Sri Lanka to ban women from being maids abroad: minister

The Daily Star, AFP, January 24, 2013

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks and their supporters march outside the president's
 residence demanding authorities to stop sending Sri Lankan women as maids
 to the Middle East following the recent beheading of a Sri Lankan maid by Saudi
Arabia, during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/
Eranga Jayawardena)

                            

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said on Thursday it would bar women of all ages from travelling abroad to work in menial jobs, following an international outcry over the beheading of a young nanny in Saudi Arabia.

Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella announced that women under 25 were now banned from going to the Arab state to work as maids, adding that it was the first step towards a worldwide travel ban for low-paying jobs.

The move was in response to the execution earlier this month at a prison in Riyadh of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafik, who was only 17 when she was charged with smothering a four-month-old baby in Saudi Arabia in 2005.

"As a first step we are raising the age limit to 25. We will gradually move towards a total ban on our women going abroad to do low-paying jobs," Rambukwella told reporters.

He did not say by when the total ban would kick in, but said the authorities have started to discourage women from going to the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia where most maids are paid less than $300 a month.

Nafik was beheaded after she was found guilty of smothering an infant in her care after an argument with the child's mother, the Saudi interior ministry has said.

The US and the United Nations led international condemnation of the Saudi authorities over the January 9 execution.

Nearly 1.7 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad and the $6 billion they sent home last year is a key source of foreign exchange for the government.

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Global record on fighting slavery

China rights lawyer gets rare prison visit: wife

Google – AFP, Shaun Tandon (AFP), 24 january 2013 

Protesters carrying placards of jailed human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng

demonstrate in Hong Kong on December 18, 2011 (AFP/File, Antony Dickson)

WASHINGTON — China has allowed relatives to visit imprisoned human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng in the first confirmation in months that the prominent dissident is alive, his wife said Wednesday.

Gao, who has taken on some of China's most sensitive cases, such as those of underground Christians, the Falungong spiritual movement and dispossessed farmers, has been held virtually incommunicado since February 2009.

Human Rights in China, a New York-based advocacy group, said that Gao's brother and father-in-law saw him on January 12 at a remote prison in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, the first family visit since March 24.

Gao's wife Geng He, who fled to the United States with the couple's two children in 2009 after what she said was police harassment, told AFP that the relatives were not allowed to ask any questions about Gao's condition.

"Basically they were only able to know that he was alive. They were not able to find out anything else," Geng said in a telephone interview.

"I am very worried because it has already been 10 months from the last visit to the latest visit and they don't have any information on how he is doing."

"I am urging anyone -- US consulate officials and others in the international community -- to try to go visit Gao and relay his feelings about exactly how he is doing," she added.

Gao's wife said there was no indication on how long he will remain in prison.

"There was no sign on this at all. I am hoping with some more pressure and more awareness, that the international community might be able to help and bring about an early release," she said.

Geng said the relatives could see that he was able to walk but otherwise had little information. When the visitors asked whether Gao was allowed to watch television and read newspapers, the guard interrupted and said that Gao had not shown enough cooperation to enjoy access to media, she said.

Human Rights in China said in a statement that "Gao's mind seemed clear and he spoke normally" when the relatives talked to him through a glass window.

Gao was briefly released in March 2010 but then sent back to prison. China has spoken sparingly about Gao's case; in December 2011, the state-run Xinhua news agency said he was returned to prison for violating probation terms.

During an earlier period under house arrest, Gao said he suffered torture by the police, including electric shocks to his genitals and cigarette burns to his eyes.

The United State has repeatedly raised concerns about Gao and other imprisoned Chinese dissidents such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, a writer who was sentenced to 11 years for subversion after leading a bold petition for protection of human rights.

Another leading activist, Chen Guangcheng, dramatically escaped from house arrest last year to the safety of the US embassy in Beijing and, after tense negotiations, was allowed to leave for New York with his family.

Chen, a blind self-taught lawyer who exposed abuses in China's one-child-only policy, will visit the US Capitol on Tuesday to be presented a human rights award named in the memory of late lawmaker Tom Lantos.

Nepal introduces transgender category on ID cards

AsiaOne, AFP, Jan 23, 2013

KATHMANDU - Transgender citizens in Nepal will no longer have to describe themselves as male or female on their national identity cards under a new government regulation, an official said on Wednesday.

Bhola Siwakoti, a senior official in the home ministry, said that its offices across the country had been instructed to allow people to register as "a third gender" when completing their citizenship certificates.

