Saturday and pronounced dead. Preliminary autopsy findings suggested they drowned, Covell said.
A search for 2 1/2-year-old, Grace, was suspended Saturday night and resumed Sunday, with police, firefighters and game wardens searching the brook's banks and nearby woods.
Waring had been despondent, but police wouldn't say why.
"I don't know particularly what issues were upsetting her, but she had been exhibiting some unusual behavior the day prior to and during the time Sgt. McCarthy located her," Covell said. He wouldn't elaborate.
She made no special preparations before leaving her parents' home on foot about 1 a.m. Saturday, he said.
Police have spoken with Waring's husband, Michael Waring, who was in Massachusetts at the time, Covell said.
May they all R.I.P. -
and may God Have Mercy upon the soul of Nicole Waring; her despair must have been great for her to do what she did and, at times like those, the only way out appears to be death indeed. A way out she wished for her young daughter also, most probably wishing to spare her the same disillusionment she had found herself...
+++
Deputies at jail undercut probe into death
SANTA ANA, Calif., April 13 (UPI) --
Grand jury transcripts show deputies at a Southern California jail lied under oath about the beating death of an inmate, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Witnesses said the deputy in charge watched TV while John Derek Chamberlain was beaten. An inmate told the grand jury that one deputy falsely said Chamberlain -- who had been arrested on a child pornography possession charge -- was a child molester.
Inmates beat Chamberlain for about 50 minutes in October 2006.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas convened a special grand jury that spent nine months in the investigation. The grand jury was asked to look into whether deputies encouraged the attack and why the Sheriff's Department decided to head the investigation when the district attorney usually investigates deaths at the jail.
No charges have been brought against any of the deputies, the newspaper said.
Michael Carona, who was sheriff at the time, refused to answer questions before the grand jury -- declining even to confirm he had been sheriff, the report said.
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Bomb kills 4, market burns in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, April 14 (UPI) --
A bomb that exploded beneath a parked car killed at least four people and injured 10 others in Baghdad, authorities said Monday.
The vehicle was parked near a gas station, CNN reported.
Elsewhere in the city, fires caused by a roadside bomb damaged a U.S. military vehicle and raged through a market, government officials said.
No casualties were reported in the overnight fire, in which a bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy, the Iraqi Interior Department said. A U.S. military spokesman reported the explosion damaged a mine-resistant vehicle with the blaze spreading to a market nearby in the eastern part of the city.
U.S. soldiers discovered a mass grave of least 20 bodies Sunday near the town of Muqdadiya in the Diyala province, the military said. The bodies may have been buried for nearly eight months, officials said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki clamped down on Iraqi militias and gangs Sunday by ordering measures to prevent them from taking money out of the country's oil and gasoline businesses. A government spokesman said the move is to try to corral a black market that funds the rebel organizations.
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© UPI
R.I.P.
+++
Updates from the JIHAD FILES now...
Jewish center shooting trial begins
SEATTLE, April 14 (UPI) --
The trial of a man accused of a 2006 shooting rampage at the Seattle Jewish Federation began Monday, officials said.
Naveed Haq, 32, is accused of killing one woman and injuring five others at the Jewish center. The prosecution and the defense agree that Haq is mentally ill, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Jurors will decide if the illness was so severe that Haq should be found not guilty.
Prosecutors contend that Haq, of Tri-Cities, Wash., planned the shooting to make a political statement. They say he bought guns more than a week before the shootings and spent time searching the Internet for Jewish organizations.
Haq faces 15 criminal charges, including aggravated murder, five counts of attempted murder and malicious harassment, the newspaper reported.
If convicted of all charges, Haq would face life in prison with no possibility of parole.
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© UPI
'Martyrdom videos' played at trial
LONDON, April 14 (UPI) --
A jury in the London trial of eight suspected terrorists Monday watched videos purportedly revealing the defendants as Islamic jihadists aspiring to martyrdom.
The eight are accused of plotting in 2006 to use liquid explosives to blow commercial airliners out of the sky as they carried passengers form London to the United States, ABC News reported.
In one video, defendant Abdullah Ahmad Ali tells viewers Osama bin Laden has warned nations many times to leave Muslim lands or be destroyed.
"Now it is time for you to be destroyed," he said.
Another suspect, Tanvir Hussain, was heard saying, "I only wish I could come back and do this again and again."
In yet another, Waheed Zaman says: "Remember as you kill us, we kill you. As you bomb us, you will be bombed."
Six men made a total of seven suicide videos on a Sony camcorder, The Daily Telegraph reported. All wore similar black-and white checked headscarves and sat in front of a black flag with white Arabic writing.
The alleged suicide bombers were asked repeatedly during the videotaping if they had been brainwashed, the British newspaper said.
Hussain replied: The only thing brainwashing me is your oppression."
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© UPI
+++
Now let's what else we have in store for you here; not to be blinded by the light now but be careful when you lower your shading there...
Student slashed in neck by falling venetian blind
Last Updated: Friday, March 14, 2008 | 9:24 AM MT
Comments11Recommend14
CBC News
A high school student is recovering in a Calgary hospital after a freak accident earlier this week.
The student from Henry Wise Wood High School was hit by a heavy venetian blind and slashed in the neck on Tuesday, said Ted Flitton, spokesman for the Calgary Board of Education.
He said another student was trying to lower the blinds during a math class when the safety mechanism malfunctioned and the blinds came crashing down.
The boy ran to the school office, where he received first aid. His mother picked him up and took him to the Foothills Hospital for stitches.
"It was a freak accident," said Flitton Thursday.
"I should be very clear that the blinds are secured to the wall. There is nothing about them that is unsafe. It's just simply that the safety mechanism in lowering them was overridden, and the blinds came down rather quickly."
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MartinMatyas wrote:Posted 2008/03/15
at 9:59 PM ETWow, what a bad story. I will not say who I talked to who is directly involved in this incident, but did this reporter ever get the facts backwards! There's a lot of information missing that would give the reader a better perspective on the issue of safety. Does this reporter still have their job?
1Peoplerecommendedthis
zodiac wrote:Posted 2008/03/15
at 5:04 PM ETWell besides the fact that blinds will probably be banned soon in schools because of a one time incident. My question is why did no one from the school take the guy to the hospital. From what I read here they gave him first aid until his mom showed up and then she drove him to the hospital (yeah the farthest one away too.)
I should hope to god if my kid injures himself at school especially in a vital area such as the neck/head and is bleeding and needs stitches they sure aren't going to wait for me to show up.
I can just see it "sorry son you have to stay here and bleed till your parents arrive." "yeah its only a flesh wound, be a trooper".
To me there is no reason one of the admin staff and/or the person who administered first aid couldn't jump in a car and take him and then someone else phone his parents and let him know he is on his way to the hospital and is in good hands instead of your kid had an accident, he needs a doctor, can you come pick him up before he bleeds out. (okay probably going a little far on the bleed out bit).
7Peoplerecommendedthis
OverlordsShadow wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 3:31 PM ETGlen2008 - I was thinking almost the exact same thing. I was wondering when it was going to be proposed that all blinds are now unsafe and have to be replaced be fabric curtains or some such nonsense.
3Peoplerecommendedthis
daylightnight wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 12:36 AM ETMy question is why did the mother drive half way across the city to get stitches instead of just giong up the road a few blocks to Rockyview?
4Peoplerecommendedthis
Glen2008 wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 12:30 AM ET
So who is going to be the first to kick off the inquest that will determine that blinds and other window coverings should be removed from all classrooms because they are a danger to our kids safety?
James, you're way to swift even for noon hour. Your comment gave me a good chuckle.
8PeopleRecommendedThis
babydoll18 wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 12:25 AM ETwere these blinds plastic or metal??? Because I could have sworn that there was a recal on all metal blinds.
2Peoplerecommendedthis
WalterWarr wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 12:15 AM ETHAHAHA James. Well Done! That was great! I hope the poor bugger who was involved in this accident gets to read your post. Its sure to put a smile on his face!
3Peoplerecommendedthis
cityboy wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 12:12 AM ETBliind-sided!! ha ha... Love that comment!!
3Peoplerecommendedthis
MaritimeAlbertian wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 12:06 AM ETJames you seem to always have a witty comment at the ready to ease us through these difficult situations. Bravo good sir, I can hardly remember my name this early in the morning.
2Peoplerecommendedthis
jamesrooney wrote:Posted 2008/03/14
at 11:50 AM ETTalk about being blind-sided...
36Peoplerecommendedthis
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No need - 'nuff said...
The "blind-sided story" was but a mere intro anyhow - for this tragic story:
Toddler dies in window-blind accident
Last Updated: Friday, April 11, 2008 | 2:59 PM ET Comments26Recommend108
CBC News
A two-year-old girl died after getting tangled in a window blind, Calgary paramedics said Friday.
Emergency crews were called to a home in the northeast community of Taradale Friday morning where they found the little girl in cardiac arrest. Paramedics gave her advanced life support and then transported her to hospital, but they could not save her.
============================================
Paramedics were called to this home in Taradale where they found a two-year-old girl in cardiac arrest. Paramedics were called to this home in Taradale where they found a two-year-old girl in cardiac arrest.
(Rick Donkers/CBC)
============================================
The case prompted EMS to remind parents and caregivers that children can easily lose their balance while standing next to windows.
"It takes very little force to push out a screen, allowing the child to fall. In addition, blinds or drapes may have cords that could cause strangulation," said public education officer Paul Lapointe.
He advised that the cords of window coverings be tied or wrapped up out of reach of children or be held by clamping devices that can be bought in stores.
Furniture such as cribs, stools and change tables should also be moved away from windows, he added.
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My condolences to a family in Taradale.
+++
Cameron Diaz's dad dies
Cameron Diaz's father Emilio passed away suddenly on Tuesday morning (15.04.08) of pneumonia.
(BANG) -
Cameron Diaz's father has died.
Emilio Diaz passed away suddenly early Tuesday morning (15.04.08) after a bout of flu developed into pneumonia. He was just 58 years old.
Sources close to the family described the sudden loss as "shocking", as Emilio was in "terrific health".
Cameron, 35, learned of her father's passing on the set of her forthcoming film 'My Sister's Keeper'. Production on the movie was shut down immediately.
Emilio, who lived in Seal Beach, California, was a second generation Cuban-American who worked as a foreman for an oil company.
Emilio was always a proud supporter of Cameron's career and he even had a bit part in his daughter's 1998 film 'There's Something About Mary'.
He is survived by his wife Billie and their two daughters, Cameron and Chimene, 37.
(C) BANG Media International
My condolences to Cameron Diaz and her sister.
I know what it is to lose one's Dad unexpectedly...
My condolences to Cameron's mom; mine has already made clear that she will never recover from the loss.
+++
Ugandan school fire kills 21
MPIGI, Uganda, April 15 (UPI) --
At least 19 schoolgirls and two adults died in a fire that raced through a Ugandan junior high school dormitory near Kampala, police said.
The school's headmaster said 42 girls survived Monday's fire at Buddo Junior School in Mpigi, CNN reported Tuesday.
Children living in the dorm said they heard an explosion just before the fire erupted, police said, adding they were investigating the incident.
Reports conflicted about whether dorms' doors were locked, trapping the children inside. School officials said the doors weren't locked, while girls living in the dorms said they were, CNN said.
