|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The last act of the great sporting festival that enthralled the nation – and displayed a capacity to charm and amaze The great festival that began with the stirring resonances of Danny Boyle's opening ceremony came to a poignant end with a light-hearted pageant of British popular culture. An exploding Reliant Robin featured, along with Take That and the Spice Girls, the voices of John Lennon and Freddie Mercury, Tim Spall as Winston Churchill, Julian Lloyd Webber, Kate Moss in Alexander McQueen, an airborne Darcey Bussell, Madness, the Pet Shop Boys, Ray Davies singing Waterloo Sunset, and the thousands of athletes from 204 countries who had kept us enthralled and enraptured. To follow Boyle's Isles of Wonder with Kim Gavin's Symphony of British Music was a bit like switching from Ready Steady Go! to Top of the Pops, albeit with the same mind-boggling shuffling of scenery, dazzling choreography and brilliant use of lighting. British sports cars of the 1960s circled the track and giant models of the Albert Hall and the Shard were replaced by a shattered sculpture reformed to create the face of Lennon while the crowd sang the words to Imagine. It was, as promised, more cacophonous than symphonic. Bradley Wiggins will have loved the parade of 50 Vespas and Lambrettas, lights blazing and raccoon tails rampant, that accompanied Kaiser Chiefs' ardent version of Pinball Wizard. Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz performed from moving Rolls-Royce convertibles, like an extended advert for the best of British bling, while Russell Brand sang I Am the Walrus from a psychedelic bus that metamorphosed into a giant transparent octopus from which Fatboy Slim delivered a short DJ set. When the Spice Girls sang from the top of black cabs, the Olympics seemed to have turned into the Motor Show. Last of all, after the speeches, Rio de Janeiro's preview of 2016 and the extinguishing of Thomas Heatherwick's cauldron, came the surviving members of the Who, closing the Games with the adrenaline shot of My Generation, although the real anthem of London 2012 had undoubtedly been David Bowie's Heroes. There was no message, and nor did there need to be, except "Wasn't it fun?" and "Aren't we great?" But Damien Hirst's tie-dyed rendering of the union flag, filling the ground on which the world's finest athletes had run and jumped and thrown their way into history, reminded those suspicious of raucous patriotism of how great the union flag suddenly looked when it was ripped out of the hands of the extreme right and wrapped around the shoulders of Jessica Ennis or Mo Farah. So much about the reality of London 2012 seemed surprising, even unprecedented. Some of us had thought Britain probably retained the capacity to host another Austerity Games, with a small budget and reduced expectations, like the one in 1948, but harboured doubts about what we might accomplish with the temptation of unlimited resources. Such fears now seem small-minded in the light of an event that began with an explosion of goodwill and never lost its capacity to charm and to amaze. These Games cost an absurd amount of money, of course, even with the subsidies provided by multinational sponsors whose presence often seemed incongruous and intrusive. But in an overcrowded city where people are accustomed to fighting for an inch of road or pavement, and where rich and poor are growing steadily further apart, benevolence was everywhere. The 70,000 unpaid gamesmakers set the tone, as they have done – sometimes with mixed results – since volunteers were first recruited in 1948. This time they represented all backgrounds and age groups, from students to retirees. During festivities six of them stepped forward to receive flowers from representatives of the athletes, including the gold-medal-winning rower Katherine Grainger. A German colleague whose Olympic experience stretches back to 1968 said that he and his compatriots had been astonished by the friendliness of their hosts: not just the games makers but the soldiers manning the security checkpoints with a good-humoured efficiency that does not always come easily to those who spend their working lives manning x-ray scanners. If it was a good Games for multiculturalist lefties, the Establishment also got their money's worth as Britain reconnected not just with the armed forces but with the royal family. Even a hardened republican could hardly fail to be amused by the Queen's readiness to be filmed with 007, or by Prince William's confession that he had been terrified, while watching the track cycling, of being caught with his wife on the velodrome's Kiss Cam. The politicians who set the whole thing up, including Tony Blair and Tessa Jowell, emerged in a better light, although those currently in power will be judged by what they do with the advantage accruing from its success. In particular they are now charged with ensuring that sport regains its proper place within the state school system, and nothing would be more popular than the immediate announcement of a decision to restore the Schools Sports Partnerships, a widely lamented victim of Michael Gove's cuts. The Schools Sports Partnership budget of £162m can now be seen as a small price to pay for a scheme which also recognised that conventional competitive sport is not for all children, whose needs could be answered in less orthodox ways. That, one may assume, was behind the prime minister's sneering reference last week to "Indian dancing", a remark revealing his true colours. Lord Coe, the architect of the Games and who is now in charge of their legacy, and whose mother was half-Indian, ought to be able to put him straight on that. Pointedly, a troupe of Indian dancers was included in the Monty Python sequence, along with a human cannonball and skating nuns. But the enduring memory of these Games will be of the sort of astonishment that crept over the face of a 20-year-old British competitor in the 400m hurdles when he was introduced to the crowd before his heat on the first morning of competition in the Olympic stadium. He had his game face on. As he stood over his blocks while his fellow competitors were introduced, his eyes were a blank. There was not a flicker when his own name was announced. "In lane eight, Jack Green of Great Britain." And then he heard the noise. He had never heard anything like it. No one had. Eighty thousand spectators were cheering him as though he already had a gold medal around his neck. There was nothing for it. The stern facade cracked and a smile escaped. It would linger on the faces of competitors and spectators alike for the rest of the Games. The noise never stopped, either. It crashed around the stadium, the Copper Box, the ExCeL, Centre Court and the velodrome. In the boxing hall it was measured at 113.7 decibels: louder than a jumbo jet at take-off, or so they said. It almost swamped Andy Murray, whose emotional response to his victory said everything about the unique effect of the Olympics on an athlete who probably thought he had seen and felt everything. Informal, unpretentious, sometimes delightfully unguarded, Britain's athletes displayed personal characteristics worth far more than any number of gold medals. Morning after morning they made the journey to the BBC's breakfast TV sofa, where they provided a living exhibition of the qualities – modesty, patience, unselfishness, courage, judgement, concentration, resilience, co-operation, gratitude – that sport can help to instill while also building bodies. Women occupied a special place in these Games. Lizzie Armitstead won Britain's first medal, a silver in the cycling road race, and the rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning took the team's first gold in the pairs. The success of Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton and one or two others had been foretold, but the triumphs of Charlotte Dujardin – winning Britain's first dressage gold medal – and Nicola Adams – the first woman boxing champion in Olympic history – had a special savour, not least because they came from opposite ends of the British team's broad tonal spectrum. Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, praised London's organisation, and the work of the volunteers in particular. At the opening ceremony he had paid tribute to Britain's role in inventing and codifying so many modern sports, and in providing the ethical framework that inspired Pierre de Coubertin to revive the Games. They were generous words, but they were also a reminder of our duties to future generations. If only a fraction of the trouble and ingenuity that went into putting on these Olympics can be applied to give kids the opportunity and encouragement to do sport, then an important step will have been taken. In the sort of graceful gesture that has confounded pessimists by turning out to be characteristic of London 2012, as the end approached this week the organisers presented each of the games makers with a specially engraved aluminium relay baton as a keepsake. Somehow the rest of us need to ensure that it is not dropped.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hussein Tantawi dismissed as Egyptian president extends powers, with showdown predicted at constitutional court The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has dismissed his military chief as part of a sweeping set of decisions that includes the appointment of a vice-president and the rescinding of a military order that curbed presidential powers. Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali announced the retirement of Hussein Tantawi, head of the armed forces, and the chief of staff, Sami Anan. They have been appointed as advisers to Morsi. The president also cancelled the complementary constitutional declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), announced days before he was declared the victor in June's elections. The addendum had curbed presidential power and kept much of it in the hands of the military council. "This sets up an inevitable showdown with the supreme constitutional court as the court is likely to attempt to overturn Morsi's cancelling of the supplemental constitutional declaration. It seems this move will require the sacking of the court if it is to stand," said Michael Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation, a US thinktank. The decisions follow an attack by unidentified assailants on a police station in North Sinai that resulted in the death of 16 policemen on 6 August. The incident triggered further clashes between security forces and militants in the peninsula and led to the Egyptian chief of intelligence, Mourad Mowafi, being removed, along with other senior security figures. Morsi's move on Sunday marks the latest blow in a tussle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military over control of post-transitional Egypt. The decision to remove Tantawi and Anan was taken in consultation with Scaf, including Tantawi, the new deputy minister of defence, Mohamed el-Assar, told Reuters. Replacing Tantawi is the head of military intelligence, Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi – one of the generals who defended the use of "virginity tests" against female protesters in March 2011 – with El-Assar as his deputy. The new chief of staff is General Sidqi Sobhi Sayed. The appointments are all members of Scaf. Tantawi and Anan were honoured with accolades, Tantawi receiving the highest medal in the country, the Order of the Nile, and Anan also receiving a medal, which has led to speculation that rather than indicating a face-off, this latest move comes as part of the "safe exit scenario" that would see Scaf members leave office without fear of prosecution for crimes committed against protesters during their tenure, including when army APCs ran over Coptic Christian protesters on 9 October 2011, killing 27. "What is happening now was planned once Scaf realised they had to make a deal with the Brotherhood anyway," said Sherif Azer, deputy director of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights. "This moment where Scaf would fade back into the background was expected, and I believe that they knew this was their best option for a safe exit, just fade away from the political realm." Revolutionaries who participated in the ousting of the former president, Hosni Mubarak, in 2011 have remained opposed to the military throughout the transitional period, and have criticised the Muslim Brotherhood for what they see as the party's willingness to forgo the revolution in return for political gain. Gigi Ibrahim, a member of the Revolutionary Socialists group, said: "Morsi and Scaf joined forces in the face of the revolution to simply crush and control Egypt." With these latest decisions, and the continued absence of an elected parliament, legislative powers revert from Scaf to Morsi. The president also decreed that fresh parliamentary elections would take place 60 days after a new constitution is ratified in a popular referendum. A constituent assembly was formed to draft the constitution and, if the current assembly fails to come up with a draft, Morsi now has the power to appoint a new assembly to draft Egypt's future constitution. The president also appointed senior judge Mahmoud Mekki as his vice-president. Mekki was a senior figure in the independent judges movement during the Mubarak era that agitated for more judicial independence. Morsi had promised that his two first appointments would be Coptic Christian and female vice-presidents.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saudi businesswomen behind 5,000-job scheme in Hofuf city in latest push to give women greater independence A women-only industrial city dedicated to female workers is to be constructed in Saudi Arabia to provide a working environment that is in line with the kingdom's strict customs. The city, to be built in the eastern province city of Hofuf, is set to be the first of several planned for the Gulf kingdom. The aim is to allow more women to work and achieve greater financial independence, but to maintain the gender segregation, according to reports. Proposals have also been submitted for four similar industrial cities exclusively for women entrepreneurs, employers and employees in Riyadh. Segregation of the sexes is applied in Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabi sharia law and tribal customs combine to create an ultra-conservative society that still does not allow women to drive. Saudi women are said to make up about 15% of the workforce, with most in female-only work places. Although the number of mixed gender workplaces has increased these are still few. The proposals follow government instructions to create more job openings for women to enable them to have a more important role in the country's development. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon), which is developing the women-only industrial city at Hofuf, said it hoped the city would open next year. Prince Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdulaziz, minister of municipal and rural affairs, had approved the plan, a spokesperson said. "I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, nature and ability," said Modon's deputy director general, Saleh Al-Rasheed. The Hofuf development is expected to create about 5,000 jobs in textiles, pharmaceuticals and food-processing industries, with women-run firms and production lines. Modon said the Hofuf industrial site was a suitable location given its "proximity to residential neighbourhoods to facilitate the movement of women to and from the workplace". In a statement it added that the site was equipped "for women workers in environment and working conditions consistent with the privacy of women according to Islamic guidelines and regulations". The project has been proposed by a group of Saudi businesswomen, said Al Eqtisadiah, the business daily, quoting the business woman Hussa Al-Aun. She told the paper: "The new industrial city should have a specialised training centre to help women develop their talents and train them to work at factories. This is essential to cut unemployment among our female graduates." The oil rich kingdom has one of the world's largest disparities between male and female employment, with a gap of 23%, according to a recent Gallup poll, arabianbusiness.com reported. An increasing number of firms were insisting that women had to be unmarried to qualify for employment; this violated the kingdom's workforce regulations, reports said. "Some private companies are stipulating conditions such as a woman shall be recruited only if she is single or not pregnant if married," Hatab Al-Anazi, a ministry spokesman, is reported to have told the paper Arab News. "[That] is against the regulations approved by the ministry." Saudi Arabia attracts constant criticism from human rights groups for its systemic discrimination against women. Last September King Abdullah, who has taken some tentative steps towards loosening strict gender segregation, announced that women would be able to vote in the 2015 local elections and for the consultative assembly. In January the government enforced a law allowing Saudi women to be employed in lingerie and cosmetic shops, following a campaign by the women's rights activist Reem Asaad. Previously women had to purchase underwear from male shop assistants. The plan is that by the end of this year women will replace men in stores selling abayas, the traditional black cloak worn by women. Last month a poll of working women in Saudi Arabia by YouGov and Bayt.com found 65% wanted to achieve greater financial independence through their careers. Those under 25 also wanted to make use of their educational qualifications.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Businesswomen behind 5,000-job scheme designed to give women greater independence while maintaining segregation A women-only industrial city dedicated to female workers is to be constructed in Saudi Arabia to provide a working environment that is in line with the kingdom's strict customs. The city, to be built in the Eastern Province city of Hofuf, is set to be the first of several planned for the Gulf kingdom. The aim is to allow more women to work and achieve greater financial independence, but to maintain the gender segregation, according to reports. Proposals have also been submitted for four similar industrial cities exclusively for women entrepreneurs, employers and employees in Riyadh. Segregation of the sexes is applied in Saudi Arabia, where Wahabi sharia law and tribal customs combine to create an ultra-conservative society that still does not allow women to drive. Saudi women are said to make up about 15% of the workforce, with most in female-only work places. Although the number of mixed gender workplaces has increased these are still few. The proposals follow government instructions to create more job openings for women to enable them to have a more important role in the country's development. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon), which is developing the women-only industrial city at Hofuf, said it hoped the city would open next year. Prince Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdulaziz, minister of municipal and rural affairs, had approved the plan, a spokesperson said. "I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, nature and ability," said Modon's deputy director general, Saleh al-Rasheed. The Hofuf development is expected to create about 5,000 jobs in textiles, pharmaceuticals and food-processing industries, with women-run firms and production lines. Modon said the Hofuf industrial site was a suitable location given its "proximity to residential neighbourhoods to facilitate the movement of women to and from the workplace". In a statement it added that the site was equipped "for women workers in environment and working conditions consistent with the privacy of women according to Islamic guidelines and regulations". The project has been proposed by a group of Saudi businesswomen, said Al Eqtisadiah, the business daily, quoting the business woman Hussa al-Aun. She told the paper: "The new industrial city should have a specialised training centre to help women develop their talents and train them to work at factories. This is essential to cut unemployment among our female graduates." The oil rich kingdom has one of the world's largest disparities between male and female employment, with a gap of 23%, according to a recent Gallup poll, arabianbusiness.com reported. An increasing number of firms were insisting that women had to be unmarried to qualify for employment; this violated the kingdom's workforce regulations, reports said. "Some private companies are stipulating conditions such as a woman shall be recruited only if she is single or not pregnant if married," Hatab al-Anazi, a ministry spokesman, is reported to have told the paper Arab News. "[That] is against the regulations approved by the ministry." Saudi Arabia attracts constant criticism from human rights groups for its systemic discrimination against women. Last September King Abdullah, who has taken some tentative steps towards loosening strict gender segregation, announced that women would be able to vote in the 2015 local elections and for the consultative assembly. In January the government enforced a law allowing Saudi women to be employed in lingerie and cosmetic shops, following a campaign by the women's rights activist Reem Asaad. Previously women had to purchase underwear from male shop assistants. The plan is that by the end of this year women will replace men in stores selling abayas, the traditional black cloak worn by women. Last month a poll of working women in Saudi Arabia by YouGov and Bayt.com found 65% wanted to achieve greater financial independence through their careers. Those under 25 also wanted to make use of their educational qualifications.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Live blog: Follow all the latest updates from the Olympic Stadium with Tim Jonze as London 2012 draws to a close
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Relive all the action from the Olympic Stadium as London 2012 draws to a close
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rupert Murdoch calls choice 'almost perfect', while Obama prepares to attack Ryan over conservative budget he authored Rupert Murdoch joined conservatives in hailing Mitt Romney's vice-presidential pick Paul Ryan on Sunday as Barack Obama's campaign team cranked up its attacks, branding the Congressman as an extremist, right-wing ideologue. Murdoch described Ryan, the most right-wing of the candidates on Romney's vice-presidential shortlist, as "almost perfect". In a reflection of Ryan's popularity with the Republican grassroots, the Romney team said it had taken in $3.5m in donations since the announcement on Saturday morning that he was to be the running-mate. Obama's team expressed glee that Romney had opted for Ryan, viewing as a campaign gift his 2011 budget plan to slash America's debt by $5.3tn over the next decade. Building up their attacks on Ryan on Sunday, the Obama campaign claimed Ryan's budget plan would destroy Medicare, the popular healthcare scheme for those 65 and older, as well as hitting welfare recipients and students. There was a backlash among seniors when Ryan first proposed Medicare reform last year. Fear of losing health coverage could turn out to be significant in swing states such as Florida, which has a large retired population. Romney ended speculation about his vice-presidential pick on Saturday