China celebrates Mao’s birth with noodles

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SHAOSHAN (AFP) – Admirers of Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong celebrated the 120th anniversary of his birth Thursday with noodles and fireworks, as President Xi Jinping marked the occasion by visiting the controversial leader’s preserved corpse.

Thousands stood through the night in Shaoshan near the childhood home of Mao, who led the country for 27 years.

He commands reverence among many Chinese, but also condemnation by those who say his political and economic campaigns caused tens of millions of deaths.

“Mao was a great leader of the Chinese nation, he was a perfect person and for us young people he is someone to learn from,” said Jiang Qi, 33, a construction company employee, as he watched fireworks streak above a giant statue of Mao, who died in 1976.

Mao fans — including at least two Mao lookalikes — jostled for position and bowed in front of the statue, while others shouted “Long live Chairman Mao!”

The ruling Communist Party has sought to balance praise for the revolutionary leader — whose theories Xi has regularly cited — while also acknowledging that he made “mistakes”.

At the same time Mao has emerged as a rallying point for some nationalists and those discontented with the stark inequality and widespread corruption that have accompanied China’s market-driven economic boom.

The 12-decade anniversary has a special resonance in China, which traditionally measured time in 60-year cycles.

At least 100 self-described “Red Internet friends”, a group of activists to the left of the current Communist Party leadership, were present in Shaoshan, in the central province of Hunan. Some waved home-made red flags and shouted for “the downfall of American imperialism”.

Several said police detained pro-Mao activists from different provinces to prevent them attending the anniversary, underscoring the challenge Mao’s legacy poses to the leadership.

“The police have intercepted many, many of us,” said a man surnamed Wei, who held a banner with Mao’s face and did not wish to give his full name for fear of reprisals.

“The government is not as upright as Chairman Mao, so they are afraid, they are all corrupt,” he added.

Some of the celebrations had religious overtones, with pilgrims burning fragrant incense, bowing and calling for blessings from the man once known as the “Great Helmsman”.

“We are lighting incense to express our thanks to Mao Zedong,” said He Peng, a middle-aged woman who knelt on the ground and recited a poem in praise of him.

Much of the 1.94 billion yuan ($320 million) reportedly budgeted by Shaoshan for the anniversary went up in smoke during a fireworks display, which lasted more than four hours, and down the throats of the thousands who lined up for free noodles — a traditional birthday meal in China.

“Through eating these noodles we can be happy, they express long life and our love for Chairman Mao, who is great,” said a 63-year-old woman surnamed Ding, after tucking into a steaming bowl, adding that Mao “defeated Japanese imperialism”.

But Mao’s sometimes autocratic rule remains a divisive topic in China, where the Communist Party’s official stance is that he was “70 percent right and 30 percent wrong” — and it has never allowed an open historical reckoning of his actions.

Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” is estimated by Western historians to have led to as many as 45 million deaths from famine, and his Cultural Revolution plunged China into a decade of violent chaos.

In Beijing, China’s top seven-ranked politicians including Xi and Premier Li Keqiang visited the mausoleum where Mao’s preserved body lies on public display on Thursday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said.

They bowed three times and “jointly recalled Comrade Mao’s glorious achievements”, it added in a brief report.

Vendors lined the streets selling Mao memorabilia in Shaoshan, where pilgrims wore red scarves and sung Mao-era songs such as “The East Is Red”. At times they gave the celebrations an air of the “Red Song” concerts championed by ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai.

Bo, whose brash political style is said to have alienated party elders, was condemned to life in prison on corruption charges earlier this year, making him the highest-profile Chinese politician to be sentenced in decades, but some said they remained loyal to him.

“All those who love Chairman Mao also love Secretary Bo,” said one middle-aged man surnamed Shan, adding: “Mao is our great leader.”

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Thai police battle protesters trying to stop election

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Read Time:3 Minute, 28 Second

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai police fired tear gas and rubber bullets Thursday as clashes broke out with protesters trying to prevent political parties registering for elections, leaving dozens wounded and forcing officials to flee by helicopter.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has faced weeks of mass street rallies seeking to curb her family’s political dominance and install an unelected “people’s council” to oversee electoral reforms.

Fresh violence erupted as demonstrators tried to force their way into a sports stadium in the capital where representatives of about 30 political parties were gathered for the registration process for February 2 elections.

