August 25, 2012
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August 24, 2012
PAKISTAN: An 11-Year-Old Christian Girl, Suffering From Down’s Syndrome, Was Arrested Charged With Blasphemy After Being Accused Of Burning Passages Of The Holy Quran
The Express Tribune
written by Qaiser Zulfiqar
Sunday August 19, 2012
ISLAMABAD - An 11-year-old Christian girl, suffering from Down’s Syndrome, was arrested on Saturday on blasphemy charges, after being accused of burning passages of the Holy Quran.
Rifta Masih was jailed by the police in Mehrabadi village, near Islamabad, after being severely beaten up by locals, for allegedly burning 10 pages of the Noorani Qaida.
On the eve of Ramazan 27, Rifta was playing outside her house, opposite sector G-11 in Islamabad, when she was allegedly seen burning and dumping the pages of the Qaida into a bin.
Fearing severe backlash, Rifta’s family fled from the area, while locals handed over the young girl and her mother to the local police.
According to sources, locals blocked the Kashmir Highway for hours and surrounded the Ramna police station in G-11 when the police initially showed reluctance to register a case against the young girl. The police, however, soon succumbed to the pressure, registering a blasphemy case against Rifta and formally arresting her on Thursday.
Zabiullah, the investigation officer of the case, could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts. Ramna police station SHO Qasim Niazi, meanwhile, refused to give details of the case, saying he did not have much information.
‘Paul Bhatti takes notice’
According to sources, Adviser to the Prime Minister for National Harmony Dr Paul Bhatti has taken notice of the incident.
Sources told The Express Tribune that Bhatti has spoken to lawyers to provide legal aid to Rifta and her family for her immediate release from the juvenile jail, as well as to take legal action against locals who influenced the police into registering a case.
They further disclosed that Bhatti has also taken up the issue with religious scholars of different sects, who, after Eid, will determine whether Rifta’s act was deliberate or unintentional, since she is only a child.
According to sources, the capital police, while briefing Bhatti on the issue, denied that Rifta and her mother were tortured by locals; however, they confirmed that she has Down’s Syndrome.
Down’s Syndrome is a severe genetic disorder that severely affects cognitive and physical growth – and affects a child from birth. Usually, children suffering from it are identifiable from their features. There is no cure for Down’s Syndrome. Therapy for this disorder is uncommon in Pakistan, and is usually unavailable for poorer segments of society.
Parliamentary Secretary on Human Rights and Chairperson of Parliamentary forum on Child Rights Rubina Qaimkhawni told The Express Tribune that the ministry will provide every possible aide to Rifta and her family.
“I will take up the issue at the parliamentary forum,” she said, adding that Rifta “is an innocent minor, who might not even be familiar with the meanings of religion”.
She said the issue could have been solved amicably at a local level but it was deliberately blown out of proportion.
“The government will continue to strive for human rights and particularly for the rights of minorities in Pakistan,” said Qaimkhawni.
USA: Michigan House Guest 'Shot Ex-Girlfriend And Her Boyfriend Multiple Times And Sawed Off Their Limbs Before Dumping Them In Canal Off The Detroit River
The Daily Mail UK
written by Staff
Monday August 20, 2012
A man staying with his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend at their home shot them repeatedly before dismembering their bodies with a chainsaw and throwing them into a canal, a court has heard.
Roger Bowling, 39, has gone on trial for the murder of Chris Hall, 42, and his fiance, Danielle Greenway, 32, last month in Detroit, Michigan.
Their body parts were pulled from a canal off the Detroit River days after they disappeared - and two weeks after they welcomed Bowling into their home.
Hall was shot six times, including twice in the head, and dismembered, while Greenway was shot once in the mouth before her head, hands and legs were sawed off and dumped in the canal, assistant Wayne County medical examiner Jeffrey Jentzen testified on Monday.
The couple were last seen on July 14. Three days later, a torso was spotted in the canal and the U.S. Coast Guard discovered the second torso in the river while investigating. Both were beheaded.
Both bodies had their hands sawed off at the wrists and their legs were cut off at the mid-thigh, Jentzen testified Monday in Allen Park District Court as Bowling sat stony-faced.
An angler later spotted legs and a saw submerged along the riverbank, not far from the canal.
'The cuts were very straight, uniform and clean,' Jentzen said. 'In my opinion, these would be consistent with some type of mechanical saw.'
Both died of gunshot wounds while they were inside the home, Jentzen said. Hall was shot twice in the head, once in the spine, twice in his left side and once in his left arm.
But Bowling's lawyer, Mark L. Brown, said there was no eyewitness testimony linking Bowling to the killings.
Greenway and Hall had allowed Bowling, who was Greenway's ex-boyfriend, to move into their home a few weeks prior to their deaths.
