Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Keith321

Turkey’s parliament speaker advocates religious

Keith321 — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:06:26 +0800

Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, should have a constitution based on Islam rather than a secular constitution, the speaker of the Turkish parliament has said in a speech. Secularism has been the cornerstone of modern Turkey for decades.

The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, reshaped the collapsing Islamic Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. He founded the state on Turkish nationalism and Western-style secularism, or separation of the state and religion.

However, the currently ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) apparently wants to get rid of one of the pillars of Kemalism ideology.

“We are a Muslim country and so we should have a religious constitution,” said Turkish Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman on Monday, lamenting that the name Allah is not mentioned even once in the country’s founding charter.

“Secularism would not have a place in a new constitution,” he said.

Kahraman was addressing an Islamic scholars and writers conference in Istanbul. As the head of the parliament, it’s Kahraman’s job to pen a new draft constitution for Turkey.

AKP has its roots in political Islam and has been pushing for constitutional amendments during its 13-year rule in Turkey. It wants to empower the office of president from a purely ceremonial function to a fully-fledged head of state. Such a reform would benefit incumbent President Tayyip Erdogan, who traded the prime minister’s seat for that of the president’s in 2014.

The reform was a major issue of last year’s general election, with AKP insisting that only strong presidential power can hold Turkey together against security threats such as the Kurdish insurgency. Critics say it would undermine Turkey’s civil rights and give dictatorial powers to Erdogan. Some say he wants to be a sultan, harking back to the Ottoman days.

Turkish secularism did not become absolute even after Ataturk’s reforms. The country has a special government body tasked with promoting Islam, the Diyanet, and funds religious teaching. But AKP champions of political Islam such as the 75-year-old Kahraman want a far greater role for their religion.

The Turkish opposition criticized the speaker’s words. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), said that political Islam is the reason why the Middle East is in the grip of sectarian violence.

“Secularism is the primary principle of social peace ... Secularism is there to ensure that everyone has religious freedom, Ismail Kahraman!" Kilicdaroglu tweeted.

The speaker’s position was also opposed by the head of the parliament’s constitutional commission and fellow AKP member Mustafa Sentop, who said there were no plans to remove the concept of secularism from the future draft.

The majority of Turkey’s 78-million population is Sunni Muslim, according to Reuters. About a fifth is estimated to be Alevi, which draws from Shia, Sufi and Anatolian folk traditions. There are about 100,000 Christians and 17,000 Jews living in the country.

https://www.rt.com/news/340937-turkey-secul...tution-dropped/

Hamas claims responsibility for Jerusalem

Keith321 — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:21:22 +0800

The Hamas statement was made even as Israeli authorities have yet to confirm that the explosion was indeed a terrorist attack.

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has claimed credit for Monday's bus bombing in Jerusalem, the group said on Wednesday.

Hamas released a statement announcing the death of the Bethlehem native who is suspected of detonating the explosive on the bus in southern Jerusalem.

The Islamist group said that Abdel Hamid Abu Srour, 19, a resident of the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem, was one of its members. His father was arrested by the IDF on Wednesday.

The Hamas statement was made even as Israeli authorities have yet to confirm that the explosion was indeed a terrorist attack.

Despite numerous reports circulating that Abu Srour was the terrorist responsible for the attack, the Shin Bet and Police have not confirmed those rumors amid a strict gag order as of this writing.

Police continue to investigate who is responsible for the blast that wounded 20 other men, women and children.

Shaare Zedek Medical Center spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio said the man, who lost both legs in the explosion, died at approximately 7 p.m. following multiple surgeries, but that police and hospital staff have yet to ascertain his identity.

“We don’t know anything about him – his name, his age, anything,” said Ruvio on Wednesday night, adding that a 13-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman remain at the hospital in light-to-moderate condition.

Meanwhile, following a protracted investigation into terrorist activity in the flash point east Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya, Border Police arrested 31 suspects during an early morning raid Wednesday that turned into a full-scale riot.

“Counterterrorism intelligence gathered over the last several weeks in connection with those suspects showed they possessed illegal weapons, participated in rioting, and numerous other serious disturbances,” said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

After identifying the dozens of suspects involved, heavily- armed officers entered the neighborhood on Mount Scopus at approximately 4 a.m. to carry out the arrests, he said.

However, shortly after arriving, a large group of masked Palestinians began throwing rocks at police, as well as a pipe bomb that exploded near the officers, although none were wounded.

