China steels for Rio Tinto court case By Wu Zhong, China Editor Asia Times HONG KONG – A Shanghai court began on Monday morning a two-day trial of four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, including Australian national Stern Hu and three Chinese colleagues, on charges of bribery and industrial espionage. If convicted they could each be jailed for up to seven years for a single offence. A combined penalty could be 20 years in prison. Dozens of journalists gathered outside the Shanghai court, but only a few reporters, possibly from China’s state-run media, were allowed in. The Australian … Continue reading The case of Rio Tinto of China

A spy unsettles US-India ties By M K Bhadrakumar News that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had reached a plea bargain with David Coleman Headley, who played a key role in the planning of the terrorist strike in Mumbai in November 2008 in which 166 people were killed, has caused an uproar in India. The deal enables the US government to hold back from formally producing any evidence against Headley in a court of law that might have included details of his links with US intelligence or oblige any cross-examination of Headley by the prosecution. Nor can … Continue reading The case of David Coleman Headley – US spy, terrorist or simple man?

By Indrajit Basu KOLKATA – With the largest student population in the world, an estimated market of US$40 billion per year and scorching, it is a wonder that after nearly two decades of economic liberalization India’s education sector is still closed to foreign players. But propelled by the urgent need to deregulate the higher education sector to meet the demands of a burgeoning economy, the cabinet last week took a big leap by approving a bill allowing foreign universities to open campuses in the country and offer degrees. The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010 still … Continue reading India shows an open mind

Clinton pushes to confront `status quo’ By Eli Clifton WASHINGTON – United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered reassurance on Monday to the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that the Barack Obama administration’s “commitment to Israel’s security and Israel’s future is rock solid”, while echoing the words of warning issued by General David Petraeus and Vice President Joe Biden. Clinton’s address at the annual conference of AIPAC – a powerful pro-Israel lobby group – comes as the US and Israel are entering the third week of one of the worst bilateral crises since 1975, as the Israeli … Continue reading Clinton pushes to confront Likud in the US?

By Cristian Segura BEIJING – The Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) keeps a special trophy beside the basketball court at its headquarters in Manila. It’s a silver BMW that was owned by Antonio Kcomt, a notorious Chinese-Canadian cocaine and ecstasy dealer. Kcomt was racing the sedan through Quezon City last August when PDEA agents shot him dead after a high-speed chase. The agency keeps the bullet-holed BMW as a reminder of what it can achieve despite staffing and funding problems, and despite the upward spiral of drug-related crime in the Philippines. The PDEA employs about 600 agents, but estimates it … Continue reading Manila losing its battle with drugs

US-Israeli spat plants seeds of crisis By Victor Kotsev Last month, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy published an analysis of three simulations conducted recently by experts at Harvard University, Tel Aviv University and the Brookings Institution. The simulations explored different scenarios for how the Iranian crisis would develop, and an outcome they had in common was rising tensions between the United States and Israel and a failure of the sanctions policy to halt Iran’s nuclear progress. “Game play suggests,” the analysis points out, “that an eventual US-Israeli crisis is likely.” Even without Iran, tensions between the two allies … Continue reading Is this the beginning of the end for Christian Extremism in the US?

By Imam Omar Ahmad Suleiman, Imam in New Orleans, LA and a member of ICNA’sShariah Council In the name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His final messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). First and foremost, everything that is written is in assumption that the messages from Imam Anwar that have recently surfaced are indeed from him and no one else. As American Muslims, many of us used to wonder at how Allah has blessed Imam Anwar with such a degree of eloquence, and the gift of storytelling if … Continue reading Responding to Anwar Al Awlaki – A Message to Muslim Youth

The Petraeus briefing: Biden’s embarrassment is not the whole story Posted By Mark Perry On Jan. 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a team of senior military officers from the U.S. Central Command (responsible for overseeing American security interests in the Middle East), arrived at the Pentagon to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The team had been dispatched by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus to underline his growing worries at the lack of progress in resolving the issue. The 33-slide, 45-minute PowerPoint briefing stunned Mullen. The briefers reported that … Continue reading US Military Operations in Iraq need to expand and include Israel and the Palestinians! – Gen Petraeus

Qantas pilot allowed to carry on flying… despite having urges to crash planes By Richard Shears A jumbo jet pilot has told how he repeatedly had overwhelming urges to crash the planes he was flying. Bryan Griffin said that once he even had to ‘immobilise’ his arm to prevent him trying to down a Qantas passenger jet. His hand had ‘involuntarily moved towards the start levers’ on the journey to Singapore. Fined: Qantas has been ordered to pay a pilot £97,000 after allowing him to continue flying when he was not mentally fit to do so The compulsion to cut … Continue reading Qantas pilot allowed to carry on flying despite wanting to crash!

How to Calculate a Dog’s Age in Dog Years A popular misconception is that dogs age 7 years for each calendar year. In fact, canine aging is much more rapid during the first 2 years of a dog’s life. After the first 2 years the ratio settles down to 5 to 1 for small and medium breeds. For large breeds the rate is 6 to 1, and for giant breeds the rate is 7 to 1. Thus, at 10 years of age a Great Dane would be 80 years old while a pug would only be 64. How to Tell … Continue reading Calculate a Dog’s Age in Dog Years!