LONDON : Woman passes driving test after 27 years and 450 lessons

THE TIMES OF INDIA

13/07/08

LONDON: A 62 – year – old woman has finally passed her driving test – 27 years after her first lesson.Teresa Clarke, of Wroxham, Norfolk, spent 15,000 pound in fees, had 450 hours of tuition from 20 instructors and failed 12 previous tests and cancelled a further 35 and had 50 mock exams.

She had her first lesson in 1981 shortly before American president Ronald Reagan was shot and Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.

However, Clarke was lucky for the 13th time, thanks to the help of her stepson, who runs a driving she finally was allowed to ditch her L-plates last month

“It took a long time for it to sink in when I was told I had passed. I was so happy I kissed the woman instructor,” the Telegraph quoted her, as saying.Clarke, a former shop assistant who is 5ft tall and has to sit on a cushion to reach the steering wheel, has admitted that she was a hopeless learner because she found it very difficult to concentrate for long period of time.

She was such a disaster that many instructors refused to carry onher after a few lessons – either too scared or too frustrated to continue.

However, then Richard Minkler, her stepson from her first marriage, stepped in and offered her his best instructor.

She was given 56 hours instruction in a two week intensive and told to give up coffee and tea to aid her concentration.

“I was little upset after I failed my first couple of tests – but I never really got disheartened,” she said.

“I was very persistent and I always knew I would pass one day. Now my dream has come true and I am just delighted.

“I used to fail my tests on all sorts of different things although my main problem was my lack of concentration.

“I used to have at least three cups of strong Italian coffee every day and when I stopped it really improved my driving by helping me to concentrate.”

“My previous one three years ago ended up refusing to teach me anymore after I failed my test with him.

“He just said, ‘I am awfully sorry, but you are no good. You will never pass’. His comments upset me and I am delighted to have proved him wrong,” she added.

Eritrean Athletes in the 2008 Beijing OlympicsEritrean Athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Eritrean American Athletics Association

(EAAA)

July 12, 2008

News: Alenalki.com

This year Eritrea will be sending a number of athletes to the Beijing Olympics. The athletes slated to participate in the 29th Olympiad are the Olympic silver medalist in the Zersenay Tadese, the veteran Olympian Yonas Kifle, Yared Asmerom, Tesfahannes Mesfin, Ali Abdela, Haile Wolday, the veteran Olympian Nebyat Habtemariam, Semret Sultan, and last but not least Teklemariam Medhin and Kidane Tadese. Cyclist Daniel Teklehaimanot, will also be representing Eritrea in the Beijing Olympics.

Teklemariam and Kidane were the last two to qualify for the upcoming Olympic games in China. Kidane Tadese is expected to take part in both the 5000m and 10,000m events making him the only Eritrean athlete who will be participating in two different events.

Kidane is looking forward to line up with his older and world class athlete Zersenay. The most recent track and field events that Kidane participated in have proven his prowess and unlimited potential. He participated in a 5000m competition this past June and came in third with a time of 13:13.17. That race qualified him for the 5000m in Beijing. Two weeks earlier on May 31st, he qualified for the 10000m after he placed first and registered a time of 27:06.16 in Belgium.

Teklemariam Medhin qualified for the Beijing Olympics after he ran the 10,000m race in 27:46.50 and ranked third in Paris on June 6th. He, like Kidane, started running in 2004. What makes his story even more impressive is the fact that he only run in two 10,000m races one being in the Sudan and the other in Eritrea. His Paris performance on June 6th was very heroic and deserving of our accolades. By qualifying for the 10,000m race in the Beijing Olympics, Teklemariam will have an opportunity to shine and represent his country alongside the Tadese brothers.

In less than one month from now the games of the XXIX Olympiad will officially begin and the world’s attention will be focused on the Chinese capital Beijing. As we have all done in the past, even when we had no personal stakes, we will be glued to our TV screens to witness humanity at its best. We will cheer for athletes who hail from the same city streets and villages that we hail from. The cyclist that we have adored and watched in the beautiful avenues of Asmara will be competing against the best of the world on the streets of China. The tracks of the main Olympic stadium, the Bird’s Nest, will be graced by Eritrea’s best runners. Our support of the athletes is very important and we have no doubt that they will make us all proud.