"We have sent circulars to our district administrative offices in all 75 districts to implement this new regulation. From now on, anyone who wants such an identity can apply for one," Siwakoti told AFP.

The move comes more than five years after Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the government to enact laws to guarantee the rights of transgender, gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

The government-issued citizenship certificates, which serve as national ID cards, are required to open bank accounts, sell and buy property, apply for a job and to get a passport.

Sunil Babu Pant, director of Blue Diamond Society, a gay rights group, welcomed the government decision.

"This decision has made it easier for those who don't identify themselves as male or female and want a category broadly called 'third gender'," Pant told AFP.

"We have won half of our battle. It has paved the way for our struggle in other areas," Pant said.

Related Article:

Obama Makes History By Citing Gay Rights in Inaugural Address

Thai editor gets 10 years for royal insult

Deutsche Welle, 23 January 2013

A Thai political activist accused of insulting the monarchy has been jailed for 10 years in the latest tough sentence under the kingdom's controversial lese-majesty law. Rights campaigners denounced the conviction.

Bangkok Criminal Court convicted the magazine editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk in connection with two articles deemed offensive to the royal family published in 2010 in his now-closed Voice of Taksin magazine. The editor had already been held for more than a year without bail by the time he was brought into court to receive his sentence on Wednesday.

"We accept the ruling, but we will appeal," his lawyer, Karom Polpornklang, said after the verdict. "I can confirm that he did not intend to violate article 112," Karom added, referring to the lese-majesty law. "He was doing his job as a journalist. We will seek bail for him."

Somyot, who was arrested in 2011, is a supporter of the "Red Shirt" protest group loyal to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The prime minister was toppled by royalist generals in a 2006 coup.

Rights groups accuse the government of politicizing lese-majesty. Under the law, anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces the threat of up to 15 years in prison on each count.

mkg/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)

Related Article:

Raif Badawi: Court refuses to charge Saudi blogger

UN extends North Korea sanctions over rocket launch

BBC News, 22 January 2013

Inside North Korea

• Key step in missile ambitions
• Pyongyang thumbs nose at enemies
• North Korea's missile programme
• Secretive 'first family'

North Korea launched its three-stage
rocket on 12 December 2012

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution condemning a rocket launch by North Korea and tightening sanctions, diplomats say.

The resolution will add new individuals and North Korea's space agency to lists of existing sanctions, they say.

It was reportedly the result of a compromise between the US and China, North Korea's closest ally.

The US, Japan and South Korea say the launch was a test of long-range missile technology banned by UN resolutions.

They have been calling for tough action against North Korea.

The three-stage rocket put a satellite into space in what was Pyongyang's first successful test of such technology.

The UN Security Council banned North Korea from missile tests after nuclear tests conducted in 2006 and 2009.

China, which is North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner, has consistently called for a cautious response.

Before the vote, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China had been participating "constructively" in discussions at the UN.

"We feel regret that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea] went ahead with the launch amid widespread concerns by the international community," he said, according to state-run China Daily.

"At the same time we believe that any response by the United Nations Security Council should be prudent, moderate, and conducive to peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, and should prevent the situation from escalating further."

Related Articles:

China Changes Tone, Not Interests, on N. Korea


"THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Kryon/Channelers, Humans start to communicate/channeling to their higher self, Human Evolution, DNA, Old/New Energies, 5 points (Old Souls) Toolkit, 1 - Tolerance , 2 - Patience,  3 - Attitude adjustment (Social Networking, Internet, New Paradigm of Reality),  4 – Physical Body recalibrating (Ascension symptoms), 5 - Unification  (What makes a Word leader great? Napoleon (Then), North Korea (Now), he could be the greatest leader in the world):  50% chance that the current young leader will be cheered to in United Nations because the unification with South Korea, otherwise it will be the next leader,.... Global Unity  ... etc.) - New

"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. ….”

Raif Badawi: Court refuses to charge Saudi blogger

BBC News, Sebastian Usher, Arab affairs editor, 22 January 2013

Related Stories

• Gulf states attempt to stem tide of online criticism
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It is unclear what Mr Badawi's fate
 will be now the court has refused to
charge him

A court in Saudi Arabia has found that a liberal blogger accused of apostasy has no case to answer.

The court had the power to sentence Raif Badawi to death had it found him guilty.

But it refused to charge him, referring his case back to a lower court.

Mr Badawi, the young co-founder of a website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested last year and accused of insulting Islam and showing disobedience.

His lawyer, Waleed Abu Alkhair, says he became a target for Saudi authorities after declaring 7 May last year a "day for Saudi liberals" - in order to have more open discussion about social and religious issues.

