It happened today November 29th 2006 - photo slide show

What happened today November 29th?

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Events

1777 - San Jose, California, founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. It is the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California.
1781 - The crew of the slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea in order to claim insurance.
1830 - November Uprising: An armed rebellion against Russia's rule in Poland begins.
1845 - The Sonderbund defeated by the joint forces of other Swiss cantons under General Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
1847 - Whitman Massacre: Missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and 15 others are killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians, causing the Cayuse War.
1850 - The treaty, Punctation of Olmütz, signed in Olomouc meant diplomatic capitulation of Prussia to Austrian Empire, which took over the leadership of German Confederation.
1864 - Indian Wars: Sand Creek Massacre - Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants inside Colorado Territory.
1872 - Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.
1877 - Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.
1890 - The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.
1890 - In West Point, New York, the United States Naval Academy defeats the United States Military Academy 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game.
1893 - Ziqiang Institute, today known as Wuhan University, was founded by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Hubei and Hunan Provinces in late Qing Dynasty of China after his memorial to the throne was approved by the Qing Government.
1899 - Spanish football club FC Barcelona founded.
1915 - Fire destroys most of the buildings on Santa Catalina Island in California.
1922 - Howard Carter opened the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun to the public.
1929 - U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.
1943 - The second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-fascist council of national liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, determining the post-war ordering of the country.
1944 - The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby syndrome performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
1945 - The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia declared.
1947 - The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine.
1950 - Korean War: North Korean and Chinese troops force United Nations forces to retreat from North Korea.
1952 - Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.
1961 - Project Mercury: Mercury-Atlas 5 Mission - Enos, a chimpanzee, launched into space (the spacecraft orbited the Earth twice and splashed-down off the coast of Puerto Rico).
1963 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
1963 - Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831, A Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes after taking-off from Dorval Airport near Montreal.
1965 - Canadian Space Agency launches the satellite Alouette 2.
1967 - Vietnam War: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation.
1972 - Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari) released Pong (the first commercially successful video game) in Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, Calif.
1975 - The name "Micro-soft" (for "microcomputer software") is first used in a letter from Bill Gates to Paul Allen.
1981 - Actress Natalie Wood drowns during a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, California.
1982 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The United Nations General Assembly passes United Nations Resolution 37/37, stating that Soviet Union forces should withdraw from Afghanistan.
1987 - A Korean Air Boeing 707 explodes over the Thai-Burmese border, killing 155.
1988 - Six Kansas City firefighters are killed in an explosion at a construction site.
1990 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council passes United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing "use all necessary means to uphold and implement" United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 "to restore international peace and security" if Iraq did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.
1992 - Dennis Byrd of the New York Jets was temporarily paralyzed by a neck injury during a football game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
2005 - New Croatian Communist Party (KPH) founded in Vukovar.

