Chavez risks losing legislature majority

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez talks to the media next to

Bolivian President Evo Morales (R) as they arrive at a plenary

 session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in

Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 18, 2009. UPI/Anatoli Zhdanov

CARACAS, Venezuela, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rallied supporters before Sunday's national assembly elections as opposition campaigners vowed to halve the government's parliamentary majority and limit its lawmaking powers.

Chavez, 56, is widely tipped to win the legislative elections but the opposition is banking on small victories that will reduce a majority it handed to Chavez when it boycotted the 2005 election.

If, as widely predicted, Chavez wins fewer than 110 seats then the opposition will have the chance to mount an obstructionist campaign against his revolutionary lawmaking in the legislature if not entirely succeed in derailing his Bolivarian revolution, analysts said.

Opposition campaigners hope to capitalize on electricity and water shortages, high crime rates and government inefficiencies and build on promises of forcing change.

Opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado urged voters to go to the polls without fear to make Venezuela "a safer country" -- a reference to opposition allegations of government intimidation of dissidents.

 

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/09/24/Chavez-risks-losing-legislature-majority/UPI-54441285358441/

Business Booms at Gulf's First Sex Shop

Just as many women shop in the Fashion House as men. They often come with their husbands, who stand to the side while their wives shop.

Just down the road in Saudi Arabia, men aren't allowed to talk to women in public, but the phone at Khadija Mohammed's Bahrain sex shop hardly stops ringing. One favorite item: fruit-flavored edible underwear.

King Fahd Causeway connects Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain, where some of the rules are rather more relaxed. If you leave Manama, the kingdom's capital, take a right down Baghdad Avenue and drive south to the traffic circle by the Last Chance supermarket, you'll find a place far removed from the strictures of Saudi morality, enforced chastity and prudishness.

"By the traffic circle … next to the laundromat. Yes. No, I don't have any dildos, only massage devices … Good. See you later. Maa al-Salama." Khadija Mohammed's telephone rings every 10 minutes. The last call was from a number beginning +966. "A lady in Saudi Arabia," Khadija explains. In other words, the typical customer of Khadija Fashion House in Manama.


Later that afternoon the lady comes by, concealed by a hijab that reveals nothing but her eyes, and purchases a magenta-colored "Oui", described on the packaging as a "simple, elegant personal massager, so thin it can fit in the palm of your hand."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,719188,00.html

Women in Arab Legislations and Constitutions Symposium Starts in Damascus

Damascus, (SANA) –

Looking at women from a legislative and constitutional point of view can identify the position of women on the map of the society because legislations and constitutions specify rights, duties and responsibilities, Arab Parliament Speaker Houda Fathi bin Amer said.

Bin Amer's comments came during the opening of a symposium organized by the Arab Parliament on the situation of women in Arab legislations and constitutions under the title "Partnership, Development, Vitality… the Role of Arab Parliament in Developing and Unifying Legislations to Enable Women" in Damascus on Friday.

Bin Amer pointed out to the achievements of women struggle worldwide, including the UN Charter and the Human Rights Convention's support of equality between men and women.

http://sana.sy/eng/21/2010/09/24/309336.htm

Pakistan erupts over jailing of scientist Aafia Siddiqui

PAKISTANI police used tear gas to disperse protesters who shouted "Death to America" in outrage after a US court jailed a woman scientist for 86 years for attempting to murder US officers.

In a case that has been condemned across the nuclear-armed Muslim nation of 167 million, the government said it would petition Washington to secure the mother of three's repatriation on humanitarian grounds.

A New York court found Aafia Siddiqui, the once brilliant scientist dubbed "Lady Qaeda" by the US tabloids, guilty of the attempted murder of US military officers in Afghanistan in 2008 - five years after she disappeared.

In Karachi, Siddiqui's home town and Pakistan's largest city, police fired tear gas shells to prevent scores of people from marching on the US consulate at the behest of the youth wing of Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/pakistan-erupts-over-jailing-of-scientist-aafia-siddiqui/story-e6frfku0-1225929148080#ixzz10ShKMRJP

Smoke, mirrors, cloaks and daggers

Photo by: AP

Journalists Nissim Mishal and Michael Bar-Zohar delve into the shadowy world of Israel’s secret espionage wars in new book on Mossad, which turns out to be a uniquely Zionist organization

Syrian general Muhammad Suleiman was President Bashar Assad’s closest military adviser and the father of his country’s nuclear reactor, which was destroyed by the IAF in September 2007, after Mossad agents had, a few months earlier, planted Trojan horse software in the laptop of another senior Syrian official thus obtaining detailed plans of the project. Suleiman, who was well known to the Mossad, immediately started planning the rebuilding of the reactor on another site. He was also in charge of liaison with Iran, supervising Syria’s weapons of mass destruction program, and smuggling missiles to Hizbullah.

In the summer of 2008, he traveled to Rimal al-Zahabia, a pleasant town on the coast in northern Syria, for a weekend with friends and family. On August 2, he hosted a dinner on the veranda of his beach house facing the ocean.
http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?ID=188817&R=R1

'Thank God we don't need to be recognized again'

Photo by: Courtesy

Outgoing UN Ambassador Gabriella Shalev laments anti-Israel bloc at General Assembly, but speaks of a growing kinship even with countries that have no diplomatic relations with Jewish state.

 

NEW YORK – When I talk to outgoing Ambassador to the UN Gabriella Shalev, it’s a bright August morning. She admits that she’s utterly exhausted, almost to the point of collapse. It’s the end of her tenure, one day before she’s scheduled to return to Israel, and she’s sick for the first time in her two years here. Maybe, she conjectures, she got sick on her recent flight to Memphis, Tennessee, while traveling for AIPAC.