Rosenfeld said it took the officers nearly two hours to disperse the rioters using stun grenades and other non-lethal means, and then carry out the arrests. No injuries were reported during the extended clash, he said.

Additionally, 18 other suspects living in the neighborhood were given court orders to appear for security offenses, he said.

Following the arrests, Amnesty International Israel released a statement claiming that police are utilizing heavy-handed collective punishment tactics in Isawiya, and arresting children as young as 10.

“Amnesty International Israel has expressed serious concerns about the Israeli police raid in the east Jerusalem village [sic] of Isawiya today,” the statement said.

“Evidence and reports that came to us raises concerns that police operations in the village [sic] are mainly intended for children and youth, designed to collectively deter residents by conducting arbitrary arrests in violation of international law.”

The left-wing human rights group also accused the police of damaging the property of several residents of the neighborhood.

“We urgently call for the release of detained minors and an independent investigation into the allegations of violations of the rights of residents there,” the statement continued.

Rosenfeld dismissed Amnesty International’s allegations, saying the raid was carefully planned and orchestrated, adding that no property was damaged.

“The police operations were planned ahead of time based on concrete intelligence on the suspects who were involved in terrorism and riots,” he said.

“There was no damage whatsoever caused to property, and police units left the area immediately after the suspects were arrested.”

Since the wave of attacks engulfed the capital last October, the vast majority of attacks against Jews and security personnel have been carried out by minors, some as young as 11.

During this time, Palestinians have carried out 211 stabbings, 83 shootings, and 42 vehicular attacks, killing 34 Jews, according to information on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

Approximately 200 Palestinians have been killed by security forces over the same period, 130 of whom were said by Israel to have been conducting an attack at the time of their death.

The remaining 70 people died in clashes with Israeli security forces.

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict...-bombing-451891

Declassified memo shows multiple

Keith321 — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 13:29:46 +0800

Recently declassified information that a flight certificate of an Al Qaeda operative linked to 9/11 turned up in an envelope from the Saudi embassy in Washington is raising fresh questions about the Kingdom's ties to the terror attack.

The certificate was for Ghassan al Sharbi, an extremist captured in Pakistan and sent to Guantanamo Bay. Al Sharbi, who went to flight school with the 9/11 hijackers but did not take part in the attacks, buried a cache of documents near where he was staying in Pakistan, “including an envelope from the Saudi embassy in Washington D.C. containing his flight certificate.”

The certificate and other revelations were laid out in a 47-page work plan prepared for the FBI in June 2003 but not declassified until last July. The documents sought to verify the credibility of an FBI informant "with whom 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar resided.” The hijackers, both Saudi citizens, crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

The documents list other prominent Saudis and potential links to the attacks, including:

Abdullah bin Laden – Usama bin Laden’s half-brother who had been assigned to the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C. as an administrative officer.

Hamad Alotaibi – Assigned to the Saudi Embassy Military Division in Washington D.C. and possibly visited by a 9/11 hijacker.

Mohammed Fakihi – A Saudi diplomat assigned to the embassy in Berlin. His business card was found in the possession of an associate of the hijackers in Germany.

Mohammed Al-Qudhaeein and Hamdan Al-Shalawi – Saudi students suspected of participating in a “dry run” for the 9/11 attacks during a 1999 flight. The pair said they were travelling to Washington D.C. to attend a party at the Saudi embassy and that the embassy had paid for their air fare.

The declassified document is gaining new attention as lawmakers are pressuring President Obama, currently visiting the Kingdom, to declassify the remaining 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report. Those 28 pages supposedly detail Saudi connections to the plot.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/04/20/de...1-plotters.html

creative arts and mass communication

Keith321 — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:23:33 +0800

Graduates earning less than those who did not go to university, research reveals

Men who attend the country’s lowest-performing universities go on to earn less than those who have not gone to university at all, according to new research.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies’ new findings into graduate earnings have discovered particularly big differences in earnings according to which institution was attended.

Results showed there to be 23 universities where, on average, male graduates were earning less ten years after when compared with the average for non-graduates.

Female graduates from nine of the UK’s lowest-performing universities were found to be earning less than non-graduates too.

Researchers said this is largely down to differences in entry requirements, but that the numbers are “very striking” nonetheless, adding that some very locally-focused institutions may be struggling to produce graduates whose wages outpace England-wide earnings.

The study also highlighted big differences in earnings depending on degree subject; those studying the creative arts had the lowest earnings and, on average, earned no more than non-graduates with male creative arts grads taking home around £17,000 (£12,000 for females). Mass communication graduates have also emerged as being among the lowest paid with males pocketing around £20,000 (£15,000 for females).

