DR Congo president’s aide killed in plane crash

 

A close aide to DR Congo President Joseph Kabila was killed and the country s finance minister seriously injured in a plane crash on Sunday in the east of the country, the president s office said.

 

The statement identified Kabila s aide as Augustin Katumba Mwanke, 48, considered a key member of Kabila s entourage, who had the ear of the president.

 

Finance Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo was in a serious condition, while Sud-Kivu governor Marcellin Tshisambo had suffered fractures in both legs, said an airport official.

 

The plane overshot the runway at Bukavu airport, the president s office said.

 

“There were three killed: two American crew members and one passenger,” Mwanke, a Bukavu airport official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that there had been eight passengers on the aircraft.

 

Mwanke and the pilot “died on the spot,” a source at the presidency said.

 

The twin-engine Gulfstream 200 had flown in from the capital Kinshasa via Goma and apparently missed its landing at Bukavu airport, in the vast country s east.

 

“It touched down only halfway down the runway and went skidding into a ditch beyond the runway. The plane is damaged,” the airport official said.
 

‘Contempt proceedings against PM not enough’

Talking to the media at Sukkur Airport, Sindh Chief Minister said that candidates for the Senate polls would be selected in consultation with coalition partners.

 

The Prime Minister would appear before the Supreme Court to face the trial, he said.

 

Commenting on new face for the next prime minister, Sindh CM said that he was unconscious about it.

 

He said that the government was trying its best to discourage target-killings, adding that they are ready to face any challenge including flood.

 

He said that renovation of Sukkur Barrage is underway while the UK has been appealed to enhance its capacity to store water.
 

Israel general strike enters second day, talks failed

 

A general strike in Israel entered its fifth day on Sunday after late-night talks between trade unions and the government failed again to resolve their differences.

 

The two sides were to report on the status of their negotiations to the national labour court later on Sunday, which will decide whether to allow the strike to continue.

 

Uncollected rubbish was piling up on streets. Many drivers of the national bus corporation joined the strike, disrupting travel on the first day of the Israeli working week.

 

“We hope it will end as soon as possible,” Jihad Akl, manager of the Histadrut trade union confederation s situation room, told public radio.

 

Histadrut and finance ministry representatives failed again late Saturday to resolve their dispute over the rights of contract workers, who have lower salaries than full-time colleagues and few benefits, and can be fired without notice.

 

Ben Gurion international airport, railways and harbours were open on Sunday, but government offices, banks and the stock exchange kept up the open-ended strike.

 

The issue of contract workers has been simmering for months, with the Histadrut staging a four-hour strike in the same dispute in November.

 

It wants to see contract workers receive the same benefits as others, and has called on the government to hire some of the contract workers as full employees.

 

The government says it is willing to make some concessions on the status of contract workers but that it would be economically disastrous to offer them all the same rights as permanent staff.
 

Half a million Israeli workers go on strike

 

Half a million Israeli public and private sector workers began a general strike on Wednesday after talks over the rights of contract workers broke down, public radio reported.

 

The strike, called by Israel s biggest trade union umbrella group, Histadrut, got underway at 6:00 am (0400 GMT).

 

It will affect hospitals and office workers, banks, the national electricity company, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, as well as ports and the rail service.

 

Ben Gurion international airport, near Tel Aviv was also expected to grind largely to a halt, though 25 planes were allowed to take off, with 10,000 travellers able to leave.

 

Some schools were also hit by the strike, though bus services in most cities was not expected to be affected.

 

The strike was called after talks between Histadrut and Israel s finance ministry over the rights of contract workers failed to reach a breakthrough.

 

Histadrut is calling for all contract workers to receive the same rights as regular staffers.

 

The union association claims that the number of contract workers employed particularly by the government has mushroomed in recent years.

 

These employees can be fired without notice and are provided with little holiday or benefits, Histadrut says.

 

The Israeli government says it is willing to make some concessions on the status of contract workers but that it wouldbe economically disastrous to offer them the same rights as full employees.

 

Histadrut secretary general Ofer Eini and Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz were due to continue talks Wednesday afternoon.
 

India, Russia, US and China to discuss carbon tax

 

The countries will meet to decide whether to retaliate against the EU s decision to impose a carbon tax on air travel, a report says.

 

The European Union (EU) imposed the tax with effect from January 1, but over two dozen countries, including India, Russia, China and the United States, have opposed the move saying it violates international law.

 

The Press Trust of India late Friday quoted what it said were official sources as saying over 30 countries would meet in Moscow on February 21 and 22 to decide on retaliatory measures against the EU if it insists on imposing the carbon tax on non-EU flights as there was “growing agreement” on the matter.

 

The report did not name the sources. The news agency added that India delivered “a strong message” on the carbon tax issue to an EU delegation led by EU climate chief Connie Hedegaard on Friday in New Delhi.

 

“Even if only India, Russia and China decide to start charging for over-flights by European carriers or decide to restrict the number of flights  operated by them citing emission concerns, it could have a devastating effect on the European airline industry,” a source said, according to PTI.

 

A “Delhi Declaration” was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council and other non-EU member states in New Delhi last September.

 

The declaration opposed EU s plan to include all flights by non-EU carriers to and from an airport in the EU territory in its emissions trading system, saying it was inconsistent with applicable international law.

 

The EU has said the carbon tax will help the 27-nation bloc achieve its goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
 

Haqqani off to Abu Dhabi

 

A main character in memo-gate case, Husain Haqqani left Islamabad for Abu Dhabi through Ittehad Airlines flight IY 232 in early hours of Tuesday.

