Workers hit streets on May Day in Cuba

By David Ariosto, CNN

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Thousands packed Havana's Revolution Square on Saturday for International Workers' Day, drawing hordes of Cuban demonstrators, spectators, and trade unionists from around the world -- including the United States and the United Kingdom.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Brian Hattsberger, a British labor unionist in attendance, wiping the sweat from his brow with his red labor hat. "It's just amazing".

For years, since Cuba's bearded revolutionaries toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista over half a century ago, residents have gathered in Havana on May 1 to listen to hours-long speeches from their former president, Fidel Castro.

The elder Castro made his last showing in 2006 before stepping down because of illness, at first temporarily and then permanently, leaving the reins to his younger brother, Raul.

Since then, neither Castro has made a major speech on May Day. This year was no different.

In a carefully choreographed show of force, thousands took to the streets, carrying placards with the faces of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Raul Castro, and waving Cuban flags as they sang and sweated beneath the hot Caribbean sun.

"I am marching for Cuba and for the Cuban revolution," said one Cuban marcher as she passed through the square.

Cuba had billed this year's march as a rebuke to international criticism from Europe and Washington over human rights issues recently bubbling up in the Communist nation.

In February, dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who was jailed in 2003 during a crackdown on political opposition, died after a hunger strike that lasted for more than 80 days. He began the strike to demand better prison conditions.

In an unprecedented government statement, Raul Castro said he "lamented the death of Cuban prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after leading a hunger strike".

He blamed the United States for the death, but did not explain why.

"Tortured people do not exist," Castro added.

Recently, an opposition group that calls itself the "Ladies in White" -- made up of relatives of dissidents jailed in the 2003 crackdown -- has met recurring resistance from large groups of pro-government demonstrators, who surround the women and drown out their chants of "Freedom" with such phrases as "This street belongs to Fidel".

The women on occasion are detained briefly by police before being driven back to their homes.

Saturday marked the second International Workers' Day since U.S. President Obama took office. At the time of his election, Obama elicited a sense among many Cubans that they might finally see an end to the economic trade embargo that has been in place since the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

While Obama eased restrictions on small-ticket items such as family travel and telecommunications, and sent high-ranking envoys to Havana to foster fresh migration talks, broader discussions now appear at a standstill following a storm of criticism over Zapata's death and increasingly routine counter-demonstrations in support of the government that overpower the handful of weekly protests.

Saturday's May Day march began around 8 a.m. and lasted roughly two hours without incident.

CNN

For Egypt, it's life and death

By Ali Zaidi

Never was there a land more wrapped around a river.

Most people know that Egypt’s economy throughout its history has been based around the Nile — through the millennia the river’s annual flooding has watered and fertilised its farmlands, and from 1902 the Aswan Dam, and from 1970 the Aswan High Dam have controlled the flooding and allowed properly irrigated agriculture.

But for this writer, it took an actual visit to Egypt to appreciate just how central the river is not just to the economy and history but to the cultural, intellectual and spiritual life of the country.

Indeed, as you can see for yourself quite clearly if you fly over it, Egypt is not so much a country as a corridor, a narrow strip of continuously cultivated land on both sides of the river where 90 per cent of the population live — surrounded by burning desert. The river provides up to 90 per cent of the water needs of a country where, especially in Nubia in the south, it sometimes doesn’t rain for years on end.

The fertility of this narrow corridor and the creativity of its people, produced the most spectacular of the ancient civilisations; the country’s subsequent history has been hardly less illustrious – always with a touch of the grandiose – and over the centuries, given its central position in North Africa and the Middle East, coupled with the commerce of the Mediterranean, established itself as the intellectual and cultural centre of the Arab world.

In another direction, south, while the cataracts on the Nile inhibited conquest and commerce, over the centuries, a great variety of peoples moved up the river, and today a large proportion of the population of East Africa are their descendants, the so-called Nilotes.

Egypt has, in that sense, been one of the major historical gateways between the worlds of the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa.

In the middle of the 20th century, under Gamal Abdel Nasser, the country allied itself to the anti-colonial cause, giving significant material and diplomatic support to the Independence movements around the continent.

Today, the country is again compelled to look south, as the talks on a new treaty on the sharing of the river’s waters — to replace the colonial-era treaties that secured it the bulk, 55 billion cubic metres a year out of an annual flow of 84 billion — stumble from crisis to crisis under the aegis of the Nile Basin Initiative.

