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Wreckage of Kenya Airways flight 507 found in jungle; All 114 on board killed The latest information on the Kenya Airways information website states, "Kenya Airways regrets to confirm that its flight KQ 507 from Douala to Nairobi has been located on a mangrove swamp, 20 km southeast of Douala, on the planned flight path." President-elect Sarkozy promises change for France Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected as the 23rd President of the French Republic with 53% of the vote. France and the world reacts. Sarkozy outlines policies.

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Iran's leader appoints new members to cultural council The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, appointed 22 members to the main body that determines the cultural policy of Iran. The body is known as the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.

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NASA announces that the Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes have discovered a massive supernova designated SN 2006gy, the largest ever recorded, and possibly a new type that has been predicted but never observed. At least 21 people die in a bus crash in northwest Pakistan. More than 18,000 Mexicans pose naked for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick at the Zócalo Plaza in Mexico City.

Wreckage of Kenya Airways flight 507 found in jungle; All 114 on board killed

The latest information on the Kenya Airways information website states, "Kenya Airways regrets to confirm that its Flight KQ 507 from Douala to Nairobi has been located on a mangrove swamp, 20 km southeast of Douala, on the planned flight path." The website also indicates that search and rescue operations have been initiated. There are no survivors.

Flight KQ 507 had 8 crew members, 106 passengers and a flight engineer on board, and was traveling from Abidjan to Nairobi. It made a stopover in Douala, Cameroon where more passengers got on the plane before it continued on its flight. The plane sent a distress signal at 2:00 a.m., just after it took off from Cameroon, but it is not known what triggered the distress signal. The plane was supposed to land at 6:15 a.m. local time, but never arrived. It left Abidjan at 11:05 p.m. local time in Nairobi.

"All I can say for now is that the wreckage of the plane has been located in the small village of Mbanga Pongo, in the Douala III subdivision. Access to the area is very difficult. We are beginning a new painful phase. Our task will be more difficult now, the task of recovering the corpses," said Hamidou Yaya Marafa, Cameroon's Minister of State for Territorial Administration, during a press conference.

So far only small portions of the plane have been found, as much of the plane is reported to be underwater.

"The plane fell head first. Its nose was buried in the mangrove swamp," said chief of meteorology for the Douala airport, Thomas Sobakam.

Reports say that many of the remains of the individuals on board the plane are dismembered and when rescuers attempt to recover the remains, they fall apart in their hands.

"It's devastating. I found one or two whole bodies at the start, but since then everything is in pieces. People were afraid of the bodies at the start, so I had to pick them up with my own hands, and they came apart in my fingers," said Captain of Cameroon's fire department, Francis Ekosso.

There were passengers from 26 different countries on the plane, not including the 9 crew members from Kenya (see list below). Kenya Airways has released the names of all passengers on board Flight KQ 507 (see external links below).

The area where the plane went down is reported to be thick with forest, and difficult to reach. Local Fisherman are said to have lead rescuers to the crash site after they heard a "boom" and saw "disturbances in the water."

"We are told the aircraft was covered by a canopy of trees, and that was the delay in sighting the crash site. The mangrove area is a very tricky area, access is very difficult. I think they will use trekking and boats," added Marafa.

Earlier the chief meteorologist for the airport in Douala, Cameroon, Thomas Sobakam said that "signs" of Flight KQ 507 were located, but also said that what was located was not wreckage. Sabakam also said that the reports that wreckage had been found were "premature."

The cause of the crash is under investigation, but officials say the plane took off in bad weather and are looking into whether engine failure played a roll or not. At least one black box from the plane has been found, but its not known if it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder.

The next scheduled press briefing will be on Monday, May 7 at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Iran's leader appoints new members to cultural council

The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, appointed 22 members to the main body that determines the cultural policy of Iran. The body is known as the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.

Khamenei's decree allows the appointees to serve for three years on the cultural council. Appointees like Ahmad Jannati, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, and the others are long-time allies of Khamenei. Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel's daughter is married to one of Khamenei's sons.

