NATO Bombs Strike Tripoli; Rebels Advance in Misrata

A Libyan rebel fighter shouts slogans as he welcomes comrades heading towards the front line outside the Libyan eastern city Ajdabiya on May 10, 2011.

NATO bombings shook the Libyan capital Tuesday, as rebels claimed to have pushed government forces further away from the besieged port city of Misrata.

The alliance says airstrikes in Tripoli targeted a military command and control facility run by pro-government forces.  Residents said one of the bombs hit a building used by Libya's military intelligence agency.

NATO officials again denied they are targeting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but one strike sent up smoke from what appeared to be Mr. Gadhafi's compound.

In Misrata, a rebel military spokesman said opposition forces have pushed government troops back about 15 kilometers from the city as opposition fighters advanced to the town of Dafniya.  Colonel Ahmed Bani also said rebels had dislodged pro-Gadhafi forces from around the airport after two days of heavy fighting.

In eastern Libya, rebels reported advances between the towns of Ajdabiya and Brega.

In another boost to the opposition, the U.S. State Department said the first load of non-lethal American military aid for the rebels landed Tuesday in their stronghold of Benghazi.  The Associated Press quoted spokesman Mark Toner as saying the shipment consists of more than 10,000 meals, with further deliveries of medical supplies, boots and protective gear to arrive soon.

The shipment comes ahead of planned meetings in Washington this week between U.S. officials and senior members of Libya's opposition Transitional National Council.

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Toyota quarterly profits drop but recovery expected

Japanese car makers have been struggling with
damage and parts shortages after the 11 March disaster

Toyota Motors' profits plummeted by 77% in the last quarter because of disruption caused by March's earthquake.

Net profits fell to 25.5bn yen (£192.7m $315.5m) between January and March, the company said.
But for the fiscal year ending in March Toyota's income doubled showing that it had been enjoying a recovery before the quake hit.
The Japanese carmaker announced that production will pick up from June.
Toyota had previously said that improvements in output wouldn't begin until July.
Toyota and other auto manufacturers have been dealing with parts shortages because of the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March.
The world's biggest carmaker has curbed production at its factories in Japan and overseas.
On Wednesday President Akio Toyoda said he expects the company's car manufacturing in Japan and abroad to recover to 70% of its capacity before the earthquake, in June.
A full recovery is not expected until late this year.

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Two Swedes jailed for life over Philippine cybersex den

Young women and girls are often forced to work as cybersex chat girls

Two Swedish men, arrested in 2009, have been jailed for life for running a cybersex operation in the Philippines.

A court in the southern Philippines found Bo Stefan Sederholm, 31, and Emil Andreas Solemo, 35, guilty of trafficking charges.
The life sentences are unprecedented both for their severity and for the spotlight they cast on cybersex dens.
These involve naked women chatting and performing sexual acts in front of webcams for internet clients.
Three Filipinos were given 20-year jail sentences for helping the Swedes, who had set up the internet and payment systems, to run the business.
Regional court clerk Nelison Salcedo was quoted by AFP as saying judge Jeoffre Acebido had stressed the need to protect women.
"Disrespect for Filipino women and violations of our laws deserve the strongest condemnations from this court," Ms Salcedo quoted from the judge's ruling.
"It will not shirk from its duty to impose the most severe of penalties against anybody, be he a foreign national or a citizen of this country, who tramples upon the dignity of a woman by taking advantage of her vulnerability."
Under-age fears The Swedes were arrested when police raided a commercial building in the town of Kauswagan, Mindanao, in April 2009.
Police found 17 naked Filipinas in front of computer screens, some of them under-age; they were described as having been forced into performing cybersex.
Ms Salcedo was quoted as saying that the women were paid 15,000 pesos ($350) a month.
"Once the client has paid for a private show, anything goes," she said.
The Swedish embassy in Bangkok, which oversees the Swedish consulate in Manila, confirmed the court ruling.
"We learned that they have been convicted and sentenced to life in prison," said senior consular officer Par Kageby.
Cybersex, or sexually explicit chat over the internet, is a growing industry in many parts of the world; business is booming is the Philippines.
The BBC's Manila correspondent, Kate McGeown, says an already established sex trade, high levels of poverty and a population that speaks at least basic English means there is a ready supply of girls.
Officials estimate that thousands could be working in the small apartments that are the usual locations of these so-called cybersex dens.
All internet sex is classed as pornography and therefore illegal in the Philippines, but what most concerns the authorities is the number of girls who are trafficked into these dens - many of whom are well under 18, the legal age of consent.

