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Thailand begins repatriation of Hmong migrants to Laos

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:42:56 GMT

Monday, December 28, 2009

Thailand

Sources [edit]

This article includes material from Thailand Begins Repatriation to Laos of Hmong Migrants by VOA News, which is in the public domain.

Ron Corben. "Thailand Begins Repatriation to Laos of Hmong Migrants" — Voice of America, December 28, 2009
Seth Mydans. "Thailand Evicts 4,000 Hmong to Laos" — New York Times, December 28, 2009

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Wikinews Shorts: August 9, 2009

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:13:55 GMT

A compilation of brief news reports for Sunday, August 9, 2009 .

1 Indonesia's most wanted man believed to be killed
2 Iran holds second mass trial
3 Ronnie Biggs released to die a free man
4 Laos transfers drug-charge Briton to serve life sentence in UK
5 News Corporation to charge for online content
6 Obama: "we've rescued our economy from catastrophe"
7 Hong Kong Disciplined Services continue to demand pay parity
8 Twitter victim of Russian-Georgian hostility
9 Pakistan Taliban leader dies in succession battle
10 Felicia weakens to a tropical storm

Indonesia's most wanted man believed to be killed [edit]

File:NoordinTop-FBI.jpg

Photo of Noordin Mohammed Top from FBI wanted poster.
Image: FBI.

Indonesia is to carry out DNA tests on the body of a man killed in the Temanggung district of Central Java. The body is believed to be that of Noordin Mohammed Top. Born in Malaysia, Top is believed to have been behind a string of terrorist attacks in Indonesia since 2002, including the 2002 Bali bombings and the bombing of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels this July.

After a 16-hour siege, Indonesia's elite Detachment 88 stormed a building in Beji village that police intelligence officers believe was occupied by Top and his group.

In an unrelated police raid two would-be suicide bombers were also killed; the target of their truck bomb was believed to be a residence owned by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Sources

Suherdjoko & Dicky Christanto. "Terror suspects in shoot-out" — The Jakarta Post, August 8, 2009
Xiong Tong. "Indonesian police to conduct DNA test on terrorist leader Top" — Xinhua News Agency, August 8, 2009
Blomfield, Adrian. "Police foil plot to kill Indonesian president after raid on top terror suspect" — The Telegraph, August 8, 2009

Iran holds second mass trial [edit]

Following a mass trial on August 1, at which critics of the Ahmadinejad regime were tried for sedition, Iran has on Saturday initiated a second mass trial of those it accuses of attempting to destabilise the Iranian state. Amongst the dozen accused are staff members of the British and French embassies and a French national. Both France and Britain have protested, with British officials calling the situation "completely unacceptable" and the French saying that the Iranian allegations were "absolutely baseless".

In what have been described as show trials, opposition leaders have confessed to crimes against the state.

Wikipedia has more about this subject:

2009 Iran poll protests trial

Sources

"Iran holds 2nd protest-related court session" — CBC News, August 8, 2009
"Embassy workers on trial in Iran" — BBC Online, August 8, 2009
"French national on trial in Iran over post-election unrest" — Deutsche Welle, August 8, 2009

Ronnie Biggs released to die a free man [edit]

Great train robber Ronnie Biggs has been released from prison custody on compassionate grounds by British Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw. Biggs, aged 80, is suffering from pneumonia and is said to have just days to live.

His release comes on the day of his birthday and the 46th anniversary of the crime that made him infamous.

Sources

"Freed Train Robber Ronnie Biggs Turns 80" — Sky News, August 8, 2009
Burns, John F. "Britain’s Great Train Robber Freed" — The New York Times, August 8, 2009

Laos transfers drug-charge Briton to serve life sentence in UK [edit]

Samantha Orobator, a British 20-year-old from Peckham, London has been returned to the United Kingdom to serve out the remainder of a life sentence for drug smuggling. Convicted in Laos of attempting to smuggle 680g of heroin, Orobator initially faced execution by firing squad, which she escaped only when she became pregnant.

The circumstances of her trial and the circumstances of how she came to be pregnant has led to human rights organisation Reprieve to call for the quashing of her conviction. However the British government has indicated that it will honour its prisoner repatriation agreement with Laos.

