World News Review

Renegade has landed: Obama gets down to business at No.10 breakfast with Brown

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:30:07 +0000

President Barack Obama got straight down to business today after flying in to Britain for the G20 summit of world leaders.

Aussie carers threatened to cut off boy’s penis, court hears

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:20:16 +0000

Aussie carers threatened to cut off boy’s penis, court hears

New 4:54PM Wednesday Apr 01, 2009

Two childcare workers have been handed suspended jail terms for holding a knife to a four-year-old boy and threatening to cut off his penis.

The mother and daughter admitted making the threats to “shock” the boy so he’d stop exposing himself at the Perth daycare centre where they worked, Armadale Magistrates Court was told.

Sandra Kaye Ingraham, 60, and her daughter Kelly Sandra Ingraham, 28, of the southeastern Perth suburb of Kelmscott, were both accused of having held a kitchen knife to the four-year-old and threatening to “chop” or “cut” off his penis on three different occasions.

Outside the court, the boy’s grandmother told reporters that since the assaults, the boy had tried to harm himself a number of times and she’d been forced to hide her kitchen knives.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Robert Clements told the court both of the accused had held a large kitchen knife 30cm away as they threatened the boy.

“I’ll chop your willy off”, “I’ll chop it off” and “I’ll cut it off” were among the threats made to the four-year-old, Sgt Clements said.

The incidents occurred between January and April last year.

The boy’s grandmother said she now “put all my knives up on the top shelf so he can’t touch them anymore”.

“I’ve got a couple of butter knives in the drawer which now and again he might try and take one of them and put it on his arm a little bit, but all my other big knives are all gone.

“It hasn’t happened for maybe five, six, seven weeks but with the court today I think he sensed something was going on and he’s gone into the drawer and taken a butter knife out and tried to cut himself.”

Magistrate Brian Glustein told the pair they had assaulted a child whose welfare had been placed in their hands.

“Each assault was constituted by responsible ladies holding a knife to the boy,” Mr Glustein said.

The assaults were serious despite the pair’s lawyers describing them as “mid-range” in severity, Mr Glustein said.

In sentencing, he said prison terms were a last resort and he took the fact the pair had no prior convictions, their guilty pleas and the fact they were unlikely to offend similarly again, into consideration.

“It is my view that regarding the seriousness the only appropriate sentences are terms of imprisonment.”

The women, between them, were initially charged with four counts of aggravated assault but the charges were amended when they changed their pleas from not guilty on the eve of a trial.

The mother pleaded guilty two counts of unlawful assault while her daughter pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful assault.

The magistrate sentenced both women to nine months on each of the charges, wholly suspended for 15 months, with Sandra Ingraham’s sentences to be served concurrently.

The pair covered their faces as they walked from court.

- AAP

The Story Behind the 'Stans

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:50:05 +0000

Answer: In Persian, the suffix “stan” means “place of.” In Russian — remembering that Kazakhstan borders Russia, and five ’stans used to be part of the Soviet Union — the word “stan” means “settlement.” So we have seven countries in Central Asia that share the “stan” suffix:

Afghanistan

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Pakistan

Tajikistan

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

The “stan,” however, is where the similarities end. Because of geographical proximity, the countries share some ethnic groups (there are more than 100 different ethnic groups in the seven ‘Stans), but the languages are unique and, the closer you get to Russia, the more Russian Orthodox adherents you’ll find in a swath that’s solidly Muslim in the southern ‘Stans.

There are many other uses of the “stan” suffix around the globe, as well. Northern Iraq is often referred to as Kurdistan, or place of Kurds. At the southern tip of Russia in the Caucasus region is Dagestan, a mostly Muslim republic. Waziristan is the rocky, tribal region in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden has been rumored to be hiding out. And the ‘Stans go on and on…

London Locks Down in Preparation for G-20

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:00:09 +0000

I’ve covered a lot of protests over the years, gotten hit with pepper spray, bruised, bumped and jostled, and even interviewed naked protesters (who were taking the occasion of China’s occupation of Tibet to demand that the Olympic Games return to their glorious in-the-buff past). And protests for world gatherings ranging from G-8 to IMF and World Bank meetings are pretty predictable: anti-globalization, anti-capitalist, environmentalist, and anarchist protesters whose actions range from dressing in silly outfits to hurling Molotov cocktails at riot police.

But this year, as leaders of the world’s top 20 economies prepare to meet this week in London, the dynamic has become, shall we say, more inclusive. Expect to see many new protesters out on the streets who may have brushed off the usual agitators as nutbars in the past, but are now hearing an anti-government, anti-banking message that resonates with those who have fallen on tough times. Take the message being put forth on the website of G-20 Meltdown:

Capitalism has been heating up our world for years, melting the icecaps, burning up the rainforests, pushing the planet to tipping point. Now we’re going to put the heat on them. At the London Summit , the G20 ministers are trying to get away with the biggest April Fools trick of all time. Their tax-dodging, bonus-guzzling, pension-pinching, unregulated free market world’s in meltdown, and those fools think we’re going to bail them out. They’ve gotta be joking!
We can’t pay, we won’t pay and we are taking to the streets.”

As protesters publicly plan to storm the Bank of England on April 1 at noon, storefronts are being boarded up and security is going into high alert. This includes, reports the Daily Mail, the arrests of five people suspected of being part of a plot to bomb the G-20 summit.

Caving to community pressure

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:11:05 +0000

Should officials have invited Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers to speak to a student group at Naperville North High School next month?

Yacht Murder Briton’s Body Is Discovered

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:50:19 +0000

9:40pm UK, Monday March 30, 2009

Fishermen in Thailand have found the body of British yachtsman Malcolm Robertson who was murdered as he sailed with his wife, the Foreign Office has said.

Malcolm and Linda Robertson

Three Burmese migrants have been accused of slitting the throat of 64-year-old Malcolm Robertson and throwing his body overboard when they raided his yacht.

He was sailing with wife Linda off the Andaman sea coast off Thailand.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that a body discovered in the water has been confirmed as that of businessman Mr Robertson, from Hastings, East Sussex.

Reports in Thailand said his body was recovered by fishermen about 10 nautical miles north of Satun’s Lipeh Island.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “A body recovered by the Thai authorities today has been identified as Mr Robertson.

“Our thoughts are with Mrs Robertson and her family at this difficult time.

Linda Robertson helped back on to land after her ordeal

“The embassy team with them is providing consular support.”

The discovery ends a week of anxiety for Mr Robertson’s family, who had to endure several false reports of his body being found.

Three migrant workers from neighbouring Burma who were arrested on a raft about half a mile from the couple’s 44ft yacht were charged with kidnap, assault and theft.

But Thai authorities said they could not bring a murder charge until they found Mr Robertson’s body.

He owned a chain of coffee shops in and around his home town of Hastings and St Leonards but passed the running of the business to his children in recent years and was semi-retired.

He was fulfilling a lifelong dream by spending the winter months sailing around warmer climes in his yacht, named Mr Bean, with his wife. They were both qualified yacht masters who had sailed round the world.

Burmese migrants arrested

The couple, who were married for 25 years, each had two children from previous relationships, and had seven grandchildren between them.

All four children went to Thailand to offer their support to Mrs Robertson, who escaped with minor injuries despite an ordeal on the yacht lasting several hours during which she was tied up naked and at one point had to walk through her husband’s blood.

Mrs Robertson’s brother, John Clee, 63, from Battle, East Sussex, said the family felt a sense of “relief”.

He said: “I had a text message from Linda saying how he was identified and how she was now feeling totally drained.

“This sorts a lot of things out. We know that charges of murder can now be laid against those responsible.

“Not only that, but my sister can also bring home her husband and hopefully bring some closure to this whole thing.”

Stereophonics ‘break Stones pie rules’

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:40:35 +0000

Rex Features

Former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable has revealed that he broke a golden rule from the Rolling Stones when his band supported them on tour.

Stones singer Mick Jagger reportedly told the group that they must “never, ever, take the shepherd’s pie unless Keith Richards’ broken the crust first”, The Sun reports.

In his new autobiography Demons And Cocktails, Cable said: “We were backstage when I saw the pie.

“Like an excited ten-year-old at Christmas and I whacked several hefty spoonfuls on to my plate.”

He added: “Luckily, when I got to catering I knew the waitress. She took it back and shook her head slowly and muttered: ‘Don’t you know the rules?’

“But she soon went to work on it and relaid the potato topping making it as good as new, even if it was a little thinner. Major world disaster averted.”

Cable was fired by the Stereophonics in 2003 and replaced by Argentinian drummer Javier Weyler.

Thousands of Cane Toads Killed in “Toad Day Out”

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:30:06 +0000

At first glance, one might think that killing thousands of toads, and being gleeful about it, might be a bad thing. But in fact these are poisonous cane toads, which were introduced into Australia in 1935, and threaten many native species.

Read full story from snafu-ed.blogspot.com

INDONESIAN DAM BREAK LEAVES AT LEAST 58 DEAD

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:30:16 +0000

CIRENDEU, Indonesia — Survivors say when the dam gave way in the middle of the night, water surged through their neighborhood outside Jakarta like a tsunami, demolishing hundreds of houses, tossing cars and uprooting trees. At least 58 people were killed and dozens remained missing Friday.

Michelle Obama to deliver commencement address at UC Merced

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:30:14 +0000

This just in from the White House: First lady Michelle Obama to deliver the commencement address this spring at UC Merced. She’ll be speaking to the school’s first full senior class. The FLOTUS (first…