Uganda dictator Amin dies at Saudi hospital: Source

JEDDAH, Aug 16: Former dictator Idi Amin, blamed for the murder of tens of thousands of Ugandans in the 1970s, died today in a Saudi hospital where he had been critically ill for weeks, a senior medical source said.

"We can confirm that Mr Idi Amin has died from complications due to multiple organ failure," the source at King Faisal specialist hospital in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The Ugandan embassy in the kingdom would not comment on Amin’s death, referring all queries to his family.

Amin, one of the bloodiest despots in Africa, has been living in exile, chiefly in Saudi Arabia, since being ousted from Uganda in 1979. He was in his late 70s.

It was not immediately clear what would happen to Amin’s body. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had said that if Amin died abroad, his body could be taken home for burial.

Amin, who was in near-death condition for weeks, had received death threats by telephone, prompting the hospital management to post guards at his bed in the intensive care unit.

A man who expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, Amin was denounced inside and outside Africa for massacring tens of thousands of people — some estimates say more than 100,000 —under his despotic 1971-79 rule.

A former boxing champion, he came to power in a 1971 coup and his rule was characterised by eccentric behaviour and violent purges.

Amin was a ruthless dictator who, the international Commission of Jurists said in 1977, had violated every Fundamental Human Right during a "reign of terror".

Exiles accused him of having kept severed heads in the fridge, feeding corpses to crocodiles and having one of his wives dismembered. Some said he practised Cannibalism.

He was driven from Uganda in 1979 by forces from neighbouring Tanzania and Ugandan exiles, and was given sanctuary by Saudi Arabia in the name of Islamic charity.

A muslim, Amin had lived quietly in Jeddah on a Government stipend with four wives.

He was born in 1925, according to most sources, to a peasant family of the small, predominantly Muslim Kakwa tribe at Arua, in Uganda’s remote west Nile district. (AGENCIES)

Woman doctor prepares to run for Afghan Presidency

KABUL, Aug 16: The plaster is falling off the walls of the shabby Soviet-built concrete tower block with run-down corridors and gaping holes where the hall windows should be.

The dull apartment block is home to Masuda Jalal, a woman who made history in Afghanistan last year and might possibly rock the country again next year.

The Paediatrician was the first woman to run for the interim Presidency after the country was freed from the Taliban regime following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States.

Last year she lost to Hamid Karzai, the US-backed candidate now transitional President, but she intends to challenge him again in the first free elections which are due to take place in Afghanistan in ten months.

In June of last year, the mother-of-three caused a sensation when she suddenly announced her candidacy in the Loya Jirga, the grand council convened to elect a provisional leader after 23 years of war and civil unrest in the impoverished country.

Despite much resistance, however, she won the support of almost 11 per cent of the delegates, far less than the votes for Karzai but more than those received by the third contender in the elections.

More than a year later, the 40-year-old says nothing has changed for the people in Afghanistan since Karzai took up office. Neither the country’s reconstruction nor the disarmament of militias was making any real progress, she complains.

Despite his international backing Karzai had not presented a programme, she says. Instead, his Government was corrupt, dominated by warlords and endangering the peace process, she adds.

"They are sitting in their offices and are waiting for the donors," Jalal says. "But what happened with the all the aid money?"

Karzai should be accountable to the Afghan people and the international community "for every dollar spent", she says.

Jalal herself runs womens projects for the United Nation’s world food programme, a job which she already had under the Taliban regime when many of the current Government members were in exile.

The Taliban jailed her for her commitment, Jalal says and referring to her candidacy, she adds, "I am exercising my rights as a citizen and human being."

After last year’s Loya Jirga she had received so much support from the Afghan people that she decided to try for office again, she says.

"Afghanistan cannot be on a drip forever," says the doctor, who is running as an independent candidate. "I am going to try my best to make our country economically independent from the international community."

