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US and Iraq war opponents back elections SHAEM-EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, Nov 23: The United States and its allies on Monday found common cause with opponents of .....more Blair
sets stage for LONDON, Nov 23: British Prime Minister Tony Blair sets the stage today for an election battle over crime and tackling ........more Three
UN hostages KABUL, Nov 23: Three foreign UN workers held hostage in Afghanistan were freed today, almost four weeks after they.......more Feature-Safrica’s black shareholders battle ‘white’Jargon JOHANNESBURG, Nov 23: First-time investor Edward Ngwejana looked like making ......more |
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Russia backs Brazil for BRASILIA, BRAZIL, Nov 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged support for Brazil’s bid to join an expanded .....more Buddhists
treated like YALA, THAILAND, Nov 23: Buddhists in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south say they are being treated like......more Ukraine liberals vow new rallies to overturn vote KIEV, Nov 23: Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko pledged a campaign of mass street protests to overturn ......more Still
dazed by war, FALLUJA, IRAQ, Nov 23: Braving snipers, Falluja residents walked past demolished homes to an aid distribution centre........more |
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US and Iraq war opponents back elections SHAEM-EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, Nov 23: The United States and its allies on Monday found common cause with opponents of the invasion of Iraq, encouraging Iraq to hold elections on time in January even as some Arab states floated the idea of a delay. At a conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh today, all will sign up to a statement encouraging the interim Iraqi Government to hold the poll before the end of January, the date set by the UN Security Council, delegates said. But Egypt, Jordan and the Arab league, taking part in the conference, raised the possibility of delaying elections beyond January to ensure full participation by Sunni Arabs, some of whose leaders have threatened a boycott. "We would prefer inclusiveness by giving them more time rather than exclusiveness and on time," Hesham Youssef, a senior adviser to Arab league chief Amr Moussa, told . The Arab states will not break with the consensus at the Sharm-el-Sheikh conference but merely want to stress the need for including all Iraqis, especially the Sunnis, delegates said. Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki said: "What’s sacred in the democratic process is the full participation of all segments of the population. If the date comes and it was suitable and a good day for elections, that’s fine. But the dates are not sacred. The process is the only sacred thing." Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said a delay of a few weeks was not that important. "The election should be as comprehensive as possible and all the parties should be represented," he said. Iraq’s Interim Government, which is trying to crush insurgents in mainly Sunni Arab areas of Iraq, said on Monday it was determined to ensure security across the country to allow the poll to take place and to allow all Iraqis to vote. A senior US state department official said the United States believed the Jan 30 date was "very feasible" and was working to help Iraq’s US-backed leaders meet their goal. One goal of the Iraq conference was to muster support from the participants to help "achieve that promise that has been made to the Iraqi people," the official told reporters. Iraq’s UN representative, Samir Shakir Sumaidaie, told that attacks on insurgents in Falluja made it easier to hold the elections because it had destroyed the base and infrastructure of groups seeking to rule the country. Postponing the elections was not out of the question but the Iraqi Government would not send out signals that this would happen, he added. "This would give comfort to the terrorists." But with Iraq war opponents including France, Germany, Iran and Syria in attendance, the draft conference communique did not break any new ground and avoided condemning the insurgency against US-led forces and the American-backed Government. The draft, published by Egypt’s state news agency Mena, condemned "all acts of terrorism in Iraq" and calls on all parties "to avoid the use of excessive force" and to do all they can to avoid exposing civilians to violence. France had wanted Iraqi political forces, including those not in the Interim Government, to meet on the conference sidelines. Iraq’s interim Government rejected that idea. Some opponents of the US invasion had pressed earlier in the negotiations for a firm timetable for withdrawing US and other foreign forces from Iraq. But the statement merely repeated a formula adopted by the UN Security Council in June. Iraq, its neighbours and Egypt met on Monday evening ahead of the full conference on Tuesday to talk about border security. Iraq has complained of militants, weapons and money reaching the insurgents from neighbouring countries. The Foreign Ministers at the conference are from Algeria, Bahrain, Britain, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria Tunisia, Turkey and the United States. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is also taking part. The United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations are due to meet in Sharm-el-Sheikh on Tuesday before the conference to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts. (AGENCIES) |
