Obama kicks off Asia tour with Mumbai attacks tribute

Obama kicks off Asia tour with Mumbai attacks tribute

Obama kicks off Asia tour with Mumbai attacks tribute

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:26 PM PDT

By Phil Hazlewood

MUMBAI: US President Barack Obama begins a trade-focused visit to India today in Mumbai with a sombre tribute to the victims of the 2008 attacks on the city by Islamic extremists.

India's financial hub is Obama's first stop on a four-nation Asia tour which is heavily weighted towards prying open new markets for US exports and creating new jobs, in a bid to ease 9.6% unemployment at home.

The trip comes just days after his Democratic Party's drubbing in mid-term elections in which the state of the US economy was a primary source of voter dissatisfaction.

The visit to Mumbai will see Obama and his wife Michelle become the most high-profile guests to stay at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel since the attacks two years ago by 10 Islamist militants that claimed 166 lives.

Obama is expected to meet survivors and pay tribute to those who died at a permanent memorial erected at the luxury seafront hotel, which was the focus of the militant assault and where 31 people, including 12 members of staff, were killed.

Security is tight for the visit, with roads closed, a ban enforced on sea traffic off the coast, and the plaza near the Taj and Gateway of India monument sealed off.

Some 5,000 security personnel, including US Secret Service, Indian intelligence officials and elite commandos have been deployed around the venues for the presidential visit in south Mumbai.

At the time of the attacks – likened by some in India to those in the United States on Sept 11, 2001 – the then president-elect Obama said they demonstrated "the grave and urgent threat of terrorism".

He also called for closer ties with India and other countries to root out and destroy extremist networks.

Key influence

US officials now say that cooperation with India on counter-terrorism is at its highest-ever level, despite India's misgivings about continued US support for its longstanding rival and neighbour Pakistan.

The only surviving gunman from the attacks said they were recruited, trained and equipped by the banned, Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with support from elements in the country's military and intelligence service.

In Mumbai, Obama will visit the house where the father of the Indian independence movement Mahatma Gandhi stayed on visits to the city. The US president has cited Gandhi as a key influence.

He will speak to Indian entrepreneurs importing US technologies and top US executives from firms like PepsiCo and GE, before giving a speech to an audience including 200 US business leaders.

"The primary purpose (of the India trip) is to take a bunch of US companies and open up markets so that we can sell in Asia and some of the fastest-growing markets in the world," Obama told reporters on Thursday.

A series of major deals are expected to be announced during the visit, with Obama lobbying for a series of multi-billion dollar weapons contracts to upgrade the Indian military.

"President Obama intends this trip to be and intends our policy to be a full embrace of India's rise," the president's new national security adviser Tom Donilon told reporters on Air Force One.

Relations between the world's two largest democracies have warmed considerably in the past 10 years, but there are niggling disagreements over issues like US controls on the export of "dual-use" technology with military and civil applications.

"The key to the visit from India Inc's point of view is technology, technology, technology," said Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

"The key from the president's point of view is jobs, jobs, jobs -- and the two must meet together during Obama's visit," Mitra said.

Obama moves on to New Delhi tomorrow where he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then deliver an address to Parliament on Monday.

The next morning he leaves for Indonesia on the second leg of his tour, which will also take him to the G20 summit in South Korea and then on to Japan.

- AFP

US News & World Report going web-only

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:24 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: US News & World Report, which dropped its weekly format two years ago and went monthly, is now abandoning print entirely for the web.

US News & World Report management announced the move to go digital only in a memo to staff, which was obtained by the Romenesko blog at Poynter Online.

The December issue of US News & World Report will be the last print edition of the magazine, long the number three news weekly in the United States behind Time and Newsweek.

Like newspapers, magazines in the United States have been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

The Washington Post Co sold money-losing Newsweek to audio tycoon Sidney Harman in September for one dollar.

Since dropping its weekly format, US News & World Report has concentrated on consumer guides and popular annual rankings on such topics as America's "best colleges" and "best hospitals".

US News & World Report management said the magazine will continue to publish "selected, single-topic print issues" like the college and hospital guides for newsstand sale and targeted distribution.

They expressed confidence in a digital strategy focused on USNews.com.

"With an average unique audience of nine million and counting, we've become a significant publisher in the digital space, creating content that people want and an audience that advertisers will pay for," they said.

