PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013
PAGE 33
International
Australia ‘spied on Indonesia President’ …Jakarta recalls envoy
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ndonesia is recalling its ambassador to Australia over allegations that Canberra spied on phone calls of the Indonesian president. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the first lady and VicePresident Boediono were reportedly amongst those targeted. The allegations came from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden which were published by broadcaster ABC and the Guardian newspaper. Indonesia said the ambassador was being called to Jakarta for “consultations”. It is the latest in a series of spying allegations that have strained relations between the two allies. On 1 November Indonesia summoned Australia’s ambassador amid reports that Australia’s Jakarta embassy was used as part of a US-led spying network in Asia. The latest leaked document showed that Australia spy agencies named Mr Yudhoyono, the first lady, Vice-President Boediono and other senior ministers as targets for monitoring, the reports said. The presentation from Australian spy agency the Defence Signals Directorate (now known as the Australian Signals Directorate) showed that agencies attempted to
listen to Mr Yudhoyono’s calls at least once, and tracked calls made to and from his mobile phone, in August 2009, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Guardian added. The news organizations published slides from the presentation, which appeared to show a list of Indonesian “leadership targets” and the handset models used by each target, as well as a diagram of “voice events” of the Indonesian president in August 2009. One slide entitled “Indonesian President voice intercept (August
‘09)” appeared to show an attempt to listen to the content of a phone call to Mr Yudhoyono. Yesterday, Indonesian Finance Minister Marty Natalegawa said: “This is an unfriendly, unbecoming act between strategic partners.” “This hasn’t been a good day in the relationship between Indonesia and Australia.” Indonesia was reviewing all of its agreements related to information exchange with Australia, Mr Natalegawa added.
Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs, told the BBC that Jakarta would summon the Australian ambassador for questioning. However, Sofyan Djalil, the former minister for state-owned enterprises whose name was also on the list of targets, told AFP news agency: “Diplomatic relations always have their ups and downs. This has caused anger in the short-term, but in the long-term we are still neighbours and I think we will overcome this.”
Yudhoyono
Aid efforts in Philippines hit high gear
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lobal relief efforts in the Philippines have kicked into high gear, with aid workers,
heavy equipment and life-saving supplies flowing into regions devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.
Philippines survivors receiving aid from a US helicopter in Tacloban
There were initial signs yesterday that communities were beginning to shift from survival mode to the early stages of recovery. Markets were beginning to reopen, though with very limited wares, some petrol stations were pumping and residents were repairing damaged homes or making temporary shelters out of the remains of their old ones. “The darkest night is over but it’s not yet 100 percent,” LieutenantGeneral Roy Deveraturda, regional military commander, said. Nevertheless, residents are desperate to leave the disaster zone amid growing concerns over the lack of food and medicine. And the World Health Organisation (WHO)
is warning of sigificant medical concerns. The November 8 typhoon killed or left missing more than 5,000 people and left four million displaced, requiring food, shelter and water. More than 13 million Filipinos are said to have been affected by the storm, and four million have lost their homes. The first week of the response was chaotic, due to airports in the region being damaged and local governance structures shattered. At the main airport in Tacloban yesterday, a heavy loader was shifting pallets of water and sacks of rice to lorries. On the main road, teams were shifting debris into lorries.
were being stored. But a build-up of hydrogen triggered an explosion in Unit 4, damaging its structure. The removal process, which has been preceded by months of repair work and planning, began yesterday afternoon. “At 15:18 [06:18 GMT], we started to pull up the first fuel assembly with a crane,” a spokesman for Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power Company) said. A recently installed crane is being lowered into the pool and hooked on to the assemblies to place them inside a cask. The fuel rods will then be
deposited into a more secure storage pool with a cooling system. Experts say it is vital that the casks are watertight so the rods have no contact with air - which risks overheating and possible contamination. Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s top government spokesman said he hoped the operation would go as planned. “We hope that this [process] will be conducted in a manner that will not disturb local residents, and that the removal will be done on schedule, properly and safely,” he said.
Japan’s Fukushima begins year long fuel rod removal
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orkers at Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have begun removing fuel rods from a storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor building. The delicate operation is seen as a necessary step in stabilising the site. It will take about two days to remove the first 22 fuel rod assemblies, plant operator Tepco says. Overall, more than 1,500 assemblies must be be removed in what correspondents describe as a risky and dangerous operation set to take a year.
Experts say hydrogen explosions after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 have made the current storage facility vulnerable to further tremors. The fuel rod assemblies are four-metre long tubes containing pellets of uranium fuel, and the fear is that some may have been damaged during the disaster. When the tsunami struck, water knocked out cooling systems to three of Fukushima’s reactors, which went into a state of partial meltdown. Unit 4 was undergoing maintenance, so all of its fuel rods
Asia & Middle East Pakistan to try Musharraf for treason
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akistan has announced that it would put former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason, punishable by death or life imprisonment, for imposing emergency rule in 2007. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the move in a live television broadcast on Sunday. “Following the judgement of the Supreme Court and a report submitted by an inquiry committee, it has been decided to start proceedings against General Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution,” he said. “The decision has been taken in the national interest.” The minister said the country’s chief justice would on Monday receive a letter from the government requesting a tribunal of three high court judges to start the proceedings. The government also announced a special prosecutor yesterday. The decision puts the country’s civilian leaders on an unprecedented collision course with the all powerful military. Musharraf, who has maintained his innocence, would be the first military ruler tried for treason in a country that has experienced three military coups in its 66-year history. AfshanAdil,amemberofMusharraf’s legal team and representative of his All Pakistan Muslim League, denounced the decision but said her leader was not afraid. “The government has brought up this case now to divert the attention from itsfailuretoprotectpeople,”AdiltoldAFP news agency. Raza Bokhari, a spokesman of Musharraf, criticised the move calling it an attempt to undermine Pakistan’s military. “We view with grave suspicion the timing of the announcement by the TalibansympatheticNawazgovernment to initiate treason proceedings against former President Musharraf,” Bokhari said in a statement referencing the currentgovernment’swillingnesstohold peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban. “We not only forcefully reject these charges, but also view them as a vicious attempt to undermine the Pakistan Military.” Musharraf is already facing three other major criminal cases dating back to his 1999-2008 rule, including one related to the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
Musharraf