nytimes : Hurricane Irene Pushes North With Deadly Force

After several anxious days of dire forecasts that forced much of the East Coast into unprecedented levels of lockdown, a weakened but still ferocious Hurricane Irene made landfall on Saturday morning along the southern coast of North Carolina and began its gradual, destructive move up the East Coast, contributing to the deaths of at least five people

Announcing itself with howling winds and hammering rains, the hurricane made landfall at Cape Lookout, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, around 7:30, which instantly became urgent news hundreds of miles north, in the battened-down cities of Washington, Baltimore and, especially, New York, where city officials took the unprecedented steps of evacuating low-lying areas and shutting down the mass transit system.

 

Shortly after daybreak in Nags Head, N.C., on the Outer Banks, surging waves ate away at the dunes, while winds peeled the siding from vacated beach houses — as if to challenge the National Hurricane Center’s early morning decision to downgrade Irene to a Category 1 hurricane, whose maximum sustained winds would reach only — only — 90 miles an hour, with occasional stronger gusts.

 

The hurricane also quickly contributed to at least three deaths in North Carolina: a man whose car hydroplaned and hit a tree; a man who was hit by a falling tree limb, and a man who had a heart attack while nailing up plywood. There were two deaths in Virginia — in Newport News, an 11-year-old boy was killed when a tree crashed through the roof of his apartment building, and in Brunswick County a man died when a tree fell on his car.

 

The massive storm was expected to push out to sea again later Saturday and then head north toward New York City, which prepared to face powerhouse winds and storm surges that could drive walls of water over the beaches of the Rockaway Peninsula and between the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan.

 

The city scrambled to complete the evacuation of about 300,000 residents in areas where officials expected flooding to follow the storm, including Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan. Officials also ordered the entire public transportation system — subways, buses and commuter rail lines — to shut down Saturday for what they said was the first time in history. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said mass transit was “unlikely to be back” in service on Monday, and also raised the specter of a possible electrical shutdown in parts of the city, though Con Ed said it had no immediate plans to do that.

 

“This is just the beginning,” the mayor said at a morning news conference in Coney Island, Brooklyn, where he and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly inspected boats that emergency workers could use in neighborhoods that could not be navigated in any other way. “This is a life-threatening storm.”

 

Officials said the central concern at the moment was the storm surge of such a large, slow-moving hurricane — the deluge to be dumped from the sky or thrown onto shore by violent waves moving like snapped blankets. “I would very much take this seriously,” Brian McNoldy, a research associate of the Department of Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University, said. “Don’t be concerned if it’s a Category 1, 2, 3, 4. If you’re on the coast, you don’t want to be there. Wind isn’t your problem.”

 

Mazie Swindell Smith, the county manager in Hyde County, N.C., which is expecting storm surge from the inland bay that abuts it, agreed. “The storm is moving more slowly than expected,” Ms. Smith said. “That’s not good as far as rainfall, because it will just sit here and dump rain.”

 

With the first hurricane to make landfall in the continental United State since 2008, government officials issued evacuation orders for about 2.3 million people, according to The Associated Press — from 100,000 people in Delaware to 1 million people in New Jersey, where the governor, Chris Christie, seemed to speak for all concerned public officials when he told everyone to “Get the hell off the beach



HAARETZ : Report: Sarkozy and Cameron to visit Libya once Gadhafi is captured

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron will visit Libya together once Muammar Gadhafi has been captured, France's Le Parisien daily reported Friday, citing sources in Sarkozy's office.

The visit would most likely take place after next week's international summit on the future of Libya, being held in Paris on September 1, the paper reported.

In addition to visiting the Libyan capital Tripoli, Sarkozy would also like to travel to the rebel strongholds of Benghazi and Misrata, his aides told the paper.

Sarkozy and Cameron were at the forefront of the campaign for military intervention in support of Libya's rebels. The rebels took control of most of the capital Tripoli this week, solidifying their hold over most of the country.

HAARETZ : Million man anti-Israel rally in Cairo attracts only hundreds

Hundreds of Egyptians gathered Friday outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo in what was supposed to be a "million-man march" calling on the government to expel Israel's ambassador.

Most Egyptian protest groups announced that they would participate in the demonstration to expel the ambassador over the border incident last week in which five Egyptian policemen were killed by the IDF. However, the protesters who actually arrived were far fewer in number.

The police deaths occurred on August 19 during a shootout with militants near the Egyptian border, following attacks on a bus and other vehicles killed eight Israelis. 

"The people want the right of our martyrs in Sinai be regained," protesters, holding the Egyptian flags, chanted outside the embassy amid tight security. Others shouted: "The people's first demand is to have the ambassador evicted."

One of the protesters shot in the air and managed to leave the scene before police could arrest him, according to witnesses.

A 23-year-old Egyptian, Ahmed Shahhat, climbed to the roof of the 13-story apartment building housing the embassy early Sunday morning and removed the Israeli flag from the roof, replacing it with an Egyptian flag he had carried with him.

Shahhat, who became an instant folk hero in Egypt, said his action had come in protest against the killing of the three Egyptian soldiers. A resident in the building opened his balcony door for Shahhat, who made the rest of the way down by elevator and was welcomed by thousands of protesters who have been demonstrating outside the building with calls to suspend the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.



washingtonpost : Moqtada al-Sadr pushes for protests in Iraq after Muslim holy month of Ramadan

BAGHDAD — Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has released a letter calling on his followers in Iraq to demonstrate “in millions” after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ends next week.

 

In the letter, released late Friday, Sadr urged his followers to demonstrate against the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, saying it has not done enough to improve public services. Many Iraqis do not have full electricity in their homes or sufficient running water.

 

“We remind the government about the fate of the Arab leaders who were swooped down on by their own people and toppled in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt,” the Shiite cleric wrote.

 

Sadr also praised the Libyans who brought down Moammar Gaddafi’s regime this week, and he called on his followers to continue to oppose the American troop presence in Iraq.

 

“The Iraqi people will stand by the Iraqi resistance until it brings down the last U.S. occupation’s flag from Iraq’s land,” he wrote.

 

Sadr had thrown his support to the Maliki government in a major speech in January that marked his reemergence in Iraq after four years of self-imposed exile.

 

At that time, he urged his followers to maintain their fierce resistance to the United States but also warned that his movement would begin targeting Iraq’s government if it did not restore services or security and hold to a timeline for a full U.S. military withdrawal by the end of 2011. He gave the government a separate deadline of six months to improve matters; on Friday, it appeared that the government has failed his test.

 

Sadr, who has millions of followers in the poorer areas of Baghdad and in the country’s south, is believed to have spent at least part of the past four years under the tutelage of hard-line clerics in Iran, studying to be an ayatollah. His father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq Sadr, was assassinated in 1999 by loyalists of Saddam Hussein.

 

In the spring, he paraded with members of his Mahdi Army through Baghdad’s Shiite slum, Sadr City, to demand that U.S. forces leave Iraq, and recently he created a buzz on the Web by appearing in military garb and draped in the Iraqi flag, attended by a soldier wearing a ski mask. Members of the Mahdi Army’s armed militia, the Promised Day Brigade, have asserted responsibility in recent weeks for more than 16 attacks on U.S. forces in the south.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Baghdad are using Facebook and other social media to plan a Sept. 9 rally in the capital, also to protest the lack of services and poor security. Dozens of people were killed in February during protests inspired by the Arab Spring, and Maliki’s government has been criticized for rough treatment of many who took to the streets during those days.



العثور على 50 جثة متفحمة قرب طرابلس

طرابلس- ا ف ب:

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 عثر على 50 جثة متفحمة في سجن ملحق بآخر قاعدة عسكرية ظلت تحت سيطرة القوات الموالية لمعمر القذافي في طرابلس بعد ان استولى عليها الثوار اليوم السبت.

 وقد عثر السكان المحليون على الرفات البشرية بعد سيطرة الثوار على القاعدة التابعة للكتيبة 32 التي يتزعمها خميس القذافي نجل معمر القذافي في منطقة صلاح الدين جنوبي العاصمة الليبية.

واوضحت مصادر الثوار ان هذه القاعدة الاخيرة بايدي قوات القذافي تمت السيطرة عليها السبت اثر غارة للحلف الاطلسي ومعارك استمرت سبع ساعات.

