Tuesday, August 31, 2010
iPhone app to replace the stethoscope?
Peter Bentley invented the 'iStethoscope' application which monitors heartbeat through sensors in the iPhone as just a bit of fun. And, more than three million doctors across the world are signing up for the free application.
"Everybody is very excited about the potential of the adoption of mobile phone technology into the medical workplace, and rightly so. Smartphones are incredibly powerful devices packed full of sensors, cameras, high-quality microphones with amazing displays.
"They are capable of saving lives, saving money and improving healthcare in a dramatic fashion, and we carry these massively powerful computers in our pockets," the British media quoted Bentley as saying.
While he said that he had originally invented it as a fun toy, experts in the medical field have said the software is a major advance in medical technology which has saved lives and enabled doctors in remote areas to access expertise.
In fact, in the future, it could be possible for people to conduct their own ultrasounds or monitor blood pressure through smartphones, say the experts.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Airhostess aspirant commits suicide in Delhi
The police said Aparna was depressed as she was not getting a job after completing a course from an airhostess training institute in Delhi.
Aparna's body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her rented flat.
"Her brother was calling her since yesterday but her cell phone was switched off. He got suspicious and decided to meet her. When he visited her accommodation at D Block in the area, he found the main door of the flat locked from inside. He knocked several times but no one answered. He then informed the cops who broke open the door to found Aparna hanging," said the officer.
Aparna was taken to a nearby government hospital where doctors declared her brought dead. No suicide note has been recovered from the crime scene. "We have taken the statement of her brother and some neighbours. So far, it seems to be a case of suicide. We are told that she committed suicide when she failed to get a job as an airhostess," the officer added.
A senior police officer said the deceased was a native of Satna in Madhya Pradesh and had been living in the area for the past one year.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
‘Maoist Azad shot at point-blank range’
"The post-mortem conducted on the body of Maoist leader Azad categorically establishes that he was killed at close range with a handgun in a fake encounter by the Andhra Pradesh Police on July 1 at Adilabad," the Outlook news-magazine claimed in a report.
It claimed to have accessed the post-mortem report of Azad on which it sought the opinion of three experts in three different cities.
"Three leading forensic medicine and wound ballistic experts, who were given copies of Azad's post-mortem report without revealing the identity of the deceased, have come to the conclusion that the victim was shot from a distance of 7.5 cms or even less," the magazine said in a press release.
The post-mortem report records a 1-cm oval-shaped wound just a few inches above the left nipple where the bullet entered, tore through this heart and exited from the back just between the ninth and the tenth vertebrae, it said.
The wound's entry point, the doctor conducting the post-mortem records, had "darkening (and) burned edge" at the left second intercostal space (the space between the two ribs)," the release said.
The post-mortem findings do not tie up with the police version that the Maoist ideologue was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police atop a hill, it said.
The post-mortem findings do not tie up with the police version that the Maoist ideologue was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police atop a hill, it said.Friday, August 27, 2010
Operation Samosa included contestant on Canadian Idol
The three suspected homegrown terrorists arrested over the past two days two in Ottawa and one in London have been charged in connection with a plot with links to senior Al-Qaida figures in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.
Misbahuddin Ahmed, believed to be born in India, and Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh -- both from Ottawa -- and Khurram Syed Sher, of London, were accused of conspiring with three others, James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta in a terror plot police traced back to Pakistan, Iran and Dubai.
Hiva Alizadeh, 30, and Ahmed, 26, appeared in court yesterday after their arrests on Wednesday in Ottawa under the project codenamed "Operation Samosa".
The trio were charged with conspiring to build bombs for attacks in Canada and raise money to fund IED attacks on Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
Police refused to identify the targets of the alleged terrorists, saying that information would come out in court.
"The arrests have prevented the gathering of bombs and the execution of one or many terrorist attacks," said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Serge Therriault.
"This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the national capital region and Canada's national security," Therriault said.
Police said the accused had IED parts, including more than 50 circuit boards that could be used to remotely detonate bombs, but wouldn't say if the group had explosives.
Robert Farrell, a former Canadian diplomat who had rented his house to Ahmed, was quoted as saying that Ahmed was born in India, but had lived for a time in Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed, who works as an X-ray technician at the Ottawa Hospital, rented the home about a year ago, after responding to an ad Farrell had placed on an online rental site.
