Mid Day International News |
- Man gouges out his eyes in Italy church
- Single-letter web addresses fetch Rs 30 lakh in auction
- Paris rolls out electric car sharing system
- 10 weeks on, Norway opens massacre island
- 'I really do use Facebook, all day long'
- Chinese dishing out Obama Fried Chicken
- Scientist wins Nobel days after death
- Coming soon, a TV ad that only dogs can hear and understand!
- Female doctor kicked, sexually assaulted by police
- Aussie woman, partner held for keeping daughter as sex slave
- Indian taxi driver in Australia avoids jail over bashing elderly woman
- Adult filmmakers design their very own 'porn bunker'
- Man allowed to have sex with other women only if wife gets to watch!
- Cricket match in the middle of the sea
- Facebook accused of promoting 'rape'
- Duchess of Cambridge to become Queen of Arts
- British PM sorry for sexist remarks
- Thai PM's Twitter account hacked
| Man gouges out his eyes in Italy church Posted: A mentally ill man gouged out both his eyes during a church service at the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio claiming "a voice" in his head had told him to commit the gruesome act The 46-year-old man, who had attended mass with his mother on Sunday, was rushed to hospital where surgeons attempted to reattach both of his eyeballs. Police had recovered the man's eyeballs from the Sant'Andrea church aisle as horrified worshippers looked on. The man, who remained conscious throughout, is almost certain to remain blind, according to ophthalmologists. "It was shocking and happened totally unexpectedly. Just as I was starting my sermon, the man stood up and gouged out both his eyes," said parish priest Antonio Tanganelli.
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| Single-letter web addresses fetch Rs 30 lakh in auction Posted: Household name companies and online investors paid tens of thousands of pounds for some of the shortest internet addresses ever. Facebook, Google and Mercedez Benz were among big companies which bid in an auction of pithy new UK domain names which included several single letter addresses. Domains such as x.co.uk and O.co.uk were among the most sought-after addresses on offer in the latest auction by Nominet, which runs Britain's web infrastructure. Twelve single letter web addresses fetched an average of �39,000 (Rs 30 lakh) each in the sale. The auction helped raise �3 million (Rs 22.81 crore) for the Nominet Trust, a charity which promotes safe Internet access. Facebook snapped up the address fb.co.uk; Mercedez Benz bagged mb.co.uk. But the address g.co.uk went to an internet investment firm, which specialises in domain names rather than to Google. One investor is said to have bought 170 potentially lucrative domain names for an investment of �500,000 (Rs 3.80 crore) But the auction process also attracted enthusiasts motivated more by a "collector mentality" than by the prospect of lucrative resale prospects. "It was an auction of the most significant Internet real estate to come on the market," said one investor. Rs 22.81 cr The amount the auction raised for Nominet Trust, a charity, which promotes safe internet access
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| Paris rolls out electric car sharing system Posted: Paris may be known the world over more for its beautiful architecture and fashion. However, it has also been pioneering one of the most important aspects of modern city infrastructure, the public transport system.
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| 10 weeks on, Norway opens massacre island Posted: Utoya, where Norway's mass murderer Anders Breivik massacred 69 people at a youth camp, has been reopened to the media Norway opened the island of Utoya to journalists yesterday for the first time since confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 people at a youth camp in July, with the ruling Labour Party vowing to ensure its idyllic retreat transcends tragedy.  Trying to put the past behind: Journalists gathered at Utoya for a visit of the island where over 60 people were killed. Police closed the island after the July 22 attacks in which Breivik also set off a car bomb outside the prime minister's office in central Oslo, killing eight people. More than 150 journalists and photographers had participated in yesterday's visit to Utoya, a popular recreational center owned by the ruling Labour Party, which traditionally uses it for its youth wing's summer retreats. Organisers said that they would gradually open the island to the public but will request that visitors respect it as the site of the killings. In August, about 1,000 survivors and relatives travelled to Utoya, accompanied by police and medical staff, to face the painful memories of the shootings. Donors have pledged more than $5.5 million (32 million kroner) to renovate the island, dotted with camping grounds, football fields and basketball courts, said Eskil Pedersen, leader of the Labour Party's youth organisation. "The island means very much to many people. No island in Norway has formed the political landscape more than Utoya," Pedersen said. "We have the clear aim to return to Utoya." He said that youth camps would resume on the island, but a decision had not yet been taken on when that would be. The party also plans a commemorative monument on the island. Adrian Pracon, a 21-year-old survivor says that reopening the island is important so that "people understand what happened there." Breivik has confessed to the attacks but denies criminal guilt, saying he's in a state of war and believes the massacre was necessary to save Norway and Europe from being overrun by Muslim immigrants. He has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest.
