Man hurls paint cans at Poland's black Madonna

WARSAW (Reuters) - A man hurled cans of paint at Poland's most sacred icon on Sunday in an attack that failed to damage the Black Madonna of Jasna Gora but shocked many in the staunchly Catholic country.

The 58-year-old attacker was detained by guards at the monastery holding the revered depiction of Mary and the baby Jesus in the southern city of Czestochowa, police said.

"The icon is shielded by a protective plate of glass and was unharmed," Czestochowa police spokeswoman Joanna Lazar added.

It was unclear why the man carried out the attack or whether the paint cans were open. A statement on the Jasna Gora monastery website said the attacker had tried to deface the icon with a "black substance".

The monastery became a symbol of national pride after Poles successfully defended it against invading Swedish troops in the 17th century. According to legend, the sacred image was painted by St Luke and helped repel the foreign soldiers.

Solidarity leader Lech Walesa kept his 1983 Nobel Peace Prize medal at the monastery for safekeeping beyond the reach of the country's then communist rulers who regarded the award as part of a Western plot.

Thousands of Poles make pilgrimages to the monastery every year to see the icon, whose origin is shrouded in mediaeval lore.

(Reporting by Rob Strybel; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-hurls-paint-cans-polands-black-madonna-133945251.html

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Canada OKs CNOOC's takeover bid for Nexen

This Tuesday, July 10, 2012 aerial photo shows a Nexen oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, Canada approved China's biggest overseas energy acquisition, a $15.1 billion takeover by state-owned CNOOC of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)

This Tuesday, July 10, 2012 aerial photo shows a Nexen oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, Canada approved China's biggest overseas energy acquisition, a $15.1 billion takeover by state-owned CNOOC of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)

TORONTO (AP) ? Canada approved China's biggest overseas energy acquisition, a $15.1 billion takeover by state-owned CNOOC of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen, but vowed Friday to reject any future foreign takeovers in the oil sands sector by state owned companies.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government would only consider future takeover deals in the oil sands by state-owned companies in exceptional circumstances.

"To be blunt, Canadians have not spent years reducing ownership of sectors of the economy by our own governments only to see them bought and controlled by foreign governments instead," Harper said.

Harper's Conservative government has been studying whether CNOOC's deal and a smaller foreign takeover, Malaysian state-owned oil firm Petronas' $5.2 billion bid for Progress Energy, represent a "net benefit" to the country. The Harper government also approved the Petronas deal on Friday.

The prime minister's comments shed light on Canada's policy toward foreign takeovers in the oil sands, particularly when the foreign company is owned by the state.

Concerns have been raised that approvals could lead to a flood of deals that put control of Canada's vast energy resources in foreign hands.

"I do not believe that any major industrialized country would allow a major sector of its economy to be transformed into the property of a foreign government through a couple of transactions," Harper said.

The prime minister said the Alberta oil sands represent 60 percent of all the oil production around the world that is not already in state hands and said he wants to keep it that way.

"The government's concern has been that very quickly a series of large-scale controlling transactions by foreign state-owned companies could rapidly transform this industry from one that is essentially a free market industry to one that is effectively under the control of a foreign government," Harper said.

"That is obviously not something that we find desirable."

CNOOC and other big state-owned Asian energy companies have increased purchases of oil and gas assets in the Americas as part of a global strategy to gain access to resources needed to fuel their economies. Chinese companies have moved more carefully since CNOOC tried seven years ago to buy Unocal but was rejected by U.S. lawmakers who cited national security fears.

Harper's government originally turned down Petronas' bid for Progress Energy in October. The government did not publicly explain the decision to block the deal but said a new policy framework for foreign takeovers will be released soon. Petronas was allowed to reapply.

The decision to turn it down in October has raised doubts about whether Canada is open to foreign investment.

Harper's Conservative government also rejected Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton's hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp. in 2010 and the sale of Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates' space-technology division to an American company in 2008.

Harper has lobbied the Chinese to invest in Canada's energy sector and has said foreign investment is needed to develop Canada's vast oil and gas deposits. Turning down CNOOC's bid would have harmed relations with China. China's growing economy is hungry for Canadian oil. Chinese state-owned companies have invested billions in Canadian energy in recent years.