Please visit the official website of the Beijing’s Olympics at the following link.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/

Eritrean American Athletics Association (EAAA)
July 12, 2008

‘Pub customers to be checked for knives’

13 July, 2008

The police are to force pubs and clubs associated with knives or guns to search people on entry, under threat of losing their licences. The move will be pushed through by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith after a series of fatal stabbings in London and other cities. Trading standards officers are being told to step up test purchasing to stop sales of knives to under-18s. People convicted of carrying a knife will be made to visit A&E departments to see the impact of stab wounds, and to meet families of victims, as well as those imprisoned for knife crime. Youth forums will be extended to encourage young people to stay away from knives. The new measures will focus on knife hotspots in London, the West Midlands, Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Essex. – Independent On Sunday

A landlady is selling her pub for a penny. Lynne Peckett blames the smoking ban and soaring costs for her decision. The buyer of the Rose House, in Walkley, Sheffield, will get the lease for 1p, plus the cost of stock and fixtures and fittings. Lynne, 53, and her husband John, 55, who have run the pub for 19 years, put the lease up for sale two years ago for £30,000 but got no offers. Lynne said yesterday: “Our takings are down £2,000. We’ve three supermarkets selling cheap beer and ten other pubs nearby.” – Sunday Mirror

Bankers for Regent Inns, owner of the Australian-themed sports-bar chain Walkabout, are looking to appoint a corporate-restructuring specialist to evaluate the future of the struggling pub business. The banks, including RBS, Barclays, NatWest and HSBC, have held discussions with a number of consultants and may already have brought in accountants BDO Stoy Hayward. The company’s market value was just shy of £4m on Friday and it has debt of £80m, according to the latest set of results. – Sunday Times

Analysts are lowering their profits forecasts for JD Wetherspoon. The managed pub group announces a pre-close trading statement this week. Wednesday will see the announcement outline what the City believes will be pressure on numbers from the smoking ban and higher raw material and utility costs. – Sunday Herald

Across the country increasing numbers of women are taking up the ultimate man’s game. Since coming into effect last September, the Gambling Act 2005 has lifted restrictions on betting in pubs with the result that low-stakes games – especially poker – are enjoying a surge in popularity. Now women are finding they don’t have to be fantasy Bond girls to take their place at the table. Feisty and competitive, they are not put off by poker’s image and are ready to take on men at their own game. “I used to think poker players were aggressive, arrogant, chauvinistic old blokes,” says Zana McClymont, sitting in McGills bar, in Bargeddie, near Glasgow. Now she says she can’t miss her weekly fix. – Sunday Mail

Reckless parents who let their kids booze and play violent video games are helping to fuel gang crime, a leading headteacher said last night. Sir Alan Steer, an adviser to Schools Secretary Ed Balls, claimed mums and dads who would never allow their children to take drugs think nothing of buying them booze. “Children see some adults breaking laws, such as speeding. There are a lot of double standards.” He also blasted the emphasis on celebrity, adding: “We live in a greedy culture, we are rude to each other in the street. Children follow that.” – Sunday People

The Prince of Wales is now getting behind the bar with plans to sell his organic ale in pubs. Duchy Originals, the organic food and drink company set up by Prince Charles, has just produced its first draught beer, and hand-pulled pints will be available in a limited number of pubs from next month. The ruby-coloured ale is made in the Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire, which was bought by the independent brewer Marston’s last year. – Observer

Measles outbreak kills 20 children in central Somalia

MOGADISHU,

July 13 / 2008 (Xinhua)

Twenty Somali children have died of measles in a village in Middle Shabelle region north of the Somali capital Mogadishu, a local Elder said Sunday.

Speaking from Jawhar, the provincial capital of the region, Elder Sheik Ali Yusuf said that the 20 children died in the past 24 hours in Jabey villages west of Jawhar where he came to meet with local administration and aid agencies about the outbreak of the disease in the village.

Yusuf said that the village did not have any health facility or health workers to help contain the diseases for which some other children are sick with.

