The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

New York woman charged with hate crime murder of Indian

New York, December 30
Two days after she shoved an Indian man to his death onto a subway train track here, a 31-year-old woman has been charged with "hate crime murder" as she admitted before police that she had pushed him because she "hated Hindus and Muslims".

Erika Menendez was ordered held without bail at her arraignment last night and appeared to express no remorse for her crime that left 46-year-old Sunando Sen dead.

Menendez was laughing in a maniacal manner during her arraignment, prompting an angry response from even the judge, the New York Daily News said.

The Queens resident started laughing as prosecutors read out her statements to authorities.

"I spent time in Times Square. You will find me on the video. I wasn't in Queens," she said. She later claimed "I pushed a Muslim on the tracks." Menendez is charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime for the death of Sen. She faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

After being arrested by the police, she admitted pushing Sen onto the tracks because she thought he was a Muslim and she has harboured hatred for "Hindus and Muslims" since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Menendez told the police "in sum and substance" that "I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up." Menendez's strange behaviour at her arraignment infuriated Queens Criminal Court Judge Gia Morris, who ordered the woman's defence lawyer Dietrich Epperson to "Tell your client this is not funny. This is not appropriate."

After being on the run for almost two days, Menendez was apprehended by police early yesterday morning after it received a tip from a citizen who spotted her on a Brooklyn street and identified her from the sketch and surveillance video the police had released.

Police had also offered a $12,000 reward for information leading to the woman's arrest and conviction.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said the citizen called 911 and police took the woman in custody after confirming her identity.

Menendez made statements implicating herself in the crime, admitting she pushed Sen before an oncoming train because she thought he was a Muslim.

Brown said "the hateful remarks" made by Menendez and "which precipitated the defendant's actions can never be tolerated by a civilized society."

He said Sen was shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself. "The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter's worst nightmare - being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train." According to the charges, Menendez was observed talking to herself while seated on a bench at the subway station and was also observed pacing on the platform and muttering to herself.

Sen was standing on the subway platform as the train approached at which time Menendez allegedly pushed him from behind into the path of the oncoming train.

Witnesses said the attack happened so quickly that Sen could not react and nor could the bystanders do anything to help him.

The woman fled the station, running down two flights of stairs and down the street.

Brown said he had no information about the woman's criminal or mental history.

"It will be up to the court to determine if she is fit to stand trial," he said.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had said that according to eyewitnesses' accounts, there had been no contact on the subway platform between Sen and Menendez immediately before the fatal push.

The incident, which sent shock waves among millions of commuters who use the city's expansive subway system daily, is the second in less than a month when an unsuspecting person was killed after being pushed onto the subway tracks by a fellow commuter.

On December 3, 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han was pushed in front of a subway train in Times Square by 30-year-old homeless man Naeem Davis.

Following the incident, leading Muslim civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations called on America's political and religious leaders to speak out against the "growing Islamophobia" in society.

New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY)'s Executive Director Muneer Awad said in a statement, "We again urge our nation's leaders to speak out forcefully against the rising level of anti-Muslim hate in American society that is being fueled and exploited by a vocal minority of Islamophobes." Sen's roommates described him as a "very educated person and quite nice." "It is unbelievable. He never had a problem with anyone," his roommate AR Suman said.

Another roommate AD Khan said he was "broken" by the incident, adding Sen was "so nice person, so quiet person, so gentle." The roommates said Sen worked hard and never took a day off despite having suffered a heart attack a few months ago.

Sen had opened a small copying and printing business this year on the city's Upper West Side.

They said Sen enjoyed watching funny clips on YouTube and would listen to classical Indian music.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged New Yorkers to pray for the victim and keep the second fatal subway push in the city this month in perspective. He, however, added that such incidents were rare and hard to predict.

"It's a very tragic case, but what we want to focus on today is the overall safety in New York," Bloomberg told reporters on Friday.