"These latest moves will accelerate our ability to grow our online businesses and position ourselves to take advantage of the emerging platforms for distributing information such as the iPad and Android tablets.

"The iPad and the next generations of tablets and mobile platforms will create a brand new set of opportunities for us," they said.

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Wall Street rises to pre-crisis high on wings of Fed stimlus

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:23 PM PDT

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks regained pre-crisis levels over the past week after the Federal Reserve promised a new massive stimulus plan.

"A week of danger turned into a week of hope," said Natixis analyst Evariste Lefeuvre.

The Fed's decision to inject an additional US$600 billion (RM1.8 trillion) into the financial system by mid-2011 in a bid to boost the economic recovery – so-called quantitative easing (QE) – has steadily pushed stocks up in recent weeks.

Wednesday's announcement at the end of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting gave stocks an extra push to help them reach levels last seen before the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, which sent share prices spiraling downward.

In the coming week, traders will react to a new string of earning reports from companies including General Motors, Cisco, Wal-Mart and Dell.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.93% to 11,444.08 points.

The broader S&P 500 index rose 3.06% to 1,225.85 points, while the technology-rich Nasdaq composite index gained 2.85% to 2,578.98 points.

"For the next six months there will be a tug-of-war from the sentiment standpoint between better economic news and the prospect of less QE, or worse economic new and more QE," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak.

"The big question is whether it filters through to the economy."

The easing measures, which drove the US dollar into a tailspin in recent weeks, making US products cheaper to purchase abroad, renewed fears of a global trade war as countries seek to protect their exports.

China, which Washington accuses of keeping its currency artificially low, led an international chorus of criticism over US quantitative easing.

The rhetoric looks likely to rise ahead of the summit of leaders of the 20 biggest economies in South Korea next week.

A little sign of hope

A surprise rise in job creations in October reported yesterday further boosted confidence the economy was improving, even though the stock indexes reacted mutely to the data following a stellar rally on Thursday.

Labor Department reported that 151,000 new jobs were created in the United States in October, much better than expected, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6% for the third consecutive month.

"The jobs numbers were good today, there is a little sign of hope there," said Dean Barber, president of Barber Financial Group.

With little surprise, Tuesday's congressional and local elections gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives, while President Barack Obama's Democratic Party clung to a narrow majority in the Senate.

Many believe a gridlock in Congress would favour US firms and stocks as it could limit the passage of new controversial laws and reduce uncertainty.

But Washington will have to tackle in the coming months several key issues that are bound to have a heavy impact on the economy, led by the thorny debate over the renewal of tax cuts introduced under former president George W Bush.

- AFP

Pope fights to reclaim Spain from social change

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:20 PM PDT

By Denholm Barnetson

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA: Pope Benedict XVI lands in Spain today to reclaim a bastion of the Church from the lure of quick divorce, abortion rights and gay marriage.

Pilgrims trekked to see the pope when he arrives in Spain's holiest city of Santiago de Compostela. The pontiff heads tomorrow to Barcelona to sanctify Antoni Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia.

Benedict XVI will pray here at the tomb said to hold the remains of Saint James the Apostle, discovered by a hermit in 813.

Saint James, later to be known as the Slayer of the Moors, became a symbol to rally Christian Spain, then pinned down by the Moors to the northern strip of the peninsula.

More than 1,000 years later the Church is fighting back again, this time against a perceived slide away from the core beliefs of Christianity: the sanctity of life and lifelong marriage between a man and woman.

"I will travel as a witness to Christ's resurrection, with the desire to spread his word, which offers the light for living with dignity and the hope for building a better world," Benedict said this week at the Vatican.

The Roman Catholic Church was an all-powerful presence in the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, but the arrival of democracy tore down regime-imposed restrictions on politics, behaviour and sexual mores.

Under the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero the country has gone further, allowing gay marriage, speedier divorce and easier abortions.

Of particular concern to the Church, a law passed four months ago lets women have abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and in case of risk to the life and health of the mother until 22 weeks.

Girls of 16 and 17 can get an abortion without their parents' consent if they face a risk of family violence, threats, or pressure.

Benedict XVI will warn against "the idea inherited from the French Revolution that in order to be fully human you have to get rid of religious tradition", Celso Morga, undersecretary for the Congregation of the Clergy, said in the Vatican ahead of the visit.

