Pakistan : Mosque siege, 2,000 hostages..[ 1316 ]

Gunmen take 2,000 worshippers hostage in Pakistan mosque siege

Martin Bentham
28.05.10

More than 2,000 people were being held hostage today after gunmen armed with grenades stormed two mosques in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

At least 20 people were reported to have died during the assault, which took place shortly after Friday prayers.

Dramatic television footage showed one of the gunmen firing an assault rifle and throwing grenades from one of the mosque's minarets. Earlier, witnesses reported seeing four attackers wearing suicide belts and throwing grenades
The militants also opened fire on the worshippers, members of the Ahmadi minority Islamic sect, before starting a gun battle with police.
Police confirmed that some of the gunmen were still holed up inside one mosque in the Model Town district of Lahore.
“Some gunmen have managed to enter the worship place. We have surrounded it. I have no idea of casualties,” said Illyas Saleem, a senior police officer in Model Town.
“I saw some gunmen run towards the Ahmadis' place of worship and then I heard blasts and gunfire,” Mohammad Nawaz, a resident, told the Reuters news agency.
At the other mosque, several miles away in the Garhi Shahu district, witnesses said the attack was continuing with the militants and police engaged in a gunfight.
Ahmadis are a minority Muslim sect which was founded in the late 19th century. They number about four million and have been banned in Pakistan from calling themselves Muslims or engaging in Muslim practices such as reciting Islamic prayers since 1984 when General Zia-ul-Haq made it an offence punishable by up to three years' jail.
The Ahmadis believe that Mohammed was not the final prophet, which contradicts a central tenet of Islamic belief.
The sect has been targeted before by radical Sunnis, although never on such a large scale or co-ordinated fashion.
Many Islamist militants believe it is permissible or honourable to kill non-Muslims, or even those Muslims who do not share their views.
An Ahmadi spokesman said the sect abhors violence and was deeply concerned. “We are a peaceful people and monitoring the situation and hoping and praying that the authorities are able to take all necessary action to bring the situation to normalcy with the least number of casualties,” Waseem Sayed said via email from the US, where he lives.
Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital and its second biggest city after Karachi, has suffered a series of militant attacks recently. In March, at least 45 people died after two suicide bombers attacked a crowded residential area.
Another 23 people were killed, and hundreds more injured, in May last year when a group of Taliban militants shot at police before detonating a large car bomb. Buildings belonging to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, and the police were damaged. The fatalities included at least one child and 12 police officers.
Sri Lanka's cricket team was attacked in the city last year, and eight people were killed in a separate assault on a police compound.

Joint statement for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma..[ 1315 ]

Japan, U.S. issue joint statement on Futenma; SDP leader Fukushima expresses opposition

The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma

(Mainichi Japan) May 28, 2010 

Japan and the United States on Friday issued a joint statement on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, saying that the base would be moved to Okinawa Prefecture's Camp Schwab Henoko-saki area and adjacent waters.

The statement said that the replacement site's runway would be 1,800 meters long, and that Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima would be considered as a place to conduct bilateral and unilateral training outside of Okinawa "subject to the development of appropriate facilities." In the statement, Japan and the U.S. also "committed to examine the relocation of training outside of Japan, such as to Guam."

The government is set to convene an extraordinary Cabinet meeting over the relocation and decide on related measures after passing a Cabinet resolution, which requires the signatures of Cabinet members, or reaching a Cabinet agreement.

Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Mizuho Fukushima, a member of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet, had opposed including references to Henoko in the joint statement. If she refuses to sign a Cabinet agreement, it is believed that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will consider dismissing her. Hatoyama refrained from holding a news conference immediately after the statement was issued, as government negotiations over the issue remain turbulent.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Fukushima said, "I never imagined that we would return to Henoko, so it's very disappointing." However, she indicated she would not resign from the Cabinet of her own accord.

"I am not thinking of that at all," she said.

