Watch out, there may be a chair-throwing, equipment-smashing, face-slapping fight brewing, but no, this isn’t a rowdy saloon in a rough part of town. It's an airport in China. It’s been a long, hot summer at the country’s air terminals, where travelers frustrated by chronic delays seem to be on the verge of rebellion, attacking flight attendants, ignoring security protocols and engaging in screaming matches with airline staff. Things have gotten so heated there's a new Chinese term for when passengers gang up on airport and flight staff: "kong nu zu," or "air rage tribe." 'People take a vigilante approach' With the system straining to accommodate everyone, no wonder many fliers are flipping out. Here is a sample of some of the recent incidents: In mid-July, a group of passengers angry over being delayed by bad weather broke through security and stormed the runway at Nanchang airport, The Telegraph reported. A few weeks earlier, a passenger furious over a delay was recorded smashing phones and computers at a gate at the same airport.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
'Air rage tribes' attack in Chinese airports
Anyone who's traveled by plane can relate to delays and cancelation's. In China it seems to take on a Road Warrior Lord of the Flies quality when it comes to passengers reactions to disruptions.
Stranded in Kabul
As foreign troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan, one young Afghan secretly devises his own escape.
Despite the billions of dollars being poured into Afghanistan to rebuild the country and boost its economy, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide last year. Zekria is willing to pay $25,000 to an agent to make a visa application to a European country on his behalf. If this visa is not granted, he will be stranded in Kabul facing the likely option to escape through people smuggling networks. At only 27 years of age he works for an international agency and is the sole supporter of his family of 16. Fearing what will happen when the foreign forces withdraw, he secretly plans his own escape from Afghanistan.
READ: Declassified government documents related to NSA collection of telephone metadata records
Order for Business Records Collection Under the USA PATRIOT Act
The Obama administration on Wednesday made public a previously classified order that directed Verizon Communications to turn over a vast number of Americans’ phone records.
Trillions for rebuilding Tohoku go unused
How surprising that once again the fools that run the place can't seem to figure out how to help those affected by one of the worst disasters to hit an urban population. Instead the money is spent on counting sea turtles, promoting festivals not located in Tohoku and for Japan's "research" whaling operation. These fools couldn't organize a monkey shit-fight in a zoo. With incompetence like this perhaps they should hire a group of high school students to figure it out for them. These students would look for away help those in need rather than political assholes who run who currently believe themselves to be in charge.
What you don't realize is that the government has created system of bureaucratic hurdles so cumbersome and complex that one would need a law degree to figure out to actually receive the aid the government has promised. This is done deliberately so as to discourage those affected into giving up on ever receiving add and the government can just keep the money.
The Reconstruction Agency said Wednesday that ¥3.4 trillion — 35.2 percent — of the ¥9.74 trillion in the fiscal 2012 budget slated to rebuild areas hit by the March 2011 disasters went unused.
The year before, 39.4 percent of the reconstruction budget, or around ¥5.9 trillion, went unspent, indicating the recovery effort has suffered from poor planning.
Difficulties coordinating reconstruction plans between different levels of government and forming a consensus among disaster-hit residents have hampered construction, the agency said.
What you don't realize is that the government has created system of bureaucratic hurdles so cumbersome and complex that one would need a law degree to figure out to actually receive the aid the government has promised. This is done deliberately so as to discourage those affected into giving up on ever receiving add and the government can just keep the money.
Six In The Morning Wednesday July 31
Julian Assange says Bradley Manning verdict is 'dangerous precedent' as whistleblower faces 136 years in prison despite aiding the enemy acquittal
Charge carried possible life sentence, although he will now be sentenced after convictions on lesser charges of espionage and theft
Bradley Manning, the former military intelligence analyst who gave classified information to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks in 2010, was acquitted of aiding the enemy, the gravest charge laid against him by the US government. He was, however, found guilty of 19 other charges including espionage, theft and computer fraud.
Delivered by Judge Denise Lind at the Fort Meade base, the acquittal on the aiding the enemy charge was a large if somewhat symbolic victory for the defence and to Manning supporters worldwide. All the other guilty verdicts - including six on charges of espionage - still mean that Manning faces spending the rest of his life in prison.
