Placido Domingo has colon cancer surgery

Placido Domingo has undergone surgery for colon cancer, a spokesman for the opera singer has said

By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent

He had a cancerous polyp removed last week at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said Nancy Seltzer.

He was released on Monday.

Ms Seltzer said that the cancerous growth was small and that Domingo was expected to make a full recovery.

Last month she announced that he was to pull out of five March performances of Handel's Tamerlano at the Royal Opera House to undergo what she described as "medically recommended preventive surgery".

At the time she refused to say why he needed to undergo surgery, telling the New York Times: "Aren't certain things allowed to be private?"

Each year more than 37,500 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Britain, according to Cancer Research UK. It is the third most common cancer in British men, after prostate and lung cancer.

"Research suggests over 90 per cent of bowel cancer patients will survive the disease for more than five years if diagnosed at the earliest stage," according to the charity.

Domingo, 69, is now expected to resume his singing schedule at Milan's Teatro alla Scala on April 16 with a performance of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

It is hoped that he will also be fit to return to the Royal Opera House in June, when he is due to take on the baritone title role in the composer's 1881 version of the opera.

Kurt Streit, the American tenor, has taken Domingo's place for the fiveTamerlano performances.

The Royal Opera House gave those who had bought tickets to see Domingo's performances a 20 per cent credit note "in recognition of the withdrawal of such an exceptional artist in a rarely-performed opera".

Domingo will continue as general director of the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera.

Daily Telegraph

Police officer shot near London, Ont.

Jill Mahoney

Leadbury, Ont. — Globe and Mail Update and The Canadian Press

A provincial police officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot in a standoff in southwestern Ontario.

OPP spokesman Sergeant Pierre Chamberlain said the shooting happened about 10:20 a.m. Monday as the male officer, who has not yet been identified, responded to a call. The officer is part of the force's Huron County detachment.

“I'm not sure how, or what, or why, or where, but there was a shooting. The officer was transported to hospital via air ambulance,” he said.

CTV reports the officer, who has 20 years experience, was in surgery with a head injury at a London, Ont., hospital. However, Sgt. Chamberlain would not confirm the policeman's injuries or condition.

The shooting occurred as part of a “standoff” with a man, according to Monica Hudon, a spokeswoman for the Special Investigations Unit. She said the man was wounded and taken to Victoria Hospital in London, which is part of the London Health Sciences Centre, for treatment.

The SIU, a provincial agency that examines all death or serious injuries involving police and civilians, has assigned nine investigators to the case.

Helicopter ambulance service Ornge said it airlifted two people to the London Health Sciences Centre. One was picked up near the scene of the shootout while the other was transported from Seaforth Community Hospital, where the patient was stabilized.

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino was seen getting into a helicopter at a small airport north of Toronto following the shooting. He is expected to address the media at 3 p.m. ET from the OPP's London offices.

Eyewitnesses say 15 to 20 shots were exchanged between the officer and a suspect near the small community of Winthrop, about an hour-and-a-half north of London.

Faith Weber, of nearby Brussels, Ont., told radio station CKNX she saw the officer and a suspect exchanging gunfire from opposite sides of the road.

“The guy [was] laying in the ditch and the police officer was on the other side of the road in the ditch but he was standing up and they were both shooting back and forth at each other,” Ms. Weber said.

“When I was there, there was probably about five, six shots that already went off, and then we had to move back farther and then there was more shots going off”.

Ms. Weber said more police arrived and the gunfire ended.

With a report from Tu Thanh Ha

The Globe and Mail

ARD TV drama sparks Scientology's ire

Trouble is brewing between the Church of Scientology and German public broadcaster ARD ahead of the TV premiere of a drama portraying the controversial faith as dangerous and unethical.

“Bis nichts mehr bleibt,” or “Until nothing remains,” is the dramatised true story of a family torn apart by the religion, and Scientology officials may try to ban its broadcast on March 31, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday.

Scientology spokesperson Jürg Stettler told the paper that members of the church were not invited to a supposedly secretive press screening of the film last week, and ARD has tried “everything so that we don’t see the film before broadcast”.

“It is a violation of ARD’s programming guidelines, what they’re planning to spread,” he said. “The station is required to support religious tolerance, not the opposite”.

Until now, no German television station has directly addressed Scientology in such a fashion, which is designated as an anti-constitutional organisation in the country.

