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Showing posts with label NEWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NEWS. Show all posts

Stonehaven harbour

The ship lost power as much of the east coast was battered by high winds

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An oil platform in the North Sea has been evacuated after a ship carrying radioactive material caught fire and began drifting in the Moray Firth.
The Parida was transporting a cargo of radioactive concrete waste when a fire broke out in one of her two funnels.
The blaze has been extinguished, but 52 workers were taken from the Beatrice platform by helicopter as a precaution.
Protesters' barricade in Admiralty, Hong Kong, 7 Oct 2014
Talks between pro-democracy protesters and government officials in Hong Kong will be held on Friday, officials say.
The talks will discuss "legal implementations of these political reforms," said Lau Kong-wah, government undersecretary, referring to the 2017 elections for chief executive.
The protesters want a fully free vote, but China says it will vet candidates for Hong Kong's top job in advance.
Canadian PM Stephen Harper in parliament, Ottawa, 07 Oct 2014
The Canadian parliament has voted to authorise the country's armed forces to join US-led air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.
The vote allows air strikes for up to six months, but rules out the use of ground troops.
Canada will provide up to six CF-18 fighter planes, as well as surveillance and refuelling aircraft and about 600 personnel.
Members of the Luo tribe in Kenya in post-election violence in 2008
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has arrived in The Hague ahead of an appearance at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity on Wednesday.
He will be the first serving head of state to ever come before the court.
The charges concern his role in violence that followed the 2007 elections, in which more than 1,000 Kenyans were killed.
He denies the charges and believes that the case should be thrown out.
The ICC has summoned him to explain allegations that evidence against him had been withheld by the Kenyan government - a claim rejected by Kenyan Attorney-General Githu Muigai who appeared before the court on Tuesday.
In September, the court postponed the trial after prosecutors said the Kenyan government had failed to deliver key documents.
Witnesses for the prosecution have withdrawn from the case.
Personal capacity
Deputy President William Ruto will be acting president while Mr Kenyatta is at The Hague.
On Monday, the president again stressed his innocence, saying his conscience was clear.
In a speech to the Kenyan parliament, Mr Kenyatta said that he was going to The Hague in a personal capacity - not as president of the country - so as not to compromise the sovereignty of Kenyans.
No special arrangements have been made at the ICC. The main spokesperson for the court said that Mr Kenyatta would not be treated differently from any other accused person.
A handout picture released by Kenya's Presidential Strategic Communications Unit (PSCU) shows Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (L) and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at JKIA airport in Nairobi before departing to the Hague on October 7, 2014As many as 100 Kenyan officials are accompanying Uhuru Kenyatta
Members of the Luo tribe in Kenya in post-election violence in 2008The violence left 1,200 people dead and displaced tens of thousands more
Esther Waweru from Kenya's Human Rights Commission welcomed his arrival.
"The fact that the president is actually going to appear before the International Criminal Court tomorrow for this status conference is an indication that clearly the president does recognise that there is need for victims to actually get justice before the court," she said.
Former chief prosecutor for the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, conceded that the trial "was not working well" but welcomed Mr Kenyatta's scheduled appearance as "showing African commitment to change".
Mr Kenyatta was elected in 2013, despite facing charges. Analysts said he turned the prosecution to his advantage, portraying it as foreign intervention in Kenya's domestic affairs.
Mr Kenyatta faces five charges relating to the ethnic massacres - the worst violence in Kenya since independence in 1963. Tens of thousands of people were displaced and Kenya's reputation for stability was tarnished.
Mr Kenyatta was a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki, who was declared the winner of the 2007 election. Mr Kibaki's rival, Raila Odinga, claimed the poll was marred by fraud.
The dispute took on an ethnic dimension, pitting members of the Kikuyu ethnic group of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Kibaki against other communities. Mr Kenyatta is accused of organising an ethnic Kikuyu gang, the Mungiki sect, to attack rival groups.
Vice-President Ruto also faces charges at The Hague, but he was on Mr Odinga's side during the violence. He also denies the charges.
William Ruto waves to the public after being handed over the presidential powers by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday (6 October 2014)William Ruto (waving) was appointed acting president - he also faces charges at The Hague
Australia's Parliament House in Canberra

