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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tareq Aziz sentenced to 15 years in jail


Iraq's top court on Wednesday sentenced former deputy premier Tareq Aziz and Saddam Hussein's hatchet-man "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid to 15 years in jail for crimes against humanity. Aziz and Majid were among eight people on trial at the Iraqi High Tribunal over the 1992 murders of 42 Baghdad traders accused of racketeering while Iraq was under punishing UN sanctions imposed after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The two key figures in Saddam's ousted regime had risked the death penalty. It is the first conviction against Aziz, 73, who was Saddam's spokesman to the outside world for two decades but turned himself in after the regime was overthrown by US-led invading forces in March 2003. Wednesday's decision followed a verdict delivered by the Baghdad court on March 2 that condemned Majid, a half brother of Saddam, to his third death sentence over the murder of Shiite Muslims 10 years ago. However, the court had acquitted Aziz on the same charges of crimes against humanity. Majid himself was first sentenced to death in June 2007 for genocide after ordering the deaths of tens of thousands of Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign, when Iraqi forces strafed villages with poison gas, the source of his grim nickname.

Bangladesh army helicopter crashes

Two Bangladeshi army officers have been killed in a helicopter crash northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. The army helicopter crashed in a paddy field in Tangail district, on Monday, Abdul Mannan, a local police official, said. He named the two men killed in the crash as Major-General Rafiqul Islam and Lieutenant-Colonel Shahid, who was piloting the helicopter. A third officer who was on board  was seriously injured and sent to Dhaka's military hospital for medical care, he said.

March 17 to herald new era of justice, victory: Shahbaz

Pakistan, GUJRANWALA Pakistan Muslim League-N President Mian Shahbaz Sharif asked the nation on Wednesday to stand up for a revolution in the country. Addressing a charged rally here on Wednesday, Shahbaz said time had come that the people should come on streets to change their destiny. He asked the people to take part in the long march of lawyers, if they wanted to change their fate. He said the nation could pardon President Asif Ali Zardari if restores the deposed judges. Shahbaz said the people would witness dawn of a new era of justice and victory on March 17.

Death toll at 16 after gunman shot dead in Germany

The death toll in Wednesday's school shooting in Germany has risen to 16, including the 17-year-old masked gunman, nine students, three teachers and three passers-by, according to Heribert Rech, the interior minister of the Baden-Wuerttemberg. In a press conference in Berlin Wednesday afternoon, German chancellor Angela Merkel called the crime "incomprehensible." "I cannot understand what is going on," she added. The killer went on a rampage at his former school in Winnenden, near the southern city of Stuttgart, before being shot in a firefight with police around 40 kilometres (25 miles) away. Two policemen were also seriously injured during the police shootout. Other German news sources, including Bild, quoted local police as saying the boy’s parents own 18 licensed firearms. The father is a successful businessman. “The boy may have been taking revenge for being expelled,” said Anne Maillet. “The boy was known to the police already,” said Damien McGuinness. According to Maillet, the school is not particularly academically high-pressure, and the area is somewhat affluent, so the shooting was especially “shocking.” 

Pakistan Bans Protests Ahead of Major Rally


ISLAMABAD Pakistan banned protests in two provinces and arrested scores of lawyers and opposition leaders Wednesday ahead of planned rallies threatening to batter the already-shaky rule of its pro-Western government. The crackdown by police and intelligence agencies will damage the democratic credentials of the ruling party of President Asif Ali Zardari and will surely stoke further anger at his six-month rule. Lawyers vowed to continue their protests regardless. The political crisis comes as the nuclear-armed country is grappling to contain surging violence by al-Qaida and the Taliban and fix an economy that remains functioning only because of support from international lenders. It could lead to a political meltdown and even some form of intervention by the country's powerful military, which has often seized power in the past following chaotic civilian rule. The turmoil erupted last month when the Supreme Court banned the head of the largest opposition party, Nawaz Sharif, and his brother, from elected office. They accused Zardari of engineering the verdict to neutralize them. They and other opposition parties are now supporting lawyers' demands that Zardari fulfill a pledge to restore judges fired by former President Pervez Musharraf and create an independent judiciary. The justices are believed likely to be hostile to Zardari and could move to limit his powers.The protesters have vowed to gather in cities around the country Thursday before leaving for the capital, Islamabad, where they plan to stage a sit-in at the parliament building until their demands are met. In a move seemingly designed to thwart that protest, Rao Iftikhar, the home secretary in eastern Punjab province, said he issued orders for a ban on public gatherings there "so that terrorists cannot take any advantage by targeting political gatherings." The ban will remain in force for three months, he said. It gives authorities the right to arrest any protesters. Punjab is Pakistan's most powerful and populous province and Sharif's political stronghold. Sindh province Home Secretary Arif Ahmad Khan also announced a 15-day ban on public gatherings, ostensibly to "prevent a bad law and order situation." Sindh is the main stronghold of the ruling Pakistan People's Party. A spokesman for Sharif's party, Sadiqul Farooq, said he received reports from party offices across the country that members were being arrested, but he had no accurate numbers. Munawar Hassan, a leader of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party, said "nearly two dozen of our supporters have been detained." Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Zardari, said 18 people had been arrested and would be released once the situation calmed down. "Some people have announced they are going to defy the ban on public meetings," he said. "It is sad, but this is what the law says." In the Punjabi city of Multan, senior police officer Fayyaz Ahmad said 42 Sharif supporters were arrested and "would be dealt with according to the law." On Monday, the country's security chief said the protesters were welcome to rally, but urged them not to gather in front of the parliament. He suggested they protest in an empty lot on the outskirts of Islamabad. The protesters insist they are planning a peaceful march. Aitzaz Ahsan, a protest leader, said he believed "hundreds" of lawyers had been arrested, but insisted the movement -- which helped bring down the government of Musharraf -- would not falter. "How long can the state resist?" he told a local TV station. "We will keep on knocking on the door of Islamabad relentlessly." Zardari is the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was widely praised as a democrat. He has repeatedly promised to implement her vision in the country of 170 million people. Bhutto's and Sharif's parties were bitter rivals in the 1990s, a turbulent decade when both leaders served twice as prime minister without completing a term before Musharraf seized power.