The trouble is, of course, Egypt itself (and Sudan) — after the latest round, a Cabinet Minister told Parliament. “Egypt’s historical rights to Nile waters are a matter of life and death. We will not compromise them.” Now the other Nile Basin countries are threatening to go ahead and sign a new treaty without Egypt and Sudan.

Recently, a group of journalists from the Nile Basin countries was invited by the Egyptian government on a week-long tour of the country. The idea appeared to be to showcase the formidable expertise in river/water management and other economic benefits that Egypt has to offer the upstream countries (sub-text: as long as you leave our share of the water alone.) We were taken to Cairo, Aswan and Luxor.

We met ministers, government officials, water resource management experts, journalists — we even saw the Pyramids, though our minders’ attitude seemed to be: What’s the big deal?

We visited the Egyptian Museum, saw the superb mosques of old Cairo, took in an awesome light and sound show at the Temple of Karnak. We went on a boat ride on Lake Nasser after a tour of the High Aswan dam, an engineering feat of rugged simplicity pulled off in the teeth of Anglo-American opposition, whose giant turbines were built in (the then) Leningrad and are currently being refurbished by an American company. We had lunch with Boutros Boutros Ghali.

The people we met couldn’t have been friendlier or more forthcoming; every meal was a banquet, every conversation an eye-opener.

There was much agonising over Egypt’s role in Africa; a senior journalist at Al –Ahram, the country’s ‘national’ newspaper, who has covered the continent extensively, lamented that his compatriots’ views of their southern neighbours were so coloured by the stereotypes of war, famine and chaos propagated by the Western press, but also pointed out that people in sub-Saharan Africa harboured equally distorted stereotypes of North Africa and Arabs in general, courtesy of the same Western news agencies.

In private conversations, we found our Egyptian interlocutors deeply fascinated by East Africa’s struggle for democracy — something that they will soon be undergoing themselves, it would appear — and our advances in mobile phone technology. Never mind MPesa, they went round-eyed over borderless networks.

The East African

Medicines recalled as precautionary measure

Asma Ali Zain

Parents expressed concern over the recall of 40 over-the-counter infant’s and children’s liquid medications, including the commonly used Tylenol.

Several parents said they had to make frantic calls to doctors asking if they should continue administering the drug to their children or not. Others asked for alternatives.

The UAE Ministry of Health said on Sunday that it will issue a circular today ordering a local recall of the medications that may include Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl.

However, a representative from Glaxo Smith Kline, the company that supplies Zyrtec to the UAE said it was safe for use since the medicine was manufactured in Italy and not the US.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the US-based manufacturers of the medicines issued a worldwide voluntary recall on Friday after consulting with the US Food and Drug Administration.

The recall has also been issued in the UAE, the US and 10 other countries.

According to the www.mcneilproductrecall.com that lists all the recalled products, medicine that have not yet expired have been recalled.

The company is advising consumers to stop giving the products to their children as a precautionary measure. The recall was not undertaken because of any adverse effects, the company said.

“We are also following what the company has advised and are asking parents to stop giving the products to their children as a precaution,” said a paediatrician in Dubai who said a number of parents had expressed concern over the news.

A parent, however, said that it was not clear what batches were affected. “I have sizeable stock of medicine and I am not sure if I should dispose of it and use alternatives for my children,” said Mariam Hafeez, a housewife based in Sharjah.

Until Sunday, pharmacies said that they were still stocking and selling the medicine. Ramin, a pharmacist from 32Care Green Pharmacy in Dubai said they had not been asked to remove the medicine from the shelves.

“The medicine is still being supplied and we will continue to sell it until we are asked by the ministry to stop doing so,” he said. Though Tylenol is widely used in the country, Motrin and Benadryl is not available.

Khaleej Times

Five killed and 12 injured in Mexican concert crush

Five people have been killed and at least 12 injured in a stampede at a concert in Mexico, police said.

Panic broke out when shots were heard at a pop concert in the the northern state of Nuevo Leon, sending the crowd of 500 people scrambling for cover.

TV images showed people giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the victims at the gig in the city of Guadalupe.

The area has been plagued by a rise in drug-related violence after an alliance between two rival drug cartels ended.

Hundreds of fans of the band Intocable rushed for the exits after concert-goers shouted they had heard shooting, senior government official Ivonne Alvarez told Reuters news agency.

Mobile phone images broadcast on TV showed fans ducking behind chairs.

Police recovered a spent bullet shell after Sunday's concert.

BBC News

Four killed in Darfur protest over cash scam

(Reuters) - At least four people died on Sunday in clashes between Sudanese security forces and protesters angry over a failed investment scheme in Darfur, an aid source and witnesses said.

Automatic gunfire erupted after about 1,000 people marched on the centre of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, U.N. officials and aid workers said.

Local residents said protesters were angry after losing money in a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid model where money is paid from one investor to the other and presented as profit.

Two members of the crowd told Reuters that security forces opened fire on protesters. One humanitarian aid source said some protesters were also armed and there were exchanges of fire.

"Between four and 10 people have been killed ... and 30 to 40 people injured ... There was intense fighting. We cannot say who killed who," said an aid official, asking not to be named.

Aid workers and U.N. officials took refuge in their compounds during the confrontation.

"There is a lot of confusion ... We don't know if it is police shooting, or civilians, or the Arab militias in town. They lost a lot of money and are very unhappy," said one aid worker, speaking to Reuters by phone.

PONZI SCHEME

The fighting had ended by early afternoon but streets were largely deserted and shops shut, residents of the area said.

"They used guns against the protest ... They shot some people," said Dirar Abdullah Dirar, a member of the League of the Victims of the El Mawasir Market, which helped organise the protest to demand the return of investors' money.

Mawasir is a local term for pipes, slang for a swindle.

Another witness in the crowd told Reuters he saw four bodies in the street. "Everything is quiet now but the problem is not solved. We have still not heard how we are going to get our money back," he said.

North Darfur's police chief Abdul Rahman al-Tayeb issued a statement late on Sunday saying three protesters died in the demonstration, without going into how they lost their lives.

Al-Tayeb said officers had to use batons and teargas after meeting resistance from the crowd which he said was backed by "armed movements". A total of 104 people were arrested, he said.

El Fasher, and Darfur's other major cities, have become thriving commercial centres during the remote western region's seven-year conflict, boosted by foreign cash brought in by aid workers and peacekeepers and accelerating urbanisation.

Local residents told Reuters two men set up a business in El Fasher around 10 months ago, taking in cash and other goods and promising returns of more than 50 percent after a month.

Investors received certificates for their goods and did receive payments in the early days of the scheme, one investor said. But the business closed down before last month's national elections, leaving thousands unpaid, he said.

Police arrested a number of men accused of setting up the investment operation, the secretary general of North Darfur's government, Ali Mohammed Ibrahim, told Reuters last week.

Mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, accusing it of neglect. Khartoum armed mostly Arab militias to crush the uprising.

Editing by Charles Dick

Reuters UK

Ethiopia: Eritrean goverment trained terrorists apprehended

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 2, 2010  - The Joint Anti-terror Taskforce of the National Intelligence and Security Service and the Federal Police said it apprehended members of the Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Al-shabab who were trained by the Eritrean government to downplay the fourth national elections in Ethiopia.

In a press statement it sent to ENA on Saturday the taskforce said the terrorists, who promote the cause of the busiest regime of Eritrean government to destabilize the region, have been detained while they were entering via Somaliland and Somalia borders.

The taskforce said the terrorists and henchmen have put under custody with their weapons as they are to execute their subversive plot in the metropolis owing to the coordinated effort of the security forces and the public.

The statement said the documents revealed that the Eritrean government is still instigating conflicts and war to kill civilians and to explode grenade to downplay the ongoing smooth election process.

The taskforce called on the public to intensify its effort to curtail the disruptive acts of the Eritrean government and its clique.

Ethiopian News

Lord's Resistance Army massacres up to 100 in Congolese village

UN launches investigation into latest slaughter by Ugandan rebels

Associated Press in Niangara

Up to 100 people in a village in Democratic Republic of the Congo are believed to have been massacred by Ugandan rebels, the UN has said.

John Holmes, the UN's top humanitarian official, said that an investigation was under way into the alleged attack, thought to have taken place in February.

In December, Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army killed at least 321 civilians in one of the worst single incidents of its 23-year insurgency. The rebels also kidnapped more than 250 people including 80 children, according to the UN.

Holmes learned of the latest killings on Saturday when he flew to Niangara and met local officials and victims who had escaped. UN investigators said they had spoken to witnesses but had been unable to reach the remote scene in the Haut-Uele district.

"In this district, the Lord's Resistance Army has continued to commit horrific atrocities against civilians, who are now displaced with no prospect of going back home any time soon," he said.

He said the incident highlighted the need for the continued presence of the UN military mission in Congo. Its government wants Monuc, the world's biggest peacekeeping mission, to leave before September next year.

"We are worried by the prospect of a premature withdrawal because Monuc is very important to our humanitarian activities," Holmes said. "If you withdraw that element of stability then other conflicts contained by the presence of Monuc may get out of control and you could find yourself in a much more dangerous situation".

