North Korea sends minister to Russia amid tensions

North Korea sends minister to Russia amid tensions

North Korea sends minister to Russia amid tensions

Posted: 11 Dec 2010 01:15 AM PST

SEOUL, December 11, 2010 (AFP) - North Korea's foreign minister left for Russia Saturday amid a flurry of diplomatic attempts to ease tensions following the North's deadly attack on a South Korean island last month.

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UN climate talks move ahead on deal

Posted: 11 Dec 2010 01:14 AM PST

CANCUN, December 11, 2010 (AFP) - UN-led climate talks early Saturday took a key step toward approving an accord that sets up a global aid fund, casting aside objections by Bolivia.

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Jan-Sept FDI jumps to RM17.1bn

Posted: 11 Dec 2010 01:13 AM PST

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Malaysia leaped to RM17.1 billion for the period from January to September 2010 compared to just RM5 billion recorded for the whole of last year, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said today.

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WikiLeaks dissidents to launch rival OpenLeaks project

Posted: 11 Dec 2010 12:25 AM PST

STOCKHOLM, Dec 11 – Former WikiLeaks supporters at odds with founder Julian Assange will shortly launch OpenLeaks, a rival project aiming to get secret documents directly to media, one of them said yesterday. "I can confirm that we will be operating under the name 'OpenLeaks'," former Icelandic WikiLeaks member Herbert Snorrason said. Unlike ...


Climate deal wins wide backing, but Bolivia objects

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 11:43 PM PST

CANCUN, Mexico, Dec 11 — The United States, China and dozens of other countries rallied around a plan to slow global warming at climate talks yesterday, with Bolivia alone in condemning a deal that needs support from all to succeed. Many environment ministers, nearing the end of two weeks of talks among almost 200 nations, praised a proposal by ...


OPEC expected to leave quotas alone despite price surge

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 10:55 PM PST

QUITO, December 11, 2010 (AFP) - OPEC was expected to leave its two-year-old oil quotas unchanged in a meeting Saturday in Ecuador, amid rising demand but also some uncertainties over the generally bullish outlook for the world economy.

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11 December 2010

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 10:45 PM PST


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China protests Japanese visit to disputed islands

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 10:40 PM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Saturday denounced a visit by two Japanese local lawmakers to disputed islands in the East China Sea at the heart of a territorial row between the two Asian powers.

Bolivia slams widely praised climate plan

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 10:40 PM PST

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Global climate talks made progress late on Friday toward a deal to slow global warming despite bitter objections by Bolivia to a widely praised proposal to break a deadlock between rich and poor.

SPECIAL REPORT - The Chinese consumer awakens

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 10:06 PM PST

XIAHE, China (Reuters)- In the Tibetan monastery town of Xiahe, Gyelyanjia is visiting for a festival and taking the opportunity to do some shopping.

WikiLeaks' Assange moved to isolation in British jail

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 01:56 PM PST

By Guy Jackson

LONDON: WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange was in an isolation unit of a London jail today, as new leaked US diplomatic cables revealed a row between the Vatican and Ireland over a child abuse inquiry.

The 39-year-old Australian had been transferred from the main section of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, Jennifer Robinson, one of his legal team, said yesterday.

"The prison authorities are doing it for his own safety, presumably," she said.

Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time on Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden. Prosecutors there want to question him about two women's allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

WikiLeaks insists the allegations are politically motivated because the whistleblowing website has enraged Washington and governments around the world by releasing thousands of classified US diplomatic cables.

Robinson complained that Assange was getting no recreation time in the prison and was having difficulties getting phone calls out. "He is on his own," she said.

The former computer hacker was not allowed to have a laptop in his cell, but his lawyers have requested one.

"We are trying to prepare a legal appeal and he has difficulties hand writing, so it would be much easier in order to assist us in the preparation if he had a laptop," Robinson said, without explaining why he had difficulty writing.

'Massive forces'

Assange was in "very good" spirits but "frustrated" that he could not answer the allegations that WikiLeaks was behind cyber attacks launched on credit card firms that have refused to do business with the website.