morning when he announced at a rally in Norfolk, Virginia, that he had opted for Ryan over former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Florida senator Marco Rubio and others on his short list. The Drudge Report had said at various times that former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and General David Petraeus had also been in the running. The choice of Ryan, 42, a congressman from Wisconsin for 14 years, marks a change in strategy by the Romney team. Until now, it has concentrated on presenting the November election as a vote on the incumbent, making Romney as small a target as possible by offering few policy details. Making Ryan his running mate changes that, providing a host of policy positions for the Democrats to attack. Murdoch, who tweeted last month after meeting Romney that he was unimpressed with The Republican candidate's campaign, expressed relief over the Ryan announcement. "Thank God! Now we might have a real election on the great issues of the day. Paul Ryan almost perfect choice," Murdoch tweeted. Ryan's debt-reduction plan made him a hero of the Tea Party, whose emergence was inspired in part by the burgeoning federal debt. He is also a strong social conservative, having voted against legislation to end pay discrimination against woman and, according to the Democrats, opposed to abortion even in cases of abortion or incest. The combination of fiscal and social conservatism has made him popular with a Republican base that remains sceptical about Romney's conservative credentials. Andrea Saul, a Republican spokeswoman, said the campaign had taken in $1.2m within hours of the announcement and a further $2.3m a day later. One of the Obama campaign's leading strategists, David Axelrod, described Ryan as a "right-wing ideologue" who is "quite extreme". Although Ryan was genial, his views were "quite harsh", Axelrod told CNN's State of the Union. "It is a pick that is meant to thrill the most strident voices in the Republican Party, but it's one that should trouble everyone else," Axelrod said in another interview, on ABC. "He's the guy who's the architect of a plan to end Medicare as we know it." Ed Gillespie, a Romney strategist and former chairman of the Republican national committee, acknowledged that Romney, as president, would have signed into law Ryan's budget plan but insisted it was not to kill off Medicare but "to save it for future generations". The Republican argument is that unless the spiralling cost of Medicare is dealt with, it will collapse. Gillespie said the choice of Ryan offered an opportunity for a national debate on big ideas rather than "the little things" the Obama campaign team has been pursuing. The Obama campaign has been calling for Romney to disclose his tax returns in line with previous presidential candidates and looking in detail at his record as chief executive at Bain Capital, the company in which he made his fortune. The timing of the Ryan announcement was odd, early on a Saturday morning rather than aimed at a prime-time television slot. The Romney campaign said it had been planned for Friday but the schedule had to be delayed because Ryan wanted to attend the Friday funeral of Sikhs killed in a mass shooting in his district in Wisconsin.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hussein Tantawi and Sami Enan step down as defence minister and chief of staff as Morsi revokes military's interim powers Egypt's president, Mohamed Morsi, has ordered Egypt's two top generals to retire and revoked a military-declared constitutional amendment that gave them wide powers. Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, who led Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was ousted, retires as defence minster and Sami Enan steps down as chief of staff. The decisions are effective immediately, presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said in a news conference broadcast on state TV on Sunday. The cancelled constitutional declaration was issued by the ruling army council in June and aimed to limit presidential powers as the election that brought Morsi to office drew to a close. The new Morsi-appointed defence minister is Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. A senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, has been appointed vice-president. Tantawi and Enan have become presidential advisers.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Burma's opposition leader met Thein Sein in capital Naypyitaw for two hours, but no details of discussions were released Aung San Suu Kyi has held her first talks with the country's president since becoming a member of parliament. The Burmese opposition leader and Thein Sein discussed a wide range of issues but details of the two-hour meeting were confidential, said Colonel Zaw Htay, director of the president's office. The talks took place in the capital, Naypyitaw, where parliament is currently in session. Also present at the meeting were senior cabinet ministers Aung Min and Soe Thane, who head the government's peace committee that has brokered several ceasefires with ethnic groups. The pacts are seen as major steps toward ending long-running insurgencies. Nyan Win, spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, said the meeting was "most welcome" but said he had no immediate details. Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi are key players in Burma's political transformation after half a century of military rule. They have met on two previous occasions, most recently in April. That meeting followed byelections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, but preceded her entry to parliament. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, heads the main opposition group with 43 seats in parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by allies of the former military regime. Last week, she was named head of a 15-member parliamentary committee tasked with the challenge of helping to implement the rule of law.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Almost 300 people feared dead and 2,600 injured after quakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude flatten villages Overcrowded hospitals in north-west Iran struggled to cope with thousands of earthquake victims on Sunday as rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two powerful earthquakes killed nearly 300 people. Thousands huddled in makeshift camps or slept in the street after Saturday's quakes in fear of more aftershocks, 60 of which had already struck. "I saw some people whose entire home was destroyed, and all their livestock killed," Tahir Sadati, a local photographer, said by telephone. "People need help, they need warm clothes, more tents, blankets and bread." The worst damage and most casualties appeared to be in rural villages around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan and Harees, near the major city of Tabriz. Close to 300 people were believed to be dead with 2,600 injured, Ahar's local governor told the semi-official Fars news agency. Tabriz resident Ahmad, 41, said his cousin living in a village near Ahar has been killed and his body recovered. "Nobody knows what happened to his wife and two daughters," aged four and seven, Ahmad said. "We fear that if rescuers don't get to them soon, they will lose their lives too if they're still alive." But Iranian officials said rescue operations had ended by Sunday afternoon, Iran's English-language Press TV reported. About 16,000 people in the quake-hit area have been given emergency shelter, Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar told Mehr news agency, and 44,000 food packages and 5,600 tents distributed by Red Crescent workers. But Iranian MP Mohammad Hassan-Nejad warned that if relief efforts did not speed up, the death toll would rise swiftly. "Relief groups have still not reached many villages, because