Alfred Woody's Kewl Blog [ 椼森 ]: Sep 7, 2009

Monday, September 7, 2009

Venezuela's Chavez drops in on Venice film festival

VENICE, Italy (AFP) – Hugo Chavez stole the show at the Venice film festival Monday as he paid a surprise visit for the screening of veteran US director Oliver Stone's documentary on the Venezuelan president.

The leftist leader was expected to walk down the red carpet at around 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) to attend the official screening of "South of the Border", a look at Chavez's role in the bottom-up change sweeping South America.

Reports began to circulate last week that Chavez would make an appearance, which appeared increasingly likely when a large delegation of Venezuelan officials and a few military men were spotted on the Lido, the festival's outlying island venue, on Sunday.

Chavez, stopping off from a world tour that has taken him to Asia, Africa and Europe, does not give details of his private visits for security reasons.

Through a series of interviews interlaced with footage from US media and official statements, Stone's documentary is out to show that Chavez is not "public enemy number one" as so often depicted on US media outlets such as Fox News.

The Oscar-winning director tells the story of Venezuela's "peaceful revolution" since Chavez came to power in 1998, and how Venezuela's transformation has had knock-on effects in the rest of the continent.

The film, which is being shown out of competition at the 66th Mostra, was enthusiastically applauded at the press showing on Sunday.

Making the documentary was a "liberating experience," Stone told a news conference on Monday.

In an attempt to counter "the media's attacks on Chavez, the movie shows very clearly the level of stupidity in the kind of broad statements" that are made about the Venezuelan leader, he said.

"We saw the sweeping change in the region, which is a very important historical phenomenon that is not talked about," said Stone, 62.

"There are many problems still, but it's a wonderful change that's happened since 2000," he added. "Social improvement has been extreme in Venezuela... the poverty rate has been cut in half, this is admitted by the World Bank."

"In South America you have social movements from below," said Tariq Ali, who wrote the screenplay.

When leaders such as Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo and Chavez "win elections and they actually start helping people, that surprises Europeans and North Americans because they're not used to that," Ali said.

Stone, 62, interviews each of these leaders, all of whom came from the bottom rungs of society, in "South of the Border."

For his admirers, Chavez, who grew up in a peasant family, is an emblematic figure of bottom-up change, says Stone, who directed the 2003 film "Comandante" about Cuba's Fidel Castro and the Central America war movie "Salvador" in 1986.

Interviewed by Stone, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner says in the film: "It is the first time in history that the leaders of so many countries look like the people they govern."

The film presents "a movement in South America to a continent (North America) that is unaware of it," Ali said.

"Why has there been so much hostility to Chavez? Because he challenged the Washington consensus, saying that the neo-liberal economy was not in the interests of the poor in South America."

by Gina Doggett

Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot

Three men were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks.

After a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court, jurors found the ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed, and two other men, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain, guilty of plotting to blow up airliners en route from Heathrow to the United States.

Another defendant, Umar Islam, was found guilty of a more general charge of conspiracy to murder because jurors could not decide whether he knew of the specific targets in the plot three years ago.

Four other men, Arafat Khan, Ibrahim Savant and Waheed Zaman, were found not guilty of conspiracy to blow up aircraft but could face a retrial on the more general conspiracy to murder charge because jurors could not reach a verdict.

The eighth defendant, Muslim convert Donald Stewart-Whyte, was found not guilty on all charges but had pleaded guilty to a firearms offence.

Ali, 28, was the leader of an East London terror cell inspired by al-Qaeda, the court heard. He had planned to detonate home-made liquid bombs in suicide attacks on transatlantic aircraft bound for major north American cities.

It was the most complex and daring British-based terrorist conspiracy in modern times and could have caused thousands of deaths in the air and on the ground.

Counter-terrorist police, the security services and prosecutors spent more than £35 million foiling the plot and bringing Ali to justice.

The arrest of the gang in August 2006 sparked tight restrictions on carrying liquids on to aircraft that led to travel chaos and which remain largely in place three years later, although detectives complained that their operation had been compromised by the fact that news of the plot had leaked out from Washington first.

The guilty verdict will come as an enormous relief for Government ministers who endured heavy criticism for introducing the draconian luggage restrictions.

It will also be seen as a vindication of the decision to retry Ali after he was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions last September. The previous jury at the South London court failed to reach verdicts on the specific airline plot.

