[Dawn] At least 22 people were killed when a fuel truck crashed into a flyover in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, triggering an kaboom that brought down an industrial building, Saudi state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
Al-Ekhbariya television quoted a Saudi civil defence official as saying that at least 111 people were also injured in the incident.
The civil defence department confirmed there were deaths from a traffic accident involving a gas tanker that hit a bridge in eastern Riyadh, causing a gas leak and an kaboom in a nearby heavy machinery and vehicles warehouse, according to the state news agency SPA.
The truck driver was surprised by a road accident on its route, causing it to crash into one of the pillars of the bridge, front man Captain Mohamed Hubail Hammadi said.
He said the incident resulted in a number of deaths and injuries, without giving specific details.
The civil defence chief, Saed al-Tweijri, said the fire had been brought under control. He blamed the tanker driver for the accident, which he said had resulted in the gas leak setting off an kaboom in the warehouse.
The building, several storeys high, was almost leveled by the blast, with only one corner left standing. Several adjacent buildings were damaged and nearby vehicles, including a minibus on the flyover, set on fire, witnesses said.
Television footage and pictures posted on social media showed a body lying by burnt-out vehicles and at least two charred bodies seated in a car.
More than 100 emergency personnel were combing the wreckage on the flyover and searching for victims in the rubble of the building, which housed the operations of Zahid Tractor, a distributor of heavy machinery.
I was inside the building when the blast came. Then boom, the building collapsed. Furniture, chairs and cabinets blasted into the room I was in, said survivor Kushnoo Akhtara, a 55-year-old Pak worker, who was covered in dirt and bleeding from multiple cuts over his body. My brother is still inside under the rubble. There are lots of people in there.
Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... is still on holiday after Eid al-Adha, which began last Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Russia on Thursday put into force a new law on the Internet that allows the government to block websites with banned content, prompting fears that it will be used to suppress free speech.
The law, which was hastily voted in by the parliament despite opposition from major Internet companies, is officially intended to protect children from viewing unsuitable content.
It targets sites that contain child pornography, information on drugs or calls to commit suicide. It also includes sites that a court has ruled myrmidon.
But critics say its wording could be exploited to block opposition websites by planting banned material, potentially shutting down the most lively forum for political debate in Russia.
"We are forced to conclude that no political will exists to resolve the law's contradictions and to eliminate those that pose threats to freedom," Reporters Without Borders said in a critical statement.
Even the communications minister has warned that the law could be used to block a resource such as YouTube in Russia.
The government media watchdog opened a website, www.zapret-info.gov.ru, that will publish the list of banned sites.
It said its experts had blacklisted six sites containing child pornography and that the owners had been informed by e-mail.
Its website does not reveal which sites, since users must enter an exact address to check whether a page or a site is listed.
The owner of the site or web host then has three days to remove content or block access.
If the site is still accessible, Internet service providers are obliged to block it, without any court decision necessary.
The site had been viewed more than 100,000 times and has fought off several hacker attacks, the watchdog said.
When the law was first proposed, the Russian version of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia protested with a temporary shutdown, while top search engine Yandex.ru ran a black banner on its main page.
The law's wording was then softened to make it less widely applicable.
Yet Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov warned in September that the law could be used to block Russians' access to YouTube over its postings of the anti-Islam film that sparked deadly rioting.
"It sounds like a joke, but because of this video ... all of YouTube could be blocked throughout Russia," he wrote on Twitter.
However he later clarified his comment, saying that while this was a theoretical possibility, he expected major Internet resources to abide by the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
I've been repeatedly bugged by the Nigerian scammers, there's a site that needs banning, the hell with THEIR "Free"speech.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2012 0:40 Comments ||
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[Dawn] A large number of protesters including religious groups activists ransacked a private schools three buildings and torched owners car allegedly on charges of committing blasphemy in Ravi Road area on Wednesday.
It was alleged that the private school administration had distributed a paper among the students, which carried derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet ((PTUI!)) a few days ago.
Police have started the paperwork but haven't done much else against the schoolteacher and the principal under section 295-C (blasphemy) of Pakistain Penal Code.
The principal has been booked and placed in long-term storage Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! under abetment charges because he did not take any action, when the incident came into his knowledge. Sources said both the teacher and the principal were in police custody. The police have also started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified protesters for taking law into their hands.
Sources in the police told Dawn that the protesters including religious groups activists took law into their hands and ransacked schools three buildings and burnt owners car without investigating the issue.
Sources alleged that the case had been built on the basis of a photocopy, which carried derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet. They claimed that the photocopy was of a book, of which a page was torn and the available pages text became blasphemous. Sources alleged that the person, who distributed the photocopy, had also translated the available English text into Urdu.
The residents of Ravi Road area had besieged the school building late on Tuesday night and continued to protest on Wednesday and eventually torched owners car and ransacked schools three buildings in the area. The fire brigade was denied access to the area. A heavy contingent of police also clashed with protesters.
MNA Mian Marghoob and MPA Khwaja Imran Nazir urged the protesters to let the police investigate the matter. They assured the protesters that the government would also hold an inquiry into the incident and all those involved would be brought to book.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A mother and father in Pakistain-administered Kashmire killed their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid after seeing her talking to a young man, police said Thursday.
Local police officer Tahir Ayub told AFP the father, Mohammad Zafar, had suspicions about his daughter Anvu Sha and became enraged when he saw her with a boy outside their home on Monday.
"Zafar beat her up and then poured acid over her with the help of his wife. She was badly burnt but they did not take her to hospital until the next morning, and she died on Wednesday," Ayub said.
Doctor Mohammad Jahangir of the state run Kotli hospital confirmed the death, saying the girl was brought to hospital in a "very critical condition" with almost 70 percent burns.
Anvu Sha's married elder sister alerted police and demanded they investigate the incident in Khoi Ratta district, 140 kilometres (87 miles) north of the state capital Muzaffarabad.
"The parents have confessed, saying that they suspected the girl had illicit relations with a boy," Ayub said. "We have registered a murder case against the girl's father and mother."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