وقال نور الدين يوسف مصراتة احد مقاتلي الثوار لقد اغار الحلف الاطلسي ثم تحركت قواتنا الخاصة وهاجمت.

واعلن الحلف الاطلسي في بيانه اليومي اليوم السبت انه اصاب منشأتين عسكريتين في ضواحي طرابلس في الساعات الـ24 الاخيرة.

وقال سكان بجوار الموقع: ان مبنى السجن المصاب باضرار يضم 53 جثة متفحمة. واستطاعت مراسلة فرانس برس احصاء رفات 50 جثة.

وقال الطبيب سليم رجوب الذي يسكن قرب القاعدة، اشعر بالصدمة، ما كنت اظن انني سأرى مشهدا كهذا في ليبيا، مشيرا الى انهم على الارجح ضحايا مجزرة وقعت الثلاثاء الماضي.

وقال رجوب سمعنا في الثالث والعشرين من اغسطس 23 رمضان صوت اطلاق رصاص قبل الافطار واصوات استغاثة، لكن كان القناصة ينتشرون في الخارج ولم يجرؤ احد على الاقتراب.

وتابع قتل هؤلاء الرجال برصاص بنادق الكلاشنيكوف والقنابل اليدوية ثم تم اضرام النار في اجسادهم.

واستولى الثوار داخل القاعدة على مخزونات كبيرة من الاسلحة من صنع الماني وروسي واميركي وايطالي.

ولم يتم اصدار حصيلة بضحايا معركة اليوم السبت

ليبيا تطلب مدرسين مصريين فوراً

كتب - ناصر فياض:

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طلب اليوم المجلس الانتقالي الليبي من مصر رسمياً إرسال مدرسين مصريين في مختلف المناهج للتدريس في مدارس ليبيا قبل بدء العام الدراسي الجديد بعد أيام.

وأكد وفد المجلس برئاسة محمود جبريل رئيس المكتب التنفيذي للمجلس الانتقالي وعبدالرحمن شلقم وزير الخارجية الليبي السابق خلال لقائه قبل قليل مع الدكتور عصام شرف، أن ليبيا تطلب إلي جانب المدرسين كتبا مدرسية ومناهج ووسائل طباعة لسد العجز في تلك المجالات في ليبيا.

وأكد الدكتور عصام شرف رئيس مجلس الوزراء وقوف مصر إلي جانب ليبيا ودعم مصر للاحتياجات العاجلة في مجالات الصحة والدواء والمستشفيات والطاقة والكهرباء والأمن والتعليم وتشغيل المرافق

 



أخيراً..الجبلاية يفسخ عقد "شحاتة" رسمياً

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أعلن اتحاد الكرة برئاسة سمير زاهر إنهاء تعاقده رسمياً مع حسن شحاتة المدير الفنى السابق للمنتخب الوطنى والذى تولى تدريب نادي الزمالك بعد أن اتفقا الطرفين على إنهاء التعاقد بالتراضي دون أى التزامات مالية على الطرفين.

وأعلنت الجبلاية أنه سيتم تكريم حسن شحاتة بصحبة الجهاز الفنى للمنتخب بالكامل فى حفل سيتم تحديد موعده فيما بعد.

من المنتظر أن يوقع شحاتة على عقد تدريب نادي الزمالك بشكل رسمي خلال الأسبوع الجاري.

كان شحاتة قد رفض توقيع عقد تدريبه لنادي الزمالك بشكل رسمي بسبب عدم إنهاء علاقته رسميا مع اتحاد الكرة حيث إنه لم يحصل على ما يفيد بإنهاء التعاقد

 

Ethiopia 'using aid as weapon of oppression'

There they found villages where whole communities are starving, having allegedly been denied basic food, seed and fertiliser for failing to support Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

The investigation has also gathered evidence of mass detentions, the widespread use of torture and extra-judicial killings by Ethiopian government forces.

Yet Western donors including Britain - which is the third largest donor to Ethiopia - stand accused of turning a blind eye by continuing to provide aid money despite being warned about the abuses.

The aid in question is long-term development aid, not the emergency aid provided in response to the current drought in Ethiopia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa.