Thirty-two people were hospitalised, including one protester who was in a serious condition with an apparent gunshot wound to his head, a senior official at the public health ministry, Supan Srithamma, told AFP.

“It’s likely that he was shot by a live bullet,” he said.

Police said three of their officers were wounded including one who was struck by a bullet in his arm.

Security forces denied firing live rounds, saying only rubber bullets and tear gas were used against the demonstrators.

“Protesters are not peaceful and unarmed as they claimed,” deputy prime minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said in a televised address.

“They are intimidating officials and trespassing in government buildings.”

Several election commissioners were airlifted from the stadium by helicopter while other officials, party representatives and journalists were trapped inside.

Thailand has seen several bouts of political turmoil since Yingluck’s older brother Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as premier in a military coup in 2006.

His supporters have accused the protesters of trying to incite the military to seize power again, in a country which has seen 18 successful or attempted coups since 1932.

The political conflict broadly pits a Bangkok-based middle class and elite against rural and working-class voters loyal to Thaksin, who lives in self-exile.

The protesters accuse the billionaire tycoon-turned-politician of corruption and say he controls his sister’s government from his base in Dubai.

The unrest, which has drawn tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets, has left five people dead and more than 200 wounded.

It is the worst civil strife since 2010, when more than 90 civilians were killed in a bloody military crackdown on opposition protests against the previous government.

Yingluck has called a snap election for February 2 to try to resolve the deadlock, but the main opposition Democrat Party — which has not won an elected majority in about two decades — has vowed to boycott the vote.

The demonstrators have vowed to keep up their campaign to disrupt the polls, with protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban threatening to “shut down the country” to prevent people voting.

A second round of registrations for constituency candidates is due to begin at venues around the country on Saturday.

Yingluck’s Puea Thai party said it planned to field candidates in all constituencies, despite the prospect of further attempts by the opposition to disrupt the process, particularly in its southern strongholds.

“If there is a problem we have to fight,” Puea Thai leader Jarupong Ruangsuwan told AFP.

Thaksin is adored among rural communities and the working class, particularly in the north and northeast. But he is reviled by the elite, the Bangkok middle class and many southerners, who see him as corrupt and a threat to the revered monarchy.

Pro-Thaksin parties have won every election since 2001, most recently with a landslide victory under Yingluck two years ago.

The protesters want loosely-defined reforms — such as an end to alleged “vote buying” — before new elections are held in around a year to 18 months.

Critics argue that the planned changes are only aimed at ending the opposition’s losing streak.

Yingluck on Wednesday proposed a “national reform council” made up of 499 representatives from various sectors to recommend constitutional amendments and economic and legal reforms, as well as anti-corruption measures.

But the protesters quickly rejected the idea, urging her to step down.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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New island isn’t disappearing— it’s growing

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Read Time:1 Minute, 12 Second
An island that sprouted out of the Pacific thanks to an undersea volcanic eruption some 600 miles south of Tokyo last month might just be here to stay.
 
Scientists initially guessed the new island would soon sink below the surface — Pakistan's newest island is doing just that — but satellite images show the little mound has actually grown since its birth, so Japan has decided to name it.
 
Niijima, as it's called, is now 19.8 acres or five times its initial size, NBC News reports. And while it may not be a permanent mark on the globe, it's not likely to go anywhere soon.
 
NEWSER: Emergency C-section turns up … no naby
 
"We don't know the fate of the island," a Japan Meteorological Agency rep tells the AFP. "But it won't disappear in days or weeks, and will probably last for several years … unless a huge volcanic eruption happens and blows it apart."
 
That assessment is based on part on the fact that a recent satellite image shows signs of ongoing volcanic activity.
 
"We are still seeing a wisp of smoke and some ash coming from the islet, and occasionally there is lava belching forth, so the islet may grow even bigger," the rep added.
 
Meanwhile, a different Pacific island nation is sinking.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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India maids speak out on diplomat’s arrest

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Read Time:5 Minute, 50 Second
NEW DELHI – Indian maid Manju Bahri has heard about the controversy in New York over the alleged mistreatment of a fellow maid by an Indian diplomat. It doesn't surprise her.
 
"I don't know about what's happened in America, but it would be good if we had some local authority here who we could complain to if employers did not pay us on time, or paid us too little," said Manju, saying she has to run off to work.
 
