China's baby hatch scheme expands for unwanted disabled newborns
Officials say safe drop-off points needed for sick or disabled babies, with each province to set up at least two this year
Fangfang was just a few days old when she was abandoned on a near-freezing New Year's Day in north China. She was relatively lucky. Unlike the many who are found dumped in train stations or toilets, her family left her at a safe, warm shelter.
Dozens of babies have been secretly dropped off at the so-called baby safety islands, or hatches, set up late last year under a scheme to protect unwanted offspring.
"We need to build these islands to protect children from further injury," says Zhang Min, head of a government-run orphanage in the northern coastal city of Tianjin, where Fangfang was found. The babies there are brought to a cosy room with pink walls, a cradle and an incubator. Fangfang was left in a handbag on the floor.
Egypt's army chief General Sisi 'to run for President'
Thursday 06 February 2014
Turkey's parliament adopts controversial internet controls
Turkey's parliament has approved controversial legislation that would tighten government control over the internet. Critics say it will limit freedom of expression, but the government insists it is to protect privacy.
Turkish lawmakers adopted the new internet legislation late on Wednesday following hours of debate involving fierce objections from the opposition.
The new law would allow a government agency, the Telecommunications Communications Presidency (TIB), to block websites without a prior court decision, if they are believed to violate privacy or contain content considered insulting.
It would also force internet providers to keep retain users' data records for two years. They would then be obliged to provide authorities with that information upon request without a court order and without notifying the user in question.
The measures build upon existing internet restrictions introduced in 2007 that, according to a Google transparency report published in December, make Turkey equal to China as the world's biggest web censor.
Dispute brews over extended mandate of Libya congress
A new dispute is brewing in unrest-riddled Libya over a decision by its highest, but transitional, political authority to extend its mandate beyond February 7, with demonstrations called for this week.
Leading a transition that has proved chaotic since the 2011 toppling of the country's longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi, the General National Congress was elected in July 2012 for a term of 18 months.
Its mission was to prepare for polling to form a commission tasked with drawing up a new constitution and to organise a general election.
But the GNC on Monday ratified a decision to extend its mandate to December 2014, despite the opposition of a large segment of the population critical of its inability to halt Libya's slide into lawlessness and chaos.
The congress has adopted a new roadmap and timetable, which allow for two scenarios.
A general election is to be held at the end of the year if the constitutional body adopts a new charter within four months of its own election set for February 20.
Colombia caught spying...on itself?
President Santos this week ordered a thorough investigation into allegations that factions within the Army might be spying on the government's own negotiators at FARC peace talks in Havana.
In an escalating scandal that could lay bare the deep divisions in this Andean nation, President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday ordered a thorough investigation into allegations that factions within the Army might be spying on the government’s own peace negotiators in Havana.
Santos ordered his staff to find the “dark forces” that may be trying to “sabotage” the peace talks, which aim to end the 50-year civil conflict with the country’s largest guerrilla group.
The announcement came after Semana.com, one of the country’s most respected media outlets, reported late Monday that the Army was working with civilian hackers to break into the email and text-message accounts of government peace negotiators, including chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle.
“Who could be interested in investigating, in recording, in intercepting our peace negotiators?” Santos asked during a meeting with the national police. “What dark forces are behind this?”
Shark's 'man-eater' image undergoes makeover
February 6, 2014 -- Updated 0429 GMT
Not since Mickey Mouse raised the profile of the common house rodent has an animal enjoyed such an extreme makeover, but sharks -- once the subject of guts-and-gore horror classics like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea -- have entered the new millennium as "beautiful creatures."
No longer ominous, sinister and man-eating, the Great White shark is more likely to attract the sobriquets magnificent, powerful and beautiful online.
The Western Australian government's decision last month to begin shark culling following a spate of fatal attacks brought out a vocal shark fan club and in Asia, consuming shark's fin, once a delicacy, is now likely to attract disapproving stares.
Australian activists took the bait off drum lines to disrupt the cull and celebrity shark attack victim Paul de Gelder joined the chorus of disapproval.
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