in normal conditions some of these villages are several hours away," he told the Iranian Students' News Agency. "Currently the roads are closed and the only way to reach these villages is by air." Photographs posted on Iranian news websites showed many bodies, including those of children, lying on the floor of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar and medical staff treating the injured in the open air as dusk fell on Saturday. Other images showed rescue workers digging people out of rubble – some alive, many dead. Hospitals in Tabriz, Ardabil and other cities nearby took in many of the injured, residents and Iranian media said, and there were long queues of survivors waiting to be treated. Aidin, another Tabriz resident, said he went to give blood at a local hospital on Saturday and saw staff struggling to cope with the influx of patients. Most had been taken there by their families, he said, indicating a shortage of ambulances. Ahar's 120-bed hospital was full, said Arash, a college student and resident of the town. There were traffic jams on the narrow road between Ahar and Tabriz as victims tried to reach hospitals, he said by telephone. "People are scared and won't go back into their houses because they fear the buildings aren't safe," he added. The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 37 miles north-east of Tabriz, a trading hub far from Iran's oil-producing areas and known nuclear facilities. The second, measuring 6.3, struck 11 minutes later near Varzaghan, 30 miles north-east of Tabriz. More than 1,000 villages in the area were affected by the earthquakes, said Ahmad Reza Shaji'i, a Red Crescent official. About 130 villages suffered more than 70% damage, and 20 villages were completely destroyed. Iran is crisscrossed by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that reduced the historic south-eastern city of Bam to dust and killed about 31,000 people. Saturday's quakes struck in East Azerbaijan province, a mountainous region that neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia to the north. Buildings in Tabriz, the provincial capital, are substantially built and ISNA reported nobody in the city had been killed or hurt. Homes and business premises in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sent a telegram to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Sunday expressing his sympathy and offering assistance, the Kremlin's press-service said. Pope Benedict XVI asked Christians to pray for the victims of the quakes.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Oil tanker leaves a gaping hole in guided-missile destroyer late at night, but no injuries are reported on either vessel A US navy guided-missile destroyer was left with a gaping hole on one side after it collided with an oil tanker early Sunday just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The collision left a breach about 10 feet by 10 feet (three by three meters) in the starboard side of USS Porter. No one was injured on either vessel, the navy said in a statement. The collision with the Panamanian-flagged and Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan happened about 1am local time. Photos released by the navy showed workers standing amid twisted metal and other debris hanging down from the hole. The cause of the incident is under investigation, the navy said, though the collision was not "combat related". There were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan, the Navy said. The USS Porter was heading to the nearest port to assess the damage. The USS Porter is on a scheduled deployment to the US 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, an island nation in the Gulf, near Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Gulf, is a crowded and tense waterway where one-fifth of the world's oil is routed. Tensions have risen there over repeated Iranian threats to block tanker traffic in retaliation for tighter sanctions by the West. The sanctions are aimed at persuading Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program, so far without success. Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz show no sign of abating. The United States stoked the flames recently with an announcement that it will send US navy minesweepers and warships into the Gulf for exercises. The US military maneuvers scheduled for September, to be joined by ships from about 20 American allies. This is part of a Pentagon buildup in the Gulf with more troops and naval firepower, seeking to rattle Iran and reassure Saudi Arabia and Washington's other Gulf Arab partners worried about Iran's influence and power. Iranian commanders and political leaders have stepped up threats and defiant statements in recent weeks over the Strait of Hormuz. While it appears unlikely that Iran is ready to risk an almost certain military backlash by trying to close Hormuz – which is jointly controlled with Oman – the comments from Tehran show that Iranian authorities see the strait as perhaps their most valuable asset in brinkmanship over tightening sanctions. Iranian officials have been quick to counter statements about closing the strait with observations that the situation is not likely to become that severe, indicating recognition that a step like closing the strait would have grave implications. Warnings from Tehran in the past about possible closure have been enough to boost oil prices to offset the blow of sanctions. It's also among the potential flashpoints if military force is used against Iran over its nuclear program. If attacked, Iran could severely disrupt oil supplies and send the shaky global economy stumbling backward again. Three years ago, the USS Hartford, a nuclear-powered submarine based in Groton, Connecticut, collided in the strait with the USS New Orleans, a San Diego-based amphibious ship. The New Orleans' fuel tank was ruptured, and 15 sailors on the Hartford suffered minor injuries. The collision caused $2.3m in damage to the New Orleans, and the cost so far of repairs to the Hartford is $102.6m. The submarine's commanding officer was relieved of his duties, and the sub's chief of the boat, an adviser to the commanding officer, was reassigned. Several crew members were punished.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Oil tanker leaves a gaping hole in guided-missile destroyer late at night, but no injuries are reported on either vessel One of the US navy's guided-missile destroyers suffered minor damage when it collided with an oil tanker early Sunday just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The collision left a gaping hole in the starboard side of USS Porter, but no one was injured on either vessel, the US navy said in a statement. The collision with the Panamanian-flagged bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan occurred at approximately 1am local time. The cause of the incident is under investigation, the navy said, adding that there were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan.
