Thursday, March 1, 2012

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

US employer forced Indian to work 17 hours, sleep in walk-in closet

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A wealthy US woman has been arrested for keeping an illegal immigrant from India in a "forced labour situation" that included her working 17 hours a day and sleeping in a walk-in closet.

Annie George, 39, and her husband, who died in a plane crash in 2009, kept their domestic help in a "forced labour situation" in their 30,000 sq ft mansion in Albany for nearly six years, according to court documents.

The worker from Kerala, who has been identified as 'VM', was paid about 85 cents an hour after initially being promised USD 1,000 a month. It is estimated she received around USD 29,000 during the entire time that she worked at the 12-acre estate, while she should have been paid at least USD 206,000.

Acting on a tip received by the National Human Trafficking Resource Centre, federal immigration agents last year removed the servant from the George estate, which has a helicopter pad, an indoor swimming pool, 15 fireplaces, marble flooring, a four-story solarium, 24-karat gold gilded ceilings, a glass elevator, and other luxurious features.

Under questioning, the servant, who entered the US on a non-immigrant visa in 1998 to work for the family of a UN employee, told federal agents that she received no holiday or sick pay while employed by the Georges, nor was she afforded any dental or medical treatment.

She also had to sleep on the floor in a closet in a bedroom shared by the family's three daughters, the complaint alleges, because "Annie George required that VM be near the children at night."

Investigators said that after V M was removed last year from the mansion, George spoke three times with the woman's son in India. During one telephone call, George suggested that the "son tell his mother to tell authorities that she was a relative of George's family and was only staying at George s house as a guest."

During the conversation, which the son recorded, George said: "If she says anything about working, it would become a big crime. They'll start adding up all the taxes and everything, for all the time." George appeared before a federal magistrate yesterday. She was charged with encouraging and inducing an illegal alien to reside in the US. She was released without bond.

Indonesia may become top ecstasy drug maker in Asia

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Indonesia may soon become Asia's largest producer of synthetic drug ecstasy, even as officials continue to crack down on drug traffickers, according to a UN narcotics watchdog.

The country may become the major producer of ecstasy in east and southeast Asia since Indonesia had a surplus of raw materials used to make the drug, says a report by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

Ecstasy is the most commonly used drug in the country after heroin and ketamines. Local production of stimulants continues to soar, raising fears of an increasing number of drug users in Indonesia, INCB member Sri Suryawati said.

Ecstasy producers flourish in the country despite strict import procedures for chemicals and pharmaceutical raw materials imposed by the National Drug and Food Monitoring Agency and the health ministry. "Under such circumstances, there is also a possibility that the raw materials are trafficked into the country by smugglers," Sri said.

The INCB report said the number of ecstasy tablets seized by law enforcement agencies in Indonesia increased by 38 percent between 2009 and 2010. Police and the National Narcotics Agency shut down 15 clandestine ecstasy laboratories in 2010 alone.

The report said Asia accounted for 99 percent of ketamine seizures across the world in 2009 and that China alone seized five tonnes of ketamines in 2010. Indonesia was one of several countries that reported ketamine seizures, along with Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Doctors in Indonesia previously used ketamines as an anaesthetic, although the practice ended after the local pharmaceutical industry began to produce higher-quality anaesthetics. Only veterinarians still use ketamines to anaesthetise animals during surgery.

Pakistani-American pleads guilty to terror charges

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A Pakistani-American suspect, who is a legal US resident being held at Guantanamo Bay, has pleaded guilty to all charges as part of a deal that requires him to testify against other detainees.

The first high-value detainee to plead guilty to charges of helping terrorists plot and carry out attacks, Majid Shoukat Khan is expected to spend up to 19 years behind bars in exchange for the agreement, according to Col James Pohl, the presiding military commission judge.

Pohl pronounced Khan guilty Wednesday and said the sentencing is expected to take place in four years. The defendant will be required to provide testimony against his fellow detainees during those years leading up to the sentencing. He'll then receive credit for time served, leaving up to 15 years on his sentence, Pohl said.

The US military said Khan travelled from Baltimore to Karachi in 2002 to help Al Qaeda plan attacks in the United States and elsewhere. The military said Khan conspired with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused Pakistani mastermind of the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, to blow up underground storage tanks in the United States.

The government said Khan had also recorded a "martyr video" and donned an explosive vest and waited in a mosque where then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was expected. The plan failed when Musharraf did not show up.

He also was accused of giving $50,000 in Al Qaeda funds to a Southeast Asia-based Al Qaeda affiliate, which then gave the money to Jemaah Islamiyah to fund the August 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. That incident killed 11 people and wounded at least 181 others.

James Murdoch Steps Down At NI

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Resigns as chairman of News International, amid phone hacking scandal

James Murdoch has stepped down as executive chairman of News International, the UK newspaper business that owns the Sun and the Times titles. The 39-year-old has relinquished his newspaper position to focus on expanding the company's international television business, News Corporation, NI's parent company, said in a statement.


