Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Top Billionaires Hold Secret Meeting

Gates, Winfrey, Buffett among philanthropists at gathering in New York

In a quiet meeting closed to the news media and the public, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller Sr., Oprah Winfrey and other leading philanthropists met in New York this month to discuss ways to promote efforts to solve growing social problems in America and abroad.

Together, the philanthropists in the room have committed a total of more than $72.5 billion to charitable causes since 1996, according to Chronicle of Philanthropy tallies.

The unusual event was held May 5 at Rockefeller University and was organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Among the high-profile participants were Ted Turner, Warren E. Buffett, George Soros and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Several of the people at the meeting confirmed their involvement, but declined to tell The Chronicle about what was discussed or why they gathered almost in secret.

According to a person familiar with the meeting, the wealthy philanthropists gathered to trade ideas about how to raise the level of philanthropy in the world.

According to IrishCentral.com, a Web site in New York that writes about Irish Americans and which first disclosed some of the details about the gathering, each philanthropist was given 15 minutes to talk about “how they saw the future global economic climate, the future priorities for philanthropy, and what they felt the elite group should do.”

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

What would you tell the world’s top philanthropists? Click here to post your comments and ideas.

All these philanthropists from the secret New York meeting have appeared at least once on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s ranking of America’s most-generous donors.

Other people who attended included Eli Broad, a real-estate investor, Julian H. Robertson, Jr., a hedge-fund manager, and Patty Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Gates foundation.

Tyson's daughter on life support after found hanging

Phoenix (Arizona), May 25 (ANI): Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson's four-year-old daughter was on life support and in "extremely critical condition" after she was found hanging Monday morning from a treadmill cable in her family's Phoenix home, police said.

Exodus Tyson's seven-year-old brother found her on a treadmill with her neck on a cable attached to the exercise machine, police sergeant Andy Hill said, calling it a "tragic accident."


The mother sent the boy to find the four-year-old girl who was playing in a separate room. The boy found his sister in distress and got his mother, police said.

"Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, and there's a cord that hangs under the console - it's kind of a loop,"

Fox News quoted Hill as saying: "Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it."

The girl's mother took her daughter off the cable, called 911 and attempted to revive her.

Responding officers and firefighters performed CPR on the girl. She was rushed to nearby St. Joe's Hospital.

Tyson, who was in Las Vegas, flew to Phoenix immediately after learning of the accident. (ANI)

Analysis: NKorea widens threat, limits US options

WASHINGTON -North Korea's nuclear test makes it no likelier that the regime will actually launch a nuclear attack, but it adds a scary dimension to another threat: the defiant North as a facilitator of the atomic ambitions of others, potentially even terrorists.
It also presents another major security crisis for President Barack Obama, already saddled with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a nuclear problem with Iran.
Obama spoke Monday night with the president of South Korea and the prime minister of Japan, assuring both leaders that the U.S. remains committed to the defense of their nations. The White House said in a statement that Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed that the test is "a reckless violation of international law that compels action in response."
It's far from clear what diplomatic or other action the world community will take. So far, nothing they've done has worked.
At an earlier juncture of the long-running struggle to put a lid on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the administration of President Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s discussed with urgency the possibility of taking military action. That seems less likely now, with the North evidently nuclear armed and the international community focused first on continuing the search for a nonmilitary solution.
Meeting in emergency session in New York, the U.N. Security Council on Monday condemned North Korea's nuclear test as a clear violation of a previous U.N. resolution banning such testing. The council said it would begin work immediately on a new legally binding resolution.
The North's announcement that it conducted its second underground test of a nuclear device drew quick condemnation across the globe, including from its big neighbor and traditional ally, China. The Obama administration, which said the North's action invited stronger, unspecified international pressure, has consistently called for Korean denuclearization but seemed not to have anticipated a deepening nuclear crisis.
Just two weeks ago, the administration's special envoy for disarmament talks with North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said during a visit to Asian capitals that "everyone is feeling relatively relaxed about where we are at this point in the process." If so, they are no longer.
Obama, appearing Monday in the White House Rose Garden, condemned the nuclear test and North Korea's subsequent test-launch of short-range missiles. He called the actions reckless and said they endanger "the people of Northeast Asia."
North Korea conducted its first atomic test in 2006 and is thought to have enough plutonium to make at least a half-dozen nuclear bombs. It also is developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, in defiance of U.N. actions.
One of the first estimates of the size of Monday's nuclear explosion came from the Russian defense ministry, which put the yield at between 10 and 20 kilotons — comparable to the U.S. bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945. But a senior U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared the explosive yield was much smaller, perhaps a few kilotons. The official said more technical analysis would be done in coming days.
The administration official also disclosed that North Korea notified the State Department less than one hour before the explosion that it intended to conduct a nuclear test at an unspecified time. The U.S. then notified China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, the official said.
The United States could still try to resuscitate so-called six-party talks with the North as well as work with other members of the United Nations. North Korea has vowed not to resume participation in the six-party talks with the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China and Russia.
Reflecting his view that only unified international action will compel North Korea to change course, Obama said that Russia and China, as well as traditional U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, have come to the same conclusion: "North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons."
The Bush administration worked hard to get China, in particular, to press the North Koreans to denuclearize, and it seems likely that Obama will push equally hard with Beijing, which sided with the North Koreans against U.S. and United Nations forces during the 1950-53 Korean War. In recent years the Chinese have openly criticized the North Koreans for the nuclear arms program.
Two of the main worries about North Korea are left unsaid: Would it use a nuclear bomb to attack a neighbor or the United States? And might it continue an established pattern of selling nuclear wherewithal and missiles to foreign buyers?
Graham Allison, an assistant secretary of defense in the Clinton administration and now director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, said Monday that the international community regularly underestimates North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's willingness to do the unexpected.
"Could this guy believe he could sell a nuclear bomb to Osama bin Laden?" Allison asked in a phone interview. "Why not?"