A warner welcome

In eight years the proportion of Spaniards who describe themselves as Roman Catholic has dropped to 73% from 80% and those attending weekly mass to 13% from 20%.

In Santiago, after praying in the sprawling, majestic 12th century cathedral, the pope will embrace the statue of Saint James –a tradition kept by pilgrims who have visited every year since the Middle Ages.

Benedict XVI will then celebrate mass in the vast Plaza Obradoiro outside the cathedral's main facade in the heart of the medieval city in front of some 7,000 people.

Yellow and white Vatican flags flew from buildings leading into the Plaza Obradoiro, where a massive soundstage was erected behind rows of purple flowers.

But many businesses were also disappointed by the low numbers of visitors for the papal visit. "There are still no people, we're very surprised," said Marisol, the co-owner of a local tourist gift shop.

Many people in Spain are set against his message.

When the pope consecrates the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona tomorrow, transforming it into a Basilica, hundreds of gays plan to stage a mass homosexual kiss-in outside.

Thousands of demonstrators massed in Barcelona and Santiago on Thursday night to fight for a secular Spain, gay rights and to protest child sex abuse.

The city is preparing a warmer welcome.

In time for the pope's consecration, craftsmen covered the central nave of the Sagrada Familia this year.

The main 1,492-pipe organ will bellow behind the pontiff, accompanying three choirs of a total 800 voices, singing to 6,500 guests including hundreds of priests and bishops.

And once the nave is consecrated by the pope, it will be open for daily mass for the first time since the first stone was laid on March 19, 1882. Now mass is held in the crypt, the resting place of Gaudi's remains.

- AFP

Indonesia reaches out to prodigal son Obama

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:16 PM PDT

By Arlina Arshad

JAKARTA: They will seduce him with food, serenade him with gamelan musical ensembles and shower him with familial warmth, but US President Barack Obama may disappoint old friends when he visits Indonesia this week.

Many had hoped the oft-delayed visit would be a sentimental homecoming for Obama but it has been pared down to the diplomatic essentials, with no time for a visit to his old school or a stroll down memory lane with his childhood pals.

Instead the president is focusing on the big strategic picture of mending ties with the Muslim world, with a visit to the mainly Muslim's country's biggest mosque and a speech at a prestigious state university.

Even so, the symbolism of a long-lost child of the Menteng One primary school in Jakarta returning to his old stomping ground as the most powerful man in the world will be hard to escape.

"President Obama seems to be missing Indonesian food like nasi goreng (fried rice) and mie bakso (meatball noodle soup), so we'll prepare these at the palace reception," said Julian Aldrin Pasha, a spokesman to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whom Obama will meet on Tuesday.

"There will also be a traditional dance performance... We just hope that he'll be happy and comfortable during his stay here."

Sonny Imam Sukarso, 49, went to school with Obama in the late 1960s and remembers him as a chubby kid called Barry. He said he hoped the US president would make time to meet his old chums.

"Obama was my neighbour and elementary schoolmate. We used to play soccer together and visit each other's homes," the lawyer said.

"We understand his schedule is very tight but hopefully he will want to meet us... He was a nice and funny person and I hope he hasn't changed."

24-hour whirlwind visit

Hopes Obama would bring his wife Michelle to visit the primary school he attended in leafy Menteng from 1967 to 1971 were dashed when the White House announced the schedule.

Still bearing the bruises of the Democratic Party's hammering in mid-term elections, Obama set off yesterday on a nine-day odyssey of Asia in which Indonesia gets only a whirlwind 24 hours.

In his memoir, "Dreams From My Father", Obama described running around the streets of Menteng catching crickets and flying kites with the "children of farmers, servants and low-level bureaucrats".

"People know him as Barack Obama, the man with great power. To us, he's just Barry, a boy who made history... the chubby Barry with no airs," said Obama's former neighbour, Ali Ruli, 60.

Excitement about the visit has been muted compared to the last time it was scheduled in March, as the archipelago of 240 million people – the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world – reels from natural disasters.

More than 430 people were killed in a tsunami on Oct 25 and less than 24 hours later a volcano erupted in central Java, killing more than 100 people over the past two weeks and displacing 100,000.

Not everyone is planning to welcome the US president with open arms and security will be extremely tight given Indonesia's repeated brushes with terrorism and home-grown extremists.

