 Tackling one of the most complex and controversial issues facing the country, the government has endorsed plans to relocate thousands of Arabs who were moved to oil-rich Kirkuk as part of Saddam Hussein's Arabization campaign to displace ethnic Kurds, a Cabinet minister said on Saturday. Opposition politicians blasted the Kirkuk plan and Turkey already had warned that the city and its sizable Turkish minority must never become part of the Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Iraq, a likely next step. Iraq's constitution sets an end-of-the year deadline for a referendum on Kirkuk's status. Since Saddam's fall four years ago, thousands of Kurds who once lived in the city have resettled there. It is now believed Kurds are a majority of the population and that a referendum on attaching Kirkuk to the Kurdish autonomous zone would pass by a wide margin. Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire, has a large minority of ...
http://www.cbsnews.com
censor News |
Editor - 11:03:00 03-31-07
|
 Somali violence 'worst in years' |
The Somali capital Mogadishu is being wracked by the worst fighting in 15 years, with dozens killed and thousands fleeing the violence, aid agencies say. Fighting resumed on Saturday for the third day, since Somali and Ethiopian troops launched an offensive against Islamist insurgents. Ethiopia said it had killed 200 rebels in the course of the operation. But civilians said the city was being shelled indiscriminately, and that bodies were lying in the streets. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the fighting was the heaviest in Mogadishu in 15 years, since the aftermath of the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991. Since then the country has been torn by constant fighting. A rare six months of order imposed by the Islamists ended when they were ousted by Ethiopian troops in December. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6512799.stm
full News |
Editor - 09:23:00 03-31-07
|
| Return to earth for Serb tree man |
In a cherry orchard blooming with white blossom, Stevan Graovac, 60, climbs down from the tree he has been living in. Around the tree trunk, and under a tented roof, is his daily living quarters, complete with table and chair and food shelf. A special platform is perched high in the branches, with a mattress and sleeping bag. A ladder connects the two "rooms". The two-storey tree house has been his main home for the past three years. "I was forced here by circumstance. My own house was occupied and I had no choice. It's not been nice and it's not been comfortable. But at least it's mine," Mr Graovac tells me. He left his home in the nearby village in 1995 when, in Operation Storm, Croat forces took back territory that had been under Serb control during the war. The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates about 300,000 Serbs fled Croatia during the conflict and only about one-third have returned....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6506827.stm
full News |
Editor - 09:17:00 03-31-07
|
| Malaysian graft official dropped |
The head of Malaysia's anti-corruption agency is to stand down amid allegations of graft. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced that Zulkipli Mat Noor's contract, which expires Sat, will not be renewed. Police are questioning Mr Zulkipli after a former senior colleague raised questions about his business & property interests. Mr Zulkipli, a former policeman, has denied the allegations. Sacking people is not the Malaysian way. Instead, a statement from the prime minister's office praised Mr Zulkipli & expressed the highest gratitude for his efforts since he took up his post 6 years ago. Still, as of midnight Sat, the head of Malaysia's anti-corruption agency will have no job after 6 years holding the post. Police officers started taking statements from him last week. The former police officer will be asked about allegations of sexual misconduct & how he was apparently able to amass interests in several businesses and buy half a dozen properties on a civil servant's meagre salary...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6513065.stm
full News |
Editor - 09:13:00 03-31-07
|
| Ukrainian rivals mass in capital |
A power struggle inside the government in Ukraine has brought thousands of demonstrators out on to the streets in the capital, Kiev. Rival supporters of the two main opposing political factions are defying a court order and gathering for big rallies in the centre of the city. The pro-Western President, Viktor Yushchenko, has threatened a snap election to end political deadlock. The move is being resisted by the pro-Russian governing coalition. There is a sea of blue, red and Ukrainian flags here in the capital, the BBC's Helen Fawkes reports from Kiev. More than 10,0000 people are already attending the rally in support of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and are demanding the president back down from his threat to dissolve parliament. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6512941.stm
full News |
Editor - 09:07:00 03-31-07
|
| Lesbian mother riles gay community |
Sara Wheeler's life has become a contradiction. Once a proud lesbian, she's now a pariah among homosexuals. Once in a committed relationship with a female partner, she's rethinking her sexuality. And now she's doing something she once would have considered unthinkable -- arguing that homosexuals don't have the legal right to adopt children. Miss Wheeler is coming to grips with the fact that she's become an outcast for taking this step in a custody fight for her child. But she says that isn't what her fight is about. "It's about motherly rights." Sara, 36, and her partner, Missy, decided to start a family together and share the Wheeler last name. In 2000, Sara Wheeler gave birth to a son, Gavin, through artificial insemination. Two years later, they decided that Missy Wheeler should adopt the child and legally become his second parent. ...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070325-114407-6977r.htm
full News |
Editor - 09:05:00 03-31-07
|
|
| post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|
|
