Air crash at Tripoli International Airport in Libya. [ 1225 ]

Child is sole survivor of Tripoli air crash BBC., Wednesday ,, May 12th,2010., 20:22 UK Aftermath of the plane crash at Tripoli airport A child aged about 10 is the only survivor of a plane crash at Tripoli airport in Libya which killed more than 100 people. Libyan officials say the child is Dutch and is being treated in hospital for injuries including broken bones. Dutch officials say 61 of their nationals were killed in the crash. The plane, belonging to the Libyan airline Afriqiyah Airways, crashed as it arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa. The cause is not yet known. Other passengers included nationals from Libya, South Africa, Germany, Britain and France. Libyan TV showed the child who survived being treated in hospital The Airbus A330 - carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew - crashed as it came into land at Tripoli and disintegrated. The plane's tailfin bearing the airline's colourful insignia was the only sizeable piece of wreckage to be seen. The child was taken to hospital and underwent surgery for multiple fractures to both legs, officials said. Libyan TV showed the child in a hospital bed with a bandaged head and wearing an oxygen mask. Libyan officials and the Dutch tourism board said he was a 10-year-old Dutch boy, but the Dutch foreign ministry said it could not verify any details. Flags across the Netherlands were flying at half mast for the victims on Wednesday. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said a crisis team had been set up in the foreign ministry. "This is a large group of Dutch nationals, so it's a deeply sad message we have this day," he said. The plane's 11 crew were reported to have been Libyan. The British Foreign Office confirmed that at least one British national was on board and Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin later confirmed that an Irish woman was among the dead. Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zidan said victims also included nationals from Germany, Finland, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, South Africa and France, although he had no exact numbers. Connecting flights Nicky Knapp, a spokeswoman for Airports Company South Africa, said seven passengers were booked to connect to London Gatwick Airport, 32 to Brussels, 42 to Dusseldorf in Germany, and one to Charles de Gaulle in Paris. VICTIMS' NATIONALITIES Libyan Dutch German British Finnish Zimbabwean Philippine South African French Irish 'Briton on Tripoli crash plane' The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Some reports suggest the plane crashed very close to the runway. A flight recorder has already been recovered, and officials hope this will provide some clues as to what caused the disaster. However, Mr Zidan ruled out terrorism as the cause of the crash. He said arrangements were being made to help victims' relatives come to Tripoli. According to Airbus, the aircraft was delivered from the production line in September 2009 and had accumulated about 1,600 flight hours in some 420 flights. Afriqiyah Airways is a low-cost Libyan airline founded nine years ago and operates a relatively new fleet of Airbus aircraft, the BBC's Wyre Davies in Cairo reports

NASA Image of the Day, May 12th.... [ 1234 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

American, Indonesian Students Link Hands Via Distance Learning

A dozen Indonesian students gathered at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta (at left in the split-screen video monitor) had the opportunity to query their American high school counterparts on their interests, experiences and culture during the interactive video linkup recently at NASA Dryden's Aerospace Exploration Gallery in Palmdale, Calif. NASA / Tom Tschida

Τετάρτη, 12 Μάιος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

China another 7 children attacked....[ 1233 ]

12-5-2010		Photo 1 of 3
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, medical workers take an injured child to ICU at 3201 Hospital in Hanzhong City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province Wednesday, May 12, 2010.  An attacker hacked seven children and one teacher to death Wednesday and wounded 20 other people in a rampage at a kindergarten in northwest China, the latest in a string of savage assaults at the country's schools.  (AP Photo/Xinhua, Wu Tianchang)

A Briton from Spain. says...[ 1232 ]

“Those who can, should, those who cannot, we will always help.”

Keith & Pam Williamson,Bigastro, Alicante, Spain

Wendesday, May 12th,2010 ( Copy )
That is a great sound bite from the 52nd British Prime Minister, a promise that we all hope he can keep.