Coalition sources in Kandahar say they are aware that IED components, rocket propelled grenades, ammunition and landmines coming from Iran have found their way to insurgents in Afghanistan.
Third suspect Sher is believed to be arrested in southwestern Ontario where he recently moved. He is believed to be a doctor who graduated from McGill University medical school in 2005.
The website for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario lists Sher as practising at the Thomas Elgin General Hospital in the Department of Anatomical Pathology.
Pakistan-origin Sher appeared on the reality show "Canadian Idol" in 2008 singing a comical version of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated", complete with dance moves that include a moonwalk.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Survivor Details Massacre of 72 Migrants by Drug Cartel in Mexico
A wounded migrant stumbled into a military checkpoint and led marines to a gruesome scene, what may be the biggest massacre so far in Mexico's bloody drug war: a room strewn with the bodies of 72 fellow travelers, some piled on top of each other, just 100 miles from their goal, the U.S. border. The 58 men and 14 women were killed, the migrant told investigators Wednesday, by the Zetas cartel, a group of former Mexican army special forces known to extort migrants who pass through its territory. If authorities corroborate his story, it would be the most horrifying example yet of the plight of migrants trying to cross a country where drug cartels are increasingly scouting shelters and highways, hoping to extort or even recruit vulnerable immigrants.
"It's absolutely terrible and it demands the condemnation of all of our society," said government security spokesman Alejandro Poire.The Ecuadorean migrant stumbled to the checkpoint on Tuesday, telling the marines he had just escaped from gunmen at a ranch in San Fernando, a town in the northern state of Tamaulipas about 100 miles from Brownsville, Texas. The Zetas so brutally control some parts of Tamaulipas that even many Mexicans do not dare to travel on the highways in the states. Many residents in the state tell of loved ones or friends who have disappeared traveling from one town to the next. Many of these kidnappings are never reported for fear that police are in league with the criminals. The marines scrambled helicopters to raid the ranch, drawing gunfire from cartel gunmen. One marine and three gunmen died in a gunbattle. Then the marines discovered the bodies, some slumped in the chairs where they had been shot, one federal official said.
The migrant told authorities his captors identified themselves as Zetas, and that the migrants were from Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras. Poire said the government was in contact with those countries to corroborate the identities of the migrants. Consular officials from Brazil, Ecuador and El Salvador said they had no immediate information on whether any of their citizens were among the dead. The marines seized 21 assault rifles, shotguns and rifles, and detained a minor, apparently part of the gang. Authorities said they were trying to determine whether the victims had been killed at the same time — and why. Poire noted that migrants are frequently kidnapped by cartel gunmen demanding money, sometimes contacting relatives in the U.S. to demand ransoms.
Poire also said the government believes cartels are increasingly trying to recruit migrants as foot soldiers — a concern that has also been expressed by U.S. politicians demanding more security at the border. The government has confirmed at least seven cases of cartels kidnapping groups of migrants so far this year, said Antonio Diaz, an official with the National Migration Institute, a think tank that studies immigration. But other groups say migrant kidnappings are much more rampant. In its most recent study, the National Human Rights Commission said some 1,600 migrants are kidnapped in Mexico each month. It based its figures on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009.
Violence along the northeastern border with the U.S. has soared this year since the Zetas broke with their former employer, the Gulf cartel. Authorities say the Gulf cartel has joined forces with its once-bitter enemies, the Sinaloa and La Familia gangs, to destroy the Zetas, who have grown so powerful they now have reach into Central America. Teresa Delagadillo, who works at the Casa San Juan Diego shelter in Matamoros just across from Brownsville, said she often hears stories about criminal gangs kidnapping and beating migrants to demand money — but never a horror story on the scale of this week's massacre.
"There hadn't been reports that they had killed them," she said. It was the third time this year that Mexican authorities have discovered large masses of corpses. In the other two cases, investigators believe the bodies were dumped at the sites over a long time. In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with tourists. In July, investigators found 51 corpses in two days of digging in a field near a trash dump outside the northern metropolis of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers. But cartels often dispose of the bodies of kidnap victims in such dumping grounds. The Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, who runs a shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, where many migrants pass on their way to Tamaulipas, said the Zetas have put informants inside shelters to find out which migrants have relatives in the U.S. — the most lucrative targets for kidnap-extortion schemes.
He said he constantly hears horror stories, including people who "say their companions have been killed with baseball bats in front of the others." Solalinde said he has been threatened by Zetas demanding access to his shelters. He said the gangsters told him: "If we kill you, they'll close the shelter and we'll have to look all over for the migrants."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
US freezes assets of Osama son-in-law
The assets of al-Khayr, who is considered a possible replacement for the terror group's chief financial officer, would be frozen in US jurisdictions under new sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department Tuesday. Mustafa al-Yazid, the former No. 3 Al-Qaida leader and financier, was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan earlier this year.
The Treasury's designation also prohibits Americans from engaging in any transactions with him. The UN took a similar action, which extends the sanctions against him to all member nations.
The Treasury Department says al-Khayr has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a specific terrorist attack against US interests. He appears on a 2009 list of 85 persons wanted by the government of Saudi Arabia, in part because of his role as an Al-Qaida financial facilitator.
Al-Khayr also acts for Al-Qaida in a leadership role on the media committee, and has on at least one occasion recruited a member for Al-Qaida, it said.
His relationship with Al-Qaida began with military training the terrorist group provided him in the mid-1990s. Al-Khayr has also provided services to bin Laden as a bodyguard.
"After the death in May of Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, who essentially served as Al-Qaida's chief financial officer, we will continue to work with our allies to target those like al-Khayr who could step into al-Yazid's shoes," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.
"Today's designation of al-Khayr by the United States and the United Nations will help to ensure that that Al-Qaida remains in severe financial straits."
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
It has been a flat end to a rangebound trade of day. The Sensex closed higher by seven points at 18,409 and the Nifty gained 12 points at 5,543.
The markets had quite a listless trading session. The Sensex opened on a good note, at 18,400, only to quickly pare its initial gains and touch the day's low of 18,371.
Thereafter, it hovered around either side of the previous day's close till closing bell.
On the global front, the Asian markets had an average session of trade.
The Hang Seng closed down 0.4% at 20,889 and Nikkei closed at 9,116, down 0.6%, amid worries that a strong yen would derail the fragile economic recovery.
On the other hand, the European markets opened flat and subsequently extended their gains. The FTSE is up 0.4% at 5,221, CAC has gained 0.5% at 3,544 and DAX has gained 0.2% at 6,021.
The smallcap index (up 0.9%) and the midcap index (up 0.8%) have outperformed the benchmark index (down 0.03%).
Of the total 534 scrips traded in the smallcap index, 322 scrips have advanced while 204 have declined. Jindal Poly Films 20% was the top gainer followed by Jindal Drill adding 16% and SEL Mfg Company gaining 14%.
In the midcap space, 157 scrips advanced while 115 declined. State Bank of Mysore 20% leads the gainers charts. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur and State Bank of Travancore adding 19% each were the other major gainers.
Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, the day clearly belonged to Consumer Durables (up 4.3%), PSU (up 1.1%) and Teck(up 0.7%) stocks.
Shares of consumer goods and textile companies rallied around 6% after the government extended the sops for exporters hit by fragile recovery in global markets.
The government said, sops would continue for exporters in sectors such as capital goods and textiles to help them mitigate the impact of a fragile recovery in the global economy.FMCG index was in the red througout the day.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
India accuses Pakistan over border firing
India's army has accused Pakistani troops of firing across the Line of Control that divides the disputed region of Kashmir. India said its troops had retaliated to the "unprovoked" firing in Poonch district. Pakistan has not commented. India says there have been over 150 ceasefire violations since 2006. The two countries struck a ceasefire in 2003.
Militants have been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989. India's army said the firing took place across the Krishnaghati sector of Poonch district early on Thursday. The Line of Control separates Indian- and Pakistani- administered Kashmir.
"The Pakistani side fired medium and small arms besides rockets and mortars," a spokesman said. He said the Indian troops retaliated to the firing. There were no casualties on the Indian side in the firing, the spokesman said. India has accused Pakistan of "unprovoked firing aimed mostly at facilitating infiltration of militants," a charge Pakistan has denied. Violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir has reduced markedly since the 2003 ceasefire. Despite the reduced violence, little political progress has been made on the future of the Kashmir region.
