A train packed with birthday gifts for North Korea’s leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un derailed this month in a possible act of sabotage, a Seoul-based radio station which broadcasts across the border reported today.
Open Radio for North Korea, a non-profit station which often cites sources in the reclusive, impoverished North, said the train laden with gifts, including televisions and watches, came off the rails on December 11 near North Korea’s border with China.
“The security service has been in an emergency situation because a train departing Sinuiju and headed for Pyongyang derailed on December 11,” the radio station quoted a source in the security service in North Phyongan province as saying.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
China rebuffs Vatican on religious freedom
The Vatican must “face the facts” about religious freedom in China, the Foreign Ministry said today, rebuffing the pope’s Christmas Day message, which decried the persecution of Catholics in China.
“We hope the Vatican can face the facts of China’s religious freedom and the development of Catholicism in China, and take concrete actions to promote positive conditions for China-Vatican relations,” ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing. She did not elaborate.
Pope Benedict on Saturday — Christmas Day — denounced limits on freedom of worship in China and encouraged Catholics there to persevere.
“We hope the Vatican can face the facts of China’s religious freedom and the development of Catholicism in China, and take concrete actions to promote positive conditions for China-Vatican relations,” ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing. She did not elaborate.
Pope Benedict on Saturday — Christmas Day — denounced limits on freedom of worship in China and encouraged Catholics there to persevere.
Suspect package disarmed in Rome
Bomb disposal experts disarmed a device sent to the Greek embassy in Rome today, days after parcel bombs claimed by an Italian anarchist group wounded two people at the Swiss and Chilean missions.
An official of the carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary police, said the device found at the Greek embassy bore similarities to one discovered in the Rome metro last week.
The metro device was found in a box with cables, batteries and antennas but had no detonator.
Suspect packages found at the Venezuelan, Danish and Monaco embassies turned out to be false alarms. There were other false alarms last week at the Irish and Ukrainian embassies in Rome as authorities stepped up checks on mail deliveries.
Small blast at Karachi’s main university
A blast reported at the main state-run university in Karachi today was probably caused by a firecracker, police said.
“It was a low-intensity blast and was caused most likely by a cracker,” Karachi police chief Fayyaz Leghari told Reuters.
Leghari said three people were wounded in the incident, though a senior university official estimated at least six.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas Eve explosions kill 32 people in Nigeria after two churches are targeted
Explosions in Nigeria's central region killed 32 people on Christmas Eve and six people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation, officials said on Saturday.
On Friday night, a series of bombs were detonated during Christmas Eve celebrations in villages near the central city of Jos, killing at least 32 people while 74 were in a critical condition, the state police commissioner said.
Nigeria's army chief said the blasts were not part of religious clashes which flare up sporadically as tensions bubble under the surface in a country where the population is split roughly equally between Muslims and Christians.
It (Jos explosions) was caused by a series of bomb blasts. That is terrorism, it's a very unfortunate incident,' Azubuike Ihejirika said in the southern city of Port Harcourt.
The attacks come at a difficult time for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is in running a controversial campaign ahead of the ruling party's primaries on January 13
A ruling party pact says that power within the People's Democratic Party (PDP) should rotate between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south every two terms.
Heavy snow strands Christmas travellers in Europe
Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travellers in Europe today, with Belgium’s main airport closed for landing and icy roads in Sweden choked with traffic.
Cold weather during the busy Christmas period has disrupted travel and business across Europe this week, and the prolonged period of severe weather is expected to clip economic growth in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy.
A spokesman for the Brussels airport warned travellers to prepare to spend the night in Brussels, saying no flights would be allowed to land until 4pm (1500 GMT).
“It is extremely difficult to handle flights,” said Jan Van der Cruysse. “We had 25 centimetres of snow overnight and there are huge surfaces to be cleaned. There is nothing we can do about it.”