His wife, Ensaf, has stood by him but told the BBC of the personal cost of the case, with friends and family distancing themselves or even turning against them.

She now lives in Lebanon, but says she has received threatening messages.

"Two or three days after Raif's hearing, I started to receive phone calls from unknown people, saying 'we are going to kill your husband'. But I didn't respond to them."

This was after a judge in a lower court recommended that Mr Badawi should be tried for apostasy - for which he could have faced the death penalty - if the higher court had backed the charges.

The evidence against him included the fact that he pressed the "Like" button on a Facebook page for Arab Christians.

It is unclear what happens next, but sources close to Mr Badawi say he believes he will now be shuttled between various courts to keep him in prison without attracting the further international criticism that a guilty verdict might bring.

Mr Badawi's case is not unique. It highlights the constant push and pull between reformist and deeply conservative forces in Saudi Arabia.

A prominent writer, Turki al-Hamad, is currently under a form of house arrest for recent tweets criticising Islamists - he, too, could be charged with apostasy.

Another writer and blogger, Hamza Kashgari, was extradited from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia almost a year ago on similar charges. He has repented in court, but remains in jail.

Related Article:

Malaysia deports Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari

India's women commuters face daily sexual harassment

Google – AFP, Ammu Kannampilly (AFP), 21 January 2013

Female commuters are pictured on October 2, 2010 boarding a women-only

compartment at a New Delhi train station (AFP/File, Prakash Singh)

NEW DELHI — On a wintry evening in Delhi, beautician Geeta Misarvan leaves work, steeling herself for a long wait until a bus arrives, and with it the dreaded prospect of being groped by strangers during the ride home.

"Once a guy sees you travelling alone, he will come and stand right behind you. Then, he will lean in and press his body against yours and try to touch you," Misarvan said, describing an ordeal endured daily by many women in urban India.

In Delhi's crowded coaches, where men easily outnumber women, the sense of hostility and fear is particularly palpable in the wake of the widely-discussed gang-rape and murder of a young student on a moving bus in the city last month.

"It's terrifying," Misarvan told AFP. "Sometimes I just lose it and ask the guy to stand properly but then he just yells at you, telling you to shut up.

"It's upsetting, but what more can I do? If the guy gets even more aggressive or violent, no one on that bus is going to help me... so I just put up with it and wait for my bus stop," she said.

Once 34-year-old Misarvan steps off the bus, she hunts for an auto-rickshaw, three-wheeled vehicles which are cheaper than taxis, since it's too dark and unsafe to make the 35-minute walk alone to her house.

On most evenings it takes her 90 minutes to arrive home from work.

India's expanding economy has seen unprecedented numbers of women join the workforce, but their emergence has been accompanied by growing threats to their security.

Like many working women, Poonam, a 21-year-old barista at an upmarket coffee shop in the capital, often stays late serving customers and says her parents fret nonstop about her comings and goings, calling her every night.

"I try to get an auto-rickshaw (home) because it's safer but the drivers haggle for double pay and I can't always afford it. So I end up waiting late at night for the bus, which never arrives on time," she told AFP.

Once on board, Poonam, who declined to give her surname, says that sexual harassment is a constant risk.

"There's nothing you can do about it, if you tell your family, chances are they will just tell you to stay home," she said.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that economic progress is impossible without the "active participation" of women, but there are signs that the Delhi gang-rape case has led some to turn their backs on the workplace.

A survey by industry group ASSOCHAM published this month showed a 40 per cent fall in the productivity of female employees at call centres and IT firms in the country because many had reduced their hours or had quit their jobs.

Insensitive comments from politicians implying women are to blame for sexual assaults and clumsy "safety tips" from police have only fuelled anger among commuters.

A Delhi Police advisory posted on its official website suggests that women should "turn off" prospective attackers by vomiting or "acting crazy".

Just days after the December 16 gang-rape, K.P. Raghuvanshi, a senior police officer in Mumbai told female college students to carry a packet of chilli powder with them always and use it when threatened, the Press Trust of India reported.

While trains in Mumbai and Delhi run segregated women-only coaches in response to the high incidence of sexual harassment, many have now called for more vigilance by authorities and frequent police checks.

Commuters queue for an overcrowded train at a railway station in New Delhi

on July 11, 2009 (AFP/File, Manan Vatsyayana)

Police and prosecutors have outlined how the student and her male companion struggled to find transport to go home and so agreed to climb aboard the bus driven by the rapists.

The group allegedly beat up the man and repeatedly raped and assaulted the victim with a rusting metal bar in the back of the bus while driving around Delhi for some 45 minutes. Five adults were due to go on trial on Monday on charges of rape and murder in connection with the attack.

Since the attack, beautician Misarvan, who often boarded similar privately-run buses to visit her widowed mother in west Delhi, says she is too afraid to keep doing so and now spends more to take an auto-rickshaw instead.

Like her other female colleagues, she tries to leave work as early as possible and expresses no faith in the Indian police's ability to protect her.

"Nowhere in this country is safe," says the mother of two, the first woman in her family to have a job.

"I worry a lot about my daughter growing up here, whether she will have to endure the same problems, the same risks that I deal with every time I leave my house," she added.

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India's Sonia Gandhi slams 'shameful' attitudes to women

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

The Daily Star, AFP, January 20, 2013

Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt tours a computer lab at Kim Il Sung
 University in Pyongyang, North Korea on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/
David Guttenfelder)

                              

BEIJING: Foreigners visiting North Korea can now take their own mobile phones into the country, Chinese state media reported Sunday, citing an employee with the operator of the country's mobile network.

A technician with Koryolink, the North Korean-Egyptian joint venture that operates the 3G phone network, told China's official Xinhua news agency that the move took effect on January 7.

"We have tried hard to negotiate with the Korean security side, and got the approval recently," the technician, identified as an Egyptian, said, adding: "It has nothing to do with the Google trip."

Earlier this month, Google chairman Eric Schmidt made a high profile visit to North Korea and said in Beijing after the trip he told officials in the North that the country would not develop unless it embraced Internet freedom.

"Once the Internet starts, citizens in a country can certainly build on top of it," Schmidt said. "The government has to do something. It has to make it possible for people to use the Internet which the government in North Korea has not yet done."

Highly secretive North Korea has a domestic Intranet service with a limited number of users. Analysts say access to the Internet is for the country's super-elite only, meaning a few hundred people or maybe 1,000 at most.

The Egyptian technician said foreigners need to fill out a form to provide their phone's IMEI -- International Mobile Station Equipment Identity -- number with North Korea's customs agency to bring in their personal device.

Previously, foreigners were required to leave their phones with customs and pick them up when leaving the country, the report said.

The technician also told Xinhua that foreigners using a phone based on the WCDMA 3G mobile standard can buy a SIM card in North Korea from Koryolink for 50 euros ($67) and make international calls.

Mobile Internet service will also be available soon for foreigners in North Korea, Xinhua said.

"It is not a technical problem, we just wait for" North Korean approval, the Koryolink employee said.

North Korea's 3G mobile network has 1.8 million users, Xinhua said, though beyond voice calls their options are limited to text messages and video calls.

Their phones can't make international calls or connect to the Internet, while North Koreans and foreigners can't call each other because of different settings on their SIM cards, Xinhua said.

Google's Schmidt accompanied Bill Richardson, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, on the trip, which also involved talks with North Korea about an American citizen detained in the country.

Efforts to "strongly urge" North Korea to increase the use of the Internet were "the main success of the visit", Richardson said in Beijing.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt (3rd L) is pictured on

 January 8, 2013 visiting an e-library at Kim Il-Sung

University (KCNA via KNS/AFP/File, KCNA via KNS)

Related Articles:

Google chief's daughter on 'strange' N.Korea visit

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"THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Kryon/Channelers, Humans start to communicate/channeling to their higher self, Human Evolution, DNA, Old/New Energies, 5 points (Old Souls) Toolkit, 1 - Tolerance , 2 - Patience,  3 - Attitude adjustment (Social Networking, Internet, New Paradigm of Reality),  4 – Physical Body recalibrating (Ascension symptoms), 5 - Unification  (What makes a Word leader great? Napoleon (Then),  North Korea (Now), he could be the greatest leader in the world):  50% chance that the current young leader will be cheered to in United Nations because the unification with South Korea, otherwise it will be the next leader, Global Unity  ... etc.) - New

"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. ….”

India's Sonia Gandhi slams 'shameful' attitudes to women

Google – AFP, 20 January 2013

Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, is pictured in New

Delhi on September 25, 2012 (AFP/File, Raveendran)

JAIPUR, India — Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, on Sunday condemned "shameful" social attitudes that led to crimes like the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi.

"We cannot tolerate shameful social mindsets that lead to unspeakable atrocities on women and children... every woman in the country has the fundamental right to feel safe and secure," she said.

Gandhi, seen as the country's most powerful politician, said the 23-year-old woman, whose ordeal on a bus last month triggered nationwide protests, had tragically become a symbol for thousands of women who suffered a similar fate.

