TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012
World EGYPT
Morsi sticks to his guns JAILAN ZAYAN Agence France-Presse CAIRO: Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi on Monday stuck by a controversial decree granting him sweeping powers, on the eve of planned nationwide rallies to protest the move, in the worst crisis since his election in June. There is “no change to the constitutional declaration,” presidential spokesman Yasser Ali told reporters, after a meeting between Morsi and the country’s top judges aimed at defusing the dispute. During the meeting, the judges expressed concern about Thursday’s constitutional declaration which allows Morsi to issue any law or decision unchallenged by the courts, Ali said. But he added that Morsi sought to clarify that any irrevocable decisions apply only to issues related “to his sovereign powers” and stressed the tempo-
There is “no change to the constitutional declaration,” a spokesman said, after a meeting between Morsi and judges. rary nature of the decree. A judicial source told AFP that even if immunity were limited to sovereign powers, “which appears to be a compromise, there are still concerns that the text itself remains unchanged.” The crunch talks came on the eve of planned protests by rival forces, although the Muslim Brotherhood party from which the president hails withdrew its call for a rally out of fears that it would spark more clashes. AFP
US MUST RETHINK MID-EAST PEACE PLAN The US administration must radically rethink ways to achieve a sustainable Israeli-Arab peace deal or risk seeing the goal of a two-state solution slip away, experts warned Monday.
SYRIAN CRISIS
Rebels sever regime supply lines France announced it had earmarked financial aid for the opposition coalition.
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‘3D MODEL’
CHIBA, JAPAN: Expectant parents in Japan who can’t wait to show the world what their baby will look like can now buy a 3D model of the foetus to pass around their friends. The ninecentimetre (3.6-inch) resin model of the white foetus is fashioned by a 3D printer after an MRI scan. “As it is only once in a lifetime that you are pregnant with that child, we received requests for these kind of models from pregnant women,” said FASOTEC, the company offering the service.
NUMEROLOGY
41,000
homes in northern Japan have lost electricity following a snow storm. Gusts of up to 144 kilometres per hour were recorded in Muroran, an industrial city on Hokkaido’s Pacific coast.
KILLER SYRUP Syrian refugees are seen on the Turkish side of the border, close to the village of Atme, in neighboring Syria’s northwest Idlib province, on November 26, 2012. A Syrian warplane bombarded the village of Atme in the northwest of the country near the Turkish border at midday causing hundreds of panicked residents to flee, an AFP journalist said. AFP PHOTO/ FRANCISCO LEON
DAMASCUS: Syrian rebels virtually cut off roads to Aleppo from neighbouring Raqa province on Monday, severing regime supply lines, as France announced it had earmarked financial aid for the opposition coalition. Reflecting its growing recognition since being formed earlier this month, the National Coalition said it had named an “ambassador” to London, its second such appointment, following an
invitation to do so by the British government. The Red Cross, meanwhile, called on both sides in the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, a day after an aerial bombing killed 10 children. On the ground, the insurgents took full control of Tishrin dam on the Euphrates river after days of fighting, an area that connects the northern provinces of Aleppo and Raqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A resident of nearby Manbij confirmed the report, adding that staff of the dam were continuing operations. “The capture of the Tishrin dam is very important. It means that the army basically has only one road left to Aleppo,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. “The highway crossing over the Tishrin dam was the last main route from Raqa province under regime control.” AFP
NEWS BRIEFS Walmart: Goods made at Bangla hunts owner Bangladesh fire factory after factory inferno
Australian firms lagging Rice to meet McCain to on gender equality: Data try to douse Libya row
DHAKA: US retail giant Walmart has admitted some of its products were made at the Bangladesh garment factory that burnt down at the weekend killing 110 workers, as anger grows over lax safety standards. Bangladesh has become a global centre for clothes manufacturing due to cheap labour.
SYDNEY: Two-thirds of Australia’s top 500 companies had no female executives and less than 10 per cent of directors were women, according to data released on Tuesday. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) called for Australia to introduce female quotas in the boardroom.
DHAKA: Bangladesh police said Tuesday they had launched a manhunt for a fugitive factory boss after 110 garment workers burned to death following claims by survivors that they were ordered not to flee the inferno. Ahead of the first mass burials, Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman said Delwar Hossain would be quizzed over violations of rules.
WASHINGTON: US envoy to the UN Susan Rice is to meet Senator John McCain on Tuesday in an apparent bid to defuse a bitter row over Libya that could hurt her chances of becoming the next secretary of state. McCain has led Republican attacks against Rice, accusing her of misleading the public over the September 11 assault.
At least 16 people have died in the Pakistani city of Lahore after drinking what police say was toxic cough syrup, reported the BBC. The factory producing the medicine has been sealed, and three people have been arrested, including a distributor of the medicine. The deaths occurred between Friday and Sunday. Police say they were mostly drug addicts in Shahdra town area. Cough syrup, which is sold as an over-the-counter medicine, is sometimes used by addicts to get high, police say.
It is an unconstitutional interference with the judiciary, a disregard of the rule of law, and the violation of the fundamental rights of the bar. Wijedasa Rajapakse Bar Association head about the impeachment of Shiranai Bandaranayake, Chief Justice of Sri Lanka