The film’s message is clear, the paper reported, portraying Scientology as a dangerous totalitarian organisation in direct conflict with democratic society. 

Now the group is making its own documentary and plans to show it within the next two weeks in Hamburg or Munich.

“We will show that the so-called expert engaged by ARD Ursula Caberta is feeding the media false information,” Stettler said, adding that the film’s reportedly true story is fabricated. 

“Exactly the opposite of what ARD shows is the truth,” he said.

But ARD subsidiary SWR, which filmed the drama along with Teamworx, rejected the organisations claims.

“We intentionally made a feature film and not a political analysis of Scientology, because we wanted to reach as many people as possible,” SWR film department head Carl Bergengruen told the paper, though he did add that the story was indeed a “true story”.

The Local | Germany

Indonesia most corrupt of key Asian nations

Reuters

SINGAPORE - Indonesia, one of the star emerging markets over the past year, was rated the most corrupt of 16 major Asia-Pacific investment destinations in a business survey released on Monday.

With corruption rampant at all levels, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s drive to fight graft has been hampered by the politicisation of the issue by those threatened by his efforts, the Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy said.

“Corruption has become a charge being used by corrupt people to protect themselves and to stifle reform. The whole fight against corruption is in danger of being corrupted,” it said.

Indonesia scored 9.07 out of 10 as the most corrupt nation in the 2010 survey, up from 7.69 points a year ago. The survey polled 2,174 middle and senior business executives in Asia, Australia and the United States.

Cambodia was ranked second most corrupt, followed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, India, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Macao, Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Australia and — rated as the least corrupt in the survey — Singapore.

The survey looked at how corruption affected different levels of political leadership and the civil service, and how major institutions fared in terms of corruption.

It also examined how corruption is perceived to affect the overall business environment, and how easy or difficult it is for companies to deal with the problem internally and externally when they encounter it.

Khaleej Times

Teacher refuses to turn matchmaker

By ARAB NEWS

DAMMAM: The principal of a girls' secondary school in Dammam was shocked when a female visitor asked her recently to serve as a matchmaker for the woman's son.

She requested the principal to tell her the name of an intelligent girl of exemplary character so that the woman's son could marry her.

The principal refused to comply with the woman's request, saying that she was a teacher and not a matchmaker. However, the principal said she was willing to discuss the conduct of any girl in her school if the mother wanted her son to marry her, Al-Madinah daily reported on Sunday.

Arab News

Obama praises 'milestone' Iraqi elections

By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (March 7, 2010) -- President Barack Obama called today's parliamentarian elections in Iraq as a "milestone" event and vowed to keep his pledge to remove all U.S. troops from that country by the end of next year.

With Vice President Joe Biden at his side, Obama told reporters in the Rose Garden that the second national election held in Iraq since late dictator Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003 represented "an important milestone in Iraqi history".

Dozens of Iraqi political parties and coalitions fielded thousands of candidates for parliamentary office, Obama said, including both men and women.

Obama said ballots were submitted at some-50,000 voting booths across Iraq.

"And, in a strong turnout, millions of Iraqis exercised their right to vote with enthusiasm and optimism," Obama said. "Today's voting makes it clear that the future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq".

The election was organized and administered by an independent Iraqi electoral commission, Obama said, with critical support provided by the U.N. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis served as poll station works and as observers, he said.

Iraqi forces were responsible for providing security for the elections. There were some incidents of violence during the polling, Obama said, but overall, the level of extremist attacks was relatively muted.

The absence of great violence during the election "speaks to the growing capability and professionalism of Iraqi security forces, which took the lead in providing protection at the polls".

Obama also praised the contributions of U.S. military forces and civilians serving in Iraq "who continue to support our Iraqi partners," said Obama, who also cited the sacrifices of U.S. servicemembers and civilians who've died since Iraq was liberated in 2003.

The U.N., Obama said, also has a process in place to detect, investigate and resolve any allegations of voter fraud during the election.

The new Iraqi parliament "must be seated, leaders must be chosen, and a new government must be formed," Obama said. This process, he said, will take time to accomplish.

The United States, he said, does not support any particular Iraqi candidate or coalition.

"We support the right of the Iraqi people to choose their own leaders," Obama said.

There will be difficult days ahead for Iraq, Obama said, including more extremist-conducted violence.

During the period of transition to seat a new government, Iraq's neighbors should respect Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

And, "as today's voting demonstrates," Obama said, "the Iraqi people want disagreements to be debated and decided through a political process that provides security and prosperity for all Iraqis".