Government response

Ambassador Abdirashid Dulane, the Deputy Head of Ethiopia's UK Mission, has rejected the allegations saying that the Newsnight/Bureau report "lacked objectivity, even-handedness".

"The sole source of the story was opponents of Ethiopia who have been rejected by the electorate, and time and again it has been shown that their allegations are unfounded".

Our reporters visited one village in southern Ethiopia with a population of about 1,700 adults.

Despite being surrounded by other communities which are well fed and prosperous, this village, which cannot be named for fear of reprisals, is starving. We were told that in the two weeks prior to our team's arrival five adults and 10 children had died.

Lying on the floor, too exhausted to stand, and flanked by her three-year-old son whose stomach is bloated by malnutrition, one woman described how her family had not eaten for four days.

"We are living day to day on the grace of God," she said.

Another three-year-old boy lay in his grandmother's lap, listless and barely moving as he stared into space.

"We are just waiting on the crop, if we have one meal a day we will survive until the harvest, beyond that there is no hope for us," the grandmother said.

'Abandoned'

In another village 30 km (19 miles) away it was a similar story.

Almost all of the aid goes through the government channels... in terms of relief food supply and some of the safety net provisions, they simply don't get to the needy of an equitably basis Professor Beyene Petros, opposition politician

There our team met Yenee, a widow who along with her seven children is surviving by begging, eating leaves and scavenging scraps from the bins in the nearest town.

"The situation is desperate," she said. "We have been abandoned... It is a matter of chance if we live or die."

The two villages sit just 15km (9 miles) either side of a major town, surrounded by other communities where the populations are well fed and healthy. They are in desperate need, but no-one is helping.

According to local opposition members they are being punished for failing to vote for the ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which Mr Meles leads.

Further north a group of farmers alienated by Mr Meles' government met the BBC/Bureau team at a secret location on the edge of a remote village.

One farmer described how he had been ostracised for failing to support EPRDF: "Because of our political views we face great intimidation. We are denied the right to fertiliser and seeds because of political ideology," he said.

'Buying support'

The Ethiopian federal and regional governments control the distribution of aid in Ethiopia.

Professor Beyene Petros, the current vice-chairman of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Forum, an alliance of eight opposition parties known as Medrek, told our reporters that aid is not distributed according to need, but according to support for the EPRDF:

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi took power in 1991

"Almost all of the aid goes through the government channels... in terms of relief food supply and some of the safety net provisions, they simply don't get to the needy of an equitably basis.

"There is a great deal of political differentiation. People who support the ruling party, the EPRDF, and our members are treated differently. The motivation is buying support, that is how they recruit support, holding the population hostage," he said.

Mr Beyene said that the international community, including the British government, is well aware of the problem and that he has personally presented them with evidence:

"The position of the donor communities is dismissive... they always want to dismiss it as an isolated incident when we present them with some proof. And we challenge them to go down and check it out for themselves, but they don't do it."

Accountability

The UK International Development Minister Stephen O'Brien issued a statement in response to the allegations raised by the investigation, saying:

"We take all allegations of human rights abuses extremely seriously and raise them immediately with the relevant authorities including the Ethiopian Government, with whom we have a candid relationship. Where there is evidence, we take firm and decisive action.

They raped me in a room, one of them was standing on my mouth, and one tied my hand, they were taking turns, I fainted during this Ethiopian woman from the Ogaden

"The British aid programme helps the people of Ethiopia, 30 million of whom live in extreme poverty. We demand full accountability and maximum impact on the ground for support from the British taxpayer."

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Newsnight also gathered evidence of a crackdown and human rights abuses in Ethiopia's Somali region, the area bordering Somalia and Kenya, also know as the Ogaden region.

Ethnic Somali rebels from the outlawed Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Ethiopian government forces have been fighting for control of Ogaden since the 1970s.

The media and most aid agencies are banned from the region.

Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries of the world, is currently suffering from horrific drought.

Many of those fleeing the ensuing humanitarian crisis have headed to Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya.

It is the largest refugee camp in the world, and the vast majority of the 400,000 people there are from Somalia, but among them are an increasing number of Ethiopians from the Ogaden.

