Panel to review medical errors - Oman Daily Observer

ROME — The centre-left is
strongly leading in Italy's election,
raising the chances of a
stable pro-reform government
in the euro zone's third larg-
est economy, according to two
telephone polls published after
voting ended.
The polls on Sky and Rai
television after voting ended at
3 pm (1400 GMT/9 a.m. ET)
showed the centre left of Pier
Luigi Bersani 5-6 points ahead
of the centre right of former
premier Silvio Berlusconi,
6 THE WORLD
OMAN DAILY Observer
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013
Centre-left takes strong lead in Italy election: polls
FIVE Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo speaks with media after casting his vote at the polling station in Genoa.
IKEA halts meatball sales
after horsemeat found
PRAGUE/STOCKHOLM,
— Sweden's IKEA halted
sales of its trademark Swedish
meatballs in 13 European
countries after tests in the
Czech Republic yesterday
showed the product contained
horsemeat.
IKEA, the world's No 1
furniture retailer and known
also for its signature cafeterias
in its huge out-of-town stores,
said it had stopped sales of all
meatballs from a batch implicated
in the Czech tests.
The checks were carried
out in response to a Europewide
scandal that erupted
last month when tests carried
out in Ireland revealed
some beef products contained
horsemeat. This has triggered
recalls of ready-made meals
and damaged confidence in
Europe's vast and complex
food industry.
"We take this very seriously,"
said IKEA spokeswoman
LONDON — Radio broadcasts
in English from the
BBC World Service are being
jammed in China, the British
broadcaster said yesterday,
suggesting the Chinese
authorities were behind the
disruption.
"The BBC strongly condemns
this action which is
designed to disrupt audiences'
free access to news and information,"
the BBC said in a
statement.
China, which enforces
strict restrictions on its domestic
media, has been accused
by several prominent
foreign media of seeking to
stop their news reports reaching
Chinese audiences.
"The BBC has received reports
that World Service English
shortwave frequencies
Ylva Magnusson at the company's
headquarters in Helsingborg,
southern Sweden.
"We have stopped selling that
specific batch of meatballs in
all markets where they may
have been sold."
The meatballs, pulled from
shelves at IKEA's stores after
Czech inspectors discovered
they contained horsemeat,
had been available in stores in
several European countries,
the company's Czech spokesman
said yesterday.
Besides the Czech Republic,
they had also been on sale
in Britain, Portugal, Netherlands,
Belgium, Slovakia,
Hungary, France, Italy, Spain,
Greece, Cyprus and Ireland,
Magnusson said.
All IKEA's meatballs are
produced in Sweden by supplier
Familjen Dafgard, which
said on its website it was investigating
the situation.
— Reuters
Russia will ban smoking
in many public places
MOSCOW — Russia will
ban smoking in many public
places from June under a law
central to President Vladimir
Putin’s plans to make citizens
healthier, raise life expectancy
and help the economy.
Under the law, signed by
Putin which was passed by
parliament last week, smoking
will gradually be banned
at work, in the subway, restaurants,
cafes, ships and
long-distance trains in a nation
with one of the world’s
top smoking rates. The legislation
will also restrict cigarette
sales and ban advertising
and sponsorship of events by
tobacco companies.
It was opposed by foreign
firms such as British American
Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco,
Japan Tobacco , and Philip
Morris, which control more
than 90 per cent of a Russian
cigarette market worth
about $20 billion annually.
Putin’s aim is to force a lifestyle
change on millions of
Russians in a country where
bars and restaurants are often
filled with a thick blue haze of
smoke. But in a sign that many
will resist, smokers rights’
groups oppose the law and a
website has sprung up which,
in a nod to Russia’s Communist
past, declares: “Smokers
of the world unite.”
The law will be phased in,
with smoking banned in some
public places, such as subways
and schools from June
1. The ban will be broadened
to include restaurants and cafes
a year later. Sales of tobacco
products will be forbidden
at street kiosks from June 1,
2014. — Reuters
are being jammed in China,"
said the London-based public
service broadcaster.
