SINGAPORE CHARGE CHINESE WOMAN WHO SURVIVE 12 STOREY FALL
SINGAPORE - The Straits Times newspaper reported a Chinese woman, Zhou Zhi Hui, 26, on Friday tried to escape from her flat after a heated argument with her landlord when she lost grip at a balcony and plunged about 40 metres into a swimming pool (illustrated photo).- She miraculously survived the fall from the 12th floor of a Singapore apartment building.Although the pool’s water was just between 0.5 and 1.35 metres deep, she apparently suffered only light injuries, it said.
- However now she has to face a criminal charge for attempted suicide, a media report said on Saturday.
- Ms. Zhou had been arrested for attempted suicide because she had threatened to jump during the dispute, but was out on bail, the report said.
- According to Singapore law, attempted suicide is regarded as a crime and can be punished with a jail term of up to one year, a fine or both.
But Ms. Zhou, who arrived in Singapore just last month from China’s Shandong province, denied any intention to kill herself.“I just wanted to get out of the house. I never thought of killing myself,” the paper quoted her as saying.
NATIONWIDE STUDENTS PROTEST REACHING CRESCENDO IN LONDON
LONDON, U.K - Angry student protesters marched through central London toward Parliament on Thursday as lawmakers began debating a controversial plan to triple university tuition fees in Britain.Weeks of nationwide protests were reaching a crescendo, as thousands of students held demonstrations and sit-ins throughout the country. In central London, where recent protests have turned violent, demonstrators braved near-freezing temperatures to protest.
- The tuition vote poses a crucial test for both the Conservative's governing coalition with the Liberal Democrats and the government's austerity plans to reduce Britain's budget deficit.
The vote put Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and other Liberal Democrat leaders in an awkward spot. Liberal Democrats signed a pre-election pledge to oppose any such tuition hike, and have reserved the right to abstain in the vote even though they are part of the governing coalition proposing the change.- To jeers from the opposition, Business Secretary Vince Cable insisted yesterday that the new tuition plans were "progressive" as a heated debate over the proposal began in the House of Commons. While some Liberal Democrats have declared their opposition, the increase is still likely to pass.
All of this has made Clegg one of the least popular politicians on university campuses. "Clegg today will expose himself as the pathetic Pinocchio of politics," read the front page of the Daily Mirror newspaper — complete with an altered photo of Clegg's growing "nose of shame."- Clegg defended his decision to support the proposals, saying the plans represent the "best possible choice" at a time of economic uncertainty.
- "In the circumstances in which we face, where there isn't very much money around, where many millions of other people are being asked to make sacrifices, where many young people in the future want to go to university, we have to find the solution for all of that," Clegg told the BBC.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government defends the move as a painful necessity to deal with a record budget deficit and a sputtering economy. To balance its books, the UK passed a four-year package of spending cuts worth £81 billion (Dh470 billion), which will lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs and cut or curtail hundreds of government programmes.CHEETAH DELAY THE ADELAIDE - BOUND QANTAS FLIGHT IN DOWN UNDER
MELBOURNE, Australia - Passengers on a Qantas flight were dismayed Wednesday when the pilot reported difficulties in getting one passenger on board - a cheetah."We're sorry for the delay, but we're having some problems loading the cheetah," the pilot reportedly told passengers on board the domestic flight as it sat on the tarmac at Melbourne airport.
Qantas said the Adelaide-bound flight was delayed for 36 minutes after ground staff had problems loading the pallet carrying the big cat, which was bound for a South Australian zoo.- "It was nothing to do with the cheetah being upset," a spokeswoman for the airline told AFP. "It was purely just loading the pallet onto the aircraft."
The Australian airline, which has been in the news lately after an engine blast on one its long-haul Airbus A380s grounded its superjumbo fleet for three weeks, said the animal was placed on the next flight to Adelaide.Qantas said that it was regularly called upon to transport zoo attractions such as the cheetah.
"We move tens of thousands of animals each year. We've recently moved some fairy penguins; we've moved a hippo, gorilla, crocodile, Tasmanian devils. We move livestock." the spokeswoman said.- Asked whether the airline, known as the "flying kangaroo" had ever moved its bounding namesake, the spokeswoman replied: "We probably have."
