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Four Japanese cities in World’s top 5 most expensive spots for foreigners

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:36:00 +0530

Japanese cities have claimed four of the top five places on a list of the most expensive parts of the world for foreigners to live owing to the global financial insecurity.

The most expensive city in the world for foreigners was Luanda in Angola, which came as a surprise for many, but the top spot came in the wake of the rarity of expatriate products leading to high cost of living.

The list was compiled by ECA International, which consults companies on international assignments.

But, it was Japan that dominated the top end of the poll, with the capital Tokyo named the second most expensive place followed closely by the Japanese cities Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe.

While none of the Japanese cities featured in the top ten last year, their promotion to the upper ranks of the league table reflect a strengthened yen in Japan that has resulted in a sharp increase in living expenses.

Japan''s status as one of the most expensive countries was due to the fluctuating exchange rates.

But, quite unexpected was London plummeting to 72nd place, after it stood at the 10th place in the same poll last year. The financial crisis has made London cheaper than dozens of cities including Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and Brussels. Last year London came 10th.

For the study, the researchers compared the costs of 125 consumer goods and services commonly purchased by expatriates in 370 locations around the world.

The goods and services covered in the survey ranged from groceries and electrical goods to clothing and motoring expenses.

Moscow emerged as Europe''s most expensive city for foreigners to reside, while Manhattan has stepped up from 54th place last year to 21st place due to currency fluctuations.

On the other hand, Islamabad emerged as the cheapest location in Asia, with goods and services costing around 70 per cent less than in Japan.

"Global economic events mean that throughout the world exchange rates are fluctuating and, in many cases, dramatically," The Telegraph quoted Lee Quane, general manager Asia at ECA International, as saying.

He added: "Depending on their salary calculation methodology, many companies will have to pay particularly close attention to these movements in order to apply appropriate cost of living indices to the remuneration packages of their international assignees." (ANI)

Most journalists jailed worldwide are bloggers

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:34:00 +0530

In what projects blogging as a dangerous business, an annual "prison census" survey suggests that most of the journalists jailed worldwide are associated with the Internet medium.

The survey report, compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), shows that about 45 per cent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors.

"Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we communicate with each other. But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack," the Washington Times quoted CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon as saying.

He deduced from the survey’s findings that the carefree existence of bloggers might be a myth, at least in some parts of the world.

"The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes on the door they are alone and vulnerable,” he said.

The report suggests that 125 journalists were behind bars in 29 countries as of December 1, and 56 percent of them were bloggers or work online.

The new finding is surprising because only one blogger was jailed a decade ago.

The second largest category of those jailed this year comprised of print reporters, editors and photographers, with 53 per cent incarceration rate.

The rest was constituted by TV and radio journalists and documentary filmmakers.

“All of us must stand up for their rights — from Internet companies to journalists and press freedom groups. The future of journalism is online and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse," Simon said.

The survey has revealed that about 60 per cent of such journalists have been charged with "subversion, divulging state secrets, and acting against national interests," though 13 per cent are being jailed with no formal charges.

The report said that at least 16 journalists worldwide were being held in secret locations.

China, Cuba and Burma were the countries with most jailed journalists, followed by Eritrea and Uzbekistan.

"The United States, which is holding photographer Ibrahim Jassam without charge in Iraq, has made CPJs list of countries jailing journalists for the fifth consecutive year," the survey stated.

"During this period, U.S. military authorities have jailed dozens of journalists in Iraq — some for days, others for months at a time — without charge or due process. No charges have ever been substantiated in these cases," it added. (ANI)

India should not increase the area of conflict: Pak UN Ambassador

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:34:00 +0530

Pakistan’s Ambassador to United Nations Abdullah Hussain Haroon has urged India not to widen the area of conflict between the two nations.

In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Haroon hassuggested that US Secretary of State should be dispatched to the region to ease tension in the subcontinent which developed after the Mumbai terror attacks.

Ban-Ki-Moon has “no specific response” to a recent letter sent by Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon on last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai,said spokesperson to the UN Secretary-General Michele Montas.

“It is a general letter addressed to the Secretary-General and to all member states,” Montas told reporters in a press briefing.

“No action was required in the letter,” she added.

The Pakistan Ambassador, in his letter last week, urged the international community to play its role in averting a conflict in South Asia.(ANI)

Santa Claus’ and elves get health safety lessons to tackle Christmas strain

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:32:00 +0530

With the Christmas season going on full swing, the one concern environmental health experts have on their mind is the health safety of Santa Claus’ and elves working at the stores.

Taking into consideration the huge number of kids that they would have to balance on their knees, the experts decided to hold training courses for store Santas so that they do not have backaches sitting in the grottos.

The dozens of lessons, which are being staged by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, are for one day only, and they include lessons on how to adopt the correct posture while sitting on their chairs with the children on their knees.

Added to their sitting posture was the lesson on how to lift heavy presents without causing any injury to themselves, and the lessons also serve as a warning to the Santas that they could get injured on the job.

“Of course there’s only one Santa — but hundreds of stand-ins work in stores in the run-up to Christmas,” the Sun quoted a spokeswoman as saying. (ANI)

Bride-to-be swept to death by sea wave on Proposal Rock

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:32:00 +0530

A romantic marriage proposal turned fatal for a Filipino bride-to-be after she was swept away by a sea wave on Proposal Rock on the Oregon coast.

