RE: Myanmar arrests 44 over sectarian violence

 News on the 4 October 2013:

YANGON — The authorities in Myanmar arrested 44 suspects for their alleged role in sectarian violence that wracked a coastal township in western Myanmar over the last week, state media reported. Five Muslims were killed and scores of homes set on fire when Buddhist mobs went on a rampage in Thandwe, a coastal township in Rakhine state. 

The violence came even as President Thein Sein visited the region last week for the first time since in Rakhine in June 2012, killing hundreds of people and forcing more than 140,000 more to flee, the majority of them Muslim. 

Few details were released about the latest arrests but a report broadcast on state television late yesterday (Oct 5) indicated members of both communities were arrested. 

Officials in Rakhine state said last week that the chairman of a Rakhine political party and several of its members were among those detained. Today, the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper put the total of houses burned down in Thandwe last week at 114 houses. It said three religious buildings — most likely mosques — were destroyed, and 482 people were left homeless. Thein Sein has been widely praised for overseeing an unprecedented political opening in the Southeast Asian nation since the army ceded power two years ago to a nominally civilian government led by retired military officers. 

But rights groups also accuse his government of tolerating, or even abetting, what they describe as ethnic cleansing directed against Muslims in Myanmar, also known as Burma. 

They say authorities have done little to crack down on religious intolerance and failed to bridge a divide that has left hundreds of thousands of Muslims marginalized, many of them confined by security forces in inadequately equipped camps after fleeing their homes. AP

THANDWE (Myanmar) — Even as President Thein Sein visited western Myanmar to urge an end to sectarian violence last week, security forces could not prevent Buddhist mobs from committing violence against minority Muslims, at times even unwittingly encouraging them. 

That has raised questions about whether the government can quench hatred towards Muslims in largely Buddhist Myanmar, allegedly fuelled by radical monks, that has been blamed for the deaths of more than 240 people in the last 18 months. 

Five Muslims were killed last Tuesday in this township in western Rakhine state. Yesterday, the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper said 114 houses were also burned down and 482 people left homeless. State-run media on Saturday night said 44 suspects had been arrested, though few details were given. 

As soldiers patrolled the village of Thabyuchaing, Muslim residents said the authorities had opportunities to prevent the attacks, but did nothing. The police detained three suspects but released them almost immediately following threats of more violence, said Mr Myint Aung, 52.  Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwi has denied charges that law enforcement or government troops failed to take necessary action. 

Late on Saturday, in the town of Kyaunggon in the southern delta region, news spread that a 14-year-old girl had allegedly been raped by a Muslim man. The police and residents said Buddhist mobs destroyed a pair of Muslim homes there. 

It was the first time sectarian unrest was reported in the area since the violence started in June last year. A poorly trained and ill-equipped police force — made up almost exclusively of Buddhists — is tasked with dealing with sectarian violence, the army only stepping in at the invitation of civilian authorities or during states of emergency. 

From my point of view from the news above. Why must there be violence and war to happen? And why must there be raping scene always in some other news too?Isn’t this what GOD detest and against with..if they are pure human they don’t have to be some kind of wild animal til they have to do some kind of nuisance issue. Well i hope somebody can make them change that side of them or they themselves should change for the better. Well though human in this world tends to change to either between good or bad..well that’s for today topic! Thanks for reading! 

 

RE: Anti-Korea ‘hate speech’ illegal: Japanese court

 This news related from 7 October 2013.

TOKYO — A Japanese court ordered a group of anti-Korean activists to pay a Korean school in Kyoto ¥12 million (S$154,000) in compensation today (Oct 7) for disturbing classes and scaring children by holding “hate speech” rallies outside the school.

The landmark ruling acknowledged for the first time the explicit insults used in the rallies constituted racial discrimination, human rights experts said, and it could prompt a move to exempt hate speech from Japan’s constitutional right to free speech.

In the Kyoto District Court ruling, judge Hitoshi Hashizume said hateful language the members of the anti-Korea group Zaitokukai and their supporters shouted and printed on banners during the rallies around the school were illegal and disturbed classes and scared off school children. The judge said the video footage of the racist rallies posted by the group on the web was illegal.

The court said the rallies “constitute racial discrimination” defined under the United Nations’ convention on the elimination of racial discrimination, which Japan has ratified.

Today’s ruling also banned the group from staging further demonstrations in the neighbourhood of the pro-Pyongyang Korean elementary school in southern Kyoto, according to a court spokesman Naoki Yokota.

Several hundred thousand Koreans comprise Japan’s largest ethnic minority group, many of them descendants of forced labourers shipped to Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea, and still face discrimination.

Such rallies have escalated this year and spread to Tokyo and other cities with Korean communities amid growing anti-Korean sentiment. In street rallies held in major Korean communities in the Tokyo area, hundreds of group members and supporters called Koreans “cockroaches”, shouted “Kill Koreans” and threatened to “throw them into the sea”.

Zaitokukai, which boats more than 10,000 members, said they were only protesting the school’s use of a nearby city-run park without permission. They also say that they protest against the “privileges” given to ethnic Koreans in Japan and that slurs against them are part of “freedom of expression”.

The school filed the lawsuit in June 2010 against the group and eight activists over the hate-speech rallies held on three occasions between December 2009 and March 2010 near the ethnic Korean elementary school. The activists threatened Koreans and called them in names, causing some children to develop stomach pains.

An earlier ruling related to the demonstrations found four of the eight activists guilty of obstruction of business and vandalism, but did not discuss the racist content. AP

From my point of view above, why must Japan people have a grudge against Korean? Whereby they did nothing wrong against Japan. And even Music Industry also included ? and they even hate it just because those stars are from Korean?!?! That doesn’t mean it will effect Japan student who are still schooling, i mean about 50% of people who likes and another 50% who doesn’t. Music can’t be HATED! because without music in this world it will be a very dull boring life, and nothing fun gonna happen if there’s no entertainment! As we all know that even japan themselves do music in their own industry!! So they can’t just become Unfriendly with Korea over small issue. If they can just change of heart..so that there won’t be any argument or so whatever. Everything will go smoothly and more warm welcome. Not to just war or hating each other over small matter that it seems Racist or rather some childish issue. Can they just stop all this nuisance “ANTI – HATERS ” Issue!! and grow up Please!! Well that’s about it for today! Thank you for reading!

 

RE: North Korea puts army on alert, warns US of ‘horrible disaster’

 SEOUL — North Korea said today (Oct 8) its military would be put on high alert and be ready to launch operations, stepping up tension after weeks of rhetoric directed against the United States and South Korea, who it accuses of instigating hostility.

Reclusive North Korea has often issued threats to attack the South and the United States but has rarely turned them into action. Such hostile rhetoric is widely seen as a means to perpetuate its domestic and international political agenda.

In the latest outburst, a spokesman for the North’s military warned the United States of “disastrous consequences” for moving a group of ships, including an aircraft carrier, into a South Korean port.

In March, the North declared it was no longer bound by the armistice that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War signed with the United States and China, threatening to use nuclear weapons to attack US and South Korean territories.

The North has defied international warnings not to build nuclear and long-range missiles and is believed to have enough fissile material to build up to 10 nuclear bombs. Most intelligence analysis says it has yet to master the technology to deploy such weapons.

The United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed in the South, regularly engages in drills with its ally, and has said the aircraft carrier USS George Washington was leading a group of ships to visit South Korea in a routine port call.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said yesterday (Oct 7) the ships were taking part in a routine maritime search and rescue exercise and said any criticism by North Korea was “wrong”. The impoverished North’s large but ageing conventional military is considered unfit to fight an extended modern battle but it staged surprise attacks against the South in 2010 that killed 50 people in aggression unprecedented since the war.

An attempt at dialogue in August led to the reopening of a jointly run factory park that was shut amid high tensions in April. However, talks have since hit a stalemate. REUTERS

From my point of view from the above news. The US has nothing better to do then to trying to investigate on just certain issue. Things like this has always been happening around. Where some certain foreign people tends to spy for the sake on behalf of their leaders from their country. If only they can just hold on to a conference talk over a video call. To any point of matter related to discuss. That doesn’t mean that any Country whereby they must Fought War against. Isn’t this a little too common throughout the years. Where they tend to be too “Racist“. When can this war ever ends? Waiting for the “End of The World” is that what they asking for, where only one man standing that kind of thing! This is totally nuisance and childish way of doing. If in this world where the word “WAR” never existed in our dictionary. But we all know that, were rubbish things started just without warning or some certain discussion. Can all this ever talk peacefully through some connection or email or call. And so there won’t be any cold walls in between these 2 country Korea and the US, that includes other country that apply to these matter. Like i say in my previous blog about this “World Peace”  so yeah..i hope someday they will learn their lesson to lessen their childish topic. Well that’s about today topic. Thank you for reading!

RE: UN sued over Haiti cholera epidemic

NEW YORK — Victims of the 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti are filing a compensation claim against the United Nations in a New York court, demanding that billions of dollars in damages be paid to survivors and the relatives of those killed.

The outbreak has killed more than 8,000 people and made 650,000 ill, according to officials, and scientific studies have shown the cholera strain was likely introduced to the country by UN troops from Nepal, where the disease is endemic, when contaminated sewage was discharged from their barracks into a watercourse. Before that cholera cases had been rare in Haiti.

The UN maintains it has legal immunity from such compensation claims and has formally rejected claims from Haitians affected. The case is being pursued by the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and will be filed today (Oct 9) in the Manhattan federal district court, according to the New York Times.

Yesterday, a UN official made a rare case for compensation for the thousands of Haitians involved. The high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay, did not say who she thought should pay but declared: “I still stand by the call that victims of those who suffered as a result of that cholera be provided with compensation.”

Ms Pillay’s remarks, streamed live on the Internet, were a rare admission by a UN official about the need to provide compensation following a complaint filed by the Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and the Haiti-based law firm run by Haitian attorney Mario Joseph, one of the finalists at the Geneva ceremony.

Asked about Ms Pillay’s comments, UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq said it was not the “‘United Nations’ practice to discuss in public claims filed against the organisation”. THE GUARDIAN

From the news about mention, as Haiti had news like their country collapse a few years ago, where all or some of them had to travel to other island to evacuate from the place and lived in a better environment. Where i’m sure where they will get some food , clothes , farm and so on. As the years may goes by things tend to change again , all the economic on money , expanses and more. As Haiti people had to face all this problem they facing in their life. And from i see, some can’t even effort to fork out a sum of money to get a medical check up, due to poor living where parents or family had to depend on their adult children to support them just by working in their country or overseas just to gain some cash in their living lives. I feel that we all too had gone through some hardship in real life before, whether in past or present. We are consider lucky to have some support in life just by working and so on. I really do feel pitiful for Haiti people, i pray that hope GOD can lead their lives to a wonderful life where people across the globe willingly helping them all their heart of sincerity. Well that’s about it for today! Thanks for reading!