18/05/2012

No remorse by ‘Butcher of Bosnia’

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


.cnn_html_media_utility::before{color:red;content:’>>’;font-size:9px;line-height:12px;padding-right:1px}
.cnnstrylccimg640{margin:0 27px 14px 0}
.captionText{filter:alpha(opacity=100);opacity:1}
.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a,.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a:visited,.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a:link,.captionText a,.captionText a:visited,.captiontext a:link{color:outline:medium none}
.cnnVerticalGalleryPhoto{margin:0 auto;padding-right:68px;width:270px}
]]>

General Ratko Mladic, center, commander of Serbian forces in Bosnia, arrives at Sarajevo airport on August 10, 1993 to negotiate the withdrawal of his troops from Mount Igman.General Ratko Mladic, center, commander of Serbian forces in Bosnia, arrives at Sarajevo airport on August 10, 1993 to negotiate the withdrawal of his troops from Mount Igman.

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, right, confers with his military chief during a meeting with the press in Pale on August 5, 1993. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, right, confers with his military chief during a meeting with the press in Pale on August 5, 1993.

Ratko Mladic talks to a Serbian soldier on February 15, 1994 at Lukavica barracks near Sarajevo six days before the NATO ultimatum.Ratko Mladic talks to a Serbian soldier on February 15, 1994 at Lukavica barracks near Sarajevo six days before the NATO ultimatum.

David Scheffer, U.S. Ambassador at large for war crimes points to a wanted poster showing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic in March 2000.David Scheffer, U.S. Ambassador at large for war crimes points to a wanted poster showing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic in March 2000.

A Muslim woman and her husband are treated in July 1995 for injuries inflicted on them by Serb forces as they fled Srebrenica. The man died shortly after the picture was taken. A Muslim woman and her husband are treated in July 1995 for injuries inflicted on them by Serb forces as they fled Srebrenica. The man died shortly after the picture was taken.

Serb nationalists protest against the U.S. and the U.N. war crimes court in Belgrade in December 2006. Their posters show pictures of Karadzic, Mladic and Vojislav Seselj with the Cyrillic writing meaning: God saves the Serbs and Great Serbia.Serb nationalists protest against the U.S. and the U.N. war crimes court in Belgrade in December 2006. Their posters show pictures of Karadzic, Mladic and Vojislav Seselj with the Cyrillic writing meaning: “God saves the Serbs” and “Great Serbia.”

Bosnian Muslim women who survived the Srebrenica massacre, Sabra Kolenovic, right, and Sabaheta Fejzic watch the news of Mladic's arrest in Sarajevo on May 26, 2011.Bosnian Muslim women who survived the Srebrenica massacre, Sabra Kolenovic, right, and Sabaheta Fejzic watch the news of Mladic’s arrest in Sarajevo on May 26, 2011.

Mladic supporters protest at a rally organized by the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party near parliament in Belgrade in May 2011.Mladic supporters protest at a rally organized by the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party near parliament in Belgrade in May 2011.

Mladic appears at his war crimes trial on May 16, 2012. He eluded authorities for nearly 16 years until his capture in May 2011.Mladic appears at his war crimes trial on May 16, 2012. He eluded authorities for nearly 16 years until his capture in May 2011.


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9

The Hague, Netherlands (CNN) — The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic was suspended until further notice Thursday over the prosecution’s failure to disclose some evidence against Mladic, court spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said.

The abrupt suspension came only a day after the long-awaited trial began.

Prosecutors had been planning to focus Thursday on the massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, for which they accuse Mladic of responsibility.

But the defense called for a halt to the trial after it found that the prosecution had not shown it all the evidence against Mladic. Under court rules, the defense has a right to study prosecution evidence before a trial begins.

It was not clear what the evidence was or how long the delay would last, but it could be a matter of weeks.


Srebrenica the focus of Mladic trial


‘Butcher of Bosnia’ shows no remorse


Mladic war crimes trial begins


2011: Ratko Mladic captured

Lawyers will meet the judge Thursday afternoon to discuss how to proceed. The prosecution says that it did not show the defense all of its evidence, an apparent error that became evident when prosecutors began to lay out their case Wednesday.

Mladic is accused of orchestrating a horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing during the bloody civil war that ripped apart Yugoslavia.

The former general showed no remorse as his war crimes trial opened Wednesday, at one point even appearing to threaten victims in the court.

He drew his hand across his neck as if cutting a throat while staring at victims of the war that introduced the phrase “ethnic cleansing.”

At other times, the man accused of being “the Butcher of Bosnia” stared at them, fire in his eyes, and he once growled at the survivors.

The 70-year-old former Bosnian Serb general has been indicted on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1992-95 war.

His trial is taking place at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, a special court established to try those responsible for atrocities during the war.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Dermot Groome laid out details of the case against Mladic, saying that ethnic cleansing was not a byproduct of the war, but a specific aim of the Bosnian Serb leadership.

He aimed to show that Mladic was directly responsible for atrocities carried out by his forces, who were fighting for control of land in ethnically mixed Bosnia.

Sexual violence was a weapon of war, Groome said, describing a woman who said she had been raped more than 50 times, and women who were forced by Bosnian Serb forces to perform sex acts on members of their own families.

Prosecutors will use survivor testimonies and video clips to make their case at a trial that is likely to last for months or years.

Among those in the courtroom were the families of Srebrenica victims.

“Victims have waited nearly two decades to see Ratko Mladic in the dock,” Param-Preet Singh, senior counsel in the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, said ahead of the trial. “His trial should lay to rest the notion that those accused of atrocity crimes can run out the clock on justice.”

2011: Ratko Mladic captured

Mladic’s trial began after a landmark war crimes ruling last month, when another international tribunal found former Liberian President Charles Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone’s notoriously brutal civil war.

Taylor got a final chance to address his court Wednesday as Mladic’s trial opened, and he said he was “saddened” by a verdict that he portrayed as unfair.

“Both trials are evidence of the growing international trend to hold perpetrators of atrocities to account, no matter how senior their position,” Human Rights Watch said.

Mladic eluded authorities for nearly 16 years until his capture in May 2011, when police burst into the garden of a small house in northern Serbia.

Europe’s highest-ranking war crimes suspect was discovered standing against a wall in a utility room normally used for storing farm equipment, according to a government minister.

Though he was carrying two handguns, he surrendered without a fight. He was extradited for trial in the Netherlands.

But from day one in custody, he has exhibited defiance and appears not to have relinquished his visceral antagonism toward his enemies. Before the trial that started Wednesday, he also drew a finger across his throat in court, a gesture aimed at some of the Srebrenica widows. At other times, he disrupted proceedings by putting on a hat in the courtroom and refusing to enter a plea.

