Cricket-crazy Bangladesh calm before next storm
Cricket-crazy Bangladesh is enduring a brief respite from World Cup frenzy due to a gap in matches as fans take a breather before the action resumes.
Calm descended on the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, a refurbished modern 25,000-seater facility in suburban Mirpur, which witnessed joyous celebrations of cricket’s greatest show over the past week.
Bangladesh regards the World Cup, which it co-hosts for the first time with neighbours India and Sri Lanka, as its biggest event since independence in 1971.
And it is going out of its way to put on a party to remember.
So far, Bangladesh has proved to be the perfect hosts, creating a delightful World Cup atmosphere that would have pleased International Cricket Council chiefs.
Unlike empty stands at matches in the other two hosting nations, packed crowds have witnessed the first two matches played by Bangladesh against India and Ireland in Dhaka.
Tens of thousands, who failed to secure tickets, have partied outside the venue, soaking in the atmosphere on foot and in open vans, dancing, waving flags and blowing locally-made vuvuzelas.
Dhaka streets were jammed till late on Friday night after Sakib al Hasan’s home team clinched a superb victory against Ireland, who failed to chase a modest target of 206.
The win was important for Bangladesh to stay afloat in the tournament, after the opening loss to India, but the celebrations seemed as if the team had won the World Cup.
Beating Ireland mattered to fans because the non-Test nation had defeated their side twice in major events, first in the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup and again in the first round of the 2009 World Twenty20.
The win also ensured that cricket fever will continue unabated when the West Indies come calling on Friday.
Bangladesh are the only team playing all their league matches at home.
The action will shift to the port city of Chittagong for the games against England (March 11) and the Netherlands (March 14), before Dhaka hosts the last league match against South Africa on March 19.
The Sher-e-Bangla stadium will also host two quarter-finals. If Bangladesh qualify, they will play at home unless they are drawn against Sri Lanka, in which case the match will be held in Colombo.
‘This is a tournament that matters a lot to the people of this country, they have never experienced anything like this,’ said ICC media officer Rabeed Imam, who is also contracted with the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
‘If the team keeps winning, the celebrations will get even bigger.’
The Bangladesh government is also doing its best to ensure the party is not ruined by chronic power shortages that have stirred public anger and triggered violent protests in the past.
To save power and ensure fans get to watch matches uninterrupted on television, authorities have ordered factories to suspend operations every evening till the end of the six-week tournament.
Read the original story on the daily New Age
Calm descended on the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, a refurbished modern 25,000-seater facility in suburban Mirpur, which witnessed joyous celebrations of cricket’s greatest show over the past week.
Bangladesh regards the World Cup, which it co-hosts for the first time with neighbours India and Sri Lanka, as its biggest event since independence in 1971.
And it is going out of its way to put on a party to remember.
So far, Bangladesh has proved to be the perfect hosts, creating a delightful World Cup atmosphere that would have pleased International Cricket Council chiefs.
Unlike empty stands at matches in the other two hosting nations, packed crowds have witnessed the first two matches played by Bangladesh against India and Ireland in Dhaka.
Tens of thousands, who failed to secure tickets, have partied outside the venue, soaking in the atmosphere on foot and in open vans, dancing, waving flags and blowing locally-made vuvuzelas.
Dhaka streets were jammed till late on Friday night after Sakib al Hasan’s home team clinched a superb victory against Ireland, who failed to chase a modest target of 206.
The win was important for Bangladesh to stay afloat in the tournament, after the opening loss to India, but the celebrations seemed as if the team had won the World Cup.
Beating Ireland mattered to fans because the non-Test nation had defeated their side twice in major events, first in the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup and again in the first round of the 2009 World Twenty20.
The win also ensured that cricket fever will continue unabated when the West Indies come calling on Friday.
Bangladesh are the only team playing all their league matches at home.
The action will shift to the port city of Chittagong for the games against England (March 11) and the Netherlands (March 14), before Dhaka hosts the last league match against South Africa on March 19.
The Sher-e-Bangla stadium will also host two quarter-finals. If Bangladesh qualify, they will play at home unless they are drawn against Sri Lanka, in which case the match will be held in Colombo.
‘This is a tournament that matters a lot to the people of this country, they have never experienced anything like this,’ said ICC media officer Rabeed Imam, who is also contracted with the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
‘If the team keeps winning, the celebrations will get even bigger.’
The Bangladesh government is also doing its best to ensure the party is not ruined by chronic power shortages that have stirred public anger and triggered violent protests in the past.
To save power and ensure fans get to watch matches uninterrupted on television, authorities have ordered factories to suspend operations every evening till the end of the six-week tournament.
Read the original story on the daily New Age
Reporter assaulted at China rally site: Bloomberg
AFP, BEIJING: Bloomberg News said on Monday that one of its journalists was assaulted as Chinese security personnel staged an aggressive clampdown in Beijing at the weekend to thwart a call for public rallies.
The incident took place Sunday as hundreds of police swarmed the capital's Wangfujing shopping street, which had been designated as an anti-government protest site for the second straight weekend in an anonymous online appeal.
The Bloomberg journalist was repeatedly punched and kicked by a group of at least five men in plainclothes -- apparently security personnel -- who also took his video camera and detained him in a nearby store, the news agency said.
He was later taken to a police station by uniformed personnel before being released, it said. His camera was later returned.
Bloomberg did not detail the extent of his injuries, but said he had sought treatment at a local hospital.
Police staged a show of force at Wangfujing, restricting access to the shopping area, aggressively pushing away foreign reporters with cameras and briefly detaining several. Police eventually cleared most people from the site.
Similar scenes took place at the Shanghai protest site near the city's People's Square.
The mysterious online protest appeal has urged citizens to gather for subtle "strolling" rallies in 13 cities each Sunday to highlight public anger with the government.
No actual protest actions were seen in Beijing, but AFP journalists saw several people being bundled into police vans in Shanghai. It was unclear why they were being removed.
The incident took place Sunday as hundreds of police swarmed the capital's Wangfujing shopping street, which had been designated as an anti-government protest site for the second straight weekend in an anonymous online appeal.
The Bloomberg journalist was repeatedly punched and kicked by a group of at least five men in plainclothes -- apparently security personnel -- who also took his video camera and detained him in a nearby store, the news agency said.
