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July 22 (Reuters) – The United States announced on Thursday it was dropping a more than decade-old ban on ties with Indonesia’s special forces, imposed over human rights abuses in the 1990s.
The decision, made public by U.S. officials during a visit by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Jakarta, was taken after Indonesia took steps requested by Washington including the removal of convicted human rights violators from the organisation’s ranks. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Sara Webb)
London, Apr 28 (ANI): Bosses at a weightloss company are suing Paris Hilton”s parents for allegedly receiving product royalties from a line which was axed in 2002.
Chiefs at Herbalife International filed papers against Rick and Kathy Hilton on Tuesday, claiming that they were being paid royalties “erroneously” after originally backing the company in the 1990s, reports The Daily Express.
According to the documents, in 1992, the Hiltons provided services to Herbalife in a bid to launch a line of weightloss products.
The items were discontinued in 2002 after it was discovered they contained the drug ephedrine, which was banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
But, the Hiltons have allegedly been receiving royalties since then.
And Herbalife bosses are now battling to get the cash back, according to TMZ.com. (ANI)
Melbourne, April 28 (ANI): Singer Peter Andre confessed that he checked himself into a New York rehab clinic after receiving death threats at his career’s peak.
London-born Andre, who spent much of his youth and began his music career in Australia, enjoyed chart success in the UK and the US in the 1990s.
He revealed that he received chilling messages and newspaper cuttings with lyrics of his songs at the initial stage, reports News.com.au.
Andre, 37, told OK! Magazine, “I received letters like: ”I”m going to kill you”, with symbolic lyrics of my songs written on them, I was getting death threats, people were texting me with my parents” address saying: ”Say goodbye to them”.”
Andre was left so traumatized by the threats that he decided checking himself into a psychiatric ward for two weeks till he felt safe.
“I was having up to 20 panic attacks a day, I couldn”t cope, I couldn”t work, I didn”t know what to do, it was a really bad time. I was pretty young so I probably wasn”t as bothered as I would be now,” he added. (ANI)
Lahore, Apr 26(ANI): Pakistan coach Waqar Younis insists that the national team needs aggression and firepower to win the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
“I will try to induct the same kind of aggression and fire in the team, which was Pakistan’s trademark in 1990s as it is necessary for us to win and retain the title,” The Dawn quoted Waqar, as saying.
“The boys have put in plenty of hard work during training camp. They look very much in form and rhythm to deliver and defend the title,” he added.
When asked who will be the favourites for the tournament, the 38-year-old said that it would be very difficult to predict a winner.
“Twenty20 is a different type of cricket where no one can predict anything, but it is important to perform to your potential…you have to bowl, bat and field well on the given day in order to win the match,” he added.
The entire squad, except for fast bowlers Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Asif, and eight officials left from Lahore for the West Indies via Dubai and London.
Sami left for the West Indies from Karachi via New York, while Asif boarded a direct flight from Lahore to London, as he is banned from travelling to Dubai. (ANI)
London, April 19 (ANI): Pope Benedict XVI couldn”t control his tears as he met victims who had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of paedophile priests in Malta.
The Pope met eight men, who had been sexually abused by four priests at an orphanage in the inland.
The 20-minute meeting took place in private at the Papal Nuncio”s residence.
“It was a very emotional meeting. Everyone had tears in their eyes, even the Pope and the two bishops who were there,” the Daily Express quoted victim Lawrence Grech, a father of two, as saying.
Another victim Joseph Magro said: “The Pope said he would pray for me. It is still very difficult for me, but I”m now at peace with the church.”
The Vatican said the Pope “expressed his shame and sorrow” at what the victims had gone through and vowed to “bring to justice” the abusers.
Four priests have accused of sexually abusing orphan children in the 1980s and 1990s. (ANI)
London, April 19 (ANI): Pope Benedict XVI couldn”t control his tears as he met victims who had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of paedophile priests in Malta.
The Pope met eight men, who had been sexually abused by four priests at an orphanage in the inland.
The 20-minute meeting took place in private at the Papal Nuncio”s residence.
“It was a very emotional meeting. Everyone had tears in their eyes, even the Pope and the two bishops who were there,” the Daily Express quoted victim Lawrence Grech, a father of two, as saying.
