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Thu, 01 Apr 2010
The anti-reunification National Unity Party (UDP) swept to victory in Northern Cyprus in Apr 2009, giving the party's candidate a big edge in the Apr 2010 presidential election -- if it is held. The present reunification talks could result in an election for a federal president to lead both halves of the divided island. Northern Cyprus leader Mehmet Ali Talat can't run again, and the chance that a hardliner could win his job in April is spurring negotiators to conclude a deal in good time.
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010
The 15th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species brings together experts from participating countries to consider proposals for tighter trade controls on Atlantic bluefin tuna, polar bears, sharks, corals and elephant ivory. CITES meets every three years to change trade rules through amendments to the CITES Appendices. Controversially, Monaco wants the large tunas on Appendix 1, the category that prevents all commercial international trade in the species.
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Sun, 07 Mar 2010
The recent approval of the use of non-Latin-character domain names eased one long-standing source of tension in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, but it introduces technical issues that will need to be aired at the Nairobi ICANN meeting. The introduction of the new characters introduces the biggest technical change to ICANN since it was launched 40 years ago. The change comes a month after the United States released sole oversight of ICANN.
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Sun, 07 Mar 2010
A three-month exercise in national opinion-gathering will culminate in a debate called by President Nicolas Sarkozy to establish what makes French people French. Proclaiming the need to redefine France's values, Immigration and National Identity Minister ric Besson unveiled the project in November, arguing that it would allow French people to decide what their collective future should be. A central issue in the debate will be the future in France of the face veil worn by some Muslim women.
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Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Geneva's 80th International Motor Show looks set to go ahead, with a possible boost from a big anniversary year and spillover from the cancellation of the British International Motor Show in 2010. The global economic crisis has slowed car sales, and makers are unwilling to commit to the cost of exhibiting. As in 2009, the news from the 2010 show in Geneva and the many other auto shows around the world is likely to be about the automakers who decided not to exhibit rather than those that did.
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Wed, 03 Mar 2010
SpaceX plans to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Mar 3. A resoundingly successful launch of Falcon 9 threatens the future of NASA's Ares 1 rocket project, but might not silence critics of the private program. An independent advisory panel claims potential commercial crew transportation providers do not meet NASA safety standards for piloted vehicles.
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Mon, 01 Mar 2010
Polish-French composer and pianist Fr d ric Chopin was born on 1 Mar 1810, and plans are under way in Poland for a year of concerts, recitals and conferences marking the bicentennial of his birth. The country's parliament has declared 2010 the Year of Fryderyk Chopin. A Chopin Centre and renovated Chopin Museum will be inaugurated to honor the great Romantic composer, whose work is regarded as a Polish cultural treasure.
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Mon, 01 Mar 2010
The third Indian Ocean Naval Symposium comes at a time when regional super-powers India and China are vying for more presence in an area stretching from Gulf of Aden to the Malacca Straits. The meeting is a cornerstone of the Indian Navy's aim to increase its influence in the region. Twenty-six littoral countries of the Indian Ocean comprise this pan-Asian maritime security forum. The meeting could upset the Arab world: Pakistan argues that IONS is grouped against the Islamic world.
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Mon, 01 Mar 2010
The trial of Radovan Karadzic at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia resumes in March. The former Bosnian Serb leader boycotted the trial when it started in September, and the tribunal has appointed an attorney to represent him should he boycott the resumption of the case. Karadzic faces 11 counts of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity from the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzigovina when he was president of a breakaway Serb republic. He faces life in prison if convicted.
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Sun, 28 Feb 2010
A settlement of one of the largest class-action lawsuit ever filed against the United States government would compensate some 300,000 Native Americans for billions of dollars in royalties owed to them over the last century for oil, mineral and grazing rights on tribal lands. But time is running out. The settlement of the 13-year suit will have to be renegotiated if Congress does not approve it by the end of February, according to Legal Times.