The USS Porter is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain. The Strait of Hormuz, located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is where one-fifth of the world's oil is routed. Tensions have risen there over Iran's threats to block tanker traffic in retaliation for tighter sanctions by the West. Three years ago, The USS Hartford, a nuclear-powered submarine based in Groton, Connecticut, collided in the strait with the USS New Orleans, a San Diego-based amphibious ship. The New Orleans' fuel tank was ruptured, and 15 sailors on the Hartford sustained minor injuries. The collision caused $2.3m in damage to the New Orleans, and the cost so far of repairs to the Hartford is $102.6m. The submarine's commanding officer was relieved of his duties, and the sub's chief of the boat, an adviser to the commanding officer, was reassigned. Several crew members were punished.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Monitors are meant to watch for suspicious passengers, but agents at Logan airport say co-workers unfairly target minorities An initiative to flag potential terrorist threats at an Boston airport has led to to widespread racial profiling of passengers, it was reported Sunday. A report by the New York Times found that more than 30 federal officers involved in the "behaviour detection" programme at Logan International Airport said that the operation targets black and Hispanic people as well as those of a Middle Eastern appearance. The claims will come as an embarrassment to air security chiefs, who had been touting the initiative as a model for transport hubs across the US. It also comes at time when the Obama administration has attacked the use of racial profiling by law enforcement authorities in Arizona and elsewhere. The programme was brought in to allow officers to stop, search and question passengers deemed to be acting suspiciously. Under the initiative, specially trained "assessors" would monitor security lines at check-ins and pull aside those observed to be displaying tell-tale signs – such as avoiding eye contact, fidgeting or sweating. Passengers considered suspicious are then taken away for more intensive questioning. But the system has led to de facto racial profiling, it is claimed. Thirty-two officers have submitted written complaints to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over the targeting of minorities by colleagues. Some of the stop and searches were the result of pressure from manager who hoped that it would lead to the discovery of drugs, outstanding arrest warrants and fraudulent immigration documents. As a result, assessors have been looking for people who fit certain profiles – such as Hispanics travelling to Miami, or black people wearing baseball caps backwards, it is claimed. "They just pull aside anyone who they don't like the way they look – if they are black and have expensive clothes or jewellery, or if they are Hispanic," one white officer told the New York Times. In an anonymous complaint to the TSA obtained by the newspaper, an officer wrote: "The behaviour detection program is no longer a behaviour-based program, but it is a racial profiling program." Passengers have also complained of the seemingly discriminatory practice. Kenneth Boatner, a black psychologist and educational consultant, was detained for nearly half an hour while attempting to travel to Atlanta on business last month. Agents examined belongings – including patients' clinical notes – after singling him out. In an interview with the New York Times, Boatner said he felt humiliated and that the officers never explained why he had been targeted. But he suspected it was because of his race and attire – he was wearing sweat pants, a white T-shirt and high-top sneakers at the time. "I had never been subjected to anything like that," Boatner said. In a statement, the TSA said the programme at Logan "in no way encourages or tolerates profiling" and that passengers are not allowed to be pulled aside based on their nationality, race, ethnicity or religion. "If any of these claims prove accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to ensure there are consequences to such activity," the agency added.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Deaths come just a day after six US soldiers were shot dead by Afghan police officers in Helmand Two Afghan policemen have shot dead a senior commander and eight other officers, the latest in a string of attacks by rogue security forces that are poisoning efforts to build up the police and army as foreign troops head home. The attack in south-western Nimruz province near the Iranian border on Saturday was the fifth in less than a week to involve men in uniform turning on their comrades or foreign trainers. The attackers were local men who had only signed up for the police three months ago, said Shakila Hakimi, head of the Nimruz provincial council. In an added twist, the pair targeted the man who had vouched for their trustworthiness, the provincial head of criminal investigations, Abdul Hadi Azizi, said. Mohammad Eesa was based in the provincial capital, but was making a brief visit to the troubled Delaram district to discuss the security situation, he said. "These two man came yesterday because they knew Eesa and through him had been introduced to the district police chief and got their weapons and uniform," Azizi said by phone, after visiting the site of the shooting. The men opened fire in the yard of the district police chief's office, killing Eesa and eight others, and wounding another man before they were themselves shot, he added. "This was a very sophisticated effort by the insurgents," Azizi said. "Eesa was a good guy, very honest. He was cheated by these two guys as he didn't know they had a connection with the Taliban." The insurgent group claimed credit for the attack, which came just a day after policemen shot dead six US soldiers in neighbouring Helmand province. It was the bloodiest single day for foreign troops in the province since six British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in early March, and a grim reminder of the growing threat foreign forces face not just from the Taliban but also from their supposed allies. Three US Marine Corps special operations troops were shot dead early on Friday in Sangin district, a northern corner of the province that has seen heavy fighting. The killers were an Afghan police commander and some of his men, who had invited the US officers to join them for a meal and to discuss security. In the evening, an Afghan policeman shot dead a further three US soldiers as they exercised on a joint base about 40 miles south-west of the provincial capital. On Tuesday, two Afghan soldiers killed a US soldier and injured two others in eastern Paktia province, and on Thursday two other Afghan soldiers opened fire on a group outside another base in the east, although the only person killed was one of the gunmen. So far this year 37 foreign soldiers and military contractors have been killed in 27 such attacks, far more than in 2011. They have become such a commonplace threat that foreign units working with Afghan forces are often watched by armed "guardian angels" from their own ranks. In a sign of growing concern, President Hamid Karzai issued a rare condemnation of the deaths of foreign soldiers, and ordered an investigation into shootings in Helmand and Paktia. "The enemy … does not want to see Afghanistan have a strong security force, targets military trainers," Karzai said in a statement that described the gunmen as "terrorists in Afghan security uniform". Nato commanders argue that the attackers account for a tiny portion of security forces, now more than 300,000 strong, and say many are driven by personal grudges rather than loyalty to the Taliban or other insurgent groups. But the shootings are disproportionately damaging to morale, and in some ways the attacks on Afghans from within their own forces are more worrying than the attacks on foreign forces. The Nato trainers will eventually head home, leaving the Afghan police and army to fight a hardened insurgency, a challenge that will be made much tougher by mistrust in their own ranks.