Tag Archives: government

Probe calls for Bangladesh troop deaths

Human rights groups in Bangladesh and abroad are calling for an investigation after 16 borders guards accused of participating in a bloody revolt in February died in custody in recent days. The Bangladesh military acknowledged the deaths of the Bangladesh Rifles paramilitary troops, or jawans — but insisted they were the result of illness and suicide. “Given the history of abuses by security forces in Bangladesh, there is no reason to take at face value the claim that these detainees have committed suicide,” said Brad Adams, Asia director or the New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a statement

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CDC Readies Vaccine in Case of Swine Flu Pandemic

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged on Friday that “concern has grown” since the first reports of a novel swine flu infecting patients in Texas and California emerged late March. Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the agency, said health officials are closely tracking the spread of the swine flu, after additional cases of flu and some deaths were reported in Mexico

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Rough air hurts 11 on Air Canada flight

Eleven people on an Air Canada flight from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver, Canada, suffered minor injuries when the Boeing 777 flew through turbulence Friday morning, the airline said. Supporters have fought for years for more rights for the Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers who have been part of the British Army for nearly 200 years. Gurkhas have fought alongside the British Armed Forces in every conflict in that period, including both world wars, and are known for their ferocity and pride.

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Actress Joanna Lumley slams Gurkha conditions

The British government announced Friday that more than 4,000 former Gurkha soldiers are entitled to settle in Britain, but Gurkha supporters quickly denounced the measure as meaningless. Supporters have fought for years for more rights for the Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers who have been part of the British Army for nearly 200 years. Gurkhas have fought alongside the British Armed Forces in every conflict in that period, including both world wars, and are known for their ferocity and pride.

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More than $200M pledged to beat Somali pirates

Countries have pledged $213 million at an international conference to boost security in Somalia and halt the country’s growing piracy problem. “We have a unique opportunity to support leaders who have shown a commitment to building peace and rebuilding the Somali state,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “By opening the space for security, we open the door to a better life for Somalia’s people.” “The risks of not supporting the new government are too high and the costs of failure too enormous,” Ban added

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U.S. says videos disprove Demjanjuk’s claim of poor health

Nazi war crimes suspect John Demjanjuk, 89, is physically able to be deported to Germany to stand trial, Justice Department lawyers told a federal appeals court Thursday. The government lawyers provided the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a medical report to support their argument that the judges should lift their stay temporarily blocking the deportation. The medical details were filed under a court seal, but in a related filing the government said the report by a “certified flight surgeon …

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Spain unemployment tops 17 percent

Spain’s jobless rate rose sharply, to 17.36 percent in the first quarter, with just over 4 million people out of work, the government said Friday. Nearly half of the 4 million lost their jobs in the past year, the National Statistics Institute said. It’s the first time that Spain’s number of jobless have exceeded 4 million, economist Carlos Maravall told CNN

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Taliban: We’ll withdraw from district near capital

Taliban fighters will withdraw from the Buner district, just 96 kilometers (60 miles) from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a spokesman says. The move came soon after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani told the national assembly that the military could stop the Taliban and that the country’s nuclear weapons were safe.

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Have Archaeologists Found the Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra?

History’s most famous suicide happened more than 2,000 years ago: rather than surrender to the Romans who had captured her Egypt, the lovelorn Queen Cleopatra succumbed to the venomous bite of an asp. Ancient historians chronicled the act, Shakespeare dramatized it, and HBO even added its own to spin to the tragedy with the lavish TV series “Rome.” Yet while we may know how Cleopatra died of snake poison, after her consort Mark Antony fell on his sword, archaeologists have yet to pin down where the legendary couple was laid to rest.

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