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In a statement before the Permanent Commission of the Madrid Parliament, Eduardo Zaplana, the spokesman for the conservative Partido popular officially demanded the resignation of Environment Minister over her ’inactivity’ with regard to the recent fires in Galicia. He also added that whilst acknowledging that one of those arrested for the fires belonged to the Socialist Party, and added: “If he had belonged to the PP, he would be the best-known person in Spain.” Meanwhile the argument over exactly how much of Galicia had gone up in smoke heightened yesterday after the Galician Copuncilor of the Environment stated that ‘ 98% of Galicia did not burn’.
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The Basque newspaper Gara yesterday published the latest comments from the Basque terror organization Eta. It a statement, Eta revealed that ‘the peace process is immersed in something of a crisis’. This statement coincided almost word for word with that of Batasuna spokesman Arnaldo Otegi that were uttered hours before Gara was published in which he alluded to the annexation of Navarre, the release of Eta prisoners and the legalization of Batasuna. He also issued a reproach to the Madrid Government ‘as it had not fulfilled its promises’. The Eta statement also revealed that if the Government did not start moving immediately ‘Eta would respond’.
Judge Alice Kessler, who is on the Washington State Circuit, yesterday issued a finding to the effect that cigarette manufacturers jointly conspired to hide from the public the damage caused by the effects of smoking, but against the wishes of the federal Government, refused to place any financial sanction on the companies. Her 1,653-page finding included this phrase that many observers state is the key to her argument: “Smoking cigarettes causes illnesses, suffering and death. Whilst internally, these companies realized this, publicly, they either refused, distorted or minimized the dangers of smoking for decades.” Judge Kessler also ordered the companies to post on each of their Internet web sites all the documents they presented in this case, and that these should remain posted for ten years.
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As Cuban dictator Fidel Castro sill remains hospitalized, and a power vacuum appears evident on the island, a private Miami-based company has launched a website to encourage Cuban-Americans to submit property claims against Cuba, and centralizing all the claims on one database. In addition another website has been launched that seeks some financial reparations from the Cuban government for the land or property that has been expropriated . The Castro regime’s property confiscation was the largest seizure of US and private property in history, greater than the value of American assets taken over by all other Communist governments combined. The expropriations included 90% of all electricity generated in Cuba, the entire telephone system, almost all the mining industry and close to two million acres of land.
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