Among recent victims Holmes met was Cornelia Yekpalile, a 23-year-old mother of four, who was mutilated 18 days ago when she went to fields near her village of Kpizimbi, set in dense forest in north-eastern Congo, to collect spinach-like pondu leaves to cook for lunch.

At Niangara hospital, where she is being cared for by Médecins sans Frontières, Yekpalile said she would not be going home when her wounds healed.

"There's no security in the villages," she said. "Here there are soldiers".

She said she had no idea why the rebels hacked off her lips and her right ear. "I was crying for mercy and crying 'Oh my God, oh my God, help me.' They said they would kill me if I carried on making a noise and then they did this," she said, pressing a bandage to a mouth covered in plaster.

LRA rebels have killed 1,600 Congolese civilians and abducted more than 2,500 since September 2008, after peace talks broke down. They have no known agenda except killing and kidnapping people, mainly children, to swell their ranks.

The Guardian

McIlroy wins 1st PGA Tour event in style

By DOUG FERGUSON (AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — All the buzz about Rory McIlroy came to life Sunday at the Quail Hollow Championship with one dazzling shot after another in a record round that made him the PGA Tour's youngest winner since Tiger Woods.

Explosive as ever, the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland was 5 under over the final five holes to set the course record at 10-under 62 and win by four shots over Masters champion Phil Mickelson.

McIlroy finished in style, rolling in a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and thrusting his fist into the air.

"I suppose I got into the zone," said McIlroy, who celebrates his 21st birthday on Tuesday. "I hadn't realized I was going in 9, 10 under. I just know I got my nose in front and I was just trying to stay there".

It capped a big Sunday for golf's young stars. Earlier in the day, 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa shot a record 58 in the final round to win on the Japan Golf Tour.

McIlroy delivered an awesome display of skill that left two-time major champion Angel Cabrera in his wake and thrilled thousands of fans on a steamy day at Quail Hollow.

With a one-shot lead, McIlroy hit a 5-iron from 207 yards up the hill to 3 feet for eagle on the 15th. From a fairway bunker on the 16th, he hit 7-iron to 5 feet for another birdie. Then came the finish, when he knocked in a 40-foot putt that made fans leap from their chairs and had made McIlroy's freckled-face burst with joy.

He finished at 15-under 273 and won $1.17 million.

Woods, who missed the cut this week, was 20 years and 10 months when he won his first PGA Tour event in Las Vegas in 1996.

Mickelson was in the hunt until he had to play a right-handed shot from the woods on the 10th hole and made bogey. When he got around to making a charge, McIlroy already was too far ahead. Mickelson closed with a 68, which he figured would be good enough to win.

The roars he heard ahead of him told him otherwise.

"I've got to congratulate Rory," Mickelson said. "He played some incredible golf. He's an amazing talent. You knew he was going to come out and win out here. He is some kind of player."

Cabrera was tied for the lead with eight holes to play until his putter failed him. The former Masters and U.S. Open champion missed five putts inside 10 feet on the back nine and shot 68.

Billy Mayfair, who had a two-shot lead going into the final round, lost the lead by hitting into the water on the par-5 seventh for a double bogey and closed with a 76.

McIlroy becomes the first player since Chris Couch at New Orleans in 2006 to make the cut on the number and win the tournament. McIlroy was two over the cut line on Friday with three holes to play until making an eagle on the seventh hole. He followed with a 66 on Saturday to get back in the hunt, then blew everyone away with a round that ranks among the best.

The previous course record at Quail Hollow was 64.

Padraig Harrington of Ireland closed with a 68 and hung around for two hours to congratulate the kid when he finished. He was growing concerned for McIlroy, under enormous pressure since turning pro when he was 18.

He won the Dubai Desert Classic last year at 19 and nearly won the Order of Merit. McIlroy had been struggling this year with lower back problems, alarming for someone so young. He had missed two cuts going into Quail Hollow, and had not had a top 10 since the first week of February.

"At home, no matter how he does, the focus is on him," Harrington said. "When you're not winning, not delivering, the focus becomes a burden. If he can get across the line here, he can go from strength to strength. He will be a lot more comfortable with who he is, a lot more patient. The win is significant — very significant — at this time".

He crossed the line at full speed.

McIlroy shot a 128 on the weekend at Quail Hollow, considered one of the toughest tracks on the PGA Tour.

Everything was going his way.

"It's been a crazy ride until this point," McIlroy said. "I'm just delighted to get here. To get my first win in the U.S. is special".

Associated Press