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Blair sets stage for election battle on security LONDON, Nov 23: British Prime Minister Tony Blair sets the stage today for an election battle over crime and tackling terrorism when he outlines his legislative plans for the next Parliamentary session ahead of a vote expected in May. Proposals to curb crime from street violence to drug abuse to terrorism will feature in the Government’s plans, which will be read out by Queen Elizabeth in a Pomp-Laden ceremony at the Houses of Parliament, officials said. Blair, vying for a third term, wants to beef up his Labour party’s credentials on crime, aware that it is a prime concern of voters and an area where the opposition conservative party could make inroads, analysts said. "This is an area of vulnerability (for Labour) and Blair wants to take pre-emptive action to outflank the conservatives," said Wyn Grant, a politics professor at Warwick University. Bills to introduce identification cards and set up a British version of the FBI, the serious and organised crime agency, will be unveiled along with new powers to tackle drug barons, test suspected drug users and force addicts into treatment. More controversial anti-terrorism measures — such as plans to use phone tap records in courts or for specialist courts without juries to try terror suspects — are not expected to feature in the Queen’s speech on Tuesday. But they may form part of Labour’s election promises. Blair’s critics say many anti-crime measures erode civil liberties. Some also accuse him of scaremongering over terror to win voters’ support — the same charge democrats levelled at US President George W Bush in the run-up to his re-election. Regardless of his legislative plans, opinion polls suggest blair will win a third term. An ICM survey for the Guardian newspaper last week put Labour on 38 percent, the conservatives on 30 — the biggest gap found by ICM since May 2003. But the conservatives will say a raft of anti-crime measures introduced by Labour have failed to make Britain safer and they will attack Blair on the issue of trust, be it on domestic policy or the reasons he gave for the divisive war in Iraq. While most general elections are decided on the state of the economy, the Queen’s speech will contain few specifics on taxes or Government finances with Finance Minister Gordon Brown set to unveil his pre-budget report next week. Blair must prioritise his Parliamentary business. He is widely held to be planning an election for May, after which all legislation must start afresh. He is expected to include a bill on the European Union constitution, which may say what question will be asked in a referendum in early 2006, after Parliament debates the treaty. Most Britons oppose the constitution, polls show. Legislation to target animal rights activists who harass science researchers will feature. A crackdown on unscrupulous money lending is expected but Blair may delay plans to legislate against corporate killing, despite his pledge to overhaul corporate manslaughter laws. The Government will re-announce its gambling bill, which has already been diluted by ministers so only eight "super casinos" can be set up in Britain, down from the 20-40 first envisaged. (AGENCIES) |
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Three UN hostages freed in Afghanistan KABUL, Nov 23: Three foreign UN workers held hostage in Afghanistan were freed today, almost four weeks after they were abducted at gunpoint on the streets of the capital Kabul, Government officials said. "They were released a while back this morning," said a Government official, who did not want to be identified, adding that he had no more details. Another Government official said the three workers were now with the authorities. "Yes, yes, yes," Interior Ministry Spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said when asked if the three had been freed. He gave no other details. Annetta Flanigan from northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan were abducted in Kabul on October. 28 after helping run a Presidential election won by US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai. Kosovan businessman Behgjet Pacolli, who has spent weeks in Kabul trying to expedite the release of Hebibi, a family friend, also said the hostages had been freed. "They are free, they are free," he said, but gave no more details. A diplomatic source said the hostages were currently at a base of NATO-led peacekeepers in Kabul undergoing medical checkups. Habib Noorzad, a member of the Taliban splinter faction that had claimed to be holding the hostages, said it had planned to hand them over to intermediaries this morning. The group had threatened to kill the hostages if their demand for the release of Taliban prisoners was not met. The Government official said he had no information as to the terms for the hostages’ release. Yesterday, US-led troops searching for the hostages blasted their way into several compounds in Kabul and detained 12 people, but it was unclear if this operation had helped rescue the UN workers. There has been confusion over who had held the trio since the Government said last week it did not believe they were with the Jaish-e-Muslimeen faction and were probably with a criminal gang in Kabul or its vicinity. (AGENCIES) |