On Monday, a former friend told the court that after Bowling's relationship with Greenway ended around 2004, they would talk about 'how we could get rid of our problems ... get rid of our women'.
Robert Slick said Bowling said he would 'cut her up, put her in a cooler', then chain and strap the cooler up and 'dump it in the water'.
Hall's sister, Elaina Mullins, has also testified that she had quizzed Bowling about her brother's vacation, and he had said the couple went upstate on holiday, myfoxdetroit reported.
Yet she noticed Greenway's birth control was on the kitchen table and believed that part of the kitchen had been cleaned.
'My brother had been missing for four days. Every thought goes through your mind and possibility,' she said.
A neighbor, who also testified earlier this month, told the court she heard the sound of a saw around the time the couple disappeared, but could not confirm where the sound came from.
LEBANON: U.S. Seizes $150 Million From Lebanese Bank In Laundering Scheme Linked To The Lebanese Shi'ite Group Hezbollah
Reuters news
written by Basil Katz
Monday August 20, 2012
U.S. authorities said on Monday that they had seized $150 million from a Lebanese bank suspected of being at the heart of international money-laundering schemes linked to the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah.
In February 2011, the U.S. Treasury department designated the Lebanese Canadian Bank as a "primary money-laundering concern." The privately owned bank was subsequently merged with the Lebanese subsidiary of Societe Generale.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration accused bank officials of knowingly participating in a scheme in which money from various individuals and companies in Beirut was sent from Lebanon to purchase used cars in the United States. The cars were then sold in West Africa, and Hezbollah-linked groups would help smuggle the proceeds into Lebanon, authorities said.
Hezbollah is a Shi'ite Islamist guerrilla and political movement founded with Iran's help after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Washington considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist group. U.S. officials say that it has become increasingly involved in the drug trade, facilitating the distribution and sale of cocaine in West Africa.
The money seized was held in corresponding accounts at five different banks in the United States, including Citibank and London-based bank Standard Chartered. The five banks have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
An attorney for the Lebanese Canadian Bank did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
MEXICO: The Country's State-Run Oil Company: Pipeline Network ‘Practically Taken Over by Organized Crime and Armed Groups’
CNS news
written by Edwin Mora
Tuesday August 21, 2012
Organized crime in Mexico fueled the theft of more than 1.8 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum from the nation’s state-run oil company Pemex in the first half of 2012, an 18 percent increase when compared to the same period in 2011, according to the company’s communications office.
Mexico is ranked by the CIA as the seventh top oil-producing country in the world. Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) reported in Spanish on Aug. 10 that the national pipeline systems “are practically taken over by organized crime gangs associated with heavily armed groups.”
Pemex further said that organized criminal gangs and their associates are fueling the “growing” theft of oil despite the state-run company’s best efforts to combat the problem.
Pemex estimated that in the first six months of 2012, the volume of oil removed illegally from its national pipeline system through clandestine taps reached 1,841,478 barrels, marking an 18 percent increase from the 1,557,569 barrels stolen during the same period last year.
According to the company, there are 158.9 liters (an estimated 42 gallons) in each barrel. That means, on average, at least 17,500 gallons of oil (about 426 barrels) per hour were stolen during the first half of 2012.
There were 111 persons “arrested red-handed for the crime of oil theft” between January and June of this year, according to Pemex.
Most of the oil theft takes place along sections of the national pipeline network that run across the country and at some Pemex refining centers.
Criminals use intrusive devices referred to as “clandestine taps” (CTs) to steal the oil, reported Pemex, adding that a total of 824 intrusive taps were identified in the first six months of 2012.
The areas most affected by oil theft include the Mexican state of Veracruz, where 114 CTs were located, followed by Sinaloa (90 CTs); Tamaulipas (83 CTs); and the states of Sonora and Nuevo Leon where 62 CTs were found at each one.
Violent drug cartels such as Los Zetas are known to operate in those states. The Los Zetas cartel has reportedly been linked to violent armed clashes associated with oil theft.
Several U.S.-based companies operating near the border have been accused of helping Mexican criminals refine stolen oil. Pemex filed a lawsuit against 12 firms, including units of Royal Dutch Shell, according to Reuters.
“PEMEX has strengthened surveillance of its national pipeline network, which has increased the detection of illegal and clandestine taps, decreased the volume of stolen fuel, and reduced risks to the population,” Reyna Zea, a Pemex spokeswoman, told CNSNews.com in Spanish when asked to comment on the growing oil theft problem.
The spokeswoman said she was unable to name specific organized crime gangs involved in stealing oil from Pemex.
GUATEMALA: A Guatemalan Court Sentences Ex-Police Chief For War Crimes
The Malaysian Star
written by Mike McDonald, Reuters
Wednesday August 22, 2012
GUATEMALA CITY - A Guatemalan court on Tuesday sentenced a former police chief to 70 years in jail for ordering the kidnapping of a university student during the country's brutal civil war.
