4 HMC employees killed, 10 injured in accident - Qatar Tribune

QATAR 

CHARITY, 

PALESTINE 

MINISTRY 

SIGN MOU 

FARRAR STORMS 

TO STAGE III 

VICTORY 

CAUGHT 

BETWEEN 

TWO MOST 

BEAUTIFUL 

WOMEN 

PAGE 17 | NATION 

PAGE 32 | SPORTS 

PAGE 33 | CHILL OUT 

www.qatar-tribune.com 

First with the news and what’s behind it 

TUESDAY JULY 5, 2011 SHABAN 4, 1432 ■ Newsline ■ Nationline ■ Businessline ■ Lifeline ■ Sportsline 

VOL. 5 NO. 1765 QR 2 

DOW JONES 12,582 QE 8,481 

SENSEX 

+168 

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18,814 

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PTS 

WEATHER 

Newsline 

Lebanon opposition demands 

PM back UN Hariri court 

LEBANON’s opposition has 

demanded Prime Minister Najib 

Mikati announce his full support 

for a UN-backed court charging 

Hezbollah members in ex-premier 

Rafiq Hariri’s murder, ahead of a 

vote of confidence. Three days of 

parliamentary talks begin on 

Tuesday, ending with a vote of 

confidence on Mikati’s government 

in which Hezbollah and its allies 

control the majority of seats, 

including the key telecommunications 

and justice ministries. (AFP) 

Syrian forces kill two, 

injure 25 in Hama 

CURRENCY 

+2 

PTS 

Indian Rupee 12.13 

Philippine Peso 11.66 

HOT AND HAZY 

HIGH: 42 0 C | LOW: 30 0 C 

SYRIAN security forces killed two 

anti-regime protesters near 

Damascus and deployed tanks in 

a town near Turkey’s border, 

activists said on Monday, as the 

authorities eyed the recapture of 

Hama. A resident said that a 12- 

year-old child, Omar Khalluf, was 

shot dead in northwest Hama and 

between 20 and 25 other people 

were wounded, two of them seriously, 

during the sweep. Agents in 

their cars “shot in the air to terrorise 

residents,” he said, while 

warplanes overflew the city, emitting 

sonic booms. (PG 2) 

4 HMC employees killed, 

10 injured in accident 

SANTHOSH CHANDRAN & 

LANI ROSE R DIZON 

DOHA 

FOUR persons, including an 

eight-month pregnant Filipina, 

working with Hamad Medical 

Corporation (HMC), died when 

the vehicle they were travelling in 

met with an accident near Al Khor 

petrol station and just past 

Simsima bridge on Doha-Al Khor 

road in the wee hours of Monday. 

The accident site, 45 kilometres 

from Doha, falls under Al Daayen 

municipality. 

Ten other occupants of the illfated 

minibus, including the driver, 

suffered different degrees of 

injury, and are undergoing treatment 

at HMC in Doha. An official 

HMC release confirmed the four 

deaths and described the condition 

of one of the injured as critical. 

The tragedy happened when the 

vehicle carrying the HMC staff to Al 

Khor Hospital burst one of its tyres, 

and rolled over thrice before hitting 

the barbed wire fence 30 metres 

away from the road. 

Among the dead are two women 

from the Philippines, one Indian 

woman and one Sudanese national. 

All were working with Hamad 

Medical Corporation in Al Khor. 

The dead Indian has been identified 

as Dany Thomas (34) from 

Kannur district in the Indian state 

of Kerala; the two Filipinas are 

Claribel Obilanter Miranda (36) 

and Marianne Lorenzo Cabuay, 

A burst tyre (right) caused this ill-fated vehicle to flip over many times, killing four of its occupants, on the road to Al 

Khor, on Monday. The other 10 occupants were admitted to hospital with serious injuries. (HANSON K JOSEPH) 

and Mohyad Nasredin Ahmad 

(36) from Sudan. 

While Marianne Lorenzo was 

working in Respiratory 

Department in HMC, Mohyad 

Nasredin Ahmad was with HMC’s 

Medical Records Department. 

The team was going for the 

morning shift at Al Khor 

Hospital. According to an eyewitness, 

the vehicle was over-speeding. 

It is suspected that the driver 

was in a hurry and wanted to 

cover about 35 kilometres in less 

than the usual time. However, 

people who have known Basheer 

for long say that he was an experienced 

and disciplined driver, 

who never indulged in rash 

driving. 

Even though 120 kilometres an 

hour is the speed limit on this 

road, over-speeding is not uncommon, 

especially during the morning 

hours. 

Dany was with the emergency 

department of HMC and had been 

in Doha for the last four-five years. 

She is survived by her husband 

Anto who works with Toyota as a 

mechanical foreman and a twoand-a-half-year-old 

son Albert 

Anto. 

Marianne Lorenzo leaves 

behind husband Joseph Matias 

and a five-year- old daughter, who 

are in Doha. Her husband told 

Qatar Tribune that the body of his 

deceased wife will soon be taken to 

the Philippines. 

Meanwhile, embassies have 

begun the process for sending the 

bodies to their respective countries. 

SEE ALSO PAGE 16 

Insurance 

sector in 

Qatar gets 

new rules 

AMITABH JHA 

DOHA 

QATAR now has a brand 

new set of insurance regulatory 

framework of 

international standards. 

The framework went 

into effect with the 

release by the QFC 

Regulatory Authority of 

the Captive Insurance 

Business Rules 2011 and 

Insurance Mediation 

Business Rules 2011. 

They apply to captive 

insurers, captive managers 

and insurance 

intermediaries and have 

been designed to support 

the development of Qatar 

as a regional centre for 

captive insurance. 

The new insurance 

regimes follow the implementation 

by the 

Regulatory Authority of a 

new regulatory regime 

for asset management in 

the Qatar Financial 

Centre, which commenced 

in January 2011. 

The implementation of 

the new insurance rules 

comes at a time when 

companies in Qatar and 

the region, who are 

involved in major capital 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 

02 www.qatar-tribune.com 

QT SPOTLIGHT ON DEMOCRACY IN ARAB WORLD 

Qadhafi can stay 

in Libya if he 

quits: rebel chief 

REUTERS 

BENGHAZI 

Moamer Qadhafi is welcome 

to live out his retirement 

inside Libya as long 

as he gives up all power, 

Libya’s rebel chief said in 

the clearest concession the 

rebels have so far offered. 

Qadhafi has resisted all 

international calls for him 

to go and said he will fight 

to the end, but members of 

his inner circle have given 

indications they are ready 

to negotiate with the rebels, 

including on the Libyan 

leader’s future. 

Qadhafi is still holding on 

to power, five months into 

a rebellion against his 41- 

year rule and despite a 

NATO bombing campaign 

and an International 

Criminal Court arrest warrant 

for crimes against 

humanity. 

“As a peaceful solution, 

we offered that he can 

resign and order his soldiers 

to withdraw from 

their barracks and positions, 

and then he can 

decide either to stay in 

Libya or abroad,” rebel 

leader Mustafa Abdel 

Jalil told Reuters in an 

interview. “If he desires to 

stay in Libya, we will determine 

the place and it will be 

under international supervision. 

And there will be 

international supervision 

of all his movements,” said 

Jalil, who heads the rebels’ 

National Transitional 

Council. Speaking in his 

eastern Libyan stronghold 

of Benghazi, Abdel Jalil, 

Qadhafi’s former justice 

minister, said he made the 

proposal about a month 

ago through the United 

Nations but had yet to 

receive any response from 

Tripoli. 

He said one suggestion 

was that Qadhafi could 

spend his retirement under 

guard in a military barracks. 

Abdel Jalil’s remarks 

stirred an emotional reaction 

in Benghazi, with a 

small protest against any 

talks with Qadhafi breaking 

out outside a hotel, and the 

rebel council playing down 

any speculation about a 

widening rift among its 

leaders. 

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, a 

council vice chairman, told 

reporters an arrest warrant 

issued by the International 

Criminal Court against 

Qadhafi had now made any 

such proposal null and 

Meanwhile Turkey, 

which had close economic 

ties to Qadhafi before the 

uprising, pledged $200 

million in aid for the rebels 

on Sunday. That was in 

addition to a $100 million 

fund announced in June. 

The rebels say they need 

more than $3 billion to 

cover salaries and other 

needs over the next six 

months. “Public demand 

for reforms should be 

answered, Qadhafi should 

go and Libya shouldn’t be 

divided,” Turkish Foreign 

Minister Ahmet Davutoglu 

said in Benghazi. 

20 hurt by Syrian 

troops in sweeping 

raids on Hama city 

AP 

BEIRUT 

SYRIAN troops raided homes 

and made sweeping arrests in 

Hama on Monday, wounding 

at least 20 people before sealing 

off the city just days after 

about 300,000 protesters 

there held the largest demonstration 

since the uprising 

against President Bashar 

Assad erupted in mid-March, 

activists said. 

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the 

London-based director of the 

Syrian Observatory for 

Human Rights, said he was 

told by Hama hospital officials 

that most of the wounded 

suffered shots from pump 

action rifles used by security 

forces. 

A major operation in Hama, 

a city with a history of militancy 

against the Assad regime, 

could lead to an outcry. 

In 1982, Assad’s late father 

and predecessor, Hafez 

Assad, ordered his troops to 

crush a rebellion by Sunni 

fundamentalists, killing 

between 10,000 and 25,000 

people, rights groups say. 

“There is some kind of a 

siege on the city. They are 

closing all roads leading to 

Hama,” said Syria-based 

rights activist Mustafa Osso. 

Osso said the move came 

amid a reshuffle of security 

officials in Hama. On 

Pro-democracy activists, in Damascus, on Monday. (AP) 

Saturday, Assad fired Hama’s 

governor, Ahmed Abdul-Aziz. 

Syria’s state-run news 

agency hasn’t said why the 

governor was dismissed. But 

some activists said they 

feared Abdul-Aziz, viewed as 

sympathetic to the demonstrators, 

was dismissed to 

give freer rein to the security 

forces in the city. 

The troops moved out of 

Hama after a June 3 shootings 

there that killed 65 people. 

Since then, the streets 

had been fully under the sway 

of the opposition until 

Monday. 

The Syrian Observatory for 

Human Rights said armed 

and security forces detained 

more than 20 people in some 

Hama neighbourhoods on 

Monday. 

Turkey recognises Libya 

rebels, promises more aid 

AP 

BENGHAZI 

TURKEY’S foreign minister recognised 

Libya’s rebel leaders as the country’s 

legitimate representatives and promised 

them an additional $200 million 

in aid during a visit on Sunday. 

The visit by Foreign Minister Ahmet 

Davutoglu marked Turkey’s strongest 

show of support yet for the opposition 

forces trying to out Libyan leader 

Moamer Qadhafi. 

Turkey, a regional power, initially 

balked at the idea of military action in 

Libya and Turkish companies were 

involved in Libyan construction projects 

worth billions of dollars before the 

outbreak of an anti-Qadhafi uprising in 

February. The revolt has turned into a 

protracted, largely deadlocked armed 

conflict, in which the rebels control 

Libya’s eastern third, while Qadhafi 

clings to power in the west, but has 

been unable to crush pockets of resistance 

there. As a NATO member, 

Turkey is now supporting the alliance’s 

airstrikes against targets linked to the 

Qadhafi regime. 

The visit by Foreign Minister 

Ahmet Davutoglu 

marked Turkey’s 

strongest show of support 

yet for the opposition 

forces trying to out 

Libyan leader Moamer 

Qadhafi. 

Davutoglu met with Mustafa Abdul- 

Jalil, chairman of the rebels’ National 

Transitional Council, in a heavily 

guarded government building in the 

city of Benghazi, the rebel’s main 

stronghold in eastern Libya. A rebel 

spokesman played down media reports 

quoting Abdul-Jalil as saying Qadhafi 

has the option to remain in Libya. 

Jordan treads 

warily in 

turmoil of 

Arab Spring 

AP 

AMMAN 

AT the traffic circle in front of 

the prime minister’s office, 

demonstrators still crowd the 

streets every week after 

Friday prayers. Six months 

since the protests in this 

desert kingdom started, hundreds 

of people still join in 

weekly chants calling for 

political reform. 

They still hold up signs 

demanding an end to government 

corruption. 

But after about an hour of 

angry speeches, with 100 or 

so unarmed policemen 

watching from a polite distance, 

the protesters shake 

hands and head home. Friday 

is the weekend in Jordan, and 

even demonstrators want to 

get home to their families. 

The protests of the Arab 

Spring have shaken much of 

the Middle East, but a handful 

of countries have found 

ways to prevent or calm the 

anger of the streets. Most 

prominent is Saudi Arabia, 

the oil behemoth that has 

headed off potential opposition 

by spreading the wealth, 

spending tens of millions of 

dollars to boost salaries. 

Then there is resourcestarved 

Jordan, with its 

ragged deserts and sputtering 

economy, where the massive 

and sometimes-violent 

protests of early 2011 have 

quieted to the weekly demonstrations. 

At the heart of the political 

standoff is a half-British king 

trying to avoid the tumult. A 

darling of Western governments 

who celebrate him and 

his beautiful Palestinian 

queen as modern celebritymonarchs, 

King Abdullah II 

has ushered in little democratic 

reform despite years of 

promises. 

The king sits at the helm of 

a sprawling intelligence service, 

a carefully lubricated 

patronage system and a UStrained 

military. The economy 

is largely dependent on 

aid from Washington and 

Saudi Arabia. Government 

opponents say their phones 

are bugged and houses 

watched. At times, such as 

during national and municipal 

voting in 2007, his regime 

has blatantly rigged elections, 

critics say. 

In Jordan, the king does 

face increasing criticism, but 

even the angriest political 

protesters seldom hold him 

responsible for their country’s 

troubles. His family dynasty, 

the Hashemites, rose to 

power centuries ago as the 

protectors of the Muslim holy 

city of Mecca. That, combined 

with the elaborate system of 

patronage aimed at powerful 

local leaders, has earned 

them immense loyalty among 

the Bedouin tribes. 

Protesters demand more reforms in Morocco 

AP 

RABAT 

Anti- government protesters shout slogans during a rally, in Casablanca, on 

Sunday. (AP) 

THOUSANDS of pro-democracy 

activists in Morocco protested 

across the country on Sunday to 

demand more reforms two days 

after voters overwhelmingly 

approved a new constitution the 

king said will expand freedoms. 

The demonstrations were a show 

of strength for the February 20 

movement, whose rallies over the 

past few months prompted King 

Mohammed VI to amend the constitution 

as part of his own democratic 

reform. 

“We are here to say no to the referendum 

and the constitution,” said 

Oussama Khlifi, one of the founders 

of the movement, which brings 

together young, Facebook-using 

activists and members of Morocco’s 

Islamist movement. “We want a 

parliamentary monarchy with a 

king that reigns, but does not rule 

and we want a real fight against corruption.” 

The North African country 

of 32 million has been swept by 

pro-democracy protests, like in 

other countries across the Arab 

world, denouncing low wages, poor 

education and perceptions of widespread 

government corruption. 

But protesters have not called for 

the ouster of the 47-year-old king, 

who remains popular. Instead, they 

have called for the curtailing of his 

absolute powers and more official 

accountability.


GULF / MIDDLE EAST www.qatar-tribune.com 03 

3 policemen among 10 killed, 

28 injured in Iraq attacks 

AFP 

BAGHDAD 

BOMB and gun attacks across 

Iraq on Monday killed at least 

10 people and wounded 28, 

many of them policemen and 

soldiers, security officials 

said. 

In Baghdad’s Mansur 

neighbourhood, three policeman 

were killed and one 

wounded by an improvised 

bomb that also hurt three 

civilians, an interior ministry 

official said. 

Another suicide bomber in 

the Baab al Muadham neighbourhood 

of central Baghdad 

wounded five security personnel 

guarding a bus station, 

the official said. 

In south Baghdad an 

improvised bomb killed one 

person and wounded three 

others. 

Meanwhile, in the city of 

Fallujah, 69 kilometers (43 

miles) west of Baghdad, a car 

bomb exploded outside a hospital 

killing a policeman and a 

civilian, said police official 

Major Nuri al Jumaili. Eight 

other people were wounded, 

five of them policemen. 

In Haditha, also in western 

Iraq, a suicide bomber blew 

up his explosives-packed belt 

near the city council building, 

wounding two policemen, he 

said. In southern Babil 

AFP 

TEHRAN 

IRAN is ready if threatened 

to close the Strait of 

Hormuz to ships linking 

the Gulf to international 

markets, Revolutionary 

Guards commander 

General Mohammad Ali 

Jafari told Mehr news 

agency on Monday. 

“In light of the strategic 

position of the Strait of 

Hormuz, this issue has 

never been taken off the 

agenda,” Jafari said, commenting 

on whether 

Tehran was still prepared 

to close down the shipping 

lane if threatened. 

“We have not stopped 

there... we are seeking to 

use our defence capabilities 

Coffins bearing the remains of 32 Iraqi soldiers who were killed during the 1991 Gulf war, in Basra, on Monday. Iraq on Monday held an official ceremony after receiving 

the remains of the soldiers from Kuwait, an Iraqi army source said. (AP) 

province, a roadside bomb 

killed one soldier and wounded 

two civilians, and a gunman 

assassinated a policeman 

from the anti-crimes 

unit. Three children foraging 

Iranian Guards 

ready to close 

Strait of Hormuz 

in open waters,” Jafari 

added as forces under his 

command prepared to 

launch the naval phase of 

the 10-day Great Prophet-6 

exercise, which lasts until 

Friday. 

Media reported the 

Guards will launch surfaceto-sea 

missiles on Tuesday. 

So far, during the drills, 

the Guards have launched 

a range of ballistic missiles 

that Iran says are able to hit 

Israel and US bases in the 

region. “This means that 

should the enemy try to 

pose a threat against the 

Islamic republic from outside 

the Strait of Hormuz, 

we will have the power to 

retaliate in kind. This strategy 

is now on our agenda,” 

said Jafari. 

through a rubbish heap also 

were wounded by a bomb. 

Meanwhile, in northern 

Iraq, gunmen with silencers 

killed a member of President 

Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic 

AP 

TUNIS 

THE second trial of Tunisia’s 

former president opened dramatically 

on Monday when 

the court-appointed defence 

lawyers walked out after their 

request for a postponement 

was denied. 

After a short recess, prosecutors 

called for the most 

severe penalites possible for 

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who 

faces charges of drug and 

weapons trafficking and the 

illicit possession of archeological 

artifacts. 

The former leader and his 

family fled to Saudi Arabia on 

Jan. 14 after a monthlong 

popular uprising against his 

rule. He is now being tried in 

absentia by the new government 

for a range of crimes, 

Union of Kurdistan in Diyala, 

and a soldier was killed and 

one wounded by an improvised 

bomb outside the city of 

Mosul, security officials said. 

June was the deadliest 

including corruption, embezzlement 

and ordering the 

death of protesters. 

Ben Ali has foreign attorneys, 

but Tunisian law says 

lawyers from other countries 

cannot represent clients 

being tried in absentia. As a 

result, the former president is 

being represented by courtappointed 

defenders, Hosni 

Beji and Bechir Mahfoudhi. 

Beji asked the judge for sufficient 

time to contact his 

month this year for the number 

of Iraqis killed in attacks, 

according to government figures. 

It was the bloodiest 

since June 2008 for US 

troops, who are due to withdraw 

from Iraq by the end of 

this year. A total of 271 Iraqis 

and 14 US soldiers lost their 

lives in June. Iraq has blamed 

Al Qaeda for the increased 

death toll in June. 

Lawyers walk out of Tunisian 

ex-president’s trial 

Court President Louhami Hafi gestures as the second trial of 

Tunisia’s former president opened dramatically, in Tunis, on 

Monday. (AP) 

client and convince him to 

attend the trial, while his colleague 

asked for more a delay 

so that they could better prepare 

the defence. Their 

requests were denied. 

“We would have like a fair 

trial,” said Beji, before leaving 

with his colleague. As they left 

the court, the lawyers were 

booed by onlookers, who 

shouted they should resign. 

“Good riddance, you would 

have done better defending 

the victims of Ben Ali rather 

than be the lawyers for a torturer,” 

said Ali Laayouni, a 

young unemployed graduate 

from the center of the country 

where the rebellion first broke 

out. Ben Ali’s fall inspired 

similar pro-democracy uprisings 

against the region’s autocratic 

rulers that is now being 

called the “Arab Spring.” 

Uneasy 

calm in 

Bahrain 

REUTERS 

MANAMA 

AN uneasy calm presides 

in the Gulf island 

kingdom of Bahrain 

after the government 

cracked down on mass 

protests led mostly by 

its majority Shiite population 

which threatened 

the stability of the country. 

In March, Bahrain’s 

Sunni rulers crushed 

mass protests demanding 

greater political liberties, 

a greater say in 

government and an end 

to what they said was 

systematic discrimination 

against Shiites in 

jobs and services. After 

crushing protests with a 

rolling crackdown in 

which hundreds of people 

were arrested and up 

to 2,000 sacked from 

their jobs, the government 

lifted emergency 

law last month and in 

early July, Bahrain 

kicked off a national dialogue 

which the king said 

would be open to all 

kinds of reforms. 

But since emergency 

law was lifted, small 

protests in Shiite villages 

ringing Manama have 

erupted daily, held in 

check only by heavy 

police deployment. 

Those protests are 

starting to gain some 

steam as many have 

begun to voice their 

rejection of a dialogue 

they argue is weighted 

against them, a sentiment 

that could further 

stoke simmering tensions. 

Sectarian divisions 

have long festered in 

Bahrain even before tens 

of thousands took to the 

streets in February and 

March. Shiites complain 

of unequal access to state 

jobs, housing and health 

care — accusations the 

government denies. The 

Sunni al Khalifa family 

rules over 1.2 million 

people, about half of 

them foreigners. Shiites 

say Bahrain is trying to 

change the demographic 

balance by granting citizenship 

and jobs in the 

security apparatus to 

Sunnis from elsewhere. 

The Shiite population 

says hundreds have been 

arrested during the 

crackdown and stateowned 

companies have 

fired thousands of Shiite 

workers, a trend that 

could deepen economic 

inequalities. 

Saboteurs bomb Egypt gas pipeline to Israel, Jordan 

AFP 

CAIRO 

SABOTEURS bombed an 

Egyptian gas pipeline in the 

Sinai peninsula on Monday 

for the third time since 

February, cutting supplies to 

Israel and Jordan. 

Officials said a car had 

parked near the pipeline in 

the Bir al Abd area, 80 kilometres 

(about 50 miles) from 

the northern Sinai town of El 

Arish, shortly before the 

explosion. 