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Sat, 27 Feb 2010
Australian soldiers Lieutenants Harry Harbord ''Breaker'' Morant, Peter Handcock and George Ramsdale Witton were convicted of murdering Boer War prisoners in South Africa over a century ago. Morant and Handcock, the only Australians executed for war crimes, died by firing squad on 27 Feb 1902. The execution was deemed political, and has been the subject of books and an award-winning Australian film. There is a push to see the three pardoned, and it could happen by the February anniversary.
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Thu, 18 Feb 2010
Amateur-astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto 80 years ago at Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Pluto's demotion in 2006 from a planet to a plutoid upset space enthusiasts all over the world, and trimmed the tail off the mnemonic device for remembering the order of the planets from the Sun: "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas." Pluto Day 2010 will cue another burst of anger about the demotion, and will see NASA's New Horizon spacecraft closer to the King of the Kuiper Belt.
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Mon, 15 Feb 2010
War Resisters International, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and affiliates plan to blockade Britain's Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston to protest what they regard as the country's illegal development of nuclear weapons. A proposal for a long-term storage facility at Aldermaston for enriched uranium -- plus the approach of the pivotal Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May -- are likely to swell the numbers and increase the disruption and the arrests.
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Sun, 14 Feb 2010
The Year of the Tiger begins 14 Feb 2010 and ends 1 Feb 2011. The birth sign for power and luck, it falls every 12th year of the Chinese calendar. China is more fortunate than its tigers -- the last sighting was 25 years ago -- and these striped cats are unlucky everywhere. They are protected but still hunted, and their habitat is disappearing. The tigers' year promises to heat up efforts to save them from extinction. It also could put the luck of famous and infamous Tigers under a spotlight.
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Fri, 12 Feb 2010
Canada is counting down to the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics with several early worries out of the way -- and a new one: warm weather. Canada's indigenous leaders had threatened to disrupt the Games with bridge blockades and airport protests, and construction strikes that would have delayed completion of the venues were a potential threat at one point. Both threats appear to have eased, but the lack of snow remains a worry.
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Fri, 12 Feb 2010
Rio's raucous Carnival kicks off in a celebratory -- but anxious -- mood. The city won the honor of hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, but drug-gang violence is sharing Page One headlines along with the triumph. Carnival 2010 will be seen as a test of the city's ability to keep visitors safe during 2014 World Cup and the Olympics. The 2009 Carnival champion, Salgueiro Samba School, will be defending its title at what is described as the world's biggest street party. It draws some 700,000 visitors.
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Thu, 11 Feb 2010
On Feb 2 in 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted the 30-year ban on the African National Congress, and black nationalist Nelson Mandela. He was released from prison on Feb 11 after 27 years behind bars. Mandela visited one of the prisons, Robben Island, on the 5th anniversary, and opened the Nelson Mandela Museum on the 10th. The 20th anniversary events have not been announced. They are likely to be determined by Mandela's health. He turns 92 in Jul 2010.
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Thu, 11 Feb 2010
Setting the dates for the Berlin International Film Festival 60th anniversary edition was complicated by the need to avoid an overlap with the popular Rotterdam and Sundance film festivals and the Academy Awards. The chosen slot avoids a clash that would have meant a shared spotlight for the Berlinale in its landmark year. The festival will screen a political thriller "Ghostwriter" from veteran director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest.
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Thu, 11 Feb 2010
European Union President Herman Van Rompuy chairs a special EU economic summit that will look for ways to bring the bloc back from the brink. As the EU's 10-year economic strategy expires in 2010, the leaders also need to discuss a replacement. Spain, EU rotating president, wants to see new banking and other rules in place to prevent another economic meltdown. The challenge is finding ways to stimulate growth without exacerbating unemployment or undermining the bloc's social security system.
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Tue, 09 Feb 2010
When NASA launches its Solar Dynamics Observatory, a new Sun-watching spacecraft that is part of the agency's Living with a Star project, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, it will be the 20th launch for the Atlas V program. The milestone raises the question of whether the days are numbered for both the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets if NASA's Ares rocket is developed. Ares, an element of NASA's Constellation Program, is envisioned as the rocket that will carry astronauts back to the Moon.
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