Tripura Times, Agartala, Sunday, October 27, 2013
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AROUND THE WORLD Iran hangs 16 rebels ‘in reprisal for border deaths’
Demonstrators set fire to a street sculpture in the shape of a bus station turnstile as they protest against Sao Paulo‘s Governor Geraldo Alckmin in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
IN BRIEF German spy chiefs to head to US over Angela Merkel phone tap row Berlin, Oct 26 (Agency) : German spy chiefs will travel to the United States next week to demand explanations following allegations that US intelligence has been tapping Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone. “High-ranking government representatives will go rapidly to the United States in order to push forward discussions with the White House and the NSA on the allegations raised recently,” said Georg Streiter, the chancellor’s deputy spokesman, on Friday. German media quoting sources close to the intelligence service reported on Saturday that the delegation will include top officials from the German secret service. Revelations of US covert surveillance based on leaked documents from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden have sparked outrage in the European Union where privacy protection is a very sensitive issue. The scandal widened this week on allegations that Merkel’s phone was being tapped, prompting Berlin to summon the US ambassador - a highly unusual move between the close allies. Merkel had called US President Barack Obama on Wednesday demanding answers and warning this would be “breach of trust” between international partners. “Spying between friends, that’s just not done,” Merkel said, as she was heading into a EU summit earlier this week.
Greenpeace activist hangs off Eiffel Tower in protest against Russia Paris, Oct 26 (Agency): A Greenpeace activist today staged a protest in a tent suspended from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower against Russia’s detention of 30 members of the environmental lobby group. The activist also unveiled a banner with the slogans “Free the Arctic 30” and “Militants in prison, climate in danger”, forcing authorities to close the French monument to tourists in the morning. Moscow has sparked an international outcry over its heavy-handed response after two Greenpeace activists in September scaled a stateowned oil platform to protest against Russian energy exploration in the Arctic. It detained 30 crew members of the Dutch-flagged icebreaker Arctic Sunrise, including two journalists, in the northern Murmansk region, on piracy charges, which prosecutors later reduced to hooliganism. Cyrille Cormier, a Greenpeace campaigner, told AFP: “We are here to send a message to the French government to do everything to secure the release of the 28 militants and two journalists.” “Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is due to visit Russia next week. We are asking him to put this case on the agenda,” he added.
Firm run by Indian-Americans to fix Obamacare website Washington, Oct 26 (Agency): The Obama administration has turned to a technology company run by Indian-Americans to fix the problem ridden website for Americans to buy insurance under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Columbia, Maryland, based Quality Software Services Inc, or QSSI, will now serve as a general contractor to oversee repairs to Healthcare.gov launched on October 1 under the 2010 law nicknamed “Obamacare,” said a management consultant hired by the White House to fix it. The website that runs online insurance exchanges for 36 states to buy compulsory health insurance under the new federal law should be working smoothly for most users by the end of November, Jeffrey Zients, assured reporters in a conference call Friday. Fourteen other states have built their own exchanges to sell insurance policies to millions of uninsured people in the United States. But many have experienced error messages and long waits in trying to sign on to the federal site.“It will take a lot of work and there are a lot of problems that will need to be addressed, but the bottom line is that it is fixable,” Zients said. “By the end of November, the vast majority of consumers will be able to successfully and smoothly enrol through Healthcare.gov,” he said. QSSI, a unit of health insurer UnitedHealth Group, produced the federal data hub and a software tool to register consumers that is working relatively well.
Germany, Brazil to propose antispying resolution at UN United Nations, Oct 26 (Agency): Germany and Brazil are drafting a UN General Assembly resolution that would demand an end to excessive spying and invasion of privacy after a former US intelligence contractor revealed massive international surveillance programs, UN diplomats said on Friday. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have
both condemned the widespread snooping by the US National Security Agency. Charges that the NSA accessed tens of thousands of French phone records and monitored Merkel’s mobile phone have caused outrage in Europe. Germany said on Friday it would send its top intelligence chiefs to Washington next week to seek answers from the White House. In response to the disclosures about US spying, many of which came from fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the German and Brazilian UN delegations have begun work on a draft resolution to submit to the 193-nation General Assembly, several UN diplomats told Reuters. “This resolution will probably have enormous support in the GA (General Assembly), since no one likes the NSA spying on them,” a Western UN diplomat said on condition of anonymity. General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, unlike resolutions of the 15-nation Security Council. But assembly resolutions that enjoy broad international support can carry significant moral and political weight. Merkel demanded on Thursday that Washington strike a “no-spying” agreement with Berlin and Paris by the end of the year, adding she wanted action from President Barack Obama, not just apologetic words.
