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BREAKING NEWS
UK
 Explosions
rock British oil depot
Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups
have threatened to target fuel depots.
Photo:
This image from
Television shows smoke rising above the Buncefield oil terminal in
Leverstock Green near Hemel Hempstead early Sunday morning Dec. 11,
2005.
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, England --
Explosions at one of Britain's largest oil depots jolted an area north
of London early Sunday, hurling multiple balls of fire into the sky,
shattering windows and blanketing the area with smoke. Police said the
blasts, which injured 36 people, appeared to be accidental. But the
powerful explosions felt throughout a large swath of southeast England
including London, 25 miles away, rattled nerves in a country still
jittery over terrorism after deadly transit bombings in July killed 52
people and four suicide bombers. The oil depot is near Luton Airport
and some residents reported hearing an aircraft flying low overhead
shortly before the first explosion at around 6 a.m. But police said
there was nothing to suggest a plane was involved. "All indications at
this stage are that this was an accident," said Frank Whiteley, chief
of police in Hertfordshire, the county where the depot is located.
"However, clearly we will keep an open mind, as with all
investigations, until we can confirm that for certain." Al-Qaida and
other terrorist groups have threatened to target fuel depots. Police
said 36 people were injured, four of them seriously. More explosions
were expected throughout the morning. "The fire is contained,"
Whiteley told a news conference in Hertfordshire. "Yes, it's big and
it's going to burn for some time. But it is under control." Nearby
Luton Airport remained open and flights were operating normally.
Emergency workers wearing masks cordoned off the area around the
Buncefield Oil Terminal, about two miles from the town of Hemel
Hempstead which was shaken by the blasts. Authorities evacuated
residents nearby, as the plume moved slowly eastward. Whiteley
cautioned that the cloud contained irritants that could cause coughs
and nausea. People in the path of the smoke should stay indoors, he
warned. Residents of Hemel Hempstead reported a loud boom and some
felt their houses shake. The Ramada Hotel in the town was evacuated
after windows were shattered by the blast. Two guests received minor
injuries from broken glass and were treated at the hotel, said Calum
Russell, marketing director for Jarvis Hotels Ltd. All 187 guests had
since returned to their rooms, Russell said. "Around 6 a.m. as we were
sleeping, there was a mighty explosion — a thunderclap that woke me
up," said Neil Spencer, 42, who lives less than a mile from the
terminal. "It was fireball after fireball — truly amazing." Police
said many roads and highways had been closed. "There was a loud boom
and the house shook violently," said Duncan Milligan, of Hemel
Hempstead, who said the blast woke him up. "I am about three miles
from where the explosion took place but I can see flames high in the
sky and smoke billowing everywhere. There is clearly a building on
fire near the motorway and police and emergency services are
everywhere." Local resident Richard Ayers said a massive column of
smoke rose into the air and said the force of explosions had blown the
roofs off houses near the oil depot. "It is like it is doomsday," he
said. Britain's deadliest oil-related disaster was the July 6,
1988 explosion and fire on the North Sea oil platform Piper Alpha off
the Scottish coast, which killed 167 workers.- T. Wagner
US
 U.S.
on sidelines over Kyoto
Photo: Canada
Federal Environment
Minister Stephane Dion responds to media questions on Sept. 14, 2005
in a Quebec City hardware store.
MONTREAL, Canada- Delegates from
157 countries wound up a tense, all-night negotiating session by
agreeing Saturday to draft a new, long-range plan to combat climate
change. The agreement, which Environment Minister Stephane Dion
dubbed the Montreal Action Plan, calls for binding commitments to
cut greenhouse emissions beyond 2012 when the current Kyoto Protocol
expires. Details must be worked out in new talks, but the agreement
will give new credibility to the much-criticized Kyoto process and
provide some certainty for investors in an emerging global
carbon-trading market. Delegates cheered and hugged when Dion,
president of the conference, brought down the final gavel shortly
after 6 a.m. "You have upheld the trust the people of the world have
placed in us," he said. "Facing the worst ecological threat to
humanity, you have said: the world is united and together, step by
step, we will win this fight." The United States remained almost
alone outside the new Kyoto deal, but agreed to informal talks under
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Americans
would only agree to informal talks that will not "open to any
discussion leading to new commitments." Critics said the commitment
was so empty as to be meaningless. Countries have effectively
decided to forge ahead without Washington, said John Bennett of the
Sierra Club of Canada. "This is a clear message to the United States
that the rest of the world wants action on climate change," he said.
But Dion insisted that U.S. participation in the informal "second
track" is significant. He announced that the dialogue will begin
next year, with initial submissions due in April. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, who has made tackling climate change a key
priority for his presidency of the G8 this year, welcomed the
agreement. "This agreement is the result of years of hard work and
is a vital next step in tackling climate change, the biggest
long-term challenge facing the world," Blair said in a statement.
"Of course it is only a beginning but it is important and
demonstrates why it is always worth engaging with America and the
rest of the world." The deal does not set emissions-reductions
targets for developing countries like China and India, but provides
mechanisms through which they can get access to clean technology and
financing for climate-friendly projects. "At this meeting, we've
seen the main developing country emitters express the view that they
want to take advantage of the carbon market," said Bill Hare of
Greenpeace International. "They want the technology and the finance
that will flow from that. I think this could be the beginning of a
long-term breakthrough." The talks were stalled Saturday night by
unexpected objections from the Russian delegation, but these were
overcome after hours of pleading from other countries. "It's a
success," said Raphael Gauthier of Climate Action Nework, France.