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Feature-Safrica’s black shareholders battle ‘white’Jargon JOHANNESBURG, Nov 23: First-time investor Edward Ngwejana looked like making a packet on his tiny share of South Africa’s telecom monopoly and willingly made the long trek to the company’s annual shareholder meeting. The problem was, when he got there he wasn’t sure what was going on. A Government drive to shift more of the white-dominated South African economy into black hands has helped create a fledgling retail shareholder culture among ordinary blacks like Ngwejana, 10 years after the end of apartheid. But these new investors, long sidelined from mainstream personal finance, often speak little English, have limited access to information and have never read an annual report in their lives. "We black investors are busy digging our own graves," Yelled Ngwejana in his mother tongue Setswana at state-controlled Telkom’s recent Annual Meeting (AGM). "If we continue to talk English we will not understand anything. Even the AGM is English, and our people are blank," he said, noting only white people were contributing to the proceedings. Promoting share ownership among the black majority is politically key for the Government as it seeks to shrink the gap between a small economic elite and a largely black poor. Many South African companies agree they must find ways to reach the expanding black middle class if they are to nurture a healthy retail shareholder culture that would spur the stock market and wider economic growth. "There is a tremendous opportunity for people who have disposable income to buy shares but think it is inaccessible — it’s historical," said Geoff Rothschild, head of communications at the JSE securities exchange. Business tycoon and former politician, Cyril Ramaphosa, told that promoting mass share ownership "helps create wealth, encourages saving and promotes capitalism among ordinary people." companies must do more to reach more people, he added. The question is how to recruit black retail investors. And even if companies do manage it, how do they ensure their new shareholders are equipped to monitor their investment? Telkom became one of South Africa’s top investment destinations for first-time individual shareholders when it sold a portion of shares at a discount to black retail investors last year. Ramaphosa’s media and entertainment holding firm Johnnic holding launched a similar initiative. Both companies ran crash courses in equity investment for ordinary black South Africans, taking education programmes to the sprawling black townships and hosting talk shows on community radio. The companies made it clear shares go down as well as up, aware of the plight of ordinary people who invested in former European telecom monopolies and lost millions when the tech bubble burst in 2000. But Telkom’s so-called "Khulisa" — meaning ‘growth’ —investors still find themselves baffled by meetings held in English and hefty reports they do not understand, and some Johnnic shareholders say they still need much more help. "This is something complicated and it is new to us. We need proper helpdesks with someone competent who can help us in a language the man on the street can understand," said Solly Moloi, who bought his telkom shares under the Khulisa scheme. South Africa has 11 official languages but English is the main business language. Most first-time black investors do speak some English, but many find the combination of financial Jargon and a language that is not their own too much. Investors like Ngwejana want Telkom to translate documents into Zulu, Setswana and other African languages. Telkom spokesman Ravin Maharaj said the company had not yet decided how to deal with the language barrier, but noted that translation into 11 languages would be costly. Ramaphosa, a populist who is now one of South Africa’s richest men, said Johnnic already produced some notices in multiple languages and that across-the-board translation may soon be inevitable. "There may come a time when even the agms are in different languages," he said. "It is something we must not shy away from." Some experts say translating notices would set an expensive precedent for South African companies, and one that would not necessarily reap dividends. Some small shareholder rights groups in South Africa say it is too soon to start fighting the cause of a still tiny black retail investor base, and that anyway, retail shareholders across the board own less than 6 percent of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. "You can educate until you’re blue in the face but you’ve got to have a big enough (black) middle class to make a difference," said David Sylvester, chairman of the shareholders’ association of South Africa. He said that because a black middle class was only just starting to emerge, many wealthier blacks did not yet have the resources for long-term investment and were instead focusing on buying property and making their lives more comfortable. "The (black retail investor) market may be growing but it is still way too small. Most people are at the stage of buying a new fridge, not of buying shares." (AGENCIES) |