Sources

Vorakhoun, Phonekeo. "Pregnant British prisoner returns home from Laos" — AsiaOne, August 8, 2009
"Pregnant prisoner returns to UK" — BBC News Online, August 7, 2009
Addley, Esther. "Ministers condemned for imprisoning pregnant woman after 'sham trial' in Laos" — The Guardian, August 7, 2009

News Corporation to charge for online content [edit]

In a move championed by its chief executive officer, Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation announced it will charge for online content across all its titles by the end of the year. News Corporation owns the publications The Times and The Wall Street Journal amongst other media interests.

The move comes after a collapse in advertising revenues and US$3.4 billion of losses in the fiscal year just ended. Murdoch explained "...quality journalism is not cheap" and said his plan will "save journalism". He says he is confident that competitors will follow his lead.

Sources

"News Corp tests charge-for-content policy at Sunday Times: report" — Agence France-Presse, August 7, 2009
Golson, Jordan. "News Corp. Mogul Cries 'Charge!' for Online News" — Business Week, August 6, 2009

Obama: "we've rescued our economy from catastrophe" [edit]

Buoyed by better then expected unemployment figures for July, President Barack Obama claimed on Friday that the United States economy is "pointed in the right' direction and that "we've rescued our economy from catastrophe".

His speech comes in the wake of Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicating that 200,000 fewer jobs were lost in July then in June.

Sources

Brandon, Katherine. "The President On July Unemployment Figures" — Executive Office of the President of the United States, August 7, 2009
Collinson, Stephen. "Obama says US economy saved from 'catastrophe'" — Agence France-Presse, August 7, 2009

Hong Kong Disciplined Services continue to demand pay parity [edit]

Five of Hong Kong's six Disciplined Services continue to press the territory's government for pay parity with the Hong Kong Police Force. Although industrial action is for the time being unlikely unions representing officers from correctional services, customs and excise, fire services, immigration and government flying services will hold a mass meeting later this month to put pressure on the government.

Similar rank and grade structures are used through out the six services, however despite the claim that customs and police officers having similar duties and workloads, a police officer will receive up to HK$7,900 more than a custom officer of the same rank.

Sources

Wong, Adele. "Summer of strikes looks less likely" — The Standard, August 7, 2009
Lee, Diana. "Customs officers seek pay parity with police" — The Standard, August 5, 2009
"Customs officers demand pay parity" — RTHK, August 4, 2009

Twitter victim of Russian-Georgian hostility [edit]

Social networking site Twitter is the unlikely victim of the ongoing hostility between Russia and Georgia. However, on the anniversary of the South Ossetian war, Russian hackers launched a mass denial-of-service attack aimed at silencing Cyxymu, a Georgian economics professor critical of Russia. In addition to Twitter other sites at which Cyxymu posted were also attacked, however being a smaller operation the attacks caused a complete outage of Twitter while the other sites were merely slowed.

Sources

Bradley, Tony. "Twitter Continues to Battle DDoS Attack" — PC World, August 08, 2009
"Pro-Georgian Blogger Target of Mass Cyber Attacks" — Voice of America, August 08, 2009

Pakistan Taliban leader dies in succession battle [edit]

Pakistani intelligence service sources state that Hakimullah Mehsud leader of Fedayeen al-Islam has been killed in a fight for the leadership of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) an al-Qaeda ally.

The statement comes a day after public speculation of the death of TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack on the 5th of August. Baitullah and Hakimullah are cousins with Hakimullah serving as a deputy to Baitullah. The TTP is a coalition of disparate groups and without the charisma and leadership of Baitullah, appears to have fallen victim to internal feuding. According to sources Hakimullah Mehsud met with rival Taliban leader Waliur Rehman to determine the succession, word at the shura became heated and led to a gunfight that resulted in the death of Hakimullah and the serious wounding of Rehman.

Hakimullah had earlier issued statements denying Baitullah's death.