"We do live in a world where our subway platforms are open and that's not going to change. To say everybody should exercise care... goes without saying," Bloomberg added. — PTI

Massive earthquakes may hit Himalayas, say scientists

TremBler scare

A research team led by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore discovered that powerful earthquakes in the range of 8 to 8.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale have left clear ground scars in the central Himalayas.

This ground-breaking discovery has huge implications for the area along the front of the Himalayan Mountains, given that the region has a population density similar to that of New York City, researchers said in a statement.

Paul Tapponnier, a leading neotectonics scientist, said that the existence of such devastating quakes in the past means that quakes of the same magnitude could happen again in the region in future, especially in areas which have yet to have their surface broken by a trembler.

Singapore, December 30
In what can have huge implications for countries like India, scientists have warned of massive earthquakes of the magnitude 8 to 8.5 in the Himalayas, especially in areas with their surface yet to be broken by a temblor.

A research team led by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) here has discovered that powerful earthquakes in the range of 8 to 8.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale have left clear ground scars in the central Himalayas.

This ground-breaking discovery has huge implications for the area along the front of the Himalayan Mountains, given that the region has a population density similar to that of New York City, researchers said in a statement.

Paul Tapponnier, a leading neotectonics scientist, said that the existence of such devastating quakes in the past means that quakes of the same magnitude could happen again in the region in future, especially in areas which have yet to have their surface broken by a trembler.

The study showed that in 1255 and 1934, two great earthquakes ruptured the surface of the earth in the Himalayas. This runs contrary to what scientists have previously thought.

Tapponnier said that by combining new high resolution imagery and state of the art dating techniques, they could show that the 1934 earthquake did indeed rupture the surface, breaking the ground over a length of more than 150 kilometres, essentially south of the part of the range that harbours Mount Everest.

This break formed along the main fault in Nepal that currently marks the boundary between the Indian and Asian tectonic plates - also known as the Main Frontal Thrust fault.

Using radiocarbon dating of offset river sediments and collapsed hill-slope deposits, the researchers managed to separate several episodes of tectonic movement on this major fault and pin the dates of the two quakes, about 7 centuries apart.

Tapponnier warns that the long interval between the two recently discovered earthquake ruptures does not mean people should be complacent, thinking that there is still time before the next major earthquake happens in the region.

Massive earthquakes are not unknown in the Himalayas, as quakes in 1897, 1905, 1934 and 1950 all had magnitudes between 7.8 and 8.9, each causing tremendous damage. But they were previously thought not to have broken the earth's surface -- classified as blind quakes -- which are much more difficult to track.

The study by Tapponnier and his team along with scientists in Nepal and France was published recently in Nature Geosciences. — PTI

UN envoy wants Syria solution in 2013

Arab League General Secretary Nabil al-Arabi (R) and UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi at a press conference after their meeting in Cairo on Sunday. — AFP

Cairo, December 30
The international peace envoy for Syria said the situation in the country was deteriorating sharply but a solution was still possible under the terms of a peace plan agreed in Geneva in June. He said the state would collapse without a solution, reiterating warnings that the country could turn into "hell" and a new Somalia.

"I say that the solution must be this year: 2013, and, God willing, before the second anniversary of this crisis," Lakhdar Brahimi said at a news conference at the Arab League in Cairo, referring to the start of the uprising in March 2011.

"A solution is still possible but is getting more complicated every day," he added. "We have a proposal and I believe this proposal is adopted by the international community."

11 kids die in bombardments

Beirut: Syrian troops bombarded rebel bastions near the capital on Sunday a day after at least 32 civilians including 11 children were killed by air strikes and artillery fire in the Damascus area, a watchdog said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the children and two women were among the victims of bombardments focused on southwest and northeast Damascus suburbs and outlying towns on Saturday. — AFP

Brahimi is the joint UN-Arab League envoy charged with trying to mediate an end to a conflict that has killed at least 44,000 people. "The situation in Syria is bad, very, very bad, and it is getting worse and the pace of deterioration is increasing," he said.

"People are talking about Syria being split into a number of small states ... this is not what will happen, what will happen is Somalisation: war lords," he said.

Somalia has been without effective central government since civil war broke out there in 1991.