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Russia backs Brazil for UN Security Council seat BRASILIA, BRAZIL, Nov 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged support for Brazil’s bid to join an expanded United Nations Security Council in a boost for the Latin American nation’s ambitions to increase its geopolitical influence. "We are opening new horizons in our relations," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said after a brief visit to Brasilia by Putin yesterday. "I thanked President Putin once again for Russia’s help on Brazil’s candidacy for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council." It was the first visit by a Russian leader to Brazil. Lula has made Russia one of his foreign policy priorities, eager to export more of Brazil’s abundant farms goods and gain access to Russian technology. Brazil’s leader backed Russia’s campaign to become a member of the World Trade Organization. Brazil has been trying to achieve its global aspirations through initiatives like leading a peacekeeping mission to Haiti, proposing a global war on hunger at the United Nations and trying to maintain regional political stability. Brazil has joined Germany, Indian and Japan in an effort to mutually support each others’ bids for seats on the United Nations Security Council if it is ever expanded. Its leadership of poor nations in world trade talks and growing role as a Latin American conflict mediator has caught the eye of rich countries. Calling Brazil a "strategic partner," Putin said he hoped the two countries could double or triple trade, which is set to reach no more than 2 billion in 2004, in a few years. But Putin could not crown his visit with a decision by Brazil to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets in a tender to upgrade its air force. Russia has lobbied Brazil hard to win the contract, which at more than 700 million dollars is set to be Latin America’s largest arms contract in recent times. Marco Aurelio Garcia, an advisor to Lula on foreign policy, said the fighter contract may only be decided next year. Nor did Brazil’s biggest buyer of beef and pork lift a ban on meat imports imposed in September due to fears of foot-and-mouth disease. For Brazil, the world’s biggest beef exporter, Russia’s ban is costing millions in lost exports. Russia has proposed to Brazil that civil aircraft maker embraer would get special treatment in a tender by Russian airline Aeroflot to buy 50 regional jets if the Latin American country opted for Sukhoi fighters, according to diplomatic sources. A series of other firms are competing to win the Brazilian fighter contract, including embraer. The two countries did sign a deal calling for Russia to help Brazil develop a new space rocket and its tropical Alcantara space base. Brazil’s third failed space attempt ended last year when a rocket blew up a few days before its planned launch. Russian experts helped to investigate the causes of the accident. The two countries also signed an agreement on scientific cooperation and there was a separate deal by Brazil’s state-owned oil firm petrobras to cooperate with Russia in oil and gas exploration. (AGENCIES) |
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Buddhists treated like 3rd class in Thai south YALA, THAILAND, Nov 23: Buddhists in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south say they are being treated like "third class citizens" as the Government struggles to end ten months of ethnic and religious unrest which has claimed nearly 500 lives. Fear has descended on the three southernmost provinces near the Malaysian border, and Thai Buddhists, who make up just 20 percent of the mainly Malay-speaking region’s 1.8 million population, believe their plight is being ignored. Many of them are second or third generation Chinese thais who form the backbone of the local economy — entrepreneurs running everything from grocery shops to construction firms, furniture factories and hotels. But the almost daily bombs and shootings, which are being blamed on a resurgent Muslim separatist movement, are taking their toll on business, and support from the Government in Bangkok, 1,100 km (700 miles) away, is not forthcoming, they say. "Muslim spiritual leaders say Muslims in the south have been treated like second class citizens, but I think Buddhists here have been treated like third class citizens," one furniture factory owner told . He did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals. "The Government sponsors 80 Muslims from the south to go to