He has sought delays in his trial and said he is in failing health.

In July 1995, Mladic was in command of the Bosnian Serb army and led his soldiers into the town of Srebrenica. In the days that followed, the soldiers systematically slaughtered nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Bosnia peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke once described Mladic as “one of those lethal combinations that history thrusts up occasionally — a charismatic murderer.”

In the three decades leading up to the violent splintering of Yugoslavia, Mladic rose rapidly through the ranks of the Yugoslav army. In 1991, he served as a front-line commander spearheading Serb forces in a yearlong war with Croatia.

By the time he took to Bosnia’s battlefields, he had become a hero to many Serbs, seen as a defender of their dwindling fortunes.

In May 1992, Bosnia’s Serbian political leaders picked him to lead the assault on their Muslim enemies who clamored for independence.

Robertson: Bosnia’s future is tied to justice

Mladic wasted no time galvanizing his heavily armed forces in a siege of Sarajevo, cutting the city off from the outside world. Serb forces pounded the city every day from higher ground positions, trapping Sarajevo’s ill-prepared residents in the valley below. More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, perished.

Some observers conjured images of Sarajevo in describing Syrian attacks on the besieged city of Homs earlier this year.

As the war ended in the fall of 1995, Mladic went on the run.

Shortly after Mladic was sent to The Hague last year, authorities nabbed former Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic. He was the last Yugoslav war crimes suspect at large.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic was arrested in 2008. And Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in 2001 but died before his trial could be completed.

CNN’s Moni Basu contributed to this report.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/4bCRd6WHriA/index.html

DNA sought to ID decapitated bodies

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


Mexican police work the grisly scene where 49 dismembered bodies were found Sunday near Monterrey.

Monterrey, Mexico (CNN) — Mexican authorities are asking for DNA samples from families of missing persons nationwide in their efforts to identify 49 decapitated bodies, an official said Wednesday.

That will be the only way to identify the victims — whose killers cut off their heads, hands and feet — Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene told reporters three days after investigators found the remains abandoned along a highway.

Officials in El Salvador may also request access to the DNA data authorities in Nuevo Leon have compiled, to compare it with samples from family members of Salvadoran migrants who have gone missing in Mexico, Domene said.

While investigators work to identify the victims behind closed doors, parts of the case have played out quite publicly.

Banners hanging in locations throughout the country, purportedly from the Zetas, claim that the notoriously ruthless cartel had nothing to do with the gruesome crime.

But another message purportedly signed by the Zetas and found Sunday at the crime scene — a roadside near the industrial city of Monterrey and about 80 miles southwest of the U.S. border — told a different story, threatening members of rival cartels and Mexican authorities.


Which cartel is behind Mexico massacre?


Body dump a new era in Mexico drug war?

Domene told reporters Wednesday that investigations to find those responsible would focus on scientific proof and not on the banners.

On Monday, Mexico’s interior minister said the 49 decapitated bodies were likely the result of a fierce feud over territory and power between the Zetas and members of the allied Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.

The Zetas started with deserters from the Mexican army and quickly gained a reputation for ruthless violence as the armed branch of Mexico’s Gulf cartel. The partnership ended in 2010.

Now, analysts say the Gulf cartel is allied with the Sinaloa cartel, one of the nation’s most powerful drug-trafficking groups.

Interior Minister Alejandro Poire stressed Monday that the Mexican government would not retreat from its efforts to crack down on organized crime — an effort that is facing increasing criticism as Mexico’s presidential campaign season heats up.

“I know very well that these acts worry society, but the solution is not to let our guard down,” Poire said.

President Felipe Calderon, seen as the chief champion of Mexico’s crime-fighting strategy, is not running for re-election. But opposition candidates have criticized his administration’s approach.

More than 47,500 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006, when Calderon announced plans to deploy troops in efforts to combat cartels.

According to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, more than 5,300 people have disappeared throughout the country in that same time period. And the bodies of 9,000 dead have not been identified.

Officials fear the total number of missing could be far higher, because many disappearances go unreported.

CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/r4wcePeElzo/index.html

Business leaders prep for ‘Grexit’

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


Click to play

(CNN) — They say a week is a long time in politics. In today’s febrile world of finance, it’s a lifetime.

Europe’s leaders may soon learn that lesson the hard way if they continue to dodge the question on everyone’s lips: What to do if Greece is pushed out of the eurozone?

No stranger to unfortunate soubriquets herself, Angela Merkel has repeatedly refused to address the matter of a Greek exit — or “Grexit,” as it has been dubbed.

This week, she cited “political correctness” as her logic for skirting the issue.

Either way, the bosses of some of the eurozone’s biggest companies have decided they can’t afford the luxury of being caught short.


Tsipras: Austerity will send us to hell


Greece eurozone membership at stake


Merkel on Greece: Had to be done


What’s next for Greece?

With a staff of more than 90,000 to consider and operations in more than 80 countries to oversee, Shell CEO Peter Voser has admitted that he must plan for what the markets say is an increasingly plausible outcome to a tragedy well into its third year.

Speaking on CNN’s “World Business Today,” Voser said that “one obviously has made provisions” at this stage.

“I still see it as a low likelihood scenario, but we have done our work over the last few months to prepare ourselves,” he said.

As high as the stakes are for one of the world’s biggest oil companies, the stakes for heads of government, like Merkel, are even higher. About 320 million people use the euro daily, and as the German chancellor knows, the integrity of the union is crucial for confidence in its economy — an economy that just flatlined in the first quarter.

This invites the question: If it’s so obvious to business leaders, why do Europe’s elected leaders still shy away from the subject?

Charles Proctor, partner at the law firm Edwards Wildman, thinks he knows the answer.

Having spent the past two years pondering the possibility of a eurozone member dropping out, Proctor says the existing legal framework doesn’t offer a formal escape route.

The European Union treaty does give Greece the extreme option of backing out of the EU but not out of its monetary system in itself. This means any negotiations would have to be kept quiet.

“One assumes that a certain amount of contingency work has been done,” Proctor said, “just that it has been kept secret against the political backdrop that the eurozone must hold together.”

Greeks set election date amid possibility of bank panic

That view is echoed by former EU Commissioner and one-time UK Trade Secretary Peter Mandelson.

“I think it would be better to discuss this behind closed doors. Otherwise, it would create yet more uncertainty,” he said.

