Showing posts with label CNN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CNN. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
*GOVERNMNET SHUTDOWN" NATIONAL PARKS WILL LOSE 32 MILLION DOLLARS A DAY!
New York (CNN) -- An average of $32 million a day in national parks revenue could be shut off if the Beltway showdown results in a government shutdown, officials say.
The measure would be the first shutdown in more than 15 years, shuttering national parks, seashores and historic sites, and barring some 800,000 daily visitors, according to David Barna, a spokesman for the National Parks Service.
Places such as Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona would be closed as a result of the impasse.
Tourist draws such as the Smithsonian National Museums in Washington would be locked and parades such as the National Cherry Blossom Festival could be called off, though organizers have pledged to hold a short parade despite the outcome. That festival draws roughly 1 million visitors each year.
Congressional lawmakers have been scrambling to negotiate a spending bill set to expire Friday, worrying those reliant on park tourism cash.
"These parks are the economic engines of some communities," said Barna. "They're often the largest employer in an area," referencing a network of restaurants, shops and hotels that often surround historic sites. READ FULL ARTICLE AT CNN.COM
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
*IVORY COAST UPRISE*FORCES STORM THE HOME OF GBAGBO!
CNN) -- Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's elected president stormed the residence of Laurent Gbagbo, the man who refuses to hand over power, a former spokesman for elected President Alassane Ouattara told CNN Wednesday.
"Negotiations with Gbabgo have failed," Mamadou Toure said. "Gbagbo decided not to surrender so Ouattara's forces were left with no other choice. The aim is to get him out of the residence without harming him."
"President Alassane Ouattara will have to decide what happens next," added Toure, who is now at the country's embassy in Paris and says he is in direct contact with Ouattara's forces.
Gbagbo "will be brought to justice," a different spokesman for Ouattara told CNN Wednesday.
RELATED TOPICS
Gbagbo seemed to be on the point of surrender Tuesday after four months of conflict between his forces and those of Ouattara, but then backtracked.
It "seems like he has lost his mind... it means that there is something wrong with this guy," Ouattara spokesman Patrick Achi said.
Gbagbo advisor Abdon Bayeto confirmed that he had not surrendered.
He said both sides had been asked to sign a cease-fire to allow the United Nations and French peacekeepers to deal with the humanitarian crisis on the ground.
Bayeto, who is in London, said he had not spoken with Gbagbo on Wednesday but has been in contact with others around him,
Ouattara's side is appealing directly to Gbagbo's fighters to put down their weapons, Ouattara spokesman Achi said.
"We cannot sit and wait for him to become reasonable" in the face of the "humanitarian catastrophe" facing the main city, Abidjan, Achi argued. The city of five million people had "no more electricity, no more sanitation and bodies on the street," he said.
Ouattara's forces entered Abidjan on Thursday after an offensive that swept across the cocoa-producing country. When they arrived, the sporadic post-election violence that had plagued Abidjan for four months escalated into war.
Friday, April 1, 2011
216,000 JOBS GAINED IN MARCH 2011, UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS TO 8.8 %
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The job market continued to improve in March as strong business hiring took the unemployment rate to its lowest level in two years.
The economy gained 216,000 jobs in the month. That's better than the gain of 180,000 predicted by economists surveyed by CNNMoney, and also a significant improvement over the 194,000 jobs added in February."Almost two years after the recession officially ended, the labor market appears to finally be picking up," said Kathy Bostjancic, director of macroeconomic analysis for The Conference Board.
Businesses added 230,000 jobs, the second best gain in that reading in five years. But while businesses continued to bring on new staff, public sector employers trimmed 14,000 jobs during the month, mostly at the local government level.
The unemployment rate continued to edge down, dropping to 8.8%, the lowest level since March 2009. The unemployment rate has shed a full percentage point in the last four months. 
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Politics as Usual???: Wyclef Shot in Haiti
Wyclef Jean was struck in the hand by a bullet in Port-au-Prince around 11 p.m., his publicist said on Sunday.
"He is doing well," Cindy Tanenbaum told CNN, but offered no details about the incident.
The singer, who was in Haiti to raise support for presidential candidate Michel Martelly, was treated at the hospital and released." Full Article - Via The Daily News Michael Sheridan
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Egypt unrest: Protesters erupt in anger after Mubarak signals he will not resign
Here are the latest developments, as confirmed by CNN, on the uprising in Egypt. Throngs of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Egypt's major cities to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, prompting the government to deploy the military to deal with civil unrest for the first time in a generation. Check out our full coverage and the latest tweets from CNN correspondents on the ground.
[Update 12:15 p.m. in Cairo, 5:15 p.m. ET] Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak offered his view on the situation in Egypt Thursday during a visit to the United Nations:
"I think we should not pretend that we are more important for the Egyptian people than their own interests... it's up to the Egyptian people to find their way and to do it according to their own constitution, norms and practices." READ FULL ARTICLE
Saturday, February 5, 2011
ACTIVIST BLOCK TANKS FROM ENTERING TAHRIR SQUARE
COURTESY OF CNN.COM -Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Opposition activists formed a human chain outside one of the entrances to Tahrir Square on Saturday afternoon to prevent two Egyptian military tanks from crossing through barricades into what has effectively become an anti-Mubarak enclave in the heart of the Egyptian capital.
An eyewitness said scuffles broke out after an army general asked demonstrators to take down their makeshift barricades of corrugated steel and debris, which were built up during 48 hours of bloody fighting with regime supporters next to Cairo's landmark Egyptian Museum.
"This general went through the barricades, they [the soldiers] knocked down some barricades on the way to the museum, which caused some panic and scuffling," said photographer Ron Haviv. "When he did it all chaos broke loose."
Haviv said that initial tension was defused after the Egyptian army officer began negotiating with medics who have established a first aid station for wounded combatants just behind the first line of barriers.
"He is still talking to doctors at the clinic," Haviv said. "He is asking them to remove the clinic."
Sunday, January 30, 2011
EGYPTIANS CONTINUE TO PROTEST FOR FREEDOM!
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- The government's call for protesters to obey a curfew and low-flying fighter jets overhead did nothing to deter thousands of Egyptians from continuing their protests into Sunday night, raising prospects that demonstrations could continue for a seventh day on Monday, when the U.S. plans to begin flying thousands of Americans out of the country.
Crowds surrounded Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition figure, as he walked into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday. Throngs of people cheered his arrival.
Sunday's protests appeared to be mostly peaceful, with signs of increasing cooperation between the army and civilians in the face of looting and threats of violence from criminal elements.
ElBaradei told protesters Sunday that he came "to participate today in the lives of Egyptians. Today I look into the eyes of each one of you, and everyone is different today. Today you are an Egyptian demanding your rights and freedom, and what we started can never be pushed back. As we said, we have one main demand: the end of the regime and to start a new phase."
In a CNN interview earlier, ElBaradei called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to "leave today and save the country."
"This is a country that is falling apart," ElBaradei told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS."
He said he has been "authorized -- mandated -- by the people who organized these demonstrations ... to agree on a national unity government."
ElBaradei, a former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is one of several opposition figures whose name surfaces when protesters talk about possible future leaders of Egypt. Among other names is Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League.
But Mubarak has given no indications of giving up his 30-year rule. He vowed to listen to the protesters' message and fired his entire Cabinet on Saturday. On Sunday, Mubarak, 82, visited an armed services operations center, state-run Nile TV reported. Mubarak was following up on the security situation and showing support for the military, the report said.
Sunday's demonstrations at times felt like a music festival, with people cheering, chatting and posing for pictures with members of the military in their tanks. The army had been deployed to replace police forces that had clashed brutally with demonstrators.
However, the Interior Ministry ordered police back onto some streets, a move that angered protesters, said Heba Fatma Morayef, a Human Rights Watch researcher in Tahrir Square. The army remained in control of the square, she said.
Some residents picked up the slack for police in areas surrounding the protests -- offering to clean up trash, for example. Medical personnel worked their way through the crowd, seeing if anyone needed help.
"The square has emptied out since the afternoon, but it's still a great atmosphere, a sense of solidarity and very well-behaved -- people are sitting around bonfires, or walking around picking up rubbish," Morayef said. "Crowds who find occasional looters drag them over to the soldiers and hand them over."
Street vendors were still selling food, she said.
Several thousand people remained in the square Sunday night, and many said they plan to stay in place until Mubarak resigns, Morayef said.
RELATED TOPICS
In Alexandria, machine gun fire could be heard overhead as thousands of protesters marched down streets Sunday night, CNN's Nic Robertson reported. Gunfire could also be heard in several locations in Cairo, including in front of the Egyptian Museum.
With the world's attention focused on their efforts, the protesters issued two central demands: that the regime that has run Egypt for years face a trial and that the Constitution be changed.
Many expressed optimism that they will succeed. "This is the start of the rest of my life," one jubilant young man who appeared to be in his 20s told CNN. "As cheesy as it sounds, that's exactly how I feel right now."
He added that he had been concerned there wouldn't be enough people "to deter any threat -- either by police or by the army. Now, it's definitely over."
Ali Regal, a student activist leader in Alexandria, said that the military is working closely with "the masses" -- including demonstrators -- to coordinate security. He said that organizers were mapping out a plan to set up checkpoints around the port city.
"The army is very helpful and working with us," Regal told Robertson. "There is a strong cooperation between the masses and the army, that's what I can tell so far."
Mohammed Sidky, an Egyptian-American who recently moved back to Cairo, said residents were banding together to fill the security void with the military's help.
