Top Philippine communist rebel arrested

MANILA: A top Philippine communist rebel with a US$128,000 bounty on his head was arrested on Tuesday, the military said.

The arrest of Filemon Mendrez, the country's sixth most-wanted man, comes amid a Christmas ceasefire and as the government and rebels are engaged in high-level peace talks aimed at ending one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies.

Mendrez, a key New People's Army rebel leader, will be held without bail and is due to stand trial, an army statement said, but details on the criminal cases against him were not disclosed.

The interior ministry had placed a 5.25 million peso (US$128,000) bounty on his head, it added.

Major General Jose Mabanta, the army chief of the central Philippines, described the arrest as a "law enforcement" action that had no bearing on the peace negotiations and the Christmas truce, which began last week.

"Law enforcement operations shall continue even as we observe a suspension of offensive military operations and ceasefire. This is part of (the army's job) of protecting communities, government and private establishments," he added.

The Maoist rebels have been waging an armed rebellion to seize power since 1969, and more than 30,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the government.

The military estimates the current NPA strength at about 4,000 fighters, significantly down from more than 26,000 at its peak in the late 1980s.

The chief government peace negotiator met his communist counterpart in the Netherlands last week, 13 months after Manila rejected rebel demands that earlier led to the talks being suspended.

The truce lasts until January 15, and the negotiators said they agreed to meet again early next year.

- AFP/de

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HC allows transfer of Gayatri Devi's shares to grand children

NEW DELHI: The legal battle over transfer of late Maharani Gayatri Devi's shares in royal family's firms has been decided in favour of her grandchildren, Devraj and Lalitya Kumari with the Delhi high court ordering rectification of share registers of the companies.

Jagat Singh, son of Gayatri Devi and Sawai Man Singh, held 99 per cent shares in firms including Jai Mahal Hotels Pvt Ltd and later died leaving behind a will that his mother would be the owner of all his properties.

Gayatri Devi, who died on 29 July 2009, left a will saying all her properties, including the shares in the firms, would be inherited by her grand children Devraj and Lalitya Kumari.

The transfer of shares in favour of Gayatri Devi's grand children was opposed by other heirs of late Maharaja Sawai Man Singh. They were his (Sawai Man Singh) other sons, Prithviraj Singh, Jai Singh and his maternal grand daughter Urvashi Devi.

Justice Indermeet Kaur, deciding the dispute between members of Rajasthan's royal family, set aside an order of the Company Law Board (CLB) which had refused to direct rectification in share registers of Jai Mahal Hotels Pvt Ltd, Rambagh Place Hotels Pvt Ltd, SMS Investment Corporation Pvt Ltd and Sawai Madhopur Lodge Pvt Ltd.

Earlier, the grand children of Gayatri Devi had moved the CLB for rectification that the shares pertaining to their father and grand mother be transferred to them.

"The CLB returning a finding apposite has committed an illegality which is liable to be set aside. It is accordingly set aside. The order dated March 16, 2011 is set aside; the member register of the companies be rectified in the name of the petitioner group and petitioners i.e. Devraj and Lalitya Kumari be substituted in lieu of Jagat Singh," the court said.

The royal family has key income-generating properties such as Rambagh Place Hotel and Jai Mahal Hotel.

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Photos: Humboldt Squid Have a Bad Day at the Beach

Photograph by Chris Elmenhurst, Surf the Spot Photography

“Strandings have been taking place with increased frequency along the west coast over the past ten years,” noted NOAA’s Field, “as this population of squid seems to be expanding its range—likely a consequence of climate change—and can be very abundant at times.” (Learn about other jumbo squid strandings.)

Humboldt squid are typically found in warmer waters farther south in theGulf of California (map) and off the coast ofPeru. “[But] we find them up north here during warmer water time periods,” said ocean sciences researcherKenneth Bruland with the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

Coastal upwelling—when winds blowing south drive ocean circulation to bring cold, nutrient-rich waters up from the deep—ceases during the fall and winter and warmer water is found closer to shore. Bruland noted that climate change, and the resulting areas of low oxygen, “could be a major factor” in drawing jumbo squid north.

Published December 24, 2012

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Newtown Christmas: 'We Know They'll Feel Loved'

As residents prepared to observe Christmas less than two weeks after a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at an elementary school, people sharing in the town's mourning brought offerings of cards, handmade snowflakes and sympathy.

Tiny empty Christmas stockings with the victims' names on them hung from trees in the neighborhood where the children were shot. On Christmas Eve, residents said they would light luminaries outside their homes in memory of the victims.

"We know that they'll feel loved. They'll feel that somebody actually cares," said Treyvon Smalls, a 15-year-old from a few towns away who arrived at town hall with hundreds of cards and paper snowflakes collected from around the state.

