North Korea: Kim Jong-un 'executes direct relations of purged uncle', claim reports

The growing collection of sometimes spurious but nonetheless captivating details surrounding the execution of the uncle of Kim Jong-un has been augmented once again.
'Multiple sources' speaking to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency claim the secretive communist regime has carried out a further brutal purge of those the young leader sees as a threat to his authority by ordering that all direct relatives of his executed 'traitor' uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, be put to death.
The reports allege that blood relatives of Jang, including children, brothers and grandchildren, were condemned to death after he himself was executed last month following accusations that he had attempted to overthrow the regime.
Jang, 67, was executed by the Pyongyang government on December 12 and the killing of his family members "mean that no traces of him should be left", a source told Yonhap.
According to the reports, which remain uncorroborated, the executions included Jang's sister Jang Kye-Sun and her husband - the ambassador to Cuba, Jang's nephew and Ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong-Chol, as well as his two sons.
The reports claim that the children and grandchildren of Jang's two brothers were also killed.
An uncle of Kim Jong-un by marriage, Jang Song-Thaek once held some of the most powerful positions in the brutal North Korean dictatorship. He fell out of favour and was executed after rumours that he was contemplating a military coup to overthrow the leader.
Despite the new reports it is not clear how many of Jang's relatives were executed, or indeed when the executions supposedly took place. However, Yonhap claim that the two ambassadors were recalled to Pyongyang in early December and were killed soon after.
The news agency, which is connected closely to the South Korean government and intelligence agencies, says sources revealed that relatives who had resisted arrest "were shot to death by pistol in front of other people. "
Following the execution of Jang Song-Thaek in December the Korean state news wire carried a statement in which the uncle was described as "despicable human scum" and "worse than a dog".
The dispatch claimed that Jang was guilty of carrying out "thrice-cursed acts of treachery in betrayal of such profound trust and warmest paternal love shown by the party and the leader for him."

From: http://www.independent.co.uk

Former bodyguard and confidant to the ex-wife of the Sultan of Brunei accused in court of stealing diamonds worth £11.6m

A former international badminton player who became a bodyguard and close friend to the ex-wife of the Sultan of Brunei abused her position to steal diamonds worth £11.6m from her “extremely wealthy” employer, a court heard yesterday.
Fatimah Lim, 35,  a Singaporean national who travelled the globe with Mariam Aziz as her personal assistant and confidant, allegedly had replicas costing £300 made of two large diamonds and placed them in the safe in her employer’s Kensington home before proceeding to sell the real stones via a London jeweller.
A jury at Isleworth Crown Court in west London heard that Miss Lim, who won a silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, had run up debts while gambling in central London casinos with Mrs Aziz, who was married to the Sultan for 22 years before their 2003 divorce. The former air hostess, who remains on good terms with the Sultan, worth an estimated £12bn, was described by prosecutors as “extremely wealthy” in her own right.
Between May 2008 and December 2009, Miss Lim is claimed to have stolen three items of jewellery from Mrs Aziz - a bracelet containing eight diamonds worth £3.35m, a flawless 12-carat blue diamond ring worth £7.7m and a yellow diamond worth £600,000. Miss Lim denies three charges of theft.
Gareth Patterson, prosecuting, said: “It is a simple story. It is a simple, uncomplicated case of theft… In the course of her employment, [Miss Lim] would spend considerable time with Mrs Aziz at her addresses in Brunei, Singapore and London.
“Mrs Aziz came to consider the defendant as one of her most trusted employees and essentially as a friend.”
During their visits to London, the Sultan’s ex-wife was a regular visitor to two exclusive Mayfair casinos - the Clermont Club and Les Ambassadeurs - and allowed Miss Lim to become a signatory to her accounts.
In turn, the badminton player, who started working for Mrs Aziz in 2003 as her badminton coach before becoming a full-time employee, opened her own accounts and occasionally allowed her boss to gamble to use her credit facility when she had reached her own limit, receiving reimbursement afterwards.
The court heard that the bracelet, bought by Mrs Aziz, 57, from high-end London jewellers Graff, went missing after she wore it to a dinner at Les Ambassadeurs casino in Mayfair in 2008.
Mr Patterson said the bracelet had been given to Miss Lim for safekeeping during the function because it kept catching in her employer’s dress. When Mrs Aziz later looked for the jewellery, Miss Lim denied having ever received it.
The court heard that documentation to be shown to the jury would show that the diamonds in the bracelet were sold by Miss Lim to buyers in New York and Switzerland via a jeweller in London’s Hatton Garden after they were provided with false assurances that they were gifts given to her mother by Mrs Aziz.
Miss Lim is alleged to have then conducted a larger theft by winning the confidence of Afifa Abdullah, an adopted daughter of the Sultan and his ex-wife, and duping her into briefly lending her the diamond rings belonging to her mother for a property deal.
Jurors were told that Miss Lim used this opportunity to commission the cheap crystal replicas which were replaced in Mrs Aziz’s safe and the real diamonds sold to a Swiss dealer.
When the fakes were eventually discovered and Miss Lim was confronted, she sent a text to a nephew of Mrs Aziz saying: “I truly regret what I have done. I really do. Please tell [Mrs Aziz] to give me a chance to repent. I can’t be behind bars. I am the breadwinner for two families.”
The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.

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Madeleine McCann investigation: Parents said to be on 'tenterhooks' amid reports Scotland Yard team are 'set to swoop on three suspects'

British detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have arrived in Portugal to discuss potential leads with local officers and are 'set to swoop on three suspects’, reports have claimed.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, are said to be “on tenterhooks”, according to reports in The Daily Mirror, over a possible breakthrough in the six-year case of their missing daughter after a team from Scotland Yard travelled to the Algarve.
Hopes were raised that a potential development was imminent after British police sent an International Letter of Request to authorities in the country asking for help to trace three burglary suspects spotted in the area where Madeleine vanished almost seven years ago.
"It is necessary for British police to request the Portuguese authorities allow them to operate on their turf," a source told the Mirror. "It means they have the intention of arresting and interviewing X, Y or Z."
The team, headed by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Met's investigation, reportedly met members of Portugal's Policia Judiciaria and prosecutors to request help and discuss leads identified by teams in the UK.
It is reported that they are seeking assistance to interview the three potential suspects, though Scotland Yard refused to confirm whether a team was in the country or the purpose behind the travel.
The development follows scrutiny of mobile phone records that revealed the suspects repeatedly called each other in the hours after three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.