Births

1338 - Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III of England (d. 1368)
1427 - Zhengtong, Emperor of China (d. 1464)
1484 - Joachim Vadian, Swiss humanist (d. 1551)
1489 - Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England, queen consort of James IV of Scotland (d. 1541)
1627 - John Ray, English naturalist (d. 1705)
1690 - Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II of Russia (d. 1747)
1752 - Jemima Wilkinson, American preacher (d. 1819)
1762 - Pierre André Latreille, French zoologist (d. 1833)
1781 - Andrés Bello, Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, teacher, philosopher and sociologist (d. 1865)
1797 - Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (d. 1848)
1798 - Alexander Brullov, Russian painter (d. 1877)
1799 - Amos Bronson Alcott, American writer and educator (d. 1888)
1802 - Wilhelm Hauff, German poet and novelist (d. 1827)
1803 - Christian Doppler, Austrian physicist (d. 1853)
1803 - Gottfried Semper, German architect (d. 1879)
1813 - Franz von Miklosich, Slovenian linguist (d. 1891)
1816 - Morrison Waite, 7th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1888)
1825 - Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist (d. 1893)
1832 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (d. 1888)
1849 - Sir John Ambrose Fleming, British physicist (d. 1945)
1856 - Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, 5th Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1921)
1857 - Theodor Escherich, German pediatrician (d. 1911)
1874 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician, neurologist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
1874 - Francis Dodd, artist (d. 1949)
1876 - Nellie Tayloe Ross, American politician, 14th Governor of Wyoming (d. 1977)
1881 - Julius Raab, 3rd Chancellors of the Second (Austrian) Republic (d. 1964)
1894 - Lucille Hegamin, American singer and entertainer (d. 1970)
1895 - Busby Berkeley, American film director, and choreographer (d. 1976)
1895 - William V.S. Tubman, 19th President of Liberia (d. 1971)
1896 - Yakima Canutt, American actor and stuntman (d. 1986)
1898 - C. S. Lewis, Irish writer (d. 1963)
1899 - Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (d. 1988)
1901 - Mildred Harris, American actress (d. 1944)
1904 - Egon Eiermann, German architect (d. 1970)
1908 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American civil rights leader and politician (d. 1972)
1908 - N. S. Krishnan, Tamil film comedian (d. 1957)
1910 - Antanas Škėma, Lithuanian writer, stage actor and director (d. 1961)
1915 - Billy Strayhorn, American musician and composer (d. 1967)
1916 - Fran Ryan, American actress (d. 2000)
1917 - Merle Travis, American singer (d. 1983)
1918 - Madeleine L'Engle, American author
1921 - Dagmar, American television personality (d. 2001)
1922 - Minnie Miñoso, baseball player
1927 - Vin Scully, baseball announcer
1928 - Paul Simon, American politician, U.S. Senator from Illinois (d. 2003)
1928 - Tahir Salahov, Azerbaijani painter
1929 - Laurie Main, Actor, Host of Welcome To Pooh Corner from 1983-1987
1930 - Shirley Porter, English politician, Dame Commander of the British Empire
1932 - Jacques Chirac, 5th President of the Fifth (French) Republic
1932 - Diane Ladd, American actress
1933 - John Mayall, British blues musician
1939 - Peter Bergman, American comedian
1939 - Gene Okerlund, American wrestling interviewer
1939 - Meco, American record producer and musician
1940 - Chuck Mangione, American musician
1941 - Bill Freehan, American baseball player
1941 - Denny Doherty, American musician (Mamas and the Papas)
1942 - Philippe Huttenlocher, Swiss baritone
1943 - Sue Miller, American author
1944 - Felix Cavaliere, American musician and producer
1946 - Silvio Rodriguez, Cuban poet, singer and songwriter
1947 - Petra Kelly, German politician (d. 1992)
1949 - Wayne Cowan, American professional wrestler
1949 - Jerry Lawler, American professional wrestler and commentator
1949 - Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director
1951 - Barry Goudreau, American musician (Boston)
1951 - Jean Schmidt, American politician, U.S. Representative from Ohio
1953 - Alex Grey, American artist
1954 - Joel Coen, American film director, producer, and writer
1954 - Steve Rogers, Australian rugby league player (d. 2006)
1955 - Howie Mandel, Canadian actor
1956 - Hinton Battle, American dancer
1956 - Leo Laporte, American television personality
1958 - Michael Dempsey, American musician (The Cure)
1959 - Neal Broten, American ice hockey player
1960 - Cathy Moriarty, American actress
1961 - Kim Delaney, American actress
1961 - Tom Sizemore, American actor
1962 - Andy LaRocque Swedish guitarist (King Diamond) and record producer
1963 - Andrew McCarthy, American actor
1964 - Don Cheadle, American actor
1965 - Ellen Cleghorne, American comedian
1965 - Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer, songwriter (d. 1992)
1967 - John Layfield, American professional wrestler, color commentator, and financial analyst
1968 - Jonathan Knight, American singer (New Kids on the Block)
1969 - Pierre van Hooijdonk, Dutch international footballer
1969 - Mariano Rivera, Panamanian baseball player
1970 - Mark Pembridge, Welsh international footballer
1971 - Gena Lee Nolin, American actress
1972 - Larry Joe Campbell, American actor
1972 - Jamal Mashburn, American basketball player
1972 - Minoru Tanaka, Japanese professional wrestler
1973 - Ryan Giggs, Welsh international footballer
1973 - Sarah Jones, American playwright, poet and actress
1974 - Lin Chiling, Taiwanese model.
1976 - Anna Faris, American actress
1976 - Ehren McGhehey, American actor and skateboarder
1977 - Maria Petrova, Russian figure skater
1978 - Ludwika Paleta, Polish-Mexican actress
1979 - Francis Beltrán, Professional baseball player
1981 - Nicholas Teo, Taiwanese Singer, Actor
1981 - Ringo Garza, American drummer (Los Lonely Boys)
1982 - Ashley Force, American race car driver
1982 - Krystal Steal, American pornographic actress
1990 - Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit, American actors
1990 - Diego González, Mexican Singer and Actor