Maids, also known as domestics here, say they have little recourse in India if they feel they are being underpaid or mistreated by employers.
 
Some are pleased that diplomat Devyani Khobragade was arrested on charges of paying her maid she brought from India far less than the U.S. federal minimum wage. But others say the maid was trying to take advantage of her employer.
 
"What do you mean by fair wage? If she agreed to a certain amount before leaving India, then how can she suddenly ask to be paid more upon reaching America?" wondered Aseema Haldar Saha, a 36-year-old domestic worker.
 
The case has become major news in India, where politicians have lashed out at the United States for arresting Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York.
 
Khobragade was strip-searched following her arrest in what the U.S. Marshals Service said was standard procedure. But India politicians have reacted with anger, calling for an apology and the dropping of charges against Khobragade.
 
"The fact is that American authorities have behaved atrociously with an Indian diplomat and obviously America has to make good for its actions," Information Minister Manish Tewari said Friday. "I think it's a legitimate expectation that if they have erred — and they have erred grievously in this matter — they should come forth and apologize."
 
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in New York, who is handling the case, said earlier this week that Khobragade was treated well, and questioned why there was more sympathy in India for the diplomat than the housekeeper.
 
U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said both countries affirmed their intent to keep working through this complex issue.
 
On Friday, the diplomat's father, Uttam, said his daughter treated the maid, Sangeeta Richard, like a member of the family. He said Richard had Sundays off and was free to attend church and visit her friends.
 
He filed a lawsuit in India earlier this year on his daughter's behalf, saying Richard was wrongly accusing his daughter of treating her like a slave, suggesting Richard was pressuring Khobragade for a visa to stay in the United States on her own.
 
But Richard's lawyer said Thursday that the housekeeper worked from morning until late at night, seven days week, for less than $3 an hour. Unable to get better pay, she made sure Khobragade's two children were cared for one day and walked out, lawyer Dana Sussman said.
 
Protests erupted in cities around India, where demonstrators burnt effigies of President Obama. The Indian government has since downgraded certain privileges granted to American diplomatic staff in New Delhi like withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearance of liquor to the US Embassy.
 
The Indian government snubbed a visiting American delegation refusing requests for a meeting till Khobragade was tendered an apology. Indian media have mainly focused on the humiliation of Khobragade.
 
"What's unsettling about this case is how little we know about Richard's side of the story," said Deepanjana Pal on the news website Firstpost. "While there are endless articles available on Khobdagade and how terribly she's been treated by U.S. officials, there's almost nothing on Richard."
 
Or for that matter there has been little said by the politicians going after the U.S. attorney about how maids are treated in India.
 
In large cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, most middle-class families employ a maid or two; many have separate drivers, gardeners and cooks. According to a report by the Indian government, nearly 5 million people employ at least two domestic workers.
 
Yet, except in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, domestic workers are not offered any legal protection. Seven Indian states have made efforts to standardize minimum wage, but the recommended wage has been set low.
 
Also, there are no guidelines that govern working hours, or minimum wage, and no authority to turn to in cases of exploitation, say the workers.
 
"At the most I would complain to the local Resident Welfare Association if I had a problem – but even then I would be scared – chances are that they will side with my employers rather than me," Manju Bahri said.
 
But other maids say Richard is in the wrong.
 
Saha has been working as a maid in New Delhi since she was 16. For the past three years, she has worked six hours a day, six days a week and takes home a salary of $128 per month.
 
She cannot understand why the U.S. authorities would arrest the "Indian lady" even though she was paying Richard vastly more than any maid can expect to earn in India.
 
"See, if someone pays me less than I expect, what can I do? At the most I will leave the job but there's nowhere I can go to file a complaint or anything like that," she said.
 
Only in very rare cases do domestic workers get a written contract. Most continue in their jobs on little more than a verbal agreement. But it is not uncommon to hear reports of maids and servants who have been physically abused.
 
In November 2013, Indian lawmaker Dhananjay Singh and his wife were arrested for the alleged murder of their 35-year-old maid Rakhi. An autopsy suggested Rakhi had died of a severe beating – she was also found with burn marks on her body.
 