Her biggest aim was to attract foreign investors but this required security in the country, she explains. If elected President, she would disarm the militias, deprive the warlords of their power, and hand war criminals over to the international criminal court in the Hague.

She cannot understand why she does not receive at least moral support form the international community. After all, "I am an independent woman, who has nothing to do with the bloodshed and the destruction of the country," she says.

She would campaign with a "clean" and progressive team for the election, finance her own campaign and direct it from her own living- room, she says.

Nonetheless, Jalal does not cherish any illusions about her chances to win. "But it’s better to lose than to sit at home and do nothing." (DPA)

Islamic clerics issue Fatwa against sending Pak troops to Iraq

ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: A council of hardline Islamic clerics have issued a ‘Fatwa’ against sending Pakistani troops to Iraq and said those who die there won’t be eligible for martrydom, stepping up pressure on the Government which has yet to take a decision on the issue.

The council appointed by the six-party religious alliance, MMA, approved the edict or Fatwa that said sending troops to Iraq would violate the tenets of Islam as the soldiers would be involved in "massacre" of fellow Muslims.

Reading out the seven-page Fatwa at a rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday night, MMA leader Maulana Samuel Haq termed sending of troops to Iraq as a "major sin," adding soldiers killed there could not be buried according to Islamic traditions.

"Any Muslim soldier killed while fighting against the Iraqi people would be dying as an infidel (non-believer)". Foreign office spokesman Masood Khan had said recently that though Pakistan has agreed in principle to send troops to Iraq, a final decision will be taken only if it has cover of UN, OIC, GCC or invited by the US-backed Iraqi governing council.

"The council’s Ulema believe that sending of troops by a country like Pakistan will be seen as a direct endorsement of the brutal American occupation", the Fatwa said.

The six-party religious alliance formed the Fatwa council, which comprises nine Ulemas and Muftis from all religious schools of thought, after its talks with the Jamali Government broke down earlier this month. (PTI)

Indian restaurant provides free meals during blackout

NEW DELHI Aug 16: As New York reeled under a severe power cut, the action of an Indian restaurant owner here earned much praise for traditional Indian hospitality.

When the lights failed Thursday night, several restaurants downed shutters. Those that remained open doubled or tripled their prices but the stranded had nowhere else to go. As atm machines did not work and credit cards became useless, those with little cash had a tough time.

But in this greedy jungle, ‘Madras Mahal’ on lexington avenue, owned by Nitin Vyas, offered free meals to the hungry. More importantly, it provided free cold water when the going rate for a small drinking water bottle was five dollars compared to usual one dollar.

The restaurant served rice with the Punjabi dish ‘Channa-Bhatura’ and tea which was much in demand.

Even last afternoon, there was a queue of hungry people outside the restaurant waiting for a free meal. (PTI)

Reverse flow of Indians, other professionals from US has begun

WASHINGTON, Aug 16: Many foreign nationals no longer view America as the land of opportunity and growing numbers of immigrants are moving back to their home countries - India, Pakistan, China, Singapore and Vietnam, countries with job and economic growth sometimes double or triple that of the US.

The US Government has not kept numbers on this trend for several decades. But economists and immigrants say the anecdotal evidence of it is real.

China is experiencing the fastest economic growth of any country, expanding at eight per cent a year, according to CIA statistics. India’s economy ranks no. 2, growing 4.3 per cent last year. By comparison, the US economy grew just 2.45 per cent during the period.

In fact, all countries in Southeast Asia have higher economic growth rates than the United States, the ‘Denver Post’ said yesterday. Much of that activity is fueled by US companies outsourcing work there.

With its highly educated, English-speaking workforce, India has become a prime spot for affordable customer-support call centres, software development houses and, more recently, technical support centers.

"I know a lot of Indians who are going back to India," said Zafar Khan, a Denver lawyer and accountant who speaks six languages and has lived in five countries.

Khan said he is considering moving back to his native Pakistan to join a software venture. "I’m toying with it," he said. "I’m an international guy. I can move anywhere there is opportunity."

