No visa Dalai Lama cancels visit to South Africa...

The Dalai Lama says South Africa's failure to issue him a travel visa has forced him to call off his planned participation in this week's birthday celebration of anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Dalai Lama's office in India said it is convinced that, “for whatever reason,” the South Africa government “finds it inconvenient” to issue a travel visa to the Tibetan leader.

The Dalai Lama requested a South African visa five months ago so he could attend Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations, which begins this Thursday.

South African officials have denied being under pressure from China, a key trading partner, to block the visit. China regularly applies diplomatic pressure to governments that permit visits by the Dalai Lama. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. A fifth Tibetan monk sets himself on fire to protest religious repression...
2. China can't remember Dalai Lama's birthday!!! 
3. China "unhappy" with foreign support for artist Ai Weiwei...
4. Robert Mugabe's blood diamond mine run by the Chinese Red Army...
5. Cameron warns Africans about the 'Chinese invasion' of their continent...
6. German overstays New Zealand visa by 20 years...

The Amanda Knox case is another blow to the press...

News that Amanda Knox had been found guilty sent publishers into a spin. Nowadays we all want to be FIRST!!!!!, the irritating commenter who leaves their response first under a story, and first is everything, whether it's completely right or not. It was only a few minutes later, when those who had been patient enough to listen to the Italian translation of the whole verdict, realised that Knox was only guilty of libel, and not of murder.

It's embarrassing for the Mail Online, and others, who in their rush to publish, got it so badly wrong. It's understandable that a paper would have two versions of a story ready to go; and that legal teams and all other parties would provide quotes to the media based on both eventualities ahead of any decision. What isn't understandable is the making up of details: "She sank into her chair sobbing uncontrollably", according to the Mail, but that never happened, because she wasn't found guilty.

In the rush to be first, sometimes something - anything - will do, and quality can suffer as a result. This sort of thing has always happened in newspapers since the presses began to roll - remember the photo of a grinning Harry Truman holding up a front page saying he had been defeated in the presidential election - and many are the times when papers will have a couple of versions of a story ready to go when they know what the outcome is. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. The Daily Mail Song!!!
2. Tamil hunger striker accused of eating burgers sues newspapers...
3. The depressing tale of Johann Hari...
4. How Rupert Murdoch ran Britain... 
5. The Colbert Report on the "Islamic" attack on Norway...
6. World's media tricked by fake bin Laden photo...
7. Did the BBC lie about the mass grave and the 1,200 bodies found in Libya?
8. BBC shows Anna Hazare protest in India as Tripoli Green Square!!! WTF!

Afghan yuppies get rich on ten years of war...

"Business is booming, I have made good profits since the Taliban were ousted," said a smiling Sayed Habib as he showed Western dresses to young women in one of Kabul's glitziest shopping malls.

Habib, 34, is one of a new generation of rich young Afghans driving flashy cars and wearing designer labels who have made fortunes in Afghanistan's war economy since the US-led invasion 10 years ago.

His shop is one of many signs that some in the Afghan capital are now very wealthy -- although Kabul's mirrored glass malls and lavish mansions often sit on dusty roads dotted with children begging for money, highlighting wider, ingrained poverty.

And despite their wealth, many of the city's yuppies are worried that the withdrawal of US-led combat forces in 2014 will mean security declines and the economic boom turns to bust. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. The corporate warriors who make a killing in Afghanistan...
2. Pallets of cash flown out of Afghanistan by corrupt offcials...
3. What is the true cost of the war in Afghanistan?
4. $30 billion stolen by US contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan...
5. Afghan VIPs smuggle $10 million in cash EVERY SINGLE DAY...
6. Ten great myths about foreign aid and how your money is squandered...

Bomoh called in as girls in Malaysian school are hit by hysteria...

Pandemonium broke out in a school hall when 10 out of 200 pupils taking their year-end examinations yesterday were hit by a bout of hysteria.

The incident at SK Pengkalan Kubor 1, came on the back of a similar hysteria attack in the school on Wednesday, which also involved 10 pupils.

All the victims in the co-education school were girls.

The hysteria yesterday is believed to have broken out at 10am as the pupils were answering their question papers in the school hall.

Most of the victims who fell unconscious were rushed to the school's surau by their teachers, who later got two bomoh to help them. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Mass fainting collapse at garment factory in Cambodia... 
2. "Angry spirits" responsible for girls' fainting spell in Cambodia...
3. Mass hysteria in central Vietnam school...
4. Students in Indonesia go into trance after mango tree is cut... 
5. School in Trinidad suffers "devil attack". Devil attack???
6. 11 people injured in Paris after jumping from window to "flee the devil..." 

Nononononono cat...

Don't miss: 

1. Kittywood Studios: Cat Videos Incorporated...
2. Nora the piano cat and Catcerto!!!
3. Cat entertaining himself flushing toilet!!!
4. Japanese cat just loves the vacuum cleaner!!!

A fifth Tibetan monk sets himself on fire to protest religious repression in China...

Another monk has set himself on fire to protest against China's tight grip over Buddhist practices in Tibet, an activist group said Monday.

Free Tibet said the monk, aged 17 or 18, is from the Kirti monastery in Aba in western Sichuan near the Tibetan border. A statement from the group, which calls for self-determination for Tibet, said it is the fifth such self-immolation incident this year.

