Carlos Couto`s Portugal Pavilion wins prize Page 3
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Carlos Couto`s Portugal Pavilion wins prize Page 3
® 13 Wednesday July 2011 196th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar 13th day of the 6th lunar month 25ºC /29ºC 75 / 95 % Administrator Kowie Geldenhuys • Director Rogério Beltrão Coelho • Number 1356 Blackberry email service powered by CTM Photo by Joaquim de Sousa UNESCO slams Macau for lack of urban planning MACAU $5.00 • HK $7.50 Wednesday 13 July 2011 Page 2 Eurozone mulls summit on debt crisis Leaders of the 17-nation eurozone may hold an emergency summit on the spiralling debt crisis, although no decision has been made, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said. “No decision has been taken on a summit of the eurozone but it has not been excluded,” he told a news conference in Madrid yesterday following talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Diplomats in Brussels earlier told AFP the eurozone is considering holding an emergency summit on Friday. The summit plans highlight mounting concerns in Europe that the debt crisis will force Greece to declare default and contaminate Italy and Spain, the eurozone’s third and fourth largest economies. Italian and Spanish borrowing costs soared, while stock markets and the euro slumped yesterday despite a pledge from eurozone finance ministers the night before that they were committed to ensuring the euro area’s stability. “I am fully aware of the current tensions in debt markets,” said Van Rompuy. “But let me be very clear that there is a very strong commitment at the highest level to do whatever is necessary to safeguard the financial stability of the euro area. MSAR has become a drug transit point: PJ Afghan president’s brother assassinated Carlos Couto’s Portugal Pavilion wins prize Page 3 1 Page 4 Page 7 macau Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 UNESCO slams Macau for lack of urban planning Photo by Joaquim de Sousa by Alexandra Lages and Tiago Azevedo U macau daily 澳門每日時 報 The UNESCO World Heritage Committee expressed concerns at the ‘continuing inadequacy’ of the current management system of Macau’s inscribed monuments sures to be submitted at the 35th meeting of UNESCO and suggested the government extend the historical centre buffer zones in Macau and work on overall long term urban and conservation planning. Yesterday, the Cultural Af- Quoted by Portuguese-language channel Radio Macau, he pointed out the IC would strive to speed up the drafting of the legal instruments required by UNESCO and increase awareness. On the other hand, he said that urban planning comes within ‘Cultural heritage is Macau’s invisible wealth and everything that can improve its protection is always welcomed. Macau heritage should be a top-priority’: Nuno Jorge fairs Bureau (IC) commented on the UNESCO’s decision. The bureau’s chief of special projects, Boyce Lam, said that local heritage is not in danger of being axed from the UNESCO list. Director and Editor-in-Chief: Rogério Beltrão Coelho ([email protected]) Senior Editor: Cecília Jorge ([email protected]) Editor: Tiago Azevedo ([email protected]) Designer Editor: João Jorge Magalhães ([email protected]) Newsroom: Alexandra Lages ([email protected]), Natalie Leung ([email protected]), Vitor Quintã ([email protected]) Designer: Lina Franco Secretary: Yang Dongxiao ([email protected]) Times ® NESCO’s World Heritage Committee urged Macau to develop appropriate legal and planning instruments to protect its cultural heritage, incorporating its urban planning. The case was brought to public attention by the Portuguese-language newspaper Ponto Final. At this year’s meeting that took place last Thursday in Paris, UNESCO recalled a decision issued in 2009. Macau is due to submit a report on the state of property conservation and the progress made in the implementation of legal and planning instruments, to be reviewed by the committee at its 37th session in 2013. Despite applauding the initiatives taken by Macau towards the development of the urban plan, district plans, and a proposed law to safeguard Macau’s World Heritage, the committee “expresses its concerns at the continuing inadequacy of the current management system, the buffer zone and legal provisions, to protect effectively the very important visual and functional linkages between the inscribed monuments and the wider urban land and seascape of Macau”. UNESCO “reiterates its request to the State Party [Macau] to develop appropriate legal and planning instruments comprising the Urban Plan as developed so far, and to submit to the World Heritage Centre when they are finalised, so that they can be assessed by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies”. Last year, the vice president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, Guo Zhan, had already warned that the world heritage historical centre of Macau was facing some difficulties. He pointed out the urgent need for new mea- the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau’s (DSSOPT) responsibility. Lam assured that Macau has complied with recommendations stated by the international body in 2009. How- ever, he stressed, “UNESCO believes that more can be done in terms of the Historic Centre’s management”. He added the IC had brought along experts from the DSSOPT to attend the meeting in Paris, so they could have better understanding of the goals of heritage conservation. In the meantime, he continued, the international body has applauded the way Macau authorities have solved the problem of the construction of a high rise near the Guia Lighthouse. The building was expected to reach a height of 126 metres and was lowered to 52.5 metres. Following a public controversy in 2008, the government set a maximum height limit of 90 metres around the culturally protected area of the Guia Lighthouse. The buffer zone area was also extended from two square kilometres to 2.8 square kilometres, divided into 11 different zones, each with its own height limit depending on the proximity to the historic lighthouse. Architects with the committee Local architects and urban planners share different views and concerns over the state of conservation of Macau’s cultural heritage. Former president of Macau Architects Association, Nuno Roque Jorge, stressed that nothing is deemed enough to protect the local cultural heritage. However, he admitted it takes time to introduce the legal instruments required by UNESCO. “The Cultural heritage is Macau’s invisible wealth and everything that can improve its protection is always welcome. Macau heritage should be given a top-priority,” he told the Macau Daily Times. Real estate market speculation and other needs of the rapid development of Macau were some issues mentioned by the architect. “I understand some actions take time, but I hope some improvements can be introduced,” he said. Urban planner Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro is in line with Jorge. However, he said the development of urban planning must include the new ation, Ben Leong Chong In, suggests that Macau needs to strike a balance between heritage and the needs of the city development. He also believes that “the government and Macau residents will continue to spend a lot of resources to ‘We should wait for planning of the reclaimed areas to establish a comprehensive urban plan’: Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro reclaimed areas. “The urban planning is on hold because of public consultations, even though I think it is good to take people’s opinions into consideration. But we should wait for the reclaimed areas planning to establish a comprehensive urban planning,” he pointed out. Vizeu Pinheiro and Nuno Jorge are more concerned over non-listed heritage conservation. Jorge calls on authorities to look at “external circumstances” that may have an impact on the UNESCO-listed heritage. “When I walk down the streets between St. Paul’s Ruins and Senado Square, I see lots of traditional and small businesses closed because of increasing commercial rental prices,” he said. He suggested that not only should heritage sites be protected, but also the experiences and life around it. In addition, Vizeu Pinheiro said Macau should also pay attention to the heritage that is not included on the UNESCO list, such as the old firecracker factory in Taipa or some green areas in Coloane. “Those sites and areas are endangered by real estate development,” he warned. ‘Cultural mistake’ On the contrary, president of Macau Architects Associ- Contributors: Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, António Espadinha Soares, Eduardo Magalhães, Harry Troy, Joseph Cheung, Juliet Risdon, Luciana Leitão, Manuel Cardoso (photos), Paulo Coutinho, Sofia Jesus, Thomas Schmid (Thailand) Special Contributors: Ana Maria Correia, Andrew Found, Andrew Leong-Murphy, Angela Lam, Aurelio Porfiri, Chan Shek Kiu, Cristina Tavares, Cyril Law, David Brookshaw, Diamantina Coimbra, Diana Massada, Emilie Tran, Emmanuel Buga Dispo, Eric Sautedé, Geoffrey Churchill, Ian Alabanza, Imelu Mordeno, Ivo Carneiro, Jacky Ho, Jenny Oliveros Lao, Joao Garrott M. Negreiros, Johnny B Decatoria, José Alves, José I. Duarte, José Manuel Simões, Karen A. Tagulao, Keith Ip, Leanda Lee, Michael Lio, Neena Thota, Olukayode Iwaloye, Oswaldo Veiga Jardim, Poon Kiu Tung, Ricardo Rato, Richard Whitfield, Romulo Alegre, Ruan Du Toit Bester, Susan Pottier News agencies: AFP, Lusa, Project Syndicate, Xinhua. protect heritage.” Architect Carlos Couto, who has been working in Macau for over 30 years, said the renovation of the city’s landscape is moving faster than we could ever imagine. “It’s good to see a city expanding, but this fast economic development also brings up other issues, like the lack of balance between what’s part of the city’s heritage and what’s new,” he said. “We still have several areas here in Macau which are part of the old landscape. They have a special charm and we must protect that. Efforts should be made to revitalise these areas and better preserve them and keep their charisma,” he added. However, protection doesn’t mean zero building or a rejection of everything contemporary. “We shouldn’t resort to construct buildings that look old just to fit into a certain neighbourhood. Doing that would only give the idea of false replicas and create a gap between what used to be contemporary and future architecture,” said Couto. “That is a cultural mistake,” he added. “Today’s buildings will be the old architecture in the future,” he said, adding that Macau needs to wisely ponder about what projects are “really good” for these older districts. A Macau Times Publications Ltd. Publication Administrator and Chief Executive Officer: Kowie Geldenhuys ([email protected]) Secretary: Juliana Cheang ([email protected]) Address: 2nd Floor 62 Av. Infante D. Henrique, MACAU SAR Telephones: +853 287 160 81/2 Fax: +853 287 160 84 E-mail for advertisement: [email protected] For subscription and general issues: [email protected] Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd Please send all newsworthy information and press releases to: [email protected] Website: www.macaudailytimes.com.mo 2 Times macau macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 Carlos Couto’s Portugal Pavilion wins prize L ocal architect Carlos Couto was one of the winners of the Prémios Constuir 2011 on Monday, which annually distinguishes projects, personalities and companies in Portugal that stood out the previous year. Couto’s design for Portugal’s Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010 won the Architectural prize for ‘Best Public Project’ competing against six others. “It was an award for a project that had a lot of success,” said Couto, adding that the prize was for the entire team of 12 architects, and also the engineering team. “It was an experience of a life time,” he added. “It’s not often that an architect has the possibility to idealise a project for a world expo. I got that opportunity with the Expo Shanghai and it was perhaps one of the most important things I’ve done in my 35 years of professional work.” The Portugal Pavilion was one of the favourites at Expo 2010 Shanghai, especially as the exterior curtain walls and interior attached veneers of the pavilion were all decorated by walls of cork, a Portuguese-sourced, recyclable and environmentally friendly material. At night, the angular panels of the Portugal Pavilion were illuminated with bright lights, giving it a futuristic look. “The use of cork was probably the best option we made,” said Couto. “Many people were lured into the pavilion because they were fascinated not only by the texture, but also the smell of the cork,” he added. It also gave the architect some stories to tell. “In the first days of the event we had to replace more than 400 panels because people would touch and scratch them. We were going mad,” he told Macau Daily Times. Government may recall five blocks of idle land The lessees of five parcels of land are currently subject to hearing procedures and if proved to have “unreasonably” delayed development of the land will see the government reclaim the blocks immediately, said director of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) Jaime Carion. In response to lawmaker Chan Meng Kam’s interpellation, Carion said the government reviewed 113 cases of land that have been sitting idle since 2009, with some caused by “changes in city planning, lawsuits or judicial transfer” which caused delays in completion schedules according to their contracts. He said aside from “special situations”, other important factors that could classify a block of land as idle include “whether the land concession had expired, the lessees had long overdue premiums and whether they had submitted the development plans”. Of the 113 cases, the DSSOPT chief revealed that 48 may be held accountable for the delay in land development but more “in-depth analysis” is required, which should be completed within the year. The other 65 cases would not suffer penalties as delays were due to “special situations” such as “changes in land concession contracts or incomplete approval of building plans, lawsuits or city planning”, Carion pointed out. He said among the 48 cases, the Chief Executive had issued dispatches to begin hearing procedures of five land parcels. If it’s proven that lessees had prolonged the land use “seriously and unreasonably”, the government will reclaim the land in line with the law. However, the official did not disclose when the hearings would be completed and where the five blocks are located. Carion said in order to prevent cases such as these a measure was introduced in April last year covering land concession and the maxi- mum fine was raised from MOP 900,000 to up to 15 percent of land premiums. Land premium calculation methods are also going to be revised and will take into account inflation, building use, construction cost, property value and location, and the cost of financing. On the other hand, the cross-departmental work group yesterday reclaimed 1,000 square metres of land in Hac Sa Village which was illegally occupied by people using it as a fish pond. The DSSOPT said they informed the occupant earlier this year to vacate the area but neither a reply nor an appeal was received so they believed the area to be vacated. With the land nearby that was previously taken back, the bureau has now reclaimed 21,800 square metres of illegally occupied land in Hac Sa Village. Since 2009, the government has taken back 30 blocks of land, with a total area of 154,200 square metres. 