Deaths

741 - Pope Gregory III
1268 - Pope Clement IV
1314 - Philip IV of France (b. 1268)
1330 - Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, de facto ruler of England (b. 1287)
1342 - Michael of Cesena, Italian Franciscan leader (b. 1270)
1378 - Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1316)
1530 - Thomas Wolsey, adviser to King Henry VIII of England
1577 - Cuthbert Mayne, English saint (b. 1543)
1590 - Philipp Nikodemus Frischlin, German philologist and poet (b. 1547)
1595 - Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, Basque soldier and poet (b. 1533)
1626 - Ernst, Graf von Mansfield, German soldier
1632 - Frederick V, Elector Palatine (b. 1596)
1643 - William Cartwright, English dramatist (b. 1611)
1643 - Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer (b. 1567)
1646 - Laurentius Paulinus Gothus, Swedish theologian and astronomer (b. 1565)
1661 - Brian Walton, English clergyman and scholar (b. 1600)
1694 - Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician (b. 1628)
1695 - James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount Stair, Scottish lawyer and statesman (b. 1619)
1699 - Patrick Gordon, Scottish general (b. 1635)
1759 - Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1687)
1780 - Maria Theresa of Austria (b. 1717)
1797 - Samuel Langdon, American President of Harvard University (b. 1723)
1847 - Marcus Whitman, Washington state pioneer (b. 1802)
1924 - Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (b. 1858)
1939 - Philipp Scheidemann, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1865)
1953 - Sam De Grasse, American actor (b. 1875)
1953 - Milt Gross, American comic book illustrator and animator (b. 1895)
1954 - Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
1957 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (b. 1897)
1972 - Carl Stalling, American composer (b. 1888)
1974 - James J. Braddock, American heavyweight boxer (b. 1905)
1975 - Graham Hill, British race car driver (b. 1929)
1979 - Zeppo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1901)
1980 - Dorothy Day, American journalist, turned social activist, and devout member of the Roman Catholic Church.
1981 - Fredric Wertham, German-born psychologist (b. 1895)
1981 - Natalie Wood, American actress (b. 1938)
1982 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (b. 1908)
1984 - Gotthard Günther, German philosopher (b. 1900)
1986 - Cary Grant, British-born American actor (b. 1904)
1991 - Frank Yerby, American author (b. 1916)
1991 - Ralph Bellamy, American actor (b. 1904)
1992 - Jean Dieudonné, French mathematician (b. 1906)
1998 - Martin Ruane, British professional wrestler (b. 1947)
1999 - Gene Rayburn, American game show host (b. 1917)
2000 - Daniel Gélin, French actor (b. 1921)
2001 - George Harrison, British singer, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1943)
2001 - John Knowles, American author (b. 1926)
2003 - Moondog Spot, wrestler (b. 1952)
2004 - John Drew Barrymore, American actor (b. 1929)
2004 - Harry Danning, American baseball player (b. 1911)
2004 - Anne Samson, oldest-ever nun documented (b. 1891)
2005 - David di Tommaso, French soccer player (b. 1979)
2005 - Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress (b. 1958)
2006 - Allen Carr, English anti-smoking campaigner (b. 1934)

