Her Majesty would not have been amused. Neither would President Bush or his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, over a Vienna-wide art project depicting them naked and engaged in a sexual act with British Queen Elizabeth II. The work of "euroPART," an independent artists' group, the scenes being displayed on electronic billboards across the Austrian capital were also embarrassing for the government just days before the country assumes the European Union's rotating presidency Sunday. Austrian media reported that the offending images were yanked Wednesday — just a day after they started flashing at motorists — on personal orders of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. A woman answering the telephone at the chancellor's public information department who refused to identify herself said she could not confirm the report. ... http://www.usatoday.com censor News |
Editor - 14:35:00 12-28-05 |
Brazilian inmates release 207 hostages |
Rebellious inmates at a prison in Brazil's remote Amazon jungle ended a four-day uprising and released more than 200 hostages on Wednesday after authorities met their principal demand by returning one of their leaders from another prison. Armed with makeshift knives, the inmates began their uprising during Sunday's visiting hours at the Urso Branco State Prison in Rondonia's state capital, Porto Velho, 1,500 miles northwest of Sao Paulo.The 190 women and 17 men held hostage were relatives of the inmates."It's over," Renato Eduardo de Souza, head of the state's public safety department, said by telephone. "The inmates have released the hostages and no one was hurt. No one was killed."He said prisoners' claims that they had killed up to 16 fellow inmates during the uprising "was nothing more than a bluff to intimidate us."... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-28-brazil-prison_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 14:31:00 12-28-05 |
Israeli military bombards northern Gaza |
The Israeli military pounded northern Gaza with artillery fire Wednesday evening after warning Palestinian civilians to stay out of a zone used by militants to fire rockets at Israel.The Israel Defense Forces said it was acting "in the absence of any action by the Palestinian Authority to stop terror originating" from Gaza.Palestinians were told to stay out of the unpopulated zones in Gaza, from where rockets have been fired at Israel. Israeli artillery fire began at 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) near Beit Hanoun and Beit Ahlia.The leaflet campaign was the first step in an Israeli military plan to create a buffer zone in northern Gaza aimed at keeping Islamic Jihad militants from firing Qassam rockets into Israel, Ha'aretz newspaper reported.... http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/28/israel.gaza/index.html?section=cnn_world
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Editor - 14:27:00 12-28-05 |
No end to Brazil hostage crisis |
More than 200 hostages have spent a third night in the hands of prisoners who seized control of a jail in Brazil. Officials have agreed to the inmates' main demand - the return to the jail of a gang leader - but under conditions which they appear unlikely to accept. Ednildo de Souza was taken to another prison after briefly escaping. He is accused of organising another riot in April in which 14 inmates were killed. The riot began on Christmas Day when inmates seized visiting relatives. Hostage takings in Brazilian prisons often involve their relatives. The relatives sometimes stay willingly because they think their presence will reduce the chances of the police storming the jail, correspondents say. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4563636.stm
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Editor - 14:21:00 12-28-05 |
Appalachian town mining for land |
The towering mountains that frame this Appalachian town have been a hindrance to growth, forcing homes and businesses to crowd together side by side on precious little flat land.That could change under a plan by Pikeville leaders who recruited a coal company to flatten two mountaintops to make room for the town of about 6,300 to expand.Appalachian towns like Pikeville that have exhausted all useable land have no choice but to look to the mountaintops, City Manager Donovan Blackburn said."If you look at the amount of land that is developable right now, there is virtually none," Blackburn said. "This will be a tremendous benefit."... http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/28/mountain.topmining.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us
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Editor - 14:17:00 12-28-05 |
Kidnapped teachers freed in Gaza |
The two foreign teachers kidnapped by gunmen in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya earlier on Wednesday have been freed, a Palestinian MP says. Kamal al-Sharafi told Reuters that the two hostages were in his car. Hendrik Taatgen, the Dutch principal of a private US school, and his Australian assistant, Brian Ambrosio, were forced out of their car and abducted. It follows a pattern where foreigners are abducted in pursuit of money or political advantage and swiftly freed. A statement from the militant PFLP group said it had kidnapped the two teachers in protest at the detention of its leader Ahmed Sadat, but a spokesman for the group disowned the claim, in an intervew with the AFP news agency. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4547910.stm
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Editor - 14:14:00 12-28-05 |
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