A fire swept through several warehouses in Brazil’s capital Rio de Janeiro, destroying costumes and floats meant for the city’s world-famous carnival in March. Some warehouses lost ninety per cent of their stock, with overall damages estimated at more than $5m. Many feel it will be an impossible task trying to restore an entire year’s worth of work in just a single month. Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reports from Sao Paulo.
Continue reading …Six volunteers for the World Wildlife Foundation were abducted yesterday as they counted the tiger population at a preserve in northeast India, the AP reports. The kidnapping was carried out by a heavily armed and organized group, but no one has yet claimed responsibility, though the area is home to…
Continue reading …Britain sold £16.4m worth of arms to Egypt in 2009, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade The British government refuses to say whether it would follow the example of Germany and France and suspend exports of arms and riot control equipment to Egypt. Instead, UK officials say decisions will be taken on a “case by case” basis in line with its own and EU guidelines. Officials “will assess whether the current circumstances in Egypt and the granting of a licence will contravene the criteria”, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said. The criteria says that arms will not be sold to countries or regions where they would exacerbate tensions and contribute to the abuse of human rights. However, Britain sold £16.4m worth of arms to Egypt in 2009, the last year for which figures are available, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Caat). 81 export licences were approved for a wide range of weapons systems components. EU countries have dramatically increased their arms sales to north African countries in recent years, from €372m to €2bn, according to the European Network Against Arms Trade. EU countries’ arms sales to Morocco amounted to €1.36bn in 2009 – €343m to Libya, €293m to Egypt, €275m to Algeria, and €52m to Tunisia. European arms exports to four of the five countries doubled between 2008 and 2009. The exception was Egypt, where sales increased but not to the same extent. “The EU arms export figures are shocking,” Kaye Stearman, a Caat member, said. “It is obvious that these weapons are bought primarily by north African governments to prop up their authoritarian governments. At a time when these same governments are experiencing popular protest, it is inevitable that some of the EU weapons will be used to crush internal opposition. “While some EU countries, such as France and Germany, have belatedly suspended arms exports to Egypt, this is not good enough. There should be an immediate arms embargo on the whole region.” Egypt Middle East Arms trade Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …If that whole end-of-the-world thing doesn’t work out next year, maybe the jig is up in 2036: Scientists are now saying that’s the year an asteroid previously thought harmless (after having been deemed catastrophic before that) might just plow into the Earth. A few Russian scientists are warning that Apophis,…
Continue reading …Michelle Obama is taking her next shot at obesity, calling on the National Restaurant Association to enact nutrition reforms similar to those she has worked out with Walmart and the nation’s schools, the New York Times reports. The first lady is pushing for restaurants to serve smaller portions and make…
Continue reading …Egyptian web activist freed after protests tells TV station: ‘I am no hero’
February 8, 2011 No Comment
Google executive’s emotional interview after his release hailed as a landmark moment in Egypt revolt An emotional television interview given by a young Egyptian Google executive who was arrested after playing a key role in using the internet to spark the uprising against Hosni Mubarak is being hailed as a landmark moment in the ongoing revolt after it struck a chord across Egypt and beyond. Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager who became a hero to anti-government protestors after he went missing on 27 January, confirmed in the interview following his release that he was behind a highly influential Facebook page that helped lead to what he described as “the revolution of the youth of the internet.” Before his appearance on Monday on a privately owned Egyptian television channel, the father-of-two was held in repute by many who believed that he was the anonymous activist behind a Facebook page named after a young Egyptian businessman whose death at the hands of police in June set off months of protests. The page, ” We are all Khaled Said “, became one of the main tools for organising the demonstrations that started the revolt in earnest on 25 January. However, Ghonim’s stature across the country now appears destined to rise dramatically if the post-interview reaction on the internet is anything to go by. Calls are being made for him to stand as president. Others predicted that his performance, which was being acclaimed as a tour de force of calm but explosive political passion, would inevitably boost the numbers of those attending the latest mass demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir square and elsewhere this morning. “I am not a hero. I only used the keyboard, the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can’t name,” said Ghonim, who sobbed throughout the interview, which ended with him being overcome with emotion as he was shown images of some of those who died in the uprising. While insisting that he had not been tortured and saying his interrogators treated him with respect, he said he was taken aback when others who he met in jail believed that he was “a traitor”. “Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm,” he said. “If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said like others, let this country go to hell. But we are not traitors,” added Ghonim, an Egyptian who oversees Google’s marketing in the Middle East and Africa from Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates. According to early English translations which were posted online hours after the Arab language interview on DreamTV, Ghonim added: “I wasn’t optimistic on the 25th but now I can’t believe it.” He went on: “Inside I met people who loved Egypt but their methods and mine are not the same. I pay these guys’ salaries from my taxes, I have the right to ask the ministers where my money is going, this is our country. “I believe that if things get better those [who he met in prison] will serve Egypt well. Don’t stand in our way, we are going to serve Egypt. I saw a film director get slapped, they told him ‘You will die here’. Why?” He also downplayed the supposedly cental role of Islamist activists in the revolt, saying: “There was no Muslim Brotherhood presence in organising these protests, it was all spontaneous, voluntary. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood decided to take part it was their choice to do so. This belongs to Egyptian youth. Please everyone, enough rumours. Enough.” Ghonim’s whereabouts were not known until Sunday, when a prominent Egyptian political figure confirmed he was under arrest and would soon be released. He looked exhausted and said he had been unable to sleep for 48 hours, but not because he was being mistreated. Egypt Middle East Google Facebook Internet Social networking Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It might be something like War & Peace or The Call of the Wild , except with more dancing and belated abstinence, but a new literary Wasillan has gone rogue. Amazon has a pre-order page for a Bristol Palin memoir, set to be released in September by HarperCollins. Gawker ‘s Jim…
Continue reading …Timothy Garton Ash ( If this is young Arabs’ 1989, Europe must be ready with a bold response , 3 February) says: “What we need are people on the spot who speak the language, know the history, have been there repeatedly over a number of years, and can evaluate the main players and social forces.” Well, how about the 80 million Egyptians? What we don’t need are western security services telling the Egyptians what they need. A really “bold response” to events in the Arab world would be for Europe to throw off its own self-perpetuating elites. Andy Croft Middlesbrough Egypt Middle East European Union Foreign policy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Egypt, the media have been breathlessly informing us, is a corrupt state where money buys power and vice versa. Sound familiar? asks Glenn Greenwald of Salon . “How many American politicians with a national platform over the last thirty years have failed to convert their political standing into great personal wealth?”…
Continue reading …Amtrak plans to dig two new tunnels for commuter trains between New York and New Jersey, Reuters reports. The project, called the Gateway Tunnel and projected to cost $13.5 billion, has a loose finish date of 2020. “The two new trans-Hudson tunnels will provide long-sought, peak-period operational capacity and…
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