Oct 31, 2012

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Governments failing to address cervical cancer

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Governments failing to address cervical cancer:
JOHANNESBURG, 31 October 2012 (IRIN) - Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in southern Africa, but new research reveals that governments' attempts to address the disease have been inadequate. Access to cervical cancer screening services is minimal, few countries in the region have policies on the disease, and treatment remains a major challenge.

UGANDA: Funding, health system constraints impede Marburg control

UGANDA: Funding, health system constraints impede Marburg control:
KAMPALA, 31 October 2012 (IRIN) - Uganda's Ministry of Health is facing serious financial and health system constraints as it battles to contain an outbreak of Marburg haemorrhagic fever that has killed eight people in the country's southwest.

Daily Number: 56% - Majority Says Auto Bailout Was Mostly Good for Economy

Daily Number: 56% - Majority Says Auto Bailout Was Mostly Good for Economy: More in 2012 see economic effect of auto bailout as mostly good than did so in 2009.

US Diplomat Visits Restive Pagoda

US Diplomat Visits Restive Pagoda:
A U.S. diplomat has made a rare visit to a pagoda of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), which has been the target of consistent harassment by authorities in the one-party communist state, the group said Tuesday.

Kathleen Peoples, a political outreach officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, made the trip to the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang last Thursday in an apparent attempt to highlight religious freedom in the country.

"This is the first visit by a U.S. diplomat to the Giac Minh Pagoda," according to the Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), which represents UBCV abroad.

The pagoda is the central office of the UBCV’s Buddhist Youth Movement as well as the head office of the UBCV Quang Nam-Danang Provincial Committee and has been "the target of consistent government harassments and repression for several years," the IBIB said in a statement.

Peoples was received at the pagoda by Thich Thanh Quang, the 75-year-old head of the Quang Nam-Danang Provincial Committee, who the IBB said was brutally beaten by youths believed to be plainclothes police in August.

She had asked questions about the pagoda’s activities, such as, "Was it able to conduct activities normally like other Buddhist pagodas, could it receive financial support and offerings, what access to medical care did the monks and nuns at Giac Minh Pagoda have," according to the statement.

Surveillance temporarily lifted

Quang said that police surveillance outside Giac Minh Pagoda was lifted on the day of the U.S. diplomat’s visit for the first time in several years.

"Nevertheless, he showed Ms. Peoples the office of the civil defense police just opposite, where plainclothes officers could be seen behind the windows filming their meeting," the statement said.

He reported that police resumed their surveillance immediately after the visit, with four or five officers posted permanently outside the pagoda’s gates.

Quang asked Peoples to urge the U.S. government to support the Vietnamese people in their quest for religious freedom, human rights, and democracy, and to press Hanoi to guarantee the rights enshrined in the U.N. treaties that it has signed, the statement said.

Rights groups have asked the U.S. State Department to place Vietnam back on a blacklist of top violators of religious freedom, citing various actions taken by Hanoi.

'Increased awareness'

In his report to the UBCV, Quang said that he hoped this first visit from a U.S. diplomat was "a sign of an increased awareness from the United States on the situation of the repressed UBCV."

The Giac Minh Pagoda had come under harassment since 1981, when the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church was created and the independent UBCV was effectively banned.

However, the "repression became significantly more intense" from 2007 after the octogenarian UBCV leader Thich Quang Do, who is now under de facto house arrest, began criticizing China.

He had held protests against Chinese encroachments on the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands and Bauxite mining by Chinese firms and launched an appeal to boycott Chinese products.

Since then, and particularly over the past two years, the authorities have intensified repression, Quang said, citing round-the clock surveillance on the pagoda, a ban on monks celebrating Buddhist festivals, and the prevention of Buddhists entering the pagoda to pray.

"Young monks from Giac Minh Pagoda who went to study in Saigon were denied residence permits on their return, and thus became illegal citizens."

The pagoda also could not receive donations and offerings because police threatened Buddhists with reprisals if they showed support for the “reactionary monks,” the statement said.

Medical treatment

Police also prohibited doctors from coming to the pagoda, obliging monks who fell ill to seek treatment outside, it said.

Even animals were denied treatment.

Quang said he had a sheepdog which kept guard on the pagoda but fell ill and died because police refused to let the veterinary doctors into the building.

“The state says it will take care of everything”, said Quang, “but the dog died anyway.”

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has repeatedly called on Vietnam to address human rights concerns, although it has also pushed ahead with greater cooperation with Hanoi including in military exchanges.

Vietnam has jailed dozens of journalists and bloggers who spoke out about corruption, and detained other dissidents for associating with the political opposition.

The U.S. House of Representatives last month passed legislation which would make improvements in human rights a condition for increases in nonhumanitarian aid to Vietnam.

It also adopted a resolution condemning what the House said was Hanoi’s abuse of vague national security laws used to silence dissent.

The legislation still needs passage by the Senate. The House has approved the bill twice in previous sessions, but it has died in the Senate.

Reported by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

State of the Vote - American Prospect

State of the Vote

Institute for War and Peace Reporting - Weekly Report

Institute for War and Peace Reporting -

Viewpoint: Gays are us: LGBT rights are human rights | The Jakarta Post

Viewpoint: Gays are us: LGBT rights are human rights | The Jakarta Post

Sociology -- Collected Resources : Exploring Trends and Challenges in Sociological Research by Louise Ryan & Linda McKie

Sociology -- Collected Resources : Exploring Trends and Challenges in Sociological Research by Louise Ryan & Linda McKie

_Temporary_ open access to articles.

Gallup - Americans Still Give Obama Better Odds to Win Election

Americans Still Give Obama Better Odds to Win Election

Oct 30, 2012

Obama's Star Fades With Young Voters But Still Shines Brighter Than Romney's

Obama's Star Fades With Young Voters But Still Shines Brighter Than Romney's:
A poll released Monday shows that President Obama has shed much of the star power that electrified college campuses in 2008.

The poll from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) shows Obama leading Mitt Romney 52 percent to 35 percent among people aged 18 to 29 years old who are "extremely likely to vote." (Being "extremely likely to vote" was CIRCLE's likely voter screen.)
That's a much smaller margin than the 34-point gap that separated Obama from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) among the age group four years ago. It's also a sharp dip in support: Obama claimed 66 percent of the age group in 2008. A poll from Pew Research Center on Monday showed Obama leading Romney among 18- to 29-year-olds by a comparable spread, 56 percent to 35 percent.

