Stricken ship off NZ fully evacuated

Vessel sends out mayday alarm as it continues to leak oil into the sea in heavy weather.

The cargo ship stranded on a reef off New Zealand was fully evacuated in heavy weather after sending out a mayday alarm as it continued to leak heavy fuel oil into the sea.
Maritime New Zealand said on Tuesday that the 25-man mainly Filipino crew had been lifted off the 47,000 tonne MV Rena, which has been aground off the east coast port city Tauranga since last week as a precautionary measure.
The agency said the loaded container ship was still intact and an aerial survey showed "no obvious sign of deformation", but it was moving around in 3-4-metre sea swells and winds gusting to 46km an hour.
It said an estimated 130-350 tonnes of oil had now leaked from the vessel and a "significant" amount was still leaking into the ocean.
Earlier, many of the crew had been evacuated but the captain and salvage workers had remained on board. But all have now left the ship.
Michael Morrah, a journalist from New Zealand's TV3 television station, told Al Jazeera: "Tt is trying conditions, but all the staff have been accounted for.
"But there has been a leak of 200-300 tonnes of oil from the ship, and in the coming days it will be noticeable, it will be a large scale environmental disaster."
The 236-metre ship had suffered more damage leading to additional flooding in the forward holds, but that would help to settle it on the reef, a statement said.
Meanwhile, small amounts of oil from the ship has begun washing up at a popular recreational beach.
After beginning an operation on Sunday to extract up to 1,700 metric tonnes of oil from the stricken ship, marine crews halted pumping work on Monday due to worsening weather.
They managed to removed just 10 metric tonnes of oil before work was called off ahead of forecast gale-force winds and swells.
"The weather is expected to deteriorate in the coming days, so we are working around the clock to remove the oil," the agency said in a statement.

Egypt PM Essam Sharaf urges calm after Cairo clashes

Egypt's PM has appealed for calm after 24 people were killed as clashes between Coptic Christians and security forces escalated into full-scale riots.

The violence broke out after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a church in Aswan province last week, with Muslims joining in on both sides.
PM Essam Sharaf said discord between Muslims and Christians in Egypt was "a threat to the country's security".
An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for Monday.
The BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says there is pressure on ministers and on the country's military rulers to give assurances about national unity.
A nighttime curfew was lifted at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT).
Mr Sharaf, who toured the area where the clashes occurred, also addressed calls by protesters for the removal of the military rulers.
"The most serious threat to the country's security is tampering with national unity, and the stirring of discord between Muslim and Christian sons of Egypt," he said in a televised address late on Sunday.

Steve Jobs Is Dead [APPLE]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Jobs is dead. The Apple chairman and former CEO who made personal computers, smartphones, tablets, and digital animation mass-market products passed away today. We're going to miss him. Deeply, and personally.

Steven P. Jobs passed away on October 5th, 2011 after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was just 56 years old. We mourn his passing, and wish his family the very best.
Let's address this up front: Gizmodo and Steve Jobs had, at best, a tumultuous relationship. Yet no matter how much he may have hated us, we admired him.
No, that's not quite right. We loved him.
He was the reason many of us got into this industry, or even care about technology at all. He made the computer personal, and the smartphone fun. Bill Gates may have put a computer on every office desk, but it was Steve Jobs who put one in every dorm room and bedroom and living room. And then, years later, he repeated the trick, putting one in every bag and every pocket, thanks to the iPad and iPhone. If you use a computer or smartphone today, it is either one he created, or an imitation of his genius.
He changed the way movies are made, the way music is sold, the way stories are told, the very way we interact with the world around us. He helped us work, and gave us new ways to play. He was a myth made man.
Prior to Steve Jobs, computers were alien to most of us. They were accessible to few people without an engineering degree. Not merely because of their complex operating procedures, but also because they were so cold and so inhuman. Jobs understood that they could be something more than that. That while computers would never be people, he could endow them with humanity. He could transform them into machines that not only anyone could use, but that everyday people would enjoy using thanks to the art of great design. He made them something that would be part of our lives. And he did that again and again.
His life story is familiar, but it deserves repeating. He was given up for adoption by his unmarried parents. He grew up in California, and was very much a product of that place and time. He took drugs. He got into phone hacking. Both were precursers to what would always be his interest: changing the status quo.
In 1976 he started Apple in a garage. Together with Steve Wozniak, he shipped the first true fully-built personal computer, the Apple I. He drove development of the Mac, understanding that it was the future of computers. The great thing that we would all see. He brought in a grown up to run the company. And that grown up forced him out of the company that he built and into the wilderness.
While he was gone, he started NeXT computer. The NeXT operating system would form the underpinnings of Apple's OS X, and iOS.
He also started the best movie studio of the past 30 years. Pixar's films were innovative, to be sure. It pushed the boundaries of CGI to such an extent that even today its early films still look great. But technology is only a tool. As with everything else he understood that great technology alone is not enough. It must be human to have an impact. Pixar movies tell stories. They make grown men cry. That was the impact of Steve Jobs.
He became a family man. He reunited with his biological mother, and his sister, the writer Mona Simpson. He married. He had children. He was, by all accounts, a great dad. It was his role as husband and father that helped drive his second act at Apple.
After his return to Apple, the company began shipping iconic product after iconic product. Products that defined a decade. The iMac, OS X, the iPod, iTunes (which was very good, before it was very bad), the iPhone, the iPad. All of these were deeply human products. They reflected his understanding of how technology was used not only in the workplace, but in the home. In his keynotes, product demos typically showed not executives, but families.
He made Apple into the most valuable company in the world.
He never met his biological father.
He accomplished so many things, in so many fields that it's tempting to compare Jobs to someone from the past. A Thomas Edison or a Ben Franklin or even a Leonardo Da Vinci. We tend to do that because it helps us understand. But it does him a disservice. He was unique. His own person. Our own person.
He was our emblematic genius. In 100 years, when historians talk about the emergence of the age of intelligent machines, it is Steve Jobs they will hold up as the great exemplar of our era.
They will remember his flaws, too. When Atari hired Jobs and Woz to write the code for the iconic Atari game Breakout, the pair earned a $5000 bonus for completing the work, largely done by Woz. But Jobs kept the bonus a secret, and only paid his partner $375. When his daughter Lisa was born in 1978, he spent two years denying he was her father. His denials forced her and her mother to support themselves on welfare. In the workplace he's often been described as temperamental and even petulant. He could be arrogant and unforgiving.
He was not a god. He was simply a man.
Yet for all his faults, he changed the world. He made it better.
He once famously asked of a critic "what have you done that's so great?" For Jobs, the answer to that question was very nearly unlimited.
Our world will be less interesting, less exciting, and less meaningful without him.
Goodbye, Mr. Jobs. We will miss you so very much.

 

Steve Jobs dead: Biography of Apple visionary

Greece hit by new 24-hour general strike over austerity

Airports are among the services to be hit by the general strike




 
A 24-hour general strike is underway in Greece in protest at the nation's austerity measures.

Flights and ferry services are expected to be cancelled, schools will be closed and hospitals will be working with reduced staff.
Greece's biggest unions will want a huge turn-out to prove that resistance is still strong.
 
The European Commission is meeting later to discuss co-ordination on propping up banks in Europe.
Global financial markets have been in turmoil over fears that Greece could default on its debt, increasing the cost of borrowing for other debt-laden countries.
On Monday, Italy's credit rating was slashed by the Moody's ratings agency, which blamed a loss in confidence in eurozone governments.
'Stunting growth' Wednesday's general strike in Greece is the first since the government announced an emergency property tax and the suspension of 30,000 public sector staff last month.
"People are very angry," Greek civil servant and trade unionist Tiana Andreou told the BBC.
"Not only because of the measures that the government's taking but because of the whole situation. Our lives have been ruined. We have decided that we're going to stop this."

Greece must implement the stringent austerity measures in order to secure its next instalment of bailout cash from the EU.

Inspectors from the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission have been in Greece this week to assess its financial situation.
On Monday, eurozone finance minister delayed a decision on handing over the money, after Greece said it would not meet this year's deficit cutting plan.
The government admitted that the budget deficit will stand at 8.5% this year, rather than the 7.5% target.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said on Tuesday that the government had enough cash to pay pensions, salaries and bondholders until mid-November.
Greece had previously said it needed more money by mid-October to avoid a default.
The government's austerity measures are hugely unpopular and have led to a wave of strikes and protests.
Some militant civil servants are promising to sabotage the reforms and on Tuesday, protesters again blocked the entrance to several government departments including the finance and transport ministries.
They say the austerity drive is deepening the recession, stunting Greece's growth - the economy will shrink 5.5% this year - and stopping Greece from being able to reduce its government debt itself.

Iran postpones monkey's ride into space

By AFP TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's plans to send a live monkey into space have been postponed indefinitely, the country's top space official said, quoted on Monday by the state television website. "One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation said. Fazeli had said in mid-June that a Kavoshgar-5 rocket would be launched "during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres (74 miles)." He gave no reason on Monday for the postponement. "Our scientists are exerting continuous efforts on this project... our colleagues are busy with empirical studies and sub-system testing of this project so it is a success," he said. In mid-March, Iran's space organisation announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 rocket carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey. The capsule had been unveiled in February by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before March 2012. At the time, Fazeli touted the launch of a large animal into space as the first step towards sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2020. Iran has already sent small animals into space -- a rat, turtles and worms -- aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. The Islamic republic, which first put a satellite into orbit in 2009, has outlined an ambitious space programme amid Western concerns it may be linked to developing a ballistic missile capability that could deliver nuclear warheads. Tehran has repeatedly denied that its contentious nuclear and scientific programmes mask military ambitions.

US releases 'bin Laden video tapes'

find the videos here : http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/05/20115717832650859.html


The US has released five video clips of Osama bin Laden that it says were taken from the Pakistani compound where the leader of al-Qaeda was killed last week in a raid.

