Myanmar courts wary investors on port project

YANGON: Myanmar is seeking to drum up investment in a stalled multi-billion-dollar sea port project at the heart of the former junta-ruled country's efforts to revive its impoverished economy.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and a host of Thai business leaders flew to Dawei on Myanmar's southern Andaman coast for talks with President Thein Sein and other officials about the joint development.

In July the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to create a special economic zone for Dawei, with Bangkok agreeing to provide assistance in areas including security, infrastructure and logistics.

The huge project -- led by Thai industrial giant Ital-Thai -- would bring foreign investment for Myanmar as it emerges from decades of military rule, and provide Thailand with a gateway to the Indian Ocean and Western markets.

But it has faced funding difficulties and resistance from local villagers.

"Thai investors are afraid and hesitating about Myanmar's political policies and the funding," Ital-Thai marketing manager Pravee Komolkanchana told AFP in Bangkok ahead of the visit.

"Thai banks are less likely to lend money if it is to invest in other countries, especially in Myanmar."

He said a number of Japanese investors were also due to join the trip, which the company hopes will put the project back on track.

Potential Myanmar investors are also wary, according to a businessman in Yangon who did not want to be named.

"We dare not invest there because of the costs," he said. "We would have to pay Thai salary rates."

"The project won't benefit Myanmar much but mainly Thailand," he added.

Work has yet to progress far beyond the construction of new homes for the thousands of villagers due to be resettled.

Next year the developers hope to begin work on infrastructure and factories in a planned industrial zone.

Opponents to the plan were emboldened by Thein Sein's decision last year to suspend construction of a $3.6 billion Chinese-backed hydropower project in the northern state of Kachin in a rare response to public outcry.

But local resistance to Dawei appears to have eased, although some villagers are still reluctant to move despite the offer of new homes.

"We understand that we cannot stop the whole project," said a local environmental activist who did not want to be named, adding that campaigners had instead vowed to oppose any coal-fired plant or chemical factory.

- AFP/ck

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Suspected security hole found in many Samsung devices

Samsung's Galaxy Note 2.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

A suspected security hole affecting a handful of Samsung smartphones could give apps access to user data and leave the handset vulnerable to malicious apps and bricking, according to a developer.

The vulnerability, which was discovered and detailed by an XDA member with the handle "alephzain," lies in Exynos 4, the ARM-based system-on-chip typically found in Samsung smartphones and
tablets. Alephzain developed an exploit he said bypasses the system permissions, allowing any app to extract data from the device's RAM or inject malicious code into the kernel.

Alephzain said that he stumbled upon the vulnerability while trying to find a new way to root his Galaxy S3, but that the exploit affects the Galaxy S2,
Galaxy Note, and Meizu MX as well. However, the
Nexus 10 is unaffected as it uses the Exynos 5 chip.

"The good news is we can easily obtain root on these devices and the bad is there is no control over it," alephzain writes.

CNET has contacted Samsung for comment for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

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Two Topeka, Kan., police officers killed in shootout

Updated 2:05 a.m. EST

TOPEKA, Kan. Two Topeka Kansas police officers were fatally shot outside a grocery store Sunday while responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle, authorities said.

Topeka Police Chief Ronald Miller called the shootings of Cpl. David Gogian and Officer Jeff Atherly "unspeakable." He said both Gogian, 50, and Atherly, 29, were shot in the head by a gunman who opened fire on them within minutes of their arrival to investigate the vehicle.

"It's clearly beyond words. It's unspeakable almost about why this happens and why this is happening in America at this stage in our history," Miller said.

Police were searching for a 22-year-old man believed to have been the one who fired on the officers from the vehicle. He remained at large Sunday night. Miller didn't know the motive for the shooting but said the suspect has a criminal history, though he wouldn't elaborate.

A third officer who went to the scene to check on the vehicle was not injured in the shooting.

Gogian and Atherly were taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

The call about the vehicle came shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, police said. Gogian and Atherly had arrived as backup for another officer when someone in the vehicle they were investigating started shooting.

