Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai calls for peace as politicians and foreign ambassadors gather for funeral of former president A surging crowd of mourners on Friday kissed the coffin of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani , killed by a suicide bomber claiming to carry a peace message from the Taliban, and railed against neighbouring Pakistan for allegedly fomenting conflict in their country. The outpouring of anger at a hilltop cemetery exposed the divisions and suspicion that plague Afghanistan after years of war, and followed a stately funeral ceremony at the palace of President Hamid Karzai, who hailed Rabbani as a tireless advocate for reconciliation. “It is our responsibility to act against those who are enemies of peace,” said Karzai, urging Afghans to shun despair over the death of Rabbani in an attack at his home on Tuesday, and instead escalate efforts to bring an end to the fighting that the US-led coalition seeks to exit by the end of 2014. One by one, lawmakers and foreign envoys stepped up to pay tribute before Rabbani’s casket, draped in a red, black and green national flag. A military band played the national anthem. Then the coffin was carried by uniformed servicemen with caps and white gloves, marching stiffly. A procession of vehicles, some bearing large portraits of Rabbani, showing him dignified in robes and with a long white beard, drove up a hill overlooking Kabul, the capital. There, the observances turned unruly. Gunfire erupted briefly, possibly because guards were jittery about the possibility of an attack. Supporters of the former president’s political faction, chanting and distraught, reached to touch the coffin. “Death to the foreign puppets,” they shouted. “Pakistan is our enemy.” The suicide attacker who killed Rabbani had a bomb in his turban, and gained entry to the former president’s home by convincing officials, including Karzai’s advisers, that he represented the Taliban leadership, based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and wanted to discuss reconciliation. In Washington on Thursday, US Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency of backing extremists in planning and executing an assault on the US embassy in Afghanistan last week and a truck bomb attack that wounded 77 American soldiers days earlier . Mullen insisted that the Haqqani insurgent network “acts as a veritable arm” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, undermining the uneasy US-Pakistan relationship forged in the terror fight and endangering American troops in the nearly 10-year-old war in Afghanistan. “Death to the ISI,” shouted mourners at Rabbani’s funeral. Pakistan rejected the American claims that it is supporting extremist attacks on US troops. Some analysts believe Pakistan seeks to bolster its influence in Afghanistan as a way to counter the regional influence of India, its longtime rival. Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar warned the US that it risked losing Pakistan as an ally and could not afford to alienate the Pakistani government or its people. “If they are choosing to do so, it will be at their own cost,” Khar told Geo TV on Thursday from New York, where she was attending a UN general assembly meeting. “Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner publicly to recriminate it, to humiliate it is not acceptable.” Khar’s comments were first aired in Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, responded to the US criticism by saying Washington was in a tough spot. “They can’t live with us. They can’t live without us,” Gilani told reporters on Friday in the southern city of Karachi. “So, I would say to them that if they can’t live without us, they should increase contacts with us to remove misunderstandings.” Rabbani’s mourners, many belonging to a political faction that opposes Karzai, gathered around the coffin as it was lowered into the ground and also lashed out at the Afghan government as well as the United States, which backs the Afghan president. The 70-year-old Rabbani was the leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which helped overthrow Taliban rule during the US-led invasion in 2001. His death deepens rifts between the country’s ethnic minorities, especially between those who made up the Northern Alliance – including Tajiks like Rabbani – and the majority Pashtun, who make up the backbone of the Taliban. Karzai, who is Pashtun, had appointed Rabbani to Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which was seeking to reconcile the country’s warring factions. It has made little headway since it was formed a year ago, but it is backed by many in the international community as helping move toward a settlement. US ambassador Ryan Crocker was among those attending the funeral ceremony at the presidential palace. Iran’s state media said Ali Akbar Velayati, a former Iranian foreign minister and confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the Iranian delegation. “Today we are witnessing one of the biggest and saddest events of this important political time in the history of the world,” said Salahuddin Rabbani, the former president’s son. He urged the Afghan government to aggressively investigate the killing. Also, Nato forces said two service members died following a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Friday. The deaths bring to 436 the number of international troops killed so far this year in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Hamid Karzai Taliban guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai calls for peace as politicians and foreign ambassadors gather for funeral of former president A surging crowd of mourners on Friday kissed the coffin of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani , killed by a suicide bomber claiming to carry a peace message from the Taliban, and railed against neighbouring Pakistan for allegedly fomenting conflict in their country. The outpouring of anger at a hilltop cemetery exposed the divisions and suspicion that plague Afghanistan after years of war, and followed a stately funeral ceremony at the palace of President Hamid Karzai, who