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| President disappointmented as several missiles miss their targets in major military exercise. Last Modified: 18 Jan 2011 08:18 GMT | ||
Taiwan's military has test fired 19 surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles, but a quarter of them missed their targets, raising questions about Taiwan's readiness to defend itself against a possible Chinese attack. The two sides split during civil war in 1949, and since then Beijing has reserved the right to invade the island of 23 million people if it moves to make its de facto independence permanent - a move Ma has said he opposes. | ||
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| Source: Agencies |
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Taiwan missiles 'miss targets'
Iraq bomber targets police recruits
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| A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a police station in the town of Tikrit, killing at least 39 others. Last Modified: 18 Jan 2011 08:55 GMT |
| A suicide bomber has killed at least 39 people and injured at least 72 others in an attack on a police station in Tikrit, around 150 km north of Baghdad, the capital. A man wearing a vest filled with explosives detonated himself next to a crowd of police recruits, Ahmed Abdul-Jabber, the deputy governor of the Salaheddin province, told the Reuters news agency. There were more than 300 men standing in line waiting to apply for police jobs when the bomber struck, a police source told Reuters. Tikrit is the hometown of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, and authorities suspect the province remains home to those sympathetic to Hussein and his Ba'ath party and opposed to the current leadership. |
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| Source: Al Jazeera and Agencies |
Ministers quit new Tunisian govt
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| Troops battle protesters on the the streets as country's new government faces early challenges. Last Modified: 18 Jan 2011 11:50 GMT | |||||
Tunisia's junior minister for transportation has said that he and two other ministers with ties to a top labour union have resigned from the newly formed government. Anouar Ben Gueddour said on Tuesday that he has resigned along with Houssine Dimassi, the labour minister, and Abdeljelil Bedoui, a minister without portfolio. They are all members of a general national labour union. Their walkout comes a day after Mohamed Ghannouchi, the Tunisian prime minister, announced a new 'unity government'. The announcement was met with anger by some Tunisians, who said too many members of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's party remain in power. Ghannouchi was one of eight ministers staying on from the previous government of Ben Ali, who resigned and fled on Friday in the Arab world's first such popular revolt. Ghannouchi said that the ministers remaining, including the defence and interior ministers, had acted "to preserve the national interest." "They kept their posts because we need them at this time," Ghannouchi said on French radio. "All of them have clean hands." Widespread protests Tunisians not happy with the new cabinet gathered on Tuesday to protest in the capital and several major cities.
Tunisia's main trade union, which played a key role in protests against the North African state's ousted president, refused to recognise the new government. The union has decided "not to recognise the new government," Ifa Nasr, union spokesman, said on Tuesday. The General Union of Tunisian Workers, better known under its French acronym UGTT, took the decision at an extraordinary meeting near Tunis. In Tunis, riot police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters during a rally against the new government in the centre of the capital. Al Jazeera's Nabeel Rihani, reporting from Tunis, said that security forces tried to prevent protesters from regrouping. "There is news about similar protests in several major cities ... they are protesting the participation of the ruling party." "Who did the revolt? It's the people, those trade union leaders ... they need to find their aspirations in the government. This government does not answer those aspirations," Masoud Ramadani, a workers union activist, told Al Jazeera. Members of the interim government have defended its composition, however, saying that the members of the incumbent party who have been retained are not politicians. "Members of the ruling party that are in the government are technocratic, they are not political. And we demanded that people who are dirty in corruption and crimes should be evacuated from this government," Ahmed Bouazzi, a member of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), said. Exiled leader returns Moncef Marzouki, an exiled opposition leader and presidential hopeful, on Monday branded his country's new government a "masquerade" still dominated by supporters of ousted strongman Ben Ali. "Tunisia deserved much more," the secular leftist declared. "Ninety dead, four weeks of real revolution, only for it to come to this? A unity government in name only because, in reality, it is made up of members of the party of dictatorship, the CRD," Marzouki said. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported that Marzouki, a 65-year-old medical doctor and human rights activist, was met by a crowd on his supporters at Tunis airport on Tuesday. Marzouki told them that he would ask Saudi Arabia to hand over Ben Ali to be prosecuted in Tunisia for "crimes committed against the ppl of Tunisisa".
