Friday, May 31, 2013
The attempt to rebuild Pakistan's cinema culture-video
On the fifth take, everything appeared to have come together. The script monitors confirmed that the two actors had got their lines right, the woman in charge of the set was pleased with how the crumbling apartment in a Karachi slum had been dressed, and the camera operator was content with the shot. But the distant screech of a motorbike from the teeming streets outside wrecked the take (barking mutts, the bane of earlier attempts, had been successfully shooed away by the crew's "dog team"). "OK, again," sighed the director, Jamshed Mahmood. "Sound is our biggest problem in Pakistan," he said. That, and a lack of cinema houses to show the work of movie makers, chronic DVD piracy and the near-complete collapse of the country's once vibrant film industry.
Late Night Ignoring Asia
While watching something naughty man's body invaded
Man Watches Porn, Gets Eel Stuck in His Body
Watching porn can sometimes result in viewers feeling or doing things we can’t imagine possible. Some just can’t resist trying new things, then learn not to try them ever again. This is the lesson a man from China learned — the hard way.The unnamed man reportedly admitted himself to a local hospital after getting a living eel stuck inside him. After watching it done in a porn scene, he inserted a 20-inch eel into his anus.
That old adage don't try this at home certainly applies
Remember it's all in the eye of the beholder
Earlier this month, McDonald’s Japan announced the grand prize winner of its Big Mac Award Art Contest. The results inspired a great deal of online debate, as is often the case with topics as subjective as art and design. What the judges see as artistic and inspired might look like a mess to the greater masses. Read on for a taste of the juicy reactions to this creative burger art.
The theme of the art contest was the Big Mac, as implied by the award’s title. The grand prize winner was chosen from roughly 1,400 entries by a panel of judges including multiple members of McDonald’s artistic marketing team.
The winning piece is called Big Mac Store by 27-year-old Yuri Ikeguchi. Using colored pencils, she made McDonald’s front counter into the likeness of a burger. The colors create a warm and gentle atmosphere that is quite charming. However, the simple style and uneven lines have led many people to criticize it as low-quality art.
Well, if it didn't give the appearance of being drawn by someone with no artistic talent people probably wouldn't have complained Money is always the best way to ruin what you love.
Some players ‘mentally weak,’ says Dhoni
Team India captain refuses to break the BCCI gag on IPL spot-fixing issue, says some players are “slightly mentally weak”
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday refused to break the BCCI gag on his answering questions relating to the spot-fixing scandal except to say that some players are “slightly mentally weak” compared to others.
Addressing a press conference here ahead of the Champions Trophy tournament, he made it clear that he would not answer questions on the recent controversies, saying he would definitely speak at the right time.
Who is he kidding: mentally weak. Greed triumphs everything.
SIx In The Morning
China: The electronic wastebasket of the world
May 31, 2013 -- Updated 0054 GMT (0854 HKT)
Guiyu, China (CNN) -- Did you ever wonder what happens to your old laptop or cellphone when you throw it away?
Chances are some of your old electronic junk will end up in China.
According to a recent United Nations report, "China now appears to be the largest e-waste dumping site in the world."
E-waste, or electronic waste, consists of everything from scrapped TVs, refrigerators and air conditioners to that old desktop computer that may be collecting dust in your closet.
Many of these gadgets were initially manufactured in China. Through a strange twist of global economics, much of this electronic junk returns to China to die.
Middle East
May 31, '13
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Moscow remembers Charlie Wilson's War
By M K Bhadrakumar
Charlie Wilson claimed to be on United States government business even while entertaining the then Egyptian defense minister with a Texan belly dancer he brought along to Cairo with the hope of persuading him to agree to a deal to supply weapons to the Afghan mujahideen in the early 1980s.
George Crile details in the riveting book Charlie Wilson's Wars, how the colorful congressman from Texas virtually formed part of the CIA's Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan, which ensured a steady supply of sophisticated weapons such as the Stinger missiles reaching the mujahideen fighting the Soviet Army.
Indeed, the CIA funded the travel expenses of girl friends who
accompanied Charlie Wilson on his numerous trips to Pakistan. The agency later conferred on him the Honored Colleague Award for his role in the Afghan jihad.
Three Westerners killed in Syria fighting
May 31, 2013 - 12:36PM
Washington: A 33-year-old American woman and convert to Islam, Nicole Mansfield, was killed in Syria fighting with opposition forces in the country's civil war, her family said on Thursday.