He was later taken to a police station by uniformed personnel before being released, it said. His camera was later returned.
Bloomberg did not detail the extent of his injuries, but said he had sought treatment at a local hospital.
Police staged a show of force at Wangfujing, restricting access to the shopping area, aggressively pushing away foreign reporters with cameras and briefly detaining several. Police eventually cleared most people from the site.
Similar scenes took place at the Shanghai protest site near the city's People's Square.
The mysterious online protest appeal has urged citizens to gather for subtle "strolling" rallies in 13 cities each Sunday to highlight public anger with the government.
No actual protest actions were seen in Beijing, but AFP journalists saw several people being bundled into police vans in Shanghai. It was unclear why they were being removed.
US, S. Korea launch war games amid N. Korea threat
AFP, SEOUL: The US and South Korean militaries Monday launched major annual land, sea and air exercises, amid North Korean threats to turn Seoul into a "sea of flames" in case of any provocation.
The Key Resolve/Foal Eagle drills are the first to be held since the North's deadly artillery attack on a South Korean border island last November.
The US and South Korea said the exercise is defensive in nature but North Korea habitually denounces it as a rehearsal for invasion.
"If the aggressors launch provocation for a 'local war' the world will witness unprecedented all-out counteraction on the part of the army and people of the DPRK (North Korea)," its military said Sunday.
"It will also see such merciless counteraction as engulfing Seoul in sea of flames, whereby to smash every move for confrontation with unimaginable strategy and tactics."
The North routinely issues such warnings before military drills in the South. But tensions are high after the shelling attack that killed two marines and two civilians.
The South also accuses its neighbour of torpedoing a warship near the disputed Yellow Sea border in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives, a charge it denies.
Analysts say the North's regime is also trying to block news of popular revolts that have swept away despotic regimes in North Africa.
The South's military has been floating balloons into the North carrying news of the uprisings, a lawmaker said last week. Private activists also frequently launch propaganda leaflets that are suspended under the balloons.
On Sunday the North's military threatened to open fire at sites from where "rotten videos" and other propaganda material are launched.
The drills involve 12,300 US troops and some 200,000 service members including reservists from South Korea, military officials from the two sides say.
There have been widespread media reports that a US aircraft carrier will take part but neither side would confirm this.
The US has 28,500 troops based in the South. A US military spokesman said the drills, which began Monday do not involve any extra activities on five frontline islands near the Yellow Sea border.
The 11-day Key Resolve drill focuses on computer-based simulations. The Foal Eagle exercise involves field training that will continue through April 30.
The Key Resolve/Foal Eagle drills are the first to be held since the North's deadly artillery attack on a South Korean border island last November.
The US and South Korea said the exercise is defensive in nature but North Korea habitually denounces it as a rehearsal for invasion.
"If the aggressors launch provocation for a 'local war' the world will witness unprecedented all-out counteraction on the part of the army and people of the DPRK (North Korea)," its military said Sunday.
"It will also see such merciless counteraction as engulfing Seoul in sea of flames, whereby to smash every move for confrontation with unimaginable strategy and tactics."
The North routinely issues such warnings before military drills in the South. But tensions are high after the shelling attack that killed two marines and two civilians.
The South also accuses its neighbour of torpedoing a warship near the disputed Yellow Sea border in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives, a charge it denies.
Analysts say the North's regime is also trying to block news of popular revolts that have swept away despotic regimes in North Africa.
The South's military has been floating balloons into the North carrying news of the uprisings, a lawmaker said last week. Private activists also frequently launch propaganda leaflets that are suspended under the balloons.
On Sunday the North's military threatened to open fire at sites from where "rotten videos" and other propaganda material are launched.
The drills involve 12,300 US troops and some 200,000 service members including reservists from South Korea, military officials from the two sides say.
There have been widespread media reports that a US aircraft carrier will take part but neither side would confirm this.
The US has 28,500 troops based in the South. A US military spokesman said the drills, which began Monday do not involve any extra activities on five frontline islands near the Yellow Sea border.
The 11-day Key Resolve drill focuses on computer-based simulations. The Foal Eagle exercise involves field training that will continue through April 30.
Tunisia premier replaced after new violence
AFP, TUNIS: Tunisia's prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned and was replaced by Beji Caid Essebsi, a former minister, after anti-government protests left five people dead over the weekend.
Security forces again clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of Ghannouchi's interim government before the premier announced his resignation.
"The acts of violence and looting, the unrest and the fires on Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis on Saturday have left five people dead," said an interior ministry statement quoted by TAP news agency.
"These human losses happened during the clashes" with "interior security forces which tried to push back a group of young people armed with knives and stones that tried to storm the interior ministry headquarters."
The statement also said 16 security officers were wounded when stones and other objects were hurled at them.
An investigation is under way to shed light on the circumstances of the deaths and injuries, it added.
The ministry said the "acts committed by these agitators, who do not want Tunisia to be stable... (were) serious."
Ghannouchi earlier said he decided to quit after just over six weeks as interim prime minister prior to elections expected by mid-July but was "not running away from responsibility".
"I am not ready to be the person who takes decisions that would end up causing casualties," Ghannouchi said.
"This resignation will serve Tunisia, and the revolution and the future of Tunisia," he added.
Interim President Foued Mebazaa appointed Caid Essebsi, 84, to succeed the 69-year-old Ghannouchi.
"I proposed Beji Caid Essebsi for the position of prime minister, and he has accepted the responsibility," said Mebazaa in a statement sent to local media.
Caid Essebsi "is known for his patriotism, his faithfulness and his self-sacrifice for the benefit of the fatherland," said the president.
He thanked Ghannouchi for serving Tunisia in difficult times after hardline president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country to Saudi Arabia in mid-January after 23 years in power.
Considered a liberal, Caid Essebsi held several ministerial posts under Ben Ali's predecessor Habib Bourguiba who had led Tunisia to independence from France. He was defence and foreign minister and speaker of parliament.
The leader of the influential UGTT trade union, Ali Ben Romdhane, welcomed Ghannouchi's resignation, saying his government had been hesitant and "unable to stop the violence".
But Ben Romdhane criticised the rapid nomination without consultations of a successor which he said had taken his movement by surprise.
How can Tunisia overcome its crisis "if the president does not take at least 24 hours for consultations", he asked.
