Frankfurt 'Blockupy' protesters target ECB, banks, airport!

Anti-capitalist demonstrators from the Blockupy movement paralysed Germany's financial center on Friday, cutting off access to the European Central Bank and Deutsche Bank's headquarters.

Protesters against Europe's austerity policies, estimated by police at 1,500 but by Blockupy at 3,000, descended in the early hours on Frankfurt's financial district to disrupt business at institutions they blame for a deep recession in euro zone countries such as Spain and Greece.

Riot police, showered with stones and paint bombs, used pepper spray to prevent the protesters breaking into the ECB. Several protesters were injured and police made some arrests, though they gave no numbers.

"The aim of this blockade is to prevent normal operations at the ECB," said Blockupy spokesman Martin Sommer, adding that some people who had tried to come to work had been sent home by the protesters.

Demonstrators brandished signs with slogans such as "Humanity before profit" and some held up inflatable mattresses with the slogan "War Starts Here" written on them.

Trucks with water cannons stood by and a helicopter hovered overheard.

Europe's Blockupy movement was formed after the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011.

One of the protesters, Lena Turowski, a 25-year-old student of international development, condemned European governments' embrace of austerity measures to repair their economies.

"At the moment, they are trying to fight the crisis with the same measures that caused the crisis. And the people are being forgotten about," she told Reuters.

"It is also about solidarity with those who are being affected by austerity and crises in their countries," she said.

"BIZARRE" SITUATION

Friday's protests, a prelude to Europe-wide rallies planned for June 1, coincided with fresh data from the EU statistics agency Eurostat showing that euro zone unemployment reached a new high of 12.2 percent in April.

Governments struggling with large debt burdens have cut spending and raised taxes, contributing to widespread recession across the euro zone, while many families are deep in debt or have lost their homes after property bubbles burst. Germany's own economy has, however, been fairly resilient to the crisis.

As the day progressed, hundreds of the protesters spread out to Frankfurt's airport and to the city's main shopping strip, where they stormed into fashion stores and blocked entrances, keeping shoppers out.

Police used batons to keep the protesters out of the main air terminal and only allowed people with flight tickets inside.

A spokesman for airport operator Fraport said air traffic was not affected by the protest.

Many of Frankfurt's financial institutions urged staff to take Friday off following a state holiday on Thursday.

"We have skeleton staffing here again and we are dressed in jeans and t-shirts so no one will take notice of us," said one trader at Frankfurt's stock exchange.

The ECB said it had taken measures to remain operational and to ensure the safety of its staff.

At a similar anti-capitalist demonstration about a year ago in Frankfurt, police detained hundreds of people for defying a temporary ban on the protests.

Friday's protests went ahead after a court granted last-minute permission, brushing aside complaints from Fraport and from the city of Frankfurt, though its ruling limited the number of protesters to just 200.

(Additional reporting by Tilman Blasshofer, Peter Dinkloh, Peter Maushagen, Andreas Kroener, Kirsti Knolle, Writing by Eva Kuehnen; Editing by Gareth Jones/Jeremy Gaunt)

South Africans chase Nigerians out of their homes!

No fewer than 23 Nigerians were forced out of their homes and chased out of Port-Nolloth community by some South Africans members of the community, accusing them of dealing in drugs.

According to Diliora Ndubisi, the spokesman of Nigerians, the leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League in the area instigated some community members to force them out of their homes.

“All the members of the community had a meeting on Friday on the need to curb the selling and usage of drugs in the community. On Saturday a teenager committed suicide in a police custody and by Sunday some members of the community led by the ANC Youth League leader came to our houses asking us to leave the community.

“They said we are the ones selling drugs to their children. They destroyed and looted our property and one Nigerian was seriously beaten and is on admission in a hospital in Johannesburg now,” Ndubisi said.

He said that the attack, which targeted Nigerians only, can be attributed to envy and jealousy about the success of Nigerian businesses in the community amidst poverty and unemployment among South Africans living in the community.

Reacting to the attack, the Nigerian Consulate in Johanneburg, South Africa today criticised what it described as the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in the country.

