Comelec rethinks manual poll count Sec. Agra now back to fighting ...

SARKOZY PUSHES FRIENDLIER TIES ON CHINA TRIP
PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy sets off to China on Wednesday for a visit
intended to set the seal on a reconciliation, two years after he offended Beijing
with comments on Tibet. The state visit, Sarkozy’s second to China, will have a
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The Manila Times
world
TUESDAY
April 27, 2010
CIA USES SMALLER MISSILES IN ATTACKS
WASHINGTON, D.C.:The US Central Intelligence Agency has started
using smaller missiles in its hunt for al-Qaeda and other Islamic
militant leaders in Pakistan in hopes of minimizing civilian casualties,
The Washington Post reported Monday. AFP
political rather than a commercial focus and will include talks on possible new
sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, the French presidency said. AFP
Brazil, Iran to discuss nuclear program
TEHRAN: Brazilian Foreign Minister
Celso Amorim arrived in Tehran
Monday for a two-day visit during
which he would discuss Iran’s nuclear
program with senior officials, Fars news
agency reported.
BANGKOK: Leaders of Thailand’s pro-establishment
“Yellow Shirts” huddled Monday
to plot their next move against rival
“Red Shirts” who are bracing for a crackdown
on their Bangkok protest base.
The Yellows have warned they will
take action to “protect the country”
if authorities do not deal with the
anti-government Reds who are defying
a state of emergency with their
mass rally in the heart of the capital.
A one-week deadline set by the Yellows
for an end to the crippling protests
expired with no end in sight to
the tense standoff, which has twice
descended into bloodshed this
month, leaving 26 people dead and
hundreds injured.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has
rejected an offer by the Reds, who
mostly support former premier Thaksin
Shinawatra, to disperse if elections are
held in three months’ time—softening
earlier demands for snap polls.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s opposition on
Monday slammed the ruling coalition over
their weekend by-election victory, accusing
them of using “racism, bribery and brute
force” to win the vote.
The Barisan National (BN) retook a
seat in central Selangor state with a
majority of over 1,700, two years after
losing it to the opposition in disastrous
national polls.
The win gave the BN a much-needed
boost after it lost seven out of the last
nine by-elections to the opposition
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance, and
Premier Najib Razak hailed the victory as
an endorsement of his plans for reform.
But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim,
who is on trial for sodomy, said Najib had
bought off the electorate with promises
of new schools and cash payments for
The visit comes as world powers
push for a new set of United Nations
sanctions against Tehran for pursuing
its controversial nuclear program.
Brazil is one of the 15 UN Security
Council members and has not
indicated whether it would vote for
or against a sanctions resolution
targeting the Islamic republic.
Amorim will also prepare the
Thailand’s ‘Yellow Shirts’
mull next move against Reds
Appearing on national television
Sunday alongside his army chief,
Abhisit vowed to retake the sprawling
protest site that has paralyzed
Bangkok’s main retail district, but
gave no indication of when a crackdown
might come.
Thailand is largely split between
the mainly rural poor and urban
working class Reds, and the Yellows
who staged their own street protests
that heralded a 2006 coup ousting
their enemy Thaksin.
Yellow protesters in 2008 blockaded
Bangkok’s two main airports,
before a controversial court verdict
removed Thaksin’s allies and allowed
a parliamentary vote that brought in
the current government.
The Yellows had remained largely silent
since the Reds began mass rallies in
mid-March demanding immediate elections,
but there are now growing fears of
clashes between the rival groups. AFP
Malaysia opposition slams
ruling coalition by poll win
settlers in the constituency.
“Over 100 million ringgit [$32 million]
was spent by BN to win a thin majority in
Hulu Selangor, that amounts to 65,000
ringgit per person,” Anwar said in a
statement on Monday.
Najib denied buying votes to win
the by-election.
After the by-election result was
announced on Sunday, Najib said the win
gave the BN “strong impetus” to push
ahead with reforms.
Najib, who came to power a year ago,
unveiled plans last month for reforms
aimed at spurring growth, closing the
wealth gap between ethnic groups and
reaching out to minorities aggrieved by
the “bumiputra” affirmative action
program, which favors the country’s
Muslim Malay majority. AFP
ground for next month’s visit to Iran
by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva, Iranian foreign ministry
spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast
was quoted as saying by Fars.
Fars said Amorim will meet Iran’s
chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and
his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr
Mottaki during his stay in Tehran. He
is also expected to meet Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“International issues will be discussed
[with Amorim] and one of
them is related to our country’s nuclear
activities,” Mehmanparast said.
SEOUL: Seoul is investigating whether
a demoted North Korean general has
won back his former rank as a reward
for the sinking of a South Korean warship,
an official said Monday.