Peter Levine, director at CIRCLE, said Obama can overcome the decline but it could still be an ominous sign to his campaign.

"I think if you are an Obama supporter, you need to be a little concerned," Levine told TPM via email. "His comparatively weak position is already factored into national polls, so it's not a revelation of an unknown problem for the Democrats. But it puts a specific number on the problem. Obama is running about 14 points behind where he was in November 2008 among youth."

Levine said although Romney will likely outperform the 2008 GOP ticket of McCain and Sarah Palin, who drew the support of less than one-third of the age group in 2008, the former Massachusetts governor does not enjoy a strong standing among the young voting bloc. Romney ticked down almost two points since the summer, and CIRCLE's latest poll reveals fairly harsh attitudes among the youngest portion of the electorate toward the Republican nominee.

A large majority, nearly 60 percent, said that they are either disappointed or angry with Romney, compared with a mere 9 percent who said they admire him. And when it comes to understanding problems of people their age, standing up for their interests and improving the economy, respondents gave a sizable edge to Obama.

"Compared to McCain's benchmark, Romney is doing somewhat better," Levine wrote. "In a longer-term perspective, he is doing very poorly among youth, with just 35% support."

It's not all gloomy for the president, who's made gains among young voters over the course of this year's campaign. Obama made a 7-point leap among the voting bloc since CIRCLE's poll from June and July, which included nearly two-thirds of the same respondents as the latest survey.

Monday's poll also shows a growing number of 18- to 29-year-olds have the intention to vote, a critical trend to an Obama campaign that is holding out hope for a robust turnout among its core constituencies. Sixty-seven percent of young adults said they are either "very" or "extremely" likely to vote, a 7-point spike since CIRCLE's summer survey.

Somali comic who mocked al-Shabab shot dead

Somali comic who mocked al-Shabab shot dead: Al-Shabab deny killing Warsame Shire Awale, a popular veteran broadcaster known for poking fun at the armed group.

Pakistani brothers reflect their country’s contradictions - The Washington Post

Pakistani brothers reflect their country’s contradictions - The Washington Post

Conflict makes education difficult in Pakistan - The Washington Post

Conflict makes education difficult in Pakistan - The Washington Post

Obama, Romney respond to Hurricane Sandy as it upends campaign plans - The Washington Post

Obama, Romney respond to Hurricane Sandy as it upends campaign plans - The Washington Post

4 Pinocchios for Mitt Romney’s misleading ad on Chrysler and China - The Washington Post

4 Pinocchios for Mitt Romney’s misleading ad on Chrysler and China - The Washington Post

Israel reckons with unraveling Gaza policy - The Washington Post

Israel reckons with unraveling Gaza policy - The Washington Post

For Mitt Romney, a bigger military, but at what price? - The Washington Post

For Mitt Romney, a bigger military, but at what price? - The Washington Post

Clinton calls for unity in Bosnia, criticizes Serb nationalists - The Washington Post

Clinton calls for unity in Bosnia, criticizes Serb nationalists - The Washington Post

ElectoralVote- News from the Votemaster

ElectoralVote

Many Worldwide See Communities as Good for Immigrants

Many Worldwide See Communities as Good for Immigrants: Nearly half of adults worldwide (47%) see their communities as good places for immigrants to live, but this belief varies widely across the 146 countries Gallup surveyed in 2011.

Gallup - U.S. Voter Turnout Will Likely Fall Short of 2004, 2008

U.S. Voter Turnout Will Likely Fall Short of 2004, 2008

'There Are No Clean Officials'

'There Are No Clean Officials':
China has denied a recent report in the New York Times that the family of outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao holds hidden assets worth at least U.S.$2.7 billion, and Chinese political commentators have largely been reluctant to gainsay the prevailing view of Wen as an upstanding and incorruptible champion of the people. But writer Yu Jie, who has published a book titled Wen Jiabao: China's Greatest Actor, says he is supportive of the allegations, some of which he had already made himself:

Some of the allegations made in the New York Times article were already made by me in my book Wen Jiabao: China's Greatest Actor, which was published in Hong Kong three years ago. For example, the jewelry owned by his wife that was worth millions of yuan; and the shares held by Wen Jiabao's son. But there are some differences; for example, the revelations by the New York Times that Wen's mother holds U.S. $120 million in assets. That part isn't in my book, but I do touch on Wen Jiabao's younger brother, Wen Jiahong, who is a significant shareholder in China's biggest property developer, Evergrande Real Estate. He also served as a director of Evergrande for a very long period of time. So I am in strong agreement with the New York Times' reporting on this matter. I think the New York Times has carried out an exhaustive piece of investigative research, of the kind that it's very hard for the individual to do alone. This has revealed the corruption at every level of Chinese officialdom. It is like a huge dyeing vat in which there are no clean officials.

[The fact that many people have spoken out in support of Wen] is a perfect expression of the fact that China, for the past 2,000 years, has been in the grip of an authoritarian system of government which has created a very strong cultural system. This means that people don't regard themselves as modern citizens, so they don't stand up for their freedom of expression and their right to criticize officials. They place all their hope for China's progress and reform onto the shoulders of officials. They have a sort of "clean government" complex [a deeply entrenched belief that there is such a thing.] This isn't only found inside mainland China. Overseas Chinese scholars are the same.

First we must look at whether these reports are correct; whether they are true. I think that ... if they really do sue the New York Times, then this will be a good thing. That way, we can get a legal decision at the highest level. Also, I think that Wen Jiabao himself should come forward and make a full disclosure, and not his so-called family [who have issued statements via lawyers in Beijing], because we can't see clearly who these so-called "family members" are.

I also hope that China will have a breakthrough in press freedom, so that China's own media can investigate and report on this matter. So that it doesn't have to come to China through the media overseas. That's really an abnormal situation.

I was subjected to illegal house arrest and kidnapping for criticizing Wen Jiabao. I was tortured and mistreated, and eventually forced into leaving my own country. I am fairly sure that Wen Jiabao would have known how I was being treated. So I hope he will come out openly ... and punish the secret police who have trampled the law. Only by making a public apology to me can he prove himself to be a genuine reformer.