The landmark ruling made Pedro Garcia the highest ranking police official to be sentenced for war crimes in Guatemala and was the latest in a string of cases the government has initiated against former officials.
Garcia, arrested last year at his home southeast of the capital, was convicted of crimes against humanity and the 'forced disappearance' or kidnapping of engineering student Edgar Saenz, who disappeared in 1981.
Garcia, who was police chief from 1974 until 1982, faces separate murder charges in the 1980 burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala, which killed 36 people including the father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu.
Guatemalan courts last year sentenced two former agents to 40 years in prison for their role in the disappearance of another student union leader and ordered to trial the former director of national police, Hector Bol de la Cruz, for his alleged participation in abductions.
Backed by crusading Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, prosecutors in Guatemala are going after former high-ranking officials, sending a message that wartime atrocities will be tried.
Clues in police documents found in 2005 have exposed government repression during the 36-year war and provided enough evidence to start sending cases to trial.
In January, a court sent former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to trial to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the civil war.
The internal conflict wracked the Central American nation between 1960 and 1996, pitting a string of right-wing governments against leftist insurgents and leaving 200,000 people dead and 45,000 missing.
Even with recent advances, prosecutors say that the large volume of cases means they will never bring to justice all of the nation's war criminals.
VIETNAM: Authorities Arrested High-Profile Banking Tycoon
Bloomberg news
written by Staff
Tuesday August 21, 2012
Vietnam’s arrest of a high-profile banking tycoon triggered the largest stock market drop in almost four years amid investor concern that it signaled wider vulnerabilities in the country’s financial system.
Nguyen Duc Kien, who helped found Asia Commercial Bank, Vietnam’s fourth-biggest lender by market value, was arrested two days ago, according to a central bank statement. Police are investigating violations at three companies managed by Kien, 48, after he allegedly “conducted business illegally,” according to the statement.
“The sword of Damocles that’s been hanging over Vietnam is the banking sector, and everyone knows that someday they’re going to have to deal with it,” said Edwin Gutierrez, portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in London, which oversees about $9 billion in emerging-market debt including Vietnamese bonds. “With the lack of clarity, in the markets there’s a shoot first and ask questions later mentality.”
The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange fell 2.1 percent as of 10:14 a.m. local time, extending yesterday’s 4.7 percent plunge, the biggest drop since October 2008. Shares in Asia Commercial Bank lost 6.6 percent in Hanoi trading after tumbling 7 percent yesterday, the maximum daily drop permitted by the Hanoi Stock Exchange.
Power Struggle
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s government is seeking to shore up a banking system saddled with the highest bad debt in Southeast Asia that credit-rating companies cite as a threat to the economy. The arrest of Kien, who has links to the prime minister, may also be related to Dung’s ongoing rivalry with President Truong Tan Sang for power within the Communist Party ranks, according to Steve Norris, a Singapore-based analyst at Control Risks Group.
“I don’t think removing this tycoon in itself is enough to decisively weaken the prime minister or threaten overall stability,” he said. “It’s just another example of these tensions going on beneath the surface that we very rarely see.”
Dung, who was reappointed to a five-year term last year, has faced criticism over his management of debt-ridden, state- owned Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, known as Vinashin. Sang formerly headed the Central Committee’s central economic commission before he was appointed as president last year, one of the country’s top three leadership positions.
Kien held a senior position managing Vietnam’s professional soccer league and his family was among the 30 wealthiest in the country last year, according to VnExpress.
‘Very Surprised’
Kien lives in a three-story house ringed by an iron fence that overlooks West Lake in a wealthier section of Hanoi. Expensive cars were often parked outside his home on weekends for parties, said Tran Trung Thanh, 33, who lives nearby.
“When the police came, people around here felt very surprised,” he said. “We thought that he’s working in the banking system so he must be doing clean business.”
Two different mobile phones belonging to Kien were turned off. Nguyen Duc Nhanh, Hanoi’s police chief, yesterday said he couldn’t immediately comment when reached by Bloomberg News on his mobile phone.
Police summoned Asia Commercial Bank Chief Executive Officer Ly Xuan Hai for questioning in connection with Kien’s arrest, deputy CEO Nguyen Thanh Toai said by phone yesterday. Kien’s shareholding in the bank is currently less than 5 percent, according to Toai. He is no longer involved in management of the bank, the central bank said in its statement.
Other Asia Commercial Bank investors include Standard Chartered Plc (STAN), with a 15 percent consolidated stake, according to Louis Taylor, the CEO of the London-based lender’s Vietnam unit. Taylor yesterday declined to comment on the developments at Asia Commercial Bank when reached by mobile phone.