In 2001 he founded the secular centre-left opposition party Congress for the Republic. A year later it was banned and he fled into exile in France from where he now returns to Tunisia. Ahelbarra identified the lack of a coherent opposition as "one of the biggest problems that Tunisia faces for the time being". He said there were no "charismatic leaders" who could "channel the energy" from the uprising towards the formation of a new government. In part, this is because "Ben Ali tailored the whole state around his persona. The police, the parliament, everything was linked to him", our correspondent said. Furthermore, the opposition has been clamped down on for nearly three decades, with most of its leadership either "driven out of the country, or [spending] many years in jail". "This is the big question. Who is going to take over, who is going to lead Tunisia into the future?" Revised death toll According to Ahmed Friaa, Tunisia's interior minister, 78 people have been killed in the country during the recent turmoil, almost quadrupling the official death toll. He also estimated that the unrest had cost the country's economy $2.2bn as a result of disruption of economic activity and lost export revenues. Rachid al-Ghannouchi (no relation to Mohamed Ghannouchi), the exiled leader of the Nahdha Movement party, told London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper that leaders of his party had not been invited to participate in the negotiations in forming the new unity government. He expressed anger at the exclusion, but said his party would consider joining the government if asked to do so. Ghannouchi, the prime minister, has said that Rached Ghannouchi would only be able to return to the North African state from Britain once an amnesty law had been approved. Rached Ghannouchi was sentenced to life in prison by the old government for plotting against the state. Meanwhile Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary general, called for the establishment of rule of law in Tunisia, while the Arab League said Arab states should consider what lessons could be learnt from the crisis. | |||||
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| Source: Al Jazeera and agencies |
Tunisians sceptical of new cabinet
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| Dissatisfaction over inclusion of ruling party members in new 'national unity' government. Last Modified: 18 Jan 2011 10:33 GMT | |||
The announcement of a new 'unity government' by Mohamed Ghannouchi, the Tunisian prime minister, has been met with anger by some protesters, who say too many members of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's party remain in power. The PM announced that the former defence, foreign, interior and finance ministers will keep their key posts in the new government formed after the public uprising led to the flight of President Ben Ali. Up to 1,000 protesters gathered mainly near Tunis' Habib Bourguiba Avenue to demonstrate against the announcement. Tanks and troops were deployed, and water cannons and tear gas fired against activists who demanded that members of Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (CDR) be excluded from the new government. "Who did the revolt? It's the people, those trade union leaders ... they need to find their aspirations in the government. This government does not answer those aspirations," Masoud Ramadani, a workers union activist, told Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera's correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin said protesters were "rejecting the possibility that any incoming or caretaker or national unity government could possibly have figures or leaders from the previous regime". "They want the CDR party completely abolished, completely removed from any form of government". Members of the interim government have defended its composition, however, saying that the members of the incumbent party who have been retained are not politicians. "Members of the ruling party that are in the government are technocratic, they are not political. And we demanded that people who are dirty in corruption and crimes should be evacuated from this government," Ahmed Bouazzi, a member of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), said.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra identified the lack of a coherent opposition as "one of the biggest problems that Tunisia faces for the time being". He said there were no "charismatic leaders" who could "channel the energy" from the uprising towards the formation of a new government. In part, this is because "Ben Ali tailored the whole state around his persona. The police, the parliament, everything was linked to him", our correspondent said. Furthermore, the opposition has been clamped down on for nearly three decades, with most of its leadership either "driven out of the country, or [spending] many years in jail". "This is the big question. Who is going to take over, who is going to lead Tunisia into the future?" Interim government Ghannouchi announced