Holidays and Observances

Third annual Day of NEIN (North America).
Feast days of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
Saint Saturnin
Saint Cuthbert Mayne, martyr
Saint Radboud
Brendan of Birr or Brendan the Younger
Denis of the Nativity and Redemptus of the Cross
Albania - Liberation Day (Dita e Çlirimit)
Israel - Kaftet be-November (commemoration of the U.N. decision in 1947 to partition Palestine)
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - Republic Day

U.S - Washington Post: Bush-Maliki Summit Delayed

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Iraqi Leader's Ability to Control Sectarian Violence Questioned
By Michael Abramowitz, Sudarsan Raghavan and Debbi WilgorenWashington Post Staff WritersWednesday, November 29, 2006; 6:04 PM
AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 29 -- President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not meet as planned on Wednesday, but the two leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday, amid turmoil within Iraq's coalition government and questions about U.S. confidence in Maliki's leadership.
The scratched meeting came on the day that a bloc of Iraqi lawmakers and cabinet ministers allied with militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr launched a boycott of their governmental duties to protest Maliki's decision to attend the summit in Jordan with Bush. It also coincided with the public disclosure of a memo by White House adviser Stephen J. Hadley questioning Maliki's ability to control the raging sectarian violence in his country.

White House officials insisted the cancellation had nothing to do with Maliki's political problems at home or the leak of the Hadley memo. Instead, they said, the meeting was put off to allow more productive time in Jordan by meeting separately with Maliki and King Abdullah II.
White House counselor Dan Bartlett Bartlett said Maliki had already had a productive bilateral meeting with King Abdullah on Wednesday, and both felt "there was not an agenda for the three for a trilateral that they felt was necessary."
"No one should read too much into this," Bartlett said. "This gives an opprtunity for the king and the president to catch up on issues that are in the interests of Jordan and the United States."
"There's no snub" by Maliki, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. He said he knew nothing of an Associated Press report quoting unnamed officials traveling with Maliki as saying the prime minister did not want a third party involved in talks about the U.S.-Iraqi relationship.
As recently as this afternoon, it appeared the White House was planning to go ahead with a three-way meeting between Maliki, Bush and King Abdullah. But when reporters showed up at the palace in Jordan where Bush was supposed to meet this evening with Maliki and the King, they were told by Bartlett that the three-way meeting was off.
At a contentious briefing with the White House press corps here, two senior administration officials said all the parties involved believed it would be more productive to have two separate meetings, one between Bush and Abdullah and one between Bush and Maliki. They noted a considerable agenda on the table between Bush and Abdullah, including broader Middle East peace initiatives, as well as the situation in Lebanon. "You have one shot at dealing with the king," one senior official said.
After the briefing, another senior official returned to the press filing center with more details about the cancellation, saying that the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, received word in the afternoon from the Jordanians and the Iraqis that there was no need for a three-way meeting--and he called Air Force One with the news. This official said President Bush was fine with this change When he landed in Amman, Bush went ahead with a private meeting with the King and a larger dinner that included top aides.The focus was the Israel-Palestine dispute and the situation in Lebanon.
The change in plans was announced the same day as Hadley's classified memo appeared in the New York Times in which Hadley questions whether Maliki "is both willing and able to rise above the sectarian agendas being promoted by others."
Before leaving Latvia for Amman Wednesday morning, aides to the president sought to play down the significance of the memo. One senior administration official suggested that the major issue with Maliki was one of "capabilities, not intentions." The official said discussions between Bush and Maliki would focus on how to strengthen the Iraqi government so it has the ability to take over more of the responsibility for security, curb the power of private militias and, thus, reduce sectarian violence.
The plan change also came as a bloc of Iraqi lawmakers and cabinet ministers allied with militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr launched a boycott of their governmental duties to protest Maliki's decision to attend the summit in Jordan with Bush.