Bad Debt
The State Bank of Vietnam will “closely watch market movements and take necessary measures to help ensure liquidity at ACB if needed,” Nghiem Xuan Thanh, chief administrator at the central bank, said by telephone yesterday.
Vietnam’s bad debt is the highest by percentage among the six Southeast Asian economies covered by Moody’s Investors Service, said Karolyn Seet, a Singapore-based assistant vice president. Vietnam’s central bank said non-performing loans within the banking system reached 8.6 percent at the end of March.
“There’s a lot of bad debt out there because a lot of loans were made for projects that haven’t worked out,” said Jonathan Pincus, a Ho Chi Minh City-based economist at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Vietnam program. “Lending decisions were made because of relationships and connections rather than because of the quality of the projects themselves.”
‘Very Cautious’
The concerns over the banking system surfaced in a parliamentary session yesterday involving the central bank governor that was broadcast live on television. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, vice chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly, told State Bank Governor Nguyen Van Binh that the central bank needs to quickly help weak lenders to prevent the system from collapsing.
Speaking in parliament, Binh urged commercial banks to boost lending to help businesses while maintaining standards to avoid bad debts. The central bank will be “very cautious” in cutting interest rates further, he said.
The VN Index (VNINDEX) increased 19 percent this year through Aug. 21, third-highest in Southeast Asia after Thailand and the Philippines. The dong has gained 1 percent against the dollar in that time.
Kien’s arrest “could be a good political move” as Vietnam’s leaders seek to reassure the country’s 87.8 million people that wealth doesn’t buy power, according to Carlyle Thayer, professor of politics at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra. The Communist Party, which took control of the entire country in 1975, restricts organized dissent.
“The atmosphere is to come down hard, to show the public that any questionable financial activities are being taken seriously by the party,” Thayer said. “The party wants to respond to the perception that questionable financial activities are hurting the party’s legitimacy.”
USA: The US Federal Government Crack Down On Southern California Medical Marijuana
The Associated Press
written by Staff
Tuesday August 21, 2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday expanded their crackdown on California medical marijuana dispensaries, filing three lawsuits and sending warning letters to more than 60 clinics in two Orange County cities.
The asset-forfeiture lawsuits filed against landlords who own buildings that house six marijuana shops in Anaheim and the letters order the closure of the clinics or possible criminal charges will be filed.
More than 300 pot stores and grows have been targeted in the Central District of California, which stretches from Santa Barbara to San Bernardino counties, since October when the state's four U.S. attorneys announced an effort to curb dispensaries.
Prosecutors argue dealers and suppliers are using the state's medical pot law, approved in 1996, as legal cover for running sophisticated drug-trafficking ventures in plain sight. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Medical marijuana advocates argue the collectives are protected by California law, which allows the drug to be cultivated and supplied to ill people on a nonprofit basis.
The crackdown comes amid a shift by municipalities and law enforcement agencies that say the clinics are abusing the law and in some cases overrunning neighborhoods. Last month, the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban as many as 900 storefront dispensaries in the coming weeks.
A medical marijuana trade group has since sued the city, claiming the ban violated constitutional rights. Activists are also working to qualify a ballot measure to repeal the ban.
In all, 66 warning letters were sent to marijuana dispensaries in Anaheim and La Habra. Some have closed recently, but federal authorities said 38 remain open.
KENYA: 31 Women, 11 Children And 6 Men Were Hacked Or Burnt To Death In Clashes Between Two Rival Tribal Groups; Several Huts Were Torched After A Gang Of Men Launched The Attack
France24 news
written by AFP staff
Thursday August 23, 2012
At least 48 Kenyans were hacked or burnt to death in ethnic clashes between two rival groups, the worst single attack since deadly post-election violence four years ago, police said Wednesday.
"It is a very bad incident.... They include 31 women, 11 children and six men," regional deputy police chief Joseph Kitur said of the attack, which took place late Tuesday between the Pokomo and Orma peoples in the rural Tana River district.
Kitur said "34 were hacked to death and 14 others were burnt to death," while several huts were torched after a gang of men launched the attack, the latest in a long history of bitter clashes between the rival groups in the remote area of Kenya.
It was not clear what sparked the attack, but the two communities have clashed before over the use of land and water resources, although the scale and intensity of the killings shocked police.
The attack happened in the Reketa area of Tarassa in Kenya's south-east, close to the coast and some 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
In 2001, at least 130 people were killed in a string of clashes in the same district and between the same two communities about access to land and a river.
"Clashes over pasture have been recurrent in this region," said national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.
The Pokomo are a largely settled farming people, planting crops along the Tana River, while the Orma are largely cattle-herding pastoralists.
