COVERS FEBBRUARY 29, 2008 – UK

Britain’s Ministry of Defense says Prince Harry is being withdrawn from Afghanistan after a media blackout on his secret deployment was broken. Defence officials have decided to pull the third in line to the throne out of Helmand Province within the next 72 hours. Harry has spent the past 10 weeks fighting, but details of his mission have been made public after a media blackout deal broke down following reports on the US website the Drudge Report, which picked up the story from an online Australian women’s magazine, which had carried the revelation on January 15.

Sky’s David Bowden, who is with British forces in Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, said: “Most people who knew Harry was here are angry that the news has leaked. But, of course, a lot of people here had no idea he was fighting alongside them. And those that have found out by watching Sky News on the British forces service, say good on him.”

Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, said: “I am very disappointed that foreign websites have decided to run this story without consulting us. This is in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the UK print and broadcast media.”

The blackout was arranged after Harry’s planned tour to Iraq last year had to be cancelled because of a security risk sparked by publicity about his trip.

http://www.thesun.co.uk

COVERS FEBRUARY 28, 2008 – USA

Big Brother socialist style.  North Korea is a self-described Juche (self-reliance) state.  The government is a family style dictatorship with a cult of personality organized around Kim Il-sung (the founder of North Korea and the country’s first and only president) and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il. Following Kim Il-sung’s death in 1994 he was not replaced but instead received the designation of “Eternal President” and was entombed in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in central Pyongyang.

North Korea is a single-party state with a Stalinist, totalitarian regime.  

International human rights organizations accuse North Korea of having one of the worst human rights records of any nation.  North Koreans are “some of the world’s most brutalized people” defectors have testified the existence of prison and detention camps with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 inmates, and have reported torture, starvation, rape, murder, medical experimentation, forced labour, and forced abortions.

So, don´t atonish to see people bowing before a statue of Kim Il-Sung, in Pyongyang.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

COVERS FEBRUARY 26, 2008 – N.ZEALAND

A German tourist who sprayed graffiti on the rocks and ice face at Franz Josef Glacier returned to the natural landmark at the weekend to clean up his scrawls.

German tourist Jan Philip Scharbert was photographed by English tourists tagging rock walls and the glacier on Thursday. They gave the photographs to Department of Conservation (DoC) staff.

Constable Paul Gurney, of the Whataroa police, said that early the next morning DOC staff reported that Scharbert, 28, from Munich, was waiting for a bus out of Franz Josef.

Police nabbed him as he was getting on the bus and he was arrested and ordered to clean up his graffiti, under DOC supervision.

Gurney said it took Scharbert 1 1/2 days to clean up his handiwork, during which he received many reprimands from other visitors.

Guides chipped off the graffiti on the glacier with ice axes.

DOC was satisfied with his repair job, meaning he escaped a wilful damage charge.

http://www.press.co.nz/

COVERS FEBRUARY 24, 2008 – TURKEY

The army continues to pursue a ground offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, shelling and bombing the terror group’s bases in the Kandil Mountains and killing dozens of PKK members. The Kandil Mountains, lying about 100 kilometers away from Turkey and close to the Iraq-Iran border, have long been a major command center for the PKK. At least 35 PKK terrorists, as well as two soldiers, died in fighting on Saturday. A total of 7 soldiers and at least 79 terrorists have been killed in Iraq since Turkey launched a ground incursion late Thursday. The military did not say when the operation was planned to end or how many men were taking part, but reports suggest up to 10,000 troops have been involved and that the offensive could last as long as 15 days. The government said that the PKK is the sole target and troops will return as soon as the planned goals have been achieved. President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to their Iraqi counterparts on Thursday about the operation, while Erdoğan also spoke to President George W. Bush about the ground offensive. The European Union said on Friday the offensive was “not the best response” to the PKK threat and urged Ankara to avoid disproportionate measures. Meanwhile the UN  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Turkey to respect its border with Iraq.

http://www.takvim.com.tr

COVERS FEBRUARY 18, 2008 – ALBANIA

Welcome. A new country is born, The Republic of Kosovo. President Fatmir Sejdiu sent letters to 192 countries seeking formal recognition of independence, and suspense gripped its citizens awaited backing from the U.S. and European nations. The proclamation sent thousands of jubilant kosovars into the streets, where they waved red-and-black Albanian flags, fired guns and fireworks into the air and danced. One couple named their newborn daughter Pavarsie (independence). Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended Serbia ruling. Ninety percent of Kosovo’s 2 million people are ethnic Albanian — most of them secular Muslims — and they don´t want to stay joined to  Christian Orthodox Serbia. The 192 letters included one to Serbia, but government would never accept Kosovo’s statehood. Was not enough one bombing to understand that free people can´t be chained, forever?.

http://www.kohajone.com/

COVERS FEBRUARY 17, 2008 – PORTUGAL

Free Kosovo!. The people of Kosovo is ready to declare independence from Serbia on Sunday at a special session of parliament. Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro. Serbs in the north of Kosovo will reject independence, fewer than half of Kosovo’s 120,000 Serbs live in the north, the rest are in scattered enclaves protected by NATO peacekeepers. The United States and most EU members will recognise Kosovo, despite failing to win a U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning the move. Snow blanketed Kosovo’s capital Pristina after a night of celebration with thousands of people pouring into the streets. Ten years ago, Serbian forces were fighting the kosovar uprising, murdering thousands of unarmed civilians (mostly women and children). The kosovars fought on until the West bombed Serbia into submission in 1999. Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo and the UN took over. Serbia says the mission is illegitimate and promised reprisals against the new state.

http://www.publico.pt

COVERS FEBRUARY 16, 2008 – USA

A very expensive protest. The city spent $93,500 U.S. dollars on police overtime, supplies and other costs for Tuesday’s massive, all-day protest and rally that drew 2,000 people to Old City Hall in Berkeley, California (USA). Crowds gather on Monday afternoon, so it was about a 36-hour event. CodePink and World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime and other anti-war groups are planning an all-day protest today at the center, 64 Shattuck Square.  Officers made 4 arrests but spent much of their time doing crowd control. No one was seriously injured.

http://www.dailynewsgroup.com/

COVERS FEBRUARY 5, 2008 – IRAN

Iran fired a rocket into space to mark the opening of its first space center.  The installation, located in northern Iran, will be used to launch first home-produced satellite “Omid” (Hope) in May or June this year.  The technologies needed to launch a space vehicle are the same kinds that one would employ for long range missiles.  Iran continue the search to perfect enrichment of uranium, which can be used in a nuclear weapon.  Israel can sleep less comfortably.

http://tehranemrooz.ir/v2/default.asp

COVERS FEBRUARY 4, 2008 – USA

More Giants than ever. The NY Giants defeated New England Patriots, 17-14, at the University of Phoenix Stadium and won the XLII Super Bowl.  The hero of the night was the quarterback Eli Manning, who found receiver Plaxico Burress alone in the end zone with 35 seconds left to finish the match, and didn´t fail the pass.  The loss ended the Patriots’ bid to complete an unprecedented 19-0 record for the season.

www.nydailynews.com