“In theory you might say: ‘Its face doesn’t fit, it’s not performing in the way that others need it to do, its politics are falling apart, its people are miserable … so why not let it go out?’ But the consequences of that would shake Greece for many, many years to come.”

Since Greece went to the polls May 6, as many as six rate-setters from the European Central Bank have openly debated the pros and cons of a common currency minus one troublesome member.

The word “Grexit” has made the front page of tabloids and broadsheets in non-eurozone nations like Britain for two straight days. But bookmaker Paddy Power has cut the odds it is offering on Greece being the first out of the eurozone to 1-in-10 from 1-in-8.

Lex van Dam, co-founder of Hampstead Capital, says it’s a “really tough call.” He says Greece’s chances of keeping the euro are 50-50 and hinge less on political goodwill than financial support from the European Central Bank.

“Saving Greece means throwing good money after bad, but not saving Greece means possible huge and fatal capital outflows from the periphery as well,” he said.

If that’s the case, van Dam said, the losses incurred by the central bank could threaten the very institutions set up to safeguard the euro. Which means keeping Greece inside the eurozone could mean a “no euros zone” for its neighbors further down the line.

So can the tide be turned?

Proctor reckons the dam has burst.

“For many years it used to be taboo, but so many people are talking about it, it’s not a possibility that can be ignored anymore,” he said.

Either way, lawyers, hedge fund managers and chief executives are discussing the euro area’s monetary fate, even if those in charge of its member nations are not.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/LxpBybRJMHA/index.html

Greece’s interim Cabinet sworn in

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


Click to play

Athens (CNN) — With much of the business and financial world waiting nervously for the results of new elections in Greece, young people on the streets of Athens on Thursday sounded more concerned about the hardships the Greek people are facing than the international consequences of their upcoming vote.

Clara Kalemi, 18, said her father had been unemployed for two years.

“Finally he got a job but with a very low salary. We can’t afford this,” she said.

University student Romans Eksarhos said he and his classmates have little to look forward to.

“We can’t do anything; we don’t have any hope for our lives,” he said. “We know that we are going to finish university, get our degree, maybe our Ph.D., and we are going to work for 300 euros” a month.

That’s about $380.

A temporary Greek government took office Thursday as the country wrestles with a political crisis that sprang from the country’s inability to pay its debts.

Greece is heading toward new elections next month, with polls suggesting a narrow victory for a radical leftist party that wants to tear up an international loan agreement which forced the government to make deep budget cuts.

That possibility has sent ripples of fear through markets in Europe, Asia and the United States as analysts worry that it could ultimately lead to the collapse of the European Union’s currency — an event an expert predicted Thursday could cost up to $1 trillion.

Ratings agency Fitch cut Greece’s long-term credit rating from B- to CCC Thursday, only one notch above default level, reflecting worries over its ability to remain in the euro currency zone.

“The downgrade of Greece’s sovereign ratings reflects the heightened risk that Greece may not be able to sustain its membership of Economic and Monetary Union,” Fitch said.

“In the event that the new general elections scheduled for 17 June fail to produce a government with a mandate to continue with the EU-IMF programme of fiscal austerity and structural reform, an exit of Greece from EMU would be probable.” IMF is the International Monetary Fund

Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the Syriza party, leads in polls ahead of the June 17 election. On Thursday he urged the public to support him.

Read Tsipras equate austerity with ‘hell’

“People will conquer fear. They will not succumb; they will not be blackmailed,” he said, accusing the parties that made the international loan agreement of “irresponsible scare-mongering.”

The Centre for Economics Business and Research in London, meanwhile, issued a stark warning Thursday.

“The end of the euro in its current form is certain but will be traumatic,” predicted the CEBR’s Douglas McWilliams.

He estimated that the “immensely painful” breakdown of the currency used by 17 countries would cost a minimum of $300 million.

The European Central Bank said Wednesday it had stopped providing cheap money to some Greek banks after Greeks pulled about 800 million euros ($1 billion) in savings out of the banking system on Monday.

It would not say which banks it had cut off, forcing them to turn to the Greek Central Bank for more expensive loans.

The Hellenic Hotel Federation, meanwhile, said tourism revenue was plummeting.

Hotel reservations have dropped 30% to 50% in different parts of the country, the trade group said.

Greek voters punished the major parties at the polls earlier this month for the harsh budget cuts imposed by the country’s international lenders.

The election left no party able to form a government, creating deep uncertainty about Greece’s ability to continue to meet the terms of its bailout package and therefore its debt obligations.

The political deadlock is leading to concerns that Greece will not have a functioning government in place when it needs to make critical debt payments next month, which could in turn jeopardize its place in the eurozone, the group of 17 European Union countries that use the euro currency.

And a crisis could quickly spread beyond Greece, one analyst warned.

“If Greece exits the euro it won’t be alone. Others will exit,” said Paul Donovan, a global economist with UBS bank.

“There would be bank runs across multiple countries,” he predicted. “Citigroup, for example, may not be exposed to Greece, but it may be exposed to Portugal, Spain, France. … It may be exposed to a company that’s exposed to France or exposed to exports to EU.”

In a worst-case scenario, he said, “you’re talking about widespread defaults in the corporate sector as well as the sovereign sector. It becomes very problematic.”

European leaders were united Wednesday in saying they want to help Greece stay in the euro.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she is working to keep Greece in the eurozone

“Europe needs to show solidarity and help, particularly with growth, unemployment and development,” she said.

Merkel, a champion of forcing governments to balance their budgets in order to promote stable economic growth in Europe, said she regrets the suffering of the Greek people in the face of harsh government budget cuts.

“It’s very bitter, obviously,” she said of the austerity measures that have left some Greeks struggling to pay for food or utilities.

But, she said, “Sacrifices had to be made. … I think these are necessary measures that had to be taken.”

The European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund have been pumping money into Greece to keep the country in the euro and able to pay its debts, but they have demanded that the Greek government slash spending to get the funds.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance, CNN Business Producer Katy Byron, CNN’s Per Nyberg and journalist Elinda Labropoulou contributed to this report.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/aOJ8F42Zx4s/index.html

How much more can Greece take?

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


A man passes by a closed shop in central Athens shopping area during a general strike last fall.

(CNN) — Confusion, fear, frustration — emotions are running high among Greece’s people as they face the prospect of new elections next month and massive uncertainty over the country’s economic future.

No party was able to form a coalition government after the vote earlier this month, and there is no guarantee that the elections set for June 17 will result in political stability either.

Greeks set election date amid fears

Meanwhile, the idea that Greece might leave the euro, the single currency used by 17 nations, is gaining traction despite the latest vows of support from European leaders, and the Greek people continue to suffer under painful austerity measures.


