Sentenced to death for singing and dancing at wedding

Four women and two men have been sentenced to death in northern Pakistan for singing and dancing at a wedding, police said on Monday.

Clerics issued a decree after a mobile phone video emerged of the six enjoying themselves in a remote village in the mountainous district of Kohistan, 176 kilometres (109 miles) north of the capital Islamabad.

Pakistani authorities in the area said local clerics had ordered the punishment over allegations that the men and women danced and sang together in Gada village, in defiance of strict tribal customs that separate men and women at weddings.

"The local clerics issued a decree to kill all four women and two men shown in the video," district police officer Abdul Majeed Afridi told AFP.

"It was decided that the men will be killed first, but they ran away so the women are safe for the moment. I have sent a team to rescue them and am waiting to hear some news," he said, adding that the women had been confined to their homes.

Afridi said the events stemmed from a dispute between two tribes and that there was no evidence the men and women had been inter-mingling.

"All of them were shown separately in the video. I've seen the video taken on a cell phone myself, it shows four women singing and a man dancing in separate scenes and then another man sitting in a separate shot," he said.

"This is tribal enmity. The video has been engineered to defame the tribe," he added.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said at least 943 women and girls were murdered last year for allegedly defaming their family's honour.

The statistics highlight the scale of violence suffered by many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where they are frequently treated as second-class citizens. 

 

at AFP

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Beijing's Bizarre 'Two-Fly' Rule

Authorities in Beijing have set a new standard for public toilets called the "two fly rule."

The name is exactly what it implies: No toilet in a public place should contain more than two flies.

The two-fly limit is one of a series of measures aimed at improving toilets in the Chinese capital.

Xie Guomin, the official in charge of the initiative, told the newspaper that the two-fly rule was not compulsory, but was a new benchmark to improve the Chinese capital's notoriously unpleasant public restrooms. 

'We will not actually count fly numbers. The regulation is specific and quantified, but the inspection methodology will be flexible,' Guomin said.

The new regulations set forth aim to improve those public restrooms that are still unsatisfactory, and also to educate the public on clean bathroom habits.
It is not clear if failing washrooms will be punished and if so, how.

 

 

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Teachers can not wear thongs to school

In some schools, teachers in Macedonia received a prohibition on work wear jeans, shorts, see-through clothes, shirts and blouses with a deep neckline, t-shirts with the tregere bare back, and thongs underwear.
I wonder how they will be checked...? ;)

What clothes should be worn in schools is decided by the presidents of some municipalities. A ban was due to improper and indecent clothes educational workers. In some schools, educators are prohibited from carrying plastic bags, and snack, handy tools and notebooks must carry in their bags.

Teachers are not penalized, but have been criticized by the head. They have given them advice that for the job does not dress like the disco.
Before this prohibition some teachers were coming to class dressed as a schoolgirl, and then they had to order working coats in some schools.

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The story about one dollar

Pull a buck from your wallet now and prepare to be amazed.

We’re serious. Did you know a dollar bill has hidden pictures, flecks of color, and mysterious symbols? And that’s just the beginning. What do all those seemingly random letters and Latin phrases mean, anyway?

The Basics: How much is a dollar worth?

The question seems simple, but the answer is quite complex. Since 1973, the dollar bill has had no value tied to it. You cannot trade in a dollar to the government for gold, silver, or any other commodity. The value of the nation's currency is related to the decree by the government that a dollar is legal tender for all debts. This means if someone attempts to pay a debt using dollars, the person being paid must accept the money or the law no longer recognizes the debt. This is important enough that the phrase is printed on every bill the government creates.

It is also vital for the nation's citizens to agree that the bills have value. If the members of a society decided that they did not believe in the currency, it would quickly be worth no more than the paper it is printed on. For the record, each bill costs the government 6.4 cents to print.

What kind of paper are the bills made from?

Bills are made from a blend of linen and cotton, which is why they don't fall apart in the wash the way paper does. If you look closely, you can see red and blue silk fibers woven throughout the bill. The threads are thought to be an anti-counterfeit measure.

Hint: Look in the white spaces on the face of the bill for little bits of the colored thread. They look like lint but you can't scratch them off!

On the face of a dollar, what does the letter inside the circular seal mean?

The black seal with the big letter in the middle signifies the Federal Reserve bank that placed the order for the bill. A = Boston, B = New York City, C = Philadelphia, D = Cleveland, E = Richmond, Va., F = Atlanta, G = Chicago, H = St. Louis, I = Minneapolis, J = Kansas City, K = Dallas.

The letter also corresponds to the black number that is repeated four times on the face of the bill. For example, if you have a bill from Dallas with the letter K, then the number on the bill will be 11 because K is the eleventh letter in the alphabet.

Can you find any tiny owls or spiders hidden on the front of the bill?

