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| Bomber in a vehicle packed with explosives rams into an ambulance in the city of Baquba. Last Modified: 19 Jan 2011 08:41 GMT | ||
At least 12 people have been killled after a suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives rammed into an ambulance in central Iraq, officials say. It was the second attack by a suicide bomber in two days. At least 49 people were killed in former leader Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Tuesday when a suicide bomber attacked a line of police recruits. | ||
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| Source: Agencies |
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Deaths in Iraq suicide blast
US: Tunisia 'work in progress'
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| In first public remarks since uprising, US ambassador Gordon Gray calls for 'responsibility' on both sides. Last Modified: 19 Jan 2011 11:41 GMT | ||||
Gordon Gray, the US ambassador to Tunisia, has called the popular uprising in that country a "work in progress" and a "new phenomenon." Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday in his first public remarks since a month of protests ended with the overthrow of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Gray called for "responsibility" on both sides. "I think what we have in Tunisia is a situation where ... this democratic expression is a work in progress," he said. "And it's a new phenomenon and it's something that people are doing without very much experience." Gray's remarks came as people began to mass in Tunis, the capital, responding in support of an opposition call for the dissolution of Ben Ali's former ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD). Gray called the protests "a constitutional right that we cherish and we engage in," but he said that demonstraters had to voice their disagreements in a peaceful manner. Gray also said that security forces - such as the police who have been blamed for dozens of deaths - must act with responsibility. The United States had remained relatively quiet about the protests in Tunisia until Friday, when president Barack Obama issued a statement after Ben Ali fled the country for Saudi Arabia. The statement called for Tunisia to hold free and fair elections in the "near future." Democratic hangups For now, Tunisia's "work in progress" seems nearly dead on arrival. On Wednesday, the opposition Democratic Forum for Labour and Unity (FDLT) party announced its refusal to rejoin the fracturing "unity" government and called for the former ruling party of Ben Ali to dissolve. On Tuesday, a day after Mohamed Ghannouchi, the prime minister, announced the makeup of the first post-Ben Ali cabinet, the FDLT withdrew three of its ministers. A fourth, party leader Mostapha Ben Jaafar, said he would "suspend" his role as minister of health. The FDLT, like many of the people continuing to mount street protests, said it was upset that so many members of Ben Ali's old administration remained in power. Ghannouchi said that it was necessary to retain them to ensure the government continued functioning in a time of crisis. He called for a meeting of the 40-member cabinet on Wednesday to try to resolve the disagreement and said he would make important concessions to the opposition, said Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunis. The three opposition politicians who resigned were: Anouar Ben Gueddour, the junior minister for transportation and equipment; Houssine Dimassi, minister of labour; and Abdeljelil Bedoui, who was given the newly created post of "minister to the prime minister". Cracks within ruling party Their resignations were not the only bump in the road; also on Tuesday, Ghannouchi and Fouad Mebazaa, the interim president, both resigned from Ben Ali's RCD in an effort to appease the opposition. Ben Jaafar told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday that their resignations might be enough to keep him in government. But average Tunisians might feel differently. Their demonstrations have been met with tear gas and batons, despite government promises to allow more freedoms. "The important thing to remember about these protests is that they come when prime minister Ghannouchi has spoken of a new democratic era in this country where people can have freedom of expression and the press can have freedom of expression, but what we've witnessed on the streets is nothing like that," our correspondent said. "They do not want to be in the government with certain members of the ruling party," she said. Multiple resignations The government has been in a state of limbo since the resignations on Tuesday.
Abid al-Briki, a representative of the UGTT union, said the union wanted to see all ministers from Ben Ali's cabinet pushed out of the new government but would make an exception for the prime minister. "This is in response to the demands of people on the streets," Briki said. The opposition Ettajdid party said it will also pull out of the coalition if ministers from Ben Ali's RCD do not give up party membership and return to the state all properties they obtained through the RCD, state television said. 'Sham' government The announcement of the new government was also met with anger by some of the Tunisian public. Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine, told Al Jazeera that it's clear that Ghannouchi made an error in reappointing so many ministers from Ben Ali's government. 'Parasite' party Meanwhile, Moncek Marzouki, a Tunisian political leader, returned from more than 20 years of exile in France to a joyful reception from supporters at Tunis' airport. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported that Marzouki, a 65-year-old medical doctor and human rights activist, was met by a crowd of his supporters. Marzouki told them that he would ask Saudi Arabia to hand over Ben Ali (who has sought refuge there since Friday) who has to be prosecuted in Tunisia for "crimes committed against the people of Tunisia". He also urged fellow Tunisians to hold firm in their efforts to bring down the RCD. | ||||
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| Source: Al Jazeera and agencies |
Importers protest anti-dumping duty
Dozens of business owners specializing in imported household appliances protest outside of parliament, calling for the release of their goods, which have been held at entry ports for 95 days. Authorities will not release the goods until importers pay an anti-dumping duty.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Tunisia overshadows Arab economic summit
AFP - A meeting of Arab leaders to discuss trade and development has been overshadowed by the Tunisian uprising, which has emboldened the region's dissidents and led to protesters setting themselves ablaze.