They said the bomb was 

activated remotely, without 

reports of casualties. 

North Sinai governor Abdel 

Wahab Mabrouk condemned 

the bombing as a “terrorist 

act meant to jeopardise the 

stability and security of 

Sinai,” the official MENA 

news agency quoted him as 

saying. 

A second device was found 

near the bomb blast “but the 

army has dealt with it before 

it exploded”, said Magdi 

Tawfiq, head of the Egyptian 

Natural Gas Company 

(GASCO). 

He told MENA that emergency 

services brought the 

fire under control and a committee 

was formed to investigate. 

“The company will work 

to fix the pipeline in Sinai as 

soon as the fire is completely 

out,” he said. 

Witnesses said the flames 

at their peak reached as high 

as 10 metres (32 feet). 

It was the third attack on 

the gas pipeline since 

February, a time of political 

upheaval when an uprising 

toppled former president 

Hosni Mubarak and saw 

power handed over to a military 

council. 

An April 27 attack on the 

pipeline in Al Sabil area of 

north Sinai cut off international 

gas supplies. In 

February, attackers blew up a 

Flames erupting from a blast at Egyptian gas pipeline supplying gas to Israel and Jordan in Al Arish, 

Egypt, on Monday. (EPA) 

sector of the pipeline in the 

town of Lihfren, also in north 

Sinai, near the Gaza Strip. 

Another attempt to attack 

the pipeline in March failed. 

An Israeli official dismissed 

fears of domestic power cuts 

following the latest blast. “At 

the moment there is no supply 

of gas from Egypt,” 

national infrastructures ministry 

spokeswoman Maya 

Etzioni told AFP. 

But “we are prepared, as 

always, with alternative solutions, 

with alternative supplies. 

There’s gas from Yam 

Thetis,” she said in reference 

to an Israeli offshore gas field. 

Egypt supplies about 40 

percent of Israel’s natural 

gas which is used to produce 

electricity. Israeli security 

sources said they received 

intelligence about 10 days 

ago that a global Jihadist 

group was planning to hit the 

Sinai pipeline, but added it 

was too early to say if the 

unnamed organisation was 

behind Monday’s attack. 

Jordanian officials have 

also been in talks with their 

Egyptian counterparts “to 

determine the damage and 

discuss solutions,” Jordan’s 

state-run Petra news agency 

said. “Jordan will face unusual 

problems this summer if 

this issue continues,” Abdul 

Fattah Nsur, director of 

Jordan Central Electricity 

Generation Co, told Petra. 

Jordan, which buys 95 percent 

of its energy needs, 

imports about 240 million 

cubic feet (6.8 million cubic 

metres) of Egyptian gas a day, 

or 80 percent of its electricity 

requirements. In April, 

Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam 

Sharaf asked for the revision 

of all contracts to supply gas 

abroad, including to Israel. 

Sharaf said the contracts 

would be revisited so the gas 

“would be sold with deserved 

prices that achieve the highest 

returns for Egypt.” 

The controversial gas deal 

with Israel has been repeatedly 

challenged in Egyptian 

courts due to its secretive 

clauses and over prices, and 

because it was sealed without 

parliamentary consultation. 

In May, Jordan said Egypt 

was withholding its contracted 

gas supply to energy-poor 

Jordan unless a new deal was 

signed at a higher price. 

Under a 14-year deal signed 

in 2002, Egypt used to sell gas 

to Jordan at a discounted 

price — half of the market 

price, or $3 (2.16 euros) per 

million British Thermal Units 

(1,000 cubic feet of gas equals 

1.027 million BTU).



EUROPE 

Otto von 

Habsburg 

dies at 

age 98 

Otto von Habsburg 

AP 

BERLIN 

OTTO VON HABSBURG, 

the oldest son of Austria- 

Hungary’s last emperor 

and the longtime head of 

one of Europe’s most 

influential families, died 

on Monday, his spokeswoman 

said. He was 98. 

Habsburg died in his 

sleep at his home in 

Poecking in southern 

Germany, where he had 

lived in exile since the 

1950s, spokeswoman Eva 

Demmerle said. A longtime 

advocate of European 

reunification, he campaigned 

against communism 

and for the removal 

of the Iron Curtain. 

Born in 1912 in what is 

now Austria, Habsburg 

witnessed the family’s 

decline after the empire 

was dismantled and 

Austria became a republic 

following World War 

I. He became head of the 

family at his father’s 

death in 1922 and continued 

to claim the throne 

until the 1960s. 

He was a member of 

the European Parliament 

for the conservative 

Bavarian Christian Social 

Union in southern 

Germany and also served 

as president of the Pan- 

European League from 

1979 to 1999. 

In that role, he was 

instrumental in helping 

organise the Pan- 

European Picnic peace 

demonstration in 1989 on 

the border of Austria and 

Hungary. The border was 

briefly opened in a symbolic 

gesture, which created 

the opportunity for 600 

East Germans to flee communism 

months before 

the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

It was the first time an 

Eastern European nation 

had opened its borders, 

and is widely seen as the 

start of the fall of communism. 

EU president accuses member 

states of weakening the union 

AFP 

WARSAW 

POLAND painted itself as a 

saviour of the European project, 

while accusing fellow 

member states of selfishness 

and short-sightedness, as it 

began its six-month presidency 

of the EU. 

Times have changed since 

this nation of 38 million people 

was led by twin brothers 

Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski 

of the conservative Right and 

Justice party, a government 

considered hostile to the 

European Union. 

Since 2007, under Prime 

Minister Donald Tusk, 

Poland has taken a sharp 

turn. Opinion polls show 

strong support for the EU at a 

time when frustration with 

the union is growing in “old 

Europe”. 

As he took the rotating 

presidency on Friday, Tusk 

implicitly criticised larger 

countries like Germany, 

France and Italy, accusing 

them of putting “egotistical 

national interests” at the 

heart of the union. 

Tusk worried about “the 

birth of a phenomenon” 

where politicians say they 

are favourable to more EU 

integration but at the same 

time “suggest actions or 

decisions that weaken” it, he 

said. 

Warsaw was particularly 

angered by salvos against the 

Schengen agreement from 

Paris and Rome calling for 

stricter border controls in 

what is meant to be a no passport 

zone. 

Adam Casser, an advisor to 

Mladic refuses to plead on charges 

AFP 

THE HAGUE 

FORMER Bosnian Serb army 

chief Ratko Mladic was on 

Monday removed from a UN 

Yugoslav war crimes courtroom 

after refusing to enter a 

plea and continuously disrupting 

proceedings before judges. 

Mladic is accused of 11 

charges of genocide, crimes 

against humanity and war 

crimes before the 

International Criminal 

Tribunal for the former 

Yugoslavia (ICTY), stemming 

from the 1992-95 Bosnian 

war. 

Security guards led the 69- 

year-old away after court president 

Judge Alphons Orie lost 

patience with his constant 

interruptions. 

As he was being taken from 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in Brussels, recently. (AFP) 

Tusk, said “there are those 

who want to maintain 

European cohesion and others 

who want it shattered.” 

In a case used to illustrate 

the point, on Sunday Poland 

accused the Netherlands of 

trying to renege on EU policies 

by putting forward a law 

to limit the number of 

migrant workers — many 

Polish — working on its territory. 

Polish European Affairs 

Minister 

Mikolaj 

Dowgielewicz said “very 

robust discussions” had taken 

place with the Netherlands 

and he hoped the Dutch government 

would respect EU 

laws. 

Though not yet a member, 

Poland intends to make its 

the courtroom, an angry 

Mladic shouted at the three 

judges, telling them they were 

not “allowing me to breathe”. 

Dressed in the same grey 

suit as during his first appearance 

before the court last 

month, Mladic repeatedly 

interrupted Judge Orie, first 

complaining about not being 

able to hear the proceedings 

and then about being cold. 

He asked Orie whether he 

could replace his sky-blue cap 

which the judge ordered be 

removed earlier. 

“Mr Orie, I am not underestimating 

you in any way. I am 

cold on my head, let me put 

my cap on. When I am cold 

half of my body isn’t functioning... 

you impose impossible 

conditions on me,” he told the 

judge. 

Orie refused, warning the 

views known on the future of 

the eurozone during its presidency. 

On Sunday, Polish Finance 

Minister Jacek Rostowski 

criticised the billions of euros 

promised in bailout schemes 

in favour of Greece, Ireland 

and Portugal. 

The existing plans need “a 

lot of improvements” said 

Rostowski, calling them too 

focused on debt reduction 

and not enough on growth. 

And despite being legally 

bound to adopting the euro, 

Warsaw refuses to set a date 

for joining the common currency. 

Before Poland drops the 

zloty, Tusk has said the EU 

must provide an effective 

system to prevent future 

crises. 

“Who would want to enter 

the euro area now? We’ll see 

once the eurozone is out of 

the hospital,” European 

Minister Dowgielewicz said. 

During its presidency, 

Poland intends to attend 

eurozone meetings to keep 

appraised of debates at this 

crucial moment for Europe 

and the euro. 

Eurozone countries have 

resisted Poland’s presence, 

afraid of setting a precedent. 

But after what Prime 

Minister Tusk called a “lively 

debate” between Warsaw and 

its partners, the Eurogroup — 

the entity that unites eurozone 

countries — said it was 

prepared to invite Poland to 

its next meeting. 

People watch a live broadcast of the court appearance of Ratko 

Mladic, at the city’s ‘Children’s square’, in Sarajevo, on Monday. (EPA) 

Poland to 

hold general 

election on 

October 9 

WARSAW Poland will hold 

a general election on 

October 9, President 

Bronislaw Komorowski 

announced on Monday. 

The parliamentary ballot 

had been widely expected 

to take place that month, 

but a presidential decision 

was needed to fix the 

date. 

Komorowski told 

reporters that October 9 

was the earliest possible 

date under the constitution. 

Polls put the centre-right 

Civic Platform movement 

of Prime Minister Donald 

Tusk well ahead of its 

rivals, with a recent survey 

by the OBOP public opinion 

institute giving it 45 

percent support. 

On the opposition side, 

the conservative Law and 

Justice party run by ex-premier 

Jaroslaw Kaczynski 

mustered 27 percent, and 

the Democratic Left 

Alliance 14 percent. 

Civic Platform currently 

rules via a two-way coalition 

with the centrist Polish 

People Party, whose ratings 

having slumped below the 

five percent needed to win 

seats in Poland’s 460- 

member Sejm. (AFP) 

former general not to communicate 

with the public gallery 

and focus his attention on proceedings. 

“Mr Mladic if you continue 

speaking to the public, measures 

will be taken,” Judge Orie 

warned. 

But the man referred to as 

the “Butcher of Bosnia” persisted 

and the judge’s patience 

finally ran out. 

Shortly before being 

removed by UN security 

guards, Mladic told Orie: “You 

can do whatever you want, 

without (my lawyers), there’s 

no need for me to receive anything 

or say anything, you can 

do whatever you want.” 

The hearing resumed a few 

minutes later with an empty 

dock. 

Judge Orie then read out the 

11 charges against Mladic 

including about his involvement 

in the Srebrenica massacre 

in July 1995, entering an 

automatic not guilty plea on all 

of them according to ICTY regulations. 

Turkey 

freezes 

Libyan 

assets 

AP 

ANKARA 

TURKEY froze Libya’s holdings 

in a Turkish bank on 

Monday, a day after it recognised 

Libya’s rebel leaders as 

the country’s legitimate representatives 

and quietly 

removed its ambassador from 

Tripoli. 

Turkey’s banking regulatory 

fund said it was temporarily 

taking hold of Libyan Foreign 

Bank’s 62 percent shareholding 

in Turkey’s Arap Turk 

Bankasi AS in line with UN 

Security Council decisions to 

freeze Libya’s foreign assets. 

Since the beginning of the 

uprising in Libya, the 

European Union also has 

frozen the accounts of the 

country’s state-controlled 

companies and investment 

funds, as well as those of key 

members of the Libyan 

regime. EU states also said 

they would not provide the 

Gadhafi regime with any new 

funding by buying up oil and 

gas from the country. 

Turkey’s decision regarding 

the bank shares is the latest 

indication that its government 

is breaking ties with Libyan 

leader Moamer Qadhafi, 

despite close Turkey-Libya 

trade ties. 

Turkey has repeatedly called 

on Qadhafi to give up power to 

allow the transition to a more 

democratic Libyan government. 

Last month, Prime 

Minister Recep Tayyip 

Erdogan said he had offered 

Qadhafi guarantees in return 

for him leaving Libya but had 

not received a response. 

On Sunday, Foreign Minister 

Ahmet Davutoglu visited the 

Libyan rebel’s stronghold of 

Benghazi, recognized the 

rebel’s National Transitional 

Council as Libya’s representatives, 

and promised an additional 

$200 million in aid. 

Turkey also formally recalled 

its ambassador in Tripoli, 

according to the Official 

Gazette, an official record of 

government decisions. 

Turkey joins several other 

countries, including France, 

Qatar and Italy, in officially 

recognising the rebels. 

Turkish companies were 

involved in construction projects 

worth billions of dollars in 

Libya before the February outbreak 

of a Libyan anti-government 

uprising that has evolved 

into a civil war. The rebels control 

Libya’s eastern third, but 

Qadhafi clings to power in the 

west, but has been unable to 

crush pockets of resistance 

there. As a NATO member, 

Turkey is supporting the 

alliance’s airstrikes against targets 

linked to the Qadhafi 

regime. 

‘Strauss-Kahn election bid unlikely’ 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in Manhattan, recently. (AP) 

REUTERS 

PARIS 

FRANCE’s Socialist Party 

said on Monday it was unlikely 

its erstwhile star 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn 

would enter the 2012 presidential 

race, despite the 

weakening of the sex assault 

case against him in New York. 

Party spokesman Benoit 

Hamon said the idea that 

Srauss-Kahn could now run 

for the presidency was “the 

weakest” of all possible scenarios 

for the former IMF 

chief’s political future. 

He said, however, that if he 

opted to make a late entry for 

the Socialists’ October primary, 

beyond the July 13 

deadline for candidates to 

register, the party leadership 

would not block it. 

“Let’s leave Dominique 

Strauss-Kahn some breathing 

space and let him speak once 

he is ready,” Hamon told a 

news conference. 

Former party leader 

Martine Aubry said at the 

weekend that nobody should 

stand in Strauss-Kahn’s way 

if he decides to run. 

Strauss-Kahn had been 

tipped as the left’s best 

chance of defeating conservative 

President Nicolas 

Sarkozy in April 2012, but his 

shock arrest in mid-May on 

attempted rape charges has 

meant the Socialists have had 

to press on without him. 

Now, the left’s election 

plans have been thrown back 

into turmoil, and public 

opinion divided, by news late 

last week that the case 

against him could unravel 

due to doubts about his 

accuser’s credibility — raising 

the prospect of a political 

comeback. 

Socialists called on Monday 

for an inquiry into the rush to 

judgment against Strauss- 

Kahn, arrested on charges he 

tried to rape a hotel maid, 

while Interior Minister 

Claude Gueant dismissed 

The left’s election 

plans have been 

thrown into turmoil, 

and public opinion 

divided, by news 

that the case 

against him could 

unravel due to 

doubts about his 

accuser’s credibility. 

mutterings of a political plot 

as “scandalous”. 

Strauss-Kahn’s abrupt 

reversals of fortune have 

angered French opinion, 

which broadly saw New York 

police’s decision to parade 

him after his arrest, dishevelled 

and in handcuffs, as trial 

by media and a gross violations 

of his rights. 

Analysts say the influential 

centre-leftist could choose to 

try and bolster the Socialists’ 

election campaign through a 

backstage role, but note the 

picture painted of him as a sexual 

predator could ultimately 

prove damaging for the party. 

A judge released Strauss- 

Kahn from house arrest on 

Friday after prosecutors 

uncovered a pattern of lying 

by his accuser that they said 

undermined her credibility. 

The sex assault charges 

remain in place. 

While five contenders are 

jostling in France for the 

Socialist nomination, 

Strauss-Kahn is confined to 

the United States ahead of his 

next court hearing on July 18 

hearing. 

Opinion polls show voters 

are deeply divided over 

whether the former French 

finance minister could return 

to politics after the muck-raking 

that has followed one of 

the most dramatic political 

downfalls in history. 

Strauss-Kahn’s allies are 

rallying round him, however. 

Celebrity philosopher 

Bernard-Henri Levy said 

Strauss-Kahn was the sole 

victim in the affair and should 

return to politics. 

“There is only one victim, in 

terms of someone whose life 

has been shattered. It’s DSK,” 

Levy told Europe 1 radio, 

using a popular nickname for 

Srauss-Kahn. “He’s a man 

whose life has been trampled 

on, broken, discredited, 

degraded.” Jerome Coumet, 

Socialist mayor of a central 

Paris district, said Strauss- 

Kahn would be vital to securing 

victory in 2012.

UNITED KINGDOM 


www.qatar-tribune.com 05 

Monarchy joins taxpayers 

in austerity measures 

AP 

LONDON 

BRITAIN may have enjoyed a 

lavish royal wedding but 

Queen Elizabeth II must put 

up with shabby furnishings 

and leaking palace roofs in 

austerity Britain, according to 

the annual report on royal 

finances released on Monday. 

Official accounts for the 

royal family show that British 

taxpayers spent 32.1 million 

pounds ($51.7 million) supporting 

the monarchy in the 

past year, 5.3 percent less 

than the year before. Much of 

the saving came from reducing 

the bill for maintenance of 

royal residences, from 15.4 

million pounds to 11.9 million 

pounds. 

“The queen is very keen 

that the Royal Household 

should continue to reduce its 

expenditure in line with public 

expenditure reductions,” 

said the royal family’s treasurer, 

Sir Alan Reid. 

The report says the cost 

constraints mean maintenance 

will be reduced to 

“urgent reactive repairs”; 

plans to refurbish state rooms 

at Buckingham Palace and 

Windsor Castle will be 

scrapped. 

The queen did manage to 

repair the roof of the ballroom 

at Buckingham Palace 

last year for a total cost of 

800,000 pounds, and repair 

some rooms at Windsor 

Castle. The accounts are for 

the year ending March 2011 

and do not cover the costs of 

Prince William’s April 29 

wedding to Kate Middleton. 

Official figures for the royal 

Queen Elizabeth inspects the guard of honour on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Canada, recently. (AP) 

wedding have not been 

released, but the British taxpayer 

paid the security costs 

while the royal family and 

Middleton’s parents paid for 

the costs of the actual wedding, 

including the flowers, 

the carriage procession, the 

dresses, the service and the 

reception. 

According to the accounts, 

the queen held seven garden 

parties at Buckingham Palace 

and the Palace of 

Holyroodhouse in Scotland, 

for a total of 41,000 people, 

up from 36,500 the year 

before. 

Last week the government 

announced that the monarch 

must join her subjects in austerity 

measures aimed at 

reducing Britain’s deficit. 

Funding to the royal family 

will fall by about 9 percent by 

2015. Under the government’s 

plan, the queen’s 

household would receive an 

estimated 34 million pounds 

($55 million) in the financial 

year 2013-2014. The figure is 

roughly the same as now, and 

in effect would be a cut in her 

funding once inflation is 

taken into account. 

Under new rules, the 

amount the queen receives 

from taxpayers to meet the 

costs of salaries, palaces, travel 

and functions would more 

closely reflect the state of the 

public finances. Britain’s government 

is cutting 81 billion 

pounds ($130 billion) from 

public expenditure over the 

next four years under a strict 

program to reduce the country’s 

budget deficit. 

Japanese man 

admits to killing 

British teacher 

AFP 

TOKYO 

A JAPANESE man accused 

of raping and murdering 

British teacher Lindsay Ann 

Hawker, whose battered 

body was found in a sandfilled 

bathtub, on Monday 

admitted the killing but said 

it was accidental. Tatsuya 

Ichihashi, 32 — who spent 

more than two and a half 

years on the run after the 

2007 crime and underwent 

plastic surgery to evade capture 

— also admitted to raping 

his English-language 

teacher, media reports said. 

“I had no intention of 

murder, but I’m responsible 

for the death of Ms Lindsay,” 

Ichihashi said on his first 

day in court, Jiji Press 

reported. “I’m the one who 

scared her and left her dead. 

I’m really, really sorry.” 

If convicted of murder, 

Ichihashi could face the 

death penalty. As he entered 

court, the defendant knelt 

on the floor and deeply 

bowed twice to the family of 

Hawker, who had travelled 

to Japan to attend the trial in 

Chiba district court outside 

Tokyo, public broadcaster 

NHK reported. 

Ichihashi, wearing black 

jeans and a black shirt, 

stopped short of revealing 

details of the killing, only 

saying tearfully: “During the 

trial, I will speak about what 

happened.” Six citizen jurors 

and three professional 

judges were due to judge the 

high-profile case under 

Japan’s limited jury system. 

Hawker, from Brandon 

near Coventry, was 22 years 

old when her body — battered, 

naked and bound at 

the wrists and ankles with 

plastic cord — was found in 

the sand-filled bathtub on the 

balcony of Ichihashi’s apartment. 

The autopsy indicated 

she had died of suffocation. 

Ichihashi fled the scene of 

the crime in Ichikawa, 

Chiba, and went on the run, 

working in temporary jobs 

across the Japanese archipelago, 

between northern 

Aomori prefecture and farsouthern 

Okinawa. 

He used the money he 

earned with odd jobs to pay 

for multiple plastic surgery 

procedures, altering his eyelids 

and nose and having a 

facial mole removed in an 

effort to change his appearance. 

Ichihashi, whose 

wanted poster was a common 

sight at police and 

other public offices across 

the nation, was caught in 

November 2009 after a witness 

tip-off at an Osaka ferry 

terminal as he tried to catch 

a boat to Okinawa. 

Hawker’s parents, Bill and 

Julia, and her sister Lisa, who 

arrived in Japan on Sunday, 

will be allowed to speak as 

prosecution witnesses during 

the opening session, and 

again before sentencing, 

expected on July 21. Hawker’s 

family have repeatedly visited 

Japan and often voiced frustration 

at police for failing to 

catch the suspect. Police later 

raised a cash reward for information 

leading to his arrest to 

more than $100,000. 

Harry Potter 

author ends 

16-year spell 

with agent 

AFP 

LONDON 

HARRY Potter author JK 

Rowling said on Monday 

she had ended her 16-year 

association with the literary 

agent who helped to 

launch the multi-millionselling 

series of books 

about the boy wizard. 

Christopher Little began 

working with Rowling in 

1995, although it took until 

August 1996 to find a publisher 

for her first book, 

“Harry Potter and the 

Philosopher’s Stone”. Their 

partnership lasted through 

the seven-book series, 

which sold 400 million 

copies and made Rowling 

into one of the richest 

women in the world. 