Another victim Joseph Magro said: “The Pope said he would pray for me. It is still very difficult for me, but I”m now at peace with the church.”
The Vatican said the Pope “expressed his shame and sorrow” at what the victims had gone through and vowed to “bring to justice” the abusers.
Four priests have accused of sexually abusing orphan children in the 1980s and 1990s. (ANI)
Tanzania has naturalised 162,000 refugees from Burundi in what the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday was a historic move that other countries should copy.
A UNHCR spokeswoman said Tanzania’s move was the most generous naturalisation anywhere.
Tanzania’s act gives citizenship to the bulk of the Burundians who fled to Tanzania in 1972, and their children.
Most of them — Hutus who fled ethnic violence in Burundi — were no longer confined to refugee camps and were already largely integrated into Tanzania’s society and economy, she said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who was in the East African country for the announcement, described Tanzania’s move as a “historic action” and called on donor countries to respond by helping Tanzania integrate its new citizens.
“The High Commissioner urged other countries with long-staying refugee populations to emulate Tanzania’s unprecedented decision,” the agency said in a statement.
As recently as 2000 Tanzania had the largest refugee population in Africa, with over 680,000 refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Most of them were Burundians who fled civil war in the 1990s, but since the peace process started in 2002, some 500,000 Burundians have returned home, including 360,000 from Tanzania, UNHCR said.
The naturalisation leaves Tanzania with some 97,000 refugees in camps and settlements, mostly from Burundi or DR Congo, a UNHCR spokeswoman said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn)
Interpol has released an alert for the arrest of an alleged war criminal who went missing in Australia last week.
Former Serb paramilitary commander Dragan Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan and Daniel Snedden, is wanted for war crimes allegedly committed during his role in the Balkans in the 1990s.
Vasiljkovic went on the run late last month after the High Court quashed an appeal and paved the way for him to be extradited to Croatia.
Vasiljkovic had appealed against the 2006 extradition request, arguing his political beliefs would mean he would be dealt with unfairly in Croatia.
Now international policing agency Interpol has released a red notice for his arrest.
A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor says the Australian Federal Police has used a number of resources in its attempt to capture the alleged fugitive.
If found in Australia, Vasiljkovic will be detained in custody until Mr O’Connor decides whether to approve the extradition.
Washington, Mar 30 (ANI): Thanks to an Indian-origin US scientist, yummy new cakes and frostings may one day contain less fat and fewer calories.
In experiments at her Peoria laboratory, Mukti Singh is formulating low-fat cake mixes and frostings with Fantesk—microdroplets of trans-fat-free cooking oil, encapsulated in cornstarch or wheat flour. Fantesk was developed in the 1990s by NCAUR chemists George Fanta and the late Kenneth Eskins.
Mukti is based at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Ill.
Singh””s experiments have shown that, when making a cake with a mix that contains Fantesk, cooking oil doesn””t have to be added. And, the mixes containing Fantesk produce low-fat cakes that have better texture and a higher volume.
Furthermore, the lower-fat frostings that Singh and Peoria chemical engineer Jeffrey Byars are creating with Fantesk have the smooth texture and spreadability of buttercream favorites, yet contain up to 50 percent less fat. (ANI)
A former basketball coach has been jailed for sexually abusing three young players.
Simon Bennett, 37, of Modbury North cried and shook as he stood in the dock of the Adelaide District Court.
Judge David Lovell said the crimes were predatory and a significant abuse of trust.
A jury found Bennett guilty of 11 sex crimes against three boys he coached in a suburban basketball team from the late 1990s.
The court heard all three boys are or have been elite players since.
Judge Lovell said Bennett was regarded as an excellent coach and abused trust to get the boys alone and satisfy his sexual desires.
He was sentenced to nine years’ jail with a non-parole term of four-and-a-half years.
American singer Michael Bolton has announced his first Australian tour in 17 years.
Bolton will bring his One World, One Love Tour to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in May.
The 57-year-old rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s with his big hair and soft rock ballads like How Am I Supposed To Live Without You.
More recently he has been trying to expand his audience, collaborating with pop phenomenon Lady Gaga and R&B singer Ne-Yo on his most recent album.
Tickets for the tour go on sale on March 31.