“Being a frequent traveler is always very dangerous,” Shalev notes, referencing the modern traveler’s twin perils of airborne germs and fatigue.

Arguably, however, she has spent the last two years in a much more dangerous place for an Israeli: the halls of the UN.

http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?ID=188836&R=R1

 

 

Stuxnet worm is the 'work of a national government agency'

Malware believed to be targeting Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant may have been created by Israeli hackers

A computer worm which targets industrial and factory systems is almost certainly the work of a national government agency, security experts told the Guardian – but warn that it will be near-impossible to identify the culprit.

The "Stuxnet" computer worm, which has been described as one of the "most refined pieces of malware ever discovered", has been most active in Iran, says the security company Symantec – leading some experts to conjecture that the likely target of the virus is the controversial Bushehr nuclear power plant, and that it was created by Israeli hackers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/24/stuxnet-worm-national-agency

Queen asked for poverty grant to heat palaces

Ministers refused royal request, saying handouts were aimed at schools, hospitals and housing associations to help low-income families

 

An official said that giving a grant to Buckingham Palace would lead to

 'probable adverse press coverage'. Photograph: Alex Segre / Rex Features

The Queen requested a poverty grant to help heat her palaces, but was refused because government ministers feared it would cause a public relations backlash, it was reported today.

In an effort to cut the royal household's soaring electricity and gas bills, a senior aide wrote to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2004 to ask if the Queen would be eligible for a handout from a £60m energy-saving fund.

The cost of utilities doubled in 2004 and the aide said the £1m bill for the royal palaces was "untenable". He also complained that the £15m government grant to maintain the Queen's palaces was inadequate.

However, the request for a grant to replace four combined heat and power units at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle was turned down in August 2004, according to documents obtained by the Independent under the Freedom of Information Act.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/24/queen-poverty-grant-buckingham-palace

Medvedev to discuss energy projects, international issues in China

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

 

Cooperation projects, including in the energy sphere, and international issues will be discussed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to China, a Kremlin aide said on Friday.

During a three-day visit to begin on Sunday, the Russian president will meet with Chinese leader Hu Jintao and other top officials in Beijing and attend the 2010 Expo in Shanghai.

"During the scheduled talks in Beijing, the two states' leaders will discuss in detail the whole range of Russian-Chinese cooperation. The discussions will focus on the further development of trade and economic ties, energy cooperation, trade structure improvements, boosting investment and inter-regional cooperation, as well as issues of ecology and migration," Sergei Prikhodko said.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100924/160711761.html

Ahmadinejad’s 9/11 "conspiracy theories" prompt UN walk-out

 

The Iranian president pulled no punches during his speech before the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, saying the US government may have had a hand in the attacks of 9/11.

US President Barack Obama pledged on the campaign trail that he would sit down and talk with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but apparently on the condition that the subject material was agreeable to Washington’s ears.

On Thursday, the Iranian president hit a nerve with the US delegation in New York when he suggested 11 minutes into his 33-minute speech that the American government may have had a large role in the attacks of 9/11, an event which, according to Ahmadinejad, is one of the reasons for the crumbling structure of the new world order.

http://rt.com/Politics/2010-09-24/ahmadinejad-911-united-nations.html

Vote 'more violent'

KABUL: The US-led coalition force in Afghanistan conceded last week's parliamentary elections were far more violent than it first claimed and that the country was rocked by many more insurgent attacks than during last year's presidential election.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there were about 100 more attacks than the 280 or so incidents during last year's election.

The figures are an embarrassment for the international community, which cited a decrease in violence as proof of the greater capacity of the Afghan army and police to guarantee security during Saturday's election.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/vote-more-violent-20100924-15qmv.html

Saddam "Delighted" in Terror Attacks on US- Tariq Aziz

WASHINGTON, (AP) — Former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, a prominent member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle, told the FBI that the dictator "delighted" in the 1998 terrorist bombings of two U.S.
embassies in East Africa but had no interest in partnering with Osama bin Laden, declassified documents show.
 
"Saddam did not trust Islamists," Aziz said, according to handwritten notes of a June 27, 2004 interrogation, although he viewed al-Qaida as an "effective" organization.
 
The FBI notes are among hundreds of pages of interrogation records of top Iraqi officials — including Saddam — provided to the AP this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. While most of the Saddam records had been previously released, the National Security Archive, an independent research institute at George Washington University, said the FBI had previously refused to declassify Aziz's records.
 
The records are from an FBI operation code-named Desert Spider, which sought to compile evidence of the Saddam regime's war crimes and to test the theory that Saddam and his intelligence services had some form of cooperation with al-Qaida prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003.
 
The FBI had previously released summaries of its 20 sessions with Saddam, in which he denied any relationship with bin Laden but appeared to acknowledge that some Iraqi officials had met him.

http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22431

Flogging in Saudi Arabia

Lashing a doctor for claimed wrong prescription that has led to addiction, or lashing a female teacher 100 times in public and in the presence of all her students and some parents for throwing a shoe at a student, does not do the society any good or deter anybody from making a mistake, notes Iqbal Tamimi.