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Bombings kill at least 60 in Iraq
* Story Highlights
* NEW: 12 wounded in double car bombing in Mosul
* Suicide bomber kills 15 in restaurant in Anbar province
* Car bomb kills 40 near government offices in Baquba
* Roadside bomb, car bomb kill five in Baghdad
* Next Article in World »
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A wave of bombings blamed on al Qaeda in Iraq shook Baghdad and three provincial capitals Tuesday, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 100 across Iraq.
art.hole.ap.jpg
Iraqi children look Tuesday through a hole caused by an airstrike in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad.
Most of the dead were in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, where a car bomb killed 40 people outside a crowded restaurant, an Interior Ministry official said. Another 75 people were wounded in the blast.
In a written statement, the U.S. military condemned the bombings and said they "have the appearance of having been carried out by al Qaeda in Iraq."
"The Iraqis killed and wounded in today's brutal attacks in Baquba, Ramadi and Baghdad were innocent victims of extremists who subscribe to a philosophy of hatred," the statement said.
The attacks occurred in cities where U.S. and Iraqi troops have been putting pressure on Sunni Arab militants, who have a history of carrying out car bombings and suicide attacks in the same regions. In an audio statement issued Tuesday, an al Qaeda front group called on Sunnis to stop cooperating with Iraq's Shiite-led government "and instead turn all of their guns toward the crusader enemy and all of those who support them."
The bombing in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, struck near a courthouse and other government offices, a medical source and a resident said. Women and children are among the dead.
(...)
21...60...12...15...40...5...
It is getting to be a heavy death toll - again.
May all these souls R.I.P.
+++
Teen guilty of 'thrill kill' murder, beheading
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Jean Paul Orlewicz guilty of murder, beheading of acquaintance
* Jury deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days
* Former co-defendant cut testimony deal with prosecutors on eve of trial
* Friends testified that Orlewicz wanted to commit a crime, get away with it
DETROIT, Michigan (CNN/In Session) -- A jury rejected an 18-year-old's claim that he acted in self-defense, finding him guilty of murder in the gory stabbing, beheading and torching of a Michigan man.
Jean Pierre Olewicz says he feared for his life when he killed Daniel Sorenson.
The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days before finding Jean Pierre Orlewicz guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder and mutilation.
Jurors did not look at anyone as they filed into the courtroom. The defendant's family remained stoic, but the father of victim Daniel Sorenson broke into sobs. Video Watch as the verdict is read »
During the trial, some of the most gruesome details of Sorenson's slaying came from the youthful-looking defendant's own lips.
Prosecutors called Sorenson's slaying a "thrill killing." They alleged that Orlewicz was excited by the prospect of killing someone and getting away with it.
Orlewicz, of Canton, Michigan, took the stand and admitted that he killed Sorenson, 26, but insisted that it was in self-defense. He admitted stabbing Sorenson 13 times after an extortion plan went awry and Sorenson threatened his life.
"There was not a murder," Orlewicz testified.
On November 7, Orlewicz said, he, Alexander Letkemann and Sorenson arrived at his grandfather's house in Canton, Michigan, with the intent of robbing Adam Duwe, who had just inherited $40,000. But Orlewicz said he felt "icky" about the plan and was going to pretend Duwe couldn't make it. That's when Sorenson's temper flared, Orlewicz testified.
Orlewicz said Sorenson took out a gun and threatened to kill him.
"You think this is a game?" Orlewicz recalled Sorenson screaming. "I'm going to drop you to your knees and blow your frigging brains out."
Orlewicz said Sorenson began waiving the gun around, so he grabbed a knife from a tool bench and stabbed him from behind.
As the two fought, Orlewicz said, the gun dropped from Sorenson's hand. Sorenson scrambled to find the gun, Orlewicz said, and the two continued to struggle. "I kept trying to stab him and get leverage in the fight," Orlewicz said. "I was stabbing him in the back."
During his testimony Orlewicz also admitted that after Sorenson died, he used a hacksaw to decapitate him. Orlewicz said he threw Sorenson's torso into a field and set it on fire. The defendant said he took a blowtorch to Sorenson's hands to cover up fingerprints.
(...)
The scariest thing, for me, is that this kid reminds me of, in equal parts, Edward Furlong... the boy who played the Antichrist to utmost perfection in "Damien - Omen II" and... me, circa 1980!!!
R.I.P. Sorenson... (no puns intended)
+++
Mise à jour le samedi 12 avril 2008 à 22 h 14
MONTRÉAL
Décès
Mariette Clermont s'éteint
Dernières nouvelles
Mariette Clermont
Mariette Clermont
Mariette Clermont, figure majeure de l'entrepreneuriat montréalais, est décédée jeudi à l'âge de 67 ans. L'annonce en a été faite par sa famille samedi.
Elle était propriétaire des magasins de meubles contemporains Mariette Clermont. Elle avait repris les rênes, en 1976, de l'entreprise fondée par ses parents en 1950, Clermont de la Plaza.
Mme Clermont a également contribué à la vie économique de Montréal par son implication dans des associations de gens d'affaires et culturelles.
C'est son fils qui est aux commandes de l'entreprise familiale depuis plusieurs années.
R.I.P. MARIETTE CLERMONT
I thought your stores would go the way Le Père Du Meuble went - but that you would survive them...
It would have been better that way - I am sure you'd agree. Material goods are as if nothing when compared with true riches: health... longevity... happiness.
+++
Explosives, poison used on Norway wolves
ELVERUM, Norway, April 15 (UPI) --
Conservationists and police in Norway plan a campaign against farmers who have killed wolves by blowing up their lairs and putting out poisoned bait.
In one recent incident, Kenneth Larsen of Hedmark University College spent a week trying to find a female wolf he had tracked before, Aftenposten reported. When he returned to his car after a fruitless search, he found that three of its tires had been slashed.
Researchers blame half the deaths of wolves in Scandinavia on illegal hunting, mostly by farmers who say the wolves attack livestock.
Knut Maelen of the Hedmark Police District said that the tire slashing is another sign of an "inflamed situation."
Petter Wabakken of Hedmark University College said that rural areas in Hedmark County, which lies along the Swedish border in southern Norway, have the highest rate of wildlife crime in Norway. He and his colleagues have found evidence of both poison and of explosives being used on lairs, he said.
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R.I.P. big but not that bad WOLVES...
All you want is to eat something - survive - like every single one of us.
May the Norvegians guilty of such barbaric acts get to be severely punished for this; there has to be humane ways of dealing with this sort of problem...
+++
E Street Band member Danny Federici dies at 58
48 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday. He was 58.
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Federici, who had battled melanoma for three years, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. News of his death was posted late Thursday on Springsteen's official Web site.
He last performed with Springsteen and the band last month, appearing during portions of a March 20 show in Indianapolis.
"Danny and I worked together for 40 years — he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much ... we grew up together," Springsteen said in a statement posted on his Web site.
Springsteen concerts scheduled for Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Saturday in Orlando were postponed.
Federici was born in Flemington, N.J., a long car ride from the Jersey shore haunts where he first met kindred musical spirit Springsteen in the late 1960s. The pair often jammed at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, N.J., a now-defunct after-hours club that hosted the best musicians in the state.
It was Federici, along with original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, who first invited Springsteen to join their band.
By 1969, the self-effacing Federici — often introduced in concert by Springsteen as "Phantom Dan" — was playing with the Boss in a band called Child. Over the years, Federici joined his friend in acclaimed shore bands Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom and the Bruce Springsteen Band.
Federici became a stalwart in the E Street Band as Springsteen rocketed from the boardwalk to international stardom. Springsteen split from the E Streeters in the late '80s, but they reunited for a hugely successful tour in 1999.
"Bruce has been supportive throughout my life," Federici said in a recent interview with Backstreets magazine. "I've had my ups and downs, and I've certainly given him a run for his money, and he's always been there for me."
Federici played accordion on the wistful "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" from Springsteen's second album, and his organ solo was a highlight of Springsteen's first top 10 hit, "Hungry Heart." His organ coda on the 9/11-inspired Springsteen song "You're Missing" provided one of the more heart-wrenching moments on "The Rising" in 2002.
In a band with larger-than-life characters such as saxophonist Clarence Clemons and bandana-wrapped guitarist "Little" Steven Van Zandt, Federici was content to play in his familiar position to the side of the stage. But his playing was as vital to Springsteen's live show as any instrument in the band.
Federici released a pair of solo albums that veered from the E Street sound and into soft jazz. Bandmates Nils Lofgren on guitar and Garry Tallent on bass joined Federici on his 1997 debut, "Flemington." In 2005, Federici released its follow-up, "Out of a Dream."
Federici had taken a leave of absence during the band's tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for melanoma, and was temporarily replaced by veteran musician Charles Giordano.
At the time, Springsteen described Federici as "one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return."
Besides his work with Springsteen, Federici played on albums by an impressive roster of other artists: Van Zandt, Joan Armatrading, Graham Parker, Gary U.S. Bonds and Garland Jeffreys.
___
On the Net:
Bruce Springsteen: http://www.brucespringsteen.net
R.I.P. Danny Federici
I am sure Steve Van Zandt is the first one surprised to see that he's survived and outlived you; what, with all the political enemies he made (and made for Bruce and Clarence Clemons and the whole E STREET BAND... With "I... I... I... Ain't Gonna Play Sun City" alone...!)
My condolences to the band who'll mourn the loss of a bandmate but most of all my condolences to the Federici family who've lost the leader of *their* band...
+++
Blast at funeral in northern Iraq kills 50
BAGHDAD, April 17 (UPI) --
A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest during a funeral in northern Iraq Thursday, killing at least 50 people and injuring 60, authorities said.
Police and Iraqi military officials said the attack took place in the predominantly Sunni village of Al-Bou Mohammed while mourners offered condolences to Sheik Ibrahim Aref al-Azzawi, whose sons were shot and killed, CNN said. Previous reports indicated the sheik had died.
Iraqi police said they believe the attack was to intimidate members and sympathizers of the Awakening Council, a movement of mainly Sunni Muslims that works with the U.S. and Iraqi governments.
Both sons were members of the Awakening Council, but the sheik was not, police said, correcting previously released information. However, he was a supporter of the organization, which includes former insurgents.
In Baghdad's Sadr City, officials said at least two people were killed and 16 injured in overnight clashes and air strikes.
Also in Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a man and injured his child and the child's mother, the Interior Ministry said. The family was in a car when the bomb detonated.
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© UPI
R.I.P. all 50+ of you...
(because there are surely more than just 50 and we all know it.)
Gabon: Décès à 94 ans du poète Aimé Césaire, chantre de la "négritude" (Par Dominique CHABROL )
Libreville, 17 avril (GABONEWS) - Le poète martiniquais Aimé Césaire, 94 ans, est mort jeudi à Fort-de-France (Martinique), et la France s'apprêtait à organiser des obsèques nationales pour le chantre de la "négritude", dont le combat contre la colonisation avait trouvé des échos jusqu'en Afrique ou aux Etats-Unis, rapporte l'AFP.
Actualité du :17/04/2008
Figure emblématique des Antilles françaises, Aimé Césaire avait été admis le 9 avril au CHU de Fort-de-France, où il est décédé.
Dès l'annonce de son décès, le cabinet de la ministre de l'Intérieur Michèle Alliot-Marie a annoncé que des obsèques nationales seront organisées, à une date qui reste à fixer.
L'Assemblée nationale devait observer une minute de silence à la mémoire de celui qui fût, aussi, le député ayant battu tous les records de longévité parlementaire de 1945 à 1993.
Selon l'équipe de l'hôpital Pierre Zobda-Quitman, où Aimé Césaire avait été admis pour des affections "de nature cardiologique", le décès est intervenu à 05H20 et la dépouille du poète a été restituée dès jeudi matin à sa famille.
