Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Why Hitler is still hero-worshipped in India...

My wife teaches French to tenth-grade students at a private school here in Mumbai. During one recent class, she asked these mostly upper-middle-class kids to complete the sentence “J'admire …” with the name of the historical figure they most admired.

To say she was disturbed by the results would be to understate her reaction. Of 25 students in the class, 9 picked Adolf Hitler, making him easily the highest vote-getter in this particular exercise; a certain Mohandas Gandhi was the choice of precisely one student. Discussing the idea of courage with other students once, my wife was startled by the contempt they had for Gandhi. “He was a coward!” they said. And as far back as 2002, the Times of India reported a survey that found that 17 percent of students in elite Indian colleges “favored Adolf Hitler as the kind of leader India ought to have.”

In a place where Gandhi becomes a coward, perhaps Hitler becomes a hero.

Still, why Hitler? “He was a fantastic orator,” said the 10th-grade kids. “He loved his country; he was a great patriot. He gave back to Germany a sense of pride they had lost after the Treaty of Versailles,” they said.

"And what about the millions he murdered?” asked my wife. “Oh, yes, that was bad,” said the kids. “But you know what, some of them were traitors.” Full story...

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Outrage after Indonesian official divorces teenage bride...

An Indonesian official is facing calls for his resignation after it emerged he divorced a teenager by text message following four days of marriage.

Aceng Fikri, the elected head of Garut in West Java province, has publicly apologised amid the outcry. Hundreds protested against him on Tuesday.

Mr Fikri, 40, is married with three children and took the 17-year-old as his second wife in a Muslim ceremony.

He divorced her after reportedly discovering she was not a virgin.

(...)

Mr Fikri told local media that Ms Octora was not a virgin and "doesn't meet the promised specifications so I sent her back". Full story...

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Boy burned as BlackBerry phone 'bursts into flames'

A schoolboy suffered serious burns after a BlackBerry smartphone appeared to burst into flames in the middle of the night and set fire to his bed.

Kian McCreath, 11, fled from his bedroom screaming "my bed is on fire" after flames engulfed him while he slept last weekend.

His mother Sarah, 39, awoke to her son’s screams after the new BlackBerry device, bought as a gift for his brother, Mason, malfunctioned and spontaneously combusted.

 The youngster was rushed to University Hospital Coventry with serious burns to his legs and feet after plastic stuck to his skin. He has been left permanently scarred. Full story...

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Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Blind spot...

Amnesty calls for justice for Bhopal gas victims...

Amnesty International on Monday said that 28 years after the Bhopal gas tragedy tens of thousands of victims of ``the world’s worst industrial disaster’’ were still awaiting justice.

In a statement, it said that not only had the victims not been adequately compensated, there had ``yet to be a thorough investigation into the health effects of the disaster on people’s lives’’.

“The industrial skeleton of the former Union Carbide factory still lies abandoned in the centre of Bhopal, with more than 350 tonnes of toxic waste untreated inside. Some 40,000 people are living next to the factory, and have been exposed to the toxic waste for years,” it said urging the Indian Government and Dow Chemical to clean up the site immediately.

 Nearly 150,000 people were battling chronic illnesses of the lungs or liver. Women had suffered disproportionately with many complaining of gynaecological and reproductive health disorders. Full story...

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Chinese woman breastfeeds husband's monkeys...

A monkey trainer's wife has revealed her secret contribution to her husband's business - she breastfeeds his simian students.

Wife Jiao Xinzhen made a clean breast of the bizarre method during interviews to promote husband Huang Aiqing's monkey school in Nanyang, Henan province, China.

Huang, 34, has become the region's top monkey trainer supplying young apes for work in movies, circuses, theatres and street performers.

 And his wife Jiao, 27, explained: "Many times, some of the baby monkeys slip onto our bed at night to suckle. Full story...

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Vienna has the best quality of life - and Baghdad the worst...

Austria's capital offers its residents the best quality of life of any city in the world and Baghdad the worst, according to the latest global survey from consultant group Mercer.

The Austrian capital with 1.7 million residents came top of the survey for the fourth year in a row, boasting of a vibrant cultural scene alongside comprehensive health care and moderate but rising housing costs. Its opulent architecture from the time of the Habsburg empire makes it a tourist magnet.

