New Singapore ambassadors to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland

SINGAPORE: The government has appointed Mr Wong Kwok Pun as Singapore's first resident Ambassador to the State of Qatar, Mr Lawrence Anderson as Singapore's next Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Mr Tee Tua Ba as Singapore's Ambassador to Switzerland (resident in Singapore).

Mr Wong and Mr Anderson will assume their post on 17 March 2013 and 30 March 2013 respectively.

Mr Wong joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1975. His most recent appointment was as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (August 2009 to February 2013), with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bahrain (January 2010 to February 2013).

Mr Anderson joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1984. His most recent appointment was as Director/Special Duties in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and concurrently as Diplomat-in-Residence at the Civil Service College (February 2011 to February 2013).

Mr Tee was Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from April 2008 to December 2012.

- CNA/de

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House panel against considering mercy plea of rape-murder convicts

NEW DELHI: Two months after questioning the rationale behind commuting death sentences of five rape-murder convicts to life imprisonment during then President Pratibha Patil's tenure, a Parliamentary committee has now suggested that the mercy petitions should not be by and large considered for such criminals.

Though the Committee is not in favour of completely knocking out the provision of mercy plea for convicts like those on death row, it wants the government to spell out reasons for grant of pardon.

The Parliament Standing Committee on home affairs - which finalized its report on the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 on Tuesday - also recommended the government to expeditiously dispose off any mercy petition.

Besides, the panel has favoured death sentence for rapists in case the victim dies or is left comatose. It has also agreed to replace the word 'rape' with 'sexual assault' - in sync with the Ordinance on criminal law that was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 3 - and suggested including all clauses on capital punishment in the new Bill.

Sources in the home ministry said that the government will withdraw the pending Bill and introduce new Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, in Parliament next month. The new Bill, replacing the Ordinance, will incorporate these provisions.

Though the matter concerning mercy pleas was not part of the panel's mandate, it is learnt to have suggested in the wake of strong objections raised by a few members over commutation of death sentence of five rapist-murderers to life imprisonment by President Patil between 2010 and 2012.

Members of the Committee - headed by BJP Rajya Sabha member M Venkaiah Naidu - had on December 27, 2012, referred to four cases involving five rapist-murderers while questioning the government's decision.

The cases include that of Uttar Pradesh's Bantu, who was convicted for raping and killing a five-year-old girl. His mercy petition was disposed off in his favour by President Patil last June. Among others whose death sentences were commuted include Moloi Ram and Santosh Yadav of Madhya Pradesh in February 2011, Satish of UP (May, 2012) and Dharmender Singh (June, 2010).

The last such criminal was hanged in the country was West Bengal's Dhananjoy Chatterjee in August, 2004. He was found guilty of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl in 1990.

Under Article 72 of the Constitution, the President's clemency powers can only be exercised under the government's advice. "The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence," the Article says.

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A History of Balloon Crashes

A hot-air balloon exploded in Egypt yesterday as it carried 19 people over ancient ruins near Luxor. The cause is believed to be a torn gas hose. In Egypt as in many other countries, balloon rides are a popular way to sightsee. (Read about unmanned flight in National Geographic magazine.)

The sport of hot-air ballooning dates to 1783, when a French balloon took to the skies with a sheep, a rooster, and a duck. Apparently, they landed safely. But throughout the history of the sport, there have been tragedies like the one in Egypt. (See pictures of personal-flight technology.)

1785: Pioneering balloonist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and pilot Pierre Romain died when their balloon caught fire, possibly from a stray spark, and crashed during an attempt to cross the English Channel. They were the first to die in a balloon crash.

1923: Five balloonists participating in the Gordon Bennett Cup, a multi-day race that dates to 1906, were killed when lightning struck their balloons.

1924: Meteorologist C. LeRoy Meisinger and U.S. Army balloonist James T. Neely died after a lightning strike. They had set off from Scott Field in Illinois during a storm to study air pressure. Popular Mechanics dubbed them "martyrs of science."

