A British woman described how she was gang raped for two hours in a Thailand hotel by men who then phoned her mother to demand money.
The 23-year-old claims she was assaulted by a group of Swedes and Thais in a room near Patong Beach, in Phuket, after agreeing to go back for a party.
In a sickening phone call, her attackers told her mother back in Britain that they would rape her again unless they received money. A friend described how the men placed a hood over her head and then laughed as they phoned her mother.
'She had gone back to the room with a Swede,' she added. 'But inside there were five others, including three Thais.
'She was raped and then one of them demanded her mother's phone number. There was laughter as one of the gang members told her mother that unless she sent money, her daughter would be raped again.
'Afterwards she went to find the Embassy official. I don't think she could even remember her attackers and I guess she was drunk.'
The woman had overstayed her visa and was working illegally, which both carry jail terms. She had got a job on the island after answering an advertisement for 'Time-Share' sales staff but quickly became penniless after earning little commission.
It is understood that Embassy officials arranged for her medical examination, but afterwards decided it would be hopeless to attempt a prosecution. She has now left the country.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We can confirm we gave consular assistance in this case.'
In the case of sex attacks on Britons abroad the FCO is able to offer much more help than in other distress cases. They will accompany victims to police, arrange medical treatment and examinations, and can even arrange instant loans for flights, and deal with immigration issues.
Senin, 17 Januari 2011
Beckham: "I Couldn't Have Bedded Hooker..."
The statement, filed in London on Friday states that the 35-year-old footballer has never even met Bosnia-born prostitute and claims that the allegations have caused ‘severe emotional distress including extended humiliation, embarrassment, anger and worry.’
He denies the allegations and states: ‘All the allegations made about me by Irma Nici including foregoing allegations, are completely false. I have never met Irma Nici, much less solicited an act of prostitution with her of with anyone else.’
The signed legal document refutes 26-year-old Nici’s claims that David met and slept with her and another prostitute in a New York hotel in August 2007 and says that the footballer has never even stepped foot inside the hotel.
Nicci’s claims, published by In Touch Weekly magazine in October state that the LA Galaxy footballer paid her $10,000 in cash but Beckham’s legal statement adds that he doesn’t carry around thousands of dollars in cash when he travels.
The statement which offers a comprehensive insight into David Beckham’s life as a footballer outlines how on the night Nici claims to have slept with him in New York, he was having a deep tissue massage in the hotel where his LA Galaxy team were staying.
‘As it is custom when I arrive at a hotel on a road trip before a match, a massage therapist came to my hotel room within a few hours after I checked in to give me a massage.
‘I recall that the therapist did not leave my hotel room until the very early morning on Friday August 17. My security team was with me before, during and after the massage.
‘After the therapist left, I went to sleep.’
Nici has also claimed that she met with the football star during his trip to London in September 2007 but David, who is currently training with Tottenham Hotspurs, was visiting his father in hospital after he had suffered a heart attack, according to the document.
David rubbishes claims he has spoken to Nici on the phone when he was in New York and she was in London and states that not only was he never in New York but that ‘at no time did I contact Ms Nici by telephone, including 2007, regardless of where I was at the time.
David has filed a £16.5million libel law suit against In Touch magazine and its publishers Bauer, following the publication of an issue entitled ‘David’s Dangerous Betrayal’ on October 4, 2010. The five-page declaration which is signed by the footballer comes just a week after Victoria and David announced they are expecting their fourth child.
Remove Your Address and Phone Number from Your Facebook
Danielle Piscak, 22, stands with her Facebook page on a monitor behind Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, in her Parkland, Wash. , living room. Piscak was one of dozens of women in the U.S. and England whose personal information was gleaned from Facebook and then used to hack into e-mail accounts by George Bronk, who lives in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. Bronk, 23, would then send nude pictures of them to everyone in their address book.
A security expert is warning users of Facebook to remove their home addresses and mobile phone numbers from their profiles as the website now gives third parties access to that information.
The social networking site announced in a blog post at the weekend that it would give developers of applications access to the contact information of users who install their apps.
"These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs," Facebook's Jeff Bowen said.
"Please note that these permissions only provide access to a user's address and mobile phone number, not their friend's addresses or mobile phone numbers."
But Sophos security expert Graham Cluley, in a blog post on the firm's site, questioned the move.
"You have to ask yourself – is Facebook putting the safety of its 500+ million users as a top priority with this move?" he said.
"It won't take long for scammers to take advantage of this new facility, to use for their own criminal ends."
Cluley offered the advice that users should remove their home addresses and mobile phone numbers from their Facebook profiles.
"I realise that Facebook users will only have their personal information accessed if they 'allow' the app to do so, but there are just too many attacks happening on a daily basis which trick users into doing precisely this."
He said "shady app developers" would now "find it easier than ever before to gather even more personal information from users".
"You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies," he said.