'Sources

"TTP leader dead in succession fight?" — Dawn (newspaper), August 9, 2009
Burke, Jason. "Taliban commander denies the death of Baitullah Mehsud" — The Guardian, August 9, 2009
"Report: Taliban torn by feud after death" — UPI, August 8, 2009

Felicia weakens to a tropical storm [edit]

5-day forecast track map of Felicia
Image: NHC.

Hurricane Felicia has weakened to a tropical storm, but residents of Hawaii are continuing to monitor the storm's progress as it approaches the islands.

Tropical storm watches were posted for portions of the state, and some beaches have been closed in anticipation of high surf. Meanwhile, emergency supplies were selling rapidly at local stores: "Things are just flying out", said Vicki Lebowitz, manager of The City Mill in Oahu.

The storm, once a Category 4 major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, is expected to further weaken before making landfall on Hawaii.

Sources

"Felicia weakens to tropical storm near Hawaii" — Yahoo! News, August 9, 2009
Associated Press. "Hawaii to close beaches as Hurricane Felicia nears" — The Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2009

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"Living fossil" found in Laos

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:11:09 GMT

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Actual photo of the "rockrat" discovered in Laos. Courtesy of Uthai Treesucon.

A retired biologist from Florida State University has captured photos of a rodent in Laos which scientists thought was extinct for 11 million years. Science education professor emeritus, David Redfield and bird watcher, Uthai Treesucon, were able to catch the rodent, but only after failing to do so four times. They returned it to the wild after they took photos and a video of the rodent.

"We went to Laos specifically to find this animal. We were extremely fortunate in so many ways to be able to do this. We photographed it with stills and a movie camera. Then we took it back to its habitat and released it. It's easily one of the most gratifying experiences of my life, and I hope these pictures will help in some way to prevent the loss of this marvellous animal," said Redfield.

The rodent, whose scientific name is Laonastes aenigmamus, is called Laotian rock rat and known to local villagers as 'kha-nyou'. It belongs to the family Diatomyidae. It was photographed in Laos near the village of Doy, in May 2006. The rodent resembles a tree shrew or a squirrel. It walks like a duck and has angled feet that allow it to climb trees. These are the first live photos of the rodent to be taken, but last year, researchers found bodies of the dead animal being sold at local meat markets. The rodent has since been named as a new species.

"These images are extremely important scientifically, showing as they do an animal (with) such markedly distinctive anatomical and functional attributes. This is a truly exciting discovery," said Mary Dawson , the curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, who confirmed the findings.

The rodent was able to be officially named after researchers compared bones from fossils of the rodent found in Asia, to bones of a recently found Laotian rock rat. Last summer, a fossil of the same rodent was found in China.

"Dr Redfield's sighting of the living animal is the first to be recorded scientifically. These are the first photographic images of the recently discovered 'living fossil' Laonastes aenigmamus," said Dawson.

Sources [edit]

"'Fossil' rock rat pictured alive" — BBC News, June 15, 2006

Nick Bakalar. "Photo in the News: 1st Photo of Rare Rodent (Uncooked)" — National Geographic, June 14, 2006

Associated Press. "Photos Taken of 'Living Fossil' in Laos" — Washington Post, June 14, 2006

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	No, no, not forcefully - they volunteer to go back at least in the morning of today.
—Panitan Wattanayagorn, government spokesman

	Such coercive, intimidating and brutal measures are clearly the opposite of the concept of 'voluntary repatriation'.
—Sunai Pasuk, Human Rights Watch

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Thailand begins repatriation of Hmong migrants to Laos

Sources [edit]

Wikinews Shorts: August 9, 2009

Contents

Indonesia's most wanted man believed to be killed [edit]

Iran holds second mass trial [edit]

Ronnie Biggs released to die a free man [edit]

Laos transfers drug-charge Briton to serve life sentence in UK [edit]

News Corporation to charge for online content [edit]

Obama: "we've rescued our economy from catastrophe" [edit]

Hong Kong Disciplined Services continue to demand pay parity [edit]

Twitter victim of Russian-Georgian hostility [edit]

Pakistan Taliban leader dies in succession battle [edit]

Felicia weakens to a tropical storm [edit]

"Living fossil" found in Laos

Sources [edit]