A dance you can really dig in Sheffield….

24dash, UK

30/09/08

Sheffield hosted a spectacular meeting of Man and 13 tonne Digger when French company, Beau Geste, opened their national tour of ‘Transports Exceptionnels’ on Sheffield City Centre’s Devonshire Green.

Choreographed by Dominique Boivin, the meeting between metal and flesh was a witty interpretation of the classic pas de deux.

Playful yet rugged, ‘Transports Exceptionnels’ is an unexpected moment of grace between fragile man and indestructible machine when they meet in an elegant spectacle of tender give-and-take.

The simply stunning work is accompanied by the dramatic and unmistakable voice of Maria Callas and all the performances were free.

The event was the next phase of our cultural project, Generate and as well as opening the Danceworks UK Autumn 08 Season, celebrated the launch of the Cultural Olympiad in partnership with Sheffield City Council and Dance Umbrella.

Councillor Sylvia Dunkley, Cabinet Member for Streetscene, Culture and Leisure at Sheffield City Council said: “It’s fantastic that we could attract such a prestigious company and performance to Sheffield.

“It was certainly a spectacle for everyone to enjoy. A performance like this really showed Sheffield’s Devonshire Green to its full potential following its £1.2m revamp. We were proud to work with Danceworks UK whose bold programming has such an impact on our cultural scene.”

Annabel Dunbar, Artistic Director, Danceworks UK said: “Danceworks has an enviable reputation for presenting work of exceptional quality across the region and I’m thrilled that we extended the programme to a family audience with Beau Geste’s truly extraordinary ‘Transports Exceptionnels’’ on Sheffield’s new green performance space.”

The performances were held on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th September 2008.

Ethiopia has refused to accept town of Badme to Eritrea…

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Eritrea assails US,Ethiopia

The Associated Press

30/09/08

UNITED NATIONS: Eritrea on Monday blasted its neighbor Ethiopia and blamed U.S. policies across the Horn of Africa for the worsening situation in the region.

“Ethiopia’s reckless acts of aggression continue to be supported by the United States,” Osman Saleh, Eritrea’s minister of foreign affairs, told the U.N. General Assembly.

He contended that Ethiopia’s continuing “blatant occupation” of Eritrean territory led to the U.N. Security Council decision in July to end the world body’s peacekeeping mission monitoring a 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) long buffer zone between the two neighbors.

Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The U.N. entered under a 2000 peace agreement that ended a 30-month border war in which at least 70,000 people died.

Ethiopia has refused to accept an independent boundary commission’s 2002 ruling awarding the key town of Badme to Eritrea.

“The U.N. Security Council has been paralyzed and rendered impotent in the face of Ethiopia’s occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories,” Saleh said.

He said Washington’s support for Ethiopia in that dispute and its backing of the Ethiopian “occupation” of Somalia was fomenting regional conflicts.

“The situation in the Horn of Africa may, indeed, spiral out of control unless these destabilizing practices are brought to an end,” Saleh said.

His Ethiopian counterpart Seyoum Mesfin told the U.N. ministerial meeting that his country stands committed to resolve all outstanding issues with Eritrea through “peaceful, political, legal and diplomatic means.”

US : We are facing the choice between action and economic hardship..

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George W Bush gave warning of “painful and lasting”

damage to the US economy if Congress did not act quickly

to pass a financial rescue package, after the shock

rejection of the first attempt at a £380 billion bailout bill.

Telegraph.co.uk

By Alex Spillius in Washington

30/09/08

Speaking at 8.45am from the White House, the US president urged Congress to pull together: “We are facing the choice between action and economic hardship for millions of Americans…For the financial security of every American Congress must act.

“The reality is we are in an urgent situation and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act. If continue on this course the economic damage will be painful and lasting.”

Looking and sounding tired, the president was making his third address to the nation in a week, and his second in as many days.

None of his performances have offered much reassurance or persuaded hesitant members of Congress and their constituents to support the unprecedented use of taxpayer funds to prop up the economy and restore the flow of credit.

A bill was rejected on Monday amid dramatic scenes in the House of Representatives by 225 to 208 votes, with only 65 out of 199 Republicans voting in favour.

The president said his advisers were working on amendments to the bill, which is likely to be presented to Congress again before the end of the week.

“I ensure our citizens and citizens around the world this is not the end of the process,” said Mr Bush. “What matters is we get a law. We are at a critical moment for our economy, and we need legislation that resumes the flow of credit to businesses and consumers.”

