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Israel's youth voice frustration over economy

2011-08-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

A tent city sprawls through Tel Aviv, as youth continue to protest against rising cost of living.

Protests in Israel have extended into their third week and the tent city continues to sprawl through one of Tel Aviv's main boulevards.
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has set up a special committee to discuss the sit ins, yet the protests show no sign of abating.
Israel's younger generations are voicing their frustration over their socio-economic future.
Al Jazeera's Cal Perry reports from Tel Aviv.

Source: http://aljazeera.com/

UK government holds crisis talks over riots

2011-08-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

David Cameron, the British prime minister, has returned to London to head crisis talks after three nights of riots, looting and arson that have caused widespread damage in many parts of London and spread to other major cities.
Cameron, who had been on holiday in Italy, will chair a meeting of the high-level COBRA crisis committee on Tuesday, his office said.
More than 500 people have been arrested as a consequence of the riots which escalated on Monday night, two days after a police station was attacked in the north London area of Tottenham following protests over the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man, Mark Duggan, by armed police.
There were also incidences of looting and rioting in the cities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol on Monday.
"There are pretty tough questions confronting the politicians, said Tim Friend, Al Jazeera's correspondent in London. "It will be concerning police and politicians greatly. Whether what's happening outside London has anything to do with the shooting [of Mark Duggan], is doubtful at the moment."
Government officials have branded the rioters criminals and said the violence would have no effect on preparations for the 2012 London Olympic Games - though television images of blazing buildings and rioting were likely to dent the capital's image.
"It was needless, opportunistic theft and violence, nothing more, nothing less. It is completely unacceptable," said Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, after visiting Tottenham on Monday.
He said the government stood "side by side with those people in those communities who utterly condemn the violence and the theft".
The administrators of a Facebook page, created in memory of Mark Duggan, posted this message: "Please we ask for this violence to stop. This isn't about Mark, it never was. His family never wanted nor thought any of this would happen.
"You people are using this as an excuse. If you had any respect, you would stop this before they bring in the Army, the whole world is looking."
'Strong police response'
Reacting to the looting and violence spreading across the country, Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour party, posted on his Twitter account: "Shocked by scenes in parts of London and Birmingham. We need strong police response to restore calm and for communities to work together."
Some activists and opposition politicians suggested that government spending cuts had driven disadvantaged and unemployed youths to violence.
But Mike Freer, Conservative MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said that was "complete nonsense".
"These riots are about vandalism. To the best of my knowledge, we talked about cuts but most of them have not bitten yet. If Labour politicians really believe that, let’s have a list of cuts that they think justified people turning to violence."
Others including David Lammy and Diane Abbott, MPs for the affected areas of Tottenham and Hackney, rejected the idea that the government's austerity drive should be blamed for the riots.
"Cuts don’t turn you into a thief. What we saw was people thieving for hours," Abbott said.
Chukka Umunna, another Labour MP, said the violence in London was "totally opportunistic and utterly unacceptable".
"I think we have got to be very careful about seeking to draw general conclusions from a series of events around London to make some kind of historical judgment about what is going on," he added.
Cameron has resisted calls to slow the rate at which he is cutting the budget deficit in order to lessen the impact on youth services and other facilities. But he is likely to face new pressure to do more for poor districts of the capital.

Source : http://english.aljazeera.net

Military vows crackdown in Papua province

2011-08-05T03:39:00.001-07:00

www.thejakartapost.com. Associated Press, Jakarta | Thu, 08/04/2011 7:14 PM

Indonesia's army chief vowed Thursday to hunt down separatist rebels after a swell in violence in the restive province of Papua killed two soldiers and three civilians in less than a week.
They will be "chased down" and "cleaned up" by local military units, said Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, a day after gunmen shot a military helicopter in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya, a rebel stronghold and longtime hotbed of separatist violence.
The chopper had flown into the remote region to evacuate Fana Hadi, an army private who was wounded during an attack on his post Tuesday morning.
Gunmen opened fire as it passed a hill, killing Hadi with a shot to his left rib, local military officials said.
That shooting followed the killings of one soldier and three civilians Monday, shot and hacked to death during an ambush on their minibus and taxi near the provincial capital of Jayapura.
Five other people were injured.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the uptick in violence.
Papua is a former Dutch colony on the western part of New Guinea. It was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot.
A small, poorly armed separatist group known as the Free Papua Movement has battled for independence ever since.
Nineteen people were killed in clashes between supporters of rival political candidates in a seemingly unrelated violence Sunday. Because of the violence, elections for district chief scheduled for Nov. 9 will be delayed, local media reported Thursday.

Yudhoyono defends KPK following House speaker criticism

2011-08-05T03:26:00.000-07:00

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 08/01/2011 3:03 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has rejected a plan to disband the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) proposed by fellow Democratic Party politician and House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie.
“President SBY has repeatedly explained on various occaisions the importance of the KPK,” presidential expert legal staff Denny Indrayana said Monday in Jakarta.
“We still really need a strong and powerful KPK. I assure you that the President will always give the KPK his full support, to help it accomplish its task of creating a cleaner, more corruption-free Indonesia,” he added, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Last week, Marzuki said the KPK should be disbanded, citing graft fugitive Muhammad Nazaruddin’s recent statements implicating the involvement of three KPK deputies in a high-profile graft case.
The commission has named Nazaruddin, the former Democratic Party treasurer, as a suspect in the same case.
Marzuki also said that graft suspects should be pardoned and obliged only to return to the state any funds they had taken.
Yudhoyono is the chief patron of the Democratic Party, while Marzuki his deputy

New Barclays Premier League season

2011-08-05T02:50:00.000-07:00

"It will be an exciting start to the new Barclays Premier League season"

On Saturday 13th August, The New Barclays premier League season will be start.

Champions Manchester United now kick off the new campaign away to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday 14th August.
Chelsea open at Stoke City on the same day and Swansea City must now wait until Monday 15th August to play their first ever Barclays Premier League fixture away to Manchester City.Newly-promoted QPR take on Bolton Wanderers at Loftus Road while Norwich City resume life at the top level at Wigan Athletic.

Matches on 5th May will not clash with the FA Cup Final and may accordingly move to a different kick off time on the Saturday or to the Sunday. A further announcement will be made closer to the date.
All fixtures are provisional and subject to change.

www.premierleague.com