"I READ THE NEWS TODAY,OH BOY..."John Lennon

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - 20:20

AFP News Briefs List
 
Global new deal 'possible' on banking sector in months : Brown

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (R) walk through the Colonnade following a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Brown said Tuesday that a global "new deal" on cleaning up the reeling banking sector was possible within months, during talks with Obama.

AFP - A pall of economic gloom Tuesday hung over President Barack Obama's talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who came armed with a plan for huge reforms of the reeling global finance system.
   
Brown was set to become the first European leader to visit Obama in the White House, and was set to call for a "global New Deal" of economic reform and banking regulation, to check quickening economic deterioration.
   
The meeting, designed to prepare the ground for a Group of 20 developing and developed countries summit in London on April 2, takes place against a backdrop of crashing stock markets and building global economic anxiety.
   
Less than two hours before meeting Brown for the Oval Office meeting set for 11:30 am (1630 GMT), Obama issued a grim forecast for more pain in the US economy, despite his massive government rescue effort.
   
"I want to begin with some plain talk," Obama said, during a visit to the US Department of Transportation in Washington.
   
"The economy's performance in the last quarter of 2008 was the worst in over 25 years, and frankly, the first quarter of this year holds out little promise for better returns."
   
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to its lowest level in 12 years on Monday, and global stocks also dipped sharply, amid fears that there was no exit in sight from the economic contagion.
   
Brown, who is fighting political unpopularity back home, went into the talks with Obama calling for coordinated global action on the banking crisis and new regulation of the financial industry.
   
He told National Public Radio that the rest of the world should match the same standards of transparency, accountability and regulation that Britain and the United States were intending to adopt.
   
"There is a global banking collapse that we're dealing with consequences of in every country," Brown said in an interview.
   
"I think there is a general understanding, whether you talk to China, whether you talk to the European Union or you talk to our great friends here in America, that we need to show that the world can come together," he said.
   
He said those that did not push through such measures on their banking systems should lose their prestige in the global financial community.
   
The United States and Britain have launched massive economic stimulus packages since the collapse of US subprime home loans sparked a credit crunch that developed into the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression.
   
Brown was also set to have lunch with Obama at the White House, before delivering a speech to a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday, becoming the fifth British prime minister to do so.
   
While issues such as global warming, Afghanistan, Iran's suspect nuclear program and the Middle East are also expected to loom large in their talks, the economy will dominate the summit.
   
Obama and Brown have met several times, most recently when Obama made a brief visit to London last year during his presidential campaign.
   
Brown's predecessor Tony Blair struck up a strong relationship with former president George W. Bush, but also with the US leader who preceded him, Bill Clinton.
   
Brown effusively praised Obama in comments to British radio shortly before departing for the United States.
   
"I think the impression he has given of America to the world is transformative, because he is a black man who has won the presidency, who is living in the White House that was built by slaves," said Brown.
   
"I think people's view of America is changing as a result of that," he said.
   
The two leaders are expected to press other countries for greater help in fighting the raging insurgency in Afghanistan, although Brown's spokesman refused to speculate which nations they had in mind.
   
As the focus shifts away from Iraq, Obama has already pledged to send 17,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan this year to join 38,000 already there.
   
Britain has 8,500 soldiers in the violence-wracked southern region of the country.
   
The visit comes at a crucial time as the prime minister struggles to gain public support for his domestic stimulus package and huge bank bailouts.
   
His supporters hope the trip will boost his flagging popularity -- the governing Labour Party currently trails the opposition Conservatives ahead of a general election that must take place by mid-2010.

[He told National Public Radio that the rest of the world should match the same standards of transparency, accountability and regulation that Britain and the United States were intending to adopt.
"There is a global banking collapse that we're dealing with consequences of in every country," Brown said in an interview.]

You got to be joking Prime Minister Brown ! The U.S.A.and the IMF has been preaching transparency,accountability and regulation to the countries hit by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis as well as to governments of the third world !

Well, if only the U.S.A and the E.U. has been practising what they preached, the rest of the world will not be swimming in the cesspool that you have created !!! So why don't you guys do more practicising and less preaching ???

Five grilled over grim attack on cricketers

TUESDAY 03 MARCH 2009

Pakistani police have detained five people believed to have information about attackers who earlier on Tuesday launched a brazen assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team, on tour in Pakistan, killing eight people and wounding seven.

AFP - Pakistani police were Tuesday interrogating five people in connection with a deadly ambush on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, security officials said.
   
"We have detained five people for questioning following the attack," senior local police officer Amjad Saleemi said.
   
A security official confirmed the arrests. 
   
"Police detained five people who they believe may have information about the attackers," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Attackers armed with grenades and guns ambushed Sri Lanka's cricket team here Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding seven players in a huge blow for Pakistan's security and sporting reputation.
The brazen attack in Lahore sparked condemnation from around the world, forced Sri Lanka to hastily abandon their tour and threw a big question mark over cricket's future in troubled Pakistan -- a co-host for the 2011 World Cup.
"The plan was apparently to kill the Sri Lankan team but the police came in the way and forced the attackers to run away," Lahore's city police chief Habib-ur Rehman said.
"They appeared to be well-trained terrorists," he told reporters.