It said the monk, Kalsang, was holding a picture of Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, and calling for religious rights and freedoms in Tibet when he set himself on fire in a vegetable market in Aba.

"It is tragic that a fifth monk has set fire to himself in Tibet this year. ... A growing number of Tibetans clearly feel that this is the only way that they can be heard," Free Tibet director Stephanie Brigden said in the statement. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in China... 
2. Buddhist monk's self-immolation in Vietnam. (Graphic) 
3. China jails Tibetan for "pro-Dalai Lama" article...
4. Far from home, Tibetans in exile in Switzerland...
5. Tibet was NOT Shangri-La. Debunking a myth...
6. The Dark Side of the Dalai Lama...
7. The Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden...
8. The Dalai Lama, the Chinese and the West...
9. Tibetan girls brutally beaten up by Chinese police and warned...

Pakistan's blasphemy laws have left even judges in fear of their lives...

So he's going to swing – perhaps. On Saturday a Pakistani judge sentenced Mumtaz Qadri, the police bodyguard who assassinated the Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, to death by hanging. The young policeman smiled and thanked God. "My dream has come true," he reportedly said.

It was a predictably theatrical turn from Qadri, a former nobody who murdered Taseer in cowardly fashion – shooting the governor 27 times in the back – and who has since revelled in the notoriety of his blood-stained celebrity. Equally predictable, alas, was the reaction on the streets outside.

Close to the courtroom in Rawalpindi, angry young men attacked a monument to the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, defacing her image on the spot where she died in a suicide bombing in 2007. Down in Lahore, turbaned men with long sticks surged through the ancient Anarkali bazaar, thrashing traders who refused to shutter their shops in sympathy for Qadri. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Death sentence for Pakistani cop who killed Punjab governor... 
2. Clerics salute 'brave' Pakistan killer... 
3. Pakistan, blasphemy and the tale of two women with balls...
4. The Pakistani actress that took on a mufti...
5. Christian girl in Pakistan accused of blashphemy for spelling error... 
6. Pakistan cleric offers reward to kill Christain woman...
7. Pakistan's hypocrisy will lead to its downfall... 
8. If Pakistan is serious about freedom of speech its blasphemy law must go... 
9. Pakistan PM barred from pardoning Christian woman sentenced to death...

Belgian civil servants to be punished if caught smoking outside workplace!!!

Belgian officials are to be docked for time they spend smoking outside their workplaces because the puffing fonctionnaires have been told they are "are bad for the image" of the civil service.

Over 18,000 officials working for the Walloon, French-speaking regional authorities in federal Belgium, have been told that they will disciplined if they are seen smoking in public and that their salaries will be docked for the time they spend on cigarette breaks.

"The presence of officials smoking outside offices is not likely to give a positive image to our administration," said a letter sent to all staff.

 "Officials are invited to smoke in the courtyards of buildings or car parks out of the sight of passers-by. Failure to comply could result in disciplinary proceedings." Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Mexicans have the longest working days, Belgians the shortest... 
2. Want to get paid for doing nothing? Become a civil servant ... in France!!!
3. Staff at Scotland Yard must record their toilet breaks!!! 
4. The world's hardest working countries. Insane!!
5. Backlash against perks for EU officials...
6. Monk in Bhutan faces jail for smoking...
7. Doctors banned from smoking in Philippines...

India's cheated and exploited child slaves...

Don't miss:

1. The children that labour in the coal mines of India... 
2. The child slaves of India...
3. India's brisk trade in child slaves...
4. How shameful!! Today's modern slaves...
5. The slave children of Bangladesh (Photostory)
6. Street children in India used as slave labour for CWG... 
7. "I don’t want to sell newspapers. I want to learn English." 
8. 17,368 farmer suicides in 2009 in India, a total of 216,500 since 1997... 
9. What the pesticide endosulfan did to these children in Kerala, India... 

Iranian lovers commit suicide after being tortured and raped in jail...

Two Iranian lovers have been described as the modern day Romeo and Juliet after being driven to suicide by their country’s regime.

Nahal Sahabi, 28, and her boyfriend Behnam Ganji, 22, who were both active bloggers, committed suicide four weeks apart after being imprisoned just for being friends with a human rights activist.

Mr Ganji was detained for eight days, while Ms Sahabi was held for three days at Tehran’s infamous Evin prison – soon after being released they were both dead.

(...)

Amir believes his friend was tortured, while another friend, Farya Barlas, told the newspaper that Mr Ganji and Mr Goudarzi were apparently raped in front of each other by guards. Story + photos...

Don't miss:

1. Rape in Iran's prisons: a victim tells her story. Sad... 
2. Iranian boy who defied Tehran hardliners tells of prison rape ordeal...
3. Hey ayatollah, leave those kids alone! Pink Floyd hit goes to Iran...
4. Iranian pastor condemned for apostasy is now accused of rape...
5. Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years...
6. Iran executes footballer's 'temporary' wife...
7. Young Iranian woman raped and murdered by Basij militia... 

Worshipper in Italy hears voices at Mass, tears out his eyes...

An Italian man tore both of his eyes out in the middle of the priest's homily at a church near Pisa, according to reports.

Fellow parishioners watched in horror as Aldo Bianchini, 46, used his bare hands to pull out both eyeballs. Bianchini later told surgeons, who were unable to save his vision, he heard voices that told him to do it.

