Massive rallies across France in memory of terrorist victims (video YT)

An estimated 700,000 took to the streets in cities across France Saturday to hold silent marches in memory of the 17 people who died in several terrorist attacks during one of the most traumatic and emotional weeks for the country in living memory.

According to local officials in the southern city of Nice, 30,000 people marched along the famous Promenade des Anglais on the beachfront, holding placards reading the now familiar message: “Je Suis Charlie”.


“Make the most of this silent march because we are a people who will never stay quiet,” another sign read.

There were similar scenes a few hundred kilometers west in Toulouse, where around 120,000 people took to the streets, according to police figures, in a city of 440,000 residents.

In Pau, in the southwest, some 30,000 people turned out to march – almost half the town’s population of 80,000.

Around 75,000 marched in Nantes in western France behind a banner reading “Living together, free, equal and united”, and in Orleans (population: 113,000), 22,000 took part in another silent vigil.

Demonstrations also took place in Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Lyon and numerous other towns and cities across the country.

In total, around 700,000 people took part in the marches across the country, said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Saturday’s marches were just a small taste of what is to come with a vast demonstration set to be held in the capital Paris on Sunday. More than a million people are expected to attend, including President François Hollande and several other heads of state from around the world.

‘An exceptional moment’

The marches are a chance for French people to come together in both grief and determination following one of the darkest weeks in the country’s recent history that started with the murder of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

The two gunmen in that attack were killed in a dramatic end to a hostage siege near Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport Friday.

Seconds later, police stormed a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris where a gunman held several people captive. The gunman was killed, but four hostages also lost their lives in the siege.

But though the worst may now be over, fears remained acute and security levels were kept at France's highest level Saturday, the fact that the girlfriend of the gunman killed in the supermarket siege remained at large a cause for particular concern.

Hundreds of extra troops were deployed around Paris, beefing up security on the eve of Sunday’s march.

But those who took to the streets were keen to show they would not be cowed.

“I’m in my ninth month of pregnancy and, being pregnant, it’s even more important to defend our values of liberty, equality and fraternity, said one woman at the march in Nice, 29-year-old Piérine. “I want my child to be born into a better world.”

“I never demonstrate “, added Emmanuell, 48. “It is an important and exceptional moment – to defend certain right and to pay our respects to the French citizens who have died."

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)
http://www.france24.com/en/20150110-vast-rallies-across-france-memory-terrorist-victims-charlie-hebdo/
10/1/15
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Oettinger on energy security: “Gas can be used as a weapon and no longer be delivered" (EP -25.09.14)

Europe should ensure people and companies enjoy a secure supply of energy and this includes measures based on solidarity, said energy commissioner Günther Oettinger addressing the EP's energy committee on 24 September. In his last appearance as energy commissioner at the Parliament, Oettinger looked back at his tenure over the last five years and discussed future challenges regarding the EU's energy policy, including the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.


Committee chair Jerzy Buzek, a Polish member of the EPP group, referred to the situation in Ukraine in his welcome statement: “The crisis in Ukraine reminds us that energy security of the EU does not end at the EU borders. It is a pan-European challenge.”

• In his opening speech, Mr Oettinger said that in the field of energy, many people think that relations with Russia are more important that relations with Ukraine, but "we have to overcome this". He added: “Gas can be used as a weapon and no longer  be delivered. This is not yet the case, but we believe that Russia will do whatever they can to undermine Ukraine.” Oettinger said: “Perhaps Ukraine could purchase gas from Russia with co-finance from the EU in order to store more gas.”

The commissioner also pleaded for more collaboration on energy. The EU already has a legal basis to work on energy issues, but "we now have 28 fragmented systems", he said. Several MEPs shared his view that more should be done to combat this fragmentation and to link the energy sectors of countries within the EU.

MEPs

Martina Werner, a German member of the S&D group, said: “He has partly applied climate goals, but not fully. I’m especially critical of the directive on energy efficiency. We, the Socialists and Democrats, had hoped for much more.”