Rehman said up to 12 gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's convoy as it neared Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test, unleashing rockets, grenades and automatic weapons and sparking a fierce gun battle with security forces.

The gunmen, who appeared young and well-trained, fled in stolen vehicles, triggering a giant manhunt. Pakistani officials said the incident showed marked similarities to November's devastating Mumbai attacks.

It was the first deadly direct assault against a sports team in this nuclear-armed country, where over 1,600 people have died in a wave of Islamist attacks in 21 months, and where Al-Qaeda and Taliban shelter in its northwest.

What on earth is happening !?!  What the @@@@ can the idiots, who carried out such senseless and cowardly attacks,on unarmed sportsmen and other civilians ,can possibly hope to achieve !!!

Pakatan stages country's first open-air assembly

By : Jaspal Singh (NST)

Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen having an open-air sitting of the state assembly under a rain tree near the State Secretariat in Ipoh yesterday.

IPOH: In the shade of a rain tree, some 50 metres from the State Secretariat here yesterday, history was made when 28 Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen gathered for the country's first-ever open-air assembly sitting.

Speaker V. Sivakumar (wearing songkok) conducting the fourth sitting of the first session of the 12th Perak state assembly.

Witnessed by a small crowd of about 300, the extraordinary event followed their barring from the State Secretariat by the police, in accordance with assembly secretary Abdullah Antong Sabri's declaration of the emergency sitting as unlawful for lacking the consent of ruler Sultan Azlan Shah. 

Unperturbed, the Pakatan assemblymen, under Speaker V. Sivakumar, decamped to a small clearing under the rain tree to proceed with the fourth sitting of the first session of the 12th Perak state assembly.

Despite the rising heat of the late morning sun, Sivakumar, formally dressed in his official robe and songkok, called the meeting to order at 10.10am.

Over a portable PA system, he announced to all the assemblymen present that the sitting would be held under the tree as efforts by Pakatan assemblymen to gain entry into the state secretariat had been thwarted by the police.
"The police have left me with no other choice," Sivakumar announced. "Because of their action, I cannot conduct this meeting in the state secretariat.

"Therefore, by the powers vested in me as the speaker, I hereby declare this spot as the venue of the House."

The assembly then proceeded with the reading of the doa by Mohd Misbahul Munir Masduki, the newly appointed secretary of the House, after which Sivakumar announced that the House had received three motions and that these would be read and voted on by a show of hands.

The first motion, tabled by Titi Serong assemblyman Khalil Idham Lim Abdullah, sought the assembly's support in declaring that former menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin was the rightful menteri besar appointed by Sultan Azlan Shah, and had the confidence of the majority to hold that office.

The second motion, tabled by Teja assemblyman Chang Lih Kang, called on all state assemblymen to support the dissolution of the current assembly and to ask Nizar to seek an audience with Sultan Azlan Shah, to get the ruler's consent for dissolution to allow for state elections.

Sitiawan state assemblyman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham then proceeded to table the third motion, requesting that the state assembly adopt the decision of the Committee of Privileges to suspend Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and his six exco members and bar them from state assembly sittings.

All three motions were unanimously approved by the Pakatan state assemblymen, whereupon Nizar proposed that the assembly be adjourned. With Ngeh seconding that motion, Sivakumar adjourned the assembly at 10.30am.

At a press conference held at DAP headquarters around 11am, Nizar expressed his disappointment that the police had interfered by stopping the assemblymen from performing their legislative duties.

"Because of police action, the speaker was forced to hold the sitting of the assembly under a tree. This should not have happened at all," he said, adding that the meeting was valid under the "doctrine of necessity".

Asked when he would meet Sultan Azlan Shah on dissolving the state assembly, Nizar said he would first have to discuss the matter with Sivakumar.

"The only way to resolve the current impasse or constitutional crisis is for (Sultan Azlan Shah) to dissolve the assembly and hold fresh elections," Nizar said.

"That is why we passed a resolution on that matter. The rakyat is crying from their hearts for a solution to the present crisis. And, as we all know, only Tuanku has the power to dissolve the assembly. We in the Pakatan sincerely hope that Sultan Azlan Shah will consent to the dissolution when we see him."

Asked what Pakatan would do if the ruler declined to grant their wish, Nizar said Pakatan would continue its battle through legal means as well as through the office of the speaker.

Sivakumar, who was not at the press conference but was in another room in the building, declined to speak with reporters.

I am quite sure that such a development has never occured in a developing or developed democracy before.I don't know whether to cry or laugh - may be both !

It is sad but the joke will ultimately be on BN. As long as PR perseveres and hold on to its democratic principles it will prevail and triumph !!!

"I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY - John Lennon...

(From France 24)

NUCLEAR IRAN - NUCLEAR POWER - RUSSIA

First nuclear plant soon to be operational

WEDNESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2009

Iran and Russia are ready to announce a date for Iran's first nuclear power plant to go operational. The controversial Bushehr plant was co-built by Russia despite international concerns that it would help Iran develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran was testing its long-delayed first nuclear power plant on Wednesday as it pressed ahead with its controversial atomic drive despite international sanctions.

The head of the Russian nuclear agency Sergei Kiriyenko, who is visiting Iran for the so-called pre-commissioning phase, said construction of the Russian-built plant at the Gulf port of Bushehr was now complete.