"Our investigations have shown that it is the Pokomo who attacked the Orma people, who live on an island" in the river, Kitur added.
Lawmaker Danson Mungatana, who represents the area, said the killings were "revenge attacks", adding there had been a string of tit-for-tat killings, attacks and cattle raids this month, though on a far smaller scale.
"There have been problems simmering for a while.... About 10 days ago three Pokomo were killed by the Orma community," he said.
"In revenge, the Orma raided villages occupied by the Pokomo and burnt down more than 100 houses. Now the Pokomo have once again revenged by killing about 50 people. These are purely revenge attacks."
Mungatana said that police had boosted numbers in the region since the attacks.
In 2007 Kenya spiralled into violence after contested elections that left some 1,200 people dead and 600,000 displaced.
NIGERIA: Police Raid 2 Bomb Factories In The Central State Of Kogi And Arrested Five Suspected Boko Haram Islamist Militants
Reuters news
written by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu
Wednesday August 22, 2012
ONITSHA - Nigerian police said they found two bomb factories and arrested five suspected militants on Wednesday in the central state of Kogi where Islamist gunmen opened a new front in their insurrection this month.
Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds of security forces and civilians this year, most of them in the largely Muslim north of the country.
Suspected members of the group opened fire on the Deeper Life Bible center in the Kogi town of Okene on August 6, killing 19. It was the first time the group had struck that far south.
"We discovered two bomb factories, one in Okene, another in Okehi areas of the state," Kogi police spokesman Romanus Amadi said.
Officers had also found a car loaded with ammunition, two rocket launchers and explosive materials, he added.
The five were arrested in Okone on suspicion of "masterminding the killings", Amadi told Reuters.
Boko Haram says it is fighting to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria - a country of 160 million people split evenly between Christians and Muslims - and to avenge the death of its founder Mohammed Yusuf who was killed in police custody in 2009.
A spate of crackdowns on the sect in the north appears to have weakened it since it launched its uprising in 2009 in its northeastern heartland of Maiduguri, on the threshold of the Sahara. But it still carries out near daily attacks.
Suspected Islamists shot dead two people on Tuesday night in Yobe state, in the northeast, police commissioner for the state Patrick Egbuniwe told Reuters.
A lull in attacks may be linked to the Ramadan fasting period and the celebrations after it that ended on Tuesday, security experts say, although militants waged gun battles at police checkpoints in the north's main city of Kano on Sunday.
PERU: U.S-based Newmont Mining's Conga Project Opposed By Most People Who Would Live Near The Proposed Location
written by Mitra Taj, Reuters
Thursday August 23, 2012
LIMA - A controversial $5 billion gold mine in northern Peru lacks the support of most people who would live near it, according to the first significant poll of local opinion about U.S-based Newmont Mining's Conga project.
The results from Ipsos, often regarded as the most respected polling firm in Peru, could further hobble the project, which is supported by the government but has been stalled by protests in the northern region of Cajamarca since last November.
Just 15 percent of 250 people polled in the province of Cajamarca favour the proposed mine, while 78 percent oppose it, a number that swells to 83 percent in rural areas, according to the Ipsos poll conducted between August 3 and 9.
"It's dead," Gregorio Santos, the left-wing president of the region of Cajamarca who has led rallies against the mine, said via twitter about the results. "I hope the prime minister addresses this."
The high-profile conflict has dominated President Ollanta Humala's first year in office, resulting in five deaths and two cabinet shuffles.
Locals fear the project, an expansion of the Yanacocha mine in Cajamarca, will cause contamination and ruin local water sources essential to their agricultural livelihoods. The company says reservoirs it would build will provide year-round water supplies in areas that currently suffer during the dry season.
The Conga mine would be one of the biggest investments in Peru's history. Mining makes up 60 percent of Peru's export earnings and has traditionally powered its economy, although towns near mines often are plagued by poverty.
The project has become a lightning rod for debates about whether mining can benefit local communities without damaging the environment, and whether national economic interests should trump local opposition to extractive activities.
Other polls have shown nationwide support for Conga. A separate Ipsos poll this month found that nationally, 45 percent of Peruvians support it, while 40 percent oppose it.
Some have advocated solving the dispute with a referendum in Cajamarca, which the government has rejected.
A two-day demonstration against Conga continued calmly in different parts of Cajamarca on Wednesday, including provinces covered by an ongoing ban on civil liberties.
Newmont, whose Chief Executive Richard O'Brien was in Peru last week, has said it will proceed with construction only if it has local and national support. Last month he said Conga "will occur only with local and national support. Conga is still in our plans but moving ahead on a very measured basis."
CARIBBEAN: Tropical Storm Isaac And Its Projected Path For The Next Five Days
The Associated Press
written by Danica Coto
Thursday August 23, 2012
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaac churned toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti late Thursday, although forecasters said it now appeared less likely to become a hurricane while in the Caribbean. It still posed a potential threat to take a shot at Florida as a hurricane just as the Republicans gather for their national convention.