British-born Ali, of Walthamstow, was inspired by the July 7 bombers and Osama bin Laden and considered taking his baby son on his suicide mission.

He planned to smuggle home-made bombs disguised as soft drinks on to passenger jets run by United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada.

The hydrogen peroxide devices would have been assembled and detonated in mid-air by a team of suicide bombers.

Ali singled out seven flights to San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, New York and Chicago that departed within two-and-a-half hours of each other.

Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic would have been left powerless to stop the destruction once the first bomb exploded.

Police said the plot was drawn up in Pakistan with detailed instructions passed to Ali during frequent trips to its lawless border with Afghanistan.

They believe a mystery al-Qaeda bombmaker was responsible for the ingenious liquid bomb design, concealed within 500ml Oasis or Lucozade bottles.

Surveillance teams watched Ali on his return to Britain as he assembled his terror cell, gathered materials and identified targets.

Undercover officers looked on as the unemployed former shop worker used cash to purchase a £138,000 second-floor flat in Forest Road, Walthamstow.

They planted a secret bug that revealed it was converted into a bomb factory where Ali met others to construct the bombs.

The flat was also used as a location for Ali and others to record suicide videos threatening further attacks against the West.

In his video Ali warned the British public to expect "floods of martyr operations" that would leave body parts scattered in the streets.

Ali was watched as he used public phone boxes, mobile phones and anonymous e-mail accounts to keep in touch with mystery terrorist controllers in Pakistan.

Airlines rachet up prevention to target swine flu

Airlines are stowing pillows and blankets, and rolling out the disinfectant wipes to discourage transmission of the swine flu virus, all the while stressing planes are as "safe" as trains or schools.

"The role of aircraft in spreading infection from one part of the world to the other is well established. The airplane is a vehicle for transmission," said William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University medical school.

"I'm not sure that the companies can do very much. I think it's a very difficult situation," he said as the swine flu, which first hit Mexico hard, continued to harm a travel industry already hit by global economic woes.

More than 10 percent of flights between the United States and neighboring Mexico have been cancelled since September 2008, according to the Official Airline Guide.

Given the possibility they will welcome passengers who are feverish, coughing and contagious, airlines have no desire to play doctor -- but they are ready to stop a flight if necessary.

"Airlines do have an obligation to report incidents of suspected communicable diseases and airlines have the discretionary authority and follow well established procedures to deny boarding if they come across a medically unstable passenger with a serious communicable disease," said Victoria Day, spokeswoman for the Air Transportation Association.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) sets the policy.

"Airlines are not medical experts, so we look to the CDC to provide guidance," Day said.

Some months ago the CDC recommended that "non-essential trips" to Mexico not be taken at that time, though they were not banned.

"We are not in the business of diagnosing customers for illness," Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan said.

"Our crews are trained to respond to sick or infirm customers at the gate and in flight. We have access to medical personnel 24/7 to help us with customers who become ill and need immediate medical attention. If someone exhibits signs of illness before a flight, we will work with medical personnel to identify the appropriate course of action," he stressed.

Some carriers such as Southwest and Virgin America have dropped the use of blankets and pillows, at least on daytime flights.

"We've introduced antibacterial hand wipes, antibacterial gel on planes and at airports for crew and guest use," said Virgin America spokeswoman Patrica Condon, whose company also is offering masks for those who want them.

It is a precaution of moderate usefulness, experts say.

"The seats, and pillows and the blankets are really not very important in transmitting influenza," said Schaffner. And "the usefulness of masks is not well determined."

"It is really impossible to prevent the transmission a virus of the respiratory tract, because you cannot identify who is infected," he stressed.

Schaffer noted that in Asia, authorities have tried to take the temperature of people getting on planes to try to pick out people who are sick and might have a fever; it was attempted with SARS and H1N1.

"That's an interesting system, but it's very imperfect. The machines are not perfect," Schaffner said.

Airlines meanwhile stress that in-cabin air quality is nothing to sneeze at.

"The air inside an airplane is completely exchanged with outside air 10 to 15 times per hour. The air in the average office building is exchanged only once or twice per hour," the ATA stresses.

"We want people to understand that if you do travel there is no greater risk of traveling by air than there is going to school or work using public transportation," the association says.

