Pedestrians mowed down on sidewalk...[ 3744 ]

Driver in Nagoya rents car, runs over 13 people

AFP-JIJI, Kyodo

 A car allegedly used to run over 13 pedestrians Sunday waits to be towed near Nagoya Station. | KYODO

A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder after intentionally steering his car onto a sidewalk and hitting 13 pedestrians near Nagoya Station, the police said.
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“I tried to kill people with the car,” Ryota Onogi, 30, was quoted as telling investigators after he was apprehended following the 2:15 p.m. incident.
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According to the police, the car got onto the sidewalk after making a left turn at an intersection and bowled over pedestrians for about 35 meters before crashing into a tree and stopping, the police said.
Onogi was caught on the spot.
The most seriously wounded of the 13 victims was a 22-year-old man who sustained a broken hip, police said. The others had minor injuries.
The car was going about 35 kph to 40 kph when it plowed into the crowd, the police said.
Onogi, an unemployed resident of Nagoya, rented the car from an agency some 400 meters away from the crime scene at around 2 p.m., just 15 minutes before the rampage.
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An employee at the rental agency said Monday that Onogi rented the vehicle for six hours, the shortest period available. “There was nothing strange about the suspect,” the employee added.
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The rampage left residents and acquaintances in the neighborhood in disbelief.
“He was not the kind of person who would cause such an incident,” a neighbor said. “He would always greet people.”
Onogi’s house in the neighborhood in west Nagoya appeared empty Sunday, with the drapes shut and garage door closed. No one answered the bell.
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Sources familiar with the investigation said Onogi’s father is a superintendent at Aichi Prefectural Police headquarters.
Yasuei Kitazawa, Onogi’s third-year classmate in junior high school, said he hadn’t had any recent contact with him but noted he “never would have expected him to cause such an incident.”
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Onogi was rather quiet in school, Kitazawa, 30, said.
Another former classmate said Onogi got good grades but he did not stand out.
A 57-year-old neighbor said she heard Onogi had lived with his family earlier but was living alone before the rampa

Standoff at Ukraine base in Crimea...[ 3743 ]

Russia blasted for military buildup in Ukraine's Crimea

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian, CNN

March 3, 2014 -- Updated 1232 GMT (2032 HKT)

Standoff at Ukraine base in Crimea

(CNN) -- Russia tightened its grip around Ukraine's eastern Crimean region Monday, drawing condemnation from Western nations and heightening fears of war.

Moscow's G8 partners have condemned its military buildup in the country, demanding that it withdraw. Ukraine's new leaders accused Moscow of declaring war, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned that blood could be spilled amid growing instability in the neighboring nation.

Ukraine's shaky new government has mobilized troops and called up military reservists as officials say signs of Russian military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula -- an autonomous region of eastern Ukraine with strong loyalty to Russia -- are clear.

Speaking at a visit to Switzerland on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who spoke with his Chinese counterpart Monday about the crisis, accused Ukraine's new authorities -- in place since President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted last week -- of attacking minorities and violating human rights.

How will the West respond to Ukraine?

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. 

"The opposition ... has fulfilled nothing," Russian state news agency ITAR Tass quoted Lavrov as saying. "Illegal weapons have not been handed in, administrative buildings and streets in Kiev have not been fully freed, and radicals continue to control the capital."

A senior U.S. administration official told CNN on Sunday that Russian forces "have complete operational control of the Crimean Peninsula." The official said the U.S. estimates there are 6,000 Russian ground and naval forces in the region.

"There is no question that they are in an occupation position -- flying in reinforcements and settling in," another senior administration official said.

Camouflaged and unidentified

Ukrainian border guards on Monday reported a buildup of armored vehicles on the Russian side of a narrow sea channel dividing Russia and Crimea, Reuters reported, citing a border guard spokesman.

He said that Russian ships had been moving in and around the port city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet has a base, and that Russian forces had blocked mobile telephone service in some areas. The buildup of Russian armor was near a ferry port on the Russian side of the Kerch Channel, opposite the Ukrainian city of Kerch.