'Revenge killings'

Abdifatah Arab Olad, an Ogaden community leader, told our reporters that up to 100 refugees are arriving every month with tales of killings and the burning of villages by government troops.

"Whenever fighting has taken place between the rebels and the army, for each army member that is killed, the military go to the nearest town and they start killing people," he said. "For each army member killed it equals to 10 civilians losses."

In the corner of a makeshift shack in the camp, an old woman who had arrived from Ogaden three weeks earlier described being arrested along with 100 others in her village.

She said they were taken to a jail where they were locked up in a shipping container, and picked out on a nightly basis to be tortured:

"They beat me then started to rape me; I screamed and fought with them... I tried to bite them... they tied me this way," she said, gesturing to her legs.

"They raped me in a room, one of them was standing on my mouth, and one tied my hand, they were taking turns, I fainted during this... I can't say how many, but they were many in the army," she said.

'Assaulted when pregnant'

Other women in the camp also said they had been arrested and accused of being members of the OLNF.

They included one who said that she was eight months pregnant when she was detained and raped by eight soldiers:

"They were beating me while I was being raped, I was bleeding," she said, describing how one soldier stamped on her stomach and beat her with the stock of his rifle:

"I fell unconscious when I saw my baby... a man jumping on your stomach, you can imagine what happened to the child, very big kicks blows with the back of a gun. As a consequence of that the child died."

We cannot substantiate these individual allegations. But other credible sources have reported similar stories of the widespread use of rape by Ethiopian security forces against women in the Ogaden.

Speaking on Newsnight, Ethiopia's Ambassador Abdirashid Dulane said that the claims of rape and torture were a "rehash" of old allegations that the Ethiopian government had answered time and again.

"The Ethiopian government is governed by the rule of law, and human rights and democratic rights are enshrined in the Ethiopian constitution," he said.

 

Libya rebels fight on in Tripoli

The UN is set to unfreeze $1.5bn (£1bn) in frozen Libyan assets to help with immediate humanitarian needs.

In an audio message, Col Gaddafi has called on Libyans to "fight and destroy" the rebels.

The message was broadcast by a pro-regime TV station and addressed to the people of Sirte, which is the rebels' next target. It was unclear when it was recorded.

"Libya is for the Libyan people and not for the agents, not for imperialism, not for France, not for Sarkozy, not for Italy," said Col Gaddafi. "Tripoli is for you, not for those who rely on Nato".

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Col Gaddafi: "Do not leave Tripoli to the rats, fight them, defeat them as soon as possible"

He urged the youth of Tripoli to fight "street by street, alleyway by alleyway, house by house" and said women too could fight "from inside their homes".

The rebels have announced an amnesty for anyone within his "inner circle" who captures or kills him and a $1.7m (£1m) reward for his capture "dead or alive".

The rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) also said they had now moved their political base to the capital from their stronghold of Benghazi.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Thanks to the rebels, Gaddafi has been thrown into the dustbin of history”

End Quote Habib Lamine Freed Libyan prisoner

• Tripoli voices speak of torment

South Africa had been blocking the UN motion to release $1.5bn in Libyan assets frozen under sanctions - which was proposed by the US - amid concerns that giving money to the NTC implied it was being formally recognised as Libya's leader, something South Africa and the African Union have not done.

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the the UN says the US agreed to remove specific references to the NTC, enabling the motion to pass.

Mahmoud Jibril, the head of the NTC, earlier said Libya needed "urgent help" to pay salaries and enable reconstruction, to ensure the stability of Libya in the immediate future.

Italy has already promised to release more than 350m euros of Libyan assets frozen in Italian banks.

In other developments:

• The Arab League has given full backing to the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people
• The International Monetary Fund has said it will recognise the NTC as Libya's leaders when there is "a clear, broad-based, international recognition"
• UK Defence Minister Liam Fox has confirmed that Nato is providing intelligence and reconnaissance assistance to rebels hunting Col Gaddafi
• A ship that can carry 200 people has left Tripoli for Benghazi, carrying some of the foreign nationals in Libya

Handcuffed bodies

Thursday saw gunfights erupting in the Abu Salim district of Tripoli, close to a notorious prison and one of the few remaining Gaddafi holdouts in the city.