"He was in a great deal of agony and he was covered in blood," Dr. Gino Barbacci told the Daily Mail. "He said that he had used his bare hands to gouge out his eye balls after hearing voices telling him to do so - to do something like that requires super human strength." Full story...

Don't miss:

1. The sick guy that bit and ate his son's eye...
2. Iran acid attack victim pardons attacker who was to be blinded... 
3. Boy in India killed and eye gouged out for loving upper-caste girl...
4. Woman in India blinded with scissors for being a "witch". WTF!
5. Look into my eyes...and empty your till!!!
6. Cat-boy in China can see and read in the dark... 
7. Woman in Tamil Nadu cuts off tongue to honour politician
8. Man in India cuts off his tongue to beget a son...

Wall Street protesters: “The whole system is broken”

On Friday over 3,000 people marched to New York Police Department headquarters to protest the over 80 arrests and pepper-spraying of unresisting demonstrators the week before. Dominating the march were large numbers of young people whose futures have been gravely undermined by the economic crisis and the response of the political elite to it. The World Socialist Web Site spoke to a number of them.

Xenia Ellenbogen, a student from the New School in New York City, spoke to the WSWS in Liberty Plaza shortly before Friday’s march at Police Headquarters at One Police Plaza.

“I was pretty disgusted with Officer Bologna’s pepper spraying those women when they weren’t doing anything wrong. This is while the Wall Street bankers get away with everything they are doing. I’m hoping the press coverage of Officer Bologna will reduce the police brutality. I think the more people we have protesting, the better chance we have. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Occupy Wall Street protest photos... 
2. Police in the US brutalize and abuse the American citizen with impunity...
3. Occupy Wall Street: Media blackout on police brutality in New York...
4. 20 reasons why young Americans are mad as hell and giving up on the US economy... 
5. Wall Street aristocracy got $1.2 trillion in loans... 
6. 15 reasons why I choose not to live in the USSA...
7. Americans don't realize how badly they're being screwed by the elite at the top... 

Mass yoga session in Paris...

Around 2,000 people took part in France's biggest ever yoga session over the weekend.

They stretched together under sunny Paris skies with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop.

The session was held to mark the UN International Day of Non-Violence which falls on October 2, the birthday of the Indian independence and civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi practised non-violent resistance to achieve his political ends.

"Everybody is excited, everybody is really here in honour of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, it's the day of non-violence," said Elena Brower, a yoga teacher from New York who led the session. Source...

Don't miss:

1. Vietnamese turn to laughter yoga to stay fit...
2. "Thoppukkaranam" is super brain yoga?
3. Yoga for Indian soldiers in Kashmir!!!
4. Undousuru??? It's "exercise" in Japanese!
5. Sexy yoga for dudes!

Facebook sued for tracking users' information...

Social networking giant Facebook Inc. is being sued for tracking users’ Web activity without their permission after they have signed out of the online application.

There is a social class lawsuit filed in a federal court in San Jose, Calif., by Perrin Aiken Davis accusing the Palo Alto, California- Facebook of using a “cookie” file that is installed on computers, which identifies users and their exchanges online while they are logged in their account, as well as when they are logged out as well.

“This admission came only after an Australian technology blogger exposed Facebook’s practice of monitoring members who have logged out, although he brought the problems to the defendant’s attention a year ago,” said the complaint based on a Bloomberg report.

 A self-labelled Australian hacker Nik Cubrilovic highlighted the vulnerable security concern regarding the cookies collecting information. He claimed, “Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit." Full story..

Don't miss:

1. Blogger accuses Facebook of cookie abuse...
2. Facebook admits to tracking cookie, says it was a "mistake." Really?
3. Be very, very cautious about what you say on Facebook...
4. Dad of girl, 12, sues Facebook over her suggestive photos...
5. 25,000 South Koreans sue Apple over iPhone 'privacy invasion'
6. Apple being sued over iPad, iPhone tracking ...

USDA threatens $60,000 fine, federal raid against woman in legal possession of indoor lemon tree...

The US government's assault against innocent American citizens continues to get more aggressive and just plain strange, with new reports of harassment against honest owners of ordinary lemon trees. Health Freedom Alliance (HFA) reports that officials from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) are now spying on people whom they suspect are in possession of ordinary lemon trees, and threatening them with excessive fines and even federal raids if they refuse to surrender the plants on demand.

Several years ago, Bridget Donovan, who has now been dubbed "The Lemon Tree Lady," purchased a Meyer lemon tree from meyerlemontree.com. A resident of Wisconsin, Donovan purchased the tree legally and in full accordance with all federal and state laws regulating citrus transport, and had lovingly cultivated and cared for her indoor citrus plant for nearly three years.

Then, out of nowhere, Donovan received an unexpected letter from the USDA informing her that government officials were going to come and seize her tree and destroy it -- and that she was not going to be compensated for her loss. The letter also threatened that if Donovan was found to be in possession of "regulated citrus" again, she could be fined up to $60,000. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Lemonade raids? Farm stands and local power... 
2. " I was arrested for a law that doesn't exist." 
3. The inexplicable war on lemonade stands... 
4. Brave US cops arrest children selling lemonade... 
5. Georgia man fined $5000 for growing vegetables in his own land!!! 
6. Oregan's little lemonade seller gives the State the finger...
7. Utah woman jailed for selling flowers from her home...
8. California family farm ordered to destroy 50,000 pounds (22680 kilos) of cheese... 

Indian movie-maker tests Indonesia's censors with porn star movies...

The plot of the erotic horror movie Rintihan Kuntilanak Perawan (Moaning of a Virgin Ghost) goes like this: some Indonesian rock musicians want to boost their band's fortunes. So they abduct a virgin called Alice and drink her blood. But Alice is empowered by a passing wizard and embarks upon a vengeful killing spree. "The old man made me supernatural," she marvels, after chainsawing the band manager's legs off. "Awesome!"

Any gaps in the plot are filled with buckets of fake blood and the ample figure of the film's leading lady. Alice the virgin is, rather implausibly, played by American porn star Tera Patrick, 35, previously seen in Ecstasy Girls 2, Reign of Tera and dozens of other hard-core videos. "She's a legend," says K.K. Dheeraj, whose Jakarta company K2K Production will soon release its third film featuring an American porn star. "All Indonesians know Tera Patrick."

(...)

Last November, during a U.S. presidential visit, Tifatul was derided for enthusiastically shaking Michelle Obama's hand after declaring he would never touch a woman he wasn't related to. Vette called the incident "handshakegate" and began taunting the Minister on Twitter. "You can touch me in public anytime you want, cutie!" ran one of her less obscene jibes. It boosted her profile but made a trip to Indonesia risky. Vette feared that people "would stone me or put me on trial for making sex tapes." Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Indonesian film "Question mark" stirs religious controversy...
2. Anti-porn lawmaker in Indonesia caught watching porn! What???
3. Saudi men flocking to Indonesia for "halal sex"
4. Indonesia: Court 'acquits Playboy editor Erwin Arnada'
5. Frenchman FRANSOA is a superstar in Indonesia with “Kalau Saya Kaya"
6. Don't blame us for rape, say miniskirted Jakarta women...
7. Indonesia's verdict of shame...

A Russian rock band on the move!!!

Don't miss:

1. Russian guy touches the breasts of 1000 women!!!!
2. Some Russian guys driving through hell... 
3. Crazy bike ride in Russia!!!
4. The Lefortovo Tunnel in Russia...
5. Here's how they drive trucks in Eastern Europe... 

Domestic violence in Saudi Arabia: 5% of women beat up their husbands...

About five percent of the married Saudi women regularly beat their husbands, according to a study conducted by Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Muqbil, a staff member of Al-Qassim University who is also a social and a family consultant.

He told local daily Al-Madinah on Friday that 45 percent of the Saudi children were subjected to various kinds of physical abuse and that 21 percent of them were being regularly beaten.

The academician noted that incidence of family violence was steadily rising and said verbal abuse might be the spark that ignites family violence. “Many people confuse between firmness and violence on numerous occasions. This may result in family breakdown and will not ensure children a proper upbringing,” he cautioned.

Al-Muqbil also said negligence was another face of family violence. He cited a case of a girl who had been staying in a protection home for more than 10 years without anyone asking about her. “This is a clear example of family abuse,” he said. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. In Saudi Arabia, families choose "honour" and silence rather than... 
2. 13-year-old Saudi girl turns into a ... boy!!! 
3. Saudi Arabia's high divorce rates blamed on ... Saudi wives!!!
4. Female Saudi doctor appeals to top court for right to choose a husband...
5. Sexual prey in the Saudi jungle...
6. Saudi woman freed after six months in jail for disobeying her father...
7. 60% of Saudi men financially exploit their wives: study... 

Doctor in Bahrain kicked, sexually assaulted by police for treating protestors...

She says her only crime was treating the injured as they were brought to hospital during the riots that engulfed the kingdom of Bahrain.

For this offence, Dr Fatima Haji was dragged out of her house at midnight by 30 plain-clothes police officers brandishing guns.

She says she was then taken blindfolded to a secret interrogation centre, before being tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted until she signed documents confessing her ‘crimes’.

And she was kept in solitary confinement for another 22 days, before being released on bail.

Now the 33-year-old doctor has been sentenced to five years in jail.

Though not yet imprisoned, she waits anxiously for government forces to drag her away at any moment.  Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Bahrain sentences doctors and nurses who treated protestors ... 
2. 'Bahrain royal family tortures detainees'
3. Bahrain state terror continues...
4. Bahraini female doctors recount detention 'horror'
5. Bahrain: torture in hospitals and attacks on innocent people...(Graphic)
6. Bahrain hospital attack: Doctors physically abused and humiliated... 
7. Syrian pianist protests in US, family in Syria gets beaten up...

In Thailand, a campaign to purify the internet of royal insults...

Down a maze of neon-lit corridors in a massive government complex here is a windowless room where computer technicians scour the Internet for photos, articles, Facebook postings — anything that might be deemed offensive to King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his family.

The technicians work in what is called the Office of Prevention and Suppression of Information Technology Crimes. The government that came to power in July prefers to call it the “war room,” the headquarters of a vigorous and expanding campaign to purify the Internet of royal insults.

