In turn India accuses Pakistan of fomenting violence on its territory specifically its violence-wracked Jammu-Kashmir state
Posted in General on 24. Aug, 2010
In turn, India accuses Pakistan of fomenting violence on its territory, specifically its violence-wracked Jammu-Kashmir state.Both countries deny the charges.. A garish carnival at the Bridge on the River Kwai drew hundreds of revelers Monday, but some veterans and visitors were grumbling that it commercialises one of the worst atrocities of World War II – the Thai-Myanmar ‘Death Railway.’
A garish carnival at the Bridge on the River Kwai drew hundreds of revelers Monday, but some veterans and visitors were grumbling that it commercialises one of the worst atrocities of World War II – the Thai-Myanmar ‘Death Railway.’
More than 100,000 Asians and 13,000 Allied prisoners of war from Australia, Britain, the United States, New Zealand and the Netherlands died building the bridge and the 260 mile railway under the yoke of the Japanese Army.At the carnival, which commemorates the start of the Allied bombing campaign against the bridge in November 1944, Thais and foreign tourists whooped it up at rides, discos and rock concerts.”In Japan, the war is not even discussed, but here at the River Kwai it’s a big party with dancing girls,” said Yugo Saso, 27, a visiting Japanese actor.The noisy two-week festival got under way Sunday after a somber memorial ceremony in the rain attended by Western diplomats, veterans and Thai officials at a nearby war cemetery in Kanchanaburi, 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Bangkok.Tim Moffat, 41, of Kansas, a school teacher in Kanchanaburi, said he was appalled by a replica bamboo hospital with 50 wooden crosses nearby, built to give festival-goers a feeling of wartime.Kanchanaburi has built a prosperous tourism industry out of its war history, thanks largely to the success of the 1957 Academy Award winning film, The Bridge on the River Kwai.Pong-anan Sunpanich, Tourism Authority of Thailand director in Kanchanaburi, defended a glitzy sound and light show depicting the U.S. air-raid that finally knocked out the bridge in June 1945.The show’s plot also includes a fictional love triangle, pitting a Japanese officer against an Allied POW for the affections of a Thai beauty queen.The story would help express the “pain and anguish” of those who were forced to labour building the bridge, said Pong-anan.But Japanese war veteran Takashi Nagase, 83, who has made more than 100 missions of atonement to the River Kwai after serving as a military police interpreter during the war, said he was ashamed.”For the Thais it’s just a carnival,” he said. “But we Japanese feel a deep sense of shame at how sensitive issues are so rudely portrayed in the light and sound show,” he said.Nagase’s character will be featured in an upcoming film about the River Kwai called To End All Wars The role will be played by Yugo Saso..
Landslides and floods after four days of torrential rains have killed at least 119 people on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, officials and news reports said this morning. Landslides and floods after four days of torrential rains have killed at least 119 people on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, officials and news reports said this morning.
Rescue workers said they believed dozens more had been buried alive in landslides that followed the flooding, which the Jakarta Post described as the worst in the area since 1953.”There are reports of landslides everywhere,” said Jual Effendi, head of West Sumatra’s search and rescue agency.Some food aid had reached the worst-affected areas in the provinces of West Sumatra and Aceh on the island’s northern half, but relief workers said blocked roads and continuing rains were hampering rescue efforts.”We are looking for survivors, but we fear there will only be corpses,” said student volunteer Nanang Farid Syam.Floods have also swamped major towns in the region, about 625 miles northwest of the nation’s capital, Jakarta.Power and telephone lines in Aceh’s capital, Banda Aceh, have been swept away, leaving thousands of people in the town without electricity, the Kompas newspaper said.Large parts of Padang, 470 miles to the south of Banda Aceh, are also under as much as three meters of water, witnesses said.Landslides in Indonesia are frequently caused by monsoonal rain in areas where land has been weakened by deforestation.Floods and landslides killed over one hundred people last month in Indonesia’s main island of Java.. A New Zealand woman who went blind because of treatment for a brain tumour 10 years ago has regained partial eyesight after knocking her head on a coffee table at her home in Auckland. A New Zealand woman who went blind because of treatment for a brain tumour 10 years ago has regained partial eyesight after knocking her head on a coffee table at her home in Auckland.
Lisa Reid, 24, collided with the table when she bent down to give a goodnight kiss to her guide dog, Ami, 10 days ago When she awoke the next day, she could see. “I woke up and, wow, the colours,” she said.A few hours later she telephoned her mother and read out a health warning from a cigarette packet.
When her boyfriend and close friends arrived at her house to celebrate, she hardly recognised them Her brother had changed from a 12-year-old boy into a man “It’s fantastic, amazing, unbelievable,” she said. “It’s almost too much to take in.”Ross McKay, an eye surgeon at Auckland Hospital, confirmed that Ms Reid had regained 80 per cent sight in her left eye, although her colourvision was limited. He said he had not encountered a similar case in 25 years as an eye specialist. “For some reason she’s got her sight back, and don’t ask me for an explanation because I don’t have one,” he said.Ms Reid was given a 5 per cent chance of survival afterthe brain tumour was discovered 13 years ago. Radiology and an operation to remove the tumour were successful, but it damaged her eyes. She was declared blind at the age of 14, able to detect only light and dark Doctors told her that she would never see again.. William Baird, the clothing maker that is seeking damages from Marks & Spencer after the high street chain ended a 30-year supply agreement, will be taken over this week by a small menswear provider for £90m.
William Baird, the clothing maker that is seeking damages from Marks & Spencer after the high street chain ended a 30-year supply agreement, will be taken over this week by a small menswear provider for £90m.
The buyer is Marchpole, a small quoted company that designs and distributes clothes for Yves Saint Laurent and Jasper Conran. The company will pay a premium for William Baird, which closed at 60.5p on Friday, valuing it at £71m.Marchpole, which has a market valuation of only £12m, is understood to have received funding from the venture capitalists Alchemy.The deal has been brokered by Harold Tillman, the rag-trade entrepreneur that built the Honorbilt empire and now acts as a consultant to Marchpole. Mr Tillman has built up a 10 per cent stake in William Baird but is unlikely to join the board of the combined group.A source close to the deal said yesterday “They have been working on this for some time.” The talks come after William Baird announced it had received an approach three months ago.Meanwhile, M&S, which was William Baird’s biggest customer before it ended the contract in a bid to find cheaper suppliers overseas, yesterday said it had embarked on a major overhaul that could lead to the sale and leaseback of many of its continental European stores.The high street giant has employed the estate agents Healey & Baker to review its foreign estate, which includes stores in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. M&S has £3bn in property assets.An M&S spokesman said: “It might be better to release the capital by selling some of these stores to use the capital in other parts of the business.”The review, which is ongoing, is looking at the lease-back possibility for about 35 outlets, including its French head office in Paris.