6 Police Officers Arrested in Northern Mexico Mayor's Killing
"We are still looking for others who were involved as well," Garza y Garza said. The body of the 38-year-old mayor was found handcuffed and gagged Wednesday outside of his town, a popular weekend getaway for residents of the industrial city of Monterrey. One of the officers took part directly in the kidnapping, while the others kept watch on roads surrounding the mayor's home, said Adrian de la Garza Santos, director of the state investigations agency.
Shortly after the kidnapping, the guard on duty told authorities he had been thrown in the trunk of one of the kidnappers' cars and driven around for 15 minutes before being dumped unharmed by the side of the road, De La Garza said. The guard is now accused of being involved, though he said Friday he is innocent. Cavazos' death comes amid increasing violence in the northeast of the country attributed to a dispute the Gulf cartel and its former allies, the Zetas.
Meanwhile, a federal judge presiding over the case of former Cancun mayor facing drug-related charges survived an attack Thursday in the west coast state of Nayarit, according to a federal police report. The assault killed one of two bodyguards for Judge Carlos Alberto Elorza. President Felipe Calderon is proposing that Mexico consider appointing anonymous judges for drug-trafficking trials, a change that would contradict the effort he promoted to build a more open judicial system.
Elorza is the judge in the case of Gregorio Sanchez, a former Cancun mayor who was forced out of the Quintana Roo gubernatorial campaign when he was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. Federal police minister Wilfrido Robledo told reporters that Elorza had received threats, so his security detail was increased. He rode in an armored SUV when he came under attack. The Nuevo Leon attorney general did not indicated which gang may have been responsible in Cavazos' case, which has prompted authorities to call for more patrols by both the army and federal police in Nuevo Leon.
Mauricio Fernandez, mayor of the San Pedro Garza Garcia, another town on the outskirts of Monterrey, said Cavazos had received death threats from gangs warning him to stay out of their way and had sought advice on how to handle the threats. Officials at the state attorney general's office said Cavazos had never informed authorities about any threats. Gen. Guillermo Moreno, who commands troops in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states, said the army did not received complains from the mayor or requests for protection.
The leading candidate for governor in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Nuevo Leon, was shot to death a week before the election. A mayoral candidate in Tamaulipas also was shot in May. Drug violence has killed more than 28,000 people since December 2006, when Calderon started his crackdown on the cartels.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Poll shows dead heat on eve of Australian election
"People would have seen the polls today and what the polls are telling them is there is a very, very real risk that they will wake up on Sunday and Mr. Abbott will be prime minister," Gillard told the Nine Network's "Today " show Friday morning about the choice facing Australian voters. "They've got a choice between my positive economic plan to keep investing in jobs, to keep improving schools -- people know I'm passionate about improving education -- to keep improving hospitals and to build the National Broadband Network. Or they can take a very big risk. A very big risk with Mr. Abbott for their futures. It's about work choices for Mr. Abbott. It's about a grocery tax and, of course, it's about going back to the days of cutting schools and hospitals. That's what he stands for."
Noting that Gillard's standing in the polls has eroded in recent days, Abbott said, "I think Labor has found it a bit desperate ... I think they've found it a bit shrill and I just think that they don't have a record to defend and under those circumstances I think they become very negative and very personal and I don't know that that's a good look from a prime minister." Abbott, a 52-year-old fitness fanatic, said he stayed up all Thursday night and was planning to do the same Friday night in a final push to gain the lead. He appeared at a flower market and a fish market Friday morning.
Gillard, 48 and the nation's first woman prime minister, spent Thursday night in the key southeast state of New South Wales, where she rubbed elbows with voters in a pub and entered a raffle in which she drew her own ticket -- twice. Gillard served as deputy prime minister under Kevin Rudd when he led the Labor Party back to power in December 2007. But she rose to the top job last June, when the Labor Party unceremoniously dumped Rudd, whose popularity was plummeting -- in part over his stance on how to handle global warming and a proposed system of emissions trading.