UN Security Council condemns NKorea nuke test

UNITED NATIONS -The U.N. Security Council swiftly condemned North Korea's nuclear test on Monday as "a clear violation" of a 2006 resolution and said it will start work immediately on another one that could result in new sanctions against the reclusive nation.
Hours after North Korea defiantly conducted its second test, its closest allies China and Russia joined Western powers and representatives from the rest of the world on the council to voice strong opposition to the underground explosion.
After a brief emergency meeting held at Japan's request, the council demanded that North Korea abide by two previous resolutions, which among other things called for Pyongyang to abandon all nuclear weapons and return to six-party talks aimed at eliminating its nuclear program.
It also called on all other U.N. member states to abide by sanctions imposed on the North, including embargoes on arms and material that could be used in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and ship searches for banned weapons.
In an AP interview in Copenhagen, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the test as a "grave violation" of council resolutions and called on the council in a statement to send "a strong and unified message" aimed at achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and peace and security in the region.
Ban, who is South Korean, urged the North "to refrain from taking any actions which will deteriorate the situation."
Leaders in the United States, European Union and Russia also offered quick and pointed criticism. Even China's foreign ministry joined the chorus of disapproval, saying it "resolutely opposed" the test.
"North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia."
In Brussels, the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, denounced the test as a flagrant violation of Security Council resolutions.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current Security Council president, made clear in a statement that the council's condemnation was only an initial response, and that more will follow. He said it was too early to give any specifics.
"The members of the Security Council have decided to start work immediately on a Security Council resolution on this matter," he said.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the 15-member council agreed that work on the new resolution will begin Tuesday.
"What we heard today was swift, clear, unequivocal condemnation and opposition to what occurred," she said.
France's deputy U.N. ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix said France wants the new resolution to "include new sanctions ... because this behavior must have a cost and a price to pay."
Japan's U.N. Ambassador Yukio Takasu, a non-permanent council member, said his country was pleased that the rest of the council agreed there should be a new resolution. But he noted that sanctions imposed against three North Korean companies after Pyongyang's missile test in April obviously had no effect.
"So therefore I think we really have to think very carefully what will be an effective way to deal with this kind of behavior," he said. "We have to do something more, and the question is what is more."
Churkin was asked whether Russia viewed the nuclear test as more serious than the North's launch of a missile in April.
"This is a very rare occurrence as you know, and it goes contrary not only to resolutions of the Security Council but also the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty and the (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty," he replied. "We are one of the founding fathers — Russia is — of those documents, so we think they're extremely important in current international relations. So anything which would undermine the regimes of those two treaties is very serious and needs to have a strong response."
Before the council meeting, the five permanent veto-wielding members of the council — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — met behind closed doors for over an hour with the ambassadors of Japan and South Korea.
North Korea claimed the underground nuclear test Monday was much larger than one it conducted in 2006, which led to the first U.N. sanctions resolution. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed an atomic explosion occurred early Monday in northeastern North Korea and estimated that its strength was similar to bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.
After the council rebuked Pyongyang for its April 5 rocket liftoff, which many nations saw as a cover for testing its long-range missile technology, North Korea announced it was quitting disarmament talks and restarting its atomic facilities. The six-party talks, which began in 2003, had involved North Korea, South Korea, Russia, China, Japan, and the United States.

Preacher dies after Vienna clash

Police in Austria say one of the two Sikh preachers who were shot in a violent dispute between rival Sikh groups at a temple in Austria has died.

The preacher, Sant Rama Nand, was attacked during a religious ceremony by six men armed with knives and a pistol.

The other preacher Sant Nirajnan Das, who was among 15 other people injured in the clash, was said to be stable.

Following the incident, rival Sikh groups clashed in the Indian state of Punjab.

Indian police said protesters in the city of Jalandhar set fire to vehicles and put up roadblocks.

Witnesses said the protests appeared to be a reaction to the fight at a temple in Vienna, which reportedly began when fundamentalist Sikhs attacked the preachers, who, they believed, were disrespectful of the Sikh holy book.

