health: Lincoln Tribune

الخميس، 29 مارس 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Tibetan protester dies after setting himself on fire in New Delhi
Thailand: 7 killed, 12 injured when pickup truck plunges into canal
U.S. exports to China reach historic $103.9 billion in 2011
More than 400 Afghan women jailed for ‘moral crimes’
UK PM Cameron chairs crisis meeting as fuel strike looms

Tibetan protester dies after setting himself on fire in New Delhi

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 06:08 PM PDT

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BNO NEWS) -- A Tibetan man died on early Wednesday morning after setting himself on fire earlier this week in New Delhi to protest against Chinese rule in Tibet, activists and officials said. He is the latest Tibetan to self-immolate in a series of similar protests.

Jamphel Yeshi, 27, from the Kham Tawu region in Tibet, set himself on fire on Monday afternoon in front of hundreds of Tibetans who had converged in New Delhi to protest against Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to India. He suffered 98 percent burns to his body, and doctors had given him no chance of survival.

According to the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Yeshi was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday. A senior doctor at New Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, where Yeshi had been taken to receive treatment, said the protester suffered a cardiac arrest related to the self-immolation

"Martyr Jamphel Yeshi's sacrifice will be written in golden letters in the annals of our freedom struggle," said TYC Vice President Dhondup Lhadar, who was by Yeshi's side when he passed away. "He will live on to inspire and encourage the future generations of Tibetans. The brilliant radiance of his fire will dispel the darkness of China's illegal occupation of Tibet and regenerate the spirit of Tibetan independence."

Yeshi had been living in the old camp of Majnu Ka Tila in Delhi for the past two years after escaping Tibet to India in 2006 to study at the Tibetan Transit School in Dharamsala, which has been the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet in 1960.

Lhadar said the body of Yeshi, who had actively participated in many political activities in recent years, will be carried to the Tibetan Government-in-exile's headquarters in Dharamsala for a funeral. "Pawo Jamphel Yeshi's self-immolation marks a milestone in our freedom struggle where Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet stand ever united in our fights against the Chinese occupying forces," he said.

Since March 2011, a total of 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire as part of protests taking place in Tibet, leading to the arrests of hundreds of Tibetans by Chinese security forces. As a result of the unrest, Chinese authorities have stepped up security in the region.

Thailand: 7 killed, 12 injured when pickup truck plunges into canal

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:43 PM PDT

BANGKOK, THAILAND (BNO NEWS) -- Seven people were killed on Wednesday morning when an overloaded pickup truck plunged into a canal in central Thailand, a local newspaper reported on Thursday. A dozen others were injured.

The accident occurred on Wednesday morning when the pickup truck skidded off the road and plunged into about 4 meters (13.1 feet) of water in an irrigation canal in the Ban Phraek district of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, according to the Bangkok Post.

The newspaper said the truck was heading for Lop Buri province from Ang Thong on the Ban Phraek - Lop Buri road, which runs parallel to the irrigation canal near the Khlong Nong Maew watergate in Ban Phraek district's tambon Song Hong. The vehicle was carrying 19 people.

Police confirmed seven people who were inside the truck's cabin were killed, while the twelve people riding in the back of the truck were injured and taken to area hospitals. The cause of the deadly accident was not immediately known, but police are investigating the incident.

U.S. exports to China reach historic $103.9 billion in 2011

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:28 PM PDT

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) on Wednesday released its annual report on U.S. State Exports to China for 2011, showing that it surpassed $100 billion for the first time in history.

The announcement puts China as the third-largest export market for the United States, ranking only behind neighbors Canada and Mexico with whom the United States has a regional free-trade agreement. USCBC Vice President Erin Ennis underlined that exports to China are "vital to America's economic health and create good jobs for American workers."

Between 2000 and 2011, total U.S. exports to China rose 542 percent, from $16.2 billion in 2000 to a record-breaking $103.9 billion in 2011. The figures released on Wednesday also show that U.S. exports to China recovered faster after the recession than exports to anywhere else in the world.

"Clearly, China is a market that is important to U.S. companies' bottom lines, even in tough economic times," Ennis added, stating that from 2000 to 2011, exports increased by nearly $88 billion to China, which exceeded the increase to every other market for U.S. goods and farm products, with the exception of Canada.

"American companies from every corner of the nation are exporting high-value computers, electronics, agricultural products, chemicals, transportation equipment, and machinery to an expanding marketplace in China," Ennis said.

U.S. exports to Canada rose $102 billion over the same period, while US exports to Mexico rose $86 billion. Brazil was a distant fourth with just a $28 billion increase in purchases of U.S. products.

More than 400 Afghan women jailed for ‘moral crimes’

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 01:36 PM PDT

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Hundreds of women are currently imprisoned in Afghanistan for so-called 'moral crimes', including running away from forced marriages and extra-marital sex charges after being raped, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday.

The 120-page report is based on 58 interviews conducted in three prisons and three juvenile detention facilities with women and girls accused of moral crimes. The human rights organization estimates that more than 400 women, nearly all girls in juvenile detention and about half of women in prisons, were arrested for moral crimes.

"It is shocking that 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "No one should be locked up for fleeing a dangerous situation even if it's at home. President Karzai and Afghanistan's allies should act decisively to end this abusive and discriminatory practice."

Moral crimes usually involve flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence by abusive husbands and relatives, the human rights group said. Some women and girls have been convicted of zina, sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution. Some of the victims were arrested after they went to police in hopes of getting help.

Women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch described abuses including forced and underage marriage, beatings, stabbings, burnings, rapes, forced prostitution, kidnapping, and murder threats. Virtually none of the cases have led even to an investigation of the abuse, let alone prosecution or punishment.

Most women accused of moral crimes are arrested solely on a complaint of a husband or relative, and prosecutors usually ignore evidence that supports their assertions of innocence. Judges often convict solely on the basis of 'confessions' given in the absence of lawyers and 'signed' without having been read to women who cannot read or write.

Police, prosecutors, and judges also ignore evidence of abuse against accused women, despite the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women which makes violence against women a criminal offense. "Courts send women to prison for dubious 'crimes' while the real criminals - their abusers - walk free," Roth said. "Even the most horrific abuses suffered by women seem to elicit nothing more than a shrug from prosecutors, despite laws criminalizing violence against women."

The report said that Karzai's government has failed to fulfill its obligations and called on the U.S. and other donor countries to press Karzai to end the wrongful imprisonment of women who are victims rather than criminals. "It is long past time for Afghanistan to act on its promises to overhaul laws that make Afghan women second-class citizens," Roth said. "Laws that force women to endure abuse by denying them the right to divorce are not only outdated but cruel."

Despite the fall of the Taliban more than a decade ago, violence and abuse of women continues to be a serious problem in Afghanistan. Human rights activists have repeatedly criticized Afghan authorities for their failure to protect women, and the issue was highlighted again by three recent cases.

In January, a 30-year-old woman from Kunduz province was choked to death by her husband and mother-in-law after she gave birth to the couple's third girl late last year. "She was told by her husband that if she delivered another baby girl, he would kill her," a police spokesman said at the time. The mother-in-law was arrested, but the husband was able to escape.

In December 2011, police in northern Afghanistan rescued a 15-year-old girl who had been locked up in a toilet for about half a year and was frequently beaten for refusing to have sex with men brought home by her parents-in-law. The young victim had earlier married a 30-year-old man, a common practice in a country where some girls are being married as young as nine-years-old.

Prior to that, the Afghan government received a storm of criticism when a 21-year-old woman, identified only as Gulnaz, was arrested on charges of adultery when she reported that she had been raped by her cousin's husband in 2009. She initially did not report the sexual assault but was forced to do so after showing signs of pregnancy.

Refusing to marry her alleged attacker to have the case dropped, Gulnaz was sentenced to two years in prison on the charge of having sex outside of marriage because prosecutors argued they could not determine whether they had sex voluntarily outside of marriage or if she was raped.

The initial sentence was later increased to twelve years in prison when Gulnaz appealed her conviction. Another appeal saw her sentence being reduced to three years imprisonment, but she received a pardon from President Hamid Karzai when the issue gained international attention.

UK PM Cameron chairs crisis meeting as fuel strike looms

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 12:28 PM PDT

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee, COBRA, to prepare for a strike by fuel tank drivers which could effectively paralyze the country's transport system.

"The meeting re-iterated that this is an industrial dispute and that there is no justification for a strike," a Downing Street spokesman said following the COBRA meeting. "Unite [union] and employers need to work together to reach an agreement that will avert the irresponsible industrial action that threatens the nation with economic and social disruption."

About 2,000 fuel truckers have voted for a strike, although strike dates have not been set yet. Britain's biggest union, Unite, said the strike ballot is about safety standards and terms and conditions, and not about pay. The union has claimed the industry is too 'fragmented' and demands a 'national forum' which would hold the employers to account over conditions.

A strike by the fuel tank drivers would affect seven companies which supply approximately 90 percent of Britain's 8,706 petrol stations and the country's airports, according to Unite, which warned that petrol stocks could run out within 48 hours after a strike begins.

"No one wants a strike and no date has been set for one, however, the Government does have to prepare for the possibility that there will be a strike," the Downing Street spokesman said, adding that the government aims to minimize disruption to the public. "The Government has learnt lessons from the past and stands ready to act to manage the impact of any strike, in particular, to our emergency and essential services."

As a result of the looming fuel strike, the British government is considering to deploy military personnel to take the place of striking drivers behind the wheel of commercial tankers. Those service members would need an eight-day training course, and the BBC reported on Wednesday that more than 80 drivers from the Royal Air Force have already begun initial training.

"COBRA discussed the range of contingency plans that the Government has been preparing in the event of a strike, aimed at getting supplies through to emergency and essential services and to build a level of resilience in the system for businesses and motorists," the Downing Street spokesman said following the meeting. "It also looked to further measures to strengthen the resilience of the fuel supply including by increasing the potential number of military drivers and by maximizing the levels of fuel storage capacity outside of depots."

Panic buying was reported across the country on Wednesday, with some petrol stations already reporting shortages as a result of the sudden jump in sales. Panic buying escalated after the government suggested that people should stock up on fuel as a 'precaution', and comments by Cabinet Secretary Francis Maude drew criticism from firefighters after he told people to store extra fuel in their garage.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said Maude's advice would 'massively increase' fire and explosion risk and called on the official to withdraw his comments. "This is not sensible advice and people should be discouraged from doing so," said FBU general secretary Matt Wrack. "The general public does not properly understand the fire and explosion risk of storing fuel even if it was done sensibly."

Wrack said those without garages may be tempted to store fuel in their homes, which would be 'disastrous' in the event of a fire in the house or a neighboring property. "There is a real danger the public will start storing fuel in inappropriate ways if the Government is encouraging panic buying and storage," he said. "This advice is wrong and must be withdrawn."

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, Unite welcomed the possibility of talks through ACAS in a bid to resolve the fuel tank drivers dispute. "We welcome the prospect of exploratory talks and await a formal invitation from Acas," Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said. "We trust that the employers, and the supply chain, including oil majors, will engage with us and that the government will do everything in their power to help us avoid industrial action."

In 2000, hauliers and farmers protesting against high fuel taxes brought much of the country's transport system to a standstill when they blockaded oil refineries and petrol distribution centers.

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الخميس، 29 مارس 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Lincoln Tribune

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