"Though it is not possible
at this stage to attribute the
source of the jamming definitively,
the extensive and coordinated
efforts are indicative
of a well-resourced country
such as China."
A duty officer at China's
foreign ministry had no immediate
comment.
It was not the first time
the BBC had complained of
disruption to its services in
China, where its website has
been consistently blocked.
Last year, it accused the
Chinese authorities of jamming
its BBC World News
TV channel when it broadcast
stories regarded as sensitive,
such as reports on dissident
Chen Guangcheng, who escaped
from house arrest and
sought refuge in the US Em-
with the anti-establishment
movement of Genoese comedian
Beppe Grillo taking third
place.
The early polls cheered
bassy.
Other foreign broadcasters
including US state-funded
markets worried that the election
could produce a weak,
unstable government. Italian
shares extended an earlier rally
and bonds gained..
The poll for Sky television
showed the centre left ahead by
5.5 points in the lower house
and by six points in the Senate
although the result there will
depend on key battleground
regions. In the most important,
Lombardy, Sky said the centre
left was tied with Berlusconi.
Sky had Bersani on 34.5 per
cent in the lower house, Berlusconi
on 29 per cent, Grillo
on 19 per cent and the centrist
group of outgoing Prime Minister
Mario Monti slumping to
9.5 per cent after a lacklustre
campaign that deeply disappointed
his backers among
foreign governments and investors.
The RAI poll showed a
similar line-up, with the centre
left six points ahead of Berlusconi
in the lower house.
The spread between Italy's
benchmark 10-year bonds and
the German equivalent narrowed
to less than 260 basis
points after the poll results,
in a sign of investor optimism
that the centre left will be able
radio stations Voice of America
and Radio Free Asia have
also complained of Beijing
blocking access to their programmes.
The New York Times reported
on January. 30 that
Chinese hackers had been attacking
its computer systems
while it was working on an
investigative report in October
last year on the fortune
accumulated by relatives of
outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.
The BBC said in its statement
yesterday that it had
experienced jamming of satellite
broadcasts over the past
two years, and that while
shortwave jamming was generally
less frequent, it did also
affect Persian-language transmissions
in Iran.
to form a stable, pro-reform
government.
The picture could change
after computer projections of
the result in both houses, expected
shortly.
Italy's electoral laws guarantee
a strong majority in the
lower house to the party or
coalition that wins the biggest
share of the national vote.
However the Senate, elected
on a region-by-region basis,
is more complicated and the
result could turn on a handful
of regions, including Lombardy
in the rich industrial
north - which the polls showed
was tied - and the southern island
of Sicily.
Italy, the euro zone's third
largest economy, is pivotal
to stability in the region as a
whole. The period of maximum
peril for the currency
was when Rome's borrowing
costs were spiralling out of
control at the end of 2011.
A bitter campaign, fought
largely over economic issues,
has been closely watched by
financial markets, anxious
about the risk of a return of the
kind of debt crisis that took the
whole euro zone close to disaster
and brought the technocrat
Merkel meets Erdogan on
her third visit to Turkey
ANKARA — German leader
Angela Merkel yesterday met
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip
Erdogan on a visit meant to
signal close ties despite slow
progress in Ankara's EU accession
talks.
Before leaving for Turkey,
Merkel said that she favoured
opening a new chapter in
membership talks, although
she remained "sceptical" about
the outcome.
The EU-accession talks,
first launched in 1987, have
long stalled, in part because
of European concerns over human
rights and over Turkey's
stance on divided Cyprus, an
EU member.
Yesterday, Merkel met Erdogan
and President Abdullah
Gul in Ankara, on her third
visit to the country, hoping to
stress solid ties despite the lingering
EU question.
Germany is home to about
3 million people who migrated
from Turkey, most as "guest
workers" who helped staff its
industry from the 1960s, and
their descendants.
Merkel has in the past said
she favoured that Muslimmajority
Turkey be given the
status of a "privileged partner"
rather than full member of the
27-member union.
