Gay condemns Bolt to first defeat in two years

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) -- World record holder and Olympic champion Usain Bolt crashed to his first defeat in two years on Friday when America's Tyson Gay won their eagerly-awaited 100m clash at the Diamond League meeting.

Gay clocked 9.84sec to edge Bolt, who was second in 9.97sec, while Trinidad's Richard Thompson took third in 10.10sec.

"It feels great to beat Usain but deep down inside I know he is not 100 percent," said Gay, the second fastest man in the history of the event.

"I look forward to beating him when he is 100 percent."

Gay, celebrating his first win

NIGER: Chasing after pastoralists with truckloads of aid

Photo: Catherine-Lune Grayson/IRIN Authorities estimate that more than one-third of cattle in Diffa region could be dead

DIFFA, 4 August 2010 (IRIN) - Parts of sparsely populated and arid eastern Niger, north of the city of Diffa, are strewn with putrid dead cows: Pastoralists travelled great distances to find food and water for their animals but in the end had to watch their most prized assets die.



Two years of erratic rain have led to severe shortages of fodder, cereals and water. In 2009, only a third of the required amount of hay grew, meaning there was insufficient fodder, according to a national household survey of food security by Niger's Early Warning System.



In Diffa region, more than a third of cattle might be dead by now, said the director of pastoral development at the Ministry of Livestock and Animal Husbandry, Haido Abdul Malik. This is especially dramatic in a region where, according to the authorities, 90 percent of the population relies on livestock for survival.



Pastoralists who have lived through recurrent droughts say they have never seen such a bad situation, not even during the prolonged drought of 1968-1974 which killed a third of all livestock.

NIGER: Chasing after pastoralists with truckloads of aid

Photo: Catherine-Lune Grayson/IRIN Authorities estimate that more than one-third of cattle in Diffa region could be dead

DIFFA, 4 August 2010 (IRIN) - Parts of sparsely populated and arid eastern Niger, north of the city of Diffa, are strewn with putrid dead cows: Pastoralists travelled great distances to find food and water for their animals but in the end had to watch their most prized assets die.



Two years of erratic rain have led to severe shortages of fodder, cereals and water. In 2009, only a third of the required amount of hay grew, meaning there was insufficient fodder, according to a national household survey of food security by Niger's Early Warning System.



In Diffa region, more than a third of cattle might be dead by now, said the director of pastoral development at the Ministry of Livestock and Animal Husbandry, Haido Abdul Malik. This is especially dramatic in a region where, according to the authorities, 90 percent of the population relies on livestock for survival.



Pastoralists who have lived through recurrent droughts say they have never seen such a bad situation, not even during the prolonged drought of 1968-1974 which killed a third of all livestock.

KENYA: Support groups boosting PMTCT uptake

Photo: Kenneth Odiwuor/IRIN About 56 percent of Kenyan women do not have their babies at a health facility

KAMWIMBI, 4 August 2010 (PlusNews) - When Esther and Chrispus Ireri from the remote village of Kamwimbi in Kenya's Eastern district of Mbeere lost all three children in quick succession, they had no idea it was because of HIV infections.



"I had despaired after the deaths of our children one after the other; the pressure from the deaths... and hostility from in-laws and villagers were unbearable," Esther told IRIN/PlusNews. "At one time I considered running away from the marriage... I even thought I had been bewitched."



When she fell pregnant again, she was weak and suffered health problems; an HIV test in 2006 revealed she was positive.



"I knew very little about HIV then," she remembered. "It had never occurred to me that I could get infected; I thought only other people got the virus."

Ankara & Washington hail UN flotilla probe

UNITED NATIONS/ANKARA (Agencies)

Turkey and the United States both on Monday hailed the establishment of a U.N. panel with an Israeli and a Turk among its four members to probe Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.



U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon earlier Monday announced that the panel, to be chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer, and with outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe as vice chairman, would investigate the May 31 commando raid that left nine Turkish activists aboard the flotilla dead.