3 But that changed some days after the opening of the exhibition. “We decided to leave it as it was instead of replacing every panel and in fact we enjoyed seeing people so curious. Once, we even found an old woman with an entire panel on her hands,” the architect said. The idea to use cork was there from the start. The cork oak is native to the Mediterranean region and two-thirds of the world’s cork supply comes from Portugal and Spain, where the cork oak is cultivated extensively. “We had to show a product that is essential to our [Portuguese] culture. It [the cork] can have several usages and I think we did a good job showing that,” said Couto. The architect believes that the relationship with the client was also the best he had experienced. “Probably because the person in charge of the Portuguese representation was also an architect it was very easy to deal with. Nothing was done without previously talking with me, and that is always very important for any architect,” he said. Portugal’s Pavilion was bestowed the ‘Design Award’ by the International Exhibition Bureau, which assessed the facade and exterior decora- ® Local architect Carlos Couto with Christiana Ieong Pou Yee, who headed the office for the Preparation of Macau’s Participation in the Shanghai Expo (File photo: 2010) tion of the pavilion, the architectural design, construction techniques and their relationship to the theme of Expo 2010 – ‘Better City, Better Life’. The participation in Expo Shanghai 2010 also had a special meaning for the local architect. “It is in China, where I live, and it represented Portugal, my country. So, all the elements that I needed were there,” he said. T.A. Most opinions support Small Taipa Hill construction by Natalie Leung The opinions gathered from local people and associations concerning the construction of six high-rise towers on the Small Taipa Hill should be summarised and released to the public next week, said an official of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) yesterday. Of the 880 valid opinions collected between late May and mid-June, head of the urban planning department of the DSSOPT, Lao Iong, disclosed that about 67 percent or 587 were in favour of the second phase of development of Lisboa Gardens, while only 242 were against the project. In addition, he said 40 had expressed their thoughts on the construction, but did not state clearly whether they supported and opposed it, and another 11 were comments that had no direct relation to the theme of the consultation. Nevertheless, Lao stressed that the higher number of supporters did not necessarily mean the Lisboa Gardens developer, ‘Kai Fai’ Building Investment, will be permitted to change the development plan. “The most important thing is to analyse the rationale behind the supporting and opposing views,” he told reporters. In late May the developer presented the proposal to the Advisory Group for Land Development in the hope to obtain approval from the government to build six additional residential towers, standing 154 metres or 139 metres above sea level, in place of the original con- struction plan for villas and a four-star hotel. Meanwhile, Lao said the public views mainly focus on “ecological protection, environmental conservation, protection of public interest, city planning, meeting the market demand and damage to landscape”. The official also said the DSSOPT is considering whether or not to release the views of relative government departments at a later time. However, he added that when the government will make their final decision could not be predicted. Secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io told reporters recently that the Lisboa Gardens construction was “not an emergency project” and therefore the government would review the application based on “general procedures”. On the other hand, the New Macau Association met Lao at the DSSOPT premises yesterday, as the association held doubt about the destination of the 1,751 public opinions submitted, if the bureau claimed that they only have 880 opinions in hand. Lao responded that the bureau counted the batch of 1,751 opinions as “one opinion”, but reiterated that the government “respects each person’s view and has analysed them one by one”. He said a majority of 1,684 opinions called for a halt to the project as well as calling for the government to recall the land from the developer. Yet, lawmaker Chan Wai Chi said he “absolutely cannot accept” how the bureau has treated the public opinions, criticising the method as “unscientific, unreasonable and unfair”. Macau Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Police suicides caused by ‘personal factors’ The five separate suicide incidents of public security officers this year had “nothing to do” with work stress or gambling, said secretary for Security Cheong Kuoc Vá. Since February four Public Security Police and Customs officers have committed suicide. The secretary told reporters yesterday he believed the incidents were not caused by work pressure or gambling, but “personal factors”, according to TDM news. He said there is an internal mechanism within the security forces to deal with officers with suicidal tendencies and they are supported by counsellors. If police officers are not happy with their current situations, the secretary said they can also apply to change to other posts. Nevertheless, he said that security forces will increase counselling and related services as well as try to “reduce work stress on police officers” in the future. He added that 2,000 police officers have participated in the anti-stress seminars organised by the force since early this year. Agreement to prevent tax evasion Australia has become the latest partner to sign an agreement with Macau that will assist both governments in preventing offshore tax avoidance and evasion. The Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) was signed yesterday in the territory by secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, and Consul-General of Australia for Hong Kong and Macau, Les Luck. Australia is the 12th jurisdiction to have signed such an agreement with Macau. The SAR Government had signed treaties that link the territory to Denmark, including the autonomous territories of Faroe Islands and Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden in May this year. This agreement provides a legal basis for Australia and Macau to exchange taxpayer information. “The signing of this agreement demonstrates the commitment of Macau to international tax standards and is indicative of the progress that is being made worldwide to improve transparency in the financial system and prevent offshore tax avoidance and evasion,” said Luck. “Macau has signed at least 12 agreements with other countries or regions, which is the minimum necessary to meet the international standards of transparency and exchange of tax information, thereby demonstrating that the SAR Government has been striving to increase international cooperation in tax matters,” the government said in a statement. The tax treaty will provide authorities on both sides with access to information about the capital dispositions and incomes of citizens with tax arrears and could reveal assets and earnings not declared at home. “Australia recognises Macau’s commitment to operating financial regulatory systems that meet the highest international standards in order to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes,” said Australia’s Consul General. The TIEA that was signed yesterday is a further step in the global effort to establish an international financial system based on co-operation between countries, transparency and effective exchange of information on tax matters, all of which strengthen stability and the integrity of tax systems. Since the Organisation for Economic Cooperation meeting two years ago that almost had Macau labelled as a tax haven prior to Chinese government intervention, the SAR Government has made a significant effort to improve the transparency of the system to demonstrate its willingness to cooperate with its tax treaty partners in combating tax avoidance or evasion. “Australia values the strong bilateral relationship with Macau, and looks forward to developing this relationship further through the signing of this agreement,” said Luck. The agreement will become active when the relevant domestic requirements have been completed in both Australia and Macau. T.A. ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 Macau now a drug transit point: PJ M acau has become a transit point for international drug trafficking, warned director of the Judiciary Police (PJ) Wong Sio Chak yesterday. Speaking at the award ceremony of the 51st anniversary of the PJ, Wong disclosed that in spite of drug offence numbers remaining steady, the amount of illicit drugs seized at the Macau International Airport and the rapid changes in the means of drug trafficking showed that “Macau has already become a transit point for international drug trafficking”. The situation deserves special concern and immediate countermeasures, he added. Macau’s position as gateway to mainland China along with the increasing number of budget airline flights, had already raised concerns that the territory may be used as a transit point for drug trafficking. Smuggling routes that originate in the Golden Crescent, primarily Afghanistan, the largest opium producer in the world, may increase to include Macau. The PJ handled 1,627 drug related cases between 2000 and the end of March 2011. The majority of the seizures were heroin with a street value totalling more than MOP 58 million. Last year alone, 191 drug offences were detected, according to official figures, with most cases being drug trafficking. The PJ also reported 191 arrests, the highest number of drug-related cases since 2001. Between June 2010 and May 2011, there were 99 instances of drug trafficking. Early this year the PJ had acknowledged that there had The director of the Judiciary Police Wong Sio Chak vowed yesterday to reinforce inspection at various borders to fight international drug trafficking that is using Macau as a transit point been “an upward trend since the first ever case of drug smuggling by means of internal concealment was intercepted in Macau in 2006”. Thus, the director said the PJ will reinforce inspection at various borders and be equipped with “advanced drug-detection devices”. The police force will also increase monitoring and raids at casinos and encourage the public to report drug crimes. Furthermore, Wong said that the PJ will strengthen intelligence exchanges further with other countries and regions, especially concerning cross-border crimes, the latest trend of modus operandi and even terrorist activities, to implement effective operations to prevent and crack down on drug offences. On the other hand, between June 2010 and May 2011, the PJ received 10,150 new cases, down 4.1 percent over the same period between mid-2009 and mid-2010. Wong said there was 1 murder, 2 kidnappings, 25 ‘deprivation of one’s freedom of movement’, 24 cases of extortion, 34 arson cases, 158 loan-sharking for gambling purposes, 6 crime syndicates, 1,689 thefts as well as 146 robbery cases during the period. Compared with the preceding 12 months, the PJ chief said cases of murder dropped significantly by 66.7 percent, extortion decreased 36.8 percent and robbery also dropped down 29.5 percent. There was a “notable increase” in ‘deprivation of one’s freedom of movement’, theft and also computer crime, he added. In addition, Wong said the renovation of the new PJ headquarters building, in the old premises of the Central Government Liaison Office, is expected to be completed at the end of 2012 and the police force can then move to a more spacious office area in early 2013. N.L./T.A. China pleased with SAR offices in Taipei Spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Yang Yi said last week that the setting up of offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau was a “major event” and another “achievement” resulting from improved Cross-Strait relations. The Hong Kong and Macau Governments announced on July 4 that they would respectively open an office in Taipei to promote economic, trade and cultural ties with Taiwan. Taiwan at the same time also announced that its offices in the two SARs would both be renamed as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. Yang Yi told the Central News Agency that it was a “major event” in the development of Taiwan-Hong Kong- 4 Macau relations and also another “result” of the “improved CrossStrait relations”. He said in recent years the Hong Kong and Macau Governments have “actively promoted” exchanges between people of the three places. He also said the offices represented a “positive meaning” in enhancing the “welfare and interactions” of the people in the three areas. The decision to rename Taipei’s hub in both SARs is a sign of a warming of relations between Beijing and Taipei, said Joseph Cheng, a professor of political science at Hong Kong City University, quoted by CNN. Contact between China and Taiwan has historically been defined by instability and limited diplomatic communication. But relations began improving after the 2008 election of current Taiwan President, Ma Yingjeou, whose policies have been largely friendly toward mainland China. The Macau Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taipei is expected to open its doors in late 2011 or early 2012. It will be a multi-functional office, providing assistance to residents of the MSAR working and studying in Taipei, and act as a document certification service and provide support in urgent situations. The office will also promote longterm co-operation and exchanges between Macau and Taiwan in several economic areas, from trade to cultural and creative industries. Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 5 ® advertisement opinion Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 The Fall of the House of Murdoch D by Jonathan Schell ‘The Murdochs call News Corporation a journalistic enterprise. In fact, it is, first, an entertainment company, with the bulk of its revenue coming from its film and television holdings. Second, and more importantly, it is a propaganda machine for right-wing causes and political figures’ ‘In Britain, News Corporation has been creating a sort of state unto itself by corrupting the police, assuming police powers of surveillance, and intimidating politicians into looking the other way […]’ uring the four decades since the Watergate affair engulfed US President Richard Nixon, politicians have repeatedly ignored the scandal’s main lesson: the cover-up is worse than the crime. Like Nixon, they have paid a higher price for concealing their misdeeds than they would have for the misdeeds alone. Now, for once, comes a scandal that breaks that rule: the United Kingdom’s phone-hacking affair, which has shaken British politics to its foundations. Over the past decade, the tabloid newspaper The News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, targeted 4,000 people’s voicemail. The list includes not only royalty, celebrities, and other VIPs, but also the families of servicemen killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and those of victims of the July 2005 terrorist attack in London. It all unraveled when The Guardian reported that the tabloid had hacked into the voicemail of missing 13-year-old Milly Dowler, apparently in the hope of obtaining some private expressions of family members’ grief or desperation that it could splash on its front page. When the girl’s murdered body was found six months later, the family and the police thought she might still be alive, because The News of the World’s operatives were deleting messages when her phone’s mailbox became full. (According to Scotland Yard, Murdoch hacks reportedly bribed midlevel police officers to supply information as well.) In the extensive annals of eavesdropping, all of this is something new. Not even Stalin wiretapped the dead. A cover-up ensued. James Murdoch, Rupert’s son and Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation’s European and Asian operations, authorized a secret payment of £1 million (USD 1.6 million) to buy the silence of hacking victims. Millions of in-house emails reportedly have been destroyed. Still, it seems safe to say that the peculiarly repellant inhumanity of the original deeds will remain more shocking than the details of this or any other cover-up. Even so, the political consequences of the phone-hacking scandal will depend on far more than the outcome of the official investigations now underway in Britain. Above all, the scandal’s impact will depend on how governments and citizens assess what News Corporation really is. The Murdochs call News Corporation a journalistic enterprise. In fact, it is, first, an entertainment company, with the bulk of its revenue coming from its film and television holdings. Second, and more importantly, it is a propaganda machine for right-wing causes and political figures. This is News Corporation’s main face in the US, in the form of Fox News, whose hallmark has been relentless propagation of right-wing ideology. Whereas political propaganda had once been the domain of governments and political parties, Fox News is formally independent of both – though it overwhelmingly serves the interests of America’s Republican Party. In Britain, News Corporation has been creating a sort of state unto itself by corrupting the police, assuming police powers of surveillance, and intimidating politicians into looking the other way. In the US, it has behaved similarly, using corporate media power to breathe life into a stand-alone political organization, the Tea Party. All of this is far removed from what a journalistic organization is supposed to do. Journalism’s essential role in a democracy is to enable people to fulfill their roles as citizens by providing information about government, other powerful institutions, civil movements, international events, and so on. But News Corporation replaces such journalism with titillation and gossip, as it did when it took over the 168-year-old News of the World and turned it into a tabloid in 1984, and with partisan campaigns, as it did when it created Fox News in 1996. Not surprisingly, at Fox News, as at many other News Corporation outlets, editorial independence is sacrificed to iron-fisted centralized control. News and commentary are mingled in an uninterrupted stream of political campaigning. Ideology trumps factuality. And major Republican figures, including possible contenders for the party’s presidential nomination, are hired as “commentators.” Indeed, its specific genius has been to turn propaganda into a popular and financial success. Given The News of the World’s profitability, no one should be surprised if the Murdochs have been replicating their sunken British flagship’s reprehensible behavior elsewhere. But, whatever else is revealed, the UK phone-hacking scandal is of a piece with the Murdochs’ transformation of news into propaganda: both reflect an assault on democracy’s essential walls of separation between media, the state, and political parties. The – Jonathan Schell is a Fellow at The Nation Institute and is a visiting fellow at Yale University. He is the author of The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger 6 Murdochs are fusing these entities into a single unaccountable power that, as we see in Britain today, lacks any restraint or scruple. That effort should compel us to confront an uncomfortable reality underlying both the British phone-hacking scandal, with its penumbra of appalling cruelty and wanton corruption, and Fox News, America’s most popular news channel: too many people want what the News Corporation has been offering. And what too many people want can be dangerous to a civilized, law-based society. To glimpse just how dangerous, consider Italy, where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s MediaSet conglomerate has seduced broad swathes of the electorate since the 1980’s with a Murdoch-like combination of insipid variety shows and partisan political theater. When Italy’s postwar party system collapsed in the early 1990’s, Berlusconi was able to establish his own political party, win power, and, over the course of three governments, bend laws and government institutions to serve his business and personal interests. The News Corporation seems determined to take Britain and the US down a similar path. But now, at least in Britain, the political class is in revolt. Prime Minister David Cameron – who previously cultivated close ties with News Corporation leaders, even employing as his press secretary The News of the World’s former editor, who was recently arrested for his role in the scandal – called the phone hacking “disgusting.” Meanwhile, Labour leaders, who had also sought the Murdochs’ favor, have vowed to block News Corporation’s bid for full ownership of Britain’s largest pay-television broadcaster. Whether the rebellion will jump across the Atlantic remains to be seen. ©: Project Syndicate/MDTimes, 2011 The chief executive of publisher News International and a former editor of the British tabloid News of the World, Rebekah Brooks (R) Times china macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 Warehouse fire kills 12 in Wuhan, 8 rescued A fierce blaze ripped through a warehouse in central China yesterday killing at least 12 people who were trapped inside, state media and the local fire brigade said. Scores of people managed to flee the building after the fire broke out at an industrial park in Hubei province’s Wuhan city, but some remained stuck inside, the official Xinhua news agency said. A spokesman for the city’s fire brigade, who refused to be named, told AFP the fire had now been put out. “At present, 12 people have died and the reason for the blaze is still under investigation,” he said. Firefighters rescued eight people from the blaze, which tore through more than 1,000 square metres (10,760 square feet) of the warehouse, the Xinhua report said. Deadly blazes are common in China and are typically The building that caught fire in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province blamed on lax observation and enforcement of firesafety measures. Anxious to quell public anger over repeated fire disasters, China’s government routinely orders nationwide safety crackdowns after particularly deadly blazes, but such incidents continue to occur. In April, 17 poor migrants died when a fire swept through an illegally constructed building in Beijing. Last November, a fire engulfed a high-rise apartment building in Shanghai, leav- ing 58 people dead. A preliminary investigation blamed that inferno on careless work by unlicensed welders who ignited nylon netting swathing the building, which was being renovated to improve energy efficiency. Beijing pledges support for Pakistan China pledged its support for close ally Pakistan yesterday, after the United States announced it would suspend USD 800 million worth of security aid to Islamabad. “Pakistan is an important country in South Asia. The stability and development of Pakistan is closely connected with the peace and stability of South Asia,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing. “China has always provided assistance to Pakistan, helping it improve people’s livelihood and realise the sustainable development of its economy and society. China will continue to do so in the future.” US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, William Daley, announced in a television interview on Sunday that the United States had decided to withhold almost a third of its annual USD 2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad. The move has plunged relations between Islamabad and Washington – al- ready rocky after US commandos killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May on Pakistani soil – to a new low. But it was welcomed by India, which has long accused Pakistan of providing shelter to militant groups and has pushed the global community – the United States in particular – to censure Islamabad. China, however, is one of Pakistan’s closest allies and is also its main arms supplier – a situation that India has also expressed concern about. World Expo China Pavilion reopens Visitors took the escalator to enter the China Pavilion of Shanghai World Expo yesterday. The China Pavilion will reopen for three months, from yesterday to October 9th. The price for entry has been set at 20 yuan (about 3 USD) but people who can enjoy discount can get a preferential ticket at 15 yuan 7 ® Six jailed over riots in industrial hub China has jailed six people over riots that erupted last month in the nation’s southern industrial heartland, state media said yesterday. The unrest in southern Guangdong province broke out on June 11 after rumours spread that police had beaten a street hawker to death and manhandled his pregnant wife. Television images at the time showed hundreds of police officers and armoured vehicles deployed on the streets, with people hurling bricks at local officials, vandalising ATMs and police posts. A court in Guangdong handed down prison terms ranging from nine months to three years and six months, the official Guangzhou Daily said. The violence was just one incident among a recent bout of unrest. Earlier in June, hundreds of people battled police and destroyed cars in Guangdong after a factory worker was wounded in a knife attack over a wage row. And in late May, thousands of ethnic Mongols protested in northern China for several days after the killing of a herder laid bare simmering anger in the region. According to the report, those sentenced on Monday had all taken part in the riots. Some had burnt or damaged police cars and thrown rocks at vehicles and people. One of them bit a policeman in the stomach when he was detained. Neither the court nor the local government were available for comment. Last month, police said they had detained a person suspected of spreading rumours on the Internet that triggered the clashes. They said the suspect – surnamed Chen – had confessed to publishing false information online. But it was unclear whether Chen had been sentenced yet. Guangdong seeks to ease ‘one-child’ policy Authorities in China’s most populous province have asked Beijing to ease the one-child policy, a government official said yesterday, amid growing concerns over gender imbalances and