Scott Napper had taken 22-year-old Leafil Alforque to Proposal Rock near Neskowin Beach to pop the question when a 3 feet high wave suddenly came toward them and swept her out of the sea.

Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005.

Alforque had arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before the fateful day.

While Napper was preparing to propose Alforque with a ring in his pocket, a wave about 3 feet high suddenly came toward them.

"I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it," Fox News quoted Napper as saying.

By the time he turned to find Alforque, she had been caught by the receding waters.

"She was about 30 feet away, getting swept away," Napper added.

He tore off his jacket to get rid of any extra weight, and when he looked up again she was gone.

"That''s the last I saw of her," he said, breaking into tears.

He tried to search her through rescuers, buy saw no sign of Alforque.

Thick fog and dangerous water conditions hampered the rescue efforts before the search was suspended on Monday. (ANI)

US man ‘accidentally’ shoots wife during sex!

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:32:00 +0530

An American woman has been hospitalized after her estranged husband told cops that he accidentally shot her while they were making love.

The 42-year-old woman is in critical condition and has been admitted at a hospital in Ohio.

Timothy Havens, 38, revealed to the police that he was reaching for something on the bedside table when the pistol went off, hitting his estranged wife Carolyn in the chest, reports US news channel WLWT.

"[The gun was] right beside the bed. I picked it up and put it off to the side. We were having sex and it went off," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted the man, as telling on the emergency call he made soon after his wife was shot.

Havens was arrested after the police found out that his wife had a civil protection order against him.

He is also said to have spent 60 days in jail for assaulting his wife, WLWT said. (ANI)

EU court says retention of innocent people’s DNA illegal

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:32:00 +0530

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that retention of innocent people''s DNA and fingerprint records by police is illegal.

The unanimous judgment by the Strasbourg court condemned the "blanket and indiscriminate nature" of powers given to police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in collecting and storing DNA and fingerprint evidence of suspects.

According to The Independent, the British Government has not immediately said it will comply with the ruling by bringing in laws that would destroy nearly a million DNA samples taken from suspects who have been exonerated by the police and courts.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was "disappointed" by the judgment and confirmed the law would remain unchanged while ministers consider what, if any, action, to take.

In the Strasbourg court, two Sheffield men asked that their DNA records be destroyed. Michael Marper, 45, was arrested in 2001 and charged with harassing his partner, but the case was dropped three months later after the two were reconciled.

He had no previous convictions. And a 19-year-old named in court only as "S" was arrested and charged with attempted robbery in 2001 when he was 12, but was cleared five months later.

It is a well established convention that United Kingdom governments comply with ECHR rulings. If the Government does not accept the new judgment, it could provoke a constitutional crisis between ministers and judges in Strasbourg who act as the final court of appeal for human rights laws across Europe.

Yesterday human rights groups welcomed the judgment and called for the Government to follow Scotland where police routinely destroy profiles of those either acquitted or not charged. (ANI)

Kissinger says non-state groups carried out Mumbai attacks

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:31:00 +0530

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is of the view that non-state groups carried out last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai, and has called for a regional solution to the problem with the assistance of the United States’.

“We have an immediate problem and a long-term problem. The immediate problem is that you have all these various groups that are non-state groups but are organised with highly modern equipment and communications that penetrated, in this case, into India,” he told FOX News.

He noted that India-Pakistan tensions had been going on for the last six decades. Kissinger urged Pakistan to exercise strict control over its territory and for India to prevent inflaming its Muslim population.

“India has 160 million Muslims. It’s the second or third largest Muslim nation in the world. So if this turns into a real domestic uprising — they will do almost anything to prevent it. So we should coo-operate to the greatest extent possible. But it’s a very tough problem and it has to be solved on a regional basis.”

“All of the nations in that region have to agree that whatever else they do, they will not allow armed groups to form themselves and train, whatever their reason is.” (ANI)

China wants India and Pakistan to be good neighbours

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:31:00 +0530

China has said that it would like both India and Pakistan to tone down tensions and function as good neighbours of the country.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said “Both Pakistan and India are good neighbors of China.”

He urged India and Pakistan to work together.

“We sincerely hope that India and Pakistan will step up co-operation and dialogue and jointly safeguard peace and stability in East Asia, which is in the interest of both countries and the region,” Jianchao said during a press briefing.

“We hope they would find out the truth,”Jianchao said on Indian Government’s probe into the Mumbai attack.

“We take note of the Indian leaders who have made some remarks on this incident,” he added.

Jianchao pressed the fact that China wanted to see improvement of relations between the two countries. “We firmly oppose all forms of terrorism which the universal aspiration of the international community” he added.(ANI)

Obama inauguration: Washington’s Mall to be opened to the public for the first time

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:30:00 +0530

For the first time in American history, the entire Mall in Washington will be open to the public for the inauguration of Barack Obama, the country’s first African-American President.

Officials have been in talks for weeks about opening the Mall so that more people can be part of the historic day.

The Presidential Inauguration Committee, which is in charge of handling inaugural festivities, has repeatedly said it wants to open the event to as many people as possible.

“This will be an inauguration for all Americans," Politico quoted Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, as saying in a statement.

In the past, parade participants have assembled on the Mall between Seventh and 14th streets NW. Now they will gather at the Ellipse before setting off on their march.

During previous inaugurations, Fourth Street NW bound the viewing area for the swearing-in for ticket-holders and by Seventh Street NW for the general public.

Organizers have printed 240,000 tickets for the event, to be distributed by members of Congress and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. (ANI)