Dawid Bohdan Jackiewicz, a Polish member of the ECR group, asked whether new energy efficiency targets would hurt member states’ competitiveness and wondered how they would affect energy prices.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140924STO69503/
25/9/14
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Related:

• EU plans for Iran gas imports if sanctions go. Russia is currently Europe’s biggest supplier of natural gas

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• Reliable Gas Transit to Europe Possible Only If Ukraine Honors Contract (Gazprom)

• Politically motivated sanctions may jeopardize global energy security. (Russian Energy Minister)

• Bulgaria fears new gas deliveries interruption (Deputy PM)

• Miller: Gazprom Maintains Steady Daily Supply of Gas to Europe

WHO experts to gather in Geneva to discuss use of experimental anti-Ebola drugs

GENEVA, September 04 /ITAR-TASS/. About 200 health experts will gather on Thursday in Geneva for a two-day conference to discuss all aspect of the use of experimental drugs that have not yet been tested on humans in anti-Ebola efforts. 

This meeting will be sequential to a mid-August conference of the World Health Organization (WHO), which gave green light to the use of anti-Ebola drugs tested only on monkeys.
This radical step was made in a bid to stop the unprecedented grave Ebola outbreak that have already claimed more than 1,500 lives in Western Africa. More than 3,000 people have been infected.

Since the first Ebola outbreak in 1976 in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, no drugs capable of curing this disease have been officially registered.
However, the WHO’s permission to use experimental drugs failed to solve the problem. The matter is that there are no efficient vaccines against Ebola and experimental drugs are either scarce or underdeveloped. But, according to the WHO forecasts, the number of infected people in Western Africa may reach 20,000 in the next six months.
This situation poses lots of questions, such as: what the criteria of a drug efficiency are, what kind of restrictions on its use should be imposed, how to better organize data collection for analysis. Apart from that, the experts are to outline the priorities for the use experimental drugs and decide where such drugs should go in the first instance, bearing in mind the acute shortage of such drugs. Financial aspects are important too. It is yet to be decided who is to finance the production of such drugs in the long run.

Taking part in the conference will be representatives from pharmaceutical companies who will present their latest developments. In all, specialists will speak about 20 drugs that might be used to cope with Ebola outbreak. These preparations are divided into three groups: drugs derived from the blood of humans or animals who have had Ebola; anti-virus preparations, like the ones used to treat HIV/AIDS; and, finally, vaccines. 


By now, Ebola virus has spread across five countries in Western Africa, namely Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. Deaths from Ebola have been reported from all these countries, except Senegal. The most serious situation is in now in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. According to the WHO estimates, this outbreak will last from six to nine months and will require about 490 million U.S. dollars.

Apart from these countries, Ebola cases have been registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the death toll has reached 31. WHO experts however say this is an isolated outbreak not linked with the one raging in Western Africa.

The World Health Organization describes Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) as “a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%.” Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. The incubation period is 2 to 21 days. There is no known cure or vaccine for the disease. The only treatment offered is “supportive intensive care.” During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are health workers, family members and others in close contact with sick people and deceased patients.
http://en.itar-tass.com
4/9/14
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• Ebola: cases, deaths ‘vastly underestimated,’ says UN health agency

• WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak a Global Health Emergency 

  • Statement by Commissioner Borg on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa....

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• Sierra Leone declares emergency as Ebola death toll hits 729...

• A West African Ebola outbreak is “out of control,” and the affected countries are struggling to contain the disease, Jason Cone, spokesman for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid group, told RIA Novosti....

• Ebola : la course contre la montre de MSF...

• Uganda refutes reports of Ebola outbreak

Pope backs action to protect Iraq minorities if U.N. OKs

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday endorsed the use of force to stop Islamist militants from attacking religious minorities in Iraq but said the international community — and not just one country — should decide how to intervene.