Left-wing opposition leader Hamma Hammami told AFP: "We are expecting the formation of a new transition government, breaking totally with the old regime, which will follow an understanding between all the country's political forces."
The EU's foreign policy chief Catherin Ashton said she commended Ghannouchi's decision to resign as showing a "sense of responsibility, so as to avoid further violence.
"I hope that his decision will prevent any further tension and will allow the present transition phase to proceed in a peaceful and stable way."
She said in a statement she was "also encouraged that elections will take place before mid-July.
"It is important that a democratically elected government emerges from these elections to address the political, economic and social challenges faced by the country.
"The transitional government must ensure a rapid and smooth transition. The objective is a lasting transformation that delivers deep democracy and full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
On Sunday police fired tear gas and warning shots on the capital's central Habib Bourguiba avenue to disperse stone-throwing youths on a third day of violence.
Security forces acted to stop protesters, who were chanting anti-government slogans, from reaching the interior ministry, AFP reporters said.
Rampaging youths hurled rocks at buildings to break the windows and threw up barricades to impede the police who were not able to disperse them.
In the protests demonstrators demanded the removal from the interim government of members of Ben Ali's regime, whose toppling on January 14 after weeks of demonstrations sparked similar uprisings across the Arab world.
More than 100 people were arrested for involvement in the unrest on Saturday and 88 people after a demonstration Friday, the ministry said, blaming the violence on "agitators" it said had infiltrated peaceful demonstrators.
A few hundred people assembled late Sunday in front of Ghannouchi's suburban home to express support for him, witnesses said.
Security forces again clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of Ghannouchi's interim government before the premier announced his resignation.
"The acts of violence and looting, the unrest and the fires on Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis on Saturday have left five people dead," said an interior ministry statement quoted by TAP news agency.
"These human losses happened during the clashes" with "interior security forces which tried to push back a group of young people armed with knives and stones that tried to storm the interior ministry headquarters."
The statement also said 16 security officers were wounded when stones and other objects were hurled at them.
An investigation is under way to shed light on the circumstances of the deaths and injuries, it added.
The ministry said the "acts committed by these agitators, who do not want Tunisia to be stable... (were) serious."
Ghannouchi earlier said he decided to quit after just over six weeks as interim prime minister prior to elections expected by mid-July but was "not running away from responsibility".
"I am not ready to be the person who takes decisions that would end up causing casualties," Ghannouchi said.
"This resignation will serve Tunisia, and the revolution and the future of Tunisia," he added.
Interim President Foued Mebazaa appointed Caid Essebsi, 84, to succeed the 69-year-old Ghannouchi.
"I proposed Beji Caid Essebsi for the position of prime minister, and he has accepted the responsibility," said Mebazaa in a statement sent to local media.
Caid Essebsi "is known for his patriotism, his faithfulness and his self-sacrifice for the benefit of the fatherland," said the president.
He thanked Ghannouchi for serving Tunisia in difficult times after hardline president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country to Saudi Arabia in mid-January after 23 years in power.
Considered a liberal, Caid Essebsi held several ministerial posts under Ben Ali's predecessor Habib Bourguiba who had led Tunisia to independence from France. He was defence and foreign minister and speaker of parliament.
The leader of the influential UGTT trade union, Ali Ben Romdhane, welcomed Ghannouchi's resignation, saying his government had been hesitant and "unable to stop the violence".
But Ben Romdhane criticised the rapid nomination without consultations of a successor which he said had taken his movement by surprise.
How can Tunisia overcome its crisis "if the president does not take at least 24 hours for consultations", he asked.
Left-wing opposition leader Hamma Hammami told AFP: "We are expecting the formation of a new transition government, breaking totally with the old regime, which will follow an understanding between all the country's political forces."
The EU's foreign policy chief Catherin Ashton said she commended Ghannouchi's decision to resign as showing a "sense of responsibility, so as to avoid further violence.
"I hope that his decision will prevent any further tension and will allow the present transition phase to proceed in a peaceful and stable way."
She said in a statement she was "also encouraged that elections will take place before mid-July.
"It is important that a democratically elected government emerges from these elections to address the political, economic and social challenges faced by the country.
"The transitional government must ensure a rapid and smooth transition. The objective is a lasting transformation that delivers deep democracy and full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
On Sunday police fired tear gas and warning shots on the capital's central Habib Bourguiba avenue to disperse stone-throwing youths on a third day of violence.
Security forces acted to stop protesters, who were chanting anti-government slogans, from reaching the interior ministry, AFP reporters said.
Rampaging youths hurled rocks at buildings to break the windows and threw up barricades to impede the police who were not able to disperse them.
In the protests demonstrators demanded the removal from the interim government of members of Ben Ali's regime, whose toppling on January 14 after weeks of demonstrations sparked similar uprisings across the Arab world.
More than 100 people were arrested for involvement in the unrest on Saturday and 88 people after a demonstration Friday, the ministry said, blaming the violence on "agitators" it said had infiltrated peaceful demonstrators.
A few hundred people assembled late Sunday in front of Ghannouchi's suburban home to express support for him, witnesses said.
'Mega-mudslides' destroy homes in Bolivia
AFP, LA PAZ: Heavy rains unleashed a "mega-mudslide" in Bolivia's capital that destroyed 400 homes, authorities said.
Thanks to a swift evacuation, authorities said there were no immediate reports of casualties on Sunday.
But the destruction in the usually dry capital was staggering with some neighborhoods virtually wiped away. House after house -- many made of adobe and some of brick -- simply collapsed.
"We are talking about some 400 homes that are no longer there," said Edwin Herrera, a spokesman with the capital's mayor's office.
"It is one of the worst disasters this city has seen in terms of the number of houses affected. It is a mega-mudslide, a massive disaster," he added.
Heavier than normal rains blamed on the La Nina weather phenomenon have left at least 20 people dead and 14,000 families homeless in Bolivia since January.
Thanks to a swift evacuation, authorities said there were no immediate reports of casualties on Sunday.
But the destruction in the usually dry capital was staggering with some neighborhoods virtually wiped away. House after house -- many made of adobe and some of brick -- simply collapsed.
"We are talking about some 400 homes that are no longer there," said Edwin Herrera, a spokesman with the capital's mayor's office.