There were further battles near the Corinthia Hotel about 1.5km (a mile) from Martyrs Square - formerly Green Square - where most foreign journalists are based.

Sporadic gunfire was also heard at Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound - the area is now under the control of the rebels, who have broken into the complex tunnel system below.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes visited a hospital in the Mitiga district of Tripoli which had received the bodies of 17 rebel fighters.

One survivor said the group had been held at a makeshift prison in Tripoli where they were tortured and then sprayed with bullets as the Gaddafi forces retreated.

Dr Hoez Zaitan, a British medic working at the hospital, said about half the bodies had bullet wounds to the back of the head while others had disfiguring injuries to their limbs and hands.

He said the bodies had been examined for possible evidence to be used at a war crimes tribunal.

The Red Cross is urging all sides to respect the rules of war

Meanwhile, the bodies of at least a dozen pro-Gaddafi fighters have been found on a roundabout in the centre of Tripoli, two of whom had their hands tied behind their backs.

There were reports that one body had an intravenous drip in the arm and that others were badly burned.

Amnesty International says it has "powerful testimonies" of abuses by both sides in Zawiya, including allegations of violence by rebels African migrant workers accused of being mercenaries.

The UN has said it is looking into reports of summary killings and abuses by both sides and urged "all those in positions of authority in Libya... to take active steps to ensure that no crimes, or acts of revenge, are committed".

The Red Cross says each side is believed to have hundreds of prisoners and has urged all parties to respect the rules of warfare.

Are you in any of the areas affected by the fighting? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800

Internet terms make mark on new Chambers Dictionary

The cloud, paywall and tweet are all included, a "clear indication" of the influence of the web on language, publishers Chambers Harrap says.

The recession and climate change also make a mark with quantitative easing, double-dip, and carbon offsetting among the 200 new words and phrases.

Big society and sexting were judged not to have passed the "test of time".

But they are "possible candidates for the next edition", Chambers Harrap added.

Business euphemisms

The 12th edition of the single volume edition of Chambers Dictionary, which was first published in 1901, contains 620,000 words and definitions.

The new words "herald a wave of geek chic, a more strident green agenda, and the way in which the recession has shaped how we speak today," says the publisher.

Among the other environmental words to be included are upcycle, the practise of turning waste into higher value products, and precycle - avoiding unnecessary waste by buying products with minimal packaging.

National treasure, Neet, man flu, crowdsourcing, paywall and staycation all also merit inclusion for the first time.

The MPs' expenses scandal has ensured flipping was included while the massive US government bailout of companies during the financial crisis - the Troubled Assets Relief Program - saw TARP make the pages.

And there is room for acronyms popularised by use in emails and on social networking sites such as OMG and BFF - best friend forever.

Chambers Harrap said the new dictionary takes a hard line on "cringeworthy and cliched" English and business euphemisms, citing roadmap, tsar, joined-up, and sea change as among 52 words and phrases to avoid.

David Swarbrick, managing director of Chambers, said: "With topical words like Neet and even kakistocracy - defined as government by the worst - the dictionary holds up a mirror to life today.

"But just as important is the call made for us all to cut down on befuddling English."

Where could I be buried if graveyards run out of space?

Resting beside our loved ones when the time comes is a reassuring notion for the living. Families pay thousands of pounds for land where generations can rest in peace together for eternity.

But in the UK at least, the ground is filling up.

Should I wish to, I could not be buried near to my relatives at Yardley Cemetery in south Birmingham. Space there ran out in 1962.

Similarly, I would struggle to find a place near another strand of my family in Halesowen. There is no room left underground there and other facilities at nearby Lye and Wollescote are expected to run out in the next four years.

What if I head south? I lived in Brighton once and a seaside burial sounds quite nice. But four of the seven cemeteries run by Brighton and Hove Council are already full, and of the three remaining, one is for Orthodox Jews only.

 

Planning my eternal resting place has become less morbid and more of a logistical conundrum”

End Quote

That leaves me two potentials, but as I plan to live till I am 100, there are 72 years of people dying before I can claim my spot. The odds of me being able to do that seem daunting.

Planning my eternal resting place has become less morbid and more of a logistical conundrum.