(cont'd: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112900324.html)

U.S. - Alaska: Chamber backs South Palmer prison site

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By ZAZ HOLLANDERAnchorage Daily News
Published: November 29, 2006 Last Modified: November 29, 2006 at 03:03 PM

PALMER – The Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce announced its support today for a massive new state prison at South Palmer, a site opposed by hundreds of local residents.
A little more than two miles west of city limits and just east of Echo Lake, South Palmer is one of three finalists for the prison, a medium-security facility that could house 1,200-2,251 inmates. On Monday, borough officials dropped a fourth site, near Houston north of Zero Lake, citing wetland concerns.
The Palmer chamber board of directors voted unanimously to support the site earlier this month, according to chamber president Dusty Silva. Four who were not present for the vote later expressed their support, too, she said. In the motion, the board also encouraged the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to build the facility “to provide the best economic impact with the least environmental disruption.”
A final opportunity for public input on the so-called Palmer South site is scheduled for 6-9 p.m. tonight at Swanson Elementary School, 609 N. Gulkana St.
The site is the most economically viable, would bring new jobs and economic activity to the area, and “the relative strength of the Palmer site places the community in a position to negotiate from a position of strength,” according to a draft chamber resolution that’s still under consideration.
The draft resolution also says “hiding away our social problems is both bad for democracy and immoral.”
The chamber represents more than 300 members in the Palmer area.
At a special meeting Tuesday, the board decided to share its support for the Palmer site via written comments, rather than sharing them verbally tonight at what’s likely to be a charged public meeting.
Nearly 400 residents of Palmer and the surrounding area condemned the site at a mid-November meeting at the downtown Palmer Depot, with about 20 showing their support. Most Sutton residents, too, have said they don’t want a prison in their community. Some nearby residents at Point MacKenzie have come out against that site, but the area is sparsely populated.
Few members at the chamber luncheon spoke up when invited to ask questions Wednesday. Two supported the project.
Then Bill Mitchell, a retired agronomist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Experimental Station along Trunk Road, rose to his feet.
Mitchell criticized the pressures the prison would put on existing water and sewer systems, as well as the increase in subdivisions on agricultural lands in the Springer Loop system near the potential site.
“I’m not against measured growth, reasoned growth,” Mitchell said after the luncheon. “Palmer was sort of in the backwaters, and pulled out … but just how much of that development can we take without changing the character of this Valley?”
Contact Daily News reporter Zaz Hollander at 352-6714 or zhollander@adn.com.

North Korea: U.S. Branded as Principal Criminal of Nuclear Threat and Harasser of Peace

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Pyongyang, November 28 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun in a signed commentary today brands the U.S. imperialists as the principal criminal of nuclear threat and proliferation, the harasser of peace and security and the arch enemy of humankind. With nothing can they cover up their criminal colors, the paper says, and goes on: The U.S. is extensively shipping weapons into the disputed areas of different countries and regions to aggravate military clashes. The U.S. is clamoring for "peace" and "stability, security", but its ulterior intention is different. It is seeking military interference and dominationist purpose by inciting disputes and straining the situation in different regions. This is why the U.S. is increasing the export of weapons. Its loud-mouthed "ensuring of peace" and "establishment of democratic order" are no more than a lie to cover up its military intervention and method of aggression. As seen in the reality, the U.S. imperialists are destroying international peace order and increasing the danger of a war, not trying to keep peace and stability. This is well interpreted by the fact that the U.S. is continuing to expand nuclear arsenals. They set a preemptive nuclear attack as basic war strategy and simplified the procedures of using nuclear weapons so as to employ them against "hostile states" at any time. It is to make a preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK that they have deployed a large number of nuclear weapons in and around the Korean Peninsula. Owing to the U.S. moves, numerous nuclear weapons have been stockpiled in different regions of the world, the danger of a nuclear war is increasing and thus humankind is faced with the danger of nuclear holocaust.