"The construction stage of the nuclear power plant is over, we are now in the pre-comissioning stage, which is a combination of complex procedures," Sergei Kiriyenko told reporters.

Iran is carrying out comprehensive tests of various equipment at the 1,000-megawatt plant which officials said involve "virtual fuel," not nuclear fuel rods.

Iran and Russia are also set to announce a date for the plant to go operational during the pre-commissioning ceremony, the official IRNA news agency had reported on Tuesday.

Tehran's ambitious nuclear drive has triggered a row with Western governments which suspect it is seeking to covertly build atomic weapons, a charge Iran strongly denies.

Russia took over construction at Bushehr in 1995 but completion of the plant was delayed for a number of reasons, in particular the nuclear standoff between and Iran and the international community.

Iran insists its nuclear drive is for peaceful purposes only and has rejected repeated UN Security Council calls for a halt to uranium enrichment, despite a three sets of sanctions being imposed for its defiance.

Enrichment is the process that makes nuclear fuel for power plants but can also be diverted to make the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

The start-up of the plant will be a leap forward in Iran's efforts to develop nuclear technology but is likely to further unnerve Western powers, which were rattled by the launch this month of an Iranian satellite into space on a home-built rocket.

Kiriyenko said on February 5 that the actual "technical launch" of the Bushehr plant was possible before the end of 2009 if there were no delays caused by "unforeseen circumstances."

The project was first launched by the US-backed shah of Iran in the 1970s using contractors from German company Siemens but was shelved after the Islamic revolution until Russia became involved.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week it had been informed by Tehran that the loading of fuel into the reactor was scheduled to take place during the second quarter of 2009.

The fuel, supplied by Moscow, is currently under IAEA seal.

All the main equipment at Bushehr -- which has been installed by Russian contractor Atomstroiexport.

"Virtual fuel which does not have uranium will be loaded in the core of the reactor," the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Saeedi, told state television.

"The main units, especially the primary circuit, back-up systems and sub-units are tested to remove any failure that could happen in the commissioning stage," he said.

The IAEA, which has been investigating Iran's nuclear activities for six years, said in a report issued last Thursday that Tehran is continuing to enrich uranium, but has slowed down the expansion of its enrichment activities.

In all, IAEA inspectors had been able to verify that Iran has accumulated 839 kilogrammes (1,846 pounds) of low-enriched uranium. And Iran had told the IAEA that it had added another 171 kilogrammes this month.

Estimates vary, but analysts calculate that anywhere between 1,000-1,700 kilogrammes would be needed to convert into high-enriched uranium suitable for one bomb.

Are we facing an impending clash of civilisations ?

It is remarkable and ironical to note that the Islamists ( The Talebans ,Jihadists,etc) once hailed as Holy Warriors and liberators when they were recruited ,trained and armed by the C.I.A to fight the Soviets in Aghanistan ,are now the enemy and are deemed part of the evil empire!

Is it safe to conclude then that it is not even a clash of ideologies,or any more a clash of civilisations  but just an obscene spectacle  of power play - a return of The Cold War,  Part II ?
And if Iran with the help of Russia is allowed to do the unthinkable - to possess a nuclear bomb - help the Islamists take over the Middle Eastern countries,how will Israel react ?

Is the world staring at an eventual conflict between Russia and the Middle Eastern countries with their fossil fuel technology  against the United States and Europe with their Green technology - with Asia and the rest caught in the middle ?
With the battle being fought in Afganistan, right at its doorstep, will Pakistan be dragged into it and when that happens, how will India react?


CHINA

Working in a Chinese sweatshop for HP, Microsoft, Dell and IBM

A report issued by human rights activists reveals that young migrant workers are labouring under sweatshop conditions for IBM, Microsoft, HP and Dell in a factory in China. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, the people who put your keyboard keys into place are paid 60 euro cents an hour to do it. And they're not even allowed to raise their heads or go to the toilet...Taiwanese-owned Meitai factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong province (southeast), employs two thousand young workers, 75% of them women, to produce computer equipment including keyboards and printer cases for Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM (as we go to press IBM and Dell are yet to confirm this). The damning research, published online by theNational Labor Committee, was carried out between June and September of 2008, and updated mid January 2009. When we contacted the companies cited in the report, only Microsoft and HP replied to say that they had been made aware of the report. Both gave similar statements about their commitment to the "fair treatment and safety" of workers contracted to produce their software.

They’re not even allowed to raise their heads or put their hands in their pockets

Charles Kernaghan is one of the National Labor Committee members who worked on the report.

The young workers sit on hard wooden stools twelve hours a day, seven days a week as 500 computer keyboards an hour move down the assembly line, or one every 7.2 seconds.  

They're allowed just 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, repeating the same operation 3,250 times an hour, 35,750 times a day, 250,250 times a week and over one million times a month.All overtime is mandatory, with 12 hour shifts seven days a week and an average of two days off a month. A worker daring to take a Sunday off - which is supposedly their weekly holiday - will be docked 2 ½ days' wages. Including unpaid overtime, workers are at the factory on average 81 hours a week, which exceeds China's legal overtime limit by 318 percent! A worker toiling 75 hours a week will earn a take-home wage of $57.19 [€45], or 76 cents [60 euro cents] an hour including overtime and bonuses.   