Meanwhile, The Ukrainian State Border Security Service said there had been several attacks on border posts in eastern Crimea just along the border with Russia.

In a statement on its website, it said men, wearing unidentified camouflage uniforms, were carrying out the attacks, such as one on the Kerch border post, where doors and windows were broken and phone lines were destroyed late Sunday.

Also on Sunday night, armed men in unidentified camouflage uniforms tried to enter the arms depot in Ukraine's Belbek military base near Sevastopol, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Ukrainian forces at the base shot into the air to warn them off, but the unidentified men used sound grenades, and one of the Ukrainian commanders was wounded as a result, Vladislav Seleznev, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman in Crimea, told CNN.

The attackers gained access to the base, but Ukrainian troops retain control of the weapons depot and administration building. Seleznev added there have been negotiations.

Men dressed in both civilian and camouflage gear and wearing red armbands have been seen on the streets of the regional capital, Simferopol.

Navy defector seeks allies

Ukraine PM: 'This is a red alert'

How will the West respond to Ukraine?

Putin defies U.S. warning about Ukraine

, 

Ten Ukrainian military and naval bases in Crimea are currently blocked by armed men, the newly appointed naval commander of Ukraine, Rear Admiral Serhei Gayduk, told a Ukrainian TV station by phone.

His predecessor, Denis Berezovsky, who on Sunday said he would not submit to orders from Kiev and defected, was said to have entered the Ukrainian naval base in Crimea on Monday under the protection of a group of Cossacks and tried to convince other Ukrainian officers to defect.

However, Gayduk was at the base and urged officers to maintain their allegiance to Ukraine, the Defense Ministry's Seleznev told CNN. Troops responded by singing the Ukrainian national anthem.

These scenes come after Russian President Vladimir Putin secured permission from his parliament Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine and told U.S. President Barack Obama he had the right to defend Russian interests and nationals, spurning Western pleas not to intervene.

In a post on his official Facebook page Monday, Medvedev called Yanukovych's ouster a "seizure of power."

"Such a state of order will be extremely unstable," he said. "It will end with the new revolution. With new blood."

Worried West

The tensions have worried the West, and on Sunday, Russia's G8 partners condemned Moscow's military buildup in Crimea.

The world's seven major industrialized powers also suspended preparations for the G8 summit in Sochi, Russia, in June.

Their finance ministers announced some economic support for cash-strapped Ukraine, in a boost for the country's West-leaning new government.

"We are also committed to mobilize rapid technical assistance to support Ukraine in addressing its macroeconomic, regulatory, and anti-corruption challenges," G7 finance ministers said in a prepared statement, adding that an International Monetary Fund team was due to travel to Kiev this week.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is also scheduled to travel to Kiev. He has condemned what he called Russia's "incredible act of aggression" and said several foreign powers are looking at economic consequences if Russia does not withdraw its forces.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague is currently in Kiev, where he visited the central Independence Square, cradle of the three-month protests that ousted Yanukovych, and lay flowers for those who died in clashes between demonstrators and riot police.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also dispatched an envoy. "It is now of the utmost importance to install calm and de-escalate tensions immediately through dialogue," he said at a news conference, adding that he would meet Lavrov later Monday.

He urged "that the Russian Federation refrain from any acts and rhetoric that can further escalate the situation and instead engage constructively and through peaceful means with Ukraine."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office said Putin had accepted a proposal to establish a "fact-finding mission" to Ukraine, possibly under the leadership of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and to start a political dialogue.

East vs. West

Ukraine, a nation of 45 million people sandwiched between Europe and Russia's southwestern border, has been in chaos since Yanukovych was ousted on February 22 after bloody street protests that left dozens dead and hundreds wounded.

Anti-government demonstrations started in late November, when Yanukovych spurned a deal with the EU, favoring closer ties with Moscow instead.