North Korean TV footage and a
still photo released over the weekend
showed Kim Myong-Guk wearing
a uniform with four stars on
the collar.
Kim, who heads the general staff’s
operations bureau, had been demoted
to a three-star general in January,
earlier photos showed.
“We are trying to check what’s behind
his promotion,” a Seoul intelligence
official told Agence France-
Presse on condition of anonymity.
“We are trying to see if the promotion
was related to the sinking of the
Cheonan but have reached no conclusions
yet.”
There was speculation that Kim
had lost a star to take responsibility
for a naval clash near the inter-Korean
border last November which left
a North Korean patrol boat in flames.
On March 26 a explosion sank the
Cheonan, a 1,200-ton South Korean
corvette, near the countries’ border
with the loss of 46 lives.
Seoul officials suspect a torpedo attack—possibly
in revenge for the November
clash. They have not so far publicly
blamed Pyongyang pending a fullscale
multinational investigation.
The general—sporting his four
stars—was shown briefing the
North’s leader Kim Jong-Il in front of
Iran will “discuss its right to exploit
this advanced science within
the framework of the IAEA [International
Atomic Energy Agency].”
World powers accuse Iran of
masking a weapons drive under the
guise of what Iran says is a purely
civilian atomic program.
Washington is leading efforts to
press a fourth round of UN sanctions
against Iran, stepping up its
efforts after a nuclear fuel deal
drafted by the IAEA for a Tehran
research reactor hit a deadlock.
Mehmanparast said the fuel deal
will also be discussed with the visiting
foreign minister.
Amorim on Sunday refused to
say whether Brazil would vote
against a UN resolution imposing
sanctions against Iran, but added
he did not believe Tehran was
close to building a nuclear bomb.
For a sanctions measure to pass,
nine of the 15 members of the Security
Council—of which Brazil is
a temporary member—would have
to vote in favor, as long as none of
the five permanent members employ
their veto.
Seoul probes N. Korea general’s promotion
LONDON: The first commercial
flight between Baghdad and London
in 20 years has touched down
at the British capital’s Gatwick airport
after being delayed by the
Iceland volcano ash cloud, the
airport said.
Flight IA237 landed at 11:08
p.m. (6:08 a.m. Manila time)
Sunday (Monday in Manila) after
coming via Malmoe in Sweden
on the 10-hour trip, according
to arrival information on the
airport’s website.
■ A combo photo of pictures released by North Korea’s official Korean Central
News Agency (KCNA) on Monday (left) and on January 17 (right) shows Kim
Myong-Guk, head of the general staff’s operations bureau, who got demoted
to a three-star general and regained his former four-star rank. AFP PHOTO
a camouflaged military base at an undisclosed
location.
JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said Kim
was not among those named in a
mass promotion of generals to mark
this month’s birth anniversary of the
North’s founder Kim Il-Sung.
“We’re trying to determine
whether Kim’s promotion was related
to the Cheonan sinking.”
South Korea Sunday began five days
of national mourning for the victims,
with public shrines set up in Seoul and
other cities. A photo exhibition
opened in Seoul in their memory.
President Lee Myung-Bak, accompanied
by senior government officials,
on Monday joined a stream of
mourners to pay homage at an altar
outside City Hall.
Suspicion has increasingly fallen
on North Korea despite its denial
of involvement.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young
said Sunday a torpedo attack—creating
a bubble jet which tore the ship
apart—was among the most likely
causes of the sinking.
AFP
First Baghdad-London flight in 20 years arrives
After the flight departed Iraq, the
country’s civil aviation director
Adnan Blebil told AFP: “I am
happy. But if Western companies
had been more cooperative, we
could have started [flights to the
West] several years earlier.”
There were 30 foreign and Iraqi
passengers on board the flight, including
Transport Minister Amer
Abduljabbar Ismail and Iraqi Airways
chief Kifah Hassan.
“There will be two flights a week
now. They will fly via Malmoe on
the way out but the return flight
will be direct,” Blebil said.
The first flight since sanctions
imposed by the UN after Saddam
Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait
came into effect had been scheduled
to depart on April 16.
But Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano
erupted two days earlier, spewing
out ash that forced air traffic authorities
to cancel thousands of
flights across Europe.
Much of Europe’s airspace only
reopened last week. AFP
Brazil has repeatedly defended
Iran’s nuclear program, saying the
Islamic republic has the right to
peaceful nuclear energy.
It has given little credence to US
arguments that Iran was trying to
secretly develop a nuclear arsenal.
On Sunday he said in an press
interview that “I don’t see Iran being
close to making a bomb.”
