8 arrested after east China riot

BEIJING - POLICE in east China have arrested eight security guards allegedly involved in a riot triggered by a dispute between a timber company and villagers, state media said Monday.

The riot, which broke out Thursday last week in a disagreement over rent paid by a forestry company in Jiangxi province to farmers for their land, involved almost 200 people and 15 were injured, Xinhua news agency said.



China plans 150,000 kilometer of oil and gas pipelines

Reuters cited the official of Xinhua news agency as saying that China will build a further 150,000 kilometer of oil and gas pipelines in the next 12 years, as the energy hungry nation looks to guarantee supplies.

The official said that "In the next 12 years, China will build another 150,000 kilometer of pipelines. Without giving further details Separately, He said that the country's largest open pit coal mine, in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, is ready to open.”



China, Russia sign oil deal, discuss $25 bln loan: report

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Russia and China will sign a long-term oil supply deal on Tuesday, and Beijing is in talks to lend Russian companies $20-$25 billion in export-backed loans, Reuters reported Monday, quoting industry sources.



Chinese prime minister arrives in Russia on visit

MOSCOW, October 27 (Itar-Tass) -- Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrived in Russia on an official visit on Monday to discuss prospects for cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

This is a two-day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“Russia and China are maintaining a good level of energy cooperation,” Russian Vice-Premier Igor Sechin said earlier. “Our companies, ministries and agencies, which are involved in the energy dialogue, have done a good work recently, and our cooperation has optimised,” he said.

In his opinion, “The bilateral energy cooperation is about to reach a new level.”




How ethnic bias compromised police in effort to quell violence

The Waki Commission received reports that, due to bias based on ethnicity, some officers were reluctant to prevent the violence or to provide protection to the affected persons.

As part of such bias, there were reports that a Luo police officer was accused of blocking the Kipsigis from reaching the road in their bid to escape and instead redirecting them to their homes only for them to be attacked by the Kikuyus. Further, Kikuyu officers stood aside as Kalenjins faced violence and vice versa.

In some situations, police failed to respond to situations of distress even where early warning and pleas had been communicated to them. The KNCHR Report states that a house was burnt a few metres from the Londiani police station in spite of prior notification of the police of an impending attack.




Ex-Colombian Lawmaker Flees Captivity After 8 Years

BOGOTA, Colombia — A 62-year-old lawmaker held captive eight years by leftist rebels walked to freedom in a western Colombia jungle on Sunday along with the young guerrilla commander who had been his jailer.

President Alvaro Uribe said the rebel and his girlfriend would be rewarded with cash and asylum in France.

Oscar Tulio Lizcano is the first Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia hostage to gain freedom since the July 2 rescue of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors.

His escape is yet another blow to Latin America's last major rebel army, which is battling record desertions under withering pressure from Colombia's U.S.-backed military.



Pakistan Fully Committed to Iran Gas Pipeline

TEHRAN (FNA)- Pakistan's Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Farooq Naek Friday told the Senate that the government is committed to implement Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.

"The government wants IPI project to be completed and implemented soon so that we can meet our energy requirements", Naek told the House. He said the IPI project is suited to the requirements of the country and Pakistan has been active to clear all hurdles in the smooth implementation of the agreement.



How global governance emerged

October 24 was U.N. day, celebrated by many as the birthday of the United Nations. In its 63 years of operation, it has spent untold billions of dollars in its quest to create global governance. Its goal is almost in its grasp. European leaders are pushing for a summit meeting with President Bush to create a new global “central bank,” with the authority to control global monetary policy in much the same way U.S. monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve.

The U.N. has failed miserably at most of its major projects. Its first task, to create a two-state solution in Palestine in 1948, was a disaster. Other projects have been even worse. The genocide in Rwanda; the Oil-for-food scam with Saddam Hussein; and the on-going sex abuse by U.N. Peacekeepers are but a few examples.

