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[Calgary1966]

Algerians killed in car bombings worked for Canadian company
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | 1:22 PM ET Comments18Recommend11CBC News
A destroyed vehicle is seen in front of a hotel hit by a car bomb in Bouira, 60 miles southeast of Algiers. Twin car bombings rocked a hotel and military headquarters in the Algerian town of Bouira on Wednesday, killing 11 people, official media and witnesses said. (Ouahab Hebbat/Associated Press)Twelve Algerian workers employed by Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin were killed in two car bombings that struck a hotel and a military headquarters in the Algerian town of Bouira on Wednesday.

The SNC employees were on a bus heading to a water treatment facility which the engineering company runs, according to an SNC press release.

At least another 12 workers were injured in the blast, the company said.

There was no immediate confirmation of other casualties from authorities, but the Associated Press quoted an unidentified local official saying at least seven people were killed, most of them civilians.

The blasts came a day after a suicide car bombing killed 43 in another Algerian town, Les Issers.

Abdellah Debbache, the Bouira correspondent of Algeria's Liberté newspaper, said the first explosion Wednesday ripped off most of the front of the local military headquarters at about 6 a.m. local time Wednesday.

The second bomb exploded a minute later, targeting the nearby Hotel Sofi, the largest in the town southeast of Algiers.

Most victims from the second bomb had been travelling in a bus passing in front of the hotel, APS news agency reported.

It wasn't immediately clear if the bombings were suicide attacks and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

For the past two years, an al-Qaeda affiliate has organized a series of bombings in the North African country, home to important oil and natural gas fields.

Violence has risen since 2006 when the GSPC, Algeria's last major extremist group left over from a quieted insurgency in the 1990s, renamed itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic North Africa and joined Osama bin Laden's network.

The insurgency broke out in 1992 when the army cancelled a second round of legislative elections that an Islamist party was expected to win. Ensuing fighting between security forces and Islamic militants left some 200,000 dead.

With files from the Associated Press

[Calgary1966]

Afghanistan wins its 1st-ever Olympic medal
Rohullah Nikpai hopes his taekwondo bronze sends a peace message to his country
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | 12:49 PM ET Comments9Recommend32The Associated Press In Rohullah Nikpai's war-torn country, fighting is a part of life. Living in tough conditions is a given. Training for the Olympics is a luxury few can afford, or even imagine.

But Nikpai has proven it can be done: On Wednesday, he won Afghanistan's first Olympic medal ever.

"I hope this will send a message of peace to my country after 30 years of war," Nikpai said after earning the bronze in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo event.

The victory brought immediate congratulations from President Hamid Karzai.

"The president personally called Rohullah Nikpai and congratulated him for this achievement," said spokesman Humayun Hamidzada.

'My training situation is a lot like the situation in my country. It's not good.'
—Rohullah Nikpai, Afghanistan's 1st Olympic medallist, in taekwondoFor his accomplishment, Nikpai will be given a house at the government's expense, Hamidzada said.

Nikpai, he said, serves as a "role model for many other Afghans."

The victory comes at an especially difficult time.

Afghanistan was under high alert Monday for fear of attacks coinciding with Independence Day, and the capital, Kabul, has had limited electricity. So following the Olympics has been a challenge even for those Afghans who care.

But given the war, lack of power and economic woes, many Afghans perceive the Olympics as a distant spectacle for other nations to enjoy.

4 athletes represent war-torn country
Only four Afghan athletes came to Beijing, representing a country that had never won an Olympic medal and is sinking ever deeper into war as the Taliban insurgency escalates.

Sprinter Robina Muqimyar — who in 2004 broke the gender barrier on the Afghan Olympic team — was last in a field of 85 women in the 100 metres, with a time of 14.80. She ran with a scarf covering her head.

Teammate Massoud Azizi finished 76th in the men's 100. He trains in Kabul's National Stadium, where the Taliban once staged regular public executions, wearing jogging shoes because his spikes won't dig into the track's cracked, concrete surface.

But Nikpai, who is 21, has claimed a spot among his sport's elite.

To claim the medal, he won a stunning victory over taekwondo world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain.

Nikpai said he started the Korean martial art when he was 10 because his brother had found a club in Kabul to train.

Not only was it an escape from the daily rigours of life in a country that not been at peace since the 1970s, but he turned out to be good at it.

Exceptionally good.

With the help of his family and other supporters, he got to travel to international competitions, and last year won silver at one of the sport's premiere events — the world qualifiers in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City.

With success came better training conditions. After being selected for the national team six months ago, he has been able to use a special gymnasium.

War overshadows sport
But in a country where sports take a distant place behind the realities of war, few resources are dedicated to training athletes. Afghanistan has also had trouble gaining recognition for its national federations due to political divisions and concerns over the former Taliban regime.

"My training situation is a lot like the situation in my country," Nikpai said. "It's not good."

The news from the Olympics, however, is a rare ray of light.

The country has another chance at a medal in taekwondo.

Nesar Ahmad Bahave, the silver medallist at the 2007 world taekwondo championships in Beijing, is competing in a heavier weight class.

[Calgary1966]

149 dead in Madrid plane crash
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | 10:53 AM ET Comments45Recommend163CBC News
Medical personnel help an injured passenger who survived Wednesday's crash. (Juan Carlos Hidalgo/Associated Press/EFE)
There are 149 people dead after an airplane crashed during takeoff Wednesday at Madrid's airport, burst into flames and broke into pieces, according to officials.