The country's largest Islamic organisation has condemned the small groups of extremists opposed to Obama's visit, which they say will strengthen ties between the United States and the Islamic world.

"It's an honour to have Obama spare some time during his short trip to visit the mosque. We welcome him," said Subandi, a senior religious official at Istiqal mosque, Southeast Asia's biggest, which Obama will visit on Wednesday.

- AEP

Spotlight on Suu Kyi as Myanmar enters new territory

Posted: 06 Nov 2010 12:09 AM PDT

BANGKOK, Nov 6 — Confined to her crumbling lakeside home, long-detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi poses little threat to Myanmar's first election in 20 years tomorrow, but her possible release in a week could shake things up. While the elections are drawing Western scorn for draconian curbs on pro-democracy parties and bans on foreign ...


UAE says investigating Qaeda claim for UPS plane crash

Posted: 06 Nov 2010 12:08 AM PDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates aviation authority is investigating Al Qaeda's claim it was behind a September crash of a UPS plane in Dubai, but has found no link so far, an official said on Saturday.

Route of radioactive waste convoy changed

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:11 PM PDT

PARIS: The route of a highly controversial rail convoy carrying nuclear waste from France to Germany was changed early today to avoid protesters, the group "Get Out of Nuclear" announced.

The anti-nuclear group had planned a series of demonstrations along the original route of the 14-carriage train carrying 123 tonnes of nuclear waste billed by opponents as the "most radioactive ever" on its way to Germany.

"Once again opacity is the rule in the nuclear question, leaving the population in ignorance of the risks it faces," the group said in a statement.

Protesters had earlier yesterday chained themselves to train tracks a few hundred metres from Caen station in northwestern France, holding the train up for several hours before it resumed its journey to Gorleben.

Police arrested seven people, while three of those chained to the rails were taken to hospital "because they were burned during the extrication" a police source said, adding that the burns were "not serious".

The protesters chained their arms inside metal tubes and concrete in order to make it difficult to be released.

Protesters also unfurled a banner reading, "Our resistance knows no borders," said a statement from the Ganva non-violent anti-nuclear group.

"This nuclear convoy, the most radioactive ever, exposes the population to excessive risks. There is a risk to lives in the short term in case of an accident, but also a long-term risk to their health," the statement said.

The protest disrupted passenger trains travelling to and from Caen, with a dozen local trains cancelled and many others delayed, national rail operator SNCF said.

The train, which environmental lobby groups say is carrying waste with twice the radioactivity of the Chernobyl disaster, is headed to Gorleben in Germany.

The waste is on its way back to Germany – where it was initially created in the generation of electricity – after being treated at a plant in France by nuclear giant Areva.

It consists of 14 carriages: 11 with waste and three with riot police.

A smokescreen

Areva spokesman Christophe Neugnot called criticism from groups such as Greenpeace "a smokescreen for anti-nuclear protesters to hide the fact that nuclear energy is taking off again in almost all European countries".

He dismissed concerns about possible leaks in transit, describing the train as a "fortress on wheels. The containers would survive a train hitting them at full speed".

Areva has also rejected the "most radioactive" tag, insisting the cargo is not as radioactive as the last load of waste they shipped back to Germany.

Around 30,000 demonstrators were expected to oppose the train's arrival in Germany, where around 16,000 police have reportedly been mobilised to deal with protests.

Areva says the waste is equivalent to that generated annually by the nuclear-generated electricity used by 24 million Germans.

The waste has been stabilised by being melted and mixed into glass cylinders, which are stored in so-called Castor containers.

Environmentalists say that the intermediate waste storage facility at Gorleben in northern Germany is not appropriate.

German lawmakers last week approved a bill extending the life of the country's 17 reactors by 12 years, although they were due to come offline in 2020. Opinion polls show that most Germans were against Parliament's decision.

The convoy is the 11th of its kind to be sent back to Germany.

Almost 16,000 police were deployed in Germany for the previous such convoy in 2008, which protesters held up for 14 hours at the border.

- AFP

 

 

 

Racial tensions as US cop gets two years for killing

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:08 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES: - A former San Francisco area police officer was jailed for two years yesterday over the shooting of an unarmed black man, an incident that triggered race riots last year.

The relatively light sentence threatened to revive tensions over the killing of Oscar Grant, 22, on New Year's Day 2009 in the northern Californian city of Oakland – where police were braced for possible unrest.

