20 Jan, 2010, Vietnam

A court in Vietnam has convicted four activists that includes prominent human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, of trying to overthrow the Communist government. The four men had received sentenced of up to 16 years on charges of subversion. Dinh was sentenced to five years, whereas the internet entrepreneur, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc has received the longest term.

The case has drawn strong criticism from the rights groups abroad, who see it as a sign of the increasing clampdown on democracy and freedom of expression. It has been a long time since the Communist regime last tried anybody on subversion charges, considered one of the most serious offences under Vietnam’s criminal code. The four accused were arrested in June and were initially charged with spreading anti-government propaganda. But early last month, the state prosecutors had decided to bring more serious charges against them.

After a day-long trial, all the four- Le Cong Dinh, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Nguyen Tien Trung and Le Thang Long were convicted of activities aimed at subverting the people’s administration. Thuc received a 16-year sentence, Trung seven years, while Dinh and Long were sentenced to five years each. Three of the four could have been sentenced to the death penalty.

20 Jan, 2010, America

The US will be sending another 4,000 sailors and marines to Haiti for earthquake relief effort, diverting them from deployments in the Gulf and Africa. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group would significantly increase the ability to quickly provide aid. This move will increase the number of US troops involved to about 16,000.

Haitian officials said that the death toll from the quake is likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000, and that 75,000 bodies had already been buried in mass graves. And an estimated 1.5 million are homeless. More than 120 people altogether have been rescued by international teams. The US Second Fleet announced that the three-ship USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), which left port in Virginia on Monday for its regular deployment, had been told to go to Haiti. The group will pick up the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) from North Carolina en route, making up a force of 2,000 sailors and 2,000 marines.

The first group of 2,000 marines on board vessels off Haiti’s coast went ashore on Tuesday to assist the relief effort. They have since landed heavy equipment, such as bulldozers, diggers and trucks, and other supplies near the epicenter of last week’s earthquake.

19 Jan, 2010, JOS, Nigeria

More than 400 Nigerians are killed and many got injured clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in the central city of Jos. The governor of Plateau state sent extra security forces to the state capital so as to prevent a repetition of clashes in November 2008, where hundreds of the residents were killed in the country’s worst sectarian fighting in years.

This week’s violence erupted after the argument between Muslim and Christian neighbors over the rebuilding of homes that were destroyed in the 2008 clashes. The fighting is unlikely to have a big impact on the sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy. Its oil industry is in the south and its banking sector mainly in the commercial hub Lagos. Police said that calm had been restored in most neighborhoods in Jos but residents claim to hear sporadic gunfire and see smoke from the burning houses and churches.

The Vice-President, Good luck Jonathan ordered the troops and top security chiefs to Jos to restore calm, in his first use of executive power since President Umaru Yar’Adua left Nigeria for treatment at an overseas hospital nearly two months ago. A Red Cross spokesman said that around 2,000 residents had left their homes and taken shelter at a nearby College. Some were injured with machete and gunshot wounds.

20 Jan, 2010, Peshawar, Pakistan

Politicians with three others have been injured in the bomb blast in Peshawar in north-west Pakistan. Aurangzeb Khan, the Awami National Party’s member that governs the North-West Frontier Province was seriously hurt. His vehicle was destroyed in the blast that took place not far from his residence in the capital of North-West Frontier Province. Khan was in stable condition at hospital, said Sahibzada Anis, Peshawar’s top civil administrator. Mr. Khan is opposed to the Taliban and supports the action against them in north-western Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

There have been many attacks in this area. A bomb at the volleyball match on 1 January killed around 100 people while another in Peshawar was in October that killed 120. More than 600 people have died in militant attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of October, when the Pakistan army’s launched an assault against the Taliban. Suicide bombings and other attacks have killed dozens of party leaders, political activists and ANP lawmakers in recent months.

Mr. Khan was being driven along a road in Peshawar when the bomb exploded. Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, Peshawar’s top administrative official has said that Mr. Khan had been the target of this attack. Mr. Khan’s brother, Aalamzeb Khan was also killed in a bomb blast few months ago in Peshawar.

21 Jan, 2010, America

The US president, Barack Obama indicated that he is willing to make some concessions so as to pass a bill to reform the healthcare after the Republican victory in a senate election in Massachusetts. The victory of Scott Brown removed the Democratic Party’s supermajority of 60 senate seats that would have allowed them to overcome the procedural hurdles which Republicans may use to scupper any bill.

Obama called the senators from both sides of the political divide to agree on the basic issues in the healthcare plan. Brown has promised to use his position as the 41st Republican vote so as to kill off the healthcare changes pushed forward by Obama, the initial versions on which have been narrowly passed in votes in the senate and the House of Representatives. The various versions must be reconciled in vote in every chamber of congress before being signed off by Obama.

Brown has replaced Edward Kennedy, the Democrat who held the Massachusetts seat for almost 47 years who died in August due to brain cancer. Paul Kirk, the Democrat was appointed by the state’s governor in September so as to occupy Kennedy’s seat and will remain in the senate until Brown gets sworn in.

17 Jan, 2010, Xinhua, PORT-AU-PRINCE, china

On Sunday the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon arrived in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Caribbean nation Haiti that which was destroyed by a Tuesday quake that registered 7.3 on the Richter scale. Ban had come to see the first hand effects of the catastrophe so as to show the solidarity to Haiti’s citizens and to the UN’s workers, as well as to help boost the speed of aid distribution in the nation.

He began the visit with an inspection of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince that had collapsed in the quake killing both Hedi Annabi, the UN’s special representative in Haiti, and his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa alongside dozens of UN staff. Annabi, a Tunisian who led the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti was found dead on Saturday by the Chinese rescue workers in the ruins of the building.

Ban also met the quake survivors telling them that the rescue teams and international aid are being accelerated. During the conference, Haiti’s Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive estimated that around 100,000 people had died due to the quake and that more than 90 percent of the nation’s buildings are damaged.

At a separate Sunday meeting with Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Ban proposed a special UN-backed European Union mission to Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with former Spanish colony the Dominican Republic. The UN is evaluating the opening of a humanitarian corridor linking the Dominican Republic and Haiti so as to boost the number of sources of aid.

18 Jan, 2010, Africa

Thirty four Islamic scholars in Mauritania signed a fatwa or a religious opinion to ban the practice of female genital mutilation. The fatwa signed in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott states that the procedure has been proven to be harmful either at the time or subsequently.

The Female genital mutilation has been recognized all over the world as a violation of the human rights of the girls and women. But the message has been slow to filter down in parts of east, north and West Africa where the practice is still widespread. The Health campaigners estimate that more than 70 percent of Mauritanian girls undergo the partial or total removal of their external genitalia for non-medical reasons.

The WHO-World Health Organization says that there are no health benefits and many potentially damaging consequences, from severe pain and blood loss to recurrent infections, infertility and an increased risk of complications in childbirth. The Mutilations are carried out for a mix of cultural and social reasons, and many believe the practice has Islamic religious support as well. The collective fatwa will greatly reduce the female genital mutilation in Mauritania as it would remove the religious mask that is hidden behind the practice. Now a publicity campaign will now be needed if the fatwa’s message is to be spread into outlying areas where genital mutilation is most common.

17 Jan, 2010, Kolkota, India

Jyoti Basu, the former CM of west Bengal who strode the political landscape of nation like a colossus passed away on Sunday afternoon in Kolkata hospital. Basu had missed to be the prime minister in year 1996 due to the CPM’s ideological rigidity that was in charge of West Bengal for a record 23 years and, in the whole process he became the longest-serving chief minister of any state.
Shortly after his death announcement, Basu’s body was first taken to son Chainman’s Salt Lake residence from the hospital. Then it was taken to a private mortuary, Peace Haven, where it will be kept till Tuesday so that the national and international political leaders’ common people and CPIM supporters can pay their final homage to the departed communist legend.

Along with his senior colleagues EMS Namboodiripad and HS Surjeet, basu scripted his party’s political pragmatism in year 1989 and later 1996 by aiding the formation of two non-Congress coalitions at the Centre. In 2004, Basu played a key role in getting the CPM and other Left parties back a government led by the Congress at the Centre. In four years of roller coaster association with the CPM, the Congress used to look up to Basu to straighten things up.