SOLYMONE BLOG

UK ACTIVIST PROTES AGAINST WAR ON IRAN AND SYRIA

2012-01-28T00:17:00.001+08:00

Britain's Stop the War Coalition has organized a protest rally in front of the US embassy in London on Saturday 28 January to stress opposition to an invasion on Iran.

LONDON, U.K. - The protest rally entitled “Hands Off Iran and Syria: No Western intervention”, will be held on Saturday from 2pm-4pm outside the US Embassy building in Grosvenor Square London W1, said the Stop the War Coalition in a statement.
The protest campaign is supported by Unite union, War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention on Iran (CASMII), Friends of Al-Aqsa, Goldsmiths Student Union and SOAS Student Union, the statement added.
It said that the growing threats against Iran in recent weeks have been backed up with increased unilateral sanctions imposed by the US, Britain and their European allies in the NATO military alliance.

“As we know from Iraq, these (the threats and sanctions) are a prelude to war, not an alternative to it. There are signs of covert intervention already in Iran, as there are in Syria. Stop the War opposes all military intervention from the west in the region, for which there is absolutely no justification”, the statement added.
Israeli regime is talking more and more of an attack to 'deal with' Iran's nuclear capability, even though it is the only entity in the Middle East that actually has developed nuclear weapons, the coalition noted in its statement.

“Following a year when Britain and France led the intervention in Libya the dangers of further western attacks in the region are very real. Under the guise of 'humanitarian intervention' there are already signs of covert intervention in both Iran and Syria. An attack on either country would set the Middle East on fire. Now is the time to start building opposition to these new wars. Join with us to say no to western intervention”, added the statement.

Source: Press TV

BESIDE HOME, GLOBAL WARMING ALSO HITTING GARDEN?

2012-01-27T15:48:00.002+08:00

WASHINGTON, U.S.A. - Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The colour-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century.
It's the first time since 1990 that the US Department of Agriculture has revised the official guide for the nation's 80 million gardeners, and much has changed. Nearly entire states, such as Ohio, Nebraska and Texas, are in warmer zones.
The new guide, unveiled on Wednesday at the National Arboretum, arrives just as many home gardeners are receiving their seed catalogues and dreaming of lush flower beds in the spring.

It reflects a new reality: The coldest day of the year isn't as cold as it used to be, so some plants and trees can now survive farther north. "People who grow plants are well aware of the fact that temperatures have gotten more mild throughout the year, particularly in the wintertime," said Boston University biology professor Richard Primack. "There's a lot of things you can grow now that you couldn't grow before."
The giant fig tree in his suburban Boston yard stands as an example: "People don't think of figs as a crop you can grow in the Boston area. You can do it now."
The new guide also uses better weather data and offers more interactive technology. For example, gardeners using the online version can enter their ZIP code and get the exact average coldest temperature.

Also, for the first time, calculations include more detailed factors such as prevailing winds, the presence of nearby bodies of water, the slope of the land, and the way cities are hotter than suburbs and rural areas.
The map carves up the US into 26 zones based on five-degree temperature increments.
The old 1990 map mentions 34 US cities in its key. On the 2012 map, 18 of those, including Honolulu, St. Louis, Des Moines, Iowa, St. Paul, Minn., and even Fairbanks, Alaska, are in newer, warmer zones.

Source: AP

14 YEARS BOY SACRIFIED FOR HIDDEN TREASURE IN INDIA

2012-01-27T11:17:00.001+08:00

HYDERABAD, India - A 14-year-old boy was killed by a gang of people who believed a human sacrifice would yield them a secret treasure in Andhra Pradesh's Nirmal town, police said yesterday. The police yesterday recovered the body of Ganesh at Shyamgarh Fort on the outskirts of the town.
One man, Raju, who reportedly sold the boy for Rs20,000 (Dh1,466) to the treasure seekers, has been arrested while eight members of the gang which sacrificed him are yet untraced and on the run, police said.

The boy was sacrificed for hidden treasure believed to be in the fort on Amavasya (new moon night) on January 24-25. He was buried in the same area.
Ganesh was a Class 9 student at a private school, and was lured away with snacks by Raju, the boy's family members alleged.
On interrogating, Raju confessed to have sold the boy to a man named Prabhakar.
The angry relatives of the boy blockaded a road, demanding the police take immediate action against all accused.
According to locals, several people in the town and other areas in the district believe in hidden treasures and that a human sacrifice would reveal these.

Source: Agency

BRITONS LESS HONEST THAN A DECADE AGO?

2012-01-27T10:26:00.000+08:00

LONDON, U.K. - Britons are more tolerant of extramarital affairs and drink-driving than they were a decade ago but more likely to condemn people cheating on welfare benefits, research showed yesterday.
The study from the University of Essex, which questioned more than 2,000 adults about whether a range of activities could ever be justified, concluded that British people are less honest than they were 10 years ago.

In 2000, seven out of ten people said cheating on your spouse could never be justified, but this has now dropped to just over half.
Attitudes to driving while under the influence of alcohol have also softened, although more than 85 per cent of people still believe it is never justified, down from 90 per cent in 2000.
Meanwhile the proportion who condemn picking up money found in the street has fallen from almost 40 per cent to fewer than 20 per cent, while tolerance of smoking cannabis and underage sex has also significantly increased.
The one area where British people appear to have become less tolerant of misdemeanours in the last decade is cheating the benefits system, with 78 per cent condemning the practice in 2000 but 85 per cent doing so in 2011.
It is perhaps no coincidence that Prime Minister David Cameron's government is currently trying to push through major reforms of the welfare system. Young people were much more likely to condone bad behaviour than older people, with the under 25s recording on average 47 points on the "integrity scale" against an average of 50, compared to 54 points for the over 65s.

Professor Paul Whiteley (left photo), director of the Centre for the Study of Integrity at the University of Essex, said the results had implications for how people viewed civic duty in Britain today.
"If social capital is low, and people are suspicious and don't work together, those communities have worse health, worse educational performance, they are less happy and they are less economically developed and entrepreneurial," he said.

Source: AFP

AUSTRALIAN PM STUMBLES AMID AUSTRALIA DAY PROTEST

2012-01-26T22:33:00.004+08:00

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stumbled and was caught by a security guard as riot police helped her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia’s national day Thursday.
She was unharmed and later remarked that she was made of “pretty tough stuff” and commended police for their actions.

Some 200 supporters of indigenous rights had surrounded a Canberra restaurant and banged its windows while Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were inside officiating at an award ceremony.
Around 50 police escorted the political leaders from a side door to a car. Gillard stumbled, losing a shoe. Her personal security guard wrapped his arms around her and supported her to the waiting car, shielding her from the angry crowd.
The protesters had been demonstrating for indigenous rights nearby at the so-called Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a ramshackle collection of tents and temporary shelters in the national capital that is a center point of protests against Australia Day.

Australia Day marks the arrival of the first fleet of British colonists in Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. Many Aborigines call it Invasion Day because the land was settled without a treaty with traditional owners.
Abbott appeared to be the target of protesters, who chanted “shame” and “racist” outside the restaurant.The Tent Embassy celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday. Abbott had earlier angered indigenous activists by saying it was time the embassy “moved on.”
Gillard was unharmed and later hosted another Australia Day function for foreign ambassadors at her official residence.

Source: Agency

SCRAPPING RACE-BASED POLICIES WILL LEAD MALAYSIA INTO CHAOS?

2012-01-26T15:06:00.002+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — It is better to slow down development than to scrap race-based policies and risk ethnic clashes in the country, Tun Dr Mahathir(right photo) has said.
The former prime minister, in making the case for the continuation of such policies, wrote in a blog posting here that taking away racial consideration when doing business would not necessarily guarantee development.
He asked if racial considerations in the controversial New Economic Policy (NEP) had truly posed a hindrance to the country’s economic growth.

“The world has admitted that multiracial Malaysia grew faster than other developing nations that did not have the problem of race to consider,” he said.
The NEP, put in place in 1971, officially ended in 1990, but many of its programmes are still being continued.
Malaysian Prime Minister,Datuk Seri Najib Razak(right image) has said he plans to remove subsidies and many Bumiputera quotas under economic reforms, but the prime minister’s efforts have received notable opposition from Malay rights groups.
Chief among Najib’s detractors appear to be Dr Mahathir himself, who has repeatedly argued for the continuation of race-based policies under the NEP, warning there would be an escalation in ethnic tension and division if they were to be dismantled.
Writing once in an earlier blog posting in 2010, Dr Mahathir had said: “I may be labelled a racist but fear of the label will not stop me from working for what I think is good for the country.
“Nothing will be gained by dividing the people of Malaysia into poor Bumis and rich non-Bumis. The time is not right for disregarding the disparities between the races in the interest of equity and merit.”

The country’s longest-serving former prime minister, who still wields influence in the ruling Umno, continued to stress this point in his latest posting.
“It is true that if the problem of race does not haunt Malaysia, development would speed up.
“But when the distribution of wealth is so wide between the races, there is a large possibility hostilities would occur between the rich and the poor,” he said.Such hostilities, added Dr Mahathir, would later ensue in tension within the community and lead to chaos and rioting.
This in turn, he said, would frighten away investors and businesses, further stunting the country’s economic growth.
“Therefore, it is better that development is slowed slightly than destruction to occur because of such rioting,” he said.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

3 LAWYERS SHOT DEAD IN PAKISTAN

2012-01-26T09:27:00.001+08:00

KARACHI, Pakistan - In a fresh wave of violence in this largest city of Pakistan, at least three lawyers were gunned down yesterday while riding in a car and a fourth seriously wounded.
The incident took place when Badar Munir Kafeel Jaffery, Shakeel Jaffery, and Babar Jaffery left the City Court and reached Pakistan Chowk, a congested and bustling downtown area, where two gunmen on a motor cycle allegedly opened fire on their car and fled, the police said.
"They belonged to a specific sect and it seems to be a target killing," said Naeem Shaikh, a senior police officer. "However, we will take all aspects into consideration in investigations."

The surviving lawyer, Babar Ali Jaffery, sustained two bullet wounds and was said to be critical.

Earlier this month, Maqbool-ur-Rehman, a lawyer defending the two activists in court, was gunned down by some unknown men. The police believed that was also a sectarian killing.
After yesterday's murders, lawyers came out of their chambers and rallied outside the court to condemn the killing.
The president of Karachi Bar Association, Mahmoud Al Hasan, condemned the incident saying it was tragic that three lawyers died.

Source: Agency

60 FEARED DEAD AFTER LANDSLIDE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

2012-01-25T14:58:00.009+08:00

UP to 60 people are feared dead after a massive landslide wiped out an entire village in a scene of "utter devastation" in Papua New Guinea, reports and aid workers
The disaster struck near a huge ExxonMobil liquefied natural gas project in the country's rugged southern highlands Tuesday as people slept, leaving a trail of destruction.

PNG media said 40 bodies had been recovered and another 20 people were still missing. The director of PNG's National Disaster Centre, Martin Mosi, said it appeared lives had been lost but he could not verify how many.
Staff from his office were en route via helicopter and he said once they were on the ground, he would have a clearer picture.

The Pacific nation's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill(left photo) was also rushing to the scene, near Tari.
Nanduka Yandi, an aid worker for US-based NGO Population Services International, was at the scene of the landslide soon after it happened and said many people were killed, with few escaping the carnage.
"It was really huge. It covered 42 houses and only three or four people managed to escape. Everyone else died," he told AFP by telephone.

"It is quite remote and yesterday there was hardly anyone here to dig out the bodies or help people. People lost their entire families. They are in shock."
He described the scene as "utter devastation."
He recounted how one guest house owner was not in his home at the time and returned to find his wife, children and mother and father all missing.
Yandi said it had been raining in the area at the time, although some locals quoted by the media claimed the landslide was caused by blasting at a nearby quarry.
An aerial shot of the disaster showed mud and other debris extending for at least half a mile (one kilometer) across a forested area.
A spokeswoman for ExxonMobil said all its personnel were accounted for and it was in close contact with the Natural Disaster Centre.