The maximum number of lashes mentioned in Islamic texts is 100. It is a punishment for what is considered the major crime of adultery. But the latest of shocking news of abusing the punishment system in Saudi Arabia has been reported 31st August 2010 by a number of local Saudi websites including (hrofy.com), claims a Saudi judge at a court of the city of Taef, has sentenced an elderly man in his 90s to 100 lashes. This old man did not commit adultery. He was sentenced to 100 lashes for breaking the windscreen of a car that belongs to the judge of Alqureea Bani Malik’s court during Friday prayers. The old man said he broke the windscreen of the judge's car to take revenge over a previous verdict against him.
In October 2008 a Saudi court in the city of Jeddah, sentenced the Egyptian doctor Raoof Ameen AlArabi who was working in Saudi Arabia to 1500 lashes and 7 years imprisonment. He was accused of prescribing a drug to a female patient that resulted in her becoming addicted to the prescription. Alriyadh Saudi national newspaper warned on 5th April 2009 that flogging punishments has reached an astronomical record in Saudi Arabia; one of such sentences was 40.000 lashes. Another punishment was 4.000 lashes for stealing two lambs.
These punishments raised controversial issues, since such numbers of lashes has never been reported or recorded in Islamic punishments’ system before. The punishment by flogging in Islam has been recorded in three cases and allowed only under tight regulations and conditions. Making the flogging punishment an almost impossible task, such as in the case of adultery, where four witnesses are required to come forward to testify accusing the person of adultery, and they should swear that they have seen personally, without a shadow of doubt the intercourse act was happening in front of all four of them at the same time and that the genitals of both adulterers were fitting like a hand in a glove. Hugging in bed, kissing or seeming like making love does not count in such testimony, making accusing a person of adultery almost an impossible task.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=41507

Just one in 100 Brits are Gay

Survey ... results are surprising

ONLY one per cent of Brits say they are gay or lesbian, the first ever official figures revealed today.

The ground-breaking nationwide survey reveals 480,000 adults describe themselves as homosexuals — just one in every 100.
Another 245,000 — or one in 200 — are bisexual.
Astonishingly, 1.4million people — or three per cent of adults — say they "don't know" if they are gay, straight or bisexual.
The findings demolish claims by gay campaigners that up to one in ten people in Britain are homosexual.
A Government report in 2005 estimated that up to 3.6million people — or six per cent of the population — were gay.
But a massive survey of more than 450,000 people by the Office for National Statistics has now shattered these estimates.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3150555/Just-one-in-100-Brits-are-gay.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

12 women and children killed in Iran bombing

A deadly bomb attack has struck a military parade in Iran.

At least 12 women and children are dead and 60 others wounded.

The event was being held to mark the 30th anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war.

“We were just standing there and suddenly a bomb exploded,” said one victim. “We all ran away. When I wanted to move, I noticed I couldn’t move my legs.”

http://www.euronews.net/2010/09/22/12-women-and-children-killed-in-iran-bombing/

Six arrested for 'burning Korans' in UK

AFP
British police have arrested six people on suspicion of inciting racial hatred over a YouTube video apparently showing them setting fire to copies of the Koran, a spokesman said

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/six-arrested-for-burning-korans-in-uk-20100924-15p2t.html

Somali radio reporters walk out after Islamist takeover

The Hizbul Islam leader Hassan Dahir Aweys said the GBC station must serve Islam

Somali journalists have walked out of a radio station recently seized by Islamists in the capital, Mogadishu.

The staff at GBC said they refused to take orders from Hizbul Islam militants.
http://news.myjoyonline.com/international/201009/52710.asp

Russia bans "all arms sales" to Iran

Russian President Medvedev issued a decree prohibiting the delivery of S-300 air defence missile systems and other weapons to Iran, the Kremlin said.

 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree on Wednesday prohibiting the delivery of S-300 air defence missile systems and other weapons to Iran, the Kremlin said.

The decree bars the delivery to Iran of "any battle tanks, combat armoured vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat helicopters, military ships" and missiles covered by a U.N. register, as well as spare parts, the Kremlin said. It specifically prohibits the delivery of the S-300.

The decree also bans Iranian investments in commercial activity involving some nuclear material and includes lists of Iranians barred from Russia because of suspected links to nuclear or missile proliferation.

The decree was announced hours after Russia's armed forces chief of staff said the military was obeying government orders not to deliver S-300s to Iran -- the first direct confirmation from a senior official that the deal was frozen.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=64284

A prince and his longtime lover

Yi Gu and Yu Wi-jin sing at a social gathering in the early 1970s. Provided by Jean Art Gallery

It was a love story, hidden for years between a man who could have been His Imperial Highness, Crown Prince of Korea, and a woman he met at a party.

Finally, the tragic love story, which lasted years, has been unveiled by the adopted son of that woman.

The story involves Prince Yi Gu, and his lover Yu Wi-jin.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2926274

Ohio's Test of Protectionist Rage

It's never a bad idea to watch Ohio—the classic big, industrialized swing state—in an important political year, and that's especially true this year.

In particular, keep an eye on Ohio's big Senate and governor's races, for there an important proposition is being put to the test—the proposition that supporting free trade is a losing message amid hard economic times, especially in the industrialized heartland.

Free trade is proving a devisive issue in the current races

for Senate and Governor in Ohio. The outcome of those

races will be important in determining the national dialogue

on trade. Jerry Seib reports.

Right now, both Republican contenders in those races—Rob Portman for the Senate and John Kasich for governor—are coming under fire for their past support of free trade. The fact that both enjoy big poll leads right now suggests the attacks have had limited effect so far.

A key question in the campaign stretch run, both for Ohio and for policy making in Washington after the election, is whether that remains the case.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703305004575503813843605470.html?mod=rss_US_News

Time for US to lift Cuban embargo

At a conference call last week, Julia Sweig, an expert on Latin America at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic monthly, talked about their lengthy meeting in Havana with legendary Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

 

Goldberg's article, titled Fidel: Cuban model doesn't work for us anymore, made headlines and also took a lot of heat after Castro said he was misinterpreted.

 

It might be worthwhile to find out whether the Cuban model works or not. But a much more critical issue is why the United States continues its 50-year embargo on Cuba, an embargo that hurt millions of Cubans and an embargo that has not worked for US leaders and its people.

