Is Kim Jong-Un using an iPhone? North Korean leader spotted with mystery smartphone

Daily Mail, Richard Shears, 5 February 2013

• Phone beside Kim's elbow as he presided over meeting can't be defined
• South Korean phone maker Samsung said it wasn't one of their own
• It could be an HTC from Taiwan or a Sony from Japan

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been photographed with a smartphone beside him during a meeting – but who made it?

The mystery of what make of smartphone the ruler of one of the world's most secretive countries favours has sparked international controversy not only among geeks but the average person in the Western street.

Is it an Apple iPhone? An HTC from Taiwan? A Sony from Japan? Surely not a Samsung from South Korea, the enemy across the border?

This picture of North Korea's Kim Jong-Un with a smartphone has
triggered fevered speculation about which brand is favoured by the leader
of one of the world's most repressive nations. The device is to his right, next
to apile of papers, but it is not clear what make it is.

'I regret to say that I don't think Kim would be seen dead with a Samsung,' said a technician in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

The dark phone seen beside Kim's elbow as he presided over a meeting with top national security advisers last week is at such an angle that its make cannot be defined.

But experts are agreed that it is definitely a smartphone, revealing that if it does actually belong to Kim he is keeping up with modern technology.

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'It's believed that the smartphone seen in the picture belongs to Kim, given that the device was placed right next to the documents he was looking at,' said a Seoul government official.

South's Korea's media has given the picture – issued by North Korea's state media – prominent coverage, along with a discussion about the possible manufacturer.

Samsung was 99 per cent sure it wasn't one of theirs. 'It looks more like an HTC model,' said a spokesman for the company whose Galaxy SIII phone is now outselling the iPhone.

Which one? Experts have speculated whether Kim Jong-Un was pictured with
 an Apple iPhone (left) or an HTC from Taiwan. Samsung was 99 per cent sure
it wasn't one of their own models

The enemy: South Korean technology giant Samsung has said it is sure the
smartphone is not one of their own

Secretive: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds before giving s public
 speech during a massive celebration marking the 100th birthday of national
founder Kim Il Sung

This picture from January 27 shows the North Korean leader attending a
consultative  meeting with officials in the fields of state security and foreign
affairs at undisclosed location in North Korea

South Korea's intelligence agents have carefully inspected the photo and they have also concluded that the Taiwanese firm was the likely manufacturer.

So what does HTC have to say about the phone?

'We aren't going to get into a discussion about the device but we do appreciate the support of all users,' the Taiwanese company said in a statement.

Apart from highly-placed officials, about one million people in North Korea own mobile phones, which were introduced into the country in 2008 through a joint venture with the Egyptian telecom Orascom.

However, they can only phone each other and not make international calls. In addition phones available to the public cannot access the internet.

But it is believed Kim and his close associates are able to get online to the outside world.

'Kim and his family members as well as the North's political elite appear to use smartphones or other mobile phones capable of accessing the internet,' said a Seoul government official.

Foreign visitors entering North Korea are now allowed to bring their mobile phones into the country, but they have to purchase a local SIM card that allows them to make international calls but prevents them connecting to local people.

Related Articles:

Foreigners can now take own phones to N. Korea: Xinhua


"THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)  (Text version) - New

"... The Change in the Way Things Work

Now I'm going to be very cautious with number five, and I'm going to change a paradigm of the way we channel. For 23 years, we have given you information in the soup of potentials that we read around you as the highest probable potential that exists. These things eventually become your reality because they are your free choice, and we know what you're thinking. We know what the potentials are because we know what the biases are, and we see all of humanity as a whole. Potentials are energy, and it gives us the ability to project your future based on how you are working these potentials. We have done this for a long time. Twenty-three years ago, we told you about many things that were potentially going to happen, and now they are your reality.

But now I'm going to depart from that scenario and I'm going to give you a potential on Earth that is not the strongest. I am going to tell you about a Human Being who has a choice. This potential is only about 50 percent. But I'm going to "read a potential" to you that you didn't expect. It's about a paradigm that is starting to shift.

