World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[AssassinsMace]

Maybe it's cynicism but I found all these revelations underwhelming. Not because I think it's not a big deal. It's all about are we surprised that this happens? It's called politics. And like the media isn't just feeding off their own hypocrisy and don't look for angles to get as many viewers or readers as they can just to beat their competition? Pointing out that the Libyan government had suspicions about it resulting from the unruliness of protestors sounded to me like a knee-jerk reaction from a government dependent on the US worried the US was going to turn on them and not that they were whole believers and defenders in the truth. Just like the stories about Khaddafi's end, how many different angles did we hear happen there from the Libyans themselves. Interesting that they're so judgemental and critical about the facts here and while at the same time seem not to care about how they report on China. And they can spin this right here it's because everything they report about China is the truth. It's tokenism. Just show one example and it's a picture of the whole.

What the media here are doing in this hypocritical reporting is covering up their own laziness. "Let's blame it on the government for giving us false information to report." Isn't it their job on finding out the truth instead of parroting what people tell them? All they were thinking about was beating their competition on who was going to get it out to the public first and they know if it turns out wrong, they can just blame someone else. Or they can blame the viewer and reader because all the media is doing is giving the public what they want. That's called irresponsible. Who would argue mob rule is the best? That's what essentially the media is hiding behind apart from their own responsibilities. The free press is worthless because they're saying it is free speech to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater.

 

[AssassinsMace]

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China accused over Himalayas casualties

Heavy handed response to Tibet protests led to higher number of deaths on the mountains, according to expedition organisers

Jason Burke in Delhi and agencies

The Guardian, Tuesday 25 September 2012 12.40 EDT


China's response to Tibet protests could have led to extra Himalayas casualties, mountaineers say. Photograph: Corbis


China's response to a wave of protests in Tibet this year, including restricting access to the Tibetan Himalayas, may have led to a higher number of casualties in the mountaineering disaster this weekend, expedition organisers have claimed.

China rejected climbing permits for mountaineers wanting to climb in Tibet, meaning that more people than usual attempted to ascend the mountain in Nepal.


About 25 climbers were preparing to leave their tents at a camp high on the mountain of Manaslu, the world's eight highest peak, at dawn on Sunday morning when debris from a falling ice cliff swept over them. Rescuers have so far brought down the bodies of eight victims ó four French, one each from Germany, Italy and Spain, and a Nepali guide.

With several other climbers missing, the death toll is expected to rise, making the tragedy one of the worst in recent mountaineering history. Ten were successfully evacuated.

Though veteran climbers and experts say that the numbers attempting an ascent of the mountain did not cause the disaster, many more mountaineers were present on the mountain than is usual after Chinese authorities cut down on permits for mountaineers hoping to climb in Tibet.

About 30 teams registered to climb Manaslu, a 50 percent increase over last year, said Ang Tshering, who runs the popular Asian Trekking agency in Nepal.

Local journalists reported that there were around 250 climbers on the mountain when disaster struck, almost flattening a camp at an altitude of 7,000m. Most were at base camp however and out of danger.

Expeditions attempting the 8165 metre peak appear to have included two teams both aiming to complete the first ski descent of the mountain without the assistance of bottled oxygen. One team had been forced to switch to a Nepali peak at the last minute after being refused a visa by Chinese authorities.

Tibet is a sensitive area for Chinese authorities which limit access for foreign tourists when tensions there rise. Permits to mountaineering expeditions were cut off altogether in 2008 while Chinese climbers took the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest before the Beijing Games.

More than 50 Tibetans have died after setting light to themselves since March last year to bring attention to what they say is their suffering under China's repressive policies. In the most recent incident, two teenagers, a monk and a former monk, died near the Kirti monastery, a centre of protests in eastern parts of the historical area of Tibet , outside the current "Tibetan Autonomous Region".

The protests have led to major security clampdowns.

China says Tibet has always been part of its territory and calls protesters who self-immolate criminals or "separatists". Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries.

Bikram Newpane of the Katmandu-based Himalayan Rescue Association said China's ban on permits for climbing the northern face of the Himalayas in Tibet could have added to the dangers.

"It is never 100 percent safe up on the mountains and the risks are always there. But there were more people on the mountains this year," Newpane said.

Veteran Nepali climbers called the disaster "natural" and said it was wrong to say it was "man made".

But overcrowding has been a constant concern on sought-after peaks because of limited space on popular routes and short "weather windows" when conditions allow climbers to reach the summit of mountains.

Four people were killed on Mount Everest earlier this year when dozens of climbers clogged the same narrow trail to the summit, forcing many to stay too long at high altitudes and exhaust their oxygen supplies.

One Nepalese official said the popularity of Manaslu, first climbed in 1956, was not a problem.

"Yes, base camp might have been a bit crowded but the route higher up was not. This is a natural disaster. Not man-made in any way," he told The Guardian shortly after news of the tragedy broke on Sunday.

Authorities in poverty-stricken Nepal are sensitive to charges that too many permits for climbing mountains are sold to foreign expeditions. However, the permits generate much needed hard currency. A permit for Manaslu costs $5000.

Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association who has climbed Manaslu several times, said there was "no any exact reason for any one avalanche" though climate change could have played a role.

Climbers blame global warming for some of the recent tragedies on the Himalayan peaks, which have been hit by warmer temperatures which make sudden melting of otherwise stable frozen snow slopes more likely.

© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

There was a waterpark over near where I live. Several years ago a large group of high schoolers were there and decided to rush the attendent who controlled how many people went down the waterslide at a time. The slide collapsed from the weight and one of the high schoolers died from the fall. All the parents sued the waterpark because they didn't stop their kids from being careless. So it's someone elses fault because you're stupid and irresponsible.

They were at camp ready to climb when ice from above fell down onto them? Now how is China closing their side of Mount Everest responsible for an act of nature. It wasn't like there were too many people on the mountain and caused a collapse. Oh so it China's fault just because they wouldn't be there at the wrong place and wrong time if their side of the mountain wasn't closed. Let's blame China because some poor kid from middle America who didn't get a heart transplant and died because his parents couldn't afford it and China didn't step up and pay the bill.

 

[plawolf]

There was a waterpark over near where I live. Several years ago a large group of high schoolers were there and decided to rush the attendent who controlled how many people went down the waterslide at a time. The slide collapsed from the weight and one of the high schoolers died from the fall. All the parents sued the waterpark because they didn't stop their kids from being careless. So it's someone elses fault because you're stupid and irresponsible.

They were at camp ready to climb when ice from above fell down onto them? Now how is China closing their side of Mount Everest responsible for an act of nature. It wasn't like there were too many people on the mountain and caused a collapse. Oh so it China's fault just because they wouldn't be there at the wrong place and wrong time if their side of the mountain wasn't closed. Let's blame China because some poor kid from middle America who didn't get a heart transplant and died because his parents couldn't afford it and China didn't step up and pay the bill.

Well, the west has blamed China for pretty much everything bad or wrong under the sun, so I guess it was only a matter of time before they start blaming China for acts of nature/God as well while they are at it.

I am really disappointed that the Guardian decided to go to press with such obvious drivel. I also wonder if Ang Tshering is Tibetan, I did a quick search but could not find his bio online. If he is Tibetan, then he would have his own biased reasons for wanted to exploit this tragedy to bash China, which is a pretty despicable act as the sole focus should be on trying to find survivors and show support for the victims and their friends and families.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Well, the west has blamed China for pretty much everything bad or wrong under the sun, so I guess it was only a matter of time before they start blaming China for acts of nature/God as well while they are at it.

I am really disappointed that the Guardian decided to go to press with such obvious drivel. I also wonder if Ang Tshering is Tibetan, I did a quick search but could not find his bio online. If he is Tibetan, then he would have his own biased reasons for wanted to exploit this tragedy to bash China, which is a pretty despicable act as the sole focus should be on trying to find survivors and show support for the victims and their friends and families.

I find it ironic that poor people who complain how society treats them are told to be responsible for their own actions. But here the rich, and they are all rich who pays $30,000 just to climb a mountain, somehow get to blame someone else for their own outright stupidity and expect others to pay for their standard of living. Notice they don't blame Nepal or these local companies for not regulating how many people can climb the mountain on their own side. These Buddhists locals just care about making as much money as they can. Yeah China is suppose give special privileges to rich people from foreign countries.

 

[bladerunner]

Still to confined for travelling long distances for my liking

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[Equation]

Still to confined for travelling long distances for my liking

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I don't know, if it has more cabin room and free wifi and no baggage charge, I'll take it.

 

[bladerunner]

I don't know, if it has more cabin room and free wifi and no baggage charge, I'll take it.

Well i suppose those could be the advantages , especially if avoiding being squashed up to a smelly persons or crying babies for hours on end was gauranteed. However a luxury cruise liner would be nicer.

 

[bladerunner]

Here is a challenge for " Equation"

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HONG KONG (AFP) - A Hong Kong tycoon has offered a $65 million "marriage bounty" to any man who can win the heart of his lesbian daughter, a report said Wednesday.

Cecil Chao announced the financial reward of HK$500 million after his daughter, Gigi, married her same-sex partner of seven years in France earlier this year, the South China Morning Post reported.

"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind hearted," 76-year-old Chao was quoted as saying.

"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work," he added.

He also rejected "false reports" that Gigi, 33, had married abroad, saying she was still single.

Chao, who owns publicly-listed property developer Cheuk Nang, could not be reached for comment.

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Hong Kong, a socially conservative Chinese city where homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991.

Chao is well known in Hong Kong's social circles and regularly appears at public events with his latest young girlfriend.
He reportedly once claimed to have had intimate relations with 10,000 women.

 

[Equation]

Here is a challenge for " Equation"

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HONG KONG (AFP) - A Hong Kong tycoon has offered a $65 million "marriage bounty" to any man who can win the heart of his lesbian daughter, a report said Wednesday.

Cecil Chao announced the financial reward of HK$500 million after his daughter, Gigi, married her same-sex partner of seven years in France earlier this year, the South China Morning Post reported.

"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind hearted," 76-year-old Chao was quoted as saying.

"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work," he added.

He also rejected "false reports" that Gigi, 33, had married abroad, saying she was still single.

Chao, who owns publicly-listed property developer Cheuk Nang, could not be reached for comment.

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Hong Kong, a socially conservative Chinese city where homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991.

Chao is well known in Hong Kong's social circles and regularly appears at public events with his latest young girlfriend.
He reportedly once claimed to have had intimate relations with 10,000 women.

LMAO...I read that article yesterday and was about to post it, but you beat me to it!

NOW...to answer your question....YES, I will marry her and "straighten" her out (if ya know whata mean)! But that doesn't mean I have to love her. Now there's an advantage to this.

1) If she's on the mood for a lady again...you get to share her with your wife (three some).

2) We both can live our secret separate lives with another woman and still keep the prize money.

3) You don't have to worry if she's with another guy behind your back.

4) And finally $65 million is hard to turn down on marrying to a lesbian.

NOW, I know all the scrutiny in life, but I'm prepared for it the consequences if it doesn't work out. Cheers everyone!

 

[plawolf]

Beyond ridiculous doesn't even begin to cover this.

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