But just days before the 

final film based on the 

books hits the big screen, 

the author confirmed their 

working relationship had 

come to an end, without 

giving any further explanation. 

“We can confirm that 

JK Rowling has terminated 

her association with the 

Christopher Little Literary 

Agency,” said a statement 

from a public relations 

agency on Rowling’s behalf. 

“This was a painful decision, 

especially as Ms 

Rowling had actively 

sought a different outcome 

for some weeks. However, 

it was not taken without 

good reason and it finally 

became unavoidable.” 

“Harry Potter and the 

Deathly Hallows: Part 2”, 

the final film in the epic 

saga starring Daniel 

Radcliffe as Harry and 

Emma Watson as 

Hermione Granger, has its 

world premiere in London 

on Thursday. 

Thatcher hails Reagan, as 

London statue unveiled 

AFP 

LONDON 

FORMER British prime minister 

Margaret Thatcher paid tribute to 

Ronald Reagan on Monday as a statue of 

the late US president was unveiled in 

London, even though frailty prevented 

her from attending. 

In a statement read on her behalf during 

the ceremony outside the US 

embassy, timed to coincide with US 

Independence Day celebrations, 

Thatcher said Reagan was a “true leader 

for our times” as well as a personal 

friend. Former US secretary of state 

Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign 

Secretary William Hague were among 

the dignitaries attending the unveiling of 

a 10-foot (three-metre) statue of Reagan 

to mark 100 years since his birth. 

He died in 2004 at the age of 93, having 

served as president from 1981 to 

1989. Thatcher, who was prime minister 

from 1979 to 1990, had been invited to 

the ceremony but was unable to attend. 

She has suffered a series of minor 

strokes and has dementia, and has not 

been seen in public for months. 

But in a statement read out by Hague 

on her behalf at the embassy in 

Grosvenor Square, she said of her Cold 

War ally: “Ronald Reagan was a great 

president and a great man — a true 

leader for our times. “He held clear principles 

and acted upon them with purpose. 

Through his strength and his conviction 

he brought millions of people to 

freedom as the Iron Curtain finally came 

down. “It was a pleasure to be his colleague 

and his friend and I hope that this 

statue will be a reminder to future generations 

of the debt we owe him.” 

Reagan oversaw the end of the nuclear 

stand-off between the United States and 

the Soviet Union during the Cold War, 

and a piece of the Berlin Wall will be 

installed in front of the statue as a 

reminder. Attending as a representative 

of eagan’s widow Nancy, Rice paid tribute 

to the “special relationship” between 

Britain and the United States, saying it 

held because of a commitment to democratic 

values, which both Reagan and 

Thatcher defended. “The special relationship 

is special because we have 

always understood that it is the irrepressible 

human spirit that ultimately 

triumphs because the desire for freedom 

is indeed universal,” she said. 

(From right) US Ambassador to London Louis S Susman, British Foreign Secretary William 

Hague and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in London, on Monday. (EPA)


06 www.qatar-tribune.com PHILIPPINES / EAST ASIA 

Thai army to respect poll verdict 

AFP 

BANGKOK 

AP 

KUALA LUMPUR 

Yingluck Shinawatra (centre) with Wannarat Charnnukul (left) of the Chart Pattana Puea Pandin Party, Sanan Kachornprasart (second left), chief adviser of the Chat Thai 

Pattana, Yongyuth Wichaidit (second right), Puea Thai party leader, and Chao Maneewong (right), party leader of Palang Chon, in Bangkok, on Monday. (AFP) 

THAILAND’S powerful military 

will respect a landslide 

election win by allies of 

Thaksin Shinawatra, who it 

toppled five years ago, the 

defence minister said on 

Monday, easing fears of another 

coup. Thaksin’s sister 

Yingluck Shinawatra, a 44- 

year-old political novice now 

set to become the kingdom’s 

first female premier, 

announced a coalition deal 

with four smaller parties to 

bolster her hold on power. 

The election and its aftermath 

is a major test of 

Thailand’s ability to emerge 

from a long political crisis triggered 

by Thaksin’s 2006 overthrow 

that last year saw the 

country’s worst civil violence 

in decades. Thailand’s outgoing 

defence minister, himself a 

retired general, said that the 

army accepted the election 

outcome, easing fears of fresh 

military intervention in a 

country that has seen almost 

as many coups as elections. 

“I have talked to military leaders. 

We will allow politicians to 

work it out. The military will not 

get involved,” General Prawit 

Wongsuwon told AFP. 

“The people have spoken 

clearly so the military cannot do 

anything. We accept it.” 

Thaksin has vowed not to seek 

revenge over a deadly military 

crackdown on his “Red Shirt” 

supporters in Bangkok last year 

that claimed the lives of more 

than 90 people and left major 

downtown buildings in flames. 

But, in a sign of the difficult balancing 

act he faces, the Reds 

urged their political allies to 

establish the facts behind the 

army operation, which saw soldiers 

firing live ammunition 

storm the Reds’ rally camp. 

“During the election campaign, 

political parties have to 

present their policies to people, 

but once they become the government, 

it’s the government’s 

job to find the truth,” said a 

Red Shirt leader, Nattawut 

Saikuar. The Puea Thai Party 

— masterminded by Thaksin 

from his self-imposed exile in 

Dubai — won 265 seats out of 

500 in the lower house, the 

election commission said 

Monday after the vote count 

was completed. 

Malaysian PM to 

meet Pope, plans 

diplomatic ties 

MALAYSIA’S prime minister 

plans to meet Pope 

Benedict XVI this month as 

part of efforts to establish 

diplomatic ties with the 

Vatican, a government official 

said on Monday. It 

would be only the second 

meeting between a leader of 

Muslim-majority Malaysia 

and the pope. Former 

Prime Minister Mahathir 

Mohamad met Pope John 

Paul II at the Vatican in 

2002 for talks focusing on 

Christian-Muslim relations 

and the Middle East. 

The planned meeting 

comes following tensions 

between Malaysia’s 

Muslims and religious 

minorities in recent years 

over complaints of religious 

discrimination. The Roman 

Catholic Church’s newspaper 

in Malaysia has been 

embroiled in a protracted 

legal battle against a government 

ban on the use of 

“Allah” as a Malay-language 

translation for God. 

A representative of Prime 

Minister Najib Razak said a 

meeting with Benedict is 

scheduled for shortly after 

July 15, when Najib wraps 

up a visit to London. The 

exact location of the talks 

has not been determined. 

Establishing diplomatic 

links is expected to be 

among the subjects discussed, 

the official said on 

condition of anonymity 

because he was not authorized 

to make public statements. 

Malaysia is one of 

about 16 countries ‚including 

China, Afghanistan, 

Myanmar, North Korea, 

Saudi Arabia, Somalia and 

Vietnam‚ that currently have 

no diplomatic relations with 

the Holy See. However, the 

Vatican has an “Apostolic 

Delegate” who serves as its 

liaison with Malaysia. 

Roman Catholics and 

other Christians comprise 

nearly 10 percent of 

Malaysia’s 28 million people. 

Nearly two-thirds of the 

population are ethnic 

Malay Muslims, while other 

minorities include ethnic 

Chinese and Indian 

Buddhists and Hindus. 

It was not clear if Najib 

would speak to the pope 

about Malaysia’s court tussle 

over the use of “Allah.” A 

December 2009 court verdict 

granted non-Muslims 

the right to use the word, 

but anger among some 

Muslims over the ruling 

sparked an unprecedented 

string of arson attacks and 

vandalism that mostly targeted 

churches in January 

2010. Some Muslims insist 

that using “Allah” in 

Christian literature might 

confuse Muslims and tempt 

them to convert. The government 

has appealed the 

court verdict. 

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak with wife Rosmah 

Mansor, in Kuala Lumpur, recently. (REUTERS) 

That was well ahead of the 

159 secured by outgoing premier 

Abhisit Vejjajiva’s establishment-backed 

Democrats, 

who conceded defeat after 

two and a half years in power. 

Abhisit resigned as party 

leader after the results. 

However, Puea Thai was 

quick to reach out to potential 

partners, partly to protect 

against possible future defections 

or the disqualification of 

some of its winning candidates 

in Sunday’s vote. 

Together the five coalition 

partners hold 299 of the 500 

seats. The victory by Thaksin’s 

allies has reshaped a fractured 

political landscape, but the 

party must tread carefully if it 

AFP 

MANILA 

THE Philippines said on 

Monday it would ask the 

United States for long-range 

patrol aircraft and other modern 

military hardware to help 

defend its claims to disputed 

waters in the South China Sea. 

Defence Secretary Voltaire 

Gazmin said he hoped to 

receive the first pieces of equipment 

within the year, although 

it was not yet certain how the 

cash-strapped government 

could afford to buy the new 

weapons. “We are looking at 

modern equipment... with the 

AP 

TIMIKA (INDONESIA) 

THOUSANDS of workers 

kicked off a weeklong strike at 

Freeport-McMoRan’s gold 

and copper mine in eastern 

Indonesia on Monday, 

demanding higher wages and 

protesting the dismissal of 

their union leaders. 

The US mining giant insisted 

the work stoppage at the 

Grasberg mine in the remote 

province of Papua would not 

affect production. Grasberg is 

one of the world’s largest gold 

and copper mines, but has 

frequently seen violent worker 

protests, while environmental 

groups complain of 

alleged pollution and unfair 

distribution of profits. 

Union official Juli 

Parorongan said up to 10,000 

workers from the mine were 

expected to join the strike 

after labour groups and management 

failed to re-negotiate 

contracts seeking wage 

increases from $1.8 to $15 per 

hour. “The company ignored 

our rights for a better wages 

and conditions,” Parorongan 

said as 2,000 workers 

dressed in their work clothes 

wants to avoid alienating 

other key players such as the 

military. Thaksin insisted 

Monday that he had no plan 

to return to office himself, and 

said that setting foot back in 

Thailand was not a priority. 

“I’ve been with the party too 

long, and I really want to 

retire,” Thaksin told reporters 

in Dubai where he lives in selfimposed 

exile to avoid a jail 

term for corruption. 

“Going back home is not a 

major concern. It is not a priority,” 

he added. A more important 

factor may be whether the 

new government pursues legal 

or other steps against the generals 

over the bloody crackdown 

against last year’s mass 

and wearing red ribbons 

started gathering in front of 

the mine’s gates on the first 

day of their peaceful sit-in. 

“They even fired our union 

very long-range patrol aircraft 

and also watercraft so we can 

guard our territory,” Gazmin 

told reporters. 

He stressed that the 

Philippines was not seeking old 

US equipment, which it has 

relied on in the past, but wanted 

new items in the face of 

recent tensions with China 

over the South China Sea and 

the Spratly islands. 

The United States has said it 

will study the list and see what 

kind of equipment the 

Philippines can afford and is 

capable of operating, Gazmin 

added. “When you talk of new 

equipment you talk of operational 

costs. With the very limited 

budget that we have, we 

have to see if we can afford it,” 

he said. Gazmin said last week 

the Philippines was looking for 

new fighter aircraft, six years 

after retiring its Vietnam Warvintage 

F5 fighter jets. 

Tensions in the strategic and 

resource-rich South China Sea 

have escalated in recent weeks, 

with the Philippines and 

Vietnam voicing alarm at what 

they say are increasingly forceful 

Chinese actions there. 

They include accusations of 

Chinese forces opening fire on 

Filipino fishermen, shadowing 

an oil exploration vessel 

leaders, who were struggling 

for our welfare.” 

Parorongan justified asking 

for a nearly tenfold increase, 

saying that was what Freeport 

opposition demonstrations in 

the heart of Bangkok. “I believe 

the military leaders are more 

concerned about their fates... 

than about Thaksin’s return,” 

said Thongchai Winichakul, a 

professor at the University of 

Wisconsin-Madison. 

“The Thaksin issue is a 

smoke-screen to hide their real 

concern — whether they would 

be investigated and possibly 

punished.” The populist 

Thaksin is loathed by the 

nation’s elites who see him as 

corrupt and a threat to the 

revered monarchy. An 

amnesty for the billionaire telecoms 

tycoon would risk infuriating 

many in the Bangkokbased 

establishment in government, 

military and palace circles 

and could prompt protests 

by the royalist “Yellow Shirt” 

movement. Thaksin, who 

despite being hugely divisive 

in Thailand has presided over 

victories in the nation’s last 

five elections, called on all 

sides to respect the result and 

said he did not “want to cause 

trouble” by returning. 

Investors reacted positively 

to the election outcome and 

formation of a coalition, with 

the SET stock index soaring 

4.69 percent to end at 

1,090.28. “The chance that 

there will be more street 

protests is slim,” said 

Rakpong Chaisuparakul, a 

strategist at KGI Securities. 

Philippines seeks modern 

military hardware from US 

employed by a Philippine firm, 

and putting up structures in 

areas claimed by the 

Philippines. The South China 

Sea includes the Spratlys, a 

chain of islands believed to sit 

on vast mineral resources. 

Aside from the Philippines, 

China and Vietnam, the area is 

also wholly or partially claimed 

by Brunei, Malaysia and 

Taiwan. 

Although the Philippines has 

troops on some of the Spratly 

islands, it has the weakest military 

forces in the region with 

no fighter aircraft and mainly 

World War II-vintage US ships 

to guard its claim. 

Indonesian gold miners strike work at Freeport 

Thousands of gold and copper mine workers hold a rally, in Timika, Indonesia, on Monday. (AFP) 

workers elsewhere earned, 

though that could not be 

immediately confirmed. 

Thousands of other striking 

workers, marching from the 

6 killed in 

Philippine 

landslide 

DPA 

MANILA 

SIX people were killed on 

Monday and several 

more missing in a landslide 

in the southern 

Philippines, police andmilitary 

said. The victims 

were travelling on a road 

in the outskirts of 

Valencia City in 

Bukidnon province, 855 

kilometers south of 

Manila, when aportion of 

a nearby mountain collapsed. 

Superintendent Canilo 

Fuentes, Bukidnon police 

operations chief, said the 

accident was triggered by 

several hours of heavy 

rains that started late 

Sunday. 

Lieutenant Colonel Jose 

Maria Cuerpo, an army 

battalion commander, 

said troops had been dispatched 

to the area to 

help in rescue operations.” 

We have retrieved six 

bodies,” he said. “We are 

trying to determine how 

many more are missing.”Cuerpo 

said at least 

five motorized rickshaws 

carrying an unknown 

number of passengers 

were buried in the landslide. 

The mud had also 

swept away a number of 

pedestrians, he said.” 

We have not yet recovered 

any survivors.” The 

southern Philippines has 

been battered by heavy 

rains since last week, 

causing a flash flood in 

the southern city of 

Davao that killed 31 people 

and displaced tens of 

thousands. 

Meanwhile, in a separate 

incident, three communist 

rebels were killed 

in a clash with government 

troops in the central 

Philippines, an army 

commander said on 

Monday.One soldier was 

wounded in combat on 

Sunday in the village of 

Tacpaonear Guihulngan 

City, Negros Oriental 

province, 600 kilometres 

southof Manila. Colonel 

Jonas Sumagaysay said 

the soldiers were on 

patrol when they encountered 

a group of about 15 

guerrillas. Communist 

rebels have been fighting 

the government since the 

late 1960s, making the 

movement one of the 

longest-running leftist 

insurgencies in Asia. 

company’s mine area 

Tembagapura, were expected 

to join the strikers, though 

union officials said some 

roads were being blocked by 

police, slowing their journey. 

The US mining 

giant insisted the 

work stoppage at 

the Grasberg mine 

in the remote 

province of Papua 

would not affect 

production. Grasberg 

is one of the 

world’s largest 

gold and copper 

mines. 

Freeport’s spokesman in 

Indonesia, Ramdani Sirait, 

told The Associated Press that 

the strike was illegal. 

He urged workers to return 

to their jobs while the company 

continued to hold talks 

with union leaders to address 

their grievances. “We do not 

anticipate any impact to production,” 

Sirait added in an 

emailed statement. Freeport 

McMoRan Copper & Gold 

holds just over 90 percent of 

the Grasberg mine, while the 

rest is owned by the 

Indonesian government.

SOUTH ASIA 



Police disperse opposition protesters in Dhaka 

AP 

DHAKA 

POLICE in Bangladesh’s 

capital on Monday fired tear 

gas and charged with batons 

to disperse hundreds of 

opposition supporters 

protesting against an arrest 

warrant of a former prime 

minister’s son. 

Witnesses said several 

people were injured in the 

clashes in front of the headquarters 

of former Prime 

Minister Khaleda Zia’s 

Bangladesh Nationalist 

Party. 

Two television stations 

report up to 30 people were 

injured, and the opposition 

chief whip in parliament was 

among them. 

NTV station reported that 

30 people were injured, while 

Somoy station said 25 were 

hurt. Jahangir Alam, an 

opposition supporter, told 

The Associated Press by 

phone from the scene that the 

security officials acted immediately 

after the activists 

started marching through the 

streets after a rally. 

Dhaka’s protests were part 

of Zia’s party’s planned agitation 

across the country. 

A court on Sunday ordered 

the arrest of Tarique 

Rahman after police charged 

him with masterminding a 

grenade attack on a rally that 

killed 24 supporters of thenopposition 

leader Sheikh 

Hasina in 2004. More than 

two dozen grenades ripped 

through the rally being 

addressed by Hasina, who 

was unhurt. 

Hasina is the current 

prime minister, while Zia 

held the office when the 

attack occurred. 

Also on Monday, three former 

police chiefs charged in 

the case were sent to jail 

pending trial, after they 

appeared in a magistrate 

court to seek bail. 

Denying their bail appeals, 

the court asked the authorities 

to arrest and send them 

to jail, said prosecution 

lawyer Syed Rezaur Rahman. 

The investigators claimed 

Tarique Rahman planned 

the attack to eliminate political 

opponents. Zia’s party 

denies the allegation. 

The party plans a series of 

protests, including a 48-hour 

general strike starting across 

the country on Wednesday. 

The country’s largest 

Islamic party, Jamaat-e- 

Islami, supports the planned 

strike. Rahman, a central 

leader of the opposition 

party, has been living in 

London since 2008. 

He faces several other corruption 

charges. 

Bangladeshi riot police extinguish a fire set by protesters during a strike, in Dhaka, on Sunday. (AFP) 

Dhaka bans film 

over villain’s dress 

AFP 

DHAKA 

BANGLADESHI censors 

have banned a film in 

which the main villain is 

shown wearing a jacket 

associated with the ruling 

Awami League party, saying 

it could trigger violence 

in the country. 

The film Ridoy Bhanga 

Dhew (Heart Breaking 

Wave), which was shot in 

Thailand, was refused a 

screening permit as it 

“mocks” ruling party officials, 

the vice-chairman of 

the Film Censor Board, 

Surat Kumar Sarker told 

AFP on Monday. 

“We have rejected the 

film because it clearly violates 

the country’s film censor 

rules. It goes against a 

political philosophy of the 

country,” Sarker said. 

The main villain in the 

film is shown wearing a 

“Mujib coat” — a distinctive, 

black sleeveless jacket 

named after Bangladesh’s 

founding leader, Sheikh 

Mujibur Rahman, who 

wore it when addressing 

political rallies. 

It is usually worn only by 

Awami League members 

keen to show their party 

allegiance. Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina is Sheikh 

Rahman’s daughter. 

“There is no need for the 

character to wear this 

dress. It could spark violence,” 

said Akanda 

Sanawar Morshed, a filmmaker 

and member of the 

censor board. 

Morshed also noted that 

a hero in the film was 

shown wearing a safari suit 

of the style favoured by 

members of the opposition 

Bangladesh Nationalist 

Party, led by Hasina’s bitter 

enemy Khaleda Zia. 

The film’s director Gazi 

Mazharul Anwar told AFP 

that, while he was a member 

of the BNP, he had 

never set out to mock anyone. 

“Politics has nothing 

to do with the film,” he said, 

adding that he would 

appeal the ban. 

In 2007, Bangladesh’s 

then army-backed government 

banned a movie after 

a character — playing the 

role of a criminal — was 

shown in military fatigues. 

One more MP 

held in Nepal 

passport scam 

AFP 

KATHMANDU 

A THIRD Nepalese lawmaker 

was arrested on Monday over 

alleged involvement in the forgery 

and sale of diplomatic 

passports, police said. 

Nepal is one of the few countries 

that gives diplomatic 

passports to all its lawmakers, 

and the arrest was part of a 

major police investigation into 

a racket involving the sale of 

the passports to wealthy 

Nepalese. 

Two other MPs are already 

in custody on suspicion of 

involvement in the scam, 

which allows buyers of the 

passports to gain easier access 

to Western countries by posing 

as lawmakers. Police said ruling 

party lawmaker Narad 

Muni Rana, the latest to be 

arrested, had applied for two 

diplomatic passports and sold 

one to the traffickers behind 

the scam. 

“We seized Rana’s passport 

from the racketeers,” the head 

of the organised crime division 

Rajendra Singh Bhandari said. 

“It seems they were buying 

diplomatic passports from the 

lawmakers, finding people willing 

to pay up to one million.” 

UK soldier missing in Afghanistan 

AP 

KANDAHAR 

A BRITISH soldier who is part 

of the NATO-led international 

force fighting in southern 

Afghanistan went missing 

Monday in the country’s 

restive south and an extensive 

operation is under way to find 

him, Britain’s Ministry of 

Defence said. 

Taliban spokesman Qari 

Yousef Ahmadi claimed insurgents 

captured the soldier during 

a firefight with NATO 

troops in the Babaji area of 

Helmand province and that he 

died in the crossfire. Ahmadi 

said that six other NATO 

troops died in the gun fight. 

The Taliban claim could not 

be independently confirmed. 

NATO said the coalition has 

no reports of a gun battle in 

Babaji on Monday. NATO said 

its soldiers were still searching 

for the missing British soldier. 

British officials said the serviceman 

was based in Helmand 

province and was reported 

missing in early Monday morning. 

It did not release the soldier’s 

name but said his family 

has been notified and is being 

updated as the search continues. 

Only one soldier from the 

NATO-led force is presently 

believed to be in captivity. Bowe 

Bergdahl, a 25-year-old US 

Army sergeant from Hailey, 

Idaho, was taken prisoner June 

30, 2009, in Afghanistan. He is 

believed held in Pakistan. 

Although the Helmand 

provincial capital, Lashkar 

Gah, is scheduled to transition 

security operations to Afghan 

control this month, the 

province remains a particularly 

violent insurgent stronghold. 