In mid-2008, the Meitai factory was advertising for workers with a huge want ad posted outside the factory: "Meitai Company seeks large numbers of female workers ages 18-35 for 1200-1500 RMB [€137 - €171] a month" [not including overtime].Other factories in the area have similar working conditions, but what's so shocking about this one, is the restraints on liberty. Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music, going to the toilet on shift. They're not even allowed to raise their heads or put their hands in their pockets. They're fined for being one minute late or for failing to trim their fingernails, as this could impede their work. They're searched on the way in and out of the factory, and those who hand out flyers or discuss factory conditions with outsiders are fired. When they leave a room, they stand up together and walk out in single file. 

'Employees shall maintain the factory image... Employees shall dress in clean and appropriate clothes... not post flyers in the company, should not walk on green areas or plants...'.One worker summed up the general feeling in the factory:  'I feel like I am serving a prison sentence.' 

Ten to twelve workers share each crowded dorm room, sleeping on narrow metal bunk beds that line the walls. They drape old sheets over their cubicle openings for privacy. Workers are locked in the factory compound four days a week and are prohibited from even taking a walk. 

Names of workers fined for not cleaning their dorms are displayed on a whiteboard. The bathroom with a squat toilet. In the winter, workers have to walk down several flights of stairs to fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket, which they carry back to their rooms to take a sponge bath.  

To symbolize their ‘improving lives' the workers are served a special treat on Fridays - a small chicken leg and foot. For breakfast, they are given watery rice gruel.  [Photo]Workers are only given 15 minutes to eat lunch.

The other factories in the area have given their staff a week off for New Year (which is equal in importance to Thanksgiving and Christmas combined for North Americans). But the Meitai factory has only given three days off, which makes it impossible for the staff to get home and back. They're all migrant workers. I think the factory fears that if workers leave for a home with a month's wages, they'll never come back.  

What's also shocking is that this factory deals with such big names. If there's one factory these companies should pay any attention to, then it's this one. While Microsoft is fighting to protect its trademark in China, it cares very little about any laws that might protect the workers who actually make the software. Dell, HP and IBM have all promised to do something. But all they'll do is put in place ‘monitors' in the factory. These workers are terrified; they won't dare tell them anything. It's not because they're in love with the Chinese people that these companies are here; it's because people in China can be forced to work for nothing, and they're not going to fight against that. Meanwhile, China is sacrificing these young workers to build a middle class which they themselves will never see.

To get hold of this information we had people inside the factory, but we can't openly discuss our research methods. We did the interviews with workers off campus. Some of them do come to human rights and health and safety organisations on their day off. But they're very cautious. The organisations have to keep moving around so they're not tracked by the factories. And most of the workers have never even heard the word ‘union' - they think it's a breakfast meeting. The workers have no healthcare to speak of. They're hanging by a shoestring. Of course they're hoping to move on to a better job. But with the financial crisis, it will be even harder to find another job now. Twenty million migrant workers have just been made redundant in China. It's a difficult, miserable situation.

"Is this what globalisation is all about  - exploitation of cheap labour - modern day slavery ???

Top bankers face grilling after fraud squad raids
Wednesday February 25 2009

FORMER leading bankers at Anglo Irish are expected to be questioned by gardai after fraud squad officers raided the bank's headquarters yesterday.Senior detectives said last night it now appeared "inevitable" that some leading bankers would face questioning.This is expected to happen once an investigation led byDirector of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby has gathered enough information about dealings at the bank.Former Anglo chairman Sean FitzPatrick last night told theIrish Independent he had "no comment" on the garda raids.

Mr Appleby's investigation has already been fast-tracked after the acting Financial Regulator Mary O'Dea revealed yesterday she had agreed to share all of the information her office has gathered on Anglo Irish's dealings.Garda fraud squad officers, acting for Mr Appleby, raided three buildings at Anglo Irish's headquarters on St Stephen's Green in Dublin yesterday morning after getting warrants to search for books, documents, computer files and computer hard drives.Informed sources said investigators were looking for evidence of any breaches of the Companies Act in relation to secret loans to directors and the controversial €451m loan to a 'golden circle' to buy shares in the bank.However, they added that Mr Appleby would not exclude any other issues if evidence of illegality is uncovered.

Legal experts said last night that a series of possible prosecutions could result from the investigation, including charges relating to the failure to keep proper books of account and breaches of rules relating to directors' loans.Mr Appleby can also bring charges if an individual or group financially interested in the success or failure of the bank tried to influence the bank's policy.Meanwhile, it is understood it is "highly unlikely" Sean FitzPatrick will now be compelled to appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs. This is due to fears that it might prejudice the ongoing investigation into Anglo Irish Bank. The committee had been planning to seek powers to compel Mr FitzPatrick to attend, after he cited legal reasons for his refusal to attend earlier this month.Anglo Irish Bank was nationalised last month after the share price plummeted amid a wave of controversies, including a loans-for-shares scandal, revelations about secret loans to former chairman Sean FitzPatrick and a multibillion-euro deposit from an apparent rival bank to boost its books.

