Thursday, 31 December 2009
New Year revelers ready for better times in 2010
SYDNEY – Under explosive bursts of crimson, purple and blue, more than 1 million New Year revelers in Sydney got one of the world's biggest parties started Thursday — bidding farewell to the tough year that was 2009 and welcoming a new decade.
As the family-friendly, pre-midnight fireworks show illuminated Australia's largest city, preparations were under way across the world for pyrotechnics, parties and prayers in the final countdown to herald the end of the period dubbed "the Noughties."
The mood of celebrations was tempered in some places by the effects of the financial downturn, which bit hard in 2009, sending economies into recession, causing millions to lose their jobs and home foreclosures to rise dramatically in some countries.
There were also reminders of threats and the fight against terrorism that during the decade led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and rising militant violence in Pakistan.
The U.S. Embassy in Indonesia warned of a possible terrorist attack on the resort island of Bali on New Year's Eve, citing information from the island's governor — although local security officials said Thursday they were unaware of a threat. The e-mail warning to U.S. citizens said predominantly Muslim Indonesia's counterterrorism efforts have been partly successful in recent years, but violent extremists continue to pose a deadly threat.
In Sydney, crowds — organizers expected more than 1.5 million people — thronged to harborside parks and public places for the annual fireworks extravaganza over the landmark harbor bridge and opera house. The twin shows, one at 9 p.m. and a bigger one at midnight, are the centerpiece of Australia's celebrations that generates some of the most striking images from a night of revelry across the globe.
The mood was jubilant, though the economic crisis may mean 2009 was a year one that many people are glad to put behind them.
"I think 2010 will be a good year — you can never tell, but I think so," said Marek Kiera, a Sydney property investor who watched interest rates tumble amid the global financial crisis.
"We have invested so much in something that may go up in value," said Kiera, who went with his wife and three young children to a park in inner Sydney to watch the fireworks show. "Hopefully there will be a boom like in the late '80s, when properties doubled in value."
Smaller fireworks displays and partying were planned across Australia and the South Pacific, the first region to greet each new day because of its proximity to the International Date Line.
In New Zealand, dance parties, bands and fireworks were planned in the main cities. In the capital, Wellington, celebrations included a display by world unicycle games competitors.
Asia was be partying, too, though probably not as hard as most of Europe and the Americas. The world's most populous nation, 1.3-billion-strong China, uses a different calendar that will mark the new year in February. Islamic nations such as Pakistan and Afghanistan also use a different calendar.
In the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said hundreds of people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire during New Year's celebrations.
Many Filipinos, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, believe that noisy New Year's celebrations drive away evil and misfortune. But they have carried that superstition to extremes, exploding huge firecrackers and firing guns to welcome the new year despite threats of arrest.
In Beijing, President Hu Jintao wished viewers a happy new year in his end-of-the-year speech broadcast on China Central Television. In Shanghai, some people paid 518 yuan ($75) to ring the bell at the Longhua Temple at midnight and wish for luck in the new year. In Chinese, saying "518" sounds like the phrase "I want prosperity."
Fireworks displays were planned to illuminate Hong Kong's crowded skyline, high-glitz parties were planned in Singapore and thousands gathered at Indonesia's national monument in the capital, Jakarta, for a fireworks show.
Millions of Japanese were to welcome the new year by flocking to shrines to pray for good fortune in 2010.
In Turkey, Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said authorities were deploying around 2,000 police officers around Taksim Square to prevent pickpockets and the molestation of women that have marred New Year celebrations in the past. Some officers would be under cover, disguised as street vendors or "even in Santa Claus dress," Guler said.
Firecrackers were already exploding across the Netherlands early Thursday on the only day of the year the Dutch are allowed to set off fireworks. Most such shows are do-it-yourself affairs where families spill onto the street in front of their homes and light strings of fire crackers and other fireworks.
Many Dutch families also fire up their deep-fat frying pans on New Year's Eve to cook the traditional treat of oliebollen — deep-fried balls of dough laced with raisins and dusted with icing sugar.
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Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Cara Anna in Beijing, and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this story.
Police: Gunman kills 5 in Finland, then self
HELSINKI – A gunman clad in black went on a shooting rampage Thursday, killing his ex-girlfriend then slaying four workers at a suburban shopping mall near Helsinki before apparently turning his gun on himself, police said.
Finnish police said one woman and three men were shot dead Thursday morning at the Sello shopping mall in Espoo, six miles (10 kilometers) west of Helsinki.
The gunman was identified as 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli, an immigrant who had been living for several years in Finland, police superintendent Jukka Kaski said, adding that the weapon used was an unlicensed handgun.
Kaski said Shkupolli killed his ex-girlfriend in a nearby apartment before heading to the mall.