"It is one of the worst disasters this city has seen in terms of the number of houses affected. It is a mega-mudslide, a massive disaster," he added.
Heavier than normal rains blamed on the La Nina weather phenomenon have left at least 20 people dead and 14,000 families homeless in Bolivia since January.
Libya exodus 'emergency' as Asian workers land in Malta
AFP, VALLETTA: The UN refugee agency said a "humanitarian emergency" was underway as thousands fled Libya over the weekend in a mass exodus of foreigners from the strife-torn country by air, land and sea.
The agency said almost 100,000 migrant workers, mostly from Egypt and Tunisia, had fled Libya in the past week and many remained stranded at the Libya-Tunisia border as Libyan customs officers deserted their posts on Sunday.
"We call upon the international community to respond quickly and generously to enable these governments to cope with this humanitarian emergency," said Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Meanwhile two ferries docked late Sunday with some 300 people, including the ambassadors to Libya from Malta and Portugal, on the Mediterranean island of Malta. As the closest European Union member state located just 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Libya, it has become a key hub in the desperate scramble to get foreigners out of Libya.
Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said his island nation had received some 8,000 people since the Libyan crisis began and he feared there could be an even greater exodus.
"There could be an escalation," Gonzi said at a press conference late Sunday. "We have brought back from Libya more than 8,000 people representing 89 nationalities."
"If the situation continues to escalate, we'll need help from Europe and share the burden with our European partners," he said, adding that in his view the end was in sight.
"The leadership of (Moamer) Kadhafi needs to end and its end is inevitable," he said.
Earlier a ferry arrived in Malta loaded with some 1,800 Asian workers -- chartered by Brazilian energy infrastructure company Odebrecht -- included citizens of China, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam who will be flown back to their homelands from Malta.
Libya, one of Africa's biggest oil producers, had a huge multinational workforce before the current crisis including construction workers, oil industry workers and domestic helpers from Bangladesh, China, Egypt and the Philippines.
Some 4,600 people fleeing the violence in Libya, mostly Chinese nationals, arrived in the Greek ports of Piraeus and Heraklion on Sunday. Three Greek ferries have evacuated more than 7,000 foreign nationals from Libya.
Several hundred Vietnamese and Filipinos also made their escape by land to neighbouring Algeria, abandoning their construction jobs, along with 109 Libyans and three Belarussians, the Algerian news agency APS reported.
An Italian warship, the San Giorgio, meanwhile landed in Sicily loaded with 258 evacuees from around 20 countries including 121 Italians who were rescued from the Libyan port of Misurata in stormy weather conditions.
A ship chartered by Russian businesses operating in Libya, the Sveti Stefan II, arrived at the port of Ras Lanouf in central Libya to evacuate 1,126 people, as a Russian emergency situations ministry plane flew to Tripoli.
On Sunday three British military aircraft rescued a further 150 foreign nationals stranded at camps of remote oil installations in the Libyan desert, following a similar mission on Saturday.
One of the Royal Air Force C130 Hercules transport planes involved in Sunday's mission sustained damage "consistent with small arms fire," the Defence Ministry said.
"There were no injuries to passengers or crew and the aircraft returned safely to Malta," a ministry spokesman added.
A British warship, the HMS Cumberland, which set off again for Libya after bringing hundreds of evacuees to Malta, had picked up more people in Benghazi and was heading back to Malta, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said.
The first wave of those rescued on Saturday arrived at London's Gatwick airport from Malta on Sunday and expressed their gratitude to the British forces.
"They were magic people, perhaps the best in the world," Mike O'Donoghue, a 62-year-old oil worker, told the BBC. "We owe our lives to them perhaps.... When we got on the plane there were two locals attacking the tyres with machetes and the special forces told them to stop.
"Fortunately someone tackled them and brought these guys down but they were in a very difficult situation," he added.
Turkey's foreign ministry meanwhile said Sunday it had sent a military cargo plane to Libya to repatriate 125 nationals who were rescued after being held hostage in Tripoli.
The United Nations said more than 1,000 people had been killed in Libya as supporters of strongman Moamer Kadhafi crack down on protests.
Germany's weekly Bild am Sonntag said two Transall C-160 planes landed on an air strip in Nafurah in the desert and evacuated 133 people. But the German foreign ministry said dozens of Germans remained stranded in the desert.
The agency said almost 100,000 migrant workers, mostly from Egypt and Tunisia, had fled Libya in the past week and many remained stranded at the Libya-Tunisia border as Libyan customs officers deserted their posts on Sunday.
"We call upon the international community to respond quickly and generously to enable these governments to cope with this humanitarian emergency," said Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Meanwhile two ferries docked late Sunday with some 300 people, including the ambassadors to Libya from Malta and Portugal, on the Mediterranean island of Malta. As the closest European Union member state located just 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Libya, it has become a key hub in the desperate scramble to get foreigners out of Libya.
Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said his island nation had received some 8,000 people since the Libyan crisis began and he feared there could be an even greater exodus.
"There could be an escalation," Gonzi said at a press conference late Sunday. "We have brought back from Libya more than 8,000 people representing 89 nationalities."
"If the situation continues to escalate, we'll need help from Europe and share the burden with our European partners," he said, adding that in his view the end was in sight.
"The leadership of (Moamer) Kadhafi needs to end and its end is inevitable," he said.
Earlier a ferry arrived in Malta loaded with some 1,800 Asian workers -- chartered by Brazilian energy infrastructure company Odebrecht -- included citizens of China, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam who will be flown back to their homelands from Malta.
Libya, one of Africa's biggest oil producers, had a huge multinational workforce before the current crisis including construction workers, oil industry workers and domestic helpers from Bangladesh, China, Egypt and the Philippines.
Some 4,600 people fleeing the violence in Libya, mostly Chinese nationals, arrived in the Greek ports of Piraeus and Heraklion on Sunday. Three Greek ferries have evacuated more than 7,000 foreign nationals from Libya.
Several hundred Vietnamese and Filipinos also made their escape by land to neighbouring Algeria, abandoning their construction jobs, along with 109 Libyans and three Belarussians, the Algerian news agency APS reported.
An Italian warship, the San Giorgio, meanwhile landed in Sicily loaded with 258 evacuees from around 20 countries including 121 Italians who were rescued from the Libyan port of Misurata in stormy weather conditions.
