China says Nobel prize shows lack of respect

China says Nobel prize shows lack of respect

China says Nobel prize shows lack of respect

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 01:13 AM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Giving the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed dissident showed lack of respect for China's legal system, the government said on Tuesday, in further criticism of an award that has stirred tensions over human rights.


Ten killed in train, bus collision in Ukraine

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 01:13 AM PDT

KIEV (Reuters) - Ten people were killed on Tuesday when a small bus collided with a train in eastern Ukraine, police said.


Tanker in collision with container vessel in North Sea

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 01:13 AM PDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Greek tanker with jet fuel and a Cypriot container ship collided some 30 km off the Dutch coast at Scheveningen, the Dutch coast guard said on Tuesday.


Q+A - Are Thailand's "red shirts" regrouping?

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 01:13 AM PDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government "red shirts" remain a potent extra-parliamentary force in Thailand, despite bloody clashes with the military five months ago and the arrest and detention of several hundred protesters.


China releases nine Vietnamese fishermen: Vietnam

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:44 AM PDT

HANOI, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - China has freed nine Vietnamese fishermen held for the past month after they were caught in disputed South China Sea waters, Vietnam's Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh said Tuesday.

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Tanker in collision with container vessel in North Sea

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:42 AM PDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A tanker with jet fuel and a container ship collided some 30 km off the Dutch coast at Scheveningen, the Dutch coast guard said on Tuesday.


Cambodia denies Thai assasination plot charges

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:42 AM PDT

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia denied on Tuesday accusations from neighbouring Thailand that a Cambodian military base was used to train Thais linked to a plot to assassinate Thailand's leaders.


Venice in London

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:26 AM PDT

(LONDON-AFP) - The National Gallery in London hosts "Venice: Canaletto And His Rivals", a major exhibition of paintings hailed as the finest of its kind in around 40 years. It brings together some 50 major loans from collections across Europe and North America. It opens on the 13th October. Copyright (AFP RELAXNEWS/ AFPTV), 2010.

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Star Wars maker to build studio facility in Singapore

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:14 AM PDT

SINGAPORE, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - "Star Wars" creator Lucasfilm will soon start construction of its first purpose-built overseas production facility in Singapore, the US movie and animation giant said Tuesday.

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'Tiananmen Mothers' call for Liu's release

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:13 AM PDT

BEIJING, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - Relatives of victims of the bloody suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests on Tuesday called on the Chinese government to release Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo from prison.

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Eldest son of N.Korean leader opposes hereditary power shift

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:12 AM PDT

TOKYO, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said he opposes the hereditary transfer of power to his brother in the communist state, in an interview with Japan's TV Asahi broadcast on Tuesday.

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US asks China to let Nobel laureate's wife move freely

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:11 AM PDT

BEIJING, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday called on China to lift any restrictions on the movements of the wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who has said she is under house arrest.

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India industrial output growth slows to 5.6%

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:10 AM PDT

NEW DELHI, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - India's industrial output rose just 5.6% year-on-year in August, a sharp decline from a revised 15.2% surge the previous month, official data showed Tuesday.

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Australian prime minister warns of mining boom risk

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:08 AM PDT

SYDNEY, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - Australia risks developing a lopsided economy in which some areas boom while others fall backwards if it relies too much on the Asia-driven resources rush, Prime Minister Julia Gillard warned Tuesday.

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Philippine leader seeks amnesty for military mutineers

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:06 AM PDT

MANILA, Tuesday 12 October 2010 (AFP) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday said he had recommended amnesties for jailed soldiers who mounted three armed mutinies against his predecessor.

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Tanker leaks jet fuel in N. Sea after collision-report

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:14 AM PDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A tanker with jet fuel and a container ship collided some 30 km off the Dutch coast at Scheveningen, the Dutch ANP newsagency said on Tuesday.


Seventeen killed in head-on collision in Poland

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:14 AM PDT

WARSAW (Reuters) - Seventeen people died in a head-on collision in central Poland Tuesday when a passenger van hit a lorry, after swerving into the opposite lane in thick morning fog.


China frees Vietnamese fishermen as ministers meet

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:14 AM PDT

HANOI (Reuters) - China has released nine Vietnamese fishermen it detained near disputed islands, an issue which had theatened to raise tensions during a regional meeting of defence ministers in Hanoi.


France strikes again as pension reforms pass into law

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 03:32 PM PDT

PARIS: French unions launched fresh strikes today to protest a rise in the retirement age, threatening open-ended action to force the government to back down, even as the key proposals were voted into law.

In the fourth major action against the government reforms in a month, transport workers, teachers and civil servants stopped work in a bid to halt the plan, a cornerstone of President Nicolas Sarkozy's programme.

But as poll ratings for Sarkozy hit a low and support for the unions jumped, French senators passed another key measure late yesterday, raising the age for a full state pension from 65 to 67.

Aviation and railway officials have warned travellers to expect serious disruption to air and rail traffic.

Up to half the flights to and from Paris Orly airport and one in three at Charles de Gaulle and Paris Beauvais were cancelled.

All night trains, apart from the Paris-Rome route, were cancelled and just one in three TGV high-speed trains was expected to run although Eurostar trains between Paris and London were due to operate normally.

Many Paris commuter trains were not running, though buses were operating normally and metro services were also less affected. Teachers, truckers and postal workers were expected to strike later today.

Organisers of the action were hoping for a strong turn-out to show that opposition had not waned in the face of the legislative fait accompli.

Already over the last month, the unions have organised three mass protests including two strikes, which brought hundreds of thousands out onto the streets.

But the government has stuck to its policies.

"We're not here to do what's easy, we don't always have the people's approval," Labour Minister Eric Woerth told the senators.

"It's difficult to tell the French that they have to work more, up to 67 years, but it has to be done."

Raising the stakes

This time some unions have raised the stakes, with threats to prolong the strikes beyond today and a call for a further day of demonstrations on Saturday.

But it was unclear how many workers would vote to extend their action. All the rail unions voted to ballot their members on an open-ended strike, but teachers and truckers were only planning to strike today.

Union leaders have also appealed to school and university students to join them in the streets -- a tactic denounced by Woerth as "totally irresponsible".

A two-week-old strike at oil terminals in Marseille against port reforms has added to the pressure on the government, with fears that fuel shortages could soon reach refineries.

A CSA poll released on Sunday showed the president's approval rating dropping one point to 31%, his lowest since 2007.

But the pensions bill is a key plank of Sarkozy's reform agenda as he eyes re-election in 2012 and tries to rein in France's big public deficit.

The pollster's findings were more encouraging for the unions.

A survey by pollster CSA for Le Parisien newspaper published yesterday said 69% of French people still backed today's strike, with 61% in favour of more open-ended industrial action.

And an Ifop poll for France-Soir newspaper showed a sharp rise in support for the unions: 53% of those polled trusted the unions -- up 10 points from a similar poll carried out in June.

Some union activists nevertheless fear the protest may be running out of steam and that this is the last chance to make the government back down.

The Senate's deliberations are due to last until Friday and the government hopes for the reform to be passed in its entirety by the end of the month.

- AFP

Kim Jong-Il’s eldest says opposes dynastic succession

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 11:46 PM PDT

SEOUL, Oct 12 — The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il says he is opposed to the idea of dynastic succession in his country but wishes the best for his brother who has been chosen by their father as heir. Kim Jong-nam, who is known to live in China and Macau, told Japan's TV Asahi that he personally had no interest in becoming leader, ...


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