China alarmed by US money printing

The US Federal Reserve's policy of printing money to buy Treasury debt threatens to set off a serious decline of the dollar and compel China to redesign its foreign reserve policy, according to a top member of the Communist hierarchy.

Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and now head of China's green energy drive, said Beijing was dismayed by the Fed's recourse to "credit easing".

"We hope there will be a change in monetary policy as soon as they have positive growth again," he said at the Ambrosetti Workshop, a policy gathering on Lake Como.

A worker smokes in front of a billboard featuring a US dollar banknote on a street in Taiyuan

Working for the Yankee dollar: Beijing is said to be dismayed by the Fed's recourse to 'credit easing' Photo: Reuters

"If they keep printing money to buy bonds it will lead to inflation, and after a year or two the dollar will fall hard. Most of our foreign reserves are in US bonds and this is very difficult to change, so we will diversify incremental reserves into euros, yen, and other currencies," he said.

China's reserves are more than – $2 trillion, the world's largest.

"Gold is definitely an alternative, but when we buy, the price goes up. We have to do it carefully so as not to stimulate the markets," he added.

The comments suggest that China has become the driving force in the gold market and can be counted on to
buy whenever there is a price dip, putting a floor under any correction.

Mr Cheng said the Fed's loose monetary policy was stoking an unstable asset boom in China. "If we raise interest rates, we will be flooded with hot money. We have to wait for them. If they raise, we raise.

"Credit in China is too loose. We have a bubble in the housing market and in stocks so we have to be very careful, because this could fall down."

Mr Cheng said China had learned from the West that it is a mistake for central banks to target retail price inflation and take their eye off assets.

"This is where Greenspan went wrong from 2000 to 2004," he said. "He thought everything was alright because inflation was low, but assets absorbed the liquidity."

Mr Cheng said China had lost 20m jobs as a result of the crisis and advised the West not to over-estimate the role that his country can play in global recovery.

China's task is to switch from export dependency to internal consumption, but that requires a "change in the ideology of the Chinese people" to discourage excess saving. "This is very difficult".

Mr Cheng said the root cause of global imbalances is spending patterns in US (and UK) and China.

"The US spends tomorrow's money today," he said. "We Chinese spend today's money tomorrow. That's why we have this financial crisis."

Yet the consequences are not symmetric.

"He who goes borrowing, goes sorrowing," said Mr Cheng.

It was a quote from US founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea

The Bosavi woolly rat had no fear of humans when it was discovered. Photograph: Jonny Keeling/BBC

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

'A giant woolly rat never before seen by science' Link to this audio

A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world.

The discoveries are being seen as fresh evidence of the richness of the world's rainforests and the explorers hope their finds will add weight to calls for international action to prevent the demise of similar ecosystems. They said Papua New Guinea's rainforest is currently being destroyed at the rate of 3.5% a year.

"It was mind-blowing to be there and it is clearly time we pulled our finger out and decided these habitats are worth us saving," said Dr George McGavin who headed the expedition.

The team of biologists included experts from Oxford University, the London Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution and are believed to be the first scientists to enter the mountainous Bosavi crater. They were joined by members of the BBC Natural History Unit which filmed the expedition for a three-part documentary which starts tomorrow night.

They found the three-kilometre wide crater populated by spectacular birds of paradise and in the absence of big cats and monkeys, which are found in the remote jungles of the Amazon and Sumatra, the main predators are giant monitor lizards while kangaroos have evolved to live in trees. New species include a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog and a fish called the Henamo grunter, named because it makes grunting noises from its swim bladder.

"These discoveries are really significant," said Steve Backshall, a climber and naturalist who became so friendly with the never-before seen Bosavi silky cuscus, a marsupial that lives up trees and feeds on fruits and leaves, that it sat on his shoulder.

"The world is getting an awful lot smaller and it is getting very hard to find places that are so far off the beaten track."