I quit: James Murdoch has resigned as Executive Chairman of News
International. File pic

During his five-year term he oversaw the closure of the News of the World, News International's biggest selling newspaper. He also faced fierce criticism of his handling of the hacking scandal and was accused of misleading parliament over his knowledge of phone hacking at the newspaper.

And he oversaw the decision to put The Times' website behind an online paywall. Following the announcement the News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, James's father, praised his son's leadership, saying, "We are all grateful for James' leadership at News International �where he has made lasting contributions to the group's strategy in paid digital content and its efforts to improve and enhance governance programs .He has demonstrated leadership and continues to create great value at Star TV, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia, and BSkyB."

Murdoch added, "Now that he has moved to New York, James will continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates, with particular focus on important pay-TV businesses and broader international operations." His decision to step down comes less than a week after the launch of the Sun on Sunday, which Rupert Murdoch oversaw in London.

James Murdoch added: "I deeply appreciate the dedication of my many talented colleagues at News International who work tirelessly to inform the public and am confident about the tremendous momentum we have achieved under the leadership of my father and Tom Mockridge." In New York, James Murdoch will hold the title of Deputy Chief Operating Officer.


Stephen Hawking visited sex club

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He may spend his working days contemplating the deepest mysteries of the universe, despite having been robbed of almost all physical movement by the cruelties of motor neurone disease.



But it seems the world-famous British physicist Stephen Hawking also has an interest in more earthier matters. Cambridge University admitted the 70-year-old has visited a swingers' sex club in California. However, they denied claims that he was a regular.

The story emerged last week when a US website reported that Professor Hawking dropped in at the Freedom Acres club in Devore, where he is said to have arrived with an entourage of nurses and assistants before paying for young, naked dancers to perform privately for him. The website claimed that Professor Hawking had visited the club in the past five years. A source told the website, "I have seen Stephen Hawking at the club more than a handful of times."

But a Cambridge University spokesman said, "It is not true that Professor Hawking is a "regular" visitor to the club in question." However, it is not the first time the professor has been linked to a risque establishment. He has previously been photographed enjoying the attentions of young ladies in London's Stringfellows club.


Kate pays secret visit to wedding dressmakers

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The Duchess of Cambridge visited the Royal School of Needlework yesterday to meet the master embroiderers who worked on her stunning Sarah Burton dress.


Dress fit for a Duchess: Kate in the lace Sarah Burton creation. File pic

The team at the south-west London school were part of such a top secret operation that they did not know the identity of the dress designer until the announcement was made on the day of the Royal Wedding itself. The stunning lace gown was then revealed to be a Sarah Burton design for British fashion powerhouse Alexander McQueen.

Around 30 members of staff turned out to greet the Duchess. A friend said, "Catherine was keen to express her gratitude in person to the women who worked so hard on her dress. She was very conscious of the pressure that they were under."

School chief executive, Susan Kay-Williams, also said, "It was lovely to meet the Duchess of Cambridge and to show her what the Royal School of Needlework does." The wedding dress, which is thought to have cost around �40,000 (Rs 31 lakh), was hand stitched. The embroiderers wore gloves and had to wash their hands every half an hour to keep the lace and thread in pristine condition.


Man tries to pass off Nicholson's face in fake ID

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47-year-old was arrested in Brazil after he unsurprisingly failed to pass off as Oscar-winner known to millions

It is surely the first rule any identity thief would think to follow: use a picture that is not recognisable as someone else. But one alleged criminal in Recife, Brazil, ignored this basic tenant, using a photograph of actor Jack Nicholson on his government-issued ID.




As stupid as it gets: The 47-year-old fraudster used Jack Nicholson's
2003 photograph on his ID and tried to pass it off to bank officials.
File Pic/Getty Images

Ricardo Sergio Freire de Barros (41) was arrested after he attempted to use the fake ID to open a bank account. "There is no resemblance between the suspect and actor," police noted. Barros used a 2003 portrait of Nicholson taken by acclaimed New York photographer Martin Schoeller that appeared in Entertainment Weekly. Yet he made some effort to cover up the alleged theft, by signing the named Jo �o Pedro dos Santos under the photograph.

Dual personalities?
Barros had five other fake IDs on him at the time, yet only one contained the 74-year-old's picture. He also had 36 check books, four credit cards and various other false documents, including a statement of income for $1.178 million.

Barros had been under investigation by police for three months and was finally arrested on Tuesday outside the bank. He was charged with using fake documents and falsifying public documents.
The suspect was taken to the police station, where he denied the charges, according to police officer Erivaldo Guerro. He was later sent for a mental evaluation at a nearby hospital.


Posted by Harshad at 7:21 AM

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