CAMBODIA, THAILAND FACING SERIOUS DIPLOMATIC PROBLEM
former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia has expelled a Thai diplomat and Thailand has responded in kind as the two nations carry on a dispute over Thailand's fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Source: AP
- Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong says the first secretary of the Thai Embassy was given 48 hours to leave the country Thursday for carrying out activities inconsistent with his official duties. He refused to say what he had done wrong.
- He says Thailand responded by ordering out the first secretary of Cambodia's mission in Bangkok.
- Thaksin last week was named an adviser to Cambodia's government on economic affairs, causing Thailand to recall its ambassador, with Cambodia following suit. Thaksin is now visiting Cambodia.
40,000 SACKED MEXICAN WORKERS TAKEN IT TO THE STREET
Thousands of sacked workers have taken to the streets of Mexico City to demand their jobs back.
More than 40,000 employees were fired in October when the government closed a regional electricity firm.
Some critics claim it was an attempt by Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, to limit the workers unions. But he says the company was inefficient.
More than 40,000 employees were fired in October when the government closed a regional electricity firm.
Some critics claim it was an attempt by Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, to limit the workers unions. But he says the company was inefficient.
Source: The Agencies
ISRAEL IS COMMITING WAR CRIME IN GAZA, SAY RETIRED JUDGE GOLDSTONE
Retired South African Judge Richard Goldstone
A recent report released by a UN fact-finding team headed by South African Judge Richard Goldstone stated that Israel had committed war crimes during last December's war in the Gaza Strip.
On the same token, the United Nations' top human rights official has called for taking punitive measures against Israel over committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Press TV
On the same token, the United Nations' top human rights official has called for taking punitive measures against Israel over committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.- High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the Security Council on Wednesday that Israel was responsible for the killing of more than 1,000 civilians in Gaza and attacks on schools, mosques and UN facilities, Ynet reported.
- She has also criticized the regime's confiscation of Palestinian lands and the forceful evacuation of Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem (Al-Quds).
- The report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force and failed to protect civilians during its December 27 to January 18 offensive in Gaza.
WAR OF MILK IN EUROPE
The severed heads of cows lie in front of the agriculture ministry building in Budapest as Hungarian dairy farmers protest against low dairy prices and cheap imports from other European Union countries.
Source: Press TV
Source: Press TV
U.S SECURITY FIRM BLACKWATER AIMED TO BRIBE IRAQI OFFICIALS
WASHINGTON - Executives at US security firm Blackwater approved secret payments of about one million dollars to Iraqi officials to "silence their criticism" after company guards killed 17 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, the New York Times said Tuesday.
Source:Middle East Online
- Citing interviews with four unnamed former Blackwater executives, the Times said the company's president at the time, Gary Jackson, approved the bribes.
- Money was sent from neighboring Jordan to their top company manager in Baghdad, but executives cited by the newspaper said they did not know if the funds were actually delivered.
- One of the sources told the Times that officials at the Interior Ministry, where decisions over company operating licenses are made, were the intended recipients of the payments, which were aimed at quelling criticism and eliciting support.
- The US State Department refused to renew annual contracts for Blackwater earlier this year after Iraq's government banned it in January over the killings in Baghdad's Nisur Square on September 16, 2007.
- An Iraqi investigation found that 17 civilians died and 20 were wounded when Blackwater guards opened fire with automatic weapons while escorting an American diplomatic convoy through the square.
- US prosecutors say 14 civilians were killed in the incident. Five former Blackwater guards pleaded not guilty at a federal court in Washington in January to manslaughter charges.
- Blackwater chairman and founder Erik Prince - a devout Christian - did not dispute the existence of a bribery plan when he was confronted by Blackwater's vice chairman at the time, Cofer Black, according to an executive familiar with their discussions on the matter, the Times said.
- A spokeswoman for Blackwater, which renamed itself Xe after the Iraq government banned it, dismissed allegations of a bribery plot as "baseless."