"He told me he is absolutely not involved and this is a deliberate attempt to conflate WikiLeaks, which is a publishing organisation, with hacking organisations which are not," she said.

The websites of the Dutch prosecutor's office and police became the latest target of cyber attacks yesterday, "probably" linked to the arrest of a 16-year-old WikiLeaks supporter, officials said.

Assange's lawyer, however, denied reports that his legal team believed a US indictment over WikiLeaks was imminent.

But she added: "Our position is that any prosecution under the espionage act would be unconstitutional and call into question First Amendment protections for all media organisations."

Assange's mother said she was worried for her son because "massive forces" were ranged against him.

Christine Assange dismissed the rape accusations, but told Australia's Seven Network she was concerned about what would happen to him.

"Julian, rape? Straight out of my guts – no way. Julian would not rape," she said, adding: "It's a worry, of course. I am no different from any other mother.

"These massive forces have decided they are going to stop him and they are not going to play by the rules."

Vatican sovereignty

US cables released by WikiLeaks yesterday showed the Vatican refused to cooperate with an Irish probe into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin because the requests were not made through official channels.

Requests for information by the government-appointed 2009 Murphy commission "offended many in the Vatican... because they saw them as an affront to Vatican sovereignty", said a cable from the US embassy in Rome, leaked by WikiLeaks.

The Murphy commission's findings, published in November 2009, caused shock across Ireland and the worldwide Catholic community by detailing how Church authorities covered up for paedophile priests in Dublin for three decades.

Another cable showed that mining giant BHP Billiton lobbied the Australian government hard to bring down a proposed US$19.5 billion deal between its rival Rio Tinto and China's Chinalco.

The deal's collapse "spared" Canberra from having to make a difficult decision on whether to approve the proposal, but left then prime minister Kevin Rudd to face "an unhappy China", the cable said.

And Julieta Noyes, US deputy chief of mission to the Vatican, wrote in a classified cable that the Vatican helped secure the release of 15 British navy personnel detained by Iran in 2007.

But another cable dated April 11, 2007, says the British credited Oman with helping secure the sailors' release, after the foreign minister made regular calls to the Iranian authorities to urge they be freed.

Meanwhile, former WikiLeaks supporters who have fallen out with Assange said they would launch a rival project aiming to get secret documents directly to media, called OpenLeaks.

- AFP

Argentine shepherds, farmers protect forests from soy

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 01:24 PM PST

By Oscar Laski

FEATURE VILMER: A group of small farmers and shepherds in this northern Argentine town have been protesting the destruction of forests to make way for soy crops by routinely blocking a major highway.

Some 20 families have been living for more than a month next to a highway outside Vilmer, some 1,000km (620 miles) northwest of the capital Buenos Aires, and block the road once a day to show their discontent.

"If they kick us off the land of our ancestors to plant soy, the only thing left for us is to go to the towns," said protest leader Guido Corvalan.

Argentina is the world's largest exporter of soybean oil, and large soy farmers are snapping up property even in the hilly rural province of Santiago del Estero, where land is cheap but conditions less than ideal for soy growing.

In the process they are clearing out the trees – especially the red quebracho (Schinopsis lorentzii), a tree native to the area between northern Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. The thin, tall tree is known for its especially hard wood and for its extract, which is used for leather tanning.

Most of Argentina's soy production goes to China: Argentina supplies 70% of China's soybean oil imports (4.6 million tons in 2009), representing some US$2 billion a year.

The soy farmers are also evicting the local farmers and shepherds, many of whom have lived on the land for generations but have no ownership documents. The protesters say they are often threatened by thugs hired by large landowners.

Illegal land sale

"Foreign companies and powerful Argentine corporations are coming to the region," said Luis Recio, another protester. "Their intention is to buy and buy. Or directly move to compulsory eviction."

According to Recio, "the only thing left for us farmers is to resist. We only want to halt the illegal sale of land and protect the forests to keep our animals".

In March, a 31 year-old woman died of a heart attack as she tried to stop a bulldozer from destroying a forested area. The bulldozer was protected by armed men, a sign that the landowners were expecting resistance.

But locals are puzzled why the area is so sought after. Rain is rare in the area, and the soil is not ideal for growing soy.