A ship chartered by Russian businesses operating in Libya, the Sveti Stefan II, arrived at the port of Ras Lanouf in central Libya to evacuate 1,126 people, as a Russian emergency situations ministry plane flew to Tripoli.
On Sunday three British military aircraft rescued a further 150 foreign nationals stranded at camps of remote oil installations in the Libyan desert, following a similar mission on Saturday.
One of the Royal Air Force C130 Hercules transport planes involved in Sunday's mission sustained damage "consistent with small arms fire," the Defence Ministry said.
"There were no injuries to passengers or crew and the aircraft returned safely to Malta," a ministry spokesman added.
A British warship, the HMS Cumberland, which set off again for Libya after bringing hundreds of evacuees to Malta, had picked up more people in Benghazi and was heading back to Malta, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said.
The first wave of those rescued on Saturday arrived at London's Gatwick airport from Malta on Sunday and expressed their gratitude to the British forces.
"They were magic people, perhaps the best in the world," Mike O'Donoghue, a 62-year-old oil worker, told the BBC. "We owe our lives to them perhaps.... When we got on the plane there were two locals attacking the tyres with machetes and the special forces told them to stop.
"Fortunately someone tackled them and brought these guys down but they were in a very difficult situation," he added.
Turkey's foreign ministry meanwhile said Sunday it had sent a military cargo plane to Libya to repatriate 125 nationals who were rescued after being held hostage in Tripoli.
The United Nations said more than 1,000 people had been killed in Libya as supporters of strongman Moamer Kadhafi crack down on protests.
Germany's weekly Bild am Sonntag said two Transall C-160 planes landed on an air strip in Nafurah in the desert and evacuated 133 people. But the German foreign ministry said dozens of Germans remained stranded in the desert.
Vietnam matriarch, now 92, spread piano culture
AP, HANOI, Vietnam: Time was running out, and it wasn't safe to stay. Sixty upright pianos had to be moved from Hanoi's music conservatory to a village in the countryside where students could practice without the constant threat of American bombers.
The pianos were hauled by train to neighboring Bac Giang province, dragged another 8 miles (13 kilometers) on carts pulled by cattle and water buffalo, and finally hand-carried by villagers into flimsy huts with dirt floors. Thai Thi Lien, a founder of the music school and an accomplished Western-trained pianist, was charged with making sure the war and a lack of sheet music did not stop the best players from being sent abroad for advanced classical training.
Today, looking at a tattered black-and-white photo sitting atop the grand piano in her living room, the 92-year-old sees herself as a smiling young beauty surrounded by three grinning children. The image is a reminder of that hasty journey in 1965 to seek refuge during the Vietnam War.
Thanks in part to Madame Lien, as she's known, a lasting appreciation for classical music was woven into Vietnam's culture. So much so, that the country's first professional concert hall is now being built in honor of this music matriarch.
____
In the village with no running water or electricity, Vietnam's soggy air and pounding rains ate away at the pianos' wooden frames, while hungry rats burrowed inside, nibbling felt off the hammers for their nests. There weren't enough keyboards to go around, and students were forced to take turns practicing around the clock.
Dang Thai Son was just 7 years old at the time. Despite having Madame Lien as both his mother and teacher, he was forced to compete against all the much-older students for his chance to touch the keys just 30 minutes each day.
Some of the school's 400 students learning various instruments were taught in mud-wall bunkers, but there was no room underground for all the uprights. Pianists instead banged out Beethoven in the open until being forced to take cover when screaming air raid sirens warned of approaching American B-52 bombers. Some students, determined not to lose their precious turn, terrified villagers by refusing to stop playing despite the danger. The village, however, was never hit.
"It's dark, it's humid and it's dangerous. There's a lot of snakes and frogs and all kinds of insects," Son said, laughing at the memory. "When the parents weren't there, we would go out and just watch how they are fighting each other. Bravo!"
With his older sister already a skilled pianist and his brother playing cello, Son said his parents discouraged him from taking up an instrument at first, arguing that the family already had enough musicians. But the young boy was drawn to the keyboard and soon found that music flowed easily from somewhere deep inside.
He remembers his mother lovingly coaching him to play the romantic ballads of her favorite composer, Chopin. The emerald green rice fields, the moon and the jungle somehow touched him during those early years.
"Today, the relationship between professor and student can sometimes be a business relationship," Son said, perched next to his mom in Hanoi, where the family reunited this month for the Lunar New Year, or Tet. "But at that time in the village, it's like a big family and we shared everything — we shared the pain, we shared also the joy — and it's really such a human relationship that is quite different."
___
Madame Lien still looks more the part of a socialite than a jungle-dwelling nationalist. Even at 92, her eyebrows are carefully trimmed into tiny crescents, her nails manicured with a clear shellac and her short, thin hair dyed dark, with small pearls adorning her ears.
Her eyes snap as she speaks quickly in English laden with a French accent, complaining that her hearing isn't so great anymore. She laughs and apologizes for not being able to easily decipher an American accent, instead offering to speak in Vietnamese, Russian, Polish or even, perhaps, a little Czech.
She has lived a life of luxury. She began studying piano at age 4 as the daughter of Vietnam's first Western-trained engineer, a man who allowed his children to speak only French in the former southern city of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City. She rubbed shoulders with the likes of Pablo Picasso and other pro-Communist figures in Paris, and later became Vietnam's first woman to graduate with an overseas music degree from the Prague Conservatory, in what was then Czechoslovakia.
But she has also faced her share of hardships as a nationalist married to a revolutionary who fought alongside the country's founding president, Ho Chi Minh, to liberate Vietnam from French colonialism.
"My journey from Prague back to Vietnam was long and a very hard journey," she said, remembering how blisters bubbled all over her feet as she carried her 22-month-old daughter in 1951. "We had to walk with my baby 110 kilometers (68 miles) at night to the North Vietnamese government in the jungle where they were based. It took about three weeks."
She spent the next three months being fully indoctrinated at a re-education camp, the place where she first met Ho Chi Minh and Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the architect of Vietnam's military campaigns against the French and later the Americans. She later gave birth to a son while living in the bush, just six months after losing her husband to a bout with tuberculosis.
"It was very difficult," she said, her eyes staring at the floor of her upscale lakeside apartment. "I don't want to remember this time."
