Agloco Indonesia

HUE, Vietnam (AP) — A high-profile dissident Catholic priest denounced Vietnam’s Communist Party in a startling display of defiance as he went on trial Friday on charges of disseminating materials intended to undermine the country’s government.

Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly was led into the Thua Thien Hue Provincial People’s Court in central Vietnam in handcuffs along with four alleged accomplices, but he refused to stand and identify himself before the chief judge, Bui Quoc Hiep.

“Down with the Communist Party of Vietnam!” Ly shouted, in a striking outburst in a country where dissent is harshly punished. A police officer then covered Ly’s mouth as he continued shouting, and removed him to a nearby room where the proceedings were broadcast on a loudspeaker.

Ly, 60, who has been jailed for his pro-democracy activities before, is accused of producing anti-government documents and communicating with anti-communist groups overseas. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted in the verdict, expected later Friday.

Authorities say Ly is one of the founders of the “Vietnam Progression Party” and was plotting to merge with overseas democracy activists to form a new political umbrella group called “Lac Hong.”

Authorities allowed limited press coverage of the trial, a highly unusual move in a country where judicial proceedings against political defendants are typically conducted behind closed doors.

Photographers were told they would have access to the courtroom during the reading of the verdict, and reporters and foreign diplomats were able to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television in a separate room of the courthouse.

The sound was cut briefly after Ly started shouting.

Last month, authorities moved Ly from his home in the central city of Hue, where he was under virtual house arrest, and took him to a smaller parish outside the city.

They seized hundreds of documents, six computers and 136 mobile phone cards, and much of that evidence was on display at the front of the courtroom on Friday.

Ly, 60, has spent more than a decade in prison for his political activism and is one of the best-known members of Vietnam’s small dissident community. In 2001, after he openly called for linking U.S. trade with Vietnam to Hanoi’s human rights record, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Western governments and international human rights groups protested, and Ly was released early in a 2005 prison amnesty.

Charged as accomplices in the case are two men, Nguyen Phong, 32, and Nguyen Binh Thanh, 51 — both of Hue — and two women, Le Thi Le Hang, 44, of Hue, and Hoang Thi Anh Dao, 21, of Gialai Province.

Ly’s four co-defendants stood and identified themselves at the start of proceedings Friday, while he defiantly remained seated on a chair.

Ly’s arrest comes as Vietnamese authorities have been cracking down on dissidents. On March 6, they arrested Hanoi human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, accusing them of violating a prohibition on distributing information deemed harmful to the state.

The day-to-day freedoms of ordinary Vietnamese have increased greatly in the last 20 years, as the country has opened its economy and increased contact with other countries.

But the Communist Party still does not allow challenges to its single-party rule, and it is especially vigilant about efforts by Vietnamese dissidents to join forces with overseas pro-democracy groups.

HUE, Vietnam (AP) — A high-profile dissident Catholic priest denounced Vietnam’s Communist Party in a startling display of defiance as he went on trial Friday on charges of disseminating materials intended to undermine the country’s government.

Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly was led into the Thua Thien Hue Provincial People’s Court in central Vietnam in handcuffs along with four alleged accomplices, but he refused to stand and identify himself before the chief judge, Bui Quoc Hiep.

“Down with the Communist Party of Vietnam!” Ly shouted, in a striking outburst in a country where dissent is harshly punished. A police officer then covered Ly’s mouth as he continued shouting, and removed him to a nearby room where the proceedings were broadcast on a loudspeaker.

Ly, 60, who has been jailed for his pro-democracy activities before, is accused of producing anti-government documents and communicating with anti-communist groups overseas. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted in the verdict, expected later Friday.

Authorities say Ly is one of the founders of the “Vietnam Progression Party” and was plotting to merge with overseas democracy activists to form a new political umbrella group called “Lac Hong.”

Authorities allowed limited press coverage of the trial, a highly unusual move in a country where judicial proceedings against political defendants are typically conducted behind closed doors.

Photographers were told they would have access to the courtroom during the reading of the verdict, and reporters and foreign diplomats were able to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television in a separate room of the courthouse.

The sound was cut briefly after Ly started shouting.

Last month, authorities moved Ly from his home in the central city of Hue, where he was under virtual house arrest, and took him to a smaller parish outside the city.

They seized hundreds of documents, six computers and 136 mobile phone cards, and much of that evidence was on display at the front of the courtroom on Friday.

Ly, 60, has spent more than a decade in prison for his political activism and is one of the best-known members of Vietnam’s small dissident community. In 2001, after he openly called for linking U.S. trade with Vietnam to Hanoi’s human rights record, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Western governments and international human rights groups protested, and Ly was released early in a 2005 prison amnesty.

Charged as accomplices in the case are two men, Nguyen Phong, 32, and Nguyen Binh Thanh, 51 — both of Hue — and two women, Le Thi Le Hang, 44, of Hue, and Hoang Thi Anh Dao, 21, of Gialai Province.

Ly’s four co-defendants stood and identified themselves at the start of proceedings Friday, while he defiantly remained seated on a chair.