"I don't understand," said Omar Pranzoni, head of the local forestry department. "In five years the soy farmers may be lucky enough to get a crop only once."

Land however is cheap, about US$150 a hectare compared to US$10,000 a hectare in the damp soil pampa area further south, Pranzoni said.

"Those people who are clear cutting have no idea of what they are doing," said Pranzoni. "It takes 50 years to re-grow the forest."

Special permit

By law, property owners need a special permit to cut down quebracho trees. But landowners get around the limits by surrounding their property with tall trees that block the view from outside, then unleashing the bulldozers.

Some 60,000 hectares (148,200 acres) of land have been legally clear-cut in the province, Pranzoni said, a figure he believes is about one-sixth of the total land that has actually been razed.

At a Catholic church in nearby Pozo Hondo, population 2,000, the priest, Father Sergio, helps the locals deal with the dislocation.

"People come to the church for their day-to-day problems – concrete issues like land, food, evictions," said the priest. "They usually don't come for the religious services."

Locals rely on Radio La Merced, a station located next to the church, for the latest local news on clear cutting. Often they call the station to report bulldozers in the area, allowing protesters to rush to a threatened site in an attempt to stop the destruction.

- AFP

Flood-swept Czech town turns disaster into development

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 01:23 PM PST

By Jan Flemr

FEATURE CHRASTAVA: Not many Czech towns of 6,000 might push "pinup" calendars featuring local women but Chrastava, ravaged by floods in August, has put a novel spin on turning disaster into development.

The town is still reeling from the devastation wrought when fierce rains turned a local river into a raging waterway, flooding 200 homes in this northern locality right near the Polish and German borders.

Damage is estimated at 1.5 billion koruna (US$81 million) but relief funds from the central government have been slow to arrive.

So the town, 100km (62 miles) north of the capital Prague, took reconstruction into its own hands.

Chrastava now boasts several projects, including a new – if eccentric – footbridge to replace the old one washed away in the floods: a rickety, wood-framed, hand-propelled funicular for pedestrians.

"The frame is a bit unstable. You operate it at your own risk," admitted Mayor Michael Canov, a burly man with a black beard, as he carefully entered the swinging wooden cage hanging on a steel pipe mounted to a frame.

He gripped a rope at waist level and pulled hand-over-hand to set the cage or "gondola" in motion, drawing it across the river to a hill with a train stop and castle ruins popular with tourists.

"It's not in the town centre. But it will help local people a lot," beamed the 49-year-old Canov.

'Flood calendar'

Prague architect Martin Rajnis, who designed the device, donated his plan to Czech towns that lost pedestrian bridges. He said he drew inspiration from similar projects in Germany, France and Spain.

"They have been used for a long time," said Rajnis. "But this is the only 'transporter bridge' in the Czech Republic. And, as far as I know, it's the only one anywhere that's made of wood."

Rajnis' students built the device, which cost 650,000 koruna (US$35,000), in less than a week thanks to money raised by a group of Czech entrepreneurs.

But Chrastava is not only relying on help from on outsiders.

A group of 12 local women produced a fund-raising "flood calendar", posing – modestly by pinup standards – in overalls and rubber boots as they take a break from cleaning up flood debris.

"Many people helped us and we in turn wanted to help someone else," said Klara Sehnoutkova, who organised the project.

"These all were ordinary girls posing in ordinary situations," said the 31-year-old "Miss May", pictured on a concrete collar, shovel in hand. She said a first print run of 2,000 was selling well.

"All 12 of us were flooded, and since nine of us have small kids, we decided to use the proceeds to help children – the kindergarten, the elementary school, the young footballers and a playground," said Sehnoutkova.

Looking for distraction

The woman, who expects to return to her badly damaged house early next year, found her models among friends and on a town website list of flooded households. A local photographer took the pictures for free.

"When they came up with the idea, I thought: 'They're OK now. They are looking for distraction because they were hit so badly by the flood.' So of course I liked the idea," said Canov.

Another local woman has sponsored a collection of "flood postcards" showing damaged houses, with proceeds from sales to help flood victims.