 

Or is this embargo even human?

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-09/21/content_11331659.htm

2 cheesesteaks to go for Obama

US President Barack Obama seems to be learning from other people's mistakes.

In Philadelphia for campaign appearances on Monday with Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak, Obama made an unannounced stop at the popular Reading Terminal Market and ordered two cheesesteaks - with the usual Cheez Whiz topping.

He also ordered a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone on the way out.

Obama lately has been trying to convince people unhappy with the economy that he knows what they're going through.
During the 2004 presidential campaign, Democratic Senator John Kerry ordered a Philly cheesesteak with Swiss cheese.

 Critics used that to portray the wealthy Kerry as out of touch. He lost the election to Republican George W Bush.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/2-cheesesteaks-to-go-for-obama-20100921-15k8d.html

Google hits wall in China

Google is hiring dozens of marketing and technical employees to defend a shrinking market share after closing its Chinese search engine six months ago in a dispute over censorship.

Mainland users usually can reach Google’s Chinese-language site in Hong Kong, which has helped Google retain its rank as China’s second-most-popular search engine.

But Hong Kong access is occasionally blocked and some users have defected to local alternatives, mostly to Baidu.com.

Google has kept a research centre and advertising sales offices in China and is promoting its Android operating system for mobile phones. It launched what it says is a “large-scale recruiting campaign” for at least 40 posts, from marketing manager to software designer.

“Our engineering teams in Beijing and Shanghai continue to focus on bringing a steady stream of innovation to our services in China,” the company said.

http://www.7days.ae/storydetails.php?id=98044

High-Speed Rail Stalls

Opposition from freight railroads is threatening the Obama administration's multibillion-dollar push to make high-speed passenger trains an integral part of the U.S. transportation network.
The standoff demonstrates the difficulties of introducing new passenger service to a rail network that is at least 90% owned by freight railroads and outfitted for slower trains.
To save time and money, government officials want new high-speed rail routes to operate on the vast system of train corridors that already crisscross the U.S., unlike European and Asian countries that have built dedicated tracks for high-speed rail.

An artist's rendering of California's proposed high-speed passenger service. Disputes are slowing progress.

View Full Image

But Norfolk Southern Corp., Union Pacific Corp. and other railroad companies are balking at sharing their tracks or rights-of-way with trains that would run between 90 and 200-plus miles an hour. They argue that mixing high-speed passenger trains with slower freight trains would create safety risks, prevent future expansion and cause congestion.
Cargo would be pushed to their competitors—trucking firms—the railroads argue, just as freight loads are picking up after the recession. Weekly average carloads in August were the highest since November 2008, according to the Association of American Railroads, the industry's main trade group.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703305004575504180006530598.html?mod=rss_US_News

The United States Co-Sponsors High-Level Panel on LGBT Rights at the United Nations in Geneva

The United States joined Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, East Timor, Finland, France, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Slovenia in sponsoring a high-level panel discussion “Ending Violence and Criminal Sanctions on the Basis of Sexual Orientation” on September 17 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

With messages of support from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, the panel discussion focused the international community on the urgent need to end the criminalization of people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We applaud the courage of the human rights defenders who addressed the audience and urge member states of the United Nations to act and support efforts to end the criminalization of people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

 

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147449.htm

 

 

Cleric is barred over Iraq ties

Bahrain: The country’s rulers say they have revoked the citizenship 

of a Shia cleric with close links to Iraq as part of a crackdown on suspected dissidents.

A statement by Bahrain’s Interior Minister says citizenship was pulled from Ayatollah Hussein Al Najati and his family.

Al Najati is the Bahrain representative of Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, the country’s most influential Shia political cleric. 

Al Najati was born in Bahrain and studied in Iraq and Iran.  

http://www.7days.ae/storydetails.php?id=98025

US urges caution in New Delhi

Washington - The United States on Monday asked Americans to exercise caution in New Delhi after a gun attack outside the Indian capital's main mosque injured two Taiwanese.

"US citizens are urged to always practise good security, maintain a heightened situational awareness and a low profile," the State Department said in a warden message to US citizens in India.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_World&set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20100920222903790C634612

Number of countries signing on to nuclear pact tops 100, UN agency reports

20 September 2010 – More than 100 nations now allow the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) greater access to information regarding their nuclear programmes, the head of the body announced today, urging countries still outside the process to join.

Rwanda and Swaziland were the 101st and 102nd nations in which additional protocols have gone into force, and IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano called reaching this milestone an “encouraging development.”
The protocol, he said, is an “essential tool
 for the Agency to be able to provide credible assurance, not only that declared nuclear material is not being diverted from peaceful uses, but also that there are no undeclared nuclear material and activities in States with comprehensive safeguards agreements.”

Addressing the IAEA’s annual General Conference, which kicked off today in Vienna, Mr. Amano also urged the 18 countries not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to join without delay.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/un/un-100920-unnews01.htm

U.S. Boosts Aid Amid Doubts About Pakistan's Recovery

WASHINGTON, Sep 20, 2010 (IPS) - The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has announced it will provide an additional 75 million dollars in food aid to help Pakistan cope with floods that have affected about one-fifth of the country - including some 20 million people - since they began in July.
That will bring total U.S. assistance to Islamabad to some 345 million dollars, not including about 55 million dollars in in-kind military support, including the deployment of helicopters from Afghanistan to aid in rescue efforts, according to senior U.S. officials who briefed reporters on the situation here Monday.