The ex-girlfriend, a Finnish woman born in 1967, also worked at the mall and had taken out a restraining order against Shkupolli, Kaski said.
Witnesses said panic erupted at the mall, one of the Nordic region's largest, when the shots rang out. Hundreds of mall workers were evacuated to a nearby library and firehouse, trains were halted and helicopters brought in as police launched a manhunt for the heavily armed killer.
After several hours, a body was found in Shkupolli's home, which police believed to be the killer himself. Kaski refused to confirm the exact identity immediately, but said the cause of the death appeared to be suicide.
Speaking at a news conference, Kaski also refused to discuss Shkupolli's nationality, but Finnish media reported he was an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo.
He refused to say whether the four killed at the mall had been targeted by Shkupolli.
The midmorning slayings shocked hundreds of people who had gone shopping early on New Year's Eve. One witness told the state broadcaster YLE that a gunman dressed in black began randomly shooting at people on the second floor of the mall.
"There were loads of people who were crying, and many vendors who were completely panicked," the unnamed witness said.
Another female witness told YLE radio news she saw the suspect carrying a long-barrelled pistol and rushing past the cashier line at Sello's Prisma supermarket, where the slayings took place.
Finland, a nation of 5.3 million, has 1.6 million firearms in private hands, a long tradition of hunting and ranks among the top five nations in the world in civilian gun ownership.
Politicians, social workers and religious leaders have all urged tighter gun laws, more vigilance of Internet sites and more social bonding in the small Nordic nation, which is known for its high suicide rates, heavy drinking and domestic violence.
Previous shootings in Finland have been linked to schools. In September 2008, a lone gunman killed nine fellow students and a teacher at a vocational college before shooting himself in the western town of Kauhajoki. In November 2007, an 18-year-old student fatally shot eight people and himself at a high school in southern Finland.
Both young men in those attacks fired guns in YouTube clips posted before the shootings, shot themselves in the head and used .22-caliber handguns bought from the same store.
Court freed Somali suspect with chemicals, syringe
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia's police commissioner says a court acquitted and released a Somali man who tried to board a plane in Mogadishu in November with chemicals and a syringe.
Gen. Ali Hassan Loyan says a Somali court acquitted the man on Dec. 12, about two weeks before a Nigerian tried to bring down a Detroit-bound flight using similar materials.
Loyan says given the attempted U.S. attack, the Somali government is ready to redouble its cooperation with U.S. officials since the materials used in both incidents appear to be similar.
U.S. officials on Wednesday began investigating the Somali case for any links with the attempted attack in Detroit.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Iranian hard-liners plan show of strength
TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian hard-liners called a series of state-sponsored demonstrations on Wednesday in what they hoped would be a massive show of strength against the reformist movement, while the country's police chief threatened to show "no mercy" in crushing any new opposition rallies.
Wednesday's hardline protests, planned in Tehran and several other cities, were the latest official response to what has become the boldest challenge to the ruling system since the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago.
The government has been systematically arresting top opposition activists, including the sister of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, limited the movement of a top opposition leader and heavily restricted media coverage in the wake of opposition rallies that left eight people dead early this week.
Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam said authorities had exhausted their patience with the opposition and promised tough new action.
"In dealing with previous protests, police showed leniency but given that these currents are seeking to topple (the ruling system), there will be no mercy. We will take severe action," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. "The era of tolerance is over. Anyone attending such rallies will be crushed."
Tens of thousands of people were expected at Wednesday's demonstrations, which were set to begin at midafternoon. For several days, hard-liners have been imploring supporters to attend, and officially organized buses were transporting groups of schoolchildren, civil servants and supporters from outlying rural areas to the protests.
Sunday's deadly protests coincided with Ashoura, the most solemn day of the year for Shiite Muslims. The observance commemorates the 7th-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, and it conveys a message of sacrifice in the face of repression.
Hard-liners are especially furious that some of the protesters insulted the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, casting aside a taboo on personal criticism of the leader. The government has said the protesters are a tiny minority, and accused the U.S. and Britain of organizing the opposition.
The hard-line criticism has become increasingly vocal, with some activists threatening to take the law into their own hands.
Hardline cleric Abbas Vaez Tabasi, a Khamenei representative, accused opposition leaders on Tuesday of being "enemies of God" who should be executed.
"In our judiciary system, the verdict for mohareb is clear," he said. Under Iran's Islamic sharia law, the sentence for a "mohareb," or enemy of God, is execution.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off new opposition protests Sunday as "a play ordered by Zionists and Americans" and criticized Barack Obama and Britain for allegedly supporting the protesters.
"The Iranian nation has witnessed this sort of play many times," Ahmadinejad said, according to the state IRNA news agency.