Outer Circle: Turmoil in Greece


Tsipras: Austerity will send us to hell


Merkel on Greece: Had to be done


Caretaker government for Greece?

Alex Tsompanidis, a 20-year-old medical student from Athens, told CNN that the current crisis is affecting every aspect of life, even people’s friendships.

“I can honestly say that the fragile political situation in Greece has scared almost everyone I know,” he said.

“People have been considering withdrawing their bank deposits, if they haven’t done this already. Most importantly, however, this recent political turmoil — and the elections to follow — has put a burden on everyone’s interactions and everyday life,” he said.

“People in Greece are now divided. I keep arguing with my friends concerning our voting preferences. Misinformation is rampant, and everyone is critical of everybody else.”

Greek President Karolos Papoulias raised the specter of a run on banks Tuesday after the central bank reported that Greeks pulled about 800 million euros out of the banking system on Monday.

“There is, of course, no panic, but there is fear that could develop into panic,” Papoulias said, describing what the central bank governor told him.

English language newspaper Athens News said its reporters had been out to banks in the past two days and seen no signs that a “rush” was on.

Journalist Thanasis Trompoukis, based in Athens, also rejected the idea that his fellow citizens are panicking, but he said many fear for the future.

Woman ‘sacrificed for a future that never came’

Part of the problem is confusion over whether Greece really risks being kicked out of the euro zone if it does not abide by stringent European bailout terms because every politician gives a different answer, he said.

“We hear so many things and we don’t know where the truth lies,” Trompoukis said. “Now we wait for new elections and, for sure, people think that neither PASOK nor New Democracy, the two major parties, can help the country. And we are sure that the measures that Europe asks us to take will not solve the problems for Greece (either).”

Those austerity measures include the tax increases and painful cuts to wages, services and pensions that have angered many voters and sent them flocking to back parties such as the leftist Syriza coalition, rather than the more moderate PASOK and New Democracy.


Eurozone: What would a Greek exit mean?


From monarchy to mayhem


Greece eurozone membership at stake


Greece to hold new vote after stalemate

The ensuing political deadlock is leading to fears that Greece will not have a government in place when it needs to make critical debt payments, which could in turn jeopardize its place in the euro zone.

Business leaders prepare for ‘Grexit’

At the same time, its people ask how much hardship they can be expected to take.

“Here in Greece many people are really poor right now,” said Trompoukis, pointing out that for many workers salaries have dropped by more than a third over the past year, but costs have not.

“They don’t have the money to cover their basic needs, such as to buy food or pay for their utilities or their phones, and every day more and more (people) get in that situation. So if you don’t have money to buy food, you’re not worried about the European future of the country — you are worried about your survival.”

Greek media reports reflect the pain many people are feeling, as well as the sense that they are being unfairly asked to pay for a crisis not of their making.

“The country will once again test its endurance limits, as going back to the polls is unavoidable,” the daily Kathimerini newspaper said Wednesday, as the date for a new election was announced.

I Avgi, a daily left-leaning newspaper published in Athens, suggested the international community is trying to shock the Greek people into electing a government that will stick to the bailout deal despite the painful austerity measures attached.

“The bailout forces and troika create hell for 30 days in order ‘to correct’ the vote of the people,” are the opening words of one its main stories.

Turnout was much lower than usual in the May 6 election, said Marios Efthymiopoulos, president of the Thessaloniki-based think tank Strategy International, likely reflecting people’s disillusionment with the system.

He says his country is in urgent need of a stable, credible government to restore confidence and let investors know that Greece is “open for business.”

Greeks will consider themselves European whether they are in the euro zone or not, said Efthymiopoulos, a former visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

But most people do not want Greece to leave the euro zone, despite the huge debt it must carry to stay in the club. “The problem is, how will you repay that debt? How will you emerge as a winner from that debt? That’s not easy to do,” Efthymiopoulos said.

He also warns that if Greece were to quit the euro and return to a national currency, such as the drachma, the move would result in years of turmoil and cost money the nation does not have.

Efthymiopoulos wants to see more young people in politics, bringing fresh ideas and a more outward-looking perspective. Reform of the country’s laws and electoral system is also needed, he said, if long-term stability is to be achieved.

In the meantime, no one will listen to the interim prime minister sworn in Wednesday, he warns, and Greece will continue to flounder until a government is convincingly elected that can win the trust of its own people and build alliances abroad.

“We have no allies whatsoever,” he said. “We are not credible and nobody trusts us — and that is unfortunate because some of us are trustworthy, and now we need to prove that.”

Melina Grigoriadou, whose job with an export firm means she often travels outside Greece, said she is frustrated by the unflattering views of her country she hears elsewhere.

“We are not a nation of lazy people or thieves or crooks,” she said. “As in all the countries around the world, there are people who work hard (for low wages), or people who beg for a job to feed their family, or people that fear about the unknown future.”

The fault lies with the corrupt system presided over by PASOK and New Democracy for decades, Grigoriadou said, not the ordinary people who are suffering as a result of politicians’ self-interest.

“Greeks didn’t vote thinking of their EU future, but it was a vote of anger against our political system, our politicians who behaved to us all these years like we are their ‘clients,’” she said.

Looking ahead to the elections on June 17, the mother of two says Greeks need to keep their country set on a European course.

“I can’t say that I am optimistic for what is going to happen, but I know that to the extent that I can, I will try to influence those of my friends who voted angrily the previous time now to give (it) a second thought,” she said.

“I am a European; I want to continue being in the EU. I want the euro currency, and I will vote now in new elections.”

Tsompanidis, studying medicine at the University of Athens, says many people struggle to know what to make of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments on Greece, or the speeches of their own politicians.

But, he said, “two things are certain: Nobody wants Greece to exit the euro, and everyone can see that the financial situation in Greece has deteriorated rapidly with no light at the end of the tunnel.”

Tsompanidis said he has taken part in some of the many anti-austerity protests that have filled the capital’s streets in recent years.

Many people’s anger is fueled by the fact that the country’s huge debt is a result of government overspending and corruption rather than private debt, he said. Meanwhile, those who do pay taxes, in a country where tax evasion is a big problem, have to shoulder even more of the burden.

Like many students of his generation, Tsompanidis anticipates that after graduation he will have to leave Greece — where more than half of those under age 25 were unemployed as of January, according to European Commission figures — to seek work elsewhere.

Journalist Trompoukis, 32, said four of his friends have left Greece to find work in recent months.

“If you asked me two years ago, I would never believe that so many young people would leave Greece and go to London or Germany or other European countries,” he said. “It’s very sad.”

