Saturday, 6 April 2013
DR.NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA MEETS OPRAH WINFREY.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,Oprah Winfrey and Dr Tererai Trent at the 4th annual 'Women In The World' summit held at the Lincoln Center in New York yesterday.
Mired in financial troubles, Italian couple commits suicide!
He was a clerk at a shoe company, though he hadn't worked for some time. She was a retired artisan. Together, they had no more than 500 euros a month, from her pension, to live off of.
On Friday, they were dead.
In Italy, a country in a deep economic malaise and political disarray, there's no shortage of people struggling nowadays. Even then, the suicides of Romeo Dionisi, 62, and Anna Maria Sopranzi, 68, struck a nerve -- triggering an outpouring of disbelief and sorrow not only in their seaside eastern Italian community, but around the nation.
"The tragedy of Civitanova Marche leaves (me) shocked and speechless," said Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the center-left Democratic Party that narrowly won the most votes in February's election. "We all have to convince ourselves that, out of the spotlight, there is a real and dramatic social emergency."
Dionisi and Sopranzi lived in an apartment in the same building as Ivo Costamagna, the president of Civitanova Marche's municipal council, according to the state-run ANSA news agency.
Costamagna had spoken with the couple and invited them to talk to social service workers. But they said they would not, ANSA reports, because they were ashamed about their inability to keep up financially.
"They couldn't even pay the rent," neighbors said.
Their garage door open, the couple had left a note asking forgiveness and directing people to a room in the back of their building, ANSA reported. That is where they were found, having hung themselves.
Police told reporters there was "no doubt" Dionisi and Sopranzi committed suicide out of desperation.
Adding to the tragedy, Sopranzi's elderly brother threw himself into the Adriatic Sea soon after the news broke about his sister. He was recovered, ANSA said, but attempts to revive him failed.
As Italy's economy continues to stagger, suicide rates have increased in recent years, according to the state news agency.
The nation is in its longest recession in 20 years. Its economy -- Europe's third-largest, saddled with a government debt the Treasury Ministry puts at $2.6 trillion -- shrank by 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012, Eurobarometer says.
Efforts to corral Italy's government debt through cutbacks have taken a toll. Dionisi, for instance, was among the thousands of esodati -- or "exiled ones" -- who'd been left without a pension after the Italian government raised the retirement age 16 months ago.
Political instability in the south European country has compounded the economic woes. Bersani has been unable to form a coalition government, leaving Italy in a limbo that prompted international ratings agency Fitch downgrade its credit rating from A- to BBB+.
The suicides Friday echoed the price this malaise has taken on Italian citizens. Laura Boldrini, the speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament, said on her website that the married couple's deaths illustrate "the despair of many, due to the shame of poverty."
The deaths struck closest to home in Civitanova Marche. Mayor Tommaso Claudio Corvatta declared Saturday a day of mourning for the three apparent suicide victims, saying on his website their deaths are impacting "the community in a time of particular economic and social difficulties."
Antonella Sgavo, a city official in Civitanova Marche, told ANSA that the stories of those three killed are not unique. For that reason, she said, it is crucial that the community keep their eyes open to such everyday struggles and reach out to those in need.
"We need to pay, more than ever, ... greater attention to new forms of poverty that affect many families (living) next door, when we do not realize it," said Sgavo.
UK woman 'stabbed to death' in Kashmir!
The British High Commission in Delhi says it is investigating reports that a British woman has been found dead in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Police said the woman had been stabbed to death on a houseboat in the summer capital, Srinagar.
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| The woman was found on a houseboat in a popular tourist destination, |
A Dutch man in his 40s, who was also apparently staying in the houseboat, has been arrested, police added.
The commission says it is in touch with local authorities and is trying to get more information.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it is looking into the reports.
"We are aware of reports of an incident involving a British national in Srinagar, Kashmir, and are looking into it," a spokesman said.
Indian media have reported that the woman was in her twenties.
Abdul Ghani Mir, the police inspector general of Indian-administered Kashmir, told the NDTV channel: "The Dutch national had fled from the houseboat in the night, leaving behind his belongings.
"He was trying to flee from the Valley, carrying only his passport. We flashed an alert for his arrest."
He was arrested in Qazigund, a town just under 75km (45 miles) south of Srinagar.
The British woman had been staying on the houseboat for two months, the owner told the television station, adding that she had been "like her daughter".
Correspondents say violent attacks on women have been in greater focus in India since the fatal gang rape of a young student in Delhi last December which led to widespread protests.
A BBC reporter in India said the incident would be seen as a setback to the struggling tourism industry in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The Foreign Office lifted its warning against travel to the cities of Srinagar and Jammu last November, although warnings remained in force in the rest of Kashmir.
The Himalayan region is divided between Indian and Pakistan but claimed in entirety by both nations.
Our correspondent says the latest spate of tensions erupted after the hanging of militant Afzal Guru in February for plotting an attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia's mountainous West Papua province on Saturday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage!
The quake hit 256 km (159 miles) east of Enarotali and was 58 km (36 miles) deep, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
An Indonesian meteorological survey official said the quake struck on land and there was no danger of a tsunami off the thinly populated province, formerly called Irian Jaya, in Indonesia's far east.
The sprawling Indonesian archipelago is on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire" and gets regular earthquakes.
A magnitude 9.1 quake struck the northern Indonesian province of Aceh in 2004 triggering huge tsunami waves which killed more than 230,000 people in 13 countries around the Indian Ocean.
50 feared killed in auto crash along Ore-Benin expressway
Nigeria:
Ugbogui town in Edo state today witnessed great horror, as a fatal accident which occurred some hours ago may have claimed about 50 lives.
The incident happened when a diesel tanker and a trailer collided with a fully-loaded commercial luxury bus.
Witnesses say the bus which was coming from the Lagos end went on fire after the collision.
They added that only few trapped passengers were seen trying to escape. It is yet unknown if they made it.
Military and road safety officials are presently at the scene controlling traffic, while men of the fire service are also said to be present, although they arrived late.
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