Johannes Mehserle, 28, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in July over the shooting, in which he claimed he intended to use a Taser to stun Grant, but mistakenly pulled out his gun and shot him dead.

The trial was moved from Oakland to Los Angeles for sentencing due to the tensions generated by the case in Grant's home town outside San Francisco.

Mehserle could have been jailed for up to 14 years, but Judge Robert J. Perry at LA Superior Court took into account the 292 days he has already spent behind bars, in passing the two-year jail term.

"I understand my decision will not be received well by many people, but please remember I did my best," said the judge.

Dozens of demonstrators had gathered outside the court ahead of the sentencing, and one person was arrested in scuffles immediately after the decision was announced.

Angry members of Grant's family walked out when the sentence was announced, one using a swear word to describe it, others crying and hugging eachother.

"We have a family that still sees this as a murder," said Grant's uncle Cephus Johnson.

Minutes before the sentence was passed, Mehserle tearfully lamented the tragedy, saying: "I'm not proud of what happened... it brings me great sadness how I accidentally took Grant's life."

The judge said more than 1,000 people had written to him asking him to impose the maximum sentence –but he said most cited incorrect facts, and lamented the tension generated by the case.

"The community is greatly polarised, and in my view that is part of the tragedy of this case," said Perry.

Violent protests

A Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer, Mehserle was responding to reports of fighting on the subway when he shot and killed Grant. He said he had intended to use his Taser on Grant, but mistakenly pulled out his gun.

The lethal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer was captured on video and widely broadcast on television and on the Internet and led to violent protests in the Oakland area.

Following the 2009 shooting, residents blocked streets and smashed store windows, then bashed a police cruiser and about two dozen other cars.

The incident drew comparisons to the 1992 case of Rodney King, a black man beaten by Los Angeles police officers. The beating was videotaped and led to street riots.

In Oakland yesterday over 300 people rallied outside City Hall within hours of the sentencing, some chanting "no justice, no peace," while others shouted "burn the pig."

Officers were called in from across northern California in case of trouble, although police chiefs pledged to use a "light hand" so long as people respected the law.

As the evening drew in a separate demonstration began in west Oakland in a park unofficially named after Bobby Hutton of the 1960s-70s Black Panther movement, which used to hold rallies there.

- AFP

Obama admits failing to sell successes to Americans

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:05 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama acknowledged he had failed to persuade Americans of his administration's successes, following an election hammering which saw his party lose control of the House of Representatives.

"We were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn't just legislation, that it's a matter of persuading people," Obama told CBS show "60 Minutes" in excerpts released yesterday.

"We haven't always been successful at that," the president added.

"I take personal responsibility for that, and it's something that I've got to examine carefully as I go forward."

In particular, Obama attributed the electoral drubbing to the public's perception that the massive stimulus package approved in the first six months of his administration last year was "a huge expansion of government."

"What I didn't effectively, I think, drive home, because we were in such a rush to get this stuff done, is that we were taking these steps not because of some theory that we wanted to expand government. It was because we had an emergency situation and we wanted to make sure the economy didn't go off a cliff," the president added.

Obama had earlier conceded he suffered a "shellacking" in Tuesday's key mid-term congressional and state elections, but had refused to see it as a repudiation of his transformative domestic agenda, instead blaming the loss on deep voter frustration at the sluggish economic recovery.

Many critics had warned that Obama had failed to sell his legislative accomplishments to ordinary Americans in the run up to the polls, and that the results were in part a reflection of the president's inability or unwillingness to articulate the positives of his first two years in office.

He told CBS he now recognized that part of his job as the president of all Americans was "giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone. And making an argument that people can understand."

Obama's shortcomings on the salesman front apparently resonated with "some of my Democratic supporters who express some frustration," the president said.

- AFP

Mass burial prepared for Indonesia volcano victims

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:04 PM PDT

YOGYAKARTA: Dozens of victims of Indonesia's erupting Mount Merapi who were killed by heat clouds are to be buried in a mass grave in Yogyakarta an official said today.

Indonesia's most active volcano, also known as the "Mountain of Fire", has been erupting since late last month and has so far killed a total of 120 people, including 77 yesterday.

"We will have a mass burial for dozens of people killed in Argomulyo village," disaster management spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

"We will bury them in a place where it's safe. There's no way we will have the burial in their village, as the village is within the 20-km (12-mile) danger zone," he said.