In recent years, however, the U.N. has been extremely effective in influencing U.S. domestic policy, more than people realize. Few people know that current U.S. land use policy is deeply rooted in, and reflective of the policies set forth in a 1976 document adopted by the U.N.Conference on Human Settlements. U.S. wetland policy is the result of the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. U.S. law relating to endangered species is the direct result of the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The Human Rights Commissions of the 1960s were created to comply with a variety of Human Rights treaties adopted by the U.N.

Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights gave rise to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act which was expanded in 1995, to essentially require banks to make housing loans to unqualified people. This is the root cause of the current chaos in financial markets.



Orissa speeds up after raped nun meets press

NEW DELHI (ICNS): The Orissa state government has decided to expedite the investigation in the case of a Catholic nun, who was raped during the recent anti-Christian violence in Orissa.

The move came after the nun addressed some 250 reporters and 30 television camera crews at a press conference held Oct. 24 in New Delhi. The 28-year-old nun, She fought tears while reading out a four-page handwritten statement recounting how Hindu fanatics attacked her.

She said she had no faith in the Orissa police, who she alleged refused to help her but aided her attackers.

A day after the nun met the press, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik convened a meeting in the state capital and directed officials to speed up the case.



Pakistani Man Claims Teen Daughter Mauled by Dogs, Shot to Death in 'Honor Killing'

KARACHI, Pakistan — A 17-year-old Pakistani girl was mauled by dogs and shot to death in front of him over a land dispute disguised as a so-called "honor killing," her father said.

Female senators staged a walkout from the federal parliament Monday to press for action on better protections for women after a national newspaper published details of Tasleem Solangi's death.

"How long will women be buried alive and made to face hungry dogs? Women are not given their rights," opposition lawmaker Semi Siddiqui said.

Ibrahim Solangi, 28, has been in custody ever since Taslim's death in March and is awaiting trial on murder charges, said Pir Mohammad Shah, the police chief of the Khairpur Mirs district in southern Pakistan. Taslim's husband was also her first cousin.




Biosecurity and infectious disease

In the world of international relations with its current fears about biosecurity and infectious disease, whether naturally occurring or purposely released, things are not always as they first seem.

In 2007 Indonesia came under widespread criticism for refusing to provide bird flu samples to the WHO because of fears that commercial interests would obtain the samples and produce vaccines that countries like Indonesia could not afford.

To many people, this seemed a valid fear in that many developing countries are often priced out of needed medicines and likely to be at the back of a world queue for vaccine during a pandemic. Such a stance won widespread support throughout Asia as well among some of the mainstream Western media.



Deadly polio strain from Bihar creating havoc in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh has once again emerged as a hotbed for P 1, the most deadly polio strain, which was slowly being eliminated in India. But Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, is again seeing a surge in the paralytic disease thanks to the virus being imported from neighbouring Bihar.

Though Uttar Pradesh was earlier described as the "world's most tenacious reservoir of P 1 poliovirus" by World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan, the state remained free of the most dangerous and fast travelling virus for a record one-and-a-half years.

But it resurfaced in Uttar Pradesh when the strain was imported from Bihar this year. And as the strain moves fast it has so far infected 47 people till Oct 17.



Experts fear 50% jump in dengue cases

KOLKATA: The city, reeling under a malaria-dengue double blow, will have no respite for the next few weeks. Thanks to the sudden wet spell, dengue and malaria cases could shoot up by 50%, warned health department and civic authorities.

There have already been six dengue and seven malaria deaths in the city and hundreds are affected.

“The rain came at a bad time. We have an endemic on our hands and were taking the necessary measures, but the showers have spoilt all the effort. Now, the number of cases will spiral and we must wait for the diseases to go away naturally,” said Sanchita Bakshi, director of health services.



Polio Spreads to New Countries and Increases Where It’s Endemic

Polio infections are increasing and spreading to new countries, according to case counts recently released by the World Health Organization.

Since April, outbreaks have been found in 10 countries beyond the 4 in which polio is considered endemic — Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. And in those four countries, the number of cases is more than double the number found by this time in 2007.