"I'm just devastated," the woman's aunt, Monica Mansfield Speelman, told Reuters. She said that the FBI had informed her of the death of her niece, who was from Flint, Michigan on Thursday afternoon.
"I'm just devastated," the woman's aunt, Monica Mansfield Speelman, told Reuters. She said that the FBI had informed her of the death of her niece, who was from Flint, Michigan on Thursday afternoon.
Mansfield was killed with two other Westerners, including a British man, also understood to be a Muslim convert, in northwest Idlib province near the Turkish border, a monitoring group says.
Protesters surround ECB office in Frankfurt
Crowd estimated by police to be roughly 2,500
Thousands of demonstrators from the anti-capitalist Blockupy movement cut off access to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt today to protest against policymakers’ handling of Europe’s debt crisis.
Clasping signs with slogans such as “humanity before profit”, the protesters gathered in the rain to block roads including those leading to Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in the city’s financial district.
The crowd, estimated by police at roughly 2,500, was met by armed police wearing helmets and riot gear and accompanied by Alsatian dogs. Trucks with water cannons stood by and a helicopter hovered overheard.
The first people to make the perilous journey to Mars will have to cope with long periods of boredom, the constant worry of returning home safely and the joy and pain of each other's company.
According to the latest research into long-duration space travel, they will also endure the sort of radiation exposure that few people of Earth have experienced.
A study has found that astronauts will receive more than half a lifetime's radiation dose during the return journey of a future manned mission to Mars - a calculation that does not taking into account the time spent on the surface of the Red Planet.
Pakistan's movie-makers dig deep to revive film industry
Big new multiplexes and distinctive drama signal revival amid chronic DVD piracy and lack of funding
On the fifth take, everything appeared to have come together. The script monitors confirmed that the two actors had got their lines right, the woman in charge of the set was pleased with how the crumbling apartment in a Karachi slum had been dressed, and the camera operator was content with the shot.
But the distant screech of a motorbike from the teeming streets outside wrecked the take (barking mutts, the bane of earlier attempts, had been successfully shooed away by the crew's "dog team").
"OK, again," sighed the director, Jamshed Mahmood. "Sound is our biggest problem in Pakistan," he said.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Late Night Ignoring Asia
They wanted him to shut his pie hole but didn't have the courage to follow through
Censure motion against Hashimoto voted down
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who caused a storm with his comments on “comfort women,” survived a censure motion filed by local politicians on Thursday night.All done to avoid confrontation .
Council members rejected the motion against Hashimoto, who is also joint leader of the national Japan Restoration Party, city officials said.
Hashimoto prompted outrage at home and abroad by suggesting that battle-stressed soldiers during World War II needed the services of up to 200,000 sex slaves from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere who were forcibly drafted into Japanese brothels.
The non-binding motion had earlier been expected to be approved. But the New Komeito Party, which holds the balance of power on the council, reversed its earlier stance and voted against it.
Tax dodging by the rich never goes out of style. Why should they have to pay taxes like the little people.
Actress among suspected tax dodgers |
The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism (KCIJ) disclosed the names of five more high-profile Koreans suspected of having evaded taxes by creating bogus companies in offshore tax havens, Thursday. |
Flying salami the terror weapon of choice
As a career politician, Julia Gillard is used to having insults flung at her. But it appears she is also getting used to having sandwiches thrown too.
Another sandwich was thrown at the Prime Minister on Thursday, during a school visit in Canberra.
The bread-based missile, which appeared to contain salami and a butter-like spread, was lobbed by an as-yet unidentified culprit in a crowd of students. It is reported to have hit her arm before falling to the ground.
AdvertisementMs Gillard was visiting Lyneham High School in the city's north to announce that the ACT had signed up to the Gonski education funding reforms.
Six In The Morning
Assad vows response to Israeli attack |
Syria's president tells Lebanese TV station he has received shipment of arms from Russia and will defend his country.
Last Modified: 30 May 2013 09:00
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Syrian President Bashar al Assad has said his country will respond to any Israeli attack on its soil.
In an interview to be aired on Thursday by Al-Manar TV station, owned by the Shia Hezbollah group in neighbouring Lebanon, Assad also said he had already received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defence system and would soon get the rest of the S-300 missile system.
In an interview to be aired on Thursday by Al-Manar TV station, owned by the Shia Hezbollah group in neighbouring Lebanon, Assad also said he had already received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defence system and would soon get the rest of the S-300 missile system.