In the years since the talks
were launched, Turkey has
emerged as a strong regional
player and economic power,
while the eurosone has recently
been battered by the debt
crisis.
German business favours
EU-membership for Turkey,
"a modern and booming
economy in a geo-strategically
important location," said the
president of the Association
of German Industry, Ulrich
Grillo.
Turkey had seen annual
economic growth above 5 per
cent in recent years. Germany
has been the biggest investor
there and its main trade part-
TURKEY’S Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
review a guard of honour during a welcoming ceremony in Ankara yesterday. — Reuters
ner since the 1980s, the association
said in a statement.
Merkel on Sunday visited
German troops stationed in
southern Turkey to man Patriot
anti-missile defences near
the Syrian border as a sign of
solidarity with the Nato member
state.
The United States and
Netherlands have also deployed
Patriot batteries in
Turkey to help defend its border
area, where rockets from
Syria have hit civilian areas.
In the EU talks, Merkel
was set to propose to Erdogan
that Turkey start negotiations
on economic or regional policies
with the EU. Only one of
35 policy chapters, science,
has been closed during the
past five years of talks.
Ahead of her visit, which
follows trips in 2006 and
2010, Merkel avoided the
"privileged partner" phrase,
which has caused offense in
Turkey.
A major stumbling block
has been Turkey's stance toward
Cyprus.
The island is split between
Greece and Turkey, and Ankara
does not recognise the government's
sovereignty over
the Turkish north, where it has
stationed 30,000 troops.
Merkel has in the past
urged Erdogan to allow direct
air and sea travel with Cyprus,
while the Turkish leader has
criticised the EU for admitting
"southern Cyprus" as a
member.
EU nations have also criticised
Turkey's stance on freedom
of the press, religious
minorities and unions.
Turkey, fed up with the
slow pace of talks, has at
times warned that it may instead
look to Russia or China
as key partners.
Before her talks with Erdogan,
Merkel yesterday visited
the World Heritage site of
Cappadocia, in Central Anatolia.
She was joined by Tourism
Minister Omer Celik and
shadowed by scores of Turkish
camera teams, while a hot
air ballon in the sky greeted
her with a welcome banner.
— dpa
BBC radio broadcasts being jammed in China
"The jamming of shortwave
transmissions is being
timed to cause maximum disruption
to BBC World Service
English broadcasts in China,"
said Peter Horrocks, director
of BBC Global News.
"The deliberate and coordinated
efforts by authorities
in countries such as China
and Iran illustrate the significance
and importance of the
role the BBC undertakes to
provide impartial and accurate
information to audiences
around the world."
China is listed at number
173 out of 179 countries on
the World Press Freedom Index
compiled by campaign
group Reporters Without
Borders. — Reuters
Monti to office, replacing the
scandal-plagued Berlusconi,
in 2011.
Monti helped save Italy
from a debt crisis, but the polls
suggested few Italians see him
as the saviour of the country,
in its longest recession for 20
years.
A surge in protest votes
supporting Grillo's 5-Star
Movement had raised uncertainty
about the chances of a
strong, stable government that
could fend off the danger of a
renewed euro zone crisis.
Grillo's movement rode
a huge wave of voter anger
about both the pain of Monti's
tough austerity programme and
a string of political and corporate
scandals. It had particular
appeal for a frustrated younger
generation shut out of full-time
jobs.
"I'm sick of the scandals
and the stealing," said Paolo
Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome
lawyer who voted for 5-Star.
"We need some young, new
people in parliament, not the
old parties that are totally discredited."
Bad weather, including
heavy snow in some areas, was
thought to have hampered the
turnout in Italy's first post-war
election to be held in winter.
This could have favoured the
centre left, whose voters tend
to be more committed than
those on the right, which has
strong support among older
people.
The 76-year-old Berlusconi,
a billionaire media tycoon,
pledged sweeping tax cuts
and accused Monti of being
a puppet of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel in a media
blitz that halved the lead of the
centre left since the start of the
year.