Let's talk about North Korea. There's a young, new leader there. The potential is that he will never, ever hear this channel, so I can talk freely about him. He is facing a dilemma, for he is young and he knows about the differences in the energy in his land. He feels it. The lineage of his departed father lies upon him and all that is around him expects him to be a clone of this lineage. He is expected to continue the things that he has been taught and make North Korea great.

But he's starting to rethink them. Indeed, he wants to be a great leader, and to be heard and seen, and to make his mark on North Korea's history. His father showed him that this was very important. So he ponders a question: What makes a world leader great?

Let's ask that question to someone in an older earth paradigm from not that long ago. He will be an expert and a successful one. So this is a valid exercise, asking someone from the past who knows. We will ask that question to a man who you know and whose name is Napoleon. For us, this was yesterday and some of you were there. 

If you asked Napoleon, "What makes a world leader great?", he will say, "the size of the army, how much area can be efficiently conquered with a given amount of resources and men, how important the leader appears will then be based upon how many citizens call him emperor or king, the taxes he can impose, and how many fear him." Not only was that Napoleon's reality, but he was right for the energy he was part of at the time. So Napoleon went back and forth between world leader, general and prisoner. He accomplished almost everything he set out to do. His expertise was obvious, and you remember his name to this day. He was famous.

What makes a world leader great? What I am showing you is the difference in thinking between then and now. There are some choices that this evolving young Human Being has that could change everything on the planet if he wanted. His father would tell this boy that what makes a world leader great is the potential of his missile power, or how close he can get to having a nuclear weapon, or how he stands up against the power of the West, or how he continues to aggravate and stir drama as a small country - getting noticed and being feared. His father would tell him that this is his lineage and that is what he's been told all his life. His father did it well and surrounded himself with advisors who he then passed on to his son.

Now, there's a 50 percent chance of something happening here, but this is not a strong potential, dear ones. I'm bringing this forward so you can watch it work one way or the other. For if the son continues in his father's footsteps, he is doomed to failure. The energy on the earth will see it as old and he will be seen as a fool. If, however, he figures it out, he could be the most famous man on the planet... which is really what his father wanted.

If Kryon were to advise this man, here's what I would tell him. He could be the greatest known leader the current world has ever known, for what he does now will be something the world will see as a demarcation point from the old ways. Not only that, but what he does now will be in the history books forever, and because of his youth, he has the potential to outlive every other leader on the planet! So he's going to have longer fame than anyone ever has.

I would tell him this: Tell the border guards to go home. Greet the south and begin to unify North and South Korea in a way that no past prophet ever said could happen. Allow the two countries to be separate, but have them as two parts of a larger Korean family with free trade and travel. Start alliances with the West and show them that you mean it. Drop the missile programs because you will never need them!

This will bring abundance to the North Korean people that they never expected! They will have great economic sustenance, schools, hospitals and more respect than ever for their amazing leader. The result would be fame and glory for the son, which the father had never achieved, something that the world would talk about for hundreds of years. It would cause a United Nations to stand and applaud as the son walked into the Grand Assembly. I would ask him, "Wouldn't you like that?"

Doesn't this seem obvious to most of you? He could achieve instant fame and be seen as the one who made the difference and started something amazing. But watch him. He has a choice, but it's not simple. He still has his father's advisors, but one of which he's already dismissed. He may get it, or he may not. There is a 50 percent chance. But I'll tell you that if he doesn't do it, the one after him will. Because it is so obvious. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version) 

“… 8. ... North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning. …”

A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

China Police Chief Accused of Having 192 Houses

Yahoo – AFP, February 5, 2013

This photo taken on February 3, 2013 shows paramilitary police marching through
 the downtown area of Chongqing. A Chinese police chief is alleged to have had at
 least 192 houses and a fake identity card, state media said, the latest in a number
of similar cases that have sparked outrage online. (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese police chief is alleged to have had at least 192 houses and a fake identity card, state media said, the latest in a number of similar cases that have sparked outrage online.

Zhao Haibin, a senior police official in Lufeng in the southern province of Guangdong, was reported by a businessman to have accumulated the properties under his name and his company's, the Guangzhou Daily said.

