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Showing posts from December 5, 2010

Cancun summit reaches an agreement on climate change

UN talks in Cancun have reached a deal to curb climate change, including a fund to help developing countries. Nations endorsed compromise texts drawn up by the Mexican hosts, despite objections from Bolivia. The draft documents say deeper cuts in carbon emissions are needed, but do not establish a mechanism for achieving the pledges countries have made. Some countries' resistance to the Kyoto Protocol had been a stumbling block during the final week of negotiations. However, diplomats were able to find a compromise. Delegates cheered speeches from governments that had caused the most friction during negotiations - Japan, China, even the US - as one by one they endorsed the draft. BBC environment correspondent Richard Black said the meeting did not achieve the comprehensive, all-encompassing deal that many activists and governments want. But he said it was being "touted as a platform on which that comprehensive agreement can be built". Mexico's Presiden

Nobel Peace Prize 2010 awarded in absence of Xiaobo

China could face economic and social crises if it fails to embrace full civil rights, with consequences for the whole world, the Nobel Committee said yesterday in prepared remarks for a ceremony awarding the Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. The awarding of the prize to Liu, serving an 11-year sentence for subversion, has infuriated Beijing as the rising Asian power becomes more assertive on the world stage. It has attempted to use diplomatic pressure to discourage countries from attending the ceremony in Oslo. Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said Liu wanted to dedicate his Nobel to "the lost souls" of 1989 when troops crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. Witnesses and rights groups said hundreds were killed. "We can to a certain degree say that China, with its 1.3 billion people, is carrying mankind's fate on its shoulders," Jagland said in the prepared speech. "If the country proves capable of develo

Nobel Peace Prize 2010 awarding ceremony

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 awarding ceremony. No single person of China could show an encouragement to receive the award on behalf of Mr. Liu Xiaobo of China at the awarding ceremony held at Oslo in Norway on December 10, 2010.   It may be mentioned here that Mr Xiaobo is now under imprisonment in China Jail. Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo , democracy spokesman in China, is serving an 11-year prison sentence in China on subversion charges brought after he co-authored a bold call for sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system .

First Cyber World War begins to save Wikileaks

Thousands of hackers have stepped up their first ever Cyber World War to draw support for WikiLeaks and to stop repression on Julian Paul Assange , the founder of the Wikileaks on Thursday(December 9, 2010). The Swedish government's website was forced offline after a group calling itself " Anonymous " vowed to intensify its " war of data " against Mastercard, Visa and other groups which have blocked funding to WikiLeaks. Organisers of the group said thousands of volunteers had joined the defence of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, who is in jail in London on an extradition request from Sweden over sex crimes allegations. "This is a war of data, we are trying to keep the Internet open and free for everyone, just the way the Internet has been and always was," said a spokesman for Anonymous, a man with a British accent calling himself " Coldblood ". Anonymous is a loose-knit group of hacktivists politically motivated hackers. It

Empty chair to represent L. Xiaobo at Nobel Peace Prize ceremony

Time is knocking . Stage is set for awarding Nobel Peace Prize 2010 . But the central of attraction, the Chief Guest will not be present. He is in jail. He is hearing the sounds and shows of the ceremony. However, the ambassadors, royalty and VIPs to take their seats in Oslo's modernest City Hall on Friday for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, there will be one chair left empty for this year's winner Mr. Liu Xiaobo. Chinese authorities have placed Liu's supporters, including his wife Liu Xia , under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize. Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo , democracy spokesman in China, is serving an 11-year prison sentence in China on subversion charges brought after he co-authored a bold call for sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system . On Thursday, Chinese police surrounded Liu's house in Beijing. Officers guarded the entrance to the residential compound and checked the identities of all who entered

Indian BSF kills Bangladeshi National today

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead a Bangladeshi National at Masudpur frontier under Shibganj Upazila of Chapainawabganj District of the country on Friday, 10th December 2010, sources confirmed. The deceased was identified as Kalu Mia, son of Abdur Razzak of Thuthapara-Sahapara village of the upazila. Local people said that Mr Kalu was a businessman. Commanding Officer of 39 Rifles Battalion Abu Bakar Abu said the BSF troops from Shubhopur camp in West Bengal open fired on a group of Bangladeshi cattle traders while they were returning home at about 3:00am, killing Kalu Mia on the spot. Local people however managed to took the body into Bangladesh territory defying BSF's menace. Received on information, Shibganj police recovered the body in the morning and sent it to Adhunik Sadar Hospital in Chapainawabganj morgue for autopsy. The BDR sent a protest letter to their counterpart protesting the killing.  Killing of Bangladeshi nationals is rampant at the India-Ba

Latest Wikileaks whistle

WikiLeaks has published some crucial issues form secret US diplomatic cables. The latest internationally significant releases from the Wikileaks are categorized here: 1. About Chinese economic expansion in Africa: The United States thinks China is a " pernicious economic competitor with no morals " whose booming investments in Africa are propping up unsavoury regimes , according to a February 23 cable by the US consul-general in Lagos. The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, was quoting as giving the frank assessment in a meeting with oil executives in Nigeria. "China is not in Africa for altruistic reasons," he said. " China is in Africa for China primarily. " 2. To free Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo: US officials pushed China to free dissident Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, in the weeks after he was first detained. In late 2008, only two weeks after Liu was first held, then ambassador to China Cl