Attack fears cloud Christmas for Baghdad Christians
Santa Claus toys are displayed for sale during Christmas Eve along a street in Baghdad on December 24, 2010.
Normally on Christmas Eve, Ban Zaki puts on festive clothes and takes her family to Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation church for lively holiday celebrations.
Not this year.
Dressed in black and fighting back tears, she has brought her three children to the church to honour her late husband, who was killed along with 51 others when Iraqi forces stormed it after militants took hostages during Sunday mass on Oct 31.
“He died on this spot,” 49-year-old Zaki said, pointing to the marble floor of the Catholic church.
“This year, there will be no festivities, no celebrations. The images of the attack and how they killed my husband here in this place are still in front of my eyes. Those were four hours I won’t forget for the rest of my life,” she said.
The attack triggered a fresh exodus of Christians from some Iraqi cities amid renewed fears that Sunni Islamist militants were trying to drive Christians out of their homeland.
The UN refugee agency said last week that some 1,000 Christian families, roughly 6,000 people, had fled to Iraqi Kurdistan from Baghdad, Mosul and other areas.
Flu kills 27 in Britain
Flu has killed 27 people in Britain since the influenza season began in October and transmission of the virus is picking up across the European Union, health officials said on Thursday.
Latest data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed that 24 people died with the H1N1 flu strain that spread around the world as a pandemic in 2009, and three with from a strain known as flu type B. Eighteen of those who died were adults and nine were children.
“The level of flu activity we are currently seeing is at levels often seen during the winter flu seasons, but due to the fact that H1N1 is one of the predominant strains circulating at the moment, we are seeing more severe illness in people under the age of 65 than we would normally expect,” said John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA.
North Korea nuclear test ‘possible’ in new year
A North Korean Scud-B missile (centre) and South Korean Hawk surface-to-air missiles are seen at the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul, on December 24, 2010
North Korea could carry out a third nuclear test next year to strengthen the credentials of its young leader-in-waiting, Kim Jong-un, a research report from a South Korean Foreign Ministry institute said yesterday.
The report came a day after Pyongyang vowed a nuclear “sacred war,” using its nuclear deterrent, after the South vowed to be “merciless” if attacked again and held a major military drill near the border.
The North, which carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, has yet to show it has a deliverable weapon as part of its plutonium arms programme, but a third test would raise tensions further on the divided peninsula and rattle global markets.
Powerful earthquake strikes South Pacific sparking tsunami alert
A powerful earthquake struck under the sea near Vanuatu early Sunday, generating a small tsunami in the South Pacific.
No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
The 7.3 magnitude quake struck Sunday just after midnight about 140 miles south of Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila.
The U.S. Geological Survey said it was about 15 miles below the ocean floor.
A tsunami wave measuring about 6 inches was recorded on some coastlines at Vanuatu, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
New Caledonia and Fiji also were warned a tsunami was possible on their coasts, but the warning was cancelled about an hour-and-a-half after the temblor.
Vanuatu is part of the Pacific 'ring of fire' - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through the South Pacific.
A 7.5 quake that struck under the sea floor just 25 miles from Port Vila in August panicked residents but did not cause significant damage.
US urges Yemen to step up fight against al Qaeda
President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser has pressed Yemen to step up its efforts against al Qaeda, the White House said yesterday, as US agencies stayed alert around the first anniversary of a Christmas Day plot to down an American passenger jet.
John Brennan, an Obama aide at the center of US intelligence efforts to thwart attacks by militants, spoke with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday.
Brennan called to “emphasise the importance of taking forceful action against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in order to thwart its plans to carry out terrorist attacks in Yemen as well as in other countries, including in the US homeland,” the White House said.
Russia agrees to buy French helicopter carriers
Russia has agreed to buy two helicopter carriers from a French-led consortium, the French and Russian governments said yesterday, in Moscow’s first major foreign arms purchase since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Under the long-discussed deal, the Mistral-type amphibious assault ships will be built by French shipyard companies DCNS and STX along with Russia’s state-run United Shipbuilding Corporation, known as OSK.