The businessman, Huang Kunyi -- who was involved in a dispute with the officer -- also said Zhao used a fake identity card to record a different name on company documents, the newspaper reported.

Authorities cancelled the false card after Huang's report in 2011, it added.

An official of the Communist Party's discipline department for Lufeng told AFP Tuesday that Zhao -- who is also the vice party secretary of a local county -- had been investigated but the inquiry was over and he retained his public offices.

According to the newspaper, Zhao said the properties were owned by his younger brother, a businessman, and that he was only "managing" them for him.

A separate report said Zhao or the company had 192 properties in the city of Huizhou, also in Guangdong, and others in the cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

The case is the latest of a series of reports involving officials owning multiple houses with different identity cards and residence permits.

Gong Aiai, a vice president of a bank in the northern province of Shaanxi and a delegate to the local legislature, was reported last month to hold more than 20 houses worth nearly one billion yuan ($160 million), using four different residence permits and three identity cards.

She was detained by police Monday on suspicion of "forging official documents and stamps", the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The cases have sparked mounting criticism in Chinese social media over rampant graft and high home prices that are running out of reach of the average citizen.

"(I) finally realised that in China, properties are forever in the hands of a tiny number of people," said a user of China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Related Article:

Guangdong police officer sacked over property scandal

Israeli, Palestinian textbooks give kids slanted view: study

Google – AFP, Majeda El Batsh (AFP), 4 February 2013 

Bedouin children study at the al-Jahalin Basic Mixed School near Azariya in

the West Bank on September 24, 2012 (AFP/File, Menahem Kahana)

JERUSALEM — Israelis and Palestinians rarely demonise each other in their schoolbooks but each side's texts offer children a one-sided view of their conflict, says a joint study released on Monday.

"Dehumanising and demonising characterisations of the other are rare in both Israeli and Palestinian books," according to the study funded by the US State Department and carried out by Palestinian, Israeli and US academics.

"Both Israeli and Palestinian books present exclusive unilateral national narratives," wrote the authors, from Bethlehem, Tel Aviv and Yale universities.

"Historical events are selectively presented to reinforce each national narrative," said the study, which analysed more than 3,000 textbooks approved in 2011 by the sides' education ministries as well as those distributed in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community which has its own education system.

On the loaded issue of maps, only four percent of Palestinian schoolbooks and 13 percent of the Israeli texts show borders and captions recognising the other.

The Israeli-occupied West Bank is often referred by its biblical name of Judaea and Samaria, particularly in the ultra-Orthodox schools.

"The lack and absence of information about the the other serve to delegitimise the presence of the other," says the study.

It noted that negative portrayal of the adversary is "more pronounced in the Israeli ultra-Orthodox and Palestinian books than in the Israeli state books," which it says have more self-critical content.

"There is much to do in general in the educational system and in particular with school textbooks, if the parties in conflict decide to embark on the path of peace," the study concludes.

The Palestinian Authority and Israel often accuse one another of teaching violence and hatred to their schoolchildren.

An Israeli education ministry statement dismissed the new study as "biased, unprofessional and profoundly unobjective."

"The education ministry chose not to cooperate with those elements who are interested in maliciously slandering the Israeli educational system and the state of Israel," it added.

"The attempt to create a parallel between the Israeli and Palestinian educational systems is without any foundation whatsoever and has no basis in reality," the ministry said.

Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad, in contrast, welcomed the report, saying it "confirms that Palestinian textbooks do not contain any form of blatant incitement, which is based on contempt towards the 'other'."

He said that the Palestinian ministry of education cooperated in the research and that he had instructed it "to study the report thoroughly and to use its conclusions... to develop school curriculums," based on "principles of coexistence, tolerance, justice, and human dignity."

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the study was an independent analysis carried out by an NGO called A Different Future in partnership with the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.

"Our point in funding it was to enable this Council of Religious Institutions to take what it got from the report, use it in a constructive manner to continue to pursue its objectives... for peace and religious tolerance in the curriculum," Nuland told reporters.

"We're not taking a position one way or another on what the study found."

