Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Pakistan remembers Benazir Bhutto

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Pakistan Tuesday remembered former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on her fourth death anniversary.

The day began with recitation of the Quran at Bhutto's mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Baksh in Sindh province, the News International reported.

People from all over the country and office bearers of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) gathered for prayers.

In Rawalpindi, PPP workers visited the memorial site at Liaquat Bagh to pay homage to their former leader who was assassinated Dec 27, 2007.

A public meeting was organised at Garhi Khuda Baksh to pay tributes to the former prime minister "in recognition of her life-long struggle for the cause of democracy and protection of the rights of people", the daily said.

Television channels also aired special programmes and newspapers published special supplements on the death anniversary.

Bhutto became the first and till date the only woman prime minister of Pakistan in 1988. She was re-elected to a second term in 1993. In 1996, charges of corruption were levelled against her that led to the dismissal of her government.

Bhutto conceded defeat in the 1997 parliamentary elections and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1998. She returned to Pakistan in October 2007, after having reached an understanding with then president Pervez Musharraf, by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn.

On Dec 27, 2007, Bhutto was killed in a bombing after leaving a PPP rally in Rawalpindi, just two weeks before the scheduled general election of 2008.

Facebook flooded with condemnation for Indian's killing

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Social networking website Facebook has been flooded with comments condemning the killing of Indian student Anuj Bidve in Manchester with one terming the killers "vermin"

The 23-year-old Bidve, from Pune in India's Maharashtra state, was part of a group of nine men and women -- all Indian students -- visiting the city for a short break for Christmas. He was a postgraduate student in micro-electronics at Lancaster University.

Bidve was shot in the head while walking from his hotel in Salford area towards the Manchester city centre around 1.30 a.m. He died at a hospital a short while later.

Rakesh Sonawane, another resident of Pune, who now stays in Manchester, described on Facebook what he saw at the spot.

"In the early hours of the morning - I arrived at a scene i will never forget. Anuj Bidve had been shot in the head - for no reason what so ever. I feel like i myself did not do enough to help Anuj this morning - i feel that neither did the police and ambulance crews."

"I have been made aware that Funds are needed to help get Anujs body back to India. Being from Manchester myself - i feel that we should all try to raise money and help this helpless guy's family deal with this loss of their young son's life," he wrote.

"I personally feel disgusted that someone from our town could do such a thing to a visitor of our city," he said.

Sonawane appealed for help and asked people to get in touch with him.

Bidve's father Subhash also appealed for help on Facebook: "Pl help in getting Anuj's dead body back to India."

Sunit Parab from Glasgow said it was "really a sad incident to have happened".

One Facebook user Yas Miin termed the killers "sick scumbags" and asked for their hanging.

"R.I.P to anuj may god bless him such a young life taken away frm his parents and family hpe ther catch the sick scumbags and hang them," she wrote.

Manchester residents Becca Cloughley Lewtas said she was "ashamed that someone from my city would do such a vile act".

"I truly hope they catch the vermin who did this to you," she wrote further.

One man named Shripad Sathe, however, opposed taking the body back to India.

"Whilst I did not know this gentleman before, might I also, with due respect to everyone, also suggest last respects might be paid in the UK, rather than carry him (all with paperwork etc which is mentally traumatic) to India? Sincere apologies if this hurts anyone," Sathe wrote on the website.

Chinese woman jailed for pimping

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A court in China has sentenced a 24-year-old woman, who worked as a nightclub's deputy manager in one of Beijing's busiest commercial areas, to four years in prison for soliciting prostitutes for customers.

Sun Lixia used to charge between 3,000 to 5,000 yuan (about $470 to $790). She did this work between a period of Nov 2009 and April 2010, Xinhua quoted a local court as saying in a statement.

The three prostitutes Sun recruited were all escort girls at the nightclub. She pocketed 30 to 50 percent of their illegal income, it said.

Though Sun confessed to have earned 6,500 yuan in total from the deals, she pleaded not guilty, saying she was "matchmaking", not "pandering", the document added. The court in Chaoyang district Monday handed down the sentence for Sun.

Iranian woman, to be stoned to death, may get hanged

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A woman, who was to be stoned to death in Iran for adultery, might get some 'relief' as authorities have hinted she might now be sentenced to death by hanging.

Authorities said Monday they were moving ahead with plans to execute the woman but are reconsidering what punishment to carry out, the Daily Mail reported. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is already serving a ten-year sentence on a separate conviction for murdering her husband. She is jailed in east Azerbaijan province.

As her case generated international outrage, last July Iranian officials suspended plans to carry out her death sentence on the adultery conviction. Experts are now studying whether the punishment of stoning can be changed to hanging, said a senior judiciary official.

Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of justice department of East Azerbaijan province, said: "There is no haste. ... We are waiting to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging or not."