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Charges sought against 38 for stealing coal

Police in the northern province of Quang Ninh have asked prosecutors to press charges against 38 people for stealing tens of thousands of tons of coal worth over VND16.6 billion (US$805,825) last year.

Among the accused are five senior management officials and two guards of the state-owned Mao Khe Coal Company, where the theft took place.

According to police, Le Khac Hung and Pham Duy Nghia, who were in charge of security at the company’s mining site, opened doors for the thieves to take away over 28,000 tons coal with trucks and equipment during a week last February.

Hung said that in return he received VND110 million ($5,339).

The senior officials, meanwhile, are were lax in their management, letting illegal mining continue even though they were aware of it earlier, police said.

They will probably face charges of “deliberately violating economic management regulations,” police said.

Reported by Thai Son

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European firms less confident in Vietnam's business outlook: survey

Increasing concerns over inflation and the weakness of the dong have dampened confidence in Vietnam's business prospects, the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) said at a survey release function on Monday.

Results of the third quarterly EuroCham Business Climate Index survey, which was conducted late last month, showed that business confidence and outlook among European companies in Vietnam has fallen by 9 index points since the last survey to 70 points on a 0-100 scale.

Compared to the last survey, European businesses made more cautious assessments this time, although the responses remained largely positive.

The number of businesses describing their current situation as “neutral” rose from 19 percent to 28 percent while responses stating a “good” or “excellent” business situation came down to 56 percent from 64 percent last time.

EuroCham said its members provided mixed responses to a question on business outlook for Vietnam. While 51 percent had a “good” or “excellent” comment on the business outlook for their enterprises, it was a big drop compared with 72 percent in the last survey.

Meanwhile, companies holding a “neutral” business view increased sharply at 33 percent, up from 20 percent; and those with a negative business outlook doubled from 8 to 16 percent .

The survey showed that high inflation was a major concern for European businesses with 72 percent of the respondents expecting it would reach more than 10 percent this year. This figure rose significantly from just 47 percent having such expectations last quarter.

As for the dong/USD exchange rate, 52 percent projected the dong to depreciate further by 6-8 percent or remain unchanged by mid-2011, while 57 percent expected the currency to weaken by 8 percent or more against the greenback by the end of the year.

Matthias Dühn, Executive Director of EuroCham, said EuroCham members were increasingly concerned about the volatile macroeconomic environment in Vietnam.

“EuroCham therefore believes the key challenges for Vietnam’s leadership in 2011 will be maintaining investor’s confidence in macro-economic stability, in particular by balancing carefully growth and inflation, and emphasizing growth in the added-value industries,” he said.

Alain Cany, chairman of Eurocham, said, “Vietnam is in the minds of European businesses. However, a lot of question marks about time, inflation, production costs and stability of the dong have confused investors and made them more hesitant to come to Vietnam.”

As a result, many investment projects have been left behind and were not moving as fast as they could, he said.

He warned the country could see a significant drop in FDI if there was not any improvement in its macro-economic situation in the coming months.