The additional assistance was announced in the wake of an unprecedented appeal Friday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for two billion dollars in flood relief this year, a four-fold increase in what the U.N. had requested in the first half of August as the floods swept from the frontier regions high in the Himalayas through the Punjab, eastern Baluchistan and Sindh into the Arabian Sea.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52906

Barack Obama's roadblock on the road to recovery

Yet the long-term damage, not just to BP but to big business as a whole, has been profound, and regrettably, this damage has still to be capped to anything like the same degree as the well itself; the aftershocks will reverberate for years to come.

Throughout this disaster, BP has found itself a political football; coming so soon after the banking crisis, it was easy to paint BP into the same corner as "wicked", bonus-driven financiers, an organisation that put profit before safety and self interest before social and environmental responsibility.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/8014483/Barack-Obamas-roadblock-on-the-road-to-recovery.html

Russian jets buzz US navy frigate in Arctic in Cold War-style show of force

A Ka-27 submarine hunter helicopter took off from a Russian warship the following day and again flew perilously close to the American ship Photo: GETTY

The incident comes as Russia, which has not publicly explained its pilots' actions, prepares to host a conference on the Arctic in Moscow this week at which it is expected to push its hotly-contested territorial claims.

According to the Pentagon, a Russian Il-38 submarine hunter plane armed with torpedoes and bombs flew within less than 170 feet of the USS Taylor in a hair-raising incident in the Barents Sea off Russia's northern coast just over a week ago.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8014097/Russian-jets-buzz-US-navy-frigate-in-Arctic-in-Cold-War-style-show-of-force.html

Recycling a threat to wineries



Photo / NZ Herald

 The inefficient recycling of New Zealand's glass could see jobs sent overseas, especially in the wine industry.
A Business Council for Sustainable Development report released this week highlighted that up to 70 per cent of the glass put in kerbside bins was not being remade into bottles and jars.
Around 66 per cent of glass was recycled in New Zealand but only half of it was turned back into bottles. The other half was turned into low-value products, such as aggregate. The glass which was not recycled ended up in landfill or was sent overseas for reprocessing.



http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10674950&ref=rss

Minks starved to death over unpaid wages

EMPLOYEES at a mink farm in Russia's European exclave of Kaliningrad are starving their animals to demand unpaid wages.

Staff "refused to feed the animals to protest over unpaid salary arrears dating back to December", Grigory Isayevich, the deputy director of the furrier Russian Furs, which raises some 300,000 minks at five farms, said.

He added several dozen angry employees had blocked access to the animals' food stores last week in an unusual strike that prompted the struggling company to pay back a part of the wage arrears.

Minks at the farm had already been underfed and suffering from chronic food shortages as the firm teeters on the brink of bankruptcy due to Russians cutting back on purchases of luxury fur coats amid the global economic crisis.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/minks-starved-to-death-over-unpaid-wages/story-e6frfku0-1225927066066#ixzz10603EvfM

Russian bailiffs threaten to sell pensioner's Shar Pei puppies to pay debt

Shar Pei puppies Photo: ALAMY

The pensioner, who bailiffs did not name, owes 350,000 roubles (£7,200) to an individual in her home town in Russia's volcanic Kamchatka region in the Far East.

"If she does not fulfil her obligations (to pay back the debt) within 10 days, the puppies will be sold by the Federal Agency for State Property Management," bailiffs said in a statement on their site fssprus.ru on Friday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8009956/Russian-bailiffs-threaten-to-sell-pensioners-Shar-Pei-puppies-to-pay-debt.html

Seized Somali media network 'must serve Islam'

Hassan Dahir Aweys admits his group have taken over the media network

Somali militants who have seized a radio and TV station say it will now broadcast only Islamic messages.

Hassan Dahir Aweys, who leads the Hizbul Islam group, said he wanted the broadcasts to serve Islam.

The seized station, GBC, was popular because it used to show live international football matches.
Another broadcaster, HornAfrik, was also attacked on the weekend. Witnesses blamed the al-Shabab militant group, but they denied the raid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11376013

The bustling streets of the old town

the bustling streets of Two young girls prepare for Friday

prayer at the Jama Masjid mosque, India's largest

To make the most of the majestic architecture, mouth-watering food and great shopping of India's capital, visit in early autumn. By Gavin Thomas
Why go now
September marks the onset of autumn in the Indian capital. The monsoon rains have freshened up things and temperatures are falling, making this an excellent time to explore the many dimensions of Delhi. And, starting on October 3, Delhi hosts the 19th Commonwealth Games -- attracting athletes, media and spectators to a 12-day celebration of sport

http://www.independent.ie/travel/48-hours-in/48-hours-in-delhi-2342969.html?start=2

William Maizlin, president of Conquest Vehicles Inc., poses with a finished

Conquest Knight XV armored sport utility vehicle Norm Betts/Bloomberg

Imagine you are an oil magnate en route to visit a new well site in, say, Venezuela, when out of nowhere a group of heavily armed mercenaries attack. Armour-piercing bullets lay siege from all directions as a nearby tree explodes in a shower of splinters. But the only combatants holding your attention are those in the Call of Duty video game you're playing inside your Conquest Knight XV -- conceived, designed and hand-built in Canada.
Bill Maizlin has built a comfy little niche in the luxury armoured vehicle market for his Toronto-based company, Conquest Vehicles Inc., and he has covered it with ballistic hardened steel.


Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/Conquest%20tank%20like%20SUVs%20super%20rich/3549102/story.html#ixzz105XRMLBL

Russian crop misery spreads to world’s supermarkets

Russia's worst drought in more than a century cut the forecasted wheat harvest, impacting global bread supplies and food prices

 

The hulking green combine tractor clatters across a wheat field at the sprawling Maslovka farm, a typical autumn scene in Russia’s agricultural heartland.

This year however, the machine is not harvesting wheat but ploughing dead crops back into the cracked, sun-scorched earth, a symbol of a land hit by an unprecedented summer drought and savage forest fires.