美國‧全球5大最具膽識領袖‧馬英九上榜

（美國‧華盛頓）一份發行全美的雜誌近日將台灣總統馬英九列為全球5大最具膽識領袖。

據《Mental floss》最新一期報導，與馬英九並列為5大全球最具膽識領袖的還有德國總理默克爾、烏干達總統穆塞維尼、巴西總統魯拉與智利總統巴切萊特。

該雜誌贊揚，馬英九的機智及致力改善兩岸關係，使台灣經濟前景在全球金融風暴下仍出現好轉。

報導並用有趣的方式比喻兩岸關係，認為兩岸關係就像夫妻一樣，這對夫妻不願和解卻無法離婚，台灣和中國沒有人願意低頭接受對方的和解條件，而離婚的結果卻會導致戰爭；報導形容馬英九上任後大幅改善兩岸關係，就像是“全球最佳的婚姻顧問”。

報導並指出，台灣要在短時間中與對岸彌補關係，不是這麼簡單，但憑藉馬英九的機智，兩岸不僅成功降低敵意，也重建台美互信，外資更認為台灣投資環境趨向安全，因此，儘管馬英九上台後不久就遇到全球經濟衰退，但因為兩岸關係的發展，台灣現在走向經濟復甦道路。

美國‧引用“華人與狗”字眼‧美議員犯眾怒

（美國‧洛杉磯）美國庫比蒂諾市議員聖多羅因引用“華人與狗不準入內”的字眼惹眾怒，結果致函報章提出道歉。

庫比諾市在9月1日舉行議會，對市內4座公園“試行”狗不拴鍊進行民調，聖多羅在講話中，引用李小龍電影裡，美國早期的公園外有“華人與狗不准入內”的標示，表明不希望回到美國早期實施不准少數民眾進入特定場合的立場。

副市長胡宜蘭立即要求他把話說清時，聖多羅曾澄清他沒有把任何人比作狗，但滅火，聖多羅的舉例已令很多人冒火，華洋均有。

美國《世界日報》報導，聖多羅上週五致函此報，針對有關發言向小區提出道歉，並指他並沒有傷害任何人的意思。

當晚主持會議的市長馬弘利也表示，聖多羅說話並沒有對族裔不敬之意，只是措詞有欠妥當。

蘇丹‧女記者穿褲“猥褻”案續審‧群眾抗議遭警驅散

（蘇丹‧喀士穆）蘇丹女記者魯布娜被控在公開場合穿長褲涉“猥褻”罪名案，今日（週一，9月7日）將恢復審訊；若罪成，她將面臨40下鞭刑的處分。

此案上一次審訊於8月4日進行時，防暴警察動用催淚彈驅散數百名在法庭外抗議的群眾。

30多歲的魯布娜是一名寡婦，今年7月她跟12名女子穿長褲在喀士穆一家餐館內用餐，違反了蘇丹回教教條而遭警方逮捕。

週一的審訊預料將確定她是否擁有刑事豁免權。魯布娜為蘇丹某報章工作，也是聯合國在蘇丹維和任務新聞官。為了挑戰回教法律，她毅然辭去聯合國職務，放棄所享有的刑事豁免權，好讓法官能夠審理此案。

