Thursday, January 31, 2013
Workers demand back pay `Gangnam Style`
Chinese labourers' wage protest goes viral.
Chinese labourershave found success with a protest tactic for the social media age: going viral on the microblogging site Sina Weibo. A group of construction workers performed the dance from the South Korean megahit "Gangnam Style" outside one of their building sites. They filmed a video in the hope that it would draw attention to their overdue wages. The clip quickly went viral on Chinese social media sites. After a week of media attention, officials in Wuhan province agreed to pay the labourers a total of $33,000 (206,000 yuan). Here's a Chinese news clip about the labourers' protest. They say, "Pay me my wages so I can go home and celebrate the Spring Festival!"
Six In The Morning
New York Times claims huge attack by Chinese hackers
Stories about wealth of outgoing premier Wen Jiabao appeared to be catalyst for attack, possibly by military, says paper
Hackers with possible ties to the Chinese military have repeatedly attacked the New York Times' computer systems over the past four months, possibly in retaliation for a series of stories that the paper ran exposing vast wealth accumulated by the family of outgoing premier Wen Jiabao, the newspaper has reported.
The hackers gained entry to the newspaper's internal systems and accessed the personal computers of 53 employees including David Barboza, its Shanghai bureau chief and author of the Wen exposé, and Jim Yardley, a former Beijing bureau chief.
An investigation by Mandiant, a cyber-security company hired by the New York Times, concluded that the hacks were likely part of an elaborate spy campaign with links to the country's military. The company traced the source of the attacks to university computers that the "Chinese military had used to attack United States Military contractors in the past", the Times said.
HOLOCAUST
Germany marks the roots of Hitler's Nazi dictatorship
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named Reichskanzler. Germany's present-day chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said it's crucial to mark Germany's dark history - as Hitler's rise was aided by the majority's silence.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened an exhibition at the center documenting the Nazi era in Berlin called "Berlin 1933 – the path into dictatorship." Almost simultaneously, representatives in the German Bundestag held a ceremony in memorial of the victims of Adolf Hitler's rule.
Merkel said that Germany's descent into fascism should serve as a reminder that human rights and basic decency do not happen by themselves, but rather require courageous and vigilant people to protect them.
Zimbabwean government bank balance 'down to $217'
The country's finance minister has announced that $217 is all that remains in the public account of the Zimbabwean government.
The paltry amount cast doubt over claims of a slow economic recovery and raised fresh questions about the fate of the country's diamond revenues – officials say almost $685-million worth were sold last year.
"Last week when we paid civil servants there was $217 [left] in government coffers," Finance Minister Tendai Biti told journalists in the capital Harare on Tuesday, noting that some of them have healthier bank balances than the state. "The government finances are in a paralysis state at the present moment. We are failing to meet our targets."
Zimbabwe's elections agency has said it needs $104-million to organise polls this year. Biti added: "The government has no money for elections … We will be approaching the international community to assist us in this regard, but it's important that government should also do something."
Southeast Asia
Jan 31, 2013
Pyrrhic victory in Myanmar
By Anthony Davis
The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one more such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and... there were no others there to make recruits. -Plutarch
The apparently relentless advance of the Myanmar military eastwards towards the town of Laiza, headquarters of the insurgent Kachin Independence Army (KIA), has involved some of the heaviest sustained fighting in the country since independence in 1948. Predictably, international news coverage has focused on two salient elements of the conflict: the sheer weight of force, including newly acquired air-power, brought to bear by the government; and the yawning gulf between the conciliatory statements emanating from the office of President Thein Sein and the actions of the military, or Tatmadaw, on the ground Guatemala's Rios Montt to stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity |
A judge in Guatemala ordered former military leader Efrain Rios Montt to stand trial. He is the first ex-president charged with genocide by a Latin American court.
Jose Efrain Rios Montt will be tried on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the massacres and displacements Mayan indigenous in 1982-83 (BBC, Prensa Libre, Plaza Publica, HRW).
I think the "and" in that previous sentence is going to become an important point in this trial. While I and many others believe Rios Montt is guilty of genocide, it is a particularly difficult crime to prove in court given that it is based on intent. There are no public ideological writings of Rios Montt that clearly call for the extermination of a particular ethnic group, even if he was behind the deaths of 1,700 Mayans, and the private writings can be challenged in court.
As 2014 NATO pullout approaches, more Afghans flee their homeland
Posted by Kevin Sieff
KABUL — Sixteen years after he fled from the Taliban, Zia Ahmadi was back at the Kabul airport, waiting for the body of a cousin who tried to do the same.