The reliable public transport system costs just 1 euro a day for an annual pass in a city governed by left-leaning Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens.

(...)

Despite its sovereign debt crisis, Europe has 15 of the world's top 25 cities in the 2012 survey. Germany and Switzerland each have three in the top 10. The lowest-ranking city in western Europe was Athens, gripped by deep economic woes. Full story...

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Dumb ways to die...

South African farmers fearing for their lives...

Since the attack on Attie Potgieter and his family, the simple stone farmhouse where they lived has stood empty and crumbling, with nobody wanting to live in the home where one of South Africa's most disturbingly brutal crimes took place.

Mr Potgieter, a farm caretaker, was stabbed and hacked 151 times with a garden fork, a knife and a machete near Lindley in the Free State - the agricultural heart of the country.

His wife, Wilna, and two-year-old daughter, Willemien, were both made to watch him die, before being shot in the head, execution style.

 All for pocket money, and possessions of relatively little value – a too-common story in South Africa's rural areas, where mostly white Afrikaner farmers feel they are being targeted in gratuitously violent attacks on their remote farms and smallholdings. They accuse police and government of failing to make these crimes a priority. And as the horrifying murders continue, they are growing increasingly angry. Full story...

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Rich Saudi woman offers $1.33m to marry...

A Saudi woman is offering SRfive million ($1.33 million) for a man who agrees to marry her under a Misyar contract and accepts all her conditions.

The 33-year-old woman, who did not reveal her identity, published an advertisement in the Saudi Arabic language magazine Sayidaty saying she is looking for a “misyar husband” after the failure of her first traditional marriage three years ago.

She said her first marriage collapsed after she found out that her husband married her for money and did not respect their “marital relationship.”

Sayidaty said the woman lives in the western Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah and that those interested can e mail her through the magazine. Full story...

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The mob mentality that prevents things improving for Pakistan's minorities...

By any standards, the last few days have been bleak for Pakistan’s persecuted minority communities.

It started on Saturday, when a century-old Hindu temple in Karachi’s busy Soldier Bazaar area was demolished with the help of police. The Shri Rama Pir Mandir (temple) was razed to the ground along with three or four houses, by a private builder acting with the assistance of the local administration. This was despite the fact that a court stay order protecting the site had been granted. The bulldozers arrived in the morning, and people were told to get out of their houses. They watched as their homes and possessions were destroyed, unable to do anything about it. In this poverty-ridden cantonment, people live in cramped conditions. Around four families lived in each house that was destroyed, meaning that some 40 people have been made homeless.

Perhaps even more distressing for residents was the wanton destruction of their place of worship. The scene was devastating. Hindu deities sat among the rubble; families wept and screamed “if you don’t want us, we’ll go to India”. Astonishingly, despite the physical evidence, the authorities have continued to claim that the temple was not destroyed and that they were only acting against illegal occupants. This blatant dishonesty demonstrates the impunity with which the authorities can operate, confident that the disenfranchised Hindu community will be unable to do much about it. Full story...

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North Korean prisoner escapes after 23 brutal years...

David Relin: 'Three Cups of Tea' co-author commits suicide in US...

David Relin, co-author of the book "Three Cups of Tea", which faced allegations that parts of it were fabricated, has committed suicide.

Mr Relin, 49, a journalist, wrote the book with activist Greg Mortenson. It told the story of how Mr Mortenson got lost on a mountaineering descent from K2 and was then nursed back to health in the Pakistani village of Korphe, which inspired him to build a school for them, and chronicled how he went on to build other schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The book was published in 2006 and sold four million copies, raising money for Mr Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, which he founded in 1996 to build schools in Central Asia.

 Last year US television magazine "60 Minutes" and author Jon Krakauer alleged that that the book contained numerous fabrications, including the story of mr Mortenson's rescue by the people of Korphe. Full story...

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European Roma descended from Indian 'untouchables', genetic study shows...

Roma gypsies in Britain and Europe are descended from "dalits" or low caste "untouchables" who migrated from the Indian sub-continent 1,400 years ago, a genetic study has suggested.

Gypsies have long believed they have origins in India, citing common Sanskrit words in their languages and photographs of darker-skinned ancestors in South Asian clothes, while earlier research has offered some scientific support for their suspicions.