Francis also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with persecuted Christians. But he said he was holding off for now on a decision.
In other comments to journalists returning from South Korea, Francis confirmed he hoped to travel to the United States in September 2015 for a possible three-city tour: to attend a family rally in Philadelphia and to address Congress in Washington and the United Nations in New York. He said a Mexico stop on that trip was possible but not decided yet. He also said he might make one-day visit to Spain next year.

On Iraq, Francis was asked if he approved of the unilateral U.S. airstrikes on militants of the Islamic State who have captured swaths of northern and western Iraq and northeastern Syria and have forced minority Christians and others to either convert to Islam or flee their homes.

"In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor," Francis said. "I underscore the verb 'stop.' I'm not saying 'bomb' or 'make war,' just 'stop.' And the means that can be used to stop them must be evaluated."

But, he said, in history, such "excuses" to stop an unjust aggression have been used by world powers to justify a "war of conquest" in which an entire people have been taken over.

"One nation alone cannot judge how you stop this, how you stop an unjust aggressor," he said, apparently referring to the United States. "After World War II, the idea of the United Nations came about: It's there that you must discuss 'Is there an unjust aggression? It seems so. How should we stop it?' Just this. Nothing more."

His comments were significant because the Vatican has vehemently opposed any military intervention in recent years, with St. John Paul II actively trying to head off the Iraq war and Francis himself staging a global prayer and fast for peace when the U.S. was threatening airstrikes on Syria last year.

But the Vatican has been increasingly showing support for military intervention in Iraq, given that Christians are being directly targeted because of their faith and that Christian communities which have existed for 2,000 years have been emptied as a result of the extremists' onslaught.

The U.S. began launching airstrikes against Islamic State fighters on Aug. 8, allowing Kurdish forces to fend off an advance on their regional capital of Irbil and to help tens of thousands of religious minorities escape.

Church teaching allows for "just wars," when military force can be justified under certain circumstances. And in recent days, a few Vatican officials have edged increasingly toward acknowledging the Iraq situation fits the bill.

When the Vatican's ambassador to Iraq, Monsignor Giorgio Lingua, was asked about the U.S. airstrikes, he told Vatican Radio that it was unfortunate that the situation had gotten to this point "but it's good when you're able to at the very least remove weapons from these people who have no scruples."

• The Vatican's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, went further, saying "Maybe military action is necessary at this moment."

Francis sent a personal envoy, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, to northern Iraq last week with an undisclosed amount of money to help people in flight and show the pope's solidarity with those forced to flee their homes..............................http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/18/pope-oks-protecting-iraq-minorities-wants-un-ok/14241193/18/8/14

Ebola: cases, deaths ‘vastly underestimated,’ says UN health agency

UN,  15 August 2014 – Health workers at Ebola outbreak sites are seeing evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths “vastly underestimate” the magnitude of the crisis as they work around the clock to stop the disease from spreading, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO, in its latest update on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa dated August 14, said no new cases have been detected in Nigeria, attributing the outcome to extensive contact tracing and monitoring, implemented with support from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Elsewhere, the outbreak is expected to continue for some time,” WHO said.

The most recent statistics compiled by WHO show that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa continues to escalate, with 1975 cases and 1069 deaths reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

But WHO also said: “Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.”

On the humanitarian side, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is delivering food to the more than one million people locked down in the quarantine zones, where the borders of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone intersect, and several countries have agreed to support the provision of priority food staples for this population.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a blog post from Sierra Leone on the “joys of survivors” of the deadly disease, says that “Ebola survivors can play a valuable role in dispelling myths and in gaining community support in the fight against Ebola.”

“Some people in Sierra Leone still have not accepted that Ebola is real. While many survivors fear stigma, some are now coming forward and telling their brave stories,” wrote UNICEF consultant Jo Dunlup.