Né en 1913 à Basse-Pointe, sur la côte nord de la Martinique dans une famille de petits fonctionnaires, Aimé Césaire avait été confronté très jeune à la misère de la population rurale d'une île profondément marquée par deux siècles d'esclavage, qui avait alors le statut de colonie.
Etudiant à Paris dans les années 1930, il avait forgé avec le Sénégalais Léopold Sédar Senghor et le Guyanais Léon-Gontran Damas, le concept de la "Négritude", la conscience de l'identité noire, la "fierté d'être nègre" et de revendiquer ses origines africaines.
La "négritude" avait rapidement débordé le cadre des seuls intellectuels français pour se répandre dans les pays colonisés, en Afrique, dans les Caraïbes, et au delà chez les militants noirs américains en lutte contre les droits civiques. Son message avait dès lors pris un caractère universel, notamment après la publication de son "Discours sur le colonialisme" (1950).
Les cérémonies à la suite de son décès pourraient s'étaler sur trois jours, selon des informations recueillies dans les milieux proches de l'Hôtel de Ville de Fort-de-France. Après une veillée familiale, un hommage devrait lui être rendu par la population rassemblée dans un stade de la ville, avant les obsèques nationales, qui devraient rassembler de nombreuses personnalités, politiques et intellectuelles.
Les autorités locales envisageaient que le cortège transportant sa dépouille emprunte les différents quartiers de la ville, dont il a été le maire pendant 56 ans (1945-2001).
Dès le week-end dernier, des travaux de peinture et d'embellissement avaient été entrepris à l'ancien Hôtel de Ville, où Césaire recevait encore des visiteurs quelques jours avant son hospitalisation, dans sa maison familiale de Fort-de-France et au siège du Parti Progressiste Martiniquais (PPM), qu'il avait fondé en 1958, après sa rupture avec le PCF.
De tous les combats contre le colonialisme et le racisme pendant 70 ans, l'auteur du "Cahier d'un retour au pays natal" a en effet consacré sa vie à la littérature et à la politique. Maire de Fort-de-France et député de la Martinique (1945-1993), Aimé Césaire faisait l'objet d'un véritable culte dans l'île ou la population l'appelait affectueusement "Papa Césaire".
Venu à la politique "par hasard", disait-il, il avait notamment été en 1946 le rapporteur de la loi sur la départementalisation des territoires de Martinique, Guyane, Guadeloupe et de La Réunion.
A l'annonce de son décès, les chaînes de télévision locales ont interrompu leurs programmes pour diffuser de la musique classique ou afficher une photo du poète.
Le président Nicolas Sarkozy a salué en Aimé Césaire un "symbole d'espoir pour les peuples opprimés". Ségolène Royal (PS) a demandé l'entrée au Panthéon de cet "éclaireur de notre temps", et le secrétaire général de la Francophonie, le Sénégalais Abdou Diouf, a exprimé la "très grande émotion" de toute la "famille francophone".
Source:AFP
GN/08
Article Publié le: 17/04/2008 à: 18:13:25 Par: GABONEWS (Gabonews.ga)
ABONNEZ VOUS AU FLUX RSS DE GABONEWS.GA
Copyright © 2007 Groupe Label de L'Ogooué: Akajoo Communication.
Libreville: Le 18-04-08
R.I.P. AIMÉ
You ARE Loved
+++
Son of Dutch defense chief is killed in Afghanistan
By MIKE CORDER,
Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 18, 4:34 PM ET
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The son of the Dutch defense chief was killed Friday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, and the Taliban claimed they deliberately made the young lieutenant a high-profile target.
While the Dutch quickly cast doubt on the Taliban claim, the death underscores the danger high-profile soldiers can face and illustrates a grim reality for families, famous and not, who choose the military life.
Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion seven miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in the restive southern province of Uruzgan. Two more soldiers were injured, one critically.
Van Uhm's father, Gen. Peter van Uhm, was installed only Thursday as the Netherlands' defense chief.
The prime minister called Van Uhm's death "an unprecedented tragedy," and the weekly meeting of the Dutch Cabinet was briefly stopped so ministers could reflect privately.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed that the militants knew in advance about Van Uhm's movements and planted a mine that killed him, but the Dutch government rejected the claim.
"Our information is that there is no indication of any link between this cowardly deed and the fact that it was the son of the defense chief," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters in The Hague.
Balkenende and a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Robin Middel, would not say whether Van Uhm, who began his tour of duty in Afghanistan only about two weeks ago, had received any special protection.
Earlier this year, the British military pulled Prince Harry from Afghanistan after news leaked that he was posted there. He had spent almost 10 weeks in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, his deployment kept secret by officials and the media.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has a son who has served in Iraq. And the son of Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the former second-in-command in Iraq, had his arm blown off in August 2004 while serving in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Nathan Freier, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there is an ongoing debate in the military about putting high-profile soldiers in the field.
Soldiers with well-known parents often come from families with a military tradition, and holding them back can become a point of contention within the family, Freier said.
"To be pulled back or given a special opportunity based on family could be considered an affront to that soldier," said Freier, noting Prince Harry's insistence that he be sent to fight.
Although soldiers move in large formations with some degree of anonymity, there is an argument that an entire unit can be put at risk if the enemy manages to track the movements of a specific person.
"You can make an operational argument that the fact that you are deploying him puts those around him in danger," said Freier.
Wim van den Burg of the Federation of Military Personnel said it was highly unlikely the Taliban deliberately picked off the defense chief's son. He said high-profile troops should be no problem so long as their presence is not widely known.
"I doubt they even knew who Van Uhm was," Van den Burg said. "This is just propaganda for them."
The attack raised the Dutch death toll in Afghanistan to 16 since the government made the unpopular decision to send 1,650 troops to fight in the NATO force in August 2006.
In November, Balkenende's government again defied public opinion and decided, under NATO pressure, to prolong the mission by two years until mid-2010, but only after pledges that allies such as France and Australia would send more troops.
Van den Burg predicted the latest casualties would spark fresh criticism, of the government's decision.
"What you can't avoid is that every time there is an attack, there is more discussion," he said.
Van den Burg's organization, which represents thousands of troops, opposed extending the mission, saying it was stretching the Dutch military too thin, both in Afghanistan and at home.
The prime minister originally managed to convince a skeptical Dutch public that the mission would not only fight the Taliban but also devote time to building roads, schools and hospitals to help Afghans recover from years of conflict.
But as the Taliban has gained strength in the south, Dutch troops have been forced to spend more time fighting and less on reconstruction efforts.
Suicide attacks in Afghanistan spiked last year, with the Taliban launching more than 140 such missions — the highest number since the insurgency began after 2001. The fighting is most intense in the south of the country.
More than 1,000 people, mostly militants, have died this year in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and Western officials.
In the small Dutch town of Ermelo, 50 miles east of Amsterdam, where both the slain soldiers had been stationed, local authorities lowered flags to half-staff and opened a condolence register at the town hall for local residents to sign.
"It is particularly bitter that after yesterday's ceremonial changing of the military command we heard that this family — which yesterday was so happy — got such terrible news," Balkenende said.
___
Associated Press writer Lily Hindy in New York contributed to this report.
R.I.P. Son of Dutch defense chief
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Hmm... Was it a disgruntled New Jersey Devils fan?
Okay - that's not the point here...
Shootings in NJ kill 1 and wounds 2, including cop
1 hour, 46 minutes ago
IRVINGTON, N.J. - A gunman shot a driver stopped at a traffic light and killed a pedestrian early Sunday, and the same man may be responsible for the shooting of a police sergeant in his patrol car, authorities said.
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The three shootings took place within minutes in the same general area of Irvington, in northern New Jersey, around 3 a.m. Sunday, said Paul Loriquet, Essex County prosecutor's office spokesman.
Police later accused Shaquan Johnson, 27, of Newark of shooting the police officer, and authorities were investigating his possible involvement in the other two shootings.
The gunman first drove up to a vehicle stopped at a traffic light, according to a police news release. He spoke with the driver, a 23-year-old man from Bridgeport, Conn., before shooting him several times.
The gunman continued driving and shot to death Gary Farrar Jr., 22, a Rutgers University student walking on a sidewalk, police said.
A man then passed an Irvington police patrol car, backed up and told the sergeant inside, a 24-year police veteran, that a shooting had just taken place, police said. He then drew his gun and shot the sergeant.
The Connecticut man drove himself to a hospital in Newark, and an ambulance took the sergeant to a hospital. The sergeant was treated and released.
Law enforcers stopped a sport utility vehicle that Johnson was driving at about 9:30 a.m. The vehicle was similar to the one witnesses saw leaving the scene of the officer's shooting, Loriquet said.
Johnson was initially was arrested on drug possession charges but later charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, two weapons offenses and possession of hollow point bullets.
He was being held Sunday night in jail on $500,000 bail. Loriquet didn't know whether Johnson had a lawyer.
R.I.P. everyone who caught a bullet...
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Drivers charged after elderly couple killed in Hwy. 400 crash after tail gate flies off truck
Sun Apr 20, 12:29 PM
By The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Two dump truck drivers face criminal charges after an elderly couple was killed in a crash that brought traffic to a standstill on Highway 400 north of Toronto Saturday.
Ontario Provincial Police say a dump truck lost control, and its tailgate smashed through the windshield of another vehicle.
Const. Dave Woodford says the victims, both 75, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say they've determined two dump trucks were involved in events leading to the tragic incident. One driver has been charged with two counts each of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death. A second driver faces a charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
Both drivers are being held for a bail hearing and will appear in a Newmarket, Ont. court Monday.
Police are thanking witnesses who came forward to assist their investigation. No names have yet been released.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY (HIDE) What's this?
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I agree with dmntn45 in that there are more bad drivers on 4 wheels...surprising how many are talking the talk here but have never driven a truck or know ANYTHING about it!!! Freshie-what regs r u talking about? Problem is POOR driver education/training & follow up for new drivers & unenforced regs..I test BOTH new & existing drivers-cars & trucks & I drove truck for many years-idiots come on 4 wheels too-old truckers r old because they are good & careful & respectful & outnumer the few idiots!
POSTED BY: biz4uca on MON, APR 21, 2008 01:27 AM -0500
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Freshie
Bring back regulations.
POSTED BY: Freshie on MON, APR 21, 2008 12:18 AM -0500
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buddy s,, some truckers may think they own the highways , but MOST don't,, the number of idiots on 4 wheels far outweigh the ones on 18,,, your opinion is nothing new,,, AllisonG say's " as usual ,truck drivers at the scene of the crime",, I understand your concern but please wake up,,,
POSTED BY: dmntn45 on SUN, APR 20, 2008 11:34 PM -0500
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Truckers are uneducated redneck idiots that should be taken off the road - how many times do you see them weave from lane to lane because they don't want to gear down so they play all these games of going up a hill, down a hill ....they are dangerous, they speed ...how many times have you seen truckers in the worst weather even go faster ....they are a menace and its about time the police should police these idiots
POSTED BY: ronjul2003 on SUN, APR 20, 2008 11:34 PM -0500
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Alison G..Ur comments as with the others show a complete lack of understandingThe main problem is give them a few lessons and call them truckers-there are so many good ones who really have the experience-it is the system.In BC we allow them onto the hwy immediately,training/testing is MINIMAL, we allow them to talk on cell phones while driving, road side checks are minimal,drivers setup brakes wrong or don't pre-trip their vehicles & yes speed is a concern-I am a BC driver examiner ALISON G!