Despite the positive note to the initiatives, Mayor Canov has much to worry about – most repairs are temporary and urgent pleas to the regional development ministry have failed to speed up aid.

"We have filed about 50 requests, but we have only received one interim report saying that something looked promising. We don't have a single decision yet," said Canov.

Worse, a major employer – Spanish car parts maker Grupo Antolin – wants to leave the town after its factory was flooded.

The facility, whose 500 employees produce ceiling panels for cars made by the largest Czech-based auto maker, Skoda Auto, said it plans to move to a new location seven kilometres away, but has vowed not to sack any of its employees.

"But you know how it is – the jobs will always be more available to people who live nearer, and it will also be unpleasant for the town which will have lower income from taxes and an empty factory on its hands," Canov worried.

And the spectre of more flooding haunts Chrastava.

Two recent days of heavy rainfall forced police to close a street on the verge of collapsing into a river.

"I only hope the flood won't come again. Some people probably would not get over it emotionally," said Sehnoutkova.

- AFP

In his element, Bill Clinton returns to White House

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 08:44 PM PST

  WASHINGTON, Dec 11 — Bill Clinton basked in the spotlight again at the White House yesterday, holding court with the press and trying to use his popularity to help the current Democratic president pass a controversial tax deal. Wearing a green tie and clearly enjoying himself, the former president made a surprise visit to the White House press ...


One of a kind batik

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 08:47 PM PST

There are not many professional Chinese artists specialising in batik paintings in Malaysia, and 71-year-old Choo Yi Min is one of the very few.

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Blessed with descendents

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 08:44 PM PST

I am the mother of a pair of Irish twins. Before I go further, let me delineate the meaning and origins of the term "Irish twins.

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US attorney general defends anti-terrorism stings

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 08:58 PM PST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday strongly defended undercover sting tactics like those used last month to capture an Oregon man charged with trying to plant a fake bomb at a holiday festival.

UN talks take up 'deep cuts' on climate

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 12:46 PM PST

By Shaun Tandon

CANCUN: The world's climate negotiators yesterday considered "deep cuts" in emissions to hold back climate change as part of a package that would pave the way for billions of dollars in aid to poor countries.

Sleep-deprived envoys from more than 190 countries were presented a hard-fought draft agreement by host Mexico that also leaves open an extension of the landmark Kyoto Protocol whose commitments run out at the end of 2012.

Faced with scientists' warnings that global warming is already taking a toll, the draft proposal calls for "urgent action" to cap temperature rises at no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

The proposal, to be considered late yesterday by a full session, "recognises that deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required according to science". Scientists blame the mostly industrial emissions for global warming.

The accord at last year's chaotic summit in Copenhagen included similar language, but it was never approved by the full UN-led talks.

Negotiators have met for two weeks in the beach resort of Cancun, hoping to set up the building blocks for a new comprehensive deal on climate change, perhaps at the next major talks at the end of 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

After spending a sleepless night, the negotiators called off public events and met throughout the final scheduled day yesterday to iron out remaining disputes – chief among them, on the future of the Kyoto Protocol.

Faced with the growing prospect that a new climate treaty is distant, the European Union has led calls to extend the Kyoto Protocol.

Japan has adamantly opposed a new Kyoto round, pointing out that the treaty named after its ancient capital covers only 30% of global emissions because China and the United States are not part of it.

Russia, a major exporter of carbon-intense fossil fuels, has backed Japan's position, while Canada was also seen as a quiet supporter.

In a compromise, the proposed Cancun agreement would call for talks to set up a second period of the Kyoto Protocol but not oblige members of the treaty – such as Japan and Russia – to be part of the new round.

Positive image

Japan and Russia "accept this language, while before they didn't accept it", Brazilian negotiator Luiz Alberto Figueiredo told reporters.

"This is positive language which clearly states a second period of commitments" under the Kyoto Protocol, said Figueiredo, a supporter of the treaty.

Japan faced intense pressure at the talks to compromise, with British Prime Minister David Cameron early yesterday telephoning his counterpart Naoto Kan, diplomats said.

The Kyoto Protocol makes no demands on emerging economies such as China and India to curb emissions. China has refused to be subjected to a treaty, although India in a surprise shift in Cancun said it would at least consider binding action in the future.