WHO said it is mapping the outbreak in great detail, to pinpoint areas of ongoing transmission and locate treatment facilities and supplies.

“CDC is equipping the hardest-hit countries with computer hardware and software that will soon allow real-time reporting of cases and analysis of trends,” according to the UN agency’s update.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in Geneva regularly meets with ambassadors from United Nations missions based in the Swiss city to identify the most urgent needs within countries and match them with rapid international support.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Dr. David Nabarro as Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Ebola, in support of the work done by the WHO team. WHO has expressed its disappointment that some airlines have stopped flying to West Africa. It is “hard to save lives if we and other health workers cannot get in,” WHO has said.

• WHO has repeatedly said the Ebola virus is highly contagious – but not airborne. Transmission requires close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, as can occur during health-care procedures, home care, or traditional burial practices, which involve the close contact of family members and friends with bodies.

The incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days, but patients become contagious only after the onset of symptoms. As symptoms worsen, the ability to transmit the virus increases. As a result, patients are usually most likely to infect others at a severe stage of the disease, when they are visibly, and physically, too ill to travel.
un.org
15/8/14
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Related:

• WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak a Global Health Emergency 

  • Statement by Commissioner Borg on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa....

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• Sierra Leone declares emergency as Ebola death toll hits 729...

• A West African Ebola outbreak is “out of control,” and the affected countries are struggling to contain the disease, Jason Cone, spokesman for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid group, told RIA Novosti....

• Ebola : la course contre la montre de MSF...

• Uganda refutes reports of Ebola outbreak

WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak a Global Health Emergency

The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread.

At a news conference in Geneva Friday, WHO director Margaret Chan said the announcement is "a clear call for international solidarity.''

She said the countries affected by the deadly virus "simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity," as she appealed for greater international aid.

The impact of the WHO declaration is unclear.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its emergency operation center at the highest level in response to the outbreak.

CDC chief Thomas Frieden told a congressional hearing on Ebola that the centers will soon have 50 disease experts in West Africa. He said he is confident no major outbreak in the U.S. will happen.

The current Ebola outbreak is on pace to infect more people than all other outbreaks of the virus combined.

The World Health Organization says Ebola has now killed more than 930 people in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The total number of cases stands at more than 1,700.

There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola. Patients may experience fever, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches and uncontrollable bleeding from all openings in the body, including the eyes, mouth and ears. Initial symptoms of the disease are often similar to malaria.http://www.voanews.com/content/who-declares-ebola-outbreak-global-health-emergency/2406877.html
8/8/14
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Related:
 

• Sierra Leone declares emergency as Ebola death toll hits 729...

• A West African Ebola outbreak is “out of control,” and the affected countries are struggling to contain the disease, Jason Cone, spokesman for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid group, told RIA Novosti....

• Ebola : la course contre la montre de MSF...

• Uganda refutes reports of Ebola outbreak

MH17 crash: MEPs call for solidarity with Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

EU sanctions against Russia must be stepped up, the Ukrainian border closed to halt arms flows from Russia, and the bodies of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash victims returned, MEPs insisted in today’s debate with Ukraine’s foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin. Mr Klimkin called on the EU to show its solidarity now, as Ukraine is “being punished for its EU aspirations”. The debate opened with a minute’s silence for victims of the 17 July crash.


Mr Klimkin stressed that the MH17 crash was not just an incident but a “vicious narrative” for the whole of Europe. “Before we were talking about self-defence of inhabitants of eastern Ukraine, whereas now it’s clear that we are dealing with Russian-backed terrorists”, he said. The Ukraine government is ready to engage in discussion with “the real people of Donetsk”, but “the Russian terrorists have to go back to Russia”, he added.

• The EU must send a clear message of solidarity with and support for Ukraine, which he said was now “being punished for its EU aspirations”, and strengthen the EU presence on the ground by deploying a Common Security and Defence Policy mission, he urged.