the country's new interim government on Monday, adding that a number of opposition members will be assigned to ministerial posts. The prime minister named Najib Chebbi, founder of the PDP, which opposed Ben Ali, as minister for regional development. Ahmed Ibrahim, leader of the Ettajdid party, was named minister of higher education and Mustafa Ben Jaafar, head of the Union of Freedom and Labour, got the health portfolio. Significantly, there will be a separation of the state from political parties, meaning that under the coalition government, the collection of parties will not fall under the control of a ruling party. Opposition's limited role One of Tunisia's best known opposition figures, Moncef Marzouki, on Monday branded his country's new government a "masquerade" still dominated by supporters of ousted strongman Ben Ali. "Tunisia deserved much more," the secular leftist declared. "Ninety dead, four weeks of real revolution, only for it to come to this? A unity government in name only because, in reality, it is made up of members of the party of dictatorship, the CRD,"said Marzouki on France's I-Tele. According to Ahmed Friaa, Tunisia's interior minister, 78 people have been killed in the country during the recent turmoil, almost quadrupling the official death toll. He also estimated that the unrest had cost the country's economy $2.2 bn as a result of disruption of economic activity and lost export revenues. Rachid al-Ghannouchi (no relation to Mohamed Ghannouchi), the exiled leader of the Nahdha Movement party, told London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper that leaders of his party had not been invited to participate in the negotiations in forming the new unity government. He expressed anger at the exclusion, but said his party would consider joining the government if asked to do so. Meanwhile Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary general, called for the establishment of the rule of law in Tunisia, while the Arab League said Arab states should consider what lessons could be learnt from the crisis. Reforms announced Ghannouchi also announced on Monday that the Tunisian government will investigate anyone suspected of corruption or of having amassed huge wealth under the country's deposed leader. "Anyone who accumulated enormous wealth or is suspected of corruption will be put before a committee of investigators," said Ghannouchi. He also said that there will be "total freedom" for the media in the country, which experienced especially tough crackdowns during the recent weeks of unrest. Additionally, the prime minister said that a ban on the activities of human rights groups in Tunisia will be lifted and that all political prisoners would be freed. "We have decided to free all the people imprisoned for their ideas, their beliefs or for having expressed dissenting opinions," said Ghannouchi. | |||
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| Source: Al Jazeera and agencies |
Monday, 17 January 2011
The freshwater fish fight
Millions of anglers catch fish only to put them straight back again. Isn't it time we rediscovered the culinary potential of freshwater species?
While Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been raising awareness about sea fishing with his Fish Fight campaign, it seems an opportune time to cast an eye inland to our native freshwater species: the pike, perch, zander, chub, carp, bream and gudgeon that swim largely uneaten in our lakes and rivers.
Britain has a rich history of consuming freshwater species. In the past those who didn't live near the sea ate whatever they could coax out of inland waterways. Monastic gardens and manor houses almost always had a fishpond or moat where freshwater species were farmed for Friday fish suppers and Lenten feasts.
You would struggle to find any of the species above displayed on a fishmonger's slab in the UK these days, but they all make a worthy feast. Some cultures have never forgotten this - the British angling press is frequently peppered with tales of resourceful eastern Europeans taking prize carp, something of a delicacy in their part of the world, home for tea. I know of one person who was holding a 20lb carp aloft for the all-important trophy shot on the River Ouse in Sussex when a Polish gentleman approached and offered him £20 for it. The fisherman politely declined and slipped the carp back into the water, but fair play to the prospective buyer; you can't get much fresher than that.
With an estimated three million anglers in the UK regularly pulling fish out of the water only to put them straight back, why is it that we don't we eat more of our native freshwater species? One of the main reasons must be that we are a nation of sporting folk; freshwater species are targeted on both quality and quantity criteria. Specimen hunters invest plenty of time and money in the pursuit of large individuals of species such as pike, carp, barbel and the non-native catfish. The reward is twofold: an epic fight and the possibility of a new personal best or even a record-breaker.