Anglo Irish officials refused to comment last night. The bank had already agreed to engage with Mr Appleby before yesterday's development and had indicated it would cooperate fully with any investigation.A team of 16 gardai joined staff from the director's office in yesterday's searches. The terms of the warrant mean they can have access to Anglo Irish's offices for a month and any material seized can be kept for an unlimited period of time.A team of 25 officers from the Financial Regulator, which is conducting a parallel investigation, were already on site.Yesterday's dramatic developments followed repeated opposition calls for the garda fraud squad to become involved.

Two Fianna Fail TDs, Thomas Byrne and Michael McGrath, had also written directly to Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy last week to add their voices to the clamour.However, the Government had insisted that the Director of Corporate Enforcement had to be allowed to carry out his work and in the end it was Mr Appleby's decision to bring in the gardai.

The director's action looks set to take some of the political pressure off the Government, who can now reassure a rebellious public that "something is being done".Justice Minister Dermot Ahern TD said the Government was operating "the rule of law"."As far as I am concerned that provides that whether you have a balaclava and a sawn-off shotgun or a white collar and designer suit the same rules apply," he said.- Shane Phelan, Michael Brennan and Dearbhail McDonald.

The hounds are loose and they are crying for blood !

" I READ THE NEWS TODAY , OH BOY"....John Lennon....

DEWAN DISPATCHES: The King’s tacit message to Pakatan - respect Sultan Azlan Shah’s decision

By : Azmi Anshar 

DEWAN RAKYAT Feb 16, 2009:

In the confusing, sound-byte laden and boisterously outrageous aftermath of the Perak crisis of state governance, a pitiable circumstance has emerged - the feeble idea that you can cling on to your seat of power although you, in polite terms, have been instructed to vacate the position, or in harsh terms, have been sacked, no less by the Ruler of your state.

Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin flayed his arms, shouted over the top of his voice, pleaded and grovelled on behalf of his position, to no avail because Sultan Azlan Shah, in invoking his constitutionally-empowered discretionary authority as Sultan of Perak, told him to leave in simple, implicit terms. 

Why is it burdensome for Nizar to skedaddle? As this piece goes out for publication, Nizar is still stubbornly entrenched in the Menteri Besar’s official residence though he did promise to vacate by this week. You could probably draw a balanced line between Nizar wanting to hang on to his job and the strict instructions of his political masters to tie himself to the position if necessary, only to buy time for a better legal and populist representation as to why he is still the legitimate chief minister.

Somehow, in the past three weeks of Byzantine and Machiavellian episodes, the people behind Nizar have subtly displaced the blame for the whole sordid outcome to Sultan Azlan Shah as the one who triggered the whole mess. Bottomline: this people don’t know when they have been taken down and outmanoeuvred.

Let’s backpedal this crisis from the beginning: one disgruntled Umno assemblyman from Bota decided it was high time to abandon ship after a series of incidents made him feel horribly unwelcome in his party, so he defects to Parti Keadilan Rakyat. But the loose coalition of Pakatan Rakyat still controls the Perak Government, merely upping its bragging rights to 32 - 27 in the Perak Assembly’s balance of power.
Fast forward a week and suddenly two PKR assemblymen, who happened to be State Exco members facing serious corruption charges, resign from their party and declare themselves independents allied to the Barisan Nasional. Add a bit more drama and a DAP stalwart, a Deputy Speaker no less, decides to emulate her two PKR colleagues. Suddenly, its 29 - 30. Can it be even more dramatic than this? Yes it can. The Bota man who dropped Umno like a bad habit incredibly repented for his bad ways and decides to re-defect to his old party. Make that 28 - 31.

In politics, all is fair in love, scheming and manipulation. Anwar Ibrahim may have desired hard to make Sept 16 his power grab day of the Federal Government after boasting that he had secured the allegiances of 30 BN MPs. But in all reality, he failed and he floundered, even if everybody thought he possessed the numbers. He just didn’t make it happen and his power grab ploy remains an illusion of grandeur.

So, excuse the Deputy Prime Minister for being inspired by Anwar’s scheming ways and when the window of opportunity popped out, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak capitalised on the three defections and wrestled his way into getting back the Perak Government. We may not be privy to what methods of persuasion he employed to convince the three defectors to switch support to the BN but it doesn’t really matter. All Najib had to do was prove to Sultan Azlan Shah that he had the definitive numbers - 28 BN assemblymen and three allied to the BN. The rest was up to the Ruler’s absolute discretion.

Of course, the cacophony of objections was understandable: how could Sultan Azlan allowed the BN to re-enable a toppled State Government? If convention was followed, the Ruler could have ordered dissolution of the assembly that automatically leads to fresh state elections. But in the end, Sultan Azlan Shah PREFERRED to invoke his absolute and constitutional right to use his discretionary powers in the selection. That goes above any norm and convention. And that he did, as routinely as he would have given consent to a package of Bills and funding requests. That should have been the end of story but instead, it dragged into a full blown sorry saga.

However, from the violent street demonstrations to the insolent manner the losers in the power play trotted out against the Sultan, it wasn’t so much they lost Perak as it was the manner in which they lost it - part naïveté, part complacency, and part incompetence, but totally outwitted, outsmarted and outgunned. That is why Pakatan is still sulking and smarting. They grossly underestimated Najib’s ability to pull this off. When he did, they had to find another excuse - BN illegal power grab, buy-over, Sultan not well advised…anything, anything but the fact that they had been outmanoeuvred by Najib’s master stroke, the Prime Minister-in-waiting whom Pakatan had demonised for a good year.

