Friday, April 22, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Air India bombing accused faces $5.2-million bill

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In a major decision Thursday, the Canadian supreme court allowed the government to recover of legal fees of $5.2 million from Air India Kanishka bombing accused Ripudaman Singh Mailk who was acquitted in the case in 2005.

A Vancouver-based millionaire businessman, Malik had expressed his inability to pay his legal fees for the trial, forcing the provincial British Columbian government to shell out $5.2 million to his defence lawyers.

Kanishka flight 182 from Montreal to Delhi was blown off near Ireland June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board. Within an hour, another bomb meant for another Air India flight went off at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers. Both the bombs were planted by Khalistani extremists to avenge the India army action at the Golden Temple in 1984.

While plot mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, who fled to India, was killed in a police encounter in Punjab in 1992, Malik - along Ajaib Singh Bagri and Inderjit Singh Reyat - was charged and arrested in 2000 for their role in the plot.

Only Reyat, who admitted his role in making the two bomb was jailed, while Malik and Bagri were acquitted in 2005 after their trial in Vancouver.

In its unanimous verdict Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the provincial British Columbia government to recover $5.2-million in legal fees from Malik.

While applying for bail after his arrest in 2000, Malik had filed evidence that he and his wife had net worth of $11 million.

But within a year when the trial process began, he claimed he is broke and asked government to pay his legal fees.

Though the Vancouver-based British Columbia supreme court rejected his application for public funding, his family falsified their assets to get the government to pay $5.2 million for his legal fees.

After his release in March 2005, Malik was asked by the government to repay $5.2 million. But the issue has been dragging in courts since then after Malik challenged the government's decision.

The provincial government has seized documents in raids on Malik to prove that his family misrepresented its assets in court.

Students return to school in Japan

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In the gray of early morning, plastic curtains are pulled back from the school gym's windows and 260 evacuees sleeping on blankets stir to life under basketball hoops. For 13-year-old Yuka Chiba, it's the first day of eighth grade. Yuka hasn't been at school since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of her neighborhood. Yesterday, with the new school year starting, she gets ready to go back.


Back to school: Saya Otsuki poses at her residence moments before
she goes to school, which was shut since March 11. Pic/AFP

Yuka shuffles across the cold, hardwood floor in a flannel shirt she wears as pajamas to the large heaters near the door. There is no need to rush, she only has to walk next door to the main building of the Shishiori Junior High School for class.

In the Japan's disaster zone, the school year that normally starts in early April is starting slightly later than usual, with many schools opening this week under an aura of tragedy. In Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, which bore the brunt of the damage from the disasters, more than 1,000 students and teachers are dead or missing, out of an overall death toll that could top 25,000. With temporary housing still being built, many students are living in their own school's gymnasiums, while dealing with the loss of relatives, homes and classmates.

Psychologists and school counsellors from around the country are being trained and sent to the hardest-hit areas to help students deal with the mental strain. Classrooms in the area will be crowded, with 200 schools requiring replacement or major renovations. Thousands more need repairs and hundreds are being used as shelters.

1,000 Number of teachers and students who have died

Berlusconi's pillow talk tapes exposed

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New audiotapes of Italian PM's dalliance with a high-end prostitute at his Rome residence have surfaced, which could hurt his future

Silvio Berlusconi is facing fresh embarrassment after audiotapes surfaced of a supposed dalliance with a high-end prostitute at his Rome residence. "I'm going to take a shower too. If you finish before me, wait for me on the big bed," a man purported to be the Italian Prime Minister can be heard saying. "Which bed?


File Pic/Getty images

Putin's?"queries his companion, Patrizia D'Addario. "Oh, how cute, the one with the curtains." The audiotapes -- posted online yesterday by Italian newspaper La Repubblica and weekly magazine L'Espresso -- offer a tantalising glimpse into how Berlusconi reportedly spent the night of November 4, 2008.

Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini immediately disputed the veracity of the tapes, dismissing them as being "without any merit, completely improbable and the product of the imagination". Government minister Gianfrano Rotondi said it was an attempt by leftist media to "intimidate" the government by "the violation of every ethic" in journalism.

One conversation on the tapes is between D'Addario and the businessman at the heart of that investigation, Giampaolo Tarantini. She phones him after her night with the PM and brags, "We didn't get a wink of sleep all night." D'Addario then complains that there was no promised envelope with the 5,000 euros (Rs 3.25 lakh) she had been expecting, although, she says, "I was given a present, I don't know, a little turtle thing."

"And then he said he wanted to see me again with a female friend because (he wanted the) two of us."
Berlusconi has not denied that D'Addario came to Palazzo Grazioli, but has said he did not know the 42-year-old was an escort.

According to the transcripts, Berlusconi phoned D'Addario the day after their assignation on the Putin bed.
He marvels at how he has got through a busy day, despite the lack of sleep. She tells him she's lost her voice.

"Eh, how come?" the Prime Minister replies. "We didn't scream." "And I didn't yell, D'Addario says. "Who knows why my voice has gone. Do you know why? Because I took 10 showers in ice-cold water because I was hot."


Mubarak's name to be removed from public places

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A Cairo court yesterday ruled that the name of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and that of his wife, be removed from all public places.

Judge Mohammed Hassan Omar said the names of Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne would be removed from "public squares, streets, libraries and other public institutions around the country."