Immediate reaction to the president’s address was not positive.

“He seems like a commentator on the crisis rather than a leader,” said Peggy Noonan, a commentator and former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, on MSNBC.

“He says we must do something rather than we are doing something. Leadership is needed right now yet he senses that with all his problems he is not the person to do the leading. We have a vacuum.”

Ethiopian Rebels Deny Responsibility for Taxi Terminal Bombing….

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Bloomberg

Sept. 29/09/08

Ethiopian rebels have denied responsibility for an attack on a taxi terminal in the country’s Somali region yesterday that killed four and injured another 10.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which wants independence for Ethiopia’s Somali region, “did not plant that bomb” and “does not target civilians,” it said in a statement e-mailed to reporters today.

The bomb exploded yesterday at a taxi terminal in the eastern Ethiopian town of Jijiga, according to the state-run Ethiopian News Agency. The report said the bomb was planted by unnamed “terrorist operatives.”

The ethnic Somali ONLF has fought a two-decade guerrilla war against the Ethiopian government. Fighting intensified last year after the rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration site in the region, killing 73.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at jmclure@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 29, 2008 11:33 EDT

11 European tourists vanish after gunbattle in Sudan

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Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia

29/09/08

FEARS are growing over the fate of 11 European tourists after a gunbattle killed bandits holding them hostage.

Sudanese troops said they killed six heavily armed bandits who kidnapped the tourists from Italy and Germany, and their Egyptian guides, in a desert nine days ago.

The shootout began on Sunday as Sudanese troops were scouring the desert for group who were snatched during a desert safari in southwestern Egypt and taken into Sudan.

The kidnappers have demanded a $10 million ransom.

The Sudanese army said the hostages were now inside Chad and were being held by 30 men, but Chad’s Government denied the hostages were in the country.

The Sudanese accuse Darfur rebels of being behind the kidnapping and said they had found Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns inside the kidnappers’ vehicle.

U.K. Police Hold 3 Terrorism Suspects After Fire at Publisher …….

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Bloomberg

29/09/08

By Brian Lysaght

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — U.K. police are questioning three men arrested Sept. 27 on suspicion of terrorism offenses following a fire at a publishing house in north London.

Officers obtained a warrant to hold the men without charge until Oct. 5, a spokesman said by telephone today. The men were detained by armed officers in Lonsdale Square in the city’s Islington district at 2:25 a.m. and may face charges under the U.K. Terrorism Act, police said.

The address is the office of Gibson Square Books, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. The company was planning to publish next month the British edition of “The Jewel of Medina,” a historical novel about A’isha, the first wife of the prophet Mohammed.

Gibson Square acquired the title after Random House canceled a deal in August with author Sherry Jones to publish the book in the U.S., saying the novel may offend some Muslims.

Jones’ book is a “moving love story,” said Martin Rynja, Gibson Square’s publisher, in a Sept. 8 statement on the company’s Web site. The company planned to publish the novel and a sequel.

“I was immediately taken with what the novel tried to achieve and the moving love story and interesting but still unknown history it portrays,” he said. Rynja uses the building that was targeted in the attack as an office and a home, according to the BBC.

Telephone and e-mail messages left with Gibson Square weren’t immediately returned.

The arrests were made as part of a pre-planned raid by armed anti-terrorism officers, police said. Two men were arrested in the street outside the Lonsdale Square address, where a small fire was extinguished by the Fire Brigade, police said. A third man was arrested at the nearby Angel rail station of the London Underground.

The three men, who weren’t identified and are aged 40, 22 and 33, are being held on suspicion of “the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism,” the police said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Lysaght in London at blysaght@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 29, 2008 08:25 EDT

Every country has a right to introduce nuclear power….

UN Radio

29/09/08

Every country has a right to introduce nuclear power, as well as the responsibility to do it right.

Head of the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) Mohamed Elbaradei says in the last two years some 50 Member States have expressed interest in considering the possible introduction of nuclear power and asked for the agency’s support.In a report to the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, ElBaradei says increasing demand for assistance has been particularly strong from developing countries which seek expert and impartial advice in analyzing their options and choosing the best energy mix.

“Nuclear power has obvious attractions for both developed and developing countries. Developing countries need access to electricity to help lift their people out of poverty and many are turning to the agency for guidance on how to proceed. They are concerned about the fluctuating prices of oil and other fossil fuel and about uncertainty of supply as well as about climate change.”