POSTED BY: biz4uca on SUN, APR 20, 2008 11:20 PM -0500
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R.I.P. Mr. & Mrs. Roadkill
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The message that follows seems to be: "YOU can die, but don't make a mess now - THE PLANET IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN *YOU* ARE..."
Or...
If you care about the environment, and you die, don't wait too long to be BIODEGRADABLE...?
Environmentally-friendly funerals coming to British Columbia, maybe Ontario
Sun Apr 20, 1:34 PM
By Michael Oliveira,
The Canadian Press
TORONTO - A burgeoning industry catering to the desire to be green - even in death - will soon offer mourners a new environmentally friendly option to bury their loved ones in British Columbia and is also working toward setting up shop in a small southern Ontario community.
Canadians once looked to cremation as a way to address the environmental concerns associated with death, and its popularity has skyrocketed in recent years.
According to the Cremation Association of North America, almost 80 per cent of those who died in British Columbia in 2004 were cremated. Victoria is considered the cremation capital of North America, where more than 90 per cent opt for their body to be burned into ash.
But the growing popularity of cremation and concerns about the tonnes of emissions that are spewed out as a result have spawned a newer, cleaner option: natural or green burials.
Green burials have been fairly common in the United Kingdom for more than a decade, and are growing in popularity in the United States, but the idea is now just coming to Canada.
After three years of study, the owners of the Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria decided to dedicate an area of its land to green funerals and will offer the services starting in October.
A green funeral typically means the body is not subjected to chemical embalming, there are no oversized, ornate caskets made of expensive wood and metal, no grave liners or protective vaults are used, there are no fancy headstones on the grounds, and no toxic emissions are released - as is the case during cremation.
Instead, the body is wrapped in a simple shroud or placed in a biodegradable box, at most only a simple stone is placed on the ground to mark a burial spot, and the effect on the environment is minimized.
And they may also end up costing less than a traditional burial.
It took years for the Royal Oak Burial Park to launch green burials but it's clear the public is interested in the concept and ready to embrace it, said executive director Stephen Olson.
While the current plan calls for up to 250 plots to be dedicated for green burials on an area that represents less than half a per cent of the cemetery's land, other sections of the property are already being identified for future use.
"We envision this section is the first of many that will open and once we start this process it's not something we're going to stop," Olson said.
The Natural Burial Co-operative is trying to take the idea a step further in Paisley, Ont., a village about 200 kilometres northwest of Toronto, by starting a burial site that will solely focus on green funerals and resemble a conservation area more than a cemetery.
Trees would be planted at grave sites and people could pay their respects to loved ones in a serene, green environment, rather than being surrounded by rows of gloomy tombstones, said president Mike Salisbury.
"One of the key ideas of natural burial is this idea that your funeral can be a tool for landscape conservation," he said. "I think what gets people really excited is the idea that they're actually creating an environment through their purchase of a plot."
But Salisbury still has to sort out zoning issues with the village and admits the area isn't really an ideal site because it's so far from Toronto, which he thinks is a target market for green burials.
Real estate is just far too expensive in Toronto and a location outside major cities will be more feasible to at least get the green movement going, he said.
People are increasingly concerned about the wasteful nature of funerals, like the use of tropical hardwoods that are cut from forests and shipped halfway around the world just so they can be made into a casket and buried in the ground, said Janet McCausland, executive director of the Natural Burial Association, which was established in 2005 to advocate for greener funerals.
"Death has always been a topic that isn't always discussed so it's nice to see that with natural burial, people are starting to really figure out how to live a good death that reflects their lives," she said.
Cremation is still considered relatively friendly to the environment but the emissions are a serious downside, McCausland added.
Environment Canada does not have any information on the overall environmental impacts of crematoriums but its database of annual air contaminant releases does account for chemicals they release into the air each year, said spokeswoman Sujata Raisinghani.
About 32 tonnes of nitrogen oxide, 17 tonnes of carbon monoxide, six tonnes of sulphur oxide and five tonnes of particulate matter were emitted in 2005 as a result of cremations. There are also concerns about the mercury that is released into the environment when people with mercury fillings in their teeth are cremated.
According to the Cremation Association of North America, 56 per cent of the funerals in Canada in 2004 included cremation - although that figure doesn't account for the deaths in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, where statistics are unavailable.
+++
And speaking of funerals...
France bids farewell to black pride poet Aime Cesaire
by Dominique Chabrol
Sun Apr 20, 7:57 PM ET
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy led thousands of mourners at a state funeral Sunday in Martinique for Aime Cesaire, poet and pioneer of the black pride movement.
Revered on his native French Caribbean island and elsewhere in the French-speaking world, Cesaire died aged 94 in hospital in Fort-de-France on Thursday after being admitted for heart problems.
Flags flew at half-staff in Martinique as thousands of mourners -- many dressed in white despite heavy rain -- converged on a local stadium to pay "cultural homage".
Sarkozy described Cesaire as an "indefatigable defender of human dignity and respect for human rights."
The president said the "principal lesson" learned from the poet's life was that true advances towards liberty and dignity are only achieved through a "sense of responsibility".
Relations between the two men had not always been smooth. In 2005, Cesaire refused to host then interior minister Sarkozy amid a row over a new law encouraging schools to teach the "positive role" played by France during its colonial past.
Cesaire's body laid in state after it was carried in a casket across the city on Friday, greeted by tens of thousands who lined the streets to bade him farewell.
Another crowd accompanied Cesaire's body from the funeral to the Joyaux cemetery, where he was laid to rest as the sun went down.
With fellow writers such as Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, "Papa Cesaire" invented the term "negritude," which he defined as an "affirmation that one is black and proud of it".
He first used the phrase in the literary review "L'Etudiant Noir" (The Black Student), a seedbed for black consciousness he co-created decades before the emergence of Steve Biko or Martin Luther King.
There had been calls by French politicians to have Cesaire laid to rest in the Pantheon of national heroes in the Latin Quarter of Paris, alongside such literary luminaries as Victor Hugo and Voltaire.
But Yves Jego, the minister for overseas affairs, hinted that Cesaire would have been at odds with those calls.
"My feeling is that the family want his Pantheon to be his island," Jego said.
Sarkozy left Marseille early Sunday, accompanied by a coterie of ministers, Socialist leaders Segolene Royal and Francois Hollande and three former prime ministers -- Laurent Fabius, Lionel Jospin and Pierre Mauroy.
Senegalese Culture Minister Mame Biram Diouf and the prime minister of neighbouring Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, were also due to attend.
Sarkozy's decision to honour Cesaire with a state funeral was only the fourth time that a literary figure has been accorded such a distinction after Victor Hugo in 1885, Paul Valery in 1945 and Colette in 1954.
Born on June 25, 1913 in the small Martinique town of Basse-Pointe, Cesaire was educated in Paris on a scholarship, before passing an entrance exam for the elite Ecole Normale Superieure university.
Describing himself as "negro, negro from the bottom of the sky immemorial," Cesaire fought against colonialism and racism through political activism and poetry, at a time when France was a major colonial power.
His ideas were first fully expressed in his long poem "Return to My Native Land," a powerful depiction of the ambiguities of Caribbean life and culture.
As a playwright he is best known for two plays, "The Tragedy of King Christophe" and an original adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."
Cesaire served as mayor of Fort-de-France between 1945 and 2001 and was a deputy in the French National Assembly between 1945 and 1993.
The island of Martinique is a department, or region integrated into France.
+++
Obliging the new etiquette of "dying in an eco-friendly way" can lead to nasty surprises for the bereaved, though...
As reported here.
Cremation industry awaits tougher controls
An overflow of concerned people flocked to the state Board of Funeral Services meeting held April 3, in Flowood, Miss. Their primary concern related to cremation services performed by crematorium owner Mark Seepe over the past years and reports of potential desecration of their ashes and remains.
Enlarge image Enlarge
Rogelio V. Solis, AP
An overflow of concerned people flocked to the state Board of Funeral Services meeting held April 3, in Flowood, Miss. Their primary concern related to cremation services performed by crematorium owner Mark Seepe over the past years and reports of potential desecration of their ashes and remains.
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By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY
The last thing most industries want is increased government regulation. But that's exactly what the Cremation Association of North America is advocating.
Currently 12 states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia — regulate cremation, at a time when more people are choosing the service, said Mike Nicodemus, chairman of the association's operator certification program. The rate of people choosing cremation had grown to one in three by the end of 2006, according to the group's most recent figures.
Nicodemus said the majority of operators are honest, but the dishonest ones hurt the industry and tougher regulations are the only way to root them out. "We know that people with regulation in their state are held to a higher standard," he said. "The girl that cuts my hair has to jump through more hoops than my crematory operator does," he added.
Scandals in the industry have caused more states to toughen regulations, Nicodemus said, but he thinks too many wait until there is a problem.
One recent issue was discovered this past month in Jackson, Miss., when a former employee of crematory owner Mark Seepe snapped photos of what appear to be bones and ash being heaped into a 55-gallon barrel. Seepe has denied doing anything improper. His attorneys pointed out that Mississippi law says little about what operators can and cannot do with human remains.
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Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the State Board of Funeral Service are investigating the allegations.
Colette Bryant of Byram, Miss., took her sister's body to Seepe in November 2006 and was horrified when she heard the allegations. "There should have been more rules and regulations. I didn't know there wasn't," she said.
Charles Riles, chairman of the Mississippi Board of Funeral Service, said the state will require certification for crematory operators once the board can adopt new regulations.
Georgia and other states were prompted to address cremation procedures after a 2002 incident in which authorities in northern Georgia discovered hundreds of uncremated bodies on the property of Tri-State Crematory operator Brent Marsh. Marsh pleaded guilty to abuse of a body, theft, fraud and making false statements. He received 12 years in prison.
A 2005 incident involving unlabeled remains at the Bayview Crematory in Seabrook, N.H., moved the state to begin mandatory crematory inspections. Daniel Healy, with the New Hampshire Board of Registration of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, said the industry welcomed the changes "with open arms."
Joyner reports for The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
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May all those whose ashes got mixed up still manage to, somehow, R.I.P.
+++
And to think that, here, so many do not even bother voting - while, over there, they kill before, during and after the electoral process...
Zimbabwe opposition: 10 people die in postelection violence
By ANGUS SHAW,
Associated Press Writer
Sun Apr 20, 1:12 PM ET
HARARE, Zimbabwe - An opposition leader said Sunday that 10 people have been killed in violence since last month's disputed presidential election and 3,000 families have been forced from their homes.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, also said key members of the opposition's administration had been arrested along with more than 400 supporters.
Biti appealed to U.N. organizations present in Zimbabwe, saying the situation had escalated from a political crisis into a humanitarian one.
"They should move as a matter of urgency. They should move because Zimbabwe is a war zone," he told a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Zimbabweans are still awaiting results of the presidential election held three weeks ago alongside parliamentary voting. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims he won the presidency outright and that the delay in reporting results is part of an attempt to steal the election by longtime President Robert Mugabe.
Biti said that violence since the March 29 elections had forced 3,000 families out of their homes. He said hundreds of people had been hospitalized with injuries and 10 people killed.
It was impossible to verify the claims, although doctors groups inside Zimbabwe have reported an upsurge in injuries needing treatment in recent days. There was no official comment from the Zimbabwe government. Media restrictions make it impossible for journalists within the country to investigate the situation in rural areas.
In addition to the limbo surrounding the president race, the opposition's landmark victory in the parliamentary vote also was being called into question over the weekend.