It was also the only period in her life when she was separated from the piano. She was forced to wait until 1954 before she could again find comfort playing Chopin. She was sent to Beijing to record revolutionary music, lullabies and folk songs to help motivate Ho Chi Minh's ragtag Communist army to keep fighting after it overtook the French at the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu, ultimately leading to Vietnam's independence.
"When I first saw a piano again, I was very happy," she said. "I played all night."
____
Madame Lien returned to Vietnam determined to start a proper music school in Hanoi. She married another revolutionary, who was also a passionate poet, and they had Son before enduring the start of another long war, this time with the Americans.
They moved the entire school to the countryside — including all the upright pianos — twice, after returning to Hanoi for a period when things seemed calmer. But that window was short-lived prior to the devastating Christmas bombings in December 1972 when American B-52s pounded the city over 12 days.
"We Vietnamese, we are not afraid to die," she said. "It is why we won the war."
In 1980, just five years after the Vietnam War ended with north and south reunified by the Communists, Madame Lien traveled to Warsaw alongside 22-year-old Son to translate for him during an international Chopin piano competition.
Son said it was remarkable that the regime ever allowed him to study in Moscow after being discovered in the village by a visiting Soviet piano teacher. After all, his father had switched loyalties during the war, becoming an anti-communist dissident unpopular with Hanoi's leaders.
But not even Vietnam's extreme distrust of the West could stop Son from becoming the first Asian to win the prestigious contest in Poland. The results were shocking to many at the time, but Son's career path was set. And his mother has remained by his side — the two have only been separated for a brief period.
Son, now 53, remains Vietnam's only international artist, performing concerts globally with world-renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma. He is now recognized as one of the world's great Chopin interpreters.
In Vietnam, Son is more like a rock star. Young people born a generation after the war know his face and his music. They approach him on the street and shake his hand or pose with him while friends snap photos on mobile phones.
Madame Lien remains in the background and laughs at the notion that she still teaches her youngest son.
"Oh no, now he's my master!" she says, giggling, as Son interrupts: "We play for each other!"
She spends about half the year in Montreal, Canada, where she lives with Son and can speak her native French. The rest of the time she's in Hanoi with her daughter, Tran Thu Ha, who graduated with a doctorate from Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and later took over as head of Vietnam's National Academy of Music.
Her other son, Tran Thanh Binh, the cellist who also lives in the capital, went on to become one of the country's most sought-after architects. He designed the new 800-seat concert hall in his mother's honor. It's expected to open sometime this fall.
The matriarch performed her last solo concert just five years ago — when she was 87 — inside Hanoi's elegant French colonial opera house. And her legacy lives on, with about 1,800 students now enrolled at the music school where some 200 lecturers teach.
Even today, as her tiny wrinkled fingers dance gracefully over the keys of the grand piano, the room is filled with the beautiful sound she's creating — her version of a Chopin etude, born from a long life touched by war and great peace.
And she's not finished yet. Her 6-year-old granddaughter is her newest student.
The pianos were hauled by train to neighboring Bac Giang province, dragged another 8 miles (13 kilometers) on carts pulled by cattle and water buffalo, and finally hand-carried by villagers into flimsy huts with dirt floors. Thai Thi Lien, a founder of the music school and an accomplished Western-trained pianist, was charged with making sure the war and a lack of sheet music did not stop the best players from being sent abroad for advanced classical training.
Today, looking at a tattered black-and-white photo sitting atop the grand piano in her living room, the 92-year-old sees herself as a smiling young beauty surrounded by three grinning children. The image is a reminder of that hasty journey in 1965 to seek refuge during the Vietnam War.
Thanks in part to Madame Lien, as she's known, a lasting appreciation for classical music was woven into Vietnam's culture. So much so, that the country's first professional concert hall is now being built in honor of this music matriarch.
____
In the village with no running water or electricity, Vietnam's soggy air and pounding rains ate away at the pianos' wooden frames, while hungry rats burrowed inside, nibbling felt off the hammers for their nests. There weren't enough keyboards to go around, and students were forced to take turns practicing around the clock.
Dang Thai Son was just 7 years old at the time. Despite having Madame Lien as both his mother and teacher, he was forced to compete against all the much-older students for his chance to touch the keys just 30 minutes each day.
Some of the school's 400 students learning various instruments were taught in mud-wall bunkers, but there was no room underground for all the uprights. Pianists instead banged out Beethoven in the open until being forced to take cover when screaming air raid sirens warned of approaching American B-52 bombers. Some students, determined not to lose their precious turn, terrified villagers by refusing to stop playing despite the danger. The village, however, was never hit.
"It's dark, it's humid and it's dangerous. There's a lot of snakes and frogs and all kinds of insects," Son said, laughing at the memory. "When the parents weren't there, we would go out and just watch how they are fighting each other. Bravo!"
With his older sister already a skilled pianist and his brother playing cello, Son said his parents discouraged him from taking up an instrument at first, arguing that the family already had enough musicians. But the young boy was drawn to the keyboard and soon found that music flowed easily from somewhere deep inside.
He remembers his mother lovingly coaching him to play the romantic ballads of her favorite composer, Chopin. The emerald green rice fields, the moon and the jungle somehow touched him during those early years.
"Today, the relationship between professor and student can sometimes be a business relationship," Son said, perched next to his mom in Hanoi, where the family reunited this month for the Lunar New Year, or Tet. "But at that time in the village, it's like a big family and we shared everything — we shared the pain, we shared also the joy — and it's really such a human relationship that is quite different."
___
Madame Lien still looks more the part of a socialite than a jungle-dwelling nationalist. Even at 92, her eyebrows are carefully trimmed into tiny crescents, her nails manicured with a clear shellac and her short, thin hair dyed dark, with small pearls adorning her ears.
Her eyes snap as she speaks quickly in English laden with a French accent, complaining that her hearing isn't so great anymore. She laughs and apologizes for not being able to easily decipher an American accent, instead offering to speak in Vietnamese, Russian, Polish or even, perhaps, a little Czech.
She has lived a life of luxury. She began studying piano at age 4 as the daughter of Vietnam's first Western-trained engineer, a man who allowed his children to speak only French in the former southern city of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City. She rubbed shoulders with the likes of Pablo Picasso and other pro-Communist figures in Paris, and later became Vietnam's first woman to graduate with an overseas music degree from the Prague Conservatory, in what was then Czechoslovakia.
