Two journalists killed in Syria..[ 2734 ]

Russia backs humanitarian call as two journalists killed in Syria

Handout pictures of Remi Ochlik (L) and Marie Colvin (R) that were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday. (Photos: AFP - Yoan Valat - Ivor Prickett)

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Published Wednesday, February 22, 2012//Posted Februaru ,23 , 2012

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Russia said it was working with the Syrian authorities, the opposition, and regional powers to secure safe passage of humanitarian convoys, as two Western journalists became the latest victims of the spiraling violence in Homs.

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Russia has asked the United Nations to request that the Secretary-General send a representative to liaise with all sides in Syria on the safe passage of humanitarian convoys, foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters.

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"Our initiative is aimed at providing safety of humanitarian cargo deliveries, we are actively working with Syria and [countries] around it," he said.

"We are working in this area with the Syrian leadership and representatives of the opposition, with the International Red Cross," he said.

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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on Syrian authorities and rebels on Tuesday to agree immediately on a daily ceasefire to allow life-saving aid to reach civilians in hard-hit areas including Homs.

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Journalists killed

The push for humanitarian assistance came as two Western journalists were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday when shells hit the house they were staying in, opposition activists and witnesses told Reuters.

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They were named as Marie Colvin, an award-winning war correspondent for Britain's Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

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A witness reached by Reuters from Amman said shells hit the house in which they were staying and a rocket hit them when they were escaping.

Both were veteran correspondents of wars in the Middle East and elsewhere.

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Colvin was a fearless reporter who lost an eye when she suffered a shrapnel wound while working in Sri Lanka in 2001. In public appearances after that attack, she wore a black eye patch.

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The Syrian conflict is especially dangerous for journalists to cover as rebels are not entirely centralized into a single force, but are instead made up of splintered armed groups bottled up in enclaves.

Last week two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid died of an asthma attack while trying to reach an opposition zone.

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In January, award-winning French cameraman Gilles Jacquier was also killed while reporting in Homs.

The UN says at least 5,400 people have died in 11 months of violence in Syria, but fighting has intensified in recent weeks in the restive city of Homs, drawing international calls for immediate humanitarian aid to the city.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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Euro zone economy to shrink in 2012...[ 2733 ]

Euro zone economy to shrink in 2012, EU stagnates

By Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS | Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:11am EST

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(Reuters) - The euro zone's economy is heading into its second recession in just three years, while the wider EU will stagnate, the EU's executive said on Thursday, warning that the area has yet to break its vicious cycle of debt.
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Economic output in the 17 nations sharing the euro will contract 0.3 percent this year, the European Commission said a report, reversing an earlier forecast of 0.5 percent growth in 2012. The wider, 27-nation European Union, which generates a fifth of global output, will not manage any growth this year, the Commission forecast.

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"The EU is set to experience stagnating GDP this year, and the euro area will undergo a mild recession," the Commission said in its interim forecast report.

"Negative feedback loops between weak sovereign debtors, fragile financial markets, and a slowing real economy do not yet appear to have been broken," the Commission said.

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The euro zone was last in recession in 2009, dubbed the Great Recession worldwide, when the economy contracted 4.3 percent during the deepest global slump since the 1930s.

A poisonous mix of high public debt, evaporating investor and business confidence and rising unemployment killed off the two-year recovery from the global financial crisis, economists say. Despite signs of stabilisation this year, economists polled by Reuters only expect growth to return in 2013.

Inflation for the euro zone this year should come to nearer to what the European Central Bank judges about the right level for stable prices and a healthy economy: 2.1 percent, the Commission forecast.

The growth forecast for the euro zone is a shade more optimistic than the International Monetary Fund's view that output in the currency area will dip 0.5 percent this year. But both agree the bloc will manage only a modest recovery in the final months of 2012.

FRAGILE OUTLOOK

The forecasts could still worsen. They rely on the assumption that EU leaders will act to resolve the sovereign debt crisis, which is now in its third year and has shattered investor confidence in a region once regarded as one of the world's safest havens.

"The balance of risks to GDP growth remains tilted to the downside amid still-high uncertainty," the Commission said. "The interim forecast continues to rely on the assumption that adequate policy measures are decided and implemented."

EU leaders hold a summit in Brussels next week where investors hope they will agree to raise the ceiling of the euro zone's joint rescue funds and pave the way for more IMF funds to stand behind heavily indebted southern European economies. But the German government said this week it sees no need to beef up the funds.

Adding to the EU's difficulties, the downturn is widening the gap between the wealthy economies of northern Europe and those of the south that are most in need of growth to pay off debt.

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Germany and France, the euro zone's two largest economies, are likely to escape recession this year, growing 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, while Greece will enter its fifth year of economic contraction and Spain will shrink 1 percent, the Commission said.

(Reporting By Robin Emmott)

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W.Australia, bushfire ...[ 1732 ]

WA bushfire and response botched: inquiry

By Cortlan Bennett, AAP Updated February 23, 2012, 8:31 pm

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A series of blunders by Western Australia's overstretched Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) led to the disastrous Margaret River bushfire, a special inquiry has found.

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Releasing the results of his two-month investigation on Thursday, former federal police commissioner Mick Keelty said there was "no smoking gun" and no one person to blame for the fierce blaze that destroyed more than 40 properties in WA's southwest region in November.

