Syrian Government Forces Continue Crackdown |
- Syrian Government Forces Continue Crackdown
- NATO Responds to Libya Claim that Strikes Killed 15 Civilians
- Militants Launch Deadly Attack on Police Station in NW Pakistan
- Israel Seeks Freedom for Soldier Held in Gaza Since 2006
- Egypt Decides It Does Not Need World Bank, IMF Funding
- New York State Approves Same-Sex Marriage
- Obama: Tech Innovations Can Spur Job Growth
- US Probes Google's Business Practices
- Greece Reacts to New Austerity Plans
- Chinese Premier Voices Support for European Economies
- Peter Falk Dies at 83
- South Korea Marks 61st Anniversary of Start of Korean War
- Colleagues of Chinese Artist Released from Detention
- Fossil Studies Show Dinosaurs Were Warm-Blooded
- Hundreds of Syrians Flee into Lebanon
- On US Campuses, Major Environmental Changes
- Southern African Judges Slam Regional Court Closure
Syrian Government Forces Continue Crackdown Posted: 25 Jun 2011 12:57 PM PDT Witnesses say that Syrian security forces moved into the Damascus suburb of Kaswah Saturday, a day after they surrounded the area and swooped down on protesters. A Syrian rights group says at least 20 people were killed Friday in confrontations around the country between anti-goverment protesters and security forces. The continuing clashes have sent large numbers of Syrians fleeing across the country's border with Lebanon. Up to 1,000 Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon during the past two days near the border town of Wadi Khaled.
A video on Facebook shows young protesters fleeing through a narrow street in the Damascus suburb of Kaswa Saturday as security forces storm the area. Witnesses say government tanks surrounded much of Kaswa, blocking it off from other regions. Dozens of protesters were also reportedly arrested in both Kaswa and the Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus.
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
NATO Responds to Libya Claim that Strikes Killed 15 Civilians Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:56 AM PDT NATO officials have responded to Libyan claims that alliance forces struck a restaurant and bakery in the eastern city of Brega, killing 15 civilians, saying its aircraft hit "legitimate military targets." A spokesman for the NATO mission in Libya said Saturday that allied warplanes hit key command and control centers in the strategic port city, adding that the coalition has "no indications of any civilian casualties in connection with these strikes." He said NATO had "meticulously monitored" the targeted sites, which were used by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi "to direct attacks against civilians around Ajdabiya." Libya's state news agency quoted a military official as saying NATO warplanes hit a number of civilian areas Saturday in Brega, an oil refinery town near the eastern front. Meanwhile, two large explosions rocked the capital, Tripoli, Saturday. It was not immediately clear if the blasts were the result of an attack by NATO, which has repeatedly targeted the area in the past. Also Saturday, the BBC reported that 17 Libyan football (soccer) players, including four members of Libya's national team, defected to the opposition. BBC News quoted national goalkeeper Juma Gtat as saying Gadhafi should "leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya." Gtat announced the defections in the western rebel-held town of Jadu along with Adel bin Issa, coach of Libya's top club. On Friday, the International Committee for the Red Cross reunited 300 people from Tripoli with family members in eastern Libya, under rebel control. An ICRC-chartered ship pulled into Benghazi harbor on the first of three journeys the Red Cross has arranged to bring home those displaced by months of conflict in Libya. Another 110 people, stuck away from their homes since February in eastern Libya, will take the ship back west to the capital. Rebels fighting Gadhafi's forces have taken over much of the eastern half of the country. They also control pockets in the west, including the vital port city of Misrata, about 200 kilometers from the capital, Tripoli. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Militants Launch Deadly Attack on Police Station in NW Pakistan Posted: 25 Jun 2011 04:12 AM PDT Pakistani police say militants are attacking one of their stations in the northwestern part of the country, killing at least seven police officers. Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters. | |
Israel Seeks Freedom for Soldier Held in Gaza Since 2006 Posted: 25 Jun 2011 10:13 AM PDT Israelis are calling for the release of one of their soldiers held captive in Gaza for the past five years. The soldier's freedom has become an urgent public cause in the Jewish state.