But she has also faced her share of hardships as a nationalist married to a revolutionary who fought alongside the country's founding president, Ho Chi Minh, to liberate Vietnam from French colonialism.
"My journey from Prague back to Vietnam was long and a very hard journey," she said, remembering how blisters bubbled all over her feet as she carried her 22-month-old daughter in 1951. "We had to walk with my baby 110 kilometers (68 miles) at night to the North Vietnamese government in the jungle where they were based. It took about three weeks."
She spent the next three months being fully indoctrinated at a re-education camp, the place where she first met Ho Chi Minh and Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the architect of Vietnam's military campaigns against the French and later the Americans. She later gave birth to a son while living in the bush, just six months after losing her husband to a bout with tuberculosis.
"It was very difficult," she said, her eyes staring at the floor of her upscale lakeside apartment. "I don't want to remember this time."
It was also the only period in her life when she was separated from the piano. She was forced to wait until 1954 before she could again find comfort playing Chopin. She was sent to Beijing to record revolutionary music, lullabies and folk songs to help motivate Ho Chi Minh's ragtag Communist army to keep fighting after it overtook the French at the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu, ultimately leading to Vietnam's independence.
"When I first saw a piano again, I was very happy," she said. "I played all night."
____
Madame Lien returned to Vietnam determined to start a proper music school in Hanoi. She married another revolutionary, who was also a passionate poet, and they had Son before enduring the start of another long war, this time with the Americans.
They moved the entire school to the countryside — including all the upright pianos — twice, after returning to Hanoi for a period when things seemed calmer. But that window was short-lived prior to the devastating Christmas bombings in December 1972 when American B-52s pounded the city over 12 days.
"We Vietnamese, we are not afraid to die," she said. "It is why we won the war."
In 1980, just five years after the Vietnam War ended with north and south reunified by the Communists, Madame Lien traveled to Warsaw alongside 22-year-old Son to translate for him during an international Chopin piano competition.
Son said it was remarkable that the regime ever allowed him to study in Moscow after being discovered in the village by a visiting Soviet piano teacher. After all, his father had switched loyalties during the war, becoming an anti-communist dissident unpopular with Hanoi's leaders.
But not even Vietnam's extreme distrust of the West could stop Son from becoming the first Asian to win the prestigious contest in Poland. The results were shocking to many at the time, but Son's career path was set. And his mother has remained by his side — the two have only been separated for a brief period.
Son, now 53, remains Vietnam's only international artist, performing concerts globally with world-renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma. He is now recognized as one of the world's great Chopin interpreters.
In Vietnam, Son is more like a rock star. Young people born a generation after the war know his face and his music. They approach him on the street and shake his hand or pose with him while friends snap photos on mobile phones.
Madame Lien remains in the background and laughs at the notion that she still teaches her youngest son.
"Oh no, now he's my master!" she says, giggling, as Son interrupts: "We play for each other!"
She spends about half the year in Montreal, Canada, where she lives with Son and can speak her native French. The rest of the time she's in Hanoi with her daughter, Tran Thu Ha, who graduated with a doctorate from Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and later took over as head of Vietnam's National Academy of Music.
Her other son, Tran Thanh Binh, the cellist who also lives in the capital, went on to become one of the country's most sought-after architects. He designed the new 800-seat concert hall in his mother's honor. It's expected to open sometime this fall.
The matriarch performed her last solo concert just five years ago — when she was 87 — inside Hanoi's elegant French colonial opera house. And her legacy lives on, with about 1,800 students now enrolled at the music school where some 200 lecturers teach.
Even today, as her tiny wrinkled fingers dance gracefully over the keys of the grand piano, the room is filled with the beautiful sound she's creating — her version of a Chopin etude, born from a long life touched by war and great peace.
And she's not finished yet. Her 6-year-old granddaughter is her newest student.
Singer Shakira: Latinos in US will have 'justice'
AP, CAMBRIDGE, Mass: Colombian singer Shakira was honored Saturday by Harvard University for her artistic and humanitarian work. She later said some U.S. states' proposed anti-immigrant legislation goes against her foundation's efforts to provide education to poor people around the world.
The Grammy Award-winning singer, however, said Latino immigrants in the U.S. facing various anti-immigrant bills will have "justice" as public awareness about their plight grows.
"Justice will come. I'm sure," Shakira told The Associated Press after the award ceremony. "Wherever there is ... a kid, who could be the son or the daughter of a Latino immigrant, who cannot attend a school in the United States of America, that kid should be a concern to all of us and our responsibility."
Shakira made the comments in an interview when asked about proposed measures in Arizona and elsewhere targeting illegal immigrants. A bill in Arizona, for example, would bar illegal immigrants from attending public schools, living in public housing or driving. Another bill seeks to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents are illegal immigrants.
"I believe we should never think less of the Latino community because it's a productive force in this country," Shakira told the AP.
The singer, born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, was awarded the "2011 Artist of the Year" from the Harvard Foundation, the university's center for intercultural arts and science initiatives.
Foundation director S. Allen Counter said Shakira, who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, was honored for her "distinguished history of creativity," as well as for her charitable contributions.
Previous winners of the Harvard award include Sharon Stone, Will Smith, Jackie Chan and Herbie Hancock.
Shakira said she was humbled by the award and the student performances at the ceremony. "As I entered the premises today, I had to call my mom and say, 'Hey mom. Guess what? I got into Harvard'," said Shakira, who took a history class in 2008 at UCLA.
After accepting the award, she challenged Harvard students to do more to improve education in developing countries. "Not everyone can study at Harvard University," she said. "But everyone, wherever they live, whatever their background, deserves a chance to make the most of his or her potential" through education.
She said that applied to poor children in Bangladesh or immigrants in the United States. "And as a child of the developing world, it is my duty to use this voice in every way I can to promote the message about the power of education to change lives," she said.
Shakira founded the Barefoot Foundation at the age of 18 to provide education and nutrition to children in impoverished areas of Colombia. She also is a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador.
Howard Buffett, 56, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett and board member of the Barefoot Foundation, said he and Shakira have plans to work on educational projects in parts of the world ravaged by war and natural disasters.