蘇丹先前已有10名女性因為相同罪名被鞭笞，魯布娜因此誓言要鬥爭到底。

她的案件受到國內外廣泛爭議。

中國‧拒絕含禽肉蛋食品‧多國禁收寄中國月餅

（中國‧廣州）《廣州日報》報導，離中秋節不到一個月，月餅已大規模上市，但多國明確規定，禁止收寄中國月餅。

今年1月底，美國取消所有的家禽類產品進口憑證。這條新法規在6月實施，剛好在月餅生產前夕。所有的食品，將無法向美國出口，包括含鹹蛋黃的廣東式月餅。

此外，多個國家也已推出“綠色壁壘”，加拿大、西班牙、澳洲、紐西蘭等國家規定，進口月餅餡料中不能含有蛋黃，澳洲還規定，月餅餡料也不得含有肉類。

法國、德國、泰國、瑞典、哥倫比亞、赤道幾內亞、尼日利亞等國家，更明確規定禁止收寄中國月餅。

台灣‧稱黑幫買兇追殺‧王永慶長子報警

（台灣‧台北）台塑集團創辦人王永慶的長子王文洋，早前向警方報案，表示有人買兇要殺他。

警方經追查已經掌握消息，認定兩名嘉南地區的黑道大哥很有嫌疑，正嚴密監控中。

今年8月王文洋大動作到美國打遺產官司，王家遺產風暴從境外燒回台灣。據傳，現在就連台灣黑道都想插手。

據指，由於王文洋身份特殊，兩名黑道大哥竟“懸賞”高額500萬美元，找來境外殺手想要暗殺王文洋。

為了自身安危，王文洋現時除了聘請外籍保鑣外，也申請警方特勤中隊配鎗貼身保護，警方也不敢大意，嚴密監控涉案的黑道份子。

台灣‧請辭獲准‧政壇大地震‧劉兆玄後日內閣總辭

（台灣‧台北）台灣行政院長劉兆玄今日（週一，9月7日）下午宣佈，已經請辭獲准，週四將帶領內閣總辭！

“莫拉克”風災引爆了台灣政壇大地震，民調結果顯示，“莫拉克”災後，馬英九和行政院院長劉兆玄的民望劇跌至20%。政府遲緩的救災行動，導致民怨高漲，產生內閣改組的聲浪。

台灣總統馬英九允諾9月中前進行內閣改組。據報導，馬英九最快於週一晚上，公佈內閣改組名單。

對88水災負責

劉兆玄當天在新聞發佈會上表示，這次88水災，死亡加上失蹤人數超過700多人，死了這麼多人，政府有政治責任，應該有人負責。

他說，他是行政院長，責任由他概括承擔，8月中他已向馬英九總統請辭，當時馬極力慰留，但他去意甚堅。

劉兆玄說，考慮到災區百廢待舉，災區工作必須立即、有效處理，他當時承諾馬英九，先帶相關部會首長進駐災區，儘快把發放慰助金工作做好。

自認已完成階段性任務

他表示，因為這是對災民起碼的撫慰，也要先把安置工作做好，這樣才可能比較細緻規劃重建工作，9月初再談（負責）這問題。

劉兆玄自認，他的階段性任務已經完成，“現在是離開的時候”，他是台灣最高行政首長，責任由他一肩挑起，馬也同意他請辭。

他說，在週四（9月10日）行政院會，他會帶領全體行政首長總辭。

中國‧10年一遇‧媲美888‧999掀結婚潮

（中國‧杭州）2009年9月9日，因為帶有“長長久久”、“天長地久”的寓意，被喻為十年一遇的“999”結婚吉日，已在中國各地掀起結婚潮。

儘管中國離婚率不斷攀升，但不少人仍渴望天長地久的愛情，廣州、深圳、上海、杭州等地，均有大批新人預約在“999”當天註冊結婚，估計可媲美“888”（即2008年8月8日）的紀錄。

上海不設上限辦理註冊

深圳的姓施準新郎表示，為了在“999”結婚，他和女友特意將婚期推遲年餘。

他說：“我覺得8主要是財運，於感情上沒有甚麼特殊意義，但是9就不一樣，3個9，10年才遇1次，當然不能錯過！”

前來杭州建德市民政局婚姻登記中心提前預約的鐘小姐說：“結婚對於我們來說，更看重婚姻生活能夠持久，所以會選擇寓意天長地久的9月9日結婚，我們還想趕在那天的9時零9分9秒領證呢！”

上海迄今已有近5000對新人預約當天結婚，當地民政部門表示，當日將啟動應急預案，開放逾百個柜台，不設上限地辦理註冊。

杭州的民政部門更估計，當天結婚的人數可能創下此市新紀錄。

深圳的預約情況同樣熱烈，早於7月中旬，透過網上預約的新人已達1070對，人數是平日的2.4倍。雖然當局已把預約名額一加再加，仍不斷爆滿。

而在廣州網上預約的首天，網站出現大塞車2小時，至下午名額即近爆滿。

獅城363對新人不怕“鬼月”

新加坡363對新人不怕“鬼月”，專挑2009年9月9日這個“三九”吉日注冊。

自2001年出現的年月日數字相同的陽歷“重日”，例如09∕09∕09，08∕08∕08……每年都掀起注冊結婚或舉行婚禮的浪潮，但今年9月9日卻落在農曆7月“鬼月”，讓人懷疑還有多少華人青年情侶勇於破除迷信，偏向“鬼月”行。

但婚姻注冊局提供的數字顯示，在09∕09∕09“三九重疊”這天注冊結婚的新人不少，有363對，比平日（不包括特殊日子）每天平均60對的數字高出許多；而自2001年以來的9年裡，還是陽曆“重日”第二高紀錄，只比2007年7月7日的765對少。

去年的08∕08∕08也因為落在農曆7月，結果只有294對新人注冊結婚；今年顯然多了一些。