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DHAKA TRIBUNE
International
Qatar raps Israel as Kerry seeks Arab support
China frees dissident n AFP, Beijing
Chinese authorities have released from jail dissident poet Shi Tao who was convicted based on information provided by US Internet giant Yahoo!, a rights group said Sunday. Shi was released 15 months before the end of his 10-year sentence for leaking state secrets after he sent an email overseas containing information on a crackdown on democracy advocates, PEN International said. Information supplied by Yahoo! was used to help convict him, said a statement from the London-based group, which promotes freedom of expression. The reason for Shi’s early release was not given. Pen International quoted Shi as saying that he was treated “relatively well”
n REUTER, Paris Qatar faulted Israel for building Jewish settlements on Sunday after US Secretary of State John Kerry briefed Arab diplomats in an effort to garner support for nascent Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The comment by Qatari Foreign Minister Qatari Khaled al-Attiya, while consistent with long-standing Arab positions, may have been less than what Kerry might have hoped for as he seeks to build momentum for the talks which resumed on July 29. “There are obstacles,” al-Attiya said through an interpreter at a news conference with Kerry after the US secretary of state met the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab officials. “We are talking about settlements,” he added. “Each time a round of negotiations is supposed to start, it’s preceded by a declaration of continued settlements or the announcement of the establishment of new settlements and this is a source of concern for us and directly affects the negotiations.” Kerry, who is to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over dinner in London, said it was vital that all sides, including the Arab world, offer support to both parties as they try to make peace. “This meeting is almost as important as the negotiations themselves because the Arab League and the Arab community’s support for a final status agreement is essential to the achievement of that agreement,” Kerry told reporters. “It is a critical component in creat-
US Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal ing momentum, and energy and seriousness of purpose in these talks,” he added. The resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after a nearly three-year hiatus is one of Kerry’s major achievements since taking office on Feb. 1, but it is unclear if they have made any progress. US officials have refused to provide any information about the substance of the talks, declining even to say how many times Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have met since the talks began. Kerry publically reiterated his private call on the European Union on Saturday to postpone a planned ban on EU financial assistance to Israeli organizations in
the occupied Palestinian territories, saying this would help the talks. The EU imposed restrictions in July, citing its frustration over the continued expansion of Jewish settlements in territory captured by Israeli forces in the 1967 Middle East War. The guidelines render Israeli entities operating in the occupied territories ineligible for EU grants, prizes or loans, beginning next year. They angered Israel’s rightist government, which accused the Europeans of harming Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and responded by announcing curbs on EU aid projects for thousands of West Bank Palestinians. l
Germany, CIA developed Islamist list n AFP, Berlin Germany’s intelligence services cooperated with the US CIA for years on a database of suspected Jihadists and their supporters in Germany, the weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday. Under the codename “Project 6” or “P6,” Germany’s BND and Verfassungschutz intelligence services and the CIA monitored and collected data on Islamists and suspected terrorists in Germany, the magazine said, without revealing its sources. The US and German services jointly rented premises in the western town of Neuss in 2005, before subsequently moving to Cologne, the weekly said in
a pre-release of an article to be published in its Monday edition. Der Spiegel said the BND had confirmed the existence of the database, but said the cooperation ended in 2010. According to the magazine, the database included the name, date of birth and passport number of German investigative journalist Stefan Buchen, who worked for NDR public broadcaster, after he contacted an Islamist preacher in Yemen and also visited Afghanistan on a number of occasions. There has been widespread disquiet in Germany over reports of sweeping US online surveillance and German cooperation, sparked by fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. l
A Nato airstrike targeting insurgents in Afghanistan’s lawless east hit a truck carrying up to ten militants, officials said on Sunday, amid reports that at least eight civilians, including seven women and children, were also among the dead. Civilian deaths have been a long-running source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his international backers. Karzai has forbidden Afghan troops from calling for foreign air strikes, though that ban is not always adhered to. “We can confirm that we undertook a precision strike in Watarpur district of Kunar, and are able to confirm 10 enemy forces killed,” a spokeswoman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), First Lieutenant AnnMarie Annicelli, said. Watarpur is a rural district in the north of Kunar, a mountainous province that shares a long and porous border with lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. The province has long been considered a transit hub for foreign insurgents, including al-Qaeda members, who fight alongside the Taliban. While Kunar police chief Abdul Habib Sayed Khil and provincial governor Shuja ul Mulk Jalala said civilians had been killed in the incident, the Nato spokeswoman said the grouping had received no reports of civilian casualties. Jalala and Khil said at least eight civilians, including three women, four children and the truck’s driver, had been caught up in an airstrike targeting Taliban fighters. l
n Tribune Desk
n REUTERS, London
The use of a electronic cigarette
AP