U.S. Accused of Disturbing Justice and Peace

Pyongyang, November 28 (KCNA) -- The United States perpetrated such a rash act as vetoing the UNSC resolution condemning Israel's monstrous atrocities, thereby self-exposing that it is a vicious harasser of peace in the Mideast and the worst human rights abuser. Minju Joson Tuesday says this is a signed commentary. It goes on: The U.S. exercise of veto on the resolution indicates that it is not interested in the Mideast peace and its loud-mouthed "respect for human rights" is nothing but a fig leaf to cover its true colors. In the international arena the U.S. does not bother to brush aside whatever proposal neither in line with its interests nor to its liking in handling any international issues no matter how reasonable it is and how urgently the international community requires. The same can be said of its attitude toward the Kyoto Protocol. The majority of developed countries of the world agreed to the protocol and took practical measures to implement it but it is only the U.S. which opposed it and pulled out of it in the end. Its real intention is to meet its own interests, utterly indifferent to whether the environment of the earth is protected or not. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, addressing the meeting of ministers of environment on preventing the global warming held in Nairobi of Kenya, urged the U.S. to return to the protocol and implement it but the U.S. reneged on it. The U.S. high-handed and arbitrary practices and arrogance have reached their height in the international arena as seen above. The reality goes to prove that force is the only means of countering the U.S. which behaves as it pleases, showing off its strength, just as a mad dog should be dealt with a stick. The U.S. had better to behave itself, facing up to the situation.

Argentina: Maradona viajó para alentar al equipo argentino

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De muy buen humor y junto a su familia, tomó hoy el avión a Moscú, donde presenciará la final que se jugará del viernes al domingo. En Rusia lo esperan con mucha expectativa.

La hinchada argentina para alentar al equipo de Copa Davis que a partir del viernes buscará quedarse con el título ya palpita la llegada de su integrante más importante. Diego Armando Maradona partió hoy rumbo a Moscú con la ilusión de presenciar un hecho histórico: la primera vez que Argentina levante la preciada Ensaladera de Plata.El astro ya dijo presente en las semifinales ante Australia disputadas en el Parque Roca. En esa ocasión, fue el centro de atención de las miradas y su aliento incondicional le dio una motivación extra al equipo nacional. Ahora, sueña con repetir la historia pero de visitante, en Moscú.Ayer, la Federación Internacional de Tenis (ITF) comunicó su preocupación por la conducta de Diego. La entidad no tiene intenciones de advertir a Maradona, pero manifestó que no quiere que se repitan los insultos que el ex futbolista le propinó al sueco Robin Soderling, en la primera ronda de la Davis, cuando Argentina ganó 5-0. Mike Morrisey, árbitro general de la serie aseguró ayer: "No queremos abuso ni agresividad. Si eso sucede, tendremos que apelar a nuestras reglas para mejorar la situación".