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| 'I really do use Facebook, all day long' Posted: Facebook founder tells doubter he is addicted to the social networking site Mark Zuckerberg is addicted to his own product and spends all day on Facebook. The Facebook CEO made the announcement on Facebook, of course, in response to a post about whether he has any time free to poke. timeline, like, or just lurk. Social media analyst Jeremiah Cohick suggested on his own Facebook account that CEO Zuckerberg is far too busy running the Palo Alto-based web giant to actually use it.  He's always on Facebook: Zuckerberg reply to social media analyst Jeremiah Cohick's message of not having the time to be on Facebook the entire day got him 1,700 responses. File pic "In the same way drug dealers don't use the product they sell, I doubt Zuckerberg is on Facebook all day. Visionaries don't idle online," Cohick posted as a status update. He got a swift reply. "No, I really do use Facebook all day long," Zuckerberg wrote. The exchange prompted a flurry of comment from others, with more than 1,700 people clicking 'like' on Zuckerberg's response. Cohick, also replied, stressing to Zuckerberg that he meant his comment as a compliment. However he added that while Facebook connects the world "in incredible ways" it can also be "an addictive outlet for boredom that replaces meaningful interaction."
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| Chinese dishing out Obama Fried Chicken Posted: Americans offended at new fast food joint called Obama Fried Chicken, say it is a classic racist rip-off A fast-food restaurant in Beijing called Obama Fried Chicken was derided in America yesterday as a racist rip-off. Its sign shows a grinning caricature of President Obama's head on a skinny version of Colonel Sanders' body. Below it, written in Chinese, is the slogan, "We're so cool, aren't we?"  The presidential eatery: The Obama Fried Chicken restaurant in Beijing. Many have said that mimicking Obama was an insult to America and was disrespectful. "It's insulting, offensive and plays to racial stereotypes," said civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton. "What makes it even worse is that when we deal with this global competition between the US and China, for them to be mocking the leader of the free world, I find it even more appalling."  US President Obama frying some burger patty with UK Prime Minister David Cameron in May. File pic/getty images Not the first one Not that the Chinese were the first to come up with the idea. At the similarly named Obama's Fried Chicken in Harlem, the Chinese knockoff was blasted as fowl play. "I wouldn't eat there because of that picture," fumed Momodou Jallow, the manager of the store on St. Nicholas Avenue. "You can't degrade the president like that," Jallow said. "It's sketched that way to make fun of Obama so people will buy fried chicken. "How can you take [Colonel Sanders'] body and put Obama's head on it and call it OFC? It's disrespectful," he said. When Jallow's restaurant changed its name in 2009, the manager said, it was intended as an honour for the first black president. "For us, it's different," argued Jallow. "There's no disrespectful picture," he said, pointing to the restaurant's logo-free awning. US Prez Obama's favourite food >> Planters Trail Mix: Nuts, Seeds & Raisins >> Roasted almonds >> Pistachios >> Water >> MET-Rx chocolate roasted peanut protein bars >> Vegetables, especially broccoli and spinach >> Handmade milk chocolates from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle
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| Scientist wins Nobel days after death Posted: A cell biologist was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine yesterday for his discoveries about the immune system but hours later his university said that he had been dead for three days. The Nobel committee had been unaware of Canadian-born Ralph Steinman's death and it was unclear whether the prize would be rescinded because Nobel statutes don't allow posthumous awards.  