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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Indonesia ( A young African lion has died after getting its head caught in cables ) " Death Zoo "
SURABAYA, Indonesia: A young African lion has died after getting its head caught in cables in its cage at an Indonesian zoo notorious for hundreds of animal deaths in recent years, it was announced Thursday.
The 18-month-old lion named Michael was found early Tuesday at the zoo in Surabaya, in the east of the main island of Java, said zoo spokesman Agus Supangkat.
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“The lion was found hanging from the roof of his cage. He was very young and got his head stuck in cables that keepers use to open and close the cage,” Supangkat told AFP.
Supangkat insisted that the death was an accident and not due to negligence. Police were investigating its death, he added.
The incident came just two days after a wildebeest was found dead in its cage at the zoo, which has been dubbed the “death zoo” because so many animals have died there prematurely in recent years due to neglect.
Among them have been endangered orangutans, a tiger whose food was laced with formaldehyde and a giraffe found dead with a beachball-sized lump of plastic in its stomach, after eating food wrappers thrown into its pen over the years.
The wildebeest died on Sunday evening of intestinal complications.
Supangkat insisted the wildebeest had been properly fed and said it became sick after days of intense rain and humidity.
The management of the zoo — Indonesia’s biggest — has been taken over by the Surabaya city administration, but the deaths have not stopped and animal welfare groups continue to call for its closure.
African lions are found in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as vulnerable.
The 18-month-old lion named Michael was found early Tuesday at the zoo in Surabaya, in the east of the main island of Java, said zoo spokesman Agus Supangkat.
“The lion was found hanging from the roof of his cage. He was very young and got his head stuck in cables that keepers use to open and close the cage,” Supangkat told AFP.
Supangkat insisted that the death was an accident and not due to negligence. Police were investigating its death, he added.
The incident came just two days after a wildebeest was found dead in its cage at the zoo, which has been dubbed the “death zoo” because so many animals have died there prematurely in recent years due to neglect.
Among them have been endangered orangutans, a tiger whose food was laced with formaldehyde and a giraffe found dead with a beachball-sized lump of plastic in its stomach, after eating food wrappers thrown into its pen over the years.
The wildebeest died on Sunday evening of intestinal complications.
Supangkat insisted the wildebeest had been properly fed and said it became sick after days of intense rain and humidity.
The management of the zoo — Indonesia’s biggest — has been taken over by the Surabaya city administration, but the deaths have not stopped and animal welfare groups continue to call for its closure.
African lions are found in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as vulnerable.
GAZA City ( Israeli army fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the border )
GAZA CITY, Palestine: The Israeli army fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the border fence in the Gaza Strip on Friday, wounding two Palestinians, medics and an AFP correspondent said.
Troops fired at some 300 demonstrators who were protesting against Israel’s destruction of farmland for its 300-meter (yard) buffer zone, the correspondent said.
Two protesters were moderately wounded and taken to hospital, Gaza’s Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra told AFP.
Israel’s army was “unaware of the incident,” a spokeswoman said.
The demonstrators were marching near the border fence in support of Palestinian farmers, whose citrus trees they said had been uprooted to make way for the Israeli-controlled buffer zone that runs along the border.
“Israel destroyed most of our citrus trees... (and) still prevents us from importing or exporting any products,” said a statement from protest organizers the Gaza Youth Coalition.
The statement deplored “daily Israeli attacks” against farmers near the border.
Israel allows “civilian access on foot to areas up to 100 meters from the perimeter fence for agricultural purposes only, and vehicular access to a distance of 300 meters,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Soldiers often fire at Palestinians who stray beyond the civilian access area.
Israeli air strikes wounded a woman and four children near Gaza City overnight Wednesday to Thursday, medical sources said, with Israel confirming it had struck in retaliation for rocket fire.
Palestinian security officials said one of the strikes targeted a training camp of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Troops fired at some 300 demonstrators who were protesting against Israel’s destruction of farmland for its 300-meter (yard) buffer zone, the correspondent said.
Two protesters were moderately wounded and taken to hospital, Gaza’s Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra told AFP.
Israel’s army was “unaware of the incident,” a spokeswoman said.
The demonstrators were marching near the border fence in support of Palestinian farmers, whose citrus trees they said had been uprooted to make way for the Israeli-controlled buffer zone that runs along the border.
“Israel destroyed most of our citrus trees... (and) still prevents us from importing or exporting any products,” said a statement from protest organizers the Gaza Youth Coalition.
The statement deplored “daily Israeli attacks” against farmers near the border.
Israel allows “civilian access on foot to areas up to 100 meters from the perimeter fence for agricultural purposes only, and vehicular access to a distance of 300 meters,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Soldiers often fire at Palestinians who stray beyond the civilian access area.
Israeli air strikes wounded a woman and four children near Gaza City overnight Wednesday to Thursday, medical sources said, with Israel confirming it had struck in retaliation for rocket fire.