At the Trinity Episcopal Church, less than 2 miles from the school, an overflow crowd of several hundred people attended Christmas Eve services. They were greeted by the sounds of a children's choir echoing throughout a sanctuary hall that had its walls decorated with green wreaths adorned with red bows.

The church program said flowers were donated in honor of Sandy Hook shooting victims, identified by name or as the "school angels" and "Sandy Hook families."

The service, which generally took on a celebratory tone, made only a few vague references to the shooting. Pastor Kathie Adams-Shepherd led the congregation in praying "that the joy and consolation of the wonderful counselor might enliven all who are touched by illness, danger, or grief, especially all those families affected by the shootings in Sandy Hook."

Julio Cortez, File/AP Photo

U.S. Sends Christmas Wishes to Newtown, Conn. Watch Video

Season of Giving: Newtown Tragedy Inspires Country to Spread Kindness Watch Video

Gun Violence Victims, Survivors Share Thoughts After Newtown Massacre Watch Video

Police say the gunman, Adam Lanza, killed his mother in her bed before his Dec. 14 rampage and committed suicide as he heard officers arriving. Authorities have yet to give a theory about his motive.

While the grief is still fresh, some residents are urging political activism in the wake of the tragedy. A grassroots group called Newtown United has been meeting at the library to talk about issues ranging from gun control, to increasing mental health services to the types of memorials that could be erected for the victims. Some clergy members have said they also intend to push for change.

"We seek not to be the town of tragedy," said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel. "But, we seek to be the town where all the great changes started."

Since the shooting, messages similar to the ones delivered Monday have arrived from around the world. People have donated toys, books, money and more. A United Way fund, one of many, has collected $3 million. People have given nearly $500,000 to a memorial scholarship fund at the University of Connecticut. On Christmas Day, police from other towns showed up for duty so Newtown officers could have the time off.

"It's a nice thing that they can use us this way," Ted Latiak, a police detective from Greenwich, Conn., said Christmas morning, as he and a fellow detective, each working a half-day shift, came out of a store with bagels and coffee for other officers.

At Washington's National Cathedral, the 20 children who were killed also were remembered. Angels made of paper doilies were used to adorn the altar in the children's chapel. They'll be displayed there through Jan. 6.

In the center of Newtown's Sandy Hook section Monday, a steady stream of residents and out-of-towners snapped pictures, lit candles and dropped off children's gifts at an expansive memorial filled with stuffed animals, poems, flowers, posters and cards.

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Important to preserve each community's identity: Indranee Rajah

SINGAPORE: Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah has stressed the importance of preserving the identity of Singapore's various communities, at a dinner to raise funds for the Vairavimada Kaliamman temple.

"What is special about Singapore is that each community has preserved its identity, has preserved part of its past and at the same time is forward looking," she commented.

Over S$200,000 was raised for the development of the 150-year-old temple in Toa Payoh, which has its humble beginnings in the Orchard Road vicinity.

It was one of the first Hindu temples to move into the heartland.

The temple is seeing a S$2.5 million facelift to cater to the growing needs of its congregation.

It will be re-consecrated in April next year.

- CNA/xq

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Himachal CM-designate Virbhadra Singh acquitted in corruption case

SHIMLA: A day before he is to take oath as the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh for the record sixth time, Virbhadra Singh has been acquitted by the court of special judge B L Soni in Shimla on Monday in a corruption case slapped against him and his wife Pratibha Singh by the vigilance department.

Since the very beginning, Virbhadra Singh has maintained that the case against him was concocted and politically motivated. Virbhadra Singh is going to take oath as the chief minister of the state at historic Ridge maidan on Tuesday morning. After the prosecution had filed a chargesheet before the trial court in October 2010, the special judge had framed charges in the case on June 25, 2012.

Prosecution had claimed that recordings on the cassette are allegedly said to contain phone conversations of Virbhadra and his wife, talking to deceased bureaucrat Mohinder Singh, about illegal money dealing with some industrialists during the late 1989 and early 1990 period. After having completed the investigation in the case, the prosecution filed the chargesheet before the trial court in October, 2010.

Framing of charges against him in the CD case had forced Virbhadra Singh to resign from Union ministry. But now he has been acquitted of all the charges by the court. Virbhadra Singh, alongwith his supporters, was present in the court when the judgment was delivered.

The case was weakened after two high profile prosecution witnesses on November 17 had denied in the court that they had made any testimony before the investigation agency about having bribed their way to obtain clearances for industrial projects. Before the court of special judge BL Soni, retired octogenarian prosecution witness Kapil Mohan, owner of the Mohan Meakin business, had denied that any illegal money was paid to avert installation of an effluent treatment plant at the Solan brewery.