Electoral officials on Saturday began recounting ballots for a couple of dozen legislative seats being challenged — an exercise that could overturn the opposition's majority win. Most of the seats being recounted were declared for opposition candidates, including in Mugabe's home district of Zvimba.
Biti said the recount was rigged and the ruling ZANU-PF had tampered with tally sheets and ballot boxes.
"They created fresh ballot papers," he said. "It is quite clear the dictatorship will do everything ... to try to reverse the people's victory."
State-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. said the full recount would take up to three days. The opposition called that yet another ploy to delay the publication of the presidential results. Tsvangirai claims he won more than 50 percent of the vote, but independent observers said it is unlikely he received an absolute majority.
Biti said that Mugabe's government had arrested more than 400 opposition supporters out of desperation, but that the opposition wasn't giving up.
"He (Mugabe) can delay ... but he will go," Biti said. "He hasn't stolen this election. We are still fighting."
Biti and Tsvangirai say they cannot immediately return to Zimbabwe as they face arrest. Mugabe's government has accused Tsvangirai of treason and plotting a regime change with former colonial power Britain.
Meanwhile, international pressure on Mugabe to release the election results continued to mount.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was expected to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis with other African leaders on the sidelines of a five-day U.N. trade meeting that opened Sunday in Ghana.
Tsvangirai, who is trying to muster more diplomatic support in Africa, was due to travel to Nigeria and then Ghana and hoped to meet Ban.
Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general from Ghana who helped broke a peace deal after contested elections in Kenya, on Saturday questioned whether leaders on the continent were doing enough to help Zimbabwe resolve what he called "a rather dangerous situation."
"Where are the Africans? Where are the leaders and the countries in the region? What are they doing? How can they help resolve the situation?" he told journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"It's a serious crisis that will impact beyond Zimbabwe and we do have a responsibility to work with them to find a viable solution," said Annan, who met with Biti on Friday.
___
Associated Press Writer Donna Bryson in Johannesburg, South Africa contributed to this report.
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Electoral officials count ballots in Domboshawa, near the capital Harare Saturday, April 19, 2008. Officials began recounting votes for a couple dozen legislative seats, an exercise that could overturn the opposition's landmark victory. The ruling party is challenging the count in 23 constituencies, most won by the opposition, including President Robert Mugabe's home district of Zvimba. The recounting began after an opposition attempt to stop it was blocked in court, stacked with Mugabe loyalists, Friday. (AP Photo)
AP Photo: Electoral officials count ballots in Domboshawa, near the capital Harare Saturday, April 19, 2008. Officials...
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R.I.P. TEN WHO CARED ENOUGH TO VOTE...
Never in all the years of putting together the lugubrious blog have we seen such an astronomical death toll as the one that follows (even if it is approximative and an estimate covering five long years of conflict and strife...)
UN says Darfur conflict worsening, with perhaps 300,000 dead
By EDITH M. LEDERER,
Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 21 minutes ago
UNITED NATIONS - The conflict in Darfur is deteriorating, with full deployment of a new peacekeeping force delayed until 2009 and no prospect of a political settlement for a war that has killed perhaps 300,000 people in five years, U.N. officials said Tuesday.
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In grim reports to the Security Council, the United Nations aid chief and the representative of the peacekeeping mission said suffering in the Sudanese region is worsening. Tens of thousands more have been uprooted from their homes and food rations to the needy are about to be cut in half, they said.
"We continue to see the goal posts receding, to the point where peace in Darfur seems further away today than ever," said John Holmes, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
The conflict began in early 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against Sudan's Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination. Many of the worst atrocities in the war have been blamed on the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads allied with the government.
A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force took over duties in Darfur in January from a beleaguered 7,000-man AU mission. But only about 9,000 soldiers and police officers of the authorized 26,000 have deployed.
"We are late and we are trying to speed up the deployment of this mission, and we facing many obstacles," said the U.N.-AU force's envoy, Rodolphe Adada. "But eventually, with the help of some donors, we could be in a position to achieve maybe 80 percent of the force by the end of this year."
The mission faces major problems in putting troops into a very hostile environment, Adada said. It still lacks five critical capabilities to become operational — attack helicopters, surveillance aircraft, transport helicopters, military engineers and logistical support.
Holmes said further progress in deploying the joint peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, would help protect civilians and possibly humanitarian convoys.
"But only an end to all violence and concrete steps towards a political settlement will make the fundamental difference needed, as the rebel movements themselves above all need to recognize," Holmes said. "Otherwise the reality is that the people of Darfur face a continued steady deterioration of their conditions of life and their chances of lasting recovery."
The U.N. and AU have tried for months to open new peace talks between Sudan and rebel groups following the failure of a 2005 agreement to stem violence. But most rebel chiefs are boycotting the negotiations, and security in Darfur has further deteriorated in recent months.
Adada told the council that "unfortunately, it is commonly understood today in Darfur that peace is not at all attractive — neither economically nor politically."
Darfur's main rebel chief said Tuesday he told Security Council representatives last month that no peace talks can be held until security is restored.
"Wrong negotiations will only complicate the matter and prolong the suffering of the people of Darfur," Abdulwahid Elnur, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement, told The Associated Press during an interview in Paris, where he lives in exile.
When former U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland brought the Darfur conflict to the Security Council's attention in April 2004, he said approximately 750,000 people were in danger.
Today, Holmes told the council, "of Darfur's estimated 6 million people, some 4.27 million have now been seriously affected by the conflict."
He said nearly many of them have had to flee their homes — some 2.45 million people are sheltering elsewhere in Sudan and 260,000 more in neighboring countries. Some 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee just this year, Holmes said. Some 60,000 of them were displaced in West Darfur, which has seen an upsurge in violence.
"Those in the camps feel helpless and voiceless," Holmes said. "The fear of never being able to return to their areas of origin, and the pressure by government authorities to return when conditions are clearly not right, lead to increasing tension, polarization, politicization and even militarization."
The U.N. World Food Program announced last week that it will have to halve the amount of food provided to Darfur's needy next month because humanitarian convoys are being attacked. The cut "could not come at a worse time ... as the rainy season approaches," Holmes said.
Egeland, the former U.N. humanitarian chief, estimated in 2006 that 200,000 people had lost their lives because of the conflict, from violence, disease and malnutrition. He said this was based on an independent mortality survey released in March 2005 by the U.N. World Health Organization.
"That figure must be much higher now, perhaps half as much again," Holmes said Tuesday.
Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed countered that "in our own calculations, the total number does not exceed 10,000."
He said his government counts only people killed in fighting, saying there are no dead from malnutrition and starvation "because in Darfur there is no epidemics, no starvations."
"The exaggerated number given is to serve political ends," Mohamed said. "It is only to give the impression that the government is not doing much in the peacekeeping to save its own people."
Queried by reporters, Holmes said the estimate of 300,000 dead "is not a very scientifically based figure" because there have been no new mortality studies in Darfur, but "it's a reasonable extrapolation."
"What I'm saying is if that figure of 200,000 was anything like right in 2006, then that figure must be much higher now," he said.
Egeland told AP last month that he estimated the toll had risen to around 400,000.
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, the current Security Council president, said he was especially concerned that "there's absolutely nothing (moving) on the political process."
Asked if the council consider sanctions against those obstructing peace efforts, Kumalo said: "Well, the people who are obstructing the peace process are sitting in the nice capitals of Europe, so what can we do? And Europe is represented in the council."
He was clearly referring to Elnur, the rebel chief living in Paris.
Sudan's ambassador said one message came through "loud and clear" from Tuesday's meeting.
"We should give priority again to the peace process, because even peacekeeping with the maximum number is not a substitute to the political process," Mohamed said.
Western officials have blamed Sudan's government for the delay in deploying peacekeepers and key military equipment. Sudan denies that, but it has vetoed troop contributions from some non-African or non-Muslim nations.
"Contributors have to come from the whole world. It's the only guarantee that the force works on the ground, with neutrality," Elnur told AP.
R.I.P. 300,000 VICTIMS... of human folly.
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Those fierce Tamil Tigers are at it again - and the Sri Lankan troops won't have any of it.
Result: another rather heavy death toll over there...
At least 90 reported killed in fierce battle on Sri Lanka
By RAVI NESSMAN,
Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Tamil rebels and Sri Lankan troops fought one of their fiercest battles in years Wednesday, battering each other with small arms and mortars in a confrontation that the military said killed 100 guerrillas and left 76 soldiers dead or missing.
The rebels claimed they killed more than 100 soldiers and lost only 16 of their fighters in a 10-hour firefight they characterized as a rout of the heavily armed government forces.
Either way, the battle was a serious blow to the government's promise to capture the Tamil Tigers' de facto state in the north, crush the rebel group and end the 25-year-old civil war in this Indian Ocean island nation by the end of the year.
As with most battles, the two sides gave very different accounts.
The military said fighting broke out just before dawn when rebel forces overran government positions in the rugged Muhamalai region of the Jaffna peninsula, north of rebel-held territory
Government troops fought back with small arms, mortars and tanks, eventually driving off the assault and launching a counteroffensive that pushed 500 yards into Tamil Tiger territory, the military spokesman, Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, said.
Soon after the ground fighting, air force jets and helicopters destroyed two rebel artillery positions and hit rebel bunkers in the area, the military said in a statement.
The military initially said 15 soldiers died, then increased that toll to 38. By early Thursday, it said 43 were dead, 33 were missing and 120 were wounded. The toll was the worst suffered by the military in months and would make it one of their deadliest battles since renewed fighting started here more than two years ago.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said the rebels counted more than 100 dead soldiers and about 500 wounded troops. They recovered the bodies of at least 30 of the soldiers, he said.
Both sides routinely inflate casualty figures for the other side and underreport their own losses. Independent accounts of the fighting are unavailable because journalists are barred from the war zone.
Ilanthirayan accused the military of sparking the battle. "They attempted to get near our positions. That's when the clashes erupted," he told The Associated Press.
In a later statement e-mailed to reporters, Ilanthirayan said the fighting began about 2:30 a.m., when troops backed by armored vehicles and artillery batteries tried to capture rebel fortifications on the front line.
The guerrillas fought back in a battle that lasted past noon and eventually forced the troops to withdraw to their earlier positions, he said. The rebels counted more than 100 dead soldiers and about 500 wounded troops, he said. Sixteen rebels were killed, he said.
Both sides routinely inflate casualty figures for the other side and underreport their own losses. Independent accounts of the fighting are unavailable because journalists are barred from the war zone.
Fighting between the two sides has escalated since the government pulled out of a long-ignored cease-fire with the rebels and forced out the Nordic truce monitors who were some of the only observers with access to the war zone.
Senior government officials have vowed to destroy the rebel group by the end of the year, going so far as to erect billboards on major roads showing a map of Sri Lanka free of the Tamil Tiger's de facto state, with a simple promise: "2008."
But diplomats and other observers say the army is facing far more resistance than it expected, and government officials have begun appealing to Sri Lankans to have patience with the war effort.
The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils, who have been marginalized for decades by successive governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
____
Associated Press writer Krishan Francis contributed to this report.
R.I.P. TIGERS & TROOPERS alike...
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Former NBA referee Darell Garretson dies
4 hours, 52 minutes ago
*
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MESA, Ariz. (AP)—Darell Garretson, the longtime NBA referee who also directed the league’s officiating staff, has died. He was 76.
The National Basketball Referees Association said Wednesday that Garretson died Monday at his Mesa home. The union said Garretson’s health had been in decline following surgery and various illnesses.