ExxonMobil's US$16.8 billion LNG project is due to begin production in 2014 and will see PNG's natural gas sold across Asia for the next 30 years.
Local lawmaker Francis Potape told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he feared there could be further landslides as the area was still very unstable.
The ABC said the main road in the area had been cut in half, hindering rescue workers' attempts to reach the scene.

Source: AFP

TALKS TO REVIVE 'MALAYSIAN SOLUTION' REFUGEE DEAL FAIL

2012-01-25T11:06:00.003+08:00

KUALA LUMPUlR, Malaysia — Negotiations between the Australia’s Labor government and the Coalition to revive the refugee swap deal with Malaysia have failed after the opposition pact insisted asylum-seekers sent to Malaysia are given “the protection of law” rather than just Putrajaya’s assurances.
Malaysia has continued to stress the importance of the asylum swap, known as the Malaysia Solution, as a model for combating human trafficking.
The deal, which would have seen Australia send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia and accept 4,000 refugees in exchange, was ruled invalid by Australia’s High Court in August 2011 because Malaysia has not signed a United Nations refugee convention.

The Australian newspaper reported today that talks “aimed at ending the impasse over asylum policy have failed” after the newspaper obtained letters between Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and his shadow Scott Morrison which show that “no headway on the matter has been made” after more than a month.
“Morrison... ruled out any prospect of horse-trading policies, saying the Coalition was not prepared to abandon long-held principles ‘as a condition for the government to embrace the Coalition’s proven measures’,” the broadsheet wrote.
According to the national daily, Bowen wrote to Morrison yesterday demanding clarification on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s insistence on returning all boats arriving from Indonesia.
“It is difficult to reconcile your alleged concern with the enforceability of protections in the Malaysia agreement with Mr Abbott’s new policy position of blanket returns to Indonesia,” the Australian cited the minister as saying.
It also reported Labor offered to build additional safeguards into its Malaysia deal to mollify opposition concerns about human rights abuses.

The safeguards included giving asylum-seekers a “hotline” to United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff in case they were mistreated in Malaysia and providing them with dedicated UNHCR caseworkers to arrange medical care, counselling and contact with their families.
The government would also be willing to establish a parliamentary committee that would monitor the treatment of asylum-seekers sent to Malaysia, Papua New Guinea or Nauru, the Australian reported.

But the opposition has demanded “the protection of the law, not committees and hotlines.”
With Canberra agreeing to pick up the RM1 billion bill for the swap, the Gillard administration’s popularity has sunk under pressure from opposition leaders and human rights activists in both Pacific nations.
Attempts by Gillard’s administration to amend the Migration Act to circumvent the court decision were thwarted after the opposition refused to back the legislation unless Malaysia was disqualified due to doubts over its human rights record.
Gillard’s minority government relies on support from a Green and three independent members of Parliament for a one-seat majority, but the Greens opposed the Malaysia plan and Gillard was unable to convince any opposition MPs to support the change.

Malaysia’s Home Ministry has also since moved to secure a similar deal with Myanmar that has come under fire from activists and opposition leaders who say it will expose Myanmar refugees to persecution when they are sent home.
The UNHCR office in Australia had also said that asylum seekers would get better protection in Malaysia under the so-called “Malaysia Solution” than if held in indefinite mandatory detention in Australia.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

FEDERAL CRIMES COST ONTARIO, CANADA $1 BILLION?

2012-01-24T21:16:00.002+08:00

The Ontario government says the omnibus federal crime bill will cost the province's taxpayers more than $1 billion in increased police and correctional service costs.
Correctional Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur (right photo) says there are about 8,500 inmates in Ontario correctional facilities, which are at 95 per cent capacity.
Meilleur warns the Conservatives' crime bill could add another 1,500 inmates to the system by 2016, pushing populations to 150 per cent of capacity at some jails.

She says the province now faces the very real possibility of having to build a new 1,000-bed facility to offset the impact of Bill C-10, with an estimated capital cost of $900 million.
“This afternoon I’m flying to Charlottetown to attend the federal-provincial meeting and I’ll be calling on the federal government to provide funding to cover their $1 billion piece of legislation,” she told CBC News.
Meilleur also notes the federal legislation will increase the number of people on parole, adding to the caseloads for probation and parole officers.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak(left photo) suggested the Liberal government’s demand that Ottawa pay for increased justice system costs was little more than a cash grab.
“I suspect this sounds like more language from the McGuinty Liberals to try to avoid their own problems by reducing costs and foisting it onto someone else,” Hudak said Monday.

Julie Di Mambro, a spokesperson for the federal justice department, said it is the government’s view that the cost of fighting crime is far less than the cost of crime on society itself.
“Our experience shows that toughening sentences doesn't create new criminals, it simply keeps criminals in jail for an appropriate amount of time,” Di Mambro said in an email sent to CBC News.

The federal crime bill passed its final vote in the House of Commons last month and is now in the hands of the Senate.
Quebec and Newfoundland also say Bill C-10 will overwhelm their already maxed-out court systems and create a costly influx of prisoners to provincial jails. Several other provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta and New Brunswick, support the federal changes.

Source: CBC

FRENCH RETURNS 20 MAORI HEADS TO NEW ZEALAND

2012-01-24T09:42:00.001+08:00

FRANCE has handed over to New Zealand authorities 20 tattooed heads of Maori ethnic people once held in several French museums as a cultural curiosity.
French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand presided over a handover ceremony today at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. New Zealand's embassy said it involved the single largest group of Maori heads to be repatriated.
Since 2003, New Zealand has led an ambitious program of collecting Maori heads and skeletal remains from museums around the world so they could be properly mourned and buried according to tradition.

France long resisted handing over such cultural artifacts but a law passed in 2010 eventually paved the way for the return of the heads.

Source:Agency

ANTI-WHALERS CLASH AT SEA WITH JAPANESE

2012-01-24T03:44:00.003+08:00

Anti-whaling campaigners and the crew of a Japanese whaling ship have had a violent clash at sea, with the activists hurling containers of rotten butter and paint and getting sticks and teargas in return.
Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin vessel was shadowing the Yushin Maru 2 in the Antarctic Ocean when the confrontation occurred today.

The Japanese Fisheries Agency says the activists threw more than 40 bottles of rotten butter and paint at the whaling ship.
Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson told the ABC that the Japanese returned fire with concussion grenades and teargas.
"They have been using concussion grenades on us," Mr Watson said.
"Today they used, also for the first time, teargas which they have in these large canisters on backpacks."
It was the latest incident in the long-running battle between the activists and Japanese.

Two weeks ago three Australians illegally boarded the Shonan Maru 2 off the West Australian coast in an effort to disrupt the Japanese whalers.
"We're chasing the Japanese whaling fleet. They're running and it's a constant confrontation," Mr Watson said. He said the Australian and New Zealand governments should have ships in the area to monitor the situation.
"But our objective is to save as many whales as we possibly can and their objective is to kill as many whales as they possibly can," Mr Watson said.

Source: Agency

MOTORCYCLE BORNE FELONS A MENANCE IN PHILIPPINES

2012-01-23T11:37:00.002+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - The government has intensified its efforts to go after motorcycle-riding criminals across the country amid the continued scourge posed by these fast-moving felons.
Last year, the Philippine National Police recorded 1,700 crimes involving suspects on motorbikes with 2,089 victims. The figure rose from 1,565 incidents in 2010 with 1,819 victims.

Motorbikes are increasingly the vehicle of choice for criminals because they are relatively easy to acquire or steal, difficult to trace and can outrun cars in cities.
Director-General Nicanor Bartolome has ordered all PNP units to launch aggressive operations against motorcycle-borne criminals.

Bartolome said, criminal elements have taken advantage of the high-speed mobility provided by motorcycles and have used these efficient vehicles as instruments of crime.
"Motorcycle-riding gunmen typically work in twos, with one steering the motorbike and a trigger-man shooting the target. This modus has been observed in past assassination incidents involving members of the media as well as government executives."

Source: Agency

TEENAGER DEKKER COMPLETES AROUND THE WORLD SAIL

2012-01-22T13:34:00.001+08:00

Laura Dekker was born on a yacht and began sailing solo when she was 10

A Dutch teenager who set out to become the youngest solo around-the-world sailor has completed her voyage. Laura Dekker, 16, was greeted by a cheering crowd as she sailed into the St Maarten harbour in the Caribbean after a year at sea.
She left on 20 January 2011 aboard her 11.5m (38ft) boat Guppy. Before her trip, Ms Dekker won a court case against Dutch social services, who had argued that the voyage could harm her emotional and social development.

Her mother had expressed concerns about the solo voyage, but later lifted her objections.
Ms Dekker was born on a yacht off the coast of New Zealand during a seven-year world trip.
The Guinness Book of Records decided to stop recognising records for "youngest" sailors after the controversy surrounding her bid.

Source: BBC

EARTHQUAKE HIT SOUTHERN MEXICO

2012-01-22T09:33:00.001+08:00

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has hit the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, shattering windows and sending frightened residents into the streets.

The quake struck in the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles (55km) south-west of the city of Mapastepec, near Mexico's border with Guatemala.

The tremor was felt hundreds of miles away in El Salvador's capital, San Salvador. There were no early reports of major damage or casualties.
The US Geological survey said on its website that the quake struck at 12:27 local time (18:47 GMT) at a depth of 40 miles.
Residents reported feeling the impact of the quake all across the region.
Mexico lies on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where continental plates meet, and is regularly shaken by tremors.

Source: BBC

WAR ON IRAN WILL UNLEASH CHAOS?

2012-01-21T10:53:00.003+08:00

PARIS, French - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warns against any military strike on Iran over its nuclear program, saying a strike on the country would "trigger war and chaos in the Middle East."
"A military intervention would not solve the problem [of Iran's nuclear program] but would trigger war and chaos in the Middle East and maybe the world," Sarkozy warned during his annual New Year's address to diplomats in Paris, Ha'aretz reported on Friday.

The French president further stressed that France would "do everything to avoid a military intervention" in Iran.
Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike based on the allegation that Iran's nuclear program may consist of a covert military aspect.

Iran has categorically refuted the US-led allegations regarding its nuclear program, saying that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Iranian officials have also promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.

Source: Press TV

ROMANIAN RALLY OVER GOVERNEMNT'S AUSTERITY MEASURES

2012-01-20T15:22:00.002+08:00

Police said about 7,000 protesters attended the rally from all over Romania. However, organizers claimed the crowd was far larger.
It was one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations held recently in Bucharest.The demonstrators protesting against the government's austerity measures in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
Demonstrators stopped traffic at the University Square and chanted slogans against President Traian Basescu.

Earlier on the day, thousands of protesters, including teenage students who abandoned their classes, held a demonstration demanding the resignation of the government for imposing harsh austerity measures.
Romanian police have fired teargas canisters to disperse the demonstrators and on Thursday, the police arrested about 50 people, who allegedly threw bricks and bottles and other materials at them.

Source: Agency

KODAK FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION?

2012-01-20T12:25:00.003+08:00

NEW YORK, U.S.A. - The Eastman Kodak Co. announced today that it has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The photography and imaging equipment company and its U.S. subsidiaries “filed voluntary petitions for the reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York,” according to a news release posted on Kodak’s website early this morning.

According to the company, the move is intended “bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines.” In addition, the company said it has received $950 million financing from Citigroup to maintain operations as it goes through bankruptcy.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kodak was preparing for bankruptcy in the “coming weeks” in case efforts to sell its patents fall through.
“Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation,” said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in the release.
Perez said the company “must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company.”
Kodak has long struggled with reinventing itself as a technology company amid advancements in digital cameras and photo sharing.

The company has closed 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing its workforce by 47,000 since 2003, the release said.
Earlier this month, Kodak disclosed that the New York Stock Exchange warned the company’s shares could be delisted unless it gets its finances in order in the next six months.Since 1892, the company has been called Eastman Kodak Company under George Eastman.
In 1888, the word KODAK was registered as a trademark for a camera that could be used by a larger market, the company said.

Source: ABC

SLOW AFRICA FAMINE RESPONSE COST LIVES

2012-01-19T09:20:00.004+08:00

THOUSANDS of people, more than half of them children, died needlessly and millions of dollars were wasted because the international community did not respond to early warnings of an impending food crisis in East Africa, aid agencies said in a report released overnight.
Most rich donor nations waited until the crisis was in full swing before donating a substantial amount of money, said the report by Oxfam and Save the Children. A food shortage was predicted as early as August 2010, but most donors did not respond until famine was declared in parts of Somalia in July 2011.