Zia had done what he thought was best for his cousin, Javed Ahmadi, offering a smuggler $15,000 to shuttle him out of Afghanistan and away from insurgents. By December, Javed, 19, was halfway through an arduous 3,500-mile trip from Helmand province to Zia’s home in Sweden, running from the same Taliban that Zia escaped in 1997.
But the smuggler’s overloaded skiff capsized off the coast of Greece, and Javed’s body washed ashore with 21 others, nearly all of them Afghan refugees eager to leave their country before U.S. troops do next year. Now Zia was back in Kabul to bury his cousin.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Six In The Morning
30 January 2013 Last updated at 01:37 GMT
Mr Brahimi has been trying to find a solution to the crisis based on a peace plan approved at an international conference in June 2012.
Four Nigerian villagers from the Niger River delta have challenged mighty Shell in a Dutch court. They complain that the oil giant has caused environmental devastation and ruined their homes. A verdict in the unprecedented case is expected on Wednesday.
Not everyone affected by his global business, however, would agree that he is particularly successful. Take, for example, Eric Dooh, a Nigerian.
January 30, 2013 - 10:05AM
Svetlana Lunkina said threats related to her husband's business would keep her away from the Bolshoi Ballet for the season.
An activist for Mexican migrants wonders if the proposal would encourage more to illegally go to the US, setting back a revival in rural Mexico.
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff Writer
Syria crisis: Brahimi warns horror is 'unprecedented'
The conflict in Syria has reached "unprecedented levels of horror", peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has told the UN Security Council.
The UN-Arab League envoy said Syria was being destroyed "bit by bit" with grave consequences for the wider region.
He was speaking hours after evidence emerged of a fresh massacre in the northern city of Aleppo.
At least 71 bodies were found by a river in the western Bustan al-Qasr district, opposition activists said.
Most had their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head.
Mr Brahimi has been trying to find a solution to the crisis based on a peace plan approved at an international conference in June 2012.
EGYPT
Egypt nearing collapse, warns army
Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of mysterious "Black Bloc" members who have emerged during fatal unrest in recent days. Egypt's army chief has warned of state collapse if widespread strife drags on.
Egypt's state news agency MENA said Public Prosecutor Talaat Abdullahhas ordered police to bring before court members of a new black-clad and masked group opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood from which President Mohamed Morsi stems.
MENA said Abdullahhad accused the bloc of participating in "terrorist acts." The group - on its social network page - said it did not seek to destroy public buildings. "We are not against police, our battle is with the Brotherhood only," said the group, which reportedly modeled itself on anarchist groups of the same name in Europe and the United States.
Battling Big Oil: How Four Nigerian Villagers Took Shell to Court
By Nils Klawitter
Four Nigerian villagers from the Niger River delta have challenged mighty Shell in a Dutch court. They complain that the oil giant has caused environmental devastation and ruined their homes. A verdict in the unprecedented case is expected on Wednesday.
Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser likes to talk about the good deeds his company performs worldwide. "Sustainable development and social performance is absolutely key in the way we do our business," says Voser, a Swiss national. The head of Shell feels a duty to pursue such noble objectives as observing human rights and protecting the environment.
Earlier this January, he once again returned to his fish ponds, or at least to what was left of them after they were exposed to Shell's oil in the Niger delta. This was once Dooh's home.
Top Bolshoi ballerina 'flees Russia' amid threats
January 30, 2013 - 10:05AM
Svetlana Lunkina said threats related to her husband's business would keep her away from the Bolshoi Ballet for the season.
Moscow: One of the Bolshoi ballet's best known ballerinas has fled Russia for Canada after receiving threats, it has emerged, as the chief of the troubled company prepares to leave for Germany to receive treatment for wounds sustained in an acid attack.
Svetlana Lunkina told the Izvestia daily she had taken leave from the theatre until the end of the season over troubles stemming from a business dispute over a film in which her husband was involved.
Ms Lunkina said she had already been outside Russia for some six months and that there is no clear link between her problems and the acid attack this month on the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director Sergei Filin.
Mixed feelings south of the border on Senate immigration plan
An activist for Mexican migrants wonders if the proposal would encourage more to illegally go to the US, setting back a revival in rural Mexico.
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff Writer
If anyone is an activist for the rights of Mexican migrants, it is Adriana Cortes, the head of the Community Foundation of the Bajio, a nongovernmental organization in the Mexican state of Guanajuato that focuses on local rural development.
So she hailed the new immigration proposal in the US Senate that would give special treatment to agricultural workers illegally in the US as the “just” product “of years of fighting,” Ms. Cortes says. But that doesn't mean she thinks it will necessarily be good for Mexico.