IN SUPPORT FO WIKILEAKS, HACKERS STEP UP CYBER WAR
Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, gather outside the City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London where Julian Assange's case was heard
LONDON, U.K - Hackers stepped up their cyber war on Thursday in support of WikiLeaks as the embattled whistleblowers released memos showing the US views China as a "pernicious" competitor in Africa, lacking in morals.After a group which has dubbed itself "Anonymous" vowed to intensify its "war of data" against Mastercard, Visa and other groups which have cut funding to the website, the Swedish government then came under attack.
In an online chat with AFP, organisers of the group said thousands of volunteers were taking part in their defense of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, whom they described as a "free-speech martyr".- "We started off with a small amount of users (below 50)," they said. "Now, we are at around 4,000."
"We recruit through the internet, that means, everywhere: imageboards, forums, Facebook, Twitter... you name it, we're using it," they said.- Anonymous members launched their first distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack on Saturday, taking down PayPal's blog, ThePayPalBlog.com, for at least eight hours.
Since then, they have taken down the websites of Visa, Mastercard and the Swiss Post Office bank for severing ties to WikiLeaks and the website of the Swedish prosecutor's office for pursuing Assange on allegations of sex crimes.The latest apparent victims was the Swedish government, according to a report in the country's top-selling daily.
- Aftonbladet said the official government website, http://www.regeringen.se/, was offline for a few hours overnight to Thursday, publishing a screen shot which showed the server could not be reached. The site was working normally again later in the day.
- The paper also reported that WikiLeaks supporters had created a website bearing Swedish Justice Minister Beatrice Ask's name which then redirected users to WikiLeaks own site.
Members of Anonymous also took aim on Wednesday at the websites of US conservative standard bearer Sarah Palin and US Senator Joe Lieberman, who called for US companies to withdraw technical support for WikiLeaks.- Palin for her part described Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands."
Assange is currently behind bars in a south London prison. He handed himself into police on Tuesday after Sweden issued a European arrest warrant and he was then refused bail.U.S. TO BE BLAME FOR WIKILEAKS DUMP?
Australia’s foreign minister said that Australia would support Assange as it would any Australian arrested abroad. Mr. Rudd pointed it out that the U.S. government is responsible for the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic memos and cautioned against blaming the website that published the secret cables and its founder.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other American officials have said that WikiLeaks acted illegally when it posted the sensitive files, memos from American embassies around the world that have embarrassed Washington.- The U.S. government is investigating whether Julian Assange, the website’s Australian founder, can be prosecuted for espionage or other offenses.
- But Kevin Rudd said the blame lies with the leaker and the U.S. government’s failure to protect its secrets. “The bottom line here is that the core of all this lies with the failure of the government of the United States to properly protect its own diplomatic communications,” Mr. Rudd told Melbourne Talk Radio on Wednesday.
If Assange, who has been arrested and jailed in London in an unrelated sex-crimes investigation, is also going to be pursued, he must be presumed innocent, Mr. Rudd said.- “To have several million people on their distribution list for a quarter of million cables, that’s where the problem lies and the person or persons responsible for their unauthorized release, who then gets engaged in the business of disseminating the content of that information, be it WikiLeaks, or anybody else, well that’s a matter to be tested by the police,” Mr. Rudd said.
Assange surrendered to the British police on Tuesday to answer an arrest warrant issued for his arrest in Sweden. He is wanted for questioning after two women accused him of having sex with them without their consent.Assange defended his website in an opinion piece published in an Australian newspaper on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old writes in the opinion piece, published by The Australian, that there is a great need for WikiLeaks and denies that the site’s publication of classified information has endangered lives, a claim made last week by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.- “WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed,” Assange wrote. “But the U.S., with Australian government connivance, has killed thousands in the past few months alone.”
- He wrote that democracies require a strong media to keep governments honest and that WikiLeaks helps fulfill that role. “WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.”
BARBIE DOLL CAN BE USED TO PRODUCE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY?