“We are saddened by the passing of Darell Garretson,” NBA commissioner David Stern said. “Darell was a man of extraordinary character, who touched many lives during his 31-year tenure as an NBA official and supervisor of officials.
“On behalf of the entire NBA family, I extend my deepest sympathy to his wife, Jeannie, and two sons, Ron and Rick.”
Garretson began his career as an NBA referee in 1967. In 1981, he became the NBA Chief of Officiating Staff, while remaining an active referee. He held both jobs for 13 seasons and retired from the supervisor position in 1998.
“Our grief at losing Darell Garretson is not just about the loss of an icon, a refereeing legend, although he certainly is both of those things,” NBRA spokesman Lamell McMorris said. “It is much more personal. Darell discovered and developed so many of our current referees. … He took them and he coached them, tirelessly, and he made them some of the most elite referees in the world. And they love him for it.”
Ron Garretson is a current NBA referee.
Few, if any, of the NHL referees will ever command such respect when THEY pass... For, as recently seen in the Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens series, NHL referees STILL don't do a tenth of a good job as the NBA referees, particularly the likes of Darell Garretson, did and continue to do. They call fouls the moment there is undue contact, unlike the dumba$$ NHLers who use such pathetically poor judgment to deliver their officiating...
R.I.P. Darell Garretson.
My condolences to his entire family, especially his widow Jeannie and two sons.
I know how they feel.
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The advantage of periodically dropping by a site such as Care2 is that spontaneous brainstorming unknowingly (to some) occurs - and that is how, unbeknownst to members of a certain Movies & Entertainment group that exists over there, some of them wind up as contributors to this very site, the lugubrious blog...
We, at the lugubrious blog, were completely unaware of the passing of two legendary performers - legendary in their own right - one Joe Feeney and one Paul Davis, the latter a personal favorite of luminous luciano, yes...
Joe Feeney
(August 15, 1931 - April 16, 2008)
Born to an Irish-American family in Grand Island, Nebraska, USA.
From 1957 to 1982, when the Welk show ended production, Feeney was the program's featured Irish Tenor. Among his selection of musical numbers that were popular with the Welk audience were Danny Boy, Galway Bay, Sweet Leilani and the Mario Lanza classic Be My Love.
Beautiful Tenor Irish Voice~ Forever Remembered
Paul Lavon Davis
(April 21, 1948 – April 22, 2008)
American singer, best known for his radio hits and solo career which started worldwide in 1970. His career encompasses soul, country and pop music. Although Davis has ultimately retired from the music industry, he has written many memorable country music hits.
He had two Top 20 singles "'65 Love Affair" (which rose to #6) and "Cool Night" (which rose to #11).
Cool Night
Click here to watch
Before his death on April 22, 2008, Paul returned to singing and songwriting recording two songs, "You Ain't Sweet Enough," and "Today." He died of a heart attack at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi.
A Great Singer~forever singing in our hearts~
R.I.P. JOE FEENEY
R.I.P. PAUL DAVIS
The Heavens above collected two more of the finest voices ever for their Celestial Choir.
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Another artist's demise that could have blown by us here, at the lugubrious blog - along with the impending one of his partner - but somehow it did not and our eagle-eyed staff nabbed it first... almost.
Hollywood stunt bear kills trainer
POSTED: Thursday, April 24, 2008
FROM BLOG: Newslite.tv - Odd News -
All the news which barely qualifies as news. Off-beat and odd news stories from around the world - updated several times each day.
The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.
A bear which has appeared in movies alongside stars Will Ferrell has killed his trainer in a savage attack.
Stephan Miller died after being bitten on the neck by 7ft 6in Rocky, who recently appeared with Ferrell in 'Semi-Pro' and weighs 50 stone.
It is thought the 39-year-old animal trainer died of blood loss shortly after the attack in which the beast needed to be subdued with pepper spray. Grizzly bear Rocky, previously described as "the best working bear in the business," is likely to now be put down at the request of California's Department of Fish and Game.
Read more from this blogger at Newslite.tv - Odd News | Let us know what you think of this feature
R.I.P. Stephan Miller - the next bear hug you get be that of St. Peter as he welcomes you at Heaven's pearly Gates.
R.I.P. Rocky The Grizzly Bear - as soon as you will...
Animal actors walk a tighter rope than ANYONE ELSE in Hollywood; one mistake and their careers are over. And so are their lives.
By comparison, actresses over 35 and child stars really do have it easy...
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Some neighbourhood watches are undermined by a very common modern plight: people's perceptions. Such as in the case which follows, when a wealthy and elderly neighbour was naturally assumed to be abroad - when she was most certainly not.
In fact, she'd departed not for any overseas destination but truly for the Great Beyond...
* Apr 25, 2008 8:13 am US/Eastern
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Woman Thought To Be Overseas Found Dead In NH Home
HOLLIS, N.H. (AP) ― Neighbors hadn't seen Christel Bornecke of Hollis, New Hampshire for several months, and believed she was on a trip to Germany.
It turned out she had died in her home, probably in February.
Bornecke's landlord found her body and her dead dog last weekend.
Police believe Bornecke died of natural causes sometime in February and that her dog starved.
Neighbors thought Bornecke, who was in her late 60s, was on vacation in Germany because she had planned to leave for a trip there in February, and would have been gone several months.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Hey, A.P. - I am not publishing this on my blog, merely commenting on it HERE - and since posting a link would serve no purpose within a very short time... Tis not for profit, is what I'm saying! Digg it? Facebook this!
R.I.P. MRS. BORNECKE
R.I.P. BORNECKE PUPPY LOVE
Such tragedies sure could be avoided - at least where the pup was involved...
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John Ritter's widow plans to seek new trial in actor's death
Fri Apr 18, 9:35 PM
By The Associated Press
GLENDALE, California -
John Ritter's widow intends to seek a new trial of civil claims over his death.
According to court documents obtained Friday by CelebTV.com, Amy Yasbeck filed a notice of intent to file a motion for a new trial on April 1. Court papers filed on April 10 show Yasbeck was granted an extension until May 1 to file the motion.
Last month, a Glendale jury cleared two doctors of negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of the actor, who died from a torn aorta in 2003.
Ritter became ill on Sept. 11, 2003, while working on his hit sitcom "8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter." He was taken to the hospital and died a few hours later. He was 54.
Way to go, Amy.
You show them.
Finally, an Amy that makes sense - and it's not the fictional Judging Amy either...
Explosion in Canada kills one, injures six
REGINA, Saskatchewan,
April 19 (UPI) --
A building demolition gone awry led to a gas explosion in the Canadian town of Nipawin that left one person dead and six more injured, the town's mayor says.
Mayor Glen Day said several buildings were leveled when a gas line ruptured while one building was being demolished, the Globe and Mail reported Friday.
"It caused a (gas) leak that collected in the adjacent building, which was a specialty meat shop," Day said of Thursday's demolition effort. "It subsequently exploded and blew the building apart, and a gas fire burned pretty quickly."
The mayor said the explosion sent a shock wave through the town in the Saskatchewan province and knocked out power throughout the area.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police told the newspaper an unidentified man was killed and two people were hospitalized with serious injuries.
The Globe and Mail said the six people hurt in the blast are thought to be workers taking part in the demolition effort.
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© UPI
U.N. wants clampdown on malaria
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.,
April 25 (UPI) --
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a new campaign Friday to curtail malaria deaths with preventive measures.
To mark the first World Malaria Day, Ban released a video message in which he says the mosquito-borne disease kills about 1 million people per year, 90 percent of them in Africa. Although the disease is preventable, at least 500 million people are infected each year. The majority survive with treatment.
"We need desperately to step up our efforts to roll back malaria," Ban said.
He set a target date of 2010 to provide household sprays and bed nets treated with insecticide for 500 million people, and also called for more training for health workers and more malaria clinics, the BBC said.
A similar 1998 anti-malaria initiative had a goal of cutting deaths in half by 2010, but the death toll has actually risen since it began, the report said.
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© UPI
Palestinian rockets hit Israeli cemetery
ASHKELON, Israel,
April 25 (UPI) --
Palestinian rocket fire struck Israel Friday, heavily damaging the Ashkelon cemetery, local Israeli officials said.
Al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, claimed responsibility for the rocket attack and for a shooting in an industrial zone in the Sharon region in which two Israeli guards were killed.
Four rockets were fired at Ashkelon, one striking the city's southern cemetery, damaging dozens of graves. The barrage came before employees reported to work, Ynetnews said.
Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mahatzri called on the Israeli government to resign over the attack.
"While the prime minister and the ministers are celebrating, vacationing and having fun, the south's residents are worried," he told Ynetnews, "and some of them even entered the bomb shelters this morning."
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© UPI
Report: Israel wary of Syrian retaliation
JERUSALEM,
April 25 (UPI) --
Israeli defense officials said they are concerned Syria will retaliate over U.S. allegations Israel bombed a secret nuclear reactor construction site last year.
Defense sources told Haaretz Israel must be cautious and avoid embarrassing Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
This week, Washington released details of the Sept. 6 airstrike and members of Congress were shown a video reputedly recorded by an agent inside the nuclear site prior to the attack.
However, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is reportedly opposed to releasing any new details on the attack or the nuclear ties between Damascus and Pyongyang, as he claims that would escalate tensions with Syria.
Meanwhile, as part of North Korea's nuclear dismantlement process, Pyongyang must declare any proliferation activities it was involved in, although talks have stalled over the North's silence about allegedly aiding Syria, the report said.
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© UPI
S. Korea expects nuke talks to resume
SEOUL, April 25 (UPI) --
South Korean officials say they don't think efforts to get the North Korean denuclearization talks restarted would be hindered by the latest U.S. disclosures.
The denuclearization talks among the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas are stalled over North Korea's failure to declare all its nuclear programs.
This week the administration of U.S. President George Bush provided Congress what it said is the clearest evidence to support its claim that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor, one of the issues in the six-party talks. The North has denied the charge.
A senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official told Yonhap news agency efforts to resume the talks will stay on course despite the Syria concern.
Other officials were quoted as saying the alleged Syria-North Korea connection is neither new nor surprising.
Separately, Lee Tae-ski, South Korean ambassador to the United States now on a home visit, said it is more important to secure a firm pledge from the North that it won't get involved in proliferation activity in the future, the report said.
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© UPI
Condolences certainly are in order - for all the death tolls that were and all those to be, looming on the horizon at the mere glancing at these news reports that we get from left and right, de part et d'autre...
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High court rejects death row petitions
WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) --
The U.S. Supreme Court, as expected, declined a number of death row petitions Monday without comment.
All of the 11 petitions were filed before the justices ruled 7-2 last week in a case from Kentucky that the most usual method of lethal injection didn't violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishments."
Kentucky's method is similar to the method used by 35 other states and the federal government, all of which impose the death penalty.
The New York Times said the 11 petitions came from seven states: Georgia, Ohio, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Arizona and Texas.
Most of the executions had been put on hold
CNN reported that three of the petitions came from inmates who had their executions delayed until the resolution of the Kentucky case. No executions have taken place since last year, when the high court agreed to hear the lethal injection case.
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© UPI
Even the Colonel wouldn't kill his chicken that way - okay?
À Bon Entendeur - salut!
Group of Gibraltar's Barbary apes to be killed
By HAROLD HECKLE
Thu Apr 17, 8:45 PM ET
MADRID, Spain - A renegade group of Gibraltar's Barbary apes has annoyed residents so much that authorities announced plans Thursday to kill them.