Soon after, as she appeared strong in the polls, she called the snap election for Saturday. But Abbott -- who had little national campaign experience -- emerged with surprising effectiveness and broader public appeal than many pundits had anticipated. The campaign has been marked by negative television advertisements from both sides. The economy has emerged as a key election issue, despite the fact that Rudd was able to steer Australia away from the worldwide recession that many other Westernized countries have endured. Both candidates tried to persuade the electorate that they will do the best job in reducing the $72 billion deficit.
Gillard has promised a $3.15 billion surplus by 2013; Abbott has promised a surplus of $5.58 billion by then. Australia has benefited from China's thirst for raw materials -- particularly iron ore and copper exports. Both candidates have said they will quarantine government profits from that. But tourism and manufacturing have each been struggling, said Michael Stutchbury, the economics editor of the national daily newspaper, The Australian. Both candidates have plans to expand the availability of broadband internet service, with Gillard promising a system that would serve 93 percent of the population at a cost of $38 billion. Abbott has promised a more modest program, at a more modest price -- $4.5 billion.
The downside of Gillian's plan is that it is expensive, there is no business plan, no cost-benefit analysis, "and the government is really proposing to have a wholesale government monopoly," Stutchbury told CNN. He described Abbott's plan as "more scaled down, but [offering] more competition." Regarding what to do about global warming, Gillard has proposed forming a citizens' assembly of 150 people to study the matter. Abbott, who once famously described global warming as "absolute crap," now says he will try to reduce carbon emissions by 5 percent by 2020.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Actress Betty White Scores Two-Book Deal
The 88-year-old actress has a two-book deal with G.P. Putnam's Sons, starting in 2011 with "Listen Up!" The publisher said Wednesday that the book will include what White has learned over "her incredibly varied, decades-long career in Hollywood." Subjects will include life, love, sex and celebrity.
White, known for such sitcoms as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Golden Girls," this year became the oldest person to host "Saturday Night Live." She's starring in the newsTV Land original sitcom, "Hot in Cleveland."
After Seven Years, Final U.S. Combat Brigade Leaving Iraq
The last American combat brigade is leaving Iraq, marking the start of a new phase in America's engagement in the country. About 50,000 noncombat troops are expected to remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces. The combat forces' exit comes ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline set by President Obama. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said combat operations still officially will end Aug. 31, and on that date, the mission will change names from Operation Iraqi Freedom, to Operation New Dawn.
The troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, after passing into Kuwait, will then return to the United States over the next few days. As the 4th Stryker Brigade's convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos. Before the Aug. 31 deadline, about half the brigade's 4,000 soldiers flew out like most of the others leaving Iraq, but its leadership volunteered to have the remainder depart overland. That decision allowed the unit to keep 360 Strykers in the country for an extra three weeks.
U.S. commanders say it was the brigade's idea, not an order from on high. The intent was to keep additional firepower handy through the "period of angst" that followed Iraq's inconclusive March 7 election, said brigade chief, Col. John Norris. It took months of preparation to move the troops and armor across more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) of desert highway through potentially hostile territory. The Strykers left the Baghdad area in separate convoys over a four-day period, traveling at night because the U.S.-Iraq security pact -- and security worries -- limit troop movements by day.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Facebook flooded with photos of detainees
"We're All With Eden Abergil," the new group, was created with the following description: "Eden was an excellent soldier, and now the army is throwing her to hell and putting her on trial. Whether you agree with her or not, we will not let the army who sent her [into service] to run away from responsibility." The group also declared Abergil "the most beautiful and sexy soldier in the IDF!!!" and "one of the last of the honest people in the country."
Along with photos of soldiers, the group features photographs of police investigators with a serial rapist and the following tagline: "Policemen like to take pictures as souvenirs, too, with the criminals they captured. For example, when rapist Benny Sela was caught,the policement who found him took a picture with him in the interrogation room!"
The group features a photo album titled "Not only Eden enjoyed the army," which includes photographs from Breaking the Silence's facebook group, as well as some new ones. One photo depicts four female soldiers pointing their guns at a woman who is kneeling and blindfolded, with her hands tied behind her back. Another shows a female soldier posing with a tied-up Palestinian prisoner.