- To replace Blackwater, the US State Department on March 31 awarded Virginia-based Triple Canopy a contract reportedly worth nearly a billion dollars to take over protection of US government personnel in Iraq.
- The 2007 shooting focused a spotlight on the shadowy and highly lucrative operations of private security operations. Blackwater personnel were reported to earn as much as 1,000 dollars a day each in Iraq.
- Foreign security teams in Iraq have long operated in a legal grey area, but under a military accord signed with Washington last November, Baghdad won the right to lift the immunity to prosecution previously extended to US security contractors.
- A report in the New York Times in April said that many of Triple Canopy company's guards were likely to be former Blackwater employees.
- The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is viewed by critics as an 'act of aggression' that violated international law.
- Subsequent US occupation policies caused the country to descend into almost total chaos, bordering on civil war.
- An estimated 1.3 million Iraqis have been killed in Iraq as a direct result of the invasion, while millions more have fled the country.
- Critics argue that the recent stability announced in the country should not excuse the 'crime' of invading Iraq, calling for the prosecution of the war's architects for 'crimes against humanity'.
TALIBAN PROMISES MORE-LIKE FORT HOOD MASSACRE
Fort Hood, (Texas, US) - The Taliban has claimed there would be more attacks like the Fort Hood shootings unless Washington ends its policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a report.
Source: ANI
- It also described the US army psychiatrist who carried out the massacre in Texas as a "hero".
- The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, said it had picked up a Taliban message praising the attack.
- According to The Telegraph, the message said: "The recent attack on the military base in Texas warns that if the occupation policy of the American rulers continues in this way, without them folding the carpets of occupation and transgression in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is natural then that incidents and attacks similar to Texas will spread to the Pentagon and other American military centres."
- A Muslim psychiatrist and a major in the American army, Nidal Malik Hasan, killed 13 people and wounded 29 in the attack last Thursday at America's largest military base. He was due to be deployed to Afghanistan later this month.
- Law enforcement agencies have said he acted alone and was not directed by al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
- Hasan has emerged from a coma after being shot four times by two civilian police officers. He has invoked his right to a lawyer and investigators are still waiting to interview him.
WIDESPREAD BLACKOUT DARKENS BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil emerged early Wednesday from a widespread power outage that plunged its major cities into darkness for hours, prompting concern from residents about another black eye for a country hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
Source: AP
- Power went out for more than two hours late Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and several other major cities, affecting millions of people, after transmission problems knocked one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams offline. Airport operations were hindered and subways ground to a halt.
- All of neighboring Paraguay was plunged into the dark, but for less than a half hour.
- Lights twinkled back on along Rio's famed Copacabana beach, in South America's largest city of Sao Paulo and in Paraguay's sleepy capital of Asuncion, but questions remained about what happened and what the fallout would be in Brazil, a nation seen as an ascending economic and political power in the region.
- "The image of Brazil, of Rio, is bad enough with all the violence," said 35-year-old graphic designer Paulo Viera, as he sat in a restaurant a block from the sandy arc of Copacabana.
- Drinking quickly warming beer, he said he worried about how the outage might look for a city that last month was picked to host the 2016 Olympics and will be the showcase city for soccer's World Cup in 2014. "We don't need this to happen. I don't know how it could get worse."
- The blackout comes on the heels of a wave of gang fighting in Rio's favelas that led to violence fears for the Olympics.
- "It's sad to see such a beautiful city with such a precarious infrastructure," said 22-year-old law student Igor Fernandes. "This shouldn't happen in a city that is going to host the Olympic Games."
- The outage occurred when the huge Itaipu dam straddling the two nations' border stopped producing 17,000 megawatts of power, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said. He said outages hit nine of the 27 states in this country of more than 190 million people. No power outages happened in Brasilia, the national capital.
- The cause of the failure had not been determined, but Lobao said strong storms uprooted trees near the Itaipu dam just before it went offline and could be to blame.