“These are scary times,” says Karpa Osipova, 84, who lives on Lenin Street, a few blocks from the Maslovka farm.
“The prices of crops are slowly rising, and my pension isn't big enough,” says Osipova. “I don’t even know how I am going to be able to afford bread.”

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20100920/160654461.html

 

 

 

Abbas won't negotiate if Israel ends settlement curbs

 
AFP/File – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, seen here in
July 2010, says he will not take part in US-backed peace …


NEW YORK (AFP) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Monday he will not take part in US-backed peace talks "for a single day" if Israel does not extend a freeze on settlement building at the month's end.
"The negotiations will continue as long as the settlement (construction) remains frozen, but I am not prepared to negotiate an agreement for a single day more," Abbas told AFP.
Abbas is to give a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York this week about "efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land since 1967 to create an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100920/wl_afp/israelpalestinianspeacesettlerabbas

US-built cars lose way in China

A Hummer, on display at the 2009 Chengdu Motor Show in this file photo, is now a "cool souvenir" for some wealthy Chinese. Wang Xiwei / for China Daily

BEIJING - Hummer production in the United States has ended, but that has had one unlikely reaction in China - an increasing demand for the SUV which some say is big, brash and ugly.

The last Hummer H2 available in Beijing, for example, was sold for 1.6 million yuan ($236,000), more than 300,000 yuan higher than its sticker price of 1.28 million yuan.

"We still have potential buyers for Hummers," said Gong Jianzhong, from Yayuncun Automobile Exchange Center in Beijing, the biggest auto market in northern China. "People are still coming in, asking for Hummers."

But this demand may be attributed to wealthy Chinese such as coal mine owners from Shanxi and Inner Mongolia want the vehicle as a "cool souvenir" before the nameplate disappears, Gong said.

Other American marques are also not doing well in China, the world's largest auto market in terms of sales and production.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-09/20/content_11328790.htm

Family furious over air rifle attack on cat

Colin Poultney holds his cat TJ, whose leg was amputated after he was shot with an air rifle. Photo / Sam Ackland, Bay of Plenty Times.

A furious Tauranga family are demanding justice after an air rifle attack on their beloved cat left it with three legs.
Lyn Poultney said the family's 4-year-old ginger cat TJ first went missing from their Darraghs Rd, Otumoetai home about a fortnight ago.
When TJ limped home four days later, Mrs Poultney realised something was wrong.
"He was dragging his front right leg. At first we thought a dog had bitten him."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10674828&ref=rss

Russian RV continues Arctic shelf exploration

Academic Fyodorov research vessel. Photo: RIA Novosti

A Russian expedition on the research vessel ‘Akademik Fyodorov’ has discovered new evidence that the undersea Lomonosov Range is a direct extension of the Arctic shelf of Siberia.

Russia claims economic rights over the Range, hoping to tap an undersea oil wealth double that of Saudi Arabia.

 http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/09/19/21206710.html

Gaza water park burned down after shut down by Hamas

Photo by: AP Photo/Khalil Hamra


Unidentified gunmen set fire to "Crazy Water" park closed for allowing mixed bathing; witnesses say at least 25 assailants took part.

Unidentified gunmen on Sunday set fore to Crazy Water Park, one of the Gaza Strip's most popular entertainment sites.

Eyewitnesses said that at least 25 assailants participated in the pre-dawn attack. The gunmen beat the two night watchmen, bound their hands and confiscated their mobile phones before setting the complex on fire, they said.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=188560&R=R3
 

Liberal Democrats set out terms for torture inquiry




The attacks of 11 September 2001 mark the start of the torture inquiry's frame of reference.

Photograph: Reuters

The Liberal Democrats today set out what they think the terms of the government's upcoming inquiry into torture should be.

In July David Cameron announced a judicial inquiry into Britain's role in torture and rendition since the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington, DC, in September 2001.

The three-person inquiry panel will be headed by Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeal court judge who is currently commissioner for the intelligence services. He will be assisted by Dame Janet Paraskeva, the head of the civil service commissioners, and Peter Riddell, the former Times political commentator who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for Government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/19/libdemconference-liberaldemocrats

China suspends contacts as Japan boat row deepens

China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan on Sunday and promised tough countermeasures after a Japanese court extended the detention of a Chinese captain whose trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard ships.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-09-19-china-suspends-contacts-as-japan-boat-row-deepens

Are Sanctions Against Iran Sophisticated Siege Warfare

photo: AP / Hasan Sarbakhshian

 

"I tore out their tongues and defeated them completely, the others, still alive, I smashed with the very same statutes of protective deities with which they had smashed my own grandfather Sennacherib-who had been assassinated in Babylon-finally a belated burial sacrifice for his soul. I fed their corpses, cut into small pieces, to the dogs, pigs, zibu-birds, vultures, the birds of the sky and to the fish of the ocean."(1)
 
This account of siege warfare and its aftermath by King Assurbanipal came to mind when Iran recently called U.S.-led sanctions against its nation "pathetic," "confused acts," and an attempt to bully and intimidate its people. For some, it was only yesterday when Iran was a corporate-military outpost of the United States Empire. Even as President Carter was promising "the basic right of every human to be free of poverty, hunger, disease, and political repression,"(2) the Shah's CIA-trained and armed troops were machine-gunning Iranians in Jaleh Square. After hundreds of innocent people were killed and wounded, the Shah thanked the U.S. for "this move towards democracy."(3) (A move which would become a sophisticated siege after Iran's Islamic revolution!)

http://article.wn.com/view/2010/09/19/Are_Sanctions_Against_Iran_Sophisticated_Siege_Warfare/