The report, written by two prominent aid groups, even blamed aid agencies, saying they were too slow to scale up their response.
"We all bear responsibility for this dangerous delay that cost lives in East Africa and need to learn the lessons of the late response," said Oxfam head Barbara Stocking.
The aid agencies said many donors wanted to first see proof that there was a humanitarian catastrophe. That caused a funding shortfall that delayed a large-scale response to the crisis by around six months.
Now, there are clear signs that there is an impending hunger crisis in West Africa, said Save the Children's head Justin Forsyth. The report said that a food crisis in the West African region known as the Sahel is being driven by drought and high food prices. The report says agencies should put into practice there what has been learned in the Somalia crisis.
A recent Save the Children assessment in Niger shows families in the worst-hit areas are already struggling with around one-third less food, money and fuel than is necessary to survive.
The report says the delays in East Africa caused thousands of deaths and increased costs for aid agencies. The British government estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 people have died from the famine, mostly Somalis. Ethiopia and Kenya were also affected but aid agencies were able to work more easily there than in war-ravaged Somalia.
More than half of those who died are believed to be children. The UN says 250,000 Somalis are still at risk of starvation and more than 13 million people need aid.
"The earlier you respond, the more you get for your money," said Oxfam's regional spokesman Alun McDonald.
"We've done a lot of water trucking. It's the last resort," he said. "It's a very expensive and inefficient way of delivering water."
Saturday will mark six months since the UN declared famine in Somalia.
"It's much more cost-effective to invest early on," he said, in things like dams, reservoirs, and boreholes.

Trucking just over five litres of water per day per person to 80,000 people in Ethiopia costs more than $US3 million ($2.90 million) for five months, the report said, compared to $US900,000 to prepare water sources in the same area for an oncoming drought.
The report also said it costs three times as much to restock a herd in northern Kenya than to keep it alive through supplementary feeding.
"The world knows an emergency is coming but ignores it until confronted with TV pictures of desperately malnourished children," said Mr Forsyth.

Source: Agency

IRAN STUDENT ACTIVIST SHOT TO DEATH IN TEXAS

2012-01-19T00:31:00.001+08:00

HOUSTON, Texas, USA - A Texas medical student well-known in her community as an Iranian activist was mysteriously shot and killed in her car, just yards from her home.
Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was driving through her Houston townhouse complex around midnight on Monday when she was shot dead through her car window.

"When officers arrived, they found a vehicle had run into a garage door at that location with the engine running and tires spinning on the pavement. Ms. Bagherzadeh was found slumped over in the driver's seat," the Houston Police Department said in a statement.
Authorities said nothing appeared to have been stolen from her car. Her cell phone and purse were found inside.
"Homicide investigators responded to the scene and were told by witnesses that several gunshots were heard, a crash and then tires squealing," the statement said.
Police told ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK that the last person to speak to Bagherzadeh was her close friend and ex-boyfriend who was on the phone with her when she was shot.
"[The boyfriend] heard a loud thud. He doesn't recall hearing any gunshots, but a loud thud and then a screeching noise," Richard Bolton of the Houston Police Department Homicide unit told KTRK.

Bagherzadeh was of Iranian descent and was outspoken in promoting Iranian women's rights and criticizing the Iranian government, according to interviews she had done with the Houston Chronicle.
Photos and video from the newspaper's website show Bagherzadeh participating in a 2010 protest calling for a regime change in Iran. At the time, she requested that her name not be used in the video because she was afraid of persecution, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Source: ABC...Read more

PRISONER DIED AFTER HOURS OF TOTURE BY CELLMATES IN INDONESIA

2012-01-18T16:19:00.001+08:00

Bali's Kerobokan prison

DENPASAR, BALI, Indonesia - Bali Police are investigating a group of 13 inmates at the notorious Kerobokan Penitentiary over the brutal murder of another inmate there. Adj. Sr. Comr. Benny Arjanto, the Badung district police chief, said on Tuesday that the 13 men were believed to have assaulted the victim, Edi Suwito, 28, over a 12-hour period on Jan. 11-12.
“The victim was sadistically tortured during this period, in which the perpetrators stubbed out lit cigarettes on his genitals among other things,” Benny said, adding that the perpetrators and the victims all shared the same cramped cell at Kerobokan.

He said Edi had only been at the prison for a day. He had been transferred there from the at-capacity Kuta Police jail. He had been arrested for alleged cellphone theft.
He was placed in the cell at 3 p.m. on Jan. 11 and immediately assaulted by the others, Benny said. Edi was found dead at 4 a.m. the next day.
“Among the items that we’ve seized as evidence include a bamboo pole, a cane, four lighters and a plank of wood,” Benny said.
He said the motive for the vicious attack appeared to be a long-running grudge between the victim and Ahmad Yusuf, one of the 13 other inmates.
“It appears the victim once conned the suspect’s family out of a sum of money, and the suspect had been holding a grudge since then,” he said.
Benny added that to try and cover up their attack, the inmates lied to prison officials and said that Edi had committed suicide by repeatedly banging his head into the wall.
“We didn’t buy that, especially because the autopsy showed all kinds of wounds that could not have been self-inflicted,” he said.
Police are also looking into why the assault was allowed to take place over a 12-hour period without prison officials noticing anything.
“We want to know where the prison guards were that whole time,” Benny said.

Bowo Nariwono, the Kerobokan warden, said his officers had not heard any noises coming from the cell that indicated someone inside was being killed.
“Maybe it was raining at the time so the guards didn’t hear any screams,” he said.
“Besides, that cell was in a block that was far away.”
He did not elaborate what it was far from or why no guards had patrolled the area.

Source: Jakarta Globe

MORE NEW POLITICAL PARTIES IN MALAYSIAN BORNEO?

2012-01-18T10:29:00.001+08:00

KOTA KINABALU, SABAH, Malaysia - Home Ministry officials are set are set to meet applicants of 12 new political parties in Sabah in what is rumoured to be Umno's bid to put in place its Barisan Nasional -direct membership process.
Speculations are rife that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is setting in motion his game plan to contain Umno Sabah and Barisan Nasional(BN)’s weakening grip in the state.
It is learnt that he has given the “green light” for more new political parties to be registered in Sabah, where a deeply divided Umno is battling with inner turmoil.

BN is also struggling under relentless attacks over alleged abuse of power, land grabs, unfair federal policies, victimisation and escalating cost of living.
Observers here see the move as an indication that the BN-direct membership process is finally taking shape.
It is learnt that various aspiring political parties have been invited to meet with senior officers from the Home Ministry here today.

Pro-tem presidents and secretaries-general from some 12 parties who had applied to be registered have been invited for the important meeting. Some of these groups had applied to be registered several years ago.
It is also rumoured that a deputy minister from the Home Ministry will be in attendance.
A leader of one aspiring party, who refused to be named, told FMT he received a letter inviting him and his secretary-general for the meeting tomorrow at the Sabah office of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) at Menara MAA here.

“I will certainly go tomorrow and hope our party will finally be registered in time for the general election,” he said.
According to him, as many as 12 new political parties are in their final stage of being registered by ROS. They are likely to be represented at the meeting.
Meanwhile, FMT learnt that among those attending tomorrow’s meeting are the leaders of Usno Baru and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS).
PCS is believed to be aligned to Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who recently joined the Sarawak-based State Reform Party (STAR) and became its Sabah chapter chairman.

Some observers are of the opinion that if Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak (left photo) allowed these parties to be registered now, it could be a well calculated political plan to further split the opposition votes in the state which Umno has often called its “fixed deposit”.
They viewed it as a clever move as Najib believed Sabah, which has 25 of the 222 parliamentary seats, would be once again the “saver” of the embattled Umno-led BN regime that held power in Malaysia for over 50 years.

Source: Agency

BUILDING COLLAPES KILLING 25 IN LEBANON

2012-01-17T17:09:00.001+08:00

AT least 25 people died when a five-storey building collapsed in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

BEIRUT, Lebenon - Rescuers are continuing their search of the site in the Ashrafiyeh district for a further 16 people believed to be buried beneath the rubble.
At least 12 people were injured when the building - said to house around 50 people - came down unexpectedly on Sunday evening.
Most of the dead were foreign workers living in Lebanon, officials said.

The victims included eight Sudanese, two Filipinos, two Egyptians and two Jordanians, AP quoted unnamed security officials as saying.
It is not yet known what caused the sudden collapse.
Local reports are speculating that cracks in the building made worse by heavy rain may have been the cause, or that the building could have been damaged by the impact of construction at several nearby sites.

Source: Agency

PARKS CANADA VISITS DECLINE

2012-01-16T13:34:00.001+08:00

VANCOUVER, Canada - With fewer people visiting the country's national parks and historic sites, Parks Canada has hired a consultant to help boost its flagging brand.
The move comes as the federal agency looks for ways to make money without raising user fees as it grapples with a steady drop-off in attendance.
A statement of work shows Toronto marketing firm Veritas is getting paid $395,000 over two years to advise Parks Canada on how it can better promote itself and its attractions.

"The agency wants a 10-per-cent increase in the number of visits to its parks and historic sites by 2015. To do that, Parks Canada plans to target urban and new Canadians in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
"The degree of knowledge is very low in these three cities, particularly among young Canadians and immigrants," says the statement of work.
Many people who participated in focus groups were not aware an agency like Parks Canada even exists, it adds. "Canadians also remain confused about what Parks Canada does and the reasons national parks are established," the document says.
The Canadian Press obtained the statement of work under the Access to Information Act.

Parks Canada is in a tough spot. In 2009, the federal government announced a two-year fee freeze at all Parks Canada sites, which has since been extended to 2013 for the general public and 2014 for commercial groups.
The agency manages 42 national parks and 167 national historic sites, but only charges fees at 125 locations. Those fees cover everything from entry to national parks and historic sites to permits for fishing and campfires.

Meanwhile, fewer people are venturing into national parks and historic sites. The number of visits to Parks Canada attractions fell from 21.8 million in 2006-07 to 20.2 million in 2010-11 — a seven-per-cent drop.
The agency is now trying to find ways to raise its revenue.
Parks Canada has already commissioned a separate, $50,000 study to identify potential sources of new income. That's on top of the Veritas contract, which was awarded last fall.

No one from the company or Parks Canada returned a call for comment. Other money-making ideas are also on the table.
Parks Canada recently launched its own clothing line featuring its iconic beaver logo. The agency plans to sell it at national parks before moving to the internet and brick-and-mortar stores in Canada's biggest cities.
The company that gets the contract will design the merchandise and then sell it, with Parks Canada getting a royalty each year or a cut of wholesale revenue, whichever is greater.

Source: CBC

41 MISSING AFTER ITALIAN CRUISE DISASTER

2012-01-15T21:06:00.002+08:00

The captain of a luxury cruise liner that keeled over off Tuscany, killing at least three people was on Saturday arrested as survivors told of scenes "like the Titanic".
Terrified passengers rushed to get into lifeboats and 100 people had to be rescued from the sea. Forty-one passengers are still unaccounted for.
The Costa Concordia with more than 4,000 people on board apparently hit a reef, tearing a 70- to 100-metre (230- to 330-foot) gash in its hull, just hours after setting off on Friday from Civitavecchia a port near Rome.
The ship quickly listed, leaving it half submerged in shallow waters near the island of Giglio off the west coast of Italy.

Source: AFP...read more

FALLING CAT FRACTURES ARGENTINIAN WOMAN'S SKULL

2012-01-15T14:55:00.001+08:00

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - An 85-year-old woman in Argentina is fighting for her life after a cat thrown out of a fourth-floor apartment during a heated argument landed on her head, local media reports.
The incident occurred in the Belgrano neighbourhood of Buenos Aires when a man grabbed a family cat and threw it at his wife.
She managed to dodge the animal, which then sailed through an open window plunging toward the ground and striking the woman, an neighbour.
Police told local reporters that the victim suffered a fractured skull and was rushed to hospital, where she had to be connected to a ventilator.
There was no news on the fate of the cat.