Mr. Okey Emuchay, the Consulate-General of Nigeria in Johannesburg, said in Springbok, in the Northern Province of South Africa, that labelling all Nigerians in the country as drug dealers was “unacceptable.”

Emuchay said that it was the duty of the South African police to provide safety for South Africans and foreigners living in the country.

“We are not asking for too much from the South African government, it is the duty of the South African police to provide safety and security for every one living in South Africa.

“The Nigerian government will not send the Nigerian police to come and protect our nationals just like the South African government will not send her police to protect South Africans living and working in Nigeria.

“In as much as we will not encourage our nationals to engage in criminal activities, it is not acceptable to us that some people should label all Nigerians as drug dealers.

“If any Nigerian is caught dealing in drugs he/she should be arrested and prosecuted. But a situation where some people will act on rumours, attacking and harassing Nigerians will be totally resisted by us. If anybody has any information about any Nigerian dealing in drugs, such information should be given to the police to investigate and arrest those involved. It is the duty of the police to investigate, arrest and prosecute, and not the duty of any individual or group of persons to do the work of the police.

“In this case no arrest has been made, no prosecution and no sentencing of anybody, only some members of the community taking the laws into their hands and forcing out Nigerians from houses where they pay rent, sending them into the streets in this winter period,” Emuchay said.

The Consul-General said that the safety of the displaced Nigerians was the responsibility of the police.

“This is coming barely three weeks after President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria paid a state visit to South Africa, after a similar one-day official working visit by President Jacob Zuma to Nigeria.

“Nine MoU agreement were signed during the state visit to promote trade and investments between the two countries.

“If governments at the top level is working together to strengthen relations between the two countries, the people of the two countries should be encouraged to take full advantage of the bilateral cooperation in various ways, including business culture and interpersonal relations. Nigeria and South Africa have had a long history of friendship and cordial relationship and everything should be done in sustaining the relationship,” Emuchay said.

Ikechukwu Anyene, President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa (NUSA), commended the proactive step taken by the Consulate.

“I must on behalf of all Nigerians living in South Africa thank the Consul-General for the proactive steps he has taken so far in this xenophobia attack on Nigerians living here.

Brig.-Gen. Francis Hender, South Africa Police Service (SAPS), Cluster Commander, assured that no individual or group would be allowed to perform the duty of the police.

“I will go to Port-Nolloth personally to assess the situation there, and a team of crime investigators will be assigned to investigate the cause of the attack on Nigerians and the lady mentioned would be invited for questioning. She is not a police officer and cannot be allowed to get away with her actions,” Hender said.

Lebogang Abrans, ANC Regional Secretary, apologised to the Nigerian envoy on the attack and said there was need to engage with the community on how to allow the displaced Nigerians return to their homes.

Dozens injured as tear gas fired at protesters opposing revamp of #Istanbul's #Taksim Square !

Tweets coming in at BBCBreaking:

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8:05 AM - 31 May 13

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   Not injury!!! THEY KILLED PEOPLE for Nothing @BBCBreaking

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   “@BBCBreaking: Picture: Dozens injured as tear gas fired at protesters opposing revamp of #Istanbul's #Taksim Square pic.twitter.com/KhTUpkKdnr”

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Britain arrests 5 Rwanda genocide suspects!

British police say they have arrested five Rwandan genocide suspects at the request of the African country's government.

Emmanuel Nteziryayo, Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja, Vincent Bajinya and Celestin Mutabaruka were held by a police extradition unit and appeared Thursday in a London court.

Police say the five men, who were living in various parts of England, are accused by Rwandan prosecutors of involvement in the 1994 ethnic genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people died.

A previous attempt to extradite all of the suspects except Mutabaruka was halted in 2009 by Britain's High Court, which said they might not receive a fair trial.

Human Rights charity Redress said the new arrests were "an important step forward in the pursuit of justice for survivors of the genocide."

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  Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/30/3424397/britain-arrests-5-rwanda-genocide.html#storylink=cpy

Kerry says unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapon!