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Scotland Yard launch 'review and examination' into delay in finding 12-year-old's body after three failed searches of property Stuart Hazell, the man accused of murdering Tia Sharp, who was found dead on Friday after being missing for a week, will appear in court on Monday as the investigation into the schoolgirl's death continues. Scotland Yard has not released details of the magistrates court where Hazell, 37, will appear charged with her murder, as tensions in the community of New Addington, where Tia was found dead, run high. Hazell was charged in the early hours of Sunday morning with the murder of the 12-year-old, who was last seen on Friday 3 August at the house Hazell shared with Tia's grandmother, Christine Sharp, 46. Sharp, who was also arrested on suspicion of murder, has been released on police bail but not charged. The couple's neighbour Paul Meehan, 39, was arrested on suspicion of aiding an offender and has also been released on police bail but not charged. No formal identification of the body found in 20 The Lindens, on the New Addington estate near Croydon, south-east London, has yet been made but Scotland Yard said the victim was named in the murder charge as 12-year-old Tia Sharp. A postmortem investigation was halted on Saturday evening and was expected to resume on Sunday to provide more details of how the child died. More than 80 officers were engaged in the search for Tia after her mother Natalie reported her missing on 3 August, but it took four searches of her grandmother's home before officers found her dead. Scotland Yard has admitted that due to human error a specialist search team did not discover the missing schoolgirl's body in the early hours of last Sunday morning when they examined the house – including of the location where Tia was finally discovered, which is understood to be the loft. It was only when another full forensic examination was carried out on Friday afternoon that the body was found, and the hunt for Hazell began. He was arrested at 8.25pm in neighbouring Merton, after he was spotted by several members of the public. Scotland Yard has publicly admitting its failings over the search of Christine Sharp's home. Commander Neil Basu has apologised to Natalie Sharp for the length of time it took to discover her daughter's body. He said the force was carrying out a "review and examination" of its search processes to ensure such errors are not repeated. This weekend Basu gave more details of the three failed searches over the last week. He said: "It is important that we explain more about the circumstances of the searches. Four scene examinations were conducted of the property. The first followed immediately from the missing person report that was received on Friday 3 August. "An initial visit was made to assess the situation and examine the property. This visit was not regarded or viewed as a full search of the property. The second visit was a full search of the property with the consent of the occupiers. This was conducted on 5 August over a period of two hours. "All parts of the premises were searched including the location where a body was discovered, five days later, on Friday 10 August. An early review has been conducted and it is now clear that human error delayed the discovery of the body within the house." The Met said on Sunday it had not referred the inquiry to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). It is understood the IPCC has decided not to hold informal talks with the Met about the failures identified during the searches and that the Met search team was led by a trained police search adviser. Hundreds of floral tributes, teddy bears and cards have been left outside the New Addington property where Tia lived at weekends and during school holidays with her grandmother. Janette Dixon, 52, who left a teddy bear at the makeshift memorial, said: "It is heartbreaking. I have got four grandchildren of my own and the idea that something like this could happen is just devastating. The whole community was out searching for her, all day and everyday, but she was in that house all the time. It is unbelievable." Collette O'Brien said she felt guilty because the community had failed to find Tia. Laying two bunches of white flowers, she said: "I wanted to bring my daughters to pay our respects. It is hard to put into words. We all tried to find her but it appears she was in that house all the time. It is just heartbreaking. I feel this awful sense of guilt that I couldn't have done more." Scotland Yard said the murder inquiry was ongoing.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The unbeaten USA men's basketball team (7-0) and the Spanish national team (5-2) battle for the gold medal today at North Greenwich Arena.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The USA men's basketball team survives a strong effort from the Spanish national team to take home the gold medal.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Slow-speed pursuit starts in landmark area and ends blocks away with NYPD shooting man in front of shocked tourists Police shot and killed a man they say lunged at them with a knife in a confrontation that began in Times Square and drew officers and spectators on a chase that ended with shots fired near one of New York's most heavily touristed areas. The encounter played out Saturday around 3pm, when officers approached a 51-year-old man they say appeared to be smoking marijuana near West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue, in the heart of Times Square. The man became agitated, pulled out an 11-inch (28-centimeter) knife and began to put a bandanna on his head, police said. He refused repeated orders to drop the weapon and began backing down the avenue, continuing for a number of blocks and drawing many officers into a slow-speed pursuit that took them south of Times Square. According to the police account, officers pepper sprayed the man six times but he held onto the knife throughout the seven-block pursuit. At West 37th Street, he lunged at police and two officers shot him in the torso, police said. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. Witnesses recalled a chaotic scene in which some bystanders took cover, while others began following the procession down the avenue in an attempt to capture cellphone video of it. On video obtained by NY1 cable news station, officers, guns drawn, can be seen pursuing the man as he appears to skip down Seventh Avenue. "He was swinging at people as he ran," Jobby Nogver, 17, told the New York Times. Nogver watched as police surrounded the man and fired. "I can't tell you how many shots," he said. Priscilla Rocha, a tourist from Brazil, was visiting Times Square with her husband when they saw the confrontation. "I almost had a heart attack," she told the Times. "Everyone started running."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US TV presenter's Celebrity Big Brother appearance in doubt after he is denied visa over 1976 murder conviction As "Dog the Bounty Hunter", Duane Chapman has made a name for himself tracking down offenders on his hit US reality TV show, but his own criminal past came back to haunt him when the UK government refused to grant him a visa. Chapman, whose show has run for eight seasons in the States, was due to appear on Channel 5's new series of Celebrity Big Brother from Wednesday but the UK Border Agency denied him entry because of his involvement in the 1976 murder of Jerry Oliver in Pampa, Texas. Oliver was shot dead by one of Chapman's friends when they went to buy marijuana from him. Chapman was outside waiting in a car when Oliver was killed inside his house during a struggle. Nevertheless, he was convicted of first-degree murder and served one and a half years of a five-year sentence. Chapman said he was not seeking to minimise his involvement – "I should not have been there, that's that" – but insisted he had turned his life around. His show, screened on Sky2 and Pick TV in the UK, features him praying with his family for safety and for a successful mission "in Jesus's name" before going to work on criminals, who frequently repent in his presence. A sworn letter provided by Charles Love, a Pampa police officer at the time of the murder, provided as supporting evidence for Chapman's visa application, described the bounty hunter's role as "minor". "I'd like to see your country