Ecuador president safe after foiled police uprising

Ecuador president safe after foiled police uprising

Ecuador president safe after foiled police uprising

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:30 PM PDT

QUITO, Saturday 2 October 2010 (AFP) -- Ecuador's President Rafael Correa was back at work Friday under tight security after loyalist troops rescued him from a police mutiny in a day of gunfire and street clashes that left eight dead.

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China hopes 'eco-city' will prove a model alternative

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:29 PM PDT

TIANJIN, Saturday 2 October 2010 (AFP) - At a construction site in northern China, a billboard boasts of a "liveable city" where residents can drink tap water, travel on clean energy public transport and enjoy acres of parkland.

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Dinosaur trove spills more secrets

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:11 PM PDT

CUENCA, Saturday 2 October 2010 (AFP) -- Decades after a mechanical pine-tree digger first unearthed it, an extraordinary trove of dinosaur fossils in central Spain is revealing its secrets.

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China calls on Japan to maintain relations

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:09 PM PDT

BEIJING, Saturday 2 October 2010 (AFP) -- China has called on Japan to "maintain the full spectrum of relations" between the two nations amid a damaging territorial row that has rumbled on for more than three weeks.

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Japan nationalists to rally against centre-left PM, China

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:08 PM PDT

TOKYO, Saturday 2 October 2010 (AFP) -- Nationalist groups were set Saturday for a major rally to protest Japan's "diplomatic defeat" to China in a maritime dispute as Russian pressure grows over a long-simmering territorial row.

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Japan eyes new US$58bn stimulus

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:07 PM PDT

TOKYO, Saturday 2 October 2010 (AFP) - The Japanese government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan is set to propose a new 58-billion-dollar stimulus package, a report said Saturday, as Tokyo looks to drag the country out of the economic doldrums.

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Dozens killed, injured in Indonesian train crash

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:21 PM PDT

PETARUKAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed or badly injured when two trains collided in Indonesia's central Java province early on Saturday morning, officials told Reuters.


Bomb attacks continue in Bangkok

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:41 PM PDT

BANGKOK, Saturday 2 October 2010 (Bernama) -- Bomb attacks are continuing in this Thai capital, with a bank branch in Pratunam being the latest target last night, and bringing to 11 such cases in about a month.

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Bursa likely to continue bullish trend next week

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:38 PM PDT

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia are expected to continue its upward trend next week with the key index attempting to test the 1,500-points level amid improved market sentiment, dealers said.

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Kedah Umno protests water tariff hike

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:37 PM PDT

The Kedah Umno state liaison committee has protested strongly the action by the Syarikat Bekalan Air Darulaman (Sada) to increase the water tariff saying it would only burden the people and the commercial sector in the state.

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PKR VP refutes Umno involvement in chaotic divisional meetings

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:36 PM PDT

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Mustafa Kamil Ayub today refuted allegations made by the party's secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution that Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) had masterminded the chaos in several PKR division meetings on Sunday.

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Tengku Fakhry disappointed over title revocation

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:36 PM PDT

Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra said today that he is disappointed that his brother Sultan Muhammad V had revoked his Tengku Temenggong title and all awards that had been conferred to him.

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Govt issues circular on sensitive statements

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:35 PM PDT

A general service circular has been issued to all heads of government departments to remind their officers to refrain from making statements touching on racial and religious sensitivities, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said today.

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Thailand to beef up security

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:34 PM PDT

BANGKOK, Friday 1 October 2010 (Bernama) -- All security agencies have been ordered to step up security measures this month for possible violence, Xinhua news agency reported Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd as saying on Friday.

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All eyes of PKR final round divisional elections

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:33 PM PDT

The third and final round of Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) divisional annual general meetings and elections will take place tomorrow and Sunday.

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Train collision kills at least 33 in Indonesia

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:22 PM PDT

JAKARTA, Saturday 2 October 2010 (Bernama) -- A train collision in a town of Pemalang district of Central Java province early Saturday killed at least 33 people and seriously injured dozens others, China's Xinhua news agency reported a rescuer at Search and Rescue Office in the province as saying Saturday.

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Dutch anti-Islam MP goes on trial for hate speech

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 01:16 PM PDT

By Mariette le Roux

THE HAGUE: Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, set to become a shadow partner of the next coalition government, goes on trial in Amsterdam on Monday for inciting hatred against Muslims.