Mecca, but it doesn’t give similar sponsorships to monks to study Buddhism in India," said the 60-year-old, who grew up in the southern province of Yala. The region has a history of armed opposition to the mainly Buddhist administration in Bangkok, but never has he seen violence like the last ten months, the man added. Sawas Sumalyasak, the spiritual leader of Thailand’s six million Muslims, said last week that most Thais look on Muslims as second-class citizens, an attitude which stirs resentment in the deep south, where many see themselves as Malay, not Thai. But Buddhists say they too get a raw deal from corrupt and arrogant local officials, and have suffered violence and crime at the hands of bandits and gangs for decades. "Twenty years ago people were afraid of being kidnapped or threatened for protection money if Bandits thought they were rich," said another businessman whose family is in the road-building business in Yala. "Once you paid the ransom, you were safe for a while. But now you don’t know who these people are and everyone from the poor to the rich have been living in fear." Shops in Yala, which this year won a United Nations award as a "city of peace", now pull down their shutters as early as 6 p.m., and schools finish an hour early to allow students to get home before sunset. "Other cities are joining the Government’s energy saving campaign, but in Yala and two other southern provinces we have to use extra street lights to help the public feel more secure," said Yala Mayor Pongsak Yingchoncharoen. "My cell phone always rings when street lights go off due to power problems. People just feel insecure now," said Pongsak, whose staff revealed he usually wore a bullet-proof vest under his shirt to public functions. Believing that the police and army cannot protect them, many Buddhists are arming themselves, or selling up and heading elsewhere. The tourist industry, which is heavily reliant on Muslim Malaysians in search of alcohol, sand and sex, has been particularly hard hit, leaving the region’s pristine beaches and unspoilt mountain parks virtually empty. Repeated requests from businessmen for state help from have gone unanswered, as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra concentrates his efforts on a nationwide peace initiative involving the folding of millions of paper birds. Thousnads of people are folding paper birds and the air force plans to "bomb" the south with a hoped for 63 million symbols of goodwill on Dec 5 to mark the birthday of king Bhumibol Adulyadej. "Sending paper birds is a good abstract gesture, but please also give us some concrete help," said one construction contractor. (AGENCIES) |
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Ukraine liberals vow new rallies to overturn vote KIEV, Nov 23: Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko pledged a campaign of mass street protests to overturn Presidential election results he, and western countries, say were rigged by a Moscow-backed Government. But Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the winner according to preliminary official results, assumed the role of President-in-waiting in an address to the nation yesterday. Authorities said any lawlessness would be quickly suppressed. "We won. Full stop," Yushchenko said on a day that saw some 100,000 people protesting in central Kiev. As night-time temperatures sank below zero, the protest thinned out to only a few thousand in independence square. The west spoke of blatant irregularities. Nationalist western regions rejected official returns and said they would recognise only the authority of Yushchenko. But on the first anniversary of Georgia’s mass "rose revolution" which brought down veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze and then elected a pro-western leader, it was uncertain if Ukraine’s liberals could engineer similar changes. A hard core of committed activists spent the night in a tent camp on Khreshchatyk, Kiev’s elegant main street. Activists set up symbolic cordons at both ends of the street after Yushchenko said security forces might try to dismantle the camp at night. "We must defend every chestnut tree, every tent. We must show the authorities we are here for a long time," Yushchenko told the crowd earlier. "There must be more and more of us here every hour." He said he had lost more than three million votes to fraud, mainly multiple voting through abuse of absentee ballots. Yushchenko said protesters from throughout Ukraine would converge on independence square. Several busloads were setting out from Lviv, the cradle of Ukrainian nationalism in the west. The election presented Ukrainians with a stark choice. The premier sees closer ties with Russia as the key to prosperity, while his rival calls for gradual integration with the west. It underlined the divide between the nationalist west and the industrial Russian-speaking east that, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, backed Yanukovich. Results were still incomplete, but with more than 99 percent of votes counted in official returns, Yanukovich’s lead of more than three percent made it clear he could not be caught. The Prime Minister