Ivory Coast crisis: 'Nearly 450,000 refugees'

Pro-Gbagbo forces have shot Abidjan protesters this week More than 450,000 people have fled their homes because of the crisis in Ivory Coast, the UN refugee agency says.Dead bodies were being eaten by dogs in the streets of the main city, Abidjan after recent fighting, a UNHCR spokeswoman told the BBC. Alassane Ouattara, widely recognised as the winner of last year's poll, has gone to regional powerhouse Nigeria to get help ousting his rival. Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede power. There are growing fears that the situation could descend into civil war. Former rebel forces who support Mr Ouattara still control the north while most of the army remains loyal to Mr Gbagbo. Some 9,000 UN peacekeepers are in the country, monitoring a ceasefire...

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Posted in: Society

Business and Human Rights

Globalization has significantly changed the world we live in, presenting new and complex challenges for the protection of human rights. Economic players, especially companies that operate across national boundaries (trans-national companies), have gained unprecedented power and influence across the world economy. This has not always benefited the societies in which they operate. Amnesty International's research has highlighted the negative impact companies can have on the human rights of the individuals and communities affected by their operations. Companies cause harm by directly abusing human rights, or by colluding with others who violate human rights. Despite this potential to cause significant harm, there are few effective mechanisms...

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Posted in: Politics

Huge blast at Japan nuclear power plant

A huge explosion has rocked a Japanese nuclear power plant damaged by Friday's devastating earthquake.A pall of smoke was seen coming from the plant at Fukushima. Four workers were injured. Japanese officials say the container housing the reactor was not damaged and that radiation levels have now fallen. A huge relief operation is under way after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which are thought to have killed at least 1,000 people. One report suggests the number of dead is much higher, with as many as 10,000 people missing in one town alone. The offshore earthquake triggered a tsunami which wreaked havoc on Japan's north-east coast, sweeping far inland and devastating a number of towns and villages. Continue reading...

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Posted in: Society

A man sleepless for more than 35 years

Stories about a Vietnamese man who has been sleepless for over 35 years have been widely published in the mass media. He is 65-year-old Thai Ngoc, now living in Que Trung Commune, Nong Son District in the central province of Quang Nam. Continuing to work at sleepless nights Ngoc spent days at his farm and his wife has to bring food for him. Working days and nights, Ngoc turned a bare hill into an 8ha farm with many timber and orchard trees planted This buffalo helps Ngoc in farming work on the 0.5ha rice field. Ngoc built this 400m2 fish pond on his sleepless nights . . Stories...

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Posted in: Society

Malaysia donates 50,000 USD to flood victims

The Malaysian government has provided 50,000 USD in support for central province residents affected by storms and floods in late 2010. Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam Dato Lim Kim Eng presented the donation to Vice President cum General Secretary of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Vu Trong Kim on March 10 in Hanoi . Addressing the presentation ceremony, Vice President Kim thanked and spoke highly of good deeds performed by the government and people of Malaysia , which, he said, contribute to highlighting traditional solidarity and friendship between the two countries’ people as well as further affirming the solidarity among ASEAN member countries. He pledged to promptly hand over the donation to the victims. For his part, the Malaysian diplomat said this was...

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Posted in: Society

UNICEF helps Vietnam prevent injuries

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Health Environment Management Agency under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health co-organised a conference in Hanoi on March 10, on the creation of a plan for inspection of accidents leading to injury in the 2011-2015 period. The inspection system will be carried out in three phases, with the first phase from 2011-2012 to focus on three kinds of accidents – road, labour and child injury accidents – at 20 pilot hospitals at central, municipal and provincial level, according to a ministry representative. The second phase, spanning the 2012-2013 period, will expand the system to 40 hospitals in cities and provinces, and the third phase from 2014-2015 will select three of the project’s localities to apply outcomes and implement intervention...

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Posted in: Society

UN suspends Libya from Human Rights Council

Protest in Zawiya. (Source: AFP/VNA) The 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly Mar. 1 adopted a resolution to suspend the rights of membership of Libya in the UN Human Rights Council. The resolution expressed "deep concern about the human rights situation" in Libya, which has been a member of the Human Rights Council since May 2010. By adopting the resolution, the 192-member General Assembly approved an unprecedented membership suspension in the Human Rights Council, which was set up nearly five years ago. Earlier on Feb. 25, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling on the UN General Assembly to consider suspending Libya 's right to membership in the Geneva-based rights forum. On Feb. 26, the UN...

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Posted in: Politics

Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson fears resurgent Arsenal

Is this a new dawn of old rivalries between Ferguson and Wenger? A rejuvenated Arsenal have "rearranged the pecking order", says Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.The Gunners have replaced defending champions Chelsea as the main title challenger and trail leaders United by three points with a game in hand. "Last season Arsenal faded to leave Chelsea and ourselves in a two-horse race," Ferguson said. "But Arsene Wenger and his players have rearranged the pecking order to come storming through to lie in second." United and Arsenal will put their Premier League aspirations on hold for a week as they go head-to-head on Saturday with an FA Cup semi-final spot at stake. Despite Chelsea's ...