The fight involved five men armed with knives and another with a pistol, the BBC's Bethany Bell reports.

Sant Rama Anand died of his wounds in hospital early Monday, a police spokesman said.

"The surgeon said at first he was satisfied with his patient's condition after an emergency operation," news agency APA quoted the spokesman as saying.

"But the patient lost consciousness and died shortly after midnight (2200 GMT)," he added.

The condition of the second preacher is reported to be stable, he said.

Police spokesman Michael Takacs said the scene was "like a battlefield". Six people have been detained, and more arrests were possible.

Everybody was praying and then it started with knives and a pistol," said eyewitness Nermal Singh.

Several hundred worshippers were at the temple at the time of the attack.

The temple is situated in Vienna-Rudolfsheim, in the 15th district of the capital.

It is estimated that fewer than 3,000 Sikhs live in Austria.

The Rudolfsheim temple is run by devotees of Shri Guru Ravidas, who founded a Sikh sect called Dera Sach Khand.

Indian unrest

Meanwhile, Sikh groups clashed violently in the city of Jalandhar in the Indian state of Punjab.

People have poured out into the streets by the thousands and have been protesting since Sunday evening here, says the BBC's Asit Jolly in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab.

The protesters set fire to vehicles and damaged government buildings.

"The whole thing has spread out of Jalandhar now, it's in all the nearby towns and a curfew has been imposed across Jalandhar city, and the latest I'm being told is that the government of Punjab has requisitioned the army to be on standby," our correspondent adds.

Cyclone Alia strength eases off

The cyclonic storm Aila hit the Indian city of Calcutta and nearby areas, killing more than 30 people, before weakening and heading north.

It uprooted a large number of trees in the city, seriously hampering traffic.

Meteorologists said the cyclone made landfall in south-western Bangladesh on Monday afternoon.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated in Bangladesh and India to temporary shelters after wind speeds of 70km/h to 90km/h were reported.

The West Bengal state's disaster management minister Mortaza Hossain told the BBC that more than 100,000 people had become homeless.

"We have rescued more than 100,000 people and send them to safer places. We are now arranging dry food packets and drinking water pouches for them," he said.

Rescue and relief

Fierce winds, measuring 100km/h (65mph), ravaged parts of Calcutta and adjoining districts. "We were in the eye of the storm," Mr Hossain said.

The army and border guards were called out to rescue people and join the civil administration in providing relief in eight districts of the state hit by the cyclone, he said.

Twelve people died in the South 24-Pargana district that straddles the Sundarbans delta south of Calcutta.

Most deaths occurred when the cyclone flattened mud houses.

Six people died in Calcutta when huge trees uprooted by the cyclone fell on buses, cars and auto-rickshaws.

The rest of the casualties were reported from the districts of Howrah, Hooghly , Nadia , Bankura, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore.

Calcutta police chief Gautam Moham Chakrabarty said teams from the municipal corporation were working to clear roads blocked by uprooted trees.

Calcutta Metro and train services were suspended after water flooded tracks in many places.

Massive tidal waves ravaged scores of coastal villages and the seaside resorts of Digha, Mandarmoni and Kanthi throughout Monday.

In Bangladesh, flooding and tidal surges hit coastal areas, with strong winds forcing the closure of the main ports of Chittagong and Mongla.

About 400,000 people were moved from five districts to cyclone shelters and schools before the storm hit, Bangladeshi officials said.

A further 300,000 people were stranded in coastal villages, they said.

Human skulls found in India pond

Authorities in northern India are digging out a pond in which hundreds of human skulls have been discovered.

The remains were found after the pond adjacent to a mortuary in the city of Aligarh dried up due to hot weather.

Around 100 skulls, several bones and two skeletons have been recovered in the past three days, police say.

Reports say the remains belong to bodies of unclaimed corpses brought to the mortuary, but police say they are not making any assumptions.

'Thousands'

"Since the place is near to mortuary and there are marks similar to post-mortem on a few skulls, so as per primary investigation we can say that this might be related to mortuary," inspector Asim Arun said.

"But we don't want to directly reach to the conclusion. We want all the investigation process to complete and all the experts to analyse it then only we can reach some conclusion," he added.

A city resident Amit Srivastava explained how the remains were discovered.

"Children were playing and came here to get their ball. A child saw a skull. He got scared and ran away. We then came here and saw that behind the jail there is not one but thousands of skulls here.

"Digging is continuing... let's see how many more will be found," he said.

The authorities say around 100 human skulls, several bones and two skeletons have been recovered so far.

They say special equipment has been brought in to dig up the area in case more remains are found.

According to Indian law, after post mortem examinations are complete, police have 72 hours to remove the remains of unclaimed bodies.

Lower level officers, morgue sweepers and some rickshaw pullers are brought in to do the job.

It is believed that somewhere along the line some of these workers may have ditched the remains in the pond and pocketed the cash meant to pay for the cremations or burials.