1995: Tragedy strikes the Gordon Bennett Cup again. Belarusian forces shot down one of three balloons that drifted into their airspace from Poland. The two Americans on board died. The other balloonists were detained and fined for entering Belarus without a visa. (Read about modern explorers who take to the skies.)

1989: Two hot air balloons collided during a sightseeing trip near Alice Springs, Australia. One balloon crashed to the ground killing all 13 people on board. The pilot of the other balloon was sentenced to a two-year prison term for "committing a dangerous act." Until today, this was considered the most deadly balloon accident.

2012: A balloon hit a power line and caught fire in New Zealand, killing all 11 on board. Investigators later determined that the pilot was not licensed to fly and had not taken  proper safety measures during the crash, like triggering the balloon's parachute and deflation system.

2012: A sightseeing balloon carrying 32 people crashed and caught fire during a thunderstorm in the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia. Six died; many other passengers were injured.

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Bring on the Cuts: Some Want the Sequester

Mark Lucas wouldn't mind seeing America's defense budget cut by billions.

"There's quite a bit of waste within the military," Lucas, who serves as Iowa state director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity (AFP), told ABC News. "Being in there for 10 years, I've seen quite a bit of it."

With the budget sequester set to kick in on Friday, the former Army ranger is among a small chorus of conservatives saying bring on the cuts.

Read more: Bernanke on Sequester Cuts: Too Much, Too Soon

Lucas cited duplicative equipment purchases, military-run golf courses and lavish food on larger bases -- unlike the chow he endured at a combat operations post in Afghanistan with about 120 other soldiers.

"These guys would have very good food, and I'm talking almost like a buffet style, shrimp and steak once a week, ice cream, all this stuff," Lucas said. "They had Burger Kings and Pizza Huts and McDonald's. And I said to myself, 'Do we really need this?'"

Lucas and AFP would like to see the sequester modified, with federal agencies granted more authority to target the cuts and avoid the more dire consequences. But the group wants the cuts to happen.

"We're very supportive of the sequestration cuts but would prefer to see more targeted cuts at the same level," said the group's spokesman, Levi Russell.

As President Obama and his Cabinet members are sounding the sequester alarm bells, AFP's willingness shows that not everyone is running for the hills.

Charles Dharapak/Pool/AP Photo

Speaker Boehner Hopes Senate 'Gets Off Their Ass' Watch Video

Sequester Showdown: Automatic Spending Cuts Loom Watch Video

President Obama Details Consequences of Sequester Cuts Watch Video

Read more: 57 Terrible Consequences of the Sequester

Obama traveled to Norfolk, Va., on Tuesday to speak at a shipyard about cuts and layoffs to defense contractors. In his most recent weekly radio address, he told Americans that the Navy has already kept an aircraft carrier home instead of deploying it to the Persian Gulf. And last week, he spoke before national TV cameras at the White House, warning that first responders would be laid off.

Homeland Security Secretary Jane Napolitano has warned that the sequester will "leave critical infrastructure vulnerable to attacks." Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has warned that air travel will back up after the Federal Aviation Administration furloughs air traffic controllers. And the heads of 18 other federal agencies told Congress that terrible things will happen unless the sequester is pushed off.

Some Republicans have accused the president of scaremongering to gin up popular support for tax hikes. Obama has warned of calamity and demanded compromise in the next breath, and a few Republicans have rejected this as a false choice.

Read more: Boehner Hopes Senate 'Gets Off Their Ass'

"I don't think the president's focused on trying to find a solution to the sequester," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. "For 16 months, the president's been traveling all over the country holding rallies, instead of sitting down with Senate leaders in order to try to forge an agreement over there in order to move the bill."

After Obama spoke to governors at the this week, Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told ABC News' Jonathan Karl outside the White House that the president is exaggerating the sequester's consequences.

"He's trying to scare the American people," Jindal said. "He's trying to distort the impact."

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JPMorgan to slash 19,000 jobs by end-2014

NEW YORK: US banking giant JPMorgan Chase plans to axe up to 19,000 jobs by the end of 2014 as it seeks to rein in costs, the company said Tuesday in an investor presentation.