I could be cremated, as with the majority of Britons, and have my ashes scattered. Or I could leave my body to science.

One option is Promession, expected to arrive in the UK in the next 18 months, where my body would be frozen to -18C, then submerged in liquid nitrogen at -196C and vibrated until I shatter. Any metals I might have accumulated - such as a new hip or fillings in my 100-year-old teeth - would be extracted and recycled and my organic remains would go back into the life cycle of the soil.

But these alternatives are non-starters for some. Religious reasons or other long-held beliefs mean that for around 30% of the population, burial is the only option.

But in some of the crowded cities of the UK, the situation is serious.

"Quite frankly, we've run out of space," says Barrie Hargrove of Southwark Council in south London. As cabinet member for environment, he is trying to get to grips with the overcrowding issue.

Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi

Mohammed Hussein Tantawi heads the military council which has been exercising power on an interim basis since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in response to a popular uprising in February 2011.

Mr Tantawi has vowed to return Egypt to civilian rule

The council has set a tight timetable for a return to civilian rule. In March, Egyptians approved a set of constitutional changes aimed at allowing the country to move quickly to new elections.

It is hoped that a parliamentary election can be held as early as September, and a presidential vote soon after. The rapid agenda has been criticised by some in the opposition for allowing too little time for new democratic parties to organise.

Born in 1935, Mr Tantawi has been a career army officer since 1956, experiencing active service in the Suez crisis of 1956, the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel and the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Mr Tantawi has held the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces since 1991. Before the 2011 revolution he was also defence minister.

He is closely identified with the Mubarak era, but gained some credit with the pro-democracy campaign for refusing to fire on protestors.

Prime Minister: Essam Sharaf

President: Muhammad Hosni Mubarak (resigned)

Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century and one of the longest-serving leaders in the Arab world, stepped down in February 2011 after 30 years in power and handed control to the army.

President Mubarak has pursued economic, but not political reform

He was responding to weeks of street protests, which began in January 2011, only days after the president of Tunisia fled a popular uprising.

In April 2011, he was arrested along with his two sons, Ala and Gamal, on suspicion of corruption during his rule as president. He reportedly suffered a heart attack during interrogation.

Mr Mubarak was charged with ordering violence against protestors during the uprising and went on trial in August.

Mr Mubarak won a fifth consecutive term in presidential elections in September 2005. The poll was the first under a new system that allows multiple candidates to stand, but the main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, was banned from open political activity and could not field a candidate.

Mr Mubarak succeeded Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated in 1981. He pursued friendly relations with the West, breaking the isolation imposed on Egypt by Arab countries opposed to peace with Israel.

Since 1952, when army officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew the monarchy, Egyptian leaders have been drawn from the military.

"تايم" تكشف أسرار ساعات القذافي الأخيرة

كتب- جبريل محمد:

منذ 47 دقيقة 34 ثانية

كشفت مجلة "التايم" الأمريكية أسرار الساعات الأخيرة في حرب العقيد الليبي معمر القذافي ضد الثوار،

حيث أكدت أن نتائج المعركة حسمت لصالح الثوار قبل نحو أسبوعين، وأن نحو 30% من المرتزقة الذين جلبهم القذافي فروا من صفوفه وانضموا للثوار، فضلا عن أن تدخل قوات حلف شمال الأطلسي "الناتو" رجحت كفة الثوار.

نقلت المجلة عن أحد قادة القذافي - الذين جلبهم من يوغسلافيا السابقة وكانوا يقودون الحرب ضد الثوار – قوله إن الرجال الذين كانوا تحت أمرتي من الدول الواقعة جنوبي ليبيا وتشاد، وتم التعاقد معي من قبل نظام القذافي للمساعدة في محاربة الثوار، وبعد ذلك حلف شمال الأطلسي، ولقد كنت أعاني من أن جنودي كانوا أغبياء جدا لتعلم أي شيء، ولكن الأمور كانت تسير جيدا حتى بدأت ضربات الناتو".

