Horror stories from Kenya mall emerge
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Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Merkel wins German election ...[ 3158
Angela Merkel celebrates after German election win
Angela Merkel told her supporters: "We can all be delighted"
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Chancellor
Angela Merkel's conservative party has won Germany's election, but
finished just short of an absolute majority, official results show.
Mrs Merkel urged her party to celebrate "a super result" as she looked set for a historic third term.Her conservative bloc took about 41.5% of the vote - but her liberal partners failed to make it into parliament.
It is thought she is likely to seek a grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) who won 26%.
Analysis
The final results are not yet in, but it may still be that she needs a coalition partner. The obvious solution is a grand coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats. The party improved its share of the vote in second place, but still did not do as well as it wanted.
But there are divisions within the SPD about going into coalition again as a junior partner. In 2009 they were punished by the electorate for doing that in 2005.
Now the same thing has happened to the liberal Free Democrats, who have been in coalition with Mrs Merkel for the last four years, but appear to have been kicked out of parliament altogether.
The results showed that the
liberal Free Democrats (FDP) won only 4.8%, which correspondents say is a
disaster for the junior coalition partner, leaving it with no national
representation in parliament for the first time in Germany's post-war
history.
Party chairman Philipp Roesler called it "the bitterest, saddest hour of the Free Democratic Party". The FDP was beaten by the Green Party (8.4%) and the former communist Left Party (8.6%). It almost finished behind the new Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD), which advocates withdrawal from the euro currency and took 4.7%, just short of the parliamentary threshold.
There was at one point speculation that Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister CSU might even win enough seats for an absolute majority - the first in half a century.
'Something fantastic'
Final percentage of the vote
- CDU bloc: 41.5%
- SPD: 26%
- FDP: 4.8%
- Left Party: 8.6%
- Green: 8.4%
- AfD: 4.7%
Mrs Merkel earlier addressed
jubilant supporters at CDU headquarters. After waiting for chants of
"Angie, Angie" to die down, she told them: "This is a super result."
"We can celebrate tonight because we have done something fantastic."But, in a reference to coalition building, she said it was "too early to say exactly what we'll do".
Correspondents say that the 59-year-old chancellor seemed to acknowledge the complexities of forming a government when she was asked on television if she planned to reach out to other parties.
"Maybe we won't find anyone who wants to do anything with us," she replied.
Correspondents say that the result is nevertheless a ringing endorsement of her steady leadership during the euro zone crisis.
CDU parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder said that the party "has a clear mandate from voters to form a government". The outcome showed that "voters want Angela Merkel to remain chancellor" for a third term, he said.
Angela Merkel told supporters they had achieved "something fantastic"
CDU supporters celebrated a resounding victory
Peer Steinbrueck has said he will not take part in a grand coalition
FDP chairman Philipp Roesler oversaw a disastrous result for the party
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Mrs Merkel has made clear she would be prepared to work with
the Social Democrats (SPD) in a grand coalition, as she did in 2005-09.The SPD has been more reluctant to consider linking up with the CDU/CSU again. The party leader, Peer Steinbrueck, was finance minister in the previous grand coalition, but has said he would not serve in such a government again.
Correspondents say that whatever the shape of the coalition that ends up forming the government, there probably will not be any significant policy shifts, although Germany might take a slightly softer approach to austerity in the eurozone.
Several weeks of difficult coalition negotiations are expected.
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Peer Steinbrueck: "We did not get the result we wanted"
The BBC's Chris Morris, at Social Democrat headquarters, said Mr Steinbrueck was putting a brave face on it but the atmosphere was subdued.
The SPD would have preferred to enter a coalition with the Green Party, but does not appear to have the votes to do so, and has ruled out a three-way alliance including the Left Party (Die Linke).
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Analysts think the SPD will probably agree to a coalition with the CDU/CSU.
Muslim Brotherhood activities banned,..[ 3157 ]
Report: Egypt court bans Brotherhood activities
September 23, 2013 -- Updated 1940 GMT (0340 HKT)
Muslim Brotherhood activities banned, report says
The move is the latest in
an anti-Muslim Brotherhood crackdown that began when the military
ousted President Mohamed Morsy, who was backed by the Brotherhood, in
early July.
