[Top stories] from [CNN.com]
[World > Middle East]
January 4, 2010 -- Updated 1431 GMT (2231 HKT)
Debt-hit Dubai opens world's tallest tower
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Dubai will on Monday open the world's largest tower, reaching half a mile into the sky
> Dubai wallowing in debt crisis and a second $10B bail-out loan from neighboring Abu Dhabi
> Critics see the Burj as a poorly designed throwback to financial boom times
(CNN) -- Dubai is Monday due to open the world's tallest tower -- a 160-plus story structure hailed as a monumental architectural achievement but seen by some as a symbol of the city's unbridled excess.
The city-state's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is due to lead celebrations to unveil the majestic silvery construction that houses a luxury hotel, apartments and offices.
Six years in the making, the Burj Dubai reaches 818 meters, or half a mile, into the sky above Dubai, with dizzying views of the ambitious building program that has transformed the emirate and left it swamped by debt.
The structure's architects, Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have called the Burj "a bold global icon that will serve as a model for future urban centers."
Declaring that "tall buildings are back," the company predicts that the groundbreaking techniques it used to push the Burj to new heights should enable the construction of even taller towers in the future.
iReport: Share your photos of the world's tallest buildings
"As with any project, SOM's architects and engineers learned a great deal and are ready to apply this to the next world's tallest building as it is certainly possible to go taller," it said.
Despite such lofty claims, the Burj -- and other construction projects including the Palm Jumeirah and World archipelagos of man-made islands built for the super-rich -- have cast a financial shadow over Dubai.
Last month the emirate was bailed out to the tune of $10 billion by neighboring Abu Dhabi after its state-owned holding company, Dubai World, shocked investors but asking for a freeze on payments owed on its $26 billion in debts.
The announcement by Dubai World -- an umbrella group which includes the Burj's developers, delivered a cold dose of reality to speculators worldwide who believed the oil-rich region was impervious to the global financial crisis.
While predicted economic recovery are likely to help Dubai to shake off some of its debt woes, if not fully regain its boom-time ebullience, some say the city's path of prestige over practicality will leave projects like the Burj struggling to justify their place in the Gulf state's skyline.
"Dubai doesn't really need to have to build tall asides from prestige purposes," Jim Krane, author of "City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism" told CNN in a recent interview.
"If you look at it, it's a really bad idea. It uses as much electricity as an entire city. And every time the toilet is flushed they've got to pump water half a mile into the sky," he said.
The telescopic shape is also presents problems of a more practical nature Krane says.
"The upper 30 or 40 floors are so tiny that they're useless, so they can't use them for anything else apart from storage. They've built a small, not so useful storage warehouse half a mile in the sky," he said.
[World]
Islamic states condemn attack on Danish cartoonist
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Organization of the Islamic Conference condemns attack on cartoonist
> Somali man attacked home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard
> Westergaard known for controversial cartoons of prophet Mohammed
(CNN) -- The attack on a Danish political cartoonist "runs totally against the teachings and values of Islam," the umbrella organization representing Muslim countries has said.
If the attack was a reaction to Kurt Westergaard's drawing of the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a turban shaped as a bomb, "then it should be rejected and condemned by all Muslims," the Organization of the Islamic Conference said in a statement Sunday.
An ax-wielding Somali man is accused of trying to break into Westergaard's home Friday and was charged the next day with attempted assassination. Intelligence officials linked the suspect to an East African Islamist militia allied with al Qaeda.
The suspect tried to kill Westergaard and an on-duty police officer, the Danish Intelligence and Security Service said.
Danish police shot the 28-year-old suspect Friday night as he tried to enter Westergaard's home in the city of Aarhus.
The suspect was shot in the right leg and left hand. He was hospitalized after the incident. Video showed him appearing at court strapped to a stretcher.
Authorities did not identify him because the judge decided it would be illegal to disclose his name, said Chief Superintendent Ole Madsen with the East Jutland Police. They said he has legal residency in Denmark and lives in Sjaelland, near Copenhagen.
The judge ordered the suspect held for four weeks while the investigation proceeds. Madsen said the man is currently the only suspect in the case, and he would not say whether police were investigating anyone else.
Al-Shabaab, the militant organization with alleged ties to the suspect, is waging a bloody battle against Somalia's transitional government and is currently on a U.S. government list of terrorist organizations.
At a news conference in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said, "We are very happy with the Somali national who attacked the house of the Danish cartoonist who previously insulted our prophet Mohammed. This is an honor for the Somali people. We are telling that we are glad that anyone who insults Islam should be attacked wherever they are."
Police had no indication that an attack was being planned on Westergaard, Madsen said, though the intelligence service said the suspect had been under surveillance because of his alleged terrorist links.
Police said the suspect wielded an ax and a knife and managed to crack the glass front door of Westergaard's home. A home alarm alerted police to the scene, and they were attacked by the suspect, authorities said.
