Ukrainian journalist killed amid fragile ceasefire

Ukrainian journalist killed amid fragile ceasefire

Ukrainian journalist killed amid fragile ceasefire

Posted: 28 Feb 2015 05:11 PM PST

Photographer Serhiy Nikolayev sits on an armchair in the village of Pesky, north-west of Donetsk, March 1, 2015. — Reuters picPhotographer Serhiy Nikolayev sits on an armchair in the village of Pesky, north-west of Donetsk, March 1, 2015. — Reuters picKIEV, March 1 — A Ukrainian journalist was killed by shelling in east Ukraine yesterday, his newspaper said, even as the Ukrainian military reported a significant drop in rebel attacks, boosting hopes for a two-week-old ceasefire.

Photographer Serhiy Nikolayev died after artillery fire struck near the village of Pesky, northwest of the rebel-held city of Donetsk, daily newspaper Sevodnya reported in an online statement.

Earlier, Ukraine's military said fighting had eased significantly in the east overnight but reported GRAD missile attacks on the government-held town of Avdiivka, next to Pesky, which is home to one of Europe's largest coke plants.

On Friday, Ukraine reported the first deaths among its servicemen in three days, underscoring the fragility of the truce, as government troops and rebels pulled back heavy weapons from the frontline.

President Petro Poroshenko, who says a military threat from the east would remain even if a peace deal holds, said yesterday he would submit a bill to parliament to make a formal request for the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to monitor the ceasefire.

Poroshenko informed US Vice President Joe Biden in a call yesterday of continued shelling around Donetsk and Mariupol by Russian-backed separatists, the White House said. The two also discussed the inability of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe to verify whether Russian heavy weapons have been pulled back from the front lines, it said.

Biden praised the Ukrainian government's plan to pass reform legislation, recommended by the International Monetary Fund, to stabilise the economy, the White House said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military said the truce had been most fully observed overnight around the rebel-controlled city of Luhansk and near government-held Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.

Kiev fears the port city and industrial hub could become the next rebel target. Rebels humiliated government troops by seizing the strategic town of Debaltseve after the truce was meant to have come into force.

Both government troops and separatists said they continued withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line, "point two" of the peace agreement aimed at ending the conflict, which has killed more than 5,600. — Reuters

Maduro says Venezuela has detained US citizens linked to espionage

Posted: 28 Feb 2015 05:03 PM PST

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro holds a Venezuelan flag during a rally to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the social uprising known as ‘Caracazo’, which Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez said marked the start of his revolution, in Caracas in this February 28, 2015 picture provided by Miraflores Palace. — Reuters picVenezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a Venezuelan flag during a rally to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the social uprising known as 'Caracazo', which Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez said marked the start of his revolution, in Caracas in this February 28, 2015 picture provided by Miraflores Palace. — Reuters picCARACAS, March 1 — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday his government had captured Americans, including a pilot, involved in espionage activities and said US citizens in the future will have to seek visas to come to the OPEC nation.

Speaking during a rally, he said his government will prohibit some US officials from entering Venezuela in retaliation for a similar measure by the government of President Barack Obama against a group of Venezuelan public officials.

"We have captured some US citizens in undercover activities, espionage, trying to win over people in towns along the Venezuelan coast," he said, adding one was a US pilot taken in the convulsed border state of Tachira.

"In Tachira we captured a pilot of a US plane (who is) of Latin origin (carrying) all kinds of documentation," Maduro said, without offering details.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Caracas said he was unable to comment, citing a lack of any official diplomatic communication with the Venezuelan government.

The head of a Venezuelan evangelical organisation on Friday said a group of four missionaries had been called in for questioning after participating in a medical assistance campaign in the coastal town of Ocumare de la Costa.

That pastor, Abdy Pereira, yesterday said in a telephone interview that the four had left the country for Aruba after having been questioned for several days about alleged involvement in espionage.

Pereira said the group had been coming to Venezuela for 14 years and denied the missionaries were involved in espionage.

The Communication Ministry did not answer calls seeking details about the identities of the missionaries or their whereabouts.

