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Yemeni troops open fire on protesters, six dead
Fighting resumes in Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid
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Nepal minister sacked
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Yemeni troops open fire on protesters, six dead
Sanaa, October 16 Medical officials stationed at a makeshift field hospital near Change Square said four protesters and two dissident soldiers were killed, and at least 59 others wounded. The defiant march by tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in Sanaa came despite the deaths of at least 12 persons in a similar protest in the capital yesterday. The fresh violence erupted when protesters neared Al-Zubeiri Street, which marks the dividing line between parts of the capital held by troops loyal to Saleh and those held by dissident units led by General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, who rallied to the opposition in March. An AFP correspondent on the scene said snipers positioned on rooftops overlooking the street opened fire on the protesters, who were being led by dissident troops from Ahmar's First Armoured Division. Ahmar's troops returned fire and fierce clashes ensued as unarmed protesters frantically dispersed. The latest violence followed a similarly bloody day yesterday when troops loyal to Saleh shot dead 12 protesters from a crowd of hundreds of thousands who marched on Al-Zubeiri Street. Seventeen other people, at least five of them civilians, were killed in clashes which erupted between Saleh loyalists on one side and pro-opposition tribesmen and army units on the other. The pro-democracy activists, who have been demonstrating since January to bring an end to Saleh's 33-year rule, voiced defiance ahead of Sunday's march.
— AFP
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Fighting resumes in Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid
Tripoli, October 16 "We have resumed combat operations and we have advanced from the northern front as well as from the south," said Musa Yunis, who heads the National Transitional Council (NTC) forces in Bani Walid, a desert oasis town some 170 km southeast of Tripoli. NTC fighters have surrounded the town but their commanders pulled them back last week after suffering heavy losses and to prepare for a new offensive against the 1,500 pro-Gaddafi fighters thought to remain there. A commander from the city of Zawiyah, whose forces are based south of Bani Walid, said his fighters had launched a barrage of artillery fire against the positions of the Gaddafi loyalists. Last Sunday, the disparate forces of the new regime paid a heavy price for their lack of coordination, having to abandon control of the airport and suffering heavy casualties with 17 of their men killed and more than 80 wounded. — AFP
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Thai floods claim more factories
Bangkok, October 16 Flooding has killed 297 people since late July and caused $3 billion in damage. A third of the country is under water but officials are confident low-lying Bangkok will be spared after the strengthening of its system of defensive dikes and canals. “We’re dredging canals in both western and eastern zones, which should be completed in no more than a week. The irrigation department has provided an update on the water situation, which has reassured us,” Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters. Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Sawan provinces north of Bangkok have been devastated. Floods have swallowed up homes and forced a series of huge industrial parks to close, including the Bang Pa-In estate in Ayutthaya on Saturday. Another estate, Factory Land in Ayutthaya, which has 93 factories employing 8,500 employees, flooded in the early hours of Sunday. Most of the factories make electronic components and car parts, so this will add to the problems of the international firms that use Thailand as a regional production hub. “The water broke in at around midnight. Operators there were aware of it and evacuated people from the estate ... Up to now, five industrial estates have been flooded,” said Prayoon Tingthong, in charge of industrial affairs for the province. Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd has shut its Ayutthaya plant, which accounts for 4.7 percent of its global output, and said on Friday it would stay closed until Octtober 21. The authorities are worried about another industrial park, Nava Nakorn in Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok, which is standing in the way of the flow of water towards the capital. Thai media said soldiers and workers from the estate, Thailand’s oldest with more than 200 factories, were working around the clock to strengthen its walls and divert water. However, on Sunday the Bangkok Post website quoted an irrigation official as saying a crucial sluice-gate had been repaired so the estate was now safe. The north, northeast and centre of Thailand have been worst hit by the flooding and Bangkok, much of it only 6.5 ft above sea level, is at risk as water overflows from reservoirs in the north, swelling the Chao Phraya river that winds through the densely populated city. That danger was compounded at the weekend by high estuary tides that hamper the flow of water into the sea. Even so, Bangkokians have stocked up on bottled water, instant noodles, rice and canned goods. Many have parked their cars in elevated garages and piled sandbags in front of shop-houses and homes. The economy is bound to suffer from the flooding. Both the central bank and government have put the cost at about 100 billion baht ($3.2 billion) already, more than 1 per cent of gross domestic product. — Reuters
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A BILLION GO HUNGRY ON WORLD FOOD DAY
One in seven people in the world went hungry on Sunday, which was observed as the World Food Day. Although the world can produce enough food to feed everyone, nearly a billion people ( 100 crores) go hungry every day or eat so little that it could well be called the Global Lack of Nutrition Day.
