Friday Wrap(29 Jan-4 Feb)

Dengan Nama Allah yang Maha Pemurah Lagi Maha Penyayang

Assalamualaikum.

1.Winter's Palace

As China's northernmost major city, Harbin is among the inhabited world's coldest metropolitan centers, but as photographer Jonathan Browning shows, each year local residents turn snowdrifts into snow cones with the Harbin Ice Festival. The annual festival -- showcasing more than 2,000 ice sculptures that can tower over 150 feet in the air draws thousands of tourists to this frozen wonderland, often called the "Ice City." The buildings are constructed with fluorescent lights encased in ice blocks, turning the temporary village into a technicolor dreamland at night.  

Visitors come not only to wonder at the construction, but to participate in winter sports such as skiing, sledding, and  for the daring ice swimming. Above, the ice city at night.

2.Brothers in Arms

Eleven months and more than 7,000 deaths later, the Syrian regime's only ally outside of Iran remains Vladimir Putin's Russia, which has provided both diplomatic support to President Bashar al-Assad by obstructing key Security Council resolutions and material support in the form of a vigorous arms trade with Damascus. The Kremlin has proven that it is expert in the grim application of realpolitik to defend its last remaining friend in the Middle East. There is, however, another important element to Putin's defiant support for the Syrian regime: the upcoming Russian presidential election, scheduled for March 4. Putin's orchestrated return to power as president has been complicated by an increasingly vocal domestic opposition movement, which took to the streets en masse to protest against voter fraud in December's parliamentary elections

3.Anger in Egypt over deadly football riot

Egypt has declared three days of mourning for the more than 70 people who died at a football stadium amid violent clashes between rival supporters in the northern city of Port Said.

Angry members of parliament denounced the lack of security at the match and gathered for an emergency session on Thursday, a day after violence erupted following an upset victory by home team al-Masry over Cairo's top club, al-Ahly.

"Egypt went through a difficult night yesterday. Egypt spent its night crying [over] its dead," parliament speaker Saad Katatni said in the session's opening remarks.

Earlier, Essam el-Erian, a politician from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, said the military and police were complicit in the violence, accusing them of trying to show that emergency regulations giving security forces wide-ranging powers must be maintained.

4.Hacker group Anonymous publicises FBI call

Hacker group Anonymous has released a recording of what appears to be a conference call between the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Scotland Yard held last month to discuss operations against the group.

The audio of the nearly 17-minute conference call was posted on YouTube along with an email invitation from an FBI  agent setting up the call for January 17.

The FBI did not immediately return phone calls or emails asking about the Anonymous claim. A spokesman for Scotland Yard told the AFP news agency: "We are looking into the reports."

5.Dozens killed as Syrians mark 1982 massacre

Thousands of protesters across Syria have defied a government crackdown to commemorate the 1982 massacre in the city of Hama that killed tens of thousands.

Activists reported the deaths of at least 28 people across the country on Friday, including three children.

6.Pengamal perubatan tolak 1Care

Medical and non-governmental organization warned health care business is not for profit and demanded that the government should introduce a strategic review1Care to 1Malaysia.

Thus, according to the Citizens' Healthcare Coalition (CHC) and the Federation ofPrivate Medical Practitioners Association (FPMPAM) initiative of the Ministry of Health to implement the scheme which is based on national insurance to pay forhealth care must be condemned.

 

p/s:Minta Maaf kerana terlambat post^^...