 Nepal is experiencing food shortages and price rises as a general strike called by political parties opposed to King Gyanendra enters its 12th day. The strike coincides with an intensive campaign of anti-royal demonstrations around the country. Opposition parties have ordered shops and businesses, schools, colleges and motor transport to cease operations. Reports from eastern Nepal say there are shortages of rice as mills close and people resort to panic buying. In the capital, Kathmandu, people are queuing for hours to buy petrol from the few pumps still open. Delivery trucks have been obstructed, resulting in price rises for staples like rice and vegetables. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 22:56:00 04-16-06
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 Spending Lags for Training of Iraqi, Afghanistan Security Forces and Police |
The U.S. military has spent just 40 percent of the $7 billion appropriated in 2005 for the training of Iraqi and Afghanistan security forces, a top Pentagon priority that is lynchpin for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. The slow pace of spending was outlined in a congressional report that also raised questions about whether the Pentagon needs the full $5.9 billion it has requested for training this year in an emergency spending bill that is pending in Congress. The report comes as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Bush administration have complained about cuts in the funding for Iraqi forces that is included in the House-passed version of the bill. In a report obtained by The Associated Press, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said the Pentagon is spending at a slower rate than Defense Department officials initially expected....
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1842109&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 22:25:00 04-16-06
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| Peru Presidential Race for 2nd Place in Runoff Narrows; Final Results Could Take Weeks to Tally |
A shrinking margin separated two presidential hopefuls in Peruvian elections a week after the April 9 vote, as a moderate-left former president and conservative former congresswoman both sought a spot in a runoff. With delays in the vote count, it could be weeks before Peruvians know who will face nationalist former army officer Ollanta Humala in the second round in late May or June. Results Sunday showed that with almost 90 percent of the ballots counted, the potential second-place finishers were separated by 95,619 votes. The 56-year-old former President Alan Garcia led with 24.4 percent of votes counted, compared with 23.5 percent for Lourdes Flores, 46, the first woman to make a serious run for Peru's presidency. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1849312
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Editor - 22:09:00 04-16-06
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| China's Hu Will Press Bush to Restrain Taiwan, Analysts Say |
China's President Hu Jintao will press U.S. President George W. Bush to reiterate opposition to any move toward independence by Taiwan when they meet in Washington later this week, analysts said. China has been angered by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's scrapping of a forum on unification with the mainland in February and comments last month by Japan Foreign Minister Taro Aso that referred to the self-governing island as a country. Taiwan yesterday rebuffed an offer by Hu for talks that's conditional on the island recognizing both are part of the same country. ``The Taiwan issue is miles ahead of any other agenda, as far as China is concerned,'' said Tao Dong, chief Asia economist at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. ``A reiteration of the one-China policy would be the minimum expectation from China. Any comments against the current movement would be considered a breakthrough.'' ...
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aYh1gZpgamCQ&refer=home
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Editor - 22:07:00 04-16-06
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| U.S. lags on plans for mobile hospitals |
The government is dangerously behind on plans to build mobile field hospitals that could be needed to treat thousands of sick and dying victims of a terrorist attack or natural disaster, according to doctors in the government's medical response program, former top disaster officials and some members of Congress.The Homeland Security Department, which runs the nation's disaster-response system, "by and large has not been serious about the medical issues," said Jerome Hauer, former head of the federal Office of Public Health Preparedness. "They don't get the notion that during a disaster one of the fundamental needs is taking care of the large number of patients."One example is Homeland Security's failure to complete a prototype of a 250-bed field hospital. The Bush administration is preparing to unveil a flu pandemic plan, but 4½ years after 9/11 and anthrax attacks prompted warnings of ...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-16-hospital-plans_x.htm
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Editor - 21:57:00 04-16-06
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| Two Registered Sex Offenders Killed in Maine Homes |
Two registered sex offenders were fatally shot in their homes Sunday morning, prompting the state to take down the Maine Sex Offender Registry Web site. State police said the site, which contains the photos, names and addresses of more than 2,200 registered sex offenders, was taken off-line as a precaution.Investigators said a 19-year-old Canadian man described as "a person of interest" in the case shot himself in a Boston bus station after he was cornered by police later Sunday.Stephen A. Marshall was in critical condition at Boston Medical Center, a spokesman said.The pickup truck Marshall was driving was spotted leaving one of the victim's homes after the shooting, Maine state police said. They alerted authorities in Boston after discovering the vehicle abandoned and bullets linked to Marshall in the bathroom of a bus station, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety....
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191944,00.html
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Editor - 21:50:00 04-16-06
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