HINDRAF 2007 NOV (2)

HINDRAF 2007 NOV (1)

Hindus, police clash in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN) -- Thousands of Hindu protesters met water cannons and tear gas in Malaysia's capital on Sunday while demanding equal rights and consideration from the government. CNN confirmed at least 5,000 protesters marched in Kuala Lumpur, but The Associated Press placed the figure as high as 10,000. Some protesters threw rocks at the water cannon trucks, but others were urging peaceful demonstrations.

The AP quoted witnesses who saw people being beaten and dragged into trucks by police. Public transportation into the city was stopped, hindering protesters from coming in. Police stopped protesters as they tried to take a petition to the British High Commission. Talks were under way for authorities to allow six protesters to deliver the petition, should the crowd disperse. The rally -- rooted in complaints that the ethnic Malay Muslim-dominated government discriminates against minorities -- was the largest protest in at least a decade involving ethnic Indians, the country's second-largest minority population after ethnic Chinese.

The ethnic Indians are generally the most underprivileged. Earlier this month, riot police used water hoses and tear gas against thousands of protesters demanding electoral reform, the largest demonstration in Kuala Lumpur in nearly a decade. Street demonstrations are considered rare among the multiple ethnic groups in Malaysia, which prides itself on its communal and political stability. Malaysia has maintained racial peace since 1969, when some 200 people were killed in riots sparked by Malay frustration over the economic clout of Chinese.

The violence spurred the creation of programs that give Malays privileges in government jobs, contracts and education.

All Malaysian please beware of the current situation...................

Seven killed in Dubai bridge collapse

DUBAI (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and about 15 injured on Thursday when a Dubai bridge under construction collapsed near luxury hotels and high-rises in the Gulf tourism hub.

Police said the incident in the new part of the city, where thousands of housing units are being built, appeared to be the result of a construction problem.

"According to initial reports, seven are dead and about 15 are injured," deputy police chief Jamal al-Marri told Reuters by telephone.

A Reuters witness saw three bodies being pulled out and taken away in police vehicles. "They had orange overalls and were covered as they were carried on stretchers," she said.

Nine workers were rushed to a government hospital with bad injuries, a police officer at the site said.

Dubai, one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, with a building boom involving the construction of scores of skyscrapers, including the world's tallest building. The world's largest theme park is also under construction in Dubai.

Policemen and rescue workers at the site said that about 40 construction workers were on top of the overpass when a crane hit a segment of the structure, bringing it down.

Matar Saeed al-Tayer, director general of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, was quoted as saying that the incident apparently happened after workers placed an excessive amount of steel on the bridge, causing it to collapse.

"The amount of steel placed was more than allowed. There are certain safety rules that any contractor should adhere to," the official WAM news agency quoted Tayer as saying.

Dubai police chief, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, said rescue crews were on the scenes within four minutes of the accident with helicopters and ambulances.

The police brought sniffer dogs to search for any victims buried in the rubble.

Most workers in Dubai hail from the Indian subcontinent.

Two workers were killed and about 60 injured in January when a fire broke out in a tower block under construction in Dubai, the trading and tourism hub of the United Arab Emirates.

(Additional reporting by Firouz Sedarat, Fouad Juez and Ola Galal; Editing by Sami Aboudi)

Mafia's '10 commandments' revealed

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Thou shalt be faithful to the Mafia. Italian police said Thursday they have found a list of 10 commandments for mobsters in a house near Palermo, where a top Mafia boss was arrested this week.

Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who had been on the run since 1993, was vying to become the next "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia, according to Italian investigators. He was apprehended Monday by police raiding a house in the countryside outside Palermo, the Sicilian capital.

The list was found among his coded notes about the administration of Cosa Nostra that were delivered by Lo Piccolo's aides.

Police in Palermo said that the list opened with a preamble that said: "I swear to be faithful to Cosa Nostra. Should I betray, my flesh will burn." Under the category "Rights and Duty" were the 10 entries, meant to be a sort of users' manual for the good mobster. The list was typewritten in uppercase letters, police said.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica published a photo of what it said was the list, under the headline: "The Godfather's Ten Commandments."

The list bars mobsters from hanging out in bars, from befriending police and being late for appointments. It also bars them from "taking possession of money that belong to others or other families."

How to treat women also features in the decalogue.

"You shall not look at wives of our friends," says one entry. "You shall respect your wife," says another. However, the Mafia comes first, as the fifth "commandment" orders a mobster to "be available for Cosa Nostra at any moment, even if your wife is about to give birth."

The last part of the list sets out application rules, saying that those who have a very bad behavior and no moral values cannot join.

Investigators believe that the 65-year-old Lo Piccolo could have eventually emerged from a power struggle as the Mafia's new top boss following the capture of Bernardo Provenzano, the reputed No. 1 of the Cosa Nostra crime syndicate. Provenzano was arrested on a farm near Corleone, Sicily, in April 2006, after more than 40 years on the run

Oil discovery rocks Brazil

Story Highlights

• Petrobras president: Oil found would give Brazil the world's eighth largest reserves
  
• Petrobras: Tupi field has equivalent to 40 percent of all oil ever discovered in Brazil
  
• Brazil became a net oil exporter only last year
  
• Presidential chief of staff: Oil find will put Brazil on level of Venezuela, Arab nations

Bhutto's home surrounded

# Story Highlights

• NEW: CNN and BBC taken off air for a second time
• Security forces surround Bhutto's house and cordon off nearby streets
• Crackdown comes hours before massive political rally
• Elections to be held by February 15, Pakistan's president says

Police have not served Bhutto an official house arrest notice, the sources said, but her movements have been limited, according to local media reports.

The action comes hours before her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were to begin a massive rally in Rawalpindi against the state of emergency imposed by the government on Saturday.

President Pervez Musharraf's emergency order outlawed the rally, but Bhutto has been hoping fellow opposition parties will put their differences aside and participate as a challenge to Musharraf's government.

In addition Friday, the government also took CNN and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) off air for a second time as part of a media blackout, CNN's Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad reported.