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At least 28,000 have disappeared in Syria

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 18 Oktober 2012 | 23.09

AT least 28,000 people have disappeared in Syria since the start of an anti-regime uprising 19 months ago, arrested by troops or pro-government militiamen, a global activist group says.

Avaaz said the forced disappearances was part of a "deliberate" campaign by the authorities to silence dissent against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

"Syrians are being plucked off the street by Syrian security forces and paramilitaries and being 'disappeared' into torture cells," Alice Jay, campaign director at Avaaz, said in a statement on Thursday.

"This is a deliberate strategy to terrorise families and communities," she said, adding that panic bred by forced disappearances helps silence anti-regime dissent.

Avaaz said at least 28,000 people have gone missing but that the number could be much higher.

"Human rights groups working inside Syria estimate that between 28,000 to 80,000 Syrians have been forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime over the past 19 months."

"The fate of each and every one of these people must be investigated and the perpetrators punished," said Jay.

"Nobody is safe."

Avaaz said it interviewed relatives of people who disappeared since the conflict erupted in mid-March last year and would hand over their testimony to the UN Human Rights Council, calling on the international body to investigate.

One woman, identified by Avaaz as Mais, said that she has concealed from her children the disappearance of her husband in the central province of Homs in February.

"The children need a father in their lives," Mais said. "They always ask me, 'Where is Dad? Who took him?' And I don't know how to respond. I have to lie to them. I tell them he is at work, that he is OK."

The sister of anti-regime protester Anas al-Shaghuri, 23, said he went missing in the coastal city of Banias in May last year and was reportedly handed over to security forces by someone he trusted.

He was tortured in detention, a fellow prisoners told the family, Avaaz reported.

Under international law, "the widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity", said Avaaz.

Enforced disappearances in Syria are not new, according to Avaaz which says that some 7000 people who went missing during the rule of Assad's father and former president, Hafez al-Assad, are still unaccounted for.


23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

China's economic recovery taking shape

CHINA'S worst slump since the global financial crisis leveled out in the latest quarter and retail sales picked up in a sign an economic rebound is taking shape, adding to hopes for a global recovery.

The world's second-largest economy grew 7.4 per cent from the year before in the three months ending in September, data showed Thursday.

That was slower than the second quarter's 7.6 per cent growth but the decline was much gentler than in earlier quarters. Economists also pointed to quarter-on-quarter growth of 2.2 per cent, the biggest such gain in a year, as a sign of recovery.

"This confirms that the economy is rebounding," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist for Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

"There is no room and no need for further major stimulus."

The Chinese improvement came after unexpectedly strong U.S. housing starts boosted confidence that the world's biggest economy is mending after five years in the doldrums.

The U.S. Commerce Department said that builders started construction on new single-family houses and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years.

The U.S. and Chinese numbers are rare good news for the world economy, which has slowed as Europe's chronic debt crisis worsened and the American economy stagnated.

Beijing has cut interest rates twice since early June and is injecting money into the economy through higher investment by state companies and spending on building subways and other public works.

But authorities have avoided a major stimulus after huge spending in response to the 2008 global crisis fueled inflation and a wasteful building boom.

Retail sales rose 14.4 per cent, accelerating from the first half's 14.1 per cent growth. Investment in factories and other fixed assets improved, rising 20.5 per cent in the first nine months of the year, up from a 20.2 per cent rate for the first eight months.

"We can see a clear sign of steady economic growth," said Sheng Laiyun, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics.

"There is a smaller margin of decline and some major indicators have been growing faster."

A rebound in Chinese growth would be good news for economies such as Australia, Brazil and African countries that supply its factories with iron ore and other commodities.

The slowdown over the past year and a half is due largely to government curbs imposed to cool an overheated economy and reduce reliance on exports by encouraging more domestic consumption. The slump worsened last year after global demand for Chinese goods plunged unexpectedly.

In line with the government's hopes, retailing and other service industries aimed at Chinese consumers are growing relatively strongly while manufacturing and heavy industry have been battered by weak global demand and government curbs on construction. The government says stronger activity in services industries has helped to limit job losses.

Pan Wenhao, a 25-year-old wedding photographer in the tourist town of Lijiang in China's southwest, said his photo studio's revenues are up 50 per cent compared with this time last year. He said tourism in Lijiang has grown by about 20 per cent from last year.