Isaac dumped heavy rain across eastern and southern Puerto Rico and whipped up waves as high as 10 feet (3 meters) in the Caribbean as it moved through the region Thursday.
U.S. forecasters said Isaac probably wouldn't become a hurricane Friday as it approached the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It was expected to weaken a little while crossing over Haiti and the eastern two-thirds of Cuba.
The storm was projected to head northwestward into the Gulf of Mexico and possibly be a hurricane by Monday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the forecast path was shifting westward, possibly to a track that could take the storm to a landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border Tuesday night.
But hurricane center forecaster Eric Blake stressed that it was "too early to know" just what path the storm would follow this far in advance, and said Florida's Gulf Coast, including Tampa, the site of the Republican National Convention, was very much in the picture.
Isaac was centered 145 miles (235) kilometers south-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, late Thursday, with maximum sustained of 45 mph (75 kph). It was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph), according to the hurricane center.
Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe urged people to avoid crossing rivers and to tape their windows, and said they should ask relatives overseas to wire money so they can stock up on food and water.
Above all, he said, it was important to stay calm. "Panic creates more problems," he said.
Lamothe and other officials in Haiti, which is prone to flooding, said that the government has set aside about $50,000 in emergency funds and that it had buses and 32 boats on standby for evacuations.
While Haiti's government spent the day preparing for Isaac, others did not because they didn't have the means. The notion of preparation in a country where the bulk of the population gets by on about $2 a day was met with a shrug.
"We don't have houses that can bear a hurricane," said Jeanette Lauredan, who lives in a tent camp in the crowded Delmas district of Port-au-Prince, stretching out her arms in concern.
About 400,000 people remain in settlement camps that are mere clusters of shacks and tarps as a result of Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.
So far, Isaac itself had caused no reported injuries or deaths, but police in Puerto Rico said a 75-year-old woman died near the capital of San Juan on Wednesday when she fell off a balcony while filling a drum with water in preparation for the storm.
Schools and government offices remained closed Thursday on the U.S. territory, where Gov. Luis Fortuno said 7,800 people were without power and more than 3,000 had no water.
With rain falling on and off throughout the day, the governor warned Puerto Ricans to stay away from beaches and swollen rivers.
"It's not the day to participate in recreational activities in these areas," Fortuno said.
Jose Alberto Melendez, 51, disregarded the advice and went to a beach near Old San Juan.
"It's my birthday," he said. "I had already planned to come to the beach."
He unfolded his chair and turned on the radio just as a squall approached, sending him running for shelter.
Nearby, a group of four friends visiting from Poland picked up their beach blankets and took cover as well.
Agata Gajda, 24, said she and her three friends had slept on the beach because there was no room at a hostel. She said police woke them up Thursday morning and warned them about the storm.
In the Dominican Republic, authorities began to evacuate people living in low-lying areas but encountered some resistance.
"Nobody wants to leave their homes for fear they'll get robbed," said Francisco Mateo, community leader of the impoverished La Cienaga neighborhood in Santo Domingo, the capital.
The Dominican government plans to close all nine airports by dawn Friday, said Alejandro Herrera, civil aviation director. Schools closed by Thursday afternoon.
The approach of the storm led military authorities at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to cancel pretrial hearings for five prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks. They also evacuated about 200 people, including legal teams and relatives of Sept. 11 victims.
Isaac also posed a threat to next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, where 70,000 delegates, journalists and protesters are expected to descend on the city.
Convention officials said they were working closely with state and federal authorities on monitoring the storm.
"We continue to move forward with our planning and look forward to a successful convention," convention CEO William Harris said in a statement.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said RNC officials had consulted with state, local and federal authorities and there were no plans to cancel the convention.
Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said some outside agencies that had planned to send officers to help with convention security in Tampa might be forced to keep them home to deal with a storm.
"My primary concern right now is that we will lose resources," he said
Out in the eastern Atlantic, another tropical storm, Joyce, formed over the open water, but forecasters said it posed no immediate threat to land. The U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami said that the storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and that it was becoming disorganized.
USA: New Jersey Woman Decapitates Son, Then Kills Self
Reuters news
written by Daniel Trotta
Wednesday August 22, 2012
A New Jersey woman decapitated her 2-year-old son with a kitchen knife, placed his head in the freezer and then stabbed herself to death on Wednesday, officials said.
A woman identified as Chevonne Thomas, 33, called the 911 emergency line shortly after midnight to report she had stabbed her child after briefly blaming it on her boyfriend, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor.
When Camden police arrived they found the body of the boy, Zahree Thomas, on the floor and his head in the freezer, Laughlin said.
