World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[ManilaBoy45]

100's Killed in Bangladesh Factory Collapse

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SAVAR, Bangladesh — Workers trapped in the wreckage of a collapsed factory building in Bangladesh cried out for help Thursday, as rescuers struggled to reach survivors of a disaster that killed at least 149 people and reignited questions about the often lethal conditions the country's garment industry.

Army Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder said many people are still trapped in the building, which housed a number of garment factories employing hundreds of people when it came tumbling down Wednesday morning. A clearer picture of the rescue operation would be available by afternoon, he said.

The disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar came less than five months after a factory fire killed 112 people and underscored the unsafe conditions faced by Bangladesh's garment workers, who produce clothes for global brands worn around the world.

 

[ManilaBoy45]

India to Rush Troops to Ladakh if No De-Escalation on Face-Off with China

TNN Apr 24, 2013, 12.09AM IST

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NEW DELHI: India may be working the diplomatic hotlines with China, but parallels are already being drawn between the ongoing 10-day military standoff in Ladakh and the Sumdorong Chu incident of 1986-87, which required "a major show of force and resolve" to settle matters amicably.

With "no breakthrough" being achieved in the second flag meeting between the Indian and Chinese armies held on Tuesday, the defence establishment and military operations directorate here went into a hurdle to discuss "various options", including further troop reinforcements to the region, till late in the evening.

 

[kroko]

India to Rush Troops to Ladakh if No De-Escalation on Face-Off with China

TNN Apr 24, 2013, 12.09AM IST

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NEW DELHI: India may be working the diplomatic hotlines with China, but parallels are already being drawn between the ongoing 10-day military standoff in Ladakh and the Sumdorong Chu incident of 1986-87, which required "a major show of force and resolve" to settle matters amicably.

With "no breakthrough" being achieved in the second flag meeting between the Indian and Chinese armies held on Tuesday, the defence establishment and military operations directorate here went into a hurdle to discuss "various options", including further troop reinforcements to the region, till late in the evening.

Im surprised that there isnt much coverage of this issue.

 

[ManilaBoy45]

Japan Vows Force if Chinese Land on Disputed Islands

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) April 23, 2013

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Japan's prime minister vowed Tuesday to "expel by force" any Chinese landing on islands at the centre of a territorial row, after eight Chinese government vessels sailed into the disputed waters.

The latest clash over the archipelago upped the stakes in a tense diplomatic battle as nearly 170 Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in central Tokyo, seen as a potent symbol of Japan's imperialist past, riling its neighbours China and South Korea.

Tokyo summoned the Chinese ambassador to Japan after the state-owned Chinese ships entered its territorial waters while Beijing called the shrine visit an "attempt to deny Japan's history of aggression".

 

[rott]

Our troops didn't provoke border tension: China PTI | Apr 25, 2013, 06.16 PM IST

Our troops didn't provoke border tension: China PTI | Apr 25, 2013, 06.16 PM IST



BEIJING: Sticking to its stand that Chinese troops have not caused any "provocation" by violating the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, China on Thursday said the incident will not affect bilateral ties or disrupt peace at the borders as both sides are trying to resolve it in a friendly manner.

"I do not agree with your allegation that it is the Chinese side that has caused the provocation between the border troops," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said while replying to questions about the intrusion of Chinese troops at the Depsang Valley in Ladakh.

"China's troops have never crossed the (LAC) line. China and India are neighbours and the boundary is not demarcated yet.

"It is inevitable for problems to prop up in border areas. When there is a problem it should be resolved through friendly consultations though existing mechanisms and channels," she said.

"We believe this incident can also be handled and will not affect the peace and stability of the border areas as well as the normal development of China and India relations," she said.

Urging the media to be patient, she said, "We also believe that the two sides continue to solve the issue in a friendly manner and we will not let the issue affect border peace and security and normal development of China-India relations".

"We hope relevant media can keep patience and create favourable conditions for the two countries to solve this issue through friendly consultations," she said.

The spokesperson said the situation on the Sino-Indian border is peaceful and stable.

"Just want to tell you that the current situation in the border area is peaceful and stable. Both China and India have the willingness to solve the dispute through peaceful negotiations and consultations.

