Iran considers release of German reporterss

Iran considers release of German reporterss

Iran considers release of German reporterss

Posted: 07 Dec 2010 12:23 AM PST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is considering a request from Germany to free two journalists who were arrested as they were interviewing the son of a woman sentenced to be stoned to death, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

China says hopes WikiLeaks will not affect U.S. ties

Posted: 07 Dec 2010 12:23 AM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday that it hoped revelations in U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks would not affect ties with Washington.

Iran says it is considering release of Germans

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:49 PM PST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it was considering a request from Germany to free two journalists who were arrested when they tried to interview the son of a woman sentenced to be stoned to death.

China says dialogue only way forward on Korea issue

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:49 PM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Dialogue and cooperation are the only correct ways forward to address current tensions on the Korean peninsula, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

US diplomat in Myanmar for post-election talks: officials

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:44 PM PST

YANGON, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - A senior US diplomat arrived in Myanmar Tuesday, officials said, for the first high-level talks with the government and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi since her release and a controversial election.

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East Asia heading for economic slowdown, warns ADB

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:43 PM PST

HONG KONG, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - East Asia will post slower growth next year due to a wobbly US recovery, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned Tuesday, adding that greater exchange rate cooperation could help safeguard the region.

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Jailed S.Koreans dealt 'fatal blow' to national security

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:41 PM PST

SEOUL, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - Six South Koreans were jailed Tuesday for a military equipment maintenance scam, with the court condemning them for dealing "a fatal blow" to national security amid high tensions on the Korean peninsula.

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Candidates do not have to hold high posts in party: Khairy

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:29 PM PST

Individuals who are multi-skills and are popular among the local community will be selected as Umno Youth candidates in the coming 13th general election, the movement chief, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

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Perodua to increase exports aggressively

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:28 PM PST

Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) aims to increase its exports to at least 10% or 20,000 units in line with its five-year roadmap besides developing further the vendor community so that they too boost their exports of auto parts.

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Yen rises on China tightening fears

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:24 PM PST

TOKYO, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - The yen rose to a three-week high against the dollar in Asia on Tuesday as speculation about a possible Chinese interest rate hike fuelled demand for the safe-haven Japanese currency, dealers said.

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Don't destroy unity just to please a few: Agong

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:24 PM PST

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin today called on Malaysians not to destroy the prevailing unity in the country just to fulfil the demands of a few extreme and greedy, selfish individuals.

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S.Korea should prepare for reunification: minister

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:20 PM PST

SEOUL, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - South Korea should prepare for reunification with North Korea, the minister for cross-border relations said Tuesday, calling Pyongyang's shelling attack the "worst choice" the regime had ever made.

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U.S. blocked Iran candidate election on UN climate body - cables

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:15 PM PST

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States government lobbied the head of the U.N. climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show.

U.S. official arrives in Myanmar to meet Suu Kyi, MPs

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:15 PM PST

YANGON (Reuters) - A United States official arrived in army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday for talks with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was recently freed from house arrest, plus a minister and newly elected lawmakers, a government official said.

China says does not want to "replace" U.S. as world power

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 11:15 PM PST

BEIJING7 (Reuters) - China does not want to "replace" the United States from its dominant role in the world, and the world should not fear China's rise, the country's top diplomat wrote in an essay.

WikiLeaks' Assange to fight extradition

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 02:37 PM PST

SYDNEY: Besieged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will fight extradition to Sweden, his lawyer said today, after British police received a request for him to face charges in Stockholm.

Assange's London-based lawyer Jennifer Robinson said the Australian whistleblower would likely resist being returned to Sweden for fear he could be turned over to the United States where outrage is growing over his revelations.

"(The Swedish prosecutor) said publicly on television last night that all she wants is his side of the story. Now we've offered that on numerous occasions. There is no need for him to return to Sweden to do that," she said.

"I think he will get a fair hearing here in Britain but I think our, his, prospects if he were ever to be returned to the US, which is a real threat, of a fair trial, is, in my view, nigh on impossible," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Assange, whose WikiLeaks has published hundreds of confidential US diplomatic cables sending panic waves through global capitals, is arranging to meet with British police after they received a European arrest warrant for him.

As furious governments around the world slammed WikiLeaks as irresponsible, Swedish authorities want to question him on suspicion of crimes, including sexual assault.

But Robinson refused to discuss further details of Assange's looming meeting with British police, saying only that it was "bizarre" that his legal team had not yet seen a copy of the arrest warrant and had seen no evidence.

Declining to confirm whether Assange was already in Britain as widely reported by media, the lawyer said her client was being "isolated and persecuted" and that death threats had been made on blogs against his son.

"This is obviously part of a broader risk of a threat to Mr Assange himself," she said in the ABC interview from London.

"We take these threats of assassination incredibly seriously and they are obviously illegal and those individuals who are citing violence ought to be considered for prosecution," Robinson said.

Potential criminal conduct

Robinson said both she and fellow British-based Assange lawyer Mark Stephens had been followed and had their phone calls interfered with since taking on the case, but declined to say who she thought was surveilling them.

Robinson said any arrest of Assange would not prevent the publication of more of the 250,000 leaked documents that WikiLeaks is holding, as media groups have agreed an "orderly" publishing schedule for the coming months.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard slammed the publication of leaked confidential diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks as "grossly irresponsible," saying the information was gathered through an "illegal act."

Pressed on what Australian laws had been broken by WikiLeaks or Assange, Gillard said federal police were investigating and would advise her "about potential criminal conduct of the individual involved".

"The foundation stone of WikiLeaks was an illegal act," Gillard told reporters in Canberra.

"Let's not try top put any glosses on this, information would not be on WikiLeaks had there not been an illegal act undertaken."

- AFP

Danish playground mosques, temples build religious tolerance

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 02:30 PM PST

By Slim Allagui

FEATURE FREDERICIA: Children skip across the roof of a mosque and play hide and seek in a Hindu temple: this unsual playground is designed to build tolerance as religious relations are cooling in Denmark.

Volunteers from various faiths in Fredericia helped to create the seaside playground, which opened in August in a town proud of its 18th-century role as a refuge for Europe's persecuted.

There is a green mosque with a golden dome, a red and white brick village church and a brightly coloured Hindu temple.

"It is fun to see what a mosque and a Hindu temple look like and to play with children from other religions," says nine-year-old Caroline as she scrambles among the model buildings.

And the playground is a great way for parents to introduce their children to other religions and cultures, says Hanne Ravn, in her 50s, who lives in a neighbouring village.

"It is important for parents to talk to their children, to teach them to be tolerant and open to others, from a young age," she says.

Caroline has never been inside a real mosque. And there is little chance she will in Denmark anytime soon, since a project to build the country's first mosque in Copenhagen has been delayed amid financial problems and rumours that it was being financed by Iran.

Islam is the second largest religion in Denmark, which counts more than 200,000 Muslims among its some 5.5 million inhabitants.

Tense relations

But relations with the Muslim minority, who make up about 3.5% of the population, have become tense since Danish daily Jyllands Posten in 2005 first published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were considered blasphemous and insulting.

The cartoons, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse, sparked massive and in some cases deadly protests across the Muslim world, as well as boycotts of Danish companies, threats against Danish interests abroad and attempted attacks on both Jyllands-Posten and one of the cartoonists.

Several Muslim countries have also demanded an official apology from the Danish government, which it has repeatedly rejected, stressing the importance of freedom of expression in the country.

At the same time, the far-right Danish People's Party – a key ally of the centre-right government – has significantly increased its anti-Muslim rhetoric, warning of the alleged "Islamisation" of Denmark and Europe.

And a survey published in August showed that nearly 55% of Danes believe Islam is an obstacle to social harmony.

In such an atmosphere, observers say the Fredericia playground project is an important one.

"It is good to seek to prevail over prejudice through tolerance," says Mehdi Mozaffari, a professor of Islam and Islamism at the Aarhus University.

Other smaller religious groups may not face the same stigmatisation as Islam, but due to their small followings in the Scandinavian country, most people still have little idea what they stand for.

That is what is so good about the new Fredericia playground, according to Joydal Sritharan, a 12-year-old Dane of Sri Lankan origin and one of very few Hindus living in Denmark.

"It allows us, through games, to learn more about other religions," he says.

Sritharan's grand uncle Antoni, a Hindu patriarch visiting from the Netherlands, agrees.

"It is a good thing to teach children other ways to get to know each other," he says.

Notable absence

A notable absence from the new playground is a synagogue, even though Fredericia was in the early 18th-century the first city to accept Jews in Denmark, where the the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark is the official state religion.

Denmark today counts some 7,000 Jews, and Caroline's grandmother, retired teacher Bente Christensen, says it is peculiar they are not represented at the playground, especially considering the town's history.

"Fredericia had in the past the second largest Jewish community in Denmark after Copenhagen, and it was their refuge during the 1700s," she says.

But she is nevertheless "enchanted by this place which invites dialogue between religions and learning about tolerance".

Organisers of the project insist the lack of a synagogue in the playground was not intentional.

All faiths were asked to participate, but due to their small number, the Jewish community "did not respond to our invitation", explains Protestant pastor Karina Dahlmann.

Fredericia mayor Thomas Banke is mindful of the religious disputes behind so many of the world's conflicts.

"This is why it is essential to teach children that religion must be used not for killing each other, but to talk to each other, play together, whatever our beliefs," he says, adding he's proud municipal funds contributed to the "bridge between religions" playground.

The town of 50,000 people is today home to more than 100 nationalities, says the mayor, adding he hopes the pioneering playground "will be copied and will contribute to making the world a more tolerant place for the next generations".

- AFP

China publishers mistakenly translate erotic Grimm tales

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 02:12 PM PST

BEIJING: Chinese publishers have pulled a collection of Brothers Grimm fairy tales from children's shelves in book stores after mistakenly translating a Japanese pornographic reinterpretation of the tales.

China Friendship Publishing Company and China Media Time translated the erotic retelling of the stories by the Japanese duo Kiryu Misao without credit after mistaking them for the originals, the Global Times newspaper reported.

"We couldn't find the original German edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, so we took Japanese editions as our references and translated those," a China Media Time official surnamed Yuan was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

These included a version of the classic Snow White tale in which the heroine has sexual relations with her father and the seven dwarves, the newspaper said. After she dies, a necrophiliac prince falls in love with her body.

"The book was not supposed to be read by children, but it was put on the children's literature shelf, so we asked to pull it," Yuan said, adding book stores were told to send back the edition on December 2.

The new Chinese translation listed only the Brothers Grimm as authors and Yuan said the process was "complicated" when asked to confirm which version had been used, the report said.

Chinese authorities often cite pornography to justify strict controls on the media and Internet.

- AFP

 

Taiwan, China won't sign investment deal this month: premier

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 10:56 PM PST

TAIPEI, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - Taiwan and China have all but given up plans to sign a much-anticipated investment protection agreement during their next round of high-level talks later this month, the island's premier said Tuesday.

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Philippine body to probe ex-president ruled unconstitutional

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 10:54 PM PST

MANILA, Tuesday 7 December 2010 (AFP) - The Philippine Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that a "Truth Commission" created to investigate alleged corruption by former president Gloria Arroyo was unconstitutional.

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