Maduro said Americans will now need visas to get into Venezuela and will have to pay the same visa fees that Venezuelans pay to get into the United States.

Officials this month arrested Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma on conspiracy charges, a move Maduro said would stymie a US-backed coup effort. The White House dismissed charges it was linked to the alleged plot as "ludicrous".

Maduro's adversaries passed off the plot as a charade meant to distract from product shortages, soaring consumer prices and Maduro's tumbling popularity ratings.

Caracas and Washington have had tense diplomatic relations since the era of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who was briefly toppled in a 2002 coup that he said was orchestrated by the State Department.

The government of George W. Bush endorsed that coup before backtracking when Chavez returned to power. The State Department has nonetheless denied any attempts to destabilise Venezuela's government. — Reuters  

10 things about: Dr Harith Ahmad, lecturer, inventor and Distinguished Professor for 2014

Posted: 28 Feb 2015 05:00 PM PST

Picture by Saw Siow FengPicture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — Dr Harith Ahmad is a man of science who believes that the lack of racial harmony in this country is why there is so little innovation.

He believes that big corporations who can contribute so much to the field of science are still operating within racial silos.

Born in Alor Setar, Dr Harith made his way to Universiti Malaya where he obtained a first-class Bachelor's degree in Physics, as well as a Master's in High Voltage Technology, before going to the University of Wales to obtain a Doctorate in Laser Technology.

In addition to academia, Harith is an inventor, and holds 10 patents jointly with Telekom Malaysia.

He was recently named Distinguished Professor for 2014, the latest in a series of awards he's received including the Asean Science and Technology Award and the Merdeka Award for his contributions to science.

At 60, he continues to teach and research in the Department of Physics at Universiti Malaya, where he focuses on photonics, the science of generating and manipulating light. His research includes the fabrication of semiconductor-pumped solid-state lasers and developing techniques to study laser shadowgraphy. Yup, we don't know what that means either, so we'll let him explain.

In his own words:

  • What got me interested in physics was that I liked doing science. If you have math skills, doing physics can be a breeze. I had the skillset, and I was curious about how things work. What got me interested in photonics was that when I was a final-year student at Universiti Malaya, I met this external examiner, this engineer from the University of Swansea, who influenced me to go into it. He was the first guy to say that photonics had a really bright future. He encouraged me to come to his place to continue my studies in laser physics (which is part of photonics). I had the opportunity to investigate something new — then it was quite a new field.
  • The British system (at PhD level) makes you very independent. It makes you build up your own system. And they leave it to you. They give you a room, they give you the bare minimum, and they expect you to come up with something fantastic. You have to do it yourself; it's all about you. I can claim that our facilities are as good as any second-tier British university. And of late the government has given a lot of money to Universiti Malaya, about RM500 million for facilities.
  • I didn't have any mentors. I'm a self-made person.
  • The scientists I admire the most are (Max) Planck (German physicist who developed quantum theory) and (Louis) de Broglie. You must admire Planck. At a very young age, he got a Nobel Prize. He discovered very important phenomena. de Broglie showed that waves and particles can be connected by one equation. They built the foundations of quantum physics. Einstein is over-rated.
  • I think intelligence is over-rated. More important for a scientist is the willingness to work hard, commitment, and an interest in what you are doing.
  • Malaysia is recognised as a leader in selected areas of photonics. But it's harder to be recognised because of our location. If you are in Europe and you run into a technical problem and you've exhausted your resources, you can just take a train ride to another country or get your students to work there for a couple of days to overcome it. You can enrich your knowledge faster and get a faster rate of improvement. We're also not as exposed here. In Europe they have many seminars so that the people there constantly network with each other. We are a small country, and in this part of the world the next neighbour we have that will be very good would be Singapore, but Singapore sometimes doesn't want to share a lot of things. Opportunities to share knowledge and have a common platform can be quite discouraging. Today, you can Skype (people in other countries), but if they don't know you and you've never met them before, you'll find that they won't be responsive.
  • I think the major barrier to innovation in Malaysia is the lack of (racial) harmony. Big companies that make a lot of profits do not have enough social responsibility. They should spare some of their profits to fund prizes for school innovation competitions. Chinese tycoons are very generous to their own communities. If they could transcend this, the whole country would feel the effects. And with enough money, an innovation culture could thrive.
  • In order to have a high-technology industry by 2020, firstly, we require a number of PhDs, which will be an important factor for multi-national companies wishing to relocate their industry [to] Malaysia. Quality will come next through the natural selection process where the best will survive. This will be the basis of improving the quality of PhD graduates in this country, which will be largely determined by market forces. It's difficult to comment on the quality of PhD graduates in this country accurately since their output occurs across a vast array of fields, including little-known niche areas. One suitable means to ascertain PhD student quality is to require them to generate five publications in international journals during their studies. This should be the criteria that all the local institutions should practise, since the work will be vetted by international experts from renowned universities. This will definitely ensure the quality of PhDs produced in this country is comparable to that in countries such as the US, UK, and Europe.
  • It would be very good if our TV programmes and our printed media produce more material in relation to how scientific discoveries have changed our lives and will shape the future. In this aspect, we could highlight the importance and impact of physics, and how physics has become the foundation of new industries.
  • In my spare time I read about Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, to see the common platforms — why people believe in something.