hailed Rabbani as a tireless advocate for reconciliation. “It is our responsibility to act against those who are enemies of peace,” said Karzai, urging Afghans to shun despair over the death of Rabbani in an attack at his home on Tuesday, and instead escalate efforts to bring an end to the fighting that the US-led coalition seeks to exit by the end of 2014. One by one, lawmakers and foreign envoys stepped up to pay tribute before Rabbani’s casket, draped in a red, black and green national flag. A military band played the national anthem. Then the coffin was carried by uniformed servicemen with caps and white gloves, marching stiffly. A procession of vehicles, some bearing large portraits of Rabbani, showing him dignified in robes and with a long white beard, drove up a hill overlooking Kabul, the capital. There, the observances turned unruly. Gunfire erupted briefly, possibly because guards were jittery about the possibility of an attack. Supporters of the former president’s political faction, chanting and distraught, reached to touch the coffin. “Death to the foreign puppets,” they shouted. “Pakistan is our enemy.” The suicide attacker who killed Rabbani had a bomb in his turban, and gained entry to the former president’s home by convincing officials, including Karzai’s advisers, that he represented the Taliban leadership, based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and wanted to discuss reconciliation. In Washington on Thursday, US Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency of backing extremists in planning and executing an assault on the US embassy in Afghanistan last week and a truck bomb attack that wounded 77 American soldiers days earlier . Mullen insisted that the Haqqani insurgent network “acts as a veritable arm” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, undermining the uneasy US-Pakistan relationship forged in the terror fight and endangering American troops in the nearly 10-year-old war in Afghanistan. “Death to the ISI,” shouted mourners at Rabbani’s funeral. Pakistan rejected the American claims that it is supporting extremist attacks on US troops. Some analysts believe Pakistan seeks to bolster its influence in Afghanistan as a way to counter the regional influence of India, its longtime rival. Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar warned the US that it risked losing Pakistan as an ally and could not afford to alienate the Pakistani government or its people. “If they are choosing to do so, it will be at their own cost,” Khar told Geo TV on Thursday from New York, where she was attending a UN general assembly meeting. “Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner publicly to recriminate it, to humiliate it is not acceptable.” Khar’s comments were first aired in Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, responded to the US criticism by saying Washington was in a tough spot. “They can’t live with us. They can’t live without us,” Gilani told reporters on Friday in the southern city of Karachi. “So, I would say to them that if they can’t live without us, they should increase contacts with us to remove misunderstandings.” Rabbani’s mourners, many belonging to a political faction that opposes Karzai, gathered around the coffin as it was lowered into the ground and also lashed out at the Afghan government as well as the United States, which backs the Afghan president. The 70-year-old Rabbani was the leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which helped overthrow Taliban rule during the US-led invasion in 2001. His death deepens rifts between the country’s ethnic minorities, especially between those who made up the Northern Alliance – including Tajiks like Rabbani – and the majority Pashtun, who make up the backbone of the Taliban. Karzai, who is Pashtun, had appointed Rabbani to Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which was seeking to reconcile the country’s warring factions. It has made little headway since it was formed a year ago, but it is backed by many in the international community as helping move toward a settlement. US ambassador Ryan Crocker was among those attending the funeral ceremony at the presidential palace. Iran’s state media said Ali Akbar Velayati, a former Iranian foreign minister and confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the Iranian delegation. “Today we are witnessing one of the biggest and saddest events of this important political time in the history of the world,” said Salahuddin Rabbani, the former president’s son. He urged the Afghan government to aggressively investigate the killing. Also, Nato forces said two service members died following a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Friday. The deaths bring to 436 the number of international troops killed so far this year in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Hamid Karzai Taliban guardian.co.uk
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Former IMF chief and Tristane Banon, who accuses him of trying to rape her in 2003, must appear at judge’s chambers The former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the woman who accuses him of trying to rape her in 2003 have been ordered to appear before a judge as part of an investigation into the case, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday. Tristane Banon, a French writer, says Strauss-Kahn attacked her while she was interviewing him in 2003, when he was a senior figure in the opposition Socialist party. He has derided her version of the events as imaginary and sued her for slander. Strauss-Kahn has already undergone one legal battle this year after being charged with trying to rape a hotel maid in New York. Those charges were dropped, but not before he resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund and lost his chance to run in France’s forthcoming presidential election, in which he was considered a leading contender. He still faces a civil suit in that case. Banon lodged her complaint after Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in New York in May , saying her mother and others had discouraged her from speaking out earlier because Strauss-Kahn was so powerful. The prosecutor’s office is investigating the accusations, but has not yet decided whether to bring charges. It gave no date for the meeting, which is sometimes part of criminal investigations in France, particularly in cases that rest largely on conflicting testimony. Banon and Strauss-Kahn are asked to face each other in a judge’s chambers and recount their stories. They have already spoken to police. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Europe guardian.co.uk
