Docudharma Times Thursday February 28

This is an Open Thread:

If i would, could you?

Thursday’s Headlines: ‘Virtual Fence’ Along Border To Be Delayed: Emotional return for ex-Thai PM: Pakistani military ‘misspent up to 70% of American aid’ : 14 years after the end of arpartheid, white students force cleaners to drink urine soup: African Union chief pushes ahead with Kenya talks :Talk to Hamas, Israelis tell government as attacks continue: US presses for end to Turkey raid:Police approve new strategy to tackle extremism: reports: Señor Gene Hunt deals out pain in Spain in remake of BBC drama Life on Mars:Two laws target smokers in Mexico City

Twists in Chain of Supplies for Blood Drug

RUGAO, China – With reports of more than 400 patients in the United States suffering serious complications after receiving the blood-thinner heparin, American investigators are trying to determine whether the raw material for the drug, made from pig intestines, became contaminated on the journey that begins in the slaughterhouses of China.

The investigators are examining the records of a factory an hour from here that supplies much of the active ingredient in heparin for Baxter International, which earlier this month halted sales of multidose vials of heparin after reports of injuries and four deaths.

The owner of the factory, which is known as Changzhou SPL, says its supply chain is safe. It buys raw material from only two reputable wholesalers, it says, and audits their 10 to 12 suppliers.

USA

‘Virtual Fence’ Along Border To Be Delayed

U.S. Retooling High-Tech Barrier After 28-Mile Pilot Project Fails

The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from linked, tower-mounted sensors and communications and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday.

Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee.

Taxpayers not planning rebate spending spree

Most say they’ll either pay down debt or put money in savings, minimizing the economic stimulus the government was aiming for.

WASHINGTON — Most Americans are planning to use their stimulus rebate checks to pay down existing debt or add to their savings, not to fuel the kind of consumer spending that would bolster the economy, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

Only 18% of respondents to the national poll said they intended to spend the money they will receive later this year from the federal government as part of an effort to inject cash into the sputtering economy. By contrast, 34% said they intended to save it and 31% intended to use it to pay existing debts. The rest thought that they either were not eligible for a rebate, would spend some and save some, would do “something else” with it or weren’t sure what they would do.

Asia

Former Thai PM Thaksin back home

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been released on bail shortly after his arrival in Thailand after spending 17 months in exile.

He said he would beat what he called politically motivated corruption charges from the years he was in power.

The 58-year-old billionaire businessman was briefly detained by police on his arrival at Bangkok airport.

He was removed from power in a military coup in September 2006 and has lived outside the country since then.

At the airport he was greeted by a huge roar from thousands of flag-waving supporters.

Pakistani military ‘misspent up to 70% of American aid’

· US embassy staff believe expenses claims inflated

· Armed forces deny serious irregularities

America’s massive military aid package to Pakistan is being scrutinised after allegations that as much as 70% of $5.4bn in assistance to the country has been misspent.

Since 2002 the US has paid the operating costs of Pakistan’s military operations in the tribal belt along the Afghan border, where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are known to shelter.

Pakistan provides more than 100,000 troops and directs the battles; the US foots the bill for food, fuel, ammunition and maintenance. The cash payments – averaging $80m (£40m) a month – have been a cornerstone of US support for Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf.

But over the past 18 months, as militants have seized vast areas of the tribal belt and repelled a string of Pakistani offensives, the funding has come under the microscope.

Africa

14 years after the end of arpartheid, white students force cleaners to drink urine soup because they don’t want to live with blacks

A video showing four white Afrikaner students forcing five black domestic workers to eat dirty meat and drink soup into which they had urinated has inflamed racial tensions and provoked violent protests between students.

The home-made video, which was made to protest about moves to integrate black and white students in the same university residences, shows students at the University of the Free State humiliating black workers, some of whom are elderly.

A violent backlash against the film caused all classes to be suspended yesterday as hundreds of staff and students marched in protest. Police fired stun grenades to disperse an angry crowd gathered outside the whites-only halls of residence where the film was shot.

African Union chief pushes ahead with Kenya talks

NAIROBI (AFP) – African Union chief and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete pushed ahead Thursday with talks to end the Kenyan political crisis.

Kikwete chaired talks between President Mwai Kibaki, opposition chief Raila Odinga and former UN secretary general and chief mediator Kofi Annan in a fresh bid to resolve the two month crisis.

Odinga accuses Kibaki of rigging the December 27 presidential election whose contested outcome sparked violence across the country that claimed more than 1,500 lives.