Some of France’s NATO allies had voiced concern, urging Paris not to sell Moscow high-tech systems that could be used against Russia’s former communist neighbours, especially since Russia’s brief 2008 war with neighbouring Georgia.
Karzai warms to idea of talking to Taliban in Turkey
President Hamid Karzai said yesterday the Afghan government would welcome any offer by Turkey to facilitate talks with the Taliban that could help bring an end to the conflict in his homeland.
More than 700 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year — nearly a third of the total in over nine years of war.
While US-led Nato forces have applied a surge strategy there is also a search on for ways to bring about a political solution as a countdown begins for the withdrawal of troops.
US President Barack Obama has promised to begin pulling out US forces in 2011, and Nato has agreed to end combat operations and hand security responsiblity to the Afghan army by the end of 2014.
Speaking in Istanbul at the end of a trilateral summit between Turkey, Afghaninstan and Pakistan, Karzai said “dignitaries” close to the Taliban had suggested Turkey could become a venue for talks if the Taliban were allowed to establish some kind of representation there.
“The idea of Turkey serving as a place where gatherings can take place, where representation can be established in order to facilitate reconstruction and reintegration has been discussed,” Karzai told a joint news conference with his counterparts from Turkey and Pakistan.
Woman suicide bomber kills 42 people in attack on food distribution centre in northern Pakistan
A woman suicide bomber detonated her explosives-laden vest in a crowded aid distribution centre in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least 41 people and wounding dozens waiting for food stamps, officials said.
The attack appeared to be the first suicide bombing staged by a woman in Pakistan, and it underscored the resilience of militant groups in the country's tribal belt despite ongoing military operations against them.
The bomb hit the main city in Bajur, a region near the Afghan border where the military has twice declared victory over Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents.
It also came a day after some 150 militants killed 11 soldiers in a coordinated assault in a neighboring region where the army also has carried out operations.
The bomber, dressed in a traditional women's burqa, first lobbed two hand grenades into the crowd waiting at a checkpoint outside the food aid distribution center in the town of Khar, local police official Fazal-e-Rabbi Khan said. The attacker then detonated her explosives vest, he said.
The attack appeared to be the first suicide bombing staged by a woman in Pakistan, and it underscored the resilience of militant groups in the country's tribal belt despite ongoing military operations against them.
The bomb hit the main city in Bajur, a region near the Afghan border where the military has twice declared victory over Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents.
It also came a day after some 150 militants killed 11 soldiers in a coordinated assault in a neighboring region where the army also has carried out operations.
The bomber, dressed in a traditional women's burqa, first lobbed two hand grenades into the crowd waiting at a checkpoint outside the food aid distribution center in the town of Khar, local police official Fazal-e-Rabbi Khan said. The attacker then detonated her explosives vest, he said.
Pope Christmas message urges peace,admonishes China
Pope Benedict prayed for a rebirth of peace in the Middle East and encouraged Catholics in Iraq and communist China to resist persecution in his Christmas message read amid heightened security today.
In the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message, he said the Christmas message of peace and hope was always new, surprising and daring and should spur everyone in the peaceful struggle for justice.
Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people braving the chill and drizzle in the square below, he delivered Christmas greetings in 65 languages, including those spoken in the world’s trouble spots.
“May the light of Christmas shine forth anew in the Land where Jesus was born, and inspire Israelis and Palestinians to strive for a just and peaceful coexistence,” he said.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
China urges North Korea to accept nuclear inspectors
China yesterday urged North Korea to follow through on its offer to allow United Nations nuclear monitors into the country as a way to alleviate international tensions during a standoff with South Korea.
China, North Korea’s only major ally, has continually urged dialogue to resolve the crisis and has been reluctant to blame its neighbour for the shelling of a South Korean island last month, in which two Marines and two civilians were killed.