Those studying veterinary sciences and agriculture-related subjects will see average salaries of just £20,000 for males and around £18,000 for females.

By contrast, for males, around 12 per cent of economics graduates earned above £100,000 ten years after graduation (nine per cent for females), whereas, six per cent of those studying medicine or law earned more than £100,000 (one and three per cent respectively for females).

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/...s-a6981811.html

Crowd at Funeral of Palestinian Gunman

Keith321 — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 09:38:26 +0800

Thousands of mourners marching at the funeral of a Palestinian Authority police officer who wounded three IDF soldiers during a shooting attack on Sunday chanted “death to Israel” and called for killing hundreds of Israelis, the Times of Israel reported on Monday.

“It is time for the machine gun, to shoot 500 people,” a man leading Amjad Sukkari’s funeral procession shouted into a megaphone. “Muhammad’s army will return,” he declared. His words were loudly repeated by the mourners.

Many in the crowd, which gathered to celebrate Sukkari in the West Bank city of Nablus, chanted for more terrorist attacks against Jews and Israelis.

Nablus governor Akram Rajoub and several other senior officials from Fatah, the party led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, were among the mourners.

“It doesn’t mean I agree with what he has done,” Rajoub said. “I’m against policemen carrying out attacks, but we are people who respect their martyrs and dead.”

Sukkari, 34, worked as a bodyguard and driver for the Palestinian attorney general. He carried out his attack at a West Bank checkpoint near Beit El, shooting three soldiers with a handgun before being fatally hit by return fire. One of his victims sustained a gunshot to his upper body and is in serious condition. The second victim is in moderate condition, and the third was slightly injured from a bullet wound to the hand.

Following news of the attack, the PA’s police force released a statement eulogizing Sukkari’s “brave martyrdom.”

Hamas also praised Sunday’s shooting, as did the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which called on “all strugglers in Palestine to escalate the flame of the intifada.”

According to Israel’s Channel 2, the hashtag “operation V.I.P.” went viral on Palestinian social media following news of the shooting, with various photos and memes circulating on Facebook and Twitter.

Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian newspaper, featured a drawing of the “martyr” Sukkari as its daily comic on Sunday.

http://www.thetower.org/2899-muhammads-arm...s-for-massacre/

Ringgit slides with stocks as 1MDB

Keith321 — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 16:21:52 +0800

The ringgit led declines in Asia and stocks fell as state-investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) came back to haunt the currency just as a pickup in oil was stoking a recovery.

A week after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who chairs the company’s advisory board, was cleared in a probe over any wrong doing related to a political donation, the Swiss Attorney-General's Office announced it is pursuing an investigation into alleged diversion of funds from 1MDB.

Singapore has also seized bank accounts related to possible money laundering associated with the firm, which was in the limelight last year due to concern about its rising debt.

The ringgit weakened 0.7% to 4.1845 a dollar as of 9.56am in Kuala Lumpur, after last week posting its biggest rally since October as the outlook for the oil-exporting nation’s finances improved amid a recovery in Brent crude. The commodity fell for a second day on Tuesday as Malaysian markets reopened after a holiday on Monday.

“It appears that the dust is being kicked up on 1MDB all over again,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho Bank Ltd.

“Downside pressures for the ringgit could re-emerge.”

The ringgit climbed 3.3% in January, more than any other in emerging markets, on speculation 2015’s 19% decline was overdone. The dollar’s 14-day relative-strength index dropped below 30 last week, indicating to some traders that the greenback was poised to rebound.

Malaysia’s benchmark stock index fell 0.5% after climbing 2.6% in the five days through January 29. Government bonds due in 2020 rose, with the yield falling two basis points to 3.36%, Bursa Malaysia prices show.

1MDB has been the subject of overlapping investigations at home plus Switzerland and Hong Kong amid allegations of financial irregularities.

Singapore has seized “a large number” of bank accounts in connection with possible money laundering, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Commercial Affairs Department said in a joint emailed statement on Monday in response to queries on the company.

A statement from Swiss prosecutors last week said they are seeking legal assistance from Malaysia after a probe they conducted into 1MDB revealed “serious indications” that about US$4 billion may have been misappropriated.