Iran denies it has stopped enriching uranium to 20 per cent Tehran, Oct 26 (Agency): A senior Iranian official has denied reports the Islamic republic has temporarily stopped enriching uranium to the 20 per cent level, the state news agency IRNA said today. “Iran’s nuclear activities are unchanged and enriching uranium to 20 per cent continues,” IRNA quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s influential foreign policy committee, as saying. Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme is at the core of its dispute with world powers, who suspect it masks a drive for atomic weapons despite repeated denials by the Islamic republic. Enriching uranium to 20 per cent purity is a few technical steps short of producing weapons-grade fissile material. Conservative MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesman of the foreign affairs commission, was quoted as saying on Thursday that Iran was temporarily halting its production of uranium to the 20 per cent level. “There is no production at all... as right now there is no need for the production of 20 per cent (enriched) uranium,” the parliament website quoted Naqavi Hosseini as saying.
Bank robber struck 37 times but never took a dollar New York, Oct 26 (Agency): There was an element of genius in the string of bank heists that played out in New York City for 11 weeks over the winter and spring. No alarms. No threatening notes, no messy dye packs. No one even noticed the thefts right off. This was surely because no money was taken. But the thief was not after cash. What he stole was something a real bank robber would not even notice on the way to the teller’s window, but was, to him, of value. Those little rugs inside the front door. The police would later create a list of six bank branches that were victims. That wasn’t even close. “Thirty-seven incidents,” said Melissa Shuffield, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, the thief’s preferred bank. It is unclear how much time elapsed before each rug was noticed missing. Probably not until the first rainy day. Perhaps the branch manager called someone in a supply room for a new rug or two, and that person noticed he had received a lot of similar calls lately. Somebody took a look at the surveillance footage. The first known theft took place March 4 in the middle of the night at a Madison Avenue bank branch in Midtown. The thief took one rug but came back six days later, at midday, for another.
Pakistan to bar Afghan refugees after Nato leaves Islamabad, Oct 26 (Agency): Pakistan won’t allow Afghan refugees to enter the country after the withdrawal of Nato forces from war-torn Afghanistan in 2014, a minister said. “Pakistan will not welcome fresh influx of refugees from Afghanistan and use all legal channels in collaboration with the international community to block entry of Afghans on the border,” the Dawn newspaper quoted Pakistan’s state and frontier regions minister Lt.Gen. (retired) Abdul QadirBaloch as saying on Friday. The minister said Pakistan would utilise all options to stop Afghan refugees from crossing over the border. “In case Afghanistan is unstable, then the local residents will be left with no choice but to flee to Pakistan but even then, we won’t welcome them,” he said.
Tehran, Oct 26 (Agency): Sixteen rebels have been hanged in Iran in retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border guards in an ambush, say Iranian news agencies. The rebels were “linked to groups hostile to the regime”, the attorney general of Sistan-Baluchistan province was quoted as saying. They were hanged in prison in Zahedan, north-east of Saravan, where the border deaths took place overnight. It is not clear what link, if any, those hanged had to the border attack. One report suggests they may already have been tried and convicted, but their executions brought forward following the ambush. Friday night’s attack in a mountainous region outside Saravan, on the south-eastern border with Pakistan, was blamed by Saravan’s member of parliament, Hedayatollah Mirmoradzehi, on “anti-revolution guerrillas”. But reports that a rebel group called Jeish Al-Adl had claimed responsibility for the ambush were “not confirmed”, Mr Mirmoradzehi told local Tasnim news agency. A parliamentary committee on national security will look into the attack on Sunday, meeting relevant officials, a committee member was quoted as saying. An armed Sunni group, called Jundallah, has carried out a number of attacks against the state in recent years. The Sunni Muslim population in Sistan-Baluchistan complains of discrimination by Iran’s Shia establishment. “Sixteen rebels linked to groups hostile to the regime were hanged this morning in the prison of Zahedan in response to the death of border guards in Saravan,” Mohammad Marzieh, the provincial attorney general of Sistan-
Baluchistan province, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency. The hangings were also reported by the Iranian Students News Agency (Isna). At least 14 guards were killed in the ambush, reports now say, though 17 were previously reported to have died. A number were also wounded, reports said. Fars has quoted
the province’s deputy governor-general, Rajabali Sheikhzadeh, as saying the culprits fled to Pakistan following the border attack. The region has experienced frequent deadly clashes in recent years. Iran lies on a major drug trafficking route between Afghanistan and Europe.AFP news agency quotes officials as saying more than 4,000 police officers and soldiers have been killed in the past three decades in fighting with traffickers.
China reporter Chen Yongzhou Pervez Musharraf’s custody ‘confesses on TV’ extended till October 30 Beijing, Oct 26 (Agency): An imprisoned Chinese journalist whose newspaper has made front-page appeals for his release has confessed to wrongdoing on state TV. “I’m willing to admit my guilt and to show repentance,” said reporter Chen Yongzhou. He was arrested over claims he defamed a partly state-owned firm in articles exposing alleged corruption. State media said he had admitted writing false stories for money. Several high-profile suspects have made televised confessions recently. Public confessions have long been a part of China’s criminal law. The BBC’s Damian Grammaticas in Beijing says it is impossible to know whether the admission was forced out of him. Experts say confessions are still routinely coerced, despite an amendment to the criminal procedure law earlier this year forbidding the authorities from forcing anyone to incriminate themselves. Mr Chen wrote several articles for the Guangdong-based New Express newspaper alleging financial irregularities at a construction-equipment company called Zoomlion. The companies denies the allegations. “In this case I’ve caused damages to Zoomlion and also the whole news media industry and its ability to earn the public’s trust,” he told state broadcaster CCTV. “I did this mainly because I hankered after money and fame. I’ve been used. I’ve realised my wrongdoing.” State media said he had confessed to taking bribes, but did not report who might have paid the bribes. His case attracted huge attention after the New Express twice used its front page to call for his release. The newspaper has not yet commented on the confession. Media monitoring group China Digital Times reported that the Communist Party’s propaganda department had barred newspapers from reporting the story. An instruction from the department also warned papers to monitor reporters’ individual social-media accounts. But many newspapers have continued to cover the story. The Southern Metropolis Daily published an editorial accusing officials in Zoomlion’s hometown of Changsha of abuse of power over the case.