South Korea held further live-fire drills on the island on Monday, raising fears of all-out war, but the North did not retaliate. Instead, it offered to accept nuclear inspectors it has kicked out of the country previously.
“North Korea has the right to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes, but also at the same time must allow IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors in,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing.
US Senate close to approving Russia arms treaty
Missile defence sticking point with Republicans
President Barack Obama wrapped up enough support yesterday to win Senate approval for a strategic nuclear arms pact with Russia later this week, a key step in his drive to improve ties with Moscow and curb atomic weapons proliferation.
The new START treaty cleared a procedural hurdle in the US Senate by a vote of 67-28 as 11 Republicans joined Democrats in a decision to limit further debate. The treaty will move to a final vote today after lawmakers deal with a rash of last-minute amendments.
Obama’s Democrats need a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate for final approval of the treaty. Senator John Kerry, who led floor debate as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he expected 70 senators to ultimately vote in favour of the accord.
New York taxi drivers to wear bulletproof vests in pilot scheme
New York taxi drivers are notable for their unique yellow cabs.
But soon they could have something else to distinguish them: bulletproof vests.
A dozen Big Apple cab drivers, who have to work in suburbs with high crime-rates, have been selected to pilot the scheme.
The president of the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers, Fernando Mateo, believes the vests will provide another - potentially vital - layer of protection for drivers in high-crime areas.
Mr Mateo said there are some 300 robberies and assaults against New York taxi drivers every month.
'One shooting is a lot and whatever we can do to help improve the safety of our drivers is something that we will do,' he said.
Heathrow boss is shamed into giving up his bonus as it is revealed airport 'failed' to order enough de-icer to cope with heavy snow
Heathrow's chief executive relinquished his bonus today amid claims bosses 'failed' to buy enough de-icer, ruining Christmas getaway plans for more than a million people.
The world's busiest airport has drawn widespread criticism after holidaymakers were left to sleep on cold terminal floors during the festive period as thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed.
Furious airlines have now hit out at Heathrow's owners BAA, insisting the company did not stock up on enough de-icing fluid to keep its two runways open.
Boss Colin Matthews later bowed to calls to relinquish his six-figure bonus.
White House admits national intelligence chief was left in the dark about UK terrorism arrests
Red-faced White House officials admitted today that the nation’s top intelligence chief was mistakenly left in the dark about key terrorist arrests in London.
The humiliating confession came after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stumbled when he was asked about the raids by ABC anchor Diane Sawyer.
The British arrests to foil an alleged al Qaeda terror plot got wide coverage on TV news shows and newspapers. But the spy chief appeared stumped when asked whether there were any US links.
Sawyer was talking to Mr Clapper, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, and John Brennan, the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.
Mr Clapper was caught totally off guard by Sawyer's reference to the London arrests, and Mr Brennan hastily broke in to comment on the situation.
Sawyer told Mr Clapper she was 'a little surprised' that he 'didn't know about London', to which he replied: 'I'm sorry, I didn't.'
Obama weighs review process for Guantanamo detainees
The Obama administration is considering the creation of a review process for Guantanamo Bay detainees who are deemed too dangerous to be released but who cannot be tried in either civilian or military courts.
An administration official confirmed that an executive order had been drafted that would establish “periodic reviews” for prolonged detentions. But the official said the order had not yet gone to President Barack Obama.
The order may be greeted warily by human rights groups. While the administration sees the process as a way to provide clear standards for cases of indefinite detentions, many rights groups oppose any formalisation of such detentions.
Saudi king leaves hospital in good health
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has left a New York hospital in good health, the kingdom’s state news agency said today.“King Abdullah left the Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday evening . . . as God gave him good health,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
“He moved to his place of residence in New York to recuperate and continue with physical therapy,” the statement said, but did not say when he might return to Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this month, the state news agency said the king, believed to be 86 or 87, had a successful second operation to stabilise vertebrae in his spinal column.
Police told royal squad NOT to drive Prince Charles and Camilla on riot route after sergeant warned of 200-strong baying mob
Royalty protection officers were warned by a police colleague not to drive down Regent Street 15 minutes before Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were attacked by a baying mob, the Daily Mail can reveal.
A police sergeant told a member of the couple’s protection team that the area surrounding the road should be avoided because up to 200 thugs were in close proximity.
But the advice – logged in official police records – was not followed and Charles and Camilla’s royal limousine was driven straight into a splinter group of anarchists who had attended the student protests against the raising of tuition fees.
A police sergeant told a member of the couple’s protection team that the area surrounding the road should be avoided because up to 200 thugs were in close proximity.
But the advice – logged in official police records – was not followed and Charles and Camilla’s royal limousine was driven straight into a splinter group of anarchists who had attended the student protests against the raising of tuition fees.
Greeks go on strike before austerity budget vote
Greek unions called a general strike today and Athens was paralysed by a 24-hour public transport stoppage in protest against the government’s 2011 budget, set to pass later as part of an EU/IMF bailout.
The budget, meant to help stem a debt crisis that has shaken the euro zone, includes further tax hikes and wage cuts in state-run enterprises, especially in public transport.
Fitch said yesterday it may cut Greece’s credit rating next month to junk as both other major rating agencies have done.
Europe travel chaos eases but pain remains
A British Airways aircraft lands as another taxis for take off at Heathrow Airport in west London December 21, 2010. Airline and international train services were limping back towards normal in parts of Europe today.
Airline and international train services were limping back towards normal in parts of Europe today, but the lingering effects of ice and snow that caused widespread chaos still weighed on schedules.
The disruptions to airlines and high-speed trains in continental Europe, and linking Britain to the continent, created travel chaos for tens of thousands of travellers in the busy Christmas period following heavy weekend snowfalls.
They also brought calls for legislation to force airports to deal more effectively with snow and other bad weather.
Tension as Italian students protest education law
Thousands of Italian students marched in protest against a new university reform law yesterday as police blocked off large parts of central Rome to stop a repeat of violent clashes at a similar march a week ago.
Last week’s demonstration saw cars torched, shop windows smashed and dozens injured in street battles between protesters and riot police after the initially peaceful march descended into some of the worst violence seen in Rome for years.
No trouble was reported yesterday in a rainy Rome but there were clashes at a demonstration in Palermo and reports of other incidents in Naples, Milan and Turin.
The law, which the government says will strengthen Italy’s crumbling university system but which critics say will merely cut funding without solving real problems, was due for Senate approval yesterday though a vote may be delayed to today.
South Korea army to hold huge drill, North silent
South Korea announced land and sea military exercises yesterday including its largest-ever live-fire drill near North Korea just as tension on the peninsula was beginning to ease after Pyongyang’s attack on a southern island.
The land drill, involving three dozen mobile artillery guns, six fighter jets, multiple launch rocket systems and 800 troops, the largest number of personnel in a single peace-time exercise, will take place on Thursday and is likely irritate the North.
The scale of the drill and the timing, coming right after the tensely staged a live-fire exercise on Monday, indicate South Korea’s conservative President Lee Myung-bak sees more political mileage in taking a tough military stance rather than reverting to dialogue, despite overtures from Pyongyang.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Iraqi Parliament Approves New Government
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki speaks at the house of parliament in Baghdad December 21, 2010. The Iraqi parliament has unanimously approved a new government, with incumbent Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister.
Religious ritual believed to be behind death of girl who was found with her heart cut out and other organs strewn round home
Neighbours of a mother arrested after her four-year-old daughter was killed as an apparent religious offering told how they heard screams from the family's flat.
Nusayba Bharuchi's corpse was found stabbed to death in the kitchen with her heart and other organs cut out and strewn around her flat and lying next to her mother, Shayna.
The 35-year-old woman was allegedly chanting verses of the Koran as her daughter's disembowelled corpse lay next to her in the home in Clapton, East London.