Subject of his own discovery: Ralph Steinman proved the importance of his Nobel prize-winning research by using his own discoveries to fight the pancreatic cancer that eventually killed him days before the award was announced Steinman (68), who shared the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) prize with American Bruce Beutler and French scientist Jules Hoffmann, died on September 30 of pancreatic cancer, according to Rockefeller University. It said Steinman's life had been extended with immunotherapy based on the discovery for which he won the Nobel Prize. Beutler and Hoffmann were cited for their discoveries of receptor proteins that can recognise bacteria and other microorganisms as they enter the body, and activate the first line of defence in the immune system, known as innate immunity. The trio's discoveries have enabled the development of improved vaccines against infectious diseases. In the long term they could also yield better treatments of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, committee members said. Nobel officials said they believed it was the first time that a laureate had died before the announcement without the committee's knowledge. "I think you can safely say that this hasn't happened before," said Nobel Foundation spokeswoman Annika Pontikis. Nobel committee member Goran Hansson said the medicine committee didn't know Steinman was dead when it chose him as a winner. "It is incredibly sad news," Hansson said. "We can only regret that he didn't have the chance to receive the news he had won the Nobel Prize. Our thoughts are now with his family." Beutler is professor of genetics and immunology at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. Hoffmann headed a research laboratory in France. Steinman had been affiliated with Rockefeller University. "We are all so touched that our father's many years of hard work are being recognised with a Nobel Prize," said Steinman's daughter Alexis. "
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| Coming soon, a TV ad that only dogs can hear and understand! Posted: The world's largest food company is all set to launch a television commercial that is aimed especially at man's best friend Nestle, which owns the Purina brand of pet food, has created the 23-second advert that only canine consumers can hear and understand. The advert, to be aired for the first time in Austria this week, uses a high-pitched sound, like a dog whistle, that is beyond the range of human hearing. Nestle said that the idea for the ad was inspired by an award-winning campaign in Germany that featured 'sniffable' posters to attract dogs. The advert 'Beneful dog food' has been created using the help of U.S. experts on pet behaviour who have researched what would appeal to dogs. It shows a dog pricking up its ears and ends with the words 'So delicious, so healthy, so happy' in German. "Dogs' hearing is twice as sharp as humans. They can pick up frequencies which are beyond our range and they are better at differentiating sounds," the Daily Mail quoted Georg Sanders, a nutrition expert at Nestle Purina PetCare in Germany, as saying.
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| Female doctor kicked, sexually assaulted by police Posted: A Muslim female doctor in the kingdom of Bahrain, who was sentenced to five years in prison for helping injured anti-government protestors, has claimed that she was dragged out of her house at midnight at gunpoint by about 30 plain-clothes police officers The Daily Mail quoted Dr Fatima Haji as saying that she was then taken blindfolded to a secret interrogation centre, before being tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted until she signed documents confessing her 'crimes'. Dr Haji was one of 20 doctors and nurses who were sentenced to jail terms of between five and 15 years at a special military tribunal on Friday. Although she is currently on bail, but reports suggest that the authorities can put her in jail any time and insist that she challenges her sentence from prison. Dr Haji, who has a three-year-old son, Yusuf, said: "Every time I hug my boy, it could be my last. Every time I call him to me, I know it could be the last time I hold him." "I don't know how many men there were as I was blindfolded, but I heard many voices. They said they would rape me. They told me they knew which nursery Yusuf was in, and would get him. That's when I broke and said I'd do anything they wanted," she added. She was among 3,000 staff working at the Salmaniya Medical Complex hospital in Manama when the protests erupted. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday by telephone, she said that the majority of the casualties were taken there for treatment, and the hospital became a focus for the world's media. "We were filmed treating patients. This meant we appeared on the Al-Jazeera TV news channel and the government did not like that," she added.
