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Bali
bombing suspect confirmed dead in police raid
Bali, Mar
10:
A top-ranked Southeast Asian militant wanted for planning the
deadliest terrorist attack in Indonesia’s history has been
killed in a shootout with police at an Internet cafe, the
president confirmed Wednesday. Dulmatin, a 39-year-old
Indonesian trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan who goes by one
name, was wanted for the suicide bombings that tore through two
Bali nightclubs popular with Westerners in 2002, killing 202
people He has been one of Southeast Asia’s most wanted fugitives
and was thought to have fled to the Philippines. President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono used a speech to officials in
Australian capital of Canberra Wednesday to confirm speculation
that Dulmatin was one of three suspected militants killed in two
coordinated raids the day before on Jakarta’s southwestern
outskirts on the country’s main island of Java.
“Today we can announce to you that after a successful
police raid against the terrorist hiding out in Jakarta
yesterday that we can confirm that one of those that were killed
was Dulmatin, one of the top Southeast Asian terrorists that
we’ve been looking for,” Yudhoyono said in a luncheon speech in
Parliament House.Eliminating the alleged master bomb maker of
the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, a Southeast Asian offshoot
of al-Qaeda, will be seen as a major achievement for Indonesian
security forces ahead of President Barack Obama’s first visit to
the country 20th -22nd March.
It was not immediately clear if anyone is eligible for a USD
10 million reward offered by the US government for Dulmatin’s
capture.
3 arrested for theft of Cyprus ex-leader’s body
Cyprus, Mar
10:
Three men were arrested Tuesday over the theft of the body of
the former president, which was found reburied in another grave
three months after being dug up and held for ransom, police
said. Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos told that the
suspects will appear in court wednesday, and police will request
their detention to assist with the investigation. He provided no
detail on the three men’s identities.Cyprus’s
justice minister said the body had been held for ransom. But two
spokesmen for former president Tasos Papadopoulos’ family
insisted his relatives had never received a demand for money.The right-wing Greek Cypriot hard-liner’s body was
stolen in December during slow-moving reunification talks with
Turkish Cypriot leaders. A lack of clear motive and few clues
led to speculation that it could have been politically
motivated, but authorities suggested early on that ransom was a
more likely scenario.The robbers removed a heavy marble plaque
from on top of Papadopoulos’ grave on the southern outskirts of
the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, then dug down to the coffin and
removed the body of the former president on 11th Dec, a day
before the first anniversary of his death.The robbers left few
leads at the scene. Lime was strewn over the grave in what
investigators believe was an attempt to erase any tracks they
might have left behind. Investigators sought the help of the FBI
and Interpol as well as Greek and Israeli law enforcement
authorities.
Obama Admn
for military trial of 9/11 mastermind
Washington,
Mar 10:
In a shift from
its earlier stand, the Obama Administration is now leaning
towards a military trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the
mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, a media report said
Wednesday. “White House officials said they were now leaning
toward a military trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other
defendants as part of an effort to make a deal with lawmakers,”
the Wall Street Journal reported.“The aim (of a military trial)
is to save the administration’s broader goal of allowing the
Justice Department to try other terror suspects in civilian
courts and shutting down the Guantanamo Bay prison,” it
said.However, the Obama administration has not taken any
decision on the new venue of the trial of Khalid Sheikh. White
House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said it would take quite some
time before a decision in this regard is taken by the Obama
Administration; whose plan to try the 9/11 mastermind in a New
York court had to be scuttled due to strong opposition from the
city Mayor and local lawmakers.“I don’t expect a decision on
that for several or many weeks,” Gibbs told reporters.“The (US)
President obviously has gotten involved because Congress has
actively been involved in venue options for any trial involving
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The President’s obviously strong equity
in this is seeing that after many long years that justice is
brought,” Gibbs added.Khalid Sheikh was captured in Rawalpindi,
Pakistan in 2003 and has been in US custody since that time.
To save itself, Detroit plans to shrink
Detroit, Mar
10:
Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most
of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that
calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out
city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the
automobile.
Operating on a scale never before attempted in this
country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most
desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger
neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city
could go from urban to semi-rural. Near downtown, fruit trees
and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are an
eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant lots. Suburban
commuters heading into the city center might pass through what
looks like the countryside to get there. Surviving neighborhoods
in the auto industry’s birthplace would become pockets in
expanses of green. Mayor Dave Bing, who took office last year,
is expected to unveil some details in his state-of-the-city
address this month. “Things that were unthinkable are now
becoming thinkable,” said James Hughes of Rutgers University,
who is among the urban experts watching the experiment with
interest. “There is now a realization that past glories are
never going to be recaptured. Some people probably don’t accept
that, but that is the reality.” The meaning of what is afoot is
now settling in across the city. “People are afraid,” said
Deborah Younger, executive director of a group called Detroit
Local Initiatives Support Corporation that is working to
revitalize five areas of the city. “When you read that
neighborhoods may no longer exist, that sends fear.” Though the
will to downsize has arrived, the way to do it is unclear and
fraught with problems. Politically explosive decisions must be
made about which neighborhoods should be bulldozed and which
improved. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars will be needed
to buy land, raze buildings and relocate residents, since this
financially desperate city does not have the means to do it on
its own. It isn’t known how many people in the mostly black,
blue-collar city might be uprooted, but it could be thousands.
