hina: Urumqi Riots An Al-Qaida Ploy

hina: Urumqi Riots An Al-Qaida Ploy

by OfficialWire NewsDesk (OfficialWire) BEIJING, CHINA

The July 5 ethnic violence between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese in China's Urumqi city was part of a plan to help al-Qaida, the state media said Thursday. A lengthy article in the China Daily said as a neighbor of Afghanistan, China has suffered much because of the turbulence in that country. The report claimed evidence revealed the Uighur separatists, blamed for the July 5 riots in Urumqi, have close relations with al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Urumqi is the capital of China's northwest Xinjiang-Uighur region, which is close to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ethnic tensions have simmered for years in the region as many of the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs resent being ruled by Han Chinese, the main Chinese group in the country. The China Daily report referred to the new U.S.-led offensive against Islamic militants in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, and said the sooner peace returned to Afghanistan the better it would be for China. The report said the Urumqi riots took place immediately after the launch of the new offensive in Afghanistan. "They are not coincidental because terrorist groups in Central Asia have always had close connections," the report said. The separatists' ploy is to make Chinese people unwilling to participate in the "West-led reconstruction of Afghanistan," the report said, adding, "After all, disorder and violence in Afghanistan is to the great advantage of al-Qaida."

Recession-Related Crime Surges In Regions

Tom Rayner, home affairs producer

Some areas of England and Wales are experiencing what appears to be a surge in recession-related crime.

There has been an increase in snatching bags and pickpocketing

Latest Home Office figures show a relatively small increase nationally in offences such as burglary and robbery - but the regional breakdowns show much higher rates.

Cambridgeshire, Hampshire and Leicestershire have experienced at least a 10% increase in burglary.

Robberies in Sussex, Thames Valley, North Wales and Leicestershire have risen by at least 12%.

Nationally there was also a 25% increase in bag snatches and pickpocketing, as well as a 10% increase in shoplifting.

The overall number of crimes recorded by police in England and Wales in the financial year 2008/09 was down 5% to 4.7 million offences.

(Police Recorded Crime based on data given by police to the Home Office. British Crime Survey based on large survey of people across the country)

The number of people killed also saw a dramatic fall to a 20-year low.

There were 136 fewer homicides, including murder, manslaughter and child killings compared to a year earlier.

However, there was an increase in drug offences for the second year running.

In a Home Office briefing, statisticians said a 17% fall in the number of firearm offences may have contributed in part to the reduction in homicides.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: "The latest crime statistics are encouraging.

"Since 1997, overall crime has fallen by 36% - a total of six million fewer crimes. Violence is down by 41% and domestic burglary down by 54%."

We know that during economic downturns certain crimes face upward pressure, which is why we've already taken action to tackle these head on.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson on the latest crime statistics

Referring to the increase in acquisitive crimes in some regions, Mr Johnson added: "We are not complacent.

"As in previous years, we see changing patterns of crime and we know that during economic downturns certain crimes face upward pressure, which is why we've already taken action to tackle these head on."

Figures relating to knife crime showed overall there were more than 38,000 recorded offences.

But this cannot be compared to the previous year as new categories involving a knife, such as rape and actual bodily harm, have been added to the latest statistics - prompting shadow home secretary Chris Grayling to accuse ministers of trying to "cover up" the scale of the problem.

However, like-for-like offences showed that there was an increase in attempted murders involving a knife from 245 to 271.

New element named 'copernicium'

Discovered 13 years ago, and officially added to the periodic table just weeks ago, element 112 finally has a name.

It will be called "copernicium", with the symbol Cp, in honour of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

Copernicus deduced that the planets revolved around the Sun, and finally refuted the belief that the Earth was the centre of the Universe.

The team of scientists who discovered the element chose the name to honour the man who "changed our world view".

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will officially endorse the new element's name in six month's time in order to give the scientific community "time to discuss the suggestion".

Scientists from the Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, led by Professor Sigurd Hofmann, discovered copernicium in fusion experiments in 1996.

"After IUPAC officially recognised our discovery, we agreed on proposing the name (because) we would like to honour an outstanding scientist," said Professor Hofmann.

Copernicus was born 1473 in Torun, Poland. His finding that the planets circle the sun underpins much of modern science. It was pivotal for the discovery of gravity, and led to the conclusion that the stars are incredibly far away and that the Universe is inconceivably large.

Under IUPAC rules, the team were not allowed to name the element after a living person. But when asked if, rules aside, he would have liked to have "hofmanium" added to the periodic table, Professor Hofmann told BBC News: "No, I think copernicium sounds much better."

30 Rock leads the way for Emmys

Comedy 30 Rock, starring Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, leads the nominations for this year's Emmy awards with 22.

In the best comedy category, which it has won for the past two years, it goes up against shows including The Office, Family Guy and Flight of the Conchords.

Briton Hugh Laurie is up for best drama actor for House while Kenneth Branagh is up for best actor in a mini-series or film for BBC One's Wallander.

The awards will take place on 20 September in Los Angeles.

Laurie, 50, has previously won two Golden Globes for playing Dr Gregory House.

Branagh, meanwhile, is up for his performances as the eponymous police chief in the TV adaptation of the Wallander novels, by Swedish author Henning Mankell.

The show's director Philip Martin is also nominated for an award.

Branagh is up against fellow Briton Sir Ian McKellen, 70, who is nominated for the film version of the Royal Shakespeare Company's King Lear - first shown in the UK on More4.

