Another prominent opponent of the blasphemy laws, ruling party member Sherry Rehman, recently dropped her bid to get them changed. Rehman, who has said she had to abide by party leaders' power balancedecisions, faces death threats and has been living with heavy security.Brummitt reported from Lahore. Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Ashraf Khan in Karachi, Victor L. Simpson in Rome, Matthew Pennington in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the "tragic assassination," calling Bhatti "a prominent advocate for minority rights and a promoter of inter-faith understanding." The U.N. chief encourages the Pakistani government "to continue its efforts to combat terrorism, protect the rights of minorities and promote tolerance," his spokesman said.Pakistan's blasphemy laws were originally framed by the Asian subcontinent's British colonial rulers but were toughened in the 1980s during the military rule of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, who pushed a politicized, austere brand of Islam."Bhatti's murder is the bitter fruit of appeasement of extremist and militant groups both prior to and after the killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer," said Human Right Watch. "An urgent and meaningful coach Outlet storepolicy shift on the appeasement of extremists that is supported by the military, the judiciary and the political class needs to replace the political cowardice and institutional myopia that encourages such continued appeasement despite its unrelenting bloody consequences."Human rights groups have long warned that the laws are vaguely worded and open to abuse because people often use them to settle rivalries or persecute religious minorities.Right-wing Islamist parties, looking for an issue to rally their supporters, have campaigned against any change to the laws, accusing those who seek to amend them of blasphemy — and creating an environment that led to the latest killings.President Barack Obama condemned the slaying, saying Bhatti "fought for and sacrificed his life for the universal values that Pakistanis, Americans and people around the world hold dear" — including rights to free shop online 2011speech and religious freedom.In Britain, leaders of the Anglican Church expressed shock and sorrow and urged Pakistan's government to do more to protect Christians.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the attack was "not only on one man but on the values of tolerance and respect of all faiths and backgrounds."
However, the new plan was also greeted with criticism with the Civic Party's Ronny Tong calling it a short-sighted ploy to placate public anger. The Democratic Party's Albert Ho said the financial power balance braceletsecretary's U-turn had failed to address public concern and had also put him in an embarrassing situation and undermined his authority.Financial Secretary John Tsang also announced salary tax reductions of up to 75 per cent for the coming year, capped at 6,000 Hong Kong dollars. Tsang had earlier said he would not consider tax rebates or cash handouts as these might fuel inflation, already predicted to reach 4.5 per cent this year, up from 2.4 per cent in 2010. He came under fierce criticism from lawmakers from all political parties over his budget, which included a 2.36-billion-US-dollar package of one-off relief measures. Critics said the measures, especially the pension scheme injection, did little to help the poor and middle classes and several lawmakers threatened to vote against it when it comes before theshop online 2011Legislative Council for approval in April. Announcing the revised budget Wednesday, Tsang said the handout would not be given directly to people but allocated under a new system that would encourage people to save the money rather than withdraw and spend it. 'We have heard many noises that they [the public] found some of the measures unacceptable,' Tsang said. 'Given what I have heard and the discussions I have had with members of the legislature, we have decided to make this decision.' Hong Kong's finance chief on Wednesday bowed to pressure over his recent unpopular budget by promising a handout of 6,000 Hong Kong dollars (770 US dollars) to each adult resident. The move, which followed protests over the power balancebudget announced a week ago, replaced a proposal to inject the same amount of cash into workers' pension schemes.
At the end of the spacewalk, Kopra was one of the first people to congratulate the two spacewalkers on a successful outing. He especially congratulated rookie spacewalker Drew."Congratulations on a stellar job on your first spacewalk," Kopra who owns shop online 2011 told Drew. "Good job, dude."Drew also became the 200th person in history to work in the vacuum of space, according to NASA officials.Shortly after Bowen and Drew returned inside the space station, Mission Control radioed the station and shuttle crews to say that Discovery's STS-133 mission will be extended an extra day.The extra day will give the crew the opportunity to complete more work on a storage module that will be attached to the station's Unity node tomorrow.The coach Outlet storespaceship mix includes: a European cargo ship called the Automated Transfer Vehicle 2 (ATV), a Japanese cargo vessel known as HTV-2, a Russian cargo ship, two Russian Soyuz crew capsules and the shuttle Discovery."I've decided the HTV and ATV are both big," Bowen joked as he stood at the tip of the station's robotic arm to retrieve the broken cooling pump module.Today's spacewalk was Bowen's sixth and the first for Drew.Bowen, a veteran spacewalker, was a last-minute crew replacement for astronaut Timothy Kopra, who was the STS-133 mission's lead spacewalker. Kopra was injured in a bicycle accident less than six weeks before Discovery's launch, forcing him to sit out on the orbiter's historic final flight.Kopra remained involved in today's spacewalk, however, by providing support from mission control here at the Johnson Space Center."You're a good man for the job," Kopra radioed to Bowen prior to the start of the spacewalk.Inside Discovery, Stott played the song "coach handbags Message in a Bottle" by the Police to commemorate the occasion.Big spaceships, bigger space stationWhile working outside, Bowen and Drew caught some unique views of the space station, which is currently home to an international collection of spacecraft from four different space fleets.