Only 26 people survived the mid-afternoon crash, Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said, according to the Associated Press. It was estimated 175 people were on board the passenger jet, which was bound for the Canary Islands when it crashed at the busy Madrid Barajas International Airport.

"Only the tail was recognizable. There was wreckage scattered all over the place and dead bodies across a wide area. A lot of them were children," rescue worker Herbigio Corral said, according to Reuters.

Helicopters douse flames
Officials said Spanair flight JK 5022 was bound for the popular holiday destination of Las Palmas, a city on Grand Canary Island off the northwestern coast of Africa.

A helicopter sprays water on the wreckage of a Spanair airliner at Madrid's Barajas airport. (Fernando Alvarado/EFE/Associated Press)Spanair's website said that 173 people —164 passengers and nine crew — were aboard when the MD-82 plane crashed near the end of the runway, but at a press conference later in the day Spanair spokesman Sergio Allard told a news conference the plane was carrying 175 people.

He said the cause of the crash was not immediately known.

TV footage showed a large plume of smoke rising from the site of the accident at the airport, located northeast of central Madrid.

Emergency services personnel scrambled to pull passengers from the burning plane, while helicopters poured water to douse the flames.

A makeshift morgue was set up at the city's main convention centre, officials said.

Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said the cause of the accident seemed to be "an error in takeoff," according to Reuters. But the Spanish El Pais newspaper reported that an engine on the plane's left-hand side caught fire as it was taking off.

"We don't know the reason for the fire, but that seems to have caused the accident," El Pais editor Guy Hedgecoe told CBC News.

Bodies too hot to touch
Hedgecoe said that shortly after the fire began, the plane then descended onto the airstrip, crashed and burst into flames, he said.

The plane ended up in a wooded area at the end of a runway at the recently built Terminal 4, located on the edge of the airport grounds.

A police officer said the bodies were so hot that police could barely touch them and told the newspaper El Pais that the shattered wreckage bore no resemblance to an airplane.

A Spanish Red Cross official told BBC that they are providing psychological support to family and friends at the Madrid and Canary Islands airports, where many had gathered to greet or send off their loved ones. Passengers from Germany could also be aboard the flight since it shares a Lufthansa flight code, LH 2554.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero interrupted his holidays in southern Spain to handle the crisis in Madrid, while the Spanish Olympic Committee said the Spanish flag would fly at half mast in the Olympic village in Beijing, Reuters reported. Spain's national soccer team wore black armbands at a friendly match with Denmark.

Madrid's Barajas airport is Spain's busiest air hub, handling more than 40 million passengers a year.

Wednesday's plane crash was the deadliest in Spain in more than 20 years. In Feburary 1985, an Iberia Boeing 727 crashed near Bilbao in the Basque region, killing 148 people.

[Calgary1966]

IOC, Beijing organizers at odds over quashed protest requests
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | 8:24 AM ET Comments66Recommend33CBC News
China's promises to tolerate peaceful protests during the Beijing Olympics are coming into question over news that all applications to demonstrate have been quashed and some applicants are being punished.

A growing rift was evident between Beijing Games organizers and the International Olympic Committee as a news conference Wednesday turned tense with questions about China's failure to approve dozens of protest requests.

In July, Chinese authorities said protests would be allowed in three city parks far from Games venues, a concession apparently aimed at mitigating criticism and avoiding disruption of the games.

Applications must be filed five days in advance and protests must not harm "national, social and collective interests." Authorities are supposed to respond at least 48 hours before the rally's planned time.

On Monday, state media revealed that authorities had not approved any of 77 applications they received from 149 people.

The official Xinhua news agency said 74 of the applications were withdrawn after officials addressed the complainants' problems, two were suspended for not providing sufficient information and one was rejected because it violated anti-demonstration laws.

Protest requests resolved, China says
Beijing Olympic organizing committee spokesman Wang Wei defended the decisions, saying all the protesters' problems had been resolved. No details were available.

"We were quite pleased to hear that many of the 77 cases were actually resolved," Wei said through a translator Wednesday.

Wei said that in Chinese culture, the goal is to find resolution. "Chinese culture always emphasizes harmony."

But Li Guizhi said there was no resolution found in her case. She said police forced her to stay away from the Games when she wanted to publicly question police on why her son's murderer was released.

"They don't resolve anything," Li said through a translator. "That's a total lie."

2 seniors punished after protest application
Chinese authorities have ordered two septuagenarian women to spend a year in a labour camp after applying to protest during the Olympics, a relative said Wednesday.

Wu Dianyuan, 79, and her neighbour Wang Xiuying, 77, repeatedly attempted to apply for permission to hold a protest at one of the three designated demonstration areas during the Olympics, which end Sunday. The two were protesting being forced from their homes.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies suggested that the sporting organization expected more from China.

"We continue to ask for as much transparency on this as possible, and we would of course welcome that the [protest] areas are genuinely used," Davies said.

Though no sanctioned protests have taken place in designated areas, a few foreign demonstrators managed to get through security. In one instance, several protesters hung a "Free Tibet" banner outside the headquarters of the state broadcaster.

More than a dozen foreign activists have been detained in Beijing this month for launching protests, with most quickly deported.

In the latest arrests, five U.S. blogger-activists who unfurled a pro-Tibet banner near an Olympics venue, as well as a U.S. graffiti artist who planned to use laser beams to flash a similar message on Beijing buildings, were detained by Chinese officials Tuesday, the group Students for a Free Tibet said.