In Africa, cases have been found as far south as Angola and as far west as Ethiopia. Each detected case implies another 200 cases with few or no symptoms, experts say.




IMF may need to "print money" as crisis spreads

The International Monetary Fund may soon lack the money to bail out an ever growing list of countries crumbling across Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia, raising concerns that it will have to tap taxpayers in Western countries for a capital infusion or resort to the nuclear option of printing its own money.




IMF should be more like independent central bank: British PM

LONDON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be run more like an independent central bank and less under political control, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.

Brown has called for a new Bretton Woods system to cope with the current global financial crisis, referring to the international financial architecture established at the end of World War II.

Of the IMF, he told an audience of business leaders in London: "It should be more like an independent central bank in my view than a political committee, which is what it is at the moment."



More measles in Wales

The National Public Health Service for Wales is investigating four possible further cases of measles linked to an outbreak centred on a Carmarthenshire school.

The four people concerned have all been in direct contact with people diagnosed with measles at Newcastle Emlyn Comprehensive School.

One possible case is in a child who attends a primary school feeding into the comprehensive school, while three others are adults who have cared for people with measles.



Risk of Long and Deep Recession Looming Large

The question lingering in the minds of traders is not whether the U.S. economy is into a recession, but how long and deep the recession is going to be. Wachovia Securities believes that the current recession will likely be along the lines of the 1973/75 downturn, which lasted 18 months and saw the real GDP decline by 3.1% from peak to trough. The firm expects three quarters of declines in real GDP, but close to two years of declines in domestic demand.



U.S. stocks end steeply lower on recession worries

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks on Monday were slammed again at the close to end sharply lower after multiple fits and starts, with a September rebound in new-home sales failing to stem ongoing fears of a worldwide recession.

Equities pulled back as crude-oil futures ended Monday's volatile session down for a second day after earlier rising to $65.77 a barrel.

"When oil was at its highs, stocks were at their highs," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. "Now oil has traded off and stocks are off."



Zimbabwe: No Health Services To Talk Of

THE country’s two largest referral hospitals in Harare are as good as closed.

They are turning away patients because they have run out of drugs, equipment while health personnel, including some supporting staff, have reportedly just stopped going to work.

For the past week, Parirenyatwa and Harare Hospitals, Zimbabwe’s largest health institutions, have only been attending to a handful of critically ill patients and road accident victims.

Patients coming for regular check-ups were being turned away as there was no staff.

When The Standard visited the two public hospitals there was very little evidence to show that the health centres were fully operational.

On Thursday and Friday afternoon Parirenyatwa Hospital’s casualty department and the emergency centre were deserted.

Two senior nurses were advising patients in need of medical attention to try private hospitals as nurses and doctors were on strike.
...
The senior doctors were also protesting against poor working conditions and infrastructure.

They believe the conditions are unbearable for them to come to work and watch patients die.

The Standard understands that late last week senior doctors reportedly discharged a large number of patients admitted at both hospitals saying the institutions had become “death traps”.



Iceland seeks loans from Nordic neighbours

HELSINKI (AFP) — Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde said Monday he had asked his Nordic peers for much needed funds at a summit on the global financial crisis that has pushed his country to the brink of bankruptcy.

"We have put loan requests to all four Nordic (central) banks," Haarde told a press conference in the Finnish capital, where he and the prime ministers of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden were discussing the turmoil.

"I am not ready to tell in detail what we have requested," he said, adding: "I do not want to put pressure on my colleagues."



Egypt: Egyptian court fines TV boss $27 000 over riot broadcasts

(SomaliNet) A television agency boss was on Sunday fined US$27 000 by an Egyptian court fined after his company broadcast images of food rioters tearing down portraits of President Hosni Mubarak in April.

The court fined Nader Gohar, who owns the Cairo News Company, 100 000 pounds for operating a broadcast network without the necessary permits and 50 000 pounds for operating unlicenced broadcasting equipment, Gohar said.



