For decades Samy Swasebard has been wandering around Europe, peddling pots and pans. He always returns to Strasbourg where he has lived for 40 years. "This is my favourite place, the place I call home," says the 72-year-old, a retired Teflon salesman. "And if it wasn't for Europe, between them the Germans and the French would have destroyed this place." Fought over for centuries, the city changed hands between the warring French and Germans four times within three generations until 1945. That a re-run of such horrors now appears inconceivable is due, at least in part, to the birth of the European Union 50 years ago this week. A younger generation with scant knowledge of the Third Reich may yawn when political leaders sermonise about peace in Europe. For Mr Swasebard, born in Belgium to a family of east European Jews, the message still resonates."Most of my family were gassed by the Nazis in Auschwitz," he says quietly. "So I know what ... http://www.guardian.co.uk censor News |
Editor - 09:36:00 03-24-07 |
Skeletal Remains of 8 People Found Fla. |
The remains of eight bodies have been found in a wooded area, where investigators believe they had been for several years, police said. The skeletal remains were found Friday about 25 feet off an unpaved street in Fort Myers, in southwest Florida, police Lt. Brian Phillips said. No trauma was evident, but investigators were treating the deaths as homicides, Phillips said. An ecologist discovered the remains while surveying a 10-acre lot for a developer, police spokeswoman Shelly Flynn said. Three skeletons were found at first, and a search turned up five more within a 50-yard radius, detectives said. ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6505355,00.html
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Editor - 09:29:00 03-24-07 |
We will not be moved: one family against the developers |
Property-owning China has a new hero. Yang Wu, now better known as The Nail, has become the talk of the country for his refusal to abandon his home to property developers. Despite an eviction order, offers of compensation and the chasm that has opened up around his home, the 51-year-old restaurateur is holding his ground in an increasingly high-profile challenge to the authorities. Newspapers and websites have published spectacular images of the siege-like situation in Chongqing, where Mr Yang's home has been turned into an island, surrounded by a moat of mud and tractors. The developers, who want to build a six-storey shopping mall, have reportedly offered compensation of 3.5m yuan (£233,000), a staggering sum in a country where the average income is about £1,000 a year. But Mr Yang and his family insist they are not concerned about money.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2041760,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 08:25:00 03-24-07 |
Dead Sea plan to restore water raises doubts |
The Israeli government is authorizing a series of ecological surveys in light of fears that a plan to prevent the Dead Sea from shrinking by pumping water into it from the Red Sea will disrupt underground aquifers in the parched region. Officials here and in neighboring Jordan are concerned about the steady drop in the Dead Sea's level, an estimated 3 feet a year, and the consequent retreat of its shoreline that has left the hotels and neighborhoods ever farther from the ancient body of water. The Dead Sea is situated at the lowest sector on Earth. Its salt-saturated water, most of which comes from the River Jordan, has no outlet other than evaporation. An ambitious rescue project developed by Israeli and Jordanian engineers was presented to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by his deputy, Shimon Peres, whose primary role is to foster regional cooperation. One of the project's main components is the digging of a canal from Eilat at the northern tip of the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba to ... http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070323-115821-6001r.htm
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Editor - 08:16:00 03-24-07 |
Iran interrogates U.K. personnel |
The Iranian military questioned 15 detained British military personnel Saturday and said they confessed to illegally entering the country's territorial waters as Iran accused Britain of "blatant aggression."Britain has demanded the return of the individuals and denied they had strayed into Iranian waters while searching for smugglers off Iraq's coast.The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were brought to Tehran for questioning, and a a top military official, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, said they "confessed to illegal entry into Iran's waters.""The said personnel are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters," Afshar was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA and the semiofficial ISNA news agency. He did not say what would now be done with the sailors.... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-24-britain-iran_N.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 08:05:00 03-24-07 |
UN envoy barred from Darfur camp |
The UN's new humanitarian chief John Holmes has been turned away from a camp in Darfur for those fleeing the four-year conflict in Sudan. The UN envoy was refused entry by Sudanese soldiers to Kassab camp in northern Darfur, says the BBC's Karen Allen, who is travelling with him ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6491549.stm
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Editor - 08:02:00 03-24-07 |
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