While the proposal is generally viewed as a score for Mexicans, who labor in American fields and food houses – and a blow to those seeking harsher penalties for illegal immigrants in the US – it is not entirely embraced from south of the border.
South Asia
Jan 30, 2013
Pakistan's graft chief confronts court
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
KARACHI - Pakistan's intensifying conflict between the judiciary and the civilian government took a further twist on Monday with the chief of the country's top anti-corruption body threatening to resign over alleged Supreme Court interference in his organization's investigations.
In a letter to President Asif Ali Zardari, admiral (retired) Fasih Bokhari, head of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accused the Supreme Court of putting unnecessary pressure on NAB officials in high-profile investigations, particularly the rental power projects (RPPs) scandal that last week prompted the court to order the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. Bokhari's remarks follow the death on January 18 of Kamran Faisal, who was working on the RPP case, a US$5 billion scandal linked to awarding special power projects to alleviate the country's |
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Six In The Morning
World Bank spending on forests fails to curb poverty, auditors claim
Report by World Bank's own evaluators say its investments support logging and do little to help rural poor people
The World Bank's $4.1bn (£2.6bn) investments in forestry over the past 10 years have done little to reduce poverty, improve conservation, tackle climate change or benefit local communities in developing countries, a study by its own inspectors has found.
The 202-page report – a copy of which has been seen by the Guardian – was compiled by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), which consists of senior bank staff and outside consultants. The document says the bank's financial support helped to protect 24m hectares (59m acres) of forest around the world and to classify 45m ha of forest as being on indigenous people's land. But it says the bank mostly failed to address critical social and environmental issues.
Radical Past: Former Associate Calls Morsi a 'Master of Disguise'
By Dieter Bednarz and Volkhard Windfuhr in Cairo
Is Mohammed Morsi a peacebroker or a virulent anti-Semite? A former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who has known Morsi for 13 years, believes that behind the Egyptian president's veneer of goodwill towards Israel lies a deep-seated hatred.
Mohammed Morsi can be very sympathetic, even toward Jews, as evidenced by an extremely friendly letter the Egyptian president sent to Israel last October. The president had personally written the letter of accreditation, for his new ambassador in Tel Aviv, to his counterpart Shimon Peres, whom he addressed as a "Dear Friend." In the letter, Morsi clearly invoked the "good relations" that "fortunately exist between our countries," and pledged to "preserve and strengthen" them.
Canned air for sale in China, as blanket of smog returns
January 29, 2013 - 2:28PM
John Garnaut
China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Entrepreneur Chen Guangbiao sells canned air to make a point about toll on environment.
Beijing: A Chinese entrepreneur is selling fresh air in soft drinks cans, similar to bottled drinking water, as north China is once again choking in toxic smog.
The concentration of airborne PM 2.5 particulates — the smallest and most deadly — went off the chart in the early hours of this morning for the second time this month, according to pollution gauge at the American Embassy in Beijing.
The Air Quality Index, designed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, cannot cope with levels beyond 500, which is 20 times the World Health Organisation air quality standard.
Rebels torch priceless ancient manuscripts before fleeing Timbuktu
French and Malian troops have sealed off Timbuktu after fleeing rebels torched buildings including a South African-funded prized manuscript library.
Without a shot being fired to stop them, 1 000 French soldiers including paratroopers and 200 Malian troops seized the airport and surrounded the centuries-old Niger River city on Monday, looking to block the escape of al-Qaeda-allied fighters.
The retaking of Timbuktu, a Unesco World Heritage site, followed the swift capture by French and Malian forces at the weekend of Gao, another major northern Malian town which had also been occupied by the alliance of Islamist militant groups since last year.
A two-week intervention by France in its former Sahel colony, at the request of Mali's government but also with wide international backing, has driven the Islamist rebel fighters northwards out of towns into the desert and mountains.
29 January 2013 Last updated at 02:13 GMT
Spain's bumper olive years come to bitter end
Spain is by far the biggest producer of olive oil in the world, accounting last year for around 50% of the total production worldwide.
However farmers in southern Spain believe their crop of olives this year is down by as much as 80%, and some think it is inevitable that the price of this increasingly sought-after commodity will rise.
Wherever you drive in Jaen, part of Spain's southern region of Andalucia, there are olive fields, stretching as far as the eye can see.
The province accounts of around half of Spain's total production.
As the olive harvest draws to a close, farmers in Jaen say their crop could be only 20% of what it was last year.