Source: Thanh Nien, Agencies

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H’Mong situation peacefully settled: deputy PM

"Those who have taken part in the gathering have peacefully returned to their home villages", said deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong

Asked about a recent gathering of H’Mong ethnic people in Muong Nhe to demand for the “establishment of a H’Mong Kingdom”, deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong who just visited Muong Nhe said the situation is stable.
Trong, who is also head of the Steering Committee for the Northwest Region, talked about policies of the Communist Party and State in socio economic development in the region and about the illegal gathering in Huoi Khon Village, Nam Ke Commune in Dien Bien province.
The deputy PM said the situation there is now stable.
Trong also informed that the incident in Muong Nhe had been settled in a humanitarian and peaceful manner.
“I have instructed party cells, local government in Muong Nhe to continue to meet residents, share with them our happiness and sadness, help the residents understand about the false arguments, plots of bad people so that they will not listen to them but trust in official news from government agencies”, Trong said.
“The Party, State will create every possible condition for residents to develop economically to raise their standard of living”.
In the past, people in the north-west frequently suffered from hunger, Trong told Vietnam News Agency, adding that they had recently become food self-sufficient.
In particular, infrastructure facilities had been built, contributing to improving local people's living standards.
"The north-west needs more roads, railways and air links," he emphasized, adding, "in order to raise people's living conditions, communications and transport with neighboring countries that share our borders should be stepped up." He cited China and Laos as examples.
There were some reasons behind the incident, including the limited awareness, light-mindedness and curiosity of people who were tricked with superstitious stories by instigators.
Those who had taken part in the gathering had peacefully returned to their home villages, he stressed.
The deputy Prime Minister urged local people to preserve and continue developing the nation's unity and devote themselves to developing production.
Superstitious stories to harm Vietnam
Earlier some hostile factions used superstitious stories to persuade and even force people, mostly women, old people and children to go to the forest for the “establishment of a H’Mong Kingdom.”
Due to severe weather and inadequate and unhygienic living conditions, many people have fallen ill and one child has died, Chairman of the Dien Bien Provincial People’s Committee, Mua A Son earlier said.
He said local authorities and mass organizations had sent cadres to persuade the people to disregard the call and return to their normal life. Authorities have also provided food and medicine to those in need.
The situation in the district has become stable and ready for the elections of the 13th National Assembly and the People’s Council at all levels, Mua A Son said.
A number of foreign news agencies have recently made groundless reports about the incident, Son added, affirming that those reports were all false and ill-intended.

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Bin Laden sons protest to US over 'arbitrary killing'

The sons of Osama Bin Laden have criticised the US authorities for carrying out his "arbitrary killing".

Omar Bin Laden has repeatedly distanced himself from his father in the past

A statement given to the New York Times newspaper said the family wanted to know why the al-Qaeda leader had not been captured alive.
Relatives who survived the 2 May raid in Pakistan should be freed, it said.
Another statement appeared on a jihadist website saying the burial of Bin Laden at sea "demeans and humiliates his family".
Osama Bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces during a raid on his home in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.
US officials have said that while Bin Laden was unarmed he had given no indication to the US troops that he wanted to surrender.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that the killing was lawful and "an act of national self-defence".
Humiliation The statement printed by the New York Times was attributed to Bin Laden's fourth son, Omar Bin Laden, who has repeatedly distanced himself from his father's ideology.
It said that in absence of a body or photographic evidence, the family were not convinced he was dead.
But if he was dead, it said, they were questioning "why an unarmed man was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world".
They argue Bin Laden's killing had broken international law and that figures such as former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had been given the chance to stand trial.
"We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems and crime's adjudication as justice must be seen to be done."
The family said they were demanding an inquiry into why Bin Laden was "summarily executed without a court of law" and demanded the release of his three wives and several children, who are believed to be in Pakistani custody.
The statement also said the US decision to bury Bin Laden's corpse at sea had deprived the family of performing religious rites.
A slightly different version of the report was published on a jihadist websites, said the SITE Intelligence Group.
It said US President Barack Obama was "legally responsible" for clarifying "the fate of our father" and that the sea burial "demeans and humiliates his family and his supporters".
US President Barack Obama has urged Pakistan to investigate how the al-Qaeda leader could live in the garrison city of Abbottabad undetected and to find out if any officials knew of his whereabouts.
Pakistan's PM Yousuf Raza Gilani has insisted that allegations of Pakistani complicity and incompetence are "absurd".