"In the past three days I have repeatedly stressed China's point and now I would like to reiterate that Chinese troops have always acted in strict compliance to relevant treaty and protocol between the two countries regarding the protection of security of the areas around the LAC," she said.

China is committed to peace and security of the border areas as well as the negotiated settlement of the boundary issue left over from history, she said.

Asked about reports that the Chinese troops were insisting on Indian army to remove certain fortifications in that area, she said "since I am not in the frontier, so I do not know the latest development of the situation...Both China and India have the willingness to solve the dispute through peaceful negotiations and consultations".

She acknowledged that the two countries are holding talks through existing mechanisms.

"The two countries had set up the consultation mechanism last year and have maintained simultaneous communication over relevant issues," she said.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

25 April 2013 Last updated at 03:14 ET
India foreign minister Salman Khurshid to visit China
India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has said he will visit China in May amid tensions near the de facto border in the Himalayas.
Mr Khurshid's trip comes ahead of a scheduled visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India.
It comes at a time when India has asked China to withdraw troops it says have moved into a territory near the border.
China denies violating Indian territory. The two sides are holding talks to resolve the row.
"I believe we have a mutual interest and we should not destroy years of contribution we have put together," Mr Khurshid was quoted by AFP news agency as telling reporters on the sidelines of a business event.
"I think it is a good thing that we are having a dialogue."
Mr Khurshid said he would be visiting China on 9 May, ahead of Mr Li's visit on 20 May for his first overseas trip, reports say.
India says Chinese troops erected a camp on its side of the ill-defined frontier in Ladakh region last week.
China has dismissed reports of the incursion as media speculation.
The two countries dispute several Himalayan border areas and fought a brief war in 1962. Tensions flare up from time to time.
They have held numerous rounds of border talks, but all have been unsuccessful so far.
The BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi says there has not been a fatality in skirmishes along the undefined India-China boundary since 1967, but the memories of the crushing defeat inflicted by the Chinese on India in the 1962 war have not faded from the minds of some Indians.

25 April 2013 Last updated at 03:23 ET
Two Tibetan monks in China die after self-immolations
Two Tibetan monks have died after setting themselves alight in southern China's Sichuan province, reports say.
The monks, aged 20 and 23, set themselves on fire at the Kirti monastery in Aba county, said Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet.
The monastery has been a focal point of protests in recent months.
More than 100 Tibetans, mostly young monks, have set themselves on fire since 2011 - many fatally - in apparent protest against Chinese rule.
The monks, who reports identify as Lobsang Dawa, 20, and Konchog Woeser, 23, set themselves on fire on Wednesday, US-based Radio Free Asia and London-based Free Tibet said.
The monks at the monastery held prayers for the two who died and their bodies were to be cremated on Thursday, Radio Free Asia added.
The majority of the self-immolations since 2011 have taken place in ethnic Tibetan areas outside Tibet, many in Aba county.
Most involved Buddhist monks or nuns calling, Tibetan activist groups say, for greater religious freedom and the return of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese government accuses the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the protests, a charge he strongly rejects.
Foreign media are banned from the region, making verifying the self-immolation cases difficult. Chinese state media have confirmed some but not all.
In January, China found two men guilty of inciting immolations in Sichuan, believed to be the first cases since a legal ruling stipulating that anyone aiding immolations would be charged with murder.
Tibetan activists said the men, one of whom received a commuted death sentence and the other 10 years in jail, were forced to confess to the charges.

23 April 2013 Last updated at 09:29 ET
Japan PM Abe warns China of force over islands landing
Japan would respond with force if any attempt is made to land on disputed islands, PM Shinzo Abe has warned.
His comments came as eight Chinese government ships sailed near East China Sea islands that both nations claim.
A flotilla of 10 fishing boats carrying Japanese activists was also reported to be in the area, as well as the Japanese coastguard.
Mr Abe was speaking in parliament hours after dozens of lawmakers visited a controversial war-linked shrine.
A total of 168 lawmakers paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's war dead, including war criminals, in a move likely to anger regional neighbours who say the shrine is a reminder of Japan's military past.
'Deal strongly'
The warning from the Japanese prime minister was the most explicit to China since Mr Abe took power in December, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Tokyo.
Asked in parliament what he would do if Chinese ships tried to land on the disputed islands, Mr Abe said they would be expelled by force.
"Since it has become the Abe government, we have made sure that if there is an instance where there is an intrusion into our territory or it seems that there could be landing on the islands then we will deal with it strongly," he said.
The warning came as eight Chinese ships sailed around the islands - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
The Japanese coast guard said it was the highest number of Chinese boats in the area since Tokyo nationalised part of the island chain in September 2012.
China said its ships had been monitoring Japanese vessels. The State Oceanic Administration issued a statement saying three of its ships had "found" several Japanese ships around the islands and "immediately ordered another five ships in the East China Sea to meet the three ships".
Ten Japanese boats carrying around 80 activists arrived in the area early on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported, monitored by Japanese Coast Guard vessels. Public broadcaster NHK said the boats were carrying "regional lawmakers and members of the foreign media".
Japan's top government spokesman said the "intrusion into territorial waters" was "extremely regrettable". Japan also summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest, reports said.
The territorial row has been rumbling for years but was reignited last year when Japan bought three of the islands from their private Japanese owner.
China claims the island chain, which is controlled by Japan. Taiwan also claims the islands, which offer rich fishing grounds and lie in a strategically important area.
The dispute has led to serious diplomatic tension between China and Japan, most recently in January when Japan said a Chinese frigate locked weapons-controlling radar on one of its navy ships near the islands - something China disputes.
'Backlash'
The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday by lawmakers marking the spring festival is also likely to hit ties between Beijing and Tokyo.
Two cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, visited the shrine on Sunday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not visit but made a ritual offering.
South Korea subsequently cancelled a proposed visit by its foreign minister, while China lodged "solemn representations" in response to the ministers' visit.
"Only when Japan faces up to its aggressive past can it embrace the future and develop friendly relations with its Asian neighbours," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.
But Japanese lawmaker Hidehisa Otsujji said it was "natural" for "lawmakers to worship at a shrine for people who died for the nation".
"Every nation does this. I don't understand why we get a backlash," he said.

Source BBC.

 

[ManilaBoy45]

UN Tribunal Gets Set for PHI Row with China

Published : Friday, April 26, 2013 00:00
Written by : Cristina Lee-Pisco

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THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced that the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has appointed the remaining three members of the five-member UNCLOS Arbitral Tribunal including the President that will hear the Statement of Claim filed by the Philippines against China on the West Philippine Sea.

The ITLOS president transmitted a letter to Solicitor General Francis H. Jardeleza, Head of the Philippine Legal Team, on April 24, 2013, informing the Philippines of the appointment to the Arbitral Tribunal of Mr. Jean-Pierre Cot (France), Mr. Chris Pinto (Sri Lanka) and Mr. Alfred Soons (The Netherlands).

Earlier, the ITLOS president appointed Mr. Stanislaw Pawlak (Poland) as the second member of the Tribunal.
The Philippines nominated Mr. Rüdiger Wolfrum (Germany) to the Tribunal in its Notification and Statement of Claims of 22 January 2013.

The members of the Arbitral Tribunal are:Judge Chris Pinto (Sri Lanka), President; Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum (Germany), Member, current ITLOS Judge; Judge Stanislaw Pawlak (Poland), Member, current ITLOS Judge; Judge Jean-Pierre Cot (France), Member, current ITLOS Judge; and Judge Alfred Soons (The Netherlands), Member.

 

[bd popeye]

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MOSCOW (AP) — A fire swept quickly through a psychiatric hospital outside Moscow early Friday, killing 38 people, most of them sedated and in their beds, officials said.

The one-story brick-and-wood hospital building housed patients with severe mental disorders, Health Ministry officials said. An Emergencies Ministry official said the fire started in a wooden annex and then spread to the main brick building, which had wooden beams.

The patients were under sedatives and most of them did not wake up, Yuri Deshevykh of the Emergencies Ministry told RIA Novosti.

At least 29 people were burned alive, said Irina Gumennaya, a spokeswoman for the federal Investigative Committee.

Investigators said the 38 dead included 36 patients and two doctors. They said a nurse managed to escape and save one patient, while another patient got out on his own. The Emergencies Ministry also posted a list of the patients indicating they ranged in age from 20 to 76. Gumennaya told Russian news agencies that most of the people died in their beds.

Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyev said some of the hospital windows were barred. Gumennaya cited the surviving nurse as saying that the doors inside the hospital were not locked.

Investigators said they are looking at violations of fire regulations and a short circuit as possible causes for the blaze that engulfed the hospital in the Ramensky settlement, some 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of Moscow.

Vadim Belovoshin of the Emergencies Ministry said that it took firefighters an hour to get to the hospital because a ferry across a canal was closed and they had to make a detour.

Vorobyev told Russian state television that the fire alarm seems to have worked, but the fire spread too quickly.

Russia has a poor fire safety record, with about 12,000 deaths reported in 2012. In January, a fire in an underground parking lot killed 10 migrant workers from Tajikistan who were working and living there. In a similar incident in September, 14 Vietnamese workers were killed by fire at a clothing factory near Moscow.

In one of the most high-profile cases of negligence, more than 150 people died in a night club in the city of Perm after a pyrotechnic show ignited a wooden ceiling.

 

[Miragedriver]

Philippines accused of trying to 'illegally' occupy South China Sea territories
China accused the Philippines of attempting to "illegally" occupy and seize territories in the South China Sea on Friday and rejected calls for international mediation.

Reuters12:05PM BST 26 Apr 2013

The dispute, over the Spratly islands and other interests in the South China Sea, is one of a number of increasingly acrimonious maritime struggles playing out in the region with Beijing pitted against the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

China has been at loggerheads with its Asian neighbours for decades over the South China Sea but recent years have seen tensions escalate amid fears that Beijing is seeking to asset greater control over the region.
In late January, the Philippines reportedly requested that a UN tribunal intervene in the dispute over the territories, which are located in waters that are believed to hold potentially significant oil and gas reserves as well as fishing resources.
On Friday, after it was announced that a UN tribunal would consider the Philippines' complaint, Beijing struck back.
"The Philippine side is trying to use this to negate China's territorial sovereignty and attach a veneer of 'legality' to its illegal occupation of Chinese islands and reefs," China's foreign ministry said.

China's rebuttal follows claims, earlier in the year, that the Philippines had deployed a growing number of troops to the Spratly islands in order to "boost its military presence in the contested South China Sea." The report, from Japanese agency Kyodo, cited a "senior military intelligence official." Manila declined to confirm those reports but on Friday Beijing demanded an immediate withdrawal of all personnel.

"China has always strongly opposed the Philippines' illegal occupation and now solemnly requests again that the Philippines pulls out all its staff and facilities from these Chinese islands," the foreign ministry statement said, adding that the country's position would "not change." Tensions in the South China Sea were one of the key issues raised at a two-day meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations or ASEAN this week in Brunei.

"Everybody is interested in having a peaceful resolution and also in voicing ... concern that there have been increasing disputes," the Philippines' president, Benigno Aquino, said on Wednesday, according to AFP.
On Friday, the Philippines' foreign minister, Albert del Rosario, told local media that the international arbitration over disputes in the South China Sea would continue, with or without China's blessing.

 

[ManilaBoy45]

Palace Rejects China Call to Withdraw from Disputed Area in West PHL Sea

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April 27, 2013 12:20pm

Malacanang on Saturday rejected a call by China to withdraw Philippine nationals and facilities from disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said while the Philippines awaits the ruling of an international tribunal on the matter, it will exercise its sovereignty over the area.Yan ay atin and we will continue to exercise sovereignty over our territory, she said on government-run dzRB radio.

Hua also accused the Philippines of violating the United Nations charter by illegall occupying some islands and reefs of Nansha (Spratly) Islands, including Mahuan Dao, Feixin Dao, Zhongye Dao, Nanyao Dao, Beizi Dao, Xiyue Dao, Shuanghuang Shazhou and Siling Jiao.Firmly and consistently opposed to the illegal occupation by the Philippines, China hereby solemnly reiterates its demand that the Philippines withdraw all its nationals and facilities from Chinas islands and reefs, Hao said.