It’s not the health budget that we should be worried about but the education budget.
Both the Prime Minister and the NSW Premier have been warning that health with consume the entire state budget by the 2040s if it continues to grow at its current rate.
So I went back to look at those growth trends and found, like all statistics, it depends on what you choose as your reference point.
Take a look at the New South Wales budgets stretching back 50 years.
Sure the government is spending a lot on health but economic prosperity has allowed it to happen. Total revenue has grown at almost the same rate.
And on these figures it is not the all-consuming monster many would have us believe. As a percentage of total revenue it’s stayed almost the same.
In 1990/91, health accounted for 27.3 per cent of the NSW state budget. In 2000/01 it was exactly the same (27.3 per cent). In the most recent budget, 2009/10, it was 26.9 per cent of the total revenue.
More of an issue is the decline in education spending as a percentage of the entire budget.
It shows that it was back in the 1970s when governments began diverting money away from education.
In 1970/71, it accounted for 35.6 per cent of the budget. A decade later it was 32.1 per cent. In 90/91 it was 29.2 per cent. During the 1990s it dropped below health. For the first time education became the government’s second priority.
The decline continued into the new millennium. In 2000/01 the education budget hovered just above a quarter of total revenue (25.5 per cent). This year (09/10) it accounts for just 22.5 per cent of the budget.
So health spending, in pure dollar terms, has risen sharply in the past decade but it was a period of great prosperity. By contrast, education has declined in a boom. That must be a concern for teachers, parents and politicians.
The Education Director-General, Michael Coutts-Trotter, agrees that funding has dropped.
“Education has fallen as a share, it’s true, in New South Wales,” he said.
“It’s true across the nation.
“But the Budget this year has risen 10 per cent on last year, with a $3,000 million capital works program.”
Mr Coutts-Trotter wouldn’t put a figure on what he thinks should be a floor on education’s share of the budget.
The Greens education spokesman John Kaye says it’s a worrying trend.
“The graph shows what teachers are telling us every day, that the needs of education have become more complex but the funding has not kept pace,” Dr Kaye said.
“We estimate that at least $1.5 billion is needed to address funding shortfalls in special needs education. Unremarkably, that correlates to the decline in budget share for public education.”
Washington, Sep 17 (ANI): Amid an ongoing debate about changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 in the US, a Sam Houston State University economist has raised voice against a related law- the “zero tolerance” policy.
Darren Grant studied data from 30,000 fatalities in nighttime accidents involving drivers under 21, and concluded that zero tolerance laws have zero effect.
“Both in terms of the number of accidents and the blood alcohol of the drivers in those accidents, the research consistently showed that zero tolerance laws had no effect. Other factors matter, but not these laws,” said Grant.
Zero tolerance laws became prevalent during the 1990s, when the US Congress threatened to withhold highway funding from states that didn’t comply.
Grant has now said that the logic behind zero tolerance laws is suspect.
“The idea was, since drivers under 21 are not supposed to be drinking, you should be guilty of drunk driving if you are caught driving with any amount of alcohol in your system,” said Grant.
“Because you must sacrifice more to comply with the law, we should expect some people will just give up trying to satisfy the law and drink more,” he added.
But he found that this did not happen.
“Instead, among drivers involved in traffic accidents, there is the same fraction of heavy drinkers, the same fraction of mild drinkers, the same fraction of nondrinkers. It’s just not changing,” he said.
Grant also compared the blood alcohol distributions of involved drivers in the two years before zero tolerance laws were established in each state, and again in the two years after.
It was found that the two distributions were also virtually identical.
“That’s a sign that this law is essentially inert; if it’s affecting the amount of drinking that people do, these distributions should look different,” he said.
The study has been published in the journal Economic Inquiry. (ANI)
New York, Aug 29 (ANI): As more details of Phillip Garrido, who kidnapped a girl 18 years ago and made her his sex slave, emerged, police are now eyeing him as the possible serial killer of 10 prostitutes in Northern California in the 1990s.
The police are looking over Jaycee Lee Dugard’s alleged abductor’s home in Antioch, Calif., searching for clues in the unsolved hooker murders.
Detectives have long thought the killings in both Antioch and the nearby town of Pittsburg were the work of a serial killer but have never had a clear suspect.