Reported by Jia Yuan for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Richard Cohen: Obama, the president who seems not to care - The Washington Post

Richard Cohen: Obama, the president who seems not to care - The Washington Post

Home prices rise in August boosting real estate recovery - Where We Live - The Washington Post

Home prices rise in August boosting real estate recovery - Where We Live - The Washington Post

Apple iPad competitors wage tablet wars - The Washington Post

Apple iPad competitors wage tablet wars - The Washington Post

China powerless to prevent rising tide of Tibetan self-immolations - The Washington Post

China powerless to prevent rising tide of Tibetan self-immolations - The Washington Post

Facebook Used to Kidnap, Traffic Indonesian Girls

Facebook Used to Kidnap, Traffic Indonesian Girls:
Young people cannot be sure who they are talking to on social media. (Photo: Reuters)
Young people cannot be sure who they are talking to on social media. (Photo: Reuters)
DEPOK, Indonesia—When a 14-year-old girl received a Facebook friend request from an older man she didn’t know, she accepted it out of curiosity. It’s a click she will forever regret, leading to a brutal story that has repeated itself as sexual predators find new ways to exploit Indonesia’s growing obsession with social media.
The junior high student was quickly smitten by the man’s smooth online flattery. They exchanged phone numbers, and his attention increased with rapid-fire texts. He convinced her to meet in a mall, and she found him just as charming in person.
They agreed to meet again. After telling her mum she was going to visit a sick girlfriend on her way to church choir practice, she climbed into the man’s minivan near her home in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta.
The man, a 24-year-old who called himself Yogi, drove her an hour to the town of Bogor, West Java, she told The Associated Press in an interview.
There, he locked her in a small room inside a house with at least five other girls aged 14 to 17. She was drugged and raped repeatedly—losing her virginity in the first attack.
After one week of torture, her captor told her she was being sold and shipped to the faraway island of Batam, known for its seedy brothels and child sex tourism that caters to men coming by boat from nearby Singapore.
She sobbed hysterically and begged to go home. She was beaten and told to shut up or die.
So far this year, 27 of the 129 children reported missing to Indonesia’s National Commission for Child Protection are believed to have been abducted after meeting their captors on Facebook, said the group’s chairman, Arist Merdeka Sirait. One of the 27 has been found dead.
In the month since the Depok girl was found near a bus terminal Sept. 30, there have been at least seven reports of young girls in Indonesia being abducted by people they met on Facebook. Although no solid data exists, police and aid groups that work on trafficking issues say it seems to be a particularly big problem in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
“Maybe Indonesia is kind of a unique country so far. Once the reports start coming in, you will know that maybe it’s not one of the countries, maybe it’s one of a hundred countries,” said Anjan Bose, a program officer who works on child online protection issues at ECPAT International, a nonprofit global network that helps children in 70 countries. “The Internet is such a global medium. It doesn’t differentiate between poor and rich. It doesn’t differentiate between the economy of the country or the culture.”
Websites that track social media say Indonesia has nearly 50 million people signed up for Facebook, making it one of the world’s top users after the US. The capital Jakarta was recently named the most active Twitter city by Paris-based social media monitoring company Semiocast. In addition, networking groups such as BlackBerry and Yahoo Messenger are wildly popular on mobile phones.
Many young Indonesians, and their parents, are unaware of the dangers of allowing strangers to see their personal information online. Teenagers frequently post photos and personal details such as their home address, phone number, school and hangouts without using any privacy settings—allowing anyone trolling the net to find them and learn everything about them.
“We are racing against time, and the technology frenzy over Facebook is a trend among teenagers here,” Sirait said. “Police should move faster, or many more girls will become victims.”
The 27 Facebook-related abductions reported to the commission this year in Indonesia have already exceed 18 similar cases it received in all of 2011. Overall, the National Task Force Against Human Trafficking said 435 children were trafficked last year, mostly for sexual exploitation.
Many who fight child sex crimes in Indonesia believe the real numbers are much higher. Missing children are often not reported to authorities. Stigma and shame surround sexual abuse in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, and there’s a widespread belief that police will do nothing to help.
An ECPAT International report estimates that each year, 40,000 to 70,000 children are involved in trafficking, pornography or prostitution in Indonesia, a nation of 240 million where many families remain impoverished.
The US State Department has also warned that more Indonesian girls are being recruited using social media networks. In a report last year, it said traffickers have “resorted to outright kidnapping of girls and young women for sex trafficking within the country and abroad.”
Online child sexual abuse and exploitation are common in much of Asia. In the Philippines, kids are being forced to strip or perform sex acts on live webcams—often by their parents, who are using them as a source of income. Western men typically pay to use the sites.
“In the Philippines, this is the tip of the iceberg. It’s not only Facebook and social media, but it’s also through text messages … especially young, vulnerable people are being targeted,” said Leonarda Kling, regional representative for Terre des Hommes Netherlands, a nonprofit working on trafficking issues.
“It’s all about promises. Better jobs or maybe even a nice telephone or whatever. Young people now, you see all the glamour and glitter around you and they want to have the latest BlackBerry, the latest fashion, and it’s also a way to get these things.”
Facebook says its investigators regularly review content on the site and work with authorities, including Interpol, to combat illegal activity. It also has employees around the world tasked with cracking down on people who attempt to use the site for human trafficking.
“We take human trafficking very seriously and, while this behavior is not common on Facebook, a number of measures are in place to counter this activity,” spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an email.
He declined to give any details on Facebook’s involvement in trafficking cases reported in Indonesia or elsewhere.
The Depok girl, wearing a mask to hide her face as she was interviewed, said she is still shocked that the man she knew for nearly a month turned on her.
“He wanted to buy new clothes for me, and help with school payments. He was different … that’s all,” she said. “I have a lot of contacts through Facebook, and I’ve also exchanged phone numbers. But everything has always gone fine. We were just friends.”
She said that after being kidnapped, she was given sleeping pills and was “mostly unconscious” for her ordeal. She said she could not escape because a man and another girl stood guard over her.
The girl said the man did not have the money for a plane ticket to Batam, and also became aware that her parents and others were relentlessly searching for her. He ended up dumping her at a bus station, where she found help.
“I am angry and cannot accept what he did to me. … I was raped and beaten!” said the lanky girl with shoulder-length black hair. The AP generally does not publish the names of sexual abuse victims.
The girl’s case made headlines this month when she was expelled after she tried to return to school. Officials at the school reportedly claimed she had tarnished its image. She has since been reinstated, but she no longer wishes to attend due to the stigma she faces.
Education Minister Mohammad Nuh also came under fire after making remarks that not all girls who report such crimes are victims. “They do it for fun, and then the girl alleges that it’s rape,” he said. His response to the criticism was that it’s difficult to prove whether sexual assault allegations are “real rapes.”
The publicity surrounding the story encouraged the parents of five other missing girls to come forward this month, saying their daughters also were victimized by people they met on Facebook. Two more girls were freed from their captors in October and are now seeking counseling.
A man who posed as a photographer on Facebook was recently arrested and accused of kidnapping and raping three teenage girls. Authorities say he lured them into meeting him with him by promising to make them models, and then locked them in a house. Police found dozens of photos of naked girls on his camera and laptop.
Another case involved a 15-year-old girl from Bogor. She was recently rescued by police after being kidnapped by someone she met on Facebook and held at a restaurant, waiting for someone to move her to another town where she would be forced into prostitution.
In some incidents, the victims themselves ended up recruiting other young girls after being promised money or luxuries such as mobile phones or new clothes.
Police are trying to get a step ahead of the criminals. Detective Lt Ruth Yeni Qomariah from the Children and Women’s Protection unit in Surabaya said she posed as a teenager online and busted three men who used Facebook to kidnap and rape underage girls. She’s searching for a fourth suspect.
“It has been getting worse as trafficking rings become more sophisticated and underage children are more easily targeted,” she said.
The man who abducted the Depok girl has not been found, and it’s unclear what happened to the five other girls held at the house where she was raped.
“I saw they were offered by my kidnapper to many guys,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to remember it.”