- Lobao said the hydro plant at the dam itself was working, but there were problems with the power lines that carry electricity across Brazil. Brazil uses almost all the energy produced by the dam, and Paraguay consumes the rest.
- In Paraguay, the national energy agency blamed the blackout on a short-circuit at an electrical station near Sao Paulo, saying that failure shut down the entire power grid supplied by Itaipu. All of Paraguay went dark for about 20 minutes, the country's leading newspaper, ABC Color, reported.
- The agency in charge of the dam, Itaipu Binacional, said the blackout did not start at the hydroelectric complex. It said the most likely cause was a failure at one or more points in the transmission system.
- The blackouts came two days after CBS's "60 Minutes" news program reported that several past Brazilian power outages were caused by computer hackers. Brazilian officials had played down the report before the latest outages, and Lobao did not mention it.
- Brazil's official Agencia Brasil news agency said Tuesday's outage started about 10:20 p.m. (1220 GMT), snarling streets in Rio, where traffic that is normally chaotic turned riotous.
- Cars, taxis and buses sped through dark intersections, honking to make their presence known as they zoomed through. Pedestrians scampered across avenues, and tourists scurried back to a handful of luxury beach hotels, the only buildings with light.
- The Itaipu dam is the world's second biggest hydroelectric producer, supplying 20 percent of Brazil's electricity. China's Three Gorges dam is the largest.
SOMALI PIRATES ATTACKED AN OIL TANKER WITH AUTOMATIC WEAPONS
Two, blue overalls, of the seven suspected Somali pirates are guarded by Kenyan security officers
NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates attacked an oil tanker and fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades Monday farther out at sea than any previous assault, suggesting that pirate capabilities are growing as they increase activity off East Africa.
Source: AP
- Pirates in two skiffs fired at the Hong Kong-flagged BW Lion about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of the Somali coast, the European Union Naval Force said.
- The tanker's captain increased speed and took evasive maneuvers, avoiding the attack, the force said. No casualties were reported. The naval force sent a plane from the Seychelles islands to investigate.
- Pirates have launched increasingly bold attacks against vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in hopes of capturing a ship and crew and collecting ransom. They currently hold more than 190 hostages, including a British couple seized from their personal yacht late last month.
- The high-seas hijackings have increased after the recent end of the monsoon season despite an international armada of warships deployed by the United States, the European Union, NATO, Japan, South Korea and China to patrol the region. U.S. drones launched from nearby Seychelles are also patrolling for pirates.
- Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU's anti-piracy force, said it wasn't immediately known whether the two skiffs Monday had launched attacks from a larger mothership. He said the work by international navies had pushed pirates out to sea.
3 AMERICANS DETAINED ACCUSES OF ESPIONAGE IN IRAN
- TEHRAN, Iran – Iran accused three detained Americans of spying Monday, signaling Tehran intends to put them on trial. It drew a sharp U.S. response that the charges are baseless because the hikers strayed across the border from Iraq.
- The announcement comes as Washington and Tehran are deadlocked in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, raising concern that the three could be used as bargaining chips in the talks or to seek the return of Iranians they say are missing.
- Relatives and the U.S government say the three were innocent tourists on an adventure hike in northern Iraq and accidentally crossed into Iran where they were arrested on July 31.
- The Americans — Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27 — have been held in Iran's Evin prison, where Swiss diplomats have visited them twice and said they are healthy.
- The three graduates of the University of California at Berkeley had been trekking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, their relatives say.
- Commenting on the case, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. of jailing innocent Iranians and pointed to two of his countrymen — a nuclear scientist and a top defense official — who disappeared in recent years. Tehran accuses the U.S. of kidnapping them. The U.S. has refused comment on the two, and there has been speculation they defected to the West.
- Ahmadinejad, asked about the spying accusations against the Americans, told reporters in Istanbul, Turkey, said he had no opinion about the case.
- "It must be judged by the judiciary, whether they are spies or not," he said. "There are some Iranians who have spent many years in prison without doing anything wrong, in American prisons."