After all the behind closed door discussions and the political wrangling that has gone on since the election on Thursday, at last we know what is going to happen. There is to be a Conservative/Lib. Dem. coalition for the next five years; Mr Cameron will be Prime Minister and Mr Clegg his deputy. This will be the first full coalition government since 1945. In the meantime, Gordon Brown resigned as leader of the Labour Party with immediate effect and has suggested that he will also stand down as MP – presumably at the next election.
So Britain now has the youngest PM since Lord Liverpool in 1812: David Cameron is a few months younger than Tony Blair was when he took office in 1997. To be honest, it is not a job I would relish because you just know it will not be smooth sailing for the new government. Crisis will occur, promises will be broken and they will have Labour watching their backs all the time.

Posted by Keith & Pam Williamson

NB :The above post is reproduced from the post of  the  Briton Keith Williamson who stays permanently with his wife Pan in Spain 

Russia and EU for better relations..[ 1231 ]

Russian document prioritises better EU relations

ANDREW RETTMAN

12-5-2010.,, 09:25 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A classified Kremlin strategy paper has said Russia should build better relations with EU countries in order to rescue its economy. But some EU capitals, including Warsaw, are wary of the change in tone.

The document, entitled "The Programme for Effective Use of Foreign Policy in the Long Term Development of Russia," is dated February 2010 and written in the name of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Russian edition of Newsweek magazine on Monday (10 May) published the text on its website.

Mr Medvedev (c) arriving in Italy on an official visit. The Lavrov document has come out two weeks ahead of the EU-Russia summit (Photo: kremlin.ru)

Mr Lavrov in the preamble says Russia should create "modernisation alliances" with EU states in order to help its petro-based economy emerge from the global financial crisis.
The paper highlights France, Germany, Italy and Spain for "priority co-operation." It talks of using the Franco-German "tandem" to help gain approval for new policies at EU level. It also speaks of developing the Russia-EU-US "triangle" to gain respectability on the world stage.

In terms of concrete projects with France, it envisages new Peugeot-Citroen and Renault car factories in Russia, a joint space programme in Guinea, joint renovation of the Belene nuclear plant in Bulgaria and further co-operation between Gazprom and Electricite de France.
In Germany, it lists ongoing support for the Nord Stream gas pipeline, joint work on a new electron laser and on the Airbus A350 jet.

In Italy, it seeks to attract Italian firms to upgrade Russian railways, ports and airports and to use Italian expertise on how to stage the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

EU countries Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are named in the text as well. It does not mention the UK, one of Russia's largest investment partners in Europe, or Poland, its largest EU neighbour. But former Soviet vassals Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine also come in for special attention.

Meanwhile, Russia has circulated a parallel document, entitled "Partnership for Modernisation," in Brussels ahead of the EU-Russia summit in Rostov-on-Don on 31 May.

The EU partnership text highlights technology transfer in line with Mr Lavrov's new programme and is designed to be adopted by both sides in Rostov-on-Don. The partnership paper is intended to stand alongside a new EU-Russia bilateral treaty, currently under negotiation, which also covers pro-democratic reform, human rights and rule of law.

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday poured a little cold water on the idea of a looming Russian transformation.
He said that if Moscow is serious about nuclear disarmament it should bring its stockpile of warheads down from 2,000 to 220, the total number in EU states. He also complained that the Partnership for Modernisation is an attempt to cherry-pick subjects from the bilateral treaty, while leaving difficult issues, such as rule of law in Russia, aside.

The foreign minister of Hungary shared Mr Sikorski's reservations, an EU diplomat said.
Russia-sceptics looking at Mr Lavrov's new programme could find plenty of material to feed concern.
The Kremlin paper envisages aggressive Russian expansion in the energy sector in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Russia should "strengthen [its] economic presence in the Baltic states, given the sharp fall of their investment attractiveness for EU countries and a serious reduction in the price of national assets," it says.

It also advises the acquisition of controlling stakes in Belarus petroleum refineries and Ukraine's gas transit pipelines, both important strategic assets.
"If you look at what Russia has been doing in the post-Soviet countries in the past few months, it is taking back control in an arc from north to south. The Eastern Partnership is dead in the water," an EU official said, referring to the EU's flagship integration policy for its post-Soviet rim.