“The children who died of the disease are under the age of five and some more children are infected with measles in the village,” Yusuf said.

Many aid agencies in the Middle Shabelle region,90 km north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu, have withdrawn their staff and closed their offices in the region which has been in rebel hands for the past two months.

Yusuf told local media if urgent help is not delivered to those people many more children will die of the outbreak of the disease which he said “was spreading like a wildfire.”

Somali health infrastructure has collapsed with the overthrow of the former Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

Local and International aid agencies, most of whom have now stopped their operations, provided much of the meager health services for the internally displaced people.

Sudan: ICC case could provoke violence

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP)

13/07/08

Sudan’s ruling party warned Sunday there will be more violence in Darfur if the country’s president is indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide as hundreds of people rallied in Khartoum to show their support for the longtime leader.

A prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is expected to seek an arrest warrant Monday charging President Omar al-Bashir with orchestrating violence in Darfur that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead since 2003.

In Sudan, the ruling National Congress Party called the case against the al-Bashir “irresponsible cheap political blackmail” that has no legal basis, according to a statement from the party that was broadcast on state TV. It also warned there would be “more violence and blood” in Darfur if an arrest warrant is issued against the president, TV reported.

Al-Bashir huddled with Cabinet ministers and advisers Sunday, weighing how the government would response to any action taken by the ICC. Sudan has also asked the Arab League for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers.

Outside the meeting, hundreds of Sudanese, many carrying flags and pro-government banners, demonstrated to show their support for al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup. Others held signs ridiculing the ICC and its prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina. “Ocampo is a plotter against Sudan’s people,” one banner read.

Al-Bashir briefly emerged from the Cabinet meeting and went to the roof of the building to wave at the cheering crowd. He did not say anything.

Sudan’s state TV said the protest was organized by Sudanese labor groups.

“The different worker organizations are standing against any plot targeting the national sovereignty and expressing their support to the leadership,” the TV said.

The report also said the country’s Justice Minister Abdel Basset Sabdarat assured the demonstrators that his ministry was “ready to confront this plot.” He did not elaborate.

One of the participants at the Cabinet meeting, Essam Youssef, told reporters afterward that Sudanese politicians agreed to send “a strong message to the international community that we stand with all our power against anybody … who seeks to impose sanctions or target our head of state.”

“This action violates Sudan’s sovereignty and its people’s values and dignity,” said Youssef, an ally of al-Bashir who also heads the country’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.

On Saturday, a government spokesman said al-Bashir’s indictment would be “disastrous” for the region and could affect the work of humanitarian organizations in Sudan.

Mahjoub Fadul Badry did not specify what actions might be taken, but there are fears the charges could provoke reprisals against international aid workers and the U.N.-African Union peacekeepers that are already experiencing difficulties in doing their work.

A U.N. spokeswoman said Sunday the peacekeeping force was on security alert but still relying on the Sudanese government for protection inside the country.

Some foreign staff not directly working on emergency or humanitarian relief operations could be “temporarily relocated,” said Shereen Zorba, deputy UNAMID spokeswoman.

Zorba stressed that any disruption to humanitarian work in Darfur could have disastrous consequences.

“The people of Darfur have already suffered unimaginable suffering and should not be subjected to more tragedy,” she said.

Seven UNAMID peacekeepers were killed Tuesday when heavily armed fighters attacked them while they were on a patrol in northern Darfur. More than a dozen other peacekeepers were injured in the ambush — the deadliest against the joint U.N.-AU force since it deployed in the remote western Sudanese region earlier this year.

The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said Moreno-Ocampo will present evidence of war crimes in Darfur to judges Monday and one or more new suspects would be named. Court officials have refused to identify any of the potential new suspects, but U.N. officials and diplomats have said Moreno-Ocampo will seek an arrest warrant against al-Bashir.

The prosecutor has clearly indicated that he is aiming for the top leadership of the Sudanese government, accusing them of sponsoring the janjaweed militias who have unleashed a reign of terror on the country’s Darfur region.

Up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been displaced since the conflict began in early 2003.