But for many of the millions going hungry, it is not war or natural disaster that prevents them from having enough to eat but simply not having sufficient money in their pockets. Worldwide food prices have been high since 2006, when speculation by traders caused staples such as rice to rise by up to 320 per cent in a year. From 2005 to 2008, the worldwide average price of food went up by 80 per cent - and it is still rising. For those whose income was only ever enough to fund their subsistence, it has meant being priced out of life. A study of worldwide food insecurity by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), published last week, estimated that a total of 925 million people were undernourished in 2010, two-thirds of whom lived in just seven countries - Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. The reports make it quite clear that rising food prices, stock market speculation in crop futures, conflict, climate change and corrupt, repressive regimes are the reasons why so many people go hungry - and not due to humanity's inability to grow enough crops. The findings come three months after the declaration of a major famine in the Horn of Africa, a glaring instance of several of these dreaded factors working at once. Few countries in East Africa are unaffected by the terrible drought in the region, but it is only in Somalia that persistent conflict and a lack of an effective central government have tipped the situation into a full-scale famine. Money has poured in from governments, agencies and individuals, all wanting to help, specially each of the 13 million people at risk of starvation. A lack of proper planning and prevention has once again created a crisis in East Africa, despite many thwarted attempts to break the cycle of famine. Kostas Stamoulis, director of agricultural development economics for the UN, said: "The long-term problem, with nearly a billion people going hungry across the globe, continues to be ignored. Emergencies affect hundreds of thousands of people every year but chronic hunger is a huge problem.". "We can't mobilise food aid to feed nearly one billion - it just isn't feasible." The UN believes part of the reason for food shortages is a lack of investment in agriculture. In countries in protracted crisis, the FAO report says that only 3-4 per cent of funds for development and humanitarian assistance go towards agriculture. Mr Stamoulis said: "Some 75 per cent of those going hungry are rural people who derive most of their living from agriculture. We have neglected agriculture for too long. For years, people felt the way out of economic difficulties was to industrialise, but that meant agriculture was neglected in terms of research and in terms of rural infrastructure ... If we don't do something now we're going to face even more of these food security crises in the future. If you add in climate change and the fact that natural resources to produce food are declining, we'll be in pretty bad shape." In Yemen, rising food prices and political instability have put 3.5 million people at risk of starvation. In Afghanistan, three decades of war and instability have had a similar effect. Almost one-third of the population do not have access to enough food to stay healthy. In many countries, humanitarian relief is complicated by politics. The Obama administration was last week accused of dithering over sending food aid to North Korea. A third of all children under five in the Communist country are chronically malnourished but the US says it will not give aid until the state guarantees it will reach the most needy and until there is an improvement in relations with South
Korea. — The Independent fighting hunger
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Palin changes Facebook profile to ‘Conservative’
Washington, October 16 Known as a staunch Republican, the 47-year-old ex-Alaskan governor had on October 5 announced that she wouldn't seek the Republican US presidential nomination in 2012. "When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order," she said in a letter to supporters. Now, Palin, the Republican nominee for US vice-president in 2008 poll, has nailed her political colours to the mast and changed her social networking website Facebook's profile from "Republican" to "Conservative".
— PTI
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Kathmandu, October 16 Land Reforms Minister Prabhu Sah tendered his resignation this evening after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and Maoist chairman Prachanda met to discuss the issue and decided to do away with him. Sah was accused of involvement in the murder of Hindu Yuva Sangh chairman Kashinath Tiwari in Birgunj last year, but the prosecutors this month struck down a case against him citing lack of evidence. — PTI
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