(Secretary of the Guardian Council) Haj Sheikh Ahmad Jannati

(Majlis Speaker) Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel

(Former Vice-President) Hassan Habibi

(Former Prime Minister) Mir-Hossein Moussavi

Ahmad Ahmadi

Ali Shariatmadari

Reza Davari

(Former Foreign Minister and Leadership Advisor for Foreign and International Affairs) Ali-Akbar Velayati

Iraj Fazel

(Former Vice-President) Mohammad-Reza Aref

Mehdi Golshani

(Top nuclear negotiator and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council) Ali Larijani

Ali-Reza Sadr-Hosseini

Mohammad-Ali Keynejad

Mohsen Ghomi

Hassan Rahimpour

Mohammad-Reza Mokhber

Sadeq Vaezzadeh

Ali-Akbar Sadeqi-Rashad

(Head of the Islamic Culture and Communication Organization) Mahmoud Mohammadi Araqi

(Deputy Minister of Science, Research and Technology for Education) Mansour Kabkanian

(Member of Board of Instructors of Tehran University's Faculty of Social Sciences) Hossein Kachuian.

The cultural council has to ensure that Iran can counter the Western culture with Islam and works closely with the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance.

President-elect Sarkozy promises change for France

After winning the presidential election on Sunday, President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy immediately began to lay out his plans for France. Political observers consider the 53% to 47% the victory over Ségolène Royal, a "resounding win," lending credibility to his policies.

Sarkozy is expected to announce his government soon. He left Monday to go on a retreat with his family, while considering his cabinet line-up and strategy for the important parliamentary election in June.

Cheering crowds were seen at Place de la Concorde in Paris. "I am proud to be French with him as president. He is a man of action, he doesn't give up," said Laurent Scipio, 55. "We are happy because Sarkozy will let people keep their hard-earned money," said Martine Vellard, 52. "He will discourage people from living off benefits."

Elsewhere people were not so happy. Rioting broke out on the other side of the city at Place de la Bastille. Unrest was reported from several suburbs. "Sarkozy ran a better campaign. Ségolène did not have a positive message. She only rallied those who were against Sarkozy," said Doriana, 22, a Royal supporter. Another had a different view: "Sarkozy won because he manipulated the media," and added "He is just like [Silvio] Berlusconi. We have a fascist in power!

"Tonight is not the victory of one France over another.” —Nicolas Sarkozy

Official figures released by police today, said Sunday's unrest saw 730 cars set ablaze and 78 policemen injured across France. 592 people were arrested in the violent protests against Sarkozy.

His party, the Union for a Popular Movement, wants to capitalize on the victory in the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 10 and June 17. "We are going to see how we can give him the biggest parliamentary majority possible so he can put into effect his undertakings," Alliot-Marie said.

"We have to act, the French people expect it. They have given him a real mandate," said Sarkozy's chief of staff, Claude Guéant.

"As he said again last night, he wants to carry out all the commitments he made during the campaign," said Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Defense Minister and high-ranking member of UMP, outside his campaign-headquarters.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who has often been described as a devisive cabinet minister, was conciliatory in his victory speech. "France has given me everything, and now it is my turn to give back to France what France has given me," he said. "Tonight is not the victory of one France over another," he continued and pledged to represent "all of France and leave no one by the side of the road."

Sarkozy is expected to seek an end to the 35-hour workweek which was one the mainstays of his campaign. "I want a France where everyone has a chance - but chance comes for those who work for it," he said. Another part of his so-called "economic revolution" is a pledge to bring unemployment down from current 8.3% to below 5% by 2012, the end of his term.

“I want a France where everyone has a chance - but chance comes for those who work for it.” —Nicolas Sarkozy

Another reform would be a curb on the amount of power that is held by labor unions. "All attempt to pass things by force would backfire," said Jean-Claude Mailly, secretary general of Force Ouvrière one of the five biggest unions in France.

Sarkozy also proposes allowing employees to work overtime, as well as reducing restrictions on hiring and firing staff. He is also expected to tighten immigration laws.

Sarkozy announced that "France is back in Europe," saying that the European Union should pay more attention to the people it is supposed to protect. During Jacques Chirac's term the European Constitution failed to pass. Sarkozy favors a shorter, less ambitious treaty for changes in the EU to be submitted to the French parliament for approval, and not voted on in a referendum.