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The country's Ministry of
Social Solidarity said earlier this month that it was considering
punishing the group, accusing it of violating a law regulating
non-governmental groups, EgyNews reported. The law prohibits such groups
from operating as political organizations and forming militias.
The Brotherhood has a
political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, and the current
government has accused the Brotherhood of inciting violence.
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A U.S. State Department
spokeswoman, in response to a question at a briefing in Washington, said
the department is looking for more information about the court's
ruling.
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"A transparent and
inclusive political process that preserves the rights of all Egyptians
to participate and leads back to a civilian-led government is critical
to the success of Egypt's political and economic future," said Jen
Psaki.
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She added that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Egyptian
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy had discussed the matter when they met
Sunday in New York.
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Egypt: Protesters get new logo and salute
Mixing football and politics in Egypt
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Egypt has been in turmoil
since Morsy's ouster, with the military and Morsy opponents battling
Muslim Brotherhood members and others.
In August, hundreds of
people -- citizens as well as members of security forces -- were killed.
Many of the deaths occurred when the military used force to clear two
pro-Morsy sit-in sites in Cairo. Violence raged after pro-Morsy
supporters staged demonstrations a few days later.
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The Brotherhood was
underground during the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, who had banned
the group. But after Mubarak's ouster in 2011, the group's Freedom and
Justice Party got into gear and fielded parliamentary candidates.
The Freedom and Justice
Party won about half the seats up for election in December 2011, and its
presidential candidate, Morsy, won in 2012.
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Egyptian security forces lately have rounded up high-profile members of the group. Last week, they arrested a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad El-Haddad, who was a frequent guest on Western media.
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He was arrested at an
apartment in a Cairo suburb, Egypt's state-run newspaper Al-Ahram
reported. He was accused of inciting violence and murder. El-Haddad was
active on social media, notifying supporters of rallies.
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Canada passenger train collides...[ 3155 ]
Canada passenger train collides with bus in capital, five dead
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The front of the red double-decker bus was sheared off and the engine of the VIA Rail train had derailed, but the train cars remained upright with little noticeable damage.
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Ambulances and fire trucks swarmed the scene, and rail officials were helping train passengers off the train.
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Ottawa Fire Services spokesman Marc Messier told CTV News the initial estimate was that five people have been killed. He later told CBC News that six or more others have been hospitalized with serious injuries.
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VIA Rail, which operates the national passenger service in Canada, confirmed the crash and said there were no major injuries reported on the train. The crash occurred in the rural west end of Ottawa, Canada's capital city, at a level crossing surrounded by corn fields.
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was "deeply saddened" to hear about the collision, which came just months after a runaway freight train crash and explosion killed 50 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
"Our thoughts and prayers are (with) the families of those involved," Harper said on Twitter.
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Canada's two big railroads - Canadian National Railway Co and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd - are reviewing safety standards after the July 6 Lac-Megantic crash that destroyed the center of the small Quebec town.
(Writing by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Doina Chiacu)
OTTAWA |
(Reuters) - A passenger train collided with a double-decker city bus on
the outskirts of Ottawa and derailed on Wednesday, killing at least five
people, an emergency official said.-
The front of the red double-decker bus was sheared off and the engine of the VIA Rail train had derailed, but the train cars remained upright with little noticeable damage.
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Ambulances and fire trucks swarmed the scene, and rail officials were helping train passengers off the train.
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Ottawa Fire Services spokesman Marc Messier told CTV News the initial estimate was that five people have been killed. He later told CBC News that six or more others have been hospitalized with serious injuries.
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VIA Rail, which operates the national passenger service in Canada, confirmed the crash and said there were no major injuries reported on the train. The crash occurred in the rural west end of Ottawa, Canada's capital city, at a level crossing surrounded by corn fields.
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was "deeply saddened" to hear about the collision, which came just months after a runaway freight train crash and explosion killed 50 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
"Our thoughts and prayers are (with) the families of those involved," Harper said on Twitter.
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Canada's two big railroads - Canadian National Railway Co and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd - are reviewing safety standards after the July 6 Lac-Megantic crash that destroyed the center of the small Quebec town.
(Writing by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Doina Chiacu)
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