The Metropolitan Police launched its own investigation in July into the disappearance of the then toddler. A number of new developments, including crucial changes to what was originally thought to be the timeline around events in the Portuguese resort, were detailed in a BBC Crimewatch programme.
Television appeals in the UK, Germany and Holland last year triggered thousands of calls from the public.
British officers have travelled to the Algarve numerous times since then in the search of the missing girl.
The Portuguese police, who once declared the parents as suspects, shelved the inquiry into her disappearance in 2008, but in October said that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening the case.
Police in Portugal are running their investigation in parallel with the British inquiry but there were calls earlier this month for the two teams to merge.
According to the Mail Online, which claims to have published pictures of the police arriving in Portugal, British officers held a three-hour meeting with senior members of Portugal’s detective squad shortly after arriving on Monday.
A source close to Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, told the Mirror: “Clearly the fact that the police are out there is significant. Kate and Gerry will now be on tenterhooks as they wait for any potential developments.
“The Met are being very pro-active and this is good news in the search for Madeleine and her abductor.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force was “not prepared to give a running commentary” about the investigation.

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Blogging Tips for SEO Friendly Keyword Research 2013.

Blogging is very essential component as a marketing tools, Nowadays people are start using blog to promote there business. While searching on search engine, We relevant solution from first page results. That means no one is going to see other pages, now the big question comes into our mind that, how can our blog result will start appearing on front page of search result? Well there are many factors which we have to keep in while writing a post. Search engine result is highly based on keyword that we are using in our article. As i am always telling that Repeat visitors really are very important, Many new bloggers are entering keyword by guesswork which is strongly not recommended. Only high quality Irrelevance keyword is not sufficient, that will give you good traffic not the good loyal visitors. So lets begins with the article to choose proper keyword.

Keyword Research 2013

Well this post is all about selecting right keyword for right content. for Search Engine optimization, Selection of keyword is play a very important rolls. Optimizing your keyword before posting will help to search engine to clear what is post is all about. And proper selection of keyword leads to the blog followers.

For example, assume a situation where visitors comes from search result, and they don’t find related article. This will cause only when you had used improper keyword in your article and that article start ranking. In this situation you will get the traffic but respectively your bounce rate will also going to increase with is not favorable for any blog.

Identify main keyword.

The first step is very important take a few time to identify main keyword for your post. Start Thinking as a visitor and start asking question to your self that “what keyword phrase will visitors use in search engine for your blog post?” List down Three to Five keyword Phrase.

Find Suggested Search for keyword.

There are many online tools available to find suggested keyword, use those keyword, I had just starting using  “UberSuggest” for keyword suggestion. just enter your main keyword there and find suggestions. You will find a list of keyword, select all and save it in notepad file. By screening keyword, select the keyword that match with content of your post.  

Use Google Keyword Tools for accurancy checking.

Google Keyword tools is One of the powerful tools by Google to find the real traffic statistics,  find a search patter of local as well as global behavior of a audience. If your targeted audience falls under special category than select category on it, select location,  language and devices that is matching with your content.  

This tools will help you out to find that “how many people used specific keyword on bases of Local month searches and Global monthly searches?” Select the key word which having higher rank value. and list down those keyword.

Use Keyword while writing post

Finally form a meaning full sentences with help of keyword phrase. You can do research on keyword for your for optimizing title, meta description, images etc. Keyword research is very much necessary in today world of competition. You business will grow only when you have a strong keyword structure.

Your Turn..

Share your experience with us, “What technique or tools are you using for searching keyword?”. Your valuable feedback is very much important for us, share your views suggestions or anything that you would like to mention here.

 

Fashion Statement: Boeng Kak Activists Go Radical Chic

 In defiance of a ban on public assembly put in place this month by the Interior Ministry, a small group of political activists gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday to begin a march in Phnom Penh against the imprisonment of 23 protesters during mass garment worker strikes on January 2 and 3. 
Daun Penh district security guards, wearing full-faced black helmets, violently detained 11 of the marchers—including prominent land rights activists Tep Vanny and Yorm Bopha, and union leader Rong Chhun—and spirited them away to the Phnom Penh Municipal Police Headquarters where they were held for hours on the grounds of their need for “re-education.”
In the almost four hours that they were detained at the station, one of the activists, Song Sreyleap, who still had her smartphone, posted regular updates to her Facebook profile and in the process opened up a new photographic chapter in the women’s brand of iconoclastic dissidence.
“This time was so different from times before when they locked us up,” said Ms. Vanny during an interview at her homeon Wednesday.
“This time they let us roam around freely and keep our phones.”
Around 9:30 a.m., district security guards, who have no legal right to make arrests, stormed the small protest outside the U.S. Embassy and seize Ms. Vanny by the neck as she was delivering an explosive diatribe against the CPP government’s violations of people rights. The guards, who had Ms. Vanny in a brutal chokehold, forced her into a white van, which then sped away.
After Ms. Vanny’s arrest, the guards—working with city police—repeated their brutal abductions, seizing prominent union leader Rong Chhun. Later, on Monivong Boulevard they grabbed fellow land rights activist Yorm Bopha and nine others.
“The government are very, very frightened of the people,” Ms. Bopha said in an interview after he release. “That’s why they have been locking us up: The people rise up, the government tries to suppress it, we rise up more, then they freak out.”
Hours after her arrest, Ms. Vanny stood inside a room at the municipal police headquarters, proudly sporting her trademark blue krama and posing with police riot gear for smartphone “selfies.”
She said that the series of photographs posted to Facebook was the realization of a long-held wish of the anti-eviction activists, who usually have their phones confiscated when police detains them.
“The first time they arrested us, we saw their clothes and we wanted to wear them. We put them on, but they had confiscated our phones already that time,” Ms. Vanny said. “So we made a pact to wear them again one day and take photos of it, knowing well that we would be arrested again.”
“When we wear these clothes of the authorities, we feel incredibly happy and comfortable,” Ms. Vanny explained. “We want to show the police that you can wear these clothes but protect people and remain peaceful.”
Ms. Bopha echoed Ms. Vanny’s sentiment.
“When we were put in the room, we saw this huge pile of their clothes. I started to think—these are the clothes they use to beat us. These clothes should be used to protect the nation and the people, but unfortunately they like to use them to beat the people instead,” she explained.
A policeman checked on the detainees on as Ms. Bopha tried on the riot police’s forearm guards. After more than a year in prison, Ms. Bopha was released in November pending the re-investigation of spurious charges that she incited an attack on a group of motorcycle-taxi drivers.
“When I wear the authorities’ clothes, it shows that we still have a strong stance and we maintain a strong position, with our heads up high,” Ms. Bopha said. “I’ve never done anything wrong, but they’ve tried to silence me…and they’ve tried to break my community into pieces.”
“When people try to rise up, the government tries to stifle them like stifling the growth of young rice shoots. But we don’t worry about being arrested or handcuffed, we only worry about the people’s living conditions.”
Ms. Bopha said the series of photographs posted to Facebook was as much a message to the police as it was an act of whimsical defiance.
“We wore their shirts, but we did not beat anyone or put anyone in jail,” Ms. Bopha explained.
Ms. Vanny said she still held out hope for a kinder police force, despite her years of being beaten, harassed and jailed by the forces.
“If the police were to put on these uniforms and protect us, we would love them,” Ms. Vanny said smiling.
In full riot gear, Phan Chunreth, another land rights activist, clasped a riot shield as Mr. Chhun looked on.
In a vicious late-night attack on a peaceful vigil in September, Ms. Chunreth was kicked and shocked by police and plain-clothed men armed with electric cattle prods.
Ms. Vanny, who managed to flee the attack despite being its apparent target, said that years of protesting had left her with a sharp sense of the trajectory of a protest and of the likely reaction of authorities.
“Most of the time, I know what will happen,” she said, explaining that liberal use of social media let her turn her danger sense into a defense.
“Facebook is so important to us because when journalist are late to the scene, we can still get the news out. It is a special way of protecting our rights—we distribute the news and then everyone comes,” she said.
Ms. Vanny sat at the head table of the police room in which the women and Mr. Chhun were detained. In spite her present prominence, Ms. Vanny said she was not always so confident.
For many years, Ms. Vanny said, she had simply turned out to quietly watch others lead the charge against the decision in 2007 to hand over the land of her Boeng Kak community to a company owned by the wife of a CPP senator
“When I started, I knew very little. I went with them, I listened. I listened to the NGOs…. Then slowly I learnt that the taking of our land was illegitimate…but I still did not know anything about rights. I was afraid of even journalists,” she said.
“In 2011, I witnessed the police beating of [Boeng Kak anti-eviction activist] Suong Sophoan. Though I hate violence, I’d never seen anything like it—I’d only heard of the horrors of Pol Pot,” she said. “This event gave me much more courage. After that, I told my family, ‘I will no longer run my business, I will sacrifice my life to demand my rights,’” she said.
“We never hold hope for a solution, but before I was like a frog in the well—I had no idea about rights or what was going on,” Ms. Vanny said.