Israelis are rallying around the country to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit. He was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid in 2006, and has been held by the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza ever since. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Egypt Decides It Does Not Need World Bank, IMF Funding Posted: 25 Jun 2011 06:30 AM PDT Egypt says it has cut its budget deficit for the next year and now will not have to seek international financial assistance to help pay for its governmental operations. Egypt's economy was buffeted during the political upheaval that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February, with foreign tourists staying home and many Egyptian workers disrupting commerce with protests about pay and working conditions. Egyptian officials sought as much as $6.2 billion from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to help fund governmental operations in the fiscal year starting July 1. But Finance Minister Samir Radwan said Saturday that the government has revised its budget and cut the expected deficit to the extent that it does not need to tap the World Bank and IMF funding. He is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying the government has cut its budget from $86 billion to $82 billion. The original budget projected a deficit of more than $28 billion, a figure that now has been trimmed by $6 billion. Radwan said the result is that Egypt does not need the World Bank and IMF support, but is accepting aid from other Arab states. He said Qatar has given Egypt $500 million, which he described as a "gift." Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
New York State Approves Same-Sex Marriage Posted: 25 Jun 2011 04:45 AM PDT New York has legalized same sex marriage, making it the sixth U.S state to do so. Gay rights advocates call the vote a major victory in their quest for equality.
The New York State Senate approved the legislation Friday night by a vote of 33 to 29, as four Republican lawmakers crossed party lines and voted in favor of the bill. Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had pushed for the bill, quickly signed the legislation into law meaning, pending court challenges, same sex couples can begin legally marrying in New York in 30 days. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Obama: Tech Innovations Can Spur Job Growth Posted: 25 Jun 2011 06:41 AM PDT U.S. President Barack Obama is calling for a renewed emphasis on cutting-edge research and technological advances as a way to spur the country's sluggish job growth. He said he is committed to working with both Republicans and Democrats to cut the country's burgeoning budget deficits. But he said as a country, "[we] can't simply cut our way to prosperity." He said investment in research and technologies is necessary to create new jobs in clean energy and advanced manufacturing. She said that business people she knows are simply asking that government get "out of the way." Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. | |
US Probes Google's Business Practices Posted: 25 Jun 2011 09:09 AM PDT The U.S. government has launched an investigation into whether Internet search engine Google is using its dominance to promote its products while blocking competitors. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Greece Reacts to New Austerity Plans Posted: 25 Jun 2011 03:50 AM PDT Greek parliament has until the end of this month to decide on a fresh wave of austerity measures that are a precondition for international loans. Those loans are to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts. Greek citizens already are feeling the pain, however, from a year of heavy spending cuts and tax increases.
The financial hardships are evident in the capital, Athens. The streets are littered with deserted storefronts, even in the wealthiest shopping districts. Homeless people sleep on pavements and one in six across the country are unemployed. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Chinese Premier Voices Support for European Economies Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:50 AM PDT Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has offered his country's support for Europe and its common currency during a visit to Hungary. Speaking at a Saturday news conference, Wen said China is a long term investor in Europe that has made large increases in its holdings of euro bonds in recent years. The Chinese leader did not cite the amount of Beijing's euro holdings. Wen arrived in Hungary Friday to start a five-day tour of Europe. He will also visit Britain and Germany. The trip coincides with sharp economic problems in Greece that have European leaders worried about the financial stability of the eurozone. Standard Chartered Bank has said that China appears to be favoring investments in European debt over U.S. securities. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country and China signed a dozen agreements expanding business and cultural ties. Budapest currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:18 AM PDT Actor Peter Falk has died at the age of 83. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
South Korea Marks 61st Anniversary of Start of Korean War Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:21 AM PDT South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik has urged North Korea to work for peace on the Korean peninsula and stop what he called "reckless military provocation". Speaking Saturday during a ceremony in Seoul marking the 61st anniversary of the start of the Korean War, Kim invited the North to join the path "where 70 million Korean people can live together." Meanwhile, about 10 activists, mostly North Korean defectors, gathered near the border city of Paju to release balloons filled with anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the demilitarized zone into the North. They said the balloons carried 100,000 leaflets, one-dollar bills, books, radios and DVDs. The Korean War started on June 25, 1950, when communist North Korean troops launched a surprise attack across the 38th parallel into South Korea. The United Nations, particularly the United States, came to the aid of South Korea in repelling the invasion. A rapid U.N. counter-offensive drove the North Koreans past the 38th Parallel, almost to the Yalu River, and the People's Republic of China entered the war on the side of the North. The Chinese launched a counter-offensive that pushed the U.N. forces back across the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union materially aided the North Korean and Chinese armies. In 1953, the war ceased with an armistice that restored the border between the Koreas near the 38th Parallel and created the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a 4-kilometer wide buffer zone between the two Koreas. Minor outbreaks of fighting continue to the present day.