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Posted in: Entertainment

Yemen: Police Fail to Stop Attacks on Protesters

Mourners take part in the funeral of an anti-government protester in Sanaa, Yemen, March 11, 2011. © 2011 Reuters Yemeni authorities should take immediate steps to ensure that security forces prevent assaults against anti-government protesters and arrest those responsible. In city after city in Yemen, security forces have stood by or fled, and failed to protect people exercising their right to peaceful assembly. In some cases it appeared that too few police were deployed to halt the attack...

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Posted in: Politics

Mideast uprisings lesson for Vietnam: freed dissident

 Uprisings in the Middle East should serve as a lesson to Vietnam's ruling Communist Party, a prominent dissident said Monday, calling for democracy the day after his release from four years in prison."I think what has been happening in the Middle East is a very good lesson for Vietnamese people at this moment," Nguyen Van Dai, a 42-year-old human rights lawyer, told AFP by telephone in Hanoi. "And it's also a good lesson for the Communist Party because they should democratise my country before Vietnamese people go to the streets to ask them," he said, after completing his sentence for spreading propaganda against the state. He and another lawyer were arrested on March 6, 2007 for writing and distributing texts critical of the government, responding to questions from foreign...

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Posted in: Society

The Limits of Safeguards and Human Foresight

By JOHN SCHWARTZ HERE’S the truly scary thing about the 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Honshu Island and its resulting tsunami: Japan is a country that is lauded for doing preparedness right.  Japan is a rich, high-tech nation with much rough experience of seismic rumblings: those factors have led it to plan, and plan well, for disaster, with billions spent over the years on developing and deploying technologies to limit the damage from temblors and tsunamis. Those steps almost certainly kept the death count lower than it might otherwise be — especially in comparison with the multitudes lost in recent earthquakes in China and Haiti. Last Friday, however, showed the limits of what even the best preparation...

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Posted in: Experimental Society,Society

Wi-Fi 802.11n: Still Evolving

By Jay Botelho, director of product management at WildPackets, NetworkWorld This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach. Similar Articles:With 802.11n ratification a distant memory, news reports regarding this giant leap in WLAN capability have also waned. But while 11n has quietly receded into the background, WLANs have crept out of our data-only world and taken flight as full-fledged network platforms. Platforms, after all, enable the development of compelling applications, right? So, what's more compelling than being able to stream video between your home office server and your 56" LED TV without wires? Or walking into your company...

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Posted in: Computer

Last Vietnamese workers return home from Libya

Vietanmese workers at at Dejerba Zarzis Airport, Tunisia, preparing to return to Vietnam The last Vietnamese nationals to be evacuated from Libya will return to Vietnam on a special Vietnam Airlines aircraft Wednesday (March 9). Doan Xuan Hung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is currently in Djerba, Tunisia, said that as of Monday, 2,415 Vietnamese workers had reached Tunisia, while another 831 were at the Djerba Zarzis airport, waiting to return to Vietnam. The International Organization of Migration is also expected send two flights to bring the workers home Tuesday, he said. A group of officials from the Vietnamese Embassy in Libya, meanwhile, will stay on in Djerba for another...

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Posted in: Society

Japan quake: 'Explosion heard' at nuclear power plant

An explosion has been heard from a Japanese nuclear power plant hit by Friday's devastating earthquake.Reports said smoke was seen coming from the plant at Fukushima and several workers were injured. Japanese officials fear a meltdown at one of the plant's reactors after radioactive material was detected outside it. A huge relief operation is under way after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 600. Hundreds more people are missing and it is feared about 1,300 may have died. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared a state of emergency at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants as engineers try to confirm whether a reactor at one of the stations has gone into meltdown. Japan's NHK TV showed before and after pictures of the Fukushima plant. They appeared to show that...

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Posted in: Society

Novel Role Found for Calcium Channels in Pacemaker Cell Function

ScienceDaily — Pacemaker cells in the sinoatrial node control heart rate, but what controls the ticking of these pacemaker cells? New research by Angelo Torrente and his colleagues of the M.E. Mangoni group's, reveals, for the first time, a critical functional interaction between Cav1.3 calcium ion (Ca2+) channels and ryanodine-receptor (RyR) mediated Ca2+ signaling. A mouse pacemaker cell initiates local Ca2+ releases in the diastolic phase. Red spots are the regions with maximal [Ca2+]i released. (Credit: Image courtesy of A. Torrente/CNRS France 2011) The study also sheds light on a long-standing debate regarding the relative contributions of the 'funny current' generated by ion channels and the RyR dependent spontaneous diastolic...

