Voters in Togo went to the polls on Thursday to vote in a presidential election that is widely viewed as a test of democracy for the tiny west African country, which is notorious for electoral violence. Polls opened at 7 am local time on Thursday with hundreds of voters lining up at polling stations in the Togolese capital of Lomé. FRANCE 24 special correspondent Christopher Moore, reporting from a polling station in Lomé, said voting in the early hours was calm.
AFP - A tsunami alert sent terrified Chileans running for coastal hills Wednesday, while a surge of troops finally brought order to the quake-hit second city of Concepcion after rampant looting. Four days after giant waves swept hundreds to their death, two powerful aftershocks, with magnitudes of 5.9 and 6.0, triggered a brief new tsunami warning along the stretch of Chile's central coast worst hit on Saturday. Thousands of traumatized earthquake survivors, some still trying to identify loved ones claimed by killer waves, rushed to higher ground as troops ushered them up hillsides. The alert was lifted less than 30 minutes later.
AFP - Sixty-three people, all of them women and children, were crushed to death in a stampede on Thursday at a temple in northern India where a crowd had gathered for a religious festival. The stampede was triggered when an under-construction gate collapsed on the crowd as people surged forward to collect free food and clothes from a local holy man in northern Uttar Pradesh state, police said "We have now counted all the bodies and they include 37 children and 26 women who had come to collect free gifts," assistant superintendent of police S.P. Pathak told AFP by phone from the disaster site.
AFP - A powerful quake jolted southern Taiwan on Thursday, sending panicked residents fleeing from shaking buildings, toppling farm houses and derailing a carriage on a high-speed train. Initial reports said at least 12 people had been injured in the 6.4-magnitude quake which the US Geological Survey said struck about 70 kilometres (about 40 miles) from the island's second-largest city Kaohsiung. It was felt as far north as the capital Taipei, several hundred kilometres away.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday. "Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility," Stupak said on ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion. "Let's face it. I want to see healthcare. But we're not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about," he said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.
"Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility," Stupak said on ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion.
"Let's face it. I want to see healthcare. But we're not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about," he said.
If he is resistant to effective healthcare for 50% of the population, then actually he is against it completely. His idiot superstitions and bigotries may blind him to the logic of that, but that is what he is. You cannot have effective healthcare for women and exclude abortion. forget self-determination or citizen's rights, abortion is a healthcare issue. So if he is only for proper healthcare for men, then he is not for healthcare reform.
He is a liar, a bigot and a superstitious fool. keep to the Fen Causeway
I'd LOVE to see the bill pass the senate and then have trouble in the house because of these dipshits. it's just the kind of victory the pro-choice crowd needs.
A US congressional panel has described the killing of Armenians by Turkish forces during World War I as genocide, despite White House objections.The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The administration had warned the panel that the vote would harm reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia. It is unclear whether the non-binding resolution will now go forward to the full House but it is fiercely opposed by Turkey, a key ally of the US.
A US congressional panel has described the killing of Armenians by Turkish forces during World War I as genocide, despite White House objections.
The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The administration had warned the panel that the vote would harm reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.
It is unclear whether the non-binding resolution will now go forward to the full House but it is fiercely opposed by Turkey, a key ally of the US.
Is David Cameron preparing to help out his Republican party allies from the comfort of No 10 Downing Street? That's the implication of a clue in an internal Republican party strategy document leaked to the media.The document - found in a hotel room after a Republican party meeting and passed to Politico - is a collection of PowerPoint slides showing fundraising events organised by the Republicans. Under "3rd quarter events" for September this year, it includes the entry: "9/17 Young Eagles London trip - Meeting with David Cameron - $80,000".The "Young Eagles" is an invitation-only group of Republican donors under the age of 45, who each pay several thousand dollars a year for the right to attend special party events and get VIP treatment. The $80,000 (£53,000) figure is the profit the Republican National Committee plans to make from the event for the party's coffers.
Is David Cameron preparing to help out his Republican party allies from the comfort of No 10 Downing Street? That's the implication of a clue in an internal Republican party strategy document leaked to the media.
The document - found in a hotel room after a Republican party meeting and passed to Politico - is a collection of PowerPoint slides showing fundraising events organised by the Republicans. Under "3rd quarter events" for September this year, it includes the entry: "9/17 Young Eagles London trip - Meeting with David Cameron - $80,000".The "Young Eagles" is an invitation-only group of Republican donors under the age of 45, who each pay several thousand dollars a year for the right to attend special party events and get VIP treatment. The $80,000 (£53,000) figure is the profit the Republican National Committee plans to make from the event for the party's coffers.
A familiar face is once more casting its sinister shadow upon the streets of Poznan, Poland. In the run-up to International Women's Day next Monday, none other than Adolf Hitler personally has been drafted from beyond the grave as a Polish anti-abortion campaign's new poster child. The 200 square meter poster, which has so far appeared only in this western Polish city of half a million residents, depicts the Führer's brooding countenance and clipped mustache alongside graphic photos of aborted fetuses. "Abortion was introduced for Polish women by Hitler on March 9, 1943," it reads. Read more...
The 200 square meter poster, which has so far appeared only in this western Polish city of half a million residents, depicts the Führer's brooding countenance and clipped mustache alongside graphic photos of aborted fetuses. "Abortion was introduced for Polish women by Hitler on March 9, 1943," it reads.
Read more...
This month, the group expanded its reach, making national news with 80 billboards around Atlanta that proclaim, "Black children are an endangered species [sic]," and a Web site, www.toomanyaborted.com. Across the country, the anti-abortion movement, long viewed as almost exclusively white and Republican, is turning its attention to African-Americans and encouraging black abortion opponents across the country to become more active. A new documentary, written and directed by Mark Crutcher, a white abortion opponent in Denton, Tex., meticulously traces what it says are connections among slavery, Nazi-style eugenics, birth control and abortion, and is being regularly screened by black organizations. Read more...
Across the country, the anti-abortion movement, long viewed as almost exclusively white and Republican, is turning its attention to African-Americans and encouraging black abortion opponents across the country to become more active.
A new documentary, written and directed by Mark Crutcher, a white abortion opponent in Denton, Tex., meticulously traces what it says are connections among slavery, Nazi-style eugenics, birth control and abortion, and is being regularly screened by black organizations.