and I have a lot of fans there and I'd like to meet them," Chapman told the Guardian from Hawaii. "I have always wanted to come here." He was bound by confidentiality from confirming his scheduled appearance in the Celebrity Big Brother House but expressed hope the "red tape" could be overcome. However, his wife, Beth, who is also his business partner and co-star, was more forthright. "It's just incredible that something that he did 33 years ago is just haunting him," she said. "It prevents him making a living. Our society is so unforgiving it seems, no matter how many good things we do." She pointed to her husband's work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also has a letter supporting his visa application from a charity called RG1, run by film-makers, which supports young people to lead a life away from crime and wants Chapman to take part in its youth initiative scheme. Additionally, more than 3,500 fans have signed a petition calling for him to be allowed into the UK. The refusal letter from the UK Border Agency says: "Records show that you were convicted of one offence which carried a sentence of five years. According to those records, that conviction is not spent." It also says the purpose of his visit is not "of a sufficiently compelling nature" to exercise discretionary powers to let him in. Other US stars have been allowed into the UK despite convictions, including the boxer Mike Tyson, who was granted entry in 2000 at the discretion of then-home secretary Jack Straw, despite his conviction for rape. Chapman's official website says he is considered "the greatest bounty hunter in the world" and he has made more than 6,000 captures in his 27-year career. His TV show was recently axed in the US after eight seasons.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Syrian state news agency Sana and Arab satellite station report deaths of two journalists in the capital Two Syrian journalists have been killed in the capital, Damascus, according to reports from the Syrian state news agency, Sana, and an Arab satellite station. Sana said its reporter, Ali Abbas, was killed at his residence in the Jdaidet Artouz area. The report blamed an "armed terrorist group" – the regime's catch-all term for its opponents – but gave no further details. Al-Arabiya television said on its website that Bara'a Yusuf al-Bushi, a Syrian national and army defector who provided information to the station and several international news organisations, died in a bomb attack while covering a story in al-Tal, a suburb on the northern edge of Damascus. Both reporters were killed on Saturday, according to the news reports. There have been several attacks on pro-regime media during Syria's 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. On Saturday, there were two bombings in the capital that brought chaos to some of Damascus's most exclusive areas in a symbolic blow to Assad. One blast – from a device planted under a tree – was set off by remote control as a vehicle carrying soldiers passed by in al-Marjeh district. The explosion, which caused no casualties, was about 100 metres from the luxury Four Seasons hotel. After the blast, gunmen opened fire on civilians "to provoke panic", the state news agency reported. At the same time, it added a second explosion went off near Tishrin Stadium, less than half a mile away. Just hours later, Sana said a bus was attacked in a Damascus suburb, killing six passengers travelling from the central province of Hama. The news agency said security agents were pursuing the attackers in all incidents, referring to them as "terrorists" – the term authorities routinely use for rebels trying to topple Assad's regime. Explosions in the capital have become increasingly common as Syria's civil war escalates.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Major offensive in peninsula follows death of 16 soldiers near Israeli border last week Egyptian government forces have killed seven suspected militants during raids against hideouts in a village south of the town of el-Arish in northern Sinai, according to security officials. They said the raids took place in al-Ghora village, 19 miles south of el-Arish, on Sunday. The killings are the first reported casualties among suspected militants since the start late last week of a major offensive against militant groups in the Sinai peninsula. The offensive followed the killing last Sunday of 16 Egyptian soldiers by suspected Islamists near the border with Gaza and Israel.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Follow all of the sporting action ahead of tonight's closing ceremony with Simon Burnton
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Quakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude destroy six villages and injure about 1,800 people, according to officials Two strong earthquakes have killed 250 people and injured another 1,800 in north-west Iran where rescuers frantically combed through the rubble of dozens of villages on Saturday night. Thousands fled their homes and remained outdoors after the quakes as at least 40 aftershocks hit the area. Casualty numbers could rise, Iranian officials feared, as some of the injured were in a critical condition, others were still trapped under the rubble and rescuers had yet to reach some of the affected villages. Sixty villages had sustained more than 50% damage, Iranian media said. Iran is straddled by major fault lines and has had several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that turned the south-eastern historic city of Bam into dust and killed more than 25,000 people. The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 37 miles north-east of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9km. A second quake measuring 6.3 struck north-east of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth. The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," Fars news agency said of the town. Several hundred people in Varzaghan and Ahar were rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the official IRNA news agency reported. "Since some people are in a critical condition and rescue workers are still trying to rescue people from under the rubble, unfortunately it is possible for the number of casualties to rise," IRNA quoted Bahram Samadirad, a provincial official from the coroner's office, as saying. Photographs posted by Iranian news websites showed about a dozen bodies lying on the floor in the corner of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar and medical staff surrounded by anxious residents working on the injured in the open air as dusk fell. "I was just on the phone talking to my mother when she said 'There's just been an earthquake,' then the line was cut," one woman from Tabriz, who lives outside Iran, wrote on Facebook after telephoning her mother in the city. "God, what has happened? After that I couldn't get through. God has also given me a slap and it was very hard." Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Buildings in the city are robust and the Iranian Students' News Agency said nobody in the city itself had been killed or hurt. Homes and businesses in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake. Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying about 16,000 people in the quake-hit area had been given emergency shelter. Fars quoted lawmaker Abbas Falahi as saying he believed rescue workers had not yet been able to reach between 10 and 20 villages. A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks, according to IRNA. Falahi said people in the region were in need of bread, tents and drinking water. The Turkish Red Crescent said it was sending a truck full of emergency supplies to the border, an official said. Turkey's foreign ministry said it had informed Iran it was ready to help.
  | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire