Students Take to the Streets against Spanish Government Cuts
Tens of thousands of students took to the streets today in major Spanish cities to reject the harsh cutbacks in public education by the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy.
In Madrid, some 40,000 protesters, according to the Union of Students (SE), marched from the Glorieta de Atocha to the emblematic Puerta del Sol to demand the resignation of the Minister of Education, José Ignacio Wert, whom they described as caveman.
Under the slogan No Franco education (in reference to the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco), Wert resignation, the march coincided with the second of three days of strikes in public schools in most of Spain.
The answer to the demonstration was massive and has a following of 85 percent today, SE general secretary, Tohil Delgado, told reporters.
Tohil summarized the claims of the protest: the return of the four billion euros cut in education, the return to their jobs of 50,000 teachers who were laid off, withdrawal of educational reform and Wert resignation.
For the second consecutive day, nearly two million teachers were called to endorse the strike, convened by the SE and supported by the Spanish Associations of Parents (CEAPA).
The Ceapa will join the third day of strikes (Thursday) and summoned the families not to take their children to schools.
UN Resumes Negotiations on Western Sahara
UN resumed its efforts on Western Sahara conflict with a tour of its key official in that subject, Christopher Ross, of countries in Europe and North Africa, it was reported today.
The personal envoy of the UN secretary general will visit several capitals of the two regions between October 27 and November 15 to continue its mission, said Wednesday the official UN spokesman, Martin Nesirky.
The announcement comes nearly six months after Morocco, whose troops occupied Western Sahara since the withdrawal of Spanish forces in 1975, withdrew its confidence from the UN envoy.
During this tour, Ross, an American diplomat who plays that role since 2009, will exchange views with leading partners, said UN spokesman.
He added that the goal is to find ways to accelerate progress the achievement of a political solution which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
The announcement about the tour of Ross takes place 10 days after a visit to the territory by the UN undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, Hervé Ladsous.
Ladsous met there with the heads of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), created in 1991 to organize a referendum on self-determination of the people.
UN sponsors a negotiation process between the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front, whose official stage was interrupted in 2008 and was followed by nine rounds of informal contacts, also paralyzed since last March.
New York City Terror Attack Foiled by US Authorities
US authorities on Wednesday arrested a man they said attempted to detonate what he believed to be a 1,000 pound (454 kilogram) bomb at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York’s financial district.
The 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, faces charges of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda, according to a statement from the US Justice Department.
Officials said Nafis’ arrest was the culmination of an undercover operation during which he was being monitored by the FBI and New York Police Department.
Authorities said at Nafis’ request, an undercover agent supplied him with bags of purported explosives and Nafis purchased components for the bomb’s detonator.
On Wednesday morning Nafis allegedly met the undercover agent on Long Island outside of New York City and inside a van, assembled what he believed to be a working bomb. Officials said they then drove to the Federal Reserve Bank and during the trip Nafis attached the explosives and armed the device.
Authorities said they parked next to the Federal Reserve and later Nafis unsuccessfully attempted to detonate the bomb with a cellphone. He was then arrested immediately.
Law enforcement officials said that Nafis was being monitored throughout the sting operation. They stressed that the public was never in any danger and that the supposed explosives in the van were inactive.
New York’s Federal Reserve Bank is located just blocks from the World Trade Center site, and has the most gold bullion in the world.
Via PL