Facebook's Australian public relations firm was contacted for comment on Sophos's advice. It did not respond in time for publication but referred this website to the blog post announcing the move.
The social networking site announced in a blog post at the weekend that it would give developers of applications access to the contact information of users who install their apps.
"These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs," Facebook's Jeff Bowen said.
"Please note that these permissions only provide access to a user's address and mobile phone number, not their friend's addresses or mobile phone numbers."
But Sophos security expert Graham Cluley, in a blog post on the firm's site, questioned the move.
"You have to ask yourself – is Facebook putting the safety of its 500+ million users as a top priority with this move?" he said.
"It won't take long for scammers to take advantage of this new facility, to use for their own criminal ends."
Cluley offered the advice that users should remove their home addresses and mobile phone numbers from their Facebook profiles.
"I realise that Facebook users will only have their personal information accessed if they 'allow' the app to do so, but there are just too many attacks happening on a daily basis which trick users into doing precisely this."
He said "shady app developers" would now "find it easier than ever before to gather even more personal information from users".
"You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies," he said.
Facebook's Australian public relations firm was contacted for comment on Sophos's advice. It did not respond in time for publication but referred this website to the blog post announcing the move.
Kamis, 13 Januari 2011
Toy Salesman Raped 96 Kids
Police say an Indonesian toy salesman has admitted to raping at least 96 boys. The 34-year-old man was arrested last week in the capital Jakarta after a complaint was filed by the parents of one of the alleged victims.
Police investigator Reynold Hutagalung says the suspect confessed during interrogations to raping at least 96 boys between the ages of 13 and 17 over the last two years.
Hutagalung says most of his victims were street kids found hanging out at train stations. Hutagalung says the accused, a father of four, could face 15 years behind bars if found guilty.
Police investigator Reynold Hutagalung says the suspect confessed during interrogations to raping at least 96 boys between the ages of 13 and 17 over the last two years.
Hutagalung says most of his victims were street kids found hanging out at train stations. Hutagalung says the accused, a father of four, could face 15 years behind bars if found guilty.
IBM and Samsung Collaborate on Chip Research
IBM technician Asia Dent, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. , tests two multi-chip modules that will each power one of IBMs new zEnterprise System mainframes. Each ceramic module forms the central processing unit of the new computer and packs 96 of the worlds fastest microprocessors (5.2 Ghz) together to give the new mainframe 60 percent faster performance than its predecessor
US computer giant IBM and South Korean electronics titan Samsung on Wednesday announced they will begin working together on ways to make better chips for smartphones and other gadgets.
Samsung researchers will team with scientists at the IBM Semiconductor Research Alliance in New York State to create computer processor “solutions that are optimized for performance, power consumption, and size.”
“Collaborative innovation will be critical if the semiconductor industry is to continue driving new forms of consumer electronics and new methods of computing,” said IBM microelectronics general manager Michael Cadigan.
“That’s why we’re excited to have Samsung scientists working with us at the most fundamental stages of the R&D process.” The companies are striving to develop chips to power a high-performance generation of “smarter, connected and more mobile” devices.
Global Economy Could Return to The Dark Days of 2008 Crisis
The World Bank warned Wednesday the global economy could return to the dark days of the 2008 crisis, with slowing growth and rising commodity prices. After the recession in 2009 and the 2010 rebound, the multilateral institution said, 2011 is expected to be a year of deceleration.
In its latest projections, the bank estimates global growth of 3.3 percent this year, after 3.9 percent in 2010. Emerging and developing countries were expected to expand 6.0 percent, down from a 7.0 percent pace in 2010, the bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.
But that was more than double the 2.4 percent rate expected to be clocked by high-income countries this year, slowing from a 2.8 percent rate in 2010. Still the overall pace of growth is too weak to give the recovery solid traction, the World Bank said.
“Unfortunately these growth rates are unlikely to be fast enough to eliminate unemployment and slack in the hardest-hit economies and economic sectors.” In addition, “serious tensions and pitfalls persist in the global economy, which in the short run could derail the recovery to differing degrees,” it warned.
Threats that could derail the recovery include the eurozone financial market crisis, volatile capital flows and the rising prices of commodities, including food and fuel, the 187-nation institution said.
The World Bank expressed particular concern about rising commodity prices, including food and fuel, driven by loose monetary policies in the developed countries and solid demand in the emerging economies.
“Although real food prices in most developing countries have not increased as much as those measured in US dollars, they have risen sharply in some poor countries,” the World Bank said.
“And if international prices continue to rise, affordability issues and poverty impacts could intensify.” “We are very concerned about the rise in the food prices... We see some similarities with the situation in 2008, just before the financial crisis” Hans Timmer, the bank’s director of development prospects, said at a news conference.
In 2008, oil prices surged above $147 a barrel in July, then fell to nearly $30 six months later. Currently around $92 in New York, oil prices are above the bank’s estimate of $85 a barrel on average in 2011, compared with $79 in 2010.