Also Monday, the outgoing 

US commander in Afghanistan 

marked his last Fourth of July 

in uniform by speaking to 

Taliban spokesman 

Qari Yousef Ahmadi 

claimed insurgents 

captured the soldier 

during a firefight 

with NATO troops in 

the Babaji area of 

Helmand province 

and that he died in 

the crossfire. 

American troops during a reenlistment 

ceremony in the 

south of the country. 

Gen. David Petraeus, who 

was recently confirmed as the 

next director of the CIA, told 

the 235 troops re-enlisting in 

Kandahar province that they 

have achieved progress on the 

battlefield but that “much work 

remains” to be done in 

Afghanistan. “You raised your 

right hand and said ‘Send me,’ 

and today you raised your right 

hand again and said ‘Send me 

again, if needed,’” he told the 

soldiers on America’s 235th 

birthday. “I cannot say how 

impressive your action is,” he 

said. “It is the most meaningful 

display of patriotism possible.” 

Petraeus will be replaced by 

US Marine Lt. Gen. John Allen 

even as 33,000 US troops 

begin to withdraw from 

Afghanistan, the start of 

President Barack Obama’s 

promised withdrawal of all 

combat troops by 2014. 

Later on Monday, Petraeus 

is to speak at another re-enlistment 

ceremony at Bagram Air 

Field, just north of Kabul. 

In Islamabad, the foreign 

ministers of Afghanistan and 

Pakistan issued a joint statement 

condemning attacks by 

Islamic militants along the 

Afghanistan-Pakistan border 

in the Dir, Bajaur, Mohmand, 

and Kunar regions. 

The statement was a shift in 

tone after weeks of accusations 

by Afghanistan that the 

Pakistani military had 

launched hundreds of rockets 

into eastern Afghanistan, 

killing at least 40 Afghan civilians. 

Pakistani officials had 

accused NATO and 

Afghanistan of failing to eradicate 

Afghan sanctuaries of militants 

currently staging attacks 

on Pakistan, killing dozens of 

security troops. 

“Pakistan desires the closest 

of relations with Afghanistan,” 

read a statement from the 

Pakistani Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs. “We believe that both 

countries are faced with common 

challenges relating to militancy 

and terrorism which 

require deep and close cooperation.” 

The two countries are 

planning future meetings to 

enhance coordination between 

each other and NATO, according 

to the statement. 

Meanwhile, NATO said a 

service member was killed 

Monday in a bomb attack in 

eastern Afghanistan. The death 

brings the number of fatalities 

in Afghanistan this year to 271, 

three of them this month. 

On Sunday, three U.S. 

Senators visiting Afghanistan 

criticized the pace of withdrawal 

and expressed concerns that 

it may leave NATO with too 

few troops to deal a decisive 

blow to the insurgency. 

“I believe that the planned 

drawdown is an unnecessary 

risk,” John McCain, a 

Republican from Arizona, said. 

McCain arrived in Afghanistan 

with Sens. Joe Lieberman and 

Lindsay Graham. McCain lost 

to Obama in the 2008 presidential 

race. 

Suu Kyi tests freedom with rare trip to ancient temple 

AFP 

BAGAN (MYANMAR) 

DEMOCRACY icon Aung San 

Suu Kyi visited an ancient temple 

city in central Myanmar 

with her son on Monday, in a 

tentative first test of her freedom 

to travel following her 

release by the junta. 

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, 

whose previously 

announced plan for a political 

tour prompted stern warnings 

from the regime, was greeted 

at Bagan airport by crowds of 

journalists and what appeared 

to be plain-clothes police. 

It is the first time Suu Kyi has 

ventured outside the main city 

of Yangon where she lives since 

being freed from seven years of 

house arrest last November, 

but politics are not officially on 

the agenda. Suu Kyi did not 

make any statements upon 

arrival and headed straight for 

her hotel with her youngest son 

Kim Aris, who told AFP he was 

“very happy” to be in Bagan, 

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (right) welcomed at Bagan Hotel, in Bagan, Myanmar, on Monday. (AP) 

one of Myanmar’s top tourist 

attractions. “It’s my first holiday 

in 13 years. She also needs 

a break. We’re going to stay 

here for four days. I’m very 

happy,” said the 33-year-old 

British national, who was 

reunited with his mother last 

year after a decade apart. 

Suu Kyi’s earlier plan to 

launch a political tour prompted 

a demand from the regime 

for her National League for 

Democracy (NLD) party to stay 

out of politics, and a warning 

that “chaos and riots” could 

ensue if she went ahead. 

That tour has been delayed 

by a few weeks until the weather 

conditions are right, Suu Kyi 

said last week. 

Security is a major concern 

because Suu Kyi’s convoy was 

attacked in 2003 during a 

political trip, in an ambush 

apparently organised by a 

regime frightened by her popularity. 

While her stay in Bagan 

has been described as a private 

visit, observers said that any 

activity that put Suu Kyi in contact 

with the people of 

Myanmar could have repercussions. 

“Any attempt by her to 

travel beyond the regime’s 

comfort zone of the NLD headquarters 

and her residence is 

going to take on political significance,” 

said Maung Zarni, a 

researcher at the London 

School of Economics. 

Her travels will also offer 

insight into how much support 

the 66-year-old still enjoys following 

her long absence from 

public view and an election that 

has left her sidelined from politics. 

She attracted large crowds 

of supporters when she travelled 

during previous periods of 

freedom. “It will test her popularity, 

whether she can still have 

a role in politics after being 

locked up for many years,” said 

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a 

research fellow at the Institute 

of Southeast Asian Studies in 

Singapore. 

“It will also test the limits of 

the regime. She knows that the 

military can stop her at any 

time.” A top Myanmar diplomat 

in the United States told 

Radio Free Asia on Sunday — 

after defecting — that the 

regime’s warnings to Suu Kyi 

“must be taken seriously”. 

Kyaw Win, who was the second 

highest-ranking official at 

Myanmar’s embassy in 

Washington, also said the 

regime had failed to begin its 

transition to democracy following 

the country’s first elections 

in two decades in November. 

Suu Kyi’s NLD party won a 

landslide election victory in 

1990 that was never recognised 

by the junta. The party was disbanded 

by the military rulers 

last year because it boycotted 

the recent vote, saying the rules 

were unfair. The junta’s political 

proxies claimed an overwhelming 

victory in the poll, 

which was marred by widespread 

complaints of cheating 

and intimidation.



OPINION 

HAMAD BIN SUHAIM AL THANI 

CHAIRMAN 

DR HASSAN MOHAMMED AL ANSARI 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006 

PRINTED AT ALI BIN ALI PRINTING PRESS 

ADEL ALI BIN ALI 

MANAGING DIRECTOR 

AJIT KUMAR JHA 

EDITOR 

Gaza’s Sea of Spin 

The besieged strip of land remains deeply sad and deprived 

IT is heartening to note that two 

French journalists held hostage by 

the Afghan Taliban for some 18 

months have finally been released, 

reportedly after the payment of a 

huge ransom running into millions of 

dollars. Welcome as this development 

undoubtedly is for all concerned 

about the safety of the abductees, it 

again raises questions often asked 

before about cross-border linkages 

between militants operating in 

Afghanistan and on this side of the 

Durand Line. Consider the fact that 

the two journalists, Herve Ghesquiere 

and Stephane Taponier, were held 

captive in Afghanistan but the ransom 

was paid in Pakistan by as yet unidentified 

quarters. 

Though nothing is known for 

certain at this point, chances are that 

the transaction may have taken place in 

the tribal belt or a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 

town from where the militants had possibly 

been assured safe passage once the 

deal was done. 

It is understandable that the negotiations 

were kept secret, for matters 

could have gone horribly wrong in the 

event of public disclosure or, in the 

worst-case scenario, armed action. Be 

Eastside 

Journalists’ release 

New questions need to be asked, and answered 

(The Dawn) 

that as it may, and perhaps rightly so 

because preventing harm to the 

abductees was of the essence, it seems 

implausible that negotiations could have 

come to this pass without the cooperation 

of at least a few people in positions 

of authority in Pakistan. 

In short, while parts of Pakistan’s 

tribal belt and swathes of Afghanistan 

come across as lawless and uncontrollable, 

it also appears that there is a 

method to the madness. Apparently not 

every militant is unapproachable for 

the authorities and deals can be struck 

if the price is right. Also, is Pakistan 

considered by the Taliban to be a relatively 

safe place for conducting 

‘business’? 

Terrorist and militant outfits operating 

under the umbrella of the 

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan have long 

been suspected of ‘raising’ funds 

through bank heists and cases of kidnapping 

for ransom across Pakistan. 

This is how the Taliban are seemingly 

supplementing their income at a time 

when the anti-opium drive in 

Afghanistan is having a significant 

effect, even though it may not have 

crippled the business. New questions 

need to be asked, and answered. 

SOME see a parallel with the 

Exodus, the ship filled with 

Jewish refugees that tried to 

break the British blockade of 

Palestine in 1947 and helped 

sway world opinion toward Zionism. 

Others are struck by the insistence on 

transporting basic aid — food and 

cement — when it is no longer needed. 

Still others note the way the Israeli 

authorities portray the organisers as 

violent Islamists when most are middleaged 

European pacifists. 

Almost everything about the flotilla 

stuck in Greece and waiting to challenge 

Israel’s blockade of Gaza seems to be a 

parable for something else, part of an 

unstated effort to recast the Israeli- 

Palestinian narrative in extreme terms. 

Instead of helping to clarify what Gaza 

needs and how it might build a future, 

the saga has merely brought out the 

public relations demons on all sides. 

Ostensibly the 10 or so boats, with 

several hundred advocates from more 

than a dozen countries, are trying to 

take goods to Gaza because of a siege 

imposed by Israel and Egypt to pressure 

Hamas, the Islamist ruler there. A year 

ago a similar flotilla was stopped by the 

Israeli Navy, and after commandos 

boarded and scuffles ensued, nine 

activists were killed. 

The international outrage that followed 

helped force an easing of the 

siege. One result, largely unacknowledged 

by the flotilla leaders: far more 

goods have gone into Gaza over the past 

year, and while the 1.6 million people 

there still need many things, basic supplies 

are not among them. 

Israel is therefore quick to say that 

Gaza is well provided for and does not 

need any flotilla. If it still wants to bring 

in aid, it should take it to either Israel or 

Egypt and it will be delivered by truck. 

Sea access must remain blocked to prevent 

weapons smuggling. 

The Israeli position defies a brutal 

truth: last year’s flotilla made a big difference 

for the people of Gaza — at a terrible 

cost in lives — by refocusing international 

attention on their plight and 

forcing a change in Israeli policy. Today, 

twice as many goods enter from Israel 

as before. Nonetheless, Gaza remains a 

deeply sad and deprived place. 

“The focus on humanitarian aid by 

both flotilla organisers and the Israeli 

government is infuriating and misleading,” 

Gisha, an Israeli human rights 

group focused on Gaza, said in a statement. 

“There is no shortage of food in 

Gaza, but economic recovery is blocked 

by sweeping restrictions.” 

The Exodus analogy supports a certain 

political and public relations strategy. 

In July 1947, when Britain ruled 

Palestine and the number of Jews 

allowed in was severely limited, the 

ship, with 4,500 Jewish refugees from 

Europe, tried to get through. British 

forces boarded it, killed three people, 

wounded dozens and essentially 

destroyed the ship as it listed in Haifa 

harbour. 

The British ultimately sent the passengers 

to Hamburg. The sight of thousands 

of Jewish refugees shipped to 

Germany soon after the Holocaust 

sparked international outrage and sympathy 

for the Zionist cause, a key goal of 

the trip. “The Exodus showed that if the 

British are callous enough to send Jews 

back to Germany, the only ones who 

should be in charge of the fate of the 

Jews are the Jews themselves,” 

observed MM Silver, an Israeli historian 

and the author of ‘Our Exodus.’ 

“Palestinian forces are trying to make 

the same point through the flotilla, that 

Israel has no right to control the fate of 

Palestinians.” 

Several months after the Exodus, the 

United Nations General Assembly voted 

for the establishment of two states in 

Palestine, Jewish and Arab, the key 

diplomatic moment in Israel’s history. 

The Palestinian leadership rejected that 

resolution, but this September plans to 

ask the United Nations for recognition 

of its statehood with the 1967 lines, a 

move strongly opposed by Israel. 

Israel, for its part, has been campaigning 

against the flotilla and perhaps 

doing more — some of the boats have 

ETHAN BRONNER | THE NEW YORK TIMES 

suffered sabotage. Israel says the 

Exodus is the wrong analogy; the flotilla 

is aimed at delegitimising Israel and 

killing its soldiers. 

“The flotilla is entirely designed to 

attack Israel’s image around the world,” 

said Yuli Edelstein, minister for public 

diplomacy. “We know that there are 

representatives of different terror 

groups on their way to join the flotilla.” 

Israeli military officials have told 

newspapers that some flotilla participants 

plan to pour sacks of sulfur on 

Israeli commandos and set them afire. 

The flotilla organisers have denied it. 

A government news release noted 

that Edelstein had participated in a simulation 

exercise for the flotilla in which 

Israeli forces were attacked. The 

description of the simulation indicates 

how the government expects the harsh 

information war to play out: “As the 

events were taking place, the media — 

with emphasis on the Internet, 

Facebook and Twitter — were flooded 

with mendacious reports (by private 

users, Hamas and others among Israel’s 

enemies).” 

Mendacity has already reared its 

head. An Israeli actor put up a YouTube 

clip saying that he was a gay activist 

rejected by the flotilla because of his 

sexual orientation. The video was 

exposed as a fake. Israeli officials, who 

had promoted the clip on Twitter and 

Facebook, said they had been duped. 

(Ethan Bronner is the 

Jerusalem bureau chief of The 

New York Times) 

‘Bearish’ at times as we may grow 

Feeling compassion for other animals helps us tune in to the animal parts of ourselves 

MY heart goes out to Gus, the 

famously neurotic polar 

bear in the Central Park 

Zoo, who used to swim endless 

laps around his pool. 

He’d dive to the bottom in a froth of 

bubbles, surge across and then surface 

like a bear obsessed. He’d backstroke 

to the other side, and with great paws 

splashing, dive down to the bottom and 

circle around again. Some wags called 

him the ‘bipolar bear,’ but most zoogoers 

sensed that he felt bored, pentup, 

out of his element and depressed. 

A high-profile animal psychologist, 

called in by zoo officials, began treating 

Gus in 1994 with toys, games, more 

challenging mealtimes and a better 

designed habitat. Soon Gus seemed like 

his old self again, lounging and playing 

with his longtime companion, Ida. 

But when Ida died recently from liver 

disease at age 25, Gus grew listless, 

slouching around his habitat and 

swimming little, obviously confused 

and greatly disturbed by her disappearance. 

In the wild, male polar bears tend to 

be loners, who wander long distances 

through sketchy weather and over 

shape-shifting ice, with drifting pack 

ice as home. They go with the floe. But 

for 24 years, Ida was a pal with whom 

Gus cavorted and related to in countless 

ursine ways. 

Strangers when they met, they 

nonetheless had much in common, 

including sheer tonnage. Surrounded 

by jabbering monkeys (us), they alone 

fathomed one another right down to 

their inner seasons, including the 

annual lethargy of ‘walking hibernation,’ 

when polar bears chill out and 

become less animated, but don’t sleep 

the months away like other bears. Gus’ 

array of highly evolved gestures, 

sounds, skills and moods found its 

match in Ida. 

All the rough and tumble of wet fur 

and snouts, the weightiness and float, 

the nubby nonskid (think spa-slipper) 

feet, and exquisite sense of smell, provided 

a sensory oasis that polar bears 

in the wild not only respond to but pursue 

with a fervour we humans might 

call passionate longing. Small matter if 

‘passionate’ and ‘longing’ are only an 

unconscious hormonal tugging in the 

cells. It drives polar bears and other 

animals with a fierce impetuosity equal 

to our own. 

Gus probably misses Ida’s familiar 

scent, since polar bears are wizards of 

smell who will march over ice ridges 

for 40 miles to reach prey they’ve 

whiffed, can tell which way a human 

went 14 hours before, and follow a 

breeding female simply by sniffing her 

tracks. 

Many animals have singular personalities, 

preferences and idiosyncrasies. 

When they play together, they reveal 

different aspects of their temperaments, 

just as we do with friends and 

loved ones. So when Ida died, Gus not 

only lost his old mate, he lost those 

parts of himself that related to irretrievable 

parts of her. Could a new 

friend, welcome and distracting as one 

might be, fully replace the longtime 

bond he had with Ida? 

We may never find out. The zoo is 

DIANE ACKERMAN | THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Many animals have 

singular personalities, 

preferences and idiosyncrasies. 

When they 

play together, they 

reveal different aspects 

of their temperaments, 

just as we do with 

friends and loved ones 

not likely to provide Gus with a new 

sidekick or mate. Wild polar bears are 

protected, so zoos must buy, barter or 

finagle bears from other zoos, where, 

because they’re not plentiful breeders, 

they’re prized and scarce. Also, at 25, 

Gus is elderly by bear standards. A 

lucky polar bear might live to 30 in 

captivity. So even if the zoo provides 

him with a new companion, she in turn 

could soon become the bereaved. 

It shouldn’t surprise us that zoo visitors 

commiserate with Gus, because 

humans have always admired polar 

bears. To the Greenlanders, they’re 

revered as Masters of Helping Spirits; 

to the Lapps, they’re Old Men in Fur 

Coats. To New Yorkers, they’re a vision 

of the wild among us, emissaries from 

an Arctic realm most of us will never 

visit, a reminder of nature’s sublime 

strangeness and beauty. 

People speak of Gus’ grief as if it were 

anomalous. But what if it’s just part of a 

large suite of ancient urges and instincts 

we share with hordes of other animals? 

A 2005 study of elephant grief, 

reported in the Royal Society journal 

Biology Letters, confirmed what 

experts have long sworn, that elephants 

pay homage to their fallen, visiting 

the remains of even long-dead relatives, 

and gently turning over the 

bleached bones with trunk or foot. 

Biologists tell of gorillas banging their 

chests with yowls of anguish during a 

wake for a fallen friend, of sea lions 

wailing when their babies have been 

mutilated by killer whales, of griefstricken 

monkey mothers carrying 

dead infants around for days, of geese 

singing both halves of a duet when 

their partners have died. 

We share many of our motives, feelings 

and instincts with other animals – 

fear, curiosity, sexual desire, hunger, 

social contact, defensiveness, hoarding 

and saving behaviours, status seeking, 

dominance, attachment and protectiveness, 

appeasement and submissive 

behaviours, family loyalty, depression, 

duplicity – to name just a few. 

One summer, with the late, wonderful 

entomologist Thomas Eisner, I 

taught a course called“Love, Truth and 

Beauty” at Cornell. Tom taught it from 

the insect perspective, I from the 

human, but both were essentially the 

same. Insects give the equivalent of 

engagement rings, check a suitor’s 

bank balance, can be femme fatales, 

etc. What we call a ‘dinner date’ other 

animals regard as ‘courtship feeding.’ 

One person’s quest for knowledge is 

another animal’s exploratory curiosity. 

We leave home longing to be footloose 

and free; another animal may depart in 

search of resources, stimuli or a mate. 

I’m not suggesting other animals 

share our mental fantasia. Alas, evolution 

doesn’t allow one species to travel 

fully into the mind of another. We see 

differently, hear differently, taste differently. 

Yet, to our credit, humans do 

try to understand the ways of lonely 

polar bears. We are deeply compassionate 

beasts. True, humans also wage 

wars and prey on one another, but 

most people can, and often do, feature 

the best of their animal nature while 

rising above the worst. We witness 

Gus’ grief and taste our own memories 

of love, loss and loneliness. Our wild 

heart goes out to him. 

Something deep inside us remembers 

being accompanied by other animals. 

Even indoors, we surround ourselves 

with pet companions who help bridge 

the apparent no-man’s-land between us 

and Nature, between our ape-hood and 

civilisation. However, a dog on a leash is 

not really tamed by its owner. It’s a twoway 

tether. The owner also extends 

through the leash that part of his personality 

which is pure dog, the part which 

just wants to eat, sleep, bark, mate and 

wet the ground in joy. Feeling compassion 

for other animals, whether it’s Fido 

or Gus, helps us tune in to the animal 

parts of ourselves that we know and love, 

bearish at times as we may seem. 

(Diane Ackerman is the author, 

most recently, of ‘One Hundred 

Names for Love: A Stroke, a 

Marriage, and the Language of 

Healing’) 

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THE OPINION AND ANALYSIS PAGES ARE THE AUTHORS’ OWN. QATAR TRIBUNE BEARS NO RESPONSIBILITY.

ANALYSIS 



Ground 

Reality 

DENNIS THOMPSON | HEALTHDAY NEWS 

Gender bender 

MAUREEN DOWD | NYT NEWS SERVICE 

France tried to block W.’s 

spun-up attack on Iraq, but we 

knew that the French 

government had a history of 

making special oil deals with 

Saddam Hussein and of favouring 

expediency over principle 

Bloggers’ 

Borough 

DANA KENNEDY | THE DAILYBEAST.COM 

Fireworks delight 

may turn 

into despair 

NO doubt about it: Fireworks are a delight, 

filling the summer air with dazzling colors 

and deafening sounds. But they also can be a 

danger. 

Thousands of people every year are harmed 

by fireworks, many of them maimed for life, 

because they did not use them with the proper 

respect and care. 

“Where we see injuries is a lack of common 

sense,” said Julie L Heckman, executive director 

of the American Pyrotechnics Association, a 

US fireworks industry trade association. 

“Teenagers having bottle-rocket wars, shooting 

bottle rockets at each other. Adults holding a 

Roman candle, when Roman candles are not 

designed to be held.” 

Fireworks-related injuries have continued to 

fill emergency rooms in recent years, according 

to the most recent data available from the US 

Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

Fireworks played a role in three deaths and an 

estimated 8,600 injuries treated in emergency 

rooms during 2010, the commission reported. 

In 2009, there were 8,800 ER visits involving 

fireworks — a 25 percent increase from the year 

before, when there were 7,000 fireworks-related 

injuries. 

In addition, according to the CSPC’s latest 

report, 40 percent of those treated in ERs in 

2010 were children younger than 15, more than 

half the injuries were burns and 1,200 injuries 

involved the use of sparklers, not firecrackers. 

Because of such statistics, public safety 

groups such as Prevent Blindness America 

believe that no fireworks are safe, regardless of 

whether they’re legal in a given community. 

They urge people to not purchase fireworks or 

use them, but instead attend public fireworks 

displays conducted by licensed operators. 

Fireworks seem to have a certain allure, however, 

and health professionals such as Noreen 

Smith, a registered nurse, understand that 

many people will not heed these warnings. 