appeared on television, flanked by a blue and yellow national flag, to thank voters for their support and then to warn he had no intention of working with "individual politicians who call people to the barricades". Western countries weighed in heavily against cheating. A US state department spokesman said Washington would review its relationship with Ukraine and take punitive steps if the Government failed to investigate the allegations. The European Union said Ukrainian envoys in member states were being summoned to hear expressions of concern. In contrast, Putin, who visited Ukraine twice during the campaign to offer support to the Prime Minister, congratulated him by telephone. Western Ukraine, Yushchenko’s stronghold, voiced its disapproval of events. Four local councils in the west, long deeply suspicious of the Russian-speaking east, voted to recognise Yushchenko as the legally elected head of state. Authorities in the capital asked Parliament not to recognise the count. One of Yushchenko’s demands was for Parliament to debate the crisis, though it was uncertain a session would take place. He also called for results in two regions in eastern Ukraine, Yanukovich’s home area, to be overturned as the turnout exceeded the number on voters on lists. (AGENCIES) |
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Still dazed by war, Falluja fears for future FALLUJA, IRAQ, Nov 23: Braving snipers, Falluja residents walked past demolished homes to an aid distribution centre today but American Granola bars and frosted flakes cereal failed to raise hopes of a brighter future. "We have no water and this is the only food we get. We still have the feeling that our homes can be bombed at any time," said Muhammad Ali, 58, one of the few civilians who stayed in Falluja during this month’s US-led offensive against rebels. "How can our life improve? The Americans are back and the guerrillas and the people of Falluja will not accept them so we will have more death." The American assault, which crushed insurgents and foreign Muslim militants, was designed to help the Iraqi Interim Government stabilise Falluja, Iraq’s most rebellious city, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad. "We will never accept the Americans in Falluja. It will never be calm as long as they are here," said Plumber Bilal Guthman, 23. Most of Falluja’s 350,000 people fled before the offensive began on Nov. 8. Those who stayed were mostly men who wanted to protect their homes against theft. Some of them gather every day at the aid station and walk away with a bag of cereals, Granola bars and bagel chips. Today, marine lawyer Major Tim Hansen promised compensation for houses damaged in the fierce offensive. "We will do our best to help the Iraqi people," he said, adding that the Americans had started employing local people to clean the streets, creating jobs around the aid centre. But Hansen was bombarded with questions by Iraqis still worried about their every step in a dangerous city. "There are dead dogs in front of our homes. They stink. Do we have the right to move away?" asked one man. "Are a group of friends allowed to gather in one home at night to feel safer?" asked another. A third elderly man who said his house was completely destroyed walked away shaking his head when he was told to ask a marine lawyer in his neighbourhood about compensation. The marines have imposed a curfew during all hours except for 8 to 12 in the morning. But some Iraqis complain that is not enough time carry out important tasks. "How can I move around Falluja and the snipers to try and find out if my relatives across town are still alive?" asked Abdullah Taha, who is unemployed. Others who sent their wives and children away to safer towns are lonely in a city that seems like a ghost town, aside from sporadic blasts and bursts of gunfire. "I rented a home for my family to be safe and I stayed here to work to pay the rent and now the Americans won’t let me leave," said Alaa Taha, 32, a builder. Security was the main US priority, said one officer, Captain read Omohundro. "Right now, our focus is eliminating the rest of the weapon caches that the insurgents are using against US and primarily to help transitions, so that the Iraqi Government can take control of Falluja, put in the Iraqi security forces, the new police and continue governing Falluja," he said. A member of the US-backed new Iraqi army said there was only one way to pacify Falluja. "As soon as the Americans leave, Falluja will be a happy city," he said declining to give his name. But the Americans are unlikely to leave anytime soon, and Falluja residents say anti-US resentment will only deepen when people return to homes reduced to rubble or damaged in aggressive weapons searches. As an explosion echoed across the city, resident Omat Takhrati said: "That’s what the future holds for Falluja." (AGENCIES) Pakistan arrests 22 more Indian fishermen ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency (MSA) has arrested 22 more Indian fishermen in the Karachi coast, bringing the total of Indian fishermen languishing in Karachi prisons to around 750. The latest batch of Indian fishermen from Gujarat