"I don't believe they had any idea this situation was going to go this direction as quickly as it did," Miller said.

A witness told CBS Topeka affiliate WIBW-TV he heard three gun clips emptied, then heard another series of shots.

The station says a neighbor told the Topeka Capital-Journal he heard several shots fired.

He said there was more than one person in the vehicle, which later was found outside a house about 10 blocks from the grocery store. Officers searched the home but didn't find the shooting suspect.

The chief declined to say why officers were investigating the vehicle and why it was considered suspicious.

A small crowd met for a candlelight vigil Sunday night outside police headquarters after hearing about the shooting. As the group gathered, police officials announced to reporters nearby that the officers had died.

Gogian started with the Topeka Police Department in September 2004. Atherly had been with the department since April 2011.

Miller said Gogian was a retired military serviceman. It wasn't immediately clear what branch of the military. He has a son who's also a Topeka police officer.

"He had spent his life in service to his country and in the city of Topeka," the chief said.

Meanwhile, Atherly was "just getting started" in his career, he said.

The last time a Topeka officer was killed in the line of duty was 2000, and it's been longer than that, since 1995, that one was fatally shot on the job.

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Obama: Nation Faces 'Hard Questions' After Shooting

President Barack Obama said at an interfaith prayer service in this mourning community this evening that the country is "left with some hard questions" if it is to curb a rising trend in gun violence, such as the shooting spree Friday at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School.

After consoling victims' families in classrooms at Newtown High School, the president said he would do everything in his power to "engage" a dialogue with Americans, including law enforcement and mental health professionals, because "we can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them we must change."

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama: 'Newtown You Are Not Alone' Watch Video

Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting: Remembering the Victims Watch Video

The president was not specific about what he thought would be necessary and did not even use the word "gun" in his remarks, but his speech was widely perceived as prelude to a call for more regulations and restrictions on the availability of firearms.

The grieving small town hosted the memorial service this evening as the the nation pieces together the circumstances that led to a gunman taking 26 lives Friday at the community's Sandy Hook Elementary School, most first graders.

"Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside your body all of the time, walking around," he said, speaking of the joys and fears of raising children.

"So it comes as a shock at a certain point when you realize no matter how much you love these kids you can't do it by yourself," he continued. "That this job of protecting kids and teaching them well is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, with the help of a community, and the help of a nation."

CLICK HERE for Full Coverage of the Tragedy at Sandy Hook

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U.N. chief alarmed by escalating violence in Syria

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Sunday at the worsening violence in Syria, including the reported mass killing of Alawites and alleged firing of long-range missiles on Syrian territory, Ban's spokesman said.

"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the continued dramatic escalation of violence in Syria over the past several days, and the grave danger facing civilians in areas under fire," Ban's spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said in a statement.

"There have been extremely worrisome reports earlier this week of a mass killing of civilians in the village of Aqrab near Hama, as well as alleged firing of long-range missiles in some areas of the country," he said.

In the Aqrab incident, up to 200 members of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority were injured or killed in an attack on their village in central Syria on Tuesday, opposition activists said. The death toll was still not known.

There have also been reports of the Syrian government using Scud missiles. NATO's U.S. commander said on Friday the alliance was deploying the Patriot anti-missile system along Syria's northern frontier because Assad's forces had fired Scud missiles that landed near Turkish territory.

Nesirky said that "continued bombing raids by fixed-wing military aircrafts and attack helicopters on populated areas have been amply documented."

"Today's reports of aerial bombing amid intense violence resulting in many casualties among the Palestinian refugee population in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus are a matter of grave concern," he said.

Activists said fighter jets had bombed the Yarmouk camp, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque.

Nesirky said Ban "calls on all sides to cease all forms of violence. The Secretary-General reminds all parties in Syria that they must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians."

"Targeting civilians or carrying out military operations in populated areas, in an indiscriminate or disproportionate fashion that harms civilians is a war crime," he added.

Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa told a Lebanese newspaper that neither forces of President Bashar al-Assad nor rebels can win the war in Syria. That is a view a number of U.N. officials and diplomats have voiced privately to Reuters.

The U.N. Security Council has been incapable of taking any meaningful action in the conflict. Veto powers Russia and China refuse to condemn Assad or support sanctions. Assad's government accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United States and other Western governments of supporting and arming the rebels, an allegation the governments deny.

Meanwhile, U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has failed to bridge the gaps between the Russian and U.S. positions on Syria, which U.N. diplomats say is at the heart of the longstanding deadlock on the Security Council.

Nesirky said Ban "reiterates his call on the international community to make every effort to stop the tragic spiral of violence in Syria and urgently to promote an inclusive political process leading to a peaceful political transition."

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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N Korea marks first anniversary of late ruler's death

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un led thousands of officials on Sunday in a memorial ceremony for his late father and ex-ruler Kim Jong-Il, days after a successful long-range rocket launch.

The ceremony followed a mass rally two days earlier hailing the launch of the three-stage rocket, a move which was condemned by the UN Security Council and seen by many countries as a disguised ballistic missile test.

Kim Jong-Il, who ruled the communist state for 17 years, died of a heart attack on December 17 last year.

His youngest son Jong-Un immediately took over, the second dynastic succession by the Kim dynasty which has ruled the isolated country for more than six decades with an iron fist and a pervasive personality cult.

Officials in black suits and uniformed military leaders convened in a cavernous stadium in the capital Pyongyang Sunday morning for the hour-long memorial event, which was televised live on state TV.

Jong-Un, stone-faced and clad in a black suit, sat on stage with dozens of other top officials against the backdrop of a giant red flag featuring a large portrait of a smiling Kim Jong-Il.

"The heart of the great leader stopped beating but Comrade Kim Jong-Il lives with us forever... to give blessings for the bright future of our people," the ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam said in a speech.

"The successful launch of our Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite is also another victory achieved by our military and people, by faithfully following the teachings of the great leader (Kim Jong-Il)," he said.

It was unclear what memorial events were scheduled on Monday, the anniversary day.

The North said the apparently successful launch -- its second after a much-heralded but botched mission in April -- was a scientific project to put a weather satellite into orbit.

But the United States and other nations viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test banned under UN resolutions triggered by its past nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

The Security Council Wednesday condemned the launch and said members "will continue consultations on an appropriate response".

The impoverished but nuclear-armed nation apparently timed the launch to mark the death anniversary and to drum up more support for the young and inexperienced Jong-Un.

Choe Ryong-Hae, the head of the political bureau at the North's military, vowed to "hit back immediately" if rival South Korea or the United States provokes the nation, and reaffirmed loyalty to the young leader.

"Our whole army stands ready for battle under the teachings of Kim Jong-Un while the US and South's enemy forces are going amok to destroy our system," he said in a speech.

"It is our firm determination to hit back immediately at provocations...and we solemnly pledge again to faithfully serve our dear supreme commander (Jong-Un)," Choe said to big applause from the crowd.

Mass rallies are being staged nationwide to celebrate the rocket launch, the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Sunday.

Officials, students, workers and soldiers in three northern provinces rallied Saturday to give speeches and sing songs in memory of the late ruler and to praise his son for leading the successful launch, it said.

- AFP/xq

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Google will alter search to end FTC antitrust inquiry, says report

The Federal Trade Commission may bring its two-year antitrust investigation of Google to a close by allowing the company to make voluntary changes to its search business, according to a report.

The search giant is said to be readying an announcement about changes to its use of "snippets," bits of text culled from sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor and displayed in search results, Politico reports, citing unnamed sources. Yelp and others had charged Google with using their content without permission.

Google will also makes tweaks that will allow for easier porting of search-ad campaigns from Google to rival search services, Politico's sources said.

Politico suggested on Tuesday that the FTC may leave the search-related case to the European Commission, which has mounted an investigation of its own. Reuters reported on Tuesday that some Google competitors, sensing a possible defeat, are taking the case to the Justice Department.