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| Aussie woman, partner held for keeping daughter as sex slave Posted: An Australian woman and her partner have been charged with multiple sex offences, including procuring prostitution and indecent treatment of a child under 16 The 40-year-old woman from Brisbane kept her daughter as a sex slave and made her work as a prostitute for five years. The police found naked photos of the girl and her two young brothers, along with 200,000 dollars in a safe at the house where the woman and her 60-year-old accomplice lived with the children. Police prosecutor Sergeant Fiona Pedersen testified in court that the girl was scared of being starved or disciplined by her mother, but she eventually ran away and told her friends about her misery. "She lived as a sex slave at home, under her control," the Courier Mail Quoted Sgt Pedersen as telling the Brisbane Magistrates Court. The couple has been charged with 15 offences, including rape, sexual assault, indecent treatment of children, and making child exploitation material.
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| Indian taxi driver in Australia avoids jail over bashing elderly woman Posted: An Indian taxi driver in Melbourne, who bashed an 81-year-old woman in his cab has avoided jail Bhupinder Singh, 25, punched the woman in the face and pushed her out of his taxi after an argument about her destination on August 14 last year. Victim Zainab Sarwari said during a previous court hearing that after sitting in Singh's taxi she realized he was not taking her to her destination and she therefore started to panic, removing her seatbelt and trying to open the door. "I was saying. 'Stop stop' and I was very scared not knowing where he was taking me and what he was going to do to me," Sarwari said in that court hearing. Singh drove faster and held the seatbelt so that the victim could not move. He later stopped the cab in a side street and punched Sarwari. But Singh claimed in a recent court hearing that Sarwari was pulling on his jacket, punching his shoulder and crying, saying she had no money, so he asked her to get out of the cab. He told police he pushed, but did not hit, Sarwari, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Meanwhile, the Victorian County Court Judge Frank Shelton said Singh had himself been attacked by two men in his taxi three weeks earlier and was anxious and depressed, and that he had a history of mental illness and post traumatic stress disorder. Singh pleaded guilty to one charge of false imprisonment and one count of intentionally causing injury. He was sentenced Singh to nine months in jail, wholly suspended, for false imprisonment.
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| Adult filmmakers design their very own 'porn bunker' Posted: Adult filmmakers Pink Visual have designed their very own 'porn bunker' in a bid to prepare for the widely-anticipated global apocalypse that various prophetic sources have predicted will take place in late 2012 This refuge will come complete with fully stocked bars, pole dancing, and a full production studio. "Our goal is nothing less than to survive the apocalypse to come in comfort and luxury," the Daily Mail quoted Pink Visual spokesman Quentin Boyer as telling CBS news. "Whether that catastrophe takes the form of fireballs flung earthward by an all-seeing deity, extended torrential rainfall, Biblical rapture, an earthquake-driven mega-tsunami, radioactive flesh-eating zombies, or some combination of the above," he added. Pink-Visual are also working on a ''guest list'' of who will be invited to reside in the bunker. Boyer added the list will, "likely include both merit-based and random selections, with Pink Visual performers, active site members and Twitter followers getting priority over the general public." The location of the bunker is also being kept a secret over 'security concerns'. Upon completion in September 2012, the bunker should hold between 1,200 and 1500 people, according to LA Weekly.
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| Man allowed to have sex with other women only if wife gets to watch! Posted: A 60-year-old man from Singapore has been allowed by his wife to take home young Vietnamese brides on a condition that she gets to watch them during the "child making process" According to China Press, a bride agency's owner said that he had recommended women to the couple in the past and also a few months ago, and that the condition scared off three young Vietnamese women. "The childless couple approached my agency and shortlisted the candidates. Each woman tried to live with them but the first two did not even make it past two weeks," Star Online quoted Marco Lim as saying. "They left and returned to Vietnam," he stated. Lim revealed that he had to persuade the women to tell him the reason behind the failed relationships. "They must have felt pressured because the wife would watch them carefully each time they had sex with the man. I was told that the wife would even set the schedule for the man to have sex with the women. "She also held on to their passports and forbade them from making calls," he added.