SAN FRANCISCO – The FBI says it recently issued an alert about a popular Barbie doll with a hidden video camera that could be used to produce child pornography, but stressed that the toy has not been linked with any reported crimes.FBI spokesman Steve Dupre said Tuesday the alert last month was meant only for law enforcement agencies to advise them not to overlook Mattel's "Barbie Video Girl" during any searches. The alert was sent out by the bureau's Sacramento office. However, it was then accidentally sent to some members of the media, Dupre said.
In a written statement, the FBI said that "the alert's intent was to ensure law enforcement agencies were aware that the doll — like any other video-capable equipment — could contain evidence and to not disregard such as item during a search."- The FBI also said that there have been no incidents of the doll being used as anything other than as intended.
The doll, which sells for $49.99, has an LCD screen on its back and shoots video from Barbie's perspective through a lens hidden in the doll's necklace. It can be connected by a USB cable to a TV or computer and records up to 30 minutes of footage.- In a written statement, Mattel said child safety is the company's priority.
- "Mattel products are designed with children and their best interests in mind," the company said. "Many of Mattel's employees are parents themselves, and we understand the importance of child safety."
- Gerrick Johnson, a toy industry analyst with BMO Capital Markets, said the doll is popular and both boys and girls like the camera.
Media attention "is starting to build, but I really hope it doesn't," Johnson said. "I think it is a very clever product, kids like making videos and uploading things to the computer."Jim Silver, industry analyst and editor at Timetoplaymag.com, said the controversy has been overblown. "It's a doll, for Pete's sake," Silver said.
M'SIA BAR COUNCIL SLAMS POLICE FOR HARSH TREATMENT TO WATER PROTESTERS
Regrettably, the police persists in favouring a repressive and heavy-handed approach when, as was the case on last Sunday, numerous members of the public gathered to express their viewpoint on an issue of concern to them.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The President of The Malaysian Bar Council deplores the police’s harsh treatment of ordinary citizens who showed up to support the handover of a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, especially as access to water at an affordable cost is clearly a matter of great public interest. Intimidatory tactics were employed, including the dispersal and arrest of individuals even prior to the gathering.- The police also displayed excessive and disproportionate force in their indiscriminate use of tear gas and water cannons on the crowd, he said.
Repeated calls by The Malaysian bar for the police to embrace the public’s increased articulation of viewpoints as a positive development in our society, and to accord it the necessary democratic space to flourish, continue to fall on deaf ears. The Government has indicated its intention to review section 27 of the Police Act to allow more latitude, but the actions of the police stand in stark contradiction to this avowed goal.
Accordingly, The police could have permitted the gathering to take place peacefully and with minimal disruption, while preserving public order and ensuring the safety of all participants. This approach would have dispelled any perception that the police behaves in a biased manner, and acts selectively to stifle only gatherings that voice dissenting views.- It is strongly believed that it is time for the police to take active measures to protect the Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms of speech and assembly. It is time for the police to exercise restraint, and to cease muzzling public opinion and persecuting those who speak their minds. It is time for the police to move away from a “police state” mindset and to accept, and work within, the current environment.
- It is time, indeed it is long past the time, for the police to recognise and uphold the clear wish of the people to assemble peaceably and to express their opinions.
However,The police have denied using excessive force to break up Sunday’s water protest as alleged by the Bar Council. ASP Suffian Sulaiman from the public affairs office of the city police headquarters today said “minimum action” was used to disperse protesters gathered outside the National Mosque after they refused to move on despite being given time to do so.“In order to maintain public order in the city, the police used minimum action to disperse this group of people,” he said in an email to The Malaysian Insider.Suffian reiterated that Section 27 of the Police Act 1967 was still in force, in line with Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.,
A MUSLIM FILIPINO SUES PHILIPPINES POLICEMAN FOR FALSE ARREST
Illustrated photo of muslim filipino believed to be a member of Abu Syyaf
MANILA, Philippines - A Christian who embraced Islam filed charges against police officers who arrested him, believing he was a member of Al Qaida-linked terror group Abu Sayyaf in northern suburban Bulacan in 2006, radio and TV reports have said."I have experienced many forms of torture. I was stepped on, burned on several parts of my body, and my head was covered by plastic bag. I was forced to admit that I was a terrorist," Allan Almoite, also known as Ali Bin Nasser, said on radio and TV interviews. He filed a case demanding 470 million pesos (Dh39.62 million) in damages against the Philippine National Police in Quezon City.
