Lincoln Tribune

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• Pakistan to boycott Bonn conference on Afghanistan following NATO attack
• Indonesian officials call for laws to slow population growth
• Utah professor denies watching child porn on plane
• VP Biden Visits Iraq Before US Troops Withdraw
• Michael Jackson’s Doctor Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

Pakistan to boycott Bonn conference on Afghanistan following NATO attack Posted: 29 Nov 2011 04:13 PM PST ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The Pakistani government on Tuesday decided to boycott the upcoming Bonn Conference on Afghanistan's future to protest last week's deadly border incident During Tuesday's cabinet meeting chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Syef Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Governor House in Lahore, officials decided to boycott the conference which is to be held on December 5. "It is futile to be part of a conference seeking Afghanistan's sovereignty when your own sovereignty is breached," said Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan. The incident occurred early Saturday morning when NATO forces crossed the border from Afghanistan and carried out several airstrikes in the Mohmand Agency of Pakistan's tribal areas, killing 24 Pakistani troops and injuring 13 others. NATO and U.S. officials claim they were returning fire after being fired upon from across the border. The Information Minister said Pakistan has always supported Afghanistan and has hosted more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees in recent years. Awan said it is time to make the international community realize that Pakistan has played 'a pivotal role' for durable peace and stability in the region, but that its territorial integrity was 'assaulted through unilateral action' during Saturday's attack. "We want to live with honor and dignity," Gilani said following the cabinet meeting, urging the country to support his government. The latest incident has only increased political tensions between NATO, the U.S. and Pakistan. Despite the claims by Western officials, Director General of the Pakistani military's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Athar Abbas, insisted on Monday that no one in Pakistan was firing at NATO forces in Afghanistan. Abbas insisted NATO forces should prove their claims that firing was started from the Pakistani side, underlining that Pakistan had previously provided NATO forces with maps showing all military posts along the border area, where around 70 soldiers had previously died while clearing the area from terrorists and setting up military posts. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

Indonesian officials call for laws to slow population growth Posted: 29 Nov 2011 03:57 PM PST JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Indonesian officials are calling on the government to introduce new laws in an attempt to slow down the population growth rate in the country, local media reported on Tuesday. Indonesia's National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKB) chief Sugiri Syarief told the Antara news agency that a population growth rate law which regulates the constant increase is "crucial and needed" for the Asian country. Officials from the BKKB met with members of the House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission IX in Jakarta on Monday to discuss the idea. It is now being considered by the Commission IX to assess if a bill should be introduced, but few details about a proposed law have been released. Sugiri noted that Indonesia's population currently stands at roughly 240 million with its growth rate remaining high at 1.49 percent per year. He said he hopes the commission will move quickly and launches a study. Currently, the BKKB is carrying out the family planning revitalization program, the launching of a population grand design and family planning programs throughout the archipelago as efforts to slow down the country's population growth. Sugiri added that the agency is seeking for cooperation agreements with various stakeholders for increased support. In China, the government introduced a family planning policy in 1978 which makes it illegal for approximately 35.9 percent of China's population, mainly urban couples, to have more than one child. Hong Kong and Macau are exempt from the policy, which has been blamed for forced abortions, female infanticide and other problems. Decades after the law was introduced in China, over-population remains one of the major challenges to social and economic development in the country. The population of China is expected to hit 1.45 billion in 2020, but the government said it would have been 1.7 billion if there was no controversial one-child policy to maintain a low reproduction rate. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

Utah professor denies watching child porn on plane Posted: 29 Nov 2011 03:39 PM PST BOSTON (BNO NEWS) -- A Utah professor who was arrested at Logan International Airport in Massachusetts last week has pleaded not guilty to charges he watched child pornography while on a Delta plane, prosecutors said on Tuesday. 47-year-old Grant D. Smith, who is a professor of material science and engineering at the University of Utah, was arrested at Logan International Airport near Boston on Saturday after a fellow passenger claimed to have seen Smith viewing child pornography on his laptop. After the fellow passenger informed the flight crew, a flight attendant asked Smith to shut down his computer but instead began deleting images. State troopers were later able to recover at least 66 images depicting young girls between the ages of 5 and 14 years while naked and some engaged in sexual activity with adult males. "These weren't photos of a child in the bath that a parent might keep," said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. "These were explicitly sexual and extremely disturbing." Nonetheless, Smith said he is innocent and pleaded not guilty to possessing child pornography. Judge Kenneth V. Desmond imposed a bail of $75,000 and imposed a series of conditions which Smith must abide if he posts bail. If he is convicted of possessing child pornography, Smith faces up to 5 years in a state prison and will have to register as a sex offender. The Utah professor will return to court on December 27. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

VP Biden Visits Iraq Before US Troops Withdraw Posted: 29 Nov 2011 02:10 PM PST U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has made Tuesday a previously unannounced visit to Iraq.  The vice president has been meeting with Iraqi leaders, about a month before a deadline for U.S. forces to withdraw from the country. With the U.S. military mission in Iraq winding down, Vice President Biden went to Baghdad.  The visit was designed to help shape the future of the relationship between the two countries. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the vice president's stop in the Iraqi capital shows that President Barack Obama is keeping the promise he made in 2008 to end the Iraq war. "We are withdrawing the remaining U.S. forces from Iraq, and we are ending that war responsibly and giving the Iraqi people the chance for a better future that they deserve, and also maintaining an important strategic relationship with Iraq," said Biden. A White House statement says the vice president made the visit to meet with Iraq's leaders and participate in an event recognizing the sacrifices and accomplishments of U.S. and Iraqi troops. In the meetings with Iraqi leaders, the vice president was expected to focus largely on the future of Washington's military relationship with Iraq.  The location of Iraq, between Iran and Syria, makes it an especially strategic U.S. ally.   Officials in Baghdad have said they want U.S. military training help for their security forces.  U.S. officials are trying to determine how to help Iraq develop its abilities to fight terrorism. A suicide car bombing Monday killed at least 19 people at the gates of a prison north of Baghdad.  And 15 people died from a series of explosions on Saturday. The trip to Iraq is Biden's eighth since taking office.  The visit was added to a previously-scheduled trip to Turkey and Greece. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is scheduled to visit Washington on December 12. All U.S. forces are to leave Iraq by December 31, under a security agreement the two nations approved in 2008. About 14,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, down from about 170,000 at the war's height. Almost 4,500 American service members have died in Iraq since the U.S. invaded in March, 2003.  The Iraq war is one of the longest military conflicts in U.S. history.

Michael Jackson’s Doctor Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison Posted: 29 Nov 2011 10:35 AM PST A judge in Los Angeles has sentenced Michael Jackson's personal physician to four years in prison for the 2009 death of the pop superstar. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor Tuesday handed the sentence to Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted earlier this month of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death.  Murray, however, could serve only half his sentence due to overcrowding in California's prison system.   In issuing the sentence, the judge described Murray as a reckless physician whose actions were "a disgrace to the medical profession." Pastor also said Murray was involved in "horrible medicine" that included a sophisticated scheme to get the powerful anesthetic, propofol, for Jackson.  Pastor said Murray lied repeatedly and had not shown remorse for his actions in the treatment of Jackson, who battled insomnia. Prosecutors said Murray gave Jackson propofol, which is not approved for use as a sleep aid, and then abandoned the entertainer while he, Murray, attended to personal matters.  They said the doctor put off calling for emergency help after finding Jackson unresponsive. They also said Jackson put his trust in Murray and paid for it with his life. Murray's lawyers argued Jackson gave himself the fatal dosage without the doctor's knowledge. They said there is no proof the doctor did anything wrong.  Murray did not take the stand in his defense. Jackson died in his bedroom at his rented mansion in June 2009.  Prior to his death, he had been planning a series of comeback concerts. Apart from the criminal trial, Jackson's father has filed a wrongful death suit, accusing Murray of lying to the doctors and paramedics who tried to save the singer's life. Additionally, a hearing is set for January on a prosecution proposal that Murray pay more than $100 million in restitution to Jackson's family. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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