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Israel loves Iran - Příběh Ronnyho Edryho


"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… Let us talk about the swords: When you hear the word sword, the first thing that occurs to you is battle. The Bridge of Swords is a battle and we told you that as well. Swords are metaphoric and they mean many things, so let us describe the things we mean them to say to you.

Number one: They are indeed a weapon in a battle. There is a battle coming. "Kryon, does that mean there's going to be a war?" Potentially, yes. Right now we will tell you that the Middle East cooks itself. You've noticed, haven't you? What do you know about the Middle East, dear one? Let's start examining things for a moment. What energy did you grow up in? What was the energy of the Middle East? In the '40s, what was the energy? With the establishment of the state of Israel, you built a wall of hate, both sides. The wall was so thick that the children of both sides were taught to hate one another as soon as they were able to understand the language. They were told who their enemies were. Now, where were you then?

Some of you weren't here yet. By the time you arrived, in your youth, were you aware of the Middle East? Not particularly. "What's the hatred about?" you might ask. What if I told you it's about a family feud? Two sons of a Jewish master are involved. One founded the Arabs and one remained a Jew. They don't want to hear this, but they are all Jews. (Don't tell them this.)

If you look at the lineage, it's pretty obvious and yet it's a complete and total set-up for either solution or war. The set-up would have this world ending in a conflagration that would have been brought about by this hatred. That's in the prophecy of Nostradamus and your scripture, but it is no longer the prophecy of the planet. Yet the hatred still exists. The hatred is as great today as it was then, but where was all the terrorism 40 years ago? It was isolated.

Those in Israel and Palestine and surrounding areas took the brunt of it, but now it's seemingly everywhere - and you're worried. Why would this be? The answer is that the old energy was happy to have this hatred contained, for it would keep it going and never involve outsiders. Outsiders tend to bring unwanted light to the party. Suddenly, the whole earth is involved and can see the entire scenario before them. The old guard wants war, just like all the eons before them. The ones on the bridge are holding the light and showing the earth how to cross. Even many younger ones in Israel and Palestine and Iran are holding light! It's all around the old guard and they are furious, for they are losing the "battle of hatred." …”

Malala Yousafzai: God has given me a second life

Pakistani schoolgirl thanks supporters in first public statement since Taliban attack

guardian.co.uk, James Meikle, Monday 4 February 2013

Malala Yousafzai: first interview since getting shot by Taliban

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl shot in an attempted assassination by the Taliban in October, has spoken publicly for the first time of her recovery in Britain, saying God has given her "a second life" thanks to the prayers of those who supported her around the world.

In a short video recorded in the days before her most recent operations on Saturday, Malala said: "Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone and … I am getting better day by day. It's just because of the prayers of people. Because all people – men, women, children – all of them have prayed for me.

"And because of these prayers God has given me this new life … and this is a second life. And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated."

In another video recorded on Sunday, the day after her operations, Malala said she was happy that both operations had proved successful. She had been under anaesthetic for five hours. "I can also walk a little bit, I can talk and I am feeling better, and it did not seem I had a very big operation." She again spoke of her "mission" to help people.

Malala has been treated at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham since being flown to Britain after being shot by the Taliban for campaigning for women's rights and girls' education. She underwent cranial reconstruction and a procedure for a cochlear implant in what doctors hope will be her last round of operations.

The neurosurgeon Anwen White said on Monday that she hoped the teenager would be discharged home "fairly soon".

Her father, Ziaddudin, has been appointed an education attache to Pakistan's consulate in Birmingham.

Malala, who also spoke in Urdu and Pashto in the first video, announced the creation of the Malala Fund with the help of a US-started non-governmental organisation. Alyse Nelson, the Vital Voices president and chief executive, said: "We stand with Malala and girls around the globe who are boldly speaking out as advocates for education and equality. When girls move forward, they take their communities forward too."

The fund will support the education and empowerment of girls in Pakistan and around the world and will provide grants to civil society organisations and individuals focused on education. It will be advised by a committee comprising education experts and entrepreneurs, as well as Malala and her family.