Source: Agency

BODY OF FILIPINO WOMAN ARRIVED FROM BAHRAIN FOUND IN SUITCASE

2012-01-14T18:12:00.005+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - Airport security found the body of a woman stuffed in a suitcase at the parking lot of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 in Pasay City Wednesday morning, police said. Police said the suitcase was abandoned at the airport's Car Park 1, South Control Point.
A Middle East-based migrant workers' group is urging authorities in the capital to investigate the brutal death of a Filipino migrant worker who arrived last Tuesday from Bahrain.
Nidzmar Bahjin, 20, returned to the Philippines from Bahrain at 3pm last Tuesday according to Pasay City police. On Wednesday, her body was found stuffed inside a suitcase abandoned at a parking area in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Terminal 2.

Her gruesome death has not only shocked her family, but also raised concerns of Filipino migrant workers arriving in the country through the airport.
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other people using the airports fear if it can happen to Nidzmar, nothing can deter criminals from reaching others.
Pasay City police investigators were quoted in reports as saying that the young migrant worker, a Muslim from Sulu, was apparently abducted and strangled to death.
It is yet unknown if she is related to Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain Corazon Yap-Bahjin.
John Leonard Monterona, Migrante, Middle East regional coordinator, said the apparent ease at which Nidzmar's killers had been able to get to her and dump her body at the premises of a supposedly secure area underscores the review needed of security processes not only at NAIA airports but in similar facilities in the country.

Source: Agency

MALAYSIAN TPM BACKS INTERFAITH PROGRAMME FOR SCHOOLS

2012-01-14T10:05:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Cabinet’s interfaith committee today won the backing of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for a nationwide campaign to promote better religious understanding in schools.
Tan Hoe Cheow who heads the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) said the panel met the deputy prime minister earlier today and briefed him about rolling out a programme next month to instil harmony and religious understanding in national schools.

“We are planning a series of events to promote awareness of harmony and understanding to mark the UN’s Interfaith Week starting February 1 and wanted to get his endorsement to involve schoolchildren,” Tan told The Malaysian Insider after the group’s meeting in Putrajaya. “It’s good to start them young.”
Tan said Muhyiddin, who is also Education minister, responded favourably to the idea.
“He said the idea was very good,” said Prematilaka KD Serisena, honorary secretary to the MCCBCHST, who was at the meeting. “He said OK, set up the committee and to involve the JKMPKA (the Committee to Promote Understanding and Harmony Among Religious Adherents), and that he will launch the programme in schools.”
Tan, who represents the Taoist faith, was unable to provide details of the school activities.
“It’s all very tentative,” he said. “We are still discussing with Datuk Azman (Amin Hassan, director-general of the National Unity and Integration Department) and can only tell you later.”
A government official confirmed to The Malaysian Insider that Azman was present at the closed-door meeting but said he could not disclose anything else.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak mooted the Cabinet’s interfaith committee in 2009 to resolve interfaith disputes following a series of attacks against places of worship.
Tensions between Malaysia’s Muslim-majority and non-Muslim minority have also affected the national school system, as seen in the uproar last month when the Education ministry did not consult the Catholic owners of the prestigious SMK Convent Bukit Nanas on the appointment of a new headmistress.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS SENT BACK TO AFGHANISTAN FOR DRINGKING ALCOHOL?

2012-01-13T18:01:00.002+08:00

AUSTRALIAN soldiers on their way home from Afghanistan have been sent back to the war zone after being caught drinking alcohol in Dubai.
The eight soldiers were returned to their unit in Tarin Kowt on Tuesday to allow an investigation and any disciplinary action to be completed, a Defence Department spokesman said.
"Unauthorised consumption of alcohol in the Middle East... is not permitted by deployed ADF personnel," he said.
It has been reported that the soldiers either admitted to drinking or returned a positive breath test while in Dubai.
They are believed to be from Mentoring Task Force 3 and had reportedly been on a shopping trip in Dubai while on their way back to Australia.

Source: Agency

THAILAND RESCUES SMUGGLED DOGS TO BE COOKED AND EATEN IN VIETNAM

2012-01-13T12:36:00.003+08:00

A truck loaded with dogs stuffed in cages in Thailand being smuggled out of the country to be cooked and eaten in Vietnam
In August last year, Thai authorities rescued more than 1000 dogs that were found stuffed into tiny cages, being smuggled out of the country to be cooked and eaten in Vietnam.

Presently, Thai navy has rescued hundreds of dogs destined for Vietnamese dinner tables in an operation to tackle border smuggling, a naval official said.
Following a tip-off, they found about 750 dogs packed into cages on a truck which were about to be loaded onto a ferry on the Mekong river in Nakhon Phanom province, said Captain Theerakiart Thong-aram.

One man was arrested but several others ran away when the authorities swooped, Theerakiart told AFP.
"Dogs are the third-biggest smuggling problem along the river after timber and drugs," he said.

Source: Agency

A GUNMAN SHOT DEAD PROSECUTOR IN GERMAN COURT

2012-01-12T09:03:00.002+08:00

DACHAU, Germany - A DEFENDANT accused of embezzlement shot dead a prosecutor at a court in the southern German city of Dachau, a spokesman for the state justice ministry said.
According to reports, he drew the gun out and aimed it first at the judge while he gave his judgement, then at the 31-year-old state prosecutor. The lawyer was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries.
A police spokesman, Peter Griesser, said the gunman was detained at the scene and that he had no information about other victims.

A spokesman for the Munich public prosecutor's office, Ken Heidenreich, said the defendant was accused of embezzling 44,000 euros ($55,800) in employee contributions that should have gone into the German healthcare and pension system.
A local daily newspaper, said the victim had only begun working for the prosecutor's office one year ago and was shot in the arm, shoulder and abdomen.
It was unclear how the defendant smuggled a gun into the courthouse, Heidenreich said.
German courts often have relatively lax security measures, particularly when cases not involving felonies are being heard.

Source: Agency

IN EXCHAGE FOR FOOD TRIBE WOMEN FORCE TO DANCE NUDE ON INDIAN ISLANDS

2012-01-11T18:41:00.001+08:00

ANDAMAN, India - Right campaigners and politicians have condemned a video showing women from a protected and primitive tribe dancing for tourists in exchange for food on India's far-flung Andaman Islands.
British newspaper The Observer released the video showing Jarawa tribal women - some of them naked - being lured to dance and sing after a bribe was allegedly paid to a policeman to produce them.
Under Indian laws designed to protect ancient tribal groups susceptible to outside influence and disease, photographing or coming into contact with the Jarawa is illegal.

The tribe, thought to have been among the first people to migrate successfully from Africa to Asia, lives a nomadic existence in the lush, tropical forests of the Andamans in the Bay of Bengal.
India's Tribal Affairs Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo promised to take action over the incident, terming it "disgusting" today, and the home ministry has sought a report.
Survival International, which lobbies on behalf of tribal groups worldwide, said the video showed tourists apparently enjoying "human zoos".
"Quite clearly, some people's attitudes towards tribal peoples haven't moved on a jot. The Jarawa are not circus ponies bound to dance at anyone's bidding," said Stephen Corry, the group's director, in a press release.
In June last year, Survival International accused eight Indian travel companies of running "human safari tours" so tourists could see and photograph the Jarawa.
The London-based lobby group called for tourists to boycott the road used to enter the reserve of the Jarawa tribe, who number just 403 and are in danger of dying out.
The Andaman and Nicobar tropical island chain is home to four other rare tribes - Onge, the Great Andamanese, the Sentinelese and the Shompens, each numbering fewer than 350 members. Another tribe called Bo died out in January 2010.

The Andaman police downplayed the video, calling it "old" and blamed the British journalist for forcing the Jarawas to dance for the tourists.
"It is obvious that it is the videographer who is breaking the law of the land and who is inciting the tribals to dance," senior Andaman policeman S.B. Deol said in a statement.
The video can be viewed at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jan/07/andaman-islanders- human-safar i-video

Source: Agency

CANADIAN MILITARY GEARS MISSING FROM AFGHAN MISSION SHIPMENTS

2012-01-11T08:48:00.002+08:00

OTTAWA, Canada - The Canadian Forces have experienced serious security breaches with military equipment being shipped back from Afghanistan, CBC News has learned.
Chris Alexander, parliamentary secretary to the minister of defense, told Power & Politics host Evan Solomon Tuesday that 10 containers had been broken into and that equipment was missing when the containers from Afghanistan were opened in Canada.

Rather than containing the expected military equipment, the containers were filled with rocks and sand, presumably to mimic the weight of the missing supplies so the breach would go undetected.
The Department of National Defence confirmed Tuesday that various military hardware and gear was missing from containers being transported to Canada from Afghanistan by chartered sea vessel, and said a full investigation is underway.
A Defence spokesperson told CBC News in a statement the missing equipment is "non-critical."
The department also said no uniforms were missing from any of the containers inventoried so far. "Equipment in these containers would consist of items such as tires, tools and tents," Lt.-Cmdr. John Nethercott said.
The job of shipping the supplies back to Canada was contracted to Montreal company A.J. Maritime after the Canadian base in Kandahar was closed last November.
A.J. Maritime said 448 Canadian shipping containers remain in Afghanistan, while 182 have been returned to Canada and 40 are currently in transit.

According to Public Works, the total loss expected for the Department of National Defence for the year 2010-11 due to loss or property damage is $4.7 million. However, it is not known how much of those losses is a result of theft.
Military investigators are trying to determine where the supply chain is vulnerable to pilfering and security breaches. The situation is further complicated by blockades of NATO supply crossings at the Afghan-Pakistan border and tensions with militants in the area.

Source: CBC...Read More

WORLD MOST EXPENSIVE TEA GROWN IN CHINA?

2012-01-10T16:33:00.002+08:00

An Yanshi gives thanks to the panda... gods? Who knew you could make a living this way

CHENGDU, China - Cinese entrepreneur An Yanshi is convinced he has found the key ingredient to produce the world's most expensive tea - panda poop. The former calligraphy teacher has purchased 11 tonnes of excrement from a panda breeding centre to fertilise a tea crop in the mountains of Sichuan province in southwestern China, home to the black and white bears.
An says he will harvest the first batch of tea leaves this spring and it will be the "world's most expensive tea" at almost 220,000 yuan ($34,000) for 500 grams.
Chinese tea drinkers regard the first batch of tea to be harvested in the early spring as the best and successive batches, regarded as inferior, will sell for around 20,000 yuan.

The 41-year-old, who is so passionate about his new project he dressed in a panda suit for his interview with AFP, has been ridiculed by some in China for his extravagant claims of the potential health benefits of the tea.
But he insists he is deadly serious, saying he quit his job at Sichuan University to throw himself "heart and soul" into his company, Panda Tea, whose logo features a smiling panda wearing a bow tie and holding a steaming glass of green tea.

While An hopes to make money from the tea, which he has planted on just over 2.5 acres (one hectare) of land, his main mission is to convince the world to protect the environment and replace chemical fertilisers with animal feces - before it is too late.
"Panda dung is rich in nutrition ... and should be much better than chemical fertilisers," Mr An said. "People should make a harmonious relationship with heaven, earth and the environment."

Source: Agency

DESPITE TERROR THREAT 8 MILLIONS TAKE PART IN RELIGIOUS PROCESSION

2012-01-10T09:53:00.001+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - Mobile communications were disrupted by authorities as part of security measures as Catholics mark an annual religious rite amid reports of a terror plot to disrupt the event.
Telecom services by the country's two top mobile cellular carriers, Globe and Smart, had been disrupted for several hours while on-site communications by the police and authorities coordinating the mammoth event had been reduced to the use of two-way ultra high frequency and very high frequency hand-held radios.

Some eight million devotees have been expected to take part in the annual "Translaccion", an event where the image of the Black Nazarene is paraded through the main Manila thoroughfare from Quiapo district to the Quirino Grandstand in the capital's central Luneta Park.
President Benigno Aquino, during a press briefing on Sunday evening, said the authorities had uncovered plans by terrorists to disrupt the event.
According to the presidential palace, the government had requested the country's telecom service providers to fully cooperate with law-enforcement agencies and take precautionary measures to enhance public safety during the observance of the feast.
"All of them responded. The disruption in mobile services will be along the routes to be taken by the procession and it will last for the entire duration," Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
The Translaccion commemorates the journey 400 years ago of the fire-blackened image from Acapulco, Mexico to the Philippines. During the event, a stampede left 324 devotees injured.

