Louisiana oil slick: fishermen sue BP over spill
Two Louisiana shrimp fishermen have filed a lawsuit accusing the operators of the rig that caused the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of negligence, seeking millions of dollars in damages.
Published: 7:00AM BST 30 Apr 2010
The lawsuit, filed in the Louisiana federal court, is the second in what is expected to be a flood of litigation from the disaster.
The claim alleges that the fire, explosion and resulting oil spill at the rig were “caused by the joint negligence and fault” of British energy giant BP and other defendants.
The shrimpers are seeking class-action status on behalf of “all Louisiana residents who live or work in, or derive income from,” the coastal zone, and who have sustained losses as a result of the oil spill.
A first suit was filed earlier this week in Florida on behalf of commercial fishermen operating in the Gulf of Mexico, lawyers said.
My encounter with the world’s hottest chilli
In north-east India grows a pepper so fiery that the nation’s military could soon be using it as a weapon. So what does it taste like? Andrew Buncombe gives it a try…
Friday, 30 April 2010
In a covered market in the city of Imphal, the air pungent with fresh and fermented produce, a young man holds up his hands to reveal what looks like a cluster of dried, berry-red flowers.They immediately smell herbal, complex and very powerful. “These are the dry ones. The fresh ones only come during the winter,” says the salesman, Raymond, who, by dint of being a man, has been banished to the fringes of the city’s famous “women’s market”, where his shop sits next to a stall selling dried fish. “It’s the most hot. One piece is enough.”
USA
Oil Spill’s Blow to BP’s Image May Eclipse Costs
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: April 29, 2010
HAMMOND, La. – BP says that the offshore drilling accident that is spewing thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico could cost the company several hundred million dollars.
Nobody really knows whether the London-based oil giant is being too conservative about the cost for the April 20 accident, which some experts say could end up as the biggest oil spill in history.
The 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez off Alaska, for example, cost Exxon Mobil more than $4.3 billion, including compensatory payments, cleanup costs, settlements and fines.
Arizona law on immigration puts police in tight spot
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 30, 2010
TUCSON — Every day, as Sgt. Russ Charlton patrols the south side of Tucson, he encounters a wide range of this city’s residents — legal, illegal, native-born, naturalized, just passing through. To him, their immigration status is largely irrelevant. “People are just people,” Charlton said.
But in a city less than an hour’s drive from the Mexican border, Charlton and his fellow officers suddenly are at the center of a roiling immigration debate, and Arizona’s new and controversial immigration law is almost certain to transform how they do their job.
Europe
Greece signs up to €24bn austerity package
From The Times
April 30, 2010
Carl Mortished and Susan Thompson
The Greek Government has agreed the draft outline of a €24 billion (£21 billion) rescue package, which is expected to include savage cuts in Civil Service wages and state benefits along with hefty tax increases to cut its deficit.Final details of the measures were still being decided last night with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission (EC), and the European Central Bank (ECB). A final draft should be ready for approval by the Greek Parliament next week.
Turkey plans constitutional reform granting prime minister unrivalled power
Turkey is preparing to hold a referendum next month on key constitutional changes that will grant its Islamist prime minister unrivalled power in a country traditionally dominated by the military.
by Damien McElroy in Istanbul
Parliament finished a debate Thursday on the constitutional package, which marks the culmination of a seven year drive by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. the prime minister, to make the democratically elected government Turkey’s most powerful institution.
Mr Erdogan used his AK Party’s majority to pass a set of 27 amendments over the opposition of the country’s minority parties. Antagonism between the factions escalated during the debate and three politicians, including the Trade Minister and a Kurdish leader, suffered facial injuries in attacks.
Middle East
The fear factor: A year after the ‘green’ uprising, Iranians are no closer to breaking free
Katherine Butler finds a nation ill at ease, and a regime whose ruthlessness is matched only by its cynicism
Friday, 30 April 2010
If showing affection in public was the indication of a happy society, then the signs from Iran would be encouraging. At the outdoor tables of a restaurant near the base of the snowy Alborz mountains north-west of Tehran, a young couple is not exactly canoodling, but his arm is stretched behind her shoulders and she’s resting her head on his neck. The parks in the centre of the Iranian capital too are full of youthful couples holding hands, the odd pair even kissing with impunity as they stroll in the April sunshine.
As Iraqi election recount about to launch, Maliki faces other troubles
By Jane Arraf | Christian Science Monitor
Iraqi authorities Thursday announced that an Iraq election recount demanded by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would take up to two weeks. Meanwhile, recent allegations of torture on Maliki’s watch have given his political enemies new fodder and could further weaken his ability to head a coalition government.A Human Rights Watch investigation, published April 27, into prisoners held illegally at a base run by a security office under Maliki’s command found systematic torture by interrogators and incidents of rape at the undeclared facility. HRW had conducted interviews with dozens of prisoners the previous day and concluded that they were tortured in an effort to extract confessions.
Asia
Sri Lanka must listen to its people
After a bloody civil war that followed an oppressive history of the Tamils, the government would do well to heed the diaspora
Nash Colundalur
guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 April 2010 09.00 BST
In May last year the Sri Lankan government announced with immense relief and euphoria, the killing of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Sri Lankan army had been trailing him for decades in the north-eastern jungles. With his death ended the 26-year war for a separate homeland that had claimed more that 70,000 lives.Prabhakaran had stockpiled enough supremacy to set up a de facto government in the north-east. At the summit of his powers he had lashed out mercilessly at his enemies. Both sides had been routinely accused of gross human rights violations. The LTTE is alleged to have coerced child soldiers into conscription. Civil liberty contraventions by the Sri Lankan army is said to have spiralled during the 2009 offensive against the LTTE.
Thai protesters storm Bangkok hospital
From Times Online
April 30, 2010
Times Online
One of the main hospitals in Bangkok was evacuated on Thursday night after anti-government Redshirts stormed inside, in the mistaken belief that soldiers were hiding there.Chulalongkorn Hospital also stopped outpatients from entering the building as 100 Redshirt guards searched the corridors and rooms for troops they thought were preparing an assault on the protesters.
Tensions are high in Bangkok after the worst political violence in almost two decades that has left 27 people dead and almost 1,000 injured this month in a series of bloody confrontations.
Latin America
Why Mexico opposes the Arizona immigration law
Across the political, geographic, and ideological spectrum, Mexicans say they are against the new Arizona immigration law. Some will boycott Arizona. But others worry about loss of income from Mexicans sending home money from jobs in the US.
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer / April 29, 2010
Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico, like most countries, abounds in diversity that is often-celebrated but can also lead to stereotyping. Veracruzanos might look suspiciously at the “Chilangos” of the capital. Northerners proudly boast that they are the most upfront and honest Mexicans.
But the tough new Arizona immigration law, which Mexican President Felipe Calderon immediately denounced as discrimination, has united Mexicans from all points of the compass.“We are all against it, from Baja California to Campeche,” says Jose Luis Jimenez. “It is racial discrimination against all of us, simple.”