 Russia has threatened to veto in the UN Security Council a plan to give Kosovo a form of supervised independence, Russian news agencies have reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said the proposals would "not get through" the council without the support of both Kosovo and Serbia. Mr Titov said he believed the threat of a veto would "stimulate the sides to find a mutually acceptable mechanism". Kosovo has been administered by the UN since 1999, but remains part of Serbia. The UN took over control of the territory following a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 targeting Serb forces. Nato intervened to halt a violent crackdown by Serbia against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, some of whom had taken up arms. At the end of March this year, the UN special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, unveiled a blueprint that would give Kosovo internationally supervised independence for an initial period...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 10:25:00 04-24-07
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 Man must go blind to get NHS help |
An elderly man has been refused NHS treatment which would save his sight - until he goes blind in one eye. Ex-serviceman Leslie Howard, 76, from Acomb, York, was diagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in his right eye in November. His local primary care trust (PCT) only pays for the £6,000-a-year treatment once he loses the sight in one eye and develops wet AMD in the other. The Royal National Institute of the Blind was "outraged" by the decision. Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at the RNIB, said: "This is a desperate situation for Mr Howard. "His PCT is leaving him to go blind even though sight-saving treatments are available on the NHS. "The actions of the PCTs are simply unacceptable. There is a moral imperative to save the sight of people where we can. "It also makes no economic sense to deny treatment. The cost of supporting people with sight loss far outweighs the cost of treatment." ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/6586785.stm
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Editor - 10:22:00 04-24-07
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| Iraq demands put squeeze on Air Force, chief says |
The Pentagon's bolstering of its ground forces in Baghdad by borrowing money and people from its sister services is further straining a stretched Air Force, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said Tuesday. The result, Moseley said, is people being assigned to jobs they weren't trained for. He cited Air Force airmen being used to guard prisoners and serve as drivers and cited one instance in which a female Air Force surgeon was assigned typing chores. "We got her back," Moseley said at a breakfast with a group of reporters. With President Bush and Congress locked in battle over Iraq spending, the Pentagon is shifting money among services and accounts, including drawing down accounts earmarked for other later purposes, including meeting payrolls. "Somebody's going to have to pay us back," Moseley said. Bush has bristled at a Democratic agreement to set a timetable on the Iraq war and has said he will veto such legislation once it reaches his desk....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/24/air.force.iraq.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
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Editor - 09:34:00 04-24-07
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| Singer's toilet paper musings leave Rove untouched. One square per restroom visit |
What links a triple-ply, ultra-absorbent square of quilted toilet paper and White House special adviser Karl Rove? The answer, obviously, is singer Sheryl Crow. The Earth Day weekend was a busy one for the former wild girl of soft-core country as she reached the end of an 11-date US tour. On Friday she adopted the tone of a green nanny to instruct her fellow Earth dwellers on how to help save the planet. Crow, it seems, has not spent her time in the tour bus idly. "I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming," she wrote in her blog."I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting," she continued. "I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required."...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064099,00.html
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Editor - 09:31:00 04-24-07
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| 'Little girl Rambo' decries US propaganda |
The former US private Jessica Lynch today condemned what she said were Pentagon efforts to turn her into a "little girl Rambo", and accused military chiefs of using "elaborate tales" to try to make her into a hero of the Iraq war. Speaking at a congressional hearing on the use of misleading information, an emotional Ms Lynch described how she suffered horrific injuries when her vehicle was hit by a rocket near the Iraqi town of Nasiriya in March 2003, killing several of her companions. The US military has come under criticism for allegedly spinning stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. The hearing is also looking at the case of the American football star-turned-solider Pat Tillman, who died in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in 2004. The Pentagon initially put out the story that Private Lynch - a slight woman who was just 19 at the time - had been wounded by Iraqi gunfire but kept fighting until her ammunition ran out. In fact, her gun had jammed and she did not fire a shot. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064617,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 09:22:00 04-24-07
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| Canadian row over Afghan 'abuse' |
Canadian opposition parties are calling for the country's defence minister to resign following allegations that detainees were tortured in Afghanistan. The torture is said to have occurred after Canadian soldiers transferred suspects to Afghan security forces. About 2,500 Canadian soldiers are involved in combat operations against insurgents in southern Afghanistan. Canada signed a controversial agreement two years ago to hand over Taleban prisoners to the Afghan authorities. 'Electric cables' At least 30 detainees told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that they were tortured in Afghan prisons after being handed over by Canadian armed forces based in Kandahar to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security. The allegations of brutality range from beatings to starvation, to being left naked outside in freezing temperatures. Some of the men also say they were whipped with electrical cables. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6586951.stm
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Editor - 09:11:00 04-24-07
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