The Wednesday summit will be the first time Arab heads of state gather since veteran Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee last week after days of mass protests sparked by the fiery death of a young Tunisian.
"The Arab world is witnessing today unprecedented political developments and real challenges in the sphere of Arab national security," Kuwait's Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Sabah said on Tuesday.
He told foreign ministers meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh to prepare for the summit: "Countries disintegrate, people conduct uprisings ... and the Arab citizen asks: 'Can the current Arab regime meet these challenges dynamically?'"
He questioned: "Can the regime address the humanitarian suffering of the Arab citizen?"
The uprising in Tunisia was sparked in December by the self immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old who was complaining of unemployment, one of the regional problems that the last Arab economic summit in 2009 was meant to alleviate.
Nine other people have set themselves ablaze in protests across the region.
Even as the foreign ministers were meeting on Tuesday, a man set himself ablaze outside government headquarters in Cairo, an Egyptian security official said. Another, unemployed and described as suffering mental problems, set himself on fire in the northern city of Alexandria.
The incidents follow a similar one in Cairo on Monday in which a man poured fuel on himself and lit it on a busy street in front of the People's Assembly.
He was hospitalised but expected to be released in a day or two, officials said.
A Mauritanian man who told journalists he was unhappy with his government also torched himself outside the senate, following five self immolations in a week in Algeria, which saw protests this month over rising prices.
The foreign minister of Tunisia's newly appointed transitional government, Kamel Morjane, arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to brief his counterparts hours after he was sworn in.
On Tuesday, he said his transitional government's only ambition was to prepare for a free election and reforms.
"The Tunisian people have had their say and won in this popular uprising," he told reporters in Sharm El-Sheikh.
He said the transitional government's term was limited by law and by agreement among all parties.
"Its goal is to set up free presidential elections with integrity ... that will have foreign monitors or observers," he said, adding that those behind armed clashes would be investigated.
The removal of Ben Ali, who rigidly dominated his country for 23 years, encouraged dissidents in the region, where most leaders are either unelected or defeat their harried opponents in disputed polls.
Arab governments have downplayed any comparison with the North African country and its despised ex-president.
But many Arabs complain of poverty and restrictions on freedoms similar to the grievances of Tunisian protesters.
On Monday, Tunisian Interior Minister Ahmed Friaa said 78 people had been killed in the protests and losses to the economy amounted to 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion).
How skin cancer cells evade immune system: study
AFP - Scientists have pinpointed a molecular mechanism in mice which helps skin cancer cells confound the animal's immune system, according to a study released Wednesday.
The discovery -- if duplicated in humans -- could one day lead to drug treatments that block this mechanism, and thus the cancer's growth, the study reported.
In experiments on mice, researchers showed for the first time that a protein called interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) plays a key role in the spread of melanoma, a notoriously aggressive form of cancer resistant to standard chemotherapy.
The same kind of ultraviolet radiation that leads to sunburn caused white blood cells to infiltrate the skin of the mice, explained Glenn Merlino, a scientist at the US National Cancer Institute and the main architect of the study.
The white blood cells, in turn, "can produce IFN-gamma. We believe that IFN-gamma can promote melanoma in our model system, and perhaps in people," he said in an email.
Injecting the mice with antibodies that block IFN-gamma interrupted this signalling process, effectively reducing the risk of UV-induced skin cancer, the researchers found.
"We are trying to develop inhibitors that are more practical than antibodies, a small molecule, for example," Merlino said.
Ideally, such a treatment would mean that someone exposed to large doses of UV radiation -- long summers at the beach without protective cream, for example -- could escape the potentially lethal threat of skin cancer.
"But we would never encourage intense sunbathing, even if such a treatment were available," Merlino cautioned.
Cases of cutaneous malignant melanoma are increasing faster than any other type of cancer.
In 2000, over 200,000 cases of melanoma were diagnosed and there were 65,000 melanoma-associated deaths, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The findings, reported in the British-based science journal Nature, could upend assumptions about the relationship between interferon proteins and cancer, the study suggested.
Up to now, interferons were thought to impede the formation of cancer tumours. One in particular, interferon-alpha, has been widely used to treat melanoma, both as a first-line drug and an adjutant.