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday he did not have high expectations that an upcoming presidential election in iran would change the calculus over Tehran's nuclear program, repeating it was unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

At a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Kerry said Iran needs to understand that international patience was waning over the nuclear program that Tehran says is meant for peaceful purposes.

"Every month that goes by gets more dangerous," Kerry said. Westerwelle also said more diplomatic talks were necessary.

Tokyo Prepares for a Once-in-200-Year Flood to Top Sandy!

Tokyo, the world’s most populated metropolis, is building defenses for the possibility of a flood in the next 200 years that could dwarf the damage superstorm Sandy wrought on the U.S. East Coast.

Japan’s capital, flanked by rivers to the east and west, as well as running through it, faces 33 trillion yen ($322 billion) in damages should the banks break on the Arakawa River that bisects Tokyo, according to government estimates. That’s more than five times the $60.2 billion aid package for Sandy that slammed into the U.S. northeast last October.

“Japan hasn’t prepared enough,” said Toru Sueoka, president of the Japanes geotechnical Soceity, an organization of engineers, consultants and researchers. “Weather patterns have changed and we are getting unusual conditions. We need upgrades or else our cities won’t be able to cope with floods.”

In 2008, for the first time in human history, half of the world’s population lived in urban areas and that will rise to 60 percent by 2030, according to a World Bank report titled Cities and Flooding. The report says that trend combined with climate change means the world’s cities will bear the biggest loss of life and the largest economic costs from flooding.

Should the Arakawa River break its banks, about 2,000 people in Tokyo may lose their lives and around 860,000 will be stranded, according to the government. The waters would flood subway and regular train lines, crippling 97 stations.

Flood Defenses

The capital’s Edogawa City, one of Tokyo’s largest wards that is sandwiched by two major rivers, predicts it will cost 1.7 trillion yen to strengthen and rebuild the banks of the Arakawa and Edogawa rivers to prevent breaching during a flood, said Naomasa Tachihara, director of Edogawa’s department of public works planning.

Floods are the world’s most frequent destructive natural event and the costs of economic damage have surged, according to the 2012 World Bank report, citing examples in Pakistan, Australia, the Mississipi in the U.S., and Bangkok in Thailand in 2010 and 2011.

London's effort to prevent flooding is a barrier spanning the River Thames completed in 1982; a three-decade project started after a flood in 1953 that killed 300 people.

The Thames barrier across a 520-meter stretch of the river was closed four times in the 1980s, 35 times in the 1990s and more than 80 times since, according to the Environment Agency.

Typhoon Kathleen

Sea levels around London will rise as much as 88 centimeters in the next century as warmer temperatures melt polar ice caps, the government estimates. The barrier’s 20-meter tall gates are designed to withstand the worst case scenario --a 2.7 meter increase by 2100.

In Tokyo in 1947, about 1,00 people died and 31,000 houses were destroyed when Typhoon Kathleen struck the capital and caused the Tonegawa River north of the city to break its banks, according to the Cabinet Office. A repeat of that flood today with a larger concentration of people and property in the capital would cause catastrophic, the government says.

A storm tidal surge in Tokyo Bay may be the most devastating for the capital, leading to 7,600 deaths and flooding an area housing 1.4 million people, according to government estimates.

“We don’t know where could be next,” said Tomohito Noumi, an assistant manager in the river improvement and management section of the nation’s land ministry. The defenses need to be stronger, he said.

35 Million People

Metropolitan Tokyo, which spreads out around a bay and covers an area of 1,782 square kilometers, eclipsed New York-Newark as the world’s most highly populated area in 1975. Now it has 35 million people, compared with 19 million in New York-Newark, according to data compiled by the United Nations.

The United Nations estimates that investments in infrastructure and technology to mitigate the effects of climate change, including flooding, will total as much as $130 billion a year by 2030.

Arcadis NV (ARCAD), a Dutch engineering company that offers flood-protection services, has been growing through acquisitions, most recently snapping up ETEP, a Brazilian water engineering and consulting firm.

Arcadis’s revenue rose 26 percent last year to 2.5 billion euro ($3.2 billion). The company won contracts from New York’s Nassau County and New York City to help bring water treatment facilities back online after Sandy.

