Nearly 3,000 dead pigs found in Shanghai river

Shanghai authorities have appealed for calm after China’s latest environmental and health scandal flowed into the city in the form of a putrid tide of rotting pigs.

More than 2,800 decomposing pigs have reportedly been pulled from the upper reaches of Shanghai’s Huangpu river – a source of drinking water for some of the mega-city’s 23 million inhabitants.

How so many pigs got there and why they died remains a mystery, although local media reports have suggested the animals may have been dumped in the river by an unscrupulous farmer from the neighbouring province of Zhejiang.

On Monday, authorities announced they had detected traces of porcine circovirus, a disease that affects pigs but which is not believed to infect humans, in the river.

China appeals for calm over North Korea threats

China today called for "calm and restraint" from all sides to diffuse the tension on the Korean peninsula.

The current situation on the Korean peninsula is "highly complex and sensitive" and China "expresses concern", said a Foreign ministry spokesman.

Meanwhile, the state media trilled its support for Beijing's decision to vote for UN sanctions against North Korea and called for them to be tightly enforced.

"We believe the resolution is a balanced one," said the Foreign ministry spokesman. "China is objective and fair on this matter and has played a constructive role throughout the discussion at the Security Council."

China cracks down on rebel village of Shangpu

Chinese security forces cut off power and phones, fired tear gas and stun grenades, and beat protestors in a southern village to try to end an 18-day rebellion.

Dozens of villagers in Shangpu were hospitalised and six people were arrested, according to witnesses.

"They came at about midnight, or maybe half an hour later. They cut off the power first," said one villager involved in the fracas.

"Around 60 people were injured, mostly older people. Some of them had broken bones, one had a stun grenade explode in his face and may need to go to the provincial hospital," he added.

China 'must stop unprecedented wave of cyber attacks', says Obama administration

China's government must take action to stop the "unprecedented" wave of Chinese cyber-attacks against the US, President Barack Obama's most senior security aide said on Monday.

Tom Donilon, Mr Obama's national security adviser, used a speech on US relations with Asia to mount the White House's most aggressive response so far to a series of military-style hacks of US corporations.

Describing the problem as "a key point of concern and discussion" at "all levels of our governments", Mr Donilon said: "Beijing should take serious steps to investigate and put a stop to these activities."

Myanmar holds peace talks with ethnic groups

Government officials meet minority rebel groups in Thailand to try to resolve issues including the Kachin conflict.

Myanmar's government has held peace talks with a federation of ethnic groups to try to resolve issues including the conflict in the northern state of Kachin. The United Nationalities Federal Council, which was formed by about a dozen ethnic minority groups including the Kachin, met government officials in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Wednesday.

Sultan loyalists keep up Borneo standoff

Armed men backing Filipino sultan who claims part of Malaysian island occupy village in Sabah.

A standoff between the Malaysian army and a Filipino armed group that claims a part of Malaysia is moving into its second week. The group of 100 armed men refuses to move from a village in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah that they have occupied, despite pleas from both the Malaysian and Philippine governments to return to the Sulu archipelago on the Philippine side of the sea border. On Wednesday, Jamalul Kiram III, a former sultan of Sulu and brother of the man Philippine provincial authorities regard as sultan, rejected a historic peace deal between the Philippines and Muslim rebels and said he would not ask his men to pull out from Sabah. Security analysts had warned that the peace deal signed by the Philippine government and Muslim rebels last October to end 40 years of conflict in the Philippine south risked stirring instability by alienating powerful clan leaders.

US and Japan leaders affirm security alliance

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe (left of Obama) said the two leaders have agreed to deal 'resolutely' with North Korea [AFP] US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have affirmed their alliance and pledged to take a hard line with North Korea. Abe also addressed China-Japan tensions and boosting the Japanese economy. "We just cannot tolerate the actions of North Korea, such as launching missiles and conducting nuclear tests," - Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister Obama promised to work closely with Abe, who came to Washington in hopes of sending a strong signal of unity two months after his conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept back to power. "You can rest assured that you will have a strong partner in the US throughout your tenure," Obama told Abe in the Oval Office, calling the alliance with Japan "the central foundation" for US policy on Asia.

Head of Indonesia's ruling party steps down

Urbaningrum says he only stepped down as a part of the Democratic Party's 'integrity pact' [Reuters] A day after the Indonesia's anti-corruption commission named him as a suspect in a case, the head of the country's ruling party has resigned. Anas Urbaningrum, who was elected in 2010 as general chairman of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, announced his resignation on Saturday in a news conference at the party's headquarters. The Corruption Eradication Commission declared Urbaningrum, 43, on Friday a suspect, accusing him of receiving payments in connection with the construction of a sports complex in West Java province. The commission did not specify what kind of payments were allegedly received by Urbaningrum.

Amnesty International: Indonesia must end religious discrimination

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - “The Indonesian authorities must guarantee the safe, voluntary and dignified return of the Shia community to their homes, according to their wishes,” said Isabelle Arradon of Amnesty International's Asia Pacific program in a recent report.

She added that Jakarta should also help the community to “rebuild the homes that were damaged or destroyed.”

In August 2012, Shia Muslims from Karang Gayam village in the Sampang district were displaced after an anti-Shia mob of around 500 people attacked the community with weapons and stones, killing two of them.