On Friday the SDP held a meeting of party members in both houses of the Diet and agreed that Fukushima would not sign a Cabinet agreement based on the joint statement. Earlier, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano met with SDP Secretary General Yasumasa Shigeno and told him that an extraordinary Cabinet meeting would be held later in the day to confirm the government's policy on the issue.

SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima, center, is pictured Friday following talks with party officials. (Mainichi)

On Friday morning, Hatoyama suggested that he would settle the relocation issue the same day, telling reporters, "We will present a conclusion today. This goes without saying."

Fukushima, meanwhile, criticized the fact that the SDP had not been informed of the details of the joint statement in advance.

"We're in a coalition government, so we should be informed of the details in advance. I would have liked to have been told," she told a news conference. Later, Fukushima told reporters that she had decided in a meeting of party officials not to sign any Cabinet agreement if the joint Japan-U.S. statement included references to relocating the Futenma base to the Henoko area.

Due to Fukushima's resistance, there is a strong view within the government that Hatoyama will have no option but to dismiss her from the Cabinet.

In a news conference on Friday, Minister of Defense Toshimi Kitazawa suggested that Fukushima should leave the Cabinet if she refuses to sign an agreement.

"Refusing to resign is an expression of distrust toward the prime minister. As she is a politician, it goes without saying that she should make her position clear before all this. If she stays in the Cabinet and retains her opposition, it will threaten the existence of the Cabinet," he said.

Meanwhile, Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, which also belongs to the ruling coalition, told reporters at the Diet, "In the end it's an issue that can't be solved without cooperation and understanding from people in Okinawa. It's a developing situation."

Click here for the original Japanese story

India : Sabotage suspected in train crash..[ 1314 ]

At least 70 killed in India train crash

By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN

May 28, 2010 7:18 a.m. EDT

Sabotage suspected in Indian train crash

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- At least 70 bodies have been pulled out of the mangled wreckage where two trains crashed in eastern India early Friday in an incident authorities linked to Maoist rebels.
By Friday afternoon, hours after the massive collision, prospects were getting dim for anybody else left in the wreckage of crushed train cars, rescuers said.
Also about 115 passengers were injured when 13 cars of the Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Express derailed, capsized on a parallel track and were slammed by a cargo train, authorities said.
Indian officials gave different theories about the derailment.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said a bomb explosion caused the passenger train to jump rails.
"The blast was carefully timed," Banerjee said on television. "The tracks were sabotaged 15 minutes before the train passed over them."
However, India's Home Ministry said there was no immediate evidence suggesting a blast.
"It appears to be a case of sabotage where a portion of the railway track was removed. Whether explosives were used is not yet clear," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in a statement.
Police say they have not found signs of explosives on the scene. Manoj Verma, the district police superintendent, said investigators were looking into the possibility that "fishplates" which secure rail joints were missing from the track. An investigation was under way to determine the cause of derailment.
But the role of Maoists "cannot be ruled out", Verma said.
West Bengal's police chief Bhupinder Singh told reporters that officers have found Maoist posters claiming responsibility for the attack.
The crash occurred at about 1:30 a.m. (4 p.m. ET), railway spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said.
India regards Maoists as its gravest internal security threat.
More than 70 officers were killed in a suspected Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh state last month in what was seen as one of the most daring attacks by the left-wing guerrillas on Indian security forces.
The insurgents, on the other hand, have claimed since the 1960s to be fighting for the dispossessed.
In February, Chidambaram said that more than 900 people, including almost 600 civilians, were killed in Maoist-related incidents in 2009.
About 200 suspected rebels were also slain as forces moved into areas under insurgent control, he said.
"I am confident that the state governments concerned will gradually gain the upper hand and re-establish the authority of the civil administration," Chidambaram told an internal security conference on February 7.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, conceded last year that the nation's fight with the Maoists had fallen short of objectives.

CNN's Sara Sidner contributed to this report.

UK,The Government planned to increase CGT on non-business assets [ 1213 ]

Capital gains tax rise to punish prudent savers

A rise in capital gains tax would cause "unfair financial hardship" for prudent long-term savers, one of the world's biggest investment firms has warned.