The Australian Capital Territory of Canberra in Australia is the best place in the world to live, according a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Canberra led the regional ranking while Australia topped the overall country rankings, followed by Norway.
Twitter logo on screen
Twitter has sued the US government over surveillance laws.
Under current regulations, Twitter cannot reveal certain information about government requests for users' data relating to national security.
Twitter argues that this violates the right to free speech, as defined by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The court were the men were given death sentences, 7 September 2014
Human rights groups have urged new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to stop the execution of five convicted rapists who are due to be hanged on Wednesday.
The men were convicted of attacking four women in Paghman town who were returning from a wedding in August.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the trial had seen "horrendous due process violations", including lack of evidence and allegations of forced confessions.
The case sparked national outrage and huge media interest in Afghanistan.
Total lunar eclipse
A total lunar eclipse will be visible across much of the Americas and Asia in the coming hours.
The eclipse starts at 08:00 GMT (04:00 EDT), reaching totality just before sunrise at 10:25 GMT (06:25 EDT).
North Korea's delegation shakes hands with their South Korean counterparts after a meeting in Incheon, South Korea - 4 October 2014
North Korea has held a rare briefing at the UN to discuss its recent report on its own human rights situation.
An official acknowledged the country runs labour camps to "reform" detainees, but dismissed criticism of its rights record as "wild rumours".
A UN report released in February said North Korea was committing "unspeakable atrocities" against its own people on a vast scale.
Josephus Weeks, (L) a nephew of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, and his son, Josephus Weeks, jr attend a prayer service with nurses, doctors and staff in front of the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital where Mr Duncan is being treated (7 October 2014)
A prominent World Health Organisation adviser has warned that more Ebola cases can be expected among medical staff - even in developed countries with modern health care systems.
Professor Peter Piot said he was not surprised that a Spanish nurse had contracted the disease.
The nurse has become the first person known to have contracted the deadly virus outside West Africa.
She treated two Spanish missionaries who died of Ebola in Madrid.
The nurse, identified in media reports as Teresa Romero, looked after the pair after they were repatriated from West Africa.
Map of Kobane showing IS advances
The US-led coalition has carried out its most sustained air attacks so far on Islamic State fighters attacking the Turkey-Syria border town of Kobane.
Syrian Kurdish fighters said the strikes were the most effective yet but should have come much earlier.
Correspondents said the surge of IS appeared to have been halted, although fighting around Kobane continues.
At least 12 people were killed in protests by Kurds in Turkey about the lack of Turkish military support.
The Gaza health ministry told the Reuters news agency that Israeli fire had caused the deaths at the school in Beit Hanoun on Thursday. .
An Israeli military source however told Al Jazeera that Palestinian rocket fire had been detected in the area and that it might have fallen short and hit the shelter.
Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza, said she was unable to reach the school after the attack due to heavy Israeli shelling. No one she had spoken to in Gaza believed the deaths were caused by a Palestinian rocket.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Chris Gunness, the spokesman for UNRWA, the UN's humanitarian organisation in Gaza, said his organisation had been in contact with Israeli forces as fighting closed in on the shelter.
"We gave the Israelis the precise GPS coordinates of the Beit Hanoun shelter. We were trying to coordinate a window [for evacuation] and that was never granted," he said.


At least 16 people have been reported killed and 150 injured in the bombardment of a UN school in northern Gaza used to shelter civilians from fierce clashes on the streets outside.
He said he could neither confirm nor deny that Hamas fighters were near the building, but said Israel and Hamas "must respect the inviolability of UN premises, and humanitarian law".
He called the attack "tragic and appalling".
Robert Turner, the director of UNRWA, told Al Jazeera there was no warning from the Israelis before the shells landed.