health: Lincoln Tribune

الأحد، 1 يناير 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Ukraine’s Tymoshenko transferred to prison to serve 7-year jail term
Car bomb kills 16 near home of former minister in western Pakistan
Powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes off Japan, felt in Tokyo
Obama Signs Defense Bill, With Reservations
Cyclone Thane kills 46 on India’s southern coast

Ukraine’s Tymoshenko transferred to prison to serve 7-year jail term

Posted: 01 Jan 2012 12:49 AM PST

KIEV (BNO NEWS) -- Ukrainian opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was transferred to a prison on Friday to serve her seven-year jail term, an official said on Saturday.

Tymoshenko, who was convicted of abuse of power, was moved from a detention center in the capital of Kiev, where she has been held since early August, to a prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv.

"Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] arrived half an hour ago in accordance with the order issued by the State Penitentiary Service. She is currently in a temporary detention facility," the head of Kachanivska penal colony in Kharkiv told reporters on Friday..

The transfer comes a week after Tymoshenko lost an appeal against the verdict. Representatives of Ukraine's intellectual circles, including social activists and writers, expressed outrage and signed a statement rejecting the court's decision, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency reported.

"The authorities took a sadistic decision to transfer Yulia Tymoshenko from Lukyanivka detention center to a penal colony, which is even more defiant taking into account the fact that it was done on New Year's Eve," prominent Ukrainian writer Lina Kostenko and other intellectuals said in the statement, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

"It looks like they are cynically counting on the fact that people in their pre-holiday worries will forget about a person who knows how to be principled and consistent in saying 'no' to the mockery of the state and who has to pay for it today through being sent by Tsarist-Stalinist rule to a penal colony," they added.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year term for abuse of power in connection with a 2009 gas deal with Russia. She was accused of illegally forcing state energy company Naftogaz to sign a gas supply contract with Russian gas company Gazprom in 2009, which the state says required approval of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Tymoshenko has claimed her trial is politically motivated and an attempt by President Viktor Yanukovych, who narrowly beat her in the presidential election in February 2010, to bar her from future elections. The international community has largely condemned her trial.

Car bomb kills 16 near home of former minister in western Pakistan

Posted: 01 Jan 2012 12:43 AM PST

QUETTA, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll following a car bomb attack near the home of a politician in western Pakistan on Friday has risen to at least 16, police said on Saturday. Dozens more were injured.

The attack happened near the residence of former federal minister Naseer Mengal in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province which borders with Afghanistan. Authorities believe Naseer Mengal's son, Shafiq Mengal, was the target although he was not injured.

The powerful explosion was heard up to several miles (kilometers) away and destroyed several homes nearby, leaving sixteen people killed and 35 others injured. The death toll initially stood at nine, but authorities recovered seven more bodies from the scene on Saturday.

Investigators who examined the scene on Saturday said approximately 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of explosives were used in the blast, which left a crater of about four feet (1.2 meter) deep. It was not immediately clear if it was a suicide attack or a bomb which was planted in the vehicle.

Powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes off Japan, felt in Tokyo

Posted: 31 Dec 2011 09:42 PM PST

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- A powerful earthquake struck southeast of the Japanese main island of Honshu on early Sunday afternoon, seismologists said, but no tsunami alert was issued. Shaking was felt in Tokyo.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake at 2.27 p.m. local time (0527 GMT) was centered about 486 kilometers (302 miles) south-southwest of Tokyo. It struck about 370 kilometers (229 miles) deep, making it a deep earthquake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

No tsunami warnings were issued because of the depth of the earthquake, JMA said. Shaking could be felt in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, witnesses said.

Obama Signs Defense Bill, With Reservations

Posted: 31 Dec 2011 02:35 PM PST

U.S. President Barack Obama has signed a military spending bill despite having "serious reservations" about provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

The president signed the $662 billion bill Saturday while on vacation in Hawaii. At the signing, he chastised some lawmakers for what he said were their attempts to use the bill to restrict the ability of counterterrorism officials to protect the country.

His signature caps months of wrangling over how to handle captured terrorist suspects without violating the constitutional rights of Americans. The White House initially threatened to veto the legislation but dropped the warning after Congress made changes.

The bill also imposes new sanctions against Iran in an effort to hamper Tehran's ability to finance its nuclear enrichment program.

In response to the impending sanctions, Iran warned this week that it could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Persian Gulf. The U.S. countered with a promise to keep the strait open. A closure could temporarily cut off some oil supplies and impact the price of oil worldwide.

The bill also freezes some $700 million in assistance until Pakistan comes up with a strategy to deal with improvised explosive devices.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Cyclone Thane kills 46 on India’s southern coast

Posted: 31 Dec 2011 10:57 AM PST

CHENNAI, INDIA (BNO NEWS) -- At least 46 people have been killed and thousands of homes have been damaged after severe Cyclone Thane struck India's southeastern coast on Friday, officials said on Saturday. The death toll is expected to rise.

Cyclone Thane hit the coast in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Friday, leaving a trial of destruction in most notably Cuddalore district and neighboring Union Territory of Puducherry. Cuddalore, south of the city of Chennai, reported at least 26 deaths.

Two fatalities were reported in Villupuram district, two in Tiruvallur, three in Kanchipuram, one in Theni and another in Chennai. Four deaths were also reported in Kerala and seven more died in Puducherry, many as a result of wall collapses and electrocution.

Torrential rains accompanied by winds of up to 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour uprooted hundreds of trees and electric poles, blocking road traffic and snapping power supply in several areas. Puduchery District Collector S B Deepak Kumar told the Press Trust of India that rescue operations were in full swing and uprooted trees were being removed from the roads.

After making landfall on Friday, Thane moved further westward and weakened rapidly into a deep depression. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the storm had weakened into a 'well marked low pressure area' by early Saturday morning.

"Under the influence of this system, rainfall at most places with heavy falls at isolated places would occur over Kerala during next 24 hours," the department said in a weather bulletin. "Rainfall at many places with isolated heavy rainfall may occur over south interior Karnataka and north interior Tamilnadu during [the] next 12 hours."

Thane was the strongest cyclone of the 2011 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, which runs throughout the year although most cyclones tend to form between April and December, with notable peaks in May and November.

health

الأحد، 1 يناير 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Lincoln Tribune

ليست هناك تعليقات:

إرسال تعليق