 The crackdown, which officials have vowed to intensify, is being carried out by a team of 10 computer specialists led by Surachai Nilsang, whose title is cyber inspector. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Thailand's Crown Prince promotes dog to air chief marshal, displays topless wife...   
2. Thailand man accused of Facebook 'insult' to monarchy... 
3. Thailand arrests US citizen for "insulting the monarchy" 
4. Another lese majeste case in Thailand: web designer jailed for 13 years... 
5. Thai webmaster on trial in free speech test case... 
6. Thai jailed for 10 years for "insulting" king...
7. Police arrest Thai website editor...
8. Saudi princes throw parties boasting drink, drugs and sex... 
9. British royals hosted world's despots ... 

A rock concert in Kabul, Afghanistan...

Don't miss:

1. Meet Afghanistan's one and only rock group, Kabul Dreams!!! 
2. To live and skate in Kabul, Afghanistan...
3. Pakistan's Sachel Ochestra takes five! Cool... 
4. Zeb and Haniya, the Pakistan girl-band that's creating a stir...
5. Baghdad's boys band UTN1 and "While you can..."
6. The Accolade, Saudi Arabia's all-girl rock band!!! Wow! 
7. Muslim rocker from Pakistan on his 'jihad' against extremists...

Five teachers arrested in Ghana for praying too loudly!!!

The Abura Dunkwa Magistrate Court has remanded five teachers for disturbing residents of Ayeredo in the Abora Asebu Kwaman district with their prayers.

District Police Commander of Abora Dunkwa, DSP Twum Barimah confirmed the story to Adom News but explained that the teachers were not charged with praying but charged with disturbing public peace with the noise the make while praying.

The teachers were alleged to be praying in the school to nullify the operations of witches and wizards in the town but the school authority says their activities has been destructive.

DSP Twum Barimah says their actions caused the school authorities and some residents of the area to call him constantly complaining about their loud prayers late at night. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Pastor in Ghana arrested for "cleaning" private parts of lady followers!!! 
2. Grandma burnt alive in Ghana for being a "witch"
3. Woman in Ghana turns into a ... snake??? 
4. Offenders in Alabama town can choose to go to jail ... or church!!!
5. France bans all public prayer...
6. Spanish region bans Muslim call to prayer...
7. Australian paid $50,000 for naked prayer sessions recommended by angels!!! 

"We're sorry you ever come to our store and wasted our precious time."

How a store reacted to a customer's complaint...

GASP clothing has defended its position involving a customer dispute, releasing yet another jaw-dropping response.

The statement came after a spat between the retailer and a customer, who was told that their clothes were too exclusive for her, turned into a viral email sensation.

Keara O'Neil was on a shopping trip to find bridesmaid dresses for her wedding and a frock for her hens night at the GASP Chapel St store on September 24 when she had a dispute with a sales assistant named "Chris".

Like a scene straight out of Pretty Woman, O'Neil, a retail assistant herself, claims Chris was initially helpful but soon turned nasty, making a dig at her size 12 frame and yelling out as she left the store, "Have fun shopping at Supre... I knew you were a joke the minute you walked in". Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Saudi customer goes ballistic after finding rotten cucumbers 
2. War and shopping - the extremism that never speaks its name...
3. IKEA stores are like a maze to keep customers trapped in?
4. Angry black dude blasts the consumer society ... among other things!!! 
5. Culture of credit seducing Swiss youth and pushing them into debt...
6. Black Friday shopping rampage in the USA... 
7. Manipulating children into becoming nagging consumers...
8. Courtesy in Singapore and Indonesia...

CIA operative Raymond Davis charged after fight over parking lot...

A one-time CIA contractor who was freed by Pakistan after a multi-million dollar "blood money" payoff was arrested this morning in Highlands Ranch after an apparent altercation over a parking spot.

Raymond Davis, 36, was arrested by Douglas County Sheriff's deputies on misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and disorderly conduct after the incident outside an Einstein Bagels at the Town Center in Highlands Ranch at about 8 a.m.

Davis was released after posting a $1,750 bond, the sheriff's office said.

Davis and his family had just moved to the Denver suburb in January when he left Colorado for Pakistan, where he became involved in an international incident. On Jan. 27 in the city of Lahore, Davis shot and killed two men who he said were trying to rob him. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Riots in Pakistan after double murder-accused Davis ‘buys’ freedom... 
2. Raymond Davis release: "Pakistan govt. has sold out the pride of the nation"
3. Pakistan acquits CIA contractor Davis of double murder after "blood money" paid... 
4. US caught in Big Lie about CIA agent Raymond Davis in Pakistan...
5. Wife of Pakistani man shot by American diplomat in Lahore commits suicide... 
6. US terror campaign in Pakistan? What was Raymond Davis shooting for in Lahore?

Pakistani bachelor party chicken dance...

Don't miss:

1. Who said Pakistani men can't dance???
2. Very strange entertainer in Pakistan... 
3. Naa Salt Kottai: happy dancing from Kollywood movie... 
4. Sexy "Choke" dancing in South America!!!

UBS "rogue trader" Kweku Adoboli was Ghanaian? Or was he really British?

(...)

At first I was thoroughly irritated by this. As the whole world now knows Kweku Adoboli, the young "rogue trader" as he is described, is the son of a retired United Nations official who is a Ghanaian and lives here in Ghana. There has even been footage of the retired man's home on international television.

The 31-year-old young man was said to be a Ghanaian and suddenly him being a Ghanaian seemed to be the most interesting part of the story.

Kweku Adoboli, we now know, grew up around the world, as all these international children do: and he went to an English public school where the fees range from £19,000 to £26,000 ($29,000 to $40,000) a year, depending on which newspaper or radio station or website you are following.

My first instinct was to say: "Oh no - we are not accepting responsibility for this one. He might be Ghanaian born and even carry a Ghana passport but he sounds more British to me."  Full story...

Don't miss:

1. The $2 billion UBS incident: 'Rogue Trader' my ass...
2. British banker quits job to become South African witch doctor!!!
3. American woman crowned king in a village in Ghana...
4. Forget Wayne Rooney – we are all Ghana fans now... 
5. Grandma burnt alive in Ghana for being a "witch" 
6. " The collapse is coming ... and Goldman Sachs rules the world."
7. Zambia's presidential election was an anti-China referendum? 

NYPD warns women against wearing skirts...

Women in a Brooklyn neighborhood on edge over a spate of sex attacks are being told by police that wearing skirts and dresses might not be a good idea.

The surprising message from the NYPD is not being taken well.

"I think that women should be able to wear whatever they want," said Theresa Troupson, a Park Slope resident. "I don't think that they should be held responsible in any way for the actions of criminals."

 Lauren, who did not want her last name used, told the the Wall Street Journal that she was walking down the street in shorts and a t-shirt after leaving the gym on Monday when she was stopped by an officer who also stopped two other women in dresses. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Don't blame us for rape, say miniskirted Jakarta women...
2. Jealous wives in Italy launch petition against " too sexy " waitress!!!
3. School bans skirts because some were "almost like belts".
4. Russian MPs 'banned from wearing miniskirts' 
5. Turkish mayor advises women to 'stay home' to avoid harassment... 
6. Slutwalking and a woman's right to dress as she pleases...
7. Young women fight the 'Talibanisation' of rural Pakistan...
8. Republican lawmaker blames 11-year-old victim of alleged gang rape...
9. Italian women face 500 euro fine for wearing miniskirts! What??? 
10. Male colleague in India punches teacher for not wearing sari... 

More people seeking food handouts in Britain...

Britain has seen a sharp rise in the number of people receiving food handouts, according to a charity.

FareShare, which redistributes surplus food from major manufacturers and supermarkets to social care charities, said its donations now go to 35,000 people a day, an increase from 29,000 last year.

It follows the largest ever yearly rise in the number of charities asking for help from FareShare - from 600 to 700.

Of the charities surveyed by the organisation, 42% reported an increase in demand for food in the past year.

A third of the charities surveyed are facing Government funding cuts, with 65% of these charities slashing food budgets to stay afloat, FareShare said. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Number of homeless people rises by 17% in Britain...
2. Heart-breaking pictures from New Jersey's homeless "Tent City..."
3. Capital of Scrap: Dying Detroit looting itself...
4. German woman has lived without money for 15 years...
5. Starving New Zealand boy ate cockroaches...

My wife was raped by an invisible man, claims husband in Sarawak...

A man has claimed that his wife was raped by an "invisible man", Sin Chew Daily reported.

The youth, in his 20s, said his wife would remove her clothing, touch her own body and moan while sleeping at night, since a month ago.

He sought help from a medium, who then told him that someone had used black magic to take away the wife's "soul" and rape her.

The couple, from Bintulu, Sarawak, lodged a police report but the cops could not do anything to arrest the "invisible man". Source...

Don't miss:

1. Malaysian woman wants police to detain brother's ghost!!!
2. Malaysian burglar "held captive by ghost" for 3 days!!!
3. Saudi police search for girl kidnapped by a ... genie???
4. Boy in Jamaica thrown around by a ghost?
5. Poltergeist in the house!!!

Police in India kidnap Arun Ferreira, activist for Dalits and tribals...

"The warrantless arrest of Arun Ferreira once again demonstrates the state's complete disregard for human rights." This is the opinion of Fr. Allwyn D'Silva, president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Mumbai and uncle of the activist for the rights of tribals and Dalits. In prison since 2007 due to an accusation of being a Nassalite (a Maoist guerrilla), on September 27 a special court in Maharashtra acquitted the man and ordered his release. Which, in fact, never happened: just after he was released from Nagpur prison, plainclothes officers stopped him, covered his face and forced him into an unmarked car, in which they fled. All under the gaze of his elderly parents, who were waiting for him outside the prison. His lawyers tried to intervene but were beaten.

His lawyers immediately sent a letter to the Commissioner to ask for the reasons of the arrest, but have not yet received and answer.

 According to Fr. Allwyn, the new arrest – like that of 2007 – is linked to his struggle to defend the rights of the most marginalized in society, because "there are many cases like Arun's of false accusations against those who defend the rights of the weakest". Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Twelve RTI activists have been killed since last year in India...
2. Amnesty asks India to investigate abductions of anti-Vedanta activists... 
3. 17 Indian officials convicted of gang-raping 18 Dalit women... 
4. Dalits brutally raped and murdered in India's Uttar Pradesh... 
5. Politician in India rapes Dalit girl and then gets her jailed for theft... 
6. Two more tribal women in India stripped and forced to walk naked... 
7. 7 rapes in 48 hours in India's Uttar Pradesh state... 

Hong Kong's war against foreign maids...

Despite a court ruling against it, the government appears intent on making sure no brown-skinned Asians get right of abode.

The Hong Kong government seems set on ensuring that its ethnocentric instincts trump the rule of law.

Following a court decision that gave right of abode (permanent residence) to a maid from the Philippines who has been living in the territory for 25 years, the government has indicated that it would not only take the case to the Court of Appeal and, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal but if necessary to Beijing to have the judgment overturned by the National People’s Congress. No Communist government imagines that it should be subservient to constitutional process interpreted by judges so the NPC would rubber stamp the Hong Kong government’s preference for putting its decisions above the rule of law.

 Meanwhile the government is drumming up populist opposition to the grant of abode for long-resident maids by suggesting that they will be a huge flood which would swamp the territory and bring with them their families, undercut wages and inundate schools and hospitals. There are some 300,000 foreign domestic helpers, as the maids are technically known, of whom about 100,000 have been there for the minimum seven years required before they might become eligible for abode. Most are from the Philippines and Indonesia with a few from South Asia – only brown Asians apparently qualify to be maids. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Foreign maids in Hong Kong win landmark citizenship ruling... 
2. Indonesian maid puts menstrual blood in Hong Kong employer's meal!!!
3. Filipino outrage at Hong Kong "racist" writer... 
4. North African immigrants and Italian police clash in Lampedusa... 
5. Singapore TV actress's anti-Indian rant on Facebook provokes anger... 
6. Singapore to tighten screws on immigration... 
7. Africans not welcome in Bangalore pubs... 
8. Chinese actress Gong Li branded a "traitor" for becoming Singapore citizen... 

Iranian pastor condemned for apostasy is now accused of rape, extortion and being a Zionist!!!

This is how justice works in Iran: if they can't get you one way, they fabricate, manipulate and manoeuvre to ensure their pre-ordained sentence is effected.

We were all led to believe that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was sentenced to death for apostasy. We were all foolish enough to believe Christian Solidarity Worldwide, who wrote:

Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 while attempting to register his church. He was tried and found guilty of apostasy (abandoning Islam) in September 2010. He has been sentenced to death.

(...)

It is quite incredible, as the world looks on, that Iran would attempt this sort of outrage. The British Government has unequivocally denounced Iran, as has Lambeth Palace and the White House. There is, as yet, still nothing from the Holy See. It is not known if the Pope's silence is due to bureaucratic incompetence or the need for covert diplomacy. If ever it was the latter, there is clearly now an urgent need to speak out loud and very clearly.  Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces death for apostasy in Iran... 
2. Two women in Iran risk death for converting to Christianity...
3. Five Christians to face trial for blasphemy in Iran...
4. Iran hangs man who claimed to be God...
5. Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years... 
6. Malaysian 'teapot cult' woman can't leave Islam to avoid jail...  

French police seize 11 super cars worth £5million from African dictator's mansion...

ELEVEN supercars worth up to £5million have been seized from outside an African dictator’s Paris mansion as part of a foreign aid money-laundering investigation.

The vehicles – that included two Bugatti Veyrons, a Ferrari 599 GTO and a Maserati MC12 – are all registered to Teodoro Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea.

He is one of numerous African heads of state who regularly receive vast handouts in foreign aid, including British cash via European funds.

Police swooped on his £15million mansion on the prestigious Avenue Foch close to the Arc de Triomphe this morning, piling all of the vehicles on to a car transporter. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. African dictator's son orders £236 million luxury super yacht... 
2. Who cares about Equatorial Guinea? Or its president Teodoro Obiang? 
3. Dictators and their sons: Col Gaddafi's billionaire children... 
4. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev spends £26m on luxury yacht...
5. Gaddafi's sons and their lavish spending...
6. When power corrupts the sons of those in power...
7. Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev share between them at least two dozen palaces...
8. Zimbabwe lives in misery but Mugabe gets £330,000 birthday bash: 8000 lobsters, 4000 portions of caviar... 

Malaysian retiree to pay RM100,000 over Facebook defamation...

A Malaysian court has ordered a man to pay 100,000 ringgit ($31,000) for defaming a mechanics' training centre on Facebook, his lawyer said Saturday.

The high court in the northern state of Penang said Leong Yook Kong defamed the centre, where his son had studied, through three posts on the social networking site last year, Leong's lawyer K. Paramanathan said.

Leong, a 64-year-old retiree, posted the comments implying the centre was guilty of fraud and corrupt practices after his son failed an examination for a diploma in vehicle maintenance and repair. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Malaysian to tweet apology 100 times in Twitter defamation case...
2. Google and blogger sued by fish head curry restaurant...
3. Youth in France jailed for insulting cops on Facebook...
4. Indonesian Facebook mum wins hospital defamation case...
5. Waitress sacked for complaining about tip on Facebook!!!

He passes his A-level English at 60 and publishes his first novel at 71!

A FORMER firefighter from York who passed his GCSE and A-level English when he was 60 has had his first novel published.

Chris Granger, who lives in Acomb, decided to study GCSE and A-level English at York College more than ten years ago.

While studying language and literature, he discovered a love of Shakespeare, and was enthused by his tutors to write. Now, aged 71, his first novel entitled Some Lessons In Gaelic has been published.

 He said: “It was the tutor’s praise for my essay that galvanised me to extend that classroom incident into a full-length fictional novel, little knowing at the time that it would take me ten years to complete. More + photo...