Tsompanidis believes that while the tough austerity measures imposed on his country may have kept the banks and lenders afloat, it has not help restore investor confidence in Greece, “instead plunging the country in internal bankruptcy and misery.”

And he is also upset by the increasingly negative view of Greece that many overseas seem to hold.

“I am very distraught that the world believes Greeks are lazy and useless. I am very disappointed to watch everyone lose faith in Greece and mistake our inadequate political establishment with everyone else in this country,” he said.

“We want our European ‘partners’ to help us restore growth and the prospects of the economy, but nobody is willing anymore, and that is a disheartening realization.”

CNN’s Michael Saba contributed to this report.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/1Cg7tBv6ec4/index.html

Can you make a deal with the Taliban?

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


Click to play

(CNN) — When it comes to negotiating with the Taliban, it’s always one step forward, two steps back.

Despite several serious rounds of violence this week, including the assassination of a top peace negotiator, the United States will continue to try to negotiate with the Taliban, experts say. Afghanistan has been violent for a long time, they argue. This week just brought more of the same.

“[The United States] has been fighting for nearly 11 years, and we’ve already said we’re not leaving until 2014,” said C. Christine Fair, a Georgetown University Center for Peace and Security Studies professor who has worked in and studied the region for years.

“Talking is not only our best option, it’s our only option,” she said. “We should expect that it will be accompanied by violence.”

The peace process has come in fits and bursts over the past year. When former Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last June that the U.S. was in preliminary talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the idea was controversial. Many observers were skeptical that the Taliban would ever deal.

Since then, the concept of negotiations has become more and more the norm. President Barack Obama touted it in his recent surprise visit to Afghanistan on the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Yet months into the talks, it’s murky as to who is involved and what, exactly, each party wants.

In March, the Taliban said it would not be setting up a diplomatic office in Qatar to negotiate with Americans, blaming their decision on the United States’ “alternating and ever-changing position” on Afghanistan. At the time, preliminary talks with what the Taliban called “the occupying enemy” had already begun over the exchange of prisoners, the group said.

Assassinated on the way to work

Observers remind that the peace process is still relatively new considering the protracted war, and all new and difficult enterprises have bumps in the road. In Afghanistan, that cliche is relative.

There “weren’t great hopes right now for peace talks at the moment in any case,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution who specializes in defense and foreign policy.

On Sunday, Taliban interlocutor Moulavi Arsala Rahmani was killed when a gunman drove up to his car while Rahmani was stuck in traffic on his way to work in Kabul.

He was a member of the High Peace Council, which was created by President Hamid Karzai and heartily endorsed by the Pentagon. The HPC is tasked with reaching out to insurgents and ex-Taliban who live in Kabul under government protection. Rahmani was considered a moderate Taliban, someone who could bring other Taliban members to the negotiating table.

The Taliban announced recently that peace council members would be targets of its spring offensive, but a Taliban spokesman said Sunday that the group did not kill Rahmani.

Regardless, his death marked the second such high-level negotiator to be killed since last fall when HPC Chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former Afghan president, was killed in a suicide bombing.

The biggest danger Rahmani’s assassination might have, O’Hanlon said, would be to scare future Taliban defectors from talking with the West and allies, he said.

Riaz Mohammad Khan, the former foreign secretary of Pakistan, agrees.

“These things are unfortunate but can be expected,” he said.

“On the more positive side, I don’t think recent violence suggests a strength in the Taliban forces. I think we’ll come understand what is happening in Afghanistan as reflective of their weakness. It gives the Afghan people a chance also to show that they won’t be beaten down. It gives them a chance to stick with peace talks.”

More “green on blue” killings

Violence this week went beyond Rahmani’s death. A blast at a crowded market in northern Afghanistan killed nine civilians on Monday.

Two more NATO troops were also killed over the weekend, bringing the total NATO death toll to eight in just a few days time. The two troops killed Sunday are believed to be victims of so-called “green on blue” attacks in which Afghan security forces turn on their fellow soldiers.

Distrust between allied soldiers and Afghan soldiers appears to be at an all-time high. This year’s string of scandals — the Quran burnings at Bagram Air Base, photos of U.S. soldiers posing with body parts of alleged insurgents and crimes such as the Kandahar massacre — has seriously frayed relations among the soldiers who must work side-by-side.

An experienced Pakistani ambassador to China, the European Union, Belgium and other countries, Khan suspects the recent violence could actually help rally the Afghan army.

“If the U.S. chooses to hold back and continue giving control to Afghan soldiers, as it appears to be doing, I see this [positively]. If they pull back and act on suspicion and fear, then it won’t turn out well for anyone,” he said.

At least 23 individuals wearing an Afghan army or police uniform have shot and killed a NATO-affiliated soldier this year, according to the Department of Defense.

It’s unclear whether some who have attacked NATO soldiers are actually Afghan soldiers or just in disguise.

Handing over more territory

Meanwhile, the Taliban has demonstrated that it has plenty of fight. The earlier allied surge in the country, especially southern Afghanistan, appeared to force the Taliban to adopt new tactics such as relying on roadside bombs and suicide attacks. In the past year, insurgent attacks overall have decreased some 22%, and in some parts of southern Afghanistan by much more, according to coalition figures. Civilian casualties rose to their highest level last year since 2001, CNN reported.

By the middle of this week, officials announced that another large swathe of Afghanistan territory would be handed over to local authorities, giving them control of about 75% of the country.

Among the most striking areas that would fall under Afghan control is the city of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold, and several mountainous areas of Afghanistan, which make for excellent hiding places for insurgents.

2014 is an election year for Afghanistan. Results could drastically change the atmosphere for peace talks, Fair said.

On Sunday, Obama and other world leaders gather at the NATO summit in Chicago, where the future of Afghanistan will be the No. 1 topic. The meeting will include Karzai, NATO allies and International Security Assistance Force contributors, among others.

The Afghan constitution prohibits Karzai from running another term. There haven’t been any candidates who’ve emerged as viable to take his place so far, much less any that have appeared to align their platforms with Western goals.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/3GWoZU-6gCY/index.html

A return to reactor work in N. Korea?

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS

(CNN) — North Korea has resumed work on the construction of a reactor that could help it push forward its nuclear weapons program, according to an academic group’s analysis of a recent satellite image.

The blog 38 North, run by the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said Thursday that a commercial satellite image from April 30 shows the secretive regime “is now close to completion of the reactor containment building.”

The building is intended to house an experimental light water reactor, according to 38 North, which is managed by Joel Wit, a former U.S. State Department official.

