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Europe

Higgins wins Ireland's presidential election: final count

2011-10-30

(Xinhua) -- Irish poet Michael D. Higgins has won the country's presidential poll, according to a final count Saturday afternoon. Higgins secured 1,007,104 ballots while his main rival and independent candidate Sean Gallagher got 628,114. The total poll was 1,771,762. In Dublin Castle, returning officer Riona Ni Fhlanghaile officially announced that Higgins has been elected Ireland's ninth president. Ireland has a complex voting system for the presidential elections. In this election, the total poll was 1,771,762. The quota, or the number of votes needed to be elected, is 885,882. Higgins, a veteran politician of the Labor Party and a minister of culture and the arts in the 1990s, will take over from incumbent President Mary McAleese, who has served the maximum two terms for a total of 14 years. About 56 percent of 3.1 million eligible voters in the country went to the polls Thursday to elect the country's president from a record number of seven candidates. The race is regarded as one of the most competitive in Ireland's history.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Miqati Vows to Strengthen Lebanese Armed Forces to Replace UNIFIL

2011-10-16

[An Nahar] Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Saturday that Leb is committed to all the international resolutions especially United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... resolution 1701, vowing to reinforce the Lebanese army to replace the UNIFIL in the south. Miqati said during a meeting with Ireland President Mary McAleese at the Grand Serail that he will put his efforts to "strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces to be able to replace the peace keeping forces in the South." He expressed Leb's appreciation "for the sacrifices undertaken by Ireland to help (Leb)." Miqati held a meeting with McAleese in the presence of Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahhas and Lebanese army Chief of Staff Major General Walid Salman. The PM remembered fallen Irish peacekeepers affiliated in the United Nations Interim Force in Leb (UNIFIL). The Irish force had lost 47 troops, the greatest loss sustained by any UNIFIL contributor state On her Part, McAleese said that Ireland was able to "help Leb preserve peace and stability." She urged the Lebanese authorities to "protect the UNIFIL peacekeepers." McAleese hoped that the two countries strengthen their bilateral relations and develop the economic relations. She stressed that her country backs Leb and will offer its support concerning development, economic and social issues. Ireland is one of 34 countries in UNIFIL who contribute armed personnel, to the 11,873 uniformed personnel in south Leb.

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Fifth Column

Gore Bashes US In Saudi Arabia

2006-02-13

Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment. Gore said Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida's hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications. There is a huge concentration camp for Arabs just outside my home town. Thousands of innocent Arabs imprisoned in ways that would make a Russian barf. Don't tell nobody, 'k? "The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake," Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States." Al obviously is angling for a Saooodi pension. Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been "indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable." "Unfortunately there have been terrible abuses and it's wrong," Gore said. "I do want you to know that it does not represent the desires or wishes or feelings of the majority of the citizens of my country." On Iran, Gore complained of "endemic hyper-corruption" among Tehran's religious and political elite and asked Arabs to take a stand against Iran's nuclear program. "Is it only for the West to say this is dangerous?" Gore asked. "We should have more people in this region saying this is dangerous." Just wait til Bush has to act, and you'll see Al spin on a dime to condemn whatever Bush does. Several audience members criticized the United States for what they described as "unconditional" U.S. support for Israel, saying U.S. diplomats helped Israel flout U.N. resolutions that they enforced when the measures targeted Arabs. Gore refused to be drawn into questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "We can't solve that long conflict in exchanges here," Gore said. Also at the forum, the vice chairman of Chevron Corp., Peter Robertson, said President Bush's desire to cut U.S. dependence on Mideast oil shows a "misunderstanding" of global energy supply and the critical role of Saudi Arabia. "This notion of being energy independent is completely unreasonable," Robertson said at the economic forum, which opened Saturday. Also angling for a Saooodi pension? "I believe Middle Eastern oil can and must play a certain role in the system," Robertson said. "Saudi Arabia's massive resources will continue to promote international energy security and serve as a moderating force in balancing supply and demand." Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, made a plea at the forum for women's rights, telling Saudi leaders that the dearth of women in the work force was "undermining economic potential" of the kingdom. Irish President Mary McAleese urged Saudi Arabia to learn from Ireland's economic transformation, which hinged on opening the country to the outside world and ushering women into the workplace. And we all know how the Wahabbites treat women as equals.

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Arabia

Daughter of Sept 11 victim to speak at Saudi forum

2006-02-11

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - For the first time on Monday, a relative of a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks that were mostly carried out by Saudi nationals will speak in public in the kingdom. Sonia Tita Puopolo, is the daughter of Sonia Morales Puopolo, who was a passenger on American Airlines flight 11 that crashed into one of the towers of New York’s World Trade Center. She is to speak during a session titled “Terrorism - The Human Toll” at the Jeddah Economic Forum starting in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah in the west of the ultra conservative kingdom on Saturday. “This session will provide a platform for the families of victims of terrorist acts to share their experience and discuss how terrorism has affected their lives,” said a statement from organisers of the three-day forum. The annual event which bills itself as the “Think Tank of the Middle East” was started in 1999 and features keynote speeches and panel discussions by Saudi and world politicians and business and civic leaders. This year’s event will seek to “honour and recognise culture, identity and diversity as the building blocks for a world of “common grounds’ rather than a global economy of one size fits all,” according to organisers. Participants will include Irish President Mary McAleese, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, former US vice president Al Gore; Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Bahia Hariri a Lebanese member of parliament and sister of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, killed in a bomb attack almost one year ago in Beirut. Somehow the guest list isn't encouraging. Puopolo’s appearance at the forum will be the first of its kind in the ultra conservative kingdom, which has been waging its own war against suspected members of the Al-Qaeda terror network. Many average Saudis still deny any Saudi involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington saying they were a “conspiracy by the West and Jews.” Fifteen of the 19 hijackers of the three commercial airplanes that slammed into the WTC and the Pentagon and the fourth plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field were Saudi nationals. Puopolo senior, a 58-year-old former ballerina born in Puerto Rico, was on the plane bound for Los Angeles from Boston before it was hijacked and crashed into the WTC’s north tower.

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