Nigeria: Obasanjo averts Nigerian, Libyan security forces' face-off

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BUT for the intervention of President Olusegun Obasanjo, a diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and Libya as well as a clash of their security forces would have been ignited in Abuja yesterday.
Obasanjo had to step in as the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who was coming in for the ongoing Africa-South America (ASA) Summit, got embroiled with Nigerian security personnel at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja over an attempt to bring into the country a huge quantity of arms, well over the diplomatically accepted number.
The Libyan strongman, known for travelling with a large number of armed female security personnel, had well ahead of the summit booked enough rooms for his 200-member delegation to the summit as reported by The Guardian exclusively on Sunday.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), quoting Nigerian officials yesterday, said Gaddafi was accompanied by more than 200 heavily armed bodyguards.
According to agency reports, when security officers refused to allow them to keep their weapons, an argument ensued and Gaddafi reportedly stormed off and a face-off ensued until Obasanjo's intervention.
Verbatim report of the BBC on the matter went thus: "The size of Libya's delegation was not a problem, it seems. Just the sheer amount of weapons and ammunition they carried. So, Nigerian security refused to let them proceed to the capital....As arguments raged, the Libyan leader angrily set off on foot, intending to walk some 40km (25 miles) to the capital, before he was persuaded to return to the airport lounge."
The report further said of the stand-off, which lasted several hours, before the Libyans backed down: "By sheer coincidence, President Obasanjo was passing through the airport at the same time.... He intervened in person and proposed that the weapons could be allowed through if they were registered first.
"But the Nigerians say that was rejected and the Libyan delegation threatened to fly home.... Incensed, the Nigerians said that was fine with them and told the delegation that instead of the original compromise, they could now only carry eight pistols if they wanted to enter Nigeria, like any other diplomatic security detail.... They ordered that the rest of the weaponry had to be put back on the Libyan official jet."
However, at the summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Joy Ogwu, urged member countries of ASA to regard their new co-operation platform as an alliance for progress.
Outlining the imperatives of peace and security, as well as economic cooperation for transcontinental collaboration while opening the ministerial meeting of the summit at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, the minister, however, warned that the huge diversity of the people that make up Latin America and African countries "must never be allowed to compromise our alliance."
Ogwu declared yesterday that the present uni-polar world was one of alliances, coalitions and partnership, stressing that " there is a consensus between African and Latin American countries that peace and security must be the sentinels upon which development is anchored."
The Nigerian minister urged member countries to borrow a leaf from Brazil, India and South Africa, three emerging economies which have since formed a partnership to challenge the dominance of the northern hemisphere in global business as sustained by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The chairman of the high officials' meeting, the Permanent Secretary of Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Hakeem Baba Ahmed, also briefed on the ingredients of the draft declaration of the summit as well as the Abuja plan of action which is being prepared for the heads of state who meet today.
At the end of the ASA, the heads of state and government are expected to emerge with three important practical documents which will drive the cooperation and partnership between the two regions.
These include the declaration of the summit proper, the plan of action as well as its implementation strategy.

Canada: Parliament Approves the Quebecois as Canada’s 641st Nation within Canada - Stop Ethnic & Linguistic Racism or Face Disaster