Jailed for Sensitive Songs

Jailed for Sensitive Songs:
A court in Vietnam sent two prominent musicians to prison Tuesday for writing politically sensitive songs, drawing criticism from rights groups which saw the decision as part of a growing crackdown on dissent not tolerated in the one-party communist state.

Following a half-day trial, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City handed Vo Minh Tri, a 34-year-old drummer from My Tho in Tien Giang province, four years in prison and Tran Vu Anh Binh, a 37-year-old songwriter from the city, six years in jail, Tri’s lawyer Tran Vu Hai told RFA’s Vietnamese service.

Binh and Tri, who is also known as Viet Khang, were convicted for producing “propaganda against the state” and were also given two years of probation each following completion of jail time.

The Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam, which is responsible for prosecutions and legal matters in Vietnam, had argued for significantly longer sentences for the two musicians, Hai said.

“The Procurator had asked that … the Penal Code’s Article 88 be applied with a jail term of up to 20 years, on the pretext that these were cases of severe propaganda against the state,” the lawyer said.

“We argued that was inappropriate because the court could not show any evidence of such severe propaganda."

Both men were detained under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code, a provision rights groups say Vietnam has used to detain dozens of bloggers in a campaign to silence dissent.

Binh, who was arrested on Sept. 19, 2011, has written songs against the imprisonment of dissidents, including prominent blogger Nguyen Van Hai—also known as Dieu Cay.

Tri, who was arrested on Dec. 23, 2011, is known for writing lyrics which rail against a widening income gap between Vietnam’s wealthy and poor, and against state crackdowns on activists protesting Chinese claims in the South China Sea.

Hai said the judge had refused a request by the two men to play their songs in court.

Guarded trial

Supporters of the two men said that Tuesday’s trial was heavily guarded and that they were refused entry to the courtroom.

"There were a lot of policemen, even military ones,” said a woman who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity. “Not only did they cordon off the four sides of the court, they also warded people off from afar at the intersections.”

“I walked around to see the intersections. Each had about a dozen to 20 policemen." 

Father Dinh Huu Thoai from the Catholic Redemptorist Order—of which Binh is a choir member—said he had been removed from the area around the courthouse by police and interrogated at a nearby station.

"Their aim [in escorting me to the Ben Thanh police station] was to delete all the pictures I took and to check my cell phone,” Thoai said.

“The deputy police chief of the station said, 'You are a priest and should only be at church.’ I replied, 'The trial is for one of my church members, Binh, so this morning I came to attend',” he said, adding that he was sent home after being questioned.

Political affiliation

Lawyer Hai said the court had accused both men of having ties to the Patriot Youth, an overseas political opposition group.

Hai said that Binh, whose songs had been performed by several popular singers in Vietnam, had been accused of writing for the Patriot Youth political blog.

“He was accused of joining the Patriot Youth, an online organization which aims to produce ‘propaganda against the state’,” the lawyer said.

“[They said] he is in charge of a Patriot Youth blog on which he posted many songs and other information."

Patriot Youth claims Binh as a member who wrote a song called “Pain of the Homeland” under the penname Hoang Nhat Thong.

Hai said that his client Tri had no political motivation and would appeal his sentence.

"Viet Khang will appeal to a higher court because he said he is not a political activist, he just writes songs about whatever he is thinking,” the lawyer said.

“He would do anything to return to his family."

Call for release

The outcome of the musicians’ trial drew immediate condemnation from international rights groups, which called for the unconditional release of the two men.

Phil Robertson, New York-based Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia, called the jailing an “outrageous new turn of events” in Vietnam, already known for its relentless suppression of dissent.

“Vietnam’s escalating crackdown on freedom of expression has now reached the ranks of musicians, showing that even singing about ideas opposed by the government will see the offender condemned to a long prison term,” he said.

“Jailing song-writers is an outrageous new turn of events that reveals the totality of the government’s intolerance for those raising uncomfortable issues, whether they are economic disparities, police brutality, or Vietnam’s relationship with China.”

The Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights said the sentences showed that Vietnam, which is seeking a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2014-2016, is not ready to hold meaningful dialogue with the international community on such issues.

“Once again, Hanoi has displayed its utter contempt for its citizens’ rights and its international obligations,” said Vo Van Ai, president of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights.

