Clinton's visit to display flourishing US-Malaysia ties

Clinton's visit to display flourishing US-Malaysia ties

Clinton's visit to display flourishing US-Malaysia ties

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 12:03 AM PDT

US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton's maiden visit to Malaysia next week, will see a full display of the flourishing relationship between the two countries, said Kurt M. Campbell, the Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the US State Department.

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JPJ confirms driver of ill-fated bus had no driving licence

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 12:02 AM PDT

The driver who was driving the ill-fated bus which skidded and overturned at KM38 Genting Sempah last night, killing seven and injuring 39 others, did not have a driving licence.

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UN seals historic treaty to protect threatened ecosystems

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:37 PM PDT

By Karl Malakunas

NAGOYA: A historic global treaty to protect the world's forests, coral reefs and other threatened ecosystems within 10 years was sealed at a UN summit today.

Rich and poor nations agreed to take "effective and urgent" action to curb the destruction of nature in an effort to halt the loss of the world's biodiversity on which human survival depends.

Delegates from 193 countries committed to key goals such as curbing pollution, protecting forests and coral reefs, setting aside areas of land and water for conservation, and managing fisheries sustainably.

"This is a day to celebrate," UN Environment Programme chief Achim Steiner said straight after the accord was struck early today morning following nearly two weeks of tense talks in the central Japanese city of Nagoya.

Hosts Japan hailed the agreement, with Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara saying: "From now on, our country will contribute to the protection of biodiversity and positively support developing countries' efforts to implement the Nagoya protocol, with technologies and knowledge our country has."

Delegates and green groups also said the accord offered hope that the United Nations could help to solve the planet's many environmental problems, particularly after the failure of climate change talks in Copenhagen last year.

One of the most significant elements of the accord was a commitment to protect 17% of land and 10% of oceans so that biodiversity there could thrive.

Currently only 13% of land and 1% of oceans are protected.

Nevertheless, Greenpeace expressed disappointment at the new targets, which delegates said were lowered on the insistence of China and some other developing countries.

Strong message

There were other limitations to the Nagoya pact – including that the United States was not a signatory as it is one of the few countries not to have ratified the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

But while some green groups said the 20-point plan was not as ambitious as hoped, most still welcomed it as a historic step towards united global action in tackling biodiversity problems and raising awareness about the issue.

"Governments have sent a strong message that protecting the health of the planet has a place in international politics and countries are ready to join forces to save life on Earth," WWF International director general Jim Leape said.

Greenpeace International stood out among the major environment groups with a critical stance.

Greenpeace had been pushing for 20% of oceans to be conserved, as a step towards an eventual target of 40% preservation.

"Alarm bells have been ringing for decades, and developed nations have been hitting the snooze button by delaying both action on and funding for environmental protection," Greenpeace said in a statement.

The accord was clinched after a last-minute breakthrough on an 18-year stand-off over "fairly" sharing the benefits and knowledge of genetic resource riches that are found mostly in developing countries.

Genetic resources

Brazil, home to much of the Amazon basin and its global treasure trove of resources, had insisted throughout the summit that it would not agree to the 20-point strategic plan unless there was also a deal on genetic riches.

Brazil and other developing countries argued powerful nations and companies should not be allowed to freely take genetic resources such as wild plants to make medicines, cosmetics and other products for huge profits.

They had been battling developed countries – where most of the drug and other companies that enjoy the benefits of genetic resources are based – over the issue since the CBD was formed at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992.

The European Union led developed nations in finally agreeing to the so-called Access and Benefits Sharing Protocol to ensure success on the 20-point strategic plan.

The legally binding protocol will ensure countries with genetic resources enjoy some of the profits of the assets' commercial development.

However many details of the protocol, such as how much this may cost pharmaceutical companies and developed nations, were left for later negotiations.

UN chiefs told the opening of the summit that forging a global consensus on protecting nature was vital to stop the mass extinction of animals and plant species.

Nearly a quarter of mammals, one-third of amphibians and more than a fifth of plant species now face the threat of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Pressure will only grow with the world's human population expected to rise from 6.8 billion to nine billion by 2050.

- AFP

Fear grips Swedish city as police hunt 'immigrant shooter'

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:30 PM PDT

By Nina Larson

FEATURE MALMOE: It was already dark outside as Naser Yazdenpaneh stood studying his reflection in the back room window of his tailor shop, ironing the day's last pair of trousers, when he suddenly heard a loud crack and the pane in front of him shattered.

"I was angry. I thought someone was throwing rocks at my window," explains Yazdenpanah, who immediately ran out and grabbed his attacker, holding on until he was head-butted in the teeth and forced to let go.

After the encounter, the 57-year-old tailor was rattled and called the police. But it was not until an officer pulled two bullets out of his window frame that he realised he may have been the target of a man police suspect has been shooting at people of immigrant origin in Malmoe for more than a year.