Najib is “not one of the public officials under accusation” in that investigation, Andre Marty, a spokesman for the Swiss Attorney-General’s Office, said Monday in a statement.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysi...back-into-focus

Saudi Arabia Conducted 119 Airstrikes Against

Keith321 — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 13:53:46 +0800

[YOUTUBE]1gYaArAnkvQ[/YOUTUBE]

In March, Saudi Arabia’s air campaign in Yemen will enter its second year.

Riyadh began flying combat missions last year in an effort to rollback the Iran-backed militiamen who drove Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi into exile. The results of the strikes have been mixed. The Houthis were driven from Aden but the fight for Sana’a is far from over.

And while the Saudis and the Houthis battle it out, ISIS and al-Qaeda are doing what they do best: finding opportunities amid the chaos. Just today for instance, ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bomb that exploded outside of Hadi’s residence in Aden. Hadi was unharmed but six people were killed in the attack.

As you might recall, the Saudis have a rather checkered human rights record. Earlier this month, the kingdom carried out its largest mass execution in 25 years, killing 47 in what Riyadh pitched as a crackdown on “terrorists.”

That rather blatant disregard for human life has carried over into the air campaign in Yemen.

As we’ve documented extensively, Riyadh’s warplanes have "accidentally" hit everything from MSF hospitals to wedding parties and just last week, we brought you the following footage of what Yemen Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Nashwan Attab called a “heinous massacre” involving an ambulance and rescue workers.

Over the course of 119 discrete sorties, Saudi Arabi bombed refugee camps, weddings, civilian cars, buses, people's homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, residential neighborhoods, an Oxfam warehouse, treated "entire cities as military targets," and chased after fleeing civilians with attack helicopters.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's laughably bad - it's just about the most egregious account of human rights abuses one could possibly imagine.

"Human rights groups and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn – who described the leaked report as disturbing – called for an immediate inquiry and a suspension of arms sales to Saudi pending its outcome," The Guardian notes, adding that "UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia totalled £2.95bn for the first nine months of 2015, and about £7bn since Cameron took office, including a contract for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-28/s...-un-panel-finds

Zimbabwe to make Chinese yuan legal currency

Keith321 — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 11:50:24 +0800

Zimbabwe has announced that it will make the Chinese yuan legal tender after Beijing confirmed it would cancel $40m in debts.

“They [China] said they are cancelling our debts that are maturing this year and we are in the process of finalising the debt instruments and calculating the debts,” minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a statement.
Robert Mugabe greets China's Xi Jinping as 'true and dear friend' of Zimbabwe
Read more

Chinamasa also announced that Zimbabwe will officially make the Chinese yuan legal tender as it seeks to increase trade with Beijing.

Zimbabwe abandoned its own dollar in 2009 after hyperinflation, which had peaked at around 500bn%, rendered it unusable.

It then started using a slew of foreign currencies, including the US dollar and the South African rand.

The yuan was later added to the basket of the foreign currencies, but its use had not been approved yet for public transactions in the market dominated by the greenback.

Use of the yuan “will be a function of trade between China and Zimbabwe and acceptability with customers in Zimbabwe,” the minister said.

Zimbabwe’s central bank chief John Mangudya was in negotiations with the People’s Bank of China “to see whether we can enhance its usage here,” said Chinamasa.

China is Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner following Zimbabwe’s isolation by its former western trading partners over Harare’s human rights record.

In reaction veteran president Robert Mugabe adopted a “look East policy”, forging new alliances with eastern Asian countries and buttressing existing ones.

In early December, Chinese president Xi Jinping stopped over in Zimbabwe in a rare trip by a world leader to the country, and presided over the signing of various agreements, mainly to upgrade and rebuild Zimbabwe’s infrastructure such as power stations.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/...orld_b-gdnworld

Actions will not be taken against protestors who

Keith321 — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 10:29:27 +0800

The government will not take action against a group of protesters who last April forced a church in Taman Medan to remove its cross, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

In a written reply to Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad's question on status of investigations into the incident, the home minister said the police had completed the probe and handed it to the Attorney-General's Chambers, which deemed it as "no further action".

"The investigation papers were completed and forwarded to the Attorney-General's Chambers, which has decided NFA (no further action)," Zahid said.

On April 19, some 50 people gathered outside the Community of Praise Petaling Jaya Church, located in a shoplot in Taman Medan, demanding that the cross affixed to the building facade be taken down.

They said the cross was a challenge to Islam and would sway the faith of Muslims in the area.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysi...-church-protest

They ignored my 1MDB reports,

Keith321 — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 09:22:40 +0800

Recently released after being detained two months for lodging reports overseas against 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Datuk Khairuddin Abu Hassan said he was driven to do so because Malaysian authorities did not seem to show interest in investigating the scandal.

The former Umno division leader lodged reports with five foreign authorities, saying his numerous complaints filed here had not been taken seriously.

“I made seven police reports at the Dang Wangi police station but no action was taken by the police. I made them beginning December 12, 2014 to July this year,” the 53-year-old Penangite, who was Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chief, told The Malaysian Insider, adding that reports were also lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

After lodging reports with agencies in Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Singapore and the United Kingdom, he was prepared to meet the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in New York.

But one day before his flight, he was arrested, and subsequently jailed.

Khairuddin, a vocal critic of the 1MDB scandal, and his lawyer Matthias Chang, are among the few to be detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma, a law meant to stop terrorists and militants.

Rights groups have condemned their detention as proof that the Najib administration was abusing Sosma.

They were released on bail on November 18, after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Sosma was not applicable to detain them any further.

Khairuddin, a father of four, said he felt compelled to go to foreign agencies after Putrajaya made changes to its 1MDB probe as well as the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) investigation.

This followed the removal of Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, while heading a special task force investigating 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion channelled into the prime minister's personal accounts.

Putrajaya also promoted three PAC members to the Cabinet in a reshuffle, temporarily halting the investigations.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, known for his stance against misuse and misappropriation of public funds, was made a deputy minister.

“I was perplexed why three PAC members, including Datuk Nur Jazlan, were appointed deputy ministers. Why did Najib appoint them when they were in the midst of their investigation of 1MDB?

“They should have finished the probe first and then they could accept those posts.

“They accepted the posts and the PAC investigation stopped, what was the motive? So when there was no action, I was confident that money was being laundered overseas.

“That is why I went to London, Switzerland, France and all these places to lodge police reports.”

Khairuddin said his actions were his responsibility to the country and his right as a citizen.

“It is allowed under the law and the Constitution. I did it to urge the police to investigate the current situation like what the Sarawak Report and The Wall Street Journal reported.”

Prison, he said, has only bolstered his spirits to pursue the 1MDB issue and campaign against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“Imprisonment is a process that is part of the struggle. This is the risk that we have to take. I thank God that while I was in jail I did not become weaker but stronger and tougher,” he said.

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysi...-says-khairuddi

China’s Renminbi Is Approved by I.M.F.

Keith321 — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 13:15:17 +0800

HONG KONG — The Chinese renminbi was anointed as one of the world’s elite currencies on Monday, a milestone decision by the International Monetary Fund that underscores the country’s rising financial and economic heft.

The move will help pave the way for broader use of the renminbi in trade and finance, securing China’s standing as a global economic power. Just four other currencies — the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen — have the I.M.F. designation.

But the path to the I.M.F. decision, a bumpy process that stretches back years, also introduced new uncertainty into China’s economy and financial system.

To meet the I.M.F. requirements, China was forced to give up some of its tight control over the currency, culminating in the abrupt devaluation of the renminbi that shook global markets in August. The changes could inject fresh volatility into the country, at a time when its economy is already slowing.

The I.M.F. designation, an accounting unit known as the special drawing rights, bestows global importance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/business...d=tw-share&_r=1

SPAD survey finds most prefer Uber, Grabcar

Keith321 — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 08:41:35 +0800

Angry taxi drivers want unlicensed – and competing – ride-sharing service providers banished, preferably yesterday, but the paying customer thinks otherwise.

In an ongoing survey conducted by the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), 76.4% of the respondents say they are more comfortable using app-based services such as Uber or GrabCar, and 86.6% claim that conventional taxis overcharge or do not use the meter.

A SPAD spokesman said the survey was to get public feedback on taxi as well as ride-sharing services.

“It is part of an extensive project with stakeholders to gather feedback, identify weaknesses and strengths to be used as data to formulate initiatives to help sustain the industry, improve drivers’ welfare, and enhance services to improve customer experience,” he said.

The spokesman said the survey would also be able to "gauge public sentiment about the taxi industry, price, service and views about app driven services as SPAD moves to improve the Malaysian taxi industry".

The survey shows that 86% respondents are familiar with and have used Uber or Grabcar.

The number one complaint about taxi drivers is overcharging or failure to use the meter.

About 42% say they are willing to pay more for better taxi service, but 58% say they are not.

Aniz Bakar, who often uses ride-sharing service Uber, is not surprised that many want Uber and Grabcar services to be regulated instead of terminated.