"I enjoyed that he said the word 'Europe,' which in the campaign was a non-word," Peter Raduński, a former advisor to Helmut Kohl, said. "I hope it will get us moving forward."

The only issue of foreign policy that Royal and Sarkozy debated was the EU membership of Turkey. Sarkozy is opposed to admission of Turkey. This concerned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who told reporters: "Our heart-felt wish is that we won't hear the kind of statements made by Mr. Sarkozy during his election campaign in our bilateral relations as well, both in contacts between France and Turkey and in the EU process."

Nicolas Sarkozy also wants to thaw the oft frosty relations between France and the United States. "I want to call out to our American friends to tell them that they can count on our friendship," he said shortly after being declared the winner.

"He will be a better partner for the United States," said Peter Radunski. "It was important that he mentioned he wants a good relationship, which for a French president, is very significant."

"He does not come to office with the baggage of a certain kind of anti-Americanism," observed Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"We know that there have been areas of disagreement but on the other hand there are certainly real opportunities to work together on a broad range of issues," White House spokesperson Tony Snow said.

"It would be nice to have someone who's head of France who doesn't have a knee-jerk reaction against the United States," U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer told CNN.

In a recent television interview, Sarkozy said he is opposed to keeping French troops in Afghanistan indefinitely.

"I want to tell all those in the world who believe in the values of tolerance, liberty, democracy and humanism, that France will be at their side, that they can count on her," Sarkozy said, hoping to base French foreign policy on a commitment to human rights.

Prayers on TV mandatory in Iran

Ezatollah Zarghami, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) who is appointed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said, "In the current year, television productions that do not have prayer scenes will not be allowed to air."

Referring to a scene in a television program wherein a murder suspect was shown supplicating, Zarghami stated, "Prayer scenes should not be confined to positive and leading characters, the elderly and the clean-living types." Consequently, program heroes and villains are expected to pray alike because it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

Islam is very important in the daily lives of Iran citizens. All television stations are interrupted five times everyday to permit praying to be broadcast. News anchors and reporters are also required to call upon God.

Some Iranians watch Western television shows in Iran notwithstanding their being banned. IRIB itself sometimes airs censored versions of Hollywood movies; however, since Iran and the United States do not have any sort of copyrights relations, companies in either countries do not have any legal recourse.

Palestinian Islamists attack children's festival in Gaza Strip

Palestinian Islamists attacked a children's festival at a United Nations school in Rafah because boys and girls were intermingled at the event which the Islamists declared was a violation of sex segregation in Islam.

Prior to the grenade attacks and the ensuing gunfight, the Islamists issued warnings about diluting the people's Islamic faith. Protest signs read that the U.N. "is turning schools into nightclubs." The gripe of the Islamists who appeared in long Islamic robes and wore beards was that the United Nations was "turning people away from Islam."

Nevertheless, U.N. officials ignored the protesters. Later, a bodyguard of the Palestinian legislator Majed Abu Shamaleh was killed and several kids ended up injured. The bodyguard was shot dead in broad daylight while terrified children observed the incident. John Ging, the top U.N. official at the festival emerged un-harmed from the incident.

John Ging believes that the security problems in Gaza are due to lack of money, saying "The bottom line is that security forces that we all rely on to uphold law and order have been without their regular salaries for well over a year."

According to one official who spoke anonymously, "What's new is that this group, which seems to have developed a few years ago, believes in violence if they see things they believe is wrong."

88th annual Brita Kongreso draws to a close

The 88th annual Brita Kongreso (British Congress) in Letchworth, England drew to an official close, Sunday, after a weekend of presentations, courses, lectures, and activities in Esperanto. With the final excursion to Cambridge (town of the Third Universal Esperanto Congress in 1907) taking place on Monday, the event will draw to a final close at the end of today.

The Brita Kongreso is an opportunity for Esperantists the world over to convene and spend the weekend being entertained, lectured, and socialising with other Esperantists in a relaxed atmosphere. This year, it was also host to a Guinness World Record attempt by French musician Jean-Marc Leclercq, a.k.a. jOmO, who successfully sang 25 songs in 25 different languages in an open air concert on Saturday, before providing evening entertainment within the main venue, Plinston Hall.

