News from around the World

Tuesday's World Events   —   Posted on March 1, 2011

NEW ZEALAND – Earthquake toll: 98 dead, 226 missing

CHRISTCHURCH | Rescuers fanned out into unchecked areas of New Zealand’s quake-devastated city Thursday looking for any remaining life in the rubble as the death toll rose to 98 with “grave fears” that many of the 226 missing are dead.

Police said up to 120 bodies may lie trapped in the tangled concrete and steel that was the Canterbury Television, or CTV, building, where dozens of students from Japan, Thailand, China and other Asian countries were believed buried when an English-language school collapsed along with other offices.

Twenty-three bodies were pulled from the building Thursday but not immediately identified.

Officials appealed to families of the missing to be patient, saying the agony could be worse if they rushed identifications and came to wrong conclusions.

CHINA – LinkedIn website disrupted in protest-wary China

BEIJING | Access to the networking site LinkedIn was disrupted in China on Thursday following online calls on other sites for gatherings inspired by protests against authoritarian regimes across the Middle East.

It was not immediately clear whether the blockage on domestic Chinese Internet lines of LinkedIn, one of the few foreign networking sites not previously blocked by Beijing, was because of state censorship.

The disruption, however, comes in the wake of a rash of detentions in China after an overseas Chinese-language website, Boxun, spread a call for “Jasmine Revolution” gatherings to press the Communist Party to make way for democratic change.

Attempted demonstrations in Beijing and elsewhere on Sunday were tiny and were extinguished swiftly by swarms of police.

A rash of detentions and censorship of online discussion of the Middle Eastern protests suggests Beijing remains nervous about any signs of opposition to one-party rule.

JAPAN – World’s first robot marathon kicks off

TOKYO | The world’s first robot marathon is under way in western Japan, with five two-legged participants racing on an indoor track.

The race kicked off Thursday with the 1-foot-tall, battery-charged robots competing around a 110-yard racetrack. They will have to cover 26 miles.

Japanese robot maker and event organizer Vstone Co. says the Robo Mara Full race in Osaka will demonstrate the machines’ durability and maneuverability.

Vstone robots took an early lead, while two entrants by Osaka University of Engineering teams got off to a shaky start. The race [was] expected to last through Sunday.

Vstone CEO Nobuo Yamato said he hopes the event will become international in the future.

CUBA – March 4 trial set for accused U.S. spy

HAVANA | Cuba on Thursday set a March 4 trial date for U.S. contractor Alan Gross, whose prolonged incarceration on charges of spying has become a major sticking point in efforts to normalize bilateral relations.

Mr. Gross, a 61-year-old State Department contractor, was arrested in December 2009 on suspicion that he was a U.S. spy who was distributing cell phones and laptops to opponents of President Raul Castro’s communist regime.

Cuba drew a furious response from the Obama administration when Havana announced this month that it would seek a 20-year prison term for Mr. Gross, who Washington says has been detained unjustly for 14 months.

The trial date was announced on the Cuban government’s official website.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley responded to the announcement in a Twitter message Thursday. “We hope he receives a fair trial and is allowed to come home. What he did is not a crime,” he said.

ISRAEL – Israeli PM warns Hamas to cease rocket attacks

JERUSALEM | Israel’s prime minister said Thursday his country would not tolerate rocket attacks against its citizens and warned the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers not to test his resolve.

Benjamin Netanyahu issued the threat a day after a Palestinian rocket struck the largest city in southern Israel for the first time since a bruising Israeli military offensive in Gaza two years ago.

Israel and Hamas have largely observed an unofficial cease-fire since then. But clashes sporadically flare up along the volatile border as Gaza militants fire rockets and mortars into Israel, drawing military reprisals.

In Wednesday night’s attack, a rocket exploded in Beersheba, 20 miles from Gaza, damaging property but causing no casualties.

Israel retaliated with airstrikes against Gaza, including one that wounded three Islamic Jihad militants.

(The news briefs above are from wire reports and staff reports posted at:  washingtontimes.com (“World Scene” and “Briefly“) and tulsaworld.com on Feb. 24th and 25th.)



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CHINA - About LinkedIn:

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CUBA:

CUBA:  Read more about Alan Gross' arrest at a miamiherald.com blog.