The Euro and the US Dollar.... [ 967 ]

The rate of Euro to the US Dollar ..and the US Dollar to Euro
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Sudan, recent elections were faulty ...[ 966 ]

Sudan elections 'failed' to meet international norms

Election monitors observed the counting of ballots

BBC, 17-4-2010., 17:46 UKT

Two international organisations monitoring the elections in Sudan say the controversial polls failed to meet full international standards.

The EU and the Carter Center, led by former US President Jimmy Carter, said there were significant failings, citing reports of intimidation and harassment.

However, both concluded the polls were a significant step towards democracy.

Results are to be returned on Tuesday, with Omar al-Bashir expected to be reaffirmed as president.

The polls - presidential, parliamentary and regional - were the first multi-party elections since 1986 and part of a north-south deal to end two decades of war.

The complicated ballot was beset by problems and heavily criticised by the Sudanese opposition and local observers.

Harassment

Now, two of the biggest observer missions on the ground have concluded that the elections were faulty.

"It is obvious that the elections will fall short of international standards that are expected of advanced democracies... The people's expectations have not been met," former US president Jimmy Carter told a news conference.

ANALYSIS James Copnall, BBC News, Khartoum The EU and the Carter Center observers both indentified serious flaws in the process. Jimmy Carter said his observers had seen polling officials instructing people which candidate to vote for. The EU's chief observer talked of "harassment" of voters, and the ruling parties in the north and the south using their advantage in resources to get people to vote. But the conclusion reached by both - an election which does not meet international standards - is not damning enough to rock the boat unduly. President Omar al-Bashir will be able to celebrate a crushing victory in the presidential race, in which his two major rivals dropped out. Mr Carter's belief that the international community will recognise the victors is perhaps the most significant thing. Perhaps judgments would have been different if stability in the run-up to next January's referendum on possible southern independence was not so important.

The EU observer mission's judgement was similar, concluding there were both irregularities and significant deficiencies.

"Turnout is very high, 60%, but with significant deficiencies," said EU mission chief Veronique de Keyser at a news conference in Khartoum.

"These elections did not reach international standards, not yet."

The irregularities quoted included the late arrival of election material, problems with the voting list, and the harassment of voters.

Observers said the ruling parties in both the south and the north also used their huge advantage in resources to influence the vote.

The EU's team was withdrawn from Darfur, where a low-level civil war continues, because of fears about safety and whether the monitors could observe freely.

Neither of the observer groups called for a re-vote, but recommended instead that the lessons learned be applied to next year's key referendum on Southern Sudan's independence.

Mr Carter said he believed the international community would recognise the winners.

The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says President Omar al-Bashir is certain to win the presidential election.

Our correspondent says he wants a respectable victory to show the Sudanese people support him after he was indicted for alleged war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.

Superleague.. Κρίσιμες συσκέψεις[ 965 ]

Αλλαγές ενόψει στο τηλεοπτικό τοπίο της Superleague...

Web only,,17/04/2010 00:56

Σημαντικές διαφοροποιήσεις στο τηλεοπτικό τοπίο της Superleague ενδέχεται να επιφέρει ο κύκλος των συζητήσεων μεταξύ του ΣΚΑΪ και της διοργανώτριας, η οποία προς το παρόν απορρίπτει οποιαδήποτε επαναδιαπραγμάτευση. Ουδέτερη είναι προς το παρόν η στάση της NOVA.

Στην κρίσιμη για το μέλλον των τηλεοπτικών της Superlague συνάντηση, την οποία προκάλεσε ο ΣΚΑΪ, συμμετείχαν εκπρόσωποι της διοργανώτριας (Πατρίκ Κομνηνός), του ΣΚΑΪ (Χρήστος Παναγόπουλος) και της Forthnet - NOVA (Οικονόμου, Παπαχαραλάμπους).

Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες ο ΣΚΑΪ έθεσε θέμα επαναδιαπραγμάτευσης της σύμβασης και επί του οικονομικού σκέλους, κάτι για το οποίο η Superleague εξέφρασε θέση κάθετα αρνητική. Αρχικά ο ΣΚΑΪ αναφέρθηκε στα κρούσματα της βίας αλλά κυρίως στο θέμα της αντιεμπορικότητας του αγώνα που του δίνει η NOVA κάθε Σάββατο απόγευμα και ζήτησε είτε αλλαγή στους όρους της σύμβασης επί του συγκεκριμένου θέματος (αλλαγή ημέρας ή μετάδοση εμπορικότερου αγώνα) είτε μείωση του τιμήματος.