Truck
accident kills 75 in Nigeria
Nigeria, Mar
10:
Seventy five persons, including 18 students, were killed and
several others injured when a truck allegedly owned by Nigeria’s
richest businessman Aliko Dangoteran ran into a crowded market
in the country’s south-western Kogi state. According to
eyewitnesses, driver of the truck lost control following a break
failure and ran into 14 vehicles before swerving into the busy
market, killing traders and students.Many occupants of the vehicles earlier hit by the
truck also died or sustained some degrees of injuries. Assistant
Commissioner of Police Owolabi Adetunji blamed location of the
market near a major road for the accident. He also asked the
local authorities to relocate the market to forestall the
reoccurrence of such accidents.The Sector Commander of Federal
Road Safety Command Yomi Asaniyan said the wounded have been
taken to Federal Medical Centre for treatment while some corpses
have been released to relatives for burial.Governor of Kogi
Ibrahim Idris said he was shocked by the incident. “The incident
is unfortunate. The state government would ensure that the
dualisation of the on-going Lokoja-Abuja road is completed on
time without further delay.”The Nigerian Road Safety Department
said a 2009 study showed 13 per cent increase in road accidents
as 525 deaths were recorded in comparison to 463 killed in 2008.
US missionary
freed from Haitian jail
Washington,
Mar 10:
A US
missionary, held on kidnapping charges in Haiti days after a
devastating earthquake, has been released but the leader of the
Baptist group, which claimed that they were actually rescuing
the children, remained in custody. Charisa Coulter, 24, was
freed Monday after spending over a month in jail and defense
lawyer Louis Ricardo Chachoute said the court found no evidence
to support the charges against her.Altogether, ten US
missionaries were detained after being suspected of attempting
to illegally taking 33 children out of Haiti via the Dominican
Republic. Eight others were released on 17th February after
Judge Saint-Vil found that they had no criminal intent.But head
of the group Laura Silsby still remains behind bars as the Judge
continues to examine her motives.“We’re just trusting God for a
positive outcome,” she had said previously.The ten, who belongs
to a church group in Idaho in US, claimed that they were
rescuing the children, and taking them into an orphanage into
the neighbouring country.The arrest came as Haitian authorities were trying to crack
down on unauthorised adoptions to prevent child trafficking in
the chaos following the devastating earthquake on 12th January
that left an estimated 200,000 people dead.
US keen on finalising START treaty with Russia
Washington,
Mar 10:
With the resumption of negotiations between the US and Russia on
the ambitious Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Geneva,
the White House has said it is hopeful of finalising the
agreement soon. “I know that the negotiations started again in
Geneva. Obviously they are working on the last few remaining
issues to a new treaty, and we are certainly hopeful that that
can get done in short order,” White House Press Secretary Robert
Gibbs told reporters.
Officials of the two countries started negotiations in
Geneva yesterday for the new START treaty to replace the 1991
pact that expired on December 5. When asked if this could be
done before the Nuclear Summit in Washington in April, Gibbs
said: “I think the (US) President and the team are of the
mind-set that if it were only to take a day to get a deal that
is in our interests, then we hope it doesn’t take longer than
that. “But if it takes, quite frankly, many more weeks past
April to get something that we believe is in our best interest,
then we’re not looking to rush the negotiations in order to have
a signing ceremony prior to that important meeting with
countries throughout the world.”Leaders of as many as 45
countries, including India and Pakistan, are expected to attend
the nuclear summit in Washington in April convened by US
President Barack Obama.
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi barred from party and polls
Yangon, Mar
10:
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces expulsion from
her own party and is barred from standing in polls this year
under the military junta’s new election laws, a spokesman said
Wednesday. In a move that sparked outrage from rights activists,
the regime said in the new political parties registration act
published on Wednesday that anyone serving a prison term cannot
be a party member for the polls. Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy (NLD) — which won the country’s last elections in 1990
but was stopped from taking power by the military — would in
turn be abolished if it failed to obey the rules.
The Nobel Peace laureate was sentenced to three years
in jail in August over an incident in which a US man swam to her
lakeside home. Suu Kyi’s sentence was commuted by junta supremo
Than Shwe to 18 months under house arrest. “I have noticed that
we have to expel Daw Suu. Their attitude is clear in this law,”
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said, using a respectful form of address
to refer to Suu Kyi. “I was extremely surprised when I saw this,
I did not think it would be so bad.” Critics have dismissed the
polls, which Than Shwe has promised to hold at a still
unspecified date this year, as a sham aimed at legitimizing and
entrenching the military’s nearly five-decade grip on power. Suu
Kyi was already barred from standing as a candidate under a new
constitution approved in a 2008 referendum, due to a clause
stipulating that those married to foreign nationals are not
eligible. Her husband, British academic Michael Aris, died in
1999. The 64-year-old has been in detention for 14 of the last
20 years since the previous elections. The new law, details of
which were printed in state-run newspapers, also gives the NLD
just 60 days from Monday when the law was enacted to register as
a party if it wants to take part in the elections or face
dissolution. “The NLD also needs to reply clearly but I cannot
say how we will respond,” Nyan Win said. “What I can say now is
the law is meant to safeguard the constitution. It will be a
very big problem for us as they asked us to obey a constitution
that we cannot accept,” he added. The new law effectively also
bans more than 2,100 political prisoners being held in jails
across Myanmar from taking part in the elections. It also
explicitly bars people from any religious order — including
Buddhist monks — and members of the civil service from standing
as candidates. Buddhist monks led mass anti-junta protests in
2007, which the regime suppressed with the loss of at least 31
lives. The act is the second of five laws to have been enacted
on Monday ahead of the polls, for which the junta has given no
date but which are expected to be in October or November. The
first law stipulates that the regime itself will hand-pick
members of the electoral commission. Aung Din from the US
Campaign for Burma, which uses Myanmar’s former name, on
Wednesday called for worldwide action in response to the new
laws. “Finally, the regime declares to the world that it will
not release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners
from prisons, and it will also ban them from forming and
participating in any political party,” said Aung Din. “Now, the
ball is in the court of the United Nations, United States, and
the international community, who have been repeatedly calling
for the regime to make an inclusive, free and fair election.”
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