Malala’s father: ‘When she fell, Pakistan stood and the world rose’
LONDON, Oct 26 (AFP) – Pakistan’s response to the shooting of the schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban was a “turning point” for the country, her father said at the British hospital where she is recovering. After visiting his 15-year-old daughter for the first time since he arrived in Britain with her mother and two [...]
Berlusconi sentenced, but jail unlikely
ROME, Oct 26 (AFP) – Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was on Friday sentenced to four years in jail — quickly reduced to one — for tax fraud with Italy’s lengthy appeals process likely to ensure he never sees the inside of a prison cell. Scandal-hit Berlusconi, 76, condemned the sentence as “intolerable judicial [...]
Rivals stump in US battleground states
AMES, United States / Iowa, Oct 27 (AFP) – US President Barack Obama and his rival Mitt Romney hunted for votes in battleground states Saturday after the Republican propelled the economy to the forefront of the campaign by promising to restore the country’s economic engine. Romney will take his message to Florida voters while Obama [...]
Wen Jiabao’s family wealth: China furious at US exposé
BEIJING, Oct 27 (AFP) -China’s censors did their best Saturday to block discussion of a New York Times investigation into Premier Wen Jiabao, but analysts said the report would still likely reach tens of millions of people. Detailing a string of deals on Friday, the newspaper said that relatives of the government’s number two — [...]
Philippines storm toll rises sharply
MANILA, Oct 27 (AFP) -The death toll from Typhoon Son-Tinh in the Philippines rose sharply to 24 yesterday as casualty reports came in from isolated central islands and the far-flung south, the government said. Drowning and landslides were given as the cause of 11 deaths on small islands in the country’s mid-section, the National Disaster [...]
Syria ceasefire in tatters as fighting rages
DAMASCUS, Oct 27 (AFP) – Hopes for a halt to violence in Syria over a Muslim holiday lay in tatters Saturday as fighting raged, war planes targeted Aleppo and some 146 people were reported killed on the first day of Eid al-Adha. The ceasefire conditionally agreed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the main rebel [...]
Disturbing, or just plain odd?
They claim it is not sexual – but it is at best odd, and at worst disturbing. A new ‘specialty shop’ has opened in Japan offers a chance to spend time with girls cuddling and snuggling. The attraction in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, home of eccentric maid cafes and lingerie bars, is for clients who want to [...]
No longer world’s most famous South Korean: Ban
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN leader Ban Ki-moon had to admit Tuesday that he is no longer the world’s most famous South Korean as he came face-to-face with “Gangnam Style” rap phenomenon Psy. But the world body’s secretary general got the bonus of an offer of a skydiving lesson from Felix Baumgartner, the first person [...]
Pussy Riot got what they deserved – Putin
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has rejected criticism of the imprisonment of the female punk band Pussy Riot by claiming ‘they would be at home doing housework if they had not broken the law’. Speaking to a group of foreign Russian experts, Putin said the bands three members deserved their fate because they threatened the moral [...]
North Korean official is executed by mortar shell
A North Korean military officer has been executed with a mortar shell blast for disrespecting late ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il by drinking alcohol during the 100-day mourning period. South Korean media claim Kim Chol, the secretive state’s former vice minister of the army, was forced to stand on a spot that had been targeted with [...]
Brazilian student agrees to sell her virginity online
A Brazilian student is set to sell her virginity for a staggering $780,000 after she put it up for auction online. A man called Natsu, from Japan, fended off strong competition from American bidders Jack Miller and Jack Right, and Indian big-spender Rudra Chatterjee, to secure a date with 20-year-old Catarina Migliorini. The auction closed [...]
Thai face slapping ‘treatment’
A Thai natural health practitioner claims she can turn back the clock simply by ‘face-slapping.’ The traditional technique is said to erase wrinkles, shrink pores, and tighten the skin without surgery, instead using slapping, kneading and massaging of the area.While there is no medical evidence to prove the slapping works as an anti-aging treatment, according to [...]
Lazy luggage
It isn’t clear how it might react if you are running to catch a flight but a young inventor has come up with a ‘robotic’ suitcase that requires no carrying. A video on YouTube has revealed a prototype of the ‘Hop!’ suitcase, which uses the bluetooth signal on your smart phone to guide it along [...]
Can this giant ball rid the world of landmines?
It might look like an unused prop from the Star Wars films, but this giant ball has the potential to save thousands of lives. Like a giant clump of dandelion seeds, it is designed to be blown around in the wind detonating landmines in its path. Made simply of bamboo, iron and plastic, each one is [...]
Three new crew arrive at space station with fish
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – A pair of rookie Russian cosmonauts and a veteran U.S. astronaut arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, boosting the crew back to full strength and bringing along 32 Japanese medaka fish. Soyuz spacecraft commander Oleg Novitskiy, flight engineer Evgeny Tarelkin and NASA’s Kevin Ford ended a two-day journey [...]
New app lets parents control their child’s phone
For many parents, trying to drag their children’s attention away from their phone is a constant battle of wills. But help is at hand thanks to a new app which allows adults to control their offspring’s mobile from afar. The AlphaBlue app, which costs £2.99 a month, allows parents to block a child’s access to the [...]
New York police officer charged with plan to cook, eat women
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York City police officer was charged on Thursday with conspiring to kidnap, torture, cook and eat women whose names he listed in his computer. In a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court, Gilberto Valle III, 28, of Forest Hills, Queens, was charged with conspiring to cross state lines [...]
Jail for Chinese man who rang exam bell too early
BEIJING (Reuters) – A man in central China has been sentenced to a year in jail for ringing a bell to end a national college entrance exam to early, forcing the students to hand in their papers nearly five minutes before the exam should have ended, state media said on Friday. Xiao Yulong, 54, admitted [...]
Women shouldn’t have mobile phones: politician
BSP MP Rajpal Saini has launched a tirade against mobile phones and has publicly declared that women and children do not need mobile phones. “Why do housewives and school going girls need mobiles? It encourages them to make futile small talk and get connected with people outside their homes.” Saini did not say how Indian [...]
Burma to Myanmar and back?
NEW DELHI – In ways big and small, Asia is still living with the tainted legacy of imperialism. Consider the debate now underway in Myanmar – or Burma to some. Because the imperial tongue found it difficult to pronounce “Myanmar,” the country’s no-nonsense British masters renamed it Burma (redrawing its borders as well for good [...]
Adultery laws unfairly target women: UN
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 2012 (IPS) – When one of the Asian countries embraced Islamic Sharia law back in the 1990s, the rigidly conservative government threatened to enforce a provision that called for convicted adulterers to be stoned to death. “If this law is enforced,” a weekly magazine cynically pronounced at that time, “the country [...]
Is your smartphone making you sick?
Our increasing reliance on smartphones is making us more prone to sickness because the electronic devices are such dangerous breeding grounds for bacteria. Doctors are warning that the combination of a cellphone’s close proximity to your ears, nose and mouth with its bacteria-loving warmth, means people are exposing themselves to germs that are harmful to [...]
New treatment using cow’s milk that could prevent HIV
Love it or hate it, cow’s milk is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D. Now scientists think they can harness it to protect people from HIV. Researchers found that cows could be used to produce antibodies that defend against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The animals can’t contract the disease themselves. The next step [...]
US must stop China-bashing: Take a leaf from Lanka’s history
In presidential debates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney claims that he would label China as a currency manipulator on “Day One” in the White House. It is a sharp contrast to the president’s “No Drama Obama” approach to China policy. In the cacophony of China-bashing and scapegoat rhetoric, Beijing’s currency manipulation is a major concern [...]