Η θέση της λίγκας στην όλη συζήτηση ήταν ότι δεν τίθεται θέμα επαναδιαπραγμάτευσης. Αυτό που διέρρεε από τα στελέχη της είναι ότι υπάρχουν συμβάσεις οι οποίες πρέπει να τηρούνται αυστηρά, ωστόσο ζήτησαν και εγγράφως τις θέσεις του ΣΚΑΪ ώστε να τις παρουσιάσουν στο δ.σ. της ερχόμενης Πέμπτης.

Να σημειωθεί τέλος, ότι η NOVA δεν εξέφρασε κάποια συγκεκριμένη θέση επί του θέματος, ωστόσο, σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, πρόθεσή της είναι να ζητήσει να γίνουν κάποιες τροποποιήσεις στις συμβάσεις. Να συμπεριληφθούν, δηλαδή, όροι που θα αποτρέπουν αντιπαραθέσεις όπως η πρόσφατη του συνδρομητικού καναλιού με την ΕΡΤ.

"Volcanic ash" causing chaos to air traffic .. [ 964 ]

Experts: No end to volcano ash in sight

April 17, 2010 9:15 a.m. EDT

Meteorologists say the dust cloud will continue to blanket northern Europe.

(CNN) -- Weather experts predicted Friday that a volcanic ash causing chaos to air traffic across Europe would affect the region well into the weekend and possibly beyond as the dust cloud continued to spread.

Scientists said it was too soon to predict when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland would cease spewing ash, raising the prospect of thousands more grounded flights in coming days.

Prevailing westerly winds are expected to fan the massive plume of dust from an erupting volcano in Iceland further east and north, according to predictions from the London Ash Advisory Center.

By 07:00 GMT Saturday (7 p.m. ET) the cloud traveling at up to 9,000 meters (30,000 feet) is forecast to be covering parts of Russia, Poland, Finland and other East European countries while continuing to affect the UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark and Netherlands.

Volcanic ash still causing travel chaos

Northern parts of Sweden, the UK, and Ireland, which have begun to reinstate air flights, would remain in the clear for the time being, according to forecasts.

CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said upper-level winds will remain largely from the same direction, from the North and West, over the next 40 hours, bringing ash from the volcano into northern Europe.

"We expect the speed of the winds to decrease over Iceland and the North Sea, however, which could limit the distance the plume will travel, as well as limit the concentration of the ash if and when it reaches mainland Europe," he said.

He said if the volcano in Iceland volcano continues to spew ash at the same rate, disruption would continue. If the ash ejections lessen combined with weakening winds, conditions could improve through the weekend

Video: Weekend airspace issues

Video: Life in the land of ice & ash

Gallery: Ash cloud forecast

RELATED TOPICS

• Iceland
• Air Travel
• United Kingdom

The UK's Met Office said Eyjafjallajökull was now releasing ash in "pulses" rather than a steady plume, but scientists say it is too early to predict how long the eruption would last. The volcano's last major eruption in 1821 lasted for two years.

Professor Peter Sammonds of University College London's geophysics department said it would be possible to determine the expected duration of the eruption once data is gathered, although conditions around the volcano were currently hampering this.

iReport: Have your plans been disrupted? Send images, videos

"The reason it's going through quite a fierce phase at the moment is because ice is melting and water is mixing with magma causing it to fragment," he told CNN.

"This will go on until the water supply runs out, which could be quite some time."

Although the Ash Advisory Center models cloud movements for up to 10 days ahead, it was restricting its public forecasts to the next 24 hours, so it was unclear what areas the dust would be affected into Sunday and the following week.

Although the ash cloud -- made up of tiny particles of volcanic matter held in suspension -- is moving relatively high in the atmosphere, meteorologists said there were signs some dust was settling at lower levels.

The Met Office said it had received recordings of dust in the air at Lerwick in Scotland and in Bedfordshire, northeast of London. There were also reports of dust settling on parked vehicles in some parts of the UK, it said.

CNN's Miller says, with no major storm system on the horizon, the prevailing winds would continue to dictate movement.

"The volcanic ash is transported primarily by upper-level winds," Miller said. "Once the ash is ejected into the atmosphere by the volcano, the only real forces acting on it are gravity and wind."

Travelers rush to trains and ferries

"This fine volcanic ash can rise extremely high in the atmosphere, up to 50,000 feet, where planes cannot fly over them," Miller said. "At this height, the winds can be very strong and can therefore transport the plume of fine ash several hundred miles."

Miller said the dispersion of the cloud will make it less dangerous as it travels. It's very unlikely that United States skies would be affected, but northern Europe may not be out of the dark soon.

"The other problem is that the volcano is still erupting and still transmitting the ash into the atmosphere," Miller said. "As long as the volcano is erupting, the ash will continue being transported by the wind, and flight disruption will continue."

Craig Johnson and CNN's Barry Neild contributed to this report.

ΕΛ.ΑΣ.,Bρέθηκαν 180 κιλά εκρηκτικής ύλης [ 963 ]

Γιάφκα του «Επαναστατικού Αγώνα» στον Βύρωνα

NAFTEMPORIKI.GR Σάββατο, 17 Απριλίου 2010 20:19
Τελευταία Ενημέρωση : 17/04/2010 20:24

Γιάφκα του «Επαναστατικού Αγώνα» εντόπισε το απόγευμα του Σαββάτου η Αστυνομία σε ισόγειο χώρο στάθμευσης σε πολυκατοικία επί της οδού Β. Αντωνιάδου 54 στον Καρέα, ο οποίος είχε νοικιασθεί από τον Νοέμβριο του 2007 στο όνομα «Δημοσθένης Μανδαλώζης».

Στο όνομα αυτό, όπως έχει ήδη δημοσιοποιηθεί, είχε εκδοθεί πλαστή ταυτότητα που βρέθηκε στο αυτοκίνητο του Κωνσταντίνου Γουρνά, ο οποίος κατηγορείται για συμμετοχή στην τρομοκρατική οργάνωση «Επαναστατικός Αγώνας».

Στον προαναφερόμενο χώρο στάθμευσης βρέθηκαν μέχρι τώρα περίπου 180 κιλά εκρηκτικής ύλης ANFO.

Όπως ανακοίνωσε ο εκπρόσωπος της ΕΛ.ΑΣ., βρέθηκαν:

- Τρεις φιάλες υγραερίου, χωρητικότητας 20 λίτρων έκαστη, οι οποίες ήταν μισογεμάτες με εκρηκτική ύλη ANFO .

- Τέσσερα μεταλλικά δοχεία αποθήκευσης ελαιόλαδου, χωρητικότητας 75 λίτρων έκαστο, εκ των οποίων τα δύο (2) γεμάτα εκρηκτική ύλη ANFO .

- Μία πλαστική σακούλα απορριμμάτων χρώματος πράσινο η οποία περιείχε 15 κιλά εκρηκτικής ύλης ANFO .

- Τρεις μοτοσικλέτες μεγάλου κυβισμού, οι οποίες έφεραν διπλές πινακίδες κυκλοφορίας.

- Πέντε μπαγκαζιέρες μοτοσικλέτας, εντός των οποίων, μεταξύ των άλλων ευρημάτων, υπήρχαν αρκετές πινακίδες κυκλοφορίας μοτοσικλετών.

Ο εκπρόσωπος της ΕΛ.ΑΣ. έδωσε στη δημοσιότητα φωτογραφίες του παραπάνω χώρου ενώ υπενθύμισε τα ονόματα Δημοσθένης Μανδαλώζης και Αναστάσιος Γριβοκωστόπουλος, τα οποία αφορούν στοιχεία που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν από τους κατηγορούμενους για την κατασκευή πλαστών δελτίων ταυτότητας και τη χρήση τους για την ενοικίαση κρησφυγέτων.

Επίσης, με το όνομα Παρασκευοπούλου Βασιλική, είχε νοικιασθεί το σπίτι που διέμενε ο Νικόλαος Μαζιώτης με την Παναγιώτα Ρούπα, στα Καλύβια.