The mixed emotions of the day for supporters of Manning were reflected in a statement from his family. “While we are obviously disappointed in today’s verdicts, we are happy that Judge Lind agreed with us that Brad never intended to help America’s enemies in any way. Brad loves his country and was proud to wear its uniform.”
Afghan civilian casualty numbers jump by quarter in first half of 2013
UN records 1,319 killed and 2,533 injured, with landmines and battles between Afghan forces and insurgents mainly to blame
The number of civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan rose by a quarter in the first six months of this year, according to the United Nations.
Homemade Taliban landmines are still the deadliest threat to ordinary Afghans, and the insurgents caused around three-quarters of all recorded civilian losses and injuries, said the UN in a report that charts rising violence in the wake of Nato troops' accelerating departure from the country.
But there was a sharp increase in civilians harmed in ground battles between Afghan government troops and insurgents, the second leading cause of casualties and a worrying new trend as fighting intensifies and insecurity spreads.
Turks harbour mixed feelings about Erdogan in wake of Gezi protests
The big rallies may be over but unease at the PM’s growing power still lingers
Mary Fitzgerald
As the sun sets over Istanbul, hundreds sit cross-legged along Istiklal Caddesi, its busiest pedestrian street, preparing for iftar, the meal that breaks the Ramadan fast.
It is a rather incongruous picnic: plates of food are laid on the ground as curious tourists walk past. Just a few metres away, scores of riot police stand watching.
Now and then a chant goes up from those gathered for the makeshift iftar: usually references to the clashes that erupted on nearby Taksim Square in late May when police moved on demonstrators protesting plans to redevelop an adjoining park. “This is a symbolic iftar,” says Ahmet, a student who took part in the initial demonstrations. “We’re here to make a statement. Our protest continues despite everything.”
China airport bomber arrested: lawyer
July 31, 2013 - 12:54AM
A disabled man who bombed Beijing airport to protest at police brutality has been formally arrested, his lawyer says, in a case that highlights popular resentment towards low-level authorities.
Ji Zhongxing, a 33-year-old wheelchair-bound former driver who said a 2005 beating left him paralysed, set off a small explosion on July 20, destroying his hand and injuring an officer.
He was arrested on Monday on suspicion of bombing, his lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan told AFP, adding that the act carried a potential sentence of three to 10 years' jail because it caused little damage.
Long lines and bated breath as Zim waits for Mugabe's vote
Robert Mugabe is still to vote after Morgan Tsvangirai cast his ballot while Zimbabweans queue outside polling stations countrywide.
Elections kicked off to a smooth start in Harare and neighbouring townships on Wednesday, as people prepared to cast their vote for a new government. Zanu-PF president Robert Mugabe is expected to cast his vote at Mhofu Primary School in his hometown Highveld just outside the capital city, Harare, while Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai cast his vote just before 11am.
- SLIDESHOW - Zimbabwe elections: The countdown ends
- READ - Meet Zimbabwe's election contenders
- Zimbabwe elections 101
In Mbare, an overpopulated township on the outskirts of Harare, voters commended this year's peaceful elections and what by this morning appeared to be an efficient start to the big day. Polling stations opened at 7am. Two hours was the maximum time most voters spent standing in the queue.
Douglas Kupara voted at the biggest polling station in Mbare after waiting on a snaking queue from 5.30am until just after 8am. "It's amazing what's going on today," he said. "The weather is calm, everybody is happy and wants peace." It took Kupara less than five minutes inside the voting tent to cast his vote.
How socially inclusive is Latin America?
For the second year, Americas Quarterly has ranked Latin American countries and the United States based on social inclusion, sifting through multiple data sets for 16 nations, including variables like access to education, housing, and employment, as well as basic political, civil, and human rights. Here are some of the highest and lowest ranking countries and emerging trends:
1. Why 'social inclusion?'
The social inclusion index – which ranks countries based on how they score on each of the 21 variables – seeks to provide a picture of progress that goes beyond economic growth and poverty figures. It evaluates how well countries provide opportunities for their citizens to “enjoy a safe, productive life as a fully integrated member of society – irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Late Night Ignoring Asia
Can't afford that super car you've always dream of?
Perhaps the next best thing to a Reventon doesn’t come from Lamborghini’s assembly halls, but straight from the workshop of a 28-year-old farmer in China.