Last year, a 13-year-old maid Munni – employed despite laws against child labor – was rescued from a house in New Delhi. She had been locked up in the house by her affluent employers – both of whom are doctors – while they vacationed in Thailand. She had been warned not to touch any food in the house, and was near starvation when rescued.
 
"There are many people who mistreat maids," Manju said. "It's pointless to go to the police. Instead we just keep each other updated, and if a maid quits her job because of abuse or exploitation, none of us take a job in that house."

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NKorea explodes myth of unchallenged Kim dynasty

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Read Time:5 Minute, 34 Second

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's propaganda machine has long kept alive the myth of a serene, all-powerful ruling dynasty that enjoyed universal love and support at home. In a single stroke last week, that came crashing down.

 

In attempting to justify the execution of his uncle, who was also considered North Korea's No. 2 official, young leader Kim Jong Un has given the world a rare look behind the scenes of a notoriously hard-to-read government.

It is not a pretty sight, and many analysts believe Pyongyang's eagerness to pillory Jang Song Thaek not only destroys the image of unity projected by state-run media but also acknowledges dissension and a dangerous instability. That's an alarming prospect as Kim Jong Un tries to revive a moribund economy even as he pushes development of nuclear-armed missiles.

The subtext to the over-the-top demonizing of Jang — he was accused of drug use, gambling, a planned military coup and massive corruption — was a shocking admission: the Kim family wasn't in total control. Contradicting past assertions of unity and strength, North Korea has acknowledged that the leadership had indeed been roiled because of the challenge by Kim's mentor and uncle after the 2011 death of Kim's father, the late dictator Kim Jong Il.

As nervous officials and apparatchiks gather Tuesday in Pyongyang for the second anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, the as-yet unanswerable question now is, what comes next?

The charges against Jang must be taken with a large dose of skepticism; as always, the world only gets to see what the North Koreans want seen, and there's no way to prove what's true and what's not. But the fact that the claims are being aired in public, and in such detail, opens up a new view of a struggling leadership in Pyongyang, one that outside government officials and analysts are scrambling to figure out.

Kim Jong Un "has managed to tarnish his own image, look like a modern Caligula and give the lie to 90 percent of the bombast emanating from Pyongyang," said Bruce Cumings, a Korea specialist and history professor at the University of Chicago, adding that the move indicates high-level and deep divisions.

"Whatever one thinks of this regime, from the standpoint of the top leadership this was a politically stupid, self-defeating move," he said.

The closest historical parallel to Jang's fall may be in North Korean show trials during the 1950s, which eliminated opponents of Kim Il Sung, the country's founder and the current leader's grandfather.

For many years, outside interpretations of internecine struggles were at best educated guesses. Analysts tried to determine who had fallen from favor by the physical distance between an official and the leader in pictures or from a void in state media or an announcement of sudden illness. Assumptions were also linked to the sometimes questionable assertions of North Korean defectors, many of whom had been out of the country for years and had axes to grind.

All the while, Pyongyang usually insisted that all was well domestically and, without fail, the Kims were firmly in control.

Now, astonishingly, state media says someone tried to usurp the leadership. And not just anybody, but a man closest to the leader because of family ties and shared history. Jang was once also seen as the closest thing the country had to a reformer and a darling of Beijing, which is North Korea's only major ally.

"We now know for sure that the Kim regime is afraid of the emergence of a renegade insider who may attempt to take advantage of the North's economic problems and the people's yearning for a better life to seize power with military backing," Alexandre Mansourov, a North Korea specialist, wrote on the website 38 North. "This prospect keeps Kim Jong Un awake at night."

The portrayal of the Jang episode in North Korea's propagandist media, which had always tried to cloak Kim Jong Un in greatness, also opens up the leader to suggestions that he was a bad judge of character.

"What is remarkable here is that Kim clearly trusted Jang," Adam Cathcart, a history lecturer at the University of Leeds and editor of SinoNK.com, wrote in a recent analysis of the state media reporting about Jang's fall. "Why would Kim be so naive as to install a man so dangerous in his inner circle? It's a question that's implicit in the article — but one that must not be asked."

There will be little public questioning in Pyongyang of what's actually happening, of course.

State media is already getting back to business as usual. Kim Jong Il is being glorified in the run-up to his death anniversary. Kim Jong Un has visited a military institute, a ski resort, a fish factory, all in keeping with the long-standing propaganda message that he's deeply engaged in the business of running the country.