One shows him rehearsing a text statement and another has him watching news coverage of himself on TV.

Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from the Pentagon on Saturday, said that the video clips were shown to journalists, but the sound was removed from them.
Click here for more of our special coverage

"We did see a video of Osama bin Laden watching video of himself on what appears to be Al Jazeera," she said.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Washington DC, Wayne Madsen, an investigative journalist, said it was still difficult to confirm that all these videos do show bin Laden, as some were not clear.

"There are going to be many more questions raised after the release of these videos, because there have been videos and images in the past that were thought to be of bin Laden, but some of those turned out to be fake," he said.

In another video, bin Laden had apparently dyed and neatly trimmed his beard for the filming of taped remarks.

The video, which the US released without sound, was titled "Message to the American People" and was believed to be made sometime last year, a senior intelligence official said during a briefing for reporters.

None of the videos released had any sound and there was no way of confirming dates either.

Compound videos

Earlier on Saturday, Al Jazeera aired new footage of the compound where bin Laden was killed, video that showed the interiors of the house where he is thought to have been hiding for up to six years.

Filmed during daylight hours, there is no doubt that the compound is where bin Laden was shot and killed by US forces, Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab said, reporting from outside the house in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

"These pictures ... give a sense of just how Osama bin Laden - the world's most wanted fugitive - lived relatively undetected right here in Abbottabad," he said.
Al Jazeera has obtained new footage of the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed

It was not immediately clear how long after the raid the footage was taken.

Our correspondent said Pakistani forces have been in charge of the house since the US operation.

"They, presumably, have taken with them what they deemed important as well," he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistanis stepped up calls for senior government officials to resign, with some of the sharpest language directed at the army and intelligence chiefs.

The calls marked a rare challenge to the most powerful men in the country, who are more accustomed to being feared than publicly criticised.

"It was an attack on our soil, and the army was sleeping," Zafar Iqbal, a 61-year-old retired bureaucrat in the central city of Lahore, said.

He singled out the leaders of Pakistan's army, air force and the main intelligence organisation - General Ashfaq Kayani, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman and General Ahmed Shuja Pasha - saying they all should be forced to resign.

In contrast, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister and member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, fixed the blame squarely on Asif Ali Zardari, the president, and Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister.

"This is a great violation of our sovereignty, but it is for the president and prime minister to resign and no one else," Qureshi said.

The Pakistani army has said it had no idea bin Laden was hiding for up to six years in Abbottabad, an army town only two and a half hours' drive from the capital, Islamabad.

Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan

US president confirms al-Qaeda leader's death, saying he has been killed in firefight following US raid in Abbottabad.


Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, is dead.

US president Barack Obama said bin Laden, the most-wanted fugitive on the US list, has been killed on Sunday in a US operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, about 150km north of Islamabad.

"Tonight, I can report to the people of the United States and the world, the United States had carried an operation that has killed Osama Bin Laden, a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of innocent people," Obama said in a statement.

"Today, at my direction, the United States carried out that operation... they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.

"The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date against al-Qaeda.

"We must also reaffirm that United states is not and will never be at war against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, in fact, he slaughtered many Muslims," Obama said.



Barack Obama called bin Laden's death the 'most significant achievement' against al-Qaeda [EPA]

US celebrations

As the news of bin Laden's death spread, crowds gathered outside the White House in Washington DC to celebrate.

Former US president George Bush called his death a "momentous achievement".

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," Bush said in a statement.

According to Al Jazeeera's Rosalind Jordan in Washington, the operation had been in the making for the last nine or 10 months.

"The fact that it happened inside Pakistan, there have been suggestions that Pakistani intelligence may have been protecting them," she said.

Patty Culhane, another Al Jazeera correspondent, said the US authorities got intelligence last September and were able to track bin Laden down through his couriers. They followed them to his compound which is reported to be worth over a million dollars.

Reporting from Pakistan, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said the development had caught a lot of people by surprise .

"He was considered by many as a hero, but not to the extent that people would come out on the streets. The reaction so far not likely to be strong on the streets, perhaps a protest here or there by the religious parties," he said.

'Symbolic victory'
Qais Azimy, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said Afghan officials described bin Laden's killing as a "symbolic victory", since he was no longer directly connected to the group's field operations.
Mark Kimmit, a US military analyst, said bin Laden's death "was not the end of terrorism, but an end of a chapter."

"Capturing or killing bin Laden has more iconic value. It will have symbolic value, because it has been a number of years since bin Laden has exercised day to day control over operations. We still have an al-Qaeda threat out there and that will be there for a number of years.

"This organisation (al-Qaeda) is more than bin Laden, it may be symbolised by bin Laden, but it definitely is more than bin Laden," he said.

It is, however, a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team. Obama's predecessor, George Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring to justice the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.

He had been the subject of a search since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains in 2001. The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.

While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.

Besides September 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks - including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.

Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.