“Just last week, Vietnam held its annual human rights dialogue with the European Union. Its dialogue with the United States is in November. Between these two rounds of dialogues, Hanoi sentences two young people who have done nothing but to sing of freedom and the love of their country,” Ai said.

“This hypocrisy should cease and these two people should be immediately set free.”

Reported by Gwen Ha for RFA’s Vietnamese service. Translated by An Nguyen. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Dozens Detained as Protests Ebb

Dozens Detained as Protests Ebb:
Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo are holding more than 50 people under criminal detention, as protests against the expansion of a petrochemical plant subsided amid renewed pledges from the government that it wouldn't go ahead, residents said on Tuesday.

City officials said 51 people were detained by police, mostly in connection with attacks—or the prevention of attacks—on police officers and damage to police vehicles during protests in Zhenhai township, the planned location of the paraxylene (PX) plant.

Of the 51 people detained, 13 had already been placed under criminal detention, a city spokesman told a news conference late on Monday.

Some protesters were also briefly held for "education" after they refused to obey orders to leave Ningbo's Tianyi Square during protests there on Saturday, but were subsequently released, he said.

Residents said the protests appeared to have ended for the time being.

"It's pretty quiet here today, and there hasn't been much activity on Weibo," said a resident of Zhenhai surnamed Cai.

A second resident, who declined to be named, said the city had "stabilized."

"It was reported [that the project would be canceled] on the Ningbo television news program this afternoon at 2:00 p.m.," she said. "We will believe the leaders, and we will see what happens."

"Even if we don't believe them, we can't go on like this every day."

Planned investment

Downstream petrochemical giant Sinopec had planned to invest U.S. $8.9 billion in expanding its plant in Ningbo, which already produces 500,000 tons of PX a year.

The proposed expansion would have increased oil-refining capacity by 15 million metric tons and annual ethylene production capacity by 1.2 million tons, in a district where residents already complain of acrid-smelling air from existing plants.

Ningbo's vice-mayor Chen Zhongchao told the news conference on Monday that the government had planned to conduct an environmental impact assessment, survey public opinion and hold a public hearing on the project, but that the public had "expressed its concerns before these procedures could be implemented," the official China Daily newspaper reported.

Now, the government says that preliminary work on the Sinopec project has been suspended pending "further scientific evaluation," the paper said.

Ningbo-based democracy activist Xu Xionglong said he believed that most of those detained had been involved in smashing property.

"Things got pretty riotous in Zhenhai these past few days," Xu said. "Some people were smashing police vehicles and attacking police stations."

"I'm guessing that some of those people who have been detained won't be getting out any time soon."

Xu said he had been at the demonstrations in Ningbo throughout the week against the plant, which locals fear will poison the environment and affect their health.

"The people who were detained in Ningbo were held awhile, given a lecture, made to sign a guarantee of good behavior and released," he said.

Weekend clashes

Protests against the PX plant entered a third day on Monday, with many still skeptical of promises by local officials that work on the U.S. $8.9 billion project would halt.

Tens of thousands of city residents took to the streets over the weekend, sparking clashes with police as the week-long environmental protest against the plant expansion reached its peak.

Unconfirmed online reports said the Ningbo government only agreed to back down on the project following intervention from China's outgoing premier Wen Jiabao, who was said to be staying at the Zhaobao Hotel in the city.

However, an employee who answered the phone at the hotel denied Wen had stayed there.

"No, he didn't come here," she said, while Xu quoted police sources as saying they had never received notification of a visit by Wen.

News of the Ningbo protests was censored on China's popular Sina Weibo microblogging service, according to Beijing-based rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan.

"They told me the Internet surveillance departments were censoring it," Liu said after he inquired about his own tweet featuring photos of the Ningbo protests, which was deleted.

"I think this is ridiculous," he said. "It's a covert form of news censorship."

Dalian plant

Meanwhile, reports emerged in the Hong Kong media that PX production had increased at an existing plant in the northeastern port city of Dalian, in spite of pledges by the local government to remove the plant following protests by more than 10,000 people in August 2011.

Production at the Dalian plant had increased from 700,000 metric tons annually, to 1.4 million metric tons, the Eastern Daily News reported.

The article was unavailable on the popular Chinese Internet search engine Sohu on Tuesday, however.

An employee who answered the phone at the Dalian Fujia Dahua Petrochemical Co. denied the report.

"There's no PX here; this is the wrong number," the employee said. "I don't know about this."

An official who answered the phone at the Dalian municipal environmental protection bureau declined to comment on the report.

"On this matter, you should go through the correct official channels," the official said. "We don't really understand the situation with them over there."

Reported by Grace Kei Lai-see for RFA's Cantonese service, and by Fang Yuan for the Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Likud approves merger with Yisrael Beitenu

Likud approves merger with Yisrael Beitenu: Israel's ruling party approves electoral pact with ultranationlist Yisrael Beitenu in bid to garner votes in 2013 poll.

Turkey police disperse pro-secular protesters

Turkey police disperse pro-secular protesters: Tear gas and water cannons used to disband thousands marching in Ankara to mark Republic Day.

New Role for Grasping World Politics Blog

From today onward, almost all my new postings to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
will appear on my Grasping World Politics blog since these publications usually require you to pay a fee
in order to view full-text of articles.  The same will hold for the fewer postings derived from other
proprietary sites.  Starting Points and Burma Monitor blog postings will be reserved for non-fee sites.

To see what’s on Grasping World Politics blog, go to http://graspingasia.blogspot.com/
For convenience,  such fee articles will continue to be available in _very brief_ form on my Google+ posts page --
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114166353305177408369/posts

For access to the full-text of most WSJ articles, you will need to pay the publication a subscription (fee).
For access to the full-text of most NYT times articles beyond a small daily quota (free),
you will need to pay the publication a subscription (fee).  There is no way around this.

Sudan denies Iranian links to bombed factory

Sudan denies Iranian links to bombed factory: Foreign ministry says that Iran was not manufacturing weapons at a factory which Khartoum says was blown up by Israel.

Libyan army has 'no control' in Bani Walid

Libyan army has 'no control' in Bani Walid: Libyan defence minister says that armed groups are preventing local residents from returning to the town.