Earlier research has raised doubts as to effectiveness of the treatment, which also has serious side effects.
The highest recorded incidence was in Australia, where the annual rates are 10 and over 20 times the rates in Europe for women and men respectively.
The main risk factors are high exposure to the sun and other UV sources such as sunbeds, along with genetic factors.
The disease is far more common among people with a pale complexion, blue eyes, and red or fair hair.
French teen sets himself on fire: officials
AFP - A 16-year-old French boy was rushed to hospital Tuesday in a critical condition after setting himself on fire at his school, officials in Marseille said.
The boy doused himself in a flammable liquid in the toilets of his private school in the southern city and then set himself alight, rescue service officials said.
He has second and third degrees burns over 70 percent of his body, they said. Hospital officials said the boy was in a critical condition.
A schoolmate told AFP that he had heard screams and ran out to see the boy on fire running down the stairs towards the school yard and that a school worker had extinguished the flames.
Marseille prosecutor Jacques Dallest, who went to the school, said it was too early to say why the boy had set himself alight but that he may have been influenced "by what he may have seen in the media about North Africa."
Several people have set themselves on fire in the Arab world to copy a Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked a popular revolt in the north African state.
The boy managed to make it from the second floor to the school yard where he had managed to say "I'm sick of it all" before collapsing in front of schoolmates, the prosecutor said
An 18-year-old schoolboy from the southwestern town of Bordeaux has been in a coma since November 18 when he set himself on fire in his school.
I Coast's Gbagbo agrees to talks in fight for presidency
AFP - Laurent Gbagbo gave new assurances Tuesday that he is open to talks with his rival for the Ivory Coast presidency, while regional leaders mulled military intervention to break the deadlock.
The proposal for talks was delivered Monday by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on a fresh round of mediation to persuade Gbagbo to step down and end a seven-week standoff that has left scores dead and raised fears of civil war.
There was "an offer of dialogue between the two camps. It was accepted... a meeting depends on the response of the (Alassane) Ouattara camp," Gbagbo government spokesman Ahoua Don Mello said.
Ouattara, recognised as winner of a November 28 election by the Ivory Coast's voting authority and the international community, did not immediately comment.
Gbagbo has said before that he is willing to talk with his rival but he has refused all offers to give up the presidency, including exile and immunity from prosecution for crimes against humanity.
The leader of the world's top cocoa-producing nation for 10 years, Gbagbo was declared the election victor by the Constitutional Council. He retains control of the presidential palace and the army.
Odinga, mediator for the African Union which has said that Gbagbo must go, was optimistic about his latest round of negotiations and awaiting replies to proposals made Monday, his spokesman Salim Lone said.
"I don't want to create the impression that a big breakthrough is about to happen but he feels more optimistic than the last time," Lone said. The Kenyan's first trip ended on January 5 with little tangible progress.
"He is waiting to see what emerges from the proposals he has made," Lone said.
Odinga met with ambassadors Tuesday but it was unclear if he would talk with the presidential rivals again, he said. The length of his stay "depends on if he can make good progress," he said.
Pro-Ouattara suburbs of Abidjan were shut down by a general strike against the Gbagbo Tuesday but elsewhere in the city it was business as usual, AFP reporters said.
"We are tired of these disruptions... We want to go about our business," complained a woman in the Abobo suburb where public transport was disrupted, and shops and schools shut.
Regional military chiefs opened two days of talks in Mali that will finalise a last-ditch plan to use force to remove Gbagbo if necessary.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) officers would work off a report drawn up in December that envisages Nigeria at the head of a possible regional intervention force, a participant told AFP.
"Our preparations are very advanced and we are ready to move into action if necessary and that must be clear," senior Nigerian officer Olusegun Petinrin said.
ECOWAS chairman, the Nigerian resident Goodluck Jonathan, said in a statement that the group wanted a peaceful resolution to the impasse but "we have not changed the position we took during our last summit," when the threat to use force was made.
Jonathan said "the votes of citizens must count after they are cast, or democracy will not take hold in the continent," the statement said.
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie meanwhile warned: "The use of force should only be considered as a very last resort because given the balance of the armed forces there would be the risk of a high number of casualties."
More than 200 people have been killed in clashes since the contested election.
The United Nations Security Council delayed a vote due Tuesday to send 2,000 extra troops into Ivory Coast, diplomats said. It was not immediately known how long the delay would last.
The number is the maximum requested by UN commanders fearing a growing showdown with Gbagbo, who has demanded several times that UN forces leave. The new deployment would take the UN force up to about 11,500 troops.
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