"The barbaric gang-rape of a young woman in the capital has shaken the entire country. People are rightly demanding answers and actions," Gandhi, 66, said at a meeting of her party in the northern city of Jaipur.

"This brave young woman in many ways embodied the spirit of an aspirational India. We will ensure her death will not have been in vain."

Sexual crimes against women have been in the spotlight since the physiotherapy student was gang-raped and violated with a rusty iron rod on December 16 as she returned home from a cinema with her boyfriend.

The woman died from her injuries about two weeks after the attack that triggered an outpouring of grief and anger over the failure of the government and the police to check rising crime against women.

People shout slogans during a protest against the gang-rape and murder

of a student in New Delhi on January 18, 2013 (AFP/File, Raveendran)

Gandhi said there was an urgent need to overhaul patriarchal mindsets and referred to some "shocking" recent statements by politicians that she said reflected a "completely unacceptable" attitude towards women.

A female cabinet member in the state government of Madhya Pradesh said women who crossed "moral limits" deserved to be punished, while a lawmaker in the state of Rajasthan has suggested banning skirts in schools.

The president's son, a ruling party lawmaker, dismissed protesters demanding protection for women as "painted" women seeking to spark a "pink revolution".

Five men face murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and other charges over the student's death. The case against a sixth suspect, who claims he is 17, will be heard by a juvenile court if it is confirmed he is a minor.

Related Articles:

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For the Sake of the Next Generation, Stop Blaming the Victims of Rape

Bail $1.22M for Saudi sergeant in Vegas rape case

The Daily Star, Ken Ritter, AP, January 18, 2013 

Mazen Alotaibi appears in Las Vegas Justice Court for a hearing at the
Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. Alotaibi
faces kidnapping, sexual assault with a minor and felony coercion charges
(AP Photo by Leila Navidi/Las Vegas Sun)

                             

LAS VEGAS: A judge set bail at $1.22 million for a 23-year-old Saudi Arabia air force sergeant jailed on New Year's Eve after he was accused of raping a 13-year-old boy in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room.

Defense attorney Don Chairez says he believes police unfairly questioned Mazen Alotaibi while he was drunk after the alleged Dec. 31 attack at the Circus Circus hotel.

Alotaibi said nothing in court. Chairez says he'll plead not guilty.

Chairez says he'll recommend Alotaibi remain in jail until an evidence hearing Jan. 31.

Prosecutors added two lewdness with a minor charges to kidnapping, sexual assault, felony coercion and burglary counts that could get Alotaibi decades in state prison.

Alotaibi has been stationed at U.S. air bases in Texas and Mississippi.

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RMB on way to becoming global reserve currency: IMF official

Want China Times, Li Tao-cheng and Staff Reporter 2013-01-18

IMF deputy managing director Zhu Min. (Photo/CNS)

With China's economy gaining global strength, the renminbi is set to become a global reserve currency, Zhu Min, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said Tuesday at an economic forum in Hong Kong.

China avoided a hard landing last year and recorded economic growth of 8.2%, Zhu said at the Asia Financial Forum. Yet "the key to China's economy is not its growth rate but the quality of growth," he said.

"China needs to boost its domestic market growth. It is a must rather than an option," he added.

Analysts were worried last year about a potential collapse of the eurozone and the United States' fiscal cliff, but those two issues have largely been avoided, he said. "This year will be better than last year," Zhu concluded.

Commenting on the contentious issue of the Chinese currency's exchange rate, Zhu, a former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said the yuan is more reasonably valued against other currencies these days.

On Japan's push for a weaker yen, Zhu said Japan triggered a wave of monetary easing in many economies, but the effects of the global financial crisis four years ago are still being seen.

Japan's main issue was a lack of demand, he said. But competitiveness could be enhanced not only from a weaker currency but from better technology, R&D and branding efforts.

On innovative financial services, Zhu reiterated the IMF's stance of supporting innovative ideas, but added that the sector should focus on providing services to the public, instead on focusing on making profits for itself.

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Taiwan hopes to add RMB to foreign reserves within a year

China says Indonesia buys bonds in interbank market

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China offers $20bn in loans to Africa

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China and Japan will start direct currency trading

Brics’ move to unseat US dollar as trade currency

"The U in Kundalini"- Oct 18, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Kundalini, Unification, EU, Nobel Peace Prize 2012, Middle East, South America, Only 5 Currencies on Earth, Old Souls, Duality will dismiss, 3D Humanity will melt with Multi dimensional higher self, Global Unity… etc.)