China : Top Official executed..[ 1404 ]

China executes top Chongqing official for corruption

BBC.,  Wednesday, 7 July 2010 10:29 UK

 

The corruption scandal has involved dozens of officials in Chongqing

China has executed the top justice official in the city of Chongqing as part of a crackdown on corruption.

Wen Qiang, former director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau, was the highest-ranking official charged in connection with the scandal.

He was convicted of accepting bribes, rape and shielding criminal gangs.

Dozens of officials have been prosecuted as part of the clampdown, initiated by Chongqing's Communist Party boss Bo Xilai.

Wen served as the huge municipality's deputy police chief for 16 years before becoming its top judicial official.

According to Xinhua news agency, he was convicted of taking more than 12m yuan ($1.76m, £1.16m) in bribes either in person or through his wife.

He also took bribes to protect five organised crime gangs and, in August 2007, raped a university student.

 

In May Wen lost an appeal against his death sentence, after the high court said the evidence against him was clear.

His wife and three of his associates were tried alongside him and jailed.

His sister-in-law, Xie Caiping, was also sentenced last year to 18 years in prison, for running illegal gambling dens.

To date more than 90 officials have been prosecuted as part of the high-profile crackdown, which began in the southern city in mid-2009.

It has increased the popularity of Bo Xilai, and is being seen by some as an attempt on his part to secure a spot in the governing politburo.

But despite this high-profile campaign corruption among officials remains widespread, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

This worries China's leaders, who are seriously concerned that public anger at levels of corruption is undermining support for the Communist Party.

Moldovan wine has sanitary problems...?..[ 1403 ]

Moldovan wine should be used to paint fences - Russia's chief sanitary official

Russia's chief sanitary official Gennady Onishchenko

22:10 06/07/2010,,© RIA Novosti. Alexei Druzhinin

MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti) 

Russia's chief sanitary official said in a live radio interview with Ekho Moskvy on Tuesday that Moldovan wine should not be consumed and should be used to paint fences.

"Moldovan wine should be used to paint fences," Gennady Onishchenko said.

"It should not be consumed just in Russia (*) but also nowhere else as the product is not interesting," he continued.

Onishchenko said dangerous ingredients were found in 18 batches of Moldovan wine on June 30-July 2, 2010.

"The situation is that between June 30 and July 2, in 18 batches [of wine] or in 102,000 bottles of three companies we found dangerous ingredients such as dibutyl phthalate, which should not be in wine at all," Onishchenko said. "This indicates that during fermentation... the wine was kept in plastic containers," he continued. "And the second was the fungicide metalaxyl, which exceeded the limits."

Dibutyl phthalate is used as a plasticizer and is added to adhesives and printing inks. Metalaxyl is a fungicide used against root rot.

Russia, which previously imported 80% of all wine produced in Moldova, imposed an embargo on Moldovan imports in March 2006. The ban dealt a severe blow to the small, impoverished ex-Soviet nation's economy, bringing many winemaking enterprises close to bankruptcy.

The ban was introduced after tests revealed the presence of pesticides and heavy metals in Moldovan wine.

Russia resumed imports in 2007 of Moldovan wine, meat, as well as apples, grapes, tobacco, and sunflower seeds, following a resolution to some of the "quality issues," but imposed strict standards on imports.

In July 2009, Russia lifted all restrictions on the import of Moldovan wine and was even prepared to open extra custom points.
---------------------------------
( * ) : Russians are invited to  use the  Greek Wines , the real  "Nektar" of the gods.
* 

Russian Oil to USA....[ 1402 ]

Russia becoming major oil supplier to U.S. - WSJ

The increase in oil supplies is thanks to the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline system..

07:34 07/07/2010.© RIA Novosti. Igor Zarembo

MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti)

Russia is becoming a key oil supplier for the United States, the Wall Street Journal said Tuesday.

"Imports have gone from zero to an estimated 100,000 barrels a day in a matter of months since a pipeline bringing crude from deep inside Eastern Siberia came online," the newspaper wrote.

The paper said the increase in oil supplies is thanks to the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline system, which is designed to export Russian crude to the Asia-Pacific markets.

