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Unpaid restaurant bill sparks deadly riot

Written By Unknown on Senin, 07 Januari 2013 | 23.45

An argument over a restaurant bill in India has led to a riot with four people dead and 175 injured. Picture: Thinkstock Source: news.com.au

A ROW over an unpaid restaurant bill in a western Indian city escalated into clashes between Hindus and Muslims that injured 175 people and left four dead, according to police.

The unrest broke out in Dhule in Maharashtra state on Sunday, special inspector general Deven Bharti told AFP.

Four rioters were killed by police firing while 113 policemen were among the injured, he said.

Gen. Bharti said investigations were still under way, but it appeared that a quarrel over a restaurant bill had provoked a mass brawl that left shops smashed, motorbikes burned and glass strewn across the streets.

Previous riots between Hindus and Muslims in Dhule, which has a population of about 400,000 and is located 330 kilometres from Mumbai, broke out in October 2008, leaving 10 dead.

''The restaurant owner was from one community and the customer from the other,'' Gen. Bharti explained, declining to name the parties involved.

''The customer went and took 50 people from his community and assaulted the restaurant owner, and people from the owner's community also gathered and started arsoning and rioting,'' he said.

Gen. Bharti said the police had used sticks, tear gas and plastic bullets before resorting to live ammunition to quell the trouble.

The area was put under a curfew that continued on Monday and was "peaceful and under control", he added.

Hindus make up about 80 per cent of India's population, while some 13 per cent are Muslim.

Sporadic, isolated clashes between the two groups still break out 65 years after the Indian subcontinent was carved into the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and secular yet Hindu-majority India after the end of British rule.

India saw mass riots between Hindus and Muslims 20 years ago - triggered when Hindu zealots demolished a mosque in the town of Ayodhya - that left more than 2000 dead, mostly Muslims.

A decade later another 2000 people died in riots between the two groups in Gujarat state.


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William, Kate and bub to live at Grandma's

The Queen and guests at a garden party at Sandringham last year. Anmer Hall is on the sprawling property. AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNIS Source: AFP

SOON-TO-BE family man Prince William will have plenty of space to house a growing clan based on reports the Queen will give him a sprawling country home.

The 30-year-old heir to the throne and his pregnant bride are in line to receive the heritage-listed Anmer Hall on the sovereign's Sandringham Estate, where the royal family traditionally spends Christmas.

William spent time at the 10-bedroom late-Georgian mansion as a boy, when it was being leased by family friends, the Daily Express newspaper reported.

There is a swimming pool, tennis court, stable block, conservatory and even a bell tower at the property, which is set at the end of a gravel driveway, close to a church and about 3km from Sandringham House.

While a source said the property has been "earmarked" for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, it is unlikely the popular royals will take up residence for some years, with the current lease due to expire in 2017.

Late in 2012 William and Catherine will move into a freshly-renovated apartment at London's Kensington Palace, which will become their official city residence.

The Cambridges currently have a country house in Wales, close by the base where William works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot. They also have a cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace.


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Anger over cattle abuse pictures

A group of cows is shown with their necks painfully outstretched as workers load cattle in Surabaya, East Java. The images have reignited anger over treatment of livestock. Picture: Juni Kriswanto Source: AFP

Three bony cows are transferred by crane from a boat in the eastern Javanese city of Surabaya using a loop of rope around their skulls. Picture: Juni Kriswanto Source: AFP

ANIMAL rights activists on Monday denounced "cruel" treatment of cattle in Indonesia after pictures emerged of cows on their way to market being lifted by a crane from ropes tied to their heads.

It is another blow to the country's reputation for dealing with livestock following international criticism in 2011 when Australian TV aired footage of Indonesian abattoir workers torturing cows shipped from Australia.

In the latest pictures, taken by an AFP photographer, a crane is shown transferring three bony cows from a boat in the eastern Javanese city of Surabaya using a loop of rope around their skulls.

Another photograph shows seven live cows being lifted in a similar fashion in one group, with their necks painfully outstretched.

The boat transporting the cattle had come from Sumbawa island, around 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of Surabaya, but it was not clear whether this was where the cattle had been reared.


The cattle were to be transported to the capital Jakarta, a worker in the operation who declined to give his name said. It was not known which company was transporting the cattle.