A cluster of 25 Barbary apes — a species of monkey usually weighing about 15-25 pounds — moved to a popular beach-side area some months ago where they have been stealing food, entering rooms through open windows and harassing tourists, officials said.
The territory's tourism minister, Ernest Britto, has decided to kill the beach dwelling group, government spokesman Francis Cantos said.
"I can confirm that tourism minister Britto has decided to issue a license for a cull," said Cantos.
"The decision was not taken lightly. It is a last resort," Britto told the Gibraltar Chronicle newspaper.
The newspaper said two monkeys have already been captured and given lethal injections.
The pack, part of the territory's population of around 200, invaded a sandy beach area called Catalan Bay where they remained because they were able to rummage for food. The area is popular with tourists and has a luxury hotel.
Britto said he determined that the monkeys posed a danger to public health.
The animals mainly inhabit the high ground of Gibraltar, a British colony off Spain's southern tip.
The British Army, which is responsible for their care, has in the past often had to replenish Gibraltar's population with monkeys from Africa. Barbary apes also live in Morocco and north Algeria.
First the wolves in Norway, now the Barbary Apes of Gibraltar...
Which is the true barbaric monkey race again, hmm?
The human race is the correct answer, yes.
So sorry, but I couldn't trace back ghastly news items I saw on the CNN ticker (among other tickers) and so, for once, I'll just assume you all know what I'm talking about and pass on the condolences accordingly...
R.I.P. 55+ who died in a fire in a South American country's factory chock-full of toxic products - and with very suspiciously barred from the outside doors...
R.I.P. victims of another fire, in an apartment complex, on the very same day, in a North American city though...
R.I.P. all the shooting, beating, stabbing and otherwise killed victims of "sweet home Chicago"...
R.I.P. anybody else I might have missed in this sad, sad month of April...
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Another kind of *777* - not at all GOD's Number - follows... You've been warned!
7 killed during raid on militant hideout in Afghan capital
By RAHIM FAIEZ and MATTHEW PENNINGTON,
Associated Press Writers
Wed Apr 30, 3:04 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of intelligence agents on Wednesday raided the hideout of militants with suspected links to an attack on President Hamid Karzai, as the Afghan capital was sucked deeper into the war against the Taliban.
Terrified residents hid from booming guns and grenades that destroyed the mud-brick house. The battle claimed seven lives — a woman and a child who were in the house, three intelligence agents and two militants.
One of the dead militants had supplied weapons used in Sunday's attack on Karzai, intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told reporters.
Afghan security services are under pressure to crack militant cells after the assassination attempt, which came during a military parade in Kabul that was also attended by foreign ambassadors. The attack highlighted the president's weak grip on the country.
The U.S.-backed leader escaped injury, but a lawmaker and two other people were killed.
Saleh said Wednesday's raid on a densely populated hillside in western Kabul was part of a wider operation in which six other militant suspects were detained elsewhere in the city.
He said the border regions of neighboring Pakistan were the source of the militant threat.
Saleh alleged that militants involved in the gun and mortar assault on Karzai were exchanging cell phone text messages with people in Pakistan's Bajur and North Waziristan regions and the main northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Although he did not directly implicate Pakistan's government, Saleh's comments could dampen recently improved relations between the countries, relations often strained over allegations that Pakistan helps the Taliban.
"We have no evidence whether ... the operation has had any mercy or go-ahead from the government of Pakistan and (its) special agencies," Saleh said. "There (is) very, very strong evidence suggesting that Pakistan's soil once again has been used to inflict pain on our nation."
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas called the allegation "baseless."
"Anybody can say that militants (in the tribal areas) have done this or that," he said. "How can one validate such claims?"
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attempt on Karzai's life.
It was at least the fourth attempt to assassinate him since he came to power six years ago. That attack exposed how despite the presence of more than 40,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops and rapidly expanding Afghan security forces, Karzai is struggling to contain the insurgency.
At least 1,000 people have died in fighting in 2008. The U.N. says more than 8,000 people, most of them militants, died in insurgency-related violence in 2007.
The Taliban, whose hard-line regime was driven from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, are now strongest in the volatile south and east of the country. Kabul has often been hit by Taliban suicide bombers, but gunbattles between security forces and militants are still rare in the capital.
Wednesday's operation began in the early hours. The first gunfire rang out before dawn.
Standing about 500 feet away, an Associated Press reporter watched armed agents gradually close in through the warren of homes on the hillside near the historic Babur Gardens, a popular public park.
The two sides traded assault rifle and machine-gun fire. Puffs of dust burst up from around the targeted house during the battle.
Some families evacuated their nearby homes, but most stayed as explosions reverberated and gunfire pierced the air.
The firing subsided after 8 a.m. following three big explosions — two from rocket-propelled grenades fired by agents and a third, larger blast that apparently collapsed part of the two-story mud-brick building. By about 10 a.m., the fighting was over.
Saleh said security forces used heavier weapons fire when it was clear the militants in the house would not surrender.
"In the beginning we thought that this could be solved by a soft-knock," Saleh said. "However we found out very soon that we needed to use various types of weapons to dislodge them."
Residents emerged from their homes as calm returned.
Mohammed Ajmal, a man in his mid-20s, appeared pale and shaken.
"We kept hearing gunfire and the intelligence officials would not let us out of the house," he said. "But we knew they were firing at this one house, not at us."
Ajmal said people inside the targeted house had rented it three months ago, but he did not know them or where they came from.
"They looked like regular people and we thought they were very poor," he said.
Afghan lawmakers on Tuesday passed a vote of no-confidence against the country's three top security officials — including Saleh — after they revealed they had been aware of the assassination plot against Karzai but failed to stop it. The officials retained their jobs.
_____
Associated Press writer Amir Shah contributed to this report.
US troop deaths hit 7-month high in Iraq
By KIM GAMEL,
Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 21 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - The U.S. military death toll hit a seven-month high of 50 on Wednesday — with more than half the losses in Baghdad as American forces wage growing street battles against Shiite fighters.
Iraqi civilian deaths also remained high following the Iraqi government crackdown on Shiite militia factions — accused by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of using residents as human shields during close combat in the teeming Sadr City slum.
The clashes in Sadr City — a base for the powerful Mahdi Army militia — show little sign of easing as Iraqi and U.S. troops try to exert control over an area containing nearly half of the Baghdad's population.
In the deadliest skirmish Wednesday, suspected Shiite extremists first attacked with mortars and machine guns, then drove up a U.S. checkpoint and opened fire. The U.S. military said seven militants were killed. At least 10 other militiamen died in other clashes, the military said.
But the growing violence in Baghdad also has taken a toll on U.S. forces.
At least five soldiers have been killed in the city since Tuesday, bringing the monthly count to at least 50 — 27 in Baghdad — in the deadliest month since September when 65 U.S. troops died.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, at least 4,062 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq, according to an Associated Press count.
The U.S. military reported early Thursday that a soldier had been killed by an explosion Wednesday near a patrol in Ninevah Province.
Around Iraq, at least 1,080 Iraqi civilians and security forces were killed nationwide this month, or an average of 36 a day, according to an AP tally. That's down from March's total of 1,269, or an average of 41 per day.
But nearly 40 percent of the April deaths — 413 — occurred in Baghdad as violence returned to the capital, according to the AP figures compiled from reports from Iraqi police, hospital officials and government offices.
Civilian deaths have steadily risen this year, and spiked sharply after al-Maliki launched the offensive on Shiite militias on March 25 in the southern city of Basra. Fighting soon flared in Sadr City, which has become the epicenter of the battles.
It's difficult to determine the civilian toll from the ongoing clashes in Sadr City.
An Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said a total of 479 people have been killed in Sadr City since the clashes began in late March. But the official could not break down the number of militants, Iraqi security forces and civilians.
Tahseen al-Sheikhly, the spokesman for the civilian side of Baghdad security operations, said 925 people had died and 2,605 were wounded in Sadr City. But he gave no timeframe or details about how the figure was reached.
The U.S. military blamed the increase in deaths to an effort by both Shiite and Sunni militants to reverse recent security gains. The fighting intensified after al-Sadr last week threatened to unleash an "open war" against U.S.-led forces.
"We have said all along that this will be a tough fight and there will be periods where we see these extremists, these criminal groups and al-Qaida terrorists seek to reassert themselves," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters in Baghdad.
"So, the sacrifice of our troopers, the sacrifice of Iraqi forces and Iraqi citizens reflects this challenge," Bergner added.
The Iraqi prime minister also showed no indications of backing down.
Al-Maliki vowed that "no one can stop" the drive to disarm Shiite and Sunni extremists, including the Mahdi Army — which he accused of using civilians as human shields and hiding in residential areas.
"We can't build a state along with militias," he said during a news conference. "We want to build a single national army."
Al-Maliki said gunmen had killed the nephew of police Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman who has overseen operations in Basra, by hanging him from an electricity pole in Sadr City.
Local officials also claimed a school in Sadr City was hit by a U.S. airstrike. AP Television News footage showed a collapsed girls' school, with desks hanging from the slanting floors. The U.S. military did not specifically comment about the school.
In Washington, the White House confirmed that President Bush on Tuesday called Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the most powerful Shiite party backing the Iraqi government and a chief rival of al-Sadr's movement.
___
Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and the AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.
Canadians aboard Egypt bus as it crashes, killing 7
Last Updated: Thursday, May 1, 2008
1:01 AM ET
CBC News
A bus carrying dozens of Canadian and European tourists overturned and caught fire in Egypt early Thursday, killing at least seven people and injuring 16, an emergency official said.
The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known, the Associated Press reported.
About 40 tourists from Canada, Italy, Russia and the Ukraine were aboard the bus, which completely burned in the accident, according to Dr. Said Issa, the head of emergency services in Sinai.
He said the bus flipped on a sharp turn in the highway in Egypt's Sinai peninsula as it made its way to the Sinai resort city of Sharm el-Sheik to Cairo.
Many of the 16 wounded have severe burns, said Issa, who expects the death toll to rise.
The cause of the crash was still being investigated Thursday.
With files from the Associated Press
R.I.P. - seven times seventy-seven times (as Jesus would say - though He said it in a different context.)
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The seas are not safe.
Waterways, in general...
Evidence:
17 boat people found off California coast
SAN DIEGO, April 28 (UPI) --
U.S. border agents Monday intercepted a 26-foot boat off the coast of Southern California they say was carrying 17 suspected illegal immigrants.
Thirteen men and four women were taken into custody, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Vince Bond said one of the 17 will be charged with smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States, the newspaper reported.
Agents using night vision equipment spotted the boat running without navigation lights about 1 a.m. about 10 miles off the coast of Point Loma, the newspaper said. The boat had no registration markings, Bond said.
Immigration officials say it's the second time in about a month a boat carrying suspected illegal immigrants has been found. In the last case, 15 people were found adrift in a boat about 15 miles west of Mission Bay, the newspaper said.
The officials say there have been at least 20 such attempts in the past several months.
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Five killed as boats collide in Sydney Harbour
1 hour, 23 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) - Four young women and a man were killed when their overcrowded boat collided with a fishing vessel on Sydney Harbour in the early hours of Thursday morning, police said.
Nine other young people were injured, one critically, in what was apparently an unauthorised social outing aboard the 23-foot (seven metre) half-cabin cruiser, authorities said.
Marine Area Command Police Inspector Glenn Finniss would not speculate on the cause of the accident, but told reporters speed and whether navigational lights were in use would be part of a police investigation.
The small boat was carrying 14 people although it was designed to accommodate only eight, Finniss said.