Westergaard, who was home with his 5-year-old granddaughter at the time of the break-in, hid in a "panic room" when he realized what was happening, Madsen said. Westergaard is ordinarily accompanied by bodyguards when he leaves his home, but nobody was on guard at the house Friday, the Security and Intelligence Service told CNN.
Police said Westergaard was "being taken care of" after the break-in, but wouldn't reveal his new location.
The incident "once again confirms the terrorist threat that is directed against Denmark and against cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, in particular," said Jakob Scharf, spokesman for the Danish Security and Intelligence Service.
Westergaard's caricature of Mohammed -- showing the prophet wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse -- was first published by the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. It sparked an uproar among Muslims in early 2006 after newspapers reprinted the images in support of free speech.
At the time, Westergaard said he wanted his cartoon to say that some people exploited the prophet to legitimize terrorism. However, many in the Muslim world interpreted the drawing as depicting their prophet as a terrorist.
Over the years, Danish authorities have arrested other suspects who allegedly plotted against Westergaard's life.
After three such arrests in February 2008, Westergaard issued a statement, saying, "Of course I fear for my life after the Danish Security and Intelligence Service informed me of the concrete plans of certain people to kill me. However, I have turned fear into anger and indignation. It has made me angry that a perfectly normal everyday activity which I used to do by the thousand was abused to set off such madness."
Scharf said authorities have taken measures to ensure Westergaard's safety, and that the protection has "proven effective."
[World]
By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
January 4, 2010 -- Updated 1131 GMT (1931 HKT)
India cold snap leaves homeless at risk
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Scores feared dead as temperatures plunge in northern India
> Homeless, elderly most at risk; authorities ordered to build fires in vulnerable neighborhoods
> Temperatures have been as low as 5C (41F) since Thursday
New Delhi, India (CNN) -- A biting cold snap lingered across sections of northern India Monday, hitting the homeless hardest in some of the country's most impoverished regions.
At least six people were feared dead because of intense cold in the eastern state of Bihar, Disaster Management Minister Devesh Thakur said. Temperatures have been as low as 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) since Thursday in parts of the state, he added.
The homeless and the elderly have suffered the worst, Thakur said. District authorities have been ordered to build fires in vulnerable neighborhoods to keep residents warm.
India's main weather office said day temperatures were 5 to 10 degree Celsius below normal in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan and West Bengal states.
Media reports pointed to scores of additional deaths in Uttar Pradesh due to the extreme weather, but those figures could not be immediately confirmed with authorities there. More than 160 million people live in India's fourth largest state.
[World > Middle East]
January 4, 2010 -- Updated 1431 GMT (2231 HKT)
Debt-hit Dubai opens world's tallest tower
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Dubai will on Monday open the world's largest tower, reaching half a mile into the sky
> Dubai wallowing in debt crisis and a second $10B bail-out loan from neighboring Abu Dhabi
> Critics see the Burj as a poorly designed throwback to financial boom times
(CNN) -- Dubai is Monday due to open the world's tallest tower -- a 160-plus story structure hailed as a monumental architectural achievement but seen by some as a symbol of the city's unbridled excess.
The city-state's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is due to lead celebrations to unveil the majestic silvery construction that houses a luxury hotel, apartments and offices.
Six years in the making, the Burj Dubai reaches 818 meters, or half a mile, into the sky above Dubai, with dizzying views of the ambitious building program that has transformed the emirate and left it swamped by debt.
The structure's architects, Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have called the Burj "a bold global icon that will serve as a model for future urban centers."
Declaring that "tall buildings are back," the company predicts that the groundbreaking techniques it used to push the Burj to new heights should enable the construction of even taller towers in the future.
iReport: Share your photos of the world's tallest buildings
"As with any project, SOM's architects and engineers learned a great deal and are ready to apply this to the next world's tallest building as it is certainly possible to go taller," it said.
Despite such lofty claims, the Burj -- and other construction projects including the Palm Jumeirah and World archipelagos of man-made islands built for the super-rich -- have cast a financial shadow over Dubai.
Last month the emirate was bailed out to the tune of $10 billion by neighboring Abu Dhabi after its state-owned holding company, Dubai World, shocked investors but asking for a freeze on payments owed on its $26 billion in debts.
The announcement by Dubai World -- an umbrella group which includes the Burj's developers, delivered a cold dose of reality to speculators worldwide who believed the oil-rich region was impervious to the global financial crisis.
While predicted economic recovery are likely to help Dubai to shake off some of its debt woes, if not fully regain its boom-time ebullience, some say the city's path of prestige over practicality will leave projects like the Burj struggling to justify their place in the Gulf state's skyline.
"Dubai doesn't really need to have to build tall asides from prestige purposes," Jim Krane, author of "City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism" told CNN in a recent interview.
"If you look at it, it's a really bad idea. It uses as much electricity as an entire city. And every time the toilet is flushed they've got to pump water half a mile into the sky," he said.
The telescopic shape is also presents problems of a more practical nature Krane says.