By Louise Armitstead, Robert Winnett and Myra Butterworth
Published: 9:49PM BST 27 May 2010

The brunt of the increase in CGT may be borne by middle-class Britons who have been saving over the long term for their retirementPhoto: GETTY

 

The Government confirmed in the Queen's Speech on Tuesday that it planned to increase CGT on non-business assets from its present rate of 18 per cent to "closer to income tax" levels, possibly to 40 or even 50 per cent.

But Fidelity International, which manages £150 billion of individual and company savings plans, said it had "serious concerns" about the proposed tax change and said it was "urging the Government to listen before it is too late".

The powerful investment house, which owns a big stake in most of the companies listed on the FTSE 100 index and rarely speaks out publicly, said CGT increases should be targeted at short-term speculators rather than being applied in a way that would cause "unfair financial hardship to long-term savers".
Today, The Daily Telegraph launches a campaign against the proposed tax increases and invites readers to lobby George Osborne, the Chancellor, to reverse his plans, which are due to be unveiled in the emergency Budget next month.
Fidelity's intervention will add to the pressure David Cameron is facing from senior Tories over the issue.

Fidelity argued that CGT rises should take into account inflation to avoid savers being taxed unfairly.
Gary Shaughnessy, the UK managing director at Fidelity International, said: "We are particularly interested in defending the interests of prudent individuals who invest for the long term. These investors deserve to be treated differently from speculators who are looking only for short-term gains."

The Liberal Democrats drew up the CGT plans following the introduction of the new 50p top rate of income tax for high earners.
They were intended to deter wealthy financiers, speculators and private equity executives from moving their income into savings assets, on which they would then only pay 18 per cent capital gains tax. However, it is feared that the brunt of the increase in CGT will be borne by middle-class Britons who have been saving over the long term for their retirement, rather than such high-earners.
Fidelity said its analysis showed that someone who invested £10,000 in the FTSE All Share in 1988 would currently face a tax bill of £9,910, based on the value of their shares having increased to £75,155.
However, if CGT were increased to 40 per cent without any indexation link to inflation, the tax bill would more than double to £22,022.
Mr Shaughnessy said: "If the Government does increase CGT across the board, taxable gains should be reduced by the amount due to inflation or by taper relief. This avoids investors being unfairly penalised by being taxed on increases in value solely due to inflation."
Fidelity said it was urging the Government to leave the CGT annual allowance at £10,100 in its emergency Budget on June 22.

Mr Shaughnessy said: "Reducing the annual limit would mean many prudent, everyday long-term savers would be penalised for simply trying to provide for their own futures. It might help towards reducing the deficit in the short term, but longer term, if we disincentivise savings, we'll simply end up with more people reliant on the State during their retirement years."
Other financial experts and politicians also urged Mr Cameron to abandon the "fundamentally unfair" CGT rise plans.

Mike Warburton, of the accountants Grant Thornton, said: "If someone has invested in shares or property over a long period of time, a significant part of that gain is going to be inflationary. It is inherently wrong to tax that gain at income tax rates.”
Economists have also warned that the Treasury’s overall CGT revenue could drop as a result of investors fleeing the new higher rate, meaning the recovery of the economy from the recession would be affected.

One in six families — a total of 3.75 million people — owns shares, while 250,000 families own a second home and there are a million buy-to-let properties. About 130,000 people pay CGT each year as they sell their assets to fund their retirement or other major expenditure.

Small investors and second-home owners currently pay capital gains tax at a rate of 18 per cent on the profits made on the sale of their assets. The first £10,000 of profits made each year are not taxed.
Last night there was a growing Tory rebellion against the CGT plans, with about 60 MPs preparing to publicly defy Mr Cameron to block the rise.

In a BBC Radio 4 interview, Mr Cameron said: “We will listen to all the arguments. The process is clear. The decision will be announced in the Budget.”
But Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Business Secretary who first plotted the CGT rise, rejected criticism of the plans from senior Tories, saying: “I’m not sure that reinventing the wheel is the best way forward.”