Nusayba Bharuchi's corpse was found stabbed to death in the kitchen with her heart and other organs cut out and strewn around her flat and lying next to her mother, Shayna.
The 35-year-old woman was allegedly chanting verses of the Koran as her daughter's disembowelled corpse lay next to her in the home in Clapton, East London.
Russia supports India UN seat quest, seals deals
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today threw his weight behind India’s quest for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and secured agreements to deepen nuclear energy and defence cooperation.
Russia has been India’s close economic and political partner since Soviet days, and monopolised India’s defence market for decades, but New Delhi wants to reduce its reliance on one country to reflect its growing clout on the world stage.
India’s growing ties with the US, underscored by a landmark civil nuclear deal, has made Russia ill at ease.
Hundreds stranded on crippled train line
Hundreds of travellers were stranded on trains as damage to overhead power lines brought one of the country’s main rail lines grinding to a halt today.
All East Coast train services between London and the northeast were suspended.
The disruption is the latest to hit transport in Britain during a bitter cold snap, with snow and ice also grounding flights and slowing road traffic.
A spokesman for the train company told BBC television that several hundred passengers were stuck on six trains in different locations between London and Peterborough.
Disruptions have left thousands of train passengers frustrated.
All East Coast train services between London and the northeast were suspended.
The disruption is the latest to hit transport in Britain during a bitter cold snap, with snow and ice also grounding flights and slowing road traffic.
A spokesman for the train company told BBC television that several hundred passengers were stuck on six trains in different locations between London and Peterborough.
Two-thirds of Holocaust victims identified
The gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Oswiecim are seen behind a bouquet of flowers.
A list of confirmed names of Jews killed by the Nazis in World War Two has reached the four million mark, Israel’s Holocaust museum announced today, saying the identity of all six million dead may never be known.
“It is a moral imperative, an obligation for us to retrieve information and commemorate each and every individual who perished,” said Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Jerusalem.
“By doing so, a lot of important material comes up in our research to help combat Holocaust denial,” he told Reuters.
Yad Vashem has sorted through “millions of occurrences of names” over nearly six decades of research and taking testimony from survivors.
Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter to marry rugby player
Zara Phillips, the granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, is to marry England rugby player Mike Tindall, the royal family said today.
No date was given for the wedding of 29-year-old Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband Mark Phillips.
The announcement comes a month after Prince William, the elder son of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, said he would marry his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton in April.
Phillips was considered something of a “royal rebel” as a teenager, having her tongue pierced as a teenager.
Rome ‘bomb’ could not explode
A suspected bomb was found in an empty underground train carriage in Rome today, but police said it lacked a detonator and could not have exploded.
The device, described by one police source as rudimentary, was found by a driver preparing a train for service in a marshalling yard near the Rebibbia metro station at about 0900 GMT (1700 Malaysian time), transport authority ATAC said.
It was in a box with cables, batteries and antennas, an ATAC spokesman said.
“It didn’t have a detonator, it couldn’t explode,” a spokesman for the Carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary police force, told Reuters by telephone.
He said it contained a small quantity of explosive powder.
The device was discovered at a time of increased tension in Italy following anti-government protests last week that descended into some of the worst violence in Rome for years.
A senior Iraqi official said last week that al Qaeda was planning attacks in the US, Britain and Europe around Christmas.
A suspected suicide bomber was killed in a botched attack in Stockholm on December 11. Police believe he was planning to attack a train station or department store at the height of the Christmas shopping season.
UN council, assembly evacuated due to suspicious odour
The UN Security Council and General Assembly were evacuated today due to a “suspicious odour,” a UN spokesman said.
Spokesman Farhan Haq said the evacuation was a precautionary measure. “We are currently trying to identify the odour with local authorities,” he said.
Both the Security Council and the General Assembly had scheduled meetings today, which were delayed by the evacuation.