“It’s better to leave it to the professionals, for 

your individual protection,” said Smith, a board 

member of the American Society of Ophthalmic 

Registered Nurses and an emergency room 

nurse for Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in 

Miami. “But I also understand the need to participate 

in the beauty of it by doing it yourself.” 

That makes it all the more important that 

people use fireworks sensibly — starting with 

keeping all of them out of the hands of children. 

Even those sparklers. 

“It’s something that’s designed to burn,” 

Heckman said. “Children tend to run around. 

It’s easy to ignite your clothing, or someone 

else’s clothing. We wouldn’t give them candles. 

We wouldn’t give them matches. Don’t give 

them a sparkler.” 

Children also should be kept out of the 

immediate area where fireworks are being 

ignited, to keep them from being injured if the 

fireworks malfunction or something goes awry. 

“If you are going to be doing it, make sure that 

small children are not nearby, or in close proximity,” 

Smith said. 

Have 

your say 

Is there an issue you feel 

strongly about, or an article 

you want to comment on? QT 

will carry your voice to the 

public and to places where it 

matters. Write to us at 

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FRENCH ARE 

ALWAYS RIGHT? 

French society has a history of shielding powerful and talented men 

SO what’s the moral of this 

Manhattan immorality tale? 

That the French are always 

right, even when their hauteur 

is irritating? 

They were right about Iraq and 

America’s rush to war. And they 

may be right about Dominique 

Strauss-Kahn and America’s rush to 

judgment. 

In both cases, French credibility 

was undermined, so we resisted seeing 

things from their point of view. 

France tried to block W.’s spun-up 

attack on Iraq, but we knew that the 

French government had a history of 

making special oil deals with 

Saddam Hussein and of favouring 

expediency over principle. 

France refused to believe that 

DSK could force himself on a 

Sofitel maid, but we knew that 

French society had a history of 

shielding powerful and talented 

men accused of scandalous behaviour 

with young women. 

W. created a fake deadline and 

casus belli on Iraq, but New York 

prosecutors had a real deadline 

before Strauss-Kahn flew away to 

France, which does not have an 

extradition treaty with the US. 

Seven weeks after DSK, then the 

chief of the International Monetary 

Fund, was struck by a coup de theatre 

– getting hauled off an Air 

France plane by the police, who 

charged him with raping a 32-yearold 

maid – he basked in a more 

pleasant coup de theatre, getting 

released on his own recognisance. As 

he left the downtown courtroom, he 

gave his first public smile and put his 

arm around Anne Sinclair, his attractive 

wife, who has financed the highpowered 

legal team and high-priced 

TriBeCa detention. 

In an exquisitely embarrassing 

moment for Cyrus Vance Jr, the 

Manhattan district attorney, the 

prosecutors wilted upon learning 

that their victim had victimised 

them – repeatedly lying to the government. 

To get political asylum in America, 

the woman, an African immigrant, 

Hats off to Qatari Diar! 

Seven weeks after DSK, 

then the chief of the 

International Monetary 

Fund, was struck by a 

coup de theatre – getting 

hauled off an Air 

France plane by the 

police, who charged 

him with raping a 32- 

year-old maid – he 

basked in a more pleasant 

coup de theatre, 

getting released on his 

own recognisance. 

lied that her husband had died by 

torture at the hands of police officers 

and soldiers in Guinea. She told 

investigators, falsely, that she had 

been gang-raped there. To get a bigger 

break on her taxes, she claimed a 

friend’s child as her own. To impress 

the grand jury, she said that after the 

attack by DSK, she had waited in a 

hall for him to get an elevator before 

reporting it to her supervisor. 

But as the red-faced apologia filed 

by the DA’s office on Thursday 

revealed: “The complainant has 

since admitted that this account was 

false and that after the incident in 

Suite 2806, she proceeded to clean a 

nearby room and then returned to 

Suite 2806 and began to clean that 

suite before she reported the incident 

to her supervisor.” 

She was involved with a drug dealer 

jailed for possessing 400 pounds 

of pot; she talked to him about 

whether she could profit from pursuing 

charges against DSK, noting that 

he had a lot of money. Prosecutors 

say she may have links to people also 

involved in money laundering. 

Law enforcement officials say privately 

that they still think DSK sexually 

assaulted the maid. But the 

case relied on her credibility, and 

that’s gone. 

They say it is roughly analogous – 

THE acquisition, renovation and reopening of the 150-year-old Hotel 

Schweizerhof Bern add yet another feather to the Qatari Diar Real Estate 

Investment Company’s cap. The real significance of this venture lies in preservation 

of a heritage site as this hotel is redolent of history. The 150-year-old luxury 

hotel has hosted in the past stars such as Peter Ustinov, Grace Kelly and 

Elizabeth Taylor. 

Group CEO of Qatari Diar Mohammed bin Ali al Hedfa, who attended the 

grand opening of the hotel recently, rightly emphasised this aspect of the venture 

when he said that the Qatari Diar was proud to celebrate the reopening of this 

legendary hotel in the center of the Swiss capital. “The newly renovated Hotel 

Schweizerhof Bern is a symbol of Qatari Diar’s commitment to luxury development 

that embraces local history and tradition while incorporating top international 

standards and design,” al Hedfa said while speaking on the occasion of the 

reopening ceremony which was attended by the Mayor of the city of Bern, 

Alexander Tschäppät, and Bruno H Schöpfer, the Director of QDHP Swiss 

Management along with such distinguished guests as the Hollywood legend 

Ursula Andress and model Julia Saner, numerous personalities from the hotel 

trade and the worlds of business, politics, diplomacy, culture and entertainment. 

Qatari Diar’s team of experienced hoteliers was responsible for the renovation 

and conceptualisation of the new Schweizerhof. Renowned MKV Design agency 

from London was tasked with developing a modern interior that would also 

acknowledge the hotel’s illustrious past. Antiques from the inventory of the 

Schweizerhof and items of restored furniture from Bern’s golden years have 

been incorporated into the hotel’s décor. 

The Hotel Schweizerhof Bern, together with the Bürgenstock Resort in 

Lucerne and the Royal-Savoy in Lausanne, is part of Qatari Diar’s portfolio of 

redevelopment projects in Switzerland. 

Khwaja Rashid 

Doha 

not in terms of the maid’s sexual history 

but her record of veracity – to a 

case in which a prostitute is raped. 

It’s hard to prosecute, and the perp 

can often get away with it. 

The upright-looking Vance is not 

like the scoundrel prosecutor in the 

Duke lacrosse case. He did not ignore 

evidence that was contrary to the 

case prosecutors were trying to build. 

It just took several weeks, after they 

tried to deny DSK bail and after they 

indicted him, to do a thorough investigation. 

In France, his Socialist colleagues 

– and rivals to run for president – 

defended him. Segolene Royal 

howled about how the American justice 

system had thrown the Socialists’ 

star to the wolves. Royal’s former 

partner, Francois Hollande, said 

that, once cleared, DSK could still 

run in the party primary – although 

he would have to explain his lascivious 

manner toward the help and his 

lavish home-arrest lifestyle. 

In New York, Kenneth 

Thompson, the accuser’s lawyer, 

howled about how the justice system 

had thrown the maid to the 

wolves. He said the young Muslim 

woman was ‘traumatised’ and 

would speak out on the case. 

Her evidence, he said, includes 

stockings with holes ripped in them, 

a torn shoulder ligament, a hospital 

picture of a bruise on her vagina, and 

the DSK DNA in the room – all, she 

claims, from the violent attack. 

“Until today, it was white versus 

black, rich versus poor, man versus 

woman, Jew versus Muslim,” said 

Elaine Sciolino, a Times correspondent 

in France and the author of ‘La 

Seduction,’ assessing the French 

reaction and the fraying of the Gallic 

Anita Hill moment. “Now it’s going 

to be this man who would have been 

president taken down by this 

nogoodnik who has a druggie 

boyfriend in prison and who lied 

from the moment she tried to get 

into the United States.” 

When a habitual predator faces off 

against a habitual liar, the liar will 

most likely lose, even if it is the rare 

case when she is telling the truth. 

“It was a treat to watch 

Petra Kvitova beat Maria 

Sharapova in the women’s 

singles final at Wimbledon.” 

RAJAT GUPTA 

DOHA 

“Visited cat shelter. Cat 

scratched my hand. I adopted 

the cat just so I can take 

it to a different shelter to be 

put down.” 

MICHAEL IAN BLACK 

Monaco’s Royal 

Wedding 

Mystery 

THE wild rumours were still flying, even 

among the cheering crowd outside Monaco’s 

fabled, cream-coloured palace where Prince 

Albert married Charlene Wittstock in a civil 

ceremony on Friday and where the couple wed 

in a religious service on Saturday. 

Had Wittstock really been, as headlines 

screamed this week, a ‘Runaway Bride’ before 

being whisked back to Monaco in time for the 

splashy, $75 million two-day wedding? 

“I wonder if they’ve got her drugged,” said 

one Monegasque watching the ceremony on 

the jumbo screens installed outside the palace, 

which is perched on what locals call ‘The Rock,’ 

a headland jutting out to the Mediterranean in 

the ancient district of Monaco. Another 

claimed that palace officials had found a 

Charlene look-alike that they dragged out on 

Wednesday to tour the principality with Albert, 

while his real fiancée was in the hospital under 

sedation. 

The stories began circulating about three 

weeks ago in this notoriously gossipy, postage 

stamp-size principality and involved reports 

that Prince Albert had had a third child out of 

wedlock—or that a woman was pregnant with 

his baby. 

But the tales gathered real steam on Tuesday 

when France’s respected L’Express magazine 

reported that Wittstock had tried to flee 

Monaco after learning something troubling 

about Prince Albert—but was intercepted at the 

Nice airport and persuaded to return to the 

principality. 

The article did not cite a third illegitimate 

child but helpfully reminded readers that 

Albert, 53, already has two known illegitimate 

children by two different women. Jazmin 

Grace, 19, whose mother is American, studies 

at Fordham University; Alexandre Coste, 7, 

lives just outside Monaco with his mother, a 

former flight attendant from Togo in West 

Africa. 

Fortunately for Monaco, it appeared to be 

the real Charlene Wittstock, a 33-year-old former 

Olympic swimmer from South Africa and 

the daughter of a photocopier salesman, who 

emerged with Albert onto the palace balcony 

on Friday, dressed in a pale blue suit that she 

designed herself. 

She was now officially ‘Princess Charlene of 

Monaco,’ although there were those in the 

crowd on Friday who complained her name 

was not elegant enough and should be changed 

to ‘Charlotte.’ 

But the Runaway Bride rumours, still totally 

un-sourced and lacking any hard evidence, 

have shown no signs of going away, despite 

heated denials from the palace. Even France’s 

venerable Le Monde has weighed in on the 

story. Albert and Charlene, who first met at a 

swimming event in Monaco in 2000 and began 

dating in 2005, exhibit alarmingly little chemistry 

in the few televised interviews they have 

done, leading some to whisper that the marriage 

is little more than a business deal to 

ensure an heir to the throne. 

Depending on what you read or whom you 

talk to in Monaco, Charlene bolted for the airport 

after discovering the existence of a child 

fathered by Albert who was born about two 

years ago, two weeks ago—or whose birth is 

imminent. 

Longtime observers of the Monaco royals 

invariably cite the so-called Curse on the 

House of Grimaldi. 

London’s Daily Mail on Friday quoted a unnamed 

‘senior Monaco detective’ saying that 

Wittstock was indeed intercepted at the Nice 

airport, holding a one-way ticket back to South 

Africa, and that her passport was confiscated 

as she was ‘persuaded’ to return to the palace. 

“It’s all completely, completely crazy,” 

Christiane Stahl, one of Albert’s top advisers at 

the palace told me when I first called her about 

the rumours. “The story is totally false and it 

just comes from jealousy.” 

Albert’s lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, also angrily 

denounced the stories and threatened to sue 

L’Express, which has stood by its story and 

kept it up on its website. 

Oddly, however, the palace has apparently 

not yet sought a legal injunction against 

L’Express, which would be typical in a country 

like France where libel laws are much stricter 

than in the US. Instead the palace has reportedly 

demanded that L’Express’ editors tell 

them the identity of their source for the story. 

Even stranger was a statement made by 

Albert’s longtime confidant, Stephane Bern, 

who is France’s best-known commentator on 

the royals. Bern first slammed the rumours. 

But then he added, in an interview with Le 

Parisien newspaper on Wednesday, this jawdropping 

tidbit. “A woman could very well be 

pretending that she is pregnant by the prince. 

We can’t carry out a DNA test to check this out 

just three days before the marriage.”

10 



PAKISTAN 

4 injured 

in Afghan 

mortar 

attack 

AFP 

PESHAWAR 

FOUR Pakistanis 

including two children 

were wounded on 

Monday when a mortar 

shell fired from 

Afghanistan struck a 

village near the border, 

Pakistani security officials 

said. 

It was the latest incident 

in a series of 

alleged cross-border 

attacks that have raised 

tensions between the 

neighbours as officials 

confirmed exploratory 

peace contacts between 

Afghanistan, the 

United States and the 

Taliban. 

The officials said the 

shell hit Bangedar village 

in the Ghulam 

Khan district of North 

Waziristan, the region 

where America has 

long called on Pakistan 

to launch an operation 

against Taliban and Al 

Qaeda-linked militants. 

There are Taliban 

strongholds 

on both 

sides of the 

border, but 

Afghan and US 

officials want 

Pakistan to do 

more to eradicate 

militant 

sanctuaries. 

“The fire came from 

an Afghan border post 

in Khost province (in 

eastern Afghanistan) 

early this morning,” 

said local government 

official Mohammed 

Khan. 

“One injured person 

is in a critical condition,” 

said doctor 

Mubarak Khan at the 

main hospital in 

Miranshah, adding that 

two children aged eight 

and 13 were among 

those wounded. 

In Kabul, around 200 

Afghans protested on 

Saturday against 

Pakistani rocket attacks 

that officials say have 

killed dozens of people. 

Last week, Afghan 

President Hamid 

Karzai demanded an 

end to the attacks when 

he met the head of 

Pakistan’s army, 

General Ashfaq Kayani, 

in the Afghan capital. 

Pakistan said only 

that its security forces 

may have fired a few 

accidental rounds into 

Afghanistan while pursuing 

militants across 

the porous 2,400 kilometre 

(1,500 mile) border. 

There are Taliban 

strongholds on both 

sides of the border, but 

Afghan and US officials 

want Pakistan to 

do more to eradicate 

militant sanctuaries in 

its semi-autonomous 

tribal belt used to 

launch attacks in 

Afghanistan. 

Military supports militants, says NYT report 

AFP 

WASHINGTON 

THE Pakistani military continues 

to support a variety of 

militant groups as part of a 

strategy of using proxies 

against its neighbours and 

US forces in Afghanistan, The 

New York Times reported on 

Monday. 

Citing an unnamed former 

prominent militant commander, 

the newspaper said 

the man’s group was supported 

by the Pakistani military 

for 15 years. 

The commander said that 

militant groups, like 

AGENCIES 

MULTAN 

PRIME Minister Yusuf 

Raza Gilani on Sunday 

rejected Opposition’s call 

for mid-term polls and said 

it was time for local government 

elections in the country. 

Talking to newsmen 

here, he said, “the government 

has got passed its 

fourth budget and will 

request the PML-N leadership 

to prepare for the next 

elections as the time for 

mid-term polls is over.” 

He said the Opposition 

was not giving a tough time 

to the government as the 

Pakistan People’s Party 

(PPP) had the support of 

people. 

He said late Benazir 

Bhutto had given the vision 

of politics of reconciliation, 

foreseeing that in future 

only coalition governments 

would be formed and that 

Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harakatul-Mujahedeen 

and Hizbul 

Mujahedeen, are run by 

religious leaders, with the 

Pakistani military providing 

training, strategic planning 

and protection, the 

report said. 

Pakistan has been assuring 

the United States that it has 

ceased supporting militant 

groups in its territory, and 

Washington has given 

Islamabad more than $20 

billion in aid over the past 

decade for its help with counterterrorism 

operations, the 

paper noted. 

But the former commander 

no single party would be in a 

position to take majority of 

seats in the Parliament. 

He said from day one, he 

believed in the politics of 

reconciliation, which 

brought about benefits as 

the government succeeded 

in unanimous passing of 

18th and 19th 

Constitutional Amendments 

and approval of 7th 

National 

Finance 

Commission (NFC) Award. 

Prime Minister Gilani said 

he was pleased that the 

Pakistan Muslim League- 

Nawaz (PML-N) accepted 

their viewpoint regarding 

reconciliation politics by 

stating that it was ready to 

talk to the MQM (Muttahida 

Qaumi Movement). 

“Without reconciliation, 

politics can not succeed in 

the country. We will continue 

our politics of reconciliation,” 

he added. 

To a question, the Prime 

Citing an unnamed 

former prominent 

militant commander, 

the newspaper 

said the man’s 

group was 

supported by the 

Pakistani military 

for 15 years. 

said Pakistan’s military and 

intelligence establishment 

has not abandoned its policy 

of supporting the militant 

groups as tools in Pakistan’s 

dispute with India over the 

border territory of Kashmir 

WANDERING TRIBES 

Minister clarified that the 

government did not allow 

use of Pakistan’s airbases to 

the United States for drone 

attacks. 

The previous government 

had allowed use of airbases 

for surveillance purposes 

only, he added. 

He said the government 

had taken up the issue of 

incursions from Afghans 

inside Pakistan’s territory 

and Chief of Army Staff 

General Ashfaq Parvez 

Kayani and the Foreign 

Secretary visited Kabul to 

discuss the issue. 

The Pakistan government 

protested over border violations 

and took up the matter 

with the Afghan government 

at diplomatic level, he 

said and added, “Our understanding 

with the Afghan 

government has improved 

and we are making them 

realise the sensitivity of the 

situation.” 

A gypsy child sleeps over the belongings as his family members wait for transport along the roadside, in Rawalpindi, on Sunday. (AP) 

and in Afghanistan to drive 

out US and NATO forces, The 

Times pointed out. 

“There are two bodies 

running these affairs: mullahs 

and retired generals,” 

the commander is quoted as 

saying. 

He named a number of former 

military officials 

involved in the program, 

including former chiefs of the 

intelligence service and other 

former generals, the paper 

said. “These people have a 

very big role still,” he said. 

Major General Zaheer ul 

Islam Abbasi, a former intelligence 

officer who was convicted 

of attempting a coup 

against the government of 

Benazir Bhutto in 1995, was 

one of the most active supporters 

of the militant 

groups, the former commander 

said, according to 

The Times. 

He said he saw General 

Abbasi several times: once at 

a meeting of Taliban and 

Pakistani militant leaders in 

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province 

as they planned how to 

confront the US military in 

Afghanistan; and twice in 

Mir Ali, which became the 

center for foreign militants 

in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the 

Gilani rules out mid-term polls, 

asks PML-N to gear up for finals 

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in Islamabad, recently. (EPA) 

report pointed out. 

Several retired officials of 

Pakistan’s spy agency, the 

Directorate for Inter- 

Services Intelligence, were 

also there, according to the 

commander. 

They included a man 

known as Colonel Imam, 

who was actually Brigadier 

Sultan Amir, a well-known 

trainer and mentor of militants, 

The Times said. 

The militant groups divided 

Afghanistan into separate 

areas of operations and discussed 

how to “trip up 

America,” the commander 

said, according to the paper. 

Afghan 

rebels 

attack 

checkpost 

REUTERS 

KHAR 

AT least 300 militants 

crossed into Pakistan from 

Afghanistan and attacked a 

Pakistani checkpost, government 

and intelligence officials 

said on Monday, the sixth 

cross-border attack in a 

month that has raised tensions 

between the neighbours. 

One Pakistani soldier was 

killed and another wounded 

in the Sunday attack in the 

Pakistani tribal region of 

Bajaur, intelligence officials 

said. At least four militants 

were also killed in the fighting, 

they said. Pakistan says 

Villagers from 

Kitkot told Reuters 

that militants used 

rocket-propelled 

grenades, hand 

grenades and AK- 

47 assault rifles. 

56 members of the security 

forces have been killed and 81 

wounded in a series of militant 

attacks from Afghanistan 

over the past month. 

Villagers from Kitkot, 

where the attack took place, 

told Reuters that militants 

used rocket-propelled 

grenades, hand grenades and 

AK-47 assault rifles. 

“Heavy firing was going on, 

and it lasted for several 

hours,” tribal elder Juma Gul 

said. One government official 

said the militants were driven 

back into Afghanistan by 

Pakistani security forces. 

There were no civilian casualties, 

he added. 

A military spokesman in 

Rawalpindi, however, said no 

militants have crossed the 

border, but instead fired rockets 

into Pakistan, killing one 

Pakistani soldier. 

It is difficult to independently 

verify what is happening 

in the remote mountain 

region that divides Pakistan 

and Afghanistan. Sunday’s 

raid follows allegations by the 

Afghan Foreign Ministry that 

a number of rockets fired 

from Pakistan into the 

Afghan province of Kunar 

had killed and injured Afghan 

civilians in recent months. 

Afghan President Hamid 

Karzai said that Pakistan had 

fired 470 rockets over the 

border in June. 

Swiss hostages moved to tribal badlands: minister 

AFP 

QUETTA 

A SWISS couple kidnapped 

on holiday in Pakistan have 

been smuggled into the tribal 

belt on the Afghan border, a 

notorious haven for Taliban 

and Al Qaeda, a local official 

said on Monday. 

Olivier David Och, 31, and 

Daniela Widmer, 28, were 

abducted on Friday while 

driving through impoverished 

and sparsely populated 

Baluchistan province, which 

borders both Iran and 

Afghanistan in southwest 

Pakistan. 

“We have information the 

Swiss couple have been shifted 

to the tribal areas,” provincial 

home secretary 

Zafarullah Baloch told AFP. 

The semi-autonomous 

region has been dubbed by 

Washington as the most dangerous 

place on Earth and a 

global headquarters of Al 

Qaeda. 

Parts of the mountainous 

badlands are subject to 

American drone strikes 

against Taliban and Al Qaeda 

commanders, and on the 

ground the region is considered 

an intelligence “black 

hole”. Baloch said the couple 

were probably transferred 

Driving licence of missing Swiss tourist Daniela Widmer (left) and 

the Swiss identity card of missing tourist Olivier David Och, recovered 

in Loralai, in Balochistan province, on Monday. (EPA) 

through the southwestern 

town of Zhob, but did not 

specify where precisely they 

were likely to be now. 

He said searches would 

continue in Baluchistan and 

that it was still unclear 

whether they were kidnapped 

by criminals or militants. 