Panic has spread in the southern Swedish city since police announced last week they were investigating whether a lone shooter with racist motives was behind some 15 attacks, killing one person and injuring many others, and may even have committed unsolved murders dating as far back as 2003.

"I am so scared. I won't leave my house after 4pm. All my friends feel the same," says Hodan Imi, 31, wearing a white and purple headscarf topped with a floral hairband.

Standing with a group of other Somali women enjoying the late autumn sun in the centre of Rosengaard, a heavily immigrant Malmoe suburb made up of rows of towering concrete and yellow brick high rises, Imi, who has been in Sweden for about a decade, helps translate for the newcomers.

"There is war back home in Somalia, but here I am more afraid," says Naima, 56, who wears a long, red hijab and who came to Sweden seven months ago.

"There, I knew who was dangerous, but here it could be anybody," she says. "I keep looking over my shoulder."

Chilling similarity

The recent crimes bear a chilling similarity to the case of an immigrant-shooting sniper in Stockholm in the early 1990s, and the Swedish press has quickly dubbed the Malmoe shooter "the new laserman."

"Laserman" was the nickname given to John Ausonius, who shot 11 people of immigrant origin, killing one, around Stockholm from August 1991 to January 1992.

Ausonius, who got his nickname by initially using rifle equipped with a laser sight, was sentenced to life behind bars in 1994 and remains in prison.

Unlike Ausonius, the Malmoe shooter does not appear to use a laser sight rifle, but police say the same gun has been used for several of the shootings, including the attack on the only known ethnic Swedish victim.

Trez Persson, 20, was killed last October when someone fired numerous shots into the car she was sitting in with a friend, a man of immigrant origin, who was seriously injured in the attack.

In the past month alone, numerous shootings appear linked to the case, including two men shot in the back, a week apart, as they waited alone in the dark at separate, isolated bus stops.

One of the bus stops lies across the street from Yazdenpaneh's tailor shop, which has remained open and where he welcomes a constant stream of wellwishers and journalists.

Standing in his small, cramped shop amid racks of cloths awaiting repair, Yazdenpanah, who fled to Sweden 21 years ago from Iran, wipes tears from his eyes as he nods towards several large bouquets of flowers that seem to reflect the spools of colourful thread piled nearby.

"I can't thank the Swedish people enough for their support," he says with a smile that reveals the tooth chipped in his struggle last Friday.

As if on queue, the shop door jingles open and 73-year-old Anna Christiansson rushes in and hugs Yazdenpanah, who she has never met before.

"I'm here to support you against that bastard!" she says.

"Sweden is not supposed to be this way."

Anti-immigration party

Observers have been quick to point out that, just as when the "Laserman" was terrorising Stockholm more than two decades ago, the shootings in Malmoe come at a time when an openly anti-immigration party has entered the Swedish Parliament.

Last month, the far-right Sweden Democrats won 20 seats in Parliament, while the anti-immigration New Democracy party made a short parliamentary appearance during the time the Laserman was active.

But Malmoe's deputy mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt-Jammeh insists there is no connection between the shootings and the heightened immigration debate.

"This is not a question of integration... It is Malmoe inhabitants, regardless of their background, who are getting shot," she stresses.

Police have set up a special taskforce and profiling unit to deal with the case and Stjernfeldt-Jammeh says she is "optimistic" the shooter will soon be behind bars.

Police, however, tell the hoards of mainly Swedish, but also Norwegian and Danish journalists who cram into a small room at the police station for daily updates that despite hundreds of tips from the public, little is known of the attacker.

According to a preliminary profile, the shooter is believed to be a man aged 20 to 40 who probably uses some mode of transport, perhaps a bike, to flee the scenes of his crimes.

As police scramble for more concrete information, rumours abound that criminal gangs have launched their own hunt for "the new laserman".

Without confirming the information, regional police chief Boerje Sjoeholm cautioned people against taking the law into their own hands, stressing that "the danger is that such groups won't have the same evidence requirements as us... innocent people could get hurt."

- AFP

Indonesia volcano erupts again as tsunami aid is hampered

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:26 PM PDT

By Bayu Ismoyo

NORTH PAGAI: Indonesia's Mount Merapi burst into life again today as a loud explosion sent frightened locals scurrying to safety and sprayed ash over a wide area.

Police, soldiers and locals took to the roads in panic as the volcano erupted violently, sparking fears of a repeat of the deadly explosions earlier this week that are now known to have claimed at least 36 lives.

No one was killed in the eruption today, but hospital staff reported two people had died in the chaotic evacuation.

Hundreds of kilometres away, emergency workers battled to reach villages wiped out by the tsunami that smashed into an island chain in the west of the country.

Bad weather and logistical problems hampered efforts to deliver aid to remote islands off the coast of Sumatra where a major earthquake triggered a tsunami on Monday, smashing villages and killing at least 413 people.

The two disasters have displaced more than 60,000 people – 13,000 on the tsunami-stricken Mentawai islands and around 50,000 in central Java where a 10-kilometre exclusion zone has been set up around the volcano.

Aid workers said the tsunami crushed at least 10 villages, mainly along the beaches of North and South Pagai islands, and officials fear the final death toll could exceed 600.

Aid had started to be dropped from helicopters yesterday, but aviation fuel shortages, stormy weather and poor communications on the largely undeveloped Mentawais were hampering the relief effort.

"We've started sending relief supplies, which are still limited but enough for the people to survive," national search and rescue spokesman Gagah Prakoso said.

Bad weather

Many victims were sucked out to sea as the tsunami receded and have already been buried by their loved ones. Others remain unclaimed under fallen trees or rotting in piles of mangled debris.

Survivors in a village reached by an AFP photographer said as many as 30 of the community's 100 children had been killed.

The wall of water was around three metres (10 feet) high and roared into the little coastal communities without warning, smashing schools, mosques and flimsy traditional houses up to 500 metres inland.

Dave Jenkins of independent health agency SurfAid International, which is based in the Mentawais, said bad weather was making a "severely challenging situation... a lot worse".

"We need to keep people alive, warm and fed, and fight disease outbreaks. After that we can move into the reconstruction phase," he said.

"It's challenging and people need to coordinate much better."

The latest official death toll from the tsunami, triggered by a 7.7-magnitude quake, stood at 413, with 298 still listed as missing. Officials said as many as 200 of the missing were not expected to be found alive.

In central Java, soldiers and police posted near Mount Merapi were sent scrambling for safety today morning when the volcano began erupting again.

"I heard several sounds like thunder. I was so scared I was shaking," said 42-year-old Mukinem, who was heading away from the volcano on a motorcycle with her husband and two young children.

A local hospital spokesman said the toll from the volcano eruptions earlier this week had risen.

"A total of 38 people have been killed because of burn injuries and accidents since the 26th. Two of them, an adult woman and a one-year-old boy, died because of accidents," Sardjito hospital spokesman Arif Novianto said.

Government volcanologist Subandrio said the new eruption was another reminder that 2,914-metre Mount Merapi, which means "Mountain of Fire", remained "extremely dangerous".

He said the government had to be "more serious" about enforcing the exclusion zone amid persistent reports of people leaving displacement camps to tend to their livestock on the mountain's slopes.

"We will even have to evaluate whether we need to widen the exclusion zone because we should not downplay the threat -- Mount Merapi is extremely dangerous," he said.

Volcanic ash rained down on Yogyakarta airport, 26km away, shutting it down for over an hour as workers cleared the runway.

"The runway of the airport was covered with volcanic ash. We had to close the operation for about an hour as the ash could get inside aeroplane engines," transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said.

Australia has announced assistance of about US$ million while the European Commission has pledged US$2 million.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations stood ready to assist. The United States and several Asian countries have also offered help.

- AFP

Clinton stresses maritime security at Asia summit

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:46 PM PDT

HANOI, Oct 30 — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said maritime disagreements must be settled peacefully today at an Asia-Pacific summit marked by rhetorical clashes between China and Japan over disputed islands. "The United States has a national interest in the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce. And when disputes arise over ...


Obama: Explosives in US-bound parcels from Yemen

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:25 PM PDT

WASHINGTON, Oct 30 — Security officials in Britain and Dubai intercepted two parcel bombs being sent from Yemen to the United States in a "credible terrorist threat," President Barack Obama said yesterday. The parcels were bound for "two places of Jewish worship in Chicago," Obama said. The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish organization, ...


Clinton urges peaceful outcomes on maritime disputes

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 11:11 PM PDT

HANOI 0 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said maritime disagreements must be settled peacefully on Saturday at an Asia-Pacific summit marked by rhetorical clashes between China and Japan over disputed islands.

U.S. tightens security, seeks source of parcel bombs

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:38 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States searched on Saturday for the culprits behind a plot to bomb Jewish targets in Chicago uncovered by the interception in Britain and Dubai of parcels with explosives sent from Yemen.

Don't panic over superbug report: Liow

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:17 PM PDT

Malaysians should not unduly panic following the report that a superbug resistant to antibiotics was detected in a 24-year-old woman, the first known case in Malaysia, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

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Obama not visiting Hiroshima, Nagasaki during Japan trip

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:17 PM PDT

WASHINGTON, Saturday 30 October 2010 (Bernama) -- United States President Barack Obama will not visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki during his trip to Japan next month, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted a senior U.S. government official as saying Thursday.