Ask MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh who appeared to have acknowledged Najib as playmaker. Karpal absolutely laid the blame of the whole fiasco on Anwar, Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) and Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan). Kit was shocked and hurt by Karpal’s amazing outburst but not a peep on addressing Mr Singh’s grievances.

The Sultan of Selangor, upset at the slew of insipid insults thrown at his brother ruler, came out strongly in his defence last week in a special press statement, urging the people not to be rude to Sultan Azlan Shah. Today, at the opening of the new Parliament session, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin issued a subtler subtext to the fiasco. 

“…the people must respect the federal constitution. I expressed the hope that there will be no attempts to create laws that contravene it,” the King implored at the opening of the new Parliament session earlier in the morning. It could be said that Tuanku Mizan knows a few things about choosing the appropriate Menteri Besar. 

And the King had also a few comments on how the history of the country's independence and the constitution should be embraced - explained to the young to have a better understanding of the basis for the formation of Malaysia. "The young generation is the country's back-up and hope for the future. The principles of the Rukun Negara must be understood and appreciated by all strata of the society," he said.

The MPs from Barisan Nasional must have sensed a shift is about to happen after the King’s speech. When Tuanku Mizan said “respect the Constitution and principles of Rukun Negara”, he may have well meant in a single swath that to respect the Constitution was also to respect the sovereignty of the decision made by Sultan Azlan Shah, no matter how unpopular it may be to certain masses.

From those packed sentences, it could well be interpreted that the King is telling Nizar, Anwar and the whole Pakatan cabal that their recalcitrance in not making a dignified exit from the Perak Menteri Besar’s office was met with sublime consternation. Except for the more outspoken monarchs, Tuanku Mizan is playing his role perfectly here with the grace and dignity of a King, coaxing the belligerent parties to come to their senses - fast.

The  dice have been cast and it is too late to turn the dice ! It is an insult to the intelligence  of the rakyat to infer that the publos cannot differentiate between a truth and a lie - the actions of the two political protagonists, Anwar and Najib - and who has acted openly, democratically and above board and who has not !

Do not try to shift the blame on the rakyat or HRH Sultan Azlan Shah for the sorry mess in Perak . If you are hunting for a scapegoat  to be offered as your sacificial lamb,that honour should be given to the person or party responsible for this political drama currently playing in Perak.

HRH has been dragged into this melee, in this attempt to overthrow an erstwhile legitimate democratically elected state government but the main protagonist under estimated the reactionary power of the People's Court  in his assumption that he can use the royal position of HRH Sultan Azlan Shah, an esteemed and admired monarch to legitimize his legally illegal scheme.

As a result ,HRH Sultan Azlan Shah has been put in between a rock and a hard place - not only is the action of HRH in  question but the sanctity of the royal institution is now also in question ! And who is to be blamed for this tragegy  !?!  HRH and his rakyat  !?!  I DO NOT THINK SO !!!

DEWAN DISPATCHES: Elizabeth Wong’s voyeurism is NOT the same as Chua Soi Lek’s romp

By : Azmi Anshar 

DEWAN RAKYAT, Feb 17, 2009:

Poor Elizabeth Wong. All she did was sink into a nap, glasses still attached, and a moment of voyeurism that was thrillingly executed then while she slumbered - her mind probably fantasising on her charge to Federal electoral victory - will soon catapult her into titillating bedlam, rocking her party and spice up, yet again, Malaysia’s throbbing political narrative.

As it happens in some extra-adventurous relationship, Wong was snapped sleeping in a delectable position by her then boyfriend, which was very private, very fine and very none-of-our business, until the boyfriend, by this time an ex-beau, decided to impose those intimately clickable moments to an unsuspecting but wildly receptive crowd. 

Elizabeth Wong’s world, the one she built with activist gusto and political idealism, practically collapsed overnight. 

Sex, scandal and aberrant behaviour categorised under sex and scandal is perhaps the most seductive social spectacle in Malaysia, followed by Byzantine/Machiavellian politics like the brutish kind you see in Ipoh and Kuala Kangsar, and murder of the most heinous classification, like the horror in Ampang where a killer or killers slashed to death a family but spared the life of a one-year old. The madness is always pre-meditated, it would seem.

But, in the Malaysian scheme of things where tenuous crumbs of hinted scandal is good enough for a full-blown case, Elizabeth Wong has been hounded and ridiculed…and it’s not even her fault.
Chief among her detractors were the ex-Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Khir Toyo, who in the apogee of high moralistic waxing, demanded that Wong resign but it was Dr Khir’s spurious analogy, comparing her to Dr Chua Soi Lek’s sexual escapades, that was both out of sync and overstretching.

“In Barisan Nasional, we asked Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek to resign after his video was circulated,” Dr Khir referred to the MCA deputy president forced to resign last year after a video of him having sex with a woman was widely distributed. Well, hang on. Chua was knee-deep in a bona fide sexual tryst, a married man caught with a woman who is not his wife that fits into the definition of a scandal, no matter how much it was his business and not ours.