The weekend was host to a number of activities for both newcomers to the language, as well as fluent and native speakers. A number of interesting lectures were provided covering a wide range of topics, from discussing Hidden messages in children's books to African activities, demonstrations of martial arts, as well as the holding of Annual General Meetings for the Esperanto-Asocio de Britio (Esperanto Association of Britain) and the Junularo Esperantista Brita (Young British Esperantists) organisations.

Beginners were invited to a small gathering in the Green Room, a small conference area, on Sunday where they enjoyed speaking with other newcomers and more advanced speakers in a relaxed environment over a game of Happy Families. Helpers were available all weekend for those who were new to the language, although many of the lectures given were accessible to all.

All attendees were provided with a numbered name badge, which allowed for identification and ease of communication between those who had not met before. The bar inside the main hall and the snack area in the Green Room were popular areas for socialising with other Esperantists, and trips to local pubs were not uncommon throughout the weekend. Many Esperantists also slept in the same hotels and ate meals in the same places, making for a very sociable event throughout the town, as well as the event.

Communication between the participants was primarily in Esperanto, however English was used in the AGMs. Visitors from other countries were, thus, able to participate in the events and communicate with others with ease by using Esperanto.

Gas pipeline explosion in Ukraine

A 30 meter section of a gas pipeline in Luka (near Kiev) in Ukraine has been destroyed by an explosion. Although supplies to Europe via this pipeline have stopped, Ukrainian Energy Minister Georgi E. Boyko said that supplies to Europe would not be affected.

"There are no changes in volumes of gas being transported," Yuri Korolchuk said. "Volumes due to pass through the damaged section are being redirected through the Soyuz pipeline."

Normal flows are reported in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

Price for semi-precious copper shows dramatic rise in 2007

Copper prices are rising. Between record copper imports from China, and a mining strike in Peru, the prices have climbed to over $8100 (United States dollars) a tonne, for a gain of $575 dollars over the last week. However the upward trend is not new, it has been climbing for quite some time. In April 2003, the price of copper was under $2000 a tonne.

The metal market has been tending up due to growth in the Chinese industrial production. This trickles down to the local level, where the buying price at scrap yards is ever climbing, making scrap metal collection a more profitable endeavour for individual people using pick up trucks or other such vehicles to collect and cash in the scrap metal at metal buying yards. It can be collected via agreements with businesses, from the garbage, or, sometimes, by theft.

Copper prices fell today on the NYMEX commodity exchange from US$3.7545 per pound to US$3.7125 based on the July futures contract.

Exploding backpack kills one man in Las Vegas

One man was killed and another injured by an exploding backpack in the parking lot of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The explosion happened at 4 a.m. PDT when the victim tried to remove a backpack left on top of his car.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are on the scene. Aerial images did not show any apparent damage.

"We believe the victim was the intended target of this," Bill Cassell said, spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. "This is being treated as a homicide in which the weapon used to cause death is a non-traditional weapon."

Both of the victims worked at the Luxor.

Today in History
1429 - Siege of Orléans: French troops led by Joan of Arc lifted the English siege and turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

1541 - The expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

1794 - French chemist and economist Antoine Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day during the Reign of Terror.

1902 - The volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée destroyed the town of St. Pierre, Martinique, killing over 30,000 people.

1945 - Most armed forces under German control ceased active operations by 23:01 hours CET at the end of World War II in Europe, in accordance with the capitulation documents signed by General Alfred Jodl on behalf of Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz the day before.

May 08 is Victory in Europe Day; World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.

Quote of the Day

And, oh! what beautiful years were these

When our hearts clung each to each;

When life was filled and our senses thrilled

In the first faint dawn of speech.

Thus life by life and love by love

We passed through the cycles strange,

And breath by breath and death by death

We followed the chain of change.

~ Langdon Smith ~

Word of the Day

refulgent; adj

Resplendent, or shining brightly and radiantly.

(figuratively) As if giving off light or warmth.

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