The controversial politician with his signature shock of blonde-dyed hair risks up to a year in jail or a 7,600-euro (RM32,355) fine, according to prosecutors, for calling Islam "fascist" and likening the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf.

"This is about freedom of speech," Wilders' lawyer Bram Moszkowicz said.

"My client believes that in the Netherlands, one must be able to say whatever one wants, barring incitement to violence."

Wilders, 47, will stand trial on five charges of giving religious offence to Muslims and inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims and people of non-western immigrant origin, particularly Moroccans.

The target of death threats, Wilders enjoys 24-hour state-sponsored protection while pursuing his mission to "stop the Islamisation of the Netherlands".

He campaigns for a stop to Muslim immigration, banning the construction of new mosques, and a tax on headscarves.

On the long list of utterances made between October 2006 and March 2008 in Dutch newspapers and on Internet forums, prosecutors say that Wilders described Islam as "the sick ideology of Allah and Mohammed" and its holy book as "the Islamic Mein Kampf".

Among the exhibits is Wilders' 17-minute film, "Fitna", alleged to depict Islam as a force bent on destroying the West and whose screening in the Netherlands in 2008 prompted protests in much of the Muslim world.

Ever defiant, Wilders "is of the opinion that he did not say anything punishable," Moszkowicz said.

Race hate grounds

Wilders, who was temporarily banned from Britain last year on race hate grounds, is expected to elaborate on this theme when he addresses judge Jan Moors from the dock of the Amsterdam district court on Monday morning.

The court will hear evidence on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, followed by the prosecution's penalty request the following week.

Wilders will plead on October 19, and judgment is expected on Nov 4, according to a programme provided by the court.

No witnesses will testify. The evidence of three experts for the prosecution was submitted in writing, while Wilders' three witnesses, said to be "experts on Islam", were heard by an examining judge behind closed doors.

In June 2008, the prosecuting service dismissed dozens of complaints against Wilders from around the country, citing his right to freedom of speech.

But appeals judges ordered in January 2009 that he be put on trial as his utterances were "sowing hatred" and exceeded the boundaries of political debate.

Compelled to put Wilders in the dock, the prosecution could still ask the court to acquit him, prosecution spokesman Franklin Wattimena said.

Home Affairs spokesman Frank Wassenaar added that Wilders, if convicted, would only be disqualified from holding a parliamentary seat if the judge declared him ineligible -- which would be unprecedented.

Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) came third in June 9 elections with 24 seats out of 150 in the Dutch lower house of parliament.

Under a coalition deal being finalised, his PVV will provide a minority cabinet of the Christian Democrats and liberals the majority they need to pass decisions through parliament in return for a voice in policy formation.

At the announcement on Thursday of a draft coalition agreement, Wilders said the Netherlands will introduce a burqa ban and halve immigration.

- AFP

Up to 22 killed in Indonesia train crash

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 01:06 PM PDT

PEMALANG: Up to 22 people were killed today when a passenger train smashed into the back of another train on Indonesia's Java island, an official said.

Police said a traffic management error was to blame for the accident, which occurred in the early morning at the station in Petarukan Pemalang, Central Java province.

Officers at the scene said a train headed to Surabaya slammed into the back of a Semarang-bound train that was sitting idle at the platform.

"Up to 22 people were killed," railway company spokesman Sapto Hartoyo said.

Hartoyo said rescuers were still at the scene working to get people out.

"The suspected cause of the accident was a mistake in the traffic management system," national police spokesman Iskandar Hasan said.

Many of the dead and injured were trapped in three carriages, which had derailed and flipped over, officials said.

"The number of victims could still increase because the evacuation is ongoing," transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan told Antara.

Local media reported that rescue workers were late to arrive at the scene and lacked equipment to free passengers trapped in the wreckage.

- AFP

Amsterdam protest at new squatting laws

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 07:50 PM PDT

There have been clashes in Amsterdam between police and protesters who were angry at a new law which bans squatting.


California leaders break budget impasse with deal

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 08:13 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct 2— A top California lawmaker said on Friday the state's leaders had reached a final agreement on closing a US$19.1 billion (RM59 billion) deficit to balance the state budget, ending a record stalemate over a spending plan. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced the deal Friday evening following closed-door ...


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