The comments were first published on Thursday by the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar which got excerpts of the interview.
"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," al-Akhbar quoted Assad as saying. "The rest of the shipment will arrive soon."
Israel has suggested its military might strike the Russian S300 missiles.
"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," al-Akhbar quoted Assad as saying. "The rest of the shipment will arrive soon."
Israel has suggested its military might strike the Russian S300 missiles.
North Korea sanctions hit foreign aid groups
Humanitarian organisations struggle to get money into country as ties are cut with North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank
International sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea's nuclear weapons programme are having unintended consequences: halting money transfers by foreign humanitarian groups and forcing some agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside the country.
At the same time, some restrictions intended to sting the country's elite by crippling the import of luxury goods do not appear to be working.
Much of the aid group difficulties are linked to the state-run Bank of China's decision earlier this month to follow Washington's lead and sever ties with North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank, the main money transfer route for most foreign organisations, UN agencies and embassies in Pyongyang. With that line cut, aid workers in North Korea say they are left with few other options to receive foreign currency for expenses, including rent, bills and salaries for local staff.
Netherlands divided over Dutch Islamists fighting in Syria
While 75% of Muslims in a poll believed those who travelled to fight were ‘heroes’, 70% of ‘native’ Dutch disagreed
Peter Cluskey
A survey of attitudes in the Netherlands towards Dutch Islamists who travel to Syriato fight the Assad regime shows that 75 per cent of Muslims regard them as heroes – while almost half the non-Muslim population believe they should be stripped of their citizenship.
The survey shows that while there is broad agreement in both communities – 87 per cent of Muslims and 66 per cent of non-Muslims – that Bashar al-Assad should be removed as Syrian president, on virtually every other question there is significant divergence.
For instance, on the question of arming rebel fighters, 49 per cent of Muslims were in favour, while just 6 per cent of the majority population supported the decision.
SYRIA
Middle East countries fighting proxy war in Syria
By sending help to Syria's warring factions, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are struggling to gain influence in the Middle East. The conflict between Sunnis and Shiites has become a proxy war over strategic regional goals.
At the moment, several conflicts are being fought simultaneously in Syria. The civil war began more than two years ago as a power struggle between the government and opposition forces. But it didn't take long for other states to get into the mix, turning the internal fight into a regional and international struggle for influence.
Zimbabwe electioneering drawing supporters into a 'food trap'
With Zimbabwe’s constitutional referendum pending on March 16, 2013, both the ruling party, Zanu-PF and opposition party, the MDC are intensifying campaigning before the upcoming elections in July.
One of the most powerful methods of currying favour with potential voters in a country wreaked with severe drought and hunger is the issuing of farming supplies and food.
In the footage below, various meetings are recorded in which both Zanu-PF and the MDC use the promise of farming supplies to loyal and often desperate supporters in a bid to secure votes in the scheduled elections in July.
In a country that was once hailed as the 'bread basket' of Africa, many believe the political influence of the ruling and opposition parties has ironically created the humanitarian food crisis they claim to be able to solve through the sparse distribution of farming supplies, particularly maize seeds.
Mexicans both poorer and happier than wealthy nation peers
The OECD's new 'Better Life' index ranks Mexico low in terms of wages and education, but the Latin American nation ranks as one of the highest in terms of life satisfaction.
Low wages, gaping income inequality, poor education, long workdays, shorter life expectancy. By the sound of the statistics, Mexicans’ satisfaction with their lot ought to be low.
But despite weak performance across rankings in the 2013 "Better Life" index released this week by the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mexicans come out strong in terms of satisfaction. They’re more satisfied with their lives than the average in the OECD – a collection of mostly wealthy nations – and fall just behind a handful of countries like Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark: 85 percent of Mexicans say they have more positive experiences than negative ones in a given day.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Late Late Night: Art of Patience-video
Japanese students learn and practice the ancient art of calligraphy in a small classroom in Tokyo.
Calligraphy is an art form that has been studied for over 3,000 years. Calligraphy is not merely an exercise in good handwriting, but rather the foremost art form of the Orient.
Japanese calligraphy attempts to bring words to life, and endow them with character.
Late Night Ignoring Asia
Have you ever heard beautiful Japanese traditional music? It's with great pleasure and excitement to release Japanese Style Lady GAGA's "Telephone"(featuring Beyonce). We play "Telephone" on the SHAKUHACHI, Japanese bamboo flute, and the KOTO, Japanese harp with original Japanese dance. "SHAKUHACHI(Japanese bamboo flute)" has only 5 finger holes, however even such music be able to perform it!