- The basis of his demand was the country's 2007 Human Security Act which says that a person who was mistakenly arrested and jailed can get 500,000 pesos for each day of incarceration.
"I was arrested because my name was similar to the name of a person they were looking for," said Almoite.- "It's not true that if my name is Ali, I am already a terrorist. It's not true that all members of Balik Islam (those who have embraced Islam])are terrorists. Where is justice [for us who are innocent but mistaken as terrorists]?" Almoite asked.
His mother Felicidad Almoite also said on TV, "Our neighbours considered us as outcasts. They did not talk to us. We also lost our jobs."Almoite was incarcerated between 2006 and 2009. But in 2009, the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court ruled that there is no evidence linking Almoite to the Abu Sayyaf group.
WIKILEAKS FOUNDER ASSANGE, ARRESTED AND DENIED BAIL IN UK
Julian Assange surrendered himself to police in London
LONDON, United Kingdom - A London court has denied bail to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, and ordered that he remain in custody for a week, after he was arrested on an extradition warrant.The 39-year-old Australian, who handed himself into authorities in the British capital on Tuesday, is wanted in Sweden on allegations of sex crimes.
- Howard Riddle, the presiding judge at the City of Westminster Magistrate's Court, refused bail for Assange on the grounds that there was a risk he would fail to surrender. He was ordered to appear at the court for an extradition hearing on December 14.
A number of well known personalities including Jemima Khan(photo), film director Ken Loach and veteran journalist John Pilger all offered to stand as surety for Assange, the Press Association reported.- In a statement, police said Assange was "accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010".
- Mark Stephens, one of Assange's lawyers, said that Sweden appeared to have been manipulated by the US, which has been angered by WikiLeaks' latest release of classified documents.
- "The question is, are the Swedes being manipulated by a third party actor or is there any improper interference?" he said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
- He added that the Swedish prosecutor had not told Assange what the nature of the allegations are or what the evidence against him is.
- However, Marianne Ny, the Swedish director of prosecution, told Swedish media last week that Assange's lawyers had been given all the information that is appropriate to share at the current stage of the investigation.
Assange is accused of rape and sexual molestation in Sweden, and the case could lead to his extradition. He has denied the accusations, which Stephens, his attorney, said stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex".According to media reports, Assange slept with two women during a visit to Sweden in August. One of them has been quoted by a Swedish newspaper as saying that the sex was consensual to begin with, but ended with abuse.
- In an interview with Aftonbladet, one of the women dismissed claims that the allegations had been orchestrated by the Pentagon.
- Jennifer Robinson, Assange's London-based lawyer, said her client would likely resist being returned to Sweden for fear he could be turned over to the US where outrage is growing over the leak of documents.
On Tuesday, Julia Gillard, Australia's prime minister, said that posting the US diplomatic correspondence on the web was "grossly irresponsible" and that the publication would not have been possible "if there had not been an illegal act undertaken" in the United States.- Gillard had previously said that publishing the documents was an illegal act, without saying why. She said police were still investigating whether Assange had broken any Australian laws.
- In an opinion piece published in The Australian newspaper on Tuesday, Assange attacked Gillard, saying her government was trying to "shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed".
- "Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel?" he wrote.
- "One might have thought an Australian prime ministe would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality".
WikiLeaks has been under intense international scrutiny over its disclosure of a mountain of classified US cables that have embarrassed Washington and other governments.- US officials have been putting pressure on WikiLeaks and those who help it, and is investigating whether Assange can be prosecuted under American espionage laws.
- The pressure on WikiLeaks has increased as the Swiss authorities closed Assange's bank account,depriving him of a key fundraising tool.
- WikiLeaks has struggled to stay online amid an increase in hacker attacks and resistance from world governments, receiving help from computer-savvy advocates who have set up hundreds of "mirrors", or carbon-copy websites around the world.
In what Assange described as a last-ditch deterrent, WikiLeaks has warned that it has distributed a heavily encrypted version of some of its most important documents and that the information could be instantly made public if the staff were arrested.
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