وأضاف القائد -الذي تحدث بشرط عدم الكشف عن هويته – إنه بحلول يوليو الماضي كان أكثر من 30 ٪ من الرجال الذين تحت إمرتي فروا إلى جانب الثوار، وسجلت صواريخ الناتو ضربات مباشرة لقواتي مما تسبب في "خسائر كبيرة"، عند هذه النقطة في الحرب اضطررنا لاستخدام التمويه وتجنب الأماكن المفتوحة".

وبعيدا عن الجبهة، قال ماريو إن الحياة في مجمع القذافي والملاجئ مليئة بالحفلات والكحول والنساء والمخدرات.. كانت حياة غاية في العربدة"، كذلك ساهم التوتر بين اثنين من أبناء القذافي في تعجيل النهاية، فقد لاحظت الخصومة العميقة بين أبناء القذافي سيف الإسلام ومحمد، فقد كان هناك اشتباك مسلح بين الاثنين، حيث قامت مجموعة أحد الأخوين باستجواب الآخر تحت تهديد السلاح، ثم وصلت مجموعة الذي يستجوب واندلعت مواجهة مسلحة بين الطرفين استمرت لعدة دقائق".

وقال القائد إن القذافي استأجر العديد من المقاتلين السابقين اليوغوسلاف ومعظمهم من الصرب لمساعدته في معركته ضد حلف شمال الأطلسي، وأوضح أن هولاء المستشارين وبعض قادة ليبيا غادروا قبل أسبوعين، وقال " قبل 12 يوما تلقيت تحذيرا من أحد أصدقائي يطالبني بالرحيل عن ليبيا لأن المعركة انتهت، فمنذ أسبوعين قال لي صديق يجب أن تغادر طرابلس، لان الأمور ستتغير بسرعة، وبعدها غادر المرتزقة من جنوب أفريقيا البلاد، ثم قررت الفرار من طرابلس".

 

جورنال: قطر تجني ثمار دعمها

كتب – محمد ثروت:

منذ 1 ساعة 45 دقيقة

قالت صحيفة "الوول ستريت جورنال" الأمريكية إن قطر تستعد لجني ثمار دعمها للثوار الليبيين بعد أن أحكموا سيطرتهم تقريبا على العاصمة الليبية طرابلس واختفاء الزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي.

وأضافت بقولها في تقرير نشرته اليوم الخميس إن قادة الثوار أعربوا عن امتنانهم للقطريين الذين دعموهم بقوة في معركتهم المستمرة منذ 6 أشهر للإطاحة بالقذافي.

وأشارت إلى أن الريادة القطرية في تدريب وتسليح وتمويل المعارضة الليبية، وضعت دولة الخليج الصغيرة الآن في الموقع الأفضل للمساعدة على التوسط في مرحلة سياسية انتقالية، وتكليف بعض شركاتها وخبرائها في ليبيا ما بعد القذافي.

ومضت تقول إن قطر تجني الآن تجني ثمار سياستها الناجحة من تأييدها المبكر للمتمردين الليبيين، وحفرت لنفسها دورا كبيرا في الربيع العربي، على العكس من الممالك الخليجية المحافظة التي تفضل الاستقرار.
وتابعت بقولها "خلال الصراع لعبت قطر دورا دبلوماسيا رائدا في محاولة الإسراع في إسقاط النظام، حيث سعت للحصول على نصيحة وزير النفط الليبي السابق شكري غانم، ووزير الخارجية السابق موسى كوسا، تقود قطر أيضا مباحثات حول خيار وجود قوة حفظ سلام في المرحلة الانتقالية في ليبيا. قالت قطر إنها مستعدة للمساهمة بقوات في المهمة، وهي الخطوة التي من المتوقع أن تكون موضع ترحيب من دول غربية متخوفة من المشاركة بجنود.

وقالت الصحيفة الأمريكية: قامت قطر ببناء مسار بوصفها حكما محايدا في بعض الصراعات الأكثر سخونة في الشرق الأوسط، من الجمود السياسي في لبنان إلى مباحثات المتمردين في اليمن. تمكنت من اللعب على الجانبين في الصراع على الهيمنة الإقليمية في المنطقة، حيث ظلت صديقة لإيران، التي تشترك معها في أكبر حقل للغاز في العالم، بينما تستضيف قاعدة جوية أمريكية كبيرة في الخليج.