For Jian Wang, his humble farm and modest living couldn’t stop him from owning the highly coveted Lamborghini Reventon — only this time, he built it from scratch. All he needed was an old Volkswagen, a small Reventon model car, and a good background in auto mechanics.
After some major overhauls and a few yanks, the result was close to the real thing, but without the paint and posh interior.
Just to the nearest metal scrape dealer and whoala a Lamborghini
What's that falling from the sky?
The U.S. will bring a second squadron of 12 tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft to Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Tuesday. The 12 Ospreys will arrive at the U.S. Marine base aboard a ship from San Diego, Japanese Defense Ministry officials said.It sure ain't the bird it was named after
After a week of maintenance checks, the aircraft will be deployed to the U.S. Marine Corps base at Futenma in Okinawa, Sankei Shimbun reported.
I'm a teenage boy and want to share my porn collection. How can I distribute this smut safely?
Through cloud strorage. What else would I use it for? But to look at porn.
“I knew it was illegal but it was the safest way to avoid detection by the police or our parents, so we kept using it,” said Kwak. Among his 29 classmates, 18 of them have shared sexual content on N-Drive at least one time.
“There aren’t many updates on our contents, but the best part is the contents don’t get taken down either,” Kwak said.
SIx In The Morning Tuesday July 30
Middle East peace talks under way
Negotiations begin in earnest, with Obama and Kerry praising Israeli-Palestinian summit but warning of big challenges
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are beginning intensive talks in Washington on Tuesday aimed at reviving the moribund Middle East peace process amid warnings that this could be the last chance to reach an agreement to end the historic conflict.
As the two teams met on Monday evening for an iftar meal hosted by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, to mark the end of the Ramadan fast, the preliminary talks were welcomed in the first formal, albeit cautious, statement from President Barak Obama since the two sides agreed 10 days ago to sit down together.
Taliban attack Pakistan prison
Heavily armed militants thought to have been trying to free associates when they stormed Dera Ismail Khan jail
Dozens of Taliban militants armed with guns, grenades and bombs have attacked a prison in north-west Pakistan, freeing more than 250 prisoners, including 25 "dangerous terrorists", according to officials said.
The militants killed six policemen, six Shia Muslim prisoners and two civilians during the attack on Monday night in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, said the town's commissioner, Mushtaq Jadoon. One of the Shias was beheaded, said Jadoon, and 15 policemen were wounded.
Around 70 militants arrived at the prison by car and motorcycle at around 11.30pm and their assault lasted for about four and a half hours until most of the fighters escaped, said intelligence officials.
Drugs and alcohol in child victim reveal sacrificial secrets of the Incas
Analysis of mummy's hair by UK team shows teenage girl was given coca and alcohol before ritualistic death
Archaeologists are piecing together the real-life tragedy of a 13-year-old girl chosen as a gift to the gods, who was killed more than five centuries ago on the summit of a sacred four-mile-high mountain in South America.
By pioneering a remarkable bio-chemical analytical process to extract data from her hair, British scientists have been able to trace the nature of her food and drink consumption over the final 24 months of her life.
Much of the key data was revealed yesterday in the US scientific journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), augmenting other data from the same research team, published six years ago.
Undercover Report: Apple Faces Fresh Criticism of Factories
Apple might have abandoned manufacturing supplier Foxconn in the wake of a scandal over deplorable working conditions in its Chinese factories, but it seems that labor rights violations are also rife at Pegatron, its new partner.
Tim Cook has tried to be a better person. Or at least, to look like one. Last year, Apple's CEO personally flew to China to have a look around Foxconn, the company's controversial supplier. Reports about migrant laborers' deplorable working conditions and low pay, as well as a spate of suicides were damaging Apple's image, so Cook promised improvements and also scouted around for new factories where the company's iPads, iPhones and computers could be produced. One of Apple's new partners is the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company Pegatron, which operates several factories in China. But it recently transpired its workers are even worse off than those at Foxconn.
Daughters win long court battle over Maharaja's billions
July 30, 2013 - 9:55AMDean Nelson in Delhi
Two elderly Indian princesses have inherited a £2.5 billion ($4.2 billion) fortune after winning one of the country's longest-running royal legal battles.
The two surviving children of the Maharaja of Faridkot, Sir Harinder Singh Brar, will now take control of one of the country's largest surviving royal fortunes after a court ruled that they had been cheated out of their inheritance by palace staff who forged his final will.