Hundreds of thousands of people have also been uprooted, mainly in the capital’s slums and Kenya’s fertile western region, which are regarded as the country’s breadbasket.

Middle East

Talk to Hamas, Israelis tell government as attacks continue

Israel is under growing pressure to talk to the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, which fired a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel yesterday, killing a student.

The strike followed the publication of a poll showing 64% of Israelis want their government to negotiate with Hamas to broker a ceasefire and secure the release of a soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured in 2006.

A Tel Aviv University professor, Camil Fuchs, who supervised the survey for Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper, said the results showed that Israeli’s were fed up with the conflict. “They’re tired, they want a normal life,” Fuchs said.

For the past two months, Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired about 50 rockets a week but Hamas sharply escalated its attack yesterday, launching 26 rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot in less than two hours, according to the Israel Defence Force news desk.

US presses for end to Turkey raid

Turkey’s incursion into northern Iraq “should be as short and precisely targeted as possible”, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said.

Mr Gates was speaking after talks with top Turkish officials in Ankara.

Turkey earlier said there was no timetable for an end to its offensive targeting Kurdish PKK separatists.

Baghdad has said that the Turkish military operation – that was launched last week – was unacceptable and violated Iraq’s sovereignty.

The Turkish military says its goal is to destroy bases of PKK rebels, who want a homeland in south-east Turkey.

Europe

Police approve new strategy to tackle extremism: reports

LONDON (AFP) – Police have approved a new strategy to tackle home-grown extremism with an array of soon-to-be-implemented initiatives, according to media reports on Thursday.

The Guardian and The Financial Times said that the initiatives included faith and cultural lessons for officers, guidance for parents to stop their children visiting extremist websites, and the sharing of intelligence with local schools and government services.

Citing a document outlining the strategy, the newspapers said that the strategy will focus on “neighbourhood policing”.

“This will allow us to connect with all groups and to understand what is normal and what is unusual,” the document reportedly reads.

“We need to continually improve our knowledge about communities and how they function both in a social and a religious context.”

Señor Gene Hunt deals out pain in Spain in remake of BBC drama Life on Mars

Fire up the Seat coupé, Señor Gene Hunt. Life on Mars is being transported to Spain after the country that gave the world machismo bought the remake rights to the show.

The award-winning time-travel police drama recreated the grim realities of Manchester in 1973. But Vida en Marte will be set in 1978, allowing the Spanish writers to dramatise a society emerging from the Franco dictatorship, which ended with the General’s death in 1975, and avoid including some of the nastier aspects of life in a police state.

Antena 3, the leading Spanish commercial broadcaster, signed a deal yesterday with the BBC to remake the series. Casting will now begin for a Spanish actor to take the plum role of the hard-living, sexist Detective Chief Inspector Hunt.

Latin America

Chávez wins release of hostages held by Colombian rebels

Colombian guerrillas yesterday released four hostages who had been held in the jungle for more than six years, delivering a diplomatic coup to Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, who brokered the deal.

Two Venezuelan helicopters scooped up the three men and a woman from a clearing in eastern Colombia and airlifted them to a reunion with relatives waiting in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

The releases raised hopes that Marxist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), would free more of the estimated 700 hostages languishing in primitive conditions.

Gloria Polanco, 49, Luis Eladio Pérez, 57, Orlando Beltran, 48, and Jorge Gechem, 56, all former members of Colombia’s senate and congress, were abducted separately in 2001 and 2002. They appear to have been released because they were ill.

“I was the living dead but today … I am happy, lucky, radiant,” said Polanco, reunited with her three sons in Caracas.

Two laws target smokers in Mexico City

A national measure restricts lighting up in public indoor places and a municipal one bans it. Some people are confused.

MEXICO CITY — The news for smokers was bad. The question was how bad.

Smokers and restaurateurs and other business owners in Mexico City on Wednesday were debating the ramifications of not one but two groundbreaking laws seeking to curb smoking. Some were scratching their heads over which they would have to obey, and many others expressed skepticism that either would be effectively enforced.

“I’m sure that neither . . . is going to succeed,” said Andres Romero Olivares, a 47-year-old accountant, who saw the restrictions as the wrong solution to the nation’s health woes.

On Tuesday, the Mexican Senate passed nationwide restrictions on smoking in workplaces, restaurants, bars and other public enclosures, requiring stiff fines for violations and possible 36-hour jail stints for smokers who refuse to comply. That measure, already passed by Congress’ lower house, is expected to be signed into law by President Felipe Calderon.