Ly’s arrest comes as Vietnamese authorities have been cracking down on dissidents. On March 6, they arrested Hanoi human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, accusing them of violating a prohibition on distributing information deemed harmful to the state.

The day-to-day freedoms of ordinary Vietnamese have increased greatly in the last 20 years, as the country has opened its economy and increased contact with other countries.

But the Communist Party still does not allow challenges to its single-party rule, and it is especially vigilant about efforts by Vietnamese dissidents to join forces with overseas pro-democracy groups.

Ni Ketut Susrini - detikInet

Jakarta, Mulai 1 Mei 2007, pengelolaan domain .id sepenuhnya ada di tangan Perhimpunan Nama Domain Indonesia (Pandi). Seperti apa tata kelola domain .id yang disiapkan Pandi?

Seperti diceritakan Teddy Sukardi, Ketua Pengurus Pandi, lembaga independen yang diresmikan notaris pada 29 Desember 2006 itu, saat ini tengah melakukan sejumlah persiapan.

Menurut Teddy, Pandi akan memiliki empat gugus kerja, masing-masing menangani bidang teknologi, regulasi dan organisasi, tarif dan harga, serta promosi.

Keberadaan gugus kerja tersebut diharapkan dapat mengoptimalkan pelaksanaan tugas Pandi. Di bawah pengelolaan Pandi, domain .id diharapkan dapat tumbuh secara signifikan.

Pandi, kata Teddy, akan melakukan edukasi mengenai Internet dan meningkatkan kesadaran pemakaian domain .id. “Pemakaian domain .id lebih menunjukkan identitas bangsa, dan tidak perlu mengambil nama domain ke luar negeri. Cukup di DNS lokal bisa mendapat domain, juga ada jaminan keamanan, dan lebih murah,” papar Teddy saat dihubungi detikINET, Jumat (30/3/2007).

Mekanisme pendaftaran domain .id untuk sementara masih memakai mekanisme yang berlaku saat ini. Pendaftaran gratis masih berlangsung hingga 30 April 2007. Sementara mekanisme perpanjangannya, menurut Teddy, saat ini masih dalam tahap penggodokan lebih lanjut.

Nantinya, pendaftaran domain baru akan memiliki masa berlaku selama satu tahun. “Tapi satu bulan sebelum habis masa berlakunya kita akan sampaikan notifikasi ke pelanggan. Oleh karena itu kita juga akan meningkatkan awarness pentingnya menggunakan e-mail yang masih aktif untuk pendaftaran. Jadi pelanggan tahu kalau ada notifikasi,” paparnya.

Kebijakan penamaan domain baru juga tengah menjadi bahasan Pandi. “Saat ini kita sedang me-review kebijakan penamaan domain baru, kita bandingkan dengan negara-nagara lain juga, best practice dan kebutuhan domain seperti apa,” tuturnya.

Soal pentarifan, Teddy mengatakan belum ada ketentuan final mengenai besaran harga domain yang akan dikenakan untuk domain yang sifatnya komersial.

“Pengumuman mengenai domain yang berbayar dan lain-lain, akan menyusul pada bulan April. Paling tidak 1 Mei sudah ada pricing-nya, setidaknya untuk .co.id dulu,” tuturnya.

Nantinya Pandi juga akan menunjuk registrar untuk masing-masing subdomain, misalnya untuk subdomain .go.id akan diserahkan pengelolaannya ke pemerintah. Registrar juga dimungkinkan untuk memiliki reseller, sehingga jumlah reseller tidak hanya satu.

Data Pandi menunjukkan, per Januari 2007 ada 33.486 domain .id yang aktif. Dari jumlah tersebut, 50 persen di antaranya adalah subdomain .co.id, 21 persen subdomain .web.id, 17 persen subdomain .or.id.

Subdomain lainnya menempati porsi kecil, seperti subdomain .go.id hanya 4 persen, subdomain .sch.id 4 persen, subdomain .ac.id 3 persen, subdomain .war.id 0,3 persen, dan subdomain .mil.id 0,06 persen.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) — Zimbabwe’s ruling party on Friday adopted a motion to hold elections in 2008 and endorsed President Robert Mugabe as its presidential candidate, allowing him to stand for another term as leader of the crumbling country.

“The resolution was accepted by the central committee … and so both the presidential and parliamentary elections will now be held in 2008,” Nathan Shamuyarira, national ZANU-PF spokesman said after the meeting.

“The candidate of the party will be the President (Mugabe) himself. He was endorsed by the central committee at the meeting today,” said Shamuyarira, adding the presidential term will be cut to five years from the current six.

Mugabe has faced international condemnation over a brutal crackdown on opponents this month, which left opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai injured and hospitalized after police stopped a banned prayer rally to protest against a deepening economic crisis.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told journalists at the same briefing the central committee had also decided that if a presidential vacancy occurred in between elections an acting president would be chosen by parliament to complete the term.

Chinamasa said local government polls would also be held in 2008 and the parliamentary lower house of assembly would be expanded from the current 150 members to 210. Parties would fill the upper house — Senate — with representatives on the basis of their proportional vote in parliament.

The Senate would be expanded from 66 to 84 members.