Now a study led by Indian and Estonian academics, including Dr Toomas Kivisild of Cambridge University, has confirmed their origins in the Indian sub-continent, and even identified the location and social background from which they emerged.

 The findings have been welcomed by Britain's Gypsy Council, which said it would help to promote understanding of Roma people throughout Europe. "We are Britain's first Non-Resident Indian community," said council spokesman Joseph Jones. Full story...

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Indian village bans use of cellphones by girls! WTF!!!

In a khap-like diktat in Bihar otherwise not known for khap panchayats, a meeting of villagers of Sunderbari panchayat in Kishanganj district have ordered complete ban on the use of cellphones by unmarried girls and restricted use of the same by married women only within the four walls of their home.

The meeting held at Sunderbari's Tupamari village on Sunday also formed a 'social consultative committee' and mandated it to implement the ban and impose a fine of Rs 10,000 for its violation by unmarried girls and Rs 2,000 on married women who venture out of their homes with cellphones and receive and make calls.

The committee, headed by one Manwar Alam, has one Dr Shadir Amam as its treasurer to act as the custodian of the money collected as fine from erring women.

 While Kishanganj DM Sandeep Kumar R Pudakalkatti told TOI he had ordered a probe into the "unlawful diktat", Alam defended the move as the use of cellphones by women "hugely erodes the moral fabric of the society". Full story...

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Indian govt relaxes visa norms for tourists...

The government has eased restrictions on tourist visas which had mandated a two-month gap between consecutive visits by foreign nationals.

However, nationals of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh, foreigners of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin and "stateless persons" will continue to come under the 60-day gap rule. The move is likely to breathe fresh life into the tourism industry and comes just ahead of the peak tourist season. India's share of international tourist arrivals in 2011 was a mere 0.64%.

The tourist visa restriction, which was relaxed on Monday, was introduced in November 2009 in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks when it was found that Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley had succeeded in breaching security norms to visit India several times over a period of 3-4 years.

 A decision to review the visa restrictions was taken by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in January 2012 after concerns were raised by the tourism ministry that the negative perception following the move had affected flow of tourists to India. Full story...

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Humanitarian cover-up: why is Obama silent over the new Congo war?

The United States is a silent partner in the latest bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, under siege by so-called M23 “rebels” controlled by U.S. allies Rwanda and Uganda. “It’s likely that the Obama administration will jump into action as soon as his M23 allies complete their military objective of regime change, and re-open the Congo’s military wealth to U.S. corporations to profit from.”

The last Congo war that ended in 2003 killed 5.4 million people, the worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. The killing was directly enabled by international silence over the issue; the war was ignored and the causes obscured because governments were backing groups involved in the fighting. Now a new Congo war has begun and the silence is, again, deafening.

President Obama seems not to have noticed a new war has broken out in the war-scarred Congo; he appears blind to the refugee crisis and the war crimes committed by the invading M23 militia against the democratically elected government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

But appearances can be deceiving. The U.S. government has their bloody hands all over this conflict, just as they did during the last Congo war when Bill Clinton was President. President Obama’s inaction is a conscious act of encouragement for the invaders, just as Clinton’s was. Instead of Obama denouncing the invasion and the approaching overthrow of a democratically elected government, silence becomes a very powerful action of intentional complicity on the side of the invaders. Full story...

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2,000 primary pupils arrested for naughtiness...

Six primary school children are being arrested every day leading to youngsters being criminalised for behaviour that was once written off as naughtiness, a report claims.

More than 209,000 young people were detained by police in England and Wales last year with 2,117 under the age of 11.

But campaigners claim just a quarter of those children arrested are ever sentenced for a criminal offence, with most being picked up for indulging in pranks and minor mischief.

 In one case in Sussex, four youngsters were swooped upon by police after throwing sticks at a horse chestnut tree and in another case in Cheshire an 11-year-old schoolboy was arrested on suspicion of a hate-crime after calling a classmate gay. Full story...

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Australian surveillance ‘out of control’: 20% increase in 1 year...

Access to private data has increased by 20 per cent by Australia’s law enforcement and government agencies – and with no warrant. Australians are 26 times more prone to be placed under surveillance than people in other countries, local media report.