Heat clouds burnt scores of people, including children, in Argomulyo village, 18km from the spewing crater.

The ranks of evacuees increased to more than 160,000 people after officials widened the danger zone from 15km to 20km early yesterday.

Nugroho said evacuees had ample supplies of food and water, but they needed more temporary bathrooms and facilities to wash their clothes.

- AFP

Chilling videos on the rise in Mexican drug war

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 03:00 PM PDT

By Leticia Pineda

FOCUS MEXICO CITY: Amateur videos from Mexican drug gangs were this week linked to the discovery of a mass grave and the killing of a man who had been made to confess ties to a rival gang as he was filmed at gunpoint.

YouTube, the video sharing website, is just one fear-inducing tool in the growing communications war between Mexico's powerful gangs, alongside Facebook, Twitter, e-mailing and scores of websites.

As drug-related violence worsens, the use of recorded forced confessions, resembling techniques seen by terror groups in Iraq or Afghanistan, is on the rise.

An eruption of suspected drug violence has left more than 28,000 people dead nationwide since the government launched a military clampdown on organised crime in 2006, according to official figures.

Mexican investigators on Thursday sought to identify 18 bodies found in a mass grave near Acapulco, which a video posted on YouTube suggested could be linked to 20 men from Michoacan state missing for over a month.

An anonymous call alerted police to two bodies in the area of the mass grave, while an amateur video also appeared on YouTube showing two men, with their hands behind their backs, saying they had killed people they called the "20 michoacanos", and buried them in the area.

In a chilling development, the men in the video appeared to be the two found dead following the anonymous tipoff.

In the north of the country, the brother of an ex-attorney general was found dead after being abducted and forced to confess to links to a drug gang in a video released on YouTube.

Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, a lawyer, last week appeared handcuffed and surrounded by five men aiming weapons at him in the video released on YouTube.

He said at gunpoint that he and his sister, Patricia Gonzalez, were linked to the Juarez drug gang, which is fighting fierce turf battles with the Sinaloa gang around Mexico's most violent city of Ciudad Juarez, on the US border.

Message of absolute terrorism

Both videos were widely broadcast in the Mexican media, as some others have been in the past.

"It's a message of absolute terrorism to frighten people," said Octavio Islas, director of digital communications strategy at the Monterrey Institute of Technology.

Although accusations made in the videos may not be verifiable, the subsequent discoveries of corpses ensure they have the desired impact.

Decapitations, bodies hanging from bridges and increasingly large massacres also serve to distribute grim messages between the gangs and spread fear beyond them.

Despite the amateur nature of the videos, Islas said they demonstrate the development of clear communications strategies.

"It's not Internet users they're interested in, but they know that by broadcasting the information it'll be picked up by conventional media," Islas said.

Although a team removes videos considered to be offensive from YouTube, many have already had wide play by the time they are blocked.

And as the struggle to investigate drug organizations grows ever more difficult and dangerous, the mainstream media are hungry for new information, wherever it comes from.

"When we publish this kind of information it has to be perfectly contextualized," said Luis Miguel Gonzalez, editorial director of El Economista daily.

- AFP

Double Pakistan mosque attacks kill 65

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 02:58 PM PDT

By Lehaz Ali

AKHURWALL: A suicide bomber killed at least 61 people when he blew apart a packed mosque, and four others died in a second attack nearby in Pakistan's militant Islamist-infested northwest.

The country's deadliest attack in two months, on the front line of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda, saw the mosque reduced to blood-spattered rubble strewn with body parts as a huge explosion ripped through Friday prayers.

The blast was followed hours later by a grenade assault on a second mosque in the same area, which killed at least four people.

Dozens were critically wounded and officials fear the toll from both attacks could rise.

The first explosion turned worship into a bloodbath in Akhurwall village, part of the semi-tribal northwest area of Darra Adam Khel, about 140km (90 miles) west of the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Eleven children were among the dead, said a local official.

Only one wall was left standing and the concrete roof collapsed, leaving bloodstains, human remains and hair scattered in the debris.

Houses near the mosque were also damaged, including that of Wali Mohammad, the leader of a pro-government militia that had clashed repeatedly with local Taliban militants until reportedly cutting a deal earlier this year.

Although the Taliban denied responsibility, a local elder blamed the group, suggesting it could have been acting to punish Mohammad's militia.

Witnesses said the bomber walked into the mosque and shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greater) before a deafening explosion.

Dilawar Gul, 30, said he was collecting donations from worshippers when he heard the suicide bomber shout.

"Then I heard a huge blast which flung me to part of the mosque where the roof didn't collapse, and I survived."

Blood money

Local administration official Gul Jamal Khan told said that 61 people had been killed and 104 wounded.

Local elder Sohbat Khan Afridi blamed the Taliban, saying Mohammad, who formed his tribal militia in 2007 to fight the militants, has a house close to the mosque, although he is understood to live in Lahore.

The Taliban and the militia, which is known locally as a lashkar, clashed repeatedly in the area but this year reached a compromise in which blood money was paid to the Taliban, Afridi said.

But Azam Tariq, spokesman for Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Taliban, denied that the faction was involved. The Taliban routinely deny attacks that kill civilians but have been blamed for some of the country's most devastating bombings.

At least four more people were killed and 14 others wounded when hand grenades were thrown into a mosque in the second attack 20km away, a hospital official said.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, the European Union and the United States condemned the attacks, with Washington saying they had "brutally targeted innocent people" at places of worship.

Ban Ki-moon "is dismayed by the indiscriminate killing of civilians in a place of worship, which no cause can justify", his spokesman said.

Around 3,800 people have been killed in suicide attacks and bombings, blamed on homegrown Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks, since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad three years ago.

The United States wants Pakistan to do more to fight insurgents crossing into Afghanistan and fuelling a nine-year Taliban uprising there.

Washington brands Pakistan's northwest tribal area an Al-Qaeda headquarters, although there has been a relative lull in violence since Pakistan suffered catastrophic floods in late July that affected more than 20 million people.

Yesterday's bombing was the deadliest in Pakistan since a suicide attacker slaughtered 60 people at a Shiite Muslim rally in the southwestern city of Quetta on Sept 3.

- AFP

Myanmar junta under fire as election nears

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 02:49 PM PDT

YANGON: Myanmar's regime and its proxies faced allegations of fraud and disrupting the flow of news today as they prepared for the army-ruled country's controversial first election in two decades.

Ahead of tomorrow's poll, opposition parties accused the regime-backed political group of "cheating" and "threatening" voters in the process, which is already widely criticised as a sham that will cloak ongoing military rule.

Fears were also deepening that the junta was intentionally blocking access to information, with the Internet down across Yangon yesterday.

Few outsiders will be there to bear witness when up to 29 million eligible voters cast their ballots as foreign election observers and international media have been barred from entering the country for the election.

European diplomats have also snubbed official polling station visits, declining an invitation to join what British ambassador Andrew Heyn had already dismissed as a "choreographed tour" on election day.

The British, German, French and Italian representatives in Yangon issued a statement on behalf of the European Union late yesterday saying the rules of the inspections meant they were unable to participate.

Days before the election Myanmar's dominant junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was accused of illegally collecting advance votes by the Democratic Party (Myanmar) and National Democratic Force (NDF).

Democratic Party chairman Thu Wai said yesterday that his party was "deeply concerned" about stories of voter intimidation and coercion from all over the country.

"We have learnt that the USDP together with ward authorities are trying to get advance votes by cheating, bribing or threatening people," said a letter from the party to the Union Election Commission in the capital Naypyidaw.

The NDF has made similar accusations but has yet to file them officially.

Dirty tricks

Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo said the USDP was expected to win despite the fact that the party is "hated".

"They will resort to various dirty tricks," he said.

The USDP, formed by ministers who retired from the military in April, gained funding and millions of members when it was merged with the Union Solidarity and Development Association – a powerful pro-junta organisation.

Myanmar's ruling regime enjoys huge advantages ahead of the polls: a quarter of seats in the new legislature are reserved for the army, while opposition parties have suffered crippling obstacles.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for much of the past twenty years, remains under house arrest and sidelined from the poll while her now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) is boycotting the process.

Suu Kyi swept her party to power in 1990 but the results were never recognised by the ruling generals.

The Nobel peace laureate's lawyer Nyan Win confirmed on Friday that her youngest son, Kim Aris, had travelled to Bangkok as Suu Kyi awaits possible release when her current sentence expires just days after the election.