China has become a key manufacturing centre for companies across the globe, making everything from washing machines and clocks to chemical fertilizers and sugar.

"I get calls from friends left and right saying they are packing up and going back to China," said Hai Yan Zhang, a Chinese business consultant who travels to the Asian nation five times a year.

"I go to China and see people’s eyes sparkling," Zhang said. "It’s full of life and vitality there, in contrast to the US, where we’re reaching a plateau, perhaps going down."

Economists say the exodus could hurt the US economy because America is losing some of the world’s smartest and most entrepreneurial people. And it most likely will feed a controversial trend by US companies to create jobs or move existing jobs offshore. The companies, facing competitive pressures, want cheaper and faster software development, manufacturing or customer service.

"Those people will have the talent to do the work in their home country, and they have the relationships with the companies they used to deal with," said Rich Wobbekind, an economist with the University of Colorado. "It’s going to be easier for them to set up facilities in other countries."

Multiple forces may pull immigrants back home, said Bahman Paul Ebrahimi, a global business professor at daniels college of business at the University of Denver.

Some people arrived here a few years ago to meet demand from companies that desperately needed talented computer scientists to keep up with the booming economy. Today, their work visas have expired and they’re forced to go home because they cannot find an employer to sponsor them, he said. (PTI)

World sympathy and wisecracks for US Blackout

LONDON, Aug 16: Some people voiced admiration, others worried, and some could not help but poke fun at the world’s self-confessed "superpower with a third world grid".

"Now we understand why they (Americans) have been unable to get the electricity running in Baghdad," said 47-year-old engineer Ghassan Tombin in the Gulf Arab country of Dubai.

From Nairobi to Moscow and beyond, the world was aghast that New York and a Swathe of other cities across the United States and Canada could be shut down by a blackout.

Many praised New Yorkers for their orderly response. "I’m sure everyone was fearful of another September 11, but they banded together and showed a great deal of camaraderie," said London taxi driver Steve Murray, 40.

As power gradually began returning after the biggest outage in north American history, people in other countries weighed whether such a large-scale breakdown could happen also to them.

While more than 50 million people battled to cope in America, tens of thousands of airline passengers were left stranded abroad, international business operations came to a standstill and phones jammed.

Former US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson described the United States as a "superpower with a third world grid".

Flights to Canada and the Northeastern United States were cancelled around the world, frustrating some in departure lounges and frightening others already airborne.

Anatoly Chubais, Chief Executive of Russia’s National Power Monopoly Unified Energy System (UES), called the blackout "the biggest accident in the history of world energy systems".

The world’s newspapers splashed images of thousands of New Yorkers streaming across the brooklyn bridge onto front pages.

In Iraq, where the US administration has been struggling to restore power since ousting Saddam Hussein in early April, residents in the capital worried how high-tech Americans would ever restore electricity with such huge power problems at home.

"They have the best equipment and technology and a power shortage can make such a big fuss in the United States. Now I am sure it will take them years to fix the electricity in iraq," said Ali Saghbal, a worker at a Baghdad power station.

Disparaging

In Nairobi, some residents were far from sympathetic, saying Americans were receiving a taste of what it was like to live in the world’s poorer countries.

"America, welcome to Kenya, see what we go through," said Alex Mwaura, a logistics officer with an aid agency in Nairobi.

"I’m happy — let them experience how bushmen live without power, even for just one minute," added Emma Nzau, a 28-year-old receptionist. "Americans are so used to electricity, they should be like the Chinese and ride bicycles to work."

For many the question was: Could it happen to them?

Officials in some countries dismissed the possibility of a similar power outage, saying their networks could not compare in size and complexity to the US grid.

Julian Jessup, senior international economist at standard chartered bank in London, said: "It is a reminder of how vulnerable the US economy is to problems in the energy sector, and there are a lot of problems there."