"I think she brings credibility, particularly because of her background," Buffett said. "She's pretty focused on education."
The Grammy Award-winning singer, however, said Latino immigrants in the U.S. facing various anti-immigrant bills will have "justice" as public awareness about their plight grows.
"Justice will come. I'm sure," Shakira told The Associated Press after the award ceremony. "Wherever there is ... a kid, who could be the son or the daughter of a Latino immigrant, who cannot attend a school in the United States of America, that kid should be a concern to all of us and our responsibility."
Shakira made the comments in an interview when asked about proposed measures in Arizona and elsewhere targeting illegal immigrants. A bill in Arizona, for example, would bar illegal immigrants from attending public schools, living in public housing or driving. Another bill seeks to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents are illegal immigrants.
"I believe we should never think less of the Latino community because it's a productive force in this country," Shakira told the AP.
The singer, born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, was awarded the "2011 Artist of the Year" from the Harvard Foundation, the university's center for intercultural arts and science initiatives.
Foundation director S. Allen Counter said Shakira, who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, was honored for her "distinguished history of creativity," as well as for her charitable contributions.
Previous winners of the Harvard award include Sharon Stone, Will Smith, Jackie Chan and Herbie Hancock.
Shakira said she was humbled by the award and the student performances at the ceremony. "As I entered the premises today, I had to call my mom and say, 'Hey mom. Guess what? I got into Harvard'," said Shakira, who took a history class in 2008 at UCLA.
After accepting the award, she challenged Harvard students to do more to improve education in developing countries. "Not everyone can study at Harvard University," she said. "But everyone, wherever they live, whatever their background, deserves a chance to make the most of his or her potential" through education.
She said that applied to poor children in Bangladesh or immigrants in the United States. "And as a child of the developing world, it is my duty to use this voice in every way I can to promote the message about the power of education to change lives," she said.
Shakira founded the Barefoot Foundation at the age of 18 to provide education and nutrition to children in impoverished areas of Colombia. She also is a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador.
Howard Buffett, 56, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett and board member of the Barefoot Foundation, said he and Shakira have plans to work on educational projects in parts of the world ravaged by war and natural disasters.
"I think she brings credibility, particularly because of her background," Buffett said. "She's pretty focused on education."
`Chilli' ponders fertile question in season finale
AP, LOS ANGELES: Chilli explores fertile territory on the finale of her reality show, "What Chilli Wants," deciding whether to freeze her eggs for the chance at future motherhood.
"What Chilli Wants," which wraps its second season on VH1, followed the Grammy-winning TLC singer's effort to find Mr. Right. But if she doesn't find him right now, she may in the future, leading her to ponder preserving the option of a child as she turns 40.
Her birthday is Sunday, the night the finale airs. Chilli, who has one son, said she's glad to have the chance to "educate women on their options when it comes to having children."
The prospective romances in Chilli's life this season included boxer Floyd Mayweather, race car driver Raphael Matos and model Lasse Larson.
"What Chilli Wants," which wraps its second season on VH1, followed the Grammy-winning TLC singer's effort to find Mr. Right. But if she doesn't find him right now, she may in the future, leading her to ponder preserving the option of a child as she turns 40.
Her birthday is Sunday, the night the finale airs. Chilli, who has one son, said she's glad to have the chance to "educate women on their options when it comes to having children."
The prospective romances in Chilli's life this season included boxer Floyd Mayweather, race car driver Raphael Matos and model Lasse Larson.
Rapper Juvenile posts bond after drug arrest
AP, STERLINGTON, La: New Orleans rapper Juvenile was arrested on a drug charge and released from a northern Louisiana jail after posting bond, police said Sunday.
Sterlington Police Sgt. Jacob Greer said that Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, was charged with simple possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license.
Greer said he pulled over Gray's car about 10:55 p.m. Saturday after clocking it at 75 mph in a 65 mph zone and for passing in the right lane, which is illegal in Louisiana. He was released a short time later after posting a $750 cash bond.
Greer said after he stopped the 35-year-old rapper, he smelled marijuana and Gray handed over small bag of it when asked.
Greer said the suspended license appeared when police checked his name with law enforcement records. Both charges are misdemeanors.
"He was very courteous and respectful as he could be. He asked me if I recognized him, and I said `No. Now if you were George Strait I'll probably have recognized you,'" Greer said.
There was no phone listing for Gray in New Orleans. Greer said he did not know whether Gray had an attorney.
The rapper has an April 1 court date in Sterlington, located north of Monroe in northern Louisiana.
Juvenile, best known for the song "Back That Thing Up," has been arrested at least five times on charges ranging from failure to pay child support to resisting an officer at a Florida mall in 1999. Most of the charges have been dismissed. In 2003, he was sentenced to community service for hitting a man on the head with a champagne bottle.
In August 2010, he pleaded guilty in Saint Bernard Parish to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. He received a suspended sentence of three months in jail and was given six months probation and paid a $250 fine and court costs.
Sterlington Police Sgt. Jacob Greer said that Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, was charged with simple possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license.
Greer said he pulled over Gray's car about 10:55 p.m. Saturday after clocking it at 75 mph in a 65 mph zone and for passing in the right lane, which is illegal in Louisiana. He was released a short time later after posting a $750 cash bond.
Greer said after he stopped the 35-year-old rapper, he smelled marijuana and Gray handed over small bag of it when asked.
Greer said the suspended license appeared when police checked his name with law enforcement records. Both charges are misdemeanors.
"He was very courteous and respectful as he could be. He asked me if I recognized him, and I said `No. Now if you were George Strait I'll probably have recognized you,'" Greer said.
There was no phone listing for Gray in New Orleans. Greer said he did not know whether Gray had an attorney.
The rapper has an April 1 court date in Sterlington, located north of Monroe in northern Louisiana.
Juvenile, best known for the song "Back That Thing Up," has been arrested at least five times on charges ranging from failure to pay child support to resisting an officer at a Florida mall in 1999. Most of the charges have been dismissed. In 2003, he was sentenced to community service for hitting a man on the head with a champagne bottle.
In August 2010, he pleaded guilty in Saint Bernard Parish to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. He received a suspended sentence of three months in jail and was given six months probation and paid a $250 fine and court costs.
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