A Facebook member, writing under the pseudonym "Kahane's Legacy" wrote that "we can not forget one thing: These are not just prisoners. These are not just innocent people from the street; they are terrorists who were arrested a few minutes before trying to murder these soldiers." Another commenter, Mohamad Jaber wrote: "A smart, brave and strong army does not do such things. You should be embarassed! People with out hearts - what is enjoyable about this picture?"
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
North Korea uses Twitter to target US, South Korea
Such language used to be standard in North Korea's cold-war-era propaganda. Its revival is testimony to the increased chill in relations between the Koreas in recent months.
In the past week, North Korea also began operating a Twitter account under the name uriminzok, or "our nation." Both the Twitter and YouTube accounts are owned by a user named "uriminzokkiri." The Web site www.uriminzokkiri.com is run by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a propaganda agency in Pyongyang. Lee Jong-joo, a spokeswoman for the Unification Ministry in Seoul, said, "It is clear that these accounts carry the same propaganda as the North's official news media, but we have not been able to find out who operates them."
The two Koreas agreed to stop their psychological war after their first summit meeting in 2000. But South Korea resumed propaganda radio broadcasts in May, when it accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships, killing 46 sailors.
North Korea, which denies involvement, has vowed to retaliate. It appears to have found a way with Twitter and YouTube, with their intended audience clearly South Koreans. (North Korea keeps its people isolated from the outside world.)
"YouTube and Twitter gave North Korea a high-tech detour for its propaganda," said Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at Sjong Institute. "But fundamentally, it's not new technology but rather political tension that drives the North to lash out desperately in the face of mounting international pressure." During the cold war era, South Korea punished people caught listening to North Korean broadcasts. Several years ago, during the brief era of its "sunshine policy" of engaging the North, the South allowed its people access to North Korean Web sites. But today, when a computer user in South Korea clicks on an item on the North Korean Twitter account, a government warning against "illegal content" pops up.
These blocks have triggered criticism here that the Seoul government does not trust its people to form their own opinions about the totalitarian North. But the government says the North is using the Internet to spread conspiracy theories about who was behind the sinking of the South Korean warship, including one claim that an American submarine did so to foster a militant mood in the South.
The Twitter account, which provides links to the North Korean Web site, had 928 followers as of Monday. But a few YouTube video clips uploaded by the North commanded thousands of views. In one such clip, North Korea attacked Yu Myung-hwan, the South Korean foreign minister, who recently criticized "pro-North Korean youths" who voted for the opposition in the June local elections, saying, "If they like the North so much, they should go and live under Kim Jong-il."
The clip's narrator calls Mr. Yu a "pro-American flunky" and advised Mr. Yu to earn a living "mopping the floor of the Pentagon." Another clip claimed that North Korea would prevail in a war with the "American imperialists" because it was armed with nuclear-fusion technology; because of its juche, or ideology of "self-reliance"; and because of a philosophical treatise written by Kim Il-sung, the North's founding president and the father of Kim Jong-il, who died in 1994. "I don't think this propaganda from the North will have any significant impact among South Koreans," said Yoo Ho-yeol, an expert on North Korea at Korea University here. "People watch this for fun, not to be influenced."
Friday, August 13, 2010
Aust should speak out on Burma poll
Australia should use its regional influence to press Burma for a free and fair election, Amnesty International says.
The country's ruling military junta has named the date for the first election in 20 years: November 7 this year.
Amnesty is concerned because the regime has detained 2200 political prisoners, including the leader of the main opposition party Aung San Suu Kyi. The prisoners are not allowed to contest the election.
Jenny Leong, Burma campaign coordinator for Amnesty International Australia, called on all world leaders to press Burma to hold a democratic poll.
"Obviously Australia is a key player in the region (and) has a specific role to play," she told AAP.
Ms Leong said Australia should use its influence over Burma's South-East Asian neighbours to encourage them to press for a free election.
Australia should call for the immediate release of all political prisoners and watch closely for any more crackdowns, she said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has consistently raised concerns about Burma's government and about the prospects for a free and fair election.
Suu Kyi's party won a landslide majority in Burma's 1990 election, the result of which was not honoured by the junta.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Uproar in Lok Sabha over caste-based census
Samajwadi Party (SP)leaderMulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chiefLalu Prasad raised the issue in the house as members assembled for the Question Hour at 11 am.