ElBaradei says 12 countries are actively preparing to introduce nuclear power.

He adds while the IAEA is not the sole source of expertise, for many countries, its impartial advice is essential.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

More than 50 Somalis died across the Gulf of Aden…

UN Radio

29/09/08

More than 50 Somalis died when the boat smuggling them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen broke down and were left to drift with no food or water for 18 days.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) staff in Yemen reported that 71 people survived the ordeal after the vessel drifted into Yemeni coastal waters on September 21 and was rescued by local coast guards.Survivors said the boat was several hours into its voyage from the Somali coast with at least 120 passengers when the engine stopped.

They say the crew left in a smaller boat to re-charge the battery but never returned leaving the passengers adrift.

The survivors say 48 of the Somalis – 38 men and 10 women died while the boat drifted in the Gulf of Aden and their bodies thrown overboard.

High waves and currents eventually carried the boat toward Yemen’s Shihra coast where it was towed to shore by a Yemeni Coast Guard vessel.

UNHCR and its partners provided food and water and later took the survivors to its Reception centre.
The agency says it’s been joined by other international agencies calling for global action to better address this deadly problem.

They say more than 200 people have died and at least 250 missing while being smuggled across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.

At least 31,000 have arrived in Yemen so far this year.
This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

Pakistani troops fire on US helicopters at Afghan border….

(AP Photo)

ABC NEWS

By FISNIK ABRASHI Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan September 25, 2008 (AP)

Pakistani troops fired at American reconnaissance helicopters near the Afghan-Pakistan border Thursday, and ground troops then exchanged fire, the U.S. military said.

No injuries were reported, but the incident heightened tensions as the U.S. steps up cross-border operations in a volatile region known as a haven for Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

Two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters, known as Kiowas, were on a routine afternoon patrol in the eastern province of Khost when they received small-arms fire from a Pakistani border post, said Tech Sgt. Kevin Wallace, a U.S. military spokesman. There was no damage to aircraft or crew, officials said.

U.S. Central Command spokesman Rear Adm. Greg Smith said Pakistan and American ground troops exchanged fire after Pakistani forces shot at the helicopters.

He said a joint patrol of Americans and Afghan border police was moving about a mile and a half inside Afghanistan with the helicopters above them. The ground troops reported that Pakistani forces fired toward the helicopters and when they saw that happen, they fired off suppression rounds toward the hilltop.

They did so, Smith said from Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Fla., “to make certain that they (the Pakistanis) realized they should stop shooting.”

The Pakistani border patrol forces then shot back down on the joint location of the U.S.-Afghan patrol. “The whole thing lasted five minutes,” Smith said.

The Pakistani military, however, said its troops fired warning shots after the helicopters crossed “well within” Pakistani territory.

“On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew back,” the Pakistani military said in an English-language statement.

And in New York, Pakistan’s new president, Asif Ali Zardari, said his military fired only “flares” at foreign helicopters that he claimed strayed across the border from Afghanistan.

Zardari said his forces fired only as a way “to make sure that they know that they crossed the border line.”

Sheffield : Police drive to recruit 70 ’specials’…

Published Date: 25 September 2008

By Claire Lewis

Crime reporter

A RECRUITMENT drive is underway to get more specials to police South Yorkshire streets for free – while bobbies are no longer being taken on and 149 posts are being axed.

Police chiefs want to boost the number of volunteers in the county’s Special Constab-ulary from 260 to at least 330 and an information evening is to be held later this month for anyone keen to find out more.

But the decision to recruit more people to police the county for free comes during a freeze on new recruits to the force.

And 149 posts are set to be cut by not replacing retiring officers and others leaving.

But South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation wants the recruitment freeze lifted and guarantees specials and police community support officers who support regular bobbies do not end up replacing full-time staff.

Chairman Bob Pitt said: “There is definitely a place for specials but they should be as well as fully trained and attested officers, not instead of.

“When the Government first introduced police community support officers we were told they were adding value to the police service, but within a short period of time we are seeing the number of them increase while the number of regular officers decreases.

“We have to monitor the police service mix because we would have serious concerns if core policing could only be done with the use of specials to bolster numbers.”

A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: “Our special constabulary has a baseline target of recruiting 330 special constables in South Yorkshire Police.

“We are currently running with 260 specials, therefore the advertising happening at the moment is simply to increase our numbers to that baseline figure.”

- The information event at the police force headquarters on Snig Hill, Sheffield city centre, on Tuesday September 30. For more details call 0114 252 3274.