Jang's wife, who is Kim Jong Il's sister, has also been listed prominently in state media, an indication that she has survived her husband's purge, at least for the time being. South Korea, meanwhile, sees no signs of unusual North Korean military activity, though Seoul is boosting border security just in case.

The recent purge may show that Jang and his cronies represented a genuine threat to Kim's leadership, according to Charles Armstrong, a history professor and Korea expert at Columbia University. Or it could show "a ferociously vindictive, ruthless and egotistical" Kim Jong Un wanted "to send an unmistakable message that he was the man in charge."

"But exposing an absurd list of crimes, some of which may sound quite plausible to the average North Korean, is very risky as it overturns the official narrative of unified leadership and smooth succession that the regime has articulated during the last two years," Armstrong wrote in an email.

At the very least, it suggests a serious misstep by Kim Jong Un and his propaganda specialists.

"The Kim dynasty legend is the main capital he has, and he's squandering it like there's no tomorrow," said B.R. Myers, a North Korea scholar and professor at South Korea's Dongseo University.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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China’s rover leaves first tracks on moon in 40 years

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Read Time:2 Minute, 36 Second
BEIJING — China's first moon rover set off slowly Sunday to travel across the right eye of the Man in the Moon, leaving the first wheeled tracks on the moon's surface in nearly 40 years.
 
No quote emerged to rival "one giant leap for mankind," but with one loud confirmation by mission control — "the probe landed safely" — China established its status Saturday night as the third nation ever to achieve a "soft landing" on the moon.
 
Two weeks after its launch from southwest China, the Chang'e 3 lunar probe, named after a moon goddess, made a careful descent that was reported live on state television. Only the USA and former Soviet Union have previously made soft landings on the moon, whereby the spacecraft and equipment remain intact and operable.
 
Further celebrations followed Sunday morning as its major cargo, a solar-powered lunar rover named Jade Rabbit, after the goddess's pet, rolled down a ramp and set off on a three-month mission to hunt for natural resources and conduct geological surveys.
 
The successful launch marks the next step in an ambitious space program that aims to send an astronaut to the moon and open a permanent space station around 2020. Still, Beijing has yet to confirm specific plans for a manned moon landing.
 
"They are taking their time with getting to know about how to fly humans into space, how to build space stations … how to explore the solar system, especially the moon and Mars," Peter Bond, consultant editor for Jane's Space Systems and Industry, told the Associated Press. "They are making good strides, and I think over the next 10, 20 years, they'll certainly be rivaling Russia and America in this area and maybe overtaking them in some areas."
 
On the streets of Beijing, pride in China's slow but steady emergence as a space power was easy to find Sunday.
 
"It's so great," said schoolboy Wu Jing, 12, who watched news of the landing Sunday morning. "I read about it in science-fiction novels, but it came true."
 
The space program "makes people proud of our country" and is worth every cent, said Chen Haizhen, 61, a retired worker at a foodstuffs factory.
 
"Finally we could catch up with the USA in this field, which has been my dream for years," he said.
 
However, not everyone was as enthusiastic about the program and its cost.
 
"Solving the people's problems of getting to college, the expense of seeing a doctor, the difficulty of old-age care, and the high price of real estate is more difficult than landing on the moon," Zhao Jianjiang, general manager of a solar technology company in east Suzhou city, wrote on Sina Weibo, China's micro-blogging platform. "All of this (the lunar program) is useless."
 
Contributing: Sunny Yang

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Man charged with reckless homicide in Ind. girl’s death

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Read Time:4 Minute, 9 Second
INDIANAPOLIS –Two years after Aubrey Peters was hailed as a hero for helping save two children who fell through ice on Morse Reservoir in Indiana, grieving teens gathered near that scene Monday night to remember the teenage girl who died over the weekend in what is believed to be an accidental shooting.
 
Hundreds gathered on the shoreline of Morse Beach Park in Noblesville, Ind., at a candlelight vigil to remember Peters, 16, who died Sunday after a man shot her with a handgun he thought would be empty, court documents say.
 
Jacob Travis McDaniel, 20, Noblesville, was charged Monday afternoon with reckless homicide in the death of Peters.
 
Students from Noblesville and nearby high schools paid tribute to Peters, who was a junior at Noblesville High School, by releasing balloons beneath a tree so their tethers would tangle in branches and become suspended in the freezing air.
 
Joe Hodson, Peters' boyfriend, was surrounded by friends as he walked away from a row of candles along the water. He used his finger to write a message in the snow: "JH + AP forever."
 
Peters' tragic death shook many of the students who braved 20-degree temperatures for the impromptu vigil. Those who knew Peters spoke of her positive energy, her nonjudgmental personality and her willingness to help those she didn't know.
 
In 2010, that giving nature was on display when Peters helped save two girls who fell into ice-covered Morse Reservoir in Hamilton County, Ind. Others at the vigil described her talent for art, particularly portrait drawings.
 
Hodson, an Indiana University freshman, said the world was cheated by Peters' death.
 
"Aubrey gave her all into everything. As her boyfriend, I know that.
 
"This should not have happened to her. She did not deserve to die. … She is the kind of person meant to change the world, not die at the age of 16 due to some negligence with a handgun."
 
McDaniel appeared Monday in Hamilton Superior Court, where he also was charged with pointing a firearm. According to a probable cause affidavit, McDaniel, Peters and two other men were in McDaniel's house about 11:20 p.m. Sunday when the shooting occurred.
 
According to the affidavit, McDaniel was showing Peters and the two other men a shotgun and a handgun. Dajuan Williams, one of the men, told police that "McDaniel tried to get Aubrey to hold the gun, but she didn't want to."
 
At that point, Williams told police, McDaniel ejected the magazine from the gun, pointed the weapon at Peters, took the safety off and pulled the trigger.
 
McDaniel apparently thought the gun was empty, the affidavit said, but when he pulled the trigger, a round fired.
 
"Aubrey clutched her chest and said, 'What just happened?' " the affidavit said. Williams told police that while he attempted to help Peters, McDaniel gave the men a story to tell police.
 
"McDaniel then stated, 'The story is the gun fell off the table and went off,' " the affidavit said.
 
A semiautomatic handgun can hold one round in the chamber. The affidavit said McDaniel set the magazine and a loose round on a stairway ledge, but it did not indicate whether he tried to clear the chamber.Police arrived shortly after the shooting, and officers tried unsuccessfully to revive Peters until medics arrived, said Noblesville Police Lt. Bruce Barnes. Peters was pronounced dead at the hospital.
 
After interviewing witnesses, police arrested McDaniel, Barnes said.
 
A pretrial hearing for McDaniel is set for Feb. 21. The reckless homicide charge is a Class C felony punishable by two to eight years in prison. Pointing a firearm is a Class D felony punishable by six months to three years in prison.
 
In 2011, Peters was one of six people to receive the Red Cross Hall of Fame Award from the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis.
 
In March 2010, Peters heard screams and saw Jessica Moore, then 7, and her sister Sydney, then 4, struggling to stay afloat in the cove behind Peters' grandparents' house.
 
Then a seventh-grader, Peters ran into the house to wake her napping grandmother, Joyce, 63, before running to the shoreline calling 911 on her cellphone. The rescue by her grandmother and others was featured in a 2012 episode of Panic 9-1-1 on the A&E network.
 
The apparently accidental fatal shooting was the second in as many days in the Indianapolis area. On Saturday, a 3-year-old boy pulled a loaded gun off a kitchen counter and shot himself in the head, police said.
 
Marion County prosecutor's officials said Monday that they didn't know whether charges would be filed in that case.
 

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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North Korea purges Kim Jong Un’s powerful uncle

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BEIJING — The House of Kim has shuffled its cards, but don't expect a prize for guessing who still holds the strongest hand.
 
In an unusually public purge, North Korean official media said Monday that the powerful uncle of ruler Kim Jong Un has been dismissed for crimes including faction-building, corruption, drug use and womanizing.
 
State TV aired humiliating photographs Monday that showed Jang Song Thaek, considered the country's second most powerful figure after Kim, being hauled away from a meeting by two uniformed guards. No date was given for the images, but the decision to strip Jang of all titles and party membership was taken at a top-level meeting of the ruling party Sunday, attended and "guided" by Kim Jong Un, Jang's nephew, reported KCNA, the state news agency.
 
North Korea's acknowledgment of Jang's dismissal confirms an account last week by South Korea's intelligence service.
 
Reporting to parliament in Seoul, the spy agency also said two of Jang's close aides were executed last month for corruption. Jang, 67, was long seen as the power behind the throne. Married to Kim Kyong Hui, a sister of the country's previous ruler Kim Jong Il, Jang played a regent-like role as Kim Jong Un was thrust into power in 2011, on his father Kim Jong Il's death, as the third generation of the ruling Kim dynasty.
 
The purge showed Kim consolidating his authority, several analysts said Monday, so Washington and other capitals must accept the young leader, about 30 years old, as the man to deal with on urgent security issues. But Kim also risks moving too quickly, they said, as citizens question how the Kim family failed for so long to unmask a traitor, and other officials consider rebellion before they themselves are purged.
 
In the time-honored fashion of secretive, socialist nations, North Korea had already signaled Jang was in deep political trouble by air-brushing him from official records this past weekend, reported South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper Monday.
 
Korean Central Television broadcast documentary footage Saturday that had been changed to remove previously aired images of Jang, it said.
 
But the prominence and public nature of his dismissal, in state media broadcasts and written reports Monday, were highly unusual. Jang committed "anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts", said the dispatch carried by KCNA. While he "pretended to uphold the party," Jang was "dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scene."
 
Attacking the "ideologically sick" and corrupt Jang, KCNA said he "led a dissolute and depraved life," abused power, had "improper relations with several women and was wined and dined at back parlors of deluxe restaurants." He also used drugs and "squandered foreign currency at casinos while he was receiving medical treatment in a foreign country under the care of the party," said KCNA.
 
Even in authoritarian North Korea, this purge is "completely unprecedented," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul. Jang represents the first arrest of a member of the ruling family, the first purge of someone so close to the top, and the first public purge, instead of the usual quiet disappearance, he said.
 
"Kim Jung Un wants to show his officials and the world that in spite of being short and fat, and with a strange haircut, he is not a person to be taken lightly, and not a person to mess with," said Lankov. The removal of Kim's regent, always a perilous position, will trigger "a chain of purges" over the next two years, he predicted. "A majority of the current North Korean top leaders are going to disappear in the near future," said Lankov. "These old men in their 60s and 70s have world views dramatically different" from Kim Jong Un, he said.
 
North Korea's power elite are widely believed to enjoy privileges and lifestyles beyond the imagination of North Korea's oppressed, impoverished people. After his second visit to North Korea in September, former NBA star Dennis Rodman described visiting Kim Jong Un's private island and yacht, and called his life a "seven-star," cocktail-fueled party. Rodman plans to return to Pyongyang on Dec. 18.
 
Money, sex and power are cited in the downfall of politicians worldwide, said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at the Sejong Institute, but Pyongyang has applied them all to Jang Song Thaek. Jang may well have been corrupt, as his power drew people to wine and dine him, but his downfall is no punishment for graft, said Paik.
 
"Kim Jong Un wanted to crush him as the symbol of any potential challenge," he said. "Kim needed to fully restore the authority of the supreme leader," said Paik. Jang played "a bridging role" in North Korean politics, similar to that of John the Baptist between the Bible's Old and New Testaments, he said. "But Jang's role is over now."

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Airspace dispute to dominate Biden’s visit to China

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Read Time:5 Minute, 24 Second
BEIJING — China's sudden claim of ownership of the airspace above the East China Sea has turned Vice President Biden's swing in Asia for talks about job growth into a testy confrontation between Asian allies and the communist power.
 
Biden's focus was supposed to be on the economy in a week-long trip where he is meeting with leaders of Japan, China and South Korea. But press accounts Tuesday on his first stop in Tokyo zeroed in on Biden's voicing of strong opposition to China's announcement of a new air defense zone that covers nearly 1 million square miles of ocean.
 
Standing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Biden said the USA is "deeply concerned" about China's move.
 
"This action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation," he said.
 
China reacted angrily in an extraordinary English-language commentary on Tuesday in which state-run Xinhua news agency accused Washington of trying to "shore up its little brother" (Japan), but given that Tokyo "keeps pissing off almost everybody in the region by its attitude toward its wartime history, it would ultimately cost the United States more than it would gain from backing a country that still honors those whose hands were red with American blood."
 