Info - From today onward, almost all my new postings to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
will appear my Grasping World Politics blog since these publications usually require you to pay a fee
in order to view full-text of articles.  To see what’s there, go to http://graspingasia.blogspot.com/
For access to the full-text of most WSJ articles, you will need a subscription (fee).
For access to the full-text of most NYT times articles beyond a small daily quota (free),
you will need a subscription (fee).

Algeria urged to back Mali intervention plan

Algeria urged to back Mali intervention plan: US secretary of state holds talks in Algiers on fighters, some linked to al-Qaeda, who control large swathe of Mali.

Politician's death prompts Kenya violence

Politician's death prompts Kenya violence: Three people killed as protests hit Kisumu after the murder of a candidate for general elections due in March.

UBS to lay off 10,000 employees

UBS to lay off 10,000 employees: Swiss bank announces huge losses in third-quarter results along with planned reduction in investment banking activities.

Haiti food crisis feared in Sandy's wake

Haiti food crisis feared in Sandy's wake: Officials fear rising food prices and an increase in cholera cases in Caribbean nation where storm killed 52 people.

Police disperse striking miners in S Africa

Police disperse striking miners in S Africa: Rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades used during clashes with Anglo American platinum mine workers in Rustenburg.

Bahrain bans protests and gatherings

Bahrain bans protests and gatherings: Gulf state's decision expected to raise pressure on Shia Muslim organisations engaged in organising opposition marches.

Syria air raids continue as diplomacy falters

Syria air raids continue as diplomacy falters: Bombardment around Homs comes as Qatar accuses Assad of waging "war of extermination" and Brahimi seeks China's support.

Public Alerts on Google Search and Maps for Android for superstorm Sandy preparedness information

Public Alerts on Google Search and Maps for Android for superstorm Sandy preparedness information: Earlier today we posted about efforts to provide information to those affected by the former hurricane and now superstorm Sandy.



We also want to let you know that Public Alerts are now available on Google Search & Maps in your browser, on Google Maps for Android and also on Google Now for Android devices running Jellybean.



Public Alerts provide warnings for natural disasters and emergency situations. They appear based on targeted Google searches, such as [Superstorm Sandy], or with location-based search queries like [New York]. In addition to the alert, you’ll also see relevant response information, such as evacuation routes, crisis maps or shelter locations.



We were planning on announcing the new features in a few days, but wanted to get them out as soon as possible so they can be helpful to people during this time.



This is part of our continuing mission to bring emergency information to people when and where it is relevant. Public Alerts are primarily available in English for the U.S., but we are working with data providers across the world to expand their reach.



If you are searching for superstorm Sandy, you’ll see content at the top of the Search page specific to this crisis. For other searches, you’ll see public alerts where and when they are live.







Public Alerts on desktop search

Public Alerts on mobile


Desktop search showing content for Sandy-related query


We’re able to gather relevant emergency safety information thanks to a strong network of partners, including NOAA and USGS. Their commitment to open standards like the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is what makes this all possible. We’ve also developed partnerships to bring you even more relevant alerts in the future, including local emergency data from Nixle.



To learn more about Public Alerts, visit our Public Alerts homepage. If you’re a data provider, and would like to contribute to our efforts, please see our FAQ.



We hope that this information makes it easier for you to stay safe.



Posted by Nigel Snoad, product manager, Google Crisis Response

More Art Project online for you to explore

More Art Project online for you to explore: Back in April we announced a major expansion of the Google Art Project. Since then 15 million people have explored the paintings, sculptures, street art and photographs contributed by our partners. From today the number of treasures you can view is increasing by more than 10% as 29 new art organizations from 14 countries bring their collections online.



A wide range of global institutions, large and small, well-known and less traditional, are represented. Explore contemporary works at the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, admire works from the Art Gallery of South Australia (who have contributed almost 600 objects) and access the treasures of the famous Museum of Palazzo Vecchio in Italy and Princeton University. This round has also seen contributions from more unusual sources including a collection from the National Ballet of Canada, pre-Columbian art from Peru and decorative arts from China.





Now that the total number of objects online is more than 35,000, we've turned our attention towards thinking of different ways for you to experience the collections.



The first is a great educational tool for art students, enthusiasts or those who are simply curious. A “Compare” button has been added to the toolbar on the left of each painting. This allows you to examine two pieces of artwork side-by-side to look at how an artist’s style evolved over time, connect trends across cultures or delve deeply into two parts of the same work. Here's an example: place an early sketch of Winslow Homer's 'The Life Line' from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum next to the completed painting from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Comparing them in this way allows you to see how the artist's vision altered (or not) over the life of the work.





Beyond following us and discussing great art on our Google+ page, we have also created a Hangout app within the Art Project so that you can share your favorite collections and perhaps give your friends a personal guided tour. If there is a budding museum guide or an art critic within any of you it can finally be unleashed! Watch this video to see how it works.







Around 180 partners have contributed their works to the Art Project so far, more than 300,000 of you have created your own online galleries and we've had more than 15 million visitors since our last launch in April. The cultural community has invested great time and effort to bring these masterpieces online. Watch this space for more to come.



Posted by Piotr Adamczyk, Google Art Project

Introducing the new compose in Gmail

Introducing the new compose in Gmail: Posted by Phil Sharp, Product Manager



We're always trying to make Gmail faster and easier to use, so today we're introducing a completely redesigned compose and reply experience that does just that.



Faster

How many times have you been writing an email and had to reference something in another message? Saving a draft, opening the old email, and then reopening your draft wastes valuable minutes. The new compose pops up in a window, just like chats (only larger).
This makes it easy to reference any other emails without ever having to close your draft. You can even do a search or keep an eye on new mail as it comes in. And because the compose window works the same way as chats, you can write multiple messages at once and minimize a message to finish it later.



Easier to use

The new compose is designed to let you focus on what's important: your message. The controls are still there when you need them but get out of the way when you don’t. We’ve even added some new features like the ability to easily insert inline images and have more to come.



And, when you add recipients to your message, you'll see profile pictures of your contacts in autocomplete helping you find the right person faster. You can also drag and drop the new address chips between to:, cc: and bcc:. When you’re done adding recipients, the address area collapses automatically to get out of your way.
You’ll also see these same changes when you respond to a message. The reply experience has been designed to fit better inline as part of your conversation -- replies take up much less vertical height, intelligently expand to fit your content, and always keep the recipients and other controls in view no matter how long your message gets.