- He said the Americans had crossed the border illegally and Iran has a right to punish them.
MAN STABS WIFE TO DEATH FOR DIVORCING HIM
ALOR SETAR, Malaysia - An elderly man stabbed his wife of one year to death after failing to persuade her to stay married to him.
Source:mStar
- "If we cannot be together, then we should die together,” the 80-year-old man was heard saying to his 73-year-old wife before taking out a knife from his sarong and stabbing her in Kampung Kuala Sungai in Kubang Rotan here.
- The incident occurred at about 1pm Monday when the man was about to leave the house after spending an hour persuading his wife to remain married to him.
- The woman was sitting on a chair outside the front door while her 30-year-old son was sitting nearby.
- The husband suddenly took out the knife from the folds of his sarong and stabbed her in the stomach.
- It is learn that she ran when her husband tried to attack her again. Her son managed to grab the 17.7cm-long knife from him.
- The husband tried to escape but was caught by villagers and handed over to the police. The woman died on the spot.
- The woman's uncle said the couple got married last year but was living separately since two months ago after she asked the man to divorce her. He said their case was pending at the Syariah Court.
- “The man is staying in Kuala Kedah and he came to my niece’s house on Sunday to persuade her to remain married to him.
- “I do not know the details of their marital problem but my niece has been married several times before," the uncle said.
- A neighbour, who declined to be named, said the victim, a mother of four, had been staying at the house for over 30 years. He described her as a pleasant woman.
- “There was no commotion. So I was shocked when I saw her lying on the ground outside her house with her baju kurung soaked in blood," he said.
- Kota Setar OCPD Asst Comm Abdul Ghafar Rajab said the case was being investigated for murder.
BRAZIL STUDENT EXPELED FOR WEARING MINI-SKIRT
SAO PAULO – A Brazilian university has expelled a woman who was heckled by hundreds of fellow students for wearing a mini skirt, pink colour to class publicly accusing her Sunday of immorality.
Source: AP
- The private Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, said 20-year-old Geisy Arruda disrespected "ethical principles, academic dignity and morality."
- Bandeirante University published newspaper advertisements Sunday accusing Arruda of attending class with "inadequate clothing" and having a provocative attitude that was "incompatible with the university environment."
- Arruda made headlines after the Oct. 22 incident, in which she had to be escorted away by police after wearing the mini-skirt to class. She put on a professor's white coat and left amid a hail of insults and curses.
- In the ad, titled "Educational Responsibility," the college said it had warned Arruda to change her behavior and decided to expel her after talking to students, staff and Arruda herself. It accused her of posing for pictures and provoking other students.
- The university said it was also temporarily suspending some of the students who were seen heckling Arruda in a video of the incident that made the rounds on Youtube. It did not say how many were being suspended or how long they would be kept from attending classes.
- Brazil's national student union released a statement on Sunday saying it was against the university's decision to expel Arruda, and Brazil's top official for women's policy, Nilcea Freire, told the official Agencia Brasil news service that the decision showed "intolerance and discrimination."
- Although Brazil is known for its skimpy attire, especially in beach cities, most college students dress more modestly on campus, commonly in jeans and T-shirts. Some students had complained that Arruda seemed out of place in her revealing clothes, Brazilian media reported.
HURRICANE IDA LEAVES 124 DEAD 60 MISSING IN EL SALVADOR
At least 124 people have been killed and 60 missing in El Salvador following three days of torrential rains caused by Hurricane Ida, government officials said.
Source: The Agencies
- The downpours caused flooding and landslides which cut off several areas in the small Central American country.
- Humberto Centeno, the country's interior minister, said on Sunday that at least 60 people were still missing and thousands of people were living in temporary shelters.
- The capital, San Salvador, and central San Vicente province were hardest-hit by the rains, which forecasters said may have been made worse by a separate low pressure system .
- News of the deaths came as the storm gathered strength off the coast of the Mexican resort city of Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula on Sunday.