The maharaja died aged 74 in 1989 after a long decline following the death of his son and heir Tikka in a motor accident. He left a vast fortune including Faridkot House in the heart of Delhi, Manimajra Fort in Faridkot, his mountain retreat at Mashobra, near the Viceroy's summer residence in the foothills of the Himalayas, and a fleet of vintage cars in properties in Shimla. He owned a number of Rolls-Royces, military cars and several Second World War aircraft which he kept at his 22-acre aerodrome.
Zimbabwe's elections explained
With Zimbabwe's national election taking place on July 31, we take a look at some of the pertinent questions and key players involved.
On Wednesday, Zimbabwe will hold national elections to elect a new government. President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will face off in the contest for the third consecutive time after encounters in the 2002 and 2008 elections. But as things stand, there are other stakeholders who will be watching the outcome of the election contest from the periphery. Voters, Zimbabweans living in the diaspora, South Africans, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the rest of the world will have their eyes on Zimbabwe to see whether Mugabe will succeed in his bid for another five year-term office, his seventh consecutive term since independence in 1980.
Monday, July 29, 2013
The Chinese "storm" the Senkaku islands with new first person shooter game
That's right kiddies China has released new game straight out of the Tom Clancy playbook. Using their superior military training and that rusted aircraft carrier purchased from Russia China invades the Senkaku islands. A group of islands so small one would need a magnefine glass to even find them here comes the mighty PLA navy. A navy which has no ability for an amphibous landing uless they're planing on using intertubes which would be interesting.
Late Night Ignoring Asia
Racist to remain head of racist party
That lifetime supply of hood's and sheet's must have arrived
Freedom of the press and North Korea
Fighting against the man
With a film is obviously Illegal
The second largest opposition party, the Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), decided on Saturday to keep its current leadership, despite the party’s poor showing in last Sunday’s upper house election.
The party fielded 44 candidates but won only eight seats.
The party held an executive meeting in Tokyo on Saturday afternoon. Afterwards, it said co-leaders Toru Hashimoto and Shintaro Ishihara would stay on, along with Secretary General Ichiro Matsui, Fuji TV reported.
That lifetime supply of hood's and sheet's must have arrived
Freedom of the press and North Korea
Now there's an oxymoron
Members of the North Korean delegation abruptly jumped into the press center where South Korean reporters were staying at the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Park on Friday, the first incident of its kind ever. As South Korean officials were trying to block, the North Koreans said, “We are free to do it,” and pushed ahead with a press conference. North Korean officials commented the word “freedom” out of blue on their own, which sounded somewhat awkward. This remark reminded South Koreans of double standards toward freedom the North has displayed thus far.
The North raised issue with the South’s media as one of the reasons it chose to shut down the industrial complex. Pyongyang has been blasting the South Korean media, saying that the latter insulted “the North’s supreme dignity” by labeling the complex “dollar box,” “cash cow,” and “food source.” Afterwards, the North continued to make condemnations of the South, mentioning the South Korean president and minister’s names. As the negotiations over the resumption of the Kaesong complex are on the verge of collapse, the North has sought to take advantage of the South Korean media that had been blasting Pyongyang, in a bid to convey its message. This illustrates that the North is interpreting “freedom of press” in its favor as it pleases.
Fighting against the man
Police in Dapu Borough (大埔), Miaoli County, on Saturday night fined the organizers of a street premiere of director Chan Ching-lin’s (詹慶臨) film, A Breath from the Bottom (狀況排除), for “disturbing public order” by holding the screening at the site of the controversial demolition of residences in the borough earlier this month.
As many as 300 activists and members of the public joined Chan and other artistic figures at 7pm on Saturday in a show of solidarity with the four families whose homes and businesses were bulldozed on the orders of Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) on July 18, ending a three-year battle to halt the destructions.
With a film is obviously Illegal
Six In The Morning Monday July 29
29 July 2013 Last updated at 09:15 GMT
Iraq violence: Wave of deadly car bombs targets Shias
A wave of car bombs has killed at least 48 people in mostly Shia areas of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and in other cities around the country.
More than 100 people were wounded in the attacks, police and medics said.
More than 2,500 Iraqis have died in attacks since April, the UN says - with violence at its highest since 2008.
The spike comes amid heightened Shia-Sunni tensions. Sunnis say they are being marginalised by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led government.