The couple’s blue 

Volkswagen van was found 

abandoned in Killi Nigah 

after they were snatched in 

Loralai district, around 170 

kilometres (100 miles) east of 

the provincial capital Quetta. 

According to visas stamped 

in their passports, they 

entered Pakistan from India 

on June 28. 

Officials say that so far, the 

kidnappers have conveyed no 

demands. The pair entered 

Baluchistan from Punjab 

province and might have 

been heading for Quetta.

INDIA 



SC orders probe into black money issue 

REUTERS 

NEW DELHI 

INDIA’S Supreme Court 

ordered on Monday the setting 

up of an investigation into 

hundreds of billions of dollars 

of illegal funds stashed 

abroad, the latest example of 

the top court acting against 

corruption scandals that have 

undermined the government. 

A government panel in 

2009 found Indian illicit 

funds to range between $500 

billion and what is now the 

size of India’s economy of $1.4 

trillion. Monday’s court order 

came in response to a petition 

from prominent opposition 

figure Ram Jethmalani that 

said the government had done 

nothing to bring back illicit 

funds or ‘black money’ hidden 

abroad. 

“The Supreme Court has 

made very strong observations 

against the government 

and the government agencies 

as they have not provided the 

required information, documents 

and details in spite of 

repeated directions given by 

the court,” Anil Devan, senior 

counsel for the petitioner, told 

reporters. 

A raft of high-profile corruption 

scandals in Prime 

Minister Manmohan Singh’s 

second term has sharpened 

public anger against his government, 

which has struggled 

with policymaking as it firefights 

one crisis after another. 

A former minister and two 

prominent lawmakers are in 

jail as they face charges of graft 

in the grant of telecoms 

licences and in the award of 

contracts for the 2010 

Commonwealth Games. Most 

The court also 

directed the 

government to 

disclose the names 

of those against 

whom the government 

had initiated 

legal proceedings 

for amassing 

illegal funds 

of the action has come following 

prodding from the apex 

court. The Supreme Court has 

in the past chastised Singh’s 

coalition for failing to unearth 

illicit funds kept in Swiss 

banks and other tax havens. 

Singh has had to also defend 

himself in court against allegations 

of inaction against graft. 

The Supreme Court will 

monitor progress of the latest 

investigations to be led by former 

judge BP Jeevan Reddy. 

The team would include the 

chief of India’s external intelligence 

agency, the Research 

and Analysis Wing (RAW). 

“The court has given full 

powers to the special committee 

to make cold inquiries, cold 

investigations in India and 

abroad and all the government 

agencies are supposed to cooperate 

and act under their direction,” 

Devan said. 

The court also directed the 

government to disclose the 

names of those against whom 

the government had initiated 

legal proceedings for amassing 

illegal funds. 

In January, the government 

announced a slew of measures, 

including stronger disclosure 

pacts with foreign 

countries, to curb tax crimes 

and repatriate illicit funds. It 

also said it was modifying double 

taxation avoidance pacts 

with as many as 74 countries, 

including pacts related to 

banking, besides boosting 

staffing in its tax office and 

looking into granting amnesty 

to offenders who pay up. 

India is the world’s ninth 

most corrupt country, with 54 

percent of the population paying 

a bribe in the last 12 

months, according to a report 

by 

Transparency 

International. Corruption 

may cost India between 1 and 

2 percent of gross domestic 

product ever year. 

PM to visit 

Bangladesh 

in Sept 

3 Tihar officials 

suspended after 

being indicted 

by inquiry 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

INDIAN Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh will visit 

Bangladesh on September six 

and seven in a trip that is 

expected to mark a ‘new 

beginning’ in bilateral ties as 

some crucial issues like border 

demarcation and 

exchange of enclaves are likely 

to be resolved. 

This will be the first bilateral 

visit by an Indian Prime 

Minister to Bangladesh in 12 

years, although there have 

been a number of trips to the 

neighbouring country for 

multilateral events. 

Announcing the two-day 

trip, an official spokesperson 

in the Ministry of External 

Affairs said on Monday Prime 

Minister Singh will be on an 

official visit to Bangladesh on 

September six and seven at 

the invitation of its Premier 

Sheikh Hasina. 

The two sides are 

working on agreements 

in a number 

of critical and sensitive 

areas which 

include settlement 

of the border issue 

The official announcement 

of dates came just four days 

after Singh’s comments that 

25 percent Bangladeshis were 

anti-Indian. 

During an interaction with 

a group of editors last week, 

Singh had said that with 

Bangladesh, our relations are 

quite good. But we must reckon 

that at least 25 percent of 

the population of Bangladesh 

swear by the Jamiat-ul-Islami 

and they are very anti-Indian, 

and they are in the clutches, 

many times, of the ISI. 

The remarks were intended 

to be off the record but figured 

in the official transcript 

of the interaction between the 

Prime Minister and the 

Editors. The remarks were 

later deleted from the official 

transcript. 

Sources said efforts are 

being made to ensure that the 

visit is a huge success and 

mark a ‘new beginning’ in the 

bilateral relations though 

‘challenges and obstacles’ 

remain. 

The two sides are working 

on agreements in a number of 

critical and sensitive areas 

which include settlement of 

the border issue by demarcating 

it afresh and also Teesta 

river water sharing, they said. 

(From left) United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad and 

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe at the National Convention of Zila Parishad Chairpersons and Mayors on HIV and AIDS, in New Delhi, on Monday. (EPA) 

PM hails success in halving HIV cases 

AFP 

NEW DELHI 

INDIA’S Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh on 

Monday hailed the country’s 

success in slashing new 

HIV/AIDS infections by half 

in the past decade. 

“Our HIV/AIDs programme 

can justifiably claim 

a measure of success,” he 

told a conference in New 

Delhi on the disease, but 

added there should be no 

room for complacency with 

an estimated 2.3 million 

Indians still living with HIV. 

“With the introduction of 

antiretroviral treatment, 

HIV has become a chronic 

but manageable health condition,” 

Singh said. But while 

Singh was praising government 

efforts to combat the 

virus, around 100 people living 

with HIV protested outside 

the ministry of health 

saying efforts were insufficient. 

So-called ‘first-line’ antiretroviral 

therapy (ART) — a 

cocktail of drugs to slow the 

effects of the virus on the 

body’s immune system — 

has been widely available 

and free of charge in India’s 

public health system since 

2004. 

But more expensive ‘second-line’ 

ART is also free, 

although access to it is limited 

to just a few centres 

across the country. 

“India’s testing and treatment 

for HIV/AIDS have 

increased their reach,” Singh 

said. 

“Now, Indian health workers 

are focusing on prevention 

of transmission from 

infected pregnant women to 

their newborn children, 

making it a priority area,” 

Singh said. 

India’s AIDS control programme 

has reduced new 

HIV/AIDS infections by 50 

percent in the last 10 years 

and mortality rates amongst 

those infected with HIV have 

also fallen, Singh noted. 

Indian pharmaceutical 

companies have helped to 

drive down the cost of lifesaving 

generic drugs to treat 

people with HIV in India and 

other developing countries. 

Singh said one of India’s 

key strategies has been to 

scale up preventive education 

campaigns among highrisk 

groups such as sex 

workers. 

Unprotected sex, particularly 

between sex workers, 

their clients and partners, is 

the main factor behind the 

spread of the disease, 

UNAIDS says. 

Contaminated needles also 

play a key role in spreading 

the virus in India’s northeastern 

regions, the UN 

agency says. 

Singh said there should be 

no discrimination in India 

against people living with 

HIV, condemning frequent 

denial of school admission to 

children with the virus. 

“We must see that there is 

no social ostracisation,” 

he said. 

He also urged the global 

community not to slacken in 

its fight against what called 

one of the biggest health 

challenges confronting 

humanity. 

India to introduce anti-graft bill in parliament 

AFP 

NEW DELHI 

INDIA’S government will introduce a 

comprehensive new anti-graft bill in the 

next session of parliament beginning 

August 1, the country’s home minister 

said on Monday. 

P Chidambaram said the administration, 

which is fighting a string of corruption 

scandals, was confident that we can 

take the process forward, bring a bill in 

the monsoon session and try to get it 

passed as early as possible. 

The government announced its decision 

after holding a meeting with opposition 

party leaders on Sunday in an 

attempt to win broad support as it 

(From right) Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and 

Parliamentry Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal address a press conference on 

Lokpal bill, in New Delhi, on Monday. (PTI) 

struggles to draft the tricky new bill. 

In April, veteran anti-graft campaigner 

Anna Hazare forced Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh to allow him and 

other activists to sit on the drafting 

committee for the new law after he went 

on a hunger strike for 98 hours. 

Chidambaram said the government 

was ‘very happy with the outcome of the 

all-party meeting on Sunday’ even as 

the main opposition Bharatiya Janata 

Party continued its attacks on the government 

over corruption. 

A string of graft scandals has stirred 

widespread public anger in India and 

badly dented confidence in Singh’s government. 

India has a dismal record of 

bringing corrupt senior public officials 

to justice. 

In six decades only one senior politician, 

Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh, has been 

convicted of graft and served a jail term 

— for taking a bribe of 25,000 rupees 

($557) in 1949. 

CRACKING the whip, Tihar 

authorities on Monday suspended 

three senior officials 

and recommended disciplinary 

action against a jail 

Superintendent for ‘lapses’ 

and ‘unlawful’ acts after an 

inquiry into reports that special 

treatment was given to 

sacked Commonwealth 

Games Organising 

Committee chairman Suresh 

Kalmadi and other high-profile 

inmates at the prison. 

Jitendra Pal and Krishan 

Kumar, both Assistant 

Superintendents, and Satbir, 

Head Warder of Jail Number 

4 where Kalmadi is lodged in 

connection 

with 

Commonwealth Games scam, 

have been suspended, Tihar 

Deputy Inspector General 

(DIG) R N Sharma told 

reporters here. 

The authorities have also 

sent a report to Ministry of 

Home Affairs (MHA) for further 

disciplinary action 

against Jail Superintendent S 

C Bhardwaj, with whom 

Kalmadi was found having tea 

by inspecting trial court judge 

Brijesh Kumar Garg during a 

surprise visit to the jail on 

June 30. 

Bhardwaj was subsequently 

transferred to Port Blair 

but the officials had then said 

that the transfer was not 

related to the alleged 

incident. 

“His case for disciplinary 

action has been approved by 

the competent authority — 

Chief Secretary, Delhi 

Government and is being sent 

to MHA for immediate action. 

In case of Bharadwaj lapse has 

been noticed and it has come 

on record that he has offered a 

cup of tea to Kalmadi,” 

Sharma said. 

Kalmadi, an accused in 

Commonwealth Games 

scams, is lodged in Tihar 

Prisons since May. The action 

came after an inquiry was carried 

out by officer-in-charge of 

Vigilance Dinesh Gandhi. 

“Kalmadi had come over to 

the Jail Superintendent’s 

room to request him to make 

arrangements for his next 

hospital visit which was due 

on July 2. Since tea was being 

served there, Kalmadi too was 

offered which he did not 

refuse. But he did not have 

any other item like biscuits as 

he is not medically advised 

for,” Sharma said. 

India offers veiled warning to nuclear suppliers 

AFP 

NEW DELHI 

INDIA has suggested that 

countries refusing to match 

nuclear reactor sales with 

technology transfers could be 

frozen out of one of the 

world’s largest reactor 

markets. 

The veiled threat came in a 

television interview broadcast 

on Sunday, in which 

Foreign Secretary Nirupama 

Rao was asked about new 

Nuclear Suppliers Group 

(NSG) guidelines on sensitive 

uranium enrichment and 

reprocessing technology. 

The guidelines restrict the 

sale of such technology to 

countries which, like nucleararmed 

India, have not signed 

up to the Nuclear Non- 

Proliferation Treaty. 

India sees the move as a 

challenge to the waiver from 

NSG rules — negotiated by 

the United States — that the 

country was granted in 2008. 

Companies from France, 

Russia, the United States and 

Japan are competing for a 

slice of the $175 billion India 

plans to spend on nuclear 

reactors, and Rao hinted that 

a willingness to provide technology 

transfers would be a 

factor in awarding contracts. 

“There are leverages that 

we can exert from our side,” 

Rao said. “We have an 

expanding nuclear industry. 

This is a great attraction to 

the rest of the world.” 

Asked if that meant India 

would ban reactor purchases 

from countries that follow 

the new transfer guidelines, 

Rao said: “We will defend our 

interests to the hilt.” 

India’s fast-growing economy 

is heavily dependent on 

coal. Less than three percent 

of the country’s electricity 

comes from nuclear power, 

but it hopes to raise the figure 

to 25 percent by 2050. 

The 2008 exemption from 

NSG rules ended three 

decades of nuclear isolation 

imposed on India following 

its 1974 nuclear tests. 

Rao stressed that the the 

United States, France and 

Russia had provided reassurances 

that they would 

continue to support the 

waiver. 

“The international nuclear 

order will change in India’s 

favour. I am sure of that,” 

Rao said, adding that the new 

NSG restrictions were not set 

in stone. 

The foreign secretary also 

touched on recent talks with 

her Pakistani counterpart, as 

the bitter South Asia rivals 

seek to mend ties broken 

after the 2008 Mumbai 

attacks blamed on Pakistanbased 

militants. 

Despite what India sees as 

Islamabad’s lack of progress 

in bringing those behind the 

attacks to justice, Rao said 

the Pakistani side had shown 

a greater willingness to discuss 

India’s concerns over 

terrorism.



INDIA 

Crisis in Andhra as Telangana MLAs, MPs quit 

AGENCIES 

HYDERABAD 

THE stage was set for a constitutional 

crisis in Andhra 

Pradesh with almost 87 of the 

legislators in the 294-strong 

state assembly belonging to 

the Telangana region submitting 

their resignations to 

deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti 

Vikramarka in support of 

their demand for a separate 

state on Monday afternoon. 

Those who submitted their 

resignations comprised 49 

Congress MLAs including 11 

ministers in the Kiran Kumar 

Reddy government, 37 TDP 

MLAs and one PRP MLA. Of 

the 119 MLAs that belong to 

the Telangana region, the 

Congress accounts for 53. 

The only four Telangana legislators 

from the ruling party 

who did not resign were city 

ministers Danam Nagender 

and Mukesh Goud and MLAs 

M Shashidhar Reddy and 

deputy chief minister 

Damodar Raja Narasimha. 

Eleven out of 15 ministers 

of Andhra Pradesh cabinet 

hailing from Telangana 

region on Monday resigned 

from their posts as well as 

membership of the legislative 

assembly on separate statehood 

issue but maintained 

that it was ‘not to defy’ 

Congress high command. 

The Kiran Kumar government 

has a strength of 154 

MLAs in the 295 assembly 

and has the support of 18 PRP 

MLAs, 7 belonging to the 

MIM and a few independents. 

Congress MPs from Telangana region shouting slogans in front of Parliament house after submitting their resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, against the 

Centre’s ‘delay’ in the formation of a separate Telangana state, in New Delhi, on Monday. (PTI) 

Interestingly, among the first 

to resign on Monday from the 

ruling party were Konda 

Surekha, an ardent supporter 

of YSR Congress chief YS 

Jaganmohan Reddy, and P 

Vishnuvardhan Reddy, city 

MLA who has stayed away 

from either the CM or Jagan 

group. 

Soon after submitting their 

resignations, the panchayat 

raj minister K Jana Reddy 

said that their sole aim was to 

achieve Telangana and they 

would continue to remain in 

the party and fight for a separate 

state. He expressed happiness 

that they had chosen 

to submit resignations on 

July 4 which happens to be 

the United States’ independence 

day and hoped that 

Telangana region would get 

independence soon. 

Another minister, 

Komatireddy Venkat Reddy 

said that the move made by 

the Congress leaders should 

not be viewed with any doubt. 

“We are very serious and there 

is no question of going to 

Delhi for talks unless the central 

leadership announces that 

they will carve a separate 

state. But soon after, the panchayat 

raj minister K Jana 

Reddy said that he was going 

to Delhi in the afternoon as he 

had been called by the party 

high command.” 

Admitting that they could 

be staring at a crisis, aides of 

the chief minister said they 

are assessing the situation. 

“Vikramarka, the deputy 

speaker who accepted the resignations, 

is likely to wait for 

speaker Nadendla Manohar 

to return to Hyderabad from 

his trip abroad for a decision 

to be taken on the resignations. 

In the meantime, the 

Congress high command too 

will swing into action. We are 

confident that the Kiran government 

will survive,” said a 

CM aide. 

But New Delhi is already 

feeling the heat. Six Congress 

Lok Sabha MPs and one from 

the Rajya Sabha arrived in the 

national capital on Monday 

morning and were scheduled 

to submit their resignations 

to Lok Sabha speaker Meira 

Kumar and Rajya Sabha 

deputy chairman M Hamid 

Ansari later in the afternoon. 

AICC general secretary incharge 

of AP Ghulam Nabi 

Azad again urged restrain on 

the part of the Telangana 

elected representatives and 

claimed he has summoned a 

team of MLAs to New Delhi 

for urgent talks. 

In the meantime, the 

Telangana Political JAC 

went into an emergency 

meeting and is likely to 

urge the 11 TRS MLAs also 

to follow suit with their 

resignations so that the 

entire region acts in one 

voice in order to achieve 

their goal of a separate 

state. On the other hand, 

keenly monitoring the 

developments, the MPS, 

MLAs and MLCs of all the 

major political parties 

belonging to the Seema- 

Andhra region were huddled 

in closed door meetings 

and planning their 

move to counter the 

Telangana leaders. Earlier, 

they were scheduled to 

meet the Congress central 

leaders in New Delhi on 

Tuesday. 

TN govt 

hands over 

probe into 

boy’s killing 

to CB-CID 

PTI 

CHENNAI 

THE south Indian state 

Tamil Nadu government 

on Monday handed over 

to its top investigative 

agency CB-CID, the 

probe into the killing of a 

13-year-old boy who died 

of gunshot injuries after 

he trespassed into an 

army area at Island 

Grounds here. 

“The case has been 

transferred to the CB- 

CID (Crime Branch 

Criminal Investigation 

Branch) and they have 

taken over the probe,” a 

top police official said. 

Thirteen year-old 

Dilshan had died of bullet 

injuries on Sunday. 

Dilshan was allegedly 

shot at when he tried to 

pluck some ‘badam’ 

(almond) fruit from the 

premises, housing residential 

quarters and 

succumbed to injuries 

at the Government 

Hospital. 

The army spokesperson 

on Sunday maintained 

there was no 

armed guard inside the 

entire colony, located in 

the Island Ground locality 

near the State 

Secretariat. 

The army termed the 

incident as ‘very unfortunate’, 

and said it would 

not allow the guilty to go 

scot-free. 

“We have constituted a 

board of officers to carry 

out a proper search of the 

area including the houses 

adjoining the scene of 

the incident. The process 

of search is going on in 

detail,” Brigadier Sashi 

Nair said. 

Condemning the 

killing, Tamil Nadu Chief 

Minister Jayalalithaa on 

Sunday said that an army 

jawan had opened fire on 

the teenager, who succumbed 

to injuries in a 

government hospital. 

Farmers of Halligudi decry 

Nirani’s claim in Posco case 

AGENCIES 

DHARWAD 

THOUGH industries minister 

Murugesh Nirani claims that 

the villagers of Halligudi, in 

Mundargi taluk of Gadag district, 

have volunteered to give 

up their land for the Posco 

plant, a ground reality check 

shows the situation to be quite 

contrary. 

The farmers are firm that 

they will not part with an inch 

of land to the Karnataka 

Industrial Areas Development 

Board (KIADB). They have 

also taken serious exception to 

Nirani’s statements that they 

are amenable to the compensation 

amount and employment. 

President of Mundargi 

Taluk Abhivruddhi Horata 

Vedike Y R Goudar said 

nobody from the government 

Police guard temple treasure haul worth $22 billion 

AP 

NEW DELHI 

A VAST treasure trove of gold 

coins, jewels and precious 

stones unearthed at a lightly 

guarded Hindu temple in 

India was expected to grow 

further in value Monday as 

the last two secret vaults 

sealed for nearly 150 years 

are opened. 

The government has 

increased security since the 

treasure’s discovery in recent 

days, which has instantly 

turned the 16th-century Sree 

Padmanabhaswamy Temple 

into one of the wealthiest 

religious institutions in the 

country. 

Four vaults recently 

opened at the temple in 

Trivandrum, the capital of 

the southern state of Kerala, 

held a vast bounty that unofficial 

estimates peg at $22 

billion. 

The treasures unearthed so 

far include statues of gods 

and goddesses made of solid 

gold and studded with diamonds, 

rubies, emeralds and 

Karnataka’s Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani 

has contacted the farmers to 

discuss the issue yet. 

“Whatever Murugesh Nirani 

said is a lie. We oppose land 

acquisition and are firm on our 

stand. Any effort to acquire 

our lands using force will be 

opposed tooth and nail,” he 

said. 

other precious stones, 

crowns and necklaces, all 

given as gifts to the temple 

over the centuries. 

The volume of gold and silver 

coins was so enormous 

that the investigators 

weighed the coins by the 

sackful, rather than counting 

them, officials said. 

The temple, built by the 

maharajas who ruled the 

then-kingdom of Travancore, 

remained under the control 

of the erstwhile royal family 

after India’s independence in 

1947. 

India’s Supreme Court 

ordered the inspection of the 

vaults after a lawyer petitioned 

a local court asking 

the state government to take 

over the temple, citing inadequate 

security. The current 

Maharaja of Travancore had 

appealed to the Supreme 

Court against the petition. 

The inventory began last 

week and the final vaults 

were to be unlocked Monday 

afternoon. The public knew 

the temple had treasures but 

not the quantum. 

Goudar said the lands proposed 

for acquisition were 

among the most fertile in the 

region. It is on this tract of over 

6,000 acres that three crops — 

jowar, cotton and wheat — are 

cultivated simultaneously. 

These lands fall under the 

catchment area of the 

Indian police walk past The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, in 

Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday. (AFP) 

Singatalur Lift Irrigation 

Project, that is nearing completion. 

Land acquisition for 

industrial purpose would 

defeat the very objective of this 

irrigation project. Moreover, 

the land acquisition would displace 

more than 250 families. 

A proposed steel and gas 

power plant coming up in 

neighbouring Mevundi would 

be hazardous to the 

environment. 

People in this region depend 

solely on tanks for drinking 

water and the water bodies 

would be polluted if industrial 

units are set up here. 

Moreover, these units would 

come up barely 13km from 

Kappatagudda, that has been 

declared a hill of herbs and 

medicinal plants and its rich 

vegetation would be harmed, 

he said. 