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Old lottery vendors with golden heart

Despite their poverty, two women in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces have done whatever they can to feed wild sparrows for years.

Early every morning, Pham Thi Sao, 73, from Tien Giang’s My Tho City begins her work day selling lottery tickets in front of Chanh Toa Church on Hung Vuong Street.

As soon as she shows up, hundreds of sparrows on the church roof swoop down and start hopping around her.

Waiting for all of her “children” to appear, Sao takes rice from a nylon bag and scatters it on the ground.

Ten minutes later, after they are fully fed, the birds still crowd around the old woman, as if they don’t want to part.

“They don’t come just to be fed,” she said. “They come even when I don’t have anything to give them.”

Sao started feeding the birds 20 years ago when she encountered some hungry ones hunting for food on the street. She shared her rice with them and the birds ate as if they hadn’t been fed for ages.

Since then, old Sao always sets aside part of her modest earnings from selling lottery tickets to buy food for the sparrows.

“They follow me even when I move to a different location to sell the tickets,” she said.
Every morning as old Sao is feeding her sparrows, in Ben Tre City, another old woman is doing the same thing.

Truong Mui Muoi, who also makes a living by selling lottery tickets, has been feeding wild sparrows for 5 years.

Like Sao, Muoi was also touched by the way the hungry sparrows ate the first time she fed them, with peanuts. “I’ve bought rice for them everyday every since,” she said.

Though they are poor, earning a mere VND50-70,000 (US$2- 3) a day from selling lottery tickets, the women said they would continue to feed the sparrows.

“As long as I can still sell lottery tickets, I will feed them,” said old Sao.

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Man voluntarily stays at police office then kills self: police

Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen held a photo of her deceased
husband at Binh Duong Province General Hospital on April 26

A man who was found hanging in a Binh Duong Province police station late last month had committed suicide and the handwriting in two suicide notes is his, the Binh Duong police have said in an official report.

Nguyen Cong Nhut, 33, was found dead at the Ben Cat District police station on April 25.

The report said that Kumho Tire Co Ltd, the Korean company for which Nhut had worked as a storekeeper, had assigned Nhut to “cooperate” with the district police to investigate the loss of 6,628 car tires worth more than VND6 billion (US$291,000).

Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Nguyen Hoang Thao, deputy head of the province police, confirmed that the police had not summoned, arrested or detained Nhut.
The storekeeper came under assignment from his company and then voluntarily stayed at the Ben Cat police office, the official said.

At the police station, Nhut had written a letter accusing many Kumho employees of colluding with security guards and drivers to steal company properties.

Nhut also wrote in the report that he managed to conceal the loss of 1,000 tires worth over VND1 billion ($48,500).

However, after the accusation he did not dare go home and had wanted to remain at the police office and had stayed there from the 21st until his death four days later.

An autopsy showed that Nhut had hanged himself with a telephone wire and there were neither external marks on his body nor traces of toxic substances.

Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Thao said forensic handwriting experts confirmed that the suicide notes had been written by Nhut.
Earlier, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, Nhut’s wife, told the police that the handwriting in the suicide notes was not her husband’s.

She also gave them Nhut’s notebook as proof and asked them to find out who had really written the letters.

Speaking to newswire VnExpress yesterday, Tran Dinh Trien, a Hanoi lawyer, said he wanted the police to provide him photos of Nhut’s autopsy and relevant documents.

He also said the report by the Binh Duong police does not answer queries raised by Nhut’s relatives about blood at the bottom of his trousers, an injury on his testicles, and blood and some other fluids on his pillow.

The police would meet Tuyen today, Thao said.

If she refuses to accept the police’s verdict, her lawyer can take it further, he added.

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