Ukraine has faced a deepening split, with those in the west generally supporting the interim government and its European Union tilt, while many in the east prefer a Ukraine where Russia casts a long shadow.

Nowhere is that feeling more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership. Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for separation by its Russian majority.

Ukrainian leaders and commentators have compared events in Crimea to what happened in Georgia in 2008. Then, cross-border tensions with Russia exploded into a five-day conflict that saw Russian tanks and troops pour into the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as Georgian cities. Russia and Georgia each blamed the other for starting the conflict.

The crisis has hit Russian stock markets, with Moscow's main MICEX index opening about 8% lower Monday. The central bank hiked interest rates to 7% from 5.5%.

READ: Ukraine mobilizes troops after Russia's 'declaration of war'

READ: Opinion: Putin's move could be costly to U.S., Middle East

MAP: How Ukraine is divided

CNN's Alla Eshchenko in Moscow, Rob North in London, Neda Farshbaf in Atlanta, Dominique Van Heerden and journalist Azad Safarov in Kiev contributed to this report.

Greece's largest Carnival at Patras...[ 3742 ]

Greece's largest Carnival at Patras beats financial woes through satire. -300,000 visitors. 

Monday, 3 March 2014/ //globaltimes.cn

To the beat of deafening Carnival music and whistles, 30,000 revelers took to the streets of the western Greece city port of Patras on Sunday to celebrate life and beat the financial woes through satire.

In the climax of a month-long annual festival which tops all Carnival festivities across the country for decades, the young and old, locals and visitors dressed in fun, colorful costumes and braving the rain danced throughout the city center for hours sharing anti-austerity jokes.

The financial crisis which has hit Greece hard over the past four years featured in several parade floats with gigantic effigies of Greek politicians and auditors of international lenders which carried names such as "Help, they are robbing us."

  Despite the economic slump, as financial figures are improving in recent months, people are looking on the brighter side of life turning a traditional feast, which heralds the beginning of the pre-Easter fasting period of Lent, into a parody of the crisis.

• The Carnival is the largest event of its kind in Greece, counting 180 years of history. It stems from the Italian and French-inspired masquerade balls thrown in the mansions of the local bourgeoisie.

With links to the worship of the ancient Greek God of wine, Dionysus, it flourished over the course of time, gaining a reputation as the best destination to party hard in Greece during the Carnival season.

• In particular in the last weekend, the entire town, and its about 300,000 visitors, move to the rhythms of the dancing parade groups in a series of events planned by the Municipality of Patras.

The scale of participation is impressive for European standards and "the secret of success of Patra's Carnival," Christos Christopoulos, a member of the Municipality's board told Xinhua shortly before the start of Sunday's Grand Parade.

• The volunteers participating in the carnival in more than 120 groups are bearing a part of the cost of the festival, sponsors cover the major share and the Municipality invests about 300,000 euros (414,700 US dollars), his colleague Vivian Samouri added.

The wide smiles spreading during the open air party and dancing at night clubs which last for hours, are worth each cent, according to participants and spectators.  
Local businessmen are hoping that the event will help the economy. Hotels filled up for the Carnival weekend, bringing some relief to the tourism industry, as Patras' city centre was filled with bright lights, feathered costumes, music and laughter.

"Patras' carnival is interwoven with the city's history and vitality ... It became a levee against the crisis that has left a strong imprint on the society. The participants turned the crisis into a creative lever that provided optimism. The carnival is unaware of the crisis, because it is synonymous with progress and development," according to Patras' Mayor Yannis Dimaras.

Amidst the crisis, instead of losing its energy, the Carnival seems to have become on the contrary more inventive.

Sunday's procession of floats and revelers led by the King of the Carnival which comes after a similar night parade on Saturday evening, is the main event ending in a "chocolate war" with desserts tossed to the crowd.

Later in the evening, the city's women hold the leading role in a unique ball traditionally held at the Carnival Dance Hall, named "Bourboulia."