Before the trove was 

uncovered, there was almost 

no visible security at the temple, 

save for a few local security 

guards patrolling the 

complex with batons, mainly 

Navy comes to rescue 

of 14 fishermen 

PTI 

RAMESWARAM 

SRI Lankan Navymen on 

Monday detained 14 fishermen 

from south Indian state 

Tamil Nadu for allegedly fishing 

in their waters but freed 

them hours later on sighting 

an Indian Navy vessel near 

the International Maritime 

Boundary Line. 

A senior Navy official said 

the vessel was sent after coming 

to know about the plight 

of the fishermen to bring 

them back and on spotting it, 

the Lankan navy released 

them. 

Naval Commander 

Vijaranya told PTI that the 

Indian fishermen were being 

brought to shores along with 

their boat. 

The fishermen were taken 

into custody when they were 

near the third sand dune 

between Katchatheevu, an 

islet ceded by India to Sri 

for crowd control. 

Kerala’s police chief, Jacob 

Punnoose, said he sent extra 

police officers to guard the 

temple and is planning a 

high-tech security system to 

protect the treasure. 

“We plan to enhance security 

in a manner which will 

not interfere with the activities 

of the temple or devotees,” 

Punnoose said. 

The security plans include 

the installation of digital electronic 

networks, closed circuit 

cameras and metal 

detectors at the entrance and 

exits of the temple. 

Manoj Abraham, city 

police commissioner, said 

two battalions of special 

armed police would provide 

security outside the temple 

complex. 

“Later, we will discuss with 

temple authorities and members 

of the former royal family 

what kind of permanent 

security system should be put 

in place,” Abraham said. 

Every year, devout Hindus 

donate millions of rupees 

worth of cash, gold and silver 

Lanka, and Arichalmunai in 

the sea off Rameswaram, 

where another group of 13 

fishermen were detained by 

the island navy and released 

recently. 

Fisheries department officials, 

quoting four released 

fishermen, said the armed Sri 

Lankan navalmen came in 

two boats and asked the 18 

fishermen to surrender. 

They took 14 fishermen into 

custody and towed one boat 

with them while releasing 

four fishermen and another 

boat. 

The 14 fishermen were 

handed over to Indian Navy 

who would bring them back. 

President of Indo-Sri 

Lankan 

Innocent 

Fishermen’s Association 

Arualanandan, quoting an 

Indian official based in 

Jaffna in Sri Lanka, claimed 

the fishermen were released 

immediately on the orders of 

the Sri Lankan government. 

to temples. Some temples in 

India are so wealthy, they 

have formed trusts which run 

schools, colleges and hospitals 

that offer free treatment 

to the poor. 

The discovery has sparked 

a debate over the future of 

the treasure trove. 

Vellappally Nateshan, a 

Hindu leader, said the wealth 

should remain with the temple 

authorities. 

Some social activists in 

Kerala have demanded the 

treasure be handed to a 

national trust to help the 

poor. 

Kerala’s top elected official, 

Chief Minister 

Oommen Chandy, however, 

assured the people that the 

wealth would remain with 

the temple. “It is the property 

of the temple. The government 

will protect the wealth 

at the temple.” 

Chandy said the government 

would bear the cost of 

stepping up security at the 

temple and ensure that worshippers 

were not inconvenienced.

WORLD 



Push for Libya 

settlement, Zuma, 

Medvedev urge 

NATO allies 

RESCUE MISSION 

A fresh batch of rescuers move in to search for trapped miners in Heshan city, in Guangxi, China, on Monday. Rescuers were racing against time to reach more than 

40 coal miners trapped underground at the weekend in two flooded pits. (AFP) 

AFP 

SOCHI 

RUSSIAN President Dmitry 

Medvedev on Monday hosted 

South Africa’s president and 

the NATO chief at meetings 

aimed at pressuring the 

Western alliance to push for a 

peace settlement in Libya. 

Medvedev met the South 

African leader Jacob Zuma at 

his Black Sea resort residence 

and was later to hold talks 

with NATO chief Anders 

Fogh Rasmussen and ambassadors 

from other alliance 

members. 

The Russian leader immediately 

proposed that he and 

Zuma jointly appear before 

the NATO chiefs and explain 

their discomfort with the current 

course of the campaign. 

“I would like for them to 

hear, both from me and possibly 

from you president, our 

opinion about what is happening 

in this country,” 

Medvedev said. 

Zuma replied that meeting 

with NATO “would be very 

helpful in terms of our interaction, 

because they might 

Critical of 

current campaign 

Medvedev proposed 

that he and 

Zuma jointly 

appear before the 

NATO chiefs and 

explain their discomfort 

with the 

current course of 

the campaign. 

come to know what preoccupies 

the AU at the moment”. 

South Africa announced 

Zuma’s visit on Sunday after 

an African Union (AU) summit 

sought to push a regional 

peace plan to end the Libyan 

conflict — a blueprint rejected 

by the rebels thus far. 

Russia has advocated the 

AU taking a leading role in 

the negotiations and 

Medvedev’s personal envoy 

Mikhail Margelov held talks 

in Libya with both representatives 

of the rebels and 

Moamer Qadhafi's regime 

last month. 

One of the new elements in 

the road map agreed by the 

AU on Friday included provisions 

for a multinational 

peacekeeping force organised 

by the United Nations. 

But the rebels have thus far 

rejected the settlement terms 

proposed by the AU and 

Russia has also failed to convince 

Qadhafi to leave. 

“It did not include the 

departure of Kadhafi, his 

sons and his inner circle. We 

have repeated this (demand) 

on more than one occasion,” 

rebel spokesman Abdel Hafiz 

Ghoga told reporters in 

Libya’s second-largest city 

Benghazi. 

The eccentric former 

Russian governor and current 

World Chess Federation 

(FIDE) chief Kirsan 

Ilyumzhinov told a Moscow 

news agency from Tripoli 

that he had just met the 

Libyan leader’s eldest 

Muhammad and was again 

told that Kadhafi would 

never go. 

The rebels — who pulled 

back from the plains on the 

road to Tripoli from the 

Nafusa Mountains last week 

— have been buoyed by controversial 

French arms drops 

and intensified NATO-led air 

strikes against Qadhafi's 

frontline armour. 

But South African officials 

said on condition of 

anonymity that Zuma and 

Medvedev could issue a joint 

statement calling on NATO 

to stop the air strikes. 

Zuma and Russia have 

both criticised the French 

arms drops and the AU has 

further condemned the international 

arrest warrant 

issued for Kadhafi by the 

Hague-based International 

Criminal Court. 

The Kremlin issued a firm 

statement ahead of 

Medvedev’s talks with the 

NATO chief repeating its 

condemnation of “outside 

interference” in Libya. 

Russia abstained from a 

vote on a March UN Security 

Council resolution that 

opened the way for international 

involvement and has 

since criticised the scale and 

intent of the Western campaign. 

Russian Foreign Minister 

Sergei Lavrov emerged from a 

Russia-NATO Council meeting 

indicating that the two 

sides did little to bridge their 

positions. 

“We exchanged opinions 

about how strictly the international 

legal standards — 

including Security Council resolutions 

— are being observed” 

in Libya, RIA Novosti quoted 

Lavrov as saying. 

Previous NATO-Russia discussions 

have focused on controversies 

such as the bloc’s 

decision to push ahead with 

the construction of a missile 

defence shield for Europe 

despite Moscow’s objections. 

AP 

BEIJING 

JAPAN’S and China’s foreign 

ministers tangled over territorial 

disputes on Monday even 

as they appealed for steadier 

relations between the Asian 

rivals. 

China’s Foreign Ministry 

lodged a complaint about a 

flotilla of Japanese fishing 

boats that took members of 

right-wing groups Sunday 

near islands controlled by 

Japan, which calls them the 

Senkakus, but claimed by 

Beijing, which calls them the 

Diaoyus. 

Japanese Foreign Minister 

Takeaki Matsumoto, in 

Beijing for talks, discussed the 

dispute in general terms with 

his Chinese counterpart, saying 

the islands are an “integral 

part of Japan and there is no 

territorial issue to be 

resolved,” Matsumoto’s 

spokesman Hidenobu 

Sobashima told reporters. 

The complaints show how 

lingering disputes continue to 

buffet ties between the world’s 

second- and third-largest 

economies even as they seek 

ways to cooperate. 

Ahead of their talks, 

Matsumoto and Chinese 

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi 

had both called for improved 

relations. The two “exchanged 

opinions and reached consensus 

on issues that the two 

nations are concerned about,” 

said Chinese Vice President Xi 

Jinping, who later met with 

Matsumoto. He did not give 

details. 

Ties between Japan and 

China have been strained for 

years over a contested gas 

field in the East China Sea and 

lingering animosity over 

AFP 

KANO 

AUTHORITIES stepped up 

security on Monday as they 

launched a probe into multiple 

attacks that killed 20 people 

in northeastern Nigeria, 

including a bomb blast at a 

police barracks. 

The police barracks bombing 

killed at least 10 people on 

Sunday evening in the troubled 

city of Maiduguri where 

Islamists are active. 

“The area is still cordoned 

off by soldiers that have 

deployed all over the place, 

forensic experts are still 

combing the scene looking for 

some clues. No one is allowed 

in or out of the area,” resident 

Awwalu Manu said by phone. 

Residents also reported a 

second blast near the city’s 

main bus terminus, about an 

hour after the police bombing. 

“There is a military checkpoint 

near the terminus and 

Japan’s often brutal World 

War II-era occupation of 

China as well as the island dispute. 

A new irritant was added 

last month after Japan and its 

ally the United States jointly 

agreed that China should act 

more responsibly to reduce 

tensions in the region. 

Matsumoto told Yang that 

Japan hoped talks on a “legally 

binding” agreement on 

resource development in the 

East China Sea could be held, 

Sobashima said. China suspended 

talks on the issue in 

from all indications, it was the 

target of the attack,” resident 

Jibo Mohammed said. 

“But fortunately it exploded 

some metres away and this led 

to shootout between the 

attackers who where on 

motorbikes and soldiers at the 

checkpoint,” he added. 

Authorities could not 

immediately confirm the second 

blast. 

Hours earlier, a leading 

politician was shot dead in the 

same city, while police sources 

and residents reported a wave 

of shootings overnight 

Saturday that killed nine people, 

including three retired 

police officers. 

A special security unit was 

deployed in the city a week 

ago on orders of President 

Goodluck Jonathan. 

Anti-bomb squads have 

been deployed around key 

government buildings and 

military barracks. More road 

blocks have been erected and 

September after a Chinese 

fishing boat collided with 

Japanese patrol boats in the 

East China Sea. 

The foreign minister also 

expressed concern about maritime 

security in the region, 

Sobashima said, amid a spike 

in tensions between China 

and Vietnam and the 

Philippines over disputed territory 

in the South China Sea. 

“We think it’s important to 

ensure maritime safety and 

freedom of navigation at seas 

and we understand that this 

is the interest of the international 

community,” 

Sobashima said, adding that 

Matsumoto expressed hope 

that the countries concerned 

would cooperate. 

The Philippines accuses 

Chinese vessels of making 

repeated intrusions into 

Philippine-claimed waters in 

recent months, while 

Vietnam says Chinese vessels 

have hindered its oil 

exploration surveys in an 

area 200 nautical miles (370 

kilometres) off its central 

coast that it claims as its economic 

exclusive zone. China 

claims it has sovereign rights 

over the South China Sea. 

Nigeria beefs up security, probes north attacks 

A man sits near a damaged car in front of a house after a bomb blast, in Maiduguri, recently. (REUTERS) 

Japan, China FMs call for 

better ties amid disputes 

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo (right) with Japan’s foreign 

minister Takeaki Matsumoto, in Beijing, on Monday. (EPA) 

checks are more thorough 

than before to include patdowns 

of vehicle occupants. 

No-one has claimed responsibility 

for the weekend 

attacks but Boko Haram, an 

Islamist sect active in the 

region and blamed for most of 

the previous deadly attacks, is 

the prime suspect. 

Boko Haram wants to see 

the establishment of an 

Islamic state in northern 

Nigeria. 

On Sunday last week attackers 

set off three bombs and 

shot into the crowd at a 

crowded beer garden in 

Maiduguri killing 25 people 

and injuring as many. 

This weekend’s biggest blast 

targetted a so-called mammy 

market beer garden at the 

police barracks. Mammy markets 

are open air pubs and 

eateries found around police 

or military barracks, open to 

both security personnel and 

civilians. 

23 killed, 29 

injured in 

China bus 

accident 

AP 

BEIJING 

A SPEEDING truck rearended 

a tourist bus stopped 

in a highway emergency 

lane, and the bus flipped 

and burst into flames, 

killing at least 23 people 

and injuring 29 in south 

China early on Monday, 

state media said. 

Police lowered earlier 

death and injured tolls, 

explaining that the carnage 

and fire damage made 

counting difficult, the official 

Xinhua News Agency 

said. 

The coach was illegally 

stopped in the emergency 

lane of the Suizhou- 

Yueyang expressway in 

China Central 

Television broadcast 

footage of 

the accident site, 

showing where 

the two vehicles 

tore up a stretch 

of guard railing 

before plunging 

down an embankment 

into a farm 

field. 

Hubei province when it was 

rammed at 3:50 am. The 

report said investigators 

believe that the truck driver, 

who was killed, was 

tired and driving at high 

speed when the vehicles 

crashed. The long-distance 

coach, operated by Wuhan 

Hailong Tourism Bus 

Company, was carrying 52 

passengers, including five 

children, and was headed 

to Tianmen, a scenic area in 

Guangdong province, 

Xinhua said. The reports 

did not indicate any foreigners 

were on board. 

China Central Television 

broadcast footage of the 

accident site, showing 

where the two vehicles tore 

up a stretch of guard railing 

before plunging down an 

embankment into a farm 

field. A mass of charred and 

mangled metal was surrounded 

by hundreds of 

large blackened wax gourds 

that had been piled on the 

cargo truck. Serious traffic 

accidents are common in 

China due to lax driving 

habits.

14 



UNITED STATES 

Inside US 

2 killed, 3 wounded in 

Pennsylvania shooting 

PENNSYLVANIA A 43- 

year-old man and a young 

boy were killed in a quintuple 

shooting at the 

Pennsylvania country 

home of a New York City 

couple, the authorities said 

on Sunday. 

The couple, Paul Shay, 

64, and his wife, Monica 

Shay, 58, longtime residents 

of the East Village, 

were wounded. 

The Montgomery County 

district attorney’s office 

and the Douglass 

Township Police 

Department identified the 

dead as Joseph Shay, 43, 

who was believed to be a 

relative of the couple, and 

Gregory Erdmann, a toddler 

whose precise age 

was not immediately 

known. The boy’s mother, 

Kathryn Erdmann, 37, 

was also wounded. 

All five victims were shot 

in the head, and the three 

survivors were in serious 

condition, the authorities 

said. There were no arrests 

by Sunday night, and none 

of the survivors had been 

able to speak to investigators. 

Paul Shay, a plumber, 

and Monica Shay, an associate 

professor at the Pratt 

Institute in Brooklyn, are 

the owners of the house, 

at 50 Renninger Road in 

Bechtelsville, Pa. (NYT) 

ExxonMobil expands 

Yellowstone pipeline 

cleanup 

WASHINGTON ExxonMobil 

said on Sunday it was 

expanding its cleanup 

efforts following a pipeline 

spill of crude oil into the 

Yellowstone River in 

Montana and that the total 

amount released was 

between 750 and 1,000 

barrels. 

“We are bringing in 

experts from across the 

country to clean up the 

oil,” ExxonMobil Pipeline 

Company president Gary 

Pruessing said in a statement. 

“We will stay with 

the cleanup until it is complete, 

and we sincerely 

apologise to the people of 

Montana for any inconvenience 

the incident is creating.” 

No cause has been identified 

for the release of oil 

from the pipeline, the 

company said, adding that 

it “met all regulatory 

requirements and has 

undergone inspection most 

recently in December.” 

ExxonMobil also promised 

“a thorough investigation” 

of the leak. 

Considered one of the 

most scenic Western US 

rivers, the Yellowstone 

River starts in northwestern 

Wyoming and flows northward 

through Yellowstone 

National Park. (AFP) 

Casey Anthony murder trial goes to jury in Florida 

ORLANDO The jury in the first-degree murder trial of 

Casey Anthony began deliberations on Monday afternoon 

as the trial entered its seventh week with no break for the 

Independence Day holiday. 

The jury left the courtroom at 12:09 pm local time to 

start weighing the case after receiving instructions from 

Judge Belvin Perry . 

Casey Anthony, 25, faces the death penalty if found 

guilty of first-degree murder in the June 16, 2008, death 

of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Anthony, who has been 

in jail for almost three years awaiting trial, chose not to 

testify in her own behalf. 

Casey Anthony also is charged with aggravated child 

abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four 

counts of providing false information to a law enforcement 

officer. 

Prosecutors say Casey smothered Caylee with duct tape, 

drove around for several days with Caylee’s body in her car 

trunk and then dumped the remains in woods near the 

Anthony family home. 

Casey initially told detectives that Caylee had been kidnapped 

by a nanny, triggering a nationwide search that 

ended on December 11, 2008. That’s when Caylee’s 

skeletal remains were found in woods near the Anthony 

family home with duct tape dangling from her skull. 

Defence lawyer Jose Baez provided an alternate theory 

of Caylee’s death, claiming that Caylee accidentally 

drowned in the Anthony’s backyard swimming pool on 

June 16, 2008 and that, for some unspecified reason, her 

death was not reported. (REUTERS) 

US celebrates Independence 

Day with fireworks, parades 

AP 

NEW YORK 

A fireworks stand at Lincoln Park, in Texas. (AP) 

THE US marked the 235th 

anniversary of the signing of 

the Declaration of 

Independence with parades, 

fireworks, barbecues — plus 

presidential campaigning, a 

White House birthday and 

competitive eating. 

Thousands were showing 

up near the Washington 

Monument to eagerly await 

the annual fireworks show on 

the National Mall, while others 

were throwing on 

Hawaiian shirts and shorts to 

ski the still-snowy slopes at 

resorts from California to 

Colorado. 

In Boston, the annual 

Boston Pops concert was a 

must. In Akron, Ohio, the Rib, 

White & Blue Food Festival 

was enticing. And then, there 

were Nevada’s casinos, which 

promised a pyrotechnics 

extravaganza that could be a 

gambler’s best bet. 

On New York’s Coney 

Island, the annual Nathan’s 

Famous July Fourth hot dogeating 

contest brought out the 

biggest names in competitive 

eating for a clash that was 

short in timespan but high in 

calories. 

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, of 

San Jose, California, wolfed 

down 62 hot dogs and buns 

during the 10-minute contest, 

winning his fifth straight title. 

Sonya “The Black Widow” 

Thomas chowed her way to 

victory in the first-ever 

women-only contest, eating 

40 hot dogs, one shy of her 

2009 total. 

At the mountaintop home 

to Thomas Jefferson in 

Charlottesville, officials continued 

a nearly five-decadeold 

tradition of swearing in 

new US citizens. Seventyseven 

people took their oaths 

during a naturalisation ceremony 

at Monticello. 

Coca-Cola Company chief 

executive Muhtar Kent, a citizen 

of both the United States 

and Turkey who was born in 

New York City, spoke to the 

new citizens. 

“With each generation, 

immigrant and native-born 

Americans have come together, 

shoulder-to-shoulder, to 

propel our ongoing, benevolent 

cycle of rebirth and 

renewal,” Kent said. “And you 

will do the same.” 

The holiday is celebrated as 

the nation’s birthday, but it 

also was Malia Obama’s 13th 

birthday. The president’s eldest 

daughter had to share her 

parents with hundreds of others 

as Barack Obama and first 

lady Michelle Obama invited 

troops and their families to 

attend a special barbecue and 

USO concert on the South 

Lawn. 

Some of the Republicans 

hoping to replace Obama in 

the White House spent part of 

the day campaigning in states 

where presidential politics 

are as much a part of the holiday 

as fireworks and barbecues 

US Representative Michelle 

Bachmann, of Minnesota, 

marched in a parade in Clear 

Lake, Iowa. In New 

Hampshire, former 

Massachusetts Governor Mitt 

Romney and former Utah 

Governor Jon Huntsman 

both marched in the Amherst 

parade. 

“Aside from the politicking 

and the handshaking and the 

enthusiasm that our campaign 

is determined to generate 

in this state, we’re going to 

reflect on what it means to be 

an American,” Huntsman 

told reporters. “To share 

inalienable rights, to share 

our Constitutional privileges.” 

Los Alamos evacuation orders lifted 

REUTERS 

SANTA FE (NEW MEXICO) 

EVACUATION orders were 

lifted on Sunday over 10,000 

residents of Los Alamos displaced 

by the largest wildfire 

in New Mexico history, as the 

blaze burns to the north away 

from the town. 

The return of residents to 

their homes came a day after 

the Los Alamos nuclear 

weapons laboratory, birthplace 

of the atomic bomb, 

ended a state of emergency 

when the threat of the fire 

subsided around the site in 

northern New Mexico. 

The Las Conchas blaze has 

consumed over 121,000 acres 

and is 11 percent contained as 

it burns toward the north 

away from Los Alamos, and 

about 2,000 firefighters are 

working to control its spread, 

according to officials. 

Los Alamos and its entire 

population of over 10,000 

people was ordered evacuated 

on Monday, forcing residents 

to move to shelters and a casino 

that opened its doors to 

the displaced. 

“The time has finally come 

when we can repopulate Los 

Alamos, and no one could be 

happier than me,” said Los 

Alamos County Police Chief 

Wayne Torpy. 

Los Alamos County Fire 

Chief Douglas Tucker warned 

residents not to approach 

wild animals which have been 

seen fleeing the fire. At least 

three black bears have been 

seen in neighbourhoods of 

Los Alamos. 

Now ranked as the largest 

wild-lands blaze ever in New 

Mexico, the fire surpassed the 

“The time has 

finally come when 

we can repopulate 

Los Alamos, and 

no one could be 

happier than me.” 

previous record set in 2003 

by the 94,000-acre Dry Lakes 

Fire in the Gila National 

Forest. 

It also has destroyed 63 

homes, fire officials said. 

Authorities were deploying 

firefighting resources over a 

dozen miles north of Los 

Alamos to combat the blaze’s 

spread on the Santa Clara 

Reservation and to protect 

sites considered sacred by 

Pueblo Indians there, said fire 

information officer Rob 

Torres. 

The reservation covers 

55,000 acres and the blaze 

has charred over 14,000 acres 

of that land, said Joe Baca, a 

spokesman for the Santa 

Clara Pueblo. 