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Former IMF chief and Tristane Banon, who accuses him of trying to rape her in 2003, must appear at judge’s chambers The former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the woman who accuses him of trying to rape her in 2003 have been ordered to appear before a judge as part of an investigation into the case, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday. Tristane Banon, a French writer, says Strauss-Kahn attacked her while she was interviewing him in 2003, when he was a senior figure in the opposition Socialist party. He has derided her version of the events as imaginary and sued her for slander. Strauss-Kahn has already undergone one legal battle this year after being charged with trying to rape a hotel maid in New York. Those charges were dropped, but not before he resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund and lost his chance to run in France’s forthcoming presidential election, in which he was considered a leading contender. He still faces a civil suit in that case. Banon lodged her complaint after Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in New York in May , saying her mother and others had discouraged her from speaking out earlier because Strauss-Kahn was so powerful. The prosecutor’s office is investigating the accusations, but has not yet decided whether to bring charges. It gave no date for the meeting, which is sometimes part of criminal investigations in France, particularly in cases that rest largely on conflicting testimony. Banon and Strauss-Kahn are asked to face each other in a judge’s chambers and recount their stories. They have already spoken to police. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Europe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former IMF chief and Tristane Banon, who accuses him of trying to rape her in 2003, must appear at judge’s chambers The former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the woman who accuses him of trying to rape her in 2003 have been ordered to appear before a judge as part of an investigation into the case, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday. Tristane Banon, a French writer, says Strauss-Kahn attacked her while she was interviewing him in 2003, when he was a senior figure in the opposition Socialist party. He has derided her version of the events as imaginary and sued her for slander. Strauss-Kahn has already undergone one legal battle this year after being charged with trying to rape a hotel maid in New York. Those charges were dropped, but not before he resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund and lost his chance to run in France’s forthcoming presidential election, in which he was considered a leading contender. He still faces a civil suit in that case. Banon lodged her complaint after Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in New York in May , saying her mother and others had discouraged her from speaking out earlier because Strauss-Kahn was so powerful. The prosecutor’s office is investigating the accusations, but has not yet decided whether to bring charges. It gave no date for the meeting, which is sometimes part of criminal investigations in France, particularly in cases that rest largely on conflicting testimony. Banon and Strauss-Kahn are asked to face each other in a judge’s chambers and recount their stories. They have already spoken to police. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Europe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Man allegedly raped six women held hostage in rooms he had dug under rented apartment, local newspaper reports A man in China has been detained on suspicion of keeping six women as sex slaves in underground rooms for two years and killing two of them, a state-owned newspaper has reported. The Southern Metropolis Daily said that over the past two years, Li Hao allegedly kidnapped women who worked as hostesses in karaoke bars and locked them in two small rooms he had dug beneath a rented basement in Luoyang city in Henan province. The secret rooms were located in a residential complex away from his home, where his wife and son lived unaware of the alleged kidnappings, the report said, citing unnamed police sources. A publicity official for the city’s police department confirmed that a man named Li Hao who works for the city’s technological supervision bureau had been taken into custody. The official declined to provide further details, citing an ongoing investigation. The newspaper reported that Li was a former firefighter and it claimed he regularly raped the women and would give them food only once every two days to keep them physically weak. It described the rooms the women ate, slept and defecated in as dank and smelly. Over time, some of the captives started competing with one another for his attention, the report said, and two of them ended up fighting. Li allegedly killed one of them with the help of another woman, the paper said. He also allegedly killed one of the other women who was said to have been “disobedient”, the report said, adding that he buried both bodies in the corner of one of the rooms. Li only let some of the women out when he wanted them to perform sexual services for other men to earn money for him, it said. It was on one of these outings that one of the women escaped and went to the police, the report said. Police caught him on 6 September as he tried to escape the city, it said. China guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Man allegedly raped six women held hostage in rooms he had dug under rented apartment, local newspaper reports A man in China has been detained on suspicion of