just a snooze

Following a mammoth media buildup of several days, the now-infamous beer summit came and went, and race relations in America seem to be the no better for it.

Sgt. Crowley told reporters afterward they spent more time talking about the future than the past. President Obama was more bartender than peacemaker. Not even Vice President Joseph Biden was able to perform his usual foot-in-mouth routine. What a snooze.

I was hoping for something meaningful to come of all this. I was hoping Harvard Prof. Henry Louis (Skip) Gates, Jr. would talk about his Irish roots and their shared ancestry with Irish-American Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley. I was hoping they might agree on one thing: that only in America could an Ivy League, wealthy, world-renowned, globe-trotting black man accuse a lower-income, less-educated blue collar white guy of racial profiling. I was hoping the brainpower at that summit would emerge from the meeting with something earth-shattering and meaningful to tell the world.

Instead, it was just a photo op of four "regular" guys who happened to be at the White House.

Noordin M Top has been caught in Temanggung?

Al Jazeera English - AJE

 Is Noodin M Top caught in the raid done by Densus 88 in Temanggung? 
Police hunt Jakarta bomb suspect
Indonesian media reports security forces hunting Noordin M Top involved in shootout.

Police hunt Jakarta bomb suspect : Noordin M Top got caught in the shootout in Central Java?

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific -

Police hunt Jakarta bomb suspect

Noordin Top, a Malaysian, is wanted in connection with several bomb attacks in Indonesia [AFP]

Indonesian police hunting Noordin Mohammed Top, the man wanted in connection with the recent bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, have been involved in a shootout in Central Java.

Local media reported the incident was ongoing on Friday, with local sources telling Al Jazeera that Noordin was likely in the village where the shooting was taking place.

Nanan Soekarna, the national police spokesman, said that police were involved in a shooting incident with suspected Islamic fighters.

It was earlier reported, though without official confirmation, that Noordin had been arrested.

"Local media is saying that [it is] 80 per cent sure, Noordin Top has been engaged in a shootout with the police for nearly four hours in a place called Temanggung in Central Java, and shooting is still going on," Al Jazeera's Steph Vaessen, reporting from Jakarta, said.

"He has apparently been hiding in a village close to this place."

Deadly bombings

Noordin is one of two people suspected of being involved in the blasts at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the Indonesian capital last month.

Nine people were killed and more than 50 others injured in the blasts on July 17.

While Noordin has not been officially named as being behind the Jakarta bombings, officials and analysts have made clear he is the chief suspect.

Vaessen said: "It's still not confirmed that he was actually connected to the latest bombings at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotel but ... according to terror experts, there's only one man in Indonesia who's capable of doing it

Noordin was a key member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an al-Qaeda-linked group that wants to establish an Islamic state across Southeast Asia.

But his group broke away from JI after an alleged falling-out with the leadership over the targeting of civilians.

JI is blamed, among other attacks, for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that killed 202 people.

Noordin is thought to have been behind attacks on the Jakarta Marriott in 2003 and the Australian embassy in 2004, and also on a series of restaurants in Bali in 2005 in which more than 20 people were killed.

noordin m top, jakarta, indonesia

the idea of low-cost airlines charging a fee for using toilets on planes was "ridiculous".

Aussie travellers 'won't pay to pee' | Travel News | News.com.au

THE Europeans may be planning it but Aussies say they will never pay for a pee on a plane, according to a new poll.

The survey of 1340 people found nine out of 10 respondents believed the idea of low-cost airlines charging a fee for using toilets on planes was "ridiculous".

The poll follows news that European airline Ryanair will install credit card readers on their toilets within two years.

But the idea triggered angry comments from Aussies who answered the totaltravel.com poll.

"Going to the bathroom is a basic human function and should not be paid for under any circumstances," one said.

Another asked what would happen if a passenger did not have the cash and could not hold on.

"Young children, mature-aged and disabled individuals particularly stand to suffer the most from such an idiotic, money-grabbing proposal," the traveller wrote.

Only 4.5 per cent of people thought it was a good idea that would keep bathrooms cleaner and the same number said they didn't care.

Ignorance rife on sexual harassment

The Australian

MANY Australians still don't understand when they are being sexually harassed in the workplace.

In a survey to be released today, more than one in five people who said they had not been sexually harassed went on to describe being subjected to behaviour considered sexual harassment under the law.

The survey of more than 2000 people commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission found that although sexual harassment at work had declined over the past five years, many people were unaware of what constituted sexually harassing behaviour.

There has been a marked drop in reporting of workplace sexual harassment, with only 16per cent of those concerned making a formal complaint or report compared with 32 per cent in the last survey, in 2003.

In 2008, 22 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men aged 18-64 said they had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, compared with 28per cent of women and 7 per cent of men in 2003.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said the survey showed sexual harassment was still a serious problem in workplaces, though some employers had begun to incorporate education programs into their corporate culture.

"I think we can put the improvement down to more education and training," she said. "There has been some strong leadership shown, with many company CEOs making it clear any form of sexual harassment is not to be tolerated in their culture.

"But there is still a significant proportion of the population who don't understand what sexual harassment is and when it is happening to them."

The survey showed 10per cent of people reported being subjected to unwelcome sexually suggestive comments or jokes that offended them, but did not know that constituted sexual harassment.

Similarly, 9 per cent reported being subject to unwelcome intrusive questions about their private life or physical appearance that offended them, but again were not aware this was sexual harassment. Others reported physical harassment such as unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering or kissing.

Ms Broderick said the lack of awareness about what constituted sexual harassment was an issue that should be addressed.

"We must look at better employment education," she said.

Ms Broderick also warned of the dangers the new media posed in facilitating behaviour that constituted sexual harassment. "All the social networking sites, plus email access on mobile phones, these are places where such behaviour can manifest itself now that weren't available in the past."