France calls extraordinary EU summit on crisis

EU leaders will meet in Brussels on 7 November to hammer out a common EU contribution to the G20 summit scheduled a week later in Washington to address the financial crisis and its effects on the world economy.

French President and EU presidency holder Nicolas Sarkozy called the extraordinary meeting after announcing his intention to launch a debate on "the refoundation of capitalism" following the collapse of major banks in the US and Europe.



Is the USA Ready for an American Stalin?

After observing the growth of Barack Hussein Obama’s increasingly militant and dictatorial movement over the last several months, I have—on many occasions—been reminded of the infamous Russian tyrant Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. As the actual facts about Stalin may now have been omitted from US middle and high school teaching textbooks, I’ll provide a brief summary of Stalin’s achievements.



Over 40 women arrested in protest over Zim talks

HARARE – Over 40 human rights activists were arrested in Harare on Monday as they took to the street to protest against the delay in concluding the country’s power-sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe and the leaders of the two MDC formations, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.

The activists, most of whom came from the Women in Politics Education Project (WPEP), demonstrated in the streets of the capital as the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) organ on politics, defence and security met in Harare to try and find a solution to the impasse over allocation of Cabinet posts between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.




Police to File Charges in Riot

STATE COLLEGE, CENTRE COUNTY - State College Police will be filing charges after a celebration turns destructive.

After Penn State beat Ohio State Saturday night in a football game, fans gathered in the streets, celebrating the win. People ran around the streets on Beaver Avenue. Police say as many as 5,000 gathered downtown. The crowd uprooted trees, toppled street lights and destroyed street signs.

[ATTENTION: This is only a football game. Anyone who doesn't think this will happen election night is a fucking moron. Thank you.]



Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street

Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street.

The new technology, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months. Tens of thousands of sets - as compact as BlackBerry smartphones - are expected to be distributed.

The police claim the scheme, called Project Midas, will transform the speed of criminal investigations. A similar, heavier machine has been tested during limited trials with motorway patrols.

To address fears about mass surveillance and random searches, the police insist fingerprints taken by the scanners will not be stored or added to databases.

[Don't count on it.]




White House Aide: President-Elect Won't Participate In G20 Meeting

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Whoever wins next week's U.S. presidential election won't take part in the Group of 20's economic-crisis summit on Nov. 15, a top White House official said Monday.

"I think I've heard from both campaigns that they don't intend to participate directly," White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten said on CNBC Monday.

The emergency meeting, to be held in Washington's National Building Museum, will provide a forum for world leaders to air their views on the crisis shaking financial markets and brainstorm on a coordinated response.

While the White House has downplayed expectations for new policy to be set at the session, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for an overhaul of the global financial architecture, and calling for action to be taken quickly.



World Government to Reign in "Fascist" America?

Richard Falk, who justly earned his way into David Horowitz’s book The Professors as one of the “101 Most Dangerous Academics in America,” now lectures more august audiences at the United Nations. Appointed as the United Nations Human Rights Council to serve as its special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories in March, Falk has in a matter of months lived down to his opponents’ worst expectations. In addition to The Professors, Falk should be added to a list of the most biased anti-Israel UN human rights investigators, not an easy list to make at the UN. He believes Israel, and the United States, are guilty of Nazi-like barbarism, which the United Nations decries even as it dismisses investigations into North Korea and Cuba. Falk would abolish the alleged democratic atrocities by establishing a “world government” in which foreigners could overturn U.S. policies through “binding referenda.”




World Leaders Urge Global Financial Overhaul

Asian and European leaders over the weekend urged a major overhaul of the international currency and financial systems at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing.

In a joint statement, they also pledged to cooperate on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and act on climate change and energy security.

“The International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions should assume their mandated role in the global financial system, to help stabilize the international financial situation,” the statement said.

“Leaders agreed that IMF should play a critical role in assisting countries seriously affected by the crisis, upon their request,” it added.