We Japanese got a lot of help from GAGA 2 years ago for "Japan earthquake".We never forget gratitude to GAGA. and We wish GAGA complete recovery,and we are waiting for comeback of GAGA.
Obey us we are your masters! Obey us we are your masters!
Without obedience you cannot be the same as us. Unable to be to think for yourself
Singapore on Wednesday issued a stern warning to foreigners to abide by its laws, after Malaysians arrested for staging an illegal protest had appealed for leniency.
“Foreigners who break the law in Singapore should be prepared to face the consequences, including having their visas or work passes revoked,” the foreign and interior ministries said in a joint statement sent to AFP.
Twenty-one Malaysians in the city-state were arrested on May 11 after they staged an illegal protest in Singapore following disputed elections in their neighboring homeland.
They had gone ahead with the protest at a park along Singapore’s popular Marina Bay promenade despite police warnings not to repeat a demonstration held on the same spot three days earlier by some 100 Malaysians.
South Korea must face up to the superior morons of the North or face the eternal fires of stupidity.
CPRK Spokesman Urges S. Korean Authorities to Face Up to Trend of Times
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| Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- The south Korean authorities in a statement of the Ministry of Unification and press briefing on Monday totally declined the DPRK's offer for a joint event to mark June 15, saying that "its sincerity is doubtful," "it is to create discord among those in the south" and that "it seeks a political aim". They also openly declared the stand not to allow south Korean businessmen's visit to the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ), trumpeting about "south-north authorities' dialogue for carrying out of raw and other materials and finished products." Worse still, they urged the DPRK to control "words and deeds," speaking ill of its due criticism of the reckless remarks made by the Chongwadae chief hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its new line on simultaneously pushing forward economic construction and the building of nuclear force. Mayor McBubble Head cancels trip to America Hashimoto cancels trip to U.S.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said Tuesday he had cancelled a trip to the United States after sparking a furor by saying “comfort women” played a “necessary” wartime role.
Hashimoto, the joint leader of the national Japan Restoration Party, had been set to visit San Francisco and New York to meet local politicians and businessmen starting from June 10.
But on Tuesday he told reporters the trip was off.
“Traveling to the United States under the present circumstances will not bring any merit and will cause difficulties for local people,” he said.
|
SIx In The Morning
Russia stokes fears of an arms race with threat to deliver anti-aircraft missiles to Syria's Assad regime
Moscow says move is to restrain 'hot heads' in the West
Russia has said that it plans to deliver an advanced missile defence system to Bashar al-Assad that would strongly boost the embattled Syrian leader’s defensive capabilities, in part to restrain “hot heads” in the West from planning intervention scenarios.
Coming just a day after the EU failed to renew an embargo on delivering arms to the Syrian rebels, there is now a fear that an arms race could further intensify the Syrian civil war, which has already taken more than 80,000 lives.
Last night it was reported that The White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a no-fly zone inside Syria.
Greece’s Balkan identity may obliterate Brussels link
Greece letter: Specific regional geopolitics lurk behind the goal of a unified Europe
Richard Pine
Imagine an EU member state where the public service relied, for its efficiency, on bribery and corruption. Imagine a state where the hospital service was so underresourced that patients had to bring a friend or relative to undertake their feeding, washing and basic nursing. Imagine a state where shops that traditionally sold handcrafted goods now promoted Taiwanese dreamcatchers.
Are we talking about Greece? Well no, actually. These are the thoughts of novelist Donna Leon’s Venetian detective, Commisario Guido Brunetti as he walks his native city, wondering how to bring to justice criminals whom the law and its administrators protect.
Protests over Uganda's clampdown on independent media
Ugandan police have fired tear gas at journalists protesting at the week-long closure of key independent media.
This follows reported arguments among army generals over whether the president's son is to succeed him.
Riot police scattered around 100 journalists, their supporters and human rights activists who tried to gather outside the offices of the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper newspapers, which were closed on May 20 by armed police. "This is a violation of media freedom and economic sabotage," rights activist Geoffrey Ssebaggala shouted at police.
The closure of the two papers leaves only one major operating newspaper, the government-owned New Vision.
Two radio stations in the Monitor's offices also remain off air. "Instead of arresting criminals killing people in the country, you are here terrorising us," journalist Moses Ouma told police as they dragged him away from outside the Monitor's offices.