© 2014, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

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Boy attacked by crocodile feared dead as 'human remains' are found

A search team looking for a 12-year-old boy who was snatched by a crocodile have reportedly discovered human remains near the waterhole where he was swimming in Australia.

The boy was attacked by a saltwater crocodile while swimming with friends in Kakadu National Park, west of Jabiru, in the Northern Territory.
One of his friends also suffered a bite wound to his arm as he attempted to help the boy free, and received hospital treatment at the scene from ambulance staff. He had tried in vain to stop the crocodile from taking his friend, but it proved too strong.
Search teams had seen their task complicated by recent flooding in the region, with the underwater area expanding by three times the original width of 200m.
However, Acting Commander Michael White, of the Northern Command, believes the search may now be over.
He said: "Search teams have now located evidence within the search area which strongly indicates the boy has died from the crocodile attack. Further DNA testing will be conducted to confirm the identification.
"No specifics will be given in relation to the trauma or type of evidence located out of respect for the family."
According to local reports, two animals were shot as search teams attempted to establish if the boy had been eaten, but no human remains were found inside them.
The park has been hailed as one of northern Australia’s most popular tourist attractions, but the group of friends were reportedly swimming in a restricted area, and a park spokesman insists that signs clearly stated the children should not have been swimming in the water.
"We have big croc warning signs with croc jaws and a big thing saying 'croc risk; do not swim here, do not enter'."
Saltwater crocodiles can grow up to 5.8m (19ft) in length and have been known to attack humans who enter their territory, offering some reasoning as to why the boy was attacked.
Despite this, crocodile attacks are rare in Australia, with the last fatality occurring in August after Sean Cole, 27, was killed by a crocodile as he swam across the Mary River in Darwin.

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Man dies after plunge from roof of JP Morgan headquarters in Canary Wharf

A man has died after falling from the roof of JP Morgan's European headquarters in Canary Wharf.
Emergency services were called to 25 Bank Street at around 8am this morning following reports of a man falling from the 500ft building and landing on a ninth floor roof.
The man, who is believed to be in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Metropolitan Police said.
"We believe we know the identity of the deceased but we await formal identification", a police spokesman said. Police have also confirmed that the death is not being treated as suspicious.
London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance were called to the scene and an area around the building has been cordoned off.
Workers in other buildings nearby tweeted their shock at the death. One wrote: "It's not a nice view from my building. The body is on the rooftop of level 9. So sad."

"The body is still lying there though. We are baffled as to why."

Another wrote: "A sorry view from my desk opposite. Still nobody approaching the body, very odd."

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We were called at 8.04am to Bank Street to reports of a person fallen from a height.

"We sent one ambulance crew, a duty officer, our hazardous area response team and London Air Ambulance to the scene.

"Sadly, a man in his 30s was pronounced dead at the scene."

The building in London's financial district has been the headquarters of the bank's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operation since July 2012, according to the company's website.

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After Clash, Crowd Turns on Suspected Provocateurs

By Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter - January 27, 2014

Protesters demanding the release of 23 imprisoned activists and workers clashed with security guards at a demonstration in central Phnom Penh on Sunday, with the crowd then beating at least three plain-clothes men they suspected of having been planted among them to stir up trouble.
Two of the men—one with a bloody wound to the head—were afterward driven off by some of the protesters and handed over to police in Chamkar Mon district’s Boeng Keng Kang I commune, who sent them on to municipal police headquarters.

