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Maldives president quits after police mutiny
02/07 | 09:00 GMT
MALE (AFP) - The Maldives' first democratically-elected president resigned Tuesday after a mutiny by police described by his office as an attempted coup, capping three weeks of political upheaval in the holiday paradise.
MALE (AFP) - The Maldives' first democratically-elected president resigned Tuesday after a mutiny by police described by his office as an attempted coup, capping three weeks of political upheaval in the holiday paradise.
"It will be better for the country in the current situation if I resign. I don't want to run the country with an iron-fist. I am resigning," President Mohamed Nasheed told a televised press conference.
His announcement came as police officers joined anti-government protests that have rocked the capital Male for the past three weeks.
Army spokesman Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef told AFP that troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with protestors and police who had gathered outside the military headquarters in Male.
"The sporadic clashes began after midnight and continued until 8:00am (0300 GMT)," Latheef said.
Factfile: The Maldives
Police also took over the state television station and began broadcasting an opposition channel.
Opposition demands for Nasheed to step down have escalated since he ordered the arrest last month of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on charges of misconduct and favouring opposition figures.
A statement by the government posted on the president's website said that "the government of the Maldives together with all state institutions will work to ensure peace and stability in Male.
"The government of the Maldives calls on people to remain calm and support to stabilise the situation."
A delegation from the UN Department of Political Affairs headed by Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco had been due to arrive on Thursday in a bid to broker a resolution to the political crisis.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem had written to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Commonwealth last month asking them to "urgently dispatch" a team of jurists.
Nasheed, a former political prisoner, was elected in 2008 when the Maldives staged its first democratic presidential election, unseating the long-serving autocratic regime of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The Maldives, a country of 1,192 Indian Ocean islands scattered across the equator, is famous for its upmarket holiday resorts and hotels that cater for honeymooning couples and high-end travellers.
Problems, including high youth unemployment, a widespread illegal drug use problem, an increasing rise in Islamic fundamentalism and a downturn in tourism due to the weakening global economy, have fuelled discontent against Nasheed's rule.
As a political activist, Nasheed, who was an outspoken critic of Gayoom's one-party rule, was at one point an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.
He formed the Maldivian Democratic Party in exile but then returned home to a hero's welcome, sweeping 54 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections whose results brought people out into the streets dancing and cheering.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II marks 60-year reign
02/06 | 21:13 GMT
KING'S LYNN, United Kingdom (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II on Monday marked 60 years since she rose to the British throne with visits to a town hall and a school, in a low-key start to five months of diamond jubilee festivities.
KING'S LYNN, United Kingdom (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II on Monday marked 60 years since she rose to the British throne with visits to a town hall and a school, in a low-key start to five months of diamond jubilee festivities.
A small but enthusiastic crowd braved freezing temperatures to see the monarch arrive in King's Lynn in Norfolk, eastern England, 60 years to the day since she became queen following the sudden death of her father King George VI.
In a message to her subjects she pledged to "dedicate myself anew to your service", six decades after her father passed away on February 6, 1952 while the 25-year-old princess was visiting Kenya.
Scene: Queen warms crowds on snowy jubilee
The queen also extended thanks for "the wonderful support and encouragement that you have given to me and Prince Philip over these years," a reference to her husband of 64 years, who recently underwent heart surgery.
In contrast to the lavish celebrations planned for the official jubilee in June, Monday's anniversary was business as usual for the 85-year-old queen.
About 100 well-wishers lined the snow-covered streets to greet her, waving homemade signs saying "we love you ma'am".
Dressed in a turquoise, grey and white wool coat and a matching turquoise hat, the queen arrived in a black Range Rover to polite applause, before going inside the building with local officials.
"I think we are lucky to have her, I really do. She's rock solid," said Jean Garbutt, 77, who came from Yorkshire in northern England especially to get a glimpse of the monarch.
The queen then visited a school in the nearby village of Dersingham, less than a mile from the gates of her Sandringham estate.
The school's head teacher, Gayle Platt, said she felt "very, very privileged" to have hosted the queen on the anniversary.
"It's been a memorable occasion, she said, "although 60 years is also time for reflection because the queen's father died on this day."
Key events: Festivities for Queen Elizabeth's jubilee
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, paid tribute to the former monarch on the anniversary of his death -- a day the queen usually spends privately.
The "courageous" king, who was on the throne throughout World War II, led Britain "through its most testing time in modern history (and) left a permanent legacy of gratitude," Williams said.
In London, cannon were fired at Hyde Park and at the Tower of London to mark the occasion, while shots also rang out across the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
The Royal Navy fired a 21-gun salute at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, Hampshire, at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour.
The queen's involvement in jubilee events in the coming months will be restricted to Britain, but other members of the royal family will criss-cross the Commonwealth in her place, from Canada to tiny Tuvalu in the Pacific.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the monarch had guided the country "with experience, dignity and quiet authority" and dismissed suggestions she was "simply a glittering ornament".
Profile: Queen Elizabeth II -- a lifetime of devotion to duty
"That misunderstands our constitution and it underestimates our queen. Always dedicated, always resolute and always respected, she is a source of wisdom and continuity," he said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, where the queen was greeted by cheering crowds last year, was the first overseas leader to congratulate her, saying the jubilee was a "truly remarkable event".
The celebrations in Britain will culminate in a four-day public holiday on June 2-5, the highlight of which will be a flotilla of 1,000 boats sailing up the River Thames on June 3.
One member of the royal family absent from the early stages of the celebrations is Prince William, who has started a six-week mission as a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot in the Falkland Islands.
UK News
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II marks 60-year ...After diabetes diagnosis, US celebrity chef feels heat
02/07 | 08:14 GMT
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US cooking star Paula Deen, self-proclaimed "Queen of Southern Cuisine" famous for her dishes smothered in butter, has met a storm of outrage after revealing she has diabetes and is hawking a drug to treat the disease.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US cooking star Paula Deen, self-proclaimed "Queen of Southern Cuisine" famous for her dishes smothered in butter, has met a storm of outrage after revealing she has diabetes and is hawking a drug to treat the disease.
Deen, who famously showed off trademark high-fat, high-calorie meals including such creations as a hamburger wedged between a doughnut, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago -- but continued her show on the Food Network promoting what critics slammed as an outrageously unhealthy diet.
Detractors have lambasted the jovial cooking host in a country that is battling an obesity epidemic. According to recent studies one-in-three adults in America are obese, as are one-in-six children -- a grave, growing problem despite efforts to combat it with healthy eating campaigns.
Further sullying her image, however, 64-year-old Deen came out last month as a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk and its diabetes treatment Victoza, hawking the drug in a new campaign "Diabetes in a New Light."
Fellow US cooking celebrity Anthony Bourdain, a chef and host of Travel Channel show "No Reservations," took to Twitter to vent over Deen's decision.
"Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later," he quipped on the popular microblogging site.
Amid the US obesity crisis, Bourdain has laid into Deen before, due to her high-fat creations calling her "the worst, most dangerous person to America."
Known as "The Lady," Deen has become something of an institution for her heavy, no-apologies approach to cuisine, with a decade-long cooking show, 15 cookbooks, a well-known restaurant in Savannah, Georgia and a profitable lines of cooking wares sold in stores and online.
She has garnered a reputation for heavy, rich, fried southern dishes -- cooking up a combination of almost anything with the most butter, cream, sugar.
On savory dishes, she famously piles high the meat, heavily salted, drawing accusations of being in cahoots with giant meat firms that have in turn been blamed for rising cases of diabetes in the United States in recent years.
Her move to join "big pharma" and tout a diabetes drug has caused an uproar, not least because US authorities had approved the treatment Victoza in January 2010 despite evidence of a link to thyroid cancer. It also costs hundreds of dollars a month, compared to similar, less expensive options.