• “Ukraine’s security services should have full control over the border to ensure that the flow of arms from Russia can be dried up” said Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Elmar Brok (EPP, DE). He added that the actions of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin left open no “possibility of finding a political solution” and that the EU should therefore proceed with much stronger sanctions against Russia.

• MEPs called for a united line between EU member states on tougher sanctions towards Russia, not as a consequence of the plane crash, but in reaction to the Russian authorities' unwillingness to control the flow of arms and heavy weapons across the border to the eastern regions of Ukraine.

Some also criticized France for training Russian solidiers, given that hundreds of Dutch people had lost their lives in the plane crash. “My government will not stop until justice is done”, said Dutch Ambassador Peter De Gooijer, who also spoke at the meeting. He stressed that his government’s first priority was to have the victims’ bodies returned home and then to conduct an independent investigation. He deplored the disrespectful way in which the bodies of the victims had been treated and said that this would not be forgotten by the Dutch people.
 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140722IPR53223/html/MH17-crash-MEPs-call-for-solidarity-with-Ukraine-and-sanctions-against-Russia
22/7/14
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• Moscow Surprised by Countries Voicing Theories on Boeing Crash Before Investigation (Russian FM)

• MH17 Flight Crashed Within Ukrainian Missile Systems Firing Range (Russian Military)

• Malaysian jet 'shot down' over Ukraine (with 295 people on board)

US reassures Gulf allies wary over Iran Defence. -Secretary Chuck Hagel's remarks come at a time of rising tensions in their relationship with the GCC.

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US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said the United States will maintain a wide array of military forces in the Middle East to ensure security in the region despite diplomatic overtures toward Iran over its nuclear program.
Hagel, in prepared remarks to the Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain, said on Saturday that the Pentagon had no plan to adjust its military presence or planning in the region as a result of an interim accord on Tehran's nuclear enrichment program.


"We have a ground, air and naval presence of more than 35,000 military personnel in and immediately around the Gulf," he said.
Hagel further added that the interim deal with Iran to roll back its nuclear programme was a risk worth taking but that Western diplomacy should not be "misinterpreted."
"We know diplomacy cannot operate in a vacuum," he said.  "Our success will continue to hinge on America's military power, and the credibility of our assurances to our allies and partners in the Middle East."
The Pentagon "will not make any adjustments to its forces in the region – or to its military planning – as a result of the interim agreement with Iran," he added.
In a trip meant to reassure Gulf allies wary of America's diplomatic opening with Iran, Hagel enumerated an array of US weaponry and resources deployed in the region.
The military footprint includes 10,000 US Army troops with tanks and Apache helicopters, roughly 40 ships at sea including an aircraft carrier battle group, missile defence systems, radar, surveillance drones and warplanes that can strike at short notice, he said.

US not in 'retreat'
A senior US defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters the speech sent a message of solidarity to Gulf allies while also conveying a warning to adversaries "that any sort of mythology of American retreat is just wrong-headed."
Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia, are concerned over a November 24 interim agreement between world powers and Iran that offers limited relief from Western sanctions in return for Tehran rolling back elements of its nuclear programme.

•  The nuclear deal has strained US relations with the mostly Sunni Gulf Arab states that view Shiite Iran as a dangerous rival.

Hagel acknowledged "anxieties" in the Gulf were running high. "Questions have been raised about America's intentions, strategy, and commitment to the region," he said.
But he promised the US  "will remain fully committed to the security of our allies and our partners in the region."
Although the Pentagon faced the prospect of steep budget cuts, Hagel suggested the big presence in the Middle East would remain a top priority and largely shielded from spending reductions.
In addition to keeping a robust US force in place, Hagel vowed to bolster the military strength of Gulf states, urging regional cooperation on missile defence.
Hagel said he would travel on to Qatar and Saudi Arabia after the Bahrain conference for further talks.
 aljazeera.com
7/12/13 
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