Dressed in domino robes, the masked ladies pick their male partners to dance and flirt. The tradition derives from the early days of the Carnival when the first mixing of social classes and unescorted women occurred, locals explained.

The festival closes with the burning of the Carnival King's effigy at the harbor amidst dance and theatre performances and a spectacular fireworks show.

By midnight the city bids farewell to the Carnival King and the Mayor announces the theme of next year's festival. 

Η Ξεφτίλα μιας φυλλάδας...[ 3741 ]

Eυτυχως που δεν κυκλοφορούν οι εφημεριδες την Καθαρη Δευτερα !  

Ολυμπιακός - Παναθηναϊκός 0-3...[ 3740 ]

Θρίαμβος για Παναθηναϊκό, 3-0 στο «Γ. Καραϊσκάκης»

Κυριακή, 02 Μαρτίου 2014 21:30

UPD:21:44

ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ/ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΒΛΑΧΟΣ

Ο Μπεργκ (Δ) του Παναθηναϊκού πανηγυρίζει το γκολ που πέτυχε επί του Ολυμπιακού στον μεταξύ τους αγώνα για την 27η αγωνιστική του Πρωταθλήματος της Superleague, στο γήπεδο «Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης».

Ο Παναθηναϊκός ήταν η ομάδα που έμελλε να παύσει το εφετινό αήττητο του Ολυμπιακού και μάλιστα κατά τρόπο εμφατικό, καθώς οι «πράσινοι» το πέτυχαν μέσα στο «Γ. Καραϊσκάκης», επικρατώντας με 3-0 (45΄ Πράνιτς, 68΄ Μπεργκ, 89΄ Αμπεϊντ) και αναβάλλοντας για κάποια από τις επόμενες αγωνιστικές τη στέψη της πειραϊκής ομάδας ως πρωταθλήτριας Ελλάδας. Ταυτόχρονα, οι νικητές ανέκτησαν την τρίτη θέση, ενώ απέχουν πια από τη δεύτερη θέση πέντε βαθμούς.

ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ/ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΒΛΑΧΟΣ

Παίκτες του Παναθηναϊκού πανηγυρίζουν το γκολ που πέτυχαν επί του Ολυμπιακού στον μεταξύ τους αγώνα για την 27η αγωνιστική του Πρωταθλήματος της Superleague, στο γήπεδο «Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης».

Ο Παναθηναϊκός επέλεξε να ακολουθήσει μια πολύ «σφιχτή» ανασταλτική τακτική, καθώς η ικανότητα των «ερυθρόλευκων» στη δημιουργία και την εκτέλεση θα καθιστούσαν επικίνδυνη την υιοθέτηση ενός επιθετικού πλάνου. Οι «πράσινοι» άφησαν λοιπόν την κατοχή της μπάλας στους αντιπάλους τους και φρόντισαν να αμυνθούν αποτελεσματικά. Ταυτόχρονα, ο διαιτητής Σιδηρόπουλος εφάρμοσε άψογα το πλεονέκτημα, δεν σφύριζε παρά μόνο όταν ήταν αναγκαίο κι αυτό είχε ως αποτέλεσμα έναν πολύ καλό ρυθμό.

Από ευκαιρίες και καλές φάσεις, πάντως, λίγα πράγματα, αφού ένα μακρινό σουτ του Χολέβα στο 20΄ δεν ανησύχησε τον Καπίνο, για να χαθεί η μεγάλη ευκαιρία του Ολυμπιακού τρία λεπτά αργότερα: ο Πέρες έκανε εξαιρετική ατομική προσπάθεια και τη στιγμή που έπρεπε «έκοψε» δίπλα και αριστερά στον Ολαϊτάν που ακολουθούσε τη φάση. Ο επιθετικός του Ολυμπιακού βγήκε απέναντι στον Καπίνο, αλλά την τελευταία στιγμή έχασε τον έλεγχο της μπάλας και έδωσε την ευκαιρία στον τερματοφύλακα των «πράσινων» να επέμβει.

ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ/ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΒΛΑΧΟΣ

Ο Ολαϊτάν του Ολυμπιακού τραυματισμένος στον αγωνσστικό χώρο δέχεται τις πρώτς βοήθειες κατά την διάρκεια του αγώνα Ολυμπιακός Παναθηναίκός για την 27η αγωνιστική του Πρωταθλήματος της Superleague, στο γήπεδο «Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης»

Στο 28ο λεπτό παίκτες και θεατές «πάγωσαν» στη χωρίς προφανή αιτία πτώση του νεαρού Νιγηριανού στον αγωνιστικό χώρο. Ο Ολαϊτάν σωριάστηκε στο χορτάρι, συμπαίκτες και αντίπαλοι τρόμαξαν, ο παίκτης μεταφέρθηκε εκτός με το φορείο αλλά έχοντας τις αισθήσεις και στον αυχένα του τοποθετήθηκε κολάρο, ενώ τη θέση του πήρε στο 35ο λεπτό ο Βαλντές. Κι ενώ το ημίχρονο όδευε προς τη λήξη με τις ενδείξεις να συντείνουν στο 0-0, αφού ένα σουτ του Μπεργκ στο 42΄ ήταν άστοχο, ο Πράνιτς έκανε με συρτό σουτ το 0-1 στο 45ο λεπτό, σε αντεπίθεση του Παναθηναϊκού και ύστερα από πάσα του Μπεργκ.

Ο Αναστασίου δεν είχε λόγο να αλλάξει τακτική στην ομάδα του, απέναντι σε έναν αντίπαλο που στο ημίχρονο έκανε νέα αλλαγή με τον Αβραάμ Παπαδόπουλο να αντικαθιστά τον Μαρκάνο. Οι φιλοξενούμενοι απείλησαν μάλιστα άμεσα στο 48΄, με τον Ρομπέρτο να βγαίνει έγκαιρα και να αποκρούει σε κόρνερ το σουτ του Μπεργκ. Προϊόντος του χρόνου, η κόπωση των παικτών του Μίτσελ από την υπερπροσπάθεια της περασμένης Τρίτης απέναντι στη Μάντσεστερ Γιουνάιτεντ άρχισε να γίνεται εμφανής και ο Παναθηναϊκός το εκμεταλλεύτηκε φτάνοντας στο 0-2 με το 10ο φετινό γκολ του Μπεργκ, στο 68ο λεπτό, από τη βαθιά μπαλιά του Λαγού.

ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ/ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΒΛΑΧΟΣ

Ο Ντομίγκεζ (Κ) του Ολυμπιακού διεκδικεί την μπάλα από τον Μεχντί Αμπείντ (Α) του Παναθηναϊκού στον μεταξύ τους αγώνα για την 27η αγωνιστική του Πρωταθλήματος της Superleague, στο γήπεδο «Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης»

Το «κύκνειο άσμα» των γηπεδούχων για επιστροφή στο παιχνίδι χάθηκε στο 82΄, με τον Ντομίνγκες να πετά την μπάλα άουτ από τα 11 μέτρα, στο πέναλτι που κέρδισε ο Βαλντές από τον Κουτρουμπή και σε φάση που αντικείμενο από την εξέδρα τραυμάτισε τον Γιάννη Αναστασίου. Οι «ερυθρόλευκοι» δεν είχαν πάντως πιει ακόμη όλο το «πικρό ποτήρι», αφού στο 89ο λεπτό, με απευθείας εκτέλεση φάουλ, ο Αμπεϊντ άφησε ακίνητο τον Ρομπέρτο για το 0-3.Σημειωση :

Oι εγωιστικές δηλώσεις του Μαρινακη οτι θα υποδεχτούν στο Καραΐσκάκη τον ΠΑΟ
όπως και την Μαντσεσερ Γιουναητεντ [ ! ]..αποδείχτηκαν εξεζητημένες οπαδικες μπαρούφες τοσο για το σκορ οσο και για την εν γένει συμπεριφορά