"I am here today to let the world know that it is not a death sentence," Deen said in announcing her diabetes diagnosis.
There was, however, little sympathy for her from fans and critics alike.
She had waited "three years before revealing she had developed diabetes -- three years of serving up ever-more carb-and-fat laden meals, dragging her legions down with her. And then, voila! She has the "magic bullet," ready for them to pop in their mouth," wrote one outraged viewer on an Internet forum.
Those closest to her meanwhile reportedly jumped ship over her decision to campaign for the dubious diabetes drug -- her publicist Nancy Assuncao Sanchez is said to have quit over the move.
Even her sons are apparently "furious" with her. The New York Post said Deen's children Jamie and Bobby -- the latter also hosts a cooking show called "Not My Mama's Meals" -- were worried that switching from a successful treatment to the new drug, for the sake of some millions of dollars in the endorsement deal, could endanger her health further.
Her defenders, however, pointed out the problem was not with Deen.
"She is not responsible for how people eat," insisted one commentator Gary Finger, on a blog for USA Today, saying she was simply geared towards giving people what they already wanted.
Health/Medicine
After diabetes diagnosis, US celebrity chef feels ...Dalglish stirs up Suarez debate again on return
02/07 | 03:14 GMT
LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) - Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish hailed the return of Luis Suarez after an eight-game ban and once again insisted that he should not have been suspended in the first place.
LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) - Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish hailed the return of Luis Suarez after an eight-game ban and once again insisted that he should not have been suspended in the first place.
Suarez, hit with the punishment after a Football Association board found him guilty of making a racist comment to Manchester United's Patrice Evra, was given a rapturous reception from Liverpool fans when he came on as a 66th minute substitute against Tottenham at Anfield on Monday.
But the controversial Uruguay striker's first taste of action since December 26 ended in frustration as Liverpool were held to a goalless draw - and the former Ajax player was booked for accidentally kicking Tottenham's Scott Parker in the stomach.
Suarez can expect a hostile reception when Liverpool visit Manchester United on Saturday in the Premier League - particularly after Dalglish's latest comments.
"I'm delighted that the wee man is back. He should never have been away but we've taken the punishment and we've moved on," said the Liverpool manager after his side's eighth home draw this season.
"It would have been unfair to start him, he's not played since Boxing Day," added the Scot, who along with the club was heavily criticised for their defence of Suarez even after he was found guilty.
With England manager Fabio Capello watching from the stand, Suarez caught midfielder Parker in the stomach while trying to volley the ball in the penalty area.
Former West Ham player Parker was doubled-over in agony and the incident brought Suarez a yellow card - but one high-profile observer felt he was lucky to stay on the pitch.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney used his Twitter account to say: "If ref sees that kick from suarez and books him for it it should be red."
Dalglish added: "He has not played since Boxing Day. Every time he gets on the ball we think he is going to do something."
Liverpool remain seventh in the table - four points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea with 14 games remaining.
As for Tottenham, they are in third spot, five points behind second-placed Manchester United.
Spurs were without manager Harry Redknapp, who was forced to abandon his flight to Anfield due to technical problems having earlier appeared at Southwark Crown Court in the closing stage of his trial on tax evasion charges.
Instead assistant manager Kevin Bond took charge for the night.
"It was a hard but fair contest," said Bond, after Gareth Bale spurned Tottenham's best chance in the closing stages.
"Harry couldn't quite be here. We knew what the side was going to be and how we were going to play. It was just a different voice.
"He (Harry) is our leader. We wanted him here.
"The last time I spoke to him he was on a plane but he obviously didn't make it.
"We had to work really hard and defend for our lives at the end.
"We didn't create many chances but we had the best chance of the match five minutes before the end, and it just was not meant to be.
"For Gareth Bale's chance, the goalkeeper stood up well and it was a big moment for us, but a point was a good result for us."