The protest was called by a group of nine trade unions hoping to gather a crowd of 10,000 at the city’s Freedom Park to demand both higher garment sector wages and the release of 23 men arrested earlier this month during two days of protests outside Phnom Penh factories.
But instead of the thousands promised, the protesters only amounted to a few dozen, who mostly appeared to be motorcycle taxi drivers and anti-eviction activists from the Boeng Kak community. They were prevented from entering the park—officially off limits since a January 4 ban on demonstrations—by about 50 Daun Penh district security guards. A few hundred armored riot police stood by behind them.
After more than an hour of a tense but peaceful standoff
between security guards and the few protesters, the violence began with a bit of pushing and shoving along the front lines and quickly escalated.
A line of metal barricades that had stood between them was quickly tossed aside, and both sides began exchanging kicks and blows. Everything from helmets to billy clubs, water bottles and sandals were thrown back and forth. A few people were bloodied, bruised and trampled.
Amid the melee, one man among the protesters was seen striking out at the helmeted security guards with brass knuckles.
Another young man was seen hurling a brick-size chunk of concrete in the security guards’ direction, although he did not hit them. That same young man was soon chased down by the crowd, which suspected him of being an agent provocateur, and beaten on the head until bloody. Rights workers and monks on the scene quickly surrounded him, as well as another man the protesters had turned on, and ushered them into a tuk-tuk that quickly drove the pair off in the company of a few monks.
Moments later the protesters chased down and started beating another man, but relented and let him go when he produced an ID card.
The two men in the tuk-tuk were driven to Boeng Keng Kang I police headquarters, commune police chief Kol Sophat confirmed.
“We have sent them to the municipal police; we could not keep them here long,” he said, referring further questions to municipal police, who could not be reached.
Chorn Chanren, of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, who came to observe the demonstration, said he was hit in the ankle by a rock thrown by the security guards. He blamed the guards for starting the clash.
“Their crackdown on the people was very cruel because they [the demonstrators] had nothing in their hands and the security guards used force,” he said. “The people held the two men because they were suspicious of them because they used sling shots and hit people.”
Song Sreyleap, a well-known anti-eviction activist who joined the protest, said the detained men were part of the government’s shadowy “third hand.”
“They used the third hand to create violence, since the people were demonstrating peacefully,” she said. “We had to hold them because they used sling shots and [brass] knuckles; this is the third hand of the government.”
Opposition CNRP lawmaker-elect Yim Sovann, who had come to observe the demonstration, was also struck in the leg. Mr. Sovann said he was hit by a rock that came from the direction of the security guards.
Chan Soveth, senior investigator for rights group Adhoc, who was at the scene, said at least 10 people were injured in the day’s clash, including two journalists.
The security guards have come under much criticism from protesters and rights groups, who say the guards have no legal authority to use violence or apprehend people.
“Using the security forces to crack down on people contradicts our laws. They don’t implement the laws properly because they haven’t been trained to deal with demonstrators” said Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor for rights group Licadho, who was also on hand for the clash.
The city has defended the use of security forces as a necessary measure to control unruly and violent protesters.
City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche blamed the day’s clash on the protesters.
“The demonstrators threw the rocks at the security forces first, so they had to take action to protect themselves. And the demonstrators did not follow the Ministry of Interior or City Hall announcement.”
Both the municipality and the ministry had rejected the unions’ request to demonstrate at the park, which the city opened in 2010 expressly for such events.

© 2014, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

China faces up to 500 protests per day against human rights abuses

Report on Human Rights informed that the Chinese government censors and violates human rights. However, the protesters still manifest and face severe penalties from the state.

China justifies the abuse of human rights as “necessary to preserve social stability”, but pressure from activists and up to 500 events per day, is defying the authorities, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“The government censored the press, Internet, print publications, academic research, and justifies the abuse of human rights as necessary to preserve social stability”, writes Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2014, which refers to past year events.

The “strong control” exercised by the Chinese authorities on individual liberties has been mitigated by the rapid socioeconomic changes, as explained by HRW analysts , stressing that, “according to official and academic statistics, based on the reports of the security forces, there have been in between 300 and 500 protests per day , taking part in them tens of thousands of participants”.

“Despite the risks, Internet users and the media that support policy reforms are aggressively pushing the limits of censorship, calling for greater transparency and the rule of law, denouncing the errors and irregularities of the authorities and demanding political reforms”, writes the report in the chapter about China.

“The civil society groups are gradually extending their work despite their precarious situation and an informal but strong network of activists that is controlled, and continue documenting cases of human rights abuses, facing the police control, arrests, detentions, forced disappearances and torture”, the report concludes.

Facebook may lose 80% of its users by 2017

According to the study the height of the social network was in 2012 and last year the younger began to abandon it.

Researchers at the American University of Princeton compared the social network Facebook to a contagious disease that has spread and is now about to disappear, and may lose up to 80% of users by 2017.

The conclusion comes from two Phd students in mechanical and aerospace engineering and the results are open to peer review before being officially published.

Based on the expansion and subsequent disappearance of MySpace, John Cannarella and Joshua Spechlere estimate that the most important social network in the world which brought together more than 1.1 billion users in almost ten years of existence now walks to a drastic drop .

“It is proven that ideas, like a disease, spread contagiously among people, before they die, and this was successfully described by epidemiological models,” the researchers wrote.

The scientists applied a modified epidemiological model to describe the dynamics of social networks users using data from Google that are of public domain.

The conclusion is that Facebook reached its peak in 2012, and now must “meet a rapid decline”, and corroborating studies show that younger users of the social network began to leave it in 2013.

“Facebook may face a rapid decline in the upcoming years, decreasing 20% of its maximum size until December 2014,” write the study authors.

According to the reserachers, the social network will lose “80% of its maximum base of users between 2015 and 2017”.

So far, the social network seems to be “healthy” and the increase of the price of Facebook shares have made Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of the company, a millionaire.

Mark Zuckerberg, 29, founder and CEO of the company, has an estimated $19 billion fortune.

The dangers of the Communist silence

We live in the Information Age. While there are still restrictions on freedom of expression, we have never been so connected, with access to the news, power to contribute and comment.

The strategy of the communist revolution which was previously perceived by your direct coercion between entities of power and  the “dominated” now in the information age needs to be renewed, since citizens are not merely passive agents, on the contrary, can organize themselves as opposition and resistance.

In an article published in 2006, Brazilian journalist Diego Casagrande wrote the timeless text:

“Do not expect tanks, rifles and siege. Do not wait concentration camps and radio stations, TVs and newsrooms occupied by agents of suppression of freedom. [...] Do not expect the regime officials in green uniforms and red starlet circulating in the cities. Do not wait because you will not find, at least for now. The communist revolution [...] has not historically known face. It is quite different. It is silent and sneaky today.”

So what’s the strategy?

In societies where social transformations occur, where large groups are organized in trade unions, political parties or even in social networks, the revolution happens in seeking consent of these groups. Exactly. You need to “join the enemy” to “gain a new friend.”

The Communist silence in fact is based on the constitution of a moral conscience. It creates a sense of cultural disorder that needs to be repaired, which, when understood (and accepted) by social groups, which become practical action.

In communist revolution, the moral conscience is the idea of ​​”dehumanization” of professional success. Still in his article, Casagrande strengthened:

“This revolution prevents people to dream of a better economic life, because those who grow in life, those who get to have more, stop being human and become a shameless capitalist and exploitative of others. Have is incompatible with being. This is the principle that we are witnessing. Everyone has to believe in these misrepresented values ​​that only hinder the development of people and, therefore, the awakening of a country and a people that should be there in front.”

So, what’s good becomes bad and, according to what Casagrande sees “collectivism in economic output for all ills. Never mind that this model [Communist] has not produced a single nation where their practices have improved the lives of the majority of the population. Instead, it always bogs down to genocide or absolute poverty to almost everyone.”

In modern revolution, there is no seizure of power that is not preceded by a change in mindset. Finally, Casagrande completes and presents the solution:

“Some even complain, but many [...] ashamed to be seen as different. They are not a minority, they are not wrong, but feel so. The silent revolution progresses and the deterrent is fear of what we may think of them. The antidote to the silent revolution? Put the whistle, alert, report, make you think, disturb the silent Stazi agents. There is no silence that resists the noise.”

Protest Ban Will Last Until Opposition Takes Seats

By Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter - January 22, 2014

The government’s ban on public protests and demonstrations could be around for quite some time, at least as long as the present political standoff lasts between Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP and the opposition, a top military police official said Tuesday.
On January 4, the day after military police put down a protest for higher garment factory wages in Phnom Penh by fatally shooting five demonstrators and wounding dozens, the Interior Ministry said it was suspending the constitutionally-protected right to peaceful protests “until security and order are restored to their normal state.”
But Mr. Hun Sen’s officials have not explained just what they mean by “normal state.”
On Tuesday, Brigadier General Kheng Tito, spokesman for the National Military Police, said “normal” meant the opposition CNRP ending its boycott of parliament and taking its seats.
“The situation will be back to normal when the CNRP sits and joins the National Assembly,” he said. “The opposition party should sit in the National Assembly with the government and find a solution; it should not try to find a solution in the streets.”
The CNRP is boycotting the Assembly in protest over July’s national election, which was officially won by the CPP but remains marred by evidence of widespread irregularities. The CNRP wants Mr. Hun Sen to agree to an independent investigation of the vote, to call fresh elections, or to step down. The prime minister has said no to each demand.
With neither side backing down, the parties appear as far from a detente as ever.
Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the ban on protests would “not necessarily” end even if the CNRP did take its seats, as it was imposed not in response to the opposition only but to “troublemakers” in general.
“Normal means, exactly, we have to come back [to conditions] before the election,” Mr. Siphan said. Normal, he added, was “when the people feel confident that streets no longer [will be] blocked by protesters.”
The CNRP suspended its protests and marches around Phnom Penh when the ban took effect, the same day police and plain-clothes government thugs wielding metal pipes broke up a pro-opposition camp in the middle of the city, beating monks and civilians as they fled.
Other groups with grievances against Mr. Hun Sen’s CPP government have continued to demonstrate, and police have enforced the ban selectively.
At a press conference Tuesday, CNRP President Sam Rainsy called Brig. Gen. Tito’s claim that the ban would end only when the opposition joined parliament “senseless.”
“They suspend the people’s constitutional right to demonstrate, to protest…and they say they will [not] lift the ban unless the CNRP take its seats in the National Assembly…. There is no logic whatsoever,” he said.
“As for us, we count on pressure, internal pressure and external pressure on the government to force it to lift the ban.”
Mr. Rainsy said the external pressure would come from the likes of the U.S. and the European Union, where lawmakers have been putting pressure on Mr. Hun Sen’s government to agree to an independent investigation of the elections.
Critics of the ban are calling it illegal because it suspends a clause in the Constitution—the right to peaceful demonstration—without going through the legal process of altering the Constitution, which requires a vote of the National Assembly and the endorsement of King Norodom Sihamoni.
(Additional reporting by Colin Meyn)

Community Marks Fifth Anniversary of Violent Eviction

By Khuon Narim and Denise Hruby - January 25, 2014

About 150 members of the former Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district marked the fifth anniversary on Friday of the day mechanical excavators, security guards and authorities destroyed their homes to make room for a real estate project.
Much like on past anniversaries, the community members held a 50-meter long banner with pictures of their brutal eviction in front of the 3.6-hectare plot of land that now belongs to the 7NG conglomerate.
“We never forget the day when the authorities used excavators and destroyed the houses of the residents. I call on the government to stop such violence. Please respect the rights of the people and stop forced evictions,” Chan Vichet, one of the community’s representatives, said through a loudspeaker.
In the early morning hours of January 24, 2009, residents were woken by the sound of bulldozers and excavators rolling onto their land, located just across from the Russian Embassy in Tonle Bassac commune.
Like many of the about 150 families who had refused to leave the area, 40-year-old Chao Sa Em could only grab her three children, then aged between 4- and 11-years, and handful of clothes, before her house was torn down around her.
“When I heard the sound of the machines that came to knock down my house, I grabbed my children and brought them outside. I shouted at them: ‘Don’t clear my house, stop, stop!’” Ms. Sa Em said.
Security forces hired by 7NG and hundreds of police and military police then used tear gas, a fire truck water cannon and steel bars to evict the families.
7NG offered the families they evicted alternative houses in Pur Senchey district’s Choam Chao commune. However, several hundred families who had rented homes in Dey Krahorm but did not own land, were then evicted a second time by 7NG group, this time to Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district, where they set up makeshift tents in fields lacking access to water and basic sanitation.
“The conditions were so poor, there was no electricity, no water, no jobs and no school,” Ms. Sam Em said, adding that she since moved back to the city center to rent a small room and make a living as a nail designer.
Representatives of 7NG could not be reached for comment Friday.
In 2009, the company said that they intended to build luxurious residential buildings on the evicted families land, but in the intervening years they have only constructed a small football pitch that has since disappeared.
Council of Ministers spokesperson Phay Siphan said the land now belongs to 7NG.
“It’s their property. If it’s your own property you can do what you want,” he said, adding that the government considered the issue settled as 7NG had offered compensation to the families it had evicted.