'MADE IN CHINA' NOW MADE IN EGYPT
The Chinese-owned Nile Textile Group has set up shop in the Port Said free zone, overlooking the north entrance of the Suez Canal, and developed an industrial estate now hiring 600 workers, 20 percent of which are Chinese and the rest Egyptian.
Source: Middle East News
- With cheap labour, investment incentives and unrestricted exports, one Chinese textile group has turned to Egypt as an ideal location to produce its ready-made garments, beating stiff competition at home.
- Cheap raw materials and favourable export conditions have given the company easy access to foreign markets.
- It's a bargain for the Nile Textile Group, which imports 60 percent of its basic products tax free and then sends them outside Egypt, mainly to the United States.
- Most of their cut-price clothes are now labelled "Made in Egypt" rather than "Made in China".
- "Egyptian free zones allow for export all over the world with almost no restrictions," said Mohammed Abdel Samie, the industrial estate's administrative director.
- Local salaries are low enough to compete with those of Chinese workers, even with a system of bonuses offered to the Egyptian workers at the end of each month.
- "In the factories where salaries are fixed, we earn a maximum of 700 to 800 Egyptian pounds (around 130 to 150 dollars) a month. In this company, it works out better for us," said factory manager Mansur al-Said.
- In the neon-lit factories, Egyptian workers in headscarves work side by side with Chinese technicians in white blouses to the thumping sounds of the sewing machines.
- Instructions are posted in Arabic and in Chinese.
- As for the daily communication between colleagues, a little extra work was required.
- Around 950 Chinese companies have set up operations in Egyptian free zones, representing a total investment of nearly 300 million dollars.
AUSTRALIA DECLARED A NATURAL DISASTER ALONG COUNTRY'S EAST COAST
SYDNEY – Australian authorities declared a natural disaster along parts of the country's east coast as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding thousands of people.
Source: AFP
- Torrential rain soaked the Coffs Harbour region north of Sydney overnight, swamping the arterial Pacific Highway with flash floodwaters that isolated almost 5,000 people, emergency officials said on Saturday.
- About 40 people had to be evacuated from the area hit by the raging floods and New South Wales emergency services minister Steve Whan declared a natural disaster, releasing state funds.
- More than 500 millimetres (20 inches) of rain had fallen in the past two days, Whan said, in the fifth major flooding incident to hit the region this year.
- "I guess one of the things we've seen predicted from climate change consistently is that the rain and the weather events will come in more storms and more short-term deluges," he said.
- "Unfortunately that's the pattern that we seem to be seeing this year in the area."
- Floodwaters were expected to peak at five metres (yards) at Coffs Harbour on Saturday afternoon before easing, the State Emergency Service said, describing as "drastic" the cumulative effect of recent downpours.
- "Weather conditions have eased considerably over the last few hours. However, we still have some 4,800 people isolated by floodwaters in a number of north-coast communities," said SES spokesman Phil Campbell.
- Intense storms hit the east coast late last month, generating more than 10,000 lightning strikes and disrupting train and flight services.
- Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were blacked out and a man was killed when his car hit a tree in torrential rains.
PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR AFGHAN SUPPORT FADING
LONDON – Public support for the war in Afghanistan is falling, while more than 40 percent do not understand why British troops are fighting there, a poll released on Remembrance Sunday showed.
Source: AFP
- Some 64 percent agreed that "the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable", up six percent from July, while 27 percent disagreed, down four percent. Ten percent said they did not know.
- Similar numbers said British forces should be withdrawn as quickly as possible, with 63 percent agreeing and 31 percent disagreeing.
- Some 54 percent felt they had "a good understanding of the purpose of Britain's mission in Afghanistan", with 42 percent disagreeing.
- "Overall there is the sense that Afghanistan is becoming for (British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown what Iraq became for (his predecessor) Tony Blair," said Andrew Hawkins, chief executive of pollsters ComRes.
- "More than four in 10 don't understand Britain's mission; support for the British presence there is ebbing away, and a majority have responded to the presidential election very negatively indeed.