Some said their systems were more advanced and they were better equipped to cope with such breakdowns.

"I would find it very difficult to believe that an outage of this scale where all of Tokyo suffers a power outage...Would happen in Japan," said Koji Morita, general manager of the energy think-tank Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ).

Even in Russia, where small-scale blackouts are common, the system is better protected against such widescale disruptions, said Ues’s Chubais.

"But any power system anywhere in the world to some extent is vulnerable to multiple events," sympathised Paul Panther-price, Australia’s Electricity Market Management Company Spokesman.

German Services Union Verdi said Germany was at risk of power outages also as fierce competition was forcing companies to take drastic cost-saving measures. (AGENCIES)

Normality returns after North American blackout

NEW YORK, Aug 16: Life returned to normal today for millions caught in the worst blackout in North American history, but isolated outages stubbornly continued in communities from Michigan to Connecticut and Ontario, Canada.

Two days after cascading outages blackened an area of more than 23,310.000 sq km, a US-Canadian task force searched for a cause while public officials across the region tried to assess the financial cost.

In New York city, where full power returned late yesterday after 29 hours, subway trains began running again while stores and restaurants opened for what they hoped would be their first normal day since the lights went out on Thursday afternoon.

But public officials remained cautious, urging residents to conserve energy by keeping lights, air-conditioners, washing machines and other electric appliances turned off.

Airports continued to report flight delays due to lingering computer problems, while thousands of stranded air travelers lined up in the hope of booking new flights out of John F Kennedy, Laguardia and Newark Liberty Airports.

New York Governor. George Pataki said full electric service resumed across the state today. But he kept a state of emergency declaration in place, warning that the in-state power grid was operating at 43 percent below full capacity.

"We’re still in a delicate balance between what we can generate and the demands on the utility grid," Pataki told a news conference in Albany, New York.

The Governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were due to meet later today with US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in the hope of getting assurance that steps would be taken to prevent outages from recurring.

"As of now, I can tell you that we still don’t know, and I don’t know that anyone in Washington or Ottawa or anywhere else knows, why this happened," Pataki said.

"We need to know that steps are being taken to prevent this from happening again," he added. (AGENCIES)

Pakistan Shi’ite torch cars in protest over killings

KARACHI, Aug 16: Pakistani police fired shots in the air to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who torched cars and blocked roads in the southern port city of Karachi today to protest the killing of Shi’ite Muslims.

Two gunman on a motorcycle killed Abne Hasan, a doctor, in the eastern part of the city before noon, in what police said appeared to be a sectarian attack.

"It was a targeted killing. He was shot dead in front of his house," Tariq Jameel, the city’s deputy police chief, told Reuters.

Later in the day another Shi’ite Muslim, 80-year-old Syed Wajih Haider, was shot dead in front of his grocery store in the same area, by two unknown gunmen, police said.

"His murder is a continuation of the morning killing," said a senior police official. "Both the killings were apparently sectarian motivated."

Pakistan, a mainly Sunni Muslim country, has been wracked by increased sectarian attacks this year.

Witnesses said dozens of people, mostly angry young Shi’ite Muslims, suffered minor injuries in scuffles with police, who struggled to control the crowd.

Protesters set alight two cars, one motorcycle and a state-run bank and blocked the city’s main Sharah-e-Faisal road, another police official said.

No group claimed responsibility for the killings, which came just over a month after at least 53 people were killed in a sectarian attack on a Shi’ite mosque in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, close to the Afghan border. (AGENCIES)

NY Governor says full power resumes across state

NEW YORK, Aug 16: New York Govenor George Pataki today said that full electrical service had resumed across the state, after the worst power blackout in North American history.

"At the present time, essentially 100 percent power has been returned all across New York state," Pataki told a news conference in the state capital of Albany.

He said trains, buses and subways had resumed normal weekend schedules but that delays continued to disrupt flights at the region’s airports. (AGENCIES)

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