arrested yesterday were part of several such detentions made by MSA. the 22 were arrestd and their boats seized some 125 km southeast of Karachi and handed over to police. At present, around 750 Indian fisherman in Pakistan as also some 100 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails arrested for fishing in Indian waters await release, which the two Governments have promised in the recent weeks. But no schedule has been announced for the release. India expected Pakistan to release 250 of the Indian fishermen who have already been identified by Indian High Commission, before today’s visit of Pakistan PM Aziz to New Delhi. But the release has not materialised. Coastguard officials of the two countries will be meeting next month to establish hotline contact as well as to discuss modalities to pursue the release of the fishermen held in both countries. (PTI) Toll from Philippine storms hits at least 45 MANILA, Nov 23: Fresh rains and flooding killed up to 16 people in the Philippines on Tuesday as a tropical storm worsened the death toll and damage from a weekend typhoon. At least 45 people had died in the two storms, disaster officials said. Dozens were missing. Flashfloods and landslides hit Aurora province, northeast of Manila, during heavy rains today. The air force sent teams with rubber boats but some rescue helicopters could not land due to bad weather. Air force and disaster officials estimated that the death toll in Aurora ranged from 13 to 16. "Thousands of evacuees are currently in the area awaiting help," the air force said in a statement, adding that local officials had requested extra food and medical supplies. Rescuers were also scouring the sea around the islands of Romblon, Mindoro and Palawan for 84 people missing since Saturday when dozens of fishing boats capsized as typhoon muifa hit the Philippines. Damage to crops, mostly Rice and Corn, from Muifa was put at 97.5 million pesos. Property damage was about 50 million pesos. "Most of the farmers just finished harvesting, so damage to Rice was not that high," said Gregorio Tan, administrator of grain trading firm the national food authority. (AGENCIES) Second Sunni cleric gunned down in Iraq BAQUBA, IRAQ, Nov 23: Gunmen killed a Sunni Muslim cleric in the city of Miqdadiya today, the second such killing in Iraq in as many days, witnesses and hospital officials said. Sheikh Ghaleb-al-Zuheir was a member of the Muslim clerics association, which aims to speak for the once dominant Sunni minority and which has called for a boycott of January’s Iraqi election. It was not clear whether there was any connection with the drive-by shooting yesterday in the northern city of Mosul of Sheikh Feydhi-Mohammed-al-Feydhi, brother of the association’s official spokesman. Miqdadiya lies 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad, close to the restive, mostly Sunni, provincial capital of Baquba. The Muslim clerics association was set up with the blessing of the US occupation authorities after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated administration last year. It says its members have been targeted by US and Iraqi security forces and also by insurgents trying to fuel sectarian unrest. Many Sunnis, mostly living north and west of Baghdad, fear the election planned for Jan 30 will hand domination to the long-oppressed Shi’ite Muslim majority in the south. (AGENCIES) China dissident to be released early: Rights group BEIJING, Nov 23: China plans to release a pro-democracy activist from prison on Saturday, cutting short his 15-year sentence in what could be a goodwill gesture by the Communist leadership, watchdog human rights in China said. Liu Jingsheng, who participated in the 1978-9 democracy wall movement and later helped establish the China Freedom and Democracy Party, was sentenced in 1994 on charges of "organising and leading a counter-revolutionary organisation". "The reason for Liu’s early release is not known," the New York-based rights group said in a statement today. "However, knowledgeable sources speculate that the release is a conciliatory gesture by the Hu-Wen Government, which has come under domestic and international censure for its heavy-handedness towards dissidents," the statement said, referring to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. But even after he returns home, the 50-year-old’s freedom of expression and association will be curtailed, since he was sentenced to four years’ deprivation of political rights following his release. "We would like to see the Chinese Government restore Liu’s full political rights immediately upon his release," said Liu Qing, president of human rights in China. The statement said he suffered abuse and illness while in detention and at one stage, had his hands and feet shackled for more than three months. It said his family’s requests for him to receive outside medical treatment had been repeatedly denied. Another dissident, Kang Yuchun, who was among 10 arrested with Liu for forming the underground party in 1990, was released last year more than five years before the end of his 17-year term. (AGENCIES) |
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