BBC period dramas Little Dorrit and The Tudors received 11 and five nods respectively.

Sir Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis, who starred together in Charles Dickens adaption Little Dorrit, will compete in the best supporting actor in a mini-series or movie category.

No. This is some sort of trick fest The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons o his nomination

Entourage, How I Met Your Mother and Weeds complete the line-up of best comedy series contenders.

Grey's Anatomy star Chandra Wilson and The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, who announced the awards together, were both featured on the list.

"No. This is some sort of trick fest," said Parsons when his nomination for best actor in a comedy series was announced.

Wilson is up for best actress in a mini-series or movie, for Accidental Friendship, and supporting actress for Grey's Anatomy.

"I'm going to the party," she said.

Best drama

TV movie Grey Gardens, starring Drew Barrymore, got the second most nominations with 17 awards.

Mad Men, which won the best drama prize last year, will compete against controversial polygamy series Big Love, Damages, Breaking Bad, Dexter, House and Lost in the same category this year.

The 1960s-set period drama is up for 15 other awards.

Glenn Close, who was named best actress in a drama for Damages last year, is up for the same award again.

She is up against Brothers and Sisters star Sally Field, Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men, Holly Hunter for Saving Grace, and Law and Order's Mariska Hargitay.

British actor Hugh Laurie, who stars in House, is up against nominees including Michael C Hall, for Dexter, and Mad Men's Jon Hamm in the best actor in a drama series category.

Hugh Laurie is up for best actor in a drama series

30 Rock is set behind the scenes on a fictional sketch show.

Its creator Tina Fey, who also writes and stars in the show, has again been nominated for best comedy actress.

The star - who scooped the award last year - will go up against actresses including Samantha Who? star Christina Applegate, Sarah Silverman for The Sarah Silverman Program, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Alec Baldwin - winner of last year's best comedy actor for 30 Rock - is up for the same award this year, competing against nominees including Parsons, Jemaine Clement for Flight of the Conchords, Steve Carell for The Office and Charlie Sheen for Two and a Half Men.

Weekly late-night sketch show Saturday Night Live features in 13 categories with sometime contributor Justin Timberlake nominated for best guest actor in a comedy series.

Bhutto inquiry arrives in Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated leaving a party rally in December 2007

Members of a United Nations inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto have arrived in Pakistan.

Led by Chile's ambassador to the UN, Heraldo Munoz, the team includes a former Indonesian attorney general and a former senior Irish police officer.

The inquiry will last six months and investigate the "facts and circumstances" of Ms Bhutto's death.

She was killed in December 2007 as she left a party rally in Rawalpindi.

'Gather material'

The inquiry commission begins its work in Pakistan on Thursday.

The visiting team will be supported by staff based in Pakistan.

"The staff, working under direction of the commissioners, will gather information, collate relevant material and conduct interviews," a UN statement released on Thursday said.

During the visit, the commissioners are scheduled to meet Ms Bhutto's widower, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, and other senior officials.

The commission is scheduled to submit its report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in six months.

British detectives conclude a lone attacker fired the shots

The report will be shared with the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council, reports say.

The UN says the panel will inquire into the facts and circumstances of the assassination, but stresses that any criminal investigation is Pakistan's responsibility.

Apart from Mr Munoz, the other members of the probe team are Marzuki Darusman, the former Indonesian attorney-general, and Peter Fitzgerald, who headed an early inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the BBC his government thought the UN investigation was necessary to find out who was behind the attack.

Mr Malik said he believed the assassination was "a big international conspiracy".

"Obviously, there might be some actors within Pakistan or within the region, but we want really to expose the whole conspiracy, because we think that this was a kind of a beginning of an attempt to Balkanise Pakistan."

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the last government here of being behind the assassination, is the target of a military offensive and his militant network has hit back with retaliatory suicide attacks.

The Taliban commander has denied having anything to do with Ms Bhutto's killing.

'Rogue elements'

Her assassination left questions unresolved for many people here, but especially her own party, which is now in government.

After she had narrowly escaped a double suicide bombing on the day of her return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in October 2007, she accused what she called "enemies" and "rogue elements" in the government led by President Pervez Musharraf and in the intelligence agencies of plotting to kill her.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blamed al-Qaeda-linked militants for the attack and refused to seek a UN investigation.

He invited police from London's Scotland Yard to assist in the inquiry into her death.

In their report, the British detectives said they believed she died due to a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of a bomb blast.

The Pakistani investigation into her death concluded that a lone attacker fired shots at Ms Bhutto before detonating explosives, but said that bullets were not the cause of death.

Wider enquiry

Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) rejected both these versions, claiming adequate security had not been provided for Ms Bhutto, and called for a wider inquiry by the UN to establish the identity and motives of the assassins.

A PPP-led coalition defeated Mr Musharraf's allies in general elections last year.

Ms Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan, lived in self-imposed exile after Mr Musharraf assumed power in 1999.

Mr Musharraf had refused to seek an UN probe

In October 2007, she returned to Pakistan to campaign for the PPP in parliamentary and provincial elections - the first to be held since President Musharraf resigned as head of the army and became a civilian leader.

Shortly after her return, she survived bomb attacks on her convoy in Karachi that killed more than 100 people.

But Ms Bhutto continued to campaign and was assassinated on 27 December at a PPP rally in Rawalpindi.

She was standing upright in her armoured vehicle, with her head exposed above the open roof escape hatch, waving to the crowd when an attacker opened fire.

Seconds later, a bomb was set off at the scene which left some 20 other people dead.