"The indications are that 14 people (were) onboard a 23-foot vessel, that's obviously part of the things we're going to have to look in part of the investigation," he said.
"(The) vessel wasn't being used for commercial purposes, so obviously it was social."
The five, aged in their late teens and early 20s, died at the scene.
An 18-year-old woman and eight men aged in their 20s and early 30s were taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the accident as "appalling".
"This is every parents' nightmare," he told Fairfax Radio. "I just am stunned by this. It's just terrible news, and for the parents of those who have lost their lives this is just a terrible, terrible day.
"So much of Sydney's life and activity happens in and around the harbour. People go out to celebrate and have a good time, and for this to be the end of it is just breathtaking."
The boat's owner, Sydney Ship Repair and Engineering, said the craft, which is used to ferry staff to work on an island, was missing when they turned up for work and was apparently not on an authorised trip.
"All my staff have been accounted for," general manager Col McPherson told the Daily Telegraph online. "None of them work overnight."
Finniss said the crew of two on the trawler escaped injury and made an emergency call as other boats also came to the rescue.
Sea lion dies during veterinary exam
TACOMA, Wash., April 30 (UPI) --
A sea lion died while being examined by Washington veterinarians as they prepared to remove it from the Tacoma zoo, a spokeswoman said.
The 1,454-pound male sea lion, found earlier at a Columbia River dam, died after having breathing complications while waking up from anesthesia Tuesday at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
The sea lion reportedly was part of a group of seven taken from the Bonneville Dam April 24.
It is reported that state officials were allowed to take the sea lions out of the dam after they had little success in previous efforts to reduce their presence in the area. The animals reportedly were eating protected salmon in the dam.
The seven lions were being temporarily kept at the Tacoma zoo for examinations before being transported to other facilities across the nation, the Post-Intelligencer reported.
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R.I.P SEA LION
As for the humans - the quintet perished due to their own frivolity; and the 17 were not killed, just frustrated in what they wanted to do...!
My condolences to the relatives of the first group and I do sympathize with the plight of the latter group, but...
The sea lion, though, is the one creature in the whole lot there whose misfortunes were not at all his own fault, so...
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Forgotten baby dies in hot car
SALT LAKE CITY, April 30 (UPI) --
An 18-month-old baby died in Utah after his mother accidentally left him in a hot car while she became distracted putting away groceries, officials said.
Jana Gailey, a 33-year-old mother of four, said she was distracted upon returning from the store to her Kearns Township home before realizing her baby had been in the car for three hours unattended, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Wednesday.
Gaily reportedly hurried outside to find her son Myles passed out inside the vehicle, which warmed as outdoor temperatures reached nearly 80 degrees.
Paramedics Monday pronounced the baby dead upon their arrival at the home, the report said. Officials said Tuesday Myles' death was "heat-related," said Lt. Paul Jaroscak of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.
"This could happen to anyone, anytime," said Janette Fennell, president of the Kansas-based Kids and Cars.
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R.I.P. FORGOTTEN BABY
GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN THEE
Palestinian mother and 4 children killed in Gaza carnage
Mon Apr 28, 5:43 PM
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli fire hit a house in the Gaza Strip on Monday while a family was eating breakfast, killing six Palestinians, including four children and their mother, residents and medical workers said.
Israel challenged the account, describing the deaths as tragic and saying they occurred when an aircraft fired at two militants carrying bags filled with munitions that detonated and destroyed the home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
Local residents said no militants were killed in the explosion.
"They have wiped out my family," said the children's father, Ahmed Abu Meateq, blaming Israeli forces and weeping as the bodies were prepared for burial.
The carnage cast another shadow over Egyptian efforts to forge a ceasefire between Israel and militant groups and end violence threatening U.S.-brokered Palestinian statehood talks.
"This aggression does not serve efforts being exerted to achieve calm, and it obstructs the peace process," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, referring to Israel's military activities, said in a statement carried by WAFA news agency.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, without giving details of the raid in Beit Hanoun, said Hamas Islamists controlling the Gaza Strip bore overall responsibility for casualties among non-combatants because gunmen "operated among civilians."
The army said in a statement late on Monday it was probing the incident and would report its findings within 48 hours.
Medical officials and residents of Beit Hanoun, an area where militants frequently fire rockets at Israel, said an Israeli projectile smashed through the ceiling of a one-storey house where a family was having breakfast.
They said four children -- siblings whose ages ranged from 1-1/2 to 5 years old -- and their mother were killed in the house during what the Israeli military described as an operation against rocket launching crews and snipers.
"They were eating and they were hit," a neighbor said at the site, where chickens pecked at a bloodstained floor and cooked potatoes grew cold in a pot.
A 17-year-old Palestinian civilian who was passing by the home was also killed in the explosion, medical workers said.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, called the death of the family a "tragic incident."
"We make every possible effort to prevent civilians from being caught in the crossfire," Regev said.
Separately, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian gunman from Islamic Jihad during fighting in the town, the group said.
Another Palestinian militant was shot dead later in the day, according medical workers.
MISSILES, SHELLS
The Israeli military said aircraft and a tank unit fired at groups of gunmen that tried to approach troops in the town but no houses were targeted.
Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, said it fired three rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot in response to the Beit Hanoun killings. There were no reports of casualties in Sderot.
Hamas described deaths in Beit Hanoun as a "war crime." The group has offered Israel a six-month truce if it lifted an embargo on the territory.
After the latest violence, leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine traveled from Gaza to Cairo for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials on a possible ceasefire with Israel.
Israel has balked at entering into a formal agreement with Hamas, which is officially committed to its destruction, but has said it would have no reason to attack in the Gaza Strip if Palestinians stopped their rocket fire.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; editing by Giles Elgood)
Comments are here
R.I.P. MOTHER & CHILDREN
And my deepest condolences to all those affected by this saddest of tragedies.
The insanity of warfare -any kind of warfare- reaps lives that are not even on the front or, sometimes, even fully aware that there is an ongoing conflict - and that is one of its most insane aspects, if you ask me.
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Let me get this straight now: the same people that deems cows, monkeys, rats and LORD KNOWS what other critter to be "holy" (and, by "LORD" I do not mean Ganesh, no...) treat a certain category of fellow HUMAN BEINGS to be a subclass of unapprochable Morlocks-types or something...?!?
That makes sense.
Almost as sense as their tales featuring four-armed deities and the like, yes...
'Untouchable' woman dies after Indian medics refuse treatment
Thu Apr 24, 1:09 PM
LUCKNOW, India (AFP) - An "untouchable" woman who gave birth outside an Indian hospital because doctors would not treat her died Thursday, a day after her baby, officials admitted.
The newborn boy of Maya Devi, 28, died Wednesday due to lack of medical help minutes after being born outside the maternity wing of Kanpur Medical College in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
Devi was only put in intensive care after giving birth but she died of a heart attack early Thursday morning.
Several doctors, including the hospital's chief medical superintendent, had refused to touch her or provide medical care as she delivered her baby, the Press Trust of India reported.
Devi was a Dalit, or "untouchable", a group at the bottom of the caste social ladder who have long been ostracised and forced into menial professions despite laws banning discrimination. Many high-class Hindus fear coming into contact with them.
Dr Kiran Pandey, head of gynaecology at the hospital, told AFP she was an hour's drive away in state capital Lucknow at the time and rushed back.
"We provided her the best medicines and treatment but she succumbed to two cardiac arrests," Pandey said.
College principle Anand Swaroop has ordered an inquiry, as has a district magistrate.
The state's chief minister, Mayawati, who won elections last year, has ordered the doctors to be suspended and demanded an investigation.
R.I.P. UNTOUCHABLE WOMAN
MAYA DEVI - YOU WILL BE GREETED WITH OPEN ARMS BY GOD, ON THE OTHER SIDE... YOU HAVE BUT TO ACCEPT *HIM*...
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More Indian lunacy follows...
Baba Iaga must be proud...
But for more comments on the truly shocking news item here (as far as India is concerned, anyhow) check out this link.
Five killed in Indian Kashmir violence
Tue Apr 29, 11:42 PM
SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Four Islamic rebels and a policeman died in three clashes in India's restive Kashmir region, police said.
A rebel from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba group and a policeman were killed in southern Kishtwar district early Tuesday, "when police and the army launched a joint search operation in a village," a spokesman said.
The dead militant was identified as Abu Hamza, a "zonal commander" of the group, he said.
"Two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in another gunfight at Palhallan, 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Srinagar on Monday," the spokesman said.
The Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest Kashmiri militant group, are among a dozen rebel outfits battling Indian-rule in Kashmir since the outbreak of an Islamic rebellion in 1989.
In another encounter, an unidentified militant was killed at Chournar forest, 90 kilometres (54 miles) north of Srinagar on Monday, police said adding that an army officer and a soldier were injured in the same incident.
Violence in Indian-Kashmir has left more than 43,000 people dead by official count.
The number of insurgency-related deaths has dropped sharply since India and Pakistan, each holding parts of Kashmir but each claiming it in full, launched a peace process in January 2004.
R.I.P. KASHMIR KILLED
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Just as the wretched Montreal Canadiens' inane and insane dreams of a "stanley cup championship" are getting torn asunder (as the battered and bruised club of over-evaluated flashes-in-the-pan are rapidly running out of steam now; remember what I said? "WIN OR LOSE, BRUINS WILL BRUISE!" Well, it is exactly what happened; the Boston Bruins did the damage and now the Philadelphia Flyers are reaping the benefits and WILL END THE CANADIENS' SEASON, EFFECTIVELY KILLING ALL HOPES FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP IN THAT TOWN, EVER AGAIN. But I am digressing...)
An actual luminary from the city of Montreal (there are a few - one must give credit when it is due, and even WHERE too, even when the location is this...) crossed over into the Great Beyond...
Or not-so-great, I guess; it really is not for me to say EITHER WAY...
Henry Brant, Montreal-born avant-garde composer, dies at 94
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
By The Associated Press
Henry Brant, an avant-garde composer whose works placed dozens and sometimes hundreds of musicians throughout a concert hall - and sometimes throughout an entire city - has died. He was 94.
Brant died Saturday at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif., said his wife, Kathy Wilkowski. He died of natural causes, the family said.
Brant created exuberant commissioned works that took into careful account the acoustics of a performance space and mixed musical styles from folk to classical.
They weren't small productions. The 1979 "Orbits" was scored for 80 trombones, and another piece, "Rosewood," was scored for 100 classical guitars. "Prisons of the Mind," a 1990 piece for the Dallas symphony hall, had 314 musicians.
Despite some improvisation, Brant was a perfectionist, said Neely Bruce, a professor at the university who is a longtime friend and a co-executor of Brant's musical estate. Brant was particular about the orchestration, devising a sort of shorthand to get the directions down on paper.
"He's a collage artist, definitely working with large-scale forces," Bruce said.
The wide spacing is crucial and "makes for a clarity that is really remarkable," Bruce said.
Among the widest spacing was for his 1984 "Fire in the Amstel." Four boatloads of flutists and other musicians passed through the canals of Amsterdam.
"It was all timed so when one of the flutes went under one of the bridges of the canal, a marching band would go over it," Bruce said. Meanwhile, cathedral bells rang along the way, and choirs sang in the churches.
Born in Montreal to American parents on Sept. 15, 1913, Brant began composing at age 8, according to a biography on his web page. He studied at the McGill Conservatorium in Montreal, the Juilliard School, Columbia University and Bennington College.
He later taught at all three schools, including spending 24 years at Bennington.
R.I.P. Henry Brant.
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