“Uber and Grabcar are far better than the taxis around here. They are more reliable and very punctual. I don’t think I have waited more than five minutes for an Uber ride,” he said.

Aniz says the taxi service had better greatly improve if SPAD is thinking of raising the fares yet again.

"Uber and Grabcar cars are clean and nice. If they (SPAD) say they want to increase fares to improve taxi service, they will have to do a complete overhaul because everything needs to be improved, from the vehicles to the attitude of the drivers,” he says.

Frequent taxi user, Bryan Lim is also hoping that SPAD will finally regulate Uber and GrabCar.

“It is a slight concern now because the ride-sharing drivers are not bound by rules or regulations if anything should happen.

“However, my experience with them has been good so far and I have had no problems with Uber. It is very convenient because they’re easy to reach, and they come to you very quickly. My experience with taxis, on the other hand, is that the drivers tend to hustle you and they don’t use the meter,” he said.

Recently, more than 700 taxi drivers from 28 taxi associations took part in a rally at Padang Merbok to protest SPAD's failure to act against Uber and GrabCar. There have also been reports of Uber and GrabCar drivers being set upon by disgruntled taxi drivers. The latter claim their income has dwindled since the app-based ride-sharing services burst onto the scene.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/citynew...-in-spad-survey

Ex-Malaysian diplomat pleads guilty to New Zealand

Keith321 — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 09:54:07 +0800

A former Malaysian diplomat pleaded guilty today to the indecent assault of a New Zealand woman, with a court hearing he burst into her bedroom naked from the waist down.

Mohammed Rizalman Ismail was a military attache at Malaysia's Wellington embassy when the incident happened last year, and the case caused outrage when he fled to his homeland citing diplomatic immunity.

Rizalman was eventually extradited to face the New Zealand courts and had pleaded not guilty to attempted rape and burglary.

But with his trial due to start Monday, the original charges were dismissed when the 39-year-old admitted one count of indecent assault against Wellington woman Tania Billingsley.

Last May, he pleaded not guilty to committing assault with intent to commit sexual violation.

Rizalman's lawyer Donald Stevens cited extenuating circumstances including mental illness, although prosecutors contest this.

A summary of facts read out to the court said that on May 9 last year Billingsley was at home in Brooklyn, the Wellington suburb where the Malaysian high commission is located, when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

Rizalman then entered wearing no trousers or underpants. She screamed and struggled with him, managing to push him out of the house before calling police.

Stevens said Rizalman told police the pair had been to the cinema together that day. The summary of facts did not specify whether Billingsley agreed.

Prosecutor Grant Burston said experts would be called to dispute Rizalman's argument that he was mentally unwell, saying his behaviour was more consistent with "cannabis use and anxiety".

Rizalman sat quietly in the dock as an interpreter explained proceedings to him.

Indecent assault carries a maximum jail term of seven years in New Zealand.

Judge David Collins said a hearing into disputed aspects of the case would take place on Friday before sentencing.

He said if a home detention sentence was imposed, and he stressed it was only a possibility, Rizalman may be allowed to serve it at the Malaysian high commission.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysi...ndecent-assault

Saudi Woman Convicted Of Adultery Gets Death

Keith321 — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 18:51:59 +0800

A Saudi Arabian woman convicted of adultery faces being stoned to death but the man she was caught with faces the lesser punishment of 100 lashes.

The married 45-year-old woman, who was working as a maid in Riyadh, and her partner, a single migrant worker from Sri Lanka, were both convicted of the same offence, yet her punishment is far more severe than his.

The punishment of stoning sees ‘offenders’ pelted with stones until they are dead and is still carried out in some parts of the Middle East – including in Saudi Arabia, who, somewhat ironically, are currently chairing the United Nations Human Rights Council Panel.

According to a recent statement from Amnesty International over 150 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia this year, mostly by public beheading with foreign guest workers from poor countries being particularly vulnerable as they typically do not know Arabic and are unaware of the complex laws.

http://www.unilad.co.uk/news/saudi-woman-c...ets-100-lashes/

11-year-old Palestinian boy says he stabbed

Keith321 — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 10:19:56 +0800

The 11-year-old Palestinian boy who stabbed a light rail guard with his cousin, 14, in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev two weeks ago, told the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) that the duo were motivated by revenge to “die a martyr,” a transcript of his interrogation revealed.

In the transcript, released by Shin Bet on Thursday, the unidentified child from Shuafat said he met his cousin on November 11 at the entrance to their school, where they were denied entry because their parents did not pay tuition costs.