- "The results suggest that the impact of the war must be having an impact on Labour support, since it is that party's core supporters who are most strongly opposed to it."
- Meanwhile 52 percent agreed that "the levels of corruption involved in the recent presidential election show the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting for." Thirty-six percent disagreed.
- "This is potentially devastating for the government's case for war," said Hawkins.
- ComRes surveyed 1,009 adults of different ages and social classes across Britain for BBC television's "The Politics Show".
ACTRESS MANISHA SET TO JOIN NEPALESE POLITICS
Actress, Manisha Koirala, has made a high-profile visit to the memorial of her grandfather, B.P. Koirala, the first elected Prime Minister of Nepal, fuelling speculation that the Nepali beauty was set to join politics.
- It is still not clear whether she will contest elections as an Independent candidate or join the Nepali Congress which senior members of her family have been involved with, but the actress is serious about an alternate career.
- “I will join politics,” says the actress who is flying to Los Angeles on November 5 for a work assignment. Manisha, who has steered clear of Nepal politics so far, says that her recent trip to Kathmandu has given her some fresh insights into the socio-political scene.
- “I have a couple of films to complete in Mumbai,” she admits.
- But she has spent almost four months this year in the US and seriously wants to move home base from Mumbai to Los Angeles. “It is too early to say anything about the work I am planning in LA,” says Manisha. “But I have made some good contacts in the movie business. I want to make LA my base as far as films go.”
- The actress says that since her parents are now in Kathmandu, she doesn’t want to live alone in her huge duplex. “It makes little sense to run this place for one person... and it is also getting a bit lonely,” she admits.
- Her brother Siddharth and his family have their own apartment in Mumbai. So the next step for her is to commute between Los Angeles and Kathmandu. “My political plans are in the formative stage,” she says. “However, I do realise that if I’m to take the plunge; which I have decided, I will then I need to spend a lot of time in my home country.”
- While the actress wishes to continue to dabble in movies in some form or the other (be it acting or producing) she also wants to make her foray into politics.
- Manisha will return to India in the third week of November because she is likely to be conferred with a political honour in Kanpur/Delhi around that time.
SAUDI AIR FORCE HITS YEMENI REBELS
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has carried out air Strikes against “infiltrators” from Yemen and that the strikes were limited to areas inside Saudi territory.
Source: World News
- The official Saudi Press Agency said in a statement early Friday that its military “silenced the origin of the infiltrators’ fire” and carried out concentrated air strikes against them within Saudi borders.
- It says the kingdom has tightened control over the areas where the infiltrators had tried to establish a presence. The statement did not identify the infiltrators.
- But Arab diplomats have said the Saudi strikes this week targeted Yemen’s Shiite rebel stronghold across the Saudi border. The rebels have been battling Yemeni government forces for the past few months.
- Saudi planes bombed Yemeni rebel targets on Thursday after insurgents launched a cross-border raid that killed at least one Saudi security officer, officials said. A Saudi government adviser said the air force had been in action since late Wednesday and had struck positions well inside Yemen. He said Saudi troops were moving towards the border.
- However, a Yemeni defense official denied the Saudis had hit targets on Yemeni soil, while officials in Riyadh only confirmed air raids on a Saudi border area briefly seized by rebels.
WAR WEARY U.S ARMY MAJOR KILL 13, WOUNDED 30
A US army major, assigned to be deployed overseas, has killed 13 people and wounded 30 others at the Fort Hood Army post, the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the US.
Source:Press TV
- The serviceman was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old from Virginia.
- Hassan, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive and in stable condition under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood.
- Earlier, Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot four times and was in critical condition.
- As a military psychiatrist, Hasan was due to be sent on a mission to Iraq, his cousin Nader Hasan told Fox News.
- The major had been resisting such a deployment, Nader added.
- "He hired a military attorney to try to have the issue resolved, pay back the government, to get out of the military. He was at the end of trying everything," said Nader.