The Canadian province of Alberta has the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela: more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million in 2025.

Nexen, a mid-tier energy company in Canada, operates in western Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Africa and the Middle East, with its biggest reserves in the Canadian oil sands. It produced an average of 213,000 barrels of oil a day in the second quarter of this year.

Nexen's board approved the takeover in July after CNOOC offered a 62 percent premium on the stock price. Shareholders voted overwhelmingly to support the deal in September. The stock has long traded at 10 percent discount to the offer on fears Canada would not approve the takeover.

Nexen stock traded down 6.5 percent after Industry Canada said an announcement would be made after the close. Progress traded down 5.4 percent.

In an apparent show of commitment to Canada's interests, CNOOC is pledging to set up a regional headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, where Nexen is based. It also says it will keep the Canadian company's management and projects in place and list shares on the Canadian bourse in Toronto.

Petronas has also made a series of promises in the proposed takeover of Progress.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-07-Canada-China-Nexen/id-156840b9506e41f6a67179a2950e4f28

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EPISD: Texas education commissioner's picture incomplete, 2 trustees say

El Paso Independent School District trustees expressed anger at Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams' decision Thursday to remove them because they'd lost public trust.

Alfredo Borrego, who has been a trustee since 2010, accused Williams of having "a one-sided view" of the school board.

"Is there really a response?" Borrego asked. "There's nothing I can do about it. The political will of El Paso forced their will on the commissioner to make this move. So be it."

Borrego said he received several emails and phone calls of support from his constituents after Williams' announcement on Thursday.

"They said, 'It's not fair. As an elected official, we should not be removed. We should have been allowed

to go into another election and allow people to remove us or re-elect us.' "

School board President Isela Casta?on-Williams said Williams acted on incomplete information.

"I am disappointed with Commissioner Williams' decision, particularly after the board worked diligently to implement all of TEA's mandates and has taken measurable steps to address the very serious failures that occurred during Dr. (Lorenzo) Garc?a's administration," she said.

Trustee David Dodge, who has been on the school board for nine years, was less critical of Williams.

"I know from his personal remarks at the news conference that this was not an easy decision for Commissioner Williams, and I believe with all my heart that, like me and

my fellow trustees, Commissioner Williams wants what is best for EPISD students and employees."

Dodge said he would work to the best of his ability in helping with the transition from the elected school board to the appointed five-member board of managers.

Other trustees did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Current employees of the district said they supported Williams' decision to remove the school board.

Patricia Bulos, an English language arts teacher at MacArthur Elementary-Intermediate School, said it was "sad" that the state needed to step in to remove the school board, but it was necessary.

"It's a step forward in making sure that we start anew and the public is back to trusting and rebuilding EPISD," Bulos said. "I believe (Williams) had to do this for us to move forward. We needed a clean slate and just to start over again with the district's leadership."

Gilbert Medina, a social studies teacher at Bowie High School, which appears to have been the epicenter of administrators' efforts to remove students from school or place them in the wrong grade to cheat federal accountability standards, said, "It's about time" the Texas Education Agency took a drastic measure against the district.

Medina said the school board has failed at removing convicted former Superintendent Lorenzo Garc?a's accomplices still working at the district.

"They should have gone after anyone who committed wrongdoing," Medina said. "They've taken some action, but it hasn't been enough because those individuals who've done wrong are still in a position of power at central office."

City Rep. Susie Byrd, who was an outspoken member of the general-purpose political action committee Kids First! Reform EPISD!, said she was relieved that more competent leaders would be representing the district once the U.S. Department of Justice approves Williams' appointments to the board of managers.

That board would comprise Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, the city of El Paso's chief financial officer; Ed Archuleta, the retiring president and CEO of the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board; outgoing state Rep. Dee Margo; the school district's state monitor, Judy Castleberry; and a fifth member yet to be selected.

"People were increasingly anxious about the fact the school board was doing nothing in light of the cheating scandal," Byrd said. "So little was done to root out the culprits, to fix the organization. ? They have taken action only recently because TEA said, 'You better do something or else.' They've spent a good year being deaf to the fact they have a real responsibility to make right what was wrong."