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| Cricket match in the middle of the sea Posted: With military precision, a flotilla of eccentric Englishmen took to the waves last week to contest one of the world's craziest sporting fixtures: a cricket match played in the sea. To the certain bemusement of passengers on ocean liners sailing past, cricketers dressed in traditional whites jumped out of their boats and did what madcap Brits do in the middle of busy shipping lanes -- play cricket.
Every September, the Royal Southern Yacht Club from Hamble on the mainland takes on The Island Sailing Club from Cowes, meeting half way on a few square metres of soggy sand. With dry land -- and anyone with any common sense -- several nautical miles away in either direction, yachts drop anchor at the still-invisible pitch an hour before the Moon and Sun combine to reveal the Brambles. "We wait for the covers to be removed," said umpire Philip Gage, eagerly watching the sonar depth reading on board his yacht. "The fact is, this is total nonsense, and total nonsense is extremely enjoyable," he said, with a smile. The vanguard jumps overboard to test the water, plunging in waist deep. When it finally reaches the ankles, dozens leap out from their rib boats, scramble towards the largest dry patch, and quickly set up the stumps. The wicket is damp to say the least, with puddles and channels between the two ends. With barely 30 minutes to play around with and seven overs per side to cram in, the teams get straight down to action. The action is comical, with fielders diving into the water for catches and easy run-outs as batsmen stumble over in the puddles. Some impressive sixes have brave fielders wading out towards Southampton to retrieve the ball, while a young schoolboy standing in the square leg position was in up to his knees as he prepared to catch anything heading Portsmouth way. A Labrador dog roamed around the pitch, as did a man on an old-fashioned penny-farthing bicycle. In beautiful autumn evening sunshine, more than 100 spectators crammed around the exposed sand, standing within metres of the batsmen, and many got a good soaking as they dodged shots. "This is extreme cricket," said onlooker Tony Scarth, 54, an engineer from Warsash on the mainland. "It's also pretty English. Where else do they play cricket in the sea?" Batting at number four for the Royal Southern was Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. The first man to circumnavigate the globe non-stop single-handed scored nought, but trudged back into the shallows insisting: "I maintained my average!" Anything landing in the sea should score six, but in truth the scoreboard is farcical and each club takes it in turns to win and host the post-match supper. At the change of innings, the players rushed down a gin and tonic, with Royal Southern having scored an improbable 284. "The key to the bowling is to pitch it just at the edge of a puddle," said Knox-Johnston. "That way the batsman gets a face full of water and the ball might still reach him," the 72-year-old told AFP. One Island batsman was clean bowled, knocking over not only his off-stump but several drinks too. Independence of the Seas, a giant 15-deck cruise ship heading to Spain, honked its horn as it passed the bizarre spectacle. With the rising tide slowly flooding the wicket, umpire Gage called time, sparking a scramble to get back on the boats as within minutes, the entire pitch had vanished. The annual match has been played for nearly 30 years, though cricket on the bank dates back to at least the 1960s. "Everyone can go out on boats, mysteriously this bit of sand appears and everyone can go and play on it. That's the magic of it," said former Royal Southern commodore Tom Richardson, who founded the contest. "This year was a gentle match. In the past, an element of rugby has crept in." The trophy ceremony back at the Royal Southern clubhouse was held up as Island forgot to bring the shield with them and had to return to the Isle of Wight to fetch it. In his jovial victory speech, Royal Southern cricket captain Mark Tomson summed up the fun and games. "There are few days every year that one really looks forward to: your birthday, wedding anniversary if you can remember it, the day your wife agrees to have sex and the Brambles cricket match!"