Biden was to arrive in China on Wednesday for talks on the economy with members of its leadership. But he said the United States is coordinating closely with allies Japan and South Korea on the territorial issue and that he will raise the matter with China.
 
Japan has been pressing the United States to take a more active role in the dispute. The United States has said that the Asian nations should work out the disagreement among themselves peacefully.
 
But China, whose growth trajectory and vast population should bump its economic size past the USA in future years, has been laying claim to all fisheries and energy resources in the sea, which includes the Senkaku islands, a Japanese-controlled territory. The USA is obligated by treaty to defend Japan and its territories.
 
Beijing's increasingly muscular backing for sovereignty claims over remote, uninhabited islands and the natural resources that may lie around them has Abe pushing Japan to boost defense spending and modify pacifist portions of its constitution.
 
China said late last month that any aircraft wishing to enter the air defense zone above the sea must notify its government. The United States and Japan have refused to recognize China's zone, and the U.S. Air Force sent two B-52 aircraft from Guam into the area for a scheduled flight recently, the Pentagon said.
 
In moves that echo Cold War confrontations from the last century, military aircraft and naval vessels from China, Japan and the USA have scrambled and shadowed each other in recent weeks.
 
The Beijing leg of Biden's Asia trip, sandwiched between visits to Tokyo and Seoul, never promised to be less than challenging even though Biden has built up a rare rapport with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The two met when Xi was vice president prior to his confirmation as Communist Party boss in the fall.
 
In a statement on China's defense ministry website Tuesday, spokesman Geng Yansheng claimed China's request for foreign flight plans, both commercial and military, when entering the air defense zone would benefit aviation safety.
 
"The East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone is a secure, not risky zone, a zone of cooperation not confrontation," he said.
 
Han Xudong, a professor at China's University of National Defense, said the zone will create a new challenge between China and the United States and its allies.
 
"But in essence it's a necessary step and another cornerstone to safeguard China's national interests," said Han in the Global Times, a Party-run newspaper.
 
"China has taken possible risks into consideration and prepared for it," he said. "Relevant countries should respect China's decision."
 
Biden cannot change China's position but should instead come to understand it, said Shen Dingli, an international relations expert at Shanghai's Fudan University.
 
China has exercised self-restraint, only setting up an air defense zone 62 years after the United States and 44 years after Japan did so, he said. Neither country has created a defense zone covering practically the entire sea, however.
 
"We will do everything hegemonic that the USA is doing. Why China cannot do what you do?" asked Shen.
 
China's ambassador to the Philippines claimed China has a sovereign right to establish a similar zone over the South China Sea, where China and the Philippines are locked in another long-running territorial dispute.
 
There were signs that the United States may bend to China's demand that commercial airlines file flight plans with its government before flying through the zone. Japan says the U.S. was advising American carriers to comply with such requests.
 
Tokyo has been urging Japanese commercial flights not to notify China before flying through the zone.
 
Senior Obama administration officials told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the U.S. never told American commercial carriers to comply specifically with China's demands. However, the Federal Aviation Administration reaffirmed existing policy that pilots should comply with such instructions anywhere in the world, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and demanded anonymity.
 
During his visit to Japan, Biden dropped by Shibuya, a bustling Tokyo district and fashion center, where he toured a technology company founded by a female entrepreneur. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy joined Biden as he mingled with young employees in a 24th-floor lunchroom overlooking Tokyo's skyline.
 
At a meeting later with business executives, Biden said he'd heard some say women are good in the workforce because they are kinder and gentler.
 
"I've never found that to be the case," Biden said to laughter. "They're as tough, they're as strong, they're as everything as a man is — and vice-versa."

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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India refuses to budge on subsidies at WTO talks

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Read Time:44 Second
BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Chances of a breakthrough in global trade negotiations dimmed as India refused to budge on food subsidies that are an obstacle to an eleventh hour agreement at a WTO summit.
 
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on Wednesday urged the World Trade Organization's 159 member economies to work past their differences to finalize a slimmed-down deal to boost trade.
 
But Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma left little hope for a breakthrough.
 
His government opposes a provision that could endanger subsidies for grains under an Indian policy to feed its poor.
 
The talks on Indonesia's resort island of Bali will either produce a deal that could boost global trade by $1 trillion or possibly spell the end of the WTO's relevance as a forum for negotiations after a decade of inertia.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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