Indian media asked not to show footage of mosque demolition

NEW DELHI: As the Ayodhya title suit verdict date nears, the News Broadcasters Association of India has set guidelines for the electronic media asking them not to speculate about the judgement and not to show the footage of 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. The guidelines say that the Ayodhya issue is a matter in which extra care is necessary to ensure that the telecast of any news relating to it should not be sensational, provocative or inflammatory. “

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010/09/19/story_19-9-2010_pg20_8

Interpol chief's Facebook identity misused

Interpol chief Ron Noble has said his identity was used on the online social network Facebook by criminals who tried to get details of an operation launched by the international police agency against a global crime nexus. "Interpol's information security incident response team discovered two Facebook profiles attempting to assume my identity as Interpol's secretary general," Noble was quoted as saying by The Independent.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/europe/Interpol-chief-s-Facebook-identity-misused/Article1-602059.aspx

Netanyahu: We tried and failed to stop Russian missile sale to Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted on Sunday that despite intensive diplomacy, Israel had failed to dissuade Russia from selling advanced missiles to Syria.

Speaking at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu told ministers that Russian plans to go ahead with the delivery of P-800 anti-ship missiles to Syria was "problematic" for Israel.

	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairing a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sept. 5, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-we-tried-and-failed-to-stop-russian-missile-sale-to-syria-1.314624?localLinksEnabled=false

Two blasts in Iraqi capital leave ‘at least 18 dead’

According to Iraqi officials, at least 18 people had been killed this morning in two large, near-simultaneous explosions in Baghdad. More than 40 people were wounded in the blasts.

According to Iraqi officials, at least 18 people had been killed this morning in two large, near-simultaneous explosions in Baghdad. More than 40 people were wounded in the blasts.

The blasts hit the Al-Bunuk neighbourhood of north Baghdad and the residential district of Mansur, in the west of the Iraqi capital.

The Mansur blast was in front of a mobile phone company office. But it was not clear if the office was the target. The site was also close to a popular restaurant.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/two-blasts-in-iraqi-capital-leave-%E2%80%98at-least-18-dead%E2%80%99

Iranian court jails human rights activist for 'waging war against God'

Shiva Nazar Ahari convicted of crime known as 'moharebeh', usually punishable by death

Shiva Nazar Ahari has been jailed for six years after being convicted of 'waging war against God'. Photograph: Observer

An Iranian court has jailed a prominent human rights activist and journalist for six years after convicting her of "waging war against God" and other charges.

In another indication of the regime's determination to punish those who took part in protests after last year's disputed presidential election, Shiva Nazar Ahari was convicted of the crime known as "moharebeh" - usually punishable by death.

The 26-year-old, who founded the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Tehran, was also convicted of plotting to commit crimes and agitating against the ruling system, Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency reported.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/19/iranian-court-jails-human-rights-activist

Report: Hamas leader Meshal met Egyptian spy chief in Mecca

Khaled Meshal, Hamas' Damascus-based political head, met at the beginning of September with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Saudi Arabia, London daily Al-Hayat reported Sunday.

	Damascus-based Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal at a conference in February, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

Meshal traveled to the Saudi capital, Mecca, in a bid to heal ties with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, from which Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in a bloody 2007 coup.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-hamas-leader-meshal-met-egyptian-spy-chief-in-mecca-1.314593?localLinksEnabled=false

Japan extends Chinese boat captain's detention

/ AP

Anti-Japan protesters burn a rising sun flag of former Imperial Japanese military, during a demonstration in Hong Kong on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. Protesters in several cities across China marked a politically sensitive anniversary Saturday with anti-Japan chants and banners, as authorities tried to stop anger over a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants from getting out of control. Ever-present anti-Japanese sentiment in China has been inflamed in recent weeks by Japan's arrest of a Chinese captain after his fishing boat collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in waters near an island group claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing. Japan has returned the boat and its crew but holds the captain. China has demanded his release. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

TOKYO — Japan extended the detention Sunday of a Chinese fishing boat captain arrested over a ship collision near disputed islands, an incident that sparked a diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing and led to scattered nationalist protests in China.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/sep/19/japan-extends-chinese-boat-captains-detention/

Iran detains seven U.S. troops - Fars news agency

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian border guards detained seven U.S. troops as they tried to illegally enter the Islamic state, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday, without giving a source.

"Recently seven American troops were detained by Iranian guards in a southeastern province of the country ... Two Iranians accompanying the troops were also arrested," said Fars


http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/19/worldupdates/2010-09-19T171910Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-515970-1&sec=Worldupdates

Girls’ school bombed in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Taliban bombed a girls’ school on Saturday in Peshawar.

Terrorists planted explosives around the Iqra Rozatul Atfal Girls’ School, situated at Charkhakhel area of Peshawar, which went off around 1:40am.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010/09/19/story_19-9-2010_pg7_6

Mikhail Khodorkovsky: 'Russia's democratic future lies with Britain'

Jailed Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky attends a court session in Moscow last July. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

Only a few years ago Britain was the main opponent of the Kremlin in the international arena. From ex-president Vladimir Putin we heard barbed attacks and sharp reproaches. Putin's inner circle grew used to accusing Britain of meddling in Russia's internal affairs. Institutions such as the British Council came up against impossible obstacles in Russia.

But we shouldn't forget that when Putin had just come to power, Tony Blair thought him his best friend in the world. Blair, then prime minister, saw Britain as a conduit for renewing Russia within a new system of international relations.