The Baghdad bombs, hidden in parked cars, hit markets and car parks in several areas of the city, police say.
The water tank, the Banksy prank, and the later life of the 'elephant man' Tachowa Covington
Tim Walker tracks down the man forced out of his makeshift home by a few strokes of the brush – and discovers the extraordinary efforts by the street artist to make amends
In late February 2011, Banksy, the secretive British street artist, was in Los Angeles to promote his Oscar-nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop. Sometime during his visit, he spotted an odd structure high on a hillside facing the Pacific Ocean – an old, abandoned water tank. White, cylindrical and as long as a bus, the tank was raised off the ground on stilts, with a large tap protruding from one end, which made it look a bit like an elephant. So Banksy climbed up and sprayed a caption along its side: “This looks a bit like an elephant.”
Hours later, a photograph of the tank appeared on his website, Banksy.co.uk. Knowing he was in LA, the artist’s fans quickly confirmed its location, overlooking the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) between Santa Monica and Malibu. Before long, they flocked to see the tank for themselves.
Opposition leader Rainsy rejects Hun Sen's Cambodia election win
July 29, 2013 - 2:39PMLindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Cambodia’s opposition has rejected a claim by Prime Minister Hun Sen that he has won Sunday’s national elections, demanding an investigation into fraud and vote rigging allegations.
As tensions escalated over the shock loss of at least 29 seats by Mr Hun’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), key opposition leader Sam Rainsy called for an urgent committee to be set up to investigate complaints.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodia’s politics for 28 years.
‘‘We cannot accept the results. The results do not reflect the will of the people,’’ Mr Rainsy told journalists.
Tunisia government meets as protesters demand Islamists go
Tunisia's Islamist-led government gathered in emergency meeting Monday as protesters demanding its ouster dug in outside parliament after another night of protests.
Tensions have spiralled in Tunisia since the murder on Thursday of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi, the second anti-Islamist figure gunned down in six months.
Many Tunisians blame the government for the two killings, particularly for failing to rein in radical Islamists accused of a wave of attacks since strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011.
The government led by Ennahda Islamist party was due to begin crucial talks at 0800 GMT.
Bananas thrown at Italy's first black minister Cecile Kyenge
July 29, 2013 -- Updated 0049 GMT (0849 HKT)
Racist taunts against Italy's first black minister, Cecile Kyenge, took another ugly turn over the weekend when someone hurled bananas at her during a rally.
Kyenge's appointment as Italy's minister of integration three months ago isn't sitting well with right-wing radicals whose racial slurs and antics have overshadowed her tenure.
The banana incident is just the latest.
It took place Friday in Cervia, where Kyenge was speaking to supporters. A man popped up out of the crowd and launched two bananas toward the podium, Kyenge spokesman Cosimo Torlo said.
The bananas fell short of the stage, landing between the first and second row of spectators.
U.S. allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA officer says
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from responsibility for approving the operation.
Confirming for the first time that she worked undercover for the CIA in Milan when the operation took place, Sabrina De Sousa provided new details about the “extraordinary rendition” that led to the only criminal prosecution stemming from the secret Bush administration rendition and detention program launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Media 'Vultures': Covering Life and Death
We examine the global media's swing from impending death in South Africa to anticipated birth in the UK.
It was what the industry calls an “eight-step event” because that is how high a photographer has to climb to get a decent shot. For weeks, reporters camped outside a closed door and speculated on the name of a yet-to-be-born prince. Coverage of the royal birth was so exhausting for some that the UK’s Guardian website offered a “republican” button to turn off all news of the arrival of the newborn prince. But just days before, the media horde had encircled another hospital thousands of miles away in Pretoria, South Africa. There, reporters, TV crews and paparazzi awaited the end of a life that represented another kind of nobility – that of Nelson Mandela. His family complained of media “vultures” but for the global press, it was anticipation with no payoff and the news cycle turned to another stage in the circle of life.
Another Side of North Korea-video
We look at issues around the news and information that defectors are smuggling out of Pyongyang.
For 63 years, the governments of North and South Korea have been in a political stare-down, across a heavily guarded border and a demilitarised zone. And the two media scenes could not be more different. North Korea's media are among the world's most censored, with just one television network, a state-run mouthpiece pumping out the government line. In South Korea journalists have to watch what they say about their neighbour - a vague, antiquated law prohibits the publishing of anything sympathetic to North Korea. Operating under the radar is a growing network of North Korean citizen reporters who work with media outlets based in Seoul, funded by the US, and staffed with defectors from the north.