in prison and had continued to write. Shi, who also worked as a freelance journalist contributing to a newspaper in the central city of Changsha, could not be immediately reached for comment. Another Chinese dissident, Wang Xiaoning, who was also convicted based on evidence provided by Yahoo! was released from prison last year after serving a 10-year term for subversion. Yahoo! executives who previously testified before the US Congress said they were legally obliged to divulge information about their users to the Chinese government and that they were unaware it would be used to convict dissidents. But Yahoo! later apologised and in 2007 paid compensation to Wang’s wife after the World Organization for Human Rights lodged a lawsuit. l
NATO airstrike kills insurgents, possibly civilians, in Afghanistan n REUTERS, Kabul
Tokyo to host 2020 Olympics
E-cigarettes as good as nicotine patches Smokers who switch to electronic cigarettes to try to kick their habit are at least as likely to succeed in quitting or cutting down as users of nicotine patches, according to research published on Sunday. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers compared electronic, or e-cigarettes, with the more standard nicotine replacement therapy patches. They found levels of success were comparable, with e-cigarettes - whose effects are a subject of intense debate among health experts - more likely to help smokers, who fail to quit, cut the amount of tobacco they use. Some experts fear e-cigarettes may be a “gateway” to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking, while others view them as the most useful method yet of cutting back and helping would-be quitters. While the argument rumbles on, smoking continues to kill half of all those who indulge in it. Tobacco is responsible for 6 million deaths a year and the World Health Organisation estimate that number could rise beyond 8 million by 2030. As well as causing lung cancer and
Monday, September 9, 2013
AP
other chronic respiratory conditions, smoking is also a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases, the world’s number-one killer. The study, published in The Lancet medical journal and presented at a conference in Spain, was the first to assess whether e-cigarettes are more or less effective than nicotine patches already recognised as useful in helping people quit smoking. “While our results don’t show any clear-cut differences... in terms of quit success after six months, it certainly seems that e-cigarettes were more effective in helping smokers who didn’t quit to cut down,” said Chris Bullen of New Zealand’s University of Auckland, who led the study. l
The capital city of the land of the rising sun has been handed over the 2020 Olympic torch in the 125th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tokyo, the city which also sought to host the 2016 Olympic Games, defeated other candidate cities Istanbul and Madrid after two rounds of voting, the official Olympic website - www.olympic.org - said. Tokyo received 60 votes in the final round against Istanbul, which got only 36. In the first round, Madrid was tied out with Istanbul at 26 votes. Japan last hosted the Olympic Games in 1964. “Congratulations to the city of Tokyo on its election as host of the 2020 Olympic Games,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said. “All three cities were capable of staging excellent games in 2020, but in the end it was Tokyo’s bid that resonated the most with the IOC membership, inviting us to ‘discover tomorrow’ by delivering a well-organised and safe games that will reinforce the Olympic values while demonstrating the benefits of sport to a new generation.”
‘Thank you’ to celebrate at the Tokyo Municipal Government office square in Tokyo Sunday The committee is expected to determine the composition of the 2020
Olympic Games in another meeting at 3:30am Bangladesh time on Monday.
Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. l
WORLD WATCH
THE GRACE OF THE BULL
Putin critic takes on Kremlin rival in Moscow polls
AFP
argue would be better used to improve transportation, education and health services for poor Brazilians.
A top critic of President Vladimir Putin on Sunday faced a Kremlin-backed incumbent in a hotly contested Moscow mayoral poll, the first time an opposition leader has been allowed to stand in a high-profile election. The candidacy of anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny has made the race the first genuinely competitive Russian election since the heady first post-Soviet years. The vote will be seen as a crucial test of protest mood in a city which was shaken by huge demonstrations against Putin’s decade-long rule in the winter of 20112012. Moscow gave Putin, who sought a third presidential term, a relatively low 46.95% of the vote in the 2012 presidential election, well below the nationwide average.
Cambodia’s election committee on Sunday handed victory in hotly disputed polls to the ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen, prompting a defiant opposition to vow further protests over allegations of widespread poll fraud. The kingdom has been stuck in political impasse since the July poll, with the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of strongman Hun Sen adamant it won a legitimate victory despite vociferous calls from opposition leader Sam Rainsy for a probe into the alleged ballot fraud. The CPP took 68 seats to 55 for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, according to the country’s National Election Committee.
Rallies mar Brazil Independence Day parades
Kenya’s ‘Hate Radio’ DJ set for international court
Demonstrators in Brazil tried to regain the energy of June’s massive street protests with rallies marking Independence Day on Saturday, but efforts fizzled with low turnout. A few thousand protesters marched in the capital, Brasilia, a few hundred in Rio de Janeiro and rallies were held in several other cities. Brazil remains in the international spotlight as it prepares to host the World Cup next year and the Summer Olympics in 2016. Protesters are angry at the millions being spent on the sporting events, funds they Spanish matador El Juli performs a pass to a Domingo Hernandez bull during a bullfight as part of the Rice feria in the Arles Arena, southern France, on September 7
AP
Final results hand Cambodian ruling party poll win
Kenyan radio boss Joshua arap Sang reported on post-election violence in 2007 that left hundreds dead, and now faces trial on Tuesday, accused of hate speech and organising killings. A presenter with the Kalenjin-language radio Kass FM, he will be tried for crimes against humanity accused of murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population, torture and persecution of political opponents. Alongside fellow accused Vice-President William Ruto, he will plead not guilty at the International Criminal Court.