 

From Abu Dhabi, Husain Haqqani will fly to United States.

 

Husain Haqqani reached Islamabad Airport under tight security and entered passengers launge without talking to media.

 

On Monday, counsel for Husain Haqqani, Asma Jahangir, pleaded before the Supreme Court to allow her client to travel abroad.
 

Dozens arrested at Occupy Oakland

 

Oakland police used tear gas and “flash” grenades Saturday to break up hundreds of Occupy protesters after some demonstrators started throwing rocks and flares at officers and tearing down fencing.

 

Three officers were hurt and 19 people were arrested, the Oakland Police Department said. No details on the officers  injuries were released.

 

The protest continued into Saturday evening. A four-block area near downtown was closed off with police in the street facing hundreds of protesters, while a second group of dozens of protesters headed toward City Hall. No additional clashes were reported.

 

“We re going to be out here as long as they are,” said protester Christopher Moreland, 23.

 

Police said the group started assembling at a downtown plaza Saturday morning, with demonstrators threatening to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center. The group then marched through the streets, disrupting traffic.

 

The crowd grew as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

 

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and “destroying construction equipment” shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

 

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

 

Most of the arrests were made when protesters ignored orders to leave and assaulted officers, police said. By 4 p.m., the bulk of the crowd had left the convention center and headed back downtown.

 

The demonstration comes after Occupy protesters said earlier this week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub. They also threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

 

In a statement Friday, Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana said the city would not be “bullied by threats of violence or illegal activity.”

 

Interim police Chief Howard Jordan also warned that officers would arrest those carrying out illegal actions.

 

Oakland officials said Friday that since the Occupy Oakland encampment was first established in late October, police have arrested about 300 people.

 

The national Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate excess and economic inequality, began in New York City in the fall but has been largely dormant lately.

 

Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities with the largest and most vocal Occupy protests early on. The demonstrations ebbed after those cities used force to move out hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.

 

In Oakland, the police department received heavy criticism for using force to break up earlier protests. Among the critics was Mayor Jean Quan, who said she wasn t briefed on the department s plans. Earlier this month, a court-appointed monitor submitted a report to a federal judge that included “serious concerns” about the department s handling of the Occupy protests.

Egypt flays travel ban on US NGO workers

 

The authorities slapped a travel ban on several US citizens working for non-governmental organisations, preventing them from leaving the country, officials said on Thursday.

 

“We understand that a number of Americans working for NGOs, including the IRI, have been barred from travelling,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Michael Posner said in Cairo.

 

The IRI is the International Republican Institute, whose Egypt director Sam LaHood — the son of US Secretary for Transportation Ray LaHood — was among those banned from travel, an Egyptian airport official said.

 

The ban was issued following “the orders of the prosecutor general,” the official told AFP.

 

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she believed “four or five” Americans had been prevented from taking flights from the airport, although she added their passports had not been confiscated.

 

Nuland told reporters she understood that the ban will last as long as it takes for the Egyptian authorities to complete a judicial process.

 

“We are urging the government of Egypt to lift these restrictions immediately and allow folks to come home as soon as possible. And we are hopeful that this issue will be resolved in merest days,” Nuland said.

 

The move comes amid a crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs.

 

It is likely to further strain relations between Egypt and the United States after prosecutors last month stormed the offices of groups including IRI as part of a probe into allegations of illegal funding from abroad.

 

Nuland said the authorities have yet to return computers and other confiscated material, which she added are also subject to the ongoing judicial process.

 

Posner said the United States was “gravely concerned that organisations like IRI and like NDI (the National Democratic Institute) and Freedom House which have long worked in this country and around the world, are not able to operate as they do in many places in the world.”
 

Ekta Kapoor gets detained at the airport

Looks like the Mumbai airport is all set to create history in terms of ‘star-detains’! First, it was Minissha Lamba, which was then followed by Bipasha Basu and Anushka Sharma. And now it was the Czarina of telly land Ekta Kapoor who was questioned by the airport authorities.

Reports have it that, Ekta was carrying undeclared luxury goods to the tune of approximately Rs. one lakh. She got intercepted while she tried to pass through the green channel without declaring her assets. News has it that Ekta, after being detained, claimed innocence and said that she was not aware of the existing laws. She was finally permitted to leave after being fined approximately Rs. 50,000 by the Customs Department.

Huge tsunami slams coastal Japan after 8.9 quake

TOKYO: A massive 8.9 magnitude quake hit northeast Japan on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, cars, farm buildings on fire and boats, media and witnesses said.

At least one person was killed in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo where four million homes were without power. The quake caused many injuries, fires and a wall of water across the coast, prompting warnings to people to move to higher ground.

There were several strong aftershocks. In the capital Tokyo, buildings shook violently.

TV pictures showed a vast wall of water carrying the debris and even fires across a large swathe of coastal farmland near the city of Sendai, which has a population of one million.

Public broadcaster NHK showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.

Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama’s Isogo area. TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed into the water.

Kyodo news agency said there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves carried cars across the runway at the airport.

The western prefecture of Wakayama ordered 20,000 people to evacuate after further tsunami warnings.

“WORST IN 20 YEARS”

“The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks,” Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo.

“It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago.”

The Tokyo stock market extended losses after the quake. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers” hands. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Household goods ranging from toilet paper to clingfilm were flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a drugstore.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds were watching and pointing to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, “They”re still shaking!”, “Are they going to fall?”
Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a coffee shop when the quake hit.

“The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn”t believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo.”

The US trendpk.comlogical Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.9.

A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.

Japan”s northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world”s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

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