an ageing population. Guangdong, in southern China, wants to launch a pilot program to allow some families to have two children, an official with the Guangdong Population and Family Planning Commission told AFP. Local authorities have submitted the proposal – which would allow couples where one of the adults is an only child to have a second baby – to central government, the official, who declined to be named, said. “To allow the new policy will have little overall impact on population growth,” Guangdong family planning chief Zhang Feng was quoted by the Southern Metropolis Daily as saying Monday. Until now, those exempt from the law introduced in 1979 include ethnic minorities, farmers whose first child is a girl and couples where both are only children. Policy violations usually result in hefty fines and a cut back in social services. But the one-child law is facing increasing scrutiny. He Yafu, an expert who is in close contact with some of China’s official demographers, told AFP last year that officials planned to launch similar pilot projects in five provinces aimed at evaluating the effects of relaxed rules. The would-be test provinces were Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning in the northeast, Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east. “Official demographers say that those five provinces have basically been determined as the first pilot provinces, and over the next five years or so it will spread to the whole of China,” He said. If approved, the Guangdong trial would help alleviate problems caused by the policy in the world’s most populous country of more than 1.3 billion, such as an ageing population that is putting pressure on the nation’s economy. Critics blame the policy for creating gender imbalances, where sex-specific abortions remain common. Female infanticide and the abandoning of baby girls have also been reported. advertisementTimes macau daily 澳門每日時 報 ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 Certified Public Accountant 畢世華 Luiz F. Da Silva Pedruco ( Registered Auditor since 1983 ) Bach. Fin. Admin. U.N.E (Aust.)Fellow of H.K.I.C.P.A., CPA (Aust.) Expat from Australia. Over 200-years Family history in Macau [email protected] Address: No. 665 Av. da Praia Grande . Edif. Great Will, 14th “B” Macau Tel: 28 355 388 Website: www.cpamacao.com 8 Times asia-pacific macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 ® One dead in Indonesia Islamic school blast Malaysian riot police fire hit protesters with tear gas during the Bersih 2.0 demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday Malaysian activists call for royal inquiry M alaysian activists who staged a mass rally for poll reforms called yesterday for a royal probe into the electoral system after the clampdown on their weekend protest. Bersih 2.0, a coalition of non-governmental organisations, said it would not abandon its campaign, with Prime Minister Najib Razak widely expected to call elections by early next year. The opposition say voting favours the Barisan Nasional coalition, who have ruled Malaysia for half a century but saw their majority slashed in the previous gen- eral election, in 2008. “The work for Bersih 2.0 continues. We believe that the best way forward is for the setting-up of a royal commission of inquiry. We have asked for that,” Bersih head Ambiga Sreenevasan told reporters. “The idea is for them to look at the entire electoral system, look at an overhaul of the system... It’s clearly the wish of the people that we move forward with the agenda for electoral reform,” she said. She added the commission should consist of experts “acceptable to the people” to study Bersih’s demands, such as allowing Malaysians abroad to vote and introducing indelible ink to prevent voters from casting multiple ballots. Backed by opposition parties, Bersih mobilised tens of thousands of people to take the streets in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday in the country’s biggest rally in four years. Police, which had declared the protest illegal, used tear gas and water cannon and arrested more than 1,600 people. A man also died when fleeing from tear gas, according to his family, though police say he was a bystander who died of a heart attack. Before the protest, the Election Commission, which is in charge of running all polls, announced it would fingerprint voters using a biometric system to address activists’ concerns of people voting more than once. But few details were given and it is still unclear how this could be implemented. Ambiga said Bersih would not be holding another rally “immediately” and that it wanted to engage the government and other parties to bring about reform. Indian PM criticised over cautious reshuffle Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came under renewed fire after he failed yesterday to make sweeping changes to his cabinet in a reshuffle that the opposition branded an “aimless rotation”. Halfway through its second term, the administration led by Singh’s Congress party has suffered from months of negatives headlines over corruption scandals, stubbornly high inflation and slowing economic growth. The finance, home, defence and foreign affairs ministers all kept their jobs in a limited shake-up of Singh’s top team that had been aimed at combating accusations that the government has lost momentum. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was the most high-profile mover as he was promoted to the cabinet and transferred to the rural development portfolio. Parsa Venkateshwar Rao, an independent political analyst in New Delhi, said the move was a missed opportunity for Singh to fulfil his vow to revive the government. “This does not come through as an attempt to clean up the government’s image. They are practically routine changes,” he told AFP. “The prime minister promised a major reshuffle, but that hasn’t happened.” Rao added however that Ramesh’s promotion to the cabinet might “bring some energy since he is a very pro-active minister.” Last month, Singh, 78, rejected criticism that he had become a “lame duck” leader who had turned a blind eye to a spate of corruption allegations, including a multi-billion-dollar telecom scandal. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the reshuffle as an “aimless rotation” that fell far short of public expectations. “It clearly shows that the government does not care about popular sentiment. People expected significant changes this time,” BJP spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain told AFP. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 9 A man was killed when a homemade bomb exploded in an Islamic boarding school in eastern Indonesia, which police say has links to jailed radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. “An improvised bomb exploded in one of the school rooms on Monday at 1530,” local police spokesman Sudjoko told reporters, adding that the school’s treasurer Firdaus was killed in the blast. After the blast in West Nusa Tenggara province, hundreds of students armed with sharp weapons blocked the school entrance, stopping police and soldiers entering to investigate the blast. “They don’t want our presence there,” Sudjoko said. National police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said that 10 people were arrested outside the school premises on Monday. Local media reported earlier that one of the school’s leaders was arrested last year for funding a militant training camp in Aceh province of Sumatra island, backed by the firebrand cleric Bashir. One of the students late last month slashed the neck of a police officer at the security post with a knife, killing him, according to one report. Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks by the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people. Radioactive ash in waste plants near Tokyo Japanese waste incineration plants near Tokyo have found high levels of radiation in ash, and officials said yesterday it may be from garden waste contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The radioactive caesium was detected in plants in Kashiwa city in Chiba prefecture, northeast of Tokyo and about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the plant that has leaked radiation since the March 11 quake and tsunami. Officials stressed that the radioactive ash collected in late June and early July, at concentrations of up to 70,800 becquerels per kilogramme, was safely contained within the plant and posed no health risk to the community. The level is far higher than the government’s 8,000-becquerel per kilogramme limit, above which waste dumps must keep such ash in storage, and it presents authorities with the question of what to do with it. Authorities suspect the caesium may be from garden waste, such as tree branches and grass cuttings, that has been burnt in the facility. Kashiwa city official Kiyoshi Nakamura told AFP: “Some people are believed to have cut plants and mown their lawns because of fear of radioactive contamination, and that waste was apparently brought to the plant.” “The radioactive ash is stored inside the plant, so the radiation has not been leaked into the environment,” he said. However, another city official, Masaki Orihara, warned that “we may run out of space to store the ash in about 55 days. There may be no other way but to end up suspending incinerators in the worst case.” features Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 F ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 Kenya camel’s milk set for boo or the tattered-clothed young men in this remote community, milking a camel’s stubby udders at sunrise is not a novelty, but a daily chore to get milk valued by their tribe for generations. But camel’s milk, long-cherished by the Cushite people of central Kenya, is now enjoying a renaissance in the capital Nairobi and could, some say, become an internationally coveted health food product worth 10 billion dollars a year. “Camels are better than cows because they can survive when there is drought, but the cows cannot, so I can make a profit even during dry season,” said Halima Hussein, 45, whose 84-strong flock makes her a local camel-mogul. “I’m going to sell to sell some of my cows to buy more camels,” added Hussein, whose family also owns 120 cows. This arid region in central Kenya, like much of northeast Africa, has in recent years been hit with less predictable and more intense droughts, hindering cow’s milk production and boosting the value of camels. In Isiolo, some 280 kilometres (175 miles) north of Nairobi, Hussein and the 63 other women in her local cooperative currently send between 3,000 to 5,000 litres (quarts) of camel’s milk a day to markets in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighbourhood. Following this unprecedented demand, the Dutch development organisation SNV, which helps the women sell their milk in Nairobi, has suggested opening a milk bar in Isiolo, perhaps to introduce visitors to the unique flavours of camel-based diary. The Somali, Oromo and Borana tribes – all part of the Cushite group – provide a reliable base of customers at Nairobi’s hectic markets. But some insist there is a chance to turn this once ignored type of milk into a high-end health food product sought after on every continent. “There is already a high demand for camel milk in the developed countries,” said Holger Marbach, a German national who founded Vital Camel Milk, which makes yo- ghurt, ice cream and other camel’s milk products. Marbach said Vital Camel Milk currently sells its products to supermarkets in Kenya, Latin America, South Africa and United Arab Emirates, but could sell to more lucrative markets if “administrative and political barriers” were removed. Leading food experts also agree that camel’s milk has potentially valuable properties. “Camel milk is slightly saltier than cow’s milk, three times as rich in Vitamin C and is known to be rich in iron, unsaturated fatty acids and B vitamins,” according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s website. The Food and Agriculture Organi- zation (FAO) says that with savvier packaging and more investment, camel’s milk could become a 10 billion dollar annual global industry. Even though Starbucks has not yet introduced a ‘camel chai latte,’ the milk remains a hugely important food source for a community regularly hit by devastating drought. “I feed my 12 children on camel’s milk,” said Safia Kulow, 40, who is president of the Isiolo women’s cooperative. Daniel Muggi, the official in charge of Isiolo livestock at Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, argues that the milk’s nutritional value, and the ability of camels to produce it regardless of the whether, may enhance its popularity. “Circumstances force people to Blood feud cripples lives in Kosov by Ismet Hajdari O utside the Neziri family compound in this Kosovo hamlet there is no sign of life, not even a sound indicating that 45 relatives with seven children are holed up inside afraid of a vendetta attack. His eyes darting from side to side, the head of the clan, Haki Neziri, 77, emerged cautiously from the house to receive AFP journalists. “My family has not been able to go out for 17 months. Men and women cannot go to work on the field. Children cannot go to school,” he complained bitterly. The Neziris fear any one of them could be shot by members of the rival Veseli family in an “honour killing” to avenge a murder, in this ethnic Albanian area that broke away from Serbia in 2008. The ancient Albanian tradition of the blood feud has forced the Neziri family – even the children – to barricade themselves inside their homes, the only place they are safe. Under the old customs, a vendetta killing 10 of someone inside their own home would bring shame on the perpetrator. The drama in Gracke, set on the slopes of the Nerodime mountains some 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of the capital Pristina, started in February 2010 when an old dispute between the two families culminated in the killing of