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Local shares to trade higher next week

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:16 PM PDT

Share prices are set to be higher next week week with the market barometer, FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI), expected to test the all-time high of 1,516.22, dealers said.

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Conrad Black could go back to US jail after appeal fails

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:40 PM PDT

By Mira Oberman

CHICAGO: Deposed media baron Conrad Black could be heading back to jail after a US appeals court partially upheld his conviction on fraud and obstruction charges.

Black was sentenced to six and a half years in jail after he was convicted in 2007 of three fraud counts and one count of obstruction of justice.

He was released on bond after the Supreme Court ruled in June that the 1998 law that allowed corporate bosses to be prosecuted for depriving shareholders of "honest services" had been too broadly interpreted.

The clause was a favourite tool for white-collar crime prosecutors precisely because of its broad language, but the highest court in the land ruled it could only be narrowly applied to cases involving bribery or kickbacks.

Black's lawyer argued at appeal that all four counts should be tossed because they were "unavoidably tainted" by the prosecutor's use of the honest services clause during trial.

The three-judge panel disagreed, ruling that there was sufficient evidence of bribery or kickbacks in one of the two fraud schemes and also in the obstruction charge that "no reasonable jury" would have acquitted Black if the honest services clause had not been introduced.

The panel ruled that while there was "plenty of evidence" of fraud in the second scheme – in which Black and his co-conspirators were accused of skimming US$5.5 million from the sale of newspapers to APC – it's possible that the jury relied on the honest services clause to convict.

The court remanded the entire case for re-sentencing and a retrial on the two overturned fraud counts.

"But although the defendants are entitled to a new trial on that count, the entitlement is moot unless the government decides to retry them," Judge Richard Posner wrote in the 15-page opinion.

"The government may wish instead, in order to conserve its resources and wind up this protracted litigation, to dismiss the APC count and proceed directly to re-sentencing," he wrote.

Remaining counts

Posner noted that the sentencing judge is allowed to consider the evidence presented at the original trial concerning the dismissed fraud counts when determining an appropriate sentence for the remaining counts.

Prosecutors said they would consider whether to retry Black on the overturned charges.

"We are pleased that the Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions on fraud and obstruction counts and we will make our further intentions known to the District Court at the appropriate time after we have studied the opinion carefully," The US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a statement.

Black once ran the world's third largest media empire with such titles as Britain's Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Flamboyant in lifestyle and brutal in business, he counted politicians and pop stars among his entourage as he built a towering newspaper empire.

But he was forced to quit as head of the Hollinger holding company when he was charged with siphoning off millions of dollars from the firm, notably when it began divesting its Canadian and US publications in 2000.

Black and his associates were accused of skimming off some US$60 million in all between 1999 and 2001.

They were ultimately convicted of stealing US$6.1 million by awarding themselves tax-free bonuses from the newspaper sell-offs, without the approval of Hollinger's board.

Black's obstruction charge stems from security video footage showing him removing 13 boxes from his Toronto office after he learned he was possibly under investigation by US securities regulators.

- AFP

World's 'largest Jesus' being built in Poland

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:08 PM PDT

SWIEBODZIN, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- A Polish priest said Friday he is nearing completion of what will be the world's largest statue of Jesus Christ, bigger than the current tallest ones in Bolivia and Brazil.

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Obama to voters: defy predictions of Democratic defeat

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:07 PM PDT

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama beseeched supporters Friday to "defy the conventional wisdom" and confound polls and pundits and stave off a Republican wave in mid-term elections.

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S.Koreans cross border for family reunions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:06 PM PDT

SEOUL, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- A convoy of buses carrying 435 South Koreans crossed into North Korea on Saturday for a brief reunion with relatives over the heavily fortified border, despite tensions after an exchange of fire.

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Typhoon churns toward eastern Japan

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:05 PM PDT

TOKYO, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- A typhoon churned toward eastern Japan on Saturday, the country's meteorological agency said, issuing an alert over strong winds and high waves in the region.

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UN seals historic treaty to protect threatened ecosystems

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:04 PM PDT

NAGOYA, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- A historic global treaty to protect the world's forests, coral reefs and other threatened ecosystems within 10 years was sealed at a UN summit on Saturday.

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Rape survivors of Bosnian war split over who can tell story

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:02 PM PDT

SARAJEVO, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- In a controversial directing debut, Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie has reopened old wounds for women raped in the Bosnian war and sparked an emotional debate over who has the right to tell their story.

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Indonesia tsunami toll hits 413, with 298 missing: official

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:01 PM PDT

NORTH PAGAI, Saturday 30 October 2010 (AFP) -- The death toll from the tsunami that smashed into western Indonesia has risen to 413 with another 298 still missing several days after the disaster, an official said Saturday.

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