Chub. Photograph: Nick Weston On the other hand, match fishermen go for quantity and any species is welcome regardless of size. All these perfectly edible fish are put into a keep net to be weighed up at the end of the day before being released back into the water. Many cultures would view this practice as verging on insanity, but it is our quality of life and today's convenience culture that has turned fishing in the UK from a necessity into a mass-participation sport. Only those fishing for trout, sea trout and salmon seem to take something home for the table.
People are also nervous about the legality of fishing. There's no need; in England and Wales as long as you are in possession of a £27 rod licence and have permission from the water's owner, the Environment Agency states that on any given day an angler may remove 15 small (up to 20cm) native species including barbel, chub, common bream, common carp, crucian carp, dace, grayling, perch, pike, roach, rudd, silver bream, smelt, tench and zander (non-native) as well as one pike of up to 65cm and two grayling of 30-38cm (the full rules are here (pdf), and a note on Scottish law here).
Another reason this subject is often approached with apprehension is that many people believe freshwater fish will taste muddy. Fish from free-flowing waters don't tend to suffer from this problem, although those from still waters can. As seen in an episode of River Cottage Forever, the only antidote is to cleanse the fish through a de-mudification programme of 3-4 days in a spring-fed tank. I'm afraid the bathtub just won't cut it.
To ensure these fish find their way into your kitchen, you have to catch them yourself. So what to catch? I've been an avid fisherman since childhood and over the years I have eaten my way through a number of freshwater species. My favourite used to be eel, but as the number of young eels returning to European rivers has fallen by 95% it is now illegal to remove any caught by rod and line, but there are plenty of other options.
Perch are a beautiful fish, green scaled with black stripes down their flanks, an impressive spiked dorsal fin and a ferocious pack-hunter mentality. Although nearly wiped out in UK waters in the 1970s and 1980s by a lethal virus, thankfully they have made a remarkable comeback. Perch have firm white flesh similar to bass. To cook, simply de-scale, fillet, toss in seasoned flour and pan fry with lemon juice: a recipe the French refer to as filet de perche.
Chub cerviche. Photograph: Tom Kevill-Davies The chub is deemed to be an inedible fish, Izaak Walton referred to it as being "full of forked bones, the flesh is not firm, but short and tasteless". And I could not agree more. That is, if you cook it. It was my friend Tom (The Hungry Cyclist) that first suggested giving chub the ceviche treatment and it worked a treat.
If any freshwater species is guilty of tasting muddy, then it is the carp. Due to increasing pressure on our saltwater stocks and adoration from Eastern Europeans in the UK, consumption of this fish is beginning to rise for the first since the middle ages. Again, the flesh is firm and meaty and stands up to a variety of different ways of cooking, although baking is the best method. The first certified organic farmed carp are now available from Jimmie & Penny Hepburn of Devon-based Aquavision. Their method to rid these fish of any hint of mud is to transfer them into natural spring fed tanks a week before harvest.
Pike. Photograph: Nick Weston The sinister pike is another excellent eating fish. Not only are they cannibals, regularly feasting on other pike often more than half their own size, as Ted Hughes described in his poem Pike. They also have almost unlimited confidence: there have been reports of attacks on humans and in one instance a large pike was found that had choked to death on a swan. Their mouths contain a series of backward-pointing teeth: once something goes in, it's not coming out. Pike can also grow to alarming size - the British record presently stands at a mighty 46lbs 13oz.
Even dead pike have a secret weapon; once cooked they possess a substantial number of Y-shaped bones along the fillet. Once removed they have a mild taste which is quite pleasant, and I recommend referring to Larousse for recipes such as pike quenelles and pike au beurre blanc.
As with growing and eating your own vegetables, catching and cooking a fish you have wrestled out of the depths gives a feeling of deep satisfaction. With the pressure on our oceans at an all time high, perhaps it is time to look at less familiar options. For those who do fish, please consider tasting your catch. And if you don't, consider taking it up: you'll be in a position to get your hands on some of the freshest possible fish.