Protection

“The money spent on clean-up, repair and the loss of business in the aftermath can outweigh the costs of taking preventive measures and governments are starting to look at opportunities to protect themselves,” said Piet Dircke, who oversees water management at Arcadis.

Japan plans to spend 1 trillion yen on nationwide disaster prevention, including strengthening levies, in the fiscal year started April 1, according to the transport ministry.

Tokyo’s Edogawa, the fifth-most populated of Tokyo’s 23 districts or wards, is most at risk in the capital because it’s penned in by the Arakawa River on one side, the Edogawa River on the other, and faces Tokyo Bay, said Tachihara from the public works planning department.

“Edogawa is shaped like a basin, with the levees being the edges,” he said. ‘’Without levees 70 percent of Edogawa would be underwater in a storm.’’

Samurai Shovels

Tokyo has spent centuries changing the course of rivers and building levees to reduce flooding.

Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first samurai to unite Japan in 1600 and who became shogun three years later, ordered river diversions 400 years ago.

He decided to change the course of the Tonegawa, Japan’s second-longest river, so it flowed into the Pacific Ocean rather than through Tokyo, then known as Edo.

It took three generations to complete, with Ieyasu’s grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu finishing the job, according to the Geotechnical Society’s Sueoka.

“Tokyo has been building defenses against floods since the Edo government,” said Tachihara. “What we’re doing now is for the future. We’re preparing for a once in 200 years event.”

About 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Tokyo is another flood protection project, the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel.

Statue of Liberty

A shaft tall enough to house the Statue of Liberty has been built to feed water from five rivers into a reservoir carved underground. The space, big enough to hold four parthenons, is supported by 59 columns each weighing 500 tons.

A 6.3-kilometer underground tunnel draws flood waters to the reservoir, which has four of the engines used on Boeing Co. 737 passenger jets to pump away as much as 200 cubic meters of water a second.

“The amount of flooding in the area has dropped significantly since we started operations,” said Takashi Komiyama, who manages the facilities that took 13 years and 230 billion yen to build.

“We used to be prepared for about 50 millimeters of rain an hour, but now we need to be ready for 100 millimeters or 120 millimeters,” said the geotechnical society’s Sueoka. “It’s difficult to think in terms of 100 or 200 years to secure the nation’s safety, but that’s what it takes.”

Lebanese community in kano disassociates self from arrested nationals with alleged ties to Hezbollah

An armoury belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been discovered in northern Nigeria, the West African nation's army and spy agency has said.



Three Lebanese nationals have been arrested, an army spokesman, Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba, said.

The cache, including rifles, anti-tank weapons and an RPG, were found in a warehouse in the city of Kano, he said.

Nigeria's State Security Service said they were intended for use against "Israeli and Western interests".

"This is the handwork of Hezbollah," Bassey Ettang, director of the State Security Service in Kano said.

"What has just been discovered is a cell of Hezbollah and what you have seen here is a Hezbollah armoury," he told journalists in Kano on Thursday.

Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba said 11 anti-tank weapons, four anti-tank mines, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and 21 RPG missiles, 17 AK-47s, two sub-machine guns and 76 grenades had been amongst the weapons found.

The Lebanese owner of the warehouse where "the weapons of mass destruction" had been stored in sawdust was out of the country, he said

There is a large business Lebanese community in Kano city, the commercial hub of in northern Nigeria.

It is the first time that Nigerian authorities have alleged that Hezbollah has an operational interest in the country.

Kano and north-eastern Nigeria has suffered multiple attacks in the last three years since the home-grown Islamist militant group Boko Haram launched an insurgency.

Mr Ettang added: "You can also be sure that if a group like this is existing then it may even lend support to some of the local terrorists we have on the ground."

Hezbollah is a Shia military and political movement based in Lebanon considered by the US to be a terrorist organisation.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", says its quest is to overthrow the Nigerian government and create an Islamic state.

There has been growing concern that Boko Haram could be receiving backing from al-Qaeda-linked militants in other countries.