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| Facebook accused of promoting 'rape' Posted: Facebook has been accused of promoting 'rape culture' by activists after refusing to remove pages joking about sexual assault, a media report said The claims came after the social networking site refused to remove pages that feature jokes and apparent confessions of sexual assault posted by users, Daily Mail reported. A petition titled "demand Facebook remove pages that promote sexual violence" was set up on US website change.org, signed by more than 3,600 people in Britain and 175,000 in the US, the Mail said Saturday. "This is hate speech, I find it very disturbing that Facebook don't appear to see the connection between pages such as this and the prevailing rape culture we have in our society," the newspaper quoted Jane Osmond, who campaigned on behalf of the British petition, as telling The Guardian. Facebook added to their defence that similar content including jokes about rape can be found elsewhere online.
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| Duchess of Cambridge to become Queen of Arts Posted: The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton is to become a patron of the arts as part of her future role in public life. The Duchess is considering supporting a number of national arts institutions, thought to include The Tate, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A.
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| British PM sorry for sexist remarks Posted: David Cameron 'deeply regrets' comments he made in the House of Commons to female MPs, which have been criticised for being sexist British PM David Cameron has apologised to any woman he may have offended by remarks he made to two female MPs as he acknowledged that the Conservatives need to do more to attract women voters. He admitted he needed to do better as he insisted that he was 'not one of the lads' and had not meant to cause offence, amid concern that support among female voters is slipping. But Labour said that the prime minister was 'out of touch' if he thought that women's anger with the government was based on ill advised remarks to female colleagues, rather than spending cuts that were hitting women "twice as hard as men". Cameron used an interview to admit he had "screwed up" when responding to Labour MP Angela Eagle and Conservative Nadine Dorries in what were widely seen as sexist comments during prime minister's questions. In April, he repeatedly urged Angela Eagle, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, to "calm down, dear" during a Commons exchange and later refused to apologise, dismissing his comments as "light-hearted". Cameron also faced further criticism when he told one of his own MPs, Nadine Dorries, that he knew she was "extremely frustrated" and then appeared to join in the laughter his double entendre provoked. Cameron said about the incident with Eagle, "If I offended anyone, I'm hugely sorry. This is not what I wanted to do. It was a lighthearted reference. Catchphrases stick with me." He reiterated his apology, saying, "I obviously said some things in the House of Commons that just came out wrong and caused the wrong impression and I deeply regret that." "This is not an excuse, it's an explanation, but... prime minister's questions is aggressive, confrontational. That's what prime minister's questions is like and I don't think you can change it actually. As a result sometimes it just sounds terrible. And so I apologise for that. That's not what I'm like, and I wanted to try and put that right. But I recognise -- must do better." 'Cheap' Samantha Samantha Cameron has been called 'cheap, hypocritical and fake' over her choice of Downing Street furnishings. Michelle Ogundehin, a world-renowned interiors expert, said, "I was extremely disconcerted, nay furious, when I read recently that Cameron had bought a knock-off Arco lamp: 'That's all we need', I thought, the endorsement of faux-furniture by the PM's wife."
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| Thai PM's Twitter account hacked Posted: The Twitter account of Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been hacked and used to post questions about her competence. The false tweets accused her of cronyism and various failures. The final post read, "If she can't even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country?" Yingluck won a clear victory in July, but is accused by her critics of being a puppet of her brother, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin -- whose populist policies won him the support of much of the rural and urban poor -- was thrown out of office in a 2006 military coup. Now living in exile in Dubai, he is still seen as the de facto leader of his sister's Pheu Thai party -- although the party insists his role is purely advisory. Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister, has no previous political experience but has won support with her pledge to heal the divisions that have plagued the country since her brother was ousted. But, in one of the hacked Tweets, her government is accused of failure in its response to floods that have hit large parts of the country. Another questioned her promise to give tablet computers to school children, suggesting she concentrate on education reform instead. The government confirmed that the prime minister's account -- PouYingluck -- had been hacked and the Information and Communication Technology Ministry is investigating.
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