Colombia, FARC rebels make peace progress with land deal
The Colombian government and FARC peace negotiators announced an agreement on land reform this weekend, just days before the rebel group's 49th anniversary. Land issues are at the root of the conflict.
Six months after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government first sat down to try and negotiate an end to the country's half-century-long conflict, many citizens felt their hopes deflate. The talks were beginning to appear to be just another failed attempt at peace, and critics' voices were growing louder.
But on Sunday came a major breakthrough. The FARC and the government made a joint announcement stating that they had reached an agreement for "radical transformations" in the Colombian countryside. Land rights have been a flash point of the conflict, and the FARC claim they are the reason they rose up against the state 49 years ago today.
29 May 2013 Last updated at 00:49 GMT
Stefan Kaye: India's 'jailhouse rocker' remembers days in prison
British musician Stefan Kaye spent three weeks in Delhi's notorious Tihar jail as a prisoner and then went back with his band to hold a concert there. He spoke to the BBC's Geeta Pandey about his time in jail and all the good that came out of adversity.
On most Saturday nights, Stefan Kaye can be found at a smoky basement nightclub in a fashionable neighbourhood of Delhi. On the night I visit, Kaye is performing live with one of his other bands - Jazz B'stards.
I'm asked to pay 300 rupees ($5.39; £3.56) as entry charge and my wrist is stamped before I'm allowed in.
In China, 'cancer villages' a reality of life
May 29, 2013 -- Updated 0032 GMT (0832 HKT)
Wuli Village, China (CNN) -- Feng Xiaofeng moves down an alleyway toward her home in Wuli, an ordinary village in eastern China's Zhejiang province, with an extraordinary problem.
Feng slides open the doors with a quick thrust. But before she says a word, she begins to cry and points at two identically framed photos side by side on her wall. They show an older and younger man. They look like blown up passport pictures or perhaps faded formal portraits.
These photographs haunt Feng.
"I don't want to stay in this house. I don't want to sleep here at night," she says. "My husband was the pillar of the family and when he died it was like the pillar of our house collapsing. Then my son was taken too."
Taken 10 years apart by cancer.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
No. of Japanese abducted by N.Korea much higher, report says
This issue is has kept Japan and North Korea from any semblance of cooperation on almost every issue which confronts them.
The number of Japanese people abducted by North Korea decades ago to train its spies may be far higher than previously thought, a report said Tuesday, citing a former Pyongyang agent.
Between 1965 and 1985, a team of around 120 North Korean troops repeatedly abducted young Japanese fishermen, the Sankei Shimbun reported, citing a government interview with a formerly high ranking North Korean military official.
One of the missions involved the snatching of a man in his 30s from a boat in waters off Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, the report said. The vessel and its remaining four crew members were sunk, it said.
Read the comments section it will give you quite the unwelcome education how people other than the Japanese view this issue.
Late Night Ignoring Asia
From the land of the setting sun
So, you thought tomatoes were only for salad. Boy were you wrong!
If your going to throw water make sure your aim is true.
It's the biggest scandal to hit Korea since Psy removed his sunglasses.
There's always time for a nap. Especially when guarding a prisoner.
So, you thought tomatoes were only for salad. Boy were you wrong!
For women, their hair is their crowning glory. Therefore, the hair should be cared for, and should be styled beautifully.
In Japan, where all weird things come forth, another trend has surfaced — really weird hairdos.
A hipster parlor in Osaka’s Amemura District offers a rather unusual service to its customers: coloring and styling one’s hair to resemble a ripe tomato, or even a soccer ball, to name just a couple.
Now, who would risk their crowning glory to be styled hilariously like that?
If your going to throw water make sure your aim is true.
Pitcher bashed for splashing reporter
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Social media will never cease providing a forum for meaningless opinions regarding meaningless subjects. The latest fuel to ignite gossip was when LG Twins’ pitcher Lim Chan-kyu, attempted to throw a bucket of water at a teammate during an interview to celebrate a win and hit KBS reporter Jeong In-yeong instead.
Kim Seong-tae, the producer of the KBS sports show, wasn’t pleased and tweeted that baseball players are in need of ''character education.’’ He also claimed that Lim put Jeong at risk of electric shock, although she was holding the same microphone used in weather reports. |
There's always time for a nap. Especially when guarding a prisoner.
