Monday, December 9, 2013

Six In The Morning Monday December 9

Faster than a speeding bullet: Japan places future bet on maglev trains

By Peter Shadbolt, for CNN

December 9, 2013 -- Updated 0111 GMT (0911 HKT)

The image of the Shinkansen bullet train streaking past Mount Fuji is a powerful part of the iconography of the resurgent post-war Japan.

Introduced in 1964, just months ahead of the the Tokyo Olympics, the bullet train represented everything that Japan wanted for itself: a sleek, cutting-edge and reliable mode of transportation.

The average annual delay of a Shinkansen train is 36 seconds -- even accounting for earthquakes and typhoons.

The Shinkansen network transports around 930,000 passengers every day. During rush hour, bullet trains leave urban stations around Japan as often as every six minutes.

Syria’s moderate rebel groups launch ‘soft power’ plan to beat Islamists

They hope a ‘hearts and minds’ campaign – promising extra aid and public services in opposition-held areas – will help counter similar efforts by more radical Muslim groups

Mimicking tactics used by the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham (Isis), an offshoot of al-Qa’ida, the Syrian opposition is to focus greater efforts on “soft power” by increasing the provision of badly needed humanitarian aid and services to areas in most need.

The move comes in response to an unprecedented campaign by Isis over the past year to win the support of Syrians living in the areas it controls and achieve its stated goal of creating an Islamic caliphate in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Used to working in the shadows, the radical Islamist group – the recipient of a steady flow of cash through an established, global funding network – has taken to holding “family fun days”, in order to distribute food in areas where it is scarce, and setting up its own schools and courts. In doing so, Isis has been able to gain a foothold in areas in which it would normally have been shunned.

Vatican Bank denies any wrongdoing in relation to cash transits and closure of ‘lay’ accounts

IOR bank rejects reports of lack of co-operation with official inquiry

Paddy Agnew

Are Italian finance police about to set up a checkpoint outside the Vatican’s Porta Santa Anna gate to stop people who have visited the Vatican Bank, IOR, in order to ascertain the nature of their business?

That alarmist scenario emerged last weekend following Italian media speculation that the Holy See’s financial regulator AIF had been less than co-operative with Italian Customs in relation to movements of money at IOR in 2011 and 2012.

Furthermore, Italian daily, Corriere Della Sera yesterday reported that some 1,200 of IOR’s 19,000 accounts will shortly be closed by the bank. Corriere suggests the accounts in question, known as “lay” accounts, could account for up to €300 million.

Brotherhood trials raise fears of fresh violence

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is facing a wave of trials. Although courts have dismissed charges against many protesters, the country fears yet more violence when the main trials against the Islamists begin on Monday.

A lower Egyptian court in Cairo, over the weekend, acquitted 155 Islamist protesters, according to state media on Sunday (08.12.13). At the same time, an appeals court in Alexandria ordered the release of 21 female Islamist protesters, including 14 women previously sentenced to 11 years in jail.

But the mood remains tense across the country as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood braces for the largest wave of court cases in its 85-year history. The trials begin on Monday (09.12.13), with more than 2,000 prisoners, dozens of accused, and allegations that range from corruption, to instigating murder and committing treason. One month ago, a Cairo court ordered the Islamist organization to be dissolved and now the government is taking on the former leadership of the group.

On October 29, the head of the organization, Mohammed Badie, chief strategist Khairat el-Shater, as well as several others, appeared in court. Former President Mohammed Morsi, faces several trials, with one that began on November 4. Technically, the trials against the Brotherhood kicked off back in August, but were postponed until the end of October.

Migrant workers riot in Singapore, 18 hurt

December 9, 2013 - 2:24PM

Singapore: About 400 South Asian migrant workers angered by a road accident battled police and set vehicles ablaze in Singapore's worst rioting in decades, leaving 18 people injured, officials say.

The violence erupted in the city state's crowded Little India neighbourhood on Sunday night after an Indian worker was hit and killed by a private bus driven by a Singaporean, police and government authorities told a news conference on Monday.

Police arrested 27 south Asians, some of whom hurled bottles and other projectiles at authorities, police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee said.

Those hurt included 10 police officers and four defence force personnel.

China withholds visas for NYT, Bloomberg reporters

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, December 9, 5:35 PM

Chinese authorities have been withholding residence visas for reporters working for The New York Times and Bloomberg in apparent retaliation for the agencies’ investigative stories on wealth accumulated by leaders’ families.

If authorities do not soon start approving renewals for visas due to expire by the end of the year, it would effectively shut down or significantly curtail the two organizations’ newsgathering operations in the country.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said in an emailed statement to members Monday that none of the correspondents working for The Times and Bloomberg in China have been able to renew their residence visas for next year. “The authorities have given no public explanation for their actions, leading to the impression that they have been taken in reprisal for reporting that displeased the government,” the statement said.

Ignoring Asia