Trippier own goal leaves Burnley in drop zone

Posted: 28 Feb 2015 04:52 PM PST

File picture shows Burnley’s defender Kieran Trippier (right) vying for the ball against Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe during the EPL match at The Stadium of Light in Sunderland, England, on January 31, 2015. — AFP picFile picture shows Burnley's defender Kieran Trippier (right) vying for the ball against Sunderland's Jermain Defoe during the EPL match at The Stadium of Light in Sunderland, England, on January 31, 2015. — AFP picBURNLEY, March 1 — Burnley remained in the Premier League relegation zone after Kieran Trippier's decisive own goal in yesterday's 1-0 loss to Swansea City at Turf Moor.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche kept faith with the same starting XI that gallantly held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw last week, and that meant Ashley Barnes once again leading their attack.

Barnes was in the headlines for what Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho described as "a criminal" challenge on Nemanja Matic in the Stamford Bridge stalemate.

Swansea boss Garry Monk made one change from the team that shocked Manchester United 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium last time out, with Tom Carroll coming in for the injured Gylfi Sigurdsson in midfield.

An edgy start saw Swansea 'keeper Lukasz Fabianski forced into early action to keep out George Boyd's left-footed shot.

As the half hour approached Trippier crossed from the left with Fabianski doing well to stop Barnes' close-range shot.

Down at the other end, Swansea's appeals for a penalty after Burnley keeper Tom Heaton felled Wayne Routledge were waved away.

Three minutes from the break Bafetimbi Gomis, who scored the fortuitous winner against United, watched as his low 20-yard attempt towards the bottom-right corner was kept out by Heaton.

In first-half stoppage time Jonjo Shelvey's curling shot edged narrowly wide of the top-right corner.

The deadlock was broken in the 64th minute in unfortunate circumstances when Burnley right-back Trippier's attempt to clear the ball after Heaton had superbly saved Federico Fernandez's shot ended with the ball going over the line.

Dyche introduced Sam Vokes for Michael Kightly for the last quarter of an hour and the substitution almosr paid dividends.

With six minutes remaining Boyd crossed to Vokes who had a gilt-edged chance to level from the centre of the box only for Fabianski to turn the ball wide of the post.

The loss left Burnley, who have now failed to win in 13 league outings, on 22 points, third from bottom, with Swansea moving up a spot into eighth. — AFP

I’m a dead man walking: ‘Jihadi John’ contemplated suicide before fleeing to Syria

Posted: 28 Feb 2015 04:44 PM PST

A masked, black-clad militant, who has been identified by the Washington Post newspaper as a Briton named Mohammed Emwazi, brandishes a knife in this still image from a 2014 video obtained from SITE Intel Group, February 26, 2015. — Reuters picA masked, black-clad militant, who has been identified by the Washington Post newspaper as a Briton named Mohammed Emwazi, brandishes a knife in this still image from a 2014 video obtained from SITE Intel Group, February 26, 2015. — Reuters picLONDON, March 1 — The London man believed to be Islamic State executioner "Jihadi John" told a journalist four years ago that surveillance by British security services had left him contemplating suicide, it emerged yesterday.