Source: Agency

MALAYSIAN ANWAR IS FREED

2012-01-09T12:14:00.002+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today that “justice has been served” after his acquittal in a politically-charged sodomy trial and pledged to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next elections.
“Thank God, justice has been served. I feel vindicated but we still have a struggle. We have to now focus on the general election,” he told reporters after the High Court here acquitted and discharged him of a charged of sodomising his former male aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2009.

Judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled that the prosecution had not done enough to prove Anwar had committed sodomy against Saiful.
Anwar, 64, had been similarly indicted of sodomy over a decade ago and was found guilty. He spent six years in jail before being exonerated.
The High Court’s decision this time, ahead of the 13th general election, will likely give a boost to Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact’s plans to take over Putrajaya.

Source: The Malaysian Insider ...Read more...

THE SCALES OF JUSTICE ON MALAYSIAN ANWAR TO BE DECIDED TOMMOROW

2012-01-08T18:36:00.004+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Jan 9, 2012, will make history, for more reasons than one. It is tomorrow that the justice system will reveal its ‘true colours”. Tomorrow will go down in history as the day when justice truly emerged victorious, where no innocent party ends up being shortchanged and persecuted for all the wrong reasons.
The sodomy trial faced by Anwar has without any doubt slapped him with many mental, emotional, physical and professional setbacks. He has ‘been to hell and back’, metaphorically speaking. The attack on his dignity and his family were nothing short of being vicious. Why?

One reason is the imbedded fear and insecurity facing Government party (BN) which is only too aware of the momentum the Anwar factor has gained.
The sleepless nights facing prime minister Najib Tun Razak who is also BN chairman, speaks volumes of his worry that Anwar remains his biggest threat, in spite of all the condemation heaped on the Permatang Pauh MP by the BN and Umno leaderships.
Tomorrow’s court ruling wil determine whether the justice system has been molested to fulfill the gratification of unscrupulous parties.
At the end of the day, the Jan 9 court decision is about how the justice system prosecutes and persecutes an opposition leader, with no fear or favour or otherwise.

When Bersih 2.0 chairperson S Ambiga said tomorrow’s verdict on Anwar’s Sodomy II case would also be a judgment on the ‘whole justice system’, she spoke the bitter truth that the BN government will beg to deny.
She also pointed out that whatever the court decision may be, it would however be a loss for BN.
“As a lawyer, I am very concerned about the way in which this case has proceeded particularly in the light of the evidence produced. Furthermore it is my view that BN has everything to lose no matter which way the decision goes….if Anwar wins, they lose, if Anwar loses, they lose.

“But above and beyond that, is the manner in which our system of justice is used to bring down political opponents. We will know whether they succeed yet again when the judgment is handed down.
“This judgment will not only be about Anwar. It will be about the whole justice system,” she told FMT yesterday.
Such concern coming from a respectable award-winning lawyer who despite the threats facing her, has refused to bow under pressure and continues her fight and struggle towards a ‘clean’ nation, politically-speaking.

If BN has made punishing Anwar using the justice system as a way to serve its grudge against the opposition leader, it is the biggest folly the BN alliance will ever make.
The price to pay for that is going to be huge, as the past has revealed. The question is, dare BN be humble enough to accept defeat or make amends guillotining Anwar.

Source: Jeswan Kaur FMT..Read more

UK CHILDREN ENTER DRUG TRADE AT YOUNG AGE?

2012-01-08T11:19:00.005+08:00

LONDON, U.K. - Children as young as 11 have been arrested for possessing drugs with intent to sell, shocking figures revealed on Friday. The statistics show the extent to which drugs have penetrated the lives of schoolchildren.
Police have made more than 12,000 arrests of under-16s for possessing or supplying illegal substances over the past three years. The figures reveal youngsters are experimenting with cannabis, ecstasy, speed, cocaine and even heroin.

Police have caught 11-year-olds with drugs they intend to sell, possibly after being recruited by older dealers.
Campaigners said the damning statistics are evidence of how drugs are corrupting the lives of children at an increasingly young age.
They suspect many teenagers consider drugs an integral part of growing up, inextricably linked to the music and dance culture.

Former teacher Mary Brett, who has written books on educating children about the dangers of drugs, said those caught may be only the tip of the iceberg.
She said: "I am sure a lot of police turn a blind eye, certainly I have heard anecdotally that many do nothing when children are caught with a bit of cannabis.

"I am not at all surprised by these figures. The average age when people start using cannabis is now about 13 and I have reports of nine-year-olds experimenting.
"The penalties are not followed. I am not saying children should be put in jail, but they should receive a real rap on the knuckles.
"These are the young people who will go on and use more serious drugs. There is no doubt cannabis is a gateway to other drugs."
The damning evidence was obtained by Daily Mail through Freedom of Information Act requests to police forces. A total of 40 of the 43 forces in England and Wales responded, revealing 12,589 drug-related arrests of under-16s in the past three years.
Among them were six 10-year-olds arrested for possession and 53 11-year-olds taken into custody for either possession or intent to sell.
The Metropolitan Police, the biggest force, said 3,592 under-16s were arrested for drugs offences, including 14 aged 11 or under.
The youngest children arrested for intending to supply included two 11-year-olds held in Plymouth with amphetamines and cannabis. In Essex, an 11-year-old found in possession of suspected cannabis told officers he planned to sell it.
Avon and Somerset, Humberside, Essex, West Mercia, West Midlands and the Met each held a 10-year-old for possession.

Bedfordshire police reported that several teenagers had been arrested for dealing class-A drugs, including four 15-year-olds accused of supplying crack cocaine. No children under ten were arrested because they are too young to be charged with criminal offences.
Martin Barnes, of charity DrugScope, said: "These figures underline the importance of early intervention when young people are in trouble or experiencing problems at home or school."

Source: Agency

US MILITTARY THREAT TO IRAN WILL BE RESPONDED

2012-01-07T17:29:00.005+08:00

TEHERAN, Iran - A senior Iranian lawmaker says that Tehran will respond to any threat posed by the US military presence in the Persian Gulf, stressing that Iran's military strategy is one of defense.
“Should the United States maintain its presence in Iran's waterways as before with its rhetoric of threat, the Islamic Republic will act accordingly,” said Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, chairman of Iran's Majlis Foreign Relations Committee in a Friday interview.

Despite the US claims of abiding by international law, Washington stands accused of violating the rights of regional nations over the past decade through its presence in the strategic waters of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf in particular.
“The Islamic Republic has never been at the forefront of a war and military confrontation, and the language of our military forces is not the language of threat, rather, it is that of defense,” Falahatpisheh added.
He also argued that Iran is different from other countries targeted by US military aggression, as the Islamic Republic enjoys a strategic depth which makes invaders incapable of managing the war developments.

Falahatpisheh made reference to the various military drills by Iranian forces, noting that the maneuvers are held in response to the US rhetoric of threat.
The military maneuvers Iran has been conducting after the imposed Iran-Iraq War are entirely proportionate to the occasional threats posed by the enemies, he pointed out.

In the latest round of such drills, the Iranian Navy launched the Velayat 90 naval maneuver, which lasted from December 24, 2011 to January 2, 2012, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The naval exercises took place in line with a recent directive by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, instructing Iranian Armed Forces to maintain total readiness to defend the nation against any potential threats.
Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike, based on the allegation that Iran's nuclear work may consist of a covert military aspect.
Last week, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey (left photo) said the US military is ready to launch a military strike against Iran, if occasion necessitates.
Dempsey's warmongering tirades came on the heels of equally aggressive remarks by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta who said "no options were off the table" regarding Iran's nuclear program.
Tehran has categorically refuted the Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes.

Meanwhile, US Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has lashed out at Washington's hostile policies toward Iran, saying there is no evidence that Tehran is making nuclear weapons.

Iranians are "planning to be bombed" and would understandably make the necessary arrangements to counter the threat, even though there is "no evidence whatsoever" that they have "enriched" uranium, Paul said in a recent speech.

Source: Press TV

HOT AIR BALLON DISASTER IN NZ KILLED 11

2012-01-07T09:25:00.006+08:00

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - All 11 people on board a hot air balloon which crashed in New Zealand Saturday were killed, a media report said.
Police confirmed there were "multiple deaths", and the Fairfax News website said there were 11 people on board the scenic flight and there were no survivors.
The hot air balloon went down near Carterton, a small town just north of Wellington and a popular area for hot air ballooning.

A fire likely started on board the balloon, sending it plummeting to the ground, said Superintendent Mike Rusbatch, Wellington District commander for New Zealand Police. It was not immediately clear what started the fire.
A power outage was reported at the time of the crash, suggesting the balloon may have hit an electricity line.
A witness to the crash told Radio New Zealand that the balloon was in flames as it fell.
He was in his garden when he heard a hissing sound and looked up to see flames climbing the sides of the basket. When the balloon hit the ground, a large cloud of smoke ascended, Radio New Zealand reported.

Source: Agency

EGYPT PROSECUTORS SEEK DEATH PENALITY FOR MUBARAK

2012-01-06T09:35:00.001+08:00

CAIRO, Egypt - Prosecutors at the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have demanded the death penalty for him. Mubarak is being tried in Cairo on charges of ordering the killing of demonstrators during unrest which led to his overthrow last year.
The demand also applies to former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six other former security chiefs.
More than 800 protesters were killed during an 18-day revolt before Mr Mubarak was ousted on 11 February.

"Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants," prosecutor Mustafa Khater said, according to AFP.
"He [Mubarak] can never, as the head of the state, claim that he did not know what was going on," chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman told the court.
"He is responsible and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened", he added.

Given the severity of the charges, the demand for the death penalty does not come as a surprise, but many Egyptians will be shocked to hear the demand put so bluntly for the first time in the trial, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.
However, whether Mr Mubarak will be executed or even convicted is another question entirely - the prosecution has complained of a lack of co-operation from the interior ministry in producing evidence and the case has been weakened by a key witness changing his testimony, he adds.

Source: BBC

25 PEOPLE BURIED 130 STILL MISSING IN PHILIPPINES LANDSLIDE

2012-01-05T19:45:00.002+08:00

Residents dig through the rubble following a landslide that occurred at the small-scale mining community of Pantukan, Compostela Valley in southern Philippines.

Pantukan: At least 25 people were killed in the southern Philippines on Thursday when a landslide buried gold prospectors who had refused to leave an area declared too dangerous for habitation.
Up to 150 people were missing after the landslip hit a remote mountain community on Mindanao island that was settled by migrants in search of instant riches despite being declared off-limits last year due to the danger of landslides.

Rescuers using only hand-held tools pulled 25 bodies and 15 injured residents from the rubble after the dawn landslide in Napnapan, near the town of Pantukan, civil defence chief Benito Ramos told AFP.
Ramos' agency, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, raised the number of missing to 150 people from an initial estimate of 100, and said the health department was transporting 150 body bags to the site.
The local government meanwhile said the rescue had been halted amid heavy rain from a storm off the coast and fears of more landslides.
Local military official Colonel Lyndon Paniza, who is coordinating the rescue from Pantukan, about two hours away via rugged mountain roads, said rescuers fear there could be more fatalities.
"We expect many were killed since the worst-hit was the middle, where there are more than 50 shanties," Paniza told AFP.

The landslide buried an area measuring about 7,500 square metres as people slept, Paniza added.
The provincial government and local mining firms have been asked to bring heavy equipment to the village.

Source: Gulfnews..Read..more..

US SANCTIONS NO COUP DE GRACE FOR IRAN?

2012-01-05T16:33:00.004+08:00

WASHINGTONIAN DC, U.S.A. - In a dramatic move which was apparently contrary to his desire, US President Barack Obama on Saturday signed into law tough new sanctions against Iran targeting the country's Central Bank and financial sector in a bid to administer an economic coup de grace against Iran.
Foreign firms are now to make a choice between doing business with the Iranian financial sector and Central Bank or the US economy and financial sector.