"I expect my business to be much better in the future and I am confident about that," Pan said.

But conditions are still tough for manufacturers that had relied mostly on exporting are now trying to sell more to China's own consumers.

Xie Jun, owner of Dongguan Jincai Real in the southern city of Dongguan, which manufactures headphones, mobile phones and computer accessories, said he is losing 100,000 to 200,000 yuan ($15,370-$30,700) a month and had to lay off 30 of his 100 employees. He began trying to make more sales in China a few years ago "but the market is limited."

"We get less business, and even if the factory is running, we cannot make money from that," Mr Xie said. "Most of the businesspeople I know here have the same problem as me."

China's expansion is strong compared with the United States and Japan, where this year's growth is forecast in low single digits, but the slowdown has been painful for companies that depend on high growth to drive demand for new factories and other goods.

The slump raised the risk of job losses and unrest, posing a challenge to the ruling party as it prepares for a once-a-decade handover of power to younger leaders.

The further quarterly decline had been expected after officials including President Hu Jintao warned that growth might slow further before recovering.

Premier Wen Jiabao, the country's top economic official, said growth appeared to be stabilising and expressed confidence China can meet its official targets for the year. Wen gave no growth forecast or a possible time frame for a recovery.

A Chinese recovery could help to boost demand for commodities but otherwise its contribution to global growth will be limited because the country meets much of its demand from its own factories, said Mr Kowalczyk. He said that was reflected in the relatively weak September import growth of just 2.4 per cent, well below the double-digit rates earlier this year.

"The impact on the rest of the world will be more psychological rather than real, major growth," he said. "But it is good to know the risks from China to the global economy are sharply lower."


23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Meteor showers light up California sky

STREAKING fireballs lighting up California skies and stunning stargazers are part of a major meteor shower, and the show is just getting started, professional observers said.

The Oakland Tribune reports the exploding streaks were especially visible on Wednesday night over the San Francisco Bay area and other parts of Northern California, with reports of bright fireballs and loud booms from Santa Cruz County to Mendocino County.

"Happened to look over, saw like a crescent shaped object, reddish orange in color," Edward Pierce told KGO-TV. "As it went away it started getting larger. Kind of expanding."

Jonathan Braidman, an astronomer at Oakland's Chabot Space and Science Centre, told the station what Mr Pierce and others saw were small, car-sized pieces of rock and metal from the ashtray belt.

It crashed through the earth's atmosphere, "ionizing and setting the air on fire in its wake," he said.

National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson tells the Tribune that warm temperatures and cloud-free skies are making the bright lights more visible, a phenomenon that should only increase as the weekend approaches and the shower continues.

The fireballs are part of the large, fast Orionid meteor shower, so-named because it has the Orion constellation as a backdrop.


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TV network falls for 'celeb sperm' hoax

A CELEBRITY sperm bank? Maybe not yet.

A British television network says it was duped by an actor pretending to be the chief of celebrity paternity service Fame Daddy.

ITV's This Morning program carried an interview with a man identified as Dan Richards. He said his company would match women with famous and affluent sperm donors.

Today, the network said it had been misled.

Several newspapers also ran stories about Fame Daddy, whose slick website claims a roster of donors including an Olympic gold medalist and a Formula 1 driver.

But its promotional video posted on Twitter appears to be a spoof. "Are you unsuccessful in sport and business? Are you fat?" it asks. "Then I would advise you to please stop breeding."


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Pedestrian killed in crash north of Sydney

A PEDESTRIAN has been killed in a crash involving a fire truck and two cars north of Sydney.

Police said a Rural Fire Service (RFS) truck collided with two cars in the northbound lanes of the F3 at Berowra about 10.30pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

They said a person, believed to be a pedestrian, was found dead on the road at the scene of the crash.

The RFS truck had been responding to an earlier incident involving a semi-trailer and 18 cars on the F3 near the Hawkesbury River bridge, police said.

They said the male driver of the RFS truck, aged in his 30s, was taken to Hornsby Hospital.

The male driver of one of the cars was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with head, internal and suspected spinal injuries.

The female driver of the other car was taken to Hornsby Hospital with minor injuries.