In aftermath of nightclub fire, some Brazilians question 'culture of impunity'
Safety consultants say the lack of sprinklers, adequate illumination, smoke detectors, and fire exits is tragically common in Brazil.
By Andrew Downie, Correspondent / January 28, 2013
Authorities buried the first victims of the Santa Maria nightclub fire this morning, and while Brazil is still in shock over its worst disaster in more than half a century, some are shifting their focus toward the investigation and future prevention.
There is widespread hope that Brazil can overcome its long-standing culture of impunity and bring those responsible to justice.
Some 233 people died after smoke engulfed the Kiss disco in southern Brazil during the early hours of Sunday morning. More than 100 people are still hospitalized, 80 of them in serious condition, Brazil’s Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said.
Police, based on numerous eyewitness accounts, believe the fire was started on accident by the live band on stage. Over-size sparklers ignited the highly flammable acoustic foam that lined the ceiling and within minutes the club was engulfed in smoke. The vast majority of those who didn’t make it out in time died from asphyxiation.
Monday, January 28, 2013
America Up for Sale on Japanese Auction Site! Bid Now
So, your on the market for a bigger place, one with a large living space and plenty of outdoor recreation. This property includes: An army, air force, navy, intercontinental ballistic missiles, the worlds financial markets and some very good cheese burgers.
It can be all yours if you are the highest bidder.
GOOD LUCK
Item description:
“I discovered the land deed for the United States of America, so I decided to auction it off. Please note that Alaska is not included.
The title deed reads: ‘The person in possession of this deed is the lawful owner of the United States of America, and with it up to 12 nautical miles of territorial waters. Singed, Franklin D. Roosevelt.’”
Iran arrests 14 reporters over `foreign ties`
Iran has arrested 14 journalists for alleged co-operation with foreign-based Persian-language media organisations.
Several chief editors of Iranian outlets said on Monday that the arrests signal a major escalation in a press crackdown that reflects Iran's zero tolerance for those who work with dissident media or outlets considered hostile to the regime.
The chief editors of the arrested journalists told The Associated Press that the 14 were taken into custody on Sunday night and on Monday because of their "foreign contacts"
In recent years, Iran has denounced the Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC's Persian service, describing them as arms of US and British intelligence agencies. It has warned of severe repercussions for Iranian journalists and activists caught having contacts with these outlets.
Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa Program Co-ordinator for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, told Al Jazeera that Iran had been ranked as "the worst jailer of journalists worldwide".
"And since the 2009 election, Iran has kept, and continued pressure, jail-time, torture and even lashing sentences against journalists," said Mansour, referring to the contested presidential re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which lead to months of protests and massive and persistant crackdowns on media as well as political opposition.
"We see the escalation coming as the election time comes," said Mansour.
'Serving the enemy's purpose'
The arrests followed last week's warning by State Prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, who said journalists who are in contact with "hostile foreign media" would be punished.
North Korean cannibalism fears amid claims starving people 'eat children and corpses'
The reports come as sanctions against the country are tightened against the backdrop of angry rhetoric over missile testing
The litany of horrors were documented by Asia Press, a specialist news agency based in Osaka, Japan, which claims to have recruited a network of "citizen journalists" inside North Korea. The reports are considered credible.
Shocking reports claim North Koreans are turning to cannibalism including details of one man who dug up his grandchild's corpse to eat and another who boiled his child and ate the flesh.
Details of the incidents were reported by the Asia Press, and published in the Sunday Times.
They claim a 'hidden famine' in the farming provinces of North and South Hwanghae has killed 10,000 people, and there are fears that cannibalism is spreading throughout the country.
The litany of horrors were documented by Asia Press, a specialist news agency based in Osaka, Japan, which claims to have recruited a network of "citizen journalists" inside North Korea. The reports are considered credible.
One informant, based in South Hwanghae, said: "In my village in May, a man who killed his own two children and tried to eat them was executed by a firing squad.
"While his wife was away on business he killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: 'We have meat.'
"But his wife, suspicious, notified the Ministry of Public Security, which led to the discovery of part of their children's bodies under the eaves."
Jiro Ishimaru, from Asia Press said: 'Particularly shocking were the numerous testimonies that hit us about cannibalism.'
Another of the citizen journalists, Gu Gwang-ho, said: "There was an incident when a man was arrested for digging up the grave of his grandchild and eating the remains."
A middle ranking official of the ruling Korean Workers Party said: "In a village in Chongdan county, a man who went mad with hunger boiled his own child, ate his flesh and was arrested"
Six In The Morning
28 January 2013 Last updated at 07:21 GMT
Brazil mourns Santa Maria nightclub fire victims
Brazil has declared three days of national mourning for 231 people killed in a nightclub fire in the southern city of Santa Maria.