Australian guards slept as criminal fled
Two Australian security guards were asleep at Bangkok airport when a criminal convicted of serious offences in Australia who they were guarding slipped away unnoticed through a fire exit door, an investigation has found.
The botched escort of 25-year-old German-born Carlo Konstantin Kohl by the security guards contracted by the Immigration Department has angered Thai authorities, who said they were not informed of his arrival in Thailand.
It was all part of the master plan and the prisoners use of The Force.
Six In The Morning
The race is on:Manufacturer sets sights on market for armed drones
By Keir Simmons and Gil Aegerter, NBC News
On a sprawling complex just outside Pretoria, South Africa, a government-owned arms manufacturer is preparing to test an armed drone that it hopes to begin selling soon to governments around the world.
The company, Denel Dynamics, says the armed version of the Seeker 400, which will carry two laser-guided missiles, will enable so-called opportunistic targeting at a range of up to about 155 miles.
“These are not combat systems, they are foremost reconnaissance systems,” Sello Ntsihlele, executive manager of UAV systems for Denel, told NBC News. He added: “(But if) you speak to any general, show him the capability, he will tell you, ‘I want to have munitions.’”
Britain considers ways to deny extremists publicity
Mosques could be made responsible for views expressed by some Islamic preachers
Extremist Islamic preachers could be barred from speaking in universities in Britain, while mosques could be made legally responsible for the views expressed by people they invite. Moreover, the home office is coming under pressure to impose a ban on declared extremists from appearing on television – similar to that imposed on Sinn Féin and the IRA in the 1980s.
So far ministers seem unlikely to opt for that if only because the media landscape has changed so much since then, but they are happy for TV stations to be forced to reflect before issuing an invite.
Former Labour home secretary Jack Straw said action should be taken to block websites carrying information about bomb-making or encouraging terrorist attacks. However, he said the IRA TV ban was “one of the most intolerant and least successful measures” used against it.
Berlin Under Fire for Tank Deal with Cairo
Berlin is once again in hot water over its arms export policy, having authorized the shipment of armored vehicles that were used to fatally crush peaceful demonstrators in Cairo. Tanks manufactured in Egypt under license by a German contractor have also ended up in war-torn countries.
On the night of Oct. 9, 2011, scenes of wanton brutality played out on the streets of Cairo. Shaky videos captured by mobile phones show images of peaceful demonstrators, including students and Coptic Christians, marching toward the Maspero building, which houses the Egyptian Radio and Television Union.
But then tanks rolled in and the masses panicked as the armored vehicles headed directly toward the crowds. Rather than slowing down, they accelerated and charged straight ahead. In the end, a dozen pro-democracy advocates lay dead, crushed by the tanks' steel armoring or run over by their solid-rubber tires.
Vietnamese blogger arrested in crackdown
May 28, 2013 - 11:03AM
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
The prominent blogger and journalist has been critical of the communist government in Hanoi.
In a widening crackdown on dissent, Vietnamese police have arrested a prominent blogger and journalist who has been critical of the communist government in Hanoi.
Truong Duy Nhat, 49, faces up to seven years in jail on accusations of "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state", state-run media has reported.
As online dissent has grown in Vietnam, government agencies have this year convicted more than 38 activists and bloggers of anti-state activity.
AU urge ICC to transfer Kenyatta charges to Kenya
African leaders on Monday asked the International Criminal Court to transfer charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to the Kenyan legal system.
The African Union summit, which ended Monday in Addis Ababa, agreed to press the United Nations to move the charges against Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, to Kenya.
African leaders believe that the ICC prosecutions “have degenerated into some kind of race hunt” of Africans, African Union chairman Hailemariam Desalegn said Monday.
Kenyatta and Ruto both face trials later this year at the ICC in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity over allegations they helped orchestrate the tribal attacks that followed Kenya’s 2007 election, in which more than 1 000 people died.
28 May 2013 Last updated at 01:16 GMT
India Bihar families fight for 66 years over a plot of land
More than 300 litigants, 30,000 pages of charges and counter-charges, over a dozen lawyers, and 66 years in court.
That's how arduous and long the battle between two families in India over a nine-acre (four hectare) plot of land has been.
The court case began on 21 April 1947 - a few months before India became an independent country - when Biseshwar Singh of Ekauna village filed a case against fellow villager Har Govind Rai in a court in Ara town, in Bihar's Bhojpur district.
Both the families claim ownership of the land, sandwiched between the Ganges and Saryu rivers.
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