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Posted in: Health

China activist Chen Guangcheng 'beaten'

A prominent Chinese activist and his wife are reported to have been beaten following the release of a video showing their house arrest.Chen Guangcheng and his wife, Yuan Weijin, were badly injured by security officials, according to the group Chinese Human Rights Defenders. It says the beating came after the release of a secretly shot film showing Mr Chen as a prisoner in his own home. He said he has been under surveillance since his release from jail last year. Mr Chen - a blind man who is one of China's best-known activists - was imprisoned after claiming the authorities had carried out forced abortions. 'Not life threatening' Damian Grammaticas: "For five months the blind activist says  he has lived under this 24 hour surveillance" Chinese...

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Posted in: Politics

Scientists Develop High-Tech Crop Map

ARS and St. Petersburg State University have partnered on AgroAtlas, a new website that offers geographic distributions of 100 crops; 640 crop diseases, pests, and weeds; and 560 wild crop relatives in Russia and neighboring countries such as this map showing the distribution of the Russian wheat aphid. (Credit: Image courtesy of USDA/Agricultural Research Service) ScienceDaily — AgroAtlas is a new interactive website that shows the geographic distributions of 100 crops; 640 species of crop diseases, pests, and weeds; and 560 wild crop relatives growing in Russia and neighboring countries. Downloadable maps and geographic information system (GIS) software are also available, allowing layering of data, such as that relating major...

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Posted in: Science

Japan quake: Nuclear meltdown feared at Fukushima reactor

Pressure in several reactors of the Fukushima nuclear power plant is much higher than normal Japanese officials fear a meltdown at a nuclear power plant hit by Friday's earthquake after radioactive material was detected outside it.Japan's nuclear agency said this meant fuel from one of the reactor's cores may have started melting. Japanese media reported an explosion and smoke at one of the Fukushima plants. A huge relief operation is under way after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 400. Another 784 people are missing. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared a state of emergency at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants as engineers try to confirm whether a reactor at one of the stations has gone into meltdown. Cooling...

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Posted in: Society

Sacked star Charlie Sheen sues sitcom makers

Sheen claims that producer Chuck Lorre (left) harassed him Actor Charlie Sheen has filed a $100m (£62m) legal action against the makers of Two and a Half Men after being fired from the US sitcom.In court papers filed on Thursday, Sheen claims producer Chuck Lorre spent years "harassing and disparaging" him. Mr Lorre, the action alleges, "believes himself so wealthy and powerful that he can unilaterally decide to take money away from the dedicated cast and crew". Mr Lorre's attorney called the claims "recklessly false and unwarranted". A spokesman for Warner Bros, also cited in the papers filed at Los Angeles Superior Court, declined to comment on the action. Prior to his sacking, Sheen had a contract with the studio that ran to the end...

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Posted in: Entertainment

Victoria Beckham is expecting a girl, David Beckham confirms

Looks as if Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise finally face a mother-daughter style force to reckon with -- or they will, when Victoria Beckham gives birth to what is confirmed to be her first girl. The Spice Girl turned serious fashion designer will have a mini-Posh to complement her three adorable boys with soccer star David Beckham. "Obviously, we're very lucky to be expecting again, and this is the first time I'm going to say it: It's a little girl," David revealed Friday at a luncheon for his stateside sports club, the L.A. Galaxy. "We're still in shock. Obviously, having three boys, you kind of expect another one, so finding out a little girl is in there is surprising, but, obviously, we are over the moon," he said. As far as the household...

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Posted in: Entertainment

Tablet Camera Tests: iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab

All three of the leading tablets available feature front and rear cameras, but some are better than others. Check out our lab test results.By Tim Moynihan and Tony Leung, PCWorld Odds are, if you ask anyone waiting in line for an iPad 2, they'll list plenty of reasons why they're lusting after Apple's latest camera-equipped tablet. According to our lab tests, image quality isn't going to be one of them. In this case, megapixels did matter, and the iPad 2's 0.69-megapixel sensor turned out iPod Touch-esque results. On a bright note, the new iPad does shoot decent video, and it even outscored a dedicated video-capture device in that realm. Not too shabby. We put the first generation of camera-equipped tablets through PCWorld Labs'...

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Posted in: Computer,Entertainment

Intelligent Microscopy: Software Runs Experiments on Its Own

ScienceDaily — Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg created new software that rapidly learns what researchers are looking for and automatically performs complex microscopy experiments. The work is published in Nature Methods. The sight of a researcher sitting at a microscope for hours, painstakingly searching for the right cells, may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new software created by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Presented in Nature Methods, the novel computer programme can rapidly learn what the scientist is looking for and then takes over this laborious and time-consuming task, automatically performing complex microscopy experiments when it detects cells with interesting...

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Posted in: Computer,Science