Meanwhile, Obama said, the United States will continue to fulfill its obligations to Iraq. There are currently less than 100,000 U.S. forces serving in Iraq. The responsible removal of U.S. forces from Iraq will continue, he said, with all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of next year.

In the weeks and months ahead, Obama said, the United States will continue to work closely with the Iraqi people as the two nations expand their broad-based partnership. Vice President Biden, he said, will continue to play a leading role in that endeavor.

"Today, in the face of violence from those who would only destroy, Iraqis took a step forward in the hard work of building up their country," Obama said. "The United States will continue to help them in that effort as we responsibly end this war and support the Iraqi people as they take control of their future".

U.S. Army

Miami's budget director is fired

BY CHARLES RABIN

CRABIN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Miami Budget Director Michael Boudreaux was fired Monday, only two weeks after a new city manager began an exhaustive analysis of the city's money woes.

City Manager Carlos Migoya said he decided to let Boudreaux go after studying a series of money transfers from capital accounts to the city's general fund that were used to balance the city's books in 2007 and 2008.

The transfers, Migoya said, were fine in themselves, but he held Boudreaux responsible for not stopping movement on the projects the funds were taken from.

Boudreaux claimed the money came from finished or long dead projects, though Migoya said his review found money was still being spent on many of the initiatives the money was taken from.

Migoya said that, although Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring, Finance Director Diana Gomez and former City Manager Pete Hernandez were aware and signed off on the moves, it was Boudreaux's responsibility to stop Capital Improvements from continuing with the projects.

``The people in Capital Improvements were not told to stop spending money against it,'' Migoya said.

Boudreaux's attorney, Michael Pizzi, called his client a ``convenient scapegoat,'' and said he won't rest until his name is cleared.

``We're considering a lawsuit for wrongful termination,'' said Pizzi. ``They're trying to make Mike a scapegoat for decisions that were not his, decisions that were made by other people who were fully briefed, including elected officials''.

The $26.4 million in questionable transfers that were outlined in a Miami Herald story last summer, have become a key piece of an investigation into the city's budget practices by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Migoya said Boudreaux, who earned $190,000 a year in salary and benefits, will receive no severance, but will collect any pension or benefits owed.

Spring, the city's chief financial officer, will fill in as budget director until Migoya names a permanent replacement.

Migoya, a career banker, was called on by Mayor Tomás Regalado to replace Hernandez after he resigned, and to turn around a city where finances are so dire the reserve fund could be empty within a year.

One of his bigger tasks will be the renegotiation of worker-friendly union contracts that are strangling city finances. Miami is expected to make a payment of $101 million to make the city's union agreements whole at the end of the budget year in September. That represents 20 percent of the city's entire budget.

The Miami Herald

Catholic church abuse claims rise to 200

Some 200 people have now registered sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic church officials with the church organisation set up to help victims, the Telegraaf reports on Monday.

Jan Waaijer, spokesman for the Hulp en Recht organisation said he was shocked by the flood of claims since the end of February, when newspapers reported claims of abuse at a boarding school in 's-Heerenberg in the 1960s and 1970s.

'Let it all come out now. A church which is mature and open to self-criticism can deal with this,' he told the paper.

The organisation has taken on extra staff to deal with the surge, he said.

Bishops

Meanwhile, Ad van Luyn, chairman of the Dutch bishops conference, has called for an independent inquiry into the abuse claims.

'It is the job of the church to clearly condemn abuse and apologise,' he told a tv show. 'In the future, the church must take every measure possible to stop this happening'.

The bishops conference is due to meet to discuss the growing scandal on Tuesday.

Insurance

On Saturday it emerged that the diocese of Utrecht agreed €1m in coverage with Aegon against potential abuse claims back in 2006.

The NRC and Radio Netherlands report that the deal was the result of a long-running dispute between the church and insurance company.

'The church viewed compensation paid to sexual abuse victims could be deemed a physical injury claim,' the NRC said. 'Aegon refused to do this because it did not wish to put a premium on the misuse of minors'.

Compensation

The insurance deal follows a €43,000 payout made to a girl who had been abused by a priest.

The Aegon deal only covers claims made before 2000 and a spokesman for Aegon told the paper no claims had been made.

The church's current insurer Nationale Nederland does not cover damages claims stemming from sexual abuse, the paper says.

Dutch News