The mob set fire to 35 houses belonging to the Shia Muslims.

Since then, the displaced Shia Muslims have been living in inadequate conditions at a sports complex in the district on Madura Island, off Indonesia’s eastern coast of Java.

The Indonesian government also cut the free food and water supplies for the Shias in November, while religious and village leaders demanded the group convert to Sunni Islam, which is the religion of the majority in Indonesia, or be expelled from the district.

Arradon further said, “They (officials) must also end discrimination against religious minorities in the country and investigate reports that the local and provincial authorities are coercing Shia followers to renounce their faith before they are allowed to return to their homes.”

“Those involved in the attack on the Shia community in August must also be brought to justice in proceedings which meet international standards of fairness,” she added.

During its Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2012, Indonesia reaffirmed its commitment to freedom of religion and to address cases of religious intolerance.

However, religious minorities in the country continue to face harassment and those who commit acts of violence against them are rarely brought to justice.

North Korea Plans New Nuclear Test Aimed at “Arch Enemy” US

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - North Korea said on Thursday it planned to carry out a third nuclear test and more rocket launches aimed at US, which Pyongyang described as its “arch enemy.”

"We do not hide that the various satellites and long-range rockets we will continue to launch, as well as the high-level nuclear test we will proceed with, are aimed at our arch-enemy the United States," the National Defense Commission said.

"Settling accounts with the US needs to be done with force, not with words," it added.
The mention of the test came towards the end of a commission statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It did not specify when the test might be carried out, saying only that it would be part of an "upcoming all-out action that would mark a new phase" of the country's anti-US struggle.

It also did not elaborate on the meaning of "high-level". Agence France Presse quoted some experts as predicting that the North's next atomic test might be of a uranium bomb, rather than the plutonium devices it detonated in 2006 and 2009.
Such a development would indicate that North Korea had mastered the sophisticated technology needed to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU).

Much of Thursday’s statement was devoted to condemning Tuesday's announcement by the UN Security Council of expanded sanctions against Pyongyang in response to its long-range rocket launch last month.

"We absolutely refute all the illegal and outlawed resolutions adopted by the Security Council," the commission said.
Tuesday's resolution, proposed by the United States, was adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council, including the North's sole major ally China.

Beijing, which had sought to shield North Korea from harsher sanctions sought by the United States and its allies, appealed on Wednesday for restraint and diplomatic efforts to avoid a dangerous escalation of tensions.

"The DPRK's (North Korea's) satellite launch as well as speculation of a nuclear test highlight the urgency and importance of settling relevant issues on the Korean peninsula," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

Australian Party candidate rejects halal meat, doesn't want his money to 'go to the Muslim community'

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A candidate for Bob Katter's fledgling political party declared his preference for buying ''guaranteed non-halal meat'' so his money does not ''go to the Muslim community''.

Jamie Cavanough, who is standing for Katter's Australian Party in Sydney's most marginal federal seat, Greenway, is under fire for the apparently divisive comments he made to a community forum in one of the city's most ethnically diverse areas.

Katter's Australian Party played down the comments on Friday, describing them as a non-issue.

Mr Cavanough made his comments on Saturday, less than a fortnight after controversy in the Greenway community over plans for a supposed Muslim enclave, dubbed ''Halal housing'', in Riverstone.

Mr Cavanough posted on the Riverstone Community Group forum, which has 732 members on Facebook: ''Can anyone advise me where I can buy Guaranteed NON halal lamb for Australia day.''

When a forum user suggested he might try a butcher, Mr Cavanough replied: ''have not asked yet, just wondering if anyone new [sic] of any, I would prefer to always buy non halal as proceeds of halal goes to the Muslim community.''

And in a separate post, Mr Cavanough called on people to sign a petition against a supposed plan by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to scrap the name Australia Day in favour of Harmony Day, saying ''the Muslim church is in favour of this''. The Prime Minister's office confirmed there was no such proposal.

Mr Cavanough told Fairfax Media he was simply looking for a better deal on meat and his comments were not racially motivated.

''In my view, and it's not the view of any party, I want to be able to purchase a product that has not been faced to a god that I don't believe in and blessed,'' he said

Thailand detains 200 Rohingya Muslims refugees fleeing from Myanmar

Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Rohingya refugees were spotted off Racha Noi Island in Phuket’s Muang district on Tuesday.

The Thai Naval Force said the refugees were provided with food and water.

On Monday, Thai National Security Council Secretary General Paradorn Pattanathabutr stated that Thailand would no longer allow Rohingya boat people fleeing ethnic violence in Myanmar to enter the country.

"The Thai navy from now on will be stricter with them and will no longer allow them to land," AFP quoted Pattanathabutr as saying.

In recent months, a large number of Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled to Thailand.

Some 800,000 Rohingyas are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement.

The Myanmar government has so far refused to extricate the stateless Rohingyas in the western state of Rakhine from their citizenship limbo, despite international pressure to give them a legal status.

Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar for many years.

Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by extremists who call themselves Buddhists.

The extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Rakhine. Myanmar Army forces allegedly provided the fanatics containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who are then forced to flee.

Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to censure the Myanmarese military for its persecution of the Rohingyas.

Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremists