http://www.GEO.TVLatest News Via RSS Feedsen-usCopyright GEO TV Networkhttp://www.geo.tv/data/rss11/21/2009http://www.geo.tv/data/rss/geo.jpghttp://www.geo.tvCOCKERMOUTH: Military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency workers in inflatable boats rescued scores more as floods on Friday swamped northern England''s picturesque Lake District. One police officer died after a bridge was swept away by the surging waters. British soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for those trapped by floods as deep as 8 feet (2.5 meters). Troops also dropped down on lines from air force helicopters, breaking through rooftops to pluck people to safety. Emergency services said more than 200 people were rescued in the hardest-hit town, Cockermouth. At least 960 homes were flooded after a day of unprecedented rain, police in the northern region of Cumbria said. Heavy rain and gales also brought widespread flooding to Ireland, as more than 3 feet (1 meter) of water shut down the center of the country''s second-largest city, Cork, and more than a dozen towns and villages. Cockermouth, a market town 330 miles (530 kilometers) northwest of London, lies at the junction of the Cocker and Derwent rivers and is known for being the birthplace of poet William Wordsworth. "It has devastated the town," said Michael Dunn, manager of the Bitter End pub in Cockermouth. "There is a lot of properties in Main Street, private shops, that have had their windows smashed in by the force of the water and by debris in the water. "There were cars floating down the street. It will be a long time before Cockermouth recovers from this." The rain stopped and floodwaters began to ease Friday, giving rescuers a chance to reach trapped people by boat. Debris swirled around the boats as they pulled people to safety. Tony Walker of Cockermouth told a British radio he was on the top floor of his house and the water on the ground floor was chest-high. "I''ve had better mornings," Walker said. "I''ve been here all night and I''ve run out of water now, so I''m thinking of making a break for it, really. The water is still pretty deep, it''s going down, but at this rate it''s going to be hours before it''s clear." Forecasters said the rainfall was unprecedented. The Environment Agency recorded 12.3 inches (314.4 millimeter) of rain in 24 hours in one spot — one of the wettest days ever recorded in England. "It looks like a very historical event," said Julian Mayes, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told said that flood defenses were meant to withstand a one-in-100-years flood — but could not cope with the volume of water. "What we dealt with last night was probably more like one-in-a-1,000, so even the very best defenses, if you have such quantities of rain in such a short space of time, can be over-topped," Benn said. Police urged people not to travel, as many roads were impassible. Two bridges collapsed in the town of Workington, including a main one over the River Derwent. Cumbria Police said Constable Bill Barker, 44, died after he was knocked into the water when the structure gave way. "This is a stone bridge — to wash away a bridge of that size and dimension is incredible," said lawmaker Tony Cunningham. Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he had spoken to Cumbria Chief Constable Craig Mackey to offer help. "Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by these floods," Brown said. The Irish army deployed more than 100 soldiers, two dozen trucks and several flat-bottomed boats to evacuate people trapped by waist-deep floodwaters in cars and homes. A helicopter also winched to safety a County Galway family of five, including the 87-year-old grandmother. The floods caused transport chaos along Ireland''s western coast, with many major roads blocked and train services canceled. The water caused extensive damage to the Lake Hotel on the shores of the fabled Killarney Lakes in County Kerry. About 170 guests at the Victorian period building had to be evacuated by tractor as dozens of staff carried period furniture upstairs. The hotel''s 12th-century castle, normally a floodlit tourist''s highlight on the lake vista, was almost completely under water Friday. "You can just see the top of the castle and everything else is covered," said the hotel''s general manager, Niall Huggard. The River Suck burst its banks in County Leitrim near the Northern Ireland border, flooding the town of Ballinasloe and cutting off major roads to Ireland''s northwest. About 40 families had to be evacuated by boat. The Irish weather forecasting service, Met Eireann, said parts of southern and western Ireland suffered their most intense and sustained rainfall in 30 years. Friday was mostly sunny but more rain and gales were forecast for the weekend.http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53314.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 23:09GENEVA: The world''s biggest atom-smasher, which was shut down soon after its inauguration amid technical faults, is set to restart this weekend, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research said on Friday. The first beam of sub-atomic particles are expected to be injected into the Large Hadron Collider "early Saturday morning," CERN spokesman James Gillies said, while adding that the timing was not set in stone. Nestled inside a 27-km long tunnel straddling the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, the LHC promises to unlock scientific mysteries about the creation of the Universe and the fundamental nature of matter. But the machine was shut down just nine days after its inauguration last September following a series of technical faults. Since then, the LHC''s components had been tested to an energy equivalent of five teraelectronvolts at full power. The maximum output of what is currently the largest functioning collider in the world, at the Fermilab near Chicago in the United States, is one teraelectronvolt. CERN had said in August that upon its relaunch, the LHC will run at 3.5 teraelectronvolts in order to allow its operators to gain experience of running the machine. The first data should be collected a few weeks after the first particle beam is fired. CERN said the partial power level will be kept until "a significant data sample has been gathered" and ramped up thereafter. Designed to shed light on the origins of the universe, the LHC at CERN took nearly 20 years to complete and cost six billion Swiss francs (3.9 billion euros, 4.9 billion dollars) to build.http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53313.