In signing the bill, Obama harbored some secret fear that such an act would skyrocket the oil prices and that it would be terminally detrimental to the ailing economy of Washington as well as to global economy.
Needles to say, such a measure was encouraged and propelled by the warmongers in the White House and the powerful Zionist lobby.
The UN Security Council has already imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran for 33 years, inflicting adverse damage on the economy albeit with no determining impact on the political approach of the country.
However, decades of anti-Iran US-engineered sanctions have failed to stall the progress of the Islamic country which is moving towards self-sufficiency in all economic spheres. Therefore, Washington officials have been ill advised in believing that by slapping more sanctions on Iran, they will be able to bring to knees a nation who adheres to their ideology of no submission.
In a show of prodigious naval prowess, Iran launched a ten-day military drill codenamed Velayat 90 and successfully test-fired indigenous missiles e.g. a surface-to-sea Qader cruise missile, a shorter range Nasr and later, a surface-to-surface Nour missile and other warefares.

Despite Washington's claim that the naval exercises were a distracter from the US sanctions, they were in fact carried out under the prudent instructions of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who had ordered Iranian Armed Forces to be on alert and thwart any potential threat in view of the anti-Iran war rhetoric the US hawks have renewed in recent weeks.
In a military brinkmanship, Iran has announced that it will block the Strait of Hormuz if oil sanctions are imposed on the country. Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that closing the Strait of Hormuz is "as easy as drinking water for Iranian naval forces,” and that "we would close it if need be."

Source: Press TV...read more...

DISGRACED CANADIAN RC BISHOP EXPECTED TO BE SENTENCED

2012-01-04T18:17:00.002+08:00

Raymond Lahey was caught with hundreds of child porn images

OTTAWA, Canada - A Roman Catholic bishop who admitted he was addicted to looking at child pornography is set to learn his prison sentence Wednesday in an Ottawa courtroom.
Raymond Lahey, 71, a Newfoundlander who had been the head of the Nova Scotia diocese of Antigonish, was caught in 2009 at Ottawa's airport after authorities checked his personal computer and found a large cache of child pornography.

Lahey pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography for the purposes of importation to Canada.
The Crown's case involved 588 photos and 63 videos, with the Crown pointing out that some involved adolescent boys engaged in sex acts while wearing a crucifix and rosary beads.
Some of the images shown to the judge depicted scenes of bondage, featuring young men who were bound and on all fours.
The Crown is asking that Lahey be given a sentence between 18 and 22 months, as well as probation and a host of conditions.
The defence is asking for a one-year sentence, or the minimum that can be handed down for the crime, and that Lahey be given a two-for-one credit for time served. Although federal law changed in 2010, the defence has argued for it because Lahey was charged in 2009.

At a sentencing hearing in December, Lahey apologized for his actions, describing himself as a man who had become addicted to internet-based porn "on an indiscriminate basis."
Lahey, whose career included serving as a bishop in western Newfoundland before moving to Nova Scotia, said he wanted others to learn from his mistakes.
"To others, look at what they are doing — cease it and seek help," Lahey told the court. "It causes genuine harm to children."

Source: CBC

US TALKS OF A POSSIBLE WAR WITH IRAN

2012-01-04T13:32:00.005+08:00

WASHINGTON, U.S.A. - Speculation of a possible war with Iran ebbs and flows, but a confluence of events has served to fuel dire predictions among politicians and pundits that war may be on the horizon - either by necessity or by accident.
Some of the same hawkish voices that portrayed Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq as a dire threat requiring urgent military action are now warning that the United States must be prepared for war with Iran, while accusing President Barack Obama of lacking backbone.
John Yoo, a former Justice Department official under ex-president George W. Bush, has called on Republican presidential candidates to "begin preparing the case for a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear program."

Calling it an "unavoidable challenge," Yoo wrote last week in the National Review that the United States would have legal grounds to strike at Iran's nuclear sites - similar to the arguments made before the invasion of Iraq.
"It can argue that destroying Iran's nuclear weapons is a combination of self-defense and protecting international security," said Yoo, who during Bush's tenure backed broad presidential powers to wage war and deny rights to terror suspects.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has made a clear commitment to use military force if necessary, promising that if he wins the White House, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
Both in the United States and Israel, lawmakers and commentators warn that time is running out on the Iranian "nuclear clock" and that at some point over the next year, economic sanctions will have to be abandoned in favor of bombing raids to stop Iran from securing the bomb.
Senator Lindsey Graham and other Republicans have said any US military action would have to be broader than a few "surgical" strikes on nuclear facilities.
"Their capability is so redundant you'd have to do more than go after the nuclear program, you have to neuter this regime, destroy the air force, sink their navy, go after the Revolution Guard and try to get people in the country to overthrow the regime. We need a regime change," Graham told the CBS show "Face the Nation" in November.
"If they get a nuclear weapon the world is going to go into darkness," he said.

Despite rising tensions with Tehran and tough rhetoric from lawmakers, US military and defense chiefs have warned repeatedly that air strikes on Iran would, at best, only delay Tehran's nuclear efforts by a few years while carrying huge risks.
Analysts who oppose military action worry the United States could stumble into a war with Iran because a strategy focused on pressure and punitive sanctions may leave no diplomatic way out of the crisis.

"We are in such an escalatory cycle, if we just continue on this path much longer, we will essentially sleepwalk into a war," Trita Parsi, author of a book on US policy toward Iran, told AFP.
In "A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Diplomacy with Iran," Parsi argues the Obama administration tried a diplomatic approach but gave up too soon, partly because the Iranian regime's crackdown on street protests in 2009 made it politically impossible for the White House to pursue an opening with Tehran.
"It made a bad atmosphere much, much worse," said Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council.
Obama faces similar political pressures that plagued former president Bill Clinton over Iraq in the 1990s, when Republicans blasted sanctions on Saddam Hussein as ineffective, according to Parsi.

Shortly before retiring, the former top-ranking US officer, Admiral Mike Mullen (left photo), worried a lack of communication between the two countries' militaries could turn an incident into a potential conflict.
"We are not talking to Iran. So we don't understand each other," Mullen said in September. "If something happens, it's virtually assured that we won't get it right, that there will be miscalculations.

Source: Agency

ISRAELI DETAINED FOR CAUSING DEADLY FOREST FIRES IN CHILE?

2012-01-03T14:30:00.003+08:00

More than 500 people have been forced to evacuate their homes

SANTIAGO Chile - Firefighters in Chile are tackling dozens of forest fires which have killed one person and destroyed 230 sq km (57,000 acres) of land in the southern and central regions. A 75-year-old man died in Bio Bio after he refused to evacuate his home.
Firefighters said they had managed to contain four out of six blazes in the Torres del Paine National Park.
An Israeli tourist detained on Saturday has denied a charge of causing the park fire through negligence.

President Sebastian Pinera said Chile was in a "situation of extreme vulnerability".
He said that on Sunday emergency services were battling 48 separate fires, 15 of which were not yet under control.
The president said almost 130 sq km (32,000 acres) had been burned in the Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia.
He announced that parts of the park would re-open on Wednesday to minimise disruption to tourism and local businesses.
An Israeli tourist has been charged with causing the fire through negligence, which he denies. If found guilty, he could face up to 60 days in prison and a fine of around $300 (£190).
President Pinera has proposed increasing the penalties for anyone who causes forest fires, be it intentionally or negligently.

In the Bio Bio region, fire destroyed more than 100 homes and a plant making wood panels. More than 500 firefighters have been deployed to stem the blaze.
The BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago says that Chile always suffers forest fires during the southern hemisphere summer but that a drought has made 2011 a particularly bad year.

Source: BBC

ONE IN FOUR BRITONS IS OBESE?

2012-01-03T11:41:00.004+08:00

LONDON U.K. - A quarter of the population is officially obese yet only six per cent believe their weight is bad enough to be classified in that category, according to a survey published yesterday.
The study suggests that the rapid rise in obesity in recent years has caused weight problems to be ‘normalised' — with as many as ten million people unaware their weight is putting their health at risk.

Slimming World's annual survey revealed that three quarters of those with a severe weight problem see ‘obesity' as something that happens to other people.
But there is no underestimating the emotional damage caused by piling on the pounds.
More than one in three people who are very overweight feel that weight is ‘the most important issue in life' and up to half feel ‘embarrassed', ‘ashamed', ‘disgusted' and ‘trapped' by it.

The survey found that 70 per cent of people in the UK want to lose weight, rising to 95 per cent for people with a Body Mass Index in the obese category.
Dr Jacquie Lavin, head of nutrition and research at Slimming World, described the findings as ‘worrying'. She said: "Many people, including many health professionals, believe that managing weight is just about energy balance, and that people simply need to "eat less and exercise more".

Source: Daily Mail

NEW YEAR BRINGS LITTLE CHEER TO POOR IN INDIA

2012-01-02T19:57:00.003+08:00

NEW DELHI, India - As the city was soaked in revelry on New Year's Eve, it was just an ordinary night for Shambhu Ram, a pavement dweller, who braced himself for another chilly night, wishing that the mercury would not fall any further.
For the many homeless like him in the capital, New Year's Eve is just a regular winter night when survival in the cold wave is the prime objective.

Ram, who is illiterate, didn't even know that new year meant celebrations. "I work at a construction site, that's where I'll go on New Year's Day. There's no holiday for the poor," a visibly tired Ram said.
Just like the New Year bonfires, Ram lights one too. But this one is to keep him warm during the cold.
For 14-year-old Shabnam and her sister Bulbul, 13, New Year's celebrations were a matter of curiosity. The orphaned sisters languish in a large concrete sewage pipe section lying off the road near Vasant Vihar.
Asked about the celebrations, the elder ragpicker retorted "What do they celebrate tomorrow," while handing out a bread slice to Bulbul.

However, 15-year-old Bishnu was happy that the capital was celebrating. And why not, the probability of him scrounging some chicken curry from the scraps he gets from local restaurants gets higher.
"There will be a lot of parties. And I may even get some chicken," Bishnu says with a smile while keeping an eye on a nearby eatery.
He has no place to sleep, but stays around the Old Delhi Railway Station area as it is always full of people, assuring a constant stream of alms.

However, for 37-year-old Kallu, a rickshaw puller in Old Delhi, New Year's has a special meaning — his twins were born the same day.
He doesn't have a place to stay and sends all his money back home in Uttar Pradesh. "Whatever I save, I send back home. God has allowed both my children to go to school. One day, my children will pull me out of poverty," he says.

However, with all the festive cheer, New Year's Eve is largely bleak for the homeless in the capital who are neglected by the authorities and eyed with suspicion by the public.
According to a UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) report, there are some 56,000 homeless living on the streets of Delhi.

Source: Agency

MALAYSIAN POLICE ACCUSED OF USING BRUTALITY IN DISPERSING STUDENTS

2012-01-02T09:47:00.002+08:00

The police are accused of using brutality in dispersing students who had gathered to demand academic freedom.

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia - Student activists saw an ominous start to the new year when about 100 of them were violently dispersed by the police for staging a peaceful assembly in front of the Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Tanjung Malim early this morning.
The students had started gathering since 12.30am to demand for academic freedom and to protest against the Universities and University Colleges Act. They had also wanted the UPSI to drop charges against student leader Adam Adli.

Adam, an UPSI student, has been charged with disciplinary action by the university for replacing a flag depicting the Prime Minister’s face with a banner proclaiming academic freedom two weeks ago.
The police, with the participation of the Federal Reserve Units, made their move to disperse the students at about 2.30am, in the process arresting at least 17 students, including Adam Adli.
The students had earlier lied down on the road when the police made their move to disperse the protesting crowd.
Two of the students were arrested while making a police report, and one for shouting at the police to release the arrested students. The arrested students are all being held at the Tanjung Malim police station. They were all released by 4pm yesterday.
Students also claimed that the police acted in a brutal manner in dispersing them, as a result causing injuries to some students. Some eye-witnesses said that one student, Muhammad Safwan Anang, was allegedly assaulted by at least eight police personnel.
Muhammad Safwan, a student leader, had been admitted to the Slim River Hospital in a serious condition, including suffering from a broken cheekbone.