According to the authorities, several of the slain women’s bodies were found near an industrial park where Garrido, 58, worked in the 1990s, and one of the victims was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared after leaving a party in Antioch in 1999.
Cops had missed the chance to rescue Dugard on November 30, 2006 after a female neighbour called 911 to report that some people, including young children, were living in tents behind the house.
“Garrido was psychotic and had a sexual addiction,” the New York Post quoted her as telling authorities at the time that. (ANI)
Bandra Worli sea link – Bandra-Worli sea link Inauguration – Sonia Gandhi inaugurates Bandra-Worli sea link
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The Bandra-Worli sea link was inaugurated today by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, reducing the travel time between the southern part of the metropolis and its western suburbs from the present 60-90 minutes to 6-8 minutes.
The 4.8-kilometre long, eight-lane bridge will save around Rs 200-crore a year in vehicle operating cost alone.
The sea link conceived in the 1990s, would thus provide much-needed relief in the congested Mahim Causeway area which records around 1.25-lakh vehicles daily.
Work on the sea link, which has been constructed by the Ajit Gulabchand-led Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), commenced in October 2004.
The cost of illumination of the bridge would be Rs 9 crore and the height of the cable-stayed tower is equal to a 43-storey building.
- Business Standard
Amsterdam – Former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has requested the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday to hold a special hearing to determine the court’s jurisdiction, amid claims that Karadzic had been promised immunity by the US.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday at the ICTY premises, Karadzic’s legal advisor Patrick Robinson said that in 1996 special UN and US envoy Richard Holbrooke had promised his client immunity from prosecution stemming from atrocities during the 1990s Balkan Wars.
In exchange for immunity, Karadzic allegedly agreed to remain out of the public eye after the end of the Balkan War.
Robinson said his 140-page request, which he transferred to the ICTY on Monday, contained “many testimonials” substantiating his clients’ claim that such an immunity deal was made.
Karadzic has repeatedly referred to a deal with Holbrooke and claimed that he is therefore safe from prosecution by the ICTY.
Holbrooke, who is now the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has always denied such a deal ever existed.
The ICTY, which declined to comment on the upcoming press conference, says the existence of an agreement on Karadzic’s immunity is “irrelevant” to its ongoing case.
Karadzic was arrested in Serbia in July 2008 and is currently standing trial at the ICTY on charges of war crimes relating to the wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the break-up of Yugoslavia.(dpa)
Warangal (Andhra Pradesh), May 24 (ANI): Security personnel shot down a top Naxalite rebel and his associate during an encounter, carried out in Tadwai Mandal region of Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.
The encounter took place just after dawn, around 6.00 a.m
The killed naxalites were identified as Patel Sudhakar Reddy, a self-styled commander of CPI (Maoists) central committee and his associate Venkataiah.
Reddy, known by the names of Srikanth and Suryam, carried a reward of worth 1.2 million rupees on his head. He was also overseeing Maoist activities in the adjoining Karnataka state.
He was allegedly involved in a number of cases including the bid on the life of Chandrababu Naidu, former chief of Andhra Pradesh.
He was also involved in an attack on Greyhounds, the elite and crack outfit of policemen at Balimela reservoir along the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border in 2008 and also in the killing of senior IPS Officer K S Vyas in the 1990s. (ANI)
Warangal (Andhra Pradesh), May 24 (ANI): One of Andhra Pradesh’s top Maoist leaders Patel Sudhakar Reddy was killed along with a colleague in an encounter with police here on Sunday.
The encounter took place in the Lavella forest area in Warangal district at 6 a.m. this morning, District Superintendent of Police V C Sajjanar said.
The second Maoist killed was identified as Venkataiah, a member of Maoist district committee.
Reddy, a native of Kurthirao Cheruvu in Mahabubnagar district, was allegedly involved in the bid on life of former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Tirupati in 2003 and the assassination of former state Home Minister A Madhava Reddy in 2000.
He was also allegedly involved in an attack on the elite Greyhounds policemen in Balimela reservoir in Andhra- Orissa border last year and also the killing of senior IPS Officer K S Vyas in the 1990s.
Reddy carried a reward of Rs.12 lakhs on his head. He was currently in-charge of Maoists activities in Karnataka, police said. (ANI)