While a large number of cattle are transported around Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, it is not normal practice to lift animals up by their heads.

"It is crazy that cruel practices are still happening," Jakarta Animal Aid Network campaigner Benvika told AFP.

Indonesian Veterinary Association chairwoman Wiwiek Bagja said animal welfare laws in effect since 2009 did not work as they did not actually lay out what punishments people should face for animal cruelty.

"In short, Indonesia is very far from implementing and enforcing the law," Bagja said.

In the 2011 scandal, the video of cows dying slow and painful deaths, having their eyes gouged, tails broken and throats hacked, prompted the Australian government to suspend its exports to Indonesia for a month.


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Kim sends birthday gift to every child

Kim Jong-Un has sent North Korean youngsters a gift to help them celebrate his birthday. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has sent one kilo of sweets to every child to mark his birthday on Tuesday, carrying on a tradition instigated by his grandfather, state media reported.

A radio report by the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station, monitored in Seoul on Monday, said Mr Kim had mobilised aircraft to ensure that each child in the country aged 10 or under received the candy gift in time.

Villagers in outlying islands "exploded with joy" at the confectionery airlift, the report said.

The giving of "birthday candy" was started in 1980 by Mr Kim's grandfather and North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-Sung.

Mr Kim's father Kim Jong-Il, who died in December 2011, continued the practise when he took over in 1994.

The birthdays of the two late Kims are both celebrated as national holidays.

Kim Jong-Un was born on January 8, although there is some confusion about the year, with various reports that it was 1982, 1983 or 1984.

"Such gifts to children are aimed to project an image as a benevolent, caring leader as the North seeks to build up a personality cult around the young leader," said Cho Bong-Hyun, an analyst at the IBK Economic Research Institute in Seoul.


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Gang-rape suspects turn on each other

An Indian public prosecutor says there is strong forensic evidence against the five men accused of gang-rape

FIVE men have appeared in court for the first time over the murder and gang-rape of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi amid chaotic scenes that forced the hearing behind closed doors.

A court source said two of the men had offered to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for more lenient sentences in a case that has sparked three weeks of protests and soul-searching about endemic sex crime in India.

The suspects, residents of New Delhi slums aged from 19 to 35, were brought to the court complex from the capital's high-security Tihar jail under high security due to fears for their safety.

"A chargesheet has been provided to the accused and the next hearing will be on January 10," magistrate Namrita Aggarwal told reporters after the brief hearing.

She earlier ordered the hearing to take place behind closed doors after journalists and lawyers packed the tiny courtroom which had chairs for about 30 people but was struggling to accommodate about 150.

Some lawyers staged noisy protests against the suspects being given defence counsels after two Supreme Court advocates stepped forward offering to defend the men in order to ensure a fair trial.

Indian police personnel escort a prisoner transport vehicle after the men accused in a gang rape and murder case were presented in court. Picture: Prakesh Singh

"It has become completely impossible for the courtroom proceedings to proceed," Ms Aggarwal said in an order that forced all journalists and lawyers not connected with the case to vacate the stuffy court room.

The accused, who could face the death penalty if convicted, are charged with rape, murder and kidnap. A sixth accused, who is 17, is to be tried in a separate court for juveniles.

The next hearing has been set for Thursday.

Though gang-rapes are commonplace in India, the case has touched a nerve, leading to three weeks of sweeping introspection on India's attitudes to women, its often insensitive police force and dysfunctional justice system.

It often takes years to bring a case to court, but the fast-tracked legal proceedings are getting under way barely a week after the 23-year-old medical student died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital.

Indian women carry placards as they march on January 2 to mourn the death of a gang rape victim in New Delhi. Picture: AP

She had been out to watch a film with her boyfriend when they were lured onto a bus where the gang are accused of repeatedly raping and violating her with an iron bar, causing horrific internal damage.

The defendants have been named as Ram Singh, a bus driver, his brother Mukesh Singh, gym assistant Vijay Sharma, labourer Akshay Thakur and fruit-seller Pawan Gupta.

A court source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that Mr Thakur and Mr Gupta had asked to become witnesses to the crime and cooperate with prosecutors.