Asia stocks follow US surge

Asian markets have opened sharply higher following Wall Street's best day this year on the back of Citigroup announcing it was making a profit. Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average was about four per cent higher after the midday break on Wednesday while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading up about three per cent.  Markets in most parts of the Asia-Pacific region were also up, tracking Wall Street's biggest one-day rally this year. Spurred by Citigroup saying it operated at a profit during the first two months of the year, investors traded in high volume to send the Dow Jones industrials up nearly 380 points or 5.8 per cent, to 6,926.49 on Tuesday – its biggest point and percentage gain since late November. The broader S&P 500 index rose 43.07, or 6.4 per cent, to 719.60, while the Nasdaq composite rose 89.64, or 7.1 per cent, to 1,358.28. In a letter to employees on Monday, Vikram Pandit, Citi's chief executive, said the performance this year has been the bank's best since the third quarter of 2007, the last time it booked a profit for a full quarter. Based on historical revenue and expense rates, Citi's projected earnings before taxes and one-time charges would be about $8.3bn for the full quarter. Pandit declined to say how large credit losses and other one-time items have been that would at least partially offset profit. 

Pakistan arrests political activists, lawyers

Pakistan arrested dozens of political activists and lawyers in Islamabad and across the country's biggest province Wednesday in a bid to thwart a planned protest march on the capital, police said. Thirty five political activists and lawyers were arrested in Islamabad during raids launched overnight and continuing beyond daybreak, a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. Those rounded up include members of Pakistan's most popular opposition party, which is headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was last month disqualified from contesting elections. A top leader in Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, Raja Zafarul Haq, was placed under house arrest, police said. Police also searched in vain for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who lives just outside the capital. Many lawyers and MPs have gone into hiding to avoid detention, and were unreachable by telephone at their homes and offices. In Lahore, the capital of Punjab province and Sharif's political heartland, police confirmed further arrests after authorities banned protests and ordered paramilitary troops to be on alert in a bid to prevent this week's planned "long march" demanding legal reforms. "Raids are being conducted at various places in the city and some arrests have been made," senior police official Amjad Saleemi told AFP. "The government has provided lists of people to police and raids are being made to arrest them," he added. Saleemi did not say who or how many people had been arrested. A government official told AFP he expected "hundreds of people" to be rounded up before the long march and that lists of "miscreants" were being prepared in districts across Punjab province. Pervez Malik, a local leader in PML-N, said police raided the homes of party MPs and arrested "dozens" of workers in Lahore. Ameer-al Azeem, the Lahore chief of opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami said that "some 15 to 20" workers in the organisation's youth wing had been detained. In the central Multan district, police arrested 28 workers from opposition parties, district PML-N chief, Allah Nawaz Noorani, told AFP. There was no immediate confirmation on the numbers from police. Lawyers and political activists are organising a protest from March 12-16 to demand President Asif ali Zardari make good on a promise to reinstate judges sacked by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. 

Gitmo prisoners defend 'blessed' 9/11 attack

Five Guantanamo prisoners accused in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. staunchly defended their actions, calling the operation "blessed" and "great" and the accusations against them "badges of honor.""You are the last nation that has the right to speak about civilians and killing civilians," the five said in a response this month to the U.S. government's war crimes charges. "You are professional criminals, with all the meaning the words carry," the response said. "Therefore, we will treat you the same. We will attack you, just like you have attacked us, and whomever initiated the attacks is the guilty party." The six-page response from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who plotted the attacks, and four others castigates the actions of the United States and its allies in the Middle East and calls the United States "the terrorist country number one in the world." The military commission set up to hear the men's cases at the Guantanamo Bay inmate facility received the signed document Thursday, and a military judge ordered its release on Monday. The five are members of the al Qaeda terror network. Mohammed, who has taken credit for planning the attack, and the four other prisoners call themselves members of the 9/11 Shura Council. "With regards to these nine accusations that you are putting us on trial for; to us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride. Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims," the response stated.

