health: Lincoln Tribune

الاثنين، 10 أكتوبر 2011

Lincoln Tribune

Chinese cargo ships attacked on the Mekong River, 11 killed
Iranian activist lashed 74 times for ‘insult’ to President Ahmadinejad
13 Tibetans arrested during anti-China protests in India
Japan starts thyroid checkups for Fukushima children
Scores killed in clashes between Egyptian Coptics and security forces

Chinese cargo ships attacked on the Mekong River, 11 killed

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 08:34 PM PDT

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- Eleven people were killed on Wednesday when two Chinese cargo ships were attacked in the Golden Triangle of the Mekong River, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on early Monday.

The attack happened on Wednesday when the 'Hua Ping' cargo ship and the 'Yu Xing 8' cargo ship were attacked in the Mekong River's Golden Triange, which is an area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, China and Burma (Myanmar) come together.

The Ministry said the Hua Ping was carrying six Chinese crew members of whom five were killed and one remains missing. The Yu Xing 8 was carrying seven Chinese crew members of whom six were killed while one is also missing.

The Chinese government provided no details about the attack, but a statement said it had asked the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok and the Chinese Consulate-General in Chiang Mai to launch an immediate investigation. It also asked countries in the region to take effective measures to improve the protection of Chinese ships on the Mekong River.

Iranian activist lashed 74 times for ‘insult’ to President Ahmadinejad

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 08:06 PM PDT

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) -- An Iranian student activist was lashed 74 times on Sunday for insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The Guardian newspaper reported.

Peyman Aref, a student of political science at Tehran University, was lashed before being released from Tehran's Evin prison on Sunday. The lashing was carried out in the presence of Aref's wife and officials from Iran's judiciary.

Aref was sentenced in March 2010 to a year in jail after being found guilty of propaganda against the regime for speaking to foreign media. He also received the lashing sentence for writing an "insulting" letter to Ahmadinejad and was prohibited for life from working as a journalist, according to the news report.

Speaking to the website Rahesabz, Aref said after his release: "Whenever Ahmadinejad goes to New York [for UN general assembly], he boasts that Iran is the world's freest country but I was brutally flogged in my country for insulting him." He added: "[My crime] was that I wrote an open letter to Ahmadinejad and reminded him of what he did to the universities."

In the letter to the president during his 2009 election campaign, Aref attacked Ahmadinejad for his crackdown on politically active students. Authorities apparently were offended after Aref refused to begin his letter with the formal greeting "Salam" as a sign of protest.

The lashing incident comes only a few weeks after Somayeh Tohidlou, a female Iranian blogger and campaigner for former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, was sentenced to a "symbolic" lashing for the same crime.

13 Tibetans arrested during anti-China protests in India

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 04:27 PM PDT

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- At least 13 Tibetan students were arrested on Sunday during a protest outside the Chinese embassy in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on early Monday.

The protesters were students from the northern city of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, and organized the rally to demand independence for Tibet after two monks set themselves on fire in China this week. According to officials, thirteen Tibetan students, including seven girls, were detained when they tried to enter the Chinese embassy.

On Friday, two former Tibetan Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in China's southwestern province of Sichuan. Free Tibet, a group campaigning for an end to the 'Chinese occupation' of Tibet, identified them as 19-year-old Choepel and 18-year-old Khayang.

At least five Tibetans in Ngaba town have set themselves on fire within the past two weeks. The monks reportedly waved the banned Tibetan flag, called for religious freedom and shouted "long live the Dalai Lama" before they self-immolated.

On October 3, Kalsang Wangchuk, a young monk believed to be 17 or 18 years old from Kirti Monastery, also set himself alight near the vegetable market in Ngaba Town. And on September 26, two young monks, also from Kirti monastery, self-immolated as well. One of them was the brother of Phuntsog, a 21-year old monk who also died after setting himself on fire in March.

The Dalai Lama has resided in the Indian city of Dharamsala, which is now the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, since 1960 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet. Dharamsala is sometimes also referred to as 'Little Lhasa', referring to the capital of Tibet.

Japan starts thyroid checkups for Fukushima children

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 04:24 PM PDT

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- Japanese health workers have begun thyroid examinations for children in an effort to assess the health impact of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant, NHK Television reported on Sunday.

Health workers expect to test around 360,000 youths who were under 18 years old when the nuclear disaster happened. Their health will be monitored for their lifetime since the radioactive iodine released from the damaged nuclear plant could accumulate in children's thyroid glands, raising the possibility of cancer.

At least 150 children were checked on Sunday, and the results are expected to be mailed to them in about a month, NHK reported.

The prefectural government is planning to have all children from the region examined by 2014. After that, children will undergo a thyroid check every 2 years until they turn 20, and will be examined once every 5 years after that age.

Thyroid gland irregularities have been detected in a number of young children and teenagers evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture following its nuclear plant crisis. According to a study by the Japan Chernobyl Foundation, 10 out of 130 children evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture showed hormonal and other irregularities in their thyroid glands.

Japan has been facing an ongoing nuclear crisis since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was severely damaged on March 11 when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated the country. The disaster disabled the cooling systems of the plant and radioactive elements leaked into the sea and were later found in water, air and food products in some parts of Japan.

At least 15,813 people were killed as a result of the earthquake and tsunami while 3,971 others remain missing. There are still more than 88,000 people who are staying in shelters in 21 prefectures around Japan.

Scores killed in clashes between Egyptian Coptics and security forces

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 04:09 PM PDT

CAIRO (BNO NEWS) -- At least 17 people were killed on Sunday when clashes erupted between Egyptian security forces and Coptic Christian demonstrators in the capital of Cairo, officials said.

An estimated 10,000 Copts were marching from the Shubra district in northern Cairo to the state television building in central Maspero Square against religious persecution when protesters were attacked by stone throwing mobs. A 15-minute battle ensued as the Coptic protesters fought back and hurled stones at their assailants, the Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported.

Eyewitness accounts posted on Twitter claimed people being shot by the armed security forces and attacked by plain-clothed thugs, while some vehicles were set alight. Videos posted to YouTube showed armored personnel carriers being driven through the crowds at high speeds, and security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters.

More than 140 people were injured during the clashes and transferred to nearby hospitals for treatment. Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, posted on Twitter that he saw 17 bodies in the morgue at the Coptic Hospital.

The protest, which was organised by the Maspero Youth Union, was against an attack on a Coptic church on September 30 in the southern Egyptian province of Aswan. The protesters also demanded the removal of the province's governor for justifying the attack on the church.

Protesters also showed outrage at the increasing attacks against Copts in recent months and the army's lack of protection. They also called for the resignation of the chairman of the military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi.

Sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christian Copts have increased in the past year. There are around 8 million Christian Copts in Egypt, which represent about 10 percent of the population, and Sunday's clashes were the worst since the revolution earlier this year.

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الاثنين، 10 أكتوبر 2011

Lincoln Tribune

Lincoln Tribune

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