A statement on the fund's website said: "Before she was attacked, Malala was in the process of setting up an organisation with her friends to get girls into school and out of domestic labour. The first grant of the Malala fund will continue this process and provide a safe space for the girls, resources for a positive learning environment and an incentive programme for families. After a needs assessment and final programme design, the project will be launched and running by spring 2013."

Malala Yousafzai was flown to Birmingham for specialist

treatment

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Outrage over Saudi 'blood money' in girl's death

The Daily Star, AP, February 03, 2013

Cars drive past a housing compound in South of Riyadh December 17, 2012.
REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed

                              

RIYADH: Online activists in Saudi Arabia are calling for harsher punishments for child abuse after reports that a prominent cleric received only a light sentence after confessing to beating to death his 5-year-old daughter.

The social media campaign gaining momentum Sunday is the latest attempt to use the Internet to pressure the kingdom's ultraconservative rulers.

Saudi media reports say Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a frequent guest on Islamic TV programs, was arrested in November on charges of killing the girl. The reports said he questioned the child's virginity.

Saudi media say he was freed last week after serving a short prison term and agreeing to pay $50,000 in "blood money" to avoid a possible death sentence.

The money was presumably offered to the girl's mother or other relatives
.

The parents of Ms Nafeek had repeatedly appealed to
King Abdullah to pardon her

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Thai cop arrested with 20 elephant tusks

The Daily Star, AFP, February 03, 2013

Ivory tusks are displayed after being confiscated by Hong Kong Customs
in Hong Kong Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

                              

BANGKOK: A Thai policeman has been arrested after he was caught trying to smuggle 20 elephant tusks, officials said Sunday.

The haul was discovered when the suspect -- in plain clothes but driving a police van -- was stopped at a checkpoint in the southern province of Chumphon on Saturday, Police Colonel Chalard Polnakarn told AFP.

"We found 10 pairs of elephant tusks in the van and charged him with illegal possession of elephant tusks, which he confessed to during the investigation," Chalard said.

The origin of the tusks was unclear.

International trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989.

But a rise in the illegal trade in ivory has been fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks are used in traditional medicines and to make ornaments.

Conservationists say ivory from Africa is often smuggled into Thailand and passed off as coming from Thai elephants, as a legal loophole allows the legal trade in ivory from domesticated elephants.

Wildlife campaign group Freeland praised the latest seizure as a "valiant act of fighting corruption to protect wildlife".

"We need more officers like them to fight this new form of transnational organised crime," Freeland director Steven Galster said in a statement.

Freeland said that in the past year thousands of tusks had been seized as they were smuggled into Asia from Africa due to "rampant elephant poaching".

It comes as Thailand prepares to host the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) in Bangkok in March.

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Another donor quits graft-hit Bangladesh bridge project

Google - AFP, 3 February 2013

Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, pictured on November 2, 2012 

(AFP/File, Hoang Dinh Nam)

DHAKA — A Japanese aid agency has withdrawn its offer to lend Bangladesh $430 million to help build the country's biggest bridge after the project was dogged by allegations of corruption.

The move came as Bangladesh withdrew its request for $1.2 billion in World Bank financing for the Padma Bridge, months after the lender cancelled the loan due to claims of graft involving senior public officials.

Bangladesh had hoped to retain commitments by other lenders in its efforts to build the 6.2-kilometre (3.8-mile) bridge at a cost of three billion dollars, a major election pledge of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

But in a further embarrassment to her government, key co-financier the Asian Development Bank told Dhaka on Friday it would not be able to lend the $615 million it committed for the project.

Late Saturday the Japan International Cooperation Agency, an independent government aid organisation, became the latest lender to pull out.

"As a co-financier, we are unable to continue our commitment under the current framework," it said in a statement.

"Our policy is to require the highest standard of ethics," it said, adding that it hoped Bangladesh's anti-graft body would "continue a full and fair investigation into the alleged corruption".

After the pullouts the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank is the only foreign donor to the project.

The World Bank cancelled its loan in June but Bangladesh had asked it to reconsider.

However on January 23 Hasina said her government would construct the Padma bridge with funds from alternative sources unless the Bank made a decision on financing by the end of that month.