Work on the reactor site in Yongbyon appeared to have halted in late December, 38 North said, perhaps because of the death of the longtime North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that month, or more likely as a result of the onset of winter weather.


N. Korea mob dismembers S. Korea effigy


Is North Korea about to test a nuke?


North Korean parade shows off missile

Pyongyang claims the reactor is “intended to help solve domestic energy shortages,” 38 North said, “but is also an important component in its effort to build nuclear weapons.”

North Korea, which withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003, had agreed in February to suspend nuclear activity at Yongbyon in return for shipments of food aid from the United States.

But Pyongyang then carried out a failed long range rocket launch last month that Washington said breached the terms of that deal.

The next key stage in the construction of the light water reactor would be the loading of heavy components through the roof of the reactor containment building, according to 38 North. It estimated that it would take another one to two years for the reactor facility to become operational.

South Korea has been “aware of the situation at the Yongbon complex for some time,” said Cho Byung-jae, spokesman for the South’s Foreign Ministry.

“Our government is currently keeping an eye on the development,” he said.

North Korea carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, both of them taking place weeks or months after long range rocket launches similar to the one carried out last month.

There did not appear to be any immediate reaction to the 38 North report from Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

CNN’s Jethro Mullen and K.J. Kwon contributed to this report.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/aS23rycPrzw/index.html

Child actress in Nepal crash

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS

New Delhi (CNN) — A 14-year-old Indian actress, Taruni Sachdev, was among the passengers who died in Monday’s plane crash in Nepal, officials said.

Jaikumar Thakur, a doctor at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu, told CNN that Sachdev was traveling with her mother, who also lost her life in the crash.

The two were among 21 people on board a small plane that crashed after it was unable to land in a mountainous area of Nepal, killing 15.

The plane was about a mile from the airport at Jomsom, a popular tourist town in central Nepal, when it went down, said Purusottam Shakya, deputy director of air traffic service operations in Kathmandu. It was operated by Agni Air, a Nepalese carrier.

Taruni shot to national fame for her role as a schoolgirl alongside India’s superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek in “Paa” (Father), a movie with disability as its theme.

Amitabh, who played Abhishek’s son in the film, portrayed a child with a genetic condition that leads to premature ageing.

“Just reading that Tarini (Taruni) Sachdev the girl child artist in Paa, has perished in Nepal plane crash… please God may this not be true,” Bachchan senior tweeted after the crash.

Abhishek Bachchan also mourned the loss.

“SHOCKED and very saddened to hear about the Nepal plane crash. Lost 1 of my cutest co-stars. Little Taruni Sachdev from PAA. Speechless…..,” he said in a tweet.

Taruni also starred in dozens of TV commercials.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/tIctovc8wpY/index.html

Poisoned water sickens Afghan boys

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS

Man City win title in thrilling finale

Posted by MereNews On May - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS


.cnn_html_media_utility::before{color:red;content:’>>’;font-size:9px;line-height:12px;padding-right:1px}
.cnnstrylccimg640{margin:0 27px 14px 0}
.captionText{filter:alpha(opacity=100);opacity:1}
.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a,.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a:visited,.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a:link,.captionText a,.captionText a:visited,.captiontext a:link{color:outline:medium none}
.cnnVerticalGalleryPhoto{margin:0 auto;padding-right:68px;width:270px}
]]>

On a day of high drama and emotion, the blue half of Manchester was left to celebrate as Manchester City pipped their city rivals to the title. Click on for the highlights ...On a day of high drama and emotion, the blue half of Manchester was left to celebrate as Manchester City pipped their city rivals to the title. Click on for the highlights …

20 mins: Manchester United, relying on City to slip up against QPR, score first through Wayne Rooney in their must-win match at Sunderland. Advantage United!20 mins: Manchester United, relying on City to slip up against QPR, score first through Wayne Rooney in their must-win match at Sunderland. Advantage United!

39 mins: Back in Manchester, Pablo Zabaleta puts City back in the driving seat as Paddy Kenny fails to keep his shot out. 39 mins: Back in Manchester, Pablo Zabaleta puts City back in the driving seat as Paddy Kenny fails to keep his shot out.

48 minutes: A terrible mistake from Joleon Lescott allows Djibril Cisse (center) to race through and equalize for QPR. Advantage well and truly with United!48 minutes: A terrible mistake from Joleon Lescott allows Djibril Cisse (center) to race through and equalize for QPR. Advantage well and truly with United!

54 minutes: With City looking shell-shocked, QPR captain Joey Barton is sent off after a clash with Carlos Tevez. 54 minutes: With City looking shell-shocked, QPR captain Joey Barton is sent off after a clash with Carlos Tevez.

66 mins: Unbelievable! Jamie Mackie (3rd from left) puts 10-man QPR 2-1 ahead after a rare counter attack. Classic smash and grab -- the City players can't believe it. 66 mins: Unbelievable! Jamie Mackie (3rd from left) puts 10-man QPR 2-1 ahead after a rare counter attack. Classic smash and grab — the City players can’t believe it.

92 minutes: With time added on City grab a lifeline through substitute Edin Dzeko (right). But City need to win. United have beaten Sunderland 1-0!92 minutes: With time added on City grab a lifeline through substitute Edin Dzeko (right). But City need to win. United have beaten Sunderland 1-0!

95 minutes: City have done it! Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winner with seconds to go in injury time.95 minutes: City have done it! Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winner with seconds to go in injury time.

City manager Roberto Mancini (center) runs to greet his jubilant players after their breathtaking victory.City manager Roberto Mancini (center) runs to greet his jubilant players after their breathtaking victory.

Victorious captain Vincent Kompany holds aloft the Premiership trophy ...Victorious captain Vincent Kompany holds aloft the Premiership trophy …

... while United players look dejected as the result from Manchester filters through.… while United players look dejected as the result from Manchester filters through.


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11

London (CNN) — Manchester City won the English league title for the first time in 44 years to deny rivals Manchester United a 20th domestic championship in a gripping conclusion to the Premier League season.

Defending champions United had looked on course to win the title after winning 1-0 at Sunderland thanks to Wayne Rooney’s first-half effort, but City scored two remarkable stoppage-time goals to fashion an improbable 3-2 home victory against Queens Park Rangers.

City had led the table on goal difference at the start of Sunday and Pablo Zabaleta’s first-half goal suggested Roberto Mancini’s side would comfortably win their first title since 1968.

But a mistake by Joleon Lescott allowed Djibril Cisse to level and following a red card for QPR midfielder Joey Barton, Jamie Mackie popped up to head in the visitors’ second goal to give United fans hope that their team might yet snatch the title from their city rivals.