The ruling will affect hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of subway stations, schools, streets, squares and libraries across the nation that over the years bore the name of the former leader or his wife.

Mubarak's 30-year rule of Egypt ended on February 11 after nearly three weeks of anti-regime protests.
The former strongman is under arrest in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, being questioned over his alleged role in violence against protesters during the popular uprising.


Bye bye: Thousands of schools, squares and libraries will be affected
by the ruling. (Above) Egyptian policemen and soldiers stand guard
outside the prison of Torah, where Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons
of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak are detained. File pics

His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are also in prison pending investigations into the violence during the protests that erupted on January 25. Mubarak, his wife and their two sons, were also to be questioned on charges of
corruption.


Obama pokes Zuckerbergover his tie

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US President Barack Obama faces a debt crisis, angry Republicans, and a hard fight to reelection -- but at least, he noted yesterday, he got Facebook's youthful founder to dress up.


Jackets are off: Mark Zuckerberg unusually wore a tie for President
Obama's speech at Facebook headquarters in California... even though
he stuck to his habitual jeans. pic/AFP

"My name is Barack Obama, and I'm the guy who got Mark to wear a jacket and tie," the president quipped about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg to open a campaign-style event at the social media titan's headquarters.

"Thank you," Obama said with a chuckle as Facebook employees rewarded him with a chorus of laughter. "I'm very proud of that." "Halfway through dinner, he's starting to sweat a bit. It's really uncomfortable for him. I helped him out of his jacket. In fact, if you want Mark, we can take our jackets off," joked Obama further.

And so, like Obama has often done during less formal speeches, the president removed his coat, and Zuckerberg followed, revealing a dress shirt and black tie. (Though, he did wear sneakers.)
"Yeah, you're a lot better at this than me," Zuckerberg joked.

Zuckerberg (26) had swapped his trademark hooded sweatshirt for a jacket, shirt and tie -- though his top button wasn't closed -- for the president's unprecedented appearance.

Obama's visit aimed to recapture twin engines of his historic 2008 run for the White House, when his campaign harnessed the power of social media and young voter enthusiasm, ahead of his 2012 reelection battle.
The president notably aimed to promote his vision for reining in galloping US deficit and debt, including raising taxes on the richest Americans -- including himself and Zuckerberg.

"I'm cool with that," the Facebook founder said."I know you are," replied Obama.At the end of the discussion, Facebook offered a gift to Obama. It was a sweatshirt with the website's logo stamped on the front -- "in case, for some reason, you want to dress like me," Zuckerberg said.

New book
A new book which promises to reveal the 'truth' about President Obama's origins went to press this week.
The book has already shot to number two in Amazon's bestseller list, even though it is not due to be released until May 17. After three years of investigations, author Jerome Corsi has written Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President. Corsi has gone to ground ahead of its publication, and he is holding the findings close to his chest. But a source said, "It's utterly devastating. Obama may learn things he didn't even know about himself!"

Did you know?
In the recent past, President Obama and his wife along with Facebook carried out an anti-bullying campaign, which led to Facebook creating a set of tools
to protect users from bullying

Fans of Facebook
Even though US President Obama was the first to visit the headquarters of the Social media Giant, there are other world leaders who are big fans of Facebook.

1) The Royal Family:
The Royal Family uses its Facebook page to keep the public up to date on big events and at the moment the page is dominated by plans for the royal wedding. The page has 331,312 'likes'.

2) Nicolas Sarkozy
The French president (and his staff members) publish the latest news about his diplomatic visits and official functions.

3) Queen Rania of Jordan
The 76th most powerful woman in the world has a huge following on Facebook, with 6,30,000 likes on her official page. She uses the site to bring attention to her favourite philanthropic causes and post photographs of her at work in her official role.


Malaysian man killed for filming neighbour having sex with wife

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A man in Malaysia was stabbed to death after he filmed his neighbour having sex with his wife.

The voyeur, identified as La Kampo, is said to have gone to his neighbour's house in their village off Jalan Utara and filmed the couple, the Star Online reported.

He then showed the video clip to friends, and even the neighbour's 17-year-old son without realising that the neighbour, who was at home, overheard the conversation.

When the son ignored him, La Kampo returned to his house where the enraged neighbour is believed to have taken a knife and stabbed him repeatedly.

La Kampo sustained multiple stab wounds and died on the spot, and his body was sent to the Duchess of Kent Hospital for a post-mortem.

The 44-year-old neighbour then took the murder weapon and turned himself in to the police about an hour after the incident, and he was arrested.

Sandakan police chief Asst Comm Rowell Marong said both men were Indonesians and worked as labourers.

Chinese wants plastic surgery to look like Shakespeare

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Chinese author intends to spend over one million yuan ($153,000) on plastic surgery so that he looks like British playwright William Shakespeare.

Zhang Yiyi will undergo 10 face-lifts in 10 months to look like Shakespeare so as to "let the people across the world mourn" one of world's greatest writers and dramatists, reported Shanghai Daily.

Zhang will have to get checkups every month after the surgery, said China National Radio.

The Chinese author has a sculpted face with a sharp nose and deep eyes and has some resemblance to Shakespeare.

Zheng Churong, a surgeon, said the surgery will be for the eyes, chin and other parts of his face.

Zhang, who will meet the surgery costs through royalties he earned for his new book, said: "Life is a process of striving to become a better person. I think the surgeries are worth the money."
Posted by Harshad at 7:27 AM

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