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Security Forces Get in Line for Chinese New Year ‘Ang Pao’ Cash

By Khy Sovuthy - January 25, 2014

Chinese New Year is coming and crowds of uniformed police, military police, soldiers and even the stony-faced troops of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Bodyguard Unit will be queuing with expectation at the gates of the rich and powerful to receive their annual “ang pao” envelopes.
In probably the first gift-giving ceremony of the approaching New Year, hundreds of members of the armed forces stood patiently in the mid-morning sun on Friday at the ornate gates of Sok Kong’s house on Norodom Boulevard.
Inside the expansive grounds of the well-known businessman’s French-colonial era villa, which was once the Japanese Embassy in Phnom Penh, a stage had been set up and tables and chairs arranged for an early New Year party for the staff of his Sokimex conglomerate.
“There are a lot of soldiers, police and military police coming here to receive ang pao,” said Mich Saroeun, a private security guard on duty at Mr. Kong’s party.
“I can’t count all of them,” Mr. Saroeun said.
Though it may seem odd to some to see hundreds of men in uniform lining up to receive little red ang pao envelopes stuffed with small amounts of cash, the annual tradition is growing in popularity and official acceptance by military and police commanders.
“Last year only a few people knew that Oknha Sok Kong provided ang pao, but this year a lot of soldiers and police knew about it, and they came to get it,” said Ta Map, a motorcycle taxi driver, who was watching the queue of expectant faces as they entered the villa.
Not all were happy when they emerged, however.
“I only got 10,000 riel,” said police officer, Nop Bo, who had been expecting a little more from his waiting and queuing on Norodom Boulevard than just $2.50.
Another police officer did better: “I received 50,000 riel [$12.50],” he said, declining to give his name and rank, or comment on his New Year gift from Mr. Kong, whose business empire stretches from garment factories to petrol stations and from a casino and hotels to operating the ticketing at the Angkor Wat complex.
“This amount of money can get me two liters of petrol,” said a military police officer as he appraised the contents of his ang pao.
According to Chinese tradition, ang pao is money given during holidays and special occasions, particularly during the Lunar New Year to young children, to bring luck and ward off evil spirits.
The likelihood that giving ang pao to police officers in uniform might also ward off the correct enforcement of the law one day was denied by military police spokesman Brigadier General Kheng Tito, who likened the cash gift-giving to a “religious” issue.
“No one forces us to take [ang pao], and we did not ask them to give it to us,” Brig. Gen. Tito said, explaining the large attendance by his military police officers at Mr. Kong’s house.
“This is humanity. This is not bribery,” he said.
“Even though they give us ang pao, when they commit wrongdoing, we will implement the law.”
When asked last year if it was appropriate for members of the armed forces to take envelopes of cash from the rich and powerful at Chinese New Year, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said it was hard to say.
“We don’t have any such laws or regulations on what we call a conflict of interest,” he said.

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Hong Kong agrees to destroy 28 tonnes of stockpiled ivory

Hong Kong will destroy its 28 tonnes of its stockpiled ivory, the Endangered Species Advisory Committee (ESAC) announced yesterday. This decision comes after Guangzhou in China destroyed six tonnes of ivory earlier this year.

Paul Shin Kam-shing, the chairman of ESAC, told the Independent: “Elephants have a value and a function when they are alive. We should not be putting a value or function on their tusks and body parts after they have been killed in a cruel way.”
ESAC agreed unanimously to destroy 28 tonnes of Hong Kong’s stockpile by incineration after a four-hour meeting with government officials. The first raft of ivory tusks and trinkets will be destroyed within the next six months and the remaining stockpile will be burned over the next two years.
Kam-shing said that Hong Kong encourages “countries all over the world to make concerted efforts in combating illegal poaching.”
According to Kam-shing, Hong Kong would also destroy any future seizures of ivory and the government would actively promote conservation of endangered species in the country.
Hong Kong’s ivory stockpile is one of the largest in the world. The country sees major demand for ivory from tourists from mainland China who buy ivory trinkets, chopsticks and carvings to display as art.
USA and Philippines destroyed their stockpiles of ivory in 2013, but Hong Kong’s decision is momentous because it represents a firm commitment from a nation where demand for ivory is at its highest.
The government will retain a few tonnes of ivory for use in scientific and educational projects. This is permitted by Cites, the international body to protect endangered wildlife.
Conservationists have applauded the decision as a major step in the battle against the ivory trade. Andrea Crosta, Executive Director of the Elephant Action League commented: “I think it's a very important step, a much meaningful gesture than the crush in mainland China [earlier this year].”
“It's early to say if we have a new partner in Hong Kong to curb the illegal ivory trade, but it's certainly a concrete action to get rid of most of their stock.”
Alex Hofford, programme director for Hong Kong for Elephants also commended the decision to destroy stockpiles: "We think its great, we are really happy with the government’s decision. America, China, and now Hong Kong are sending strong signals to ivory traders.
“[Buying ivory] immoral: its wrong and it should stop. This message will get through to consumers and it will scare them. If demand stops, so will poaching."
However, Hofford argued that the using ivory in schools for educational purposes was akin to using bags of cocaine to educate children about the dangers of drug use.
He said: "We think that treating ivory as art sends the wrong message to children. We don’t think that dead body parts should be in classrooms. Ivory belongs on elephants and not in schools. Having ivory in glass boxes sends wrong signal."
Shruti Suresh, wildlife campaigner with the Environmental investigation agency welcomed Hong Kong’s recognition of “the management burden and the security risk” posed by the stockpiling of ivory.
However, she said “we would urge the government to ensure that the stockpiles are destroyed in a transparent manner and after conducting an audit and taking DNA samples of the seized ivory for investigation and enforcement purposes.”
The Independent’s elephant appeal supports Space for Giants who work with international partners to stop the illegal trade of ivory. Follow our campaign page in the run-up to the London conference on 13 February, when heads of state from across the world will gather to find a global solution to wildlife crime.

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French court orders Alexey Kuznetsov to be extradited to Russia facing criminal charges

The ex-husband and business partner of Janna Bullock, the socialite property developer being sued for millions of dollars over alleged frauds including one involving a luxurious mansion in London’s Belgravia, has been ordered by a French court to be extradited to face criminal charges in Russia.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities have issued an international warrant for four-times-married Ms Bullock's arrest.
Alexey Kuznetsov is the second billionaire to have had his extradition to Russia ordered by the court of Aix-en-Provence in as many weeks, following its ruling that Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov should be despatched to Russia to face fraud charges. Mr Ablyazov denies the charges and claims they are politically motivated.
Mr Kuznetsov and his glamorous then-wife Janna built up a property empire she once declared was worth $2bn, mainly in a Russian district where he was the local finance minister. He fled Russia after a former business associate was murdered, reappearing in the South of France.
However, the Russian authorities issued an international arrest warrant for him, claiming he had embezzled billions of dollars of state funds.
Police arrested him in July near Saint Tropez – a favourite playground of Russian oligarchs - and he has been in jail ever since. It has now emerged that the court of Aix-en-Provence has approved his extradition.
The French decision was welcomed in London by lawyers trying to seize assets from Ms Bullock that they claim were bought with money owed to their client, Gazprombank.
One source close to the case said: “We welcome this development. It puts renewed pressure on Janna Bullock to reveal what happened to the missing money.”