Google and the FTC also look to be close to a settlement in a case involving so-called frand -- or standard essential -- patents owned by Google.

Politico said the FTC declined to comment on today's report about the search tweaks, and it said Google would provide only the following statement: "We continue to work cooperatively with the Federal Trade Commission and are happy to answer any questions they may have."

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Conn. dad recalls loving, creative 6-year-old

NEWTOWN, Conn. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, the father of a 6-year-old gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman.

Robbie Parker's daughter Emilie was among the 20 children who died in the one of the worst attacks on schoolchildren in U.S. history. He was one of the first parents to speak publicly about their loss.

"She was beautiful. She was blond. She was always smiling," he said.

Parker spoke to reporters not long after police released the names and ages of the victims, a simple document that told a horrifying story of loss.

He expressed no animosity, said he was not mad and offered sympathy for family of the man who killed 26 people and himself.

To the man's family, he said, "I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you."

He said he struggled to explain the death to Emilie's two siblings, 3 and 4.

"They seem to get the fact that they have somebody they're going to miss very much," he said.

Parker said his daughter loved to try new things — except for new food. And she was quick to cheer up those in need.

36 Photos

Vigils for Conn. school shooting victims

"She never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for those she around her," he said.

The world is a better place because Emilie was in it, he said.

"I'm so blessed to be her dad," he said.

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Conn. Victim's Father Remembers 'Loving' Daughter

(Image credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)

Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman’s bullets not claimed her life, her father said.

“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that’s the kind of kid she is,” her father, Robbie Parker said as he fought back tears, telling the world about his “bright, creative and loving” daughter who was one of the 20 young victims in the Newtown, Conn., shooting.

“She always had something kind to say about anybody,” her father said.  ”We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch.”

Emilie, 6, was helping teach her younger sisters to read and make things, and she was the little girls would go to for comfort, he said.

“They looked up to her,” Parker said.

READ: Complete List of Sandy Hook Victims

Parker moved his wife and three daughters to Newtown eight months ago after accepting a job as  a physician’s assistant at Danbury Hospital. He said Emilie, his oldest daughter, seemed to have adjusted well to her new school, and he was very happy with the school, too.

“I love the people at the school. I love Emilie’s teacher and the classmates we were able to get to know,” he said.

      (Image Credit: Alex von Kleydorff/AP Photo)

The family dealt with another tragic loss in October when Emilie lost her grandfather in an accident.

“[This] has been a topic that has been discussed in our family in the past couple of  months,” Parker said. “[My daughters ages 3 and 4] seem to get the idea that there’s somebody who they will miss very much.”

Emilie, a budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere, paid tribute to her grandfather by slipping a special card she had drawn into his casket, Parker said.  It was something she frequently did to lift the spirits of others.

“I can’t count the number of times Emilie would find someone feeling sad or frustrated and would make people a card,” Parker said. “She was an exceptional artist.”

The girl who was remembered as “always willing to try new things, other than food” was learning Portuguese from her father, who speaks the language.

(Image Credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)

On Friday morning, Emilie woke up before her father left for his job and exchanged a few sentences with him in the language.

“She told me good morning and asked how I was doing,” Parker said. “She said she loved me, I gave her a kiss and I was out the door.”

Parker found out about the shooting while on lockdown in Danbury Hospital and found a television for the latest news.

“I didn’t think it was that big of deal at first,” he said. “With the first reports coming in, it didn’t sound like it was going to be as tragic as it was. That’s kind of what it was like for us.”

CLICK HERE for full coverage of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Parker said he knows that God can’t take away free will and would have been unable to stop the Sandy Hook shooting. While gunman Adam Lanza used his free agency to take innocent lives, Parker said he plans to use his in a positive way.

“I’m not mad because I have my  [free] agency to use this event to do whatever I can to make sure my family and my wife and my daughters are taken care [of],” he said. “And if there’s anything I can do to help to anyone at any time at anywhere, I’m free to do that.”