Many people believe they can see a tiny owl (some say it is a spider) next to the large "1" on the upper right of the bill. If you look at the shield shape that surrounds that "1," the tiny owl rests on the top left corner.

More than likely, the markings are nothing, just a point where the webbed design of the border varies. That won't stop some people from associating the peculiar detail with Masonic symbols, or with more practical things, like anti-counterfeit measures.

The Great Seal of the United States

The green back of the dollar bill features the two sides of The Great Seal of the United States. The founding fathers approved its design in 1782. Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson all had a hand in devising it. The seal provides great insight into the values of the newborn nation and, like the Constitution, provides a direct link to its formative days.

What does Annuit Coeptis mean?

The first of three Latin phrases on the back of the bill is translated as "God has favored our undertakings." Many founders, Franklin and George Washington among them, believed that God's will was behind the successful creation of the United States.

Beneath the pyramid, what does Novus Ordo Seclorum mean?

These Latin words mean "New order of the ages." Charles Thomson, a statesman involved in the design of The Great Seal of the United States, proposed the phrase to signify the beginning of what he called "the new American Era," which he said began in 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Why is MDCCLXXVI on the bottom of the pyramid?

The letters are Roman numerals for 1776. M is 1,000, D is 500, CC is 200, L is 50, XX is 20, VI is 6. Add the numerals on the pyramid together and you get the year 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and when the Novus Ordo Seclorum began.

Why is there an unfinished pyramid with a glowing eye?

Thomson explained the sturdy pyramid as a symbol of "strength and duration". He did not explain its unfinished state, but many believe it signified that our nation remained unfinished. The pyramid also stops at 13 steps, the number of the original colonies.

The "Eye of Providence" is a visual representation of the words Annuit Coeptis, and reinforces the founders' notion that God looked upon the endeavor of the new nation with favor. Many theorists mistakenly believe the symbolism of the eye is related to the Freemasons (a secret society whose members believed they were under the careful scrutiny of God), but the symbolism of the glowing eye is far older than any Freemason thinking. Scholars have traced versions of the symbol as far back as the ancient Egyptians.

What does E Pluribus Unum mean?

"Out of many, one." The 13 disparate colonies came together to form one nation.

Why a bald eagle? The founders wanted an animal native to America to be the new nation's symbol. In its talons the eagle holds arrows and olive branches, signifying war and peace.

Fun activities you and the kids can do with a dollar bill

Track your bills. Go to the website Where's George? and enter the serial number of the bill. If the bill has been in circulation long enough, you might be able to see where your bill has been as it travels from wallets to registers and back. After you enter your bills, check back later to see where they have gone.

Play dollar-bill poker. Each of you takes a dollar bill and examines the green serial numbers as if they were a hand of playing cards. Make your best poker hand and see who wins.

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Dubai, Abu Dhabi

Fears that Dubai might default on billions of dollars in debt eased Monday when its fellow United Arab Emirate, Abu Dhabi, pledged $10 billion in financing. (Abu Dhabi gives Dubai $10 billion bailout)

The announcement allays concerns raised last month when Dubai sought a six-month delay in debt payments for Dubai World, the government's flagship holding company. Global markets, which fell sharply when the Dubai debt problems were first raised, were mostly higher in Monday trading.

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Attack on Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Italy's interior minister said on Monday yesterday's attack on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could have been fatal and pledged measures to improve his security.

Berlusconi, 73, is still in hospital with broken nose, two teeth and injured upper lip after a man hurled a souvenir statuette at the premier while he was greeting the crowd and signing autographs after a flamboyant speech in Milan.

Speaking at a security conference in Milan, Roberto Maroni said: "Silvio Berlusconi could have been seriously injured or even killed yesterday."

Berlusconi told the Ansa news agency that he was "fine" and that it was a "miracle" he had not been struck in the eye.

Maroni pledged measures to improve the prime minister's security.

The minister also reiterated that the attack was a result of the atmosphere of "political intolerance" prevailing in the country.

The attacker, Massimo Tartaglia, 42, who was later reported to have a long record of mental illness, was jailed in the San Vittore prison last night. During preliminary questioning, he said he strongly opposed Berlusconi and the policies of the Italian government.

The premier has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks. Last Thursday, a mafia boss said during court hearings that Berlusconi and his old-time friend, senator Marcello Dell'Utri, had ties with the mafia. A day later a rally gathered in Rome to demand Berlusconi's resignation.

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The HAARP project

Jesse Ventura, who was the governor of Minnesota and an ex-wrestler “The Bobby”, will make an appearance on the TV show which is also called as the “documentary thriller” with the title name “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura”. It will make its start from Tru TV network that believes in the slogan “No reality. Actuality”. The TV network makes such investigative thrilling and “revealing” documentaries in most of his programs and shows. “Conspiracy theory with Jesse Ventura” is based upon the investigative probes by Ventura in different under-the-cover projects and activities. He is presented as an open-minded investigator who does not operate with a bias towards any activity and gives his conspiracy theory to the public. If someone does not believe in the theory, “MythBusters” is the right forum for nonbelieving faction of people. Tonight’s show covers a new conspiracy theory regarding HAARP project.
The HAARP project (the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is a set of antennae in Alaska that emits packets of electric charge in to the ionosphere. This activity can cause variation in weathers, earthquakes and can incapacitate human mind. The HAARP project is financed by the Department of Defense. There is a “denying spokesman” assigned by the department to “deny” any allegation. He seems “too ready” to deny any fact. The HAARP project is itself portrayed by these authorities as “so-called research project”. They depict the project as a “dormant weapon” lying idle causing no harm to anyone for the time being. But some people have the view that show exaggerates to add spice of thrill that is required by the network. But Jesse is of the view that it is not the case and the reality is often blurred due to lack of concrete evidence. He told that lack of concrete evidence does not mean that something is not being done.

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156 die as China protest turns bloody

URUMQI, China – At least 156 people have died in riots and street battles in China's western Xinjiang province, state media has said.

Some 828 others have been injured in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit the region in decades and officials said the death toll was expected to rise.

Police sealed off streets in parts of the provincial capital, Urumqi, after discord between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China's Han majority erupted into violence. Witnesses reported a new, smaller protest in a second city, Kashgar.

The unrest is another troubling sign for Beijing at how rapid economic development has failed to stem - and even has exacerbated - resentment among ethnic minorities, who say they are being marginalized in their homelands as Chinese migrants pour in.

Columns of paramilitary police in green camouflage uniforms, helmets and flak vests marched around Urumqi's main bazaar - a largely Uighur neighbourhood - carrying batons and shields. Mobile phone service and the social networking site Twitter were blocked, and internet links were also cut or slowed down.

Rioters on Sunday overturned barricades, attacked vehicles and houses, and clashed violently with police in Urumqi, according to media and witness accounts. State television aired footage showing protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.

In a one-sentence reported released early on Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said 156 people had died. There was little immediate explanation for the high death toll and officials did not say how many of the victims were Han or Uighurs. Xinhua cited Xinjiang's police chief Liu Yaohua as saying that the death toll was expected to rise.

The government accused a Uighur businesswoman living in the US of inciting the riots through phone calls and "propaganda" spread on websites.

Witnesses and state media said the violence started only after police arrived to disperse a peaceful protest demanding justice for two Uighurs killed last month during a fight with Han co-workers at a factory in southern China.

Thousands of people took part in Sunday's disturbance, unlike recent sporadic separatist violence carried out by small groups in Xinjiang. The clashes echoed the violent protest that rocked Tibet last year and left many Tibetan communities living under clamped-down security ever since.

Tensions between Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese are never far from the surface in Xinjiang, a sprawling region rich in minerals and oil that borders eight Central Asian nations. Many Uighurs yearn for independence and some militants have waged a sporadic, violent separatist campaign.

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Russian navy ship accidentally shells village near St. Petersburg

A Russian naval ship carrying out target practice off the Russian Baltic Sea coast accidentally rained shell fragments on a village near St. Petersburg, officials said Friday.

Nobody was injured when the fragments from shells fired by an anti-submarine ship in the Gulf of Finland fell on houses in the village of Zelyonaya Roshcha, close to the border with Finland, regional military prosecutor Igor Lebedev said. An investigation has begun, Lebedev said.

Russia's NTV television said that the ship fired its six-barrel anti-aircraft gun near the shore, and the exploding shells rained shards of metal on the village. It showed metal fragments several centimeters (inches) long which were spread all over the area.

"Some people thought that a war started," one villager, Yuri Mikhailov, was quoted as telling the RIA Novosti news agency. "It was like a hail of steel."

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Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate

President Obama is expected to announce late this week that he will create a "cyber czar," a senior White House official who will have broad authority to develop strategy to protect the nation's government-run and private computer networks, according to people who have been briefed on the plan.

The adviser will have the most comprehensive mandate granted to such an official to date and will probably be a member of the National Security Council but will report to the national security adviser as well as the senior White House economic adviser, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are not final.

The announcement will coincide with the long-anticipated release of a 40-page report that evaluates the government's cybersecurity initiatives and policies. The report is intended to outline a "strategic vision" and the range of issues the new adviser must handle, but it will not delve into details, administration officials told reporters last month.

Cybersecurity "is vitally important, and the government needs to be coordinated on this," a White House official said Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "The report give conclusions and next steps. It's trying to steer us in the right direction."

The document will not resolve the politically charged issue of what role the National Security Agency, the premier electronic surveillance agency, will have in protecting private-sector networks. The issue is a key concern in policy circles, and experts say it requires a full and open debate over legal authorities and the protection of citizens' e-mails and phone calls. The Bush administration's secrecy in handling its Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, most of which was classified, hindered such a debate, privacy advocates have said.

The White House's role will be to oversee the process, formulate policy and coordinate agencies' roles, and will not be operational, administration officials have said.

Obama was briefed a week ago and signed off on the creation of the position, the sources said. But as of Friday, discussions were continuing as to what rank and title the adviser would have. The idea is to name someone who can "pick up the phone and contact the president directly, if need be," an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Obama pledged during his presidential campaign to elevate the issue of cybersecurity to a "top priority" and to appoint a national cybersecurity adviser "who will report directly to me."

Having the adviser report to both the national security and economic advisers suggests that the White House is seeking to ensure a balance between homeland security and economic concerns, the sources said. It also indicates an effort to quell an internal political battle in which Lawrence H. Summers, the senior White House economic adviser, is pushing for the National Economic Council to have a key role in cybersecurity to ensure that efforts to protect private networks do not unduly threaten economic growth, the sources said.

The report suggests that although it is a key government responsibility to help secure private-sector networks, regulation should be the last resort, the sources said. The report touts the concept of public-private partnerships to protect nongovernmental systems. It discusses the need to provide incentives for greater data sharing and risk management, and to use the procurement process to drive greater security, they said.

The report recommends that members be appointed to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent executive branch agency created by Congress in 2007 to ensure that privacy concerns are considered in the implementation of counterterrorism policies and laws. The report suggests that the board's mandate expressly include cybersecurity, the sources said.

The document is based on a 60-day review of cyber policies, led by Melissa Hathaway, the interim White House cybersecurity adviser and former intelligence official who is a contender for the new position. During that review, Hathaway's team had dozens of meetings with representatives from industry, academia and civil liberties groups, and received more than 100 papers.

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British spies plan to party like 007 when MI6 turns 100

HUNDREDS of British spies will step out of the shadows later this year when they hold a ball to celebrate MI6’s centenary.


The gala event will take place in October – at a secret location of course.

In theory the celebration is being kept hush-hush by the Secret Intelligence Service. But details are beginning to leak out from its fortress-like headquarters in London.

The event will be a strictly Black Tie affair and wives and girlfriends will be invited to ensure that MI6’s predominantly male staff have someone to dance with.

Whether there will be martinis, roulette tables and a car park full of Aston Martin DB5s remains to be seen.

However, with the British economy straining under the weight of the recession, the organisation is keen to make clear that its agents are paying for tickets to the event from their own pockets.

MI6 has taken various steps in recent years aimed at demystifying the profession and becoming more approachable.

In 2007, two secret agents gave the first “on the record interview” with the media, telling the BBC that they were not like James Bond and dismissing claims that their lives were like the TV drama series Spooks.

MI6’s head of recruitment said: “This is the biggest myth at the service. We do not have a licence to kill, we do not carry Berettas. That’s simply not true.”

A female operational officer also provided an insight into aspects of her work with foreign agents: “We absolutely never threaten or blackmail or coerce people to work with us. That is the most counter-productive tactic you can ever use,” she said.

Last year MI6 broke with tradition by recruiting the next generation of spies through the social networking site Facebook, having already issued a series of newspaper and radio adverts.

The three pop-up adverts appealed to university graduates, young professionals who were bored with their jobs and even those who sought a place in global history.

One read: “A career in world events? Help influence world events, protect the UK. Operational officer roles collecting and analysing global intelligence.”

MI6 was founded in October 1909 in a joint initiative by the Admiralty and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations amid deep concern about Germany’s military expansion.

Today the organisation says it fights “regional instability, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and illegal narcotics”.

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Pyongyang warns it could attack South Korea

North Korea said on Wednesday it is abandoning a truce ending its war with South Korea and has warned it could launch a military attack against its southern neighbour.The announcement comes two days after Pyongyang conducted a second nuclear test in the northwest of the country and amid rumours it is restarting nuclear fuel work which could make plutonium for an atomic weapon.


North Korea's anger follows South Korea's decision to join a US-led international security initiative, established after the 11 September attacks to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"It's hard to say it's a genuine menace," said correspondent Eban Ramstad, referring to whether Pyongyang's threats of a military attack were seen as genuine.

However, the fact that North Korea did issue a warning "is a sign that their anger is relatively higher now," Ramstad said on the line from Seoul, South Korea.

The possibility of an attack is being taken seriously as British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on the United Nations Security Council to hold firm against North Korea's defiant nuclear and missile tests.

"There is an absolute premium on maintaining unity in the face of this provocation from North Korea," said Miliband at a news conference in Ankara, Turkey on Wednesday.

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