JPMorgan Chase intends the majority of the cuts -- between 13,000 to 15,000 -- in the mortgage banking division, where the company spent $9.1 billion in 2012.

Another 3,000 to 4,000 jobs will be eliminated in the non-mortgage areas of its consumer and community banking division.

JPMorgan Chase estimated its full-year expenses will drop by $3 billion in 2014 from the 2012 level as the company seeks corporate and investment bank cost synergies, according to the presentation.

JPMorgan shares were down 0.5 percent in morning trade amid an overall rising market.

The Wall Street bank reported earnings of $21.3 billion in 2012, up from $19 billion a year earlier, but revenue that slightly missed market expectations.

The jump in profits came despite an embarrassing $6.2 billion trading loss stemming from a London trader nicknamed the London "whale."

The trading losses led to several resignations and reassignments and resulted in a lower 2012 take-home pay for JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon.

-AFP/ac

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Jaish-e-Mohammad 'threat' to blow up Doon, Haridwar stations

DEHRADUN: Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad today allegedly threatened to blow up major railway stations and places of religious and tourist interest in Uttarakhand in retaliation to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afjal Guru, a senior police official said.

The letter written purportedly by the Karachi based area commander of terror outrfit Jaish-e-Mohammad contains a threat to blow up Dehradun, Haridwar and Kath Godam rail junctions near Nainital and prominent places of religious and tourist interest like Har Ki Pauri in the holy city, Haridwar SSP Arun Mohan Joshi told PTI.

"Though the authenticity of the threat and the origin of the letter is being examined, we are not taking any chances and have alerted the highest authorities in places mentioned in the letter", he said.

Security around the places mentioned in the letter has been beefed up.

The letter addressed to former Superintendent of Haridwar Railway station Amrinder Singh was received today, he said adding similar letters have been issued to retired railway officials in the past as well.

The difference between the latest threat letter and those received in the past is that this one has purportedly been written by Jaish-e-Mohommad whereas the earlier ones bore the name of Lashkar-e-Toiba, the SSP said.

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Sharks Warn Off Predators By Wielding Light Sabers

Diminutive deep-sea sharks illuminate spines on their backs like light sabers to warn potential predators that they could get a sharp mouthful, a new study suggests.

Paradoxically, the sharks seem to produce light both to hide and to be conspicuous—a first in the world of glowing sharks. (See photos of other sea creatures that glow.)

"Three years ago we showed that velvet belly lanternsharks [(Etmopterus spinax)] are using counter-illumination," said lead study author Julien Claes, a biologist from Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain, by email.

In counter-illumination, the lanternsharks, like many deep-sea animals, light up their undersides in order to disguise their silhouette when seen from below. Brighter bellies blend in with the light filtering down from the surface. (Related: "Glowing Pygmy Shark Lights Up to Fade Away.")

Fishing the 2-foot-long (60-centimeter-long) lanternsharks up from Norwegian fjords and placing them in darkened aquarium tanks, the researchers noticed that not only do the sharks' bellies glow, but they also had glowing regions on their backs.

The sharks have two rows of light-emitting cells, called photophores, on either side of a fearsome spine on the front edges of their two dorsal fins.

Study co-author Jérôme Mallefet explained how handling the sharks and encountering their aggressive behavior hinted at the role these radiant spines play.

"Sometimes they flip around and try to hit you with their spines," said Mallefet, also from Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain. "So we thought maybe they are showing their weapon in the dark depths."

To investigate this idea, the authors analyzed the structure of the lanternshark spines and found that they were more translucent than other shark spines.

This allowed the spines to transmit around 10 percent of the light from the glowing photophores, the study said.

For Predators' Eyes Only

Based on the eyesight of various deep-sea animals, the researchers estimated that the sharks' glowing spines were visible from several meters away to predators that include harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and blackmouth catsharks (Galeus melastomus).

"The spine-associated bioluminescence has all the characteristics to play the right role as a warning sign," said Mallefet.

"It's a magnificent way to say 'hello, here I am, but beware I have spines,'" he added.

