World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[bd popeye]

So nobody thing Mr Ma winning his second term in as Taiwanese President is newsworthy?

Personally I think its highly significant, especially has he gained a much better margin that most of the media were indicating about the race. Given the overall economic situation and the implications now for faster cross straits integration, surely this was the one that the DPP must have been best placed to win if their cause was going anywhere?

I was pretty busy yesterday but I got the distinct impression that the Western media gave this a pretty low profile in the bulletins (also sure a DPP win would have got headlines!).

As for the Oil sanctions story, I would not lose too much sleep over it. As other much cleverer people than I have said, simply expect a plethora of new private companies being set up globally, specifically and solely to trade Hydrocarbons with Iran.

btw anyone hear/read the story about ever more UK companies dealing with Chinese companies directly in the yuan and not the dollar anymore? Interesting times!

I did but just not in this thread..

Too many pix of the Taiwan election..for more pix click the link.

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Taiwan President and Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou celebrates after provisional election results of the Taiwan's 2012 presidential election are announced in Taipei January 14, 2012. Incumbent Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou claimed victory in the island's presidential election on Saturday, pointing to smooth future relations with China and the likelihood of stepped-up economic integration.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (L) and vice presidential candidate Su Jia-chyuan react after they lost in the presidential election at their campaign headquarters in Taipei January 14, 2012.

 

[bd popeye]

A cargo ship has exploded and sunk off South Korea. A number of crew are dead and missing. Officials are already denying North Korean involvement, but they did last time, too.

I can't post links, but there are photos of it broken in two and sinking.

Here ya go...

A boat of the South Korean Coast Guard patrols near the damaged Doola 3 (C), an oil tanker carrying petroleum, after it exploded in waters off South Korea's western port city of Incheon January 15, 2012. Five crew members were killed and six others are missing after the explosion of the 4,191-tonne freight ship, which had been carrying 16 crewmen -- 11 Koreans and 5 Myanmarese -- on board, on Sunday morning in waters north of Jawol Island near Incheon, according to the coast guard.

 

[SteelBird]

I think the news about the sinking Costa Concordia should go here. How come nobody ever mention about it? Furthermore, Wikipedia is going to blackout its English site within less than four hours (counting from now) in order to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. Although this is political and discussion is not allowed here but news is possible.

 

[bd popeye]

I think the news about the sinking Costa Concordia should go here. How come nobody ever mention about it?

It's on the previous page and includes a video.

Furthermore, Wikipedia is going to blackout its English site within less than four hours (counting from now) in order to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. Although this is political and discussion is not allowed here but news is possible.

SOPA is dead for now. Some other websites were joining the blackout but now that SOPA is dead I'm not sure anything will happen.

edit...I checked and some websites will be shutting down tomorrow over SOPA and other proposed legislation.

 

[SteelBird]

Now, wiki has blackout. Here is some words that wiki request people to share among each other:

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.

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[Red___Sword]

Since the protest has past, can we have a check on what is the status of SOPA (and PIPA) now?

I mean, is the bill only lay low (so it will raise again) now, or it will not come true at all?

 

[bd popeye]

Since the protest has past, can we have a check on what is the status of SOPA (and PIPA) now?

I mean, is the bill only lay low (so it will raise again) now, or it will not come true at all?

Right now it is dead. But in the near future..after the Us election in November perhaps a new version will rise when congress re-assembles in January 2013.

 

[Schumacher]

The crackdown continues with another 300 arrested.

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Oakland police clash with Occupy protesters
More than 300 arrested as anti-foreclosure demonstrators attempt to take over city's vacant convention centre.
Last Modified: 29 Jan 2012 13:22

"Police have fired tear gas and flash grenades while arresting more than 300 people as anti-Wall Street protesters tried but failed to take over downtown buildings, including the city hall, in Oakland, California.

Protesters from Occupy Oakland - the local offshoot of Occupy Wall Street - first targeted the empty Henry J Kaiser convention center on Saturday, before trying to take over the city hall, but were forcibly removed from each area by police.

Police spokesperson Johnna Watson told the AFP news agency that throughout the day's events three police officers had been injured, police vehicles vandalised and shop windows shattered. "We will be dealing with this into the evening, for as long as it takes," she said.

The bulk of arrests occurred in one incident when protesters were kettled by police into a city block.

Activists told Al Jazeera that they entered the YMCA building on that street in order to find an escape from arrest.

Some managed to escape through back doors before police entered and detained those who were left.

The Oakland Police Department already faces numerous lawsuits for excessive force during protests, including for a mass arrest incident in late 2010 in which 148 people were arrested "unconstitutionally", according to the lawsuit.

Occupy Oakland had earlier announced a weekend "rise up festival" to be held in an unspecified empty building.

It threatened the city, saying that activists would indefinitely shut down the airport, stop business at the port and take over city hall, if the city would not allow them to move into a building as planned........................................................"

 

[bd popeye]

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed.

When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile, police said.

Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," he said. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.

Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and warned Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to them when another vehicle hit the man's car.

The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.

All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.

"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."

Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities and a "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup.

At least 18 people were taken to a hospital.

All six lanes of the interstate — which runs virtually the entire length of Florida — were closed most of Sunday afternoon as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames.

The northbound lanes of I-75 were reopened around 5:30 p.m. EST, but the southbound lanes remained closed.

"Our standard operating procedure is to get the road open as quickly as possible but let's not forget we have 10 people who are not with us today," said Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman. "So we are going to take our time assessing the situation."

It was not clear when the highway would fully reopen because part of the road melted, police said.

At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of the fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved.

Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

Traffic was being diverted much of Sunday onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.

Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.

Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.

In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.

___

 

[no_name]

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2012-01-29 18:04:22
BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China on Sunday confirmed that a camp belonging to a Chinese company was attacked by rebels in Sudan and several Chinese nationals "have gone missing" following the incident.

The camp was attacked by local militants in the South Kordofan State on Saturday afternoon, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Weimin said in response to a question from the press. Liu did not say how many people went missing.

"The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy to Sudan have initiated an emergency response to the incident," said the spokesman.

Liu said that the director of the consulate department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Sudan's Charge d'Affaires in Beijing on Sunday and urged the Sudanese side to search for the missing Chinese nationals.

"Currently, the Sudanese government is doing their utmost to locate and rescue the missing Chinese nationals and has enhanced protection for other Chinese nationals in Sudan," he added.

====
More than 20 Chinese nationals have gone missing after an attack by rebels against a camp belonging to a Chinese company operating at South Kordofan area in Sudan, Chinese Embassy in Khartoum announced Saturday.

"The Chinese Embassy has started implementation of the emergency mechanism to follow up the issue and make contacts with the Sudanese authorities in this respect," an official at the Chinese embassy told Xinhua.
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Let's hope they are returned safely.