Don't miss:

1. You don't get older, you get better -- really.
2. 78-year-old first grader starts school in Bulgaria!!!
3. 100-year-old Brazilian goes to school to learn to read and write...
4. 100-year-old woman gets degree a day before dying!!! Wow!
5. Cambridge street-sweeper awarded honorary degree...
6. India: she wants to become a lawyer ... and she's 80 years old!!!
7. 86-year-old undergraduate in India sits for final exams!!! Wow! 

Death sentence for Pakistani cop who killed Punjab governor for opposing blasphemy laws...

A Pakistani court has convicted and sentenced a police officer to death for the killing of a liberal governor earlier this year, a murder that led to fears the country was buckling under the weight of extremism.

The January murder in broad daylight of Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer by one of his police guards was alarming in itself, but what came afterwards was perhaps even more so: lawyers showered his killer, Mumtaz Qadri, with flowers, thousands demonstrated in his defence and even mainstream politicians did not loudly condemn the killing.

Qadri has told his trial that Mr Taseer deserved to die because of his criticism of Pakistani laws that mandate the death sentence for insulting Islam. Mr Taseer, a member of the country's ruling party, wanted amendments in the law and had defended a Christian woman sentenced to death under it. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Clerics salute 'brave' Pakistan killer... 
2. Pakistan, blasphemy and the tale of two women with balls...
3. The Pakistani actress that took on a mufti...
4. Christian girl in Pakistan accused of blashphemy for spelling error... 
5. Pakistan cleric offers reward to kill Christain woman...
6. Pakistan PM barred from pardoning Christian woman sentenced to death...
7. Christians, Muslims try to save Asia Bibi from death in Pakistan...

Occupy Wall Street protest photos...

In New York City's Financial District, hundreds of activists have been converging on Lower Manhattan over the past two weeks, protesting as part of an "Occupy Wall Street" movement. The protests are largely rallies against the influence of corporate money in politics, but participants' grievances also include frustrations with corporate greed, anger at financial and social inequality, and several other issues. Nearly 80 people were arrested last weekend in a series of incidents with the New York police as the protesters attempted to march uptown. Most are now camped out in nearby Zucotti Park. Demonstrations also took place yesterday in San Francisco, and an "Occupy Boston" protest is planned for tonight, September 30. Collected here are a handful of images of the protesters occupying Wall Street from the past two weeks. See the photos...

Don't miss:

1. Police in the US brutalize and abuse the American citizen with impunity...
2. Occupy Wall Street: Media blackout on police brutality in New York...
3. 20 reasons why young Americans are mad as hell and giving up on the US economy... 
4. Wall Street aristocracy got $1.2 trillion in loans... 
5. 15 reasons why I choose not to live in the USSA...
6. Americans don't realize how badly they're being screwed by the elite at the top... 

Abused Sri Lankan housemaids in Saudi Arabia cry for help...

"Please, sir... help us to go back to Sri Lanka," one woman after another cries and pleads over the phone from a detention centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

I cannot see these women but I hear them fighting to reach the mobile phone that belongs to the inmate that I am on the phone with.

Thangavelu Sarojini, a young Tamil woman, says she was tortured by her employer.

"I still have wounds and scars in my hands, neck, legs. They beat me, pinched me and burnt me," she says from the Olaya detention camp where hundreds of migrant women from south and southeast Asia are held.

Their crime, they say, was running away from employers to escape physical, sexual or psychological abuse. They are all now classified as illegal immigrants under Saudi law. Full story...

Don't miss:

1. Sri Lankan maid held hostage for 14 years in Saudi Arabia!!! 
2. A Nepali woman's ordeal in Saudi Arabia... 
3. Saudi man kept maid under house arrest for 12 years... 
4. Maid's horrible torture by Saudi woman shocks Indonesia... 
5. Indonesian maid killed in Saudi Arabia and dumped on roadside...
6. Abandoned Indian maid dies at Muscat airport...
7. More and more maids in Kuwait being abused...
8. Another Sri Lankan maid alleges nails were hammered into her body...
9. Filipino maid in Saudi Arabia attacked with acid and stabbed to death... 

Just 20% of air travellers could bring down the TSA scanners...

I’ve had numerous responses to articles I’ve written asking me, “Ok, so what’s the next step?”

I respect your intelligence, so I won’t say … voting.

We have about as much real choice at the ballot box as a condemned prisoner has when offered the option of being gassed – or hung. It will not matter an iota what front man is (s)elected for the 2012 presidential run. Oh, and that front man will not be Ron Paul – precisely because Ron Paul would not be a front man. I am certain he knows this as well as I do. He is running only because it gives him a podium; helps to spread the word. But Dr. Paul (who unlike the many shysters with mail-order divinity degrees out there actually is a real doctor and so deserves the honorific) knows he’s this era’s Barry Goldwater – and just as likely to be elected president.

(...)

If just 20 percent of us did this, the TSA and all the rest of it would be gone by Christmas. Long before the next president is (s)elected.

We could recover our liberty – our dignity as human beings. And the only “vote” involved would be the one we make with our dollars. The election could be held tomorrow, people.

It really is that easy. Full story...

Don't miss: 

1. TSA a complete fiasco and should be dismantled, says its creator...
2. The 12 scariest TSA stories of all time...
3. Michael Roberts, the pilot who dared to say "no" to the airport body scanner...
4. 'Voting is worthless' Global protests share contempt for democracy...
5. The tiny dot, or how the few rule the many...
6. Police in the US brutalize and abuse the American citizen with impunity...