Mr Kuznetsov’s lawyer, Gregory Rincourt, told AFP: “Basically, this is an issue fabricated against him. Facts are not established . And given the current state of the Russian judicial system, he can not receive a fair trial , not to mention the conditions of his detention.”
Ms Bullock also strenuously denies allegations of fraud, claiming the numerous legal cases against her are attempts by Russian business rivals to steal her assets from her.
Legal experts said it was unlikely that the US authorities would act on the Russian arrest warrant. Mr Kuznetsov's legal team is expected to file an appeal against the extradition ruling.
The Independent revealed last month that Ms Bullock was being pursued by Gazprombank over millions of pounds it claims was stolen from it when it lent funds to the couple to develop properties in Moscow.
Gazprombank alleges that Ms Bullock spent its money buying a host of luxury properties around the world. They  included a luxury mansion in Belgravia's exclusive Eaton Square which a company allegedly financed by Ms Bullock bought from the Duke of Grosvenor, the richest British man.
Her alleged company later sold the mansion for £20.5 million after it was substantially renovated and extended. The proceeds have subsequently been frozen by a court order, according to the RIA Novosti state sponsored Russian information bureau.
The Duke, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, or other representatives of his Grosvenor Estates empire, may be called as a witness in the case.

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West Bengal gang-rape: Young woman 'attacked on bamboo platform in front of entire village'

Now India’s highest court has ordered
a judicial inquiry

India’s highest court has ordered a judicial inquiry into the reported gang-rape of a tribal woman as claims emerged that the 20-year-old had been assaulted on a raised platform in front of her entire village.

The woman remains in a serious condition in hospital after a village council apparently ordered her to be gang-raped as a “punishment” for having a relationship with a Muslim man, who was not part of the community. Police have arrested more than a dozen men, including the headman of the village.
On Friday, India’s Supreme Court ordered a judge to visit the site of the alleged attack and report back. It described the case as “disturbing” and asked the district judge in Birbhum, the area where the alleged assault took place on Monday, to go to the village and file a report within a week.
The court acted amid growing outcry over the incident and the influence of village councils over people living in rural parts of the country. Activists have repeatedly said that politicians do not do enough to speak out against such groups because they rely on them for political support.
“The politicians need to do a lot more,” said Kavita Krishnan, of the All India Progressive Women’s Association. “I remember Dr Ambedkar [Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, author of the Indian constitution] saying there was a gap between the constitution and parts of Indian society. I think some politicians try and exploit this gap.”
The attack, involving anywhere up to a dozen men, was said to have been carried out after villagers found the woman with the Muslim man on Monday. They reportedly tied her to a tree before hastily convening a village council.

Village elders 'order gang-rape of young woman as punishment for relationship with outsider' 

The elders said the man and woman should pay a fine of the equivalent of up to £485. When the couple and the woman’s family said they could not pay such a sum, the headman apparently ordered that the woman be gang-raped as a punishment.
“We were dragged to a gathering where our community-headman was present. They told me to pay Rs50,000. When I said I couldn’t, they brutalised me,” the woman told The Times of India newspaper.
Other villagers said that the men had erected a bamboo platform on which the gang-rape was carried out. Police arrested 13 men who have been brought before a court and placed in custody.

The assault comes after a spate of high profile rapes in West Bengal which have brought Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee under fire for not doing enough to stop violence against women.
West Bengal recorded the highest number of gender crimes in the country at 30,942 in 2012 – almost 13 per cent of India’s total recorded crimes against women. These crimes include rape, kidnapping and sexual harassment and molestation.
Earlier this month, Kolkata witnessed public protests against police who have been accused of failing to act on the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl who was later burnt alive.
Amid the political row, the West Bengal state government on Friday transferred the top police official of the district for failing to follow proper procedures while arresting the suspects.
The woman is a member of the ethnic Santhal tribe. Her religion has not been disclosed but reports suggest the tribespeople are often animist, The man with whom she had been having a relationship for a number of years is Muslim and lives in a neighbouring village.
The women told police that the man visited her village, Subalpur, in Birbhum district of the state, on Monday to propose marriage, but was caught by other villagers.

Village elders 'order gang-rape of young woman as punishment for relationship with outsider'

A young Indian woman is in critical condition after allegedly being gang-raped by more than ten men as a punishment ordered by a kangaroo court for having a relationship with a man from a different community.

Officials in the town of Suri said the 20 year-old was being treated in hospital after being raped in an assault that lasted through the night. The next morning, the woman and her family were threatened not to leave their home and were unable to contact the authorities for a further 24 hours.
The woman, a member of a tribal community, was reportedly attacked as a result of a relationship she was having with a Muslim man. Reports said that men from the woman’s village found with her the man on Monday and tied her to a tree before hastily convening a village council.
The elders said the man and woman should pay a fine of the equivalent of up to £485. When the couple and the woman’s family said they could not pay such a sum, the headman ordered that the woman be gang-raped as a punishment.
“We were dragged to a gathering where our community-headman was present. They told me to pay Rs50,000. When I said I couldn’t, they brutalised me,” the woman told The Times of India newspaper, from hospital.
The woman’s mother said: “The crime was committed by our own people. They tortured my daughter and dumped her home late at night. We were threatened not to go to police. We tried to go to Bolpur hospital but they stopped us.”

Reports said that following the overnight attack in Birbhum on Monday, the young woman and her family were threatened by those who ordered the assault. On Wednesday they were able to reach a local clinic, which sent them to a another facility, which in turn sent the woman to a hospital in Suri, the district headquarters.
This is not the first time that the area, located 120 miles north west of Kolkata,  has been at the centre of such a controversy. Four years ago, a teenage woman from a tribal community was stripped and forced to walk naked through four villages after she was accused of having a relationship that village elders did not approve of. The teenager was later given a bravery award by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The incident also echoes what happened to Pakistani woman Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang-raped on the orders of a Pakistani village council in 2002 to settle an issue of so-called honour.
Across India, village councils often hold huge power over people in rural communities and have often been guilty of carrying out their own courts and punishment.
In the states of Punjab and Haryana, so-called khap panchayats have been involved in the “honour killing” of couples from the same clan having a relationship.
Politicians who rely on such community elders for votes have been accused of failing to speak out on the matter. Meanwhile, those who flout the councils risk being ostracised.
“The West Bengal police must thoroughly investigate this alleged gang rape, and bring to justice those responsible,” said Divya Iyer, of Amnesty International India. “Khap panchayats notoriously issue extra-legal decrees ordering inhuman and sexually violent punishments against women, including “honour” killings.”
In West Bengal, police said a total of 13 people had been arrested and were being questioned. They were later brought before a court which ordered them to remanded in custody.
A series of rapes in India over the past year has sparked widespread concern about sexual violence and government failures to protect women. The gang-rape and murder of a Delhi student in December 2012 sparked protests across the country which pushed the government to introduce tougher penalties for sexual offenders.