We're rolling out a preview of the new compose and reply today. After we've added some finishing touches over the coming months, we’ll enable it for everyone.

SOUTH AFRICA: The psychological strain of living in Tin Can Town

SOUTH AFRICA: The psychological strain of living in Tin Can Town:
CAPE TOWN, 30 October 2012 (IRIN) - A recent academic study has identified a range of mental health disorders suffered by shack dwellers in South Africa's Western Cape Province, from chronic insomnia to low self-esteem.

BURKINA FASO: Preventing conflict between farmers and herders

BURKINA FASO: Preventing conflict between farmers and herders:
OUAGADOUGOU, 30 October 2012 (IRIN) - As violent incidents between animal breeders and sedentary farmers soar across northern and eastern Burkina Faso, the Ministry of Animal Resources has been holding a series of workshops for the two groups, alongside community leaders, local governors and mayors.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Mapping the health connection

CLIMATE CHANGE: Mapping the health connection:
JOHANNESBURG, 30 October 2012 (IRIN) - Countries could save countless lives and greatly reduce health costs if forewarned about climate-sensitive infectious disease outbreaks months in advance: and that is becoming a possibility, according to the Atlas of Health and Climate, a report mapping the links between climate and diseases like cholera, malaria, dengue fever and diarrhoea.

Full-text of report - http://www.wmo.int/ebooks/WHO/Atlas_EN_web.pdf

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Victims cry foul over Uganda’s LRA strategy

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Victims cry foul over Uganda’s LRA strategy:
BANGUI, 30 October 2012 (IRIN) - Uganda's practice of pardoning and then integrating into its military captured or surrendered members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), getting them to hunt down their former comrades-in-arms, has come in for criticism by civilians affected by the rebel group in the Central African Republic (CAR).

UGANDA: Nodding syndrome symptoms controlled, hunt for cure continues

UGANDA: Nodding syndrome symptoms controlled, hunt for cure continues:
KAMPALA, 30 October 2012 (IRIN) - Their conditions improving, nearly all of the children admitted to health centres for nodding syndrome have now been released, according to Uganda's Ministry of Health; less severely affected patients have also started treatment.

IDP News Alert, 30 October 2012

IDP News Alert, 30 October 2012: Nigeria: Millions displaced by floods struggle with escalating food prices
Female IDPs in Côte d'Ivoire and Mali remain vulnerable to sexual violence

A Big Storm Requires Big Government - NYTimes.com

A Big Storm Requires Big Government - NYTimes.com

For access to the full-text of most WSJ articles, you will need a subscription (fee).
For access to the full-text of most NYT times articles beyond a small daily quota (free),
you will need a subscriotion (fee).

U.S. Economic Confidence Best Since 2008

U.S. Economic Confidence Best Since 2008: Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index improved to -14 for the week ending Oct. 28, the highest level of weekly confidence in the economy since Gallup began Daily tracking in 2008.

Oct 29, 2012

Mahathir created Pakatan Rakyat

Mahathir created Pakatan Rakyat:

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad struck fear into the nation in an unprecedented scale through Operasi Lalang – the detention without trial of 106 social workers, social activists and politicians.
Liew Chin Tong, ANU alumnus and opposition member of parliament finds poetic justice in this dirty deed:
A quarter of a century later, as we look back at Dr Mahathir’s mass detention camp of 1987 while on the cusp a possible change of government, there is a sense of poetic justice that Operation Lalang “united” Barisan Nasional’s opponents and gave them a steely resolve to oppose like never before.
Lim Guan Eng, Mat Sabu and many others were young activists at a time when opposition parties and movements were against Barisan Nasional for very different reasons, and often contradictory causes.
But in Kamunting, whatever their causes, they were all behind bars as human beings and as Malaysians for an extended period. They came to realise that Barisan Nasional benefited from mobilising racial and religious tensions to strike a blow against its political foes.
Liew Chin Tong himself, the majority of the younger parliamentarians in opposition today, the younger civil society activists, in fact the Reformasi Generation were all also a Mahathir “creation.”
As another rebel of the 1990s, Alanis Morissette, sings, “Isn’t it ironic!”

In the Mix: Meet Danny Smith, part Vietnamese/Japanese, part American

In the Mix: Meet Danny Smith, part Vietnamese/Japanese, part American:
By: Emma Kwee

Time for another instalment of In the Mix! In this series we talk to people with a mixed background. Have these colorful roots entangled them? Confused them? In what way has their heritage formed their identity, how they look at the world and the world looks at them? Feel free to join in and tell us about your mixed roots. Just e-mail info@latitudes.nu and we’ll send you some questions!

Today we meet Danny Smith, a guy with  common last name, but less common roots. A wonderful mix of Vietnamese, Japanese and American genes add spice to his life, as well as his palate.

1. Who are you and what’s your mix?
My name is Danny Smith. I was born in Vietnam and I’m 39 years old. My father was Caucasian and my mother is a mix of Vietnamese/Japanese. I currently live in Oklahoma, USA.
In the Mix - Danny Smith
Danny Smith, part Vietnamese/Japanese, part American

2. What’s the story of your parents?

My father met my mom while serving in the military. We left Vietnam before I was a year old, but didn’t come to the USA until I was six. We spent five years living abroad as my father worked, in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and several African countries.

3. When did you become aware of your mixed background?

As far as I can remember I was always aware that I was racially different. We lived in many places where neither of my races were prevalent so my ethnicity stood out.

4. Have you ever felt that you don’t belong? How have you overcome that feeling?

I think everybody has those feelings at times in their lives. On occasion I have felt like an outsider growing up, but for the most part I’ve always surrounded myself with people who accepted me for who I am…

5. With which ethnicity do you identify most?

I don’t think I identify with one more than the other. I just a mix of both and that’s how I see the world.

6. How do others react to you? Have you ever experienced derogative comments? Do a lot of people ask you about your background? I’ve never had any negative remarks.  Most people can tell I have some sort of ethnic background, but usually don’t ask. If I am questioned about it, it’s usually other Asians that can see it in me and want to know where I’m from.