Government supporters held rallies in at least three cities on Tuesday, many protesting against the opposition and its leaders.
Opposition Web sites reported about 10 new arrests Tuesday, and those taken into custody included the sister of Ebadi, who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights efforts in Iran. Ebadi, who has stayed outside of Iran since a day before the June elections, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from London that Iranian authorities were trying to punish her by arresting her sister.
The new arrests, along with the tough criticism of the U.S. and Britain, added to rising tensions with the West, which is threatening to impose tough new sanctions over Iran's suspect nuclear program and has criticized the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The opposition Rah-e-Sabz, or Green Road, Web site reported additional arrests, among them opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's brother-in-law, Shapour Kazemi, and Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a journalist who frequently criticizes the government.
Iranian security forces also limited the movements of leading opposition figure Mahdi Karroubi by refusing to protect him when he leaves his home. Police have for years provided leading opposition figures with security.
Without the guards, he cannot go outside safely and is under a "quasi-house arrest," said his son, Taghi Karroubi. If Karroubi leaves unprotected, he risks attack by hardline government supporters. His car was attacked on Saturday when he went out, and assailants shattered his front windshield.
Karroubi and Mousavi were the two defeated reformist candidates in the disputed June 12 presidential election, which set off the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution
Afghan investigators: Civilians killed by troops
KABUL – The head of a presidential delegation investigating the deaths of 10 people in a village in eastern Afghanistan said Wednesday the team has concluded that civilians — including schoolchildren — were killed in an attack by foreign troops last weekend, denying NATO reports that insurgents were the victims.
Asadullah Wafa, a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai, told The Associated Press by telephone that among the victims discovered in a village house in the Narang district of Kunar province were eight schoolchildren between the ages of 12 and 14. A NATO official said initial reports from troops involved in the fighting on Sunday indicated that the victims were insurgents — all young males.
Civilian deaths are one of the most sensitive issues for foreign troops in Afghanistan, especially now when some additional 37,000 U.S. and NATO troops are being deployed to the war-ravaged country. Several hundred Afghans in neighboring Nangarhar province demonstrated on Wednesday to protest the deaths.
Although far more civilians are killed by the Taliban, those blamed on international forces spark the widespread resentment and undermine the fight against the militants.
"I have talked to the principal of the school in the village and he gave us details about the killed children," Wafa said. "The schoolchildren cannot be al-Qaida. I confirm they are innocent people killed by mistake. I talked to Karzai about the findings."
Wafa said the villagers demanded from the 10-member delegation of government officials and lawmakers that informants "who gave the wrong target to the Americans must be found and punished by a court."
Col. Wayne Shanks, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said at a news conference Wednesday that that allegations were being investigated together with Afghan authorities.
He said the force takes all such allegations seriously and goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties.
"In fact, you can see that our enemy, the insurgents, have very little regard for the Afghan people," he said. "We have noticed a very dramatic increase in civilian casualties caused by roadside bombs by attacks that insurgents have on the Afghan people."
The latest figures released by the United Nations show that 2,021 civilian died during clashes in the first 10 months of this year, up from 1,838 for the same period last year. Taliban insurgents were blamed for 68 percent of the deaths this year — three times more than NATO forces, according to the U.N.
Bombs kill 18 in Iraq's central Anbar province
BAGHDAD – Staggered explosions in central Iraq killed 18 people Wednesday and injured the governor of Anbar province, Iraqi officials said.
Anbar is strategically important because it was once the heartland of the al-Qaida linked insurgency before American officials paid fighters to join a pro-government force.
Police official Lt. Col. Imad al-Fahdawi said two bombs exploded in Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad. He says a suicide bomber in a car caused the first blast on the main road near the provincial administration buildings.
Gov. Qassim al-Fahdawi, the deputy police chief and other officials came to inspect the damage, al-Fahdawi said, when a suicide bomber on foot detonated a vest full of explosives nearby.
The deputy police chief was killed and the governor and other officials wounded, al-Fahdawi said. Police have put a curfew in place, he added.
Dr. Ahmed Abid Mohammed confirmed the casualties and said the governor had suffered burns on his face, injuries to his abdomen and other areas.
There are 18 provincial governors in Iraq. Anbar is primarily Sunni, the same sect of Islam as former dictator Saddam Hussein. The province was the former stronghold of the insurgency before the U.S. military began paying fighters to participate in the pro-government Sons of Iraq program, also known as the Awakening Council.
The Sons of Iraq have been widely credited with stabilizing the country after joining up with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the anti-al-Qaida drive about three years ago. But they have been hit by a steady barrage of revenge attacks since then and five of them were killed at a checkpoint Tuesday in central Iraq
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Monday, 28 December 2009
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