But these luminous warning signals wouldn't impede the sharks' pursuit of their favorite prey, Mueller's bristle-mouth fish (Maurolicus muelleri), the study suggested. These fish have poorer vision than the sharks' predators and may only spot the sharks' dorsal illuminations at much closer range.

For now, it remains a mystery how the sharks create and control the lights on their backs. The glowing dorsal fins could respond to the same hormones that control the belly lights, suggested Mallefet, but other factors may also be involved.

"MacGyver" of Bioluminescence

Several other species use bioluminescence as a warning signal, including marine snails (Hinea brasiliana), glowworms (Lampyris noctiluca) and millipedes (Motyxia spp.).

Edith Widder, a marinebiologist from the Ocean Research and Conservation Association who was not involved in the current study, previously discovered a jellyfish whose bioluminescence rubs off on attackers that get too close.

"It's like paint packages in money bags at banks," she explained.

"Any animal that was foolish enough to go after it," she added "gets smeared all over with glowing particles that make it easy prey for its predators."

Widder also points out that glowing deep-sea animals often put their abilities to diverse uses. (Watch: "Why Deep-Sea Creatures Glow.")

"There are many examples of animals using bioluminescence for a whole range of different functions," she said.

Mallefet agrees, joking that these sharks are the "MacGyver of bioluminescence."

"Just give light to this shark species and it will use it in any possible way."

And while Widder doesn't discount the warning signal theory, "another possibility would be that it could be to attract a mate."

Lead author Julien Claes added by email, "I also discovered during my PhD thesis that velvet belly lanternsharks have glowing organs on their sexual parts."

And that, he admits, "makes it very easy, even for a human, to distinguish male and female of this species in the dark!"

The glowing shark study appeared online in the February 21 edition of Scientific Reports.

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'93 WTC Bombing Crushed Lives, Not Memories

Edward Smith remembers vividly the call from the morgue 20 years ago today, that his pregnant wife had died in the World Trade Center bombing hours before she was supposed to start her maternity leave.

"It seems like kind of yesterday sometimes," he told ABC News, "but it seems like a long time ago, too."

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 1993 WTC bombing, which was overshadowed eight years later by the 9/11 attacks. Six people died and about 1,000 were injured after terrorists detonated a truck bomb in the parking garage of the World Trade Center's North Tower Feb. 26, 1993.

Four of the six killed -- Robert Kirkpatrick, 61, Stephen A. Knapp, 47, William Macko, 57, and Monica Rodriguez Smith, 35 -- were employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owned the buildings. John DiGiovanni, 45, a dental-supply salesman visiting the World Trade Center, and Wilfredo Mercado, 37, a purchasing agent for Windows on the World restaurant, also died.

To commemorate the event, ABC News spoke with several people affected by the bombing -- a widower, a former Port Authority executive director, a plaintiff's attorney and a jury foreman -- to illustrate how the bombing resonates 20 years later.

EDWARD SMITH: Husband of pregnant Monica Rodriguez Smith, who died in the bombing.

Edward and Monica Rodriguez Smith on their wedding day, Aug. 31, 1990.

September 11: World Trade Center Time Lapse Watch Video

Edward Smith, 50, remembers where he was Feb. 26, 1993, when he heard the news.

"I was up in Boston, and I had heard there was a fire at the [World] Trade Center," Smith told ABCNews.com last week. "I turned the TV on, and eventually heard there was an actual bombing, and drove down as quickly as I could."

Smith said he couldn't reach his wife, Monica Rodriguez Smith, a secretary for a mechanical supervisor for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who worked in the World Trade Center, for "hours and hours."

He said he didn't hear from her or anything about her until he contacted the New York City morgue at 11:30 p.m. that evening.

"Obviously, I was informed that I should come there," Smith said.

He and his wife had been married for a little more than three years, he said, and Feb. 26 was to be Monica's last day of work before she went on maternity leave. They were expecting their first child, a boy, to be named Eddie.

"She had worked at the Port Authority for at least 12 years," Smith said. "And she had just gotten an award for never having a sick day. That was a little thing you remember."

Smith said the World Trade Center was where he met his wife the first time.

"I was a sales guy, selling to the Port Authority, and she was the admin [secretary] for one of the guys," he said. "For the first two years, she wouldn't go out with me.

"She said, 'Do you know how many knuckleheads come in here and ask me out? What makes you different?'" Smith recalled Monica's saying.

It took her two years to go out on a date with him, Smith said.

The couple tied the knot Aug. 31, 1990. Smith said he even bought the house in which he grew up on Long Island to raise their family.

But after the events of Feb. 26, 1993, Smith said, it was hard to stay in New York. Shortly after the bombing, he moved to Arizona and later to California.

"There were too many reminders, it was too much," he said.

Smith now resides in Phoenix, but makes a trip to New York every year for the memorial in February.
This year is no exception.

"It's kind of an interesting feeling," he said of the 20-year anniversary. "It seems like kind of yesterday sometimes, but it seems like a long time ago, too."

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FCC chair Genachowski looks to stay put

(Marvin Joseph - The Washington Post)
Speculation has long been swirling around who might replace Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. But hold the phone — all that sturm and drang may be for naught.

It looks like he’s staying put for a bit.

Yes, technically, Genachowski’s term expires June 30. But by law, he can remain until Congress leaves town at the end of 2014. Other signs that he’s sticking around include a planned appearance at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in April, and his continued interest in the FCC’s plan to buy back television licenses and auction the spectrum to wireless providers, something we’re told Genachowski feels ownership of.

The White House is plenty busy filling all the actual vacancies that have cropped up in President Obama’s second term (starting with seven Cabinet or Cabinet-rank jobs), so finding a replacement for Genachowski apparently isn’t high on the to-do list.

For his part, Genachowski has deflected questions about when he might step down.

But for fun — and the parlor game always is, isn’t it? — here’s some of the names most often heard as potential successors: Larry Strickling, a longtime Obama supporter who now heads the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; former FCC adviser Blair Levine; Karen Kornbluh, ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and current FCC Commissioners
Mignon Clyburn
and Jessica Rosenworcel.

But they probably shouldn’t wait by the phone.

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UN rights chief, nations condemn Security Council on Syria

GENEVA: The UN human rights chief and several nations criticised the Security Council Monday for failing to take action to halt spiralling violence in Syria and bring to justice perpetrators of abuses in the conflict.

"The Security Council has so far failed with regard to Syria," Navi Pillay told ministers at the start of a regular UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

Pillay said her office had pushed for the Security Council to refer the conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after "repeated reports of widespread or systematic crimes and violations."

The ICC can only investigate war crimes if asked to do so by the Security Council but the body is deadlocked in its handling of the conflict by disagreements between its Western members and staunch Syrian ally Russia, plus China.

"For close to two years, the international community has failed to put a stop to the carnage," said UN General Assembly president Vuk Jeremic.

The UN estimates that more than 70,000 people have died in the two years since the Syrian government began a crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

In its latest report published this month, a UN commission of inquiry found that war crimes by both government forces and rebels were spiralling with the conflict becoming increasingly radicalised and sectarian.

It also called for the Security Council to refer the conflict to the ICC.

"For how long we, the international community, will allow this humanitarian tragedy to continue?" Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu asked the council.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime "has lost its legitimacy," he said.

Davutoglu stressed that the Security Council had the responsibility to help ensure that humanitarian assistance reached all of the estimated more than four million Syrians in desperate need.

"It is incomprehensible to hinder humanitarian access," he said, calling for a Security Council resolution "to ensure humanitarian access and introduce measures to those who prevent such access."

Frans Timmermanns, the foreign minister of The Netherlands, also insisted the ICC address the Syrian crisis.

"The bloodshed must stop," he said.

Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said the world was witnessing a "human catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe".

Switzerland last month filed a petition signed by 57 countries calling for the ICC to open a case on war crimes in Syria.

Voicing support for a political solution to the conflict, Burkhalter said Switzerland was open to hosting another international meeting following one last June at which world powers agreed on a political transition plan.

-AFP/ac

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