Construction of the bridge in the southwest of the country was supposed to begin in the second half of 2010. Traffic currently crosses the Padma river -- the local name for the Ganges -- by slow ferries.

A World Bank study said the bridge could have a long-lasting impact on the impoverished southwest by improving transport links to the capital Dhaka.

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Nepal’s Maoists to Hand Leadership to Independent PM

Jakarta Globe, February 03, 2013

A Nepalese Maoist supporter gestures during a rally on the first day of the
 Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) general convention at Hetauda, some
 100 km south of Kathmandu, on Feb. 2, 2013. Nepal's Maoists vowed Saturday
 never to return to guerrilla warfare and offered to give up leadership to an independent
 prime minister to take the Himalayan nation towards democracy. (AFP Photo/
Prakash Mathema)

               

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Nepal’s Maoists vowed Saturday never to return to guerrilla warfare and offered to give up leadership to an independent prime minister to take the Himalayan nation towards democracy.

Party leaders said at their general convention they would step down from government to seek a popular mandate to lead a “socialist revolution,” six years after a decade-long insurgency which toppled the world’s last Hindu monarchy.

“Let’s agree on an independent person who will lead the government. And we will endorse this concept of a government led by an independent person to hold the election through this convention,” said party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Around 3,000 delegates and 100,000 supporters at the party’s first general convention in 21 years in the southern town of Hetauda were greeted by a rousing opening address from Dahal, still known by his nom-de-guerre Prachanda.

“We were forced to launch the insurgency after adopting Marxism as a guiding principle. But we don’t follow any ideology in its mechanical form. It’s a science and it can be adapted,” Prachanda said.

“We will institutionalize the gains we have made so far. We will not go back to guerrilla warfare... In this age of globalization, a country’s independence hinges on its economic strength. Times have changed and old ways have become redundant.”

He called for a “socialist revolution” to promote economic growth and create jobs at home so that thousands of young Nepalis were no longer forced to seek work abroad.

An estimated 16,000 people died in the 1996-2006 conflict fought by the Maoists against the monarchy, which was deposed when the rebels turned to mainstream politics and took power in elections in 2008.

Rights campaigners say Nepal remains deeply divided and riven with gender and caste-based discrimination despite the Maoists’ promise after the insurgency to create a more equal society.

In-fighting, including a split in the party last year, has confounded efforts to draw up a post-conflict constitution spelling out how Nepal should be run as a modern, democratic republic.

An interim assembly elected for the task was dissolved in May last year and elections promised for November were shelved amid quarreling among the main parties over which should lead a national unity government into the vote.

The Maoists now lead Nepal as the major partner in a fragile caretaker coalition that is carrying out the most essential tasks of government but has no popular mandate to make fundamental policy decisions.

“I will say that the people’s war was right. We brought about tremendous changes in 10 years. Now, we have made federalism, peace and constitution our ultimate goal,” said Prachanda’s deputy, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.

“[But] we will drown if the boat collapses. There are storms in our path and I would like to request our fellow leaders not to abandon this shaky boat like the proverbial ship’s rats.

“I would like to assure that we will complete the task. We are in the same boat with all the major political parties of Nepal. Let’s hold elections by May.

“We are willing to hand over the government to any party and participate in the polls conducted by the administration.”

Hetauda, a small but rapidly growing provincial city 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, has a population of around 80,000 but this is expected to swell as much as three-fold during the five-day convention.

A giant marquee constructed at the edge of a playground housed around 100,000 supporters for the inaugural session, with buildings across the city displaying the red hammer and sickle flag of the Maoists.

The opening speeches buoyed delegates, some of whom had traveled from as far as Norway and North Korea, and were even tentatively welcomed by opposition party leaders.

“Authoritarianism must end and change should come through peaceful means. We too are for socialism,” said Ram Chandra Paudel, vice-president of the main opposition Nepali Congress party.

“I am hopeful that the convention will help transform the Maoists into a democratic party.”