"We have lots to do now." Delegates praised Canada for hosting the
conference and Dion for guiding the negotiations, but activists
noted that Canadian record in controlling greenhouse emissions is
dismal - worse than that of the United States. Dion still insists
that Canada will meet its commitment under the existing Kyoto
Protocol to cut emissions six per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.
Emissions are currently 24 per cent above 1990 levels. Experts say
Canada's target will be impossible to achieve without substantial
purchases of credits on the international carbon market, and such
moves are likely to be a hard sell. -By D. Bueckert
NIGERIA
More than 100 dead in Nigerian jet crash
Plane carrying schoolchildren crashes in stormy weather
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria- A Nigerian
jetliner filled with schoolchildren going home for Christmas crashed
Saturday while landing during a lightning storm in a delta oil port.
At least 103 people were killed, officials said. A spokesman for
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called the disaster "a national
tragedy." Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Sam Adurogboye
said early reports indicated seven people survived the crash of the
Sosoliso Airlines' McDonnell Douglas DC-9. Flight 1145 left the
capital Abuja. "They were breathing and were taken to the hospital.
They are responding to treatment," he said. He did not say if the
survivors were passengers or crew members. An airport worker said
burned bodies lay across the landing area after the plane broke into
pieces. "The place where I'm standing now is scattered with corpses,"
the worker said on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media. Frantic family members at the
airport said the plane was carrying 75 pupils heading home for the
Christmas holidays. Adurogboye said there was stormy weather around
the airport at the time of the crash and witnesses said they saw
lightning flashes as the plane approached the runway. Saturday's crash
was the second Nigeria airplane accident in seven weeks - raising
questions about air safety in Africa's most-populous country of 130
million people. Nigerian-owned Sosoliso Airlines was established in
1994. It began scheduled flights as a domestic airline in July 2000
and now flies to six Nigerian cities, according to its Web site.
Nigerian airports have come under criticism in recent months following
a string of near-misses and an incident in which an Air France
passenger jet crashed into a herd of cows on the runway at Port
Harcourt. International airlines also briefly suspended flights at
Lagos' international airport because of holes in the runway. In
October, an Abuja-bound Boeing 737-200 crashed after taking off from
the airport at Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, killing 117 people on
board the Bellview Airlines flight. The cause of that crash is
unknown, but U.S. investigators sent to help with the investigation
ruled out terrorism, an official at Nigeria's Aviation Ministry said
last month. After the October crash, President Olusegun Obasanjo
ordered stricter safety and maintenance procedures for all Nigerian
aircraft, directing the aviation ministry to "plug loopholes" to
ensure passenger safety. In May 2002, a domestic EAS Airlines jet
plowed into a heavily populated neighbourhood after takeoff at the
airport outside the northern city of Kano, killing 154 people in the
plane and on the ground. -By Onema Goodwin
HONK KONG
 Thousands
march in first anti-globalization protest before WTO summit
Photo:
Indonesian women
protesters march past a huge billboard during a protest by thousands
of anti-globalization activists march Sunday.
HONG KONG- About 4,000
anti-globalization activists marched Sunday in the first mass protest
against the World Trade Organization's summit in Hong Kong. The
demonstrators, who have been coming from around the world ahead of the
five-day WTO meeting that opens Tuesday, marched from Hong Kong's
downtown Victoria Park to the government's main office. "Junk WTO,"
chanted the protesters. "Our world is not for sale." Police have been
busy securing neighbourhoods around the meeting venue, putting mesh on
buildings and blocking off streets to prevent the violence that has
marred past WTO summits. British activist Tom Grundy was dressed as a
chicken and held a sign that said, WTO: more dangerous than chicken
flu. "We need to raise awareness of the true intention of the WTO," he
said. "It's undemocratically elected. It undermines and overrides any
law a country wants to bring to protect workers and the environment."
The 149-member WTO sets rules for global commerce and champions free
trade, which the organization contends brings global economic
prosperity. But many protesters say globalization favours the rich and
robs workers of their jobs. Two months ago, WTO chief Pascal Lamy
acknowledged in a speech in Hong Kong that free trade hurts some
people, particularly those in poorer countries. But he said those who
benefit are in the majority. "It is an irrefutable truth that no poor
nation has ever become rich without trade," Lamy said.
GREECE
'Bomb blast' rocks Athens square
Athens, Greece- The main square in Athens has
been rocked by a bomb explosion, police say. The blast occurred at
about 0600 (0400 GMT), in or just outside a post office in Syntagma
Square, near the Greek finance ministry building. It was not
immediately known if there were any casualties from the blast. TV
pictures showed damaged to nearby cars, cafes and shops. A Greek daily
newspaper received a bomb warning 30 minutes before the blast, state
television said.
Police say the device was apparently made from several
gas canisters. No group or individual was known to have claimed
responsibility for the blast. The finance ministry is often the target
of any demonstrations against Greek government policy. Strikes
planned: The blast coincides with the beginning of a week of heavy
strike action in Greece, over changes to public sector contracts.
Greece's largest union has called for transport strikes between 1100
and 1600 (0900 GMT-1400 GMT) on Monday and again on Thursday. There is
also a 24-hour strike planned for Wednesday across the public sector.
Athens has been attacked by bombers before. The 17 November radical
leftist guerrilla group was blamed for a number of attacks and
assassinations, but was apparently disabled by a government crackdown,
which resulted in 19 of its members being jailed in December 2003.
Other local anarchist groups have mounted attacks in the past, but
Athens has been quiet since police action was stepped up before the
city hosted the Olympics last year.
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FRANCE JEWEL
 
 
 
 
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SOL EN
CIRQUE
Les Aventuriers de la Pierre Molle Musique/concert pour enfants du
07/12/2005 au
08/01/2006.
LE BATACLAN 50, Bld
Voltaire 75011
PARIS
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