For Dr Khir to compare Dr Chua’s dubious prerogative with Elizabeth Wong’s unwitting situation was akin to comparing a predator to a victim. It was a lame comprehension but politically, it was opportunistically expedient. This would also mean that absolutely nobody - politicians, CEOs, VIPs, the rich and the famous especially - can sleep stark naked in the privacy of their haven in case a miscreant who happens to be their ex-spouse, ex-lover or ex-partner, snaps digital photos of that Kodak moment and puts up a rogue’s picture gallery in some blog.

At Parliament House today, PKR defacto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who also knows a thing or two about being drowned in sex scandals, emphatically rejected Wong’s immediate offer to resign as Selangor Exco member and assemblyman for Bukit Lanjan. But for now, Wong has decided to withdraw from the hubris and has slipped into an indefinite leave while her party extricate themselves out of this mess.

Anwar and his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, tried to coax Wong to stay put but the political flavour of the week won’t have any of it. After the PKR brass met for two hours at the Opposition Leader's tower block office in Parliament building, the official line was to express sympathy for her but it would be up to Wong to have the final say of whether she wants to stay or step down from both positions.

Anwar decided to float an upbeat view of Wong’s predicament. "I don't believe it is the end of her political career,” he avowed at the packed Press conference. “She is a tough, capable leader and has a good record as an Exco and assemblywoman. She has courage and resilience to ride through this scandal.”

Taking a swipe at the likes of Dr Khir, Anwar likened Wong to being sucked into a "malicious political game." But Anwar should also appreciate the empathy and spirit of bipartisanship expressed by Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and Wanita MCA chief Chew Mei Fun, who quickly came to Elizabeth’s defence.

If you think that Ms Wong is the same plate of fetish delight sautéed to entertain the masses baying for blood and opprobrium, think again. She is hardly typical. Granted, the low resolution pictures of her slumping torso - likely snapped with a low-pixel handphone camera under mild lighting - was somewhat compromising. Well, who wouldn’t be that way in the strict privacy of your own bedroom? That is the absolute point. Any pictures taken from within that moment and released to the outside world - provided Ms Wong genuinely had no knowledge of the deed - will always be viewed out of context and out of your mind.

But released to the outside world it was and according to some reports, a handful of pictures and perhaps a video too is on floating in cyberspace. The spurned boyfriend, whoever the scoundrel was, mischievously released the pictures/video in a moment of post-breakup wrath. It is this lout, and not Elizabeth Wong, who should be pilloried.

It was also bit surprising that Anwar should characterise Elizabeth’s Wong plight as a “scandal” when it was simply a deliberate sleight of hand by the sleazy ex-beau. By dictionary definition, a scandal is a disgraceful or discreditable action or circumstance, an offence caused by a fault or misdeed that may damage ones reputation and that would lead to public disgrace.

As her situation is made to become untenable, Elizabeth Wong remains doggedly veracious to her probity. A telling remark from her weepy Press conference: “…I have done no wrong. I wish to state that I am not ashamed of my sexuality as a woman and as a single person. I have broken no law. I stand by the fundamental principle of a democracy that everyone has a right to privacy…,” may have been her last defiant scorn against the hypocrisy that shammed her.

What Elizabeth did, or did not do, hardly qualifies as a scandal or discreditable action. It was her enemies who made that characterisation and because of that and because she offered to resign, the slap-in-the-face scandal that implicated her somehow fits into the definition of “damaging one’s reputation”, no matter how hard she declares or proves that she has not committed a crime. 

This is a pity. If anything, the services of a competent and conscientious politician/activist may have been squandered but one would greatly hope, not lost permanently to wilderness and oblivion.

What a piece of worthless rambling from a carma cum sanctimonious piranha of a gargantuan proportion !

The only reason this whole sorry episode has reached such a spectacular and sensationalized magnitude, scandal or not, is because the publication that pays your wages is so bankcrupt of true professional journalism that it has to resort to sleazy tabloid methods of reporting to sustain its dying readership  !!!

In  Europe,the Elizabeth Wong "saga" would have been stale news by now and least of all, a deserved spot in a front page !! 

"I HEARD THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY - John Lennon"...

Firing rockets to bring on the rain

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• China
 
• farming
 
• global warming

North and eastern China have been struck by what looks like the worst drought in half a century. For the Olympic Games, Beijing launched missiles to fend off the rain. This time, they're trying to summon it.

Weather experts are divided over the cause of the drought, which is affecting more than 3.7 million farmers and two million cattle. Is it a sign of global warming? Or an effect of Beijing's ambitious use of hydraulic resources? In any case, the government has taken the situation in hand and declared, for the first time, a "maximum" state of emergency, granting 100 billion Yuan (around 11 billion euros) in aid to the most affected regions. They have also resorted to the use of mini-rockets, filled with a chemical product and launched from planes and trucks, to "charge" clouds. According to the Chinese press, around 1,200 of these agricultural missiles have been fired since January

"The efficiency of artificial rainfall remains under dispute"

Laurent Li is a climatologist and director of the CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research in France).

The mechanism is simple: the product used in the rockets, silver iodide, harnesses and enlarges the raindrops in the clouds. Once the size of the drops has been increased by ten, it will then rain.

The use of artificial rainfall is very common in China. I know the Chinese weather agency director, who's a great specialist and defender of the practice. But with other climatologists, the question of the efficiency of artificial rainfall remains under dispute. There was a lot of research done into it in the seventies and eighties [when it was used by Canada and the USSR]. Although the method was proved to produce condensation, it wasn't scientifically proved to produce rain. And seeing as firing rockets is an expensive practice, the idea was abandoned by most countries."