The UN complex in Manhattan on the banks on the East River is currently undergoing a US$2 billion (RM6.3 billion) refurbishment.
Parents horrified as children run up massive bills Smurfing the web
Computer giant Apple has come under fire for introducing ‘hidden and underhand’ charges into children’s games which many parents thought were free to play.
The US firm has made millions of pounds by developing a new generation of games to play on gadgets such as the iPad and iPhone.
Thousands of British parents have downloaded the games, assuming that because they are free to download they are free to play.
But they have been horrified to discover that children have run up huge bills by buying credits which allow them to progress faster and farther through the game.
The offending games, which include The Smurfs’ Village, Zombie Farm and Tap Zoo, all operate along similar lines and encourage players to build up a virtual community.
Julian Assanger founder of Wikileaks alleged leads wild promiscuous lifestyle
The two women who say they were sexually assaulted by the WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange would never have complained to police if he had agreed to take an HIV test, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
WikiLeaks’s Swedish co-ordinator, who worked closely with Mr Assange for months, said in an exclusive interview that he repeatedly begged his boss to have the test, both to head off the possible police investigation and for Mr Assange’s own peace of mind, given his promiscuous sex life.
WikiLeaks’s Swedish co-ordinator, who worked closely with Mr Assange for months, said in an exclusive interview that he repeatedly begged his boss to have the test, both to head off the possible police investigation and for Mr Assange’s own peace of mind, given his promiscuous sex life.
Allegations: Julian Assange is accused of rape by two women in Sweden
Broadway 'Spider-Man' stunt double falls to stage
The troubled Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" was plagued by its fourth accident since it began previews last month when an actor performing an aerial stunt fell about 30 feet, fire officials said.
Firefighters were called to the Foxwoods Theatre at about 10:45 p.m. Monday after the 31-year-old actor fell near the end of the latest preview performance. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, police said.
Police did not release the actor's name, but a performer in the show identified him as Christopher Tierney. The performer spoke on condition of anonymity because the performer was not authorized to speak publicly about the accident.
A nurse at Bellevue Hospital said that a Christopher Tierney was admitted and was in stable condition, but would not provide details.
Tierney is the show's main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man, and the villains Meeks and Kraven.
The cable to Tierney's harness snapped during a scene in which Spider-Man rescues his love interest, Mary Jane, the performer said. It was unclear if Tierney was properly harnessed when the cable snapped. The performer said the show's actors are responsible for hooking themselves up to harnesses used for aerial stunts.
WikiLeaks' Assange complains he's victim of leaks
It has come to this: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is complaining that someone leaked a Swedish police report on his alleged sexual offenses.
In an interview with the British newspaper The Times, Assange complained about reporting in the rival newspaper The Guardian, which is one of several publications that has been helping WikiLeaks edit its trove of secret U.S. diplomatic files in exchange for an early look at them.
The Guardian published details Saturday of the Swedish police report in which two women accuse Assange of rape, based on what it described as "unauthorized access" to prosecutors' files. Assange claimed the newspaper was "selectively publishing" parts of it, and questioned the timing of the leak, saying it was given to the paper a day before his bail hearing last week.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Fears of dummy bomb runs by 'terror scouts' at regional airports
Alerts: Counter-terror officials fear regional airports are being targeted for dummy runs by would-be terrorists
Security officials have tested security at regional airports amid fears terror scouts have been staging dummy runs, it emerged today.
Two suspect packages have reportedly been spotted in the last three months which appeared to be like improvised bombs.
One hidden in a box inside a bag of hand luggage had a BlackBerry attached to a baby's bottle with a charging cable thought to be simulating a detonator.
The second - spotted at the same airport some weeks later - also contained a mobile phone and detonator, according to The Guardian.
Both 'devices' were examined by bomb disposal experts and found to be harmless, meaning no passengers were charged.