Fans celebrate Manchester City’s big win


Man City legend on EPL success


Abu Dhabi celebrates Man City win


Abu Dhabi celebrates Man City win


Man City’s last gasp goal wins title

City bombarded the QPR penalty area and in stoppage time Edin Dzeko headed home to give their fans hope, before Sergio Aguero scored a stunning individual winner in a finale that no script writer would have dared pen.

It was a goal that ensured City won the title on goal difference in the Premier League’s 20th season, arguably the most dramatic finish in its history given it was decided in the last three minutes.

“To win it like this is incredible,” Mancini, who at times during the second half gave the impression he could barely believe his side appeared to be doing all they could to throw away the title, told Sky Sports. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finale like this.

“We didn’t deserve to lose, we had a lot of chances and we deserved to win the game and championship.

“It’s fantastic for the club and the supporters after 44 years. It’s been a crazy season and a crazy last minute.”

In 1999 United won the Champions League final with two stoppage-time goals against Bayern Munich in Barcelona and Sunday’s epic events bore parallel, though this time the Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson had to suffer as victory was snatched away from him in those heart-palpitating final moments.

“I would like to say on behalf of Manchester United congratulations to our neighbors,” said Ferguson. “It’s a fantastic achievement to win the Premier League. It’s the hardest league in the world and anyone who wins it deserves it.”

The rollercoaster game at the Eithad Stadium that wrung every ounce of emotion out of both City and QPR fans had consequences at the other end of the table given a Rangers defeat would have condemned them to relegation if Bolton Wanderers had beaten Stoke City away — and at one stage Owen Coyle’s side led 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium.

But a 77th-minute Jonathan Walters goal earned Stoke a 2-2 draw to relegate Bolton to the Championship and allow QPR — managed by former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes — to stay up in the Premier League.

Arsenal finished third after a 3-2 win at West Brom to secure their Champions League place, while north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur beat Fulham 2-0 to take fourth.

Premier League’s expansion over 20 years

Spurs will join Arsenal in the Champions League only if Chelsea lose to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final on May 19.

Newcastle’s hopes of a Champions League place evaporated after a 3-1 defeat at Everton, though Alan Pardew’s team have the consolation of a Europa League place.

It is estimated that Manchester City’s owner Sheikh Mansour from the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has invested close to $1.6 billion in securing this Premier League title.

The title gives City’s owners huge kudos, though not necessarily immediate financial benefits.

“It should be remembered that there is a price of success, namely bonus payments to players and managers,” financial blogger Kieron O’Connor, who writes the Swiss Ramble blog, told CNN.

“In fact, it is entirely possible that the net financial result might be negative for a direct comparison between finishing first or second, though it might be different if the comparison is against coming, say, sixth the previous season.”

It is a title that City probably should have wrapped up a long time ago.


Yaya Toure on Man City’s title bid

Yaya Toure's two goals against Newcastle put Manchester City in pole position to clinch the English Premier League title. The club's last domestic championship came in 1968. Yaya Toure’s two goals against Newcastle put Manchester City in pole position to clinch the English Premier League title. The club’s last domestic championship came in 1968.

The Ivory Coast international scored the only goal in last year's English FA Cup final against Stoke, ending a 35-year trophy drought for City.
The Ivory Coast international scored the only goal in last year’s English FA Cup final against Stoke, ending a 35-year trophy drought for City.

Toure's older brother Kolo joined Manchester City a year earlier in 2009, having moved from English rivals Arsenal.Toure’s older brother Kolo joined Manchester City a year earlier in 2009, having moved from English rivals Arsenal.

The midfielder was not such a key player at his previous club Barcelona, and filled a central defensive role in the 2009 Champions League final victory against Manchester United.The midfielder was not such a key player at his previous club Barcelona, and filled a central defensive role in the 2009 Champions League final victory against Manchester United.

Two weeks earlier, also playing in defense, Toure scored the opening goal as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the Spanish Cup final. Two weeks earlier, also playing in defense, Toure scored the opening goal as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the Spanish Cup final.

Toure played in the Ivory Coast's first World Cup in 2006, and also appeared at the 2010 tournament. He suffered defeat in final of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, and his six-week absence was crucial to City's loss of form.Toure played in the Ivory Coast’s first World Cup in 2006, and also appeared at the 2010 tournament. He suffered defeat in final of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, and his six-week absence was crucial to City’s loss of form.

Toure has played in the European Champions League for several seasons, and is pictured here on duty for Greek club Olympiakos against Lyon in 2004. Toure has played in the European Champions League for several seasons, and is pictured here on duty for Greek club Olympiakos against Lyon in 2004.

He started his European career with Beveren in Belgium, before moving to Ukraine's Metalurh Donetsk in 2004 along with compatriots Arsene Ne (left) and Igor Lolo (center).He started his European career with Beveren in Belgium, before moving to Ukraine’s Metalurh Donetsk in 2004 along with compatriots Arsene Ne (left) and Igor Lolo (center).


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8

Yaya Toure's football journeyYaya Toure’s football journey

Balotelli's first-team debut came in December 2007 as a subsitute with Internazionale. Three days later the 17-year-old scored two goals during Inter's 4-1 Coppa Italia win against Reggina.Balotelli’s first-team debut came in December 2007 as a subsitute with Internazionale. Three days later the 17-year-old scored two goals during Inter’s 4-1 Coppa Italia win against Reggina.

Balotelli became the youngest Inter player to score in the Champions League in November 2008 when he netted against Cyprus's Anorthosis Famagusta. He was 18 at the time.Balotelli became the youngest Inter player to score in the Champions League in November 2008 when he netted against Cyprus’s Anorthosis Famagusta. He was 18 at the time.

Man City signed Balotelli from Inter for 24m in August 2010. The deal was made under manager Robert Mancini who this week hinted the player may be sold unless he reels in his controversial behavior.Man City signed Balotelli from Inter for £24m in August 2010. The deal was made under manager Robert Mancini who this week hinted the player may be sold unless he reels in his controversial behavior.

Balotelli is red-carded after a foul on Arsenal's Barcary Sagna on Sunday. Man City lost the match 1-0, with manager Robert Mancini later saying: It's clear he's created big problems, but he's scored important goals.Balotelli is red-carded after a foul on Arsenal’s Barcary Sagna on Sunday. Man City lost the match 1-0, with manager Robert Mancini later saying: “It’s clear he’s created big problems, but he’s scored important goals.”