He also said: “Call us naive, but
I think those who believe in everything
the US intelligence service
says are much more naive. Look at
the case of Iraq.”
AFP
Thousands
to oppose
immigration
law in Arizona
LOS ANGELES: Thousands of people
marched peacefully in Phoenix, Arizona,
Sunday to express their opposition
to a controversial immigration
law signed by the state governor.
Television images showed the
protesters converging on the State
Capitol, where they held a rally to
denounce the legislation.
The law, signed by Arizona’s Republican
Governor Jan Brewer on
Friday, allows police to question
and detain anyone in the southwestern
border state they believe
may be an illegal immigrant, even
if they are not suspected of committing
another crime.
It would also require anyone in
the state suspected of being an illegal
immigrant to show a document
proving their legal status, like a
“green card” permanent residency
document or a passport.
Opponents of the law say that if
police demand papers from someone
they suspect of being an illegal
immigrant, and they turn out to be
a US citizen, their constitutional
rights will have been infringed.
US Democratic Congressman
Luis Gutierrez urged the demonstrators
to keep up pressure on politicians,
reminding them that the
controversial law would not take
effect for 90 days.
Demonstrator Jose Acosta told
CNN television he was concerned
about the new law.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton
said it was people’s moral obligation
to stand against this profiling
in Arizona.
Sharpton said protesters would
bring people from around the country
to Arizona who will walk down
the streets with no identity cards and
submit themselves to arrest. AFP
worldinbrief
■ TOKYO: More than two thirds of Japanese
voters disapprove of beleaguered Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama, an opinion poll showed on
Monday, as he struggles to resolve a tricky row over a
US airbase.
AFP
■ SEOUL: South Korea’s president called
Monday for a thorough probe into claims by a
businessman that he had offered dozens of state
prosecutors cash and sex with prostitutes in return
for favors. AFP
■ BAGHDAD: Al-Qaeda in Iraq is struggling to
recruit volunteers for suicide bombings and
other attacks, the US army said on Sunday (Monday
in Manila), hours after the jihadist network
confirmed the deaths of its top commanders. AFP
■ RAMALLAH, West Bank: US President Barack
Obama has invited Palestinian leader Mahmud
Abbas to Washington in May in a fresh bid to
relaunch Middle East peace talks, a Palestinian
official said on Sunday (Monday in Manila). AFP
■ BECKLEY, West Virginia: US President Barack
Obama on Sunday (Monday in Manila) paid
tribute to 29 men killed in the worst US mine
accident in decades, and pledged “to do what we
must do” to ensure mine safety.
AFP
■ BEIJING: The head of the World Health
Organization (WHO) arrived in North Korea
Monday on a scheduled visit to the impoverished
communist state, China’s official media reported. AFP
■ BEIJING: The quake in China’s remote
northwest has left more than 8,000 monks
homeless after damaging nearly 90 monasteries,
state media said Monday, as the focus of relief work
moved onto resettling survivors.
AFP
■ NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid
Karzai met in New Delhi on Monday to discuss a
relationship seen as key to regional stability. AFP
■ KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police Monday
said they have detained 75 Sri Lankan migrants
who refused to get off a fishing trawler, after three
days of talks to persuade them to leave the vessel
broke down.
AFP
■ BISHKEK, Kyrgyztan: Russia has extradited a
former Kyrgyz minister who vanished amid the
unrest that swept the former authorities from power,
the country’s interim government said Monday. AFP
■ RIYADH: A senior member of Saudi Arabia’s
Islamic religious police who riled conservatives by
backing gender mixing and prayers outside the mosque
appeared to still have his job Monday, a day after the
organization announced he had been removed. AFP
■ LONDON: Britain’s embassy in Sana’a is shut
and its citizens are being advised to “keep a low
profile” after its ambassador to Yemen avoided injury
in a bombing, the Foreign Office said Monday. AFP
■ THIMPU, Bhutan: The prime ministers of India
and Pakistan will hold talks at a conference in
Bhutan this week, officials in New Delhi said Monday,
as the rival nations inch towards resuming their
peace dialogue.
AFP
■ WELLINGTON: The Pacific island nation of
Nauru faced a possible political stalemate after a
weekend election returned exactly the same lawmakers
to parliament, official results showed Monday. AFP
■ MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: At least four Islamist
militants were killed Monday when missiles from
a US drone aircraft struck a suspected insurgent hideout
in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt, officials said. AFP
■ JAKARTA: Indonesia is taking steps in
increasing number and quality of doctors to
improve health service for public as the country’s
ratio of doctors and patients is far behind ideal, a
vice minister said here on Monday. XINHUA