Agence France-Presse

Israel must withdraw all settlers or face ICC, says UN report

UN Human Rights Council says Israel is in violation of Geneva convention and should face international criminal court

guardian.co.uk, Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem, Thursday 31 January 2013

A Palestinian demonstrator during a weekly protest against the Jewish settlement
of Qadomem, near Nablus, West Bank. Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

Israel must withdraw all settlers from the West Bank or potentially face a case at the international criminal court (ICC) for serious violations of international law, says a report by a United Nations agency that was immediately dismissed in Jerusalem as "counterproductive and unfortunate".

All settlement activity in occupied territory must cease "without preconditions" and Israel "must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers", said the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Israel, it said, was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which forbids the transfer of civilian populations to occupied territory.

The settlements were "leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," it said.

The UNHRC report broadly restated international consensus on the illegality of Israeli settlements. But its conclusions are likely to bolster the Palestinians following their admission last November to the UN as a non-member state, which potentially gives them recourse to the ICC.

"The Rome statute establishes the international criminal court's jurisdiction over the deportation or transfer, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory," said the UNHRC report. 

It added: "Ratification of the statute by Palestine may lead to accountability for gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law and justice for victims."

In a statement, the Israeli foreign ministry said: "Counterproductive measures – such as the report before us – will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The human rights council has sadly distinguished itself by its systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest report is yet another unfortunate reminder of that."

Israel refused to co-operate with UNHRC investigators over the report, barring them from access to the West Bank. Investigators conducted more than 50 interviews in Jordan with Palestinians about the impact of settlements, the confiscation of and damage to land, and violent attacks by settlers.

Earlier this week, Israel became the first country to refuse to participate in a "universal periodic review" of the human rights records of the UN's 193 member states, conducted by the UNHRC.

Palestinian and Israeli human rights group said Israel's boycott of the review set a "dangerous precedent … that could be followed by other states refusing to engage with the UN in order to avoid critical appraisals".

The UNHRC rescheduled the review for later in the year in order to give Israel time to reconsider its stance.

Israel also refused to co-operate with a UN investigation, headed by Richard Goldstone, into the three-week war in 2008-09, and it has refused entry to Israel to Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, since his appointment in 2008.

According to the UNHRC's report on settlements, Israel has established around 250 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, home to more than half a million Israeli citizens.

The settlements impede Palestinian access to water resources and agricultural lands, it said.

Following the Palestinians' upgrade to non-member state status, the Israeli government announced a fresh wave of settlement-building, including the development of a highly sensitive swath of land east of Jerusalem known as E1. Palestinians and most international diplomats say construction on E1 will effectively close off East Jerusalem from the West Bank and impede a territorially contiguous Palestinian state.

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"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… Let us talk about the swords: When you hear the word sword, the first thing that occurs to you is battle. The Bridge of Swords is a battle and we told you that as well. Swords are metaphoric and they mean many things, so let us describe the things we mean them to say to you.

Number one: They are indeed a weapon in a battle. There is a battle coming. "Kryon, does that mean there's going to be a war?" Potentially, yes. Right now we will tell you that the Middle East cooks itself. You've noticed, haven't you? What do you know about the Middle East, dear one? Let's start examining things for a moment. What energy did you grow up in? What was the energy of the Middle East? In the '40s, what was the energy? With the establishment of the state of Israel, you built a wall of hate, both sides. The wall was so thick that the children of both sides were taught to hate one another as soon as they were able to understand the language. They were told who their enemies were. Now, where were you then?

Some of you weren't here yet. By the time you arrived, in your youth, were you aware of the Middle East? Not particularly. "What's the hatred about?" you might ask. What if I told you it's about a family feud? Two sons of a Jewish master are involved. One founded the Arabs and one remained a Jew. They don't want to hear this, but they are all Jews. (Don't tell them this.)

If you look at the lineage, it's pretty obvious and yet it's a complete and total set-up for either solution or war. The set-up would have this world ending in a conflagration that would have been brought about by this hatred. That's in the prophecy of Nostradamus and your scripture, but it is no longer the prophecy of the planet. Yet the hatred still exists. The hatred is as great today as it was then, but where was all the terrorism 40 years ago? It was isolated.