The blaze also has spread 

into the Bandelier National 

Monument, an ancestral 

home of Pueblo Indians. 

On Saturday, two firefighters 

were injured in the fire, 

with one suffering wounds to 

his lower extremities and the 

other receiving a head injury, 

according to fire officials. 

Both firefighters were listed 

in stable condition. 

Meanwhile, Los Alamos 

said it planned to reopen on 

Wednesday. 

The fire forced the closure 

of the national lab for a week 

and burned dangerously close 

to its property. Flames were 

spotted at least once on 

nuclear lab land. 

“Los Alamos National 

Laboratory appears to have 

escaped serious damage from 

the Las Conchas fire,” Lab 

Director Charles McMillan 

said in a memo. “We are 

grateful for the tremendous 

efforts of emergency responders 

that helped spare the 

Lab and the town of Los 

Alamos.” 

Two GOP senators open to tax reform as part of debt deal 

NYT 

WASHINGTON 

TWO senior Republicans said 

on Sunday that they might be 

open to raising new government 

revenue as part of a deal 

to resolve the dispute over the 

federal debt ceiling, but they 

warned that there was little 

time to enact a comprehensive 

deal. 

One of the senators, John 

Cornyn of Texas, said he would 

consider eliminating some tax 

breaks and corporate subsidies 

in the context of changes in the 

tax code, provided there was 

not an overall increase in taxes. 

“I think it’s clear that the 

Republicans are opposed to 

any tax hikes, particularly during 

a fragile economic recovery,” 

Cornyn said on “Fox 

News on Sunday.” “Now, do we 

believe tax reform is necessary? 

I would say absolutely.” 

But he insisted that any 

changes in taxes be “revenue 

neutral,” meaning that the government 

would not take in any 

more money from individuals 

or businesses than it does now. 

The other senator, John 

McCain of Arizona, said he 

would be willing to consider 

some “revenue raisers” as part 

of a broad deal, but he refused 

to name specific measures. 

Cornyn, a member of the 

Senate leadership, also said 

that Republicans would be 

open to a short-term deal on 

the debt ceiling to provide 

more time for a comprehensive 

agreement. 

“The problem with a minideal 

is we have a maxi-problem,” 

he said. “And the big problems 

aren’t going to go away if you 

cut a minideal. All it does is 

delay the moment of truth. 

And so I’d say better now than 

then. But if we can’t, then we’ll 

take the savings we can get 

now, and we will relitigate this 

as we get closer to the election.” 

The White House had no 

comment on the senators’ 

remarks. 

Last week, President Obama 

harshly criticised Republicans 

lawmakers for refusing to eliminate 

tax breaks like those for 

private jet owners, hedge fund 

managers, multinational oil 

companies and ethanol producers. 

He argued that eliminating 

such loopholes could 

save billions of dollars and help 

fix the short-term federal 

deficit and long-term national 

debt. 

The administration and 

Congressional negotiators are 

racing to find a deal to raise the 

federal debt ceiling of $14.3 

trillion by August 2, when the 

Treasury Department says the 

United States will exhaust its 

ability to borrow money and 

could default on some obligations. 

A bargain must be struck 

at least a week before then to 

provide time for a 

Congressional Budget Office 

analysis and for both chambers 

to vote on it. 

Senator John McCain (left) and Senator John Cornyn

US / AMERICAS 



MISCHIEF MONGERS SAY OBAMA DEAD 

Hackers break into Fox News Twitter account 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

HACKERS took control of 

the Twitter account of 

FoxNews.com’s political 

news feed on Monday and 

sent several false tweets saying 

that President Barack 

Obama had been shot dead. 

“Those reports are incorrect, 

of course, and the president 

is spending the July 4 

holiday with his family,” 

Foxnews.com said in a statement 

about the incident. 

The first hacked 

tweet appeared 

around 2 am and 

said: “@Barack- 

Obama has just 

passed. The President 

is dead. A sad 

4th of July, indeed. 

President Barack 

Obama is dead.” 

“Hackers sent out several 

malicious and false tweets 

that President Obama had 

been assassinated,” said the 

company owned by Rupert 

Murdoch’s News Corp, “The 

hacking is being investigated, 

and FoxNews.com 

regrets any distress the false 

tweets may have created,” it 

said. 

Obama is celebrating the 

July 4 Independence holiday 

with his family at the White 

House and was due to host 

military families to watch 

Fourth of July fireworks in 

the evening. 

There was no immediate 

reaction from the White 

House and the Secret 

Service declined to comment. 

The first hacked tweet 

appeared around 2 am and 

said: “@BarackObama has 

just passed. The President is 

dead. A sad 4th of July, 

indeed. President Barack 

Obama is dead.” The next 

one, “@BarackObama has 

just passed. Nearly 45 minutes 

ago, he was shot twice 

in the lower pelvic area and 

in the neck; shooter 

unknown. Bled out” A group 

calling itself The 

ScriptKiddies claimed 

responsibility for sending 

the tweets — including 

“#ObamaDead, it’s a sad 4th 

of July” — from the 

“foxnewspolitics” name 

before Twitter suspended its 

account. 

In all some six false tweets 

were issued, saying Obama 

US President Barack Obama speaks at the White House, in Washington, recently. (REUTERS) 

had been shot at a restaurant 

in Iowa while campaigning. 

Obama has not been in 

Iowa this weekend and 

returned on Sunday to the 

White House from a brief 

trip to Camp David. 

The hacking of the 

“FoxNewspolitics” profile 

was the latest in a wave of 

prominent cyber security 

breaches and raised questions 

about the integrity of 

news feeds on Twitter. 

There was no immediate 

reply from Twitter to a 

Reuters request for comment 

on the FoxNews.com 

breach. 

Fox.com, another Fox 

Entertainment Group website, 

was the target of an 

attack by hacker group Lulz 

Security in May. 

The Twitter account 

hacking came two days 

before Obama was due to 

hold his first “Twitter town 

hall,” where the president 

will field tweeted questions 

about the economy and 

jobs. 

Twitter’s co-founder and 

executive chairman Jack 

Dorsey is due to moderate 

that Wednesday session at 

the White House. 

US supports 

southern Sudan 

independence 

AFP 

WASHINGTON 

THE United States, a key 

broker of the 2005 peace 

accords, is throwing considerable 

diplomatic and economic 

support behind the 

July 9 launch of the new state 

of southern Sudan, analysts 

say. 

Despite tight budget times, 

officials said, the United 

States Agency for 

International Development 

(USAID) expects to maintain 

its level of development 

funding at between $250 

million and $300 million a 

year. 

Washington will 

also try to make 

sure any instability 

in Sudan does 

not spill over to 

neighbouring 

Uganda and 

Kenya, which are 

US friends. 

“The commitment of the 

US government for development 

supporting this new 

country is really going to 

continue the way it was,” a 

US government official said 

on condition of anonymity, 

contradicting fears that the 

grossly underdeveloped 

region will slip off the international 

agenda after independence. 

After the 2005 

Comprehensive Peace 

Agreement (CPA) ended a 

22-year-old civil war, 

Washington set up programs 

to promote health and education, 

boost farming, and 

build roads as well as electrical 

and water systems. 

It also launched other programs 

to train officials in a 

southern Sudan that has 

been autonomous from the 

north-based government for 

six years and overwhelmingly 

chose full independence in 

a January referendum. 

USAID has also funded 

conflict-resolution programs 

such as those aimed at 

encouraging young southerners 

to find jobs rather 

than opt for cattle-raiding. 

Washington is seeking to 

support agriculture because 

it has great economic potential 

and helps diversify the 

economy away from oil, 

which accounts for around 

98 percent of the government’s 

income. 

Sudan analyst Jon Temin 

said that despite US budgetary 

constraints, which he 

said could limit development 

funding, “south Sudan is a 

real priority for the US government 

within Africa and 

probably globally. 

“So I expect the US will be 

deeply invested in the south 

for some time to come,” 

according to Temin, who 

heads the Sudan program at 

the United States Institute of 

Peace. 

Not only has the United 

States long “taken real ownership 

over the peace 

process,” he said, it has also 

“developed a pretty deep 

friendship” with the south 

for both humanitarian and 

religious reasons. 

Unlike the mainly Arab 

and Muslim north of the 

country, the south has a large 

Christian community which 

has extensive contacts with 

US Christian groups. 

He said US firms may in 

the long-term invest in the 

south’s oil industry. 

Sudan is currently sub- 

Saharan Africa’s third largest 

producer. Most fields are in 

the south but the export 

pipelines run through the 

north. 

Washington will also try to 

make sure any instability in 

Sudan does not spill over to 

neighbouring Uganda and 

Kenya, which are US friends, 

Temin added. 

He and other analysts said 

the United States and other 

diplomatic players — such as 

Britain, Norway and African 

states — will face continuing 

tests in trying to help settle 

outstanding disputes beyond 

July 9. 

These include demarcating 

the north-south border, 

sharing oil wealth, deciding 

on citizenship for southerners 

in the north and northerners 

in the south, and easing 

Sudan’s debt of around 

$38 billion. 

Chavez makes surprise return home 

AFP 

CARACAS 

PRESIDENT Hugo Chavez 

made a surprise return home 

to Venezuela on Monday, 

after a controversial extended 

stay in Cuba where he 

underwent surgery to 

remove a cancerous tumour. 

“We got here as the sun 

was rising. So very happy to 

be back home,” Chavez said 

on Venezuelan state television 

as he arrived in time for 

July 5 bicenntenial celebrations 

here. 

On exiting his plane, 

Chavez raised his arm in a 

show of victory, and was 

greeted by Vice President 

Elias Jaua, his brother Adan 

Chavez and several cabinet 

ministers, the video showed. 

He appeared lively and chatty, 

and even sang a bit of a 

popular tune on arrival. 

Chavez had been in Cuba 

since June 8, and was 

rushed to hospital on June 

10 for what was initially 

described as a “pelvic 

abscess.” He revealed on 

Thursday he had a cancerous 

growth, which was fully 

AP 

TOLUCA (MEXICO) 

THE decisive victory by 

Mexico’s Institutional 

Revolutionary Party in voting 

for governor of the country’s 

most populous state has given 

it momentum heading into 

national elections in 2012, 

when it will seek to retake the 

presidency. 

The party, which governed 

Mexico for 71 uninterrupted 

years before being tossed out 

by voters in 2000, also scored 

wins in two other states on 

Sunday, but it was the vote in 

massive Mexico state with its 

15 million inhabitants that 

observers were watching 

closely. 

The state’s current PRI governor, 

the telegenic Enrique 

Pena Nieto, is the early presidential 

front-runner and even 

though he didn’t run in 

Sunday’s vote many see the 

results as a barometer of his 

popularity. Sunday’s strong 

showing is sure to strengthen 

his chances in presidential 

voting next year. 

Supporters of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez participate in a rally, in Caracas, on Sunday. (AP) 

removed in a second operation. 

Caracas has not given 

details on what follow-up 

cancer treatment Chavez 

might get, or the type of cancer 

from which the 56-yearold 

is suffering. 

Chavez, who survived a 

coup attempt in 2002, 

With 91 percent of ballot 

boxes scrutinised, PRI candidate 

Eruviel Avila had 62.4 

percent support, while 

Alejandro Encinas of the leftist 

Democratic Revolution 

Party, or PRD, had 21.2 percent 

and Luis Felipe Bravo 

Mena of President Felipe 

Calderon’s National Action 

Party had 12.5 percent. 

Two private exit polls 

showed similar results. 

Avila had a 30-percentagepoint 

lead in the polls over 

Encinas heading into the vote, 

and his stunning 40-point win 

will be seen as a sign of the 

PRI’s strength and political 

invincibility going forward. 

Avila thanked voters for the 

victory and said he would seek 

consensus as governor. 

“We are the party of the 

present and the future,” said 

the PRI’s national leader, 

Humberto Moreira, alluding 

to the party’s expectations of 

returning to the presidency 

after more than a decade out 

of power. 

Bravo Mena of the PAN 

conceded defeat, but Encinas 

announced in a video 

Thursday from Havana that 

a cancerous tumour had 

been removed from his body 

but that he was expecting a 

full recovery. 

The news cut short a host 

of rumours about Chavez’s 

health, fuelled by his nearly 

month-long stay in the 

Cuban capital. 

On Sunday the Cuban government 

released photos of 

Chavez taking a short walk 

with his daughters Maria 

Gabriela and Rosa Virginia, 

and Venezuelan Foreign 

Minister Nicolas Maduro. 

Chavez was dressed in 

sports clothes and appeared 

refused to recognise the result 

and said he would legally 

protest the election. His party 

has filed complaints with the 

national elections tribunal 

over alleged PRI campaign 

violations. 

In more than 80 years, the 

PRI has never lost the governorship 

of Mexico state, home 

to the sprawling, impoverished 

suburbs that ring 

Mexico’s capital. 

While the PAN and the PRD 

had forged alliances for previous 

state elections in Oaxaca, 

Puebla and Sinaloa that 

helped them to defeat the PRI, 

much thinner than usual. 

The four pictures appeared 

on the government-run website 

cubadebate.cu, which 

said the Venezuelan leader’s 

walk took place on Friday 

and continued for about 10 

minutes. 

Later Sunday, Cuban revolutionary 

leader Fidel Castro 

expressed confidence that 

the Venezuelan president 

will achieve a “big victory” in 

his battle against cancer. 

“I can state without hesitation 

that the results of the 

operation were impressive 

and that the patient had 

fought a decisive battle that 

will lead him and the 

Venezuelan people to a big 

victory,” Castro wrote on 

cubadebate.cu. 

Some Venezuelan opposition 

lawmakers argue that 

the president was staying 

abroad unconstitutionally 

because he has not requested 

lawmakers’ permission 

for the extended stay. 

But Chavez’s government 

maintains that he never 

asked for authorisation to 

work from abroad, and did 

not need or want it. 

PRI wins Mexico election in landslide 

Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party gubernatorial candidate Eruviel Avila Villegas (centre) celebrates 

with his partners after their victory in the elections, in Toluca, Mexico, on Sunday. (AFP) 

they failed to strike such deals 

for Sunday’s trio of ballots. 

The parties, instead, 

warned that a vote for the PRI 

would be a vote for a return to 

the past, when the 

“dinosaurs” wielded power 

through coercion, corruption 

and intimidation.



Who will tell 

5-year-old her 

mom is dead? 

AILYN AGONIA/ LANI ROSE DIZON 

DOHA 

THE LAST WORD 

Riots erupt 

after court 

releases 

Egyptian 

police 

AP 

CAIRO 

DANY Thomas and 

Marianne Lorenzo Cabuay 

had lived most of their lives 

a quarter of the globe away 

from one another but fate 

willed the two women to die 

together along with four others 

in Doha on Monday. 

Perhaps that was why they 

happened to be together on 

the ill-fated personnel van of 

Al Khor Hospital when one 

of its tyres burst and it rolled 

over three times. 

Perhaps, too, that was the 

reason why Dany changed 

her schedule on Monday 

taking the second trip 

instead of the usual first. 

Perhaps, again, that was 

why Lorenzo’s five-year old 

daughter snuggled up to her 

mother, on Sunday night. 

Did she have a premonition 

it was the last time she 

would be sleeping with both 

her parents? That is a question 

no one, not even the 

five-year old Juliana, can 

answer. 

What she can also not 

answer is why her mom is 

not coming home. Her 

father Joseph Matias 

Cabuay does not know how 

to tell her that her mom will 

never come home. Nor 

would the sister she has 

been waiting to play with. 

Lorenzo was expecting a 

baby. She was eight months 

pregnant. 

Thirty-five-year young 

Dany’s two-and-a-half-year 

old son Albert Anto misses 

Dany Thomas 

his mother equally if not 

more. He is not even in a 

position to grasp people do 

not come back after they die. 

He just waits for his mother 

to return. After all, daddy 

Anto Thomas did. 

But life has to go on. 

Children will have to live without 

their mothers. Dads will 

have to go back to their jobs 

and the world will move on. 

So, Marianne’s husband 

mulls how to tell his daughter 

her mother is no more; 

whether the services of a 

psychiatrist he has sought 

from the HMC and who 

would be available after 

about three days will be of 

any help. 

But he knows as does 

Dany’s husband that they 

will have to come back to 

their jobs, to the unfinished 

task of providing for their 

children’s future. To complete 

the business of life; 

interrupted by death. 

Minister of State for International Cooperation HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al Attiyah (right) with UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai 

Panitchpakdi, in Geneva, on Monday. 

Qatar to host 13th UNCTAD 

conference in April 2012 

QNA 

GENEVA 

QATAR will host the 13th 

session of the United 

Nations Conference on 

Trade and Development 

(UNCTAD) in April 2012. 

The Minister of State for 

International Cooperation, 

HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed 

al Attiyah signed an agreement 

to this effect with the 

UNCTAD Secretary-General 

Supachai Panitchpakdi in 

Geneva on Monday. 

The conference will be 

attended by representatives 

of 193 member-countries. 

About 8,000 participants, 

including the UN Secretary- 

General Ban Ki-Moon and 

some heads of states, are 

expected to attend the meeting. 

The conference 

will be attended by 

representatives 

of 193 countries. 

A high-level UN delegation 

had visited Doha in 

February for the preliminary 

arrangements for the conference. 

The chairman of the conference 

media committee, 

Ahmed Mohammed al 

Marzouqi said the delegation 

expressed its satisfaction 

with the arrangements. 

After signing the agreement, 

the minister said that 

the UNCTAD conference in 

Doha would be an opportunity 

to address the current 

and emerging challenges 

facing trade and development 

in the world. 

He said the meeting would 

address the deadlock in the 

negotiations to implement 

the Doha round of international 

trade. 

Qatar and UNCTAD also 

singed a memorandum of 

understanding (MoU) on 

building human capabilities 

in trade negotiations and in 

training trade negotiators. 

The memo also covers 

cooperation in other sectors 

like trade, environment, 

transport, customs, energy, 

tourism and media. 

The UNCTAD conference 

is held every four years. The 

12th conference was held in 

2008 in Accra, Ghana. 

The conference discusses a 

wide range of issues, including 

trade, poverty combating, 

human capabilities 

building and development 

projects. 

HUNDREDS of Egyptians are 

attacking a courtroom in 

Cairo and rioting after the 

court released 10 policemen 

charged with killing protesters 

during Egypt’s uprising. 

The policemen 

were charged with 

killing 17 people 

in the city of 

Suez during the 

18-day uprising 

that ended on 

February 11. The 

court released 

them on bail and 

postponed their 

trials to 

September 14. 

Relatives of slain protesters, 

who were involved in the 

unrest, also cut traffic 

Monday on a highway 

between Cairo and Suez by 

lying in the street. 

The policemen were 

charged with killing 17 people 

in the city of Suez during the 

18-day uprising that ended on 

February 11. The court 

released them on bail and 

postponed their trials to 

September 14. 

Nearly five months after 

former President Hosni 

Mubarak was toppled, only 

one policeman has been convicted 

in the deaths of more 

than 846 people during the 

government crackdown on 

protesters. He was tried in 

absentia. 

Greece blocks Gaza flotilla boat 

AP 

ATHENS 

A BOAT taking part in a flotilla 

seeking to break Israel’s Gaza 

Strip sea blockade tried to leave 

the southern island of Crete on 

Monday but was turned back by 

Greek forces, as the Athens government 

warned that lives could 

be lost if the mission goes forward. 

The coast guard stopped the 

boat shortly after it set sail without 

permission from the port of 

Agios Nikolaos in northeastern 

Crete, and towed it back into port, 

the Greek Merchant Marine 

Ministry said. 

David Heap, a Canadian passenger, 

said by telephone from the 

boat that there were 43 people on 

board, and more than 30 of them 

were Canadian. Others were from 

Italy, Belgium, Denmark, 

German, Turkey and Australia. 

Greece last week banned all 

boats participating in the Gaza 

flotilla from leaving port, citing 

security concerns after a similar 

flotilla last year was raided by 

Israeli forces, leaving nine 

activists on a Turkish boat dead. 

Greek coastguards stand in front of a Gaza-bound Canadian boat, on the island 

of Crete, on Monday. (REUTERS) 

The Greek foreign ministry has 

offered to deliver the humanitarian 

aid the activists want to take to 

Gaza. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman 

Grigoris Delavekouras noted the 

attempt to break the blockade 

comes at a delicate time in the 

Middle East. Palestinian President 

Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party and 

Hamas have been trying to end a 

four-year rift that left the 

Palestinians with rival governments 

in the West Bank and Gaza. 

“Greece is taking a responsible 

stance and dealing with a particular 

situation. And this situation 

says that there is an immediate 

danger to human life by participating 

in this attempt,” 

Delavekouras said. “This is something 

that arises from experience. 

I think we all remember the tragic 

events we had last year. The 

region doesn’t need this at the 

moment.” 

Israel says it imposed the blockade 

in 2007 to stop weapons 

reaching Hamas, the Islamic militant 

group that rules Gaza. Israel 

eased its land blockade after an 

international uproar over last 

year’s raid on the Turkish boat. 

Insurance sector in Qatar gets new rules 

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 

projects, are increasing their focus 

on more effective and efficient risk 

management strategies and exploring 

the use of captives as a method of 

better controlling risks and insurance 

costs. 

Regulatory Authority Deputy 

CEO, Michael Ryan said that captive 

insurance offers significant risk 

management opportunities for companies 

based in Qatar and the region. 

Talking about the new frameworks 

he said, “our new regime has benefited 

from extensive consultation with 

global captive insurance managers 

and that consultation process has 

helped us to ensure that the new 

framework meets international standards 

and provides a strong foundation 

for the successful development 

of a captive and reinsurance market 

in Qatar.” 

Meanwhile the Regulatory 

Authority also released its annual 

In the field of asset 

management the Regulatory 

Authority undertook 

an extensive 

review of the existing 

regime to make it more 

amenable to the development 

of the asset 

management industry 

within QFC. 

report on Monday. The report highlights 

the activities of the QFC in 

2010 as well as the first few months 

of 2011. 

It points out that the regulatory 

authority worked closely with the 

Qatar Central Bank on Qatar’s Anti- 

Money Laundering Law besides 

helping Qatar Financial Markets 

Authority and some ministries and 

government agencies in this regard. 

In the field of asset management 

the Regulatory Authority undertook 

an extensive review of the existing 

regime to make it more amenable to 

the development of the asset management 

industry within QFC and 

also provide for those firms with a 

regional focus. 

Pointing out that Qatar’s current 

financial regulatory structure is far 

from ideal, the report says that the 

Regulatory Authority looks forward 

to providing in the next five 

years the infrastructure to support 

the diversification of the Qatari 

economy.

4 HMC employees killed, 10 injured in accident - Qatar Tribune

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