Many of the fish I've mentioned above have been staple foods in the past, so why are we so put off by them now? If you've tucked into some of our lesser-known freshwater fish, how did you cook them? And more importantly, would you consider eating them more often?
Tucson shooting survivor arrested after threatening Tea Party member
James Fuller, who was injured in Arizona shooting spree, shouted 'You're dead' at Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries
- guardian.co.uk,
- Article history
One of the victims of the Arizona shootings was arrested over the weekend after threatening a Tea Party leader during a televised town hall meeting.
James Fuller, who was shot in the knee and back by Jared Loughner, shouted: "You're dead" at Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries before being detained and taken to hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Fuller has campaigned in the past for congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in hospital after being shot in the head at point-blank range but was yesterday taken off a ventilator. Doctors upgraded her condition from critical to serious. Her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, spoke publicly for the first time, saying his wife was "improving a little bit each day. She's a fighter."
Fuller, 63, reportedly became upset when Humphries suggested that any conversation about gun control should be delayed until all the dead were buried. Brandishing a picture of Humphries, he shouted: "You're dead" before calling others gathered in the church a bunch of "whores", authorities said. Deputies called a doctor and decided Fuller should be taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation, Pima county sheriff's spokesman, Jason Ogan, said.
A number of shooting victims and heroes had been invited to the event, including Fuller, a Vietnam veteran. After he was shot he drove to the hospital, where he spent two days.
In an interview with Democracy Now on Friday, he added his voice to others blaming rightwingers for fostering a climate of hate in the runup to the shootings. "It looks like [Sarah] Palin, [Glenn] Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target," he said. Humphries said he wondered whether Fuller was "crazy or is he the canary in a coal mine? Is he saying what a lot of other people are holding in their hearts? If so, that's a problem."
Doctors decided to upgrade Giffords's condition because a tracheotomy carried out a day earlier was uneventful, hospital spokeswoman Katie Riley said. A feeding tube was also put in on Saturday and doctors speculated they might soon know if she would be able to speak.
Giffords's husband spoke at a memorial service for Gabriel Zimmerman, an aide of Giffords, who was killed in the shooting rampage in Tucson. Kelly said of his wife: "I know someday she'll get to tell you how she felt about Gabe herself." He said she loved Zimmerman "like a younger brother" and was inspired by "his idealism, his strength and his warmth".
Federal authorities plan to move Loughner's trial to California, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The paper cited the level of pretrial publicity and also the sensitivity of holding the case in Arizona, given that one of those killed was John Roll, the state's chief federal judge.
Loughner is being held at a medium-security prison in Phoenix where he is in segregation, an official told Associated Press. Prisoners in segregation are closely monitored, the official said, and generally spend 23 hours of the day alone in their cell with an hour or so a day for exercise and showering.
Pakistan bus explosion kills 18
Conflicting reports on whether blast caused by bomb or gas cylinder used to power vehicle
- guardian.co.uk,
- Article history
Eighteen people were killed when an explosion ripped through a minibus travelling in a militant area of north-west Pakistan today, police said.
There were conflicting reports on whether the blast had been caused by a bomb or by a gas cylinder used to power the bus, which was travelling between the cities of Hangu and Kohat, close to Pakistan's lawless tribal region.
The explosion tore apart the vehicle, killing all 17 people on board, and tipped over a second bus nearby, the Hangu police chief, Abdur Rasheed, said. One person on the other bus was killed and 11 others wounded, he said.
Rasheed said the blast happened when the gas cylinder on board malfunctioned, but the leading police official in the region claimed explosives had been used to trigger the blast.
Islamist militants frequently carry out attacks against both civilians and security forces in the area.
Local television footage showed the twisted frame of the first bus lying beside the road, with little left except its wheels and undercarriage. The second bus was on its side, with its windows blown out and blood stains visible on the outside.
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