Ukraine: Peaceful methods to solve Kiev stand-offs have proved futile, warns minister

Ukraine’s interior minister says attempts to use peaceful means to solve the stand-off with protesters in Kiev have been futile, accusing the opposition of stockpiling arms in protest camps in the centre of the city and encouraging assaults on police.
Vitaly Zakharchenko said the anti-government protesters “don’t want to disassociate themselves from radical forces” and were “exposing Ukrainians to danger”, according to a statement on the Interior Ministry website on Saturday.
Opposition members have denied the claims, and accuse authorities of using brutal force against protesters. The Interior Ministry was forced to apologise earlier this week after video footage surfaced of police assaulting a demonstrator after forcing him to strip naked in freezing conditions.
The claims from the Interior Ministry came as activists said they had seized another government building in the centre of Kiev, and more protests were reported in regional areas, as the protests continue to spread across the country. has threatened “consequences” if the government fails to take steps to scale down the confrontation.

London acid attack: Mary Konye guilty of attack on Naomi Oni

 A young woman from London has been warned she faces prison after being found guilty of throwing acid in a friend's face because she once called her ugly.
Mary Konye, 21, attacked Naomi On in December 2012 while disguised in a Muslim veil.
Ms Oni, who was 20 at the time of the attack, was on her way home from work at Victoria's Secret lingerie shop in Westfield Stratford, east London, when Konye, wearing a niqab, threw the corrosive liquid at her.
She was left with serious burns on her head, neck, arms, legs and body. She was scarred for life, and required skin graft surgery to cover the burns.
She was five minutes from her home in Dagenham.
The jury at London's Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that, following the attack, Konye pretended to give Ms Oni a shoulder to cry on.
The court heard that the day after the attack, Konye sent a mobile phone message to her friend, who was in hospital receiving treatment, saying “OMG, I can't believe it.”
The victim burst into tears as she left the courtroom and was hugged by family and friends.

Her said as they left court that they were “glad that a truthful verdict had been reached”.
Dressed in black, Konye remained calm as the jury of eight men and four women returned unanimous their verdict.
She will be sentenced on 7 March, and Judge David Radford said: "I should make clear that, in my judgment, this is a case that will, in all likelihood, need a substantial custodial sentence.
"It is inevitable, but it won't be dealt with until I have received those
(pre-sentence) reports."Speaking outside court afterwards, Detective

 Chief Inspector Dave Whellams said it had been a “serious, horrible offence which required a degree of planning and calculation”.
He told reporters that witnesses had testified in the court that the attack had been planned over the course of two years.
He said: "Mary Konye has had to purchase, at some point, some sulphuric acid.
“She has prepared for this over a number of months, even years, all resulting from a trivial, insignificant argument that everybody has in their everyday lives."
He commended Ms Oni as "a very brave woman and one I have great sympathy for."
Baljit Ubhey, Chief Crown Prosecutor in London,  who described the attack as "extremely brutal," said: "Konye has now been brought to justice and must face the full consequences of her appalling actions.
“I would to like praise Naomi's courage and dignity in giving evidence during this trial."

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Syria peace talks: John Kerry leads calls for removal of President Bashar al-Assad

The US Secretary of State John Kerry has said President Bashar al-Assad can have no place in a transitional government as delegates clashed on the opening day of the Syria peace talks.
The summit, which is being held in Montreux, Switzerland, is discussing the Geneva II document, which lays out a political transition plan for Syria that is hoped will bring the bloody three-year conflict to an end.
Chaired by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the talks have brought together members of the Syrian regime and opposition for the first time since 2011. However, there was little in the way of a conciliatory tone from either side as the future of President Assad featured prominently in the summit's opening speeches.
Ahmad Jarba, the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, demanded that President Assad be removed from office, and accused the regime's forces of supporting al-Qa'ida on the ground in Syria.
He also urged President Assad's delegation to “immediately” transfer “total” power to an interim governing body, as bitter accusations from both sides marred the beginning of peace talks.
Earlier, Mr Kerry had said that President Assad could have no place in a transitional government. "We see only one option, negotiating a transition government born by mutual consent. That means that Assad will not be part of that transition government. There is no way, no way possible, that a man who has led a brutal response to his own people can regain legitimacy to govern."
The Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moallem, accused Western-backed states of worsening the situation by arming opposition forces and supporting terrorism in the country, while he accused the opposition fighters themselves of being traitors.

 In his opening remarks, during which he clashed with Mr Ban over whether he had exceeded the 20-minute time period allocated to each speaker, Mr Muallem also said some of the states attending the summit had "Syrian blood on their hands".
Directly addressing Mr Kerry, he said that only Syrians had the right to remove President Bashar Assad.
At the sidelines of the UN-led talks, Syria's Information Minister told journalists that Mr Assad will not step down.
Diplomats from the world’s most powerful countries have gathered for the talks. Around 40 foreign ministers will address the summit today ahead of direct Syrian talks, which are due to begin in Geneva on Friday.
Mr Ban told delegates that Syrians are responsible for the “formidable” challenge of ending the civil war in their country.
He urged President Assad’s government and the Western-backed opposition fighters to enter into negotiations in good faith as they meet in person for the first time.
“We know that it has been an extremely difficult path to reach this point. We have lost valuable time and many, many lives,” Mr Ban said.
“Let me not mince words, the challenges before you and before all of us are formidable. But your presence here raises hope,” he added in his opening speech.
But the Syrian National Coalition, the umbrella group representing the opposition, is in disarray, with little influence on rebel brigades fighting in Syria.
Iran, which is one of President Assad's major backers, was excluded from the talks on Monday, and has already said the talks will fail.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported that President Hassan Rouhani said that hopes for the talks succeeding are slim “because of the lack of influential players in the meeting.”
Additional reporting by AP
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