Brahimi, referring to the Geneva plan, said: "There are sound foundations to build a peace process through which the Syrians themselves can end the war and fighting and to build the future."

The plan included a ceasefire, the formation of a government and steps towards elections, either for a new president, or a new parliament. But it left the fate of President Bashar al-Assad unclear although the Syrian Opposition and foreign goverments who back them insist he must go. — Reuters

Assad won’t go, says Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives for talks with UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Moscow on Saturday. — AFP

Moscow, December 30
Russia's Foreign Minister said yesterday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise.

After a meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN's envoy for the Syrian crisis, Lavrov also said that the Syrian Opposition risks sacrificing many more lives if it continues to insist on Assad leaving office as a precondition for holding talks on Syria's future.

Assad "has repeatedly said publicly and privately, including in his meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi in Damascus not long ago, that he does not intend to leave for anywhere, that he will stay to the end in his post, that he will, as he expressed it, defend the Syrian people, Syrian sovereignty and so forth," Lavrov said. "There's no possibility to change this position."

Brahimi warned that the country's civil war could plunge the entire region into chaos by sending hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighbouring nations, but his talks in Moscow produced no sign of progress toward settling the crisis.

Brahimi and Lavrov both said after their meeting that the 21-month-old Syrian conflict can only be settled through talks, while admitting that the parties in the conflict have shown no desire for compromise.

Neither official hinted at a possible solution that would persuade the Syrian Government and the Opposition to agree to a ceasefire and sit down for talks about a political transition.

Brahimi, who arrived in Moscow on a one-day trip following his talks in Damascus with Assad this week, voiced concern about the escalation of the conflict, which he said is becoming "more and more sectarian." The envoy warned that "if you have a panic in Damascus and if you have 1 million people leaving Damascus in a panic, they can go to only two places Lebanon and Jordan," and those countries may not be able to endure half a million refugees each.

Brahimi said that "if the only alternative is really hell or a political process, then we have got all of us to work ceaselessly for a political process."

Russia has been the main supporter of Assad's regime since the uprising began in March 2011, using its veto at the UN Security Council along with China to shield its last Mideast ally from international sanctions.

Lavrov said Russia would continue to oppose any UN resolution that would call for international sanctions against Assad and open the way for a foreign intervention in Syria. — AP

Israel eases ban on building material for Gaza

Gaza, December 30
Israel eased its blockade of Gaza on Sunday, allowing a shipment of gravel for private construction into the Palestinian territory for the first time since Hamas seized control in 2007.

A Palestinian official with knowledge of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended eight days of fighting last month between Israel and Gaza militants said the move had been expected as part of the deal.

"This is the first time gravel has been allowed into Gaza for the Palestinian private sector since the blockade," said Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian official overseeing the shipment of 20 truckloads of the material.

Israel tightened the blockade after Hamas, an Islamist group that refuses to recognise the Jewish state, took power five years ago. But under international pressure, Israel began to ease the restrictions in 2010 and has allowed international aid agencies to import construction material.

The gravel was transferred a day after Egypt allowed building material into Gaza through its Rafah crossing, departing from a six-year ban. It was part of a shipment donated by the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, which has pledged $400 million to finance reconstruction.

Gaza economists say nearly 70 percent of the enclave's commercial needs - including building material and fuel - were being met through shipments via Israel and a network of smuggling tunnels running under the Egyptian border.

One Palestinian official said Israeli counterparts had promised "other building items" would be allowed into Gaza in the coming days.

"Israel has promised to ease the blockade more if the truce continues to hold," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, said more than 300 truckloads of goods have been moving from Israel to the Gaza Strip on a daily basis.

"They can have much more if they would like to," he said. — Reuters

Truce deal

Gravel shipment part of truce deal
Building material also sent via Egyptian border

Nepal Prez extends deadline to form national govt

Kathmandu, December 30
As Nepal's warring political parties failed to form a national unity government, the President today gave five more days to them to strike a deal, warning that time was running out fast. President Ram Baran Yadav extended the deadline for the formation of a national consensus government to January 4.