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However, his report was scathing of the DEC's role in the fiasco - from its handling of the prescribed burn that started the bushfire, to its delayed and confused emergency response.

It said the department had ignored high winds and temperatures when it conducted the initial burn, had failed to understand the seriousness of the blaze, was slow to act, and did not take advantage of volunteer fire brigades with local knowledge of the area.

The report said it was only the quick thinking of local volunteers which prevented an even bigger disaster, as the fire threatened the popular tourist town of Margaret River, about 270km south of Perth.

"Volunteer bushfire brigades were instrumental in preventing the loss of further houses, with some of the view more homes could have been saved if the response to the fires had been better managed and resourced," the report stated.

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WA Premier Colin Barnett said his government took full responsibility for the fire and offered up to $190,000 compensation to those affected by it.

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"As premier, I apologise to all those people whose homes or property were lost or destroyed by the fire," he said, adding the government would implement all 10 recommendations of the Keelty report.

Environment Minister Bill Marmion announced an immediate halt to prescribed burns in populated areas and said he would establish an Office of Bushfire Risk Management that would assess all prescribed burns and the level of resources available should they flare out of control.

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He said he had already asked DEC director general Keiran McNamara to "immediately prepare a comprehensive implementation plan for Mr Keelty's 10 recommendations, and an urgent review of the department's risk-management practices as they relate to prescribed burning".

Fire and Emergency Services Authority chief executive Wayne Gregson said authorities would look at ways of working more closely with local volunteer firefighters.

"This is about making sure volunteers are adequately and appropriately equipped and trained to respond (to bushfires)," he said.

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But while the government response to the Keelty report appeared to be swift, it also raised questions about the culture within the DEC.

The report noted the DEC's slow and uncoordinated response to the fire "raises questions about the attraction and retention of staff".

"The constant turnover of DEC staff, the need to work long hours and drive long distances between centres and areas of operation during prescribed burns may have a detrimental effect on the judgment and performance of some DEC staff," it said.

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Mr Marmion deflected criticism of Mr McNamara, and said the DEC director would remain in his position to oversee the changes at his department.

Labor Opposition leader Mark McGowan called on the government to reveal whether it had denied requests for additional resources to the DEC, which could have helped it cope better.

He said forcing those affected by the fires to seek civil action if the $190,000 offer wasn't enough was a "heartless approach".

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Garrath and Marjorie Stewart, who lost their home in the fire, said they were underinsured by $550,000 and $190,000 was not enough to cover their losses.

"If the government accepts it's to blame for the fire, then the government should accept liability for all losses," Mr Stewart said.

"Heads should also roll at the top of (DEC) - it's not good enough."

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Margaret River Shire chief executive Gary Evershed said a lot of local people would be angry over the report laying the blame solely with the DEC.

"I'd imagine there will be some anger amongst people and others will be going through various stages of a grieving process - the release of the report will bring back some of those memories," he said.

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Slater & Gordon released a statement saying the legal firm had 70 affected people on record who had asked it to look at possible legal action against the government.

"Whilst the government's offer of up to $190,000 in compensation is welcome, we believe it is grossly inadequate," litigation general manager James Higgins said.

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"Many property owners are likely to be left with losses many times the maximum amount available under the scheme."

Russian Expedition 30 flight ...[ 2731 ]

Image of the Expedition 30 ( Cosmonauts Perform Spacewalk)

This image of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov, both Expedition 30 flight engineers, was taken during a spacewalk on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. 

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During the six-hour, 15-minute spacewalk, Kononenko and Shkaplerov moved the Strela-1 crane from the Pirs Docking Compartment in preparation for replacing it in 2012 with a new laboratory and docking module. 

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The duo used another boom, the Strela-2, to move the hand-operated crane to the Poisk module for future assembly and maintenance work. Both telescoping booms extend like fishing rods and are used to move massive components outside the station.

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 On the exterior of the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2, they also installed the Vinoslivost Materials Sample Experiment, which will investigate the influence of space on the mechanical properties of the materials. 

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The spacewalkers also collected a test sample from underneath the insulation on the Zvezda Service Module to search for any signs of living organisms. Both spacewalkers wore Russian Orlan spacesuits bearing blue stripes and equipped with NASA helmet cameras.

Image Credit: NASA
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Argentine train crash...[ 2730 ]

Argentine train crash kills 49 people, hurts 600

 


































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BUENOS AIRES | Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:40am EST

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(Reuters) - A packed commuter train plowed into the buffers at a Buenos Aires station during morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least 49 people and injuring more than 600 others, officials said.

They said the train was unable to stop, presumably due to faulty brakes, and it slammed into the buffers inside the centrally located "Once" station. More than 800 passengers were aboard the train, state news agency Telam reported.

A police spokesman said 49 people had been killed.

"The train entered the Once station at 26 kilometers per hour (16 mph)... we suppose there was some flaw in the brakes," Transport Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi was quoted as telling Telam.

Hundreds of thousands of people travel into Argentina's capital from the suburbs every day. The dilapidated and overcrowded rail services, run by private companies and heavily subsidized by the state, are plagued by accidents and delays.

In September, two commuter trains crashed into a city bus, killing 11 people. And one year ago, four people died during another train accident.

(Reporting by Hilary Burke; Editing by Sandra Maler)