The panel is due to begin work on Aug. 10 and submit a first progress report by mid-September.

Israel's decision to back the panel was unexpected as it had for weeks insisted it would not cooperate with any international probe and instead launched two internal inquiries. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it marked the first time that Israel had agreed to an international inquiry and showed that "all countries are accountable to international law." U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice expressed hope that the U.N. panel "can serve as a vehicle to enable Israel and Turkey to move beyond the recent strains in their relationship and repair their strong historic ties."

"Transparent and credible" She added that Washington expects that the panel will "operate in a transparent and credible manner and that its work will be the primary method for the international community to review the incident, obviating the need for any overlapping international inquiries." "We thank both governments (Israeli and Turkish) for the constructive and cooperative spirit they have shown and the Secretary General for his leadership and determination," Rice added. Last month, the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council named its own panel of experts to probe whether the Israeli raid on the aid flotilla breached international law. But Israel has signaled it will not cooperate with that probe because it views the Council as "biased." Ban, who held last-minute consultations with Israeli and Turkish leaders over the weekend, said the panel would give him recommendations "for the prevention of similar incidents in the future." He thanked the leaders of Israel and Turkey "for their spirit of compromise and forward-looking cooperation" which made possible what he called "an unprecedented development. "I hope that today's agreement will impact positively on the relationship between Turkey and Israel as well as the overall situation in the Middle East."

Not a criminal investigation U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky stressed the enquiry was not a criminal investigation and said Ban would announce the names of the Turkish and Israeli panelists "in the next few days." Davutoglu for his part said the Turkish panel member would be an "experienced diplomat" and noted that a candidate had already been agreed in consultations with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul. The panel, Nesirky noted, would review reports on ongoing national investigations by Israel and Turkey and would be empowered to request "clarifications and additional information" in line with international calls for a credible, impartial and independent probe. The team would also be mandated with coming up with "findings about the facts, circumstances and context of the incident" and with deciding on steps required to prevent a recurrence of such incidents. Ankara has urged the Jewish state to apologize, compensate the families of the victims and lift the blockade of Gaza to repair the relations. Israel says its commandos used force only after they were attacked with sticks and stabbed as soon as they landed on the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara. In the wake of the incident, Israel significantly eased its blockade of Gaza, barring only arms and goods that could be used to create weapons or build fortifications, but it has maintained a naval blockade of the Strip. Israel imposed the siege in June 2006 after its soldier, Gilad Shalit, was captured by Gaza fighters and tightened it a year later when Hamas seized power in the coastal strip.

Source: Alarabiya.net | Middle East

WinAir Announces New Flight Options to Dominica

Discover Dominica Authority announced that WinAir has resumed their service between major Caribbean hubs and Dominica, making it easier for travelers to visit the destination. The regional airports servicing the flights to Dominica’s Melville Hall Airport (DOM) are St. Lucia’s George F L Charles Airport (SLU) and St. Maarten (SXM).

“We are extremely pleased that WinAir restarted their services to Dominica from St. Lucia and St. Maarten,” commented Mr. Colin Piper, CEO/Director of Discover Dominica Authority. “With these new flights being available throughout the entire day, the connecting times are ideal for US travelers to get to Dominica in one

Police probe contaminated drink

POLICE in Leicester are probing how a health drink came to be contaminated with horse tranquilliser after two women were rushed to hospital moments after drinking it.

Two women from the city developed a number of symptoms after drinking the Gayatri aloe vera drink.

Hospital tests have indicated they may have suffered from ketamine poisoning.

The powerful drug is used by veterinarians as a tranquilliser but can also be used on humans as an anaesthetic.

Police said forensic tests on the liquid were still being conducted and the final analysis of the liquid will not be known for some time.

They have recovered a number of bottles of the drink from retailers in the city and are urging anyone who possesses the drink to take it to