This is the seventh such extension given by him to the political parties since the original November 29 deadline.

The president had summoned the top leaders of the three major political parties and the Joint Democratic Madhesi Front (JDMF) today and inquired about the efforts made by them to forge a consensus during his absence from the country.

"He asked the political party leaders to arrive at a consensus as early as possible," according to Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh, who was also present during the meeting.

The president also urged the top political leaders to work on the arrangements required for holding fresh elections, including the legal arrangements and rules and regulations.

"He urged all the parties to move forward in consensus so that elections can be held by next April-May,” Singh said.

UCPN-Maoist chief Prachanda, Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala, CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal and Madehsi Front leader and Deputy Prime Minister Vijaya Kumar Gachhar, who reached the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Sheetal Niwas, informed the President about the ongoing formal and informal initiatives aimed at forming a national government.

President Yadav summoned the meeting a day after his return from India and issued the new five-day deadline to the parties after consulting the political leaders.

Nepal has plunged into a political and constitutional deadlock since May 27, when the Constituent Assembly was dissolved without promulgating the constitution. — PTI

Central African Republic rebels threaten to enter capital

Bangui, December 30
Rebels in Central African Republic could enter the capital Bangui as early as "tonight, or tomorrow morning" if President Francois Bozize refuses their conditions for peace talks, a rebel spokesman said on Sunday.

The three-week-old Seleka rebellion has advanced to within 75 km (45 miles) of Bangui, posing the most serious threat yet to Bozize's nearly 10 years in charge of the turbulent and resource-rich former French colony.

African Union Chairman Thomas Yayi Boni is due to meet Bozize on Sunday to lay the groundwork for peace talks in Gabon with Seleka, an alliance of three armed groups that accuses Bozize of failing to honour a 2007 deal under which members who laid down their guns were meant to be paid.

Seleka said it is demanding direct talks with Bozize along with guarantees of safety for its generals.

"We are waiting to see what comes out of today's meeting between Bozize and ... Yayi Boni before we make a final decision," rebel spokesman Nelson Ndjadder said by telephone from France. "We could march into Bangui tonight or tomorrow morning," he said.

Ndjadder said the rebel force numbered around 3,000 and was growing as new fighters joined during a swift advance from the country's northwest since early December.

The rebel onslaught has highlighted the instability of a country that has remained poor and turbulent since independence from France in 1960, despite rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds.

The last time rebels reached Bangui was in 2003 during the insurgency that initially swept Bozize to power.

Residents in the ramshackle riverside capital have either fled or stockpiled food and water in their homes in preparation for a rebel onslaught.

The streets of the city were largely deserted on Sunday morning save for military patrols and a trickle of churchgoers.

Youths carrying machetes had set up makeshift barricades along main roads during a driving ban imposed overnight. — Reuters

Troops sent to aid diplomat evacuation

Washington: President Barack Obama said that 50 US troops have deployed to the African country of Chad to help evacuate US citizens and embassy personnel from the neighbouring Central African Republic’s capital of Bangui in the face of rebel advances toward the city. — AP

Armed men in schools won’t resolve gun problem, says Obama

Washington, December 30
US President Barack Obama today expressed scepticism over the proposal from pro-gun lobby groups to have armed men in schools to address the issue of shootouts in American schools that have increased in recent years.

"I am sceptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are sceptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem. And, look, here's the bottom line. We're not going to get this done unless the American people decide it’s important,” the US President said in an interview to NBC news.

Obama was responding to a question, on such a proposal by powerful National Rifle Association, which in the wake of the deadly school shootout, has recommended to place armed guards in schools to protect children.

"I am not going to prejudge the recommendations that are given to me. I am sceptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are sceptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem," he said.

Obama has asked Vice President Joe Biden, to come up with specific proposals in this regard.

"So this is not going to be simply a matter of me spending political capital. One of the things that you learn, having now been in this office for four years, is the old adage of Abraham Lincoln's. That with public opinion there's nothing you can't do and without public opinion there's very little you can get done in this town," he said. — PTI