In such a way, state structures accessed private information over 300,000 times last year – or 5,800 times every week, figures from the federal Attorney General’s Department showcase.

The data includes phone and internet account information, the details of out and inbound calls, telephone and internet access location data, as well as everything related to the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses visited, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reports.

Australian media report that every government agency and organization use the gathered telecommunications data, and those include the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Tax Office, Medicare and Australia Post. Full story...

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Youth soccer referee killed after being beaten by players...

A man who was working as a linesman during a youth soccer match in the Netherlands has died after being beaten and kicked by several players.

Richard Nieuwenhuizen collapsed and was rushed to the hospital hours after players from Amsterdam club Nieuw Sloten punched and kicked him. Nieuwenhuizen's club, Buitenboys, announced the death Monday but not the exact cause.

Three players, whose ages range from 15 to 16, were arrested earlier Monday for alleged involvement in the beating.

Dutch sports minister Edith Schippers told national broadcaster NOS even before the news of Nieuwenhuizen's death that "it is absolutely terrible that something like this can happen on a Dutch sports field." Full story...

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Monday, December 03, 2012

Light Emitting Dudes - LED Freerunning...

Singapore cracks down on a strike...

Singapore last week came down hard on what began as a small, peaceful strike by a group of bus drivers, arresting five on criminal charges and unceremoniously deporting another 29 to China.

After the harsh action by the government, however, officials from the Manpower and Transport ministries, in press conferences last Saturday, said SMRT, one of two major transit companies on the island republic, could have managed the concerns of its workers better and added that the incident was a timely reminder for employers to look into their obligations to workers.

 In addition to questions over the strike itself, however, the action also raised questions why foreign workers should be paid less than Singaporeans for doing the same work. SMRT employs some 400 Bus Drivers from China, amounting to roughly a third of total driver staff strength. The affair began on Nov. 26 when 171 drivers from SMRT, refused to work in the morning, assembling outside their dormitory in protest against what they said were poor living conditions and discrepancies in pay for drivers of different nationalities. Of those, 88 continued the strike on Tuesday. Full story...

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Saudi cleric under fire for labelling waitresses as ‘prostitutes’

A Twitter post ignited a battle of arguments over a post tweeted by a Saudi cleric describing the newly-introduced waitress at a fast-food restaurant in Saudi Arabia as “prostitutes”.

The debated topic sparked when Saudi Sheikh Ali Al Mutairi reacted to a number of Saudi tweets calling for the boycott of popular American fast-food restaurant, Hardee’s.

The reason?

The burger chain had recently allowed women – for the first time – to work as waitresses at their branches across the coastal city of Jeddah.

 “At the beginning of her shift she’s a waitress. When her shift ends she becomes a prostitute. The more she’s around men the easier it becomes to get closer to her”, tweeted Al-Mutairi, whose twitter account (@4aalmutairi ) boasts more than 5,000 followers. Full story...

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"Thighs of a virgin?" South Africa's 'inappropriate' school names to be examined...

As an invitation for schoolboy humour they are hard to beat, but council officials can no longer see the funny side.

For years, schools in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province have borne Zulu and Afrikaans names which, when translated into English, would brighten any CV. They include Mathangetshitshi (thighs of a virgin), Esinqeni (at the buttocks) and one that generations of pupils can empathise with: Tilongo (prison).

Now, in a much-needed overhaul of the province's education system, authorities say 15 unorthodox school names have to go.

"These are not educationally sound and will need to be addressed," Senzo Mchunu, an education executive councillor in KwaZulu-Natal, said at a recent launch event in Durban. "Such names are not inspiring." Full story...

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Internet hangs in balance as world governments meet in secret...

There’s a lot of sky-is-falling doomsday predictions about the World Conference on International Telecommunications, which opens Monday in Dubai with some 190-plus nations discussing the global internet’s future.

That’s because much of the accompanying proposals from the global community have been kept under lock and key, although some of the positions of nations have been leaked and published online.

The idea behind the meetings is to update the International Telecommunications Regulations governed by the International Telecommunications Union, a United Nations agency known as the ITU, that is responsible for global communication technologies.

But the outcome of the two-week session isn’t likely to make much change, as no proposal will be accepted if not agreed to by all nations. And the biggest fear — that the session will lead to net censorship — has already come to pass. Full story...

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External worlds...