Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Giant Kim Jong-il statue unveiled for his 70th birthday

Handout picture from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows the statues of former North Korean President Kim Il Sung, left, and late leader Kim Jong Il, right, riding on horses at the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang on 14 February, 2012 The late Kim Jong-il (right) is also awarded the highest title of Generalissimo, the same rank held by his late father, Kim Il-sung (left)

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A giant statue of Kim Jong-il has been unveiled ahead of Thursday's celebrations of the 70th anniversary of his birthday.
This is the first bronze sculpture of the late North Korean leader.
The 6-metre bronze statue depicts him riding a horse next to his late father, Kim Il-sung, also on horseback.
The statues were unveiled in a ceremony attended by top military and political officials on Tuesday in the capital, Pyongyang.
Kim Jong-un, Mr Kim's youngest son and heir to the leadership position, was not present, although he reportedly initiated the building of the statue.
A series of commemorative items and tributes have been released since his death on 17 December of a heart attack at the age of 69.
These included a giant slogan carved into a mountainside, postage stamps, medals and gold and silver coins bearing his image.
He reportedly shunned the idea of the bronze statue in his lifetime, said the BBC's correspondent in Seoul, Lucy Williamson.
According to various accounts, Mr Kim reportedly told state officials in 1999 that he was not ready for the adulation before fulfilling his promise of building an affluent society, the Associated Press reports.
North Korea said on Wednesday it has awarded the highest title of Generalissimo to Mr Kim, the same rank as that held by his father, the country's founding leader.
The country is believed to be planning widespread celebrations on Thursday, also dubbed "the day of the shining star", even as worries continue over food shortages in the country, our correspondent said.
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Mormons baptise parents of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal

LDS' Mormon Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah 27 January 2012 Changes in the Mormon genealogical database in 2010 were designed to prevent proxy baptisms

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The Mormon Church has apologised for posthumously baptising the parents of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal.
Asher and Rosa Rapp Wiesenthal were baptised in proxy ceremonies by church members in the US states of Arizona and Utah in January, records show.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Michael Purdy said the Church' s leaders "sincerely regret" the actions of "an individual member".
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced the news.
"We are outraged that such insensitive actions continue in the Mormon temples," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a spokesman at the centre.
The Mormon religion allows baptism after death, and believes the departed soul can then accept or reject the baptismal rites.
An agreement in 1995 was supposed to ban the practice of baptising by proxy Holocaust victims, after it was discovered the names of hundreds of thousands of those who died had been entered into Mormon records.
Simon Wiesenthal's parents are long since deceased, with his father dying in World War I and his mother perishing in the Holocaust.
Wiesenthal himself died in 2005 after surviving the Holocaust and dedicating his life to documenting Nazi crimes and hunting down perpetrators.
'Serious breach' Mr Purdy told the Associated Press news agency that the church considered the act "a serious breach of our protocol".
According to Mr Purdy, the names of the Wiesenthal family were simply entered into a genealogical database by one person.
"We have suspended indefinitely this person's ability to access our genealogy records," he said.
The name of that individual or the individuals who performed the rite were not released.
Evidence that Wiesenthal's parents had been baptised was found by Helen Radkey, a researcher and former Mormon, AP reported.
She regularly checks the Church' s database, and also recently found the names of Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and several family members on the Mormon list.
"None of the three names were submitted for baptism and they would not have been under the Church' s guidelines and procedures," said Mr Purdy, the Mormon Church spokesman said.
Rabbi Cooper said any further discussion of the problem was useless.
"The only way such insensitive practices would finally stop is if church leaders finally decided to change their practices and policies on posthumous baptisms, a move which this latest outrage proves that they are unwilling to do," he said.
The Catholic Church has also objected to posthumous baptisms of its members.
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Venezuela opposition: Row erupts over voter list

Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles faces a tough political battle with President Chavez in the months ahead