"As soon as the result (of the investigation) is obtained, we will carry out the sentence." Chief of Judiciary ordered a halt to stoning in order to allow Islamic experts to investigate whether the punishment could be altered in Ashtiani's case, he said.

According to Ashtiani's lawyer, she was allegedly beaten and sold for sex by opium-addict Ebrahim Ghaderzade. She was jailed for ten years for murder and sentenced to death for adultery. She was also convicted of having illicit relations for which she received 99 lashes, the lawyer added.


Seven gunned down at family X-mas party

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Police in a US city have found seven people as shot dead among unwrapped holiday presents.

Police in a Dallas suburb dubbed the 'Christmas Capital of Texas' searched for clues Monday to explain the apparent murder-suicide rampage that left seven people shot dead among unwrapped holiday presents, the Daily Mail reported.

The dead -- four women and three men, one of them believed to be the gunman -- were found late Sunday morning in an apartment living room in the town of Grapevine by police, said authorities.

Two pistols were recovered from the home, said Sergeant Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department, who called it a "gruesome crime scene" and the worst outburst of gun violence in the town's history.

According to Eberling, it appeared as though the bloodbath unfolded during a family holiday celebration as one man opened fire on six other people in the apartment, then killed himself.

Egyptian blogger jailed for inciting violence freed

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A prominent Egyptian activist and blogger, Alaa Abd El Fattah, who was jailed for allegedly inciting violence, has been freed after almost two months in captivity.
Abd El Fattah was detained on 30 October after he refused to answer questions about his role in clashes during a march by Coptic Christians on 9 October. At least 27 people, most of them Christians, were killed in those clashes.
Abd El Fattah was among those who spoke out against the army''s involvement in the violence, which was confirmed by multiple witness reports and video footage.
But the Egyptian military accused Abd El Fattah of inciting Christian protesters to attack the soldiers. He was also accused of stealing a military weapon, deliberately destroying military property and attacking security forces, The Guardian reports.
An Egyptian investigative judge, however, ordered that Abd El Fattah, who has been at the forefront of anti-regime struggles for a decade and was a political prisoner during the Mubarak era, be freed pending investigation into charges that he incited violence against the military.
His wife Manal Hassan, who is also an activist, gave birth to their first child while Abd El Fattah was in detention. Abd El Fattah had maintained that the military prosecutors could not question him since the military was suspected of involvement in the killings.
His case was handed to the civilian judge who ordered his release. The reasons for the release were not immediately made public, but Abd El Fattah had not been formally charged.


Mark Zuckerberg's Vietnamese X'mas

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CEO spends time with girlfriend in country that has banned his website

Vietnam's official government ban on Facebook hasn't dissuaded CEO Mark Zuckerberg from visiting.
In fact, the communist nation's Facebook ban may have prodded the young billionaire to choose Vietnam for his ongoing Christmas holiday.

Just as the tech industry has attempted to decipher Zuckerberg's first visit to China last year -- also billed as a mere 'vacation' -- buzz and speculation surround Zuckerberg's decision to take his girlfriend island hopping in Vietnam.

Tech journalist Jon Russell said that the trip is, in part, meant to open up Vietnam's market.

He writes, "Becasue of Zuckerberg's insatiable work ethic and interest in taking Facebook to one billion users, its founder is making some time available to work on local issues."


7 shot dead while opening X'mas gifts in US

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Investigators believe seven people who were found dead on Christmas Day were cleaning up holiday wrapping paper when they were shot inside a suburban Fort Worth apartment.

Though investigators were meticulously searching the apartment for clues, the motive remained unclear as police worked into Monday morning trying to piece together what happened.

All of the victims appeared to be related, and Grapevine police said they believe the shooter was among the dead.

The four women and three men, aged 18 to 60, were found dead in an adjoining kitchen and living room area when police arrived on Sunday, soon after receiving a 911 call in which no one was on the other line, said Sergeant Robert Eberling of Grapevine police.

Two handguns were found near the bodies, he said.

"It appears they had just celebrated Christmas. They had opened their gifts," Eberling said, adding that the apartment was decorated for the holiday, including a tree.

None of the victims has been identified but Eberling said it appears they all died of gunshot wounds.

Lieutenant Todd Dearing said investigators believe the victims were related, although some were visiting and didn't live in the apartment.

"Seven people in one setting in Grapevine, that's never happened before. Ever," Dearing said.

Jose Fernandez, a 35-year-old heavy equipment mechanic who moved to the complex with his family about six months ago, said he always felt safe in the area, but is now afraid to let his 10-year-old son play freely outside.

"This is really outrageous, especially on Christmas," he said. "This has shocked everybody. It has scared everybody. I guess something like this can happen anywhere. But seven people dead -- it's just very scary."


Posted by Harshad at 7:48 AM

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