Ethiopia says Sudan ties healthy despite frontier incident

ADDIS ABABA (AFP)

13/07/08

Ethiopia said Sunday it maintained healthy ties with Sudan after accusations that its troops had crossed their common frontier, killing 19 people.

“Ethiopia and Sudan have an excellent and strategic relationship,” said the Ethiopian foreign ministry in a statement. Their ties were “healthy, strong and steadily expanding,” the statement added.

“This does not mean, as in all border areas, that incidents may not occur. It does mean that when they do arise, as happened on Monday, they can be handled promptly and at the highest level, with both sides making every effort to ensure they should be contained and dealt with quickly.

“That is why a Sudanese presidential envoy has arrived in Addis Ababa,” it added.

Addis Ababa has denied claims made on Tuesday by Sudan’s army spokesman that Ethiopian forces had attacked a police base 17 kilometres (11 miles) inside Sudanese territory, killing 19 people, including a police officer.

The army spokesman gave no reason for the attack in the Jabal Hantub area of Gedaref state, which lies on the northern part of the long international border.

Ethiopia arrests 8 bombing suspects

13 Jul 2008

PRESS TV, Iran

Ethiopia arrests eight rebels suspected of carrying out bombings that killed eight people earlier this year in the capital, Addis Ababa.

The attacks were sponsored by arch-foe Asmara and implemented by its stooges in Ethiopia, the self-proclaimed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a statement by Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service said on Saturday.

The statement said that three most wanted suspects still remained at large and urged the public to come forward with information on them.

Simultaneous blasts at two petrol stations killed two people a day after local, regional and federal elections in April. A month later, a bomb tore through a minibus taxi, killing six.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people, and tensions still remain high in the region.

Eritrea routinely reject Ethiopia’s allegations, including that it backs the separatist OLF and ONLF rebels.

Reliable ground laid in Eritrea in efforts to achieve food security, Minister says

Mr. Saleh Meki,

Asmara, 13 July 2008

Relief  (Web)

In a seminar he conducted yesterday to the participants of Eritrea Festival in Riyadh and its environs, the Minister of Health, Mr. Saleh Meki, said that reliable ground has already been laid in Eritrea regarding efforts to achieve food security.

He pointed out that vigorous endeavors are being exerted to achieve the set goal on the basis of self-reliance through the coordinated efforts of the Government, people and members of the Defense Force.

As regards the expansion of social service, Mr. Saleh explained that the Government is working diligently to ensure social justice and outlined the major accomplishments scored in the domains of health and education.

Noting that encouraging achievements have been registered in controlling malaria and in expanding vaccination programs, the Minster pointed out that 60 to 70% of the required medicines are now being produced locally.

Moreover, Mr. Saleh indicated that different colleges have been opened and are still in the process of opening in Keren, Adi-Keih, Massawa, Asmara, Mendefera and others that would provide training course up to the level of degree. As a result, the number of students joining higher institutions of learning has doubled, he added.

The participants of the Festival reiterated their commitment to enhance contributions in the national development drive.

The 3-day Eritrea Festival in Riyadh and its environs concluded yesterday in a patriotic spirit.

MANDELA NO LONGER A “TERRORIST THREAT”

MANDELA NO LONGER A “TERRORIST THREAT”

July 4th, 2008 – ANJ Online

In a long-overdue vote, U.S. lawmakers have erased the stigma of “terrorist” attached to former South African President Nelson Mandela.
 
As the former anti-apartheid leader was being honored in London’s Hyde Park for his anti-AIDS activism, U.S. Senators unanimously passed legislation lifting the designation. The House of Representatives approved the same action on May 8.
 
Mandela’s name was placed on the U.S. terrorist watch list for his militancy in the African National Congress, which fought to end white minority rule in South Africa. The ANC was banned by South Africa’s apartheid government in 1960.
 
“Passage of the bill to remove … Nelson Mandela and others who worked tirelessly to end the oppressive, inhumane system of apartheid in South Africa is a great victory for justice,” said NJ Rep. Donald Payne. “I am gratified that we were able to show our respect and high esteem for a man who is loved and admired around the world.”