Those in Israel and Palestine and surrounding areas took the brunt of it, but now it's seemingly everywhere - and you're worried. Why would this be? The answer is that the old energy was happy to have this hatred contained, for it would keep it going and never involve outsiders. Outsiders tend to bring unwanted light to the party. Suddenly, the whole earth is involved and can see the entire scenario before them. The old guard wants war, just like all the eons before them. The ones on the bridge are holding the light and showing the earth how to cross. Even many younger ones in Israel and Palestine and Iran are holding light! It's all around the old guard and they are furious, for they are losing the "battle of hatred." …”

Taiwan No. 1 in Asia in global press freedom report

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2013-02-02

Taiwanese reporters crowd the country's new vice premier, Mao Chi-kuo.
(Photo/Chen Cho-pang)

Taiwan ranked 47th in the world in terms of press freedom and 1st in Asia in 2012, according to a report released Wednesday by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), a press freedom watchdog body.

Although Taiwan fell two places from the previous year in the global rankings, it remained at the top in the region, ahead of South Korea in 50th place and Japan at 53rd.

Japan dropped from 22nd to 53rd globally, mainly due to a lack of transparency and access to information directly or indirectly related to an accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, according to the report. Hong Kong and Singapore were ranked 58th and 149th, respectively.

Benjamin Ismail, head of the RSF Asia-Pacific Desk, said the watchdog was concerned about the protests last year in Taiwan against the bid by Want Want China Times Group, of which Want China Times is a part, to buy into another media.

Malaysia dropped 23 places to its lowest position ever because access to information is becoming more and more limited there, the report said. Cambodia was ranked 143rd, plunging 26 places because of its increasing authoritarianism and censorship, the report said.

North Korea (178th), China (173rd), and Vietnam (172nd) and Laos (168th), all ruled by authoritarian governments, still refuse to grant their citizens the freedom to be informed, the RSF report said.

The control of news and information is a key issue for these governments, which are horrified at the prospect of being open to criticism, it said.

In Vietnam and China, those involved in online news and information such as bloggers and netizens are forced to deal with increasing harsh repression, RSF said in the report. It said many Tibetan monks have been convicted or abducted for having sent information abroad about the disastrous state of human rights in Tibet.

Commercial news outlets and foreign media organizations are still censored regularly by China's propaganda department, it said.

For the third year running, Finland has distinguished itself as the country that most respects media freedom, followed by the Netherlands and Norway, which were also in the top three the previous year.

Three dictatorships — Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea — remained at the bottom of the rankings, where they stood in the previous report.

Sri Lanka ban on maids abroad excludes Lebanon: minister

The Daily Star, January 31, 2013

Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Employment and Social Services Dylan Pereira
 meets with Lebanese Labor Minister Salim Jreissati on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013.
(The Daily Star/DalatiNohra)

                              

BEIRUT: Sri Lanka’s plan to ban women travelling abroad to work in menial jobs excludes Lebanon, a Sri Lankan government minister said Thursday in Beirut, as the two countries draft an agreement over the issue.

“[There is] no ban on the travel of domestic workers and Sri Lankan labor to Lebanon, on the contrary we are working to better the conditions of their experiences here and raise the age of those with the right to travel from 21 to 23,” Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Employment and Social Services Dylan Pereira told reporters.

His comments came after meeting Lebanon’s Labor Minister Salim Jreissati at the latter’s office.

Pereira also said that his country is teaching its citizens both Arabic and English so that they can communicate better with their employers in Lebanon.

The meeting between the two officials was aimed at drafting a new agreement that will soon be signed governing Sri Lankan labor rights.

Jreissati said Lebanon guarantees decent labor and fair wages for domestic workers, adding that he is drafting a code of conduct for decent labor.

Following the beheading of a 17-year-old nanny in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lankan Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella announced last Thursday that women under 25 were now banned from going to the Arab state to work as maids.

Sri Lankan Rizana Nafik was charged with smothering a four-month-old baby in Saudi Arabia in 2005.

Lebanon has seen many cases of abuse against domestic workers with activists criticizing the sponsorship system for promoting such practices.

In a 2008 report, Human Rights Watch found that there was an average of one death a week from unnatural causes among domestic workers in Lebanon, including suicide and falls from tall buildings.

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