Police withdrew from the house while the woman spoke to a 911 dispatcher and returned after the call ended, finding she had stabbed herself to death, Laughlin said.
"The police who arrived on the scene were traumatized by it," Laughlin said. "It has been very, very difficult for them."
BRAZIL: A Brazilian Court Fined US Biotech Giant Monsanto $250,000 For Misleading Ad
France24 news
written by AFP staff
Wednesday August 22, 2012
A Brazilian court fined US biotech giant Monsanto $250,000 on Wednesday for what a judge said was the company's misleading advertising concerning GM soy.
Monsanto released an advert lauding GM seeds in 2004 -- a time when their use in Brazil was banned -- suggesting that they benefited the environment.
But Judge Jorge Antonio Maurique in Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, slammed the commercial as "abusive and misleading propaganda," dubbing the scientific benefits of Monsanto's product as "very questionable."
Monsanto can appeal the court ruling but a representative refused to comment on the decision issued on Wednesday, saying the company was awaiting official court notification of the ruling before considering its next steps.
The first GM soy seeds were illegally smuggled into Brazil from neighboring Argentina in 1998 when their use was officially banned and subject to prosecution.
The ban has since been lifted and 85 percent of Brazil's soybean crop (25 million hectares or 62 million acres), is now genetically modified, making Brazil the world's second producer and exporter, behind the United States.
INDIA: British-Australian Diamond Company Rio Tinto To Invest US$ 500 Million In Madhya Pradesh Diamond Mine Project
Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational metals and mining corporation with headquarters in London, UK and a management office in Melbourne, Australia. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain from the Spanish government. Since then, the company has grown through a long series of mergers and acquisitions to place itself among the world leaders in the production of many commodities, including aluminium, iron ore, copper, uranium, coal, and diamonds. Although primarily focused on extraction of minerals, Rio Tinto also has significant operations in refining, particularly for refining bauxite and iron ore. The company has operations on six continents but is mainly concentrated in Australia and Canada, and owns gross assets valued at $81 billion through a complex web of wholly and partly owned subsidiaries. Its head office in the United Kingdom is in the City of Westminster, London, while its Australian head office is in the City of Melbourne. [source: wikipedia]
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Hindustan Times
written by Staff
Friday August 24, 2012
Global diamond company Rio Tinto will be investing to the tune of US$ 500 million in developing a diamond mine at Bunder in Madhya Pradesh, which is likely to start commercial production from 2016, a top company official said on Friday.
"The Bunder project is likely to come into commercial production in 2016. (It) presents enormous opportunities not only for Madhya Pradesh region, but for broader Indian diamond industry as well," Rio Tinto Diamonds managing director Bruce Cox told reporters in Mumbai.
An estimated US$ 500 million (Rs 2200 crore) will be invested in developing a world class Bunder diamond mine that will generate significant direct and indirect employment and support thousands of jobs in the Indian diamond and jewellery manufacturing industries, he said.
The government of Madhya Pradesh has supported us from the very beginning in our quest to develop a new benchmark for mine development in India, Rio Tinto India managing director Nik Senapati said.
The mine was discovered in 2004 by Rio Tinto and in 2010 the company signed a State Support Agreement (SSA) with the state government towards endorsement of mutual commitment to the development of the project.
Under the project, an inferred resource (the first quantifiable estimate of an ore-body) has been defined at 37 million tonne containing 27.4 million carats.
The state government gave an in-principle nod in January 2012 for the project mining lease.
Once developed, the project is expected to catapult Madhya Pradesh in the top ten diamond producing regions of the world.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto on Friday unveiled the inaugural Bunder diamond jewellery collection comprising diamonds from the sampling to date since discovery of the mine in 2004.
"Eight years after our initial discovery, we can showcase these exquisite pieces of jewellery that provide a window into the enormous potential of the gems contained in the Bunder deposit," Senapati said.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also present on the occasion.
USA: A Maryland Woman Claims No Blame For 40 Dead Pets She Abandoned When She Moved Out Of The Townhouse
Baltimore Sun
written by Luke Lavoie
Thursday August 23, 2012
A Columbia woman charged with animal cruelty should not be blamed for the 40 dead animals found in her townhouse earlier this year because her husband was responsible for the animals, the woman's attorney argued during her trial Thursday.
During his opening statements in Howard County Circuit Court, the attorney for Elizabeth Lindenau, who faces 69 counts of animal cruelty, neglect and abuse, told the jury that his client's husband, Brady Decker, was responsible for the care and feeding of the animals.
The animals were found Jan. 16 in a townhouse leased by the couple in the 9600 block of Lambeth Court.
The dead animals, which included birds, cats, rabbits, a guinea pig and a snake, were discovered by the property manager, who called the county police. When police arrived, they said, they found the dead animals in cages, loose around the home and in the freezer.