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There are already 640 or so aboriginal tribes now called “Nations” in Canada. Moves are already under way to write their nationhood into the Constitution. So what’s one more? They’ve got special laws which apply only to them but not to the rest of Canada. So what’s the fuss about calling our French speaking brothers and sisters from La Belle Province the 641st (or thereabouts) “Nation?”
The answer is everything and yet nothing in the context of the mess that has been made of Canada by the Liberals and Conservatives since the Pearson-Trudeau era.
Our laws say, “We are all equal citizens before and under the law” but we haven’t been equal since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was introduced to Canadians in 1982 (most Canadians have never read it). In racist Canada the laws applying to you depend on the skin colour, ethnic, racial or sexual group to which you belong.
In Canada we have two official languages, either of which has equal status across Canada, but not in Quebec where the Quebecoise “National Assembly” has declared the Province unilingual French. A conundrum our political masters accept in the name of unity, unfair though it may be.
Prime Minister Harper says Canada is a bilingual country. That is an outright fabrication. There is no requirement in our Constitution requiring fluency in both languages. Either language may be used, anywhere, except in Quebec which does not recognize our Constitution (except when it is to their advantage).
Again, in today’s Canada no citizen, English or French speaking, may rise above the rank of Major in the military unless they are fully bilingual (especially English speakers). No Canadian can participate in the civil service of Canada unless they are fully bilingual and today, even senior long term executives are being fired if they can’t learn French.
Ninety-five percent of English-only Canadian speakers cannot therefore get any job or promotion in the federal civil service, crown corporations and increasing numbers of private and authorized government operations. French speakers in Canada represent about 23% of Canada’s population but in the Federal civil service they now represent some 44% of all employees. Not exactly a fair distribution of employment.
Whole non-Quebec cities turn officially bilingual on the outcry of minimal numbers of Francophones which means Francophones are increasingly in control of the rest of Canada. This is nothing but untrammeled racism, all in aid of keeping the Quebecoise in Canada, so we are told.
Every Canadian-born English-speaking person over the age of 40 knows very well that the appeasement game played by French speakers and their English speaking political co-conspirators is never-ending. They demand more and more, and get it, all to the detriment of the rest of us all across Canada.
Our English speaking sell-outs even have a cute phrase for the unfairness they participate in. It’s called Asymmetrical Governance. Asymmetrical means one set of rules for us and another different set for them. Example: The National Capital Commission is an area in Ottawa, Ontario and Hull, Quebec designated for government offices yet only in the Ontario portion is the area promoted as bilingual. In Quebec, English is proscribed at every turn and insulted everywhere by discriminatory language laws and petty enforcement officials.
Why do our English speaking politicians play this game? The answer is twofold; (1) they need the out-of-proportion Quebec MPs and votes to form a government and (2) because they are in politics it behooves them to learn French. They will then tell you that anyone can learn French, because see, “I did!” Ninety-nine percent of us are not professional politicians nor do we aspire to be and we have little chance of ever learning French, even if we wanted to. We are thus declared second class citizens. No jobs, no promotions in any government related service.
Now, by creating another tribal ,”Nation” class based on language and ethnicity the door is thrown wide open to an even more massive shake-down of Canadians of the non-Quebecoise tribe.
Our “First Nations” aboriginal citizens have been shaking the governments of Canada down for years. Approximately $78,000.00 yearly is paid out by the Federal government to every aboriginal man, women and child and yet many still live in poverty and in miserable unsustainable reservations with no economic base. However, their leaders plead for more and more land and money while at the same time trying to retain what little is left of their antiquated culture.
Their leaders know the answer is bringing their uneconomic populations into the mainstream of Canadian life. Yet they too, like the Quebecoise, plead and beg for money power and hand-outs, all in the name of racial and ethnic division. Isn’t it about time all this break-up and break-down into racial and ethnic divides was halted?
Mr. Harper stated that the Quebecoise settled this country from coast to coast as another justification for declaring them a “Nation.” This is yet another lie of historical revisionism. The French settled only some of the Maritimes and the lower St. Lawrence River basin. They were not allowed by their mother country, France, to settle elsewhere except for a few farms around some of the major Forts such as Detroit.
It was the English, Irish and Scots that after the American Revolutionary War principally opened up Canada both in southern Quebec and west of the Ottawa River until the turn of the 20th century when other ethnic groups were encouraged to settle in Canada.
It was the British and then the Loyalists, as they were then, that gave the French their freedoms. Where are our monuments to these people? It was the British people in Canada that established our laws and parliamentary system and the British General Wolfe that kicked the corrupt French monarchy out of North America.
Where is their “Nation” status?
Where are the monuments on Parliament Hill to the United Empire Loyalists and even to just one of the tens of thousands of British soldiers who up until 1870, garrisoned Canada and kept our independence safe from military incursions by the USA? Why are we sacrificing our history in this appeasement game?
Nation Status is a recipe for the end of Canada!
It is about time we began to seriously demand the equality of all Canadian citizens and if that cannot be achieved with Quebec in Canada then let us work to remove them from all our Parliamentary Councils. Let them become independent and become our good neighbours next door. Let the bilingualists become our goodwill ambassadors!
Let us tell our English speaking politicians to stop pandering and cease and desist from assuming the supine position whenever the “Quebecois” squawk.
Appeasement is a mugs game. Another word for it is “Blackmail” and it must stop soon or Canada is going to break up into many parts, not just Quebec and the Rest of Canada but into sections, regions, ethnic groups, linguistic groups or perhaps even, horrors of horrors, States of that great friend and neighbour of ours to the South.
Former editor of the Voice of Canadian Committees and the Montgomery Tavern Society, Dick Field is a World War II veteran, who served in combat with the Royal Canadian Artillery, Second Division, 4th Field Regiment in Belgium, Holland and Germany as a 19-year-old gunner and forward observation signaller working with the infantry. Field also spent six months in the occupation army in Northern Germany and after the war became a commissioned officer in the Armoured Corps, spending a further six years in the Reserves. Dick can be reached at letters@canadafreepress.com

It happened today November 28th 2006 - photo slide show