The police came under severe condemnation for the heavy tactics against the students.
Lawyers For Liberty’s Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said the police had unlawfully used excessive force against peaceful and unarmed students.
She urged the authorities to immediately release the arrested students and take action against the police officers who had been involved in using excessive force against the students.

Source: FMT

GIRL TOTURED FOR REFUSING TO BECAME A PROSTITUTE

2012-01-01T18:14:00.004+08:00

Afghan girl Sahar Gul who was tortured for months after refusing prostitution lies on a hospital bed in Kabul on Saturday, December 31, 2011.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A 15-year-old Afghan girl was brutally tortured, beaten and locked in a toilet by her husband's family for months after she refused to become a prostitute, officials said yesterday.
Sahar Gul was in critical condition when she was rescued from a house in northern Baghlan province last week, after her neighbours reported hearing Gul crying and moaning in pain.

According to police in Baghlan, her in-laws pulled out her nails and hair, and locked her in a dark basement bathroom for about five months, with barely enough food and water to survive.
"She was married seven months ago, and was originally from Badakhshan province. Her in-laws tried to force her into prostitution to earn money," Rahima Zarifi, head of women's affairs in Baghlan, told Reuters.
Gul is covered in scars and bruises, with one eye still swollen shut six days after her rescue. She is being treated in a government hospital in Kabul, but her recovery could take weeks and she may have to be sent to India, doctors said.
"This is one of the worst cases of violence against Afghan women. The perpetrators must be punished so others learn a lesson," health minister Suraya Dalil (left photo) told journalists after visiting Gul yesterday with the women's affairs minister.
Mohammad Zia, a senior police official in Baghlan who helped rescue the girl, said Gul's mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been detained, but her husband and father-in-law had escaped.
Despite progress in women's rights and freedom since the fall of the Taliban 10 years ago, women throughout the country are still at risk of abduction, rape, forced marriage and being traded as commodity.
However it can be hard for women to escape violent situations at home, because of huge social and sometimes legal pressure to stay in marriages.

Running away from an abusive husband or a forced marriage is considered a "moral crime", for which women are currently imprisoned in Afghanistan.
Some rape victims have also been imprisoned, because sex outside marriage, even when the woman is forced, is considered adultery, another "moral crime".

Source: Reuters

NEW YEARS'S BASH IN KARALA WASH AWAY BY HEAVY RAIN

2012-01-01T13:02:00.001+08:00

THAIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - Cyclone Thane yesterday played spoil sport to New Year's bash in Kerala apart from claiming five lives in rain-related incidents in the state's capital city and leaving a trail of destruction.
A federal government spokesman said a 75-year-old grandmother and her three-year-old grandson were electrocuted while an elderly woman was crushed to death as she was trapped in her mud house which collapsed in the heavy rain. Her husband was seriously injured. Two men drowned in a stream flowing through the city.

The government has announced ex-gratia payment of Rs100,000 each to the family of the victims.
In the heavy downpour of Cyclone Thane, which reached the state belying the prediction that the state is safe, more than 50 houses in the city were heavily damaged.
The flash flood has inundated the Neyyar dam reservoir that provides water to the city and the authorities have decided to open the shutters to release water.

Many city areas have been flooded and relief camps are being opened to move the affected people.
Though other parts of the state received heavy rain in the cyclonic weather, no loss of human life or damage to properties have been reported yet. The heavy rain has disappointed hundreds of tourists who have reached the state to celebrate the New Year.

Many hotels and resorts across the state have cancelled their planned extravaganzas after the open air venues decked up for the occasion have turned slushy and the weathermen forecast heavy rain to thunder showers for the next 24 hours.
In Alappuzha, where tens of hundreds of tourists have thronged to celebrate the new year on house boats, the authorities have issued a warning against boat cruises in the sprawling lake in the night. They imposed restriction on waterfront celebrations. The area received 24mm of rainfall in 24 hours that ended at 8:30am.

Disappointment is writ large on the faces of tourists who have flown down to Alappuza. The rain has forced them to remain indoors during the New Year's eve.
"Ever since I had heard from a friend of mine about Alappuzha, it was my dream to celebrate a New Year in the old port city. It took five years to raise money for the trip, but unseasonal rains spoiled my dream at the last moment, bad luck," said William James, a Briton who arrived in Alappuzha a couple of days back with his girlfriend.

Source: Agency

IRAN TO TEST-FIRE VARIOUS MISSILES

2011-12-31T21:24:00.001+08:00

An Iranian naval vessel fires a missile during exercises in the Strait of Hormuz.

TEHRAN, Iran - The spokesman for Iran's naval drills Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi says the Iranian Navy will test-fire various missiles in the final phase of Velayat 90 maneuvers.
Mousavi, the Deputy Commander of Iran's Navy, added on Sunday that although the missiles were initially scheduled to be test fired in the power phase of the drill the schedule has changed.
The Iranian commander had announced to reporters on Saturday that the Navy would fire various long and short-range surface-to-sea, surface-to-surface, and surface-to-air missiles on the first day of the power phase.

Iran's Navy launched the massive 10-day Velayat 90 naval drill on December 24, over an area covering from the east of the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden.
The tactical phase of the maneuvers commenced on Tuesday, after the first stage of the exercise ended successfully, and continued until Friday night.
On Friday, naval forces performed special heliborne operations, conducted free-fall parachute jumps from SH helicopters, and fired shoulder-launched missiles at mock enemy positions.

The power phase of the operations started on Saturday and test-firing various missiles was part of the original timetable.
Iran says that the drills are defensive in nature and intended to convey a message of peace and friendship to the countries in the region.

Source: Press TV

ODD WAYS TO RING IN NEW YEAR IN USA

2011-12-31T12:56:00.002+08:00

NEW YORK, U.S.A. - Drawing more than one million visitors in person and one billion viewers on TV, New York City’s Times Square ball drop is one of the most watched events in the world.
But many cities across the United States prefer to put their own spin on the now traditional event. From pinecones to pineapples, these regions lower their own oversized symbols as the last seconds of the old year tick away.

Pinecone Drop, Flagstaff, Arizona
Arizona is more likely to be associated with cactus than pinecones, but Flagstaff, in the northern part of the state, has the largest Ponderosa Pine forest in the continental United States. The 5ft-by-7ft gold and silver aluminium pinecone has dropped from the 112-year-old Weatherford Hotel since 1999.
Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop, Eastport, Maine
The only place in America where the New Year is rung in twice in one night, the easternmost city in the United States drops a 4ft-wide maple leaf at 11 pm to celebrate the New Year in neighbouring New Brunswick, Canada, and drops an 8ft-long sardine at midnight to ring in their own New Year, commemorating Eastport’s longstanding sardine canning industry.

Moon Pie Drop, Mobile, Alabama
Though moon pies are made in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mobile has had a love affair with the marshmallow-filled treats since they were first thrown in Mardi Gras celebrations in 1956. The 12ft-tall moon pie replica has only been dropping on New Year’s Eve since 2008, but the event already has its very own commemorative song.

Walleye Drop, Lake Clinton, Ohio
A 20ft, 600-pound walleye fish has made an appearance in this Lake Erie town since 1996. Residents hold an entire outdoor celebration (where the temperatures can often be well below freezing) with walleye chowder, sandwiches and even walleye-flavoured popcorn.

Pineapple Drop, Honolulu, Hawaii
The last time zone in the US to leave the old year behind, Hawaii sends it off in style by lowering a 200-pound papier-mâché pineapple from the 10-storey Kahala Resort in Oahu. The event can be seen from the beach or the hotel.

Source: Agency

MALAYSIA ON RED ALERT OVER DRUG TRAFFICKING

2011-12-30T10:23:00.002+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian airport authorities have gone on “red alert” against drug trafficking following a surge this year in arrests and drug seizures, a senior customs official said Thursday.
Customs officers have begun this week screening all inbound passengers to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and an adjacent budget carrier terminal, said M Govinden, customs director-in-charge at KLIA.
He said 195 kilogrammes of drugs were seized and 33 people arrested at the two terminals so far this year, despite Malaysia’s tough anti-drug laws which include a mandatory death sentence for traffickers.

Govinden added that drug seizures were at their highest level in a decade.
“The smuggling of drugs through airports is becoming very serious. Last week alone three arrests were made. More would have come in and slipped through the net (without the higher security),” he told AFP.
Smugglers have traditionally arrived from Africa and the Middle East but were expanding their originating points to include places like Bangladesh and the Philippines, he said.
A Malaysian man arriving from Manila on Tuesday — traditionally not a major source of trafficked drugs to Malaysia — was arrested with three kilogrammes of amphetamines hidden in his luggage, Govinden said.
He added that customs inspectors were now on “red alert” with all incoming flights considered “high risk”. Govinden did not say how long the heightened security level would last.

Malaysia has seen a string of recent drug-trafficking busts involving foreigners from countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere in Asia.
In October, a Malaysian court sentenced a Japanese women to death for smuggling methamphetamines into the country in what officials said was the first such case involving a citizen of Japan.

Source: AFP

CANADIAN B.C MOTHER FACES DEPORTATION TO MEXICO

2011-12-29T18:12:00.001+08:00

VICTORIA, Vancouver, Canada - A Vancouver woman who claims her life would be in danger if she returned to her native Mexico with her two-week-old baby has been ordered to leave Canada.
Ericka Gonzalez has lived in Vancouver for three years, during which time she met and married man from Iran in 2009 and had his child earlier this month.

But her husband was deported back to Iran just a week before her daughter was born, and Canadian Immigration authorities have ordered Gonzalez to leave this country by the end of February.
Gonzalez, 36, fled from Mexico City in March 2008 after working there as an addictions counsellor. One of her clients was part of a drug gang and Gonzalez said sensitive information she learned while she counselled him had made her a target for homicide.
"I'm afraid that they do something to kill me, do something to my family,” Gonzalez said. “Especially now that I have a baby, I'm worried they do something to my baby."
Gonzalez said she fled Mexico, fearing for her life, received a Canadian work permit and started working as a counsellor at two clinics in Vancouver.
She and her husband had applied for refugee status in Canada, but both their applications and subsequent appeals were denied on the basis that their claims of threats in their native countries were not credible.
"I am not satisfied that the applicants would suffer unusual and undeserved or disproportionate hardship if they were to apply for permanent residence [from] outside Canada," a senior immigration officer wrote in a decision after considering an appeal in October.
"They just separate our family, my daughter doesn't have father now," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez's daughter Parmys is a Canadian citizen.

The Canada Border Services Agency, which supervises deportation, declined a request for an interview. But the agency did say in an email to CBC News that, “where children are involved, the best interests of the child(ren) are taken into account when persons are facing removal from Canada.
Our officers carry out their obligations of the Convention of the Rights of the Child whenever they make decisions involving children.
"The decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly.”

Source: CBC

NEW FLOODS DISPLACE THOUSANDS IN PHILIPPINES

2011-12-29T08:32:00.000+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of Filipinos were affected by floodwaters as heavy rains brought by two low-pressure areas over Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon caused massive flooding.
Heavy rains, which started to pour in on December 25 affected nine regions--from the Davao region all the way to Cagayan Valley in northeastern Philippines.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that the low pressure areas located northwest of Butuan city and southeast of Zamboanga City caused heavy rainfall that triggered the occurrence of flooding in nine regions.

Heavy flooding had been reported in Eastern Visayas region's Leyte province and Cebu while flashfloods occurred in Bukidnon provinces' Valencia City and Davao del Norte. Floodwaters were up to waist deep in most affected areas while in some, residents had to climb to the safety of their roofs.
Some of the residents had been marooned on their rooftops as floodwaters rose Tuesday evening. Mayor Jose Catarata had to request the military to pluck the trapped residents and bring them to safer areas.
n Capiz, and Negros Occidental, flooding had affected 1,099 families.
Four people, all surnamed Alejo, died from drowning In northeastern Philippines' Isabela. Their bodies had been recovered in several locations in the town of San Mateo.
In the village of San Isidro in the two not Tabogon in Cebu, two persons drowned to death while two infants aged were reported missing in Surigao City in the South.
"A total of 10,592 families or 53,433 people were affected in 240 villages," the NDRRMC said.
The agency said a total 17,330 people were evacuated to 53 evacuation centres as a result of the flooding. The heavy rains that affected most parts of the Philippines came more than a week after Typhoon Washi (known as Sendong in the Philippines) caused massive flooding in Mindanao's Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City.