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Colleagues of Chinese Artist Released from Detention Posted: 25 Jun 2011 05:19 AM PDT Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has confirmed that four of his associates were freed from detention this week, soon after he was released from prison on bail. Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Fossil Studies Show Dinosaurs Were Warm-Blooded Posted: 25 Jun 2011 03:51 AM PDT Scientists have developed a technique for accurately measuring the body temperature of dinosaurs. Researchers say the highly accurate method for taking the temperature of these enormous creatures raises as many new questions about dinosaur biology as it answers. U.S. and German scientists have developed a method for measuring the body temperature of sauropods, giant plant-eating dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic period some 150 million years ago, by analyzing the chemical makeup of 11 fossilized teeth unearthed in Tanzania, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. Using this so-called chemical thermometer, researchers determined the body temperature of the adult Brachiosaurus, which averaged 23 meters long and weighed about 40 tons. The reptile's normal was 38.2 degrees Celsius and the temperature of a slightly smaller sauropod, the Camasaurus, was 35.7 degrees Celsius. "It you were to walk up to a living sauropod and put your hand on its side, its temperature would be very similar to your own," said John Eiler, a professor of geology and geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and co-author of the study. But Eiler says the issue is what type of metabolism the animal had. If sauropods had an endothermic metabolism, Eiler says that would have allowed them to generate their own body heat internally like mammals. Creatures that are exothermic rely on the temperature outside their bodies and store heat internally. Eiler says models have predicted that sauropods had warmer body temperatures than the latest study suggests because of the creatures' great body size and its presumed ability to store and maintain heat. Eiler says it's possible that these Jurassic giants - with their small heads, long necks and giant bodies - were anything but slow, lumbering creatures. "It's reasonable to surmise that their enzymes were working efficiently, because they were at a temperature that we know that animal enzymes operate efficiently at and therefore they should have been more vigorous," he said. "What we don't know is whether they had the metabolic machinery to regenerate energy efficiently the way mammals and birds do, and therefore have endurance." This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Hundreds of Syrians Flee into Lebanon Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT Hundreds of Syrians have fled across the border into neighboring Lebanon to escape escalating violence in their homeland. A Lebanese security official said Saturday that up to 1,000 Syrians, at least six with gunshot wounds, have crossed into northern Lebanon over the past two days near the border town of Wadi Khaled. The injured refugees are receiving treatment in Lebanese hospitals. The new arrivals join thousands of other Syrians who entered Lebanon in May and early June. The latest group of refugees fled shortly after Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters Friday. A Syrian rights group that collected reports from around the country said at least 20 people were killed, including two children. Most of the deaths are said to have occurred in or around the capital, Damascus. Witnesses and activists said tens of thousands of protesters gathered in various locations Friday despite a heavy security presence and fears of the continuing crackdown. The military's recent sweep through northwestern Syria, where armed resistance flared in early June, also has sent more than 12,000 refugees into Turkey, where there are now huge encampments of Syrian refugees. Turkish officials said Friday that more than 1,500 Syrian refugees crossed the border after government troops stormed the town of Khirbet al-Jouz. Syrian troops were said to be within 500 meters of the Turkish frontier Friday - their closest approach to Turkish territory since military operations in the area began two weeks ago. Turkish troops moved their border positions several hundred meters back to avoid potential confrontations with Syrian units. Demonstrators in Syria attempting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have been under assault by pro-government forces for more than 100 days. In the Damascus suburb of Irbin Friday, protesters shouted, "Tell the world Bashar is without legitimacy." Syrian state television claimed "armed gangs," not government forces, killed three people in one Damascus suburb. Details of the latest violence could not be independently confirmed because Syria allows very few foreign news reporters into the country, and such visitors do not have full freedom of movement. Activists say Syria's crackdown has killed at least 1,400 people in the last three months.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
On US Campuses, Major Environmental Changes Posted: 25 Jun 2011 03:53 AM PDT More than 300 universities across the U.S. are turning green, meaning environmentally oriented. They are building sustainable facilities, renovating buildings, connecting solar and wind systems, planting organic gardens and reducing their overall carbon footprints. They also have initiated academic programs on environmental issues. Experts call it the largest transformation of colleges and universities in the last few decades. George Washington University - in urban Washington, D.C. - is having a good strawberry harvest. The sunflowers grew back after the winter, and the zucchinis are looking good. Eloise Smith just graduated from GW and is looking after its community garden. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |
Southern African Judges Slam Regional Court Closure Posted: 25 Jun 2011 03:53 AM PDT Judge Ariranga Pillay, the former president of the Southern African Development Community's [SADC] tribunal and three of his fellow judges are protesting what they say is the illegal dissolution of this regional court of last resort. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
You are subscribed to email updates from VOA News: News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
No comments:
Post a Comment