So why in the middle of the 2000s did Russian-British relations radically deteriorate and end up in a dead end? First and foremost, Britain didn't justify the hopes of the authoritarian leadership emerging at the time in Russia. Britain did not turn a blind eye to the shutdown of democracy and the encroachment on human rights in our country. The British justice system repeatedly demonstrated its independence. Courts refused to hand back dozens of Russians who, once home, could have become victims of a deliberately biased prosecution and ended up in a Russian jail, where it's difficult to survive. Among those granted asylum were employees from my oil company, Yukos.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/19/mikhail-khodorkovsky-britain-russia-future

Living standards crisis-proof – Putin

Vladimir Putin speaks at meeting of FNPR General Council. Photo: RIA Novosti

 

As Russia continues to emerge from the crisis, it has significantly raised pensions and public sector pay  and created a million new jobs. Its national unemployment rate is now down from January’s 8 and a half percent to just 7 percent.

Prime Minister Putin was dealing with these and related matters Saturday in an address to a 20th-anniversary convention of the National Federation of Independent Trade Unions.

Russia’s trade unions are vehicles of social partnership, which helped the nation avert a collapse in living standards as crisis bit. Importantly, wage arrears are largely a thing of the 90s. As of the first of this month, the national figure was even lower that on the same date in the pre-crisis year of 2007.

The government is drafting legislative amendments to stimulate compliance with occupational safety rules  and tighten responsibility for neglecting them. Fines alone  may go up two to ten times.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/09/18/21065715.html

 

Flying Dragons simulate the enemy for Israel Air Force pilots

Squadron 115, based far from the major bases of the Israel Air Force, in the Ovda airfield north of Eilat, borrows pilots and jets from other squadrons, doesn't take part in combat operations and gets grounded if a war breaks out. The mission of the "Red Squadron," also known as Flying Dragon, is a different one: to simulate the enemy.

A year ago, as part of a course to mentally prepare pilots for combat, a squadron was selected as the Reds' first victim. One after another, the training monitor told pilots over the radio that they had been "downed" by the enemy and were requested to return to base immediately.

	A Squadron 115 pilot in a Syrian Air Force uniform
	Photo by: Nir Kafri

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/flying-dragons-simulate-the-enemy-for-israel-air-force-pilots-1.314524?localLinksEnabled=false

If There Were No Islam

Combat operations in Iraq were officially completed this week. In Washington, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met to resume peace negotiations. The two events indicate a reduction in instability in the Middle East but are far from representing the end of conflicts in the region, which became the scene of major international wars in recent decades, leading public opinion in the West to point to Islam as the source of violence.

Civil War in Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq War, First Intifada, the Gulf War, the Second Intifada, the Lebanon War (Israel vs. Hezbollah), the Gaza War, the war in Iraq and genocide in Darfur are examples of clashes that supposedly have Islam as a backdrop. Other conflicts involving Muslims in Central Asia also contribute to this phenomenon, namely the two wars in Afghanistan: the first against the Soviets, and the second, which has taken place over the past nine years, led by the United States against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
http://watchingamerica.com/News/68860/if-there-were-no-islam/

A third of Mumbai’s coast at risk of flooding: Study

Nearly one third of the state’s densely populated coastline from northern Raigad, through Mumbai all the way to Thane is vulnerable to severe flooding during natural disasters such as cyclonic storms and from a gradual rise in the sea level, a study has found.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/mumbai/A-third-of-Mumbai-s-coast-at-risk-of-flooding-Study/Article1-601955.aspx

Saudi Arabia sets up charity foundation to maintain global philanthropic role

(KUNA) -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is determined to maintain its leading role for charitable activities at the global level in line with principles of Islam and the Saudi people customs and traditions, leading figures say.
Abdul Rahman Al-Juraisi, Board member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh, said in an interview with KUNA, on the occasion of the issuance of the royal decree for establishing King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Foundation for Charity and Humanitarian Works in the Kingdom, that this move depicted the keenness of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on promoting humanitarian works, principles of tolerance, peace, cooperation and compassion among nations of the globe.

According to the decree, the newly-founded authority would contribute to philanthropic activities, intended to serve the religion, the homeland, the nation and the whole mankind. It is also aimed at spreading tolerance, peace and welfare for the nations, in addition to the development of sciences.

Elaborating in the exclusive interview with KUNA, Al-Juraisi said the objectives of the new foundation reflected the great role of the kingdom throughout history for the service of the human race in all corners of the world, indicating at a long chain of humanitarian and philanthropic initiatives, launched during the era of King Abdullah, for the service of mankind, namely the valuable assistance offered to peoples affected by catastrophes.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2111824&Language=en

3 more Indian-Americans in Team Obama

Washington: After a slight lull over the summer, President Barack Obama's drive to recruit persons of Indian origin into his government is back to full throttle.

This week the White House announced a string of appointments to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and they included three Indian-Americans: Farooq Kathwari, Amardeep Singh and Sunil Puri.

http://hindu.com/2010/09/19/stories/2010091955361100.htm

We, the Kashmiri people

I noticed them while the driver of my Sumo was hurtling through Srinagar’s streets at frightening speed (“Janab, this way you reduce the chances of getting hit by stones” — it worked): Groups of boys no older than seven and eight, carrying plastic assault rifles more than half their height. Only one of them had a slingshot.

We had plunged down a narrow backstreet to avoid a group of stone-throwers. It seemed calm. So, I got off and started chatting with the boys.

What were they playing?

“Azaadi,” said one cherub with pink cheeks.

Why did only one boy have a slingshot?

“He’s CRPF, he’s the traitor (gaddar).”

The context: Apart from teargas, the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) uses slingshots as a non-lethal weapon of choice on the restive streets of the Kashmir Valley. Like so many young children growing up in Kashmir, these boys reflect the violence and ideologies of their lives.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/newdelhi/We-the-Kashmiri-people/Article1-601933.aspx