During the same hearing, even the prime witness Major Vijay Singh Mankotia too had partially turned hostile when he caused doubts to arise about authenticity of the voice in two decade old recorded telephone conversation. Mankotia had said that he was of the opinion that the voice in a recorded conversation was that of Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh who are heard to be talking to deceased bureaucrat Mohinder Lal.

Earlier, Mankotia was categorical that it was the voice of the former chief minister.

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Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter Institute

Mounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.

Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to.

"You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations," she said.

For example, the A. flavus fungi that she used to write this message from Santa grows very quickly. "The next day, after looking at this plate, it didn't say 'Ho Ho Ho.' It said 'blah blah blah,'" Mounaud said.

The message also eventually turned green, which was the color she was initially after. "It was a really nice green, which is what I was hoping for. But yellow will do," she said.

The hat was particularly challenging. The fungus used to create it "was troubling because at different temperatures it grows differently. The pigment in this one forms at room temperature but this type of growth needed higher temperatures," Mounaud said.

Not all fungus will grow nicely together. For example, in the hat, "N. fischeri [the brim and ball] did not want to play nice with the P. marneffei [red part of hat] ... so they remained slightly separated."

Published December 21, 2012

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Newtown Inspires Country to Spread Kindness

While the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School have no doubt left the nation shaken, they have also inspired an outpouring of acts of kindness from across the nation and around the world.

The central hub of many of these is on display in the U.S. Post Office in Newtown, Conn., a community shaken by the killing of 20 children and six school staff members by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother and shot himself.

Mountains of mail and packages are flowing in from all over the world. Some are simply addressed to "Newtown" or specific families who lost people in the shootings. They're coming with return addresses ranging from Idaho to Virginia Beach and far beyond.

"I think I saw Brazil, Australia, (one addressed to) 'Anybody in Newtown who needs a hug.' It is just amazing," said a postal employee in Newtown.

In the town hall, donated toys are piling up just in time for Christmas.

Kindness is even flowing from victims of other tragedies like Hurricane Sandy, who sent hundreds of teddy bears to hand out to children in the community.

"We've had so much help, we wanted to pay it forward and try to help somebody else," one woman said.

Now, Newtown is hoping people everywhere "pay it forward" in their own communities, with the memory of those lost in the shootings serving as inspiration.

It's a concept that seems to be spreading across America.

Gun Violence Victims, Survivors Share Thoughts After Newtown Massacre Watch Video

Newtown Shooting: Moment of Silence in Connecticut Watch Video

In Michigan, a secret Santa of sorts paid off everyone's layaway items at a store there.

Reports are streaming in on Twitter from around the nation of others receiving coffees or meals paid for anonymously by others.

In New Jersey, Kristen Albright told ABC News she found an anonymous card in her shopping cart at Target, where she had gone to buy ingredients for holiday cookies.

She looked down, and found a gift card to Target inserted into a greeting card that asked her to pay it forward to others, in honor of Newtown shooting victim Catherine Hubbard.

"It really made me stop. I was frozen. It made me think about that little girl," Albright said.

Inspired, she did what the card asked, and gave it to a bank teller at the other end of a deposit she was making. Albright says her 11-year-old son Jackson has begun randomly giving now too.

"It really made me think of the bigger picture and family and friends, and extending that kindness to strangers as well," Albright said.

Stacey Jones of Surprise, Ariz., wrote ABC to say she too has been inspired.

"I went to Target, purchased two gift cards, put them in separate envelopes along with the message and handed them to strangers as I exited the store and entered the parking lot," Jones said. "It really felt good to do a small kind deed for someone."

Nicole Reyes of Boston had never heard of the growing movement of kindness when she found a ziplock bag tucked underneath her windshield on her way to work this morning. Inside, she found a Christmas lollipop with a note on a Christmas card that said it was, "In memory of Emily Parker, 6." And urged her to "Pay it forward!"

"I took a minute to remind myself of how amazing it is that a community and entire nation can come together in the wake of such tragedy," Reyes said. "I ran into my house to show my mother the note. After reading it she immediately started crying. It was a special moment for her and I."

If you would like to share other stories related to this or anything else you can do so by tweeting this correspondent @greenblattmark.

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History of gun control is cautionary tale for those seeking regulations after Conn. shooting

At 3 a.m. on July 2, 1993, Steve Sposato sat down in his darkened living room to write, by hand, a letter to the president of the United States. His life had just been shattered.

Hours earlier, in the afternoon, a deranged man armed with semiautomatic weapons had gone on a rampage, slaughtering eight people at an office building in downtown San Francisco. The gunman’s motive would remain forever a mystery. Among the slain: Steve’s wife, 30-year-old Jody Jones Sposato, the mother of his 10-month-old daughter, Meghan.