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Islamabad admits Mumbai plots partly planned in Pakistan

THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2009

Part of the plotting of the Mumbai attacks that killed over 160 people last December was done in Pakistan, the country's top interior ministry official admitted for the first time, registering the case with with a special investigation unit.

THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2009

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AFP - The Mumbai attacks that killed 165 people last November were partly planned in Pakistan, a top-level Islamabad official admitted for the first time Thursday.
   
"The incident happened in India and part of the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan," interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters.
   
Pakistan has lodged a "first information report" with police in Islamabad and six people have been arrrested in connection with the attacks following an investigation on the basis of information provided by India, Malik added.
   
He said the case had been registered with a special investigation unit in Islamabad.
   
It is the first time a senior official in Islamabad has admitted that any planning took place in Pakistan.
   
New Delhi blamed the attacks on the banned Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The plight of Japan's homeless

FRIDAY 06 FEBRUARY 2009

Homelessness hit Japan hard during the recession of the early 1990s - and it's on the rise again now. Critics say the government needs to do more.

SPECIAL REPORT   CARING: HUMANITARIAN REPORTS AROUND THE WORLD

CARING

FRIDAY 06 FEBRUARY 2009

By FRANCE 24  (text) / NATHALIE TOURRET  (video)  

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Japan is one of the world's richest and most industrialised nations. Yet below the gleaming high rise buildings and state-of-the-art luxury hotels lives a community that's been bypassed by the vast opportunities of wealth: the homeless.

 

In a culture that prides itself on honour and Confucian values, the authorities are struggling to deal with the needs of the desperate. In Tokyo alone, some 2,600 people are now officially listed as homeless - although charities say the number is more likely to be two to three times that figure.

Yosuke Tanaka sleeps on the street. Every night he builds a shelter from cardboard, at the foot of one of the buildings in Shinjuku. He takes it apart and stows it away again every morning to avoid being expelled by the security guards at his building. But they are not his only fear: there are also attacks by young people.

Tokyo’s government offers emergency beds during the two coldest weeks of the year. On Dec. 24, 68 people came to register but only 25 beds were available. The selection method might be surprising: it is by drawing lots.

There are also centres which provide 800 beds for a one to five month stay, and a few emergency beds. But that is for the whole of Tokyo.

Due to the lack of beds, some homeless people have pitched their tents in a public park in downtown Tokyo. Their blue tents have become one of the symbols of Japan’s homeless population. After the economic crisis of the late 90s, Tokyo’s parks were packed with hundreds of them.

Nowadays, the tents have become scarce. The capital’s residents pressured the local authorities to clear the tents from public areas. In 2004, Tokyo’s government started a reinsertion policy. The idea was to provide the tents’ occupants with an apartment for two years, for only 20 euros a month.

But they were not necessarily tempted by the offer. Nishi-san, one homesless man, told France 24: "The fact that one can only stay in those apartments for two years would only make life harder for me when I had to go back out on the streets because I would not get permission to rebuild my blue tent."

The goal of the policy is actually to get people off the street for good. With a stable address, former homeless people have a better chance of finding a job and saving money: 1,800 people have benefited from the programme.

 

The official figure of 2,600 is almost half the number in 2004. The local authorities claim it is a success but community organisations say the figure isn't accurate and more than 2,000 haven't been included in the official statistics. Their number will no doubt increase dramatically, as the ongoing economic crisis is already pushing more people onto the streets.

Creationism going strong on Darwin anniversary

THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2009

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin. But the Creation Museum near Washington, DC, continues to teach visitors that the world was created in 6 days.

REPORTAGES

THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2009

By FRANCE 24  (text) / AFP  (video)

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Forget about dinosaurs, the origins of life, and the birth of the universe. According to Ken Ham, the creator of the Creation Museum in Washington, DC, the world is only several thousand years old, despite the claims of scientists.

 

Ham said, “What this museum is saying is that God created the world in 6 days, about 6000 years ago.”

 

Ken is one of the stalwarts of creationism. He believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible. Creationists believe that dinosaurs and humans were contemporaries. Adam and Eve frolicked among the brontosaurus in Eden’s lush vegetation.

 

The Page family, visitors of the museum, had theories of their own. Kelly Page, the father, claims that dinosaurs never went extinct. “Humans used to live 900 years, so reptiles actually never stopped growing. Dinosaurs are just big lizards. Now the lizards don’t live as long, so they don’t get as big.”

 

Terry Mortenson, a historian at the museum, claimed that Noah’s Ark included a few dinosaurs in its menagerie.

 

The world according to creationists may seem laughable, but they are dead serious. Support for their theories gained steam under former US president George W. Bush. He even raised the possibility of teaching creationism in school. And this is the ultimate goal of Ham.

 

“They’ve thrown God and the Bible out and re-defined science as naturism,” said Ham. “That’s actually a religious position. It’s the religion atheism.”

Since its opening a year and a half ago, the museum has welcomed over 600,000 visitors. And in a recent study, Americans showed their scepticism of Darwin’s theory of evolution, which only 50% of the US population accept as true.