"The upper 30 or 40 floors are so tiny that they're useless, so they can't use them for anything else apart from storage. They've built a small, not so useful storage warehouse half a mile in the sky," he said.
[World]
Islamic states condemn attack on Danish cartoonist
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Organization of the Islamic Conference condemns attack on cartoonist
> Somali man attacked home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard
> Westergaard known for controversial cartoons of prophet Mohammed
(CNN) -- The attack on a Danish political cartoonist "runs totally against the teachings and values of Islam," the umbrella organization representing Muslim countries has said.
If the attack was a reaction to Kurt Westergaard's drawing of the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a turban shaped as a bomb, "then it should be rejected and condemned by all Muslims," the Organization of the Islamic Conference said in a statement Sunday.
An ax-wielding Somali man is accused of trying to break into Westergaard's home Friday and was charged the next day with attempted assassination. Intelligence officials linked the suspect to an East African Islamist militia allied with al Qaeda.
The suspect tried to kill Westergaard and an on-duty police officer, the Danish Intelligence and Security Service said.
Danish police shot the 28-year-old suspect Friday night as he tried to enter Westergaard's home in the city of Aarhus.
The suspect was shot in the right leg and left hand. He was hospitalized after the incident. Video showed him appearing at court strapped to a stretcher.
Authorities did not identify him because the judge decided it would be illegal to disclose his name, said Chief Superintendent Ole Madsen with the East Jutland Police. They said he has legal residency in Denmark and lives in Sjaelland, near Copenhagen.
The judge ordered the suspect held for four weeks while the investigation proceeds. Madsen said the man is currently the only suspect in the case, and he would not say whether police were investigating anyone else.
Al-Shabaab, the militant organization with alleged ties to the suspect, is waging a bloody battle against Somalia's transitional government and is currently on a U.S. government list of terrorist organizations.
At a news conference in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said, "We are very happy with the Somali national who attacked the house of the Danish cartoonist who previously insulted our prophet Mohammed. This is an honor for the Somali people. We are telling that we are glad that anyone who insults Islam should be attacked wherever they are."
Police had no indication that an attack was being planned on Westergaard, Madsen said, though the intelligence service said the suspect had been under surveillance because of his alleged terrorist links.
Police said the suspect wielded an ax and a knife and managed to crack the glass front door of Westergaard's home. A home alarm alerted police to the scene, and they were attacked by the suspect, authorities said.
Westergaard, who was home with his 5-year-old granddaughter at the time of the break-in, hid in a "panic room" when he realized what was happening, Madsen said. Westergaard is ordinarily accompanied by bodyguards when he leaves his home, but nobody was on guard at the house Friday, the Security and Intelligence Service told CNN.
Police said Westergaard was "being taken care of" after the break-in, but wouldn't reveal his new location.
The incident "once again confirms the terrorist threat that is directed against Denmark and against cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, in particular," said Jakob Scharf, spokesman for the Danish Security and Intelligence Service.
Westergaard's caricature of Mohammed -- showing the prophet wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse -- was first published by the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. It sparked an uproar among Muslims in early 2006 after newspapers reprinted the images in support of free speech.
At the time, Westergaard said he wanted his cartoon to say that some people exploited the prophet to legitimize terrorism. However, many in the Muslim world interpreted the drawing as depicting their prophet as a terrorist.
Over the years, Danish authorities have arrested other suspects who allegedly plotted against Westergaard's life.
After three such arrests in February 2008, Westergaard issued a statement, saying, "Of course I fear for my life after the Danish Security and Intelligence Service informed me of the concrete plans of certain people to kill me. However, I have turned fear into anger and indignation. It has made me angry that a perfectly normal everyday activity which I used to do by the thousand was abused to set off such madness."
Scharf said authorities have taken measures to ensure Westergaard's safety, and that the protection has "proven effective."
[World]
By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
January 4, 2010 -- Updated 1131 GMT (1931 HKT)
India cold snap leaves homeless at risk
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Scores feared dead as temperatures plunge in northern India
> Homeless, elderly most at risk; authorities ordered to build fires in vulnerable neighborhoods
> Temperatures have been as low as 5C (41F) since Thursday
New Delhi, India (CNN) -- A biting cold snap lingered across sections of northern India Monday, hitting the homeless hardest in some of the country's most impoverished regions.
At least six people were feared dead because of intense cold in the eastern state of Bihar, Disaster Management Minister Devesh Thakur said. Temperatures have been as low as 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) since Thursday in parts of the state, he added.
The homeless and the elderly have suffered the worst, Thakur said. District authorities have been ordered to build fires in vulnerable neighborhoods to keep residents warm.
India's main weather office said day temperatures were 5 to 10 degree Celsius below normal in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan and West Bengal states.
Media reports pointed to scores of additional deaths in Uttar Pradesh due to the extreme weather, but those figures could not be immediately confirmed with authorities there. More than 160 million people live in India's fourth largest state.
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