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 23:07TOKYO: The Epicurean king who oversees the Michelin Guide fears he may be banished from France. His shocking crime? Awarding Tokyo more three-star restaurant ratings than Paris, thereby crowning the Japanese metropolis the new gastronomic capital of the world. "Trust me, they''ll wait for me at customs there," Jean-Luc Naret, director general of the famed guide to exceptional eateries, joked Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. "Because they''ll say how dare could you have more three-stars in Tokyo than in Paris?" Michelin''s latest Tokyo edition goes on sale in Japan on Friday, and Naret has been in town this week promoting what many consider to be the bible of culinary skill. This time, Michelin''s undercover team of inspectors has bestowed its highest three-star rating to 11 restaurants in Tokyo, one more than in Paris. Tokyo also beats Paris in the total number of stars received — 261 awarded to 197 establishments. That''s 34 more than when the venerable guide made its Asian debut in Japan in 2007. Michelin''s ranking system considers the quality, consistency and value of a restaurant''s food, with three stars designating "exceptional cuisine, and worth the journey," without taking into account the service or ambiance, according to the guide. The first Tokyo edition sold 300,000 copies — 150,000 of which were snapped up in the first 24 hours. Since then, Michelin has released guides for Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Osaka and Kyoto in western Japan. Not everyone in Japan was pleased that Michelin had landed in Tokyo. Critics attacked its culinary selections. Some chefs said they didn''t want to be in the book. Others questioned how a group of foreigners could judge Japanese food. To mollify naysayers, the company used only Japanese inspectors for the 2010 Tokyo edition, Naret said. Placating his fellow Frenchman may be another matter. "Forget everything that you know about Japanese food," Naret said he would like to tell Parisians. "Just go to the other side of the world, and you will understand what Japanese food is all about." Naret added that statistically speaking, it''s not really a fair contest. Tokyo is home to 160,000 restaurants, compared to 60,000 in Paris. And France still wins the country count with 25 three-star establishments nationwide to Japan''s 18.http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53300.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 19:13RIYADH: Twenty swine flu cases have been reported among foreign Haj pilgrims since they started arriving for this year’s pilgrimage, Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said at a press conference in Jeddah on Thursday. Al-Rabeeah said the ministry has ensured adequate supplies of medicine to treat the disease, and this includes 1.5 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine for pilgrims. On Thursday he held a meeting with top officials to review the ministry’s preparations to meet pilgrims’ health needs. He said the ministry had taken every precaution to protect pilgrims against swine flu and other contagious diseases. “We have also installed the Biomimetic and Cognitive Robotics laboratory to detect swine flu,” he said. He said BCR tests are available at Mina Hospital, in addition to the three high-tech labs in Makkah. He stressed that the ministry is able to contain the flu because of its intensive effort in coordination with the World Health Organization. The Ministry of Health has set up 14 hospitals in Makkah with 2,782 beds. Besides these facilities, these hospitals are equipped with 244 beds in intensive care units and 287 emergency beds. There are 35 permanent health centers in Makkah, nine seasonal health centers along the Makkah-Madinah Expressway and four centers inside the Grand Mosque in Makkah. Twenty-eight health centers will operate in Mina, 46 in Arafat and six in Muzdalifah. The ministry has deployed 10,000 health workers including 100 doctors, 60 of them foreign specialists in infectious diseases, and 147 foreign nurses for intensive care units and emergency centers. The UAE Ministry of Health has designated four locations in Dubai and another 30 across the country for vaccinating pilgrims and complete other medical checkups needed for Haj. All UAE pilgrims will obtain the yellow health international vaccination certificate once they have received the swine flu vaccination. The certificate also proves all other vaccinations required for Haj have been administered, in accordance with Saudi requirements.http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53296.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 18:52MUMBAI: Activists of Shiv Sena Friday ransacked the office of a Marathi news channel in suburban Mumbai, assaulting journalists and damaging furniture. The attackers barged into the IBN-Lokmat office in Vikhroli and thrashed the staff members. The news channel claimed the attackers were shouting slogans in support of the party and its Chief Bal Thackeray. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan promised strict action against those involved in the attack. "Nobody will be spared…such things will not be tolerated," Chavan said.http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53293.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 17:58COCKERMOUTH: Torrential rain of "biblical proportions" caused serious flooding across northern England and southern Scotland on Friday as searches intensified for a police officer who went missing after a bridge collapsed. Flood defences in Cumbrian towns were overwhelmed by unprecedented downpours that officials said could be expected only once in a thousand years. The Meteorological Office said the amount of rain expected during the entire month of November had fallen in 24 hours, with the Environment Agency reporting 314 mm had fallen in one area which it said was a record for England. http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53290.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 16:03HEART: Bombers on Friday killed 18 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai''s second term in office that underscored spiraling insecurity nine years into the US-led war. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck the capital of the southwestern province of Farah, killing 15 people, while a roadside bomb killed three civilians in the east. The suicide bomber attacked near the home of Farah''s provincial governor, damaging nearby buildings in an area where heavy trucks were being loaded with goods bound for Herat, officials said. "Fifteen people have been killed," the governor said, updating an earlier toll of 12. Apart from a police officer, the dead were civilians, Amin added. About 34 other people, mostly civilians, were wounded, officials said. More than a dozen of the wounded were in "critical condition," meaning the death toll could rise further, the governor said. http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53287.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 14:51BRUSSELS: EU leaders have chosen the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, to be the first permanent European Council President. The other top job created by the Lisbon Treaty - foreign affairs supremo - has gone to the EU Trade Commissioner, Baroness Catherine Ashton from the UK. Both are seen as consensual politicians with limited foreign policy experience. Both had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels. Mr Van Rompuy, 62, had crucial French and German support. He has a reputation as a coalition builder, having taken charge of the linguistically divided Belgian government and steered it out of a crisis. Baroness Ashton, 53, said she felt "deeply privileged" to get the foreign affairs post. US President Barack Obama said the appointments would "strengthen the EU and enable it to be an even stronger partner to the United States". "The United States has no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world," the White House said in a statement. http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53278.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 09:25LONDON: British secret agencies have claimed to succeed in decoding the secret language Al Qaeda leaders use for communication. UK secret agencies claimed the arrested Al Qaeda leaders use code-based language for inter communication. According to sources, the codes of the language have been written by three top Al Qaeda leaders, presently detained in British jails under foolproof security measures. UK security agencies took six months to decipher the codes of this secret language. The words used in the code language have been chosen from the various languages spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Yemen and Sudan – and written secret messages were sent out of the jails using these codes, the sources added. http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53273.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 06:04KABUL: Two coalition troops have been killed in bomb blast and clashes in Afghanistan belonging to UK and Denmark. The British Ministry of Defence has announced that a soldier from the Royal Military Police has been killed in southern Afghanistan. The ministry said on Wednesday that the soldier was killed during operations in the Babaji area in Helmand province. Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said, "It is with deep sadness I must inform you that a soldier from The Royal Military Police was shot and killed." The death brings the number of the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 235 since the US-led invasion in 2001. Ninety-eight British service personnel have lost their lives in 2009 alone, making it the bloodiest year for the UK troops since the Falklands War in 1982. On the other hand a Danish soldier seriously wounded in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan in late October died on Wednesday, the Danish armed forces announced. Rune Westy Zacharias Nielsen, 22, was on foot patrol when the blast occurred near his unit''s Barakzai base, in southern Helmand province, where Taliban insurgents are active. His death brought to 27 the number of Danish troops killed since international forces deployed in Afghanistan in late 2001 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States. More than 700 Danish soldiers are taking part in NATO''s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Most of them are under British command http://www.geo.tv/11-20-2009/53268.htmFriday, November 20, 2009 01:55