(Image credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)

Friday night, hours after he learned of his daughter’s death, Parker said he spoke at his church.

“I don’t know how to get through something like this. My wife and I don’t understand how to process all of this,” he said today. “We find strength in our religion and in our faith and in our family. ”

“It’s a horrific tragedy and I want everyone to know our hearts and prayers go out to them. This includes the family of the shooter. I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you and I want you to know our family … love and support goes out to you as well.”

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Absent Chavez dominates Venezuelan state elections

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans vote on Sunday in state elections that will define the future of opposition leader Henrique Capriles and test political forces ahead of a possible new presidential vote if Hugo Chavez is incapacitated by cancer.

The vote for 23 state governorships, of which the opposition controls seven, has been overshadowed by the president's battle to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba.

Yet it will have major implications for the unfolding political drama in the South American OPEC nation with the world's largest oil reserves.

Capriles, 40, must retain the governorship of Miranda if he is to remain the opposition's presidential candidate-in-waiting, while both sides will want a good showing to create momentum in case of a new showdown over who replaces Chavez.

"This is the best indication of how well the opposition will fare in an upcoming contest for the presidency between Henrique Capriles and designated Chavez dauphin Vice President Nicolas Maduro," said Russell Dallen of Caracas-based BBO Financial Services.

Whatever the private machinations going on, in public Maduro and other senior officials are focused only on Chavez's recovery after complications from Tuesday's operation in Havana.

It was a fourth surgery for the socialist leader since he was diagnosed with cancer in the pelvic region in mid-2011.

After re-election in October, Chavez, 58, is due to start a new term on January 10, but has named Maduro as his preferred successor should he be incapacitated.

That would trigger a new presidential poll within 30 days.

In its latest update, the government said Chavez had spoken to his family on Friday - possibly for the first time since surgery - and was recovering "satisfactorily" though slowly.

Few medical details have been released, so speculation is rife that Chavez may be in a life-threatening situation in Havana's Cimeq hospital with both a difficult post-operation recovery and a possible spreading of the cancer.

EMOTIONAL BACKDROP

In such a charged atmosphere, campaigning for Sunday's vote has taken a backseat to Catholic masses, prayer meetings and vigils across the nation for Chavez.

Maduro has wept in public, state media are replaying images of Chavez round-the-clock, and various government candidates held closing rallies simply playing the president's voice.

The sympathy factor could benefit Chavez's candidates and offset the disadvantage of losing his charismatic presence on the campaign trail in advance.

"Without wishing to be triumphalist, we have big chances of winning the 23 governorships and that is the biggest support we can give Chavez," said his brother Adan Chavez, who is seeking re-election in their hometown state of Barinas.

Still smarting from defeat in October, the opposition hopes voters will focus on grassroots issues and punish the government for power-cuts, pot-holed roads, corruption scandals, violent crime and runaway inflation.

"I put my life at the service of Miranda and Venezuela," Capriles said in his closing rally. "I'm not here to stay in power but to make a dream (of national change) come true."

Though widely expected to retain his Miranda seat, Capriles faces a well-financed challenge from senior Chavez ally Elias Jaua, a former vice president. If he defeats Capriles, it would leave the opposition in disarray and possibly spark in-fighting over who would be its next presidential candidate.

Two other opposition governors, Pablo Perez and Henri Falcon, are obvious possibilities. But first they too must retain their posts to maintain credibility, and they do not have the national recognition Capriles achieved during his unsuccessful run for the presidency in October.

Despite losing, he won the opposition's largest share - 6.5 million votes, or 45 percent - against Chavez, and impressed Venezuelans with his energetic style, visits to the remotest corners, and attention to their day-to-day issues.

"In the unlikely event that Capriles loses, he would probably have no chance of running for the presidency again," political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said.

The mid-December timing of the vote could count against the opposition, many of whose middle-class supporters often take advantage of school holidays to travel.

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Paul Simao)

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