The fire reportedly started after a member of a band playing at the Kiss nightclub lit a flare on stage.
Authorities say most of the victims were students who died of smoke inhalation. The first funerals are expected on Monday morning.
It is the deadliest fire in Brazil in five decades.
The BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Sao Paulo that the national sense of loss is profound.
Eyewitness - Fernanda Bona
"I am the official photographer at the club and I was taking photos of people. I was watching a band on stage and the fireworks.
I was in the VIP area and I could see the whole club. The area was close to the exit. I saw the fire going through the club.
People were screaming 'fire, fire' and to run. People were scared and were running everywhere.
I ran as quickly as I could to the door of the street. But it was hard to get out because there were so many people.
It took a few minutes for me to get out of the club. I know people who are in hospital or who are missing. A lot of people died from not so much the fire but the toxic smoke."
Bo Xilai corruption trial not likely until after March
State-run newspaper says claims the trial of the disgraced Chinese politician would begin on Monday are false
The trial of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai is not likely to begin until after annual political meetings in March, a state-run newspaper has said.
The report, which cited a source close to the country's top judicial body, came in response to claims that the case would open in the southwestern city of Guiyang on Monday.
A court official there told Reuters that news of an imminent trial was "fake information", adding: "It is definitely not happening today."
Bo, 63, was a charismatic but divisive leader who some had tipped for a spot on the country's highest political body in last year's leadership transition.
'I've died a hundred deaths'
January 28, 2013
Amrit Dhillon
Every day, Indian women face the real prospect of being raped any time, anywhere. But many are also attacked by vengeful men throwing acid.
MAHATMA Gandhi's 1921 statement is about men generally, but if you inserted the word ''Indian'' before ''man'' it would be a highly apt description of the state of India today.
Ever since the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old female physiotherapy student on a bus in Delhi last month, the country has been writhing in introspection over the question: why do so many Indian men treat women as objects to be humiliated, groped, killed in the womb, married off in childhood, sold into slavery, lynched, trafficked, raped, or set alight?
Many are also asking why so many women are horrifically disfigured or even killed by having acid thrown on them.
State of emergency declared after violent protests in Egypt
28 JAN 2013 07:18 - YASMINE SALEH, EDMUND BLAIR
Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has declared a state of emergency in three of the country's cities after dozens of people were in killed in protests.
Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has declared a month-long state of emergency in three cities along the Suez Canal where dozens of people have been killed over the past four days in protests that his allies say are designed to overthrow him.
Seven people were shot dead and hundreds were injured in Port Said on Sunday during the funerals of 33 people killed there when locals angered by a court decision went on the rampage as anti-government protests spread around the country.
A total of 49 people have been killed since Thursday and Morsi's opponents, who accuse his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the revolution that ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, have called for more demonstrations on Monday.
In reversal, Spain woos investment from Latin America
European leaders spent the weekend in Chile meeting their Latin American counterparts - and talking up possibilities for investment on the old continent.
By Steven Bodzin, Correspondent
European leaders, smarting from high unemployment and dismal approval ratings at home, spent the weekend meeting their Latin American counterparts in Santiago, Chile. One item on the agenda: urging their newly wealthy cousins in South America to invest in the old continent.
“There’s an enormous potential to intensify the investment flow from the region to Europe,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told an audience of hundreds of business leaders from the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean. “Spain can play an important role as a natural entry point for Latin American companies to the European market.”
Rajoy addressed the suit-and-tie crowd a day before heads of state and government gathered for the first summit of the European Union with CELAC, a year-old grouping of Latin American and Caribbean states. The summit attracted over 40 national leaders, from Raúl Castro of Cuba to Germany’s Angela Merkel.
28 January 2013 Last updated at 00:37 GMT
Flipping heck: Is pinball about to stage a recovery?
Twenty years ago it was almost impossible to avoid the sounds and flashing lights of pinball machines in pubs, student bars and amusement arcades.
Competition from electronic arcade machines and fruit machines helped drive them close to the brink of extinction. But now these giant mechanical tables could be set to enjoy a renaissance.
New pinball companies are springing up to reintroduce the world to the physical pleasure of flipping "the silver ball."
What's behind the apparent resurgence? Ironically it's computer games, according to Andrew Heighway, managing director of Heighway Pinball, a UK-based company that plans to release its first machine shortly.
"There's been a huge boom in pinball smartphone and console games over the last few years," he explains.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)