Many people in Myanmar, a country where almost one-third of the population lives below the poverty line, prioritise basic needs over politics, while a lack of choice has fuelled disillusionment in the election.

In many constituencies the election is a two-horse race between the USDP and the National Unity Party (NUP), the successor to late dictator Ne Win's Burma Socialist Program Party and the second-largest contender in the poll.

The NUP has also complained about the USDP, exile media group Mizzima News reported.

- AFP

19 killed in China mall fire

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 02:47 PM PDT

BEIJING: Fire ripped through a shopping mall in northeast China, killing 19 people, state media said today, as police detained the general manager of the complex for questioning.

Twenty-seven others were injured in the massive blaze in the city of Jilin, which broke out on Friday morning, Xinhua news agency reported. One person was still missing.

Of those hurt, 24 were still in hospital but none of them suffered serious injuries, Xinhua quoted city government spokesman Liu Qizhi as saying.

The flames were extinguished 10 hours after the fire erupted, but thick smoke complicated the firefighters' task of searching for survivors and victims, the report said, citing local officials.

Authorities said they were still investigating the cause of the blaze, which was concentrated on the fourth floor of the mall, which mainly housed furniture stores.

Dozens of shops were already open when the fire began at about 9.15am, the report said.

Deadly fires are common in China due to lax observation and enforcement of fire safety measures.

- AFP

Obama showcases importance of Asia trip

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 02:38 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama today underscored the importance of his trip to Asia, saying the United States cannot allow itself to be "shut out" of Asian markets.

"It is hard to overstate the importance of Asia to our economic future," the president wrote in an op-ed piece in The New York Times. "Asia is home to three of the world's five largest economies, as well as a rapidly expanding middle class with rising incomes."

Obama departed Washington yesterday to begin an Asian tour that will take him to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.

Obama, who has dubbed himself America's "First Pacific president", has made no secret that he sees Asia, with its fast-emerging economies and rising strategic clout, as the most vital global region to America's future.

The US president will stress the commercial opportunities offered by Asia, as he seeks to boost exports to create jobs.

He will also participate in two summit meetings – the Group of 20 industrialised nations and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – that will focus on economic growth.

The president wrote that on his visit to India, he will be joined by hundreds of American business leaders and their Indian counterparts to announce billions of dollars in contracts that he said will support "tens of thousands of American jobs."

Obama noted that in the first eight months of 2010, exports of American goods to Indonesia increased by 47% from the same period in 2009.

"This is momentum that we will build on as we pursue a new comprehensive partnership between the United States and Indonesia," he pointed out.

Great challenge

In South Korea, Obama wrote, he will work with President Lee Myung-bak to complete a trade pact that could be worth tens of billions of dollars in increased exports and thousands of jobs for American workers.

"But any agreement must come with the right terms," he stressed. "That's why we'll be looking to resolve outstanding issues on behalf of American exporters -- including American automakers and workers."

The president promised that at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Japan, he will continue seeking new markets for US exports.

"The great challenge of our time is to make sure that America is ready to compete for the jobs and industries of the future," Obama pointed out.

He said that it could be tempting in times of economic difficulty to turn away from trade with other nations.

"But in our interconnected world, that is not a path to growth, and that is not a path to jobs," he stressed.

"We cannot be shut out of these markets. Our government, together with American businesses and workers, must take steps to promote and sell our goods and services abroad – particularly in Asia. That's how we'll create jobs, prosperity and an economy that's built on a stronger foundation."

- AFP

HK legislators to attend Nobel peace prize ceremony: reports

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:54 PM PDT

HONG KONG, Saturday 6 November 2010 (AFP) - A group of Hong Kong lawmakers will attend a ceremony in Oslo awarding the Nobel peace prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, local media reported Saturday.

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Local shares to continue uptrend next week

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:54 PM PDT

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia are expected to continue upward trend next week, supported by potential capital inflows to the region.

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Apec meeting to focus on new growth strategy

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:53 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR, Saturday 6 November 2010 (Bernama) -- The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Yokohama, Japan is expected to adopt a new growth strategy aimed at accelerating regional economic integration.

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Panicked Indonesians flee deadly volcano

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:36 PM PDT

ARGOMULYO, Saturday 6 November 2010 (AFP) - Rescuers picked through the rubble of destroyed homes Saturday as officials prepared for a mass burial of people killed by the violent eruption of Indonesia's most active volcano.

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