His anguished letter to the president asked how it was possible for someone to possess rapid-fire weapons with 30-round magazines, seemingly designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. “Now I’m left to raise my 10-month-old daughter on my own,” he told the president. “How do I find the strength to carry on?”

That letter reached President Bill Clinton. The next year, Sposato stood by Clinton’s side in the Rose Garden as the president demanded that Congress pass a ban on assault weapons, such as the TEC-9s used to kill Sposato’s wife. Sposato testified on the Hill wearing little Meghan on his back in a baby carrier.

With some moderate Republicans joining the Democratic majority, both houses of Congress passed a 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons and large ammunition magazines. An attempt to extend the ban in 2004 died in Congress amid opposition from the gun lobby.

Now gun control has roared back into the national conversation as the country reels from the horror in Newtown, Conn. President Obama and his fellow Democrats are vowing to pass a new assault weapons ban, along with other new laws to strengthen background checks on gun purchasers and limit the size of ammunition magazines.

But although Newtown has supercharged the conversation on how to stop another massacre, the history of gun control is a cautionary tale for those who push for more regulations. If past is prologue, the legislative fights ahead will be protracted and brutal — and any resulting legislation may well be riddled with loopholes.

There is no uncontested ground here. Few issues in the country are as polarized as gun control.

The ideological chasm was on full display in Washington on Friday when the National Rifle Association’s executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, held a take-no-prisoners news conference in which he called for a federal program to put armed guards in every school in the country, saying, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

He said laws making schools gun-free zones have backfired: “They tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.” LaPierre’s remarks were twice interrupted by protesters; one held a sign saying, “NRA Killing Our Kids.”

The news conference provided a reminder that gun policy is a central feature of what is loosely known as the culture wars. The gun-control and gun-rights camps don’t even speak the same language, with one side arguing that the Second Amendment can’t possibly mean the right to own an assault weapon, while the other side says “assault weapon” is a pejorative invented by an urban elite that wouldn’t know an AR-15 from an AK-47.

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S'pore's top manpower issues in 2012

SINGAPORE: Foreign worker levies were raised in last year's Budget. All the changes would have been implemented next July.

Depending on the sector companies are in and how reliant they are on foreign workers, companies will pay between 250 and 750 dollars more in levies per worker.

To reduce dependency on foreign workers, companies are being urged to raise productivity.

In addition, they are encouraged to tap on older workers, back-to-work women, part timers and the disabled.

The Employment Act is also being reviewed in response to the needs of a changing workforce.

Phase one of the review is expected to be completed in 2013, and the second phase will likely commence in the last quarter of next year.

The labour movement wants the Act to be extended to cover the growing numbers of professionals, managers and executives (PMEs).

Some have urged the government to be more flexible and adjust foreign worker numbers according to business conditions.

Analysts warn there could be more companies that will shift elsewhere, downsize or even close down with the tightening measures.

Mech-Power is one of many local companies that has endured the labour crunch. It moved a large part of it operations to Johor to cope.

Cliff Loke, managing director of Mech-Power said: "Whenever we have an overload of work, we just put out a (recruitment) banner outside the factory and we get a lot of workers coming after us for the job. Also, the labour cost is much cheaper than in Singapore."

Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin indicated the pace of labour restructuring will also be a factor in tightening measures.

"We will work with companies to transit and we will look at the various measures in place and to see whether we will continue to tighten (foreign labour). So, a lot depends on demand," said Mr Tan.

"Will demand ease off? Will restructuring take place? So this is something we will continue to track and we will continue to effect these levers (in tightening labour) over time."

Policies are also being changed to improve the welfare and well-being of foreign workers.

Starting 1 January 2013, foreign domestic workers will get a mandatory day off.

Employment agencies said this can attract more foreign maids to work in Singapore.

"Singapore employers are very fearful of what the domestic workers are going to be doing on their (rest days). I think there's a fear factor they seem to have, but we need to trust the person who's working in our homes," said K Jayaprema, president of Association of Employment Agencies Singapore.

"What an employer can do is to guide these domestic workers. They can also look at skills upgrading. There're so many courses available for these domestic workers."

In November, 171 bus drivers from China went on strike. It was the first strike in 26 years in Singapore.

The drivers were unhappy about pay and living conditions.

The government considered the strike as an illegal one as public transport is an essential service and sufficient notice of the intent to go on strike is needed.

Observers believe Singapore's international reputation has not been dented.

"I think the long-term repercussion (of the strike) is quite minimum but should another episode happen, then I'm not very sure," said Assoc Prof Tan Khee Giap, co-director at Asia Competitiveness Institute.

To prevent such an episode from happening again, employers have been urged to review their grievance-handling procedures.

- CNA/xq

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