American economy sees strong position

American economy experiences strong position in its key indicators exposed recently. Among this, one of the major indicator is amount of applications for unemployment benefits in the United States of America which dropped last week to the second-lowest level this year, fresh evidence that companies are cutting fewer jobs. First-time claims for jobless aid fell by 17,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 421,000 in the week ending Dec. 4, the Labor Department of USA said Thursday. The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, dropped for the fifth straight week to 427,500. That's the lowest since August 2008, just before the financial crisis intensified with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Separately, the Commerce Department said businesses boosted wholesale inventories for the tenth straight month in October and sales rose by the largest amount in seven months. Strong demand from businesses restocking depleted store shelves has helped the economy grow after the recession

Over 900 Bangladeshis killed by BSF in last decade, says Human Rights Watch report

Over 900 Bangladeshi nationals have been killed by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) over the last decade, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on December 9, 2010. Human Rights Watch found no evidence in any death it documented that the person was engaged in any activity that would justify such an extreme response by BSF, the report added. It is revealed that in several cases they found that Bangladeshi nationals were injured or killed due to indiscriminate firing from across the border. For instance, 13-year-old Abdur Rakib was shot as he was grazing his buffaloes near the border when a soldier opened fire. Another boy, Mohammad Omar Faruq, age 15, was injured. The USA based international human rights wathdog also observed that many of the Bangladeshi people were killed by BSF when they crossed into Indian territory for cattle rustling or other smuggling activities. "Residents complain that intimidation, verbal abuse, and beatings are common, with border gua

Gold for girls beautification and satisfaction

Am I married? Woo! I have no gold though I am married. It can not be thought! Gold is the matter of emotion to the girls and women of the world. It is specially the matter of high satisfaction to the females of the Indian subcontinent.  Gold is the media to expose total fairness of a girl. Gold increases beauty and image of women.Gold is the means of security to the women of middle class families. Gold is the way to show the up to date fashion. Fashion makes fascination for gold among the girls. They see aesthetic beauty in side of them though the touches of golds. They address their dearest some one telling "my gold". It is some time very much precious to them even more than their life. They think all things may go out of my hand but my gold. Gold fashion now a days is becoming more attractive and passionateness among the females even in this age of technology and careerists. From very top and busy personalities to model and house wives are the fond of gold.   Howe

Korean Crises: Timeline 2010

26 March: South Korean warship, Cheonan, sinks, killing 46 sailors. 20 May: Panel says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship; Pyongyang denies involvement. July-September: South Korea and US hold military exercises; US places more sanctions on Pyongyang. 29 September: North holds rare party congress seen as part of father-to-son succession move. 29 October: Troops from North and South Korea exchange fire across the land border. 12 November: North Korea shows US scientist new - undeclared - uranium enrichment facility. 23 November: North shells island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least four South Koreans . 27 Nov-1 Dec: South Korea and US hold joint military drills. 6-12 Dec: South Korea stages live-fire military exercises

Google eBooks launched, authors can get compensation

Google has agreed to set up a Books Rights Registry through which authors could register their works and get compensation but no ruling from the US court looking at the case has yet been handed out. Google eBooks, formerly known as Google Editions, has been launched in the US on Monday (December 6, 2010). Google also hopes to write itself a substantial chapter in the digital books story with the launch of its own store. It will allow users to download three million e-books to a range of devices. It will put it head-to -head with Amazon, which links its Kindle device to its own store, and Apple with its iBookstore. The launch of the service has been delayed, due to legal and technical wrangles. But Google is hopeful that its "device agnostic" store will rewrite the current generation of digital books. "It benefits authors because they will be able to be more visible and more accessible than with the physical constraints of a book store," said Santiago de la M

Assange's bank account frozen in Switzerland

The Swiss post office bank, PostFinance, has frozen the accounts of Wikileaks founder Julian Paul Assange. The whistle-blowing website says the freeze includes a defence fund and personal assets worth 31,000 euros. Wikileaks has published hundreds of secret US diplomatic cables, angering the US government and triggering moves by several companies including PayPal and Amazon to end their services. Meanwhile, a warrant for Mr Assange's arrest has reached the UK authorities. Sources have told the BBC that the European Arrest Warrant for Mr Assange arrived on Monday afternoon. Swedish prosecutors want to question Mr Assange in connection with allegations of rape, which he denies. He is believed to be in hiding somewhere in south-east England. Once the police have located him, he would be expected to appear at a magistrate's court within 24 hours, pending extradition to Sweden, says the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner. The move by Switzerland's PostFinance

New form of Bacteria Halomonas Titanicae discovered

The Halomonas titanicae bacterium was found in "rusticles", the porous and delicate icicle-like structures that form on rusting iron. Samples of rusticles from Titanic were gathered in 1991 by the Mir 2 robotic submersible. Various bacteria and fungi live within the delicate structures - first identified on the Titanic - actually feeding off of the rusting metal. The find is described in the journal International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Researchers from Dalhousie University and the Ontario Science Centre in Canada and the University of Seville in Spain isolated the H. titanicae bacteria from those samples. They sequenced the microbes' DNA before discovering that they constituted a new member of the salt-loving Halomonas genus. The bacteria are of particular interest because they may shed light on the mechanism by which rusticles form, and thus on the general "recycling" that such microbes carry out on submerged metal structure

Iran can produce nuclear fuel using uranium, claimed by Tehran

Iran claimed Sunday it could now use domestically mined uranium to produce nuclear fuel , giving the country complete control over a process the West suspects is geared toward producing weapons. Tehran made the claim a day before a new round of nuclear talks with world powers that want to rein in Iran's uranium enrichment — a process that can be used either to make fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. The nuclear chief said Iran had for the first time delivered domestically mined raw uranium to a processing facility — allowing it to bypass U.N. sanctions prohibiting import of the material. Four rounds of U.N. sanctions have targeted Iran's uranium enrichment program. Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the uranium ore concentrate , known as yellowcake , was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan for reprocessing. Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, sa