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Venezuela's opposition says it has destroyed the list of voters in Sunday's primary election, despite a court order that they be preserved.
The Democratic Unity coalition said the records had been burned in accordance with a promise to ensure confidentiality.
There were also fears that those who voted could face government reprisals.
The primary saw Henrique Capriles Radonski picked to challenge President Hugo Chavez in October's election.
Voters also selected opposition candidates for local and state-level elections across the country.
Venezuela's Supreme Court intervened after a complaint from a local mayoral candidate who wanted to challenge the result.
It said the voters lists from across the country should be handed to the electoral authorities within 24 hours.
But the executive secretary of the Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition, Ramon Aveledo, dismissed the ruling as "absurd, unconstitutional and disproportionate".
'Absolute secrecy' Hours later, other opposition officials said the voting records had all been destroyed.
"We gave our word to all Venezuelans who turned out to vote on 12 February that the process would be absolutely secret, both the vote and the names of the people who took part," MUD youth leader Edinson Ferrer said.
The issue of voter secrecy was of particular concern to the opposition following an unsuccessful recall referendum against President Chavez in 2004.
A list of people who backed that initiative was made public, and many afterwards complained that they had suffered discrimination as a result, losing out on jobs in the public sector.
Supporters of President Chavez have questioned the opposition claim that more than three million people took part in Sunday's primaries.
They have also stepped up personal attacks on Mr Capriles.
The 39-year-old governor of Miranda state will face Mr Chavez in the election set for 7 October
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Jet Airways suspends pilot for 'trainee landing'

Jet Airways - file photo Jet Airways is one of India's leading private airlines

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India's private airline Jet Airways has suspended a pilot and a crew member for allowing a trainee pilot to land a plane in the western city of Mumbai.
The two apparently allowed a trainee pilot to take over from the co-pilot and land the plane about four months ago, reports say.
Jet Airways said action had been taken based on "appropriate investigations and a confidential report".
Jet Airways is one of India's best-known and oldest private airlines.
Reports say that the pilot was suspended for two-and-a-half months following the incident, and had resumed flying again.
A spokesman for the airline told the Press Trust Of India news agency that they had been in talks with the aviation regulator DGCA over the incident.
"They are completely satisfied with the steps taken. In line with international practises on enforcing safety, a voluntary and confidential reporting system exists in Jet Airways for all its employees," the spokesman said.
Last month a consumer court in Delhi ordered Jet Airways to compensate a female passenger who was refused an alcoholic drink because of her gender.
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German economy shrinks 0.2% in fourth quarter

Porsche factory Europe's debt crisis has hit demand for German exports
The German economy shrank 0.2% in the final three months of last year.
Germany saw exports slow down as the debt crisis hit its European neighbours and their demand for German goods.
There was worse news for the Netherlands, where the economy sank into recession after a sharp 0.7% contraction from the previous quarter.
But in France there was surprise growth at the end of last year, with the economy expanding by 0.2% in the last three months of the year.
The economy was boosted by healthy growth in exports and business investment, which will come as a boost to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
If he chooses to run again, Mr Sarkozy faces a national election in April.
'Better than feared' For 2011 as a whole, the French economy grew by 1.7% and Germany 1.5%.

“Start Quote

Greece may be burning. Growth may be slowing. But the recognised German barometer of hope over fear shows far more Germans looking on the bright side than those down in the dumps”
End Quote
image of Stephen Evans Stephen Evans BBC News, Berlin
Europe's debt crisis has already pushed Greece, Portugal and Belgium into recession, defined by two consecutive quarters of contraction.
Economists forecast that Germany is likely to avoid that scenario and say the latest growth figures could have been worse.
"This is better than feared after retail sales and industrial production turned out badly in December. The decline is due to the euro crisis. It caused a drastic loss in confidence among companies and consumers." said Christian Schulz, an economist at Berenberg Bank.
"Action from the ECB and the government has restored confidence. There is hope that we will emerge quickly from the economic dip. We expect growth again in the second quarter at the latest, provided that the euro crisis remains under control." he said.
The French growth figures were better than forecast, with many analysts having expected the economy to have contracted in the fourth quarter.
"Each of the three main components of the economy - foreign trade, household consumption and investment - had a positive contribution in the last quarter of 2011." said Finance Minister Francois Baroin in a statement.
"This strengthens the government's forecast for 0.5% [growth] this year."
Confidence in France was undermined in January when it lost its top-notch AAA credit rating, after one of the leading ratings agencies, Standard and Poor's, downgraded the nation's debt.
At the time the agency blamed Europe's debt crisis and the failure of Europe's leaders to tackle the region's problems.
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Thailand blasts suspects were 'targeting individuals'

Bangkok blast 14 February The three explosions took place in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon

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Thai officials say they believe two suspects arrested in Bangkok after a series of blasts were planning to attack individuals.
Thailand's National Security Council chief said possible links to blasts targeting Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia were being investigated.
Israel's envoy to Thailand said the explosives found in Bangkok were similar to those used in the attacks.
Two suspects arrested on Tuesday are said to be Iranian.
One suspect was injured when one of the devices went off and another was arrested at Bangkok's international airport. A third man is said to be at large.
'Still investigating' "From the investigation, we found the type of explosives indicated that the prepared targets were individuals,'' NSC chief Wichean Potephosree told a news conference.
"Based on the equipment and materials we found, they were aimed at individuals and the destruction capacity was not intended for large crowds or big buildings.''
Of possible links to attacks on Israeli diplomats, he said: "We haven't found any links but we are still investigating.''
But Itzhak Shoham, Israeli ambassador to Thailand, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the explosives used in the Bangkok blasts were similar to those in India and Georgia.
"From that we can assume that there is the same network of terror," he said.
Police also said magnets were found at the rented house. The devices used in Delhi and Georgia were attached to vehicles using magnets.
Police inspect the wrecked Israeli embassy vehicle, 13 Feb Monday's attack in Delhi injured an Israeli diplomat
The two attacks took place on Monday. An Israeli diplomat was injured in the Delhi attack, after a motorcycle rider attached an explosive device to the back door of the car.
Around the same time a bomb beneath an Israeli diplomat's car in Tbilisi, Georgia, was found and defused.
Israel has blamed Iran for the attacks - Tehran has denied any role. A foreign ministry spokesman also denied any role in the Bangkok blasts, AFP reported.
Travel warnings The three small blasts took place in the Ekamai area in central Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon.
Police told the BBC the first explosion happened at a house which the three suspects were believed to have rented for a month.
Two men managed to escape the explosion that severely damaged the house, but a third man who suffered minor injuries tried to hail a taxi. When the taxi refused to stop for him, he threw at least one bomb at it.
There was a third explosion when the same man then attempted to throw another bomb at police, but missed. The man lost his legs when the device blew up.
Four other people were injured in the incident. The US and UK have issued new travel advisories for Thailand in the wake of the blasts.
They come a month after Thailand arrested a Lebanese man with suspected links to Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia Islamist movement backed by Syria and Iran. Police found large quantities of bomb-making materials after the man's detention.
It is not clear if his case is related to this incident.
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India village in Rajasthan relocates to protect tigers

Tiger (Image: AP) India's tiger numbers have shrunk from 100,000 to 1,700 in a little over a century

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An entire village has been relocated in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan to protect tigers, officials say.
More than 350 people from 82 families in Umri village, in the Sariska tiger reserve, moved to a new location.
The number of tigers in Sariska had dwindled to zero before growing to five over the last three years.
Tiger numbers have shrunk alarmingly in India in recent decades. A 2011 census counted about 1,700 tigers in the wild.
A century ago there were estimated to be 100,000 tigers in India.
Compensation Umri is the second village in Sariska to be relocated to help secure a proper habitat for tigers to increase their numbers. The villagers moved last week.
There are 11 villages with a population of nearly 2,500 people located in the heart of the tiger reserve which need to be relocated to improve the habitat, Rajasthan's chief conservator of forests, PS Somasekhar, told the BBC.
People living in these villages mostly belong to pastoral tribes.
Mr Somasekhar said efforts were being made to relocate four more villages over the next few years.
"It is a long-drawn process because the villagers have to agree to move out. We can't force them to leave. We can only persuade," he said.
The villagers are compensated with land, cash and livestock worth up to 1 million rupees ($20,000) and relocated to the nearest cultivable plots outside the reserve, Rajasthan's chief wildlife warden AC Chaubey told the BBC.
The number of tigers in the 886-sq-km Sariska reserve dropped to zero from a high of 16 in 2002.
"To maintain a reserve of this size, we need a minimum of 20 female tigers to help with the breeding and a viable population of 80 to 100 tigers," Mr Somasekhar said.
There have been a number of incidents involving conflicts between local villagers and tigers in the reserve - a few years ago, the villagers allegedly poisoned a tiger after it attacked one of their buffaloes.
India's most recent tiger census, held last year, indicated that numbers had increased to 1,706 from 1,411 at the last count in 2007.
Officials say conservation efforts by the government and wildlife organisations have helped tiger populations increase.
But poaching and conflicts between the tigers and people living in and on the periphery of the tiger reserves remains a threat
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