Gaza family sues Israel over deaths

A Palestinian family is suing Ehud Olmert, Israel's outgoing prime minister, and other government officials over the deaths of their relatives during the recent assault on Gaza. The al-Samouni family, which saw 29 of its members killed in the conflict, filed the case in Jerusalem on Tuesday, seeking $200m in damages for "criminal negligence". More than 1,300 Palestinians died during Israel's three-week war last December and January, one-third of them children. The al-Samounis say Israeli soldiers raided their homes in the middle of the conflict, and moved the extended family together into one house. According to the survivors' accounts, partly corroborated by the International Red Cross and the United Nations, shells and missiles fired by the Israeli military hit the house the following day, leaving 29 people dead. "This was a barbaric action. They said that there was resistance here, and I don't know what. But there was no resistance," Naela al-Samouni, one of the survivors, said.

US: Iran undecided on nuclear bomb, Israel 'more concerned'

Iran has not decided whether to build a nuclear weapon bomb and does not have any highly enriched uranium to create one, senior US intelligence officials say. But Tehran is continuing to enrich uranium and is investigating how to build long-range missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, Dennis Blair, US director of intelligence, told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. "Although we do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop nuclear weapons, we assess Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop them," he said. Tehran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb from 2010 to 2015, according to most US intelligence agencies believe, Blair said.  The US state department predicts that Iran could have a sufficient amount of highly enriched uranium by 2013, he said.

Israel 'more concerned'

The US and Europe have expressed fears that Iran's nuclear programme is geared towards the production of a bomb, while Tehran says it is only looking to generate electricity.Israel is more concerned than the US about Iran's nuclear programme, Blair said. "The Israelis are far more concerned about it, and they take more of a worst-case approach to these things from their point of view," he said.

Rare Harry Potter book fetches $19,000 at auction

A first-edition Harry Potter book was sold for about $19,000, according to an auction house in Dallas, Texas.The soft-cover book was one of 200 copies printed and is a rarity compared with later editions of the popular series that were printed in the millions, the Heritage Auction Galleries said. The book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," includes an autograph from author J.K. Rowling. It's the first book in the Harry Potter series and was published in the United States under the title "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." The auction had estimated that the 223-page book would sell for as much as $12,000. The winning bid of $19,120 bypassed expectations, but it was not the most expensive sale of Harry Potter-related items in an auction. Last year, an 800-word prequel to the blockbuster Harry Potter novel series fetched nearly $50,000 for a writer's group and dyslexia charity.

Obama pick quits over Israel lobby

The candidate for a leading US intelligence post has withdrawn his nomination after accusing the country's Israel lobby of plumbing "the depths of dishonour and indecency" to assassinate his character. Charles "Chas" Freeman, a former US ambassador who is now president of the Middle East Policy Council think-tank, had initially agreed to chair the US National Intelligence Council that produces assessments of security issues. But on Tuesday he withdrew his nomination following what he called a "barrage of libellous distortions" of his record by the Israel lobby in the US.

Chinese FM Yang in Washington amid naval standoff

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi meets US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday amid a tense US-China naval standoff in the South China sea. Rifts also emerged between the two countries over Tibet. The United States accused China on Tuesday of adopting a more aggressive military stance in the South China Sea as a naval confrontation caused anger in Beijing and raised tension before a U.S. visit by China's foreign minister. The incident involving five Chinese ships and a U.S. Navy survey vessel threatened to further complicate ties between the two powers as they wrestle with a joint response to the global economic crisis and prepare for a G20 summit in London next month. National Intelligence Director DennisBlair told the U.S. Congress the Chinese have become more assertive in staking claims to international waters around economic zones and were "more military,aggressive, forward-looking than we saw a couple years before" in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea. Blair said it was unclear whether Beijing would use its growing military power "for good or pushing people around." The United States accused China of harassing the U.S. ship, the USNS Impeccable, in international waters off China's Hainan island, site of a major submarine base and other naval installations. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing filed a protest with China. China countered that the United States had distorted the truth and violated international and Chinese laws.

Govt crackdown on opposition in bid to thwart long march

Pakistan KARACHI Following the imposition of Section 144 several leading opposition figures have been placed under arrest as part of a government crackdown in the Punjab province, private TV channels reported Wednesday morning. PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq has been placed under house arrest and four lawyers who went to meet Iftikhar Chaudhry were detained by police.  Police have been ordered to place under house arrest the Sharif brothers, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Imran Khan but they are all said to have evaded arrest thus far. Police dressed in civilian clothes attempted to arrest lawyers’ movement leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan from his residence early Wednesday morning but he was not present at the time, his family told TV channels. Many PML-N, Jamat-i-Islami and lawyers’ movement activists were also detained in Lahore during raids on their homes. Punjab MPA Iftikahr Baloch's house was raided and eight people were arrested from there. Women Action Forum's Tahira Abdullah was detained for three hours. She has now been released. The PML-N reported that 25 of its members were arrested from Lahore and Raiwind. Twelve activists of the Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party have also been arrested, according to PTI sources.