Palestinian security officials said one of the strikes targeted a training camp of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
MOSCOW ( Chechen rebel leader who vowed to disrupt the Sochi Winter Olympics is dead )
MOSCOW: A Chechen rebel leader who vowed to disrupt the Sochi Winter Olympics is dead, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday although Russian security services did not confirm the claim.
Doku Umarov, who styles himself the “Caucasus Emir,” was killed in a security operation, Kadyrov said in a statement published Friday on the Chechen government’s website.
“We are 99.9 percent sure of this,” Kadyrov said.
“I said before that he was no longer alive, but now we have received a recording of a conversation of so-called ‘emirs’ where they announce his death, condole with each other and discuss candidates to replace him as emir.”
Umarov, a fighter who has headed militants in Chechnya since 2006, has been the subject of numerous death reports in the past.
“We cannot confirm the death of Doku Umarov. We do not have any such information,” a source in Russian security services told the Interfax news agency.
Lawmaker and former security agency chief Nikolai Kovalyov told RIA Novosti news agency that rebels often spread false information of deaths in order to evade pursuit.
“I am sure the Chechen president has reliable information in order to make such claims. He has evidence of his death. But of course this information must be double-checked,” he added.
If proved correct, Umarov’s death would be a huge morale boost for the Russian government ahead of the Sochi Olympics.
Umarov vowed in July that his fighters would use “any means possible” to keep Putin from staging the Games.
Russia has enforced drastic security measures in and around the host city Sochi in a bid to prevent major attacks by insurgents after bombings in the southern city of Volgograd last month killed 34.
Making the claim, Kadyrov boasted that rebels would now not be capable of acting during the Olympics.
“All the talk of a threat to the Olympics in Sochi is absolutely groundless,” he said.
Umarov has been fighting to carve out a separate republic across the North Caucasus and has claimed the region around Sochi as part of his self-proclaimed ancestral land.
He was first declared killed in August 2000 during a special operation in Chechnya by Russian forces.
Doku Umarov, who styles himself the “Caucasus Emir,” was killed in a security operation, Kadyrov said in a statement published Friday on the Chechen government’s website.
“We are 99.9 percent sure of this,” Kadyrov said.
“I said before that he was no longer alive, but now we have received a recording of a conversation of so-called ‘emirs’ where they announce his death, condole with each other and discuss candidates to replace him as emir.”
Umarov, a fighter who has headed militants in Chechnya since 2006, has been the subject of numerous death reports in the past.
“We cannot confirm the death of Doku Umarov. We do not have any such information,” a source in Russian security services told the Interfax news agency.
Lawmaker and former security agency chief Nikolai Kovalyov told RIA Novosti news agency that rebels often spread false information of deaths in order to evade pursuit.
“I am sure the Chechen president has reliable information in order to make such claims. He has evidence of his death. But of course this information must be double-checked,” he added.
If proved correct, Umarov’s death would be a huge morale boost for the Russian government ahead of the Sochi Olympics.
Umarov vowed in July that his fighters would use “any means possible” to keep Putin from staging the Games.
Russia has enforced drastic security measures in and around the host city Sochi in a bid to prevent major attacks by insurgents after bombings in the southern city of Volgograd last month killed 34.
Making the claim, Kadyrov boasted that rebels would now not be capable of acting during the Olympics.
“All the talk of a threat to the Olympics in Sochi is absolutely groundless,” he said.
Umarov has been fighting to carve out a separate republic across the North Caucasus and has claimed the region around Sochi as part of his self-proclaimed ancestral land.
He was first declared killed in August 2000 during a special operation in Chechnya by Russian forces.
ISLAMABAD ( 7 people killed " while praying " at Mosque )
ISLAMABAD – Seven people were killed and 55 others hurt Thursday when a bomb went off inside a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, Pakistan’s Geo television said.The blast occurred at the start of afternoon prayers as worshippers were still entering the building, one of the wounded survivors said.
The director of the nearby hospital tending to the injured said several of them were listed in serious condition.
Police and army sappers cordoned off the area to search for additional bombs.
Peshawar is capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and has become a haven for the Taliban and other jihadists as well as criminal outfits operating on both sides of the frontier.
Terrorism-related deaths in Pakistan increased by 19 percent in 2013 to 2,451, after three consecutive years of declines, according to a recent report from the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.
Saudi Arabia ( Saudi hospital becomes lung transplant leader )
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSHRC) has become the regional leader in lung transplants with the use of innovative new techniques, local media reported.
Qasim bin Othman Al-Qasabi, executive supervisor of the KFSHRC, said the hospital’s use of the new technique is part of its strategic plan to remain the region’s leader in this type of surgery.
Surgeons performed 17 lung transplants in 2013, with a success rate comparable to well known international hospitals, including 15 two-lung, and two one-lung operations, he said.
He said this was an increase of 20 percent from 2012, when doctors completed 14 operations.
He said the hospital’s surgeons also perform heart, liver, kidney, stem cell and bone transplants.