keeping six women as sex slaves in underground rooms for two years and killing two of them, a state-owned newspaper has reported. The Southern Metropolis Daily said that over the past two years, Li Hao allegedly kidnapped women who worked as hostesses in karaoke bars and locked them in two small rooms he had dug beneath a rented basement in Luoyang city in Henan province. The secret rooms were located in a residential complex away from his home, where his wife and son lived unaware of the alleged kidnappings, the report said, citing unnamed police sources. A publicity official for the city’s police department confirmed that a man named Li Hao who works for the city’s technological supervision bureau had been taken into custody. The official declined to provide further details, citing an ongoing investigation. The newspaper reported that Li was a former firefighter and it claimed he regularly raped the women and would give them food only once every two days to keep them physically weak. It described the rooms the women ate, slept and defecated in as dank and smelly. Over time, some of the captives started competing with one another for his attention, the report said, and two of them ended up fighting. Li allegedly killed one of them with the help of another woman, the paper said. He also allegedly killed one of the other women who was said to have been “disobedient”, the report said, adding that he buried both bodies in the corner of one of the rooms. Li only let some of the women out when he wanted them to perform sexual services for other men to earn money for him, it said. It was on one of these outings that one of the women escaped and went to the police, the report said. Police caught him on 6 September as he tried to escape the city, it said. China guardian.co.uk
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• FTSE 100 up 20 points after Thursday’s 246-point loss • UK bank shares in positive territory • Asian markets fell overnight • Norman Lamont warns world economy ‘on the brink’ Shares in London and the rest of Europe staged a tentative recovery on Friday, after a pledge from the leaders of the G20 countries to step in to help financial markets. Finance ministers and central bankers from the group of 20 major economies vowed on Thursday night to take “all steps necessary” to calm the global financial system and said central banks stood ready to supply liquidity. They also indicated that the eurozone was working on bolstering the €440bn (£385bn) financial rescue fund. The communique said the bloc would implement “actions to increase the flexibility of the EFSF and to maximise its impact” by the group’s next ministerial meeting in October.” Meanwhile, David Cameron warned the global economy was close to “staring down the barrel” and told eurozone leaders to stop “kicking the can down the road”. Stock markets suffered heavy losses on Thursday, when £64bn was wiped off the value of blue-chip stocks in London and the FTSE 100 index closed down 4.7%. The FTSE opened 50 points higher on Friday, then turned negative before rising 19 points to 5062. Banking stocks Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and HSBC were among the top risers. French banks, which are heavily exposed to Greek sovereign debt, also bounced back, with Société Générale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas up between 1.9% and 3.9%. Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank, said: “The statement from the G20 may have taken the edge off the current bitter market sentiment but the reassurances from the finance ministers lack substance. Until politicians back their words with actions in respect to moving closer to a solution to the eurozone debt crisis, markets will continue to worry about a messy and painful outcome from the eurozone debt crisis and flight to quality is set to remain the order of the day.” In Asia, shares continued their slide. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.7% while the south Korean stock market lost 5.7% and the Taiwanese market fell 3.6%. The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, told lawmakers he saw three scenarios to resolve the debt crisis, including one where the country obtains an orderly default with a 50% haircut for bondholders, two Greek newspapers have reported. The other scenarios would a be a disorderly default or the implementation of a second €109bn (£95bn) bailout plan agreed between Greece and its lenders in July. Echoing Cameron’s comments, former chancellor Norman Lamont said the world was “teetering on the brink”. While the growth problem cannot be solved easily, “the problem of Greece could be solved either by having a controlled default or bailing it out,” he argued on the BBC’s Today programme. “The logic of currency unions is that the stronger countries help the weaker countries.” But he was sceptical that this would happen soon. “The crisis will just drag on and on, sapping confidence.” Commodities continued their sell-off, with the London copper price hitting its lowest level in more than a year. It is on course for its steepest weekly loss since October 2008. Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “The outlook for the European banking system remains highly uncertain with downgrades for seven Italian banks, uncertainty over the next tranche of the Greek bailout, and an IMF report suggesting that the recent crisis in Europe suggests that the banks could be undercapitalised to the tune of €300bn and that politicians need to act now to avert a crisis.” Stock markets Global economy Economics G20 Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …• FTSE 100 up 20 points after Thursday’s 246-point loss • UK bank shares in positive territory • Asian markets fell overnight • Norman Lamont warns world economy ‘on the brink’ Shares in London and the rest of Europe staged a tentative recovery on Friday, after a pledge from the leaders of the G20 countries to step in to help financial markets. Finance ministers and central bankers from the group of 20 major economies vowed on Thursday night to take “all steps necessary” to calm the global financial system and said central banks stood ready to