Islamabad, Oct 26 (Agency): A Pakistani court has extended the custody of former president General Pervez Musharraf till October 30 in the Lal Masjid case and ruled that the next hearing would be held at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse, which has been turned into a sub-jail. “The judicial magistrate has extended his custody till October 30. He has also said that the next hearing of the case on November 8 would be held at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse which has already been converted into a subjail,” one of Musharraf’s lawyer Ilyas Siddiqui told PTI. His custody was extended yesterday during a hearing at the Magistrate’s Court here. Musharraf was not produced before the court due to security concerns. His party said Musharraf would remain in Pakistan and fight all cases against him even if he gets bail. However, many say he could flee the country. The Interior Ministry had recently confirmed that he was on the Exit Control List, meaning which he cannot fly out without permission by the court. Exit Control List has names of people who cannot cross the borders of the country without prior permission. Musharraf has been under arrest for nearly six months at his farmhouse, guarded by nearly 300 security personnel, including soldiers and snipers. He was granted bail in three major cases against him, including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti and the Judges’ detention case. Later, after submission of surety bonds in the Supreme Court, when he was closer to possible release from nearly six months of house arrest, Islamabad police had arrested him in another case of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi’s murder, commonly known as the Lal Masjid case. Musharraf, who was then army chief and President, had ordered the crackdown on extremists holed up in the Lal Masjid in 2007. About 100 people, most of them extremists, were killed in the operation. On the orders of the Islamabad High Court, a case was registered against Musharraf on September 2, charging him with the murder of Abdul Rashid and his mother. The case was filed after the cleric’s son submitted an application to police and referred to the Lal Masjid Commission’s report, which held the former President responsible for the operation.
Fukushima workers evacuated as small tsunami hits Japan Tokyo, Oct 26 (Agency): Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant were evacuated when a small tsunami hit Japan after a powerful undersea quake on Saturday, highlighting the continued threat to the area devastated by the 2011 quake-tsunami. The government Meteorological Agency warned people to stay away from the Pacific coast for nearly two hours as the tsunami, which was recorded as being as high as 55
centimetres (22 inches) in one place, rolled ashore. Two workers who had been patrolling wells used to measure underground water at Fukushima sought higher ground after the tremors struck, an official with the plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said while adding there were no new problems at the facility. “There were few workers on the waterfront as it was night time. There was no impact of the quake and tsunami on the plant,” he told local media. Another nuclear plant, at Onagawa, was the site of the largest wave recorded on Saturday — 55 centimetres — but there were no problems reported there. All of Japan’s 50 viable reactors are currently shut down. The 7.1-magnitude quake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) at 2:10am local time (1710 GMT
Friday), just over 300 kilometres southeast of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, according to the US Geological Survey. The country’s meteorological agency said the quake was an aftershock of the March 2011 tremor. “We have lifted all tsunami alerts but the sea level may continue to show small changes for half a day or so please be very careful when working by the sea,” Keiji Doi, director of the meteorological agency’s quake predictions, told an early morning news conference. “There is the possibility that aftershocks with a magnitude of around seven will occur once in a while.” The area affected largely overlapped with that hit by the March 2011 disaster when more than 18,000 people died after a towering tsunami crashed ashore following a 9.0 magnitude undersea quake. In the town of Ofunato, a 20-centimetre tsunami was logged just after 3 am, while Ishinomaki, which was devastated in 2011, recorded a 30centimetre wave. “We evacuated as a matter of precaution because the ground floor of our house was flooded in the tsunami two years ago,” Chimaki Hojyo, a 69year-old housewife in Ofunato, told the Yomiuri newspaper. “This kind of tsunami will keep us worried.” Eastern Japan, a seismically active region, was struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake last month causing tremors that were felt 600 kilometres away in Tokyo. The 2011 quake-tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant, sending reactors into meltdown and forcing mass evacuations. The effects of that disaster - the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years earlier - are still being felt. TEPCO is battling to clean up the mess at the plant where thousands of tonnes of radiation-contaminated water are being stored in tanks after being used to cool the reactors. Frequent mishaps, including leaks of radiationcontaminated water and a power outage caused by a rat have shaken public confidence in the huge utility.