The United States is the sole rich nation to reject the Kyoto Protocol. US President Barack Obama has pledged action but is hobbled after his rivals in the Republican Party swept mid-term elections.

Haunted by the Copenhagen summit, host Mexico tried to focus on areas of agreement instead of seeking an ambitious full treaty. It also insisted on transparency rather than closed-door talks among major powers.

In one area of agreement, the conference looked set to chart out the future of a global fund to distribute aid.

"There is agreement and convergence, I would say, on what the foundation would be," Bangladesh's Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud said.

The European Union, Japan and the United States have led pledges of US$100 billion a year for poor nations, which many experts say are already suffering a rise in floods and drought as temperatures steadily mount.

A broader issue is just how wealthy nations would raise the money, with some negotiators advocating levies on airplane and shipping fuel.

The talks also look likely to make headway on spelling out ways in which wealthy nations can help developing states preserve tropical forests – a crucial way to combat climate change as lush vegetation counteracts pollution.

- AFP

Madoff trustee sues to recover US$19.6b

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 12:04 PM PST

NEW YORK: A trustee charged with recovering assets from the massive Bernard Madoff fraud case yesterday sued an Austrian banker and her alleged conspirators for US$19.6 billion (RM61.4 billion).

In a lawsuit filed in a New York court – the largest civil lawsuit filed in the case to date – Irving Picard claims Sonja Kohn collaborated for more than 20 years with Madoff in his massive Ponzi scheme.

"In Sonja Kohn, Madoff found a criminal soul mate, whose greed and dishonest inventiveness equaled his own," Picard said in a statement.

According to the lawsuit, Kohn, 62, who lives in Europe, built in 1985 the Medici Enterprise, which still operates, to feed Madoff's scheme with money from new investors.

"For more than twenty years, Kohn masterminded a vast illegal scheme... to exploit her privileged relationship with Madoff to feed over US$9.1 billion of other people's money into his Ponzi scheme."

"No Ponzi scheme can survive without a constant influx of fresh capital, and the illegal scheme provided a flood of cash for Madoff," Irving said in the lawsuit.

According to Picard, Kohn founded the Medici Enterprise in Austria together with more than 50 individuals and firms, including Bank Austria, Italy's biggest bank UniCredit and "dozens of trusts and nominee companies established under the laws of many different countries to further and conceal the illegal scheme."

The lawsuit came one day before Picard's deadline to file lawsuits against Madoff's alleged enablers expires when the statue of limitations kicks in at midnight on Saturday.

Byzantine structure

Picard estimated the total money lost in the Madoff-Kohn Ponzi scheme at approximately US$19.6 billion in net investor deposits, saying that Madoff had secretly paid Kohn at least US$62 million in kickbacks.

"Without Kohn's illegal scheme, the Ponzi scheme could not have continued for as long as it did," he said.

But while Kohn "held herself as extremely close to Madoff", she and her co-conspirators were cautious not to ever establish direct accounts in Madoff's scheme, he said.

"Given the scope of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, the deceptive nature of the defendants, and the deliberately Byzantine structure of the Medici Enterprise, we believe that even more information regarding the full scope of this criminal enterprise will be revealed through discovery," Picard said.

Madoff, who touted himself as one of New York's most successful money managers, was arrested in early December 2008 for running a pyramid scheme. He was sentenced in June 2009 to 150 years in prison.

Madoff's victims, including charities, major banks, Hollywood moguls and savvy financial players, handed him tens of billions of dollars over more than two decades.

The amount of money stolen remains elusive: Madoff originally claimed to have been managing US$65 billion, but in October the court-appointed liquidator said the real bottom line was US$21.2 billion.

Picard has filed in recent days a raft of lawsuits against individuals and banks from the United States, Europe and Japan seeking to recover some of the lost assets.

- AFP

Iran TV shows stoning woman acting out husband's murder

Posted: 10 Dec 2010 08:24 PM PST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian television aired a documentary on Saturday in which a woman whose stoning sentence caused global outrage staged a graphic reconstruction of her husband's murder for which she faces possible hanging.

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