Northbound lanes on the F3 remain closed, with motorists warned to expect significant delays, police said.


23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Land Rover rescue for Kenyan baby elephant

HOW do you pull a baby elephant out of a deep hole? A rope and a Land Rover.

Then the payoff: A frantic baby elephant sprints to mum.

A heartwarming video of the rescue in Kenya gained masses of viewers on Thursday. It shows a potentially dangerous face-off with the mother elephant and the struggle to get her eight-month-old calf out of an eight metre hole.

Vicki Fishlock of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants faced down the mother with her Land Rover.

After 30 minutes, her team pulled the baby out, and it then ran toward its mother.

Elephants across Africa are fighting for survival. Expanding human settlements is increasing the human-animal conflicts. Worse, elephants are being slaughtered by the thousands for their ivory tusks.

Elephant rescue video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?vJOHw7lX3Gu4


23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Protests at first Ireland abortion clinic

THE first abortion clinic in Ireland has opened in Belfast, sparking protests by conservatives from both the Catholic and Protestant sides of Northern Ireland.

The Marie Stopes family planning centre will offer the abortion pill to women who are less than nine weeks pregnant - but only if doctors determine they're at risk of death or long-term health damage from their pregnancy.

That's the law in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is otherwise illegal.

But more than 200 protesters opposed to abortion under any circumstances gathered outside the central Belfast clinic hours ahead of its opening on Thursday, waving placards reading "Keep Ireland abortion free".

And Northern Ireland Attorney-General John Larkin wrote to politician, who broadly oppose abortion, offering his help if they investigate the clinic's operations. Larkin said he could order the clinic to be closed only if evidence emerged of "serious criminal conduct" there.

Protesters demanded that the clinic be shut down regardless, lest it become a beachhead for expanding abortion rights in Northern Ireland, the only corner of the United Kingdom that has not legalised abortion on demand.

"We're in 2012. Women's health is not in danger. Women are not dying because they cannot get abortions," said Bernadette Smyth, the Protestant leader of a Belfast anti-abortion group called Precious Life.

"For Marie Stopes, this is only a first step," said Liam Gibson from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a predominantly Catholic pressure group.

He called on Belfast police to arrest the clinic's doctors and directors if they give women information about abortion services in neighbouring Britain, where abortions have been legal since 1967. About 4000 women from the Republic of Ireland and 1000 from Northern Ireland travel there annually for abortions.

Officials from Marie Stopes, a British charity that already operates such clinics in more than 40 countries, said they expect to provide relatively few abortions in Northern Ireland, given the heavy legal restrictions.

But they said Belfast, and all of Ireland, needed a non-judgmental, non-threatening place where women in crisis pregnancies could go for guidance. They said their office was already receiving calls from women in the Republic of Ireland, where it's illegal to receive shipments of the abortion pill through the mail.

"Mostly what we'll be doing is offering advice. Many of the people we see we won't be able to treat, because of the legal framework," said Tracey McNeill, vice-president of Marie Stopes.


23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic child abuse inquiry set to open

VICTORIAN police are expected to give damning evidence against the Catholic Church when deputy commissioner Graham Ashton appears at the state parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse by religious organisations.

Mr Ashton will be among the first witnesses on Friday, the opening day of the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Victoria Police has already slammed the church in its submission to the inquiry, accusing Catholic hierarchy of talking victims out of reporting abuse to police and of sending offending clergy to other schools or parishes.

Chief commissioner Ken Lay said police would be happy to give further comment at the public inquiry.

The inquiry has received hundreds of submissions, among them a 148-page report from the Catholic Church entitled Facing the Truth, in which it admits its early response to abuse was inadequate and too slow.

A submission from victims support group Broken Rites makes many damning accusations, including against the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, which it claims had a ring of pedophiles inflicting "horrific" abuse on residents of its Melbourne boys homes.

In its submission, the Salvation Army admits abuse is a source of shame to the organisation, while the Jewish community, Anglican Church, Catholic community groups and legal bodies have also made submissions.

The inquiry will hear from church groups, victims and their families, lawyers, welfare experts and academics.

The inquiry, conducted by the family and community development committee, is due to report back to parliament next April, but the government has six months to respond.


23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More
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