WikiLeaks: UN chief offered Mugabe deal to step down
Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan offered Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe a deal to step down and live in a safe haven, but the veteran leader rejected the offer, according to US documents obtained by WikiLeaks.
A confidential document dated September 2000 showed that a source from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party told US officials in Harare the party had been told that Annan, the former UN Secretary General Annan, had made the offer to Mugabe during a UN summit in New York.
The source said the MDC did not know the details of the deal, reported to it by a businessman, but that it likely guaranteed Mugabe a financial package from Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi and a safe haven, the cable showed.
Police arrest 12 men in anti-terrorism raids
Twelve men were arrested across Britain yesterday in counter-terrorism raids described by a senior police officer as essential to protect the public from the threat of an attack.
John Yates, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, said the men were held on suspicion of the “commission, preparation, or instigation of an act of terrorism in the UK.”
He described the operation to arrest the men as significant, but refused to give details of the allegations against them.
The BBC said in an unsourced report that the arrests were linked to an investigation into al Qaeda-inspired attacks within Britain. The inquiry was led by the MI5 domestic security agency and the suspected plot was in its early stages, it said. Police would not comment on the report.
Yates said it was right to launch the raids, particularly because Britain is on the second highest state of alert for an attack. The threat level stands at “severe,” meaning an attack is highly likely.
“With the current threat level at severe and with the information we had, I believe that today’s arrests were absolutely necessary in order to keep the public safe,” Yates said. “This operation has used significant resources from the country’s counter-terrorism network.”
North Korea backs down over South Korean drill
North Korea stepped back from confrontation over “reckless” military drills by the South yesterday and reportedly issued a new offer on nuclear inspections, drawing a cautious response from Seoul and Washington.
Air-raid bunkers on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong shook during South Korea’s live-fire artillery exercise, which went on for more than 90 minutes.
But the North Korean guns that had shelled the island after a similar drill last month stayed silent, bringing a measure of relief in a crisis that raised fears of war along one of the world’s most heavily fortified frontiers.
“The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation,” the official KCNA news agency said, quoting a communique from the North’s Korean People’s Army Supreme Command that called the drills a “childish play with fire.”
Waste in US Afghan aid seen at billions of dollars
Waste and fraud in US efforts to rebuild Afghanistan while fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban may have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, a special investigator said yesterday.
Arnold Fields, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said the cost of US assistance funding diverted or squandered since 2002 could reach “well into the millions, if not billions, of dollars.”
“There are no controls in place sufficient enough to ensure taxpayers’ money is used for the (intended) purpose,” said Fields, whose independent office was created in 2008 to energize oversight of what US auditors have described as a giant, poorly coordinated aid effort that has sunk some US$56 billion (RM180 billion) into Afghanistan since 2002.
Of that sum, some US$29 billion has gone to building up Afghanistan’s nascent security forces, many of whose members cannot read and are just learning to shoot.
Stockholm bomber.CCTV video shows how close killer came to murdering hundreds of festive shoppers
Dramatic footage of what are thought to be the final moments of the Swedish suicide bomber has emerged, showing how he was moments from killing and injuring hundreds of Christmas shoppers.
The film, from a CCTV camera only yards from where British-educated Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly detonated his home-made device, shows a man wearing a backpack walking down one of Stockholm’s busiest shopping streets surrounded by dozens of members of the public.
The man appears to rummage inside his coat, possibly trying to detonate the bomb. He then quickly changes direction, walking back through the shoppers and down a quiet side street.
Hidden threat: The man walks amid shoppers
Suspicious: He turns towards a side street
The film, from a CCTV camera only yards from where British-educated Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly detonated his home-made device, shows a man wearing a backpack walking down one of Stockholm’s busiest shopping streets surrounded by dozens of members of the public.
The man appears to rummage inside his coat, possibly trying to detonate the bomb. He then quickly changes direction, walking back through the shoppers and down a quiet side street.
Hidden threat: The man walks amid shoppers
Suspicious: He turns towards a side street
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