Berlotelli's off-pitch antics have taken their toll on the squad with manager Robert Mancini admitting last week he'd punch the forward in the head if they were teammates. It's been a rocky year for the 21-year-old who caused severe damage when he let off fireworks in his bathroom and on Thursday crashed his Bentley in Manchester.Berlotelli’s off-pitch antics have taken their toll on the squad with manager Robert Mancini admitting last week he’d punch the forward in the head if they were teammates. It’s been a rocky year for the 21-year-old who caused severe damage when he let off fireworks in his bathroom and on Thursday crashed his Bentley in Manchester.


1


2


3


4


5

The highs and lows of Mario Balotelli The highs and lows of Mario Balotelli

Barcelona's players are the best paid in the world according to a new report. The team kept its No. 1 place on the earnings table with each player taking home an average annual salary of $8.6 million (5.2 million). That's a whopping $166,934 (101,160) per week and a 10% rise on last year. Barcelona’s players are the best paid in the world according to a new report. The team kept its No. 1 place on the earnings table with each player taking home an average annual salary of $8.6 million (£5.2 million). That’s a whopping $166,934 (£101,160) per week and a 10% rise on last year.

Spanish football teams continued to dominate the rankings, with Real Madrid keeping its No. 2 spot. It's players earned an average $7.7 million (4.7 million) - a 6% rise on last year. Cristiano Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history in 2009 after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a six-year deal worth $129 million (80 million).Spanish football teams continued to dominate the rankings, with Real Madrid keeping its No. 2 spot. It’s players earned an average $7.7 million (£4.7 million) – a 6% rise on last year. Cristiano Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history in 2009 after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a six-year deal worth $129 million (£80 million).

Manchester City moved up the rankings from 10th last year to 3rd in 2012, thanks to an average annual salary of $7.4 million for its players. It's a 26% increase on last year and demonstrates the wealth of the English club's owner Sheikh Monsour.Manchester City moved up the rankings from 10th last year to 3rd in 2012, thanks to an average annual salary of $7.4 million for its players. It’s a 26% increase on last year and demonstrates the wealth of the English club’s owner Sheikh Monsour.

Russian billionaire Roman Abromovich's Chelsea team climbed the rankings from sixth to fourth, with players earning around $6.7 million a year -- the equivalent of $130,690 a week.Russian billionaire Roman Abromovich’s Chelsea team climbed the rankings from sixth to fourth, with players earning around $6.7 million a year — the equivalent of $130,690 a week.

The first non-soccer entry in the rich list is the LA Lakers. The Americans are also the only bastketballers in the top 10, with players taking home $6.2 million annually -- about $120,732 per week.br/br/br/br/The first non-soccer entry in the rich list is the LA Lakers. The Americans are also the only bastketballers in the top 10, with players taking home $6.2 million annually — about $120,732 per week.

Baseball's New York Yankees have continued to fall in the rankings -- dropping from No. 1 in 2010 to sixth this year. But the MLB team's players can still take comfort from an average yearly salary of $6.1 million -- around 118,968 a week.Baseball’s New York Yankees have continued to fall in the rankings — dropping from No. 1 in 2010 to sixth this year. But the MLB team’s players can still take comfort from an average yearly salary of $6.1 million — around £118,968 a week.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pumped even more money into his football club AC Milan last year. The Serie A champions rose from 14th in the list with players enjoying a yearly salary of $6.1 million, pocketing $117,399 per week.Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pumped even more money into his football club AC Milan last year. The Serie A champions rose from 14th in the list with players enjoying a yearly salary of $6.1 million, pocketing $117,399 per week.

Also rising in the rich list was Germany's Bayern Munich, up from 12th place last year. Players boasted a yearly salary of $5.9 million, taking home $113,609 a week.Also rising in the rich list was Germany’s Bayern Munich, up from 12th place last year. Players boasted a yearly salary of $5.9 million, taking home $113,609 a week.

The Philadelphia Phillies are one of just three U.S. teams in the top 10. The baseball franchise's players earned an average $5.8 million a year, or $111,884 per week.The Philadelphia Phillies are one of just three U.S. teams in the top 10. The baseball franchise’s players earned an average $5.8 million a year, or $111,884 per week.

Internazionale sneaked into the top 10 with an average yearly salary of $5.7 million for its players. It's a family affair for Italian oil tycoon Massimo Moratti, whose father Angelo also owned the club in the 1950s and '60s.br/br/Internazionale sneaked into the top 10 with an average yearly salary of $5.7 million for its players. It’s a family affair for Italian oil tycoon Massimo Moratti, whose father Angelo also owned the club in the 1950s and ’60s.


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10

The world's 10 best-paid sports teamsThe world’s 10 best-paid sports teams

At one stage in December after their barnstorming start to the season — notably a 6-1 win over the defending champions at Old Trafford — City were eight points of United after beating Norwich 5-1.

However, a combination of Carlos Tevez going AWOL after falling out with Mancini, Yaya Toure’s absence as he played for the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations, David Silva’s dip in form and Mario Balotelli’s ill-disciplined antics allowed the defending champions to claw back that deficit and go eight points clear.

But a disastrous April for United — including a 1-0 defeat by City at the Eithad Stadium — enabled Mancini’s team to move top on goal difference going into the final round of matches.

Sunday’s games were broadcast to 211 countries around the world — testament to the Premier League’s global appeal.

The remarkable end to the season could not have come at a better time for the league given it has recently announced the new tender for its next three-year broadcasting rights starting from the 2013-14 season.

“Games going down to the last game of the season will certainly increase interest and may in turn show the league as more valuable because of the unresolved title, Champions League and relegation issues,” said lawyer Daniel Geey of Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Sunday’s 10 games also ensured this was the most prolific Premier League season ever with 1,066 goals, beating last season’s record total of 1,063.






Share this on:

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~3/MPqjXZ7bWXU/index.html

BOE Official: No Case for More QE

BY JASON DOUGLAS AND PAUL HANNON LONDON—The U.K. is unlikely to need another dose of central bank stimulus unless “worrying” [...]

Mexico’s GDP Exceeds Expectations

By ANTHONY HARRUP MEXICO CITY—The Mexican economy picked up steam in the first quarter, growing above expectations as gains in [...]

Japan GDP Growth Accelerates

By KELLY OLSEN And TAKASHI NAKAMICHI TOKYO—Japan’s economy grew an annualized 4.1% in the January-March quarter as resurgent domestic demand [...]

Jobless Claims Hold Steady

BY ERIC MORATH AND JAMILA TRINDLE The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits was essentially flat [...]

  • Polls

    • Do you use LED lighting at home:

      View Results

      Loading ... Loading ...
  • TAG CLOUD