Six In The Morning Sunday July 28
28 July 2013 Last updated at 06:21 GMT
28 July 2013 Last updated at 08:26 GMT
Egypt turmoil: Morsi supporters defy removal threats
Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi have defied threats of removal from their sit-in protest in Cairo, despite the deaths of dozens in clashes with security forces.
Speakers from the pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood addressed protesters overnight, saying they would not back down from their demands.
They want Mr Morsi - removed from power by the army on 3 July - reinstated.
But the interior minister has warned them they will "soon" be dispersed.
Meanwhile, the US has expressed deep concern at the bloodshed - the worst since Mr Morsi's ousting.
US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the violence and called on the Egyptian authorities to respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression
Kim Philby, the Observer connection and the establishment world of spies
Fifty years after Kim Philby fled to Moscow while working for the Observer, new light is being shed on the links that united a clubland elite with a taste for secret service adventures
One of the darkest and most enthralling British espionage stories of the 20th century turns 50 this month, still resonant with sinister meaning. It was on 1 July 1963 that the British government finally admitted what it had known for some time: that Harold Adrian Russell Philby – "Kim" to friends and family – was not merely living in the Soviet Union as a defector and a Russian spy, but was actually the fabled "third man". Later this archetype of treachery would become known, in the words of his biographer, as "the spy who betrayed a generation".
Philby was perhaps the most lethal double agent in the annals of British espionage. As a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring and a secret servant of the Soviet intelligence services, Philby was responsible for the betrayal of countless national secrets as well as the brutal elimination of many British agents.
Israeli cabinet set to release Palestinian political prisoners in attempt to restart peace talks
The Israeli cabinet is set to approve this morning the release of more than 100 Palestinian political prisoners in an attempt to restart peace talks between the two sides, which are due to take place in Washington on Tuesday.
Despite fierce opposition on all sides of the political spectrum, the decision is likely to be approved. The prisoners, lauded by many Palestinians as national heroes, are considered terrorists by Israel with most serving sentences for violent offences.
Writing on his Facebook page last night, Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, admitted the release of prisoners represented a “very painful decision”.
PNG plan won't see results before election: Rudd
July 28, 2013 - 3:15PMHeath Aston
Political reporter
The surge in boat arrivals sparked by Labor's hardline Papua New Guinea refugee resettlement plan is unlikely to be brought under control before the federal election, Kevin Rudd has indicated.
The Prime Minister conceded it could take "many months" until Australia sees fewer boats despite the arrival of 1300 people on 16 boats since he unveiled the PNG solution on July 19.
In an interview recorded before Saturday's visit to Afghanistan, Mr Rudd would not commit to any prospect that the policy would begin to show results before voters make their choice - some time before mid-November.
"What I said when I launched the policy ... a week or so ago, was that we would need to see the implementation of this policy over a period of time and its effect over many months," Mr Rudd told Channel Ten.
28 July 2013 Last updated at 08:26 GMT
Malians vote in presidential election
Voters across Mali are heading to the polls in a presidential election aimed at reuniting the country after months of political turmoil.
Security is tight, with many areas still recovering after a northern rebellion and coup that resulted in foreign military intervention.
There are 27 candidates and if no outright winner emerges, the voting goes to a second round on 11 August.
However, some analysts have questioned whether Mali is ready for the election.
Some 6.8 million people are eligible to vote at 21,000 polling stations across the country.
Telangana move may reignite clamour for more separate states; Congress worried
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times New Delhi, July 28, 2013
First Published: 13:18 IST(28/7/2013) | Last Updated: 14:16 IST(28/7/2013)
Even as the UPA coordination panel and the Congress Working Committee (CWC) are expected to take a view on Telangana in the next few days, the clamour for separate states of Gorkhaland and Bodoland has worried the Congress leadership which appears set to divide Andhra Pradesh.
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading the separate statehood campaign, has called a 72-hour strike from Monday. GJM president Bimal Gurung termed it the start of the final battle for Gorkhaland and declared that he would resign from the post of chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, an autonomous and elected hill council formed in July 2011.
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