The developments come amidst a continuing popular unrest against the more than four-decade-long autocratic rule of col. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Unconfirmed reports suggest that hundreds of people have been killed in brutal shop online 2011crackdown by security forces on the protesters. The Libyan government is yet to disclose the number of people killed in its brutal crackdown on the protesters, but several international human rights groups say that at least 1,000 people have been killed in the violence.The Libyan government is reported to have enlisted the services of overseas mercenaries for helping its security forces clamp down on the ongoing anti-government protests.Thousands of people fleeing the ongoing violent unrest in Libya streamed across the border into neighboring Tunisia on Sunday, causing chaos and confusion along the border separating the two north African countries.The refugees, mostly Egyptian laborers, said they had fled Libya to escape the brutality unleashed by the Libyan security forces and supporters of Col. Gaddafi on the public as part of their efforts to suppress the ongoing anti-government protests in Libya.International aid agencies and Tunisian authorities are currently struggling to cope with the unprecedented influx of people who have gathered along thepower balanceborder to register themselves as refugees with the Tunisian authorities. Rights activists and aid workers say the sudden surge of refugees has created an urgent need for food, water and tents. Presently, the refugees are being housed in temporary shelters set up by the Tunisian military along the now crowded border. Aid agencies have called for urgent international assistance to deal with the influx of tens and thousands of refugees from Libya, warning that the Tunisian authorities are no longer capable of dealing with the situation.The influx of refugees into Tunisia from Libya began almost two weeks ago, but authorities say the flow increased dramatically over the weekend. UN estimates that more than 100,000 thousand people have flex Libya since the unrest there began.Although most of the refugees amassed at the Tunisian border are Egyptian laborers, they also include nationals of China, Thailand, Morocco, Turkey and several other countries. Though Egypt has already evacuated about 7,000 of its citizens from Libya, Egyptian nationals still struck in Libya say Cairo's evacuation efforts are not progressing as desired.Many other power balance braceletnations like Turkey, Korea, India, Bangladesh, the United States, Britain and Italy have already evacuated hundreds of their citizens trapped in Libya by air and sea. However, thousands more foreign nationals remain stranded in the troubled north African country.
Few awards shows ever learn that lesson or get the mix right. And to be fair, this Oscar telecast lacked spark from start to finish despite an impressive number of fine films and acting performances - and the coach handbag 2011hosts can only be blamed for so much. These Oscars were a bore-fest that seemed to drag on relentlessly but listlessly.Perhaps next time more thought will be put into actually making this a good television event. You can trot out all the big name actors or directors you'd like, but nobody at home paid $11 to watch. The Academy Awards may be about movies, but it's a TV show. Nobody feels any regret walking out or snapping off the set if you don't entertain them. A good host is invaluable.This year, the Oscars hit a new low. Like it fell into a hole.Here we are now, entertain us, indeed. Besides, a lot of people watch awards shows and multitask at the same time -- on the Internet mostly. No doubt "Oscars suck" or "Franco is bombing" were trending topics at some point through the ether.Of course, all the blame can't go to Franco and Hathaway. The telecast was leaden from the start and fell victim to the one thing that kills most awards shows -- a bloated middle. Yes, the awards are for everybody in the industry, not just the stars and the producers and writers. But the fact is, many people outside of the industry just don't care about sound or lighting or editing or make-up. Some attempt should be made, then, to perk up the presentation somehow. Because what invariably happens is that all the big awards people want to see at the end either come on too late or get rushed in some mad dash to end on time.Franco looked like he was too cool to be there half of the time and like the lights were too bright for him the other half, forcing a squint that made his tight-lipped smile look more like disdain. Hathaway tried to help, but the duo didn't have even an ounce of the chemistry that Baldwin and Steve Martin had last year. And besides, Hathaway -- a wonderful actress and all-around talent -- simply isn't the person you'd pick first to carry a show. The duo joked that they were brought in as a lure for the younger demographic, but they must have forgotten that many in that group have the coach purse 2011attention spans of small birds or wiry little dogs.
The fitting, handled by two assistants armed with pins, is whip-fast. In minutes, the black tux jacket is tapered to his frame. Franco next slips on a cream one-button dinner jacket with a satin shawl collar, barely flinching as a female fitter pulls the shoulder tighter. Is he nervous about taking on the biggest stage of his life? "No," he says. "You mean all the power balanceeyeballs around the world? The camera's the camera, whether there's five people watching or a billion."A first step into Franco's small dressing room reveals countertops with coffee, a fruit tray, pomades, sprays and a candy dish. In a span of seconds, Franco brushes his teeth, checks his iPhone, pops a few M&Ms and says hello, ready for the first fitting of four Gucci outfits he'll don for the show. Franco, 32, arrived in Los Angeles at 3:30 a.m. and started rehearsal just five hours later."They've been incredibly supportive," says Franco, who is so enamored by the Italian fashion house, he pitched Gucci creative director Frida Giannini about making a documentary on how she works. "I think what they do over there is so interesting and has got such a great spirit." Giannini says she wanted Franco to look like a classic Hollywood star for the Oscars. "But at the same time modern and sharply tailored," Giannini says by e-mail. "He is natural and effortless in whatever he wears, very much the Gucci man, and I was able to play with color and power balance armbandfabrication as additional options to the traditional tuxedo.""We've done some script readings, but they haven't finalized the script," he says while slipping into the first of four looks, a classic black Gucci Marseille two-button tux. His nerves, for now, are at bay. "For me and Anne, I think it will feel like it went by really fast by the time that we're done. There's a lot to do, and when you do live shows, it goes by really fast."Gucci, which has been dressing Franco for two years, custom-made four tuxedos for the actor (who is also the face of Gucci by Gucci men's fragrance). Each pocket inside the black, cream, charcoal and burgundy jackets is carefully inscribed with Franco's name.Deep inside the Kodak Theatre, Oscar co-host James Franco is on a short break from rehearsal for Sunday's show. Amid the hubbub of pre-show activity, a long rack of suits (and a few dresses) sits outside his shop online 2011dressing room door (opposite co-host Anne Hathaway's, which has a "Please Do Not Disturb" sign taped onto it). As Franco's door swings open, the sound of Tom Petty's Here Comes My Girl spills into the hallway.