Man sentenced for failed coup

Man sentenced for failed coup	18.06.2008

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06/18/2008		Mugabe meets UN official
ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe met a top United Nations official today, a source close to the UN said, 10 days before a run-off election that rights groups and Western powers say is tainted by violence

06/17/2008		Zimbabwe`s opposition leader arrested
ZIMBABWEAN opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and 11 other members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been arrested and are being held at a police station, the MDC said today

06/17/2008		Man, 92, banned from marrying teen
EGYPTIAN authorities have banned a 92-year-old Saudi man from marrying a poor teenage girl 75 years his junior, a judicial source said

06/17/2008		Zimbabwe`s opposition leader released
ZIMBABWEAN opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and 11 party colleagues have been freed after being held by police for three hours today, a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman said

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Gustav down to Category 2 storm as it hits US
`Gustav doesn`t have no punch` - New Orleans local
But Mayor Ray Nagin says don`t be too optimistic

HURRICANE Gustav barged ashore just west of New Orleans about 1am (AEST) today, hammering the city devastated by Katrina in 2005 with surging floodwaters that threatened its rebuilt levees.

The storm packed 177km/h winds, but was weaker than had been feared, and by about 5am (AEST) it had been downgraded to a Category 1 storm.

But waves still splashed over floodwalls containing the New Orleans Industrial Canal, triggering a tense watch over the barrier system that failed three years ago, flooding 80 per cent of the city and stranding thousands of people.

Pictures: Gustav makes landfall in the US
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Water rose in the Fifth District, west of the canal, and troops prepared to evacuate residents who stayed behind. But the US Army Corps of Engineers said the levees had not yet been breached.

Nearly 2 million people fled the Gulf Coast as Gustav approached and only 10,000 were believed to have remained in New Orleans. More than 11 million residents in five US states were threatened by Gustav.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin cautioned residents against too much early optimism, expressing concern about the stability of the concrete and earthen flood barriers protecting the city.

Mr Nagin was also worried about two Navy ships and a barge that were pinned against a wharf but could endanger the canal floodwalls if they got loose.

"We are nowhere near out of danger yet," he said early today. "Those canals are full right now. I don`t know if we are going to get any more water pushed in that direction but that`s a big concern for me right now."

THe US Army Corps of Engineers, which rebuilt the levees after Katrina, said water was just "sloshing" over the canal wall and expressed confidence in the flood barrier.

"Right now we feel that we are not going to have a true inundation or overtopping problem," she said.

Gustav, a dangerous Category 4 hurricane a few days ago, hit shore near Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 115km southwest of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, one step below Katrina`s strength when it made landfall.

About 287,000 customers had lost power in Louisiana, including 100,000 in New Orleans, utility Entergy said.

Wind ripped through the city, knocking down trees, ripping off shop awnings and bowling rubbish bins through all but deserted streets.

"Gustav doesn`t have no punch," pool builder Randall Dreher said, head bowed into the gale. "I went through Katrina and this is totally different. It`s weak."

The US National Hurricane Centre said Gustav was still likely to toss a dangerous storm surge of up to 14 feet (4.3m) of water ashore.

Hurricane Katrina brought a 28-foot (8.5m) storm surge that burst New Orleans levees on August 29, 2005. The city degenerated into chaos as stranded storm victims waited days for government rescue and law and order collapsed.

Police and thousands of national guard troops patrolled the empty city and a curfew was in effect to deter looting.

This time round, evacuees left signs behind defying Gustav and looters. A shop in the Garden District said "New Orleans: Proud to Swim Home" while a nearby home warned "Two dawgs and one ex-husband: Beware".

Gustav had stirred uneasy comparisons to Katrina, the costliest hurricane in US history, which killed about 1800 people and caused over $US80 billion ($94 billion) in damage.

In its run through the Caribbean, Gustav earlier killed at least 86 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.

In the US, oil and natural gas prices plunged as Gustav weakened to a Category 2 hurricane shortly before making landfall, easing fears of serious supply disruptions that had put energy markets on edge.

Oil companies had shut down nearly all production in the region, which normally pumps a quarter of US oil output and 15 per cent of its natural gas.

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