Police have pledged "maximum security" during the hearing at the court amid fears for the defendants' safety. A man was arrested last week as he allegedly tried to plant a crude bomb near the home of one of the men.

Lawyers at the Saket court complex have decided to refuse to defend the accused, ignoring pleas from India's chief justice that the suspects be given a fair trial.

"No person should be hanged without a proper trial," Supreme Court lawyer M.L. Sharma, who has offered to represent the men, said.

Legal experts say the magistrate Ms Aggarwal will likely transfer the case to a higher court for trial.

Outlining their case before the same court in Saket on Saturday, prosecutors said there was DNA evidence to tie the defendants to the crime scene, as well as testimony from the boyfriend who witnessed the assault.

"The blood of the victim tallied with the stains found on the clothes of the accused," said Rajiv Mohan, part of the prosecution team.

There have been widespread calls for the attackers to be hanged, including from the victim's family.
 


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Google chairman arrives in N Korea

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, left, arrives at Pyongyang International Airport in North Korea with Google Ideas think tank director Jared Cohen and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Picture: David Guttenfelder Source: AP

THE Google chairman wants a first-hand look at North Korea's economy and social media in his private visit Monday to the communist nation, his delegation said, despite misgivings in Washington over the timing of the trip.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of one of the world's biggest internet companies, is the highest-profile US executive to visit North Korea - a country with notoriously restrictive online policies - since young leader Kim Jong Un took power a year ago.

His visit has drawn criticism from the US State Department because it comes only weeks after a controversial North Korean rocket launch; it has also prompted speculation about what the businessman hopes to accomplish.

Mr Schmidt arrived on a commercial Air China flight with former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has travelled more than a half-dozen times to North Korea over the past 20 years.

Mr Richardson, speaking ahead of the flight from Beijing, called the trip a private, humanitarian mission.


"This is not a Google trip, but I'm sure he's interested in some of the economic issues there, the social media aspect. So this is why we are teamed up on this," Richardson said without elaborating on what he meant by the "social media aspect."

"We'll meet with North Korean political leaders. We'll meet with North Korean economic leaders, military. We'll visit some universities. We don't control the visit. They will let us know what the schedule is when we get there," he said.

US officials have criticised the four-day trip.

North Korea on December 12 fired a satellite into space using a long-range rocket. Washington condemned the launch, which it considers a test of ballistic missile technology, as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions barring Pyongyang from developing its nuclear and missile programs. The Security Council is deliberating whether to take further action.

"We don't think the timing of the visit is helpful, and they are well aware of our views," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters last week.

The trip was planned well before North Korea announced its plans to send a satellite into space, two people with knowledge of the delegation's plans told The Associated Press. AP first reported the group's plans last Thursday.

Mr Schmidt, a staunch proponent of internet connectivity and openness, is expected to make a donation during the visit, while Mr Richardson will try to discuss the detainment of a US citizen jailed in Pyongyang, members of the delegation told AP. They asked not to be named, saying the trip was a private visit.

"We're going to try to inquire the status, see if we can see him, possibly lay the groundwork for him coming home," Mr Richardson said of the US citizen. "I heard from his son who lives in Washington state, who asked me to bring him back. I doubt we can do it on this trip."

The visit comes just days after Mr Kim, who took power following the December 17, 2011, death of his father, Kim Jong Il, laid out a series of policy goals for North Korea in a lengthy New Year's speech. He cited expanding science and technology as a means to improving the country's economy as a key goal for 2013.

North Korea's economy has languished for decades, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which since the mid-1940s had provided the country with an economic safety net. North Korea, which has very little arable land, has relied on outside help to feed its people since a famine in the 1990s.

In recent years, North Korea has aimed to modernise its farms and digitise its factories. Farmers told the AP that management policies were revamped to encourage production by providing workers with incentives.

Computer and cellphone use is gaining ground in North Korea's larger cities.

However, most North Koreans only have access to a domestic intranet system, not the world wide web. For North Koreans, internet use is still strictly regulated and allowed only with approval.

Mr Schmidt, who oversaw Google's expansion into a global internet giant, speaks frequently about the importance of providing people around the world with Internet access and technology.

Google now has offices in more than 40 countries, including all three of North Korea's neighbors: Russia, South Korea and China, another country criticised for systematic internet censorship.

Accompanying Mr Schmidt is Jared Cohen, a former US State Department policy and planning adviser who heads Google's New York-based think tank. The two collaborated on a book about the internet's role in shaping society called The New Digital Age that comes out in April.

Also leading the delegation is Kun "Tony" Namkung, a Korea expert who has made frequent trips to North Korea over the past 25 years.


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Man attacked for being a redhead

A 23-year-old man was king hit in an unprovoked attack in Birmingham, that left him with a broken jaw, The Sun reports.

ENGLISH police have released CCTV footage of a man violently attacked outside a fast food shop, apparently just for having red hair.

The 23-year-old man was king hit in an unprovoked attack, that left him with a broken jaw, the Sun reports.

The man, who prefers to remain unidentified out of fear for his safety, was out celebrating his birthday with his girlfriend in the centre of Birmingham city when he suffered the injuries, which required two metal plates be inserted to hold his skull together. "I suffered a fractured jaw in one place and it had snapped in half at the front," he told the Sun.

" I lost a few teeth as well.

"I needed two metal plates put in the front.

The attacker allegedly abused the man for having red hair before knocking him out with a king hit.

"I couldn't eat for three months because it got an infection and I was living on a diet of mash potato and coleslaw - I lost two stones (12kg) in twelve weeks.

"My jaw is now really sensitive and it even hurts when people hug me.

"I went through a depressed stage after the attack. I just don't understand why someone would do that.

The attacker, he claims, called him a "ginger pr**k" moments before the attack last May.

"You can see in the video he's appears to be trained to box. He knew what he was doing," the victim says.

"I just hope someone recognises him and can help catch him."

Still images were released by police at the time but despite enquiries they are no closer to finding the perpetrator, prompting the decision to release the CCTV footage.

Police have released CCTV footage of the attack in hopes of apprehending the attacker.

Detective Constable Louise Corcoran said: "This was a serious unprovoked assault which left an innocent man knocked out cold and requiring surgery.

"The offender walked into the shop and made an offensive comment to him before hitting him in the face.

"It's had a lasting effect on the victim, who has been left physically and emotionally scarred by the assault.

"We need to catch the person responsible and ensure justice is done."
 


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Son who 'failed to learn Koran' killed

Sara Ege, 33, killed her seven-year-old son Yaseen for failing to memorise the Koran. Picture: Welsh News Source: Supplied

A MOTHER convicted of beating her seven-year-old son to death for failing to learn the Koran by heart has been jailed in Britain for a minimum of 17 years.

Sara Ege, a 33-year-old mathematics graduate from India, battered her son Yaseen with a stick in July 2010 when he failed to memorise Islamic texts and burned his body to hide the evidence, Cardiff Crown Court in Wales heard during the trial.

Ege collapsed as she was sentenced on Monday and was led sobbing from the dock.

"Yaseen was subjected to prolonged cruelty," Judge Wyn Williams told her as he passed sentence.

"I am satisfied that, over three months, you beat him on a number of occasions."

The judge said that until the final three months of Yaseen's life Ege had been "a very good mother" in many respects. He also acknowledged that she had suffered prolonged periods of depression.

Yaseen was initially believed to have been killed in a fire at the family home in Pontcanna, Cardiff, but tests later revealed he was dead before the blaze began.

A jury found Ege guilty last month of murder and perverting the course of justice.

She had confessed to the murder but later retracted the confession, saying her husband and his family had forced her into it.

Her husband, Yousef Ege, 38, was cleared in December of failing to prevent the death.

The judge said Yaseen had suffered "serious abdominal injuries" on the day he was killed, when Ege had kept the seven-year-old at home to study the Koran.

"On that day Yaseen must have failed in some way because I am satisfied that it was that failure which was the trigger for the beating," he said.

"That is what you told the police in the course of your confession in July 2010 and I see no reason to doubt what you then said was true."

He added: "There can be no doubt that you set fire to his body in an attempt to evade the consequences of what you had done."

Ege had told police she could not stop herself beating her son and had repeatedly pledged to God before Yaseen's death that she would not do it again, but her good intentions only lasted a few days.

The court heard she was sent to a psychiatric unit for several months after her son's death. She claimed several times to have been motivated by voices from the devil.


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