“My cousin told me that on the way to school he wanted to carry out a stabbing attack, but didn’t succeed because all the people were senior citizens,” he said, noting that the two did not want to harm the elderly.

“We travelled from Shuafat to Damascus Gate in order to stab a soldier, but didn’t do it because the soldiers were in groups and we didn’t find one standing alone.”

“Then [my cousin] told me ‘let’s do an attack together to avenge the death of Muhammad Ali,” the boy said of their terrorist cousin, 19, who was shot dead on October 10 by Damascus Gate after stabbing two police officers there.

While the 14-year-old had a knife in his bag, the 11-year-old said he did not have a weapon, so bought scissors at an area store before boarding the light rail to “look for Jews to stab.”

When the boys saw two security guards aboard, he said they waited until one of them exited the train to improve their odds of killing one. CCTV footage released by police shows the children anxiously waiting to attack the lone guard.

“I stabbed him in his head and my cousin stabbed him in his chest and stomach until the guard pushed me and fired three bullets in my stomach,” said the 11-year-old, who was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom paramedics, while his cousin was subdued by passengers.

The unidentified guard, 25, who was lightly wounded, was able to shoot the 11-year old.

Near the conclusion of his interrogation, the boy said, “I wanted to die as a shahid [martyr], but now I understand I made a mistake, and I am sorry.”

“I want to be in school like any normal person,” he continued. “I don’t want to resist the occupation any longer. I didn’t want to kill… I’m a minor and I should go home.”

In a separate interrogation, his older cousin cited the occupation and situation in Gaza as his motivation for carrying out the attack.

“I wanted to kill the Jews who are torturing us,” he said.

Due to the 11-year-old’s age, the state will ultimately be forced to release him to the custody of his parents. His cousin, however, is old enough to be prosecuted and sentenced to a juvenile detention facility.

Following the attack, legislatures submitted a bill to lower the minimum age of prosecution.

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict...a-martyr-435511

Turkey Erdogan says Russia should apologize

Keith321 — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 10:14:34 +0800

Russia should apologise for violating Turkey's airspace, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Thursday, days after a Russian jet was shot down near the Syria border.

"Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologise," Erdogan was quoted as saying on the CNN website.

"Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/11/26/u...N0TF1NU20151126

all tourist agencies in Russia suspend the sale

Keith321 — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 16:57:01 +0800

All tourist agencies in Russia have canceled chartered flights to Turkey and suspended the sale of all trips to Turkey. Dmitry Gorin, the vice president of Russia's Association of Tour Operators made the announcement earlier today, a day after the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft near the Syrian-Turkish border. Goruin noted that there are no imminent plans to evacuate Russian tourists currently present in Turkey back to Russia.

On November 24, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft was shot down in Syria earlier today, while conducting airstrikes against terrorist targets near the Turkish border. Turkey says the plane violated its airspace 10 times within a five-minute period, which defense officials in Moscow flatly deny.
Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism issued a travel advisory on November 25, warning tourist agencies against selling travel packages to Turkey, citing the threat of terrorism there. The agency warned tourist companies that they could be legally liable for providing services to clients that endanger their safety.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2015/11/25/follow...trips-to-turkey

“I gave the order myself” − Turkish PM

Keith321 — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 16:40:49 +0800

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu today revealed that he personally gave the order to down the Russian Su-24 fighter jet that lead to the death of one pilot.

“Despite all the warnings, we had had to destroy the aircraft” Davutoğlu told a meeting of his AK party. “The Turkish Armed Forces carried out orders given by me personally

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Minister told reporters today that the Russian and Syrian special forces have successfully completed a rescue operation to rescue the navigator who ejected from the Su-24.

“The Captain has been delivered to our base alive and well,” General Sergei Shoigu said. “I would like to thank all of you for working all night at great risk. They completed the job at 03:40 Moscow time.”

Russia has begun deploying S-400 “Triumph” anti-aircraft batteries near the Hmeimim airbase in Syria, the Defence Ministry announced in a release.

Both Davutoğlu and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces, continued to defend the decision to shoot down the Russian plane saying that his country had the right to defend its national airspace and insisting that the Su-24 had made an incursion into Turkish territory and was downed while still inside Turkey’s airspace.

http://thinkpol.ca/2015/11/25/i-gave-the-o...-russian-plane/

Saudi sentence palestinian poet to death

Keith321 — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 21:38:00 +0800

A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam.

A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.

Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was originally sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultraconservative kingdom, in May 2014.

But after his appeal was dismissed he was retried last month and a new panel of judges ruled that his repentance did not prevent his execution.

“I was really shocked but it was expected, though I didn’t do anything that deserves death,” Fayadh told the Guardian.

Mona Kareem, a migrant rights activist from Kuwait who has led a campaign for the poet’s release, said: “For one and a half years they promised him an appeal and kept intimidating him that there’s new evidence.

“He was unable to assign a lawyer because his ID was confiscated when he was arrested [in January 2014]. Then they said you must have a retrial and we’ll change the prosecutor and the judges. The new judge didn’t even talk to him, he just made the verdict.”

Fayadh’s supporters believe he is being punished by hardliners for posting a video online showing the religious police (mutaween) in Abha lashing a man in public. “Some Saudis think this was revenge by the morality police,” said Kareem.

Kareem also believes that Fayadh has been targeted because he is a Palestinian refugee, although he was born in Saudi Arabia.

The religious police first detained Fayadh in August 2013 after receiving a complaint that he was cursing against Allah and the prophet Muhammad, insulting Saudi Arabia and distributing a book of his poems that promoted atheism. Fayadh said the complaint arose from a personal dispute with another artist during a discussion about contemporary art in a cafe in Abha.

He was released on bail after one day but the police arrested him again on 1 January 2014, confiscating his ID and detaining him at a police station until he was transferred to the local prison 27 days later. According to Fayadh’s friends, when the police failed to prove that his poetry was atheist propaganda, they began berating him for smoking and having long hair.

“They accused me [of] atheism and spreading some destructive thoughts into society,” said Fayadh. He added that the book, Instructions Within, published in 2008, was “just about me being [a] Palestinian refugee … about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.”

The case went to trial in February 2014 when the complainant and two members of the religious police told the court that Fayadh had publicly blasphemed, promoted atheism to young people and conducted illicit relationships with women and stored some of their photographs on his mobile phone.

Fayadh denied the accusations of blasphemy and told the court he was a faithful Muslim. According to the court documents, he said: “I am repentant to God most high and am innocent of what appeared in my book mentioned in this case.”

The documents also state that he admitted that he had relationships with the women. But Fayadh said his words had been twisted: the women were fellow artists and the photos on his phone, some of which he posted on Instagram, were taken during Jeddah art week, Saudi Arabia’s most important contemporary art event.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/...Morning%20Brief

Darwin's Origin of Species voted most influential

Keith321 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 09:28:20 +0800

Charles Darwin’s formulation of the theory of evolution takes overwhelming share of public vote, ahead of Kant, Plato and Einstein

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has been voted the most influential academic book ever written, hailed as “the supreme demonstration of why academic books matter” and “a book which has changed the way we think about everything”.

After a list of the top 20 academic books was pulled together by expert academic booksellers, librarians and publishers to mark the inaugural Academic Book Week, the public was asked to vote on what they believed to be the most influential. With titles in the running including A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, Darwin’s explanation of his theory of evolution was the public’s overwhelming favourite, with 26% of the vote, said organisers.

Professor Andrew Prescott of the University of Glasgow called Darwin’s 1859 study “the supreme demonstration of why academic books matter”. “Darwin used meticulous observation of the world around us, combined with protracted and profound reflection, to create a book which has changed the way we think about everything – not only the natural world, but religion, history and society,” he said. “Every researcher, no matter whether they are writing books, creating digital products or producing artworks, aspires to produce something as significant in the history of thought as Origin of Species.”

On the Origin of Species was followed in the public vote by The Communist Manifesto and The Complete Works of Shakespeare, with Plato’s The Republic fourth, and Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason fifth - a choice heralded by the Booksellers Association’s Alan Staton. “We seem to be governed by expediency and doublethink and it’s reassuring to know that Kant’s Categorical Imperative is known and thought important,” he said.

Philosopher Roger Scruton agreed. “I am gratified that the Critique of Pure Reason, which must be surely one of the most difficult works of philosophy ever written, should have been chosen as among the most influential of all academic books,” he said of the 18th-century text.

“Kant set out on an extraordinary task, which was to show the limits of human reasoning, and at the same time to justify the use of our intellectual powers within those limits. The resulting vision, of self-conscious beings enfolded within a one-sided boundary, but always pressing against it, hungry for the inaccessible beyond, has haunted me, as it has haunted many others since Kant first expressed it.”

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/...-charles-darwin