More than a thousand people were killed from the calamity prompting the government and international community to mount a massive humanitarian effort.
Washi had affected 113,411 families or more than 700,000 people. The death toll from the typhoon had been placed at this time at 1,249 with 84 missing.
The cost of damage to property from the typhoon is estimated to exceed P1.2 billion.

Source: Agency

ISRAELIS RALLY AGAINST ULTRA-ORTHODOX EXTREMISM

2011-12-28T17:40:00.001+08:00

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel - Several thousand Israelis have demonstrated in the town of Beit Shemesh against the behaviour of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who want to enforce segregation between men and women.
The town has been at the centre of controversy in Israel since some ultra-Orthodox men harassed and spat at an eight-year-old girl on her way to school, accusing her of failing to dress modestly.
The Israeli president has said a minority in Israel is acting outrageously and violating national solidarity.

Source: BBC...Read more

CANADA SHIPPING BOMB URANIUM TO US?

2011-12-28T09:31:00.002+08:00

OTTAWA, Canada - According to reports, Canada is secretly transporting large amounts of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium to the United States.
A confidential federal document made public on Tuesday says at least one payload of used, US-origin highly enriched uranium fuel has already been transferred stateside under a new accord between Canada and the US.
The Canadian stockpile, which is quietly shipped from Chalk River in the province of Ontario, contains hundreds of kilograms of bomb-grade uranium, enough to make several Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs.

This is while the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the country's atomic watchdog, seeks to keep the issue secret by refusing to set up public hearings about it or disclose which communities lie along the transit route.

The transportation of atomic material originates from the highly publicized deal signed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US President Barack Obama in 2010. The deal was signed amid fears that terrorists may get access to weapons-grade uranium.
The development has aroused a great controversy inside Canada, hampering the shipment of 16 generators from the North American country through the St. Lawrence River onto the European countries.

Source: Press TV

PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT PARDONS DRUG TRAFFICKING BRITON

2011-12-27T08:23:00.002+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III granted on December 21 the conditional pardon to British national William Robert Burton who was convicted of drug-related charges.

He also ordered the commutation of the sentences of four Filipinos convicted of various criminal offenses on December 23.

Press Undersecretary Abigail Valte read the orders in a news conference.

She said Burton’s conditional pardon had already been transmitted to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and to the directors of the Bureau of Corrections and the Board of Pardons and Parole.
Burton has been required to “take the first available means of transportation to England” after his papers are processed by the Bureau of Immigration.
Burton, an undesirable alien, is not permitted to return to the Philippines.

Valte said Burton, whose conviction for drug trafficking earned him a prison term from the Pasay Regional Trial Court, still needs to pay a P20,000-fine.

Valte said she was “not informed of the reasons” for the pardon given to Burton or the commutations to the four Filipinos.

Valte also said she was not aware whether other commutations would be given before the end of the year.

Source: Agency

OF RARE RHINO IN MALAYSIAN BORNEO GIVE HOPE FOR SPICES

2011-12-26T19:56:00.005+08:00

KOTA KINABALU, Sabah, Malaysia - Malaysian wildlife authorities say the capture of a young Borneo Sumatran rhino gives them a last chance to save the highly endangered species from extinction.
The female rhino, aged between 10 and 12, was caught on December 18 and is being kept in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah on the Malaysian area of Borneo island. It is hoped it will breed with a lone captive male.

"All of us in Sabah are relieved that we have been able to capture this rhino after almost a year-and-a-half," Borneo Rhino Alliance director Junaidi Payne said.

The female rhino, which has been named Puntung, was caught in a joint operation by the Borneo Rhino Alliance and the Sabah Wildlife Department.
"This is now the very last chance to save this species, one of the most ancient forms of mammal," Laurentius Ambu, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, said in a statement.
Puntung had been specifically targeted since early 2010 as the mate for a 20-year-old male rhino named Tam, who was rescued from an oil palm plantation in August 2008.
"It is an ideal age for breeding. Puntung and Tam are being kept in adjacent paddocks. They can see each other and there is some communication," Mr Payne said.

Previous attempts in the 1980s and 1990s to breed Borneo Sumatran rhinos failed, but Mr Payne is "cautiously optimistic" the latest captive breeding program will succeed.
The critically endangered Sumatran rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for courtship and rearing young.
Mr Payne says the main threat to the survival of species "is there are so few and they do not mate in the wild".

The breeding program is important because it is estimated only between 30 and 50 of the Borneo sub-species of the Sumatran rhinos are known to remain in the wild in Borneo.
It is distinguished from other Sumatran rhinos by its relatively small size, small teeth and distinctively shaped head.
Mr Payne attributes the sharp decline in the population to previously being hunted for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

Source: AFP

40 NIGERIANS KILLED DURING CHRISTMAS CARNAGE

2011-12-26T11:29:00.005+08:00

ABUJA, Nigeria - Terror attacks across Nigeria by a radical Muslim sect killed at least 40 people, with the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church after celebrating Christmas Mass.
Authorities on Sunday acknowledged they could not bring enough emergency medical personnel to care for the wounded outside St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near Nigeria’s capital.
Elsewhere, a bomb exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation’s northeast as part of an apparently coordinated assault by the sect known as Boko Haram.

The Christmas Day violence, denounced by world leaders and the Vatican, shows the threat of the widening insurrection posed by Boko Haram against Nigeria’s weak central government. Despite a recent paramilitary crackdown against the sect, it appears that Nigeria remains unable to stop the threat.
The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church just after 8 a.m. The attack killed 35 people and wounded another 52, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.
Though billions of dollars of oil money flow into the nation’s budget yearly, Luguard’s agency could only send text messages to journalists asking for their help in getting more ambulances.
Those wounded filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, with television images showing them crying in pools of their own blood. Corpses lined an open-air morgue.

The bombing and the delayed response drew anger from those gathering around the church after the blast. The crowd initially blocked emergency workers from the blast site, only allowing them in after soldiers arrived.
In Jos, a second explosion struck near the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church. Gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one officer. Two other locally made explosives were found in a nearby building and disarmed.

By noon Sunday, explosions echoed through the streets of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state. The most serious attack on Sunday came when a suicide bomber detonated a car loaded with explosives at the state headquarters of Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Service.
The bomber killed three people in the blast, though the senior military commander apparently targeted survived the attack, the State Security Service said in a statement.
After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria’s Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper to communicate with public before.

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
The group, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
This Christmas attack comes a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.

Source: Agency

HAITI MIGRANTS FOUND DEAD OFF CUBA'S COAST

2011-12-25T16:40:00.001+08:00

HAVANA, Cuba - At least 38 migrants from Haiti have been found dead after their boat sank just off the eastern tip of Cuba, officials in Havana say.
Another 87 people from the boat were rescued, Cuban TV reported quoting civil defense officials.
It said the boat was spotted only 100m off shore. A search for more possible survivors is now under way.
Fatal incidents involving migrants from Haiti - the Western hemisphere's poorest nation - are not uncommon.

In 2009, US Coast Guard officials called off their search for about 70 migrants from Haiti whose boat capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands.
In May 2007, at least 61 Haitian migrants died when a boat carrying 150 people sank off the Turks and Caicos, a British territory.

Source: BBC

TEN OF THOUSANDS PROTEST AGAINST ELECTION FRAUD IN MOSCOW

2011-12-25T09:09:00.004+08:00

MOSCOW, Russia - Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the Russian capital yesterday in another massive protest against election fraud, signalling growing outrage with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule.
The demonstration in Moscow was as big as a protest two weeks ago — the largest show of discontent the nation has seen since the 1991 Soviet collapse — although rallies in other cities in the far east and Siberia earlier yesterday drew much smaller crowds.

Rally participants gathered on a broad avenue about 2.5km from the Kremlin on a snowy day. A stage at one side of the 700-metre avenue featured placards reading ‘Russia Will be Free' and ‘This Election is a Farce'.
Recent protests in Moscow and other cities have dented Putin's authority as he seeks to reclaim the presidency in next March's vote. The Kremlin has responded by promising a set of political reforms that would liberalise election rules.
But protest leaders say they will continue pushing for a rerun of the December 4 parliamentary election and punishment for officials accused of fraud. They say maintaining momentum is key to forcing the government to accept their demands.
"We want to back those who are fighting for our rights," said 16-year-old Darya Andryukhina, who said she also attended the previous rally.
"People have come here because they want respect," said Tamara Voronina, 54, who said she was proud of her three sons who have also joined the protest.

The protests have reflected a growing public frustration with Putin, who ruled Russia as president in 2000-2008, and has remained the nation's No 1 leader after moving into the premier's seat due to a constitutional term limit.
Putin(left photo) has accused the US of fomenting the protests in order to weaken Russia and said, sarcastically, that he thought the white ribbons many protesters wear as an emblem were condoms.In a response to Putin's blustery rhetoric, one protester yesterday held a picture montage of Putin with his head wrapped in a condom like a grandmother's headscarf.

Source: Agency

4 CONVICTED FOR EXORCISM KILLING IN AUSTRALIA

2011-12-24T09:04:00.001+08:00

DARWIN, Australia - Four people convicted in the beating death of a woman during what they said was an exorcism ritual on a remote Australian island were sentenced on Friday to several years in jail. Sarah Bara was beaten to death with sticks last year on Groote Eylandt off the northern Australian coast.
Last month, Glenys Wurrawilya, Susie Wurrawilya, Paul Wurramara and Roderick Mamarika pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter over the beating, which several children witnessed.

Some of the accused had originally claimed that they beat Bara as part of an exorcism intended to cleanse her of the devil.
But on Friday, Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Peter Barr(right photo) said the accused attacked Bara simply to cause her pain and humiliation.
"I am not satisfied that any of the accused thought she had the devil in her," he said.
On the day she was killed, Bara had been asked to find a bag containing medication for Susie Wurrawilya.
When she couldn't find it, both Glenys and Susie Wurrawilya began to hit her. Bara was then forced to sit on the ground while a circle of fire was lit around her and was again struck with sticks. An autopsy found she had been hit with extreme force more than two dozen times.

Mamarika and Wurramara did not participate in the beating, but watched and did nothing to stop it, Barr said. The four received sentences ranging from five years to seven-and-a-half years in jail.
Groote Eylandt, home to an Aboriginal and mining community of around 1,500, is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the northern Australia mainland.

Source: Agency

ENOUGH FUNDS FOR REPATRIATION FILIPINOS FROM SYRIA

2011-12-23T20:20:00.002+08:00

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday it has enough funds to cover the repatriation of Filipinos from volatile Syria, including the cost of airfare and visa fees, following its decision to raise the crisis alert to Level 4 in that Middle East country.
Meanwhile, the Senate foreign relations committee appealed to Filipinos in Syria to heed the government’s call for mandatory repatriation.
In an interview, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said emergency funds and assistance to Nationals Funds will be utilized in repatriation efforts.

Under crisis alert Level 4, mandatory repatriation at Philippine government's expense will be implemented.
Hernandez said as of December 16, 383 Filipinos have already been repatriated from Syria. However, 5,000 Filipinos, both documented and undocumented, still remain in Syria.
"Mandatory repatriation would allow us to tell our people to leave now," said Hernandez.
The Senate foreign relations committee chaired by Sen. Loren Legarda called on the DFA to determine how government may effectively cover undocumented Filipino workers under its crisis management and security arrangements.
“While the DFA and the Philippine Embassy in Damascus have already laid out their plans for there repatriation and other necessary assistance to Filipinos in Syria, the bigger challenge rests on convincing our countrymen to take advantage of the government’s offer to repatriate them,” Legarda said.
Legarda recalled that the Philippine government had earlier made offers of repatriation to the Filipinos in Syria.

Since August, the government has offered repatriation assistance to Filipinos in Syria but as of December 16, only 383 of the estimated 17,000 Filipinos have agreed to be repatriated, she said.
“The decision by an overwhelming majority to risk their lives, not withstanding the clear and present danger to their safety, stresses the need for government to create jobs in our country that can feed families and educate children,” Legarda said.

Source: Agency