Police said the animals had no access to food and the electricity, gas and water had been shut off in the residence.
Four animals — two cats, a bearded dragon lizard and a gerbil — were rescued alive and put up for adoption, police said.
"This case epitomizes animal cruelty," prosecutor Tiffany Vaira said in her opening arguments.
Vaira said the two veterinarians that performed the necropsy on the animals will testify that the animals starved.
"The evidence will show that the animals did not die accidentally," Vaira said.
Lindenau's attorney, Jonathan Smith, said the couple recently had moved to her parents' house in Columbia, leaving some animals behind. Decker was responsible for feeding the animals at Lambeth Court, Smith said.
At the parents' house, located in the 9400 block of Hundred Drums Row, police found about 90 live animals, police said.
Decker was indicted on 69 counts of animal cruelty, as was his wife, on July 3, according to online court records. The records state that the indictment was sealed until July 27.
Decker is scheduled to be arraigned in circuit court on Friday.
Smith argued that Lindenau, a former National Aquarium employee and executive director of an animal rescue foundation, had moved out of the Lambeth Court property months before the animals were found dead in January.
Smith said that Lindenau had no knowledge of the deaths until Jan. 16, and that she constantly provided food to her husband to give to the animals.
Smith said Decker, who is scheduled to testify for the defense, knew that some of the animals had died and lied to his wife about it.
"She had nothing to do with the animals being neglected," Smith said. "This is a woman who has devoted her life to animals."
The trial is scheduled to continue Friday and last into next week.
SPAIN: Bullfighting Returns To Spanish Public Television For First Time In Six Years, Triggers Angry Backlash
Yahoo news
written by AFP staff
Friday August 24, 2012
Animal rights activists reacted angrily Friday to news that bullfighting is coming back to Spanish public television in September for the first time in six years.
State-financed broadcaster RTVE said it would screen a bullfighting festival from north-central Valladolid on September 5 featuring star matadors including "El Juli" Julian Lopez Escobar and Jose Maria Manzanares.
"Television Espanola believes that a festival of this quality should be made available to all Spanish fans," it said in a statement.
Public television had halted bullfighting broadcasts in 2006, blaming the high price for broadcast rights and a dwindling audience for the spectacle in Spain.
But the broadcaster decided to show the fight, it said, after all involved, including the bull ranch and matadors, agreed to waive broadcasting fees.
It would be the first of a "brief but symbolic" series of top class bullfighting festivals shown on public television, it said.
"It is a clear backward step for the well-being of animals and the defence of animals in this country," said Silvia Barquero, spokeswoman for the political animal defence group PACMA.
"We think it is completely inappropriate for Spanish public television to be broadcasting bullfights when they had already stopped," she said, arguing that polls showed most Spaniards opposed bullfighting.
Barquero decried the fact that the bullfight would be broadcast live at 6pm during a 5am-8pm children's viewing period when violent images are banned from television.
RTVE's style book, the manual for its operations, which is available online, had previously said that bullfights were violent acts that should not be shown during those hours.
But a new RTVE board appointed after the arrival in power of a conservative Popular Party government last December changed the rules in February this year.
"The allusion introduced at the time that bullfights were violence against animals was changed by the existing board," said a source close to the RTVE management.
"Now it is the parents who have the decision, or autonomy, to evaluate and decide whether a bullfight would be damaging or not to the children," the source said.
Bullfighting has been on the decline for years in Spain, with a 2010 survey in leading daily El Pais showing 60-percent of respondents opposed the practice.
Barcelona's ring held its final bullfight in September last year after the Catalonia region banned bullfighting, becoming the second Spanish region to do so after the Canary Islands.
For his part, the mayor of the northern Basque city of San Sebastian announced just this week that he did not plan to sign contracts with bullfight organizers for 2013.
The latest row is unfolding against a tense political backdrop at RTVE, whose head nominated in June, Leopoldo Gonzalez-Echenique, was a top official in the previous Popular Party government of Jose Maria Aznar.
The director of RTVE has been a public appointee since 1980 but the law was amended by the previous Socialist government in 2006 to require nominees to be approved by a two-thirds majority of parliament.
In April, however, the new conservative government used its majority in parliament to scrap the 2006 amendment, paving the way for Gonzalez-Echenique's appointment.
The government justified the change on the grounds that parliament had repeatedly failed to agree on a new RTVE president after the previous boss resigned in July 2011 "for personal reasons".
Gonzalez-Echenique has appointed a slew of conservative figures to management positions at RTVE since he took charge in June, notably appointing as head of news Julio Somoano, who is close to Aznar.
RTVE has five television channels, five radio stations and 6,400 employees paid for by a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.5 billion) budget last year.
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