Critics say Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, has plunged the country into crisis through his policies, including the seizure of white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

But Mugabe earlier told the central committee to resist “the machinations of the West”, which he has blamed for an outbreak of violence following the police crackdown on the opposition.

“Our organs … have to adopt a high sense of vigilancy and militancy,” he said, one day after winning regional backing for his crackdown despite calls for tough action from the West.

Mugabe, 83, has accused the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of mounting a “terrorist” campaign to remove him from office and defended violent police sweeps this month which saw dozens of MDC activists arrested.

On Thursday, a special crisis summit of Southern African leaders publicly expressed solidarity with Mugabe, while calling for renewed political dialogue and an end to Western sanctions against his government. (Watch the surprising result as African leaders meet on Zimbabwe )

The veteran leader had sought to win ZANU-PF backing to extend his rule over Zimbabwe, which now faces its worst crisis in history with inflation running at more than 1,700 percent, soaring joblessness, and regular food and fuel shortages.

Mugabe had suggested extending his term by two years to 2010 but ran into resistance in his party. He then proposed running for president again when his current six-year term ends in 2008 — outflanking opponents who planned to oppose the 2010 option.

Mugabe’s candidacy had already won backing from the party’s key women and youth leagues, whose members make up a sizeable number of the 245-member central committee.

Analysts had seen little opposition to Mugabe, saying his nomination was a formality because the ZANU-PF constitution stipulates that the party president, elected at a congress every five years, automatically becomes the presidential candidate.

Mugabe was elected at the party’s last congress in 2004 and has not faced an election since then.

He said his fellow African leaders understood that his government was under attack by the West as revenge for his policy of seizing white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

“We are a family. Our detractors have been shamed,” he said, accusing some major television news networks of demonizing his government and laughing off British and U.S. suggestions that he might be on the way out.

Mugabe said he had told SADC leaders that Tsvangirai deserved beating by police earlier this month in an incident which drew outrage, including from some Western countries which threatened stiffer action against the veteran leader.

By Lang Whitaker

First, you need to know something: I bought my PlayStation 2 back in the fall of 2000, shortly after I moved to New York City. It has survived a move, a fire and innumerable scratched, flawed discs. There is surely enough pet hair inside of it to fashion a luscious toupee for Jeff Van Gundy. It has been left on and running for upwards of 12 hours at a time. And despite all the grenades I’ve thrown at it, my seven-year old PlayStation 2 still works like a champ.

A few months ago, I bought an Xbox 360. I can’t remember what I paid for it, but it was over $400. I’ve used it regularly, and was starting to really enjoy it, until I turned it on a few days ago and instead of being greeted by the usual green power light, I was assaulted by an angry red light. I mentioned this problem to SI.com gaming guru Adam Levine, and he responded, “Yes! The red ring of death!” Apparently Adam had been through a similar experience. He recommended I check the warranty because I was probably still covered. But I have no idea where the warranty is, and besides, if I pay that much cash for something, I expect it to last longer than three months, under warranty or not. Thanks, Bill Gates!

UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 (PS2) :: EA Sports
All of this to say, I’ve since re-embraced my PS2. So when EA Sports’ new UEFA Champions League for the 360 showed up at my office, I kicked it to the side and went out and bought a copy for the PS2. I am now officially old school.

The notion of a Champions League video game is a little strange, considering EA just released FIFA 07 a few months ago. Besides, to most Americans the Champions League has no real cachet. (If you don’t know, it’s kind of like a super tournament with the best clubs from all over Europe.)

Because this game is focusing on the Champions League teams, league play isn’t emphasized, though it is included. The managerial mode is called The Treble. You choose a team and guide them in chase of various titles. Through the season, you’re dropped into situations which can be terribly frustrating. For instance, I had to begin one F.C. Barcelona game at Getafe down 1-0, with something like 15 minutes remaining and Getafe ready to take a penalty kick. Good luck with that one. A few weeks later I lost another game and the Barcelona board of directors sacked me. Joan Laporta, I hardly knew you.

UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 (Xbox 360) :: EA Sports
Since you’re just playing bits and pieces of the games, the Treble Season zips right along. In between games, the team management maniacally requests over and over that you improve the team, even though Barcelona was already stacked. I was able to add Gabriel Heinze and Obafemi Martins. And I still got canned.

Besides online play, there’s a series of famous historic situations from Champion’s League history that’s entertaining to work your way through. Apparently the Xbox 360 version has some sort of trading card mode that has received positive reviews. The red ring of death that Bill Gates unleashed upon my apartment have kept me from finding out for myself.

There are noticeable differences in the way Champions League plays in comparison to FIFA 07. The controls are the same and the visuals are very similar, but the players seem to somehow move smoother than in FIFA. Through balls work best, and if you time it right (or maybe just always play with Barcelona) you can zip the ball all the way down the field with just a couple of through passes. (Also, corner kicks are much easier to complete than in FIFA, which is a huge improvement.)

I still haven’t won the Champions League in Champions League, much less The Treble. But I can already see a lot of this game in my immediate future. And it feels good to know my PlayStation 2 won’t let me down.