Mohammed Emwazi, named by media and experts as the militant thought to have beheaded at least five Western hostages held by the IS group, told the Mail on Sunday reporter that he felt like a "dead man walking".

A British civil rights group that was in contact with Emwazi, Cage, claims that domestic spy agency MI5 had been tracking him since at least 2009, and blamed his radicalisation on their "harassment".

Prime Minister David Cameron and a former head of foreign spy agency MI6 strongly rejected the idea, while London mayor Boris Johnson accused Cage of an "apology for terror".

In an email to Mail on Sunday reporter Robert Verkaik, dated December 14, 2010, Emwazi described how he sold his laptop to someone he met online who he subsequently came to believe was with the security services.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a dead man walking, not fearing they may kill me. Rather, fearing that one day, I'll take as many pills as I can that I can sleep forever!! I just want to get away from these people!!!" Emwazi wrote.

Emwazi was born in Kuwait, but moved to London when he was a child and attended school and university in the capital.

The Daily Telegraph reported this weekend that he went to high school with two other boys who went onto become militants — Choukri Ellekhlifi, who was killed fighting in Syria, and Mohammed Sakr, killed fighting in Somalia.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said yesterday that it had launched a review into how Quintin Kynaston school in north London dealt with radicalisation "to see if there are any lessons we can learn".

It was also reported that Emwazi had contacts with the men responsible for failed attacks on London's public transport system in 2005, two weeks after suicide bombings killed 52 people in the capital.

All the revelations add to pressure on the security and intelligence agencies to explain why they did not act on their suspicions about Emwazi before he travelled to Syria.

Cameron on Friday defended their actions, saying they have to make "incredibly difficult judgements, and I think basically they make very good judgements". — AFP

Referee denies sending off wrong Sunderland defender

Posted: 28 Feb 2015 04:41 PM PST

Referee Roger East mistakenly sends off Sunderland’s Wes Brown as John O’Shea appeals during their EPL match against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Feb 28, 2015. — Reuters picReferee Roger East mistakenly sends off Sunderland's Wes Brown as John O'Shea appeals during their EPL match against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Feb 28, 2015. — Reuters picMANCHESTER, March 1 — Referee Roger East has denied sending off the wrong Sunderland player during their 2-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester United yesterday.

Wes Brown looked aghast when he was shown a red card after fellow former United defender John O'Shea appeared to be the one to foul Radamel Falcao for a 66th-minute penalty dispatched by Wayne Rooney.

But England's professional referees' body issued a statement saying it was not a case of mistaken identity.

"From his position Roger East, the match referee, believed he saw contact between from John O'Shea and Wes Brown on Radamel Falcao. As he thought Brown made a foul on Falcao while he was in the act of shooting, he dismissed Brown," Professional Game Match Officials Limited said.

"After the incident the match referee consulted with his team of officials but none were better placed to offer guidance."

Sunderland boss Gus Poyet, whose side are three points above the drop zone, was still not convinced.

"We are human beings. I made a decision today. I didn't change early enough to stop that penalty happening. That was my decision and I can make a mistake. So they need to accept that as well and not hide, because at the moment they're hiding a little bit," the Uruguayan said.

"The referee told the players there were two fouls, one committed by John O'Shea and one committed by Wes Brown. He gave the Wes Brown one, so that's why he sent him off. Wes Brown didn't touch anyone, so I don't know what he saw."

O'Shea even appeared to tell the referee that he should be the one to be dismissed but to no avail.

The opening goal set United on course for yet another laboured victory, with Rooney adding a second after 84 minutes, as Louis van Gaal's men moved up to third. — Reuters