7. Do you feel your identity has been partly formed by your mixed background? If so, how?

I usually think of myself as a guy who loves to travel, cook and write. I think the love of all those things came from my colorful background. My father gave me the love of travel. My mother’s cooking made me want to be a chef. Combine those two and you have my love for world cuisine (check out Danny’s Facebook page Global Plate to get a taste of his passion for cooking!)

8. What does it mean to be multi-cultural or bi-cultural?

To me it means living with a beautiful mix of life. I have so many more things to take pride in, to celebrate, because I have two cultures to be proud of. I try not to forgo one for the other.

9. Has your multi-cultural background influenced your worldview?

My worldview is different not so much because I’m mixed racially, but because I have lived so many places. I’ve lived in Iran, Saudi Arabia, several countries in Africa, and many states here in the USA. I try to see the world from all sides and listen to what people think about issues..

10. Do you have a partner? Is he/she mixed or not?

Yes I have a girlfriend and she is Caucasian. She loves all the delicious food from around the world I cook!

11. Do you think in the future everyone will be of mixed origins?

I think the world is fast becoming a smaller place, so in the future everyone will be more racially mixed. It’s inevitable.

12. Any last words? Your personal mixed mantra?

Just to be open to the world and to yourself. Experience life! Travel. Taste exotic things. We are only here for a little while, so enjoy this beautiful world while you can!

Health Concerns in the Philippines

Health Concerns in the Philippines:
By: Karina Melissa Y. Ibabao

Travelers looking to travel to the Philippines, should be aware of the destination’s main health issues and risks. The Philippines is a popular travel destination in Southeast Asia. If you are headed there soon, there are several health risks that you need to be aware of. Consult a doctor before departure. Your doctor or health-care provider will determine what you will need, depending on factors such as your health and immunization history, areas of the country you will be visiting, and planned activities. Here’s a list of the three most common health risks in the Philippines and how to avoid them:
Avoiding mosquito bites, easier said than done, By: Keith
Avoiding mosquito bites, easier said than done, By: Keith

1. Dengue Fever in the Philippines

Dengue fever is a mosquito-born disease and is often common during the wet season, which lasts from May to November. Its symptoms include high fever, body rash, headache and vomiting, which may be complicated by hemorrhage or shock. If you contract the disease, you will need a lot of fluids so as to avoid dehydration. Dengue fever can be deadly and very painful. Unlike the mosquitoes that cause malaria, dengue mosquitoes bite during the day. There is no vaccine to prevent dengue. Prevention centers on avoiding mosquito bites when traveling to areas where dengue occurs.

Prevention:
  • Make sure to use insect or mosquito repellent on your skin, especially uncovered parts.
  • Choose air-conditioned accommodation and use mosquito nets.
  • When outdoors during times that mosquitoes are biting, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants tucked into socks.

2. Diarrhea in the Philippines

Bad sanitation is a cause of diarrhea, so always bring anti-diarrheal meds with you. While it’s fun to go to wet markets and try out food at hole-in-wall eateries, some of them may not be well sanitized. Use your common sense when trying out street food, i.e. does the food look freshly cooked, has it been cooked at high temperature?
Philippines food: Enjoy the cuisine but don't risk your health, By: Niko
Philippines food: Enjoy the cuisine but don't risk your health, By: Niko

Prevention:
  • Remember to wash your hands before eating, preferably with soap, to minimize risks.
  • The Philippines offers a variety of delicious fruits that you really need to try. However, it is best to buy or eat fruits that have not been cut up yet. If they already are, check to see if the restaurant or eatery is clean.
  • Do not eat fruits or vegetables unless they have been peeled or cooked.
  • Avoid cooked foods that are no longer hot. Cooked foods that have been left at room (or sun) temperature are particularly hazardous.
  • Avoid drinking tap water, unless boiled, filtered or chemically disinfected.
  • Avoid drinks with ice cubes.

3. Malaria Risk in the Philippines

Urban areas are relatively free from malaria. The risk of malaria is only present below 600 meters in rural areas on the islands of Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, and Palawan. If you are staying in major cities, you are not likely to contract this disease. Subic Bay is a risk area.

Prevention:
  • Do some research on the areas where you are planning to go to and check for risk of malaria.
  • Taking medicines to prevent malaria is essential, if you’re visiting an area where malaria is prevalent. Choosing the most appropriate antimalarial depends on many factors such as your individual circumstances and the type of malaria in the area you’re visiting. Note: Chloroquine is NOT an effective antimalarial drug in the Philippines and should not be taken to prevent malaria in this region.
  • Avoid mosquito bites by using nets or mosquito repellents, wear long pants and sleeves when trekking and in the evening (when malaria mosquitoes are most active).

CHAD: Floods, locusts add to humanitarian challenges

CHAD: Floods, locusts add to humanitarian challenges:
NAIROBI, 26 October 2012 (IRIN) - The number of flood-affected people in Chad has risen to 700,000, up from 445,000 in September, according to humanitarian agencies, which also report the loss or damage of 255,720 hectares of cropland, 94,211 houses and 1,015 schools. Some 70,000 people have been displaced by the flooding, one of several challenges to the country's humanitarian situation.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Beyond the hype of 'climate wars'

CLIMATE CHANGE: Beyond the hype of 'climate wars':
JOHANNESBURG, 29 October 2012 (IRIN) - A new study set in East Africa, one of the most detailed yet to examine the links between conflict and climate change, calls for a more balanced view on the issue - beyond the widely hyped “climate wars” said to be erupting over dwindling natural resources. The study's authors are among a chorus of emerging voices warning against viewing climate change exclusively through the lens of security.

Briefing: Ethiopia's ONLF rebellion

Briefing: Ethiopia's ONLF rebellion:
NAIROBI, 29 October 2012 (IRIN) - Any hopes for an imminent end to conflict in Ethiopia's Somali region were dashed earlier this month when talks between the government and the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) broke down.

Not guilty plea filed for Philippines' Arroyo

Not guilty plea filed for Philippines' Arroyo: Judge acts on ex-president's behalf after she refuses to enter plea on charges of misusing $8.8m in state lottery funds.

France arrests 'top ETA leader'

France arrests 'top ETA leader': Izaskun Lesaka detained in Macon after being on the run since 2005 for her alleged role in the Basque separatist group.