Sidky said the military had increased its presence in Cairo on Sunday, with more tanks and soldiers in the streets, and that some neighborhood watch groups who catch alleged criminals call the military, which had been responding to the scene within 20 or 30 minutes.
"So this is a sense of security to us, and it is ... working together, the military and the citizens," Sidky said.
Egyptian Ambassador to the United States Sameh Shoukry told CNN on Sunday that, "The situation seems to be improving slightly in terms of security for private and public property."
"The military has achieved some positive results in rounding up some of the prison escapees and in providing security in neighborhoods," he added.
Whether the 450,000-strong armed forces -- deployed to the streets for the first time since the mid-1980s -- will remain loyal to Mubarak is a key question for the nation's future.
More than 3,000 people have been arrested so far, including some looters and escaped prisoners, Nile TV reported.
Still, fear of anarchy and looting lingered Sunday. Shops and businesses were looted and abandoned police stations were stripped clean of their arsenals. Sidky estimated that 95 percent of businesses in Cairo were closed.
A body was found in front of the country's Interior Ministry Sunday morning, but there was no police presence nearby.
Charter flights will begin taking thousands of government dependents, nonessential employees and private American citizens out of Cairo on Monday, Assistant Secretary of State Janice L. Jacobs said Sunday.
Officials are looking at Istanbul, Turkey; Nicosia, Cyprus; and Athens, Greece, as possible destinations, although the list was not finalized Sunday afternoon, she said.
The staff of the Cairo Embassy has been closed indefinitely but has a 24-7 task force and call centers and has been overwhelmed by inquiries, Jacobs said.
Turkey sent two planes to Egypt on Sunday to begin evacuation of its citizens, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Una said.
In a statement carried by state television, Gen. Mohamad Tantawi, the defense minister in the sacked Egyptian government, urged the public to obey the 4 p.m.-8 a.m. curfew (9 a.m.-1 a.m. ET).
The curfew time on Monday will begin an hour earlier, at 3 p.m. (8 a.m. ET), and last until 8 a.m. (1 a.m. ET), Nile TV reported.
Tantawi was escorted to the network's headquarters by red-helmeted troops in a convoy of sport-utility vehicles. Later, Egyptian TV stations showed him walking in the streets of Cairo checking on troops.
Fighter jets began flying low over the crowd of tens of thousands minutes before the curfew was to begin. The jets flew so low, according to CNN staffers on the ground, that their cockpits could be seen.
A group of Egyptian troops fired warning shots at a car that tried to run a barricade around Tahrir Square, but the vehicle made it through the barricade and escaped, according to CNN photographer Joe Duran.
One of the biggest concerns of many Egyptians in the wake of the chaos -- that prisoners could escape -- proved true this weekend. Nile TV said some prisoners broke out of Abu Zaabal prison in Cairo, though it was not immediately clear how many.
At the Ataa prison in Al Badrashin, a town in Giza, some prisoners broke out too. Roughly 1,000 inmates escaped from Prison Demu in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, Nile TV reported early Sunday.
Cell phone and mobile Internet service appeared to have returned, but word of a possible new crackdown on communication emerged Sunday.
Egypt's Information Ministry announced that it was revoking Al-Jazeera's license and withdrawing accreditation of the network's staff, state media reported.
"The closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people," the Al-Jazeera network said in a statement.
The network's Arabic-language channel was off the air in Egypt Sunday afternoon, but Al Jazeera English was still on the air.
Mubarak appointed his trusted and powerful intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, as his deputy on Saturday, the first time the authoritarian regime has had such a post. Suleiman is well respected by the military and is credited with crushing an Islamic insurgency in the 1990s, for which he earned the ear of Western intelligence officials thirsting for vital information about regional terrorist groups.
Suleiman had a meeting Sunday with the head of the military and the interior minister, Egyptian TV network ESC reported.
Mubarak also asked Ahmed Shafik, the civil aviation minister in the cabinet that just stepped down, to form a new government, Nile TV reported. Shafik is a former Air Force officer with strong military connections.
The protests come weeks after similar disturbances sparked a revolution in Tunisia, forcing then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country.
Both Egypt and Tunisia have seen dramatic rises in the cost of living in recent years and accusations of corruption among the ruling elite.
Tunisia-inspired demonstrations have also taken place in Algeria, Yemen and Jordan.
The Egyptian crisis reverberated across the world, with activists in cities including New York, Toronto and Geneva staging protests Saturday in support of those in Egypt, demanding that Mubarak step down.
Mubarak addressed the nation in a televised speech early Saturday. He said he asked his government to step down but he intended to stay in power.
"These protests arose to express a legitimate demand for more democracy, need for a greater social safety net, and the improvement of living standards, fighting poverty and rampant corruption," he said.
The aging president has ruled Egypt with an iron fist for three decades, and it was widely believed he was grooming his son, Gamal, as his successor -- a plan now complicated by demands for democracy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)