Walid Saleh, a thoracic surgery consultant and surgical director of the lung transplant program at the KFSHRC, said the technique has recently allowed doctors to replace both lungs of a 17-year-old Saudi teenager.
He said the girl had cysts in her lungs that prevented her from breathing normally and resulted in her using an oxygen tank. This affected her growth and saw her confined to a wheelchair.
He said the girl was able to breathe normally, without any aids, two days after the procedure. The doctors moved her out of intensive care after several days. She would leave the hospital soon, he said.
HONG KONG ( Investigators will travel to Indonesia for " Maid torture case " )
HONG KONG: Investigators from Hong Kong will travel to Indonesia to speak with a woman who left the Chinese city after she was allegedly tortured by her employer, authorities said Friday, adding they will pursue the case “relentlessly.”
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, a 22-year-old former domestic helper, was reportedly left unable to walk after eight months of alleged abuse at the hands of the employer. She was admitted to an Indonesian hospital in critical condition after returning home last week.
Domestic workers took to the streets of Hong Kong in support of Erwiana Thursday, and demanded better protection for the city’s hundreds of thousands of foreign helpers.
During the protest, a second maid known only as “Bunga” also came forward to allege abuse at the hands of the same employer — reported to be a woman in her forties who lives with two teenage sons and a husband who is often away — four years ago.
Authorities promised action and have said police officers will be sent to Indonesia to speak with Erwiana.
“Police will be liaising with Interpol with a view to sending officers to Indonesia to take a statement from the helper,” Labor and Welfare minister Matthew Cheung told a press conference on Friday.
“We do not tolerate any abuse or exploitation of domestic helpers in Hong Kong,” Cheung said, adding that the government will “pursue the case relentlessly.”
Cheung also said the government will step up enforcement action over regulation and inspection of domestic helper employment agencies.
The agency that employed Erwiana said they were unaware of her injuries until they were notified by their corresponding agency in Indonesia.
Erwiana remains in hospital in Sragen, on the main Indonesian island of Java.
Her condition is improving and medics hope her injuries will be healed in two weeks, a spokeswoman for the Indonesian minister of manpower and transmigration has said.
The employers accused of the abuse have yet to comment publicly on the case.
The allegations have renewed concerns about the treatment of domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city, home to nearly 300,000 maids mainly from Southeast Asian countries — predominantly Indonesia and the Philippines.
A Hong Kong couple were jailed in September for attacks on their Indonesian domestic helper, which included burning her with an iron and beatings with a bike chain.
Amnesty International in November condemned the “slavery-like” conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian women who work in the Asian financial hub as domestic staff, and accused authorities of “inexcusable” inaction.
It found that Indonesians were exploited by recruitment and placement agencies who seize their documents and charge them excessive fees, with false promises of high salaries and good working conditions.
Domestic helpers in Hong Kong are paid about HK$4,000 ($515) a month.
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, a 22-year-old former domestic helper, was reportedly left unable to walk after eight months of alleged abuse at the hands of the employer. She was admitted to an Indonesian hospital in critical condition after returning home last week.
Domestic workers took to the streets of Hong Kong in support of Erwiana Thursday, and demanded better protection for the city’s hundreds of thousands of foreign helpers.
During the protest, a second maid known only as “Bunga” also came forward to allege abuse at the hands of the same employer — reported to be a woman in her forties who lives with two teenage sons and a husband who is often away — four years ago.
Authorities promised action and have said police officers will be sent to Indonesia to speak with Erwiana.
“Police will be liaising with Interpol with a view to sending officers to Indonesia to take a statement from the helper,” Labor and Welfare minister Matthew Cheung told a press conference on Friday.
“We do not tolerate any abuse or exploitation of domestic helpers in Hong Kong,” Cheung said, adding that the government will “pursue the case relentlessly.”
Cheung also said the government will step up enforcement action over regulation and inspection of domestic helper employment agencies.
The agency that employed Erwiana said they were unaware of her injuries until they were notified by their corresponding agency in Indonesia.
Erwiana remains in hospital in Sragen, on the main Indonesian island of Java.
Her condition is improving and medics hope her injuries will be healed in two weeks, a spokeswoman for the Indonesian minister of manpower and transmigration has said.
The employers accused of the abuse have yet to comment publicly on the case.
The allegations have renewed concerns about the treatment of domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city, home to nearly 300,000 maids mainly from Southeast Asian countries — predominantly Indonesia and the Philippines.
A Hong Kong couple were jailed in September for attacks on their Indonesian domestic helper, which included burning her with an iron and beatings with a bike chain.
Amnesty International in November condemned the “slavery-like” conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian women who work in the Asian financial hub as domestic staff, and accused authorities of “inexcusable” inaction.
It found that Indonesians were exploited by recruitment and placement agencies who seize their documents and charge them excessive fees, with false promises of high salaries and good working conditions.
Domestic helpers in Hong Kong are paid about HK$4,000 ($515) a month.
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