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...

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Posted in: Politics,Society

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...

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Posted in: Business,Society

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...

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Posted in: Asia,Business,Society

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,...

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Posted in: Business,Society,Vietnam

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...

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

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...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam

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...

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Posted in: Politics,Society

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...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam

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,...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam