IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Naked Jogger Wins High Court Appeal

    {{The right to go jogging in the nude has been upheld by the High Court in New Zealand.

    Andrew Lyall Pointon (47) was wearing only a pair of shoes when he was spotted by a woman while running at 8.30am in a forest near Tauranga in August last year.}}

    She called police and he was arrested during another nude run.
    Pointon was charged with offensive behaviour and found guilty in Tauranga District Court last December.

    An appeal was thrown out in June, but a second appeal has just been upheld by Justice Paul Heath in the High Court at Tauranga.

    “If it was (offensive) then God wouldn’t have given us genitals,” Mr Pointon told The Dominion Post.

    “It is a win for all libertarians and a setback for all conservatives in the country.”

    The judge, Justice Heath, compared the situation to passing ‘gang members’ walking through the park.

    He said: ‘It would not be surprising for a person in the position of the complainant to be concerned and discomforted by their presence, and even to feel threatened.

    “However, on any view, their behaviour would not be regarded as offensive behaviour.

    “Should the sight of a naked man, in the circumstances in which the complainant found herself, be treated any differently? I think not.”

    He added that he felt Pointon was ‘a genuine naturist’ who had taken measures to avoid disturbing others — such as choosing a time when children would be unlikely to be on the track.

    But Family First spokesman Bob McCoskrie said he was disappointed and said Justice Heath’s decision shows ‘double standards’.

    He asked: ‘Is it okay for someone to streak through his courtroom? He’d be the first one to put them in the cells.’

    Picturesque: The jogger was spotted close to Tauranga harbour in New Zealand
    Naturist Mr Pointon said he enjoyed the freedom of not wearing clothes and began running naked about 18 months ago.

    The complainant, who was out walking her dog when she spotted Pointon, said she was so offended that she did not wish to ever return to the Oropi Bike Park.

    But Pointon lashed out at the woman who complained.
    He said: ‘It’s just ludicrous. Has this person got nothing better to do than wasting everyone’s time?

    ‘All she saw was a naked man running through the bush. It was just a fleeting moment, which has cost us all.

    “It just shows that it was a stupid decision by police to go ahead . . . and charge me for something totally irrelevant.” — {Daily Mail}.

  • Obama Warns Syria on Chemical Weapons Use

    {{The United States warned Syria in no uncertain terms Monday not to use chemical weapons amid intelligence reports indicating President Bashar al-Assad’s regime could be preparing to take that step as it escalates its fight against rebel forces.}}

    “I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command — the world is watching,” President Barack Obama said during a speech at the National Defense University in Washington.

    “The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. And if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable,” he said.

    Obama has previously warned that any use of chemical weapons by Syria in its civil war would be crossing a “red line” that would prompt a swift U.S. response.

  • Social Networking Takes up Toilet Time

    {{Blame social media the next time it feels like forever for your turn to use the toilet.}}

    According to a study released Monday, 32 percent of people in the United States aged 18 to 24 say they use social networking in the bathroom.

    The same report from marketing research firms Nielsen and NM Incite also found that 51 percent of US adults between 25 and 34 use social networking in the office — more than any other age group.

    While personal computers remain the primary tools for logging onto sites like Facebook and Twitter, the report — posted at blog.nielsen.com — noted a significant increase in the use of cellphones and tablets as well.

    Forty-six percent of respondents said they used a mobile phone to connect online, up from 37 percent last year, while 16 percent used a tablet like Apple’s iPad, up from just three percent in 2011.

    Facebook remained by far the most popular social networking site among Americans — but there was a stunning 1,047 percent year-on-year increase in the number of unique PC visitors to the online scrapbook Pinterest.

  • Brazil Picks Winner for 2012 Miss Bumbum

    {{Carine Felizardo, a curvy model from the northern state of Para was late Friday crowned Miss Bumbum, a title rewarding Brazil’s sexiest female derriere.}}

    A jury of six women and five men picked the 25-year-old Felizardo among 15 finalists in the second annual edition of the contest, held in a Sao Paulo hotel.

    Andressa Urach, another 25-year-old model from the southern state of Santa Catarina finished second while 21-year-old Camila Vernaglia from Sao Paulo state was third.

    Felizardo collected a 5,000-reais ($2,500) check, while Urach received 3,000 reais and Vernaglia 2,000 reais.

    “I am overwhelmed, very, very happy,” the winner said, choking back tears. “I would like to thank those who voted for me, those who believed in me, my family, my friends.”

    Felizardo, who is single, said she was honored to receive the unusual title.

    “I am very proud of my bumbum (as Brazilians call the backside), proud to represent the Brazilian woman,” she added, stressing that she owed her victory to years of hard gym training.

    The 15 finalists competed in Friday’s grand finale before a predominantly male crowd of journalists from around the world after surviving an online eliminatory round that drew representatives of the country’s 26 states and the federal district Brasilia.

    The jury, which included Rosana Ferreira — last year’s Miss Bumbum –, delivered its verdict after the contestants sashayed down the catwalk first in evening dresses and later in string bikinis that revealed the best part of their anatomy.

    “This is ridiculous,” Leila Chequi, a Brazilian female reporter working for the Japanese television network Fuji, told AFP.

    “I am here just for work. But if they (the contestants) don’t mind showing their bums to the whole world, why not?” she added.

    The popular contest is however lifting spirits in this huge metropolis wracked by a murder spree that has claimed more than 300 lives in the past month.

    The young ladies worked hard to prepare for the final, including taking surfing and jungle training courses to tighten their buns.

    Inevitably, the pageant sparked some jealous online comments.

    Said Juliana Danyelle Stuart: “They are cute, but I think that I have a better booty than some of the contestants. Next year I will take part.”

    The symbolic significance of the bumbum in Brazilian culture cannot be underestimated, as shown by the wild popularity of bum dancing among the young.

    “I think that the tropical climate, the carnival and all this racial mixing gives the Brazilian woman a unique biotype on the planet,” pageant organizer Cacau Oliver, a well-known female beauty spotter, told AFP in October.

    “The Brazilian woman’s derriere is a part of the body that the whole world admires and the contest just reaffirms this,” he added.

  • Britain’s Kate & Prince William Expecting Baby

    {{Prince William’s wife Catherine is expecting a baby and is in hospital suffering severe morning sickness, St James’s Palace announced on Monday.}}

    The royal family are “delighted” by the news of the baby, who would be the third in line to the British throne currently occupied by Queen Elizabeth II.

    “Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby,” St James’s Palace said in a statement.

    “The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news.”

    William, the son of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, married the former Kate Middleton in April 2011 and there has been intense speculation about when the couple, who are both 30, would have a baby.

    The statement added: “The Duchess was admitted this afternoon to King Edward VII Hospital in Central London with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (severe morning sickness).

    “As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period of rest thereafter.”

  • Abbas Calls for Palestinian Unity

    {{Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to the division among Palestinians in the wake of the United Nations upgrading the authority’s status — as Israel refused to acknowledge that newfound recognition.}}

    “The people who have achieved the accomplishment of the 29th of November, when the world wrote the birth certificate of the state of Palestine, are capable of imposing the will of the people in making the reconciliation happen,” he said at a packed rally in Ramallah.

    The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday elevated the authority’s status from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” — the same category as the Vatican.

    Palestinian leaders had previously launched a failed bid for full U.N. membership.

    Abbas is a part of the Palestinian faction Fatah, which controls the West Bank. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which has battled Fatah for power and — until last week — long opposed its efforts to achieve the status upgrade.

    Abbas, speaking Sunday, said there are “a lot of missions” ahead, and the “most important is to restore our national unity and achieve reconciliation.”

    Israel and the United States have slammed the authority’s move at the United Nations, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday it was “a step that will not bring us closer to peace.”

    And, in response to the U.N. move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused Sunday to reconsider a plan to build thousands of new homes in occupied territory.

    The United States and a number of European nations called on Israel to roll back the settlement plan in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which was announced Friday.

  • Japan Tunnel Collapses Kills 9

    {{Japan ordered inspections of ageing highway tunnels on Monday after a fiery collapse that killed nine people, as suspicion over the cause of the accident centred on decaying ceiling supports.}}

    The government pledged a thorough review and said “significant investment” would likely be required in the motorway network, parts of which including the accident site were built during the economic boom of the 1960s and 1970s.

    “As a major factor, we suspect ageing,” an official from highway operator NEXCO said, referring to the tragedy at the Sasago tunnel, which passes through hills near Mount Fuji, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Tokyo.

    Footage from inside the tunnel showed concrete panels had collapsed in a V-shape, possibly indicating some kind of weakness in the central supporting pillars suspended from the roof, experts said.

    Engineers on Monday began inspections at three other tunnels in the region with the same design, as well as at Sasago.

    And the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport ordered emergency inspections of all 49 highway tunnels nationwide that have the same design.

    NEXCO said safety inspections consist largely of visual surveys, with workers looking for cracks and other abnormalities, or listening to the acoustics of the concrete and metal parts by hitting them with hammers.

    Officials admitted that during the five-yearly check of the ceiling in September there had been no acoustic survey of the metal parts on which the panels weighing up to 1.5 tonnes rest.

    Emergency workers were still at the nearly five-kilometre (three-mile) tunnel Tuesday, but 24 hours after the cave-in, efforts shifted from rescue to recovery.

    Three vehicles were buried on Sunday when concrete ceiling panels crashed down inside the tunnel. Witnesses spoke of terrifying scenes as at least one vehicle burst into flames.

    Emergency workers had collected five charred bodies — three men and two women — from a vehicle by early Monday. One report said the victims were all in their 20s.

    They also recovered the body of a truck driver, identified as 50-year-old Tatsuya Nakagawa who reportedly telephoned a colleague immediately after the incident to ask for help.

    Three other deaths have been confirmed, an elderly man and two elderly women, who were all in the same passenger vehicle, officials said.

  • SKorea to Reroute Flights on NKorean Rocket Path

    {{South Korea says it plans to reroute passenger flights over the Yellow Sea to avoid possible collisions with debris from a long-range rocket that North Korea plans to launch this month.}}

    The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Monday it made the decision after learning that North Korea had informed China and Singapore of the flight path and other details of the launch, set for Dec. 10-22.

    North Korea told those nations the rocket would be launched in the morning and its debris would fall into the Yellow Sea and in waters east of the Philippines.

    Ministry officials say they will reroute six Korean Air flights. They also are considering whether to reroute or change the departure times of several Korean Air and Asiana Airlines flights to Manila.

  • Italy Votes for Center-Left Candidate for PM

    {{Italians are choosing a center-left candidate for premier for elections early next year, an important primary runoff given the main party is ahead in the polls against a center-right camp in utter chaos over whether Silvio Berlusconi will run again.}}

    Sunday’s runoff pits a veteran center-left leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, 61, against the 37-year-old mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, who has campaigned on an Obama-style “Let’s change Italy now” mantra.

    Nearly all polls show Bersani winning the primary, after he won the first round of balloting Nov. 25 with 44.9 percent of the vote. Since he didn’t get an absolute majority, he was forced into a runoff with Renzi, who garnered 35.5 percent.

    After battling all week to get more voters to the polling stations for round two, Renzi seemed almost resigned to a Bersani win by Sunday, saying he hoped that by Monday “we can all work together.”

    Bersani, a former transport and industry minister, seemed confident of victory as well, joking about Berlusconi’s flip-flopping political ambitions by asking “What time did he say it?” when told that the media mogul had purportedly decided against running.

    Next year’s general election will largely decide how and whether Italy continues on the path to financial health charted by Premier Mario Monti, appointed last year to save Italy from a Greek-style debt crisis.

    The former European commissioner was named to head a technical government after international markets lost confidence in then-Premier Berlusconi’s ability to reign in Italy’s public debt and push through sorely needed structural reforms.

    Berlusconi has largely stayed out of the public spotlight for the past year, but he returned with force in recent weeks, announcing he was thinking about running again, then changing his mind, then threatening to bring down Monti’s government, and most recently staying silent about his political plans.

    His waffling has thrown his People of Freedom party into disarray and disrupted its own plans for a primary — all of which has only seemed to bolster the impression of order, stability and organization within the center-left camp.

    A poll published Friday gave the Democratic Party 30 percent of the vote if the election were held now, compared with some 19.5 percent for the upstart populist movement of comic Beppe Grillo, and Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party in third with 14.3 percent.

    The poll, by the SWG firm for state-run RAI 3, surveyed 5,000 voting-age adults by telephone between Nov. 26 and 28. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.36 percentage points.

    It’s quite a turnabout for Berlusconi’s once-dominant movement, and a similarly remarkable shift in fortunes for the Democratic Party, which had been in shambles for years, unable to capitalize on Berlusconi’s professional and personal failings while he was premier.

    But Berlusconi’s 2011 downfall and a series of recent political party funding scandals that have targeted mostly center-right politicians have contributed to the party’s rise as Italy struggles through a grinding recession and near-record high unemployment.

    Angelino Alfano, Berlusconi’s hand-picked political heir, seemed again exasperated Sunday after a long meeting with his patron over Berlusconi’s plans.

    News reports have suggested Berlusconi might split the party in two and re-launch the Forza Italia party that brought him to political power for the first time in 1994.

    “We have to work to reconstruct the center-right, and reconstructing it means having a big center-right party,” not a divided one, Alfano said.

    He added that Berlusconi didn’t say one way or another if he would run himself. “It’s his choice,” he said. “If there are any decisions in this regard, he’ll be the one to say so.”

    wire

  • North Korea Vows to Launch Rocket in December

    {{North Korea is vowing to launch a long range rocket in December — nine months after its failed missile launch attempt in April.}}

    According to state media, the launch will take place between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22.

    The anticipated December launch would Be the second under Kim Jong Un, who assumed party leadership in January, weeks after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

    North Korea claims the rocket is for satellite purposes and the one that is set to launch in December will be an improved version.

    But the outside world sees it as veiled cover to test long range missile technology banned by the United Nations.

    The rocket that was launched from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the northern part of the country on April 13 failed to enter orbit.

    About 81 seconds into that launch, the United States detected a substantially larger than expected flare and by 10 minutes after launch, the rocket was no longer on several radar screens, U.S. officials said at the time.

    North Korea state media acknowledged the launch failure after U.S. and South Korean officials reported the rocket disintegrated.

    Had the launch been successful, the rocket’s third stage was expected to burn up in the atmosphere about 10 minutes after launch, with debris falling north of Australia.