They were objecting to the decision of a group of ministers headed by finance ministerPranab Mukherjee on caste enumeration expected to be done at the biometric phase of the ongoing population census.
"Are they fooling us," Mulayam Singh shouted as Lalu Prasad tried to explain that the biometric process will take "100 years and will still not be completed".
The enumeration of caste in India has been evoking polarising response even as the pressure of other backward castes (OBC) groups forced the ministerial panel's nod.
However, it has not been resolved at what stage of the census would this be done even as sources on Wednesday said the caste information could be recorded in the last stage of Census 2011 when biometric information will be gathered.
During this phase, biometric signs, including photographs, fingerprints and iris-mapping of citizens will be collected for the National Population Register (NPR) to create a multi-purpose unique identity card.
The first stage of the census - the household and family survey - is already over.
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) member Sharad Yadav also joined the protests, urging SpeakerMeira Kumar to allow the protesting members to speak over the matter and ask the government to explain its position.
The speaker urged them to let the Question Hour proceed and raise the issue in Zero Hour. However, the SP, RJD and JD-U members walked towards her podium, forcing her to adjourn the house till noon.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Militants attack Army jeep in Rajouri, civilian killed
Late last night, in another fresh militant attack, three policemen were killed in Sopore.
In Rajouri on Wednesday morning, heavy firing was on between the the Army and the insurgents till reports last came in.
Deputy Inspector General, Poonch Range, S D Singh Jamwal said the woman, Kiran Bala, was travelling in a private coach along with other civilian passengers which was passing through the area at the time the militants attacked the Army jeep driving alongside. The vehicles were going to Rajouri from Poonch. Senior police officers said that militants suddenly opened fire on the Army vehicle, one kilometre before Thanamandi town. The private vehicle also came in the line of fire, police sources said.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
U.N. report says Afghan civilian toll up 31 percent
Civilian casualties have risen by 31 percent in the first half of 2010, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said on Tuesday, a much sharper rise than that estimated by an independent Afghan human rights body.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in its mid-year report that 1,271 civilians had been killed in conflict-related incidents in the first six months of 2010.
The Taliban and other insurgents, described in the report as "anti-government elements" (AGEs) were responsible for 76 percent of the 2,477 deaths and injuries suffered by civilians in the period, up from 53 percent in 2009.
Deaths and injuries among children attributed to such "AGEs" were up 55 percent from 2009, the report said.
"Afghan children and women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict," said Staffan de Mistura, the special representative of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
"They are being killed and injured in their homes and communities in greater numbers than ever before," he said.
Civilian casualties caused by U.S. and other foreign forces have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and its Western backers.
The U.N. report found that casualties attributed to "pro-government forces" fell to 12 percent, down from 30 percent. This was attributable mainly to a 64 percent fall in the number of deaths and injuries caused by aerial attacks.
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission on Sunday put the number of civilian deaths over the first seven months of the year at 1,325, what it said was a rise of about six percent over the same period in 2009.
Mirroring the United Nations, it said about 68 percent of those deaths were caused by insurgents and about 23 percent by Afghan and international forces.
With anger rising over civilian casualties, General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, last year issued a new tactical directive to limit the use of air strikes after a spate of deadly incidents involving civilians.
That directive has been tightened even further since General David Petraeus replaced McChrystal in June.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Cabinet approves bill to protect whistleblowers
The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010 provides the Central Vigilance Commission powers of a civil court to hand down harsh penalty to people revealing the identity of whistleblowers, official sources said.
The bill was approved at a meeting of the Union Cabinet. The bill, which has provisions to prevent victimisation or disciplinary action against whistleblowers will cover, Central, State and Public Sector Employees.
The Bill is expected to encourage disclosure of information in public interest and people who expose corruption in government. The bill has clauses which provide fine and penalties to people, who punish those exposing corruption.
The CVC will be the nodal authority to handle complaints against the state, Central government or PSU employees. According to reports, the CVC will also have powers to punish those making frivolous complaints in accordance with the bill's provisions.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Health alarm as acrid smog blankets Moscow
The concentration of toxic particles was up to five times higher than safe levels, experts warned, as the city's iconic landmarks like the Kremlin and golden church cupolas disappeared behind a layer of smoke.
The emergencies ministry warned that the wildfires which have sparked the smog were still spreading in central Russia as weather forecasters said Russia's worst heatwave in decades would continue for the next days.
The fires have raised concerns about the security of Russia's main nuclear research centre in the still closed city of Sarov, one of the areas worst hit by the blazes and where the emergencies ministry has sent thousands of workers.
The authorities were also closely watching the situation around the region of Bryansk in western Russia where the soils are still contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Moscow drivers put on their headlights in broad daylight to see through the acrid smog that had descended on the capital while the sun shone as a hazy disc easily viewed by the naked eye with little discomfort.
The smoke -- easily visible from space in NASA images -- penetrated into homes and offices and was even visible inside the Moscow metro, one of the deepest underground systems in the world.
"The situation is truly extreme. People are in circumstances under which they should not have to live," leading Russian doctor Ivan Yurlov of the League for the Nation's Health group told the Kommersant daily.
Flights from Domodedovo, one of Moscow's main international airports, were disrupted by the smog with several flights diverted to other airports and around 40 flights cancelled, state aviation committee Rosavitsia said.
"Visibility around Domodedovo is 325 metres (1,050 feet): it is up to the captain of the aircraft to make a decision about landing," Rosaviatsia official Sergei Izvolsky told Interfax.
The other main international hub, Sheremetyevo in the north of Moscow, was working normally.
Germany closed its embassy until further notice and advised citizens against "non-essential" travel to the affected regions while the US State Department asked nationals to seriously review travel plans.
Russia's football federation meanwhile moved a friendly match with Bulgaria from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, fearing for the health of the players.
With health experts warning that the best solution was to leave the city for the weekend, package tours abroad were completely sold out and there was a rush for seats on trains and planes out of the capital, news agencies said.
The levels of carbon monoxide in the air were five times higher than the maximum level acceptable for public health, state pollution watchdog Moseokmonitoring was quoted as saying in the Kommersant daily.
The situation with the wildfires that have sparked the smog showed no sign of abating, with blazes with an area of 193,500 hectares (478,000 acres) recorded across the country.
In the last 24 hours, 290 new fires were recorded, more than the 244 that were extinguished in the same timespan, the emergencies ministry said.
River cruises in Moscow, a popular summer pastime, were cancelled as the smog made navigation impossible while some museums were also shut down as the smog penetrated their ventilation systems.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
On web, wife learns of hubby's 2nd wedding
Click. And there it was, the stuff of nightmares for any spouse, cuckolded or not. Wedding photos. At Walt Disney World, no less, featuring her husband literally dressed as Prince Charming. His new wife, a pretty blonde, was a glowing Sleeping Beauty, surrounded by footmen.
"I was numb with shock, to tell you the truth," says France, an occupational therapist from Westlake, a Cleveland suburb. "There was like an album of 200 pictures on there. Their whole wedding."
In October, before another trip, her husband left a hotel website up on the couple's computer screen. "So I went there to see for myself for sure," France says. He was there with this girlfriend. The woman told France that she was engaged to France's husband.
IBN7 reigns as the No.1 Hindi news channel
IBN7 is the No.1 Hindi News Channel in the recent four weeks. The channel again lived up to its promise of ‘Khabar Har Keemat Par’ through its superlative line-up of fresh and innovative content. The viewership figures reveal the fact that IBN7 is the most preferred Hindi News Channel in the National Capital when it comes to its coverage on events of national importance. IBN7 captured maximum eyeballs with a market share of 16.3%, Zee News with 15.8%, India TV with 13.7%, Aaj Tak with13.2%, Star News with 12.7%, NDTV India 7.7%, News 24 with 5.7%, Live India with 4.5%, Tez with 4.4%, Sahara Samay with 4% and DD News with a market share of 1.9% (Source: TAM, Market Share (%), CS15-44 Yrs, Wk-28’10 – 31’10, 0600-2400 hrs, All Days, Delhi)
IBN7, in the cluttered Hindi news genre also stands as
IBN7 is driven with a single motive and promise to present the news in a ‘no nonsense manner’ and deliver ‘truth in context’ to the discerning viewer.