Leaders of the school district's largest employee unions, however, were hesitant to say the elected school board should have been removed.

Norma De La Rosa, president of the El Paso Teachers Association, said she couldn't say whether it was necessary to replace the school board with a board of managers.

"All I can say is, in listening and talking to community members across the district, the trust was not there," De La Rosa said. "You heard a lot of that mistrust when people spoke at school board meetings."

Lucy Clarke, president of the El Paso Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel, criticized Williams' removal of the school board.

Clarke said voters in the coming school board elections in May should have decided whether to boot three trustees up for re-election.

The school board elections will still take place in May, but the board of managers is likely to be in place by that time, rendering any new trustees ineffective, Clarke said.

"He has said to the people of El Paso, who were truly anticipating the upcoming school board elections, that their vote doesn't count in a sense because of this additional level of governance," Clarke said. "They can stay in place for up to two years."

Like De La Rosa, Clarke said she has a difficult time answering whether the school board needed to be removed.

"My focus is the teacher and support employees of the district," Clarke said. "In talking to my members, they were all over the spectrum, from members saying, 'I can't wait till (the trustees) are gone,' to saying, 'Give them a chance to straighten it out.' There was not a definite consensus, I felt, one way or the other."

Hayley Kappes may be reached at hkappes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6168. Follow her on Twitter @hayleykappes

Source: http://www.findata.co.nz/News/18182465/EPISD_Texas_education_commissioner39s_picture_incomplete_2_trustees_say.htm

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US Troops Mass on Turkey's Syrian Border

Some 400 U.S. and Dutch NATO troops were massed on Turkey's Syrian border Friday amid fears besieged President Bashar Assad was poised to use chemical weapons.

The soldiers were beefing up Turkey's border and readying Patriot missiles three days after NATO agreed to deploy the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system in Turkey. Ankara had requested the installations as a defense against a Syrian missile attack, possibly with chemical weapons.

"Nobody knows what such a regime is capable of and that is why we are acting protectively here," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said of NATO's move.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday the latest intelligence reports heightened fears Assad would use chemical weapons on the rebels trying to oust him.

"The intelligence that we have raises serious concerns that this is being considered," he said.

Over four decades, Syria has amassed one of the largest undeclared stockpiles of chemicals in the world, including huge supplies of mustard gas, sarin nerve agent and cyanide, the CIA says.

Syria denounced the NATO action and the U.S. and German statements.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad told pro-Assad Lebanese satellite TV station al-Manar, affiliated with the Shiite militant group Hezbollah: "Syria stresses again, for the 10th, the 100th time, that if we had such [chemical] weapons, they would not be used against its people. We would not commit suicide."

Miqdad accused the United States and pro-opposition European countries of "conspiring" to create the impression the Assad regime would use chemical weapons to justify an intervention.

The high-stakes actions came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a surprise meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.N.-Arab League special envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi to broker a deal that would lead to Assad's ouster and a transitional government's installation.

The U.S. State Department said the 40-minute meeting, which Brahimi called, was a "constructive discussion focused on how to support a political transition in practical terms."

Brahimi said afterward his goal was to "put together a peace process" that would build on a political transition strategy Washington and Moscow worked out in Geneva in June. That strategy quickly came undone over enforcement issues, officials said at the time.

"We haven't taken any sensational decisions," Brahimi said. He called Syria's situation "very, very, very bad."

Clinton told reporters before the meeting, "We have been trying hard to work with Russia to try to stop the bloodshed in Syria and start a political transition for a post-Assad Syrian future."

She added, "Events on the ground in Syria are accelerating, and we see that in many different ways."

The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said at least 89 people were killed in Syria Thursday. It said Syrian troops shelled at least 248 points, with 13 points shelled by warplanes, mostly in the Damascus suburbs.

Two points were hit with cluster bombs and four with barrel bombs, the group said.

Cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched and release or eject smaller sub-munitions, or explosive "bomblets." Barrel bombs are large oil drums packed with TNT, oil and chunks of steel and dropped from helicopters. These improvised weapons are intended to cause maximum death and destruction, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MilitaryTopNewsStories/~3/V4tMg6v4dOE/us-troops-mass-on-turkeys-syrian-border.html

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