But many voters said they
were sick of his broken promises
and his campaign faltered
at the end, with Grillo stealing
some of his votes. The election
could mark the end of a
flamboyant two-decade career
at the centre of the political
stage.
Whatever government
emerges will inherit an economy
that has been stagnant for
much of the past two decades
and problems ranging from
record youth unemployment to
a dysfunctional justice system
and a bloated public sector.
— Reuters
Germany probes possible
organic egg fraud
BERLIN — German authorities are investigating possible
large-scale fraud by organic egg producers amid increased
concern over food industry practices following Europe's horse
meat scandal. The northern state of Lower Saxony, a major
agricultural hub, has launched probes of some 150 farms suspected
of wrongly selling eggs produced by hens kept in overcrowded
conditions under the organic label.
Two other states are investigating a further 50 farms.
"If the accusations (against the farms) are found to be true,
then we are talking of fraud on a grand scale: fraud against
consumers but also fraud against the many organic farmers
in Germany who work honestly," German Farm Minister Ilse
Aigner said in a statement yesterday.
She urged regional governments to ensure the full implementation
of tough German and EU laws on organic food
production, adding that consumers must be able to have full
confidence in the labelling of products.
Organically produced eggs cost some 10 cents more than
those produced under standard industrial conditions.
Christian Meyer, farm minister in the newly appointed
Lower Saxony government, vowed to take a tough line on any
farms found to have broken the law.
Taiwan mulling nuclear
plant referendum
TAIPEI — Taiwan's prime minister said yesterday the government
supports a referendum to decide the fate of the nation's
fourth nuclear power plant, amid calls from activists and political
rivals to stop the nearly completed project.
The referendum is expected to be held in July or August,
after the legislators of the ruling party put forward an initiative,
Jiang Yih-huah said.
Construction work will continue in the meantime, he said.
Jiang, who became premier last week, said the decision
was prompted by growing concerns over the safety of nuclear
power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Taiwan currently operates three nuclear plants that supply
about 18 per cent of the island's electricity needs. According
to a recent survey done by Taiwan Thinktank, more than 60
per cent of the 23 million population opposes the building of
the fourth plant. Terminating the project would lead to huge
losses, including nearly 9 billion dollars invested already.
Armenia elections free of
violations, says EC
YEREVAN — The Armenian polls that saw President Serzh
Sarkisian win re-election were free of any serious violations,
the central Elections Commission (EC) said yesterday as it released
the poll's final results.
Serzh Sarkisian scored crushing victory in last week's presidential
elections seen as a crucial test for the ex-Soviet state.
"In the course of the electoral campaign and the vote, there
were no violations that could have affected the elections' result,"
said the head of the Central Elections Commission, Tigran
Mukuchyan.
"Serzh Azatovich Sarkisian has been elected President of
the Republic of Armenia," he announced.
According to the final results, Sarkisian received 58.64 per
cent of the votes against his top challenger Raffi Hovannisian's
36.74 per cent. Turnover was 60.18 per cent. Observers from
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said the February 18 election
was an improvement on past polls but lacked real competition
after two leading candidates pulled out late last year.
The United States said it was concerned over "serious violations"
in the country's electoral process.
Strauss-Kahn to take action
against book by ex-friend
PARIS — Former head of the International Monetary Fund,
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is taking legal action against the
publication of a book by a former lover, his lawyers said yesterday.
Strauss-Kahn will take action either to affix a statement
to the book (perhaps declaring it a work of fiction) or freeze the
book's publication altogether.
In addition the former IMF chief is seeking damages of
100,000 euros for libel from the book's author Marcela Iacub
and publishing house Stock.
In the 128-page book entitled Belle et Bete (possibly a double
entendre for Beauty and Beast'Pretty and Stupid), Iacub
writes of an affair with Strauss-Kahn that took place between
January and August last year when he was battling allegations
of raping a New York chamber maid.
The rape accusation ended in an out-of-court settlement,
but another case alleging Strauss-Kahn's participation in illegal
parties continues.