supply liquidity. They also indicated that the eurozone was working on bolstering the €440bn (£385bn) financial rescue fund. The communique said the bloc would implement “actions to increase the flexibility of the EFSF and to maximise its impact” by the group’s next ministerial meeting in October.” Meanwhile, David Cameron warned the global economy was close to “staring down the barrel” and told eurozone leaders to stop “kicking the can down the road”. Stock markets suffered heavy losses on Thursday, when £64bn was wiped off the value of blue-chip stocks in London and the FTSE 100 index closed down 4.7%. The FTSE opened 50 points higher on Friday, then turned negative before rising 19 points to 5062. Banking stocks Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and HSBC were among the top risers. French banks, which are heavily exposed to Greek sovereign debt, also bounced back, with Société Générale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas up between 1.9% and 3.9%. Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank, said: “The statement from the G20 may have taken the edge off the current bitter market sentiment but the reassurances from the finance ministers lack substance. Until politicians back their words with actions in respect to moving closer to a solution to the eurozone debt crisis, markets will continue to worry about a messy and painful outcome from the eurozone debt crisis and flight to quality is set to remain the order of the day.” In Asia, shares continued their slide. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.7% while the south Korean stock market lost 5.7% and the Taiwanese market fell 3.6%. The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, told lawmakers he saw three scenarios to resolve the debt crisis, including one where the country obtains an orderly default with a 50% haircut for bondholders, two Greek newspapers have reported. The other scenarios would a be a disorderly default or the implementation of a second €109bn (£95bn) bailout plan agreed between Greece and its lenders in July. Echoing Cameron’s comments, former chancellor Norman Lamont said the world was “teetering on the brink”. While the growth problem cannot be solved easily, “the problem of Greece could be solved either by having a controlled default or bailing it out,” he argued on the BBC’s Today programme. “The logic of currency unions is that the stronger countries help the weaker countries.” But he was sceptical that this would happen soon. “The crisis will just drag on and on, sapping confidence.” Commodities continued their sell-off, with the London copper price hitting its lowest level in more than a year. It is on course for its steepest weekly loss since October 2008. Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “The outlook for the European banking system remains highly uncertain with downgrades for seven Italian banks, uncertainty over the next tranche of the Greek bailout, and an IMF report suggesting that the recent crisis in Europe suggests that the banks could be undercapitalised to the tune of €300bn and that politicians need to act now to avert a crisis.” Stock markets Global economy Economics G20 Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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High court judge is due to examine the case and rule on whether the eviction of Travellers at the Essex site can now take place The residents of Dale Farm are once again facing the prospect of imminent removal from their home as a judge prepares to rule on Friday morning whether the bailiffs can move in and mount one of the largest evictions in British history. Travellers at the site at Crays Hill, Essex, won an 11th-hour injunction on Monday that prevented authorities from clearing the land amid concerns about “over-enforcement” resulting in total clearance – including structures entitled to be there. But a judge at the Royal Courts of Justice is due to examine the case and rule on whether the eviction can now take place. Basildon council, which was ordered by Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart to serve a schedule on the residents specifying what was proposed for each of the 51 unauthorised plots, says it has now done that. Dale Farm residents, who had been told to remove the barricades to the site, have also complied with the court. Speaking on ITV’s Daybreak, Tony Ball of Basildon council said the council would “have no choice” but to mount its own appeal if the court rules against it at the hearing, expected at 11.30am. However in a separate interview he said that, if the injunction is lifted, authorities could be in a position to move in to the site on Saturday morning. “We need to get the site cleared,” Ball told the BBC. “Everyone agrees now that there has to be a resolution to this – the judges and the public at large and I think even the travellers.” On Monday, there was jubilation among travellers and protesters at the site when news reached them that Monday’s planned eviction had been halted, but they are now preparing for the high court judgment to go against them. Ball said that, since Monday, many Travellers had returned to the site in anticipation of being able to stay. There was a “concern”, he added, that the barricades could be moved back “very quickly” to form an obstacle for bailiffs. Basildon council’s fight to clear Dale Farm – and the 86 families who live there – has attracted considerable criticism in recent weeks . It emerged on Thursday that members of the International Expert Group Meeting on Forced Evictions, meeting at the UN Human Settlements Programme in headquarters in Nairobi, have written to the Traveller community expressing sympathy. The letter, signed by more than 30 representatives from different countries, said: “Repressive policies targeting Gypsies and Travellers disguised as planning regulations are discriminatory, whilst inclusive national strategies that are in line with human rights standards generate real progress in addressing issues of exclusion and marginalisation.” Dale Farm Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk
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