Commodity prices excluding oil were expected to dip 0.1 percent in dollar terms. The 2008 scenario of soaring food and oil prices amid slowing growth, which had revived the word “stagflation,” would likely be avoided, the World Bank said, as long as supply follows the rhythm of demand.
“The situation is also slightly different from 2008, because first of all in the grain markets, the stocks are much larger than the tight situation then, and also, it (the market) is much more localized, much more diverse” than for the industrial commodities, Timmer said.
In 2008, a powerful surge in commodity prices was abruptly snuffed out by the bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September. Asked how conditions would be different this time, the economist said he hoped that supplies would respond to demand.
“You have there still large stockpiles, which were not available in the crisis of 2008, but clearly we are in an upward trend,” he said.
“And the consequences for people and individual countries can be serious."
In its latest projections, the bank estimates global growth of 3.3 percent this year, after 3.9 percent in 2010. Emerging and developing countries were expected to expand 6.0 percent, down from a 7.0 percent pace in 2010, the bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.
But that was more than double the 2.4 percent rate expected to be clocked by high-income countries this year, slowing from a 2.8 percent rate in 2010. Still the overall pace of growth is too weak to give the recovery solid traction, the World Bank said.
“Unfortunately these growth rates are unlikely to be fast enough to eliminate unemployment and slack in the hardest-hit economies and economic sectors.” In addition, “serious tensions and pitfalls persist in the global economy, which in the short run could derail the recovery to differing degrees,” it warned.
Threats that could derail the recovery include the eurozone financial market crisis, volatile capital flows and the rising prices of commodities, including food and fuel, the 187-nation institution said.
The World Bank expressed particular concern about rising commodity prices, including food and fuel, driven by loose monetary policies in the developed countries and solid demand in the emerging economies.
“Although real food prices in most developing countries have not increased as much as those measured in US dollars, they have risen sharply in some poor countries,” the World Bank said.
“And if international prices continue to rise, affordability issues and poverty impacts could intensify.” “We are very concerned about the rise in the food prices... We see some similarities with the situation in 2008, just before the financial crisis” Hans Timmer, the bank’s director of development prospects, said at a news conference.
In 2008, oil prices surged above $147 a barrel in July, then fell to nearly $30 six months later. Currently around $92 in New York, oil prices are above the bank’s estimate of $85 a barrel on average in 2011, compared with $79 in 2010.
Commodity prices excluding oil were expected to dip 0.1 percent in dollar terms. The 2008 scenario of soaring food and oil prices amid slowing growth, which had revived the word “stagflation,” would likely be avoided, the World Bank said, as long as supply follows the rhythm of demand.
“The situation is also slightly different from 2008, because first of all in the grain markets, the stocks are much larger than the tight situation then, and also, it (the market) is much more localized, much more diverse” than for the industrial commodities, Timmer said.
In 2008, a powerful surge in commodity prices was abruptly snuffed out by the bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September. Asked how conditions would be different this time, the economist said he hoped that supplies would respond to demand.
“You have there still large stockpiles, which were not available in the crisis of 2008, but clearly we are in an upward trend,” he said.
“And the consequences for people and individual countries can be serious."
A Minute away from Your Desk 'Can Reduce Risk of Heart Attack'
Getting up from your desk to go and speak to your colleagues – instead of emailing them – reduces the risk of heart attacks, research shows.
Those who take short breaks away from their seats – lasting as little as a minute – at regular intervals throughout the day are less likely to be overweight and have high blood pressure. They also substantially reduce the risk of potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases.
Researchers found that people who are on their feet for short periods which add up to more than two hours a day tend to have smaller waists and lower blood pressure. They studied the habits of 4,757 adults over the course of a week.
Each participant wore an accelerometer, a small device fitted to the hip to measure how much time they spend walking and running. Their waist size, blood pressure and the level of C-reactive protein in their blood, which is often high in people at risk of heart disease, were also measured.
The researchers, from the University of Queensland in Australia, whose study is published in the European Heart Journal, found that those who took the most breaks had waists up to 4cm smaller than those who were more sedentary.
Those who take short breaks away from their seats – lasting as little as a minute – at regular intervals throughout the day are less likely to be overweight and have high blood pressure. They also substantially reduce the risk of potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases.
Researchers found that people who are on their feet for short periods which add up to more than two hours a day tend to have smaller waists and lower blood pressure. They studied the habits of 4,757 adults over the course of a week.
Each participant wore an accelerometer, a small device fitted to the hip to measure how much time they spend walking and running. Their waist size, blood pressure and the level of C-reactive protein in their blood, which is often high in people at risk of heart disease, were also measured.
The researchers, from the University of Queensland in Australia, whose study is published in the European Heart Journal, found that those who took the most breaks had waists up to 4cm smaller than those who were more sedentary.
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