Amrita Sen, a commodities analyst for British investment bank Barclays Capital in London, said the United States is diversifying its oil sources because OPEC members, who "historically have been key suppliers to the U.S., are sending more of their oil to Asia."

She said production from other U.S. suppliers, like Mexico, is declining at "hefty" rates, and added that "Russian crude will be important."

Diplomatic games between Turkey - Israel ? ..[ 1401 ]

Diplomatic rift won’t last long, says liberal Turkish editor

By DAVID HOROVITZ
JPost.com. Israel., 07/07/2010 04:27

‘Our two countries will definitely be reconciled,’ says ‘Milliyet’s Cinar Oskay

 

Photo by: Associated Press

Turkey and Israel will manage to patch up relations, and sooner rather than later, the managing editor of a leading liberal Turkish newspaper predicted during a visit to Israel this week.

The rare upbeat assessment was issued by Cinar Oskay, of the Milliyet daily, hours after Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had been quoted in Turkish media on Monday warning that Ankara would sever ties with Israel altogether if no Israeli apology was forthcoming for last month’s fatal flotilla raid, or if Israel did not accept the findings of an international investigation into the incident.


Turkish officials subsequently claimed the minister had been misrepresented, telling Reuters that he had not threatened to sever ties, but had said relations would not improve unless Turkey’s demands were met.

“Our two countries will definitely be reconciled,” Oskay said, “because it is in both countries’ interests to make up… There is no risk that the rift will be continued for a long time.”

He described Turkey’s demands of Israel over the flotilla as “symbolic” and “not an obstacle that can’t be overcome.

“I don’t think it will get worse,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party were ultimately “pragmatic” and predicting that Israel would “soften a little” to help alleviate the crisis in relations.

Oskay, making a first visit to Israel, took pains to stress that “a lot of people” in Turkey are as troubled by Erdogan’s positions as Israel is, and that “Turkey is not homogeneous...”

He noted, incidentally, that he had been struck by “how many religious people there are” in Jerusalem – by which he meant haredi Jerusalemites – and said there was “nowhere” like that in Turkey.

“I want people to understand: Turkey is not Erdogan,” he said.

Oskay’s Milliyet, indeed, is part of the pro-secularist Dogan media group, whose newspapers have been among the Erdogan government’s fiercest critics.

UK, Gunman hids in Northumberland area..[ 1400 ]

Raoul Moat: gunman believed to be hiding in woodland

The gunman Raoul Moat is believed to be holed up in remote woodland, armed with two shotguns and a stash of ammunition ready to face a final confrontation with police.

By Nick Britten, Paul Stokes and Caroline Gammell
Published: 10:52PM BST 06 Jul 2010

Link to this video

Armed officers established a two-mile exclusion zone around a village in Northumberland and claimed that the net was closing on the self-confessed “maniac”.

But by nightfall, Moat had still not been found despite several reported sightings. Residents and children were told to stay indoors.

A former girlfriend, Yvette Foreman, said Moat knew the area like “the back of his hand” and would be able to survive for days as they used to camp there. The former bouncer was believed to be hiding in woodland near Rothbury, north west of Morpeth.

The bodybuilder has been on the loose since Saturday morning after shooting his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, killing her new boyfriend Chris Brown and 24 hours later shooting an unarmed policeman, David Rathband.
Northumbria Police have drafted in armed officers, search helicopters, sniffer dogs and officers from five forces to join the hunt.

Questions were being asked about the police’s alleged slow reaction to potential leads and an apparently missed opportunity to catch him over the weekend. Andy Mcallister, a friend of Moat, said the gunman came to his house in Kenton, Newcastle, on Saturday night shortly before he shot Pc Rathband.

On Sunday, Mr Mcallister called police whom he claimed took four hours to turn up, but they did not stay and monitor his property. Moat returned that night to ask Mr Mcallister to give a letter to police which pledged: “I will keep killing police until I am dead.”

Miss Foreman also said she warned police two days ago that he might be in the village, but her calls were ignored. She said: “I knew he’d come here. It’s his favourite place in the whole world. There’s so much woodland I think he could hide out for days.”

On Tuesday, attention focused on Rothbury after a black Lexus Moat was believed to be driving was found.
Police said two men they feared were being held hostage by Moat had been found and were well. The alleged “associates” of Moat were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.