Anti-charter protester shot dead in Nepal |
- Anti-charter protester shot dead in Nepal
- Singer Elton John slams Venice mayor for ban on gay children’s books
- Australian summer of surf facing wipeout by shark attacks
- Mopping up Majorca: 20 arrested for swindling drunk tourists
- Slump in crude oil to copper hobbles emerging markets
- 24 hours! Palestinian hunger striker gives Israel a deadline
| Anti-charter protester shot dead in Nepal Posted: 18 Aug 2015 05:59 PM PDT
National police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam said the clashes broke out in the southeastern district of Saptari when protesters tried to block a major national highway. Hundreds threw petrol bombs and stones at security forces, attacking their vehicles and vandalising a local police station, he said. "One person was killed and five were injured after police were forced to fire to control the violent mob," Bam told AFP. Regional parties representing the Madhesi ethnic minority who live in the area called an indefinite strike yesterday to protest plans in the constitution to divide Nepal into six provinces. They say the way the new borders are drawn discriminates against historically marginalised communities such as the Madhesis, whom they fear will have limited representation in the new provinces. Lawmakers from the Sadbhawana party, which represents Madhesis, walked out of the constituent assembly late yesterday, saying they had been "reduced to helpless witnesses" in the political process. "It is clear from the draft presented that far from granting exploited and victimized people their constitutional rights, there has been a conspiracy to snatch away even their existing rights," the party said in a press statement. The Sadbhawana statement, signed by chairman Rajendra Mahato, said the party had taken the decision "because being a part of the CA (constituent assembly) has become pointless". The party won six seats in national elections in 2013, making it the ninth largest force in parliament, and commentators said the resignation could have serious implications for the constitution-drafting process. "They may not be a huge party but they have a significant political presence among Madhesis and this decision will harden the opposition to the draft in those constituencies," said Akhilesh Upadhyay, editor-in-chief of The Kathmandu Post. "Events like these tend to harden opinions and if the Madhes constituencies become radicalised, it will be very difficult for other regional parties to ignore them," Upadhyay told AFP. The party said it would support the ongoing protests and called for "an immediate end to police brutality" as the strike forced schools and businesses to close across southern Nepal. District chief Birendra Kumar Yadav said authorities had imposed a curfew in the area until Wednesday morning. The latest violence comes after two people were shot dead last week in the country's midwest while protesting against the proposals. Lawmakers began working on a new national constitution in 2008, two years after the end of a decade-long Maoist insurgency that left an estimated 16,000 people dead and brought down the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy. Negotiations faltered on the issue of internal borders and lawmakers only reached agreement after a devastating earthquake in April. — AFP  |
| Singer Elton John slams Venice mayor for ban on gay children’s books Posted: 18 Aug 2015 05:52 PM PDT
The mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, who was elected in June, banned some 50 books featuring same-sex couples from schools a month later, fulfilling one of his campaign promises. The singer, who has two children with his partner David Furnish, took to Instagram to post an image of Todd Parr's The Family Book, which details the lives of various kinds of families, and describe Brugnaro as looking "extremely silly". "He's stupidly chosen to politicise children's books by banning titles that touch on same-sex families living happily ever after," the singer posted on Saturday. "Beautiful Venice is indeed sinking, but not as fast as the boorishly bigoted Brugnaro." Banned books are reported to include Ophelie Texier's Jean a deux mamans (Jean has two mummies) and Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell's And Tango Makes Three — based on the real life coupling of two penguins in a New York zoo. The 68-year-old singer's intervention follows a wider backlash in Italy, where campaigners carried out a marathon read-in of the banned books and more than 250 authors wrote to the mayor asking for their books to be removed in an act of solidarity. While most of the banned books have been returned to libraries, Brugnaro has defied criticism of his decision in a statement posted on his website and on Twitter. The mayor criticised the "cultural arrogance" of the previous administration which introduced the books without "asking anything to anyone, especially to families". "Dear Elton John, I have no problem with homosexuals," Brugnaro tweeted yesterday. The controversy comes amid wider debate in Italy on same-sex marriage and parenting. Since Ireland backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum in May, Italy is now the only country in western Europe where any form of same-sex union —whether civil partnership or marriage — is still illegal. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said last month his government would introduce a law on civil unions by the end of the year. Italy is deeply divided on the issue and protests against civil unions in June brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of Rome. — Reuters |
| Australian summer of surf facing wipeout by shark attacks Posted: 18 Aug 2015 05:45 PM PDT
Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere typically draws tens of thousands of surfers and other beach lovers to the warm Pacific waters of eastern Australia's New South Wales state. But there have been 11 shark attacks in the state this year, compared with only three in both 2014 and 2013, according to the Australian Shark Attack database, and many folks will be staying out of the water. "To be honest, I'm rethinking taking my kids to the beach this year, it's too risky," said Malcolm Reeder, 50, who has vacationed near Sydney's Bondi Beach every Christmas since his two teenaged daughters were old enough to swim. "A couple of years ago they got surf boards for Christmas. Maybe this year it'll be hiking boots," he said. In waters along hundreds of kilometres of coast north of Sydney, helicopter patrols regularly spot Great White sharks lurking near the few surfers still brave enough to catch the waves. Former boxer Craig Ison of Evans Head was knocked from his board and mauled by a Great White on July 31. After coming out of a coma, he vowed never to go in the water again. A few weeks earlier, body boarder Matthew Lee was attacked at Lighthouse Beach, suffering serious injuries to his lower legs. The worst attack came in February, when a Great White tore the legs off 41-year-old surfer Tadashi Nakahara in a fatal attack at neighboring Shelly Beach. Force field Shark experts are being deployed to try to stem the attacks under an A$250,000 (RM748,576) "Shark Smart" campaign authorised by the Department of Primary Industries. Arlen Macpherson paid A$390 for a device imbedded in his surf board to repel sharks by emitting an electronic force field that overpowers its sensing organs. "I'm deathly afraid of sharks and I love to surf," Macpherson said. "I needed a greater level of comfort in the water." The attacks have also rekindled a debate over culling sharks, which are protected in Australia. "If people choose to recreate in the ocean knowing full well the risks associated with it, it is morally wrong for us to then kill these wild animals when they mistake people for their natural food," animal rights group No NSW Shark Cull said in a statement. Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a life-long surfer, has described the issue of shark culling as "vexed" because, he says, of the difficulty in identifying the "guilty one". Those in favour of culling say: "One less to worry about". Police are seeking a special permit to shoot sharks. On a recent sunny morning, a powerful swell was rolling in at Lennox Head, which Surfer Magazine has identified as one of the world's top surfing breaks. But less than a half-dozen surfers braved the paddle out, while 100 or so looked on from a parking lot. "Surfing is my life and I want to be out there," said Greg Anderson, whose board remained strapped atop his car. "But something says stay out of the water and just hope the sharks go away." — Reuters |
| Mopping up Majorca: 20 arrested for swindling drunk tourists Posted: 18 Aug 2015 05:44 PM PDT
The ring would steal the codes of the credit cards of customers of hostess bars on the beach resort of Magaluf, which is known for its excesses of alcohol and sex, and sometimes clone the cards, the interior ministry said. The main victims were tourists from Britain and Scandinavia "who were intoxicated, since in this state it is easier to trick them to obtain the security codes of the cards or to carry out a series of charges of a high amount," it said in a statement. "The amount swindled amounts to over €45,000 (RM204,225), although it is suspected that it could be higher since many victims have not filed a complaint," it added. Police detained four men and 16 women as part of their operation, which involved searches of four hostess bars in Majorca, including two owned by the suspected leader of the ring. Magaluf, where some 85 per cent of holidaymakers are British or Irish nationals, made global headlines last year after a video showing a young woman performing oral sex on several men on the dance floor of a nightclub went viral. Local authorities subsequently introduced new rules regulating pub crawls and have also banned "balconing" — jumping from one apartment balcony to another or into a swimming pool — after several deaths in recent years. Last week two British police officers joined their Spanish counterparts in patrolling the streets of Magaluf in a bid to tackle disorderly British holidaymakers. — AFP |
| Slump in crude oil to copper hobbles emerging markets Posted: 18 Aug 2015 05:39 PM PDT
US oil fell for the second time in three days as two OPEC nations said they'll continue pumping crude amid the global glut. Futures on indexes in Japan and Korea slipped after US shares retreated amid another rout in Chinese equities. Forwards on Asian emerging-market currencies signaled losses across the board and New Zealand's dollar weakened. "Market sentiment is likely to be influenced by what happens on the Chinese exchanges today," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst in Sydney at CMC Markets, said in an e-mail. "Investors remain particularly sensitive to developments in China after last week's currency devaluation and are looking for comfort that things are not worse than they seem." Developing-nation stocks are at an almost four-year low and currencies from the Malaysian ringgit to the Turkish lira are around their weakest levels since at least the 1990s as the prospect of higher US interest rates collides with concern over the slowdown in China. Signs of slackening global demand have hamstrung commodities, with oil languishing in a bear market and industrial metals sliding. All eyes will be on the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting, due Wednesday. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures lost 0.1 per cent by 8.50am in Tokyo after a 0.3 per cent drop in the benchmark US gauge. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.6 per cent to US$42.37 (RM173.06) a barrel after rising 1.8 per cent last session, while copper futures due in December were down 0.1 per cent to US$2.2830 a pound on the Comex, near their lowest price since July 2009. Commodity index Zinc, nickel and lead drove the Bloomberg Commodity Index down Tuesday, with the gauge declining a sixth straight day to the lowest level since February 2002. With China the world's biggest consumer of industrial metals, last session's 6.2 per cent slump in the Shanghai Composite Index rattled raw- material investors, coming a week after the country's surprise devaluation of the yuan. Futures on Chinese equities dropped in most recent trading, with contracts on the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index slipping 6.5 per cent. Futures on the FTSE China A50 Index, a gauge of the biggest mainland Chinese stocks, lost 0.3 per cent in Singapore, while those on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index were little changed. The Enterprises measure tracks mainland companies listed in Hong Kong. Nikkei futures Japan is looking at another day of declines, with Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures falling 0.4 per cent to 20,470 on the Osaka pre-market. Yen-denominated futures on the index traded in Chicago were little changed after slipping one per cent in the previous session. Futures on Korea's Kospi index decreased 0.2 per cent in recent trading, while Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index contracts advanced 0.2 per cent amid gains in iron ore. New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 Index, the first major stock measure to start trading each day in the Asia-Pacific region, climbed 0.2 per cent, paring Tuesday's declines. The kiwi fell for the first time in three days, losing 0.3 per cent. The currency rose last session after milk powder prices gained for the first time in six months at a global dairy auction. One-month non-deliverable forwards on the ringgit slipped 0.5 per cent, while NDFs on the Korean won lost 0.4 per cent. Those on the Indonesian rupiah and Indian rupee were down at least 0.2 per cent. The Thai baht was little changed near a six- year low after a deadly bomb attack shook confidence in the nation's tourism outlook. Fed Anticipation The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped a third day yesterday, to its lowest level since 2011. "Since China devalued the currency last week, investors have become more concerned about the growth outlook for emerging markets," Michael Wang, a London-based strategist at Amiya Capital LLP, who recommends selling emerging-market stocks, said by e-mail. "We need to get the first Fed rate hike out of the way. We also need more evidence that the near-term outlook for China's economy is stabilising." Minutes of the Fed's last meeting will come under scrutiny today, with market expectations of a September hike falling to about 48 per cent from around 50 per cent last week. Data yesterday showed new-home construction in the US climbed in July to the highest level in almost eight years, while a drop in permits, a proxy for future construction, signals additional gains will take time to develop. — Bloomberg |
| 24 hours! Palestinian hunger striker gives Israel a deadline Posted: 18 Aug 2015 05:38 PM PDT
Mohammed Allan, 31, "declared in front of his doctors that if there is not any solution to his case within 24 hours he will ask for all treatment to stop and will stop drinking water," the Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement. Allan, held by Israel without charge since November, went on hunger strike in protest on June 18, taking only water. He fell into a coma last Thursday night. Doctors have since been intravenously giving him water, vitamins and salts and he was connected to a respirator. The prisoners club said that after regaining consciousness Allan "has agreed after detailed explanations about his condition situation to take some supplements for 24 hours while he waits for a resolution to his case". Lawyer Jamil al-Khatib told AFP after visiting his client in hospital that Allan appeared determined to go all the way, although there was still hope the judiciary would find a solution. Israel's High Court will today continue hearing a petition by Allan's lawyers calling for his release on medical grounds. At a hearing on Monday, one of the doctors treating Allan said that if he were to resume his hunger strike he was likely to go into a fatal decline. The justice ministry released a statement ahead of Monday's hearing that included an offer to free Allan, a lawyer from the northern West Bank town of Einabus, "if he agrees to go abroad for a period of four years". His legal team immediately dismissed the proposal. Fears of violence escalating Tensions have soared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in recent weeks in the wake of the firebombing of a Palestinian home in the village of Duma, attributed to Jewish extremists, which killed an 18-month-old child and his father. Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog who met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas warned yesterday of the dangers of another intifada, or anti-Israeli uprising, unless the two sides resume a long-frozen peace negotiations. There are fears of violence escalating if Allan dies from his hunger strike, and there have been clashes between his Israeli Arab and Palestinian supporters and Jewish opponents near the Israeli hospital where he is being held under guard. On Monday, hundreds of Palestinians in Hebron staged a peaceful rally in the southern West Bank city's centre, waving Palestinian flags and holding Allan's picture while calling for his release. Allan has been protesting against his internment under what Israel calls administrative detention, which allows people to be held without charge for six-month periods that can be renewed indefinitely. The Islamic Jihad describes Allan as a member of the militant movement, as does Israel which has used administrative detention to hold Palestinians it deems to be security risks while not divulging what the authorities view as sensitive intelligence. Many Palestinian prisoners have staged hunger strikes, including those on administrative detention. Allan's protest has also raised questions over whether Israel would seek to invoke a law passed last month allowing prisoners to be force-fed when their lives are in danger. Doctors and activists strongly oppose the law, including those who say the practice amounts to torture and robs Palestinians of a legitimate form of protest. The new law requires the authorities to seek a court order to allow force feeding, which they have not done. — AFP |
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