Brahim Veseli, 40. Four Neziri brothers were arrested and are currently on trial for murder. So-called “honour killings” – known as gjakmarrja, the Albanian law of vendetta – have been deeply rooted in local lore for centuries as part of mediaeval tribal laws known as the “Code of Leke Dukagjini”. The code, or “Kanun”, says “if one man kills another, a male member of the victim’s family must respond in kind.” Prominent human rights activist Behxhet Shala described “gjakmarrja” as “a relic of the past that was used to settle disputes by meting out justice by yourself” in stateless societies. “It is an anomaly nowadays,” he said. “But it has resurfaced as there is no Times features macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 ® om times change and non Cushite communities are considering camels because of lessons learnt from the drought and famine here,” he said. “I’m not saying people should abandon all the other types of milk, but I am saying camel milk is the saviour of the pastoralists during the dry season.” While they welcome the surge in camel interest within Kenya, locals in Isiolo sound anxious to look beyond the domestic market. “In the future, we are thinking of getting a camel milk factory,” said 56-year-old Adan Ali, the only male member of the Isiolo cooperative. “We think camel milk will be gold, because we will start exporting to the European Union,” he said. AFP vo strong and functional rule of law” in Kosovo, where the EU rule of law mission (EULEX) is still monitoring and mentoring authorities. Other observers also said such “honour killings” had risen in recent years though there are no official figures available. Under the code, drawn up by an Albanian aristocrat during the 14th-century struggle against Ottoman rule, a murderer’s family can request assurances from the victim’s family – in the form of their word of honour known as “besa” – that they will not be shot if they step outside. In the Neziris’ case, the family of the dead man has refused to make any such pledge, even for children aged seven to 14. A camel herder of the Borana community milks a camel at dawn in Isiolo, 300 km north of Kenyan capital, Nairobi (Photo: June 9) ‘We are helpless’ “They did not give us ‘besa’,” said Haki’s 13-yearold grandson Arijan, who eyed the strangers in his home suspiciously. “I would love to go to school, but I cannot.” His 10-year-old brother Fatum, bounding with pent-up energy, also wants to return to school, “not to take classes but to play with friends.” Despite repeated efforts by influential locals, the Veseli family has refused to exclude the children from the feud. “I went with local authorities more than five times to the Veselis to try to mediate reconciliation and solve the problem of my students. They did even not accept to talk about ‘besa’,” said school principal Ejup Shabani. Local police say they are equally frustrated. “We are helpless in the fight against the ‘Kanun’ tradition as there is no offence we can prove,” officer Agim Gashi told AFP. He said when authorities have contacted the Veseli family, they insist they are not keeping the children from attending school. “Still, the kids are afraid,” he said. Shabani’s school has tried to help by sending teachers to the Neziri household weekly so the children do not fall behind. Police also escort the children to school when they have to take exams. 11 Under local rules the principal should expel the children for not attending classes, but “we are breaking the law on purpose in order not to endanger their education.” Shyqeri Neziri, 49 and father of two of the children, said he understood the anger of the victim’s family but begged to keep the youngsters out of it. “An evil happened. It is up to the justice system to address it now. The harmed family has to be compensated but without involving the children. They have to go to school,” he told AFP. Fidan Veseli, the 20-yearold nephew of the murder victim, said that for now the prevailing view was that the Veselis would not touch the Neziris. “Let’s see what the justice will do,” he said, referring to the court case – though justice moves slowly in Kosovo and it was uncertain when the trial would end. The nephew would not explain why his family would not agree to a pledge not to harm the Neziri children. As the oldest Neziri brother, Shyqeri, with his father, feels the weight of responsibility for getting the family out of a situation with “no future”. Blocked in their compound, they have started selling off property and cattle piece by piece “to earn a living”. The frustration shows on Shyqeri’s face and the desperation in his words “I will send word to them. Let them chose the time and place and I will go there. “If it is a condition for my family to get rid of ‘gjakmarrja’ let them kill me,” he said. “They will be forgiven by my family.” AFP (L) Arijan Neziri, 13, (R) and his brother Fatlum Neziri, 10, talk during an interview at their home (R) Haki Neziri, 77, at his house in the village of Gracke WORLD Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Assange appeal British extradition ruling WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday started his appeal at the High Court in London against a ruling that he can be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape. Wearing a grey suit, blue tie, white shirt and glasses, the 40-year-old Australian got out of a black car and walked slowly into the court building surrounded by a scrum of cameramen and journalists. He refused to answer repeated questions on the appeal, aimed at reversing a ruling by a judge in February which rejected defence arguments that Assange would face an unfair trial in Sweden. A supporter yelled: “Keep fighting the American empire, Julian.” Other supporters including campaigning journalist John Pilger also arrived at the court. The hearing yesterday and today will take place before two judges. The decision is expected to be deferred until a later date. Even if the ruling goes against him, Assange’s lawyers have signalled he is prepared for a lengthy legal battle and could take his challenge all the way to the Supreme Court. The former computer hacker has been living under strict bail conditions, including wearing an electronic ankle tag and a curfew, at a friend’s mansion in eastern England since December. He was arrested in December after two Swedish women accused him of sexual assault, allegations that Assange denies, as his whistleblowing website was in the process of releasing a huge cache of leaked US diplomatic cables. ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 22 police hurt , tensions high in Belfast violence S erious rioting erupted in Belfast injuring 22 officers, police said, as tension mounted before yesterday’s culmination of Northern Ireland’s main Protestant marching season. Police used water cannon and fired 51 plastic bullets to try to disperse around 200 Catholic rioters in the Broadway area of mainly Catholic west Belfast late Monday. Rioters responded with a hail of bricks and more than 40 petrol bombs. A bus was hijacked and driven at a police cordon separating Catholic Nationalists from Protestant Loyalists around 200 metres (yards) away, but crashed before reaching the cordon. Four of the 22 wounded officers were taken to hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said yesterday. PSNI assistant chief constable Alistair Finlay said: “No one wants to see disorder return to any part of Northern Ireland. Such violence damages local infrastructure, it sets back relationships and leaves wounds which take time to heal. Orangemen march past a Nationalist area at the start of their Twelfth of July celebrations in Belfast, Northern Ireland, yesterday “We know it is a difficult time for some communities and we encourage everyone with influence to keep talking, making their peaceful voices heard and working towards meaningful solutions and a peaceful summer.” The marching season comes to a climax later yesterday and marks the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when king William III, a Protestant, defeated the Catholic king James II, whom William had unseated two years earlier. Trouble first flared late Monday when Protestants began lighting bonfires, the signal for the start of the Twelfth, a day of celebrations during which tens of thousands of “Orange Order” men are expected to march. “There is no other single event that can produce crowds like the Twelfth. It is such a special day of religion, culture, music and pageantry,” said Orange Order grand master Edward Stevenson. Northern Ireland saw some of its worst sectarian violence in years two weeks ago, focused on a Catholic enclave in east Belfast. The 1998 “Good Friday” peace accords largely ended the cycle of sectarian bombings and shootings in the province, part of the United Kingdom, and paved the way for a devolved, powersharing Northern Irish Assembly. Around 3,500 people were killed in decades of unrest pitting Protestant Loyalists who want the province to remain part of the United Kingdom against Catholic Republicans who favour joining the Irish Republic. Former PM accuses Murdoch papers of hiring criminals Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (C) arrives at the High Court in central London Gas bus blast kills 9 near Pakistan airport Nine Pakistanis died yesterday when the gas cylinder on their bus exploded on the main road between the capital Islamabad and the airport, officials said. The van, carrying 15 passengers, was en route from Islamabad to the satellite town of Kalarsaydan, when it blew up on the busy expressway. “It was a cylinder blast. Nine people have been killed and five are injured. Three women are also among the injured,” police official Faisal Memon told AFP. TV footage showed the wreckage of the bus and scattered burnt debris. A large number of Pakistanis use compressed natural gas (CNG) to power private and public vehicles as it is cheaper than the petrol and diesel. Former British prime minister Gordon Brown accused Rupert Murdoch’s media empire yesterday of using criminals to obtain his private documents, as lawmakers prepared to quiz police over phone hacking. In a major new twist in the row that led to the closure of the Murdochowned News of the World, Brown accused its stablemate the Sunday Times of using con tricks to obtain bank details and legal documents relating to a flat he bought. He also said he did not understand how The Sun, another Murdoch paper, obtained information that his son had cystic fibrosis, adding that when the tabloid splashed the news on its front page in 2006 he was left “in tears”. Brown said it was Rebekah Brooks who called to tell him in 2006 that the tabloid was breaking the story about the illness of his son, who was then four months old. “I’ve never talked publicly about Fraser’s condition. And obviously we wanted that to be kept private for all the obvious reasons,” said Brown, who was finance minister from 1997 to 2007 and then Labour prime minister until 2010. 12 Gordon Brown : ‘genuinely shocked to find that this happened because of their links with known criminals, hired by investigators who were working with the Sunday Times’ (File photo) “I think what happened pretty early on in government was that the Sunday Times appear to have got access to my building society account, they got ac- cess to my legal files,” Brown told the BBC in an interview. “But I’m shocked, I’m genuinely shocked to find that this happened because of their links with criminals, known criminals who were undertaking this activity, hired by investigators who were working with the Sunday Times.” His claims are the first to explicitly drag in other Murdoch newspapers into the long-running scandal over phone hacking at the News of the World, and threaten to further damage Murdoch’s media interests. They come as lawmakers prepared to question senior police officers about why their original investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World in 2006 failed to unearth the hoard of allegations that have emerged in recent months. In the latest twist, it was reported that Prince Charles and his wife Camilla had their voicemails hacked. Media reports also suggested that police officers charged with protecting members of the royal family had sold their details to the News of the World, and the tabloid’s owners knew about this as early as 2007 but kept quiet. Times WORLD macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 Afghan president’s brother assassinated A fghan President Hamid Karzai’s younger brother, the government’s key powerbroker in the south of the country, was assassinated yesterday, depriving NATO of a vital if controversial ally. The Taliban claimed responsibility for killing Ahmed Wali Karzai in his own home, while the Kandahar provincial police chief said he was shot dead by the long-serving commander of his family’s personal protection force. The half-brother of the Afghan leader was for years a deeply controversial figure, dogged by allegations of unsavoury links to Afghanistan’s lucrative opium trade and private security firms. But his killing raises disturbing questions about possible infiltration among those closest to the Karzai family and is also a severe blow to NATO and the Afghan leadership in Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency. The incident comes as NATO troops start withdrawing from the country and Western nations search for a political solution after a decade of war. Kandahar police chief Abdul Razeq identified the assassin as Sardar Mohammad, the commander of a force of 200 bodyguards who had provided security for the younger Karzai’s family for seven years. Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai (File photo: August 16, 2009) Razeq said Mohammed had for seven years been in charge of security in the upmarket neighbourhood of Bala Karz in Kandahar city, where Karzai’s family lived. He said Mohammed showed a letter to bodyguards at the house saying he had “urgent” business with Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council, and was ushered into his study alone. “Moments later the bodyguards hear the sound of gunshots and when they enter the room they find Ahmed Wali Karzai shot in the head and chest, and in a pool of blood,” he said. “The bodyguards riddle Sardar with bullets. Ahmed Wali Karzai died on the spot,” he said, adding that besides the assassin and his victim, no one else died in the attack. The police chief and an official at the hospital where Karzai’s body was taken both said he had been shot in the head and the chest. The assassination came just before the Afghan leader received French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was on a surprise visit to Afghanistan ® China, Russia invited to Libya talks in Istanbul where he announced that Paris would recall 1,000 soldiers by the end of next year. Interior ministry spokesman Seddiq Seddiqi said: “One of the very important figures in Afghanistan has been martyred. We condemn this attack.” Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wesa said the assassin was a “trusted guy”. “Every time Hamid Karzai and Qayoum Karzai [his brother] would come to Kandahar for a family visit, all the security responsibility would be given to Sardar Mohammad,” he said. Razeq said Mohammad’s personal bodyguards were arrested after the attack and security ramped up in Kandahar city, with roads around Karzai’s house blocked. American documents leaked by Internet whistleblower WikiLeaks painted the younger Karzai as a corrupt drugs baron, lifting the lid on Western thoughts long kept private. The top US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, who steps down next week before becoming head of the CIA, condemned the killing and pledged the support of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The US embassy in Kabul also condemned the assassination “in the strongest possible terms”. Turkey has invited China and Russia to join for the first time discussions on Libya as part of a contact group of major powers, to convene this week in Istanbul, a Turkish official said yesterday. “Russia and China have been invited as permanent members of the UN Security Council. We think they will participate but no information has reached us so far on what level,” foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal told reporters. The so-called International Contact Group on Libya, scheduled to meet Friday in Istanbul, includes the countries participating in the NATOled campaign targeting Moamer Kadhafi’s regime and regional players. Russia abstained from a vote on a Security Council resolution in March that opened the way for international involvement in Libya and has since criticized the scale and intent of the NATO-led strikes. China, for his part, had maintained a policy of non-interference in the conflict, but has appeared more involved recently and its officials have met several times with Libyan opposition representatives. Along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the foreign ministers of Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Malta, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have confirmed their participation in the Istanbul meeting, Unal said. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as well as the heads of the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Gulf Cooperation Council will also attend, he added. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that Libyan opposition appeals for financial assistance will be discussed at the gathering. Egypt protesters call for mass march for change Egyptian pro-democracy activists yesterday called from a mass march in Cairo to push for political change, a day after the prime minister offered concessions, which were criticised as falling short. The march is to leave from Tahrir Square, epicentre of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February, at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) headed for the cabinet headquarters, activists said on Facebook. The call came as assailants armed with knives and sticks tried to attack protesters camped out in Tahrir Square, state television said. “Thugs tried to force their way into the square from four entrances, but were pushed back by protesters,” state television said, reporting that eight people were lightly injured. Protesters who first took to the streets to demand Mubarak’s resignation have increasingly directed their anger at the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power when the strongman was ousted. The armed forces, which were hailed as heroes at the start of the January 25 uprising for not shooting protesters, have come under fire for using Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent and maintain an absolute and unchallenged grip on power. On Monday, Sharaf ordered a government reshuffle within a week, as part of a series of measures aimed at placating protesters impatient with Sharaf’s alleged weakness in the face of the military junta. The prime minister also set a deadline of July 15 for the dismissal of policemen accused of killing protesters during the uprising, and called on the judiciary to proceed with open trials of former regime members. His speech came as sit-ins continued in Cairo, Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast and the canal city of Suez, following nationwide rallies last Friday to demand political change. Among protesters’ key demands are an end to military trials of civilians, the dismissal and prosecution of police officers accused of murder and torture – before and after the revolution – and open trials of former regime officials. Egypt’s press yesterday also reacted coldly to a series of concessions by Sharaf aimed at placating protesters, amid mounting anger over the pace of reforms. “Tahrir Square rejects Sharaf’s speech,” was the verdict from the independent daily Al-Masry AlYoum, in reference to the Cairo square which was the epicentre of Egyptians wave their national flag as they gather during a sit-in at Tahrir square, Cairo, on Monday protests against Mubarak. “The vision is cloudy, where are we heading?” asked the stateowned Al-Gomhouria, while “Tahrir calls for Sharaf’s resignation” was the frontpage headline in the independent Al-Shorouk. A military source told AFP on Monday that Sharaf’s speech had 13 been delayed several hours until the military council approved its final wording. Sit-ins continue in Cairo, Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast and the canal city of Suez, following nationwide rallies on Friday to demand political change. Hundreds camped out in Tahrir Square, forming a picket line outside the Mugamma, a huge government complex housing Egypt’s sprawling bureaucracy. In Alexandria, hundreds vowed not to budge from their sit-in in Qayed Ibrahim Square, and hundreds more packed into Al-Arbaeen Square in Suez. Infotainment Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 What’s On ® Cinema Cineteatro Wednesday 13 July 2011 This Day in History Last murderess hanged in Great Britain Room 1 Transformers - Dark of the moon 2:00/4:45/7:30/10:15pm Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie HuntingtonWhiteley and Tyrese Gibson Director: Michael Bay Language: English (Chinese subtitles) Duration: 108 min Linyi wood toys and Laizhou jade sculpture Time: 12pm-7pm (Tuesdays to Fridays) 10am-7pm (Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays) Until: July 31,2011 Venue: Lou Kau Mansion, No. 7, Travessa da Sé Admission: Free Telephone enquiries: (853) 8399 3399 Lady’s Night Time: 8pm Venue: Small Auditorium, Macau Cultural Centre, Av. Xian Xing Hai s/n, NAPE Admission: MOP25 Telephone enquiries: (853) 6627 0599 Song of the Conqueror: Works by Zhuxi The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets Room 2 Mr. Popper’s Penguins 2:30/4:30/7:30/9:30pm Starring: Jim Carrey Director: Mark Waters Language: English (Chinese subtitles) Duration: 94 min Room 3 Something Borrowed 2:30/7:30pm Starring: Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin Director: Luke Greenfield Language: English (Chinese subtitles) Duration: 112 min Room 3 X-Men: First Class 4:30/9:30pm Starring: Matthew Vaughn, James McAvoy, Michael Time: 12pm-7pm (Closed on Tuesdays) Until: August 21,2011 Venue: OX Warehouse, Intersection of Av. do Coronel Mesquita and Av. Almirante Lacerda Admission: Free Telephone enquiries: (853) 2853 0026 Western Views on China: Prints of the 19th century about Macau Fassbender, Kevin Bacon Director: Matthew Vaughn Language: English (Chinese subtitles) Duration: 132 min Macau Tower 30-June to 13-July Transformers - Dark of the moon 1:30pm / 4:15pm / 7:00pm / 9:45pm Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie HuntingtonWhiteley and Tyrese Gibson Director: Michael Bay Language: English (Chinese subtitles) Duration: 108 min Offbeat TV Canal Macau Opening Hours: 10am-7pm (no admission after 6:30pm, closed on Mondays) Until: December 31,2011 Venue: Macau Museum of Art, Av. Xian Xing Hai, NAPE Admission: MOP5 (Free admission on Sundays and public holidays) Telephone enquiries: (853) 8791 9814 The Past – Masters of Macau: Exhibition of Poetry, Calligraphy, Painting and Seal-Carving Opening Hours: 10am-7pm (No admission after 6:30pm, closed on Mondays) Until: July 31,2011 Venue: Macau Museum of Art, Av. Xian Xing Hai, NAPE Admission: MOP5 (Free admission on Sundays and public holidays) Telephone enquiries: (853) 8791 9814 On 13 July 1955, nightclub owner Ruth Ellis the last woman in Great Britain to be put to death for murder, convicted of killing her boyfriend David Blakely, is hanged. Ten years later, death penalty for murder would be banned in England, Scotland and Wales. Born in Rhyl, Wales, in 1926, Ellis left school as a young teenager, had a child and worked a variety of jobs, eventually becoming a nightclub hostess. In 1950, she married dentist George Ellis, with whom she had a second child. The marriage was short-lived and Ruth Ellis returned to working in nightclubs. She then became involved in a tempestuous relationship with David Blakely, a playboy race-car driver. Ellis became pregnant but miscarried several days after a fight during which Blakely hit her in the stomach. She later became obsessed with Blakely when he failed to come see her as promised. On April 10, 1955, she shot him to death outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead, North London. During her trial, which began in June 1955, Ellis stated “It was obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him.” This was a critical statement, as British law required demonstration of clear intent in order to convict someone of murder. It reportedly took the jury less than half an hour to find Ellis guilty and she automatically received the death penalty. Thousands of people signed petitions protesting her punishment; however, on July 13, 1955, the 28-year-old Ellis was hanged at Holloway Prison, a women’s institution in Islington, London. She was the last woman executed for murder in Great Britain. On August 13, 1964, Peter Anthony Allen and John Alan West became the last people to be executed for murder in England. In 1965, the death penalty for murder was banned in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland outlawed capital punishment in 1973. However, several crimes, including treason, remained punishable by death in Great Britain until 1998. In 1985, a movie titled Dance With a Stranger chronicled Ellis’ life. In December 2003, a British court dismissed an appeal filed by Ellis’s sister asking for Ruth’s conviction to be reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of “provocation and/or diminished responsibility.” 13:00 TDM News (Repeted) 13:30 News at 24H (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast 14:30 RTPi Live 19:30 Soap Opera 20:28 Publicity 20:30 Main News, Financial & Weather Report 21:00 Noon News RTPi (Live Delayed) 22:10 Soap Opera 22:58 Publicity 23:00 TDM News 23:30 Portuguese Movie 01:15 Main News, Financial & Weather Report (Repeted) 01:50 RTPi Live 14 Texas baby breaks hospital weight record A newborn who tipped the scales at more than 16 pounds (7.3 kilograms) broke the local hospital’s weight records in Longview, Texas, press reported yesterday. The baby boy, named JaMichael, delivered by Cesarean section to parents Janet Johnson and Michael Brown early Friday, exceeded doctors’ weight predictions by some four pounds (1.8 kilos). “We’re just amazed,” Johnson told the Longview News-Journal. “I can’t believe he’s that big. A lot of the baby clothes we bought for him will have to be returned. They’re already too small for him to wear.” The hospital also had trouble outfitting such a large baby: the newborn nursery did not have diapers big enough to fit him, the mother said. According to local news reports, Johnson suffered from gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, which contributed to her baby’s large size. The condition causes a pregnant woman to become resistant to her body’s own insulin and to pass higher than normal amount of sugar to her baby, who stores the extra calories as fat. JaMichael reportedly will be spending his first few days of life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to regulate his blood sugar. Times Infotainment macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Sport Wednesday 13 July 2011 ® Weather China Min Max 23 20 24 24 24 9 19 21 19 23 26 25 26 25 25 26 32 28 32 38 32 21 25 25 25 27 31 30 32 34 31 30 Asia-Pacific Min Max Seoul Tokyo Manila Hanoi Ho Chi Minh City Bangkok Kuala Lumpur Singapore New Delhi Mumbai Karachi Jakarta B.S. Begawan Sydney Melbourne Brisbane 21 26 26 25 23 26 25 25 28 25 28 24 25 8 9 6 25 33 31 33 34 34 34 32 36 31 34 31 33 16 14 22 World Min Max Moscow Frankfurt Paris London New York 16 18 11 11 19 26 27 20 19 32 Beijing Harbin Tianjin Urumqi Xi’an Lhasa Chengdu Chongqing Kunming Nanjing Shanghai Wuhan Hangzhou Taipei Guangzhou Hong Kong The Born Loser by Chip Sansom Condition thundershower/cloudy cloudy thundershower/cloudy clear cloudy moderate rain shower shower shower moderate rain shower shower/cloudy thundershower/ moderate rain thundershower thundershower/heavy moderate rain Condition rain fine thunderstorms showers showers thunderstorms showers thunderstorms thunderstorms rain cloudy mist cloudy cloudy showers fine Easy Easy + Medium Hard Condition clear/thundershower drizzle/moderate rain thundershower/moderate rain cloudy shower/cloudy Across Your Stars Aries Taurus Cancer Gemini March 21-April 19 April 20-May 20 May 21-June 21 June 22-July 22 Your internal combustion engine is purring today — make the most of this hot energy! You can make serious progress on almost anything from romance to entrepreneurship, and it’s fun, too! You feel somewhat more attached than usual to your people — or maybe some object you never used to treat like a security blanket. Now is the time for you to hang back and wait for your position to shift. You’re smart, sure — but today is about more than just ideas. You need to take action, and your energy ensures that you can make quite a bit of progress without worrying about how it all comes together. You need to drive a harder bargain today — the situation is really riding on your unwillingness to take anyone’s first offer. Sure, it’s uncomfortable, but you know how to step up. Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio 1- ___ avis; 5- Close with force; 9- Pale bluish purple; 14- King of comedy; 15- Prom wheels; 16- Incite; 17- Author Morrison; 18Are you ___ out?; 19- Hard candy; 20- Gather into a cluster; 23Call ___ day; 24- Cry ___ River; 25- Fibbed; 27- Mazda model; 31- Agitate; 33- The jig ___!; 37- Place in bondage; 39- Israeli submachine gun; 40- Indian instrument; 41- School VIP position; 44- City near Provo; 45- Help; 46- Babble; 47- Branta sandvicensis; 48- Nae sayer?; 50- Guide; 51- Pack of cards; 53- Covering for the head; 55- Bump off; 58- Admittedly; 64- Pierce; 66- “______ sprach Zarathustra”; 67- Capital of the Ukraine; 68- Actress Berger; 69Chow ___; 70- Fish-eating eagle; 71- Give it ___!; 72- Alleviate; 73- Cong. meeting; Down July 23-August 22 August 23-September 22 September 23-October 22 October 23 - November 21 Your naturally warm personality is keeping those around you happy and friendly today — it makes life a lot sweeter! You should be able to get your people to see that things are looking up. Your ability to adapt to changing circumstances is about to be tested — so get ready! It could come from work, home or just randomly on the street, but you need to show off your flexible side. Tune in to the big picture today — you really need to focus on long-term strategy and planning. Today’s little details are harmless and shouldn’t have much of an impact on your life. You need to keep a low profile today, because things are getting out of hand out there. Your own energy is best for behind-the-scenes action, and if you look like a target, you’re sure to find yourself under fire. Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces November 22-December 21 December 22-January 19 January 20-February 18 February 19-March 20 You are getting more than you had bargained for — but in a good way! It’s one of those days when you almost certainly need to shower one person with gratitude. That should make it win-win. You are torn between two people in one way or another, and it’s almost certain that no matter which side you choose, the other feels cheated. If you can find a way to beat the game, everyone wins! You get the last clue to something really big today — something that could change your world in a big way. It might not all be good, but the net effects should definitely skew toward the positive. Your coworkers may need a boost of some kind today — but good luck figuring out what can appease them! It may be all you can do to keep fights from breaking out all over the place, so take a deep breath. 1- Pro ___; 2- Sleep like ___; 3- Pealed; 4- Indigo; 5- Thin glutinous mud; 6- Straight; 7- Cupid; 8- Give a sermon; 9- Donnybrook; 10“…and seven years _____”; 11- Wrinkly fruit; 12- Electrical unit; 13“Only Time” singer; 21- Astrologer Sydney; 22- Floor cover, perhaps; 26- Detract; 27- Subatomic particle; Yesterday’s solution 28- Accustom; 29- Colorado resort; 30- Swarmed; 32- Best; 34- Burn a bit; 35- Sam, e.g.; 36- One forking over; 38- Ignominious failure; 42Agnomen; 43- Brushes; 49- Essay; 52- Acclaim; 54- All together; 55___ boy!; 56- “Believe” singer; 57- ___ kleine Nachtmusik; 59Bloodsucking insect; 60- Squeezes (out); 61- Calamitous; 62- Optical device; 63- First name in fashion; 65- ACLU concerns; Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com Useful telephone numbers Emergency calls 999 Fire department 28 572 222 PJ (Open line) 993 PJ (Picket) 28 557 775 PSP 28 573 333 Customs 28 559 944 S. Januário Hospital 28 313 731 Kiang Wu Hospital 28 371 333 Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) 28326 300 IACM 28 387 333 Tourism 28 882 184 Airport 59 888 88 Taxi (Yellow) 28 519 519 Taxi (Black) 28 939 939 Utilities Water Supply – Report 1990 992 Telephone – Report 1000 Electricity – Report 28 339 922 Macau Daily Times 28 716 081 Ad Crosswords Sudoku 15 Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 advertisement ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 16 Times business macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 Asian stocks tumble on eurozone fears A sian stock markets slumped yesterday, extending a global sell-off as fears grew that the eurozone debt crisis will spread, raising the prospect of a devastating default. The crisis, which came despite eurozone members agreeing to strengthen a multi-billion-dollar fund to prevent Europe’s debt woes engulfing other states, sent the single currency tumbling. Tokyo fell 1.43 percent, or 143.61 points, to 9,925.92, Sydney was 1.90 percent, or 86.9 points lower at 4,495.4 and Seoul tumbled 2.20 percent, or 2,109.73. Hong Kong slumped 3.06 percent, or 684.07 points, to 21,663.16 and Shanghai fell 1.72 percent, or 48.11 points, to 2,754.58. Investors have become increasingly concerned that political leaders and bankers holding Greek debt talks in Brussels remain unable to agree on how to avert an outright default by Athens, sending down European and US shares. Analysts fear that the Greek crisis might spread to larger economies, such as heavily indebted Italy and Spain – Europe’s third- and fourth-largest economies respectively. Rome’s finances have been called into question due to worries over whether key austerity measures will be approved amid tensions in the cabinet, while some also point out that many cuts will not be introduced soon enough. The fears sent the longterm cost of borrowing for Italy to the highest level since the creation of the eurozone. The problems represent “one of the worst moments of the European monetary crisis”, said one European analyst – Jean-Francois Robin, fixed-income strategist at Natixis in Paris. International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde on Monday called the turmoil that has raised fears of an Italian meltdown “essentially market driven”. But she added that while Greece “has done a lot of work” to reduce deficits, “more work needs to be done”. On Monday the region’s 17 finance ministers agreed on a range of measures including “enhancing the flexibility and the scope” of the European stability fund set up to buttress troubled members. The talks were scheduled to finesse a second rescue package for Athens in September, but were unable to shake investor concern that Athens will be unable to pay its debts. Those fears were reinforced yesterday when Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said his eurozone counterparts were open to the possibility of allowing a selective debt default within a new rescue plan for Athens. “It’s not excluded anymore, clearly,” he said on arriving for talks aimed at solving the crisis. Greece last month averted a default after its parliament agreed to a batch of austerity measures but talks on a second bailout for the beleaguered nation have slowed. Global markets tumbled on Monday. On Wall Street the Dow closed down 1.20 percent, the S&P 500 shed 1.81 percent and the Nasdaq fell two percent. And European shares yesterday extended the previous day’s losses in early trade. Milan dived four percent, while London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.90 percent, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 shed 2.69 percent and the Paris CAC 40 slid 2.36 percent. Madrid’s IBEX 35 tumbled 3.75 percent. In early European trade the euro plummeted to a four-month low of USD 1.3837 from USD 1.4029 late Monday in New York and well down from the USD 1.4188 in Asia on Monday. It was also at 110.85 yen from 112.51 yen. It fetched 114.59 yen in Asia the previous day. The dollar fell to 79.63 yen, compared with 80.24 in New York. “It will take one or two years for the sovereign China cleaning up second oil spill China National Offshore Oil Corporation recently accused of covering up a huge spill is cleaning up another slick after a breakdown at a rig off China’s northeast coast, officials said yesterday. The oil giant is trying to contain the spill covering an area measuring one square kilometre (0.4 square miles) of Bohai Bay, the State Oceanic Administration said – the third accident to hit CNOOC in recent weeks. Up to 0.15 cubic metres of oil has leaked into the water after the Suizhong 36-1 field central control system broke down yesterday, the statement said. CNOOC has been slammed by state media and green groups over another massive spill in Bohai Bay, which was detected on June 4 but only made public nearly a month later. CNOOC said last week the 840-squarekilometre slick was “basically under control” while ConocoPhillips told reporters the leaks had been plugged. But the oceanic administration said oil was still seeping into the sea at the weekend and ConocoPhillips China has been ordered to find and seal the leaking sources “as soon as possible”, Chinese media reported yesterday. The June spill has caused alarm in neighbouring South Korea, which yesterday called on Beijing to swiftly provide information on the leaking rig. “I think it would be conscientious of China to provide immediate information on the matter and possible outcomes to neighboring nations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae told reporters. In a separate incident, a CNOOC refinery in the southern province of Guangdong caught fire early Monday but there were no casualties, the company said, adding the cause of the blaze was still under investigation. The refinery is located about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Daya Bay nuclear power plant, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday. Meanwhile, as the nation tackled its second oil spill in a month, China’s maritime regulator tightened monitoring of offshore energy exploration by companies including Cnooc. The State Oceanic Administration wants oil and gas explorers operating off the coast to implement checks on all drilling and production infrastructure immediately, Director Liu Cigui said in a statement on the administration’s website. AFP/Bloomberg The headquarters 17 of CNOOC in Beijing ® debt issues in Europe to be resolved,” said Masayoshi Yano, a senior market analyst at Meiwa Securities in Tokyo. “Market sentiment is fickle, switching back and forth between optimism and pessimism,” he told Dow Jones Newswires. Despite the region-wide sell-off, Australia’s Macarthur Coal ended up 36.6 percent after Peabody of the United States and European giant ArcelorMittal launched a takeover bid for the firm worth USD 5 billion. On oil markets New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, fell 56 cents to USD 94.59 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for August shed 62 cents to USD 116.62 in the afternoon. Gold closed at USD 1,546.00- USD 1,547.00 an ounce in Hong Kong, unchanged from Monday’s close. (AFP) Murdoch’s News stocks fall in Australia Shares in Rupert Murdoch’s Australia-listed News Corporation fell 4.59 percent yesterday, to their lowest point in more than 18 months as the British phone hacking scandal deepened. As Australian Greens leader Bob Brown again called for an independent media watchdog to prevent a similar scandal at home, News Corp dropped 73 cents to close at Aus$15.19, its lowest finish since November 2009. CMC Markets analyst Ben Le Brun said dealers were “selling first and asking questions later” amid reports that royalty and ex-prime minister Gordon Brown were targeted in the scandal, which felled the Sunday tabloid News of the World. Adding to the firm’s problems, the British government announced that Australian-born Murdoch’s bid to take over cable giant BSkyB would be referred to the country’s competition commission. “As the story seems to have gotten worse... News Corporation shares have come down accordingly,” Le Brun said. “It’s not good times for News Corporation.” News Corp, which is also listed in New York and London, fell more than seven percent in Sydney on Monday as the fallout from claims that the News of the World hacked the phone of a child murder victim continued. The share slump came as Brown called for an inquiry into journalism in Australia and a new independent body to oversee ethics in the industry. “I do think in these days of huge potential for invasion of privacy we ought to have a watchdog,” he told reporters in Tasmania. Times macau daily 澳門每日時 報 advertisement ® Wednesday 13 July 2011 18 Times sports macau daily 澳門每日時 報 Wednesday 13 July 2011 Cycling Football Sky ponder legal action over Flecha car crash T eam Sky are pondering whether to take legal action against the television car which sent their Spaniard rider Juan Antonio Flecha flying during the race’s ninth stage on Sunday. Flecha and Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland survived being hit by a France Television car as it overtook their five-man breakaway group 35 km from the finish line. The car was later excluded from the race by furious organisers and France Television later issued an official apology. Team principal Dave Brailsford said the crash “shouldn’t have happened”, adding the team were going over all their options. “There are different options available, but [we’ll wait] until we’ve got the facts and got the lawyers to say ‘you could do this’, ‘Team Sky could do that’, ‘Juan as an individual might want to do that’. “We need to have a clear picture of what those options are before we then decide which one we may or may not wish to pursue.” Asked whether that meant pursuing legal proceedings, Brailsford added: “All the options is all the options.” Team Sky lost yellow jersey contender Bradley Wiggins to a broken collarbone during the crash-marred first week. Flecha, who along with Hoogerland started yesterday’s 10th stage, is now afraid he won’t go much further. Three consecutive stages in the Pyrenees start on Thursday. “I’m more concerned about the Pyrenees. I can’t bypass the Pyrenees,” said the Span- A combo of the 2011 Tour de France most spectacular crashes after nine stages: (from top, L-R) Slovenia’s Janez Brakjovic receiving medical assistance in the Carhaix-Cap Frehel stage on July 6; Ukraine’s Yaroslav Popovych seen on the road after he crashed in the same stage; Kazakh’s Alexandre Vinokourov being carried into the ambulance on Sunday in the Issoire-Saint-Flour stage; and Spain’s Juan Antonio Flecha (L) and Netherland’s Johnny Hoogerland (R) seen after their crash also on the weekend iard, who suffered mainly cuts and grazes. Hoogerland had 33 stitches put into deep gashes he suffered after landing in a barbed wire fence. But with the memory of Belgian Wouter Weylandt’s death from a crash in May’s Giro d’Italia still fresh in the minds of many, Hoogerland – who races with the modest Vacansoleil team – refused to blame anyone for the incident. “Nobody can be blamed for this. It’s a hor- rible accident and I was in it. But I said to Flecha, ‘We’re still alive and Wouter Weylandt died in a crash’,” he said. Vacansoleil team manager Daan Luyckx said they would only look into the possibility of taking legal action “once the race is over”. France television personally apologised to Hoogerland however it was reported Monday that Flecha has not had such an apology. Contador meets ‘crash’ fan Spanish rider Alberto Contador Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has met, and forgiven, the young fan who caused a crash in the first stage of the race and left the Spaniard with a significant deficit and derailed his bid for a possible fourth yellow jersey. At first reported to be a woman the fan, as it turned out, was a rugby-loving teenager from Les Herbiers called Theo. After a first peloton had passed on the road to Mont des Alouettes the 13-year-old poked his head out to look up the road at the peloton. Seconds later Kazakhstan’s Maxim Iglinsky collided with the teenager, sending him into the ditch. While he suffered cuts and stings from nettles, the subsequent split in the peloton left Contador frantically chasing his rivals but finishing 1min 14sec behind most. It was the worst possible start to the race for Spain’s three-time champion, who has since crashed another three times. After an ironic “Gracias hombre! [Thanks man!]” to Theo, Contador warned of getting too close to the peloton when speeds can easily reach 60km/h. “The important thing is to pay attention to the peloton next time you’re on the road,” Contador said in L’Equipe. “We ride fast and it’s dangerous. I would rather you enjoyed seeing the riders go past.” Theo, who endured a few sleepless nights after reliving the incident on television, admitted: “It was the first time that we saw the Tour go past. But after that happened my Mum was really ashamed. Golf: Nicklaus tops greatest golfer poll Jack Nicklaus was the runaway winner of a readers’ poll in Golf Monthly magazine to find the greatest player of the last 100 years. Nicklaus, whose 18 major titles are a record, won 58 percent of the votes from a list of 20 golfers with nearest challenger Tiger Woods way back on 16 percent and Spanish star Seve Ballesteros, who died in May this year, third with eight percent of the vote. “To be chosen among the many talented golfers over that time period is humbling and greatly ap- ® preciated,” said Nicklaus when told the result of a poll published in the August edition of a magazine, which celebrates its centenary this year. However, Woods, won the greatest shot of the last 100 years for his chip-in from beside the 16th green at August National as he won the 2005 Masters. Playing away from the hole, Woods saw his ball go up a steep slope, roll back down again and teeter on the lip of the cup before falling in. Neither Nicklaus nor Woods, who’ve each 19 won the tournament three times, are playing at this year’s British Open, which starts at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, south-east of London, on Thursday. Nicklaus, 71, retired from competitive golf six years ago at the 2005 British Open at St Andrews in Scotland. Meanwhile the 35-year-old Woods, whose 14 majors put him second in the all-time list behind fellow American Nicklaus, is currently sidelined with a knee injury. All-African draw: S.Africa lucky, Ghana unlucky South Africa were lucky and Ghana unlucky when the 2011 All-Africa Games football tournament mini-league draw was made in Cairo yesterday. ‘Baby Bafana Bafana’ are in Group A with hosts Mozambique, surprise inclusions Libya and Madagascar while the ‘Black Meteors’ face defending champions Cameroon, Uganda and Senegal in Group B. Only Mozambique and Cameroon were seeded for a draw conducted by Confederation of African Football general secretary Hicham el-Amrani at the headquarters of the continental governing body on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital. This heightened the risk of a lob-sided draw and that is what happened with Group B looking much stronger than Group A for the September 3-18 tournament in Mozambique capital Maputo. South Africa ousted Angola, Malawi and Zimbabwe to reach a second consecutive All-Africa Games after sneaking into qualifiers they forgot to enter thanks to the withdrawal of cash-strapped Namibia. None of the other Group A contenders kicked a ball with Mozambique automatic qualifiers as hosts and Libya and Madagascar receiving walkovers when Egypt and Seychelles withdrew. Former champions Egypt pulled out on the eve of the draw after receiving a walkover when Libya withdrew because of an ongoing armed rebellion against the fourdecade rule of Muamar Kadhafi. Cameroon have won four of the last five All-Africa Games football titles in a tournament restricted to under-23 footballers and thumped Democratic Republic of Congo 3-0 in Yaounde last weekend to secure a last-eight place. Ghana were even more impressive as they brought a successful run by the high scoring Nigerian ‘Dream Team’ this year to a halt with a 2-0 triumph that earned success on away goals. Making the most of a second chance, Senegal pipped Guinea after a penalty shootout and maintained a reputation of dogged fighters who score few goals and concede even less. Guinea Bissau shocked the Senegalese in the previous round only to be kicked out of the geographical-based eliminators for fielding an over-age player -- a curse that continues to blight African football. The appearance of Uganda, who humiliated Kenya 5-1 in Nairobi before receiving a return-match walkover, reflects rising football standards in the Central African country since Scottish coach Bobby Williamson took charge two years ago. Mozambique, South Africa, Cameroon and Ghana appear favourites to occupy the top two places in the groups after the round-robin action and reach the semifinals of a major attraction at the multisport African ‘Olympics’. ® Closing News Two held in slaying of singer Cabral Guatemala arrested yesterday two suspects in connection with the shooting of Facundo Cabral, a popular singer and songwriter in the Spanish-speaking world whose death sparked outrage. Those arrested were Elkin Hernandez, accused of contracting the killers, and Wilfred Arnold, seen at the scene of attack, said a spokesman for the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The Argentine-born Cabral, 74, Wednesday was driving to the in Gua13airport July 2011 temala to fly to nearby Nicaragua when unidentified gunmen hit. Officials believe the gunmen may have mistaken the singer for Nicaraguan businessman Henry Farina, who had hired Cabral for the shows. As Mexico has tried to fight its drug trafficking scourge, drug mafias have increasingly pushed south into Central America and countries like Guatemala. China’s forex reserves hit new record View of the destroyed Vasiliko Power Station in Mari Cyprus, yesterday, one day after the huge explosions of seized Iranian arms stored at the naval base Cyprus anger over ‘criminal’ munitions blast A The commander of Cyprus’s navy, Andreas Ioannides, was among the dead, as was the commander of the Evangelos Florakis naval base, Lambros Lambrou, four other members of the armed services and six firefighters. Cyprus entered its second day of national mourning with flags on public buildings at half mast and all government events cancelled. But the media were in no doubt that the blast was avoidable and the government had a lot of unanswered questions to address. Although Defence Minister Costas Papacostas and Greek Cypriot National Guard commander Petros Tsaliklides resigned shortly after the disaster, President Demetris Christofias also came under fire. Ad nger mounted in Cyprus yesterday over the deaths of 12 fire brigade and armed services personnel in a huge munitions blast that sparked severe power and water cuts on the Mediterranean holiday island at the height of a scorching summer. Frustrated Cypriots were using social networking sites and mobile texts to organise protests against what they perceived as government negligence in not preventing the island’s worst peacetime military accident. A large protest was being organised in the capital Nicosia yesterday evening. A huge blast on Monday in a seized Iranian arms cache at a Greek Cypriot naval base on the south coast killed 12 people and injured 62, of which two remained in critical condition yesterday. 20 “It’s a crime,” screamed the front-page headline in pro-opposition daily Alithia (The Truth). It said small explosions were recorded at the arms cache several days before the killer blast but pleas to navy commander Ioannides to remove the containers were ignored. The English-language Cyprus Mail called it a “criminal error,” while squarely putting the blame on Christofias. The independent Politis daily splashed over its front page a picture of buckled containers exposed to the sun only 300 metres (yards) from the island’s largest power plant, with the headline “Criminals: 12 dead and the economy in darkness because of criminal apathy.” The Vassiliko plant, which accounted for almost 60 percent of the island’s electricity supply, was devastated by the force of the blast and is expected to remain out of operation for months or even years. The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) said it would try to assure uninterrupted supplies to airports, ports, hospitals, and industrial and tourist areas, with cuts on supply. With residents urged to save energy and water to try to ensure businesses, hotels and industry keep going, the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority issued a decree making it compulsory to use generators where available. A huge mobile generator was scheduled to arrive from Greece to help the resort island cope with the peak holiday season. EAC chairman Charis Thrassou warned that the cost of repairs was likely to run to well over a billion euros (USD 1.4 billion). Loss of supply also prompted the closure of desalination plants, which had allowed the gradual abandonment of summer water rationing over the past two years. China’s foreign exchange reserves soared to a record USD 3.1975 trillion at the end of June, the central bank said yesterday, highlighting concerns over inflation in the world’s second biggest economy. China’s forex reserves have ballooned in recent years, fuelled by strong foreign investment, large trade surpluses and inflows of “hot money” – short-term speculative funds in search of quick profits. Foreign currencies earned by Chinese exporters are changed for yuan with the central bank so it can control the value of the currency. The foreign exchange is added to China’s growing coffers, while the yuan flow into the economy, adding to inflationary pressures. “The central bank has been buying US 50 billion dollars worth of foreign exchange each month for the last quarter which is a huge amount,” Capital Economics senior China economist Mark Williams told AFP. “It’s a problem for the central bank, but it’s one they cannot avoid as long as China sticks to its current exchange rate policy.” China has restricted the amount of money banks can lend on numerous occasions and hiked interest rates five times since October, but is still struggling to keep its politically sensitive inflation rate under control. Last month the country’s consumer price index rose 6.4 percent – the highest level since June 2008, when the inflation rate reached 7.1 percent. Food prices were up 14.4 percent year-on-year in June, while the price of pork, China’s preferred choice of meat, was up 57.1 percent during the period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Higher food prices hurt low-level income earners most, as foodstuffs account for more than onethird of the monthly spending of the average Chinese consumer, according to the statistics bureau. China’s stockpile of foreign currency – the largest in the world – expanded by 30.3 percent from a year earlier, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement. The central bank had said previously its reserves stood at USD 3.0447 trillion at the end of March.
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