S.Korea is pointing the finger of blame at N.Korea ..[1212]

	Issue 4401. Last Updated: 05/28/2010

The Gambler of North Korea

27 May 2010

By Yoon Young-kwan

After a painstaking investigation, South Korea is pointing the finger of blame at North Korea for the sinking of its warship, the Cheonan, on March 26. The debate about how to respond is complicated by the fact that the Cheonan’s sinking does not seem to be a stand-alone event, but was, instead, part of a change in North Korea’s general pattern of behavior. Indeed, North Korea has become increasingly bold and impetuous ever since Kim Jong Il became ill — probably from a stroke — in August 2008.

In the past, top North Korean leaders tended to calculate carefully the costs and benefits when they acted to put pressure on the outside world. And they were inclined to play only one of their “threat” cards at a time. But in April and May 2009, they threw diplomatic caution to the wind, launching a long-range missile and conducting a second nuclear test — all in the space of several weeks.

As soon as the international community reacted, by adopting United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, North Korea quickly shifted to a charm offensive aimed at the United States and South Korea. The authorities released two U.S. journalists and a South Korean worker whom they had seized in August 2009 on charges of violating North Korean law.
But when the North Korean regime realized that “smile diplomacy” did not achieve whatever it was they wanted, the country’s rulers shifted back to hostility. This time, the authorities froze South Korean real estate in the Geumgang Mountain tourist zone and, most seriously of all, attacked the Cheonan. The regime even dispatched two spies to Seoul to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-level North Korean official ever to defect to South Korea.

I believe that this change in North Korea’s pattern of behavior is profoundly related to recent fundamental changes there. First, Kim and his third son, Kim Jong Un, may have become much more confident as a result of North Korea’s emergence as a de facto nuclear state. They seem to believe that possession of nuclear weapons provides them with far wider room for strategic and tactical boldness. After all, they achieved what they wanted in defiance of enormous international pressure and even succeeded in transferring nuclear technology to Syria several years ago without being punished. Given such a run of successful gambles, why be timid?

The second change concerns Kim Jong Il’s successor. North Korea’s new boldness may reflect Kim’s wish to polish the image of 26-year-old Kim Jong Un as a strong and decisive leader. Or, it may be that all of the provocations that have followed Kim Jong Il’s illness may be the work of Kim Jong Un himself. In other words, the process of power transfer may be progressing much faster than anyone outside of North Korea has guessed.

Finally, long-term mismanagement and international sanctions have pushed the North Korean economy to the brink of collapse. As a result, the regime may be trying to divert people’s attention from internal difficulties and push them to unite behind the emerging new leader.
The attack on the Cheonan may have been particularly useful in cementing the regime’s hold on the military, which felt disgraced by North Korea’s inept performance in a confrontation with the South Korean navy near the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea in November 2009. But, I believe that this is probably a secondary motive for the attack on the Cheonan.

The problem is that all three factors — nuclear-armed boldness, the succession and economic malaise — will continue to influence North Korea’s behavior for the time being. Without a strong and internationally coordinated response to the sinking of the Cheonan, such reckless provocations are not only likely to continue, but they may become more frequent.
Thus, South Korea and the international community must respond firmly. The planned joint South Korea-U.S. military exercise near the Demilitarized Zone and joint anti-submarine exercise at the Northern Limit Line should be carried out as soon as possible. The UN Security Council should remain firm in condemning North Korea’s brutal attack on the Cheonan. Making North Korea pay a high economic cost for its rash behavior should be considered as well.
All of these options are, however, short-term responses and will likely be insufficient to bringing about any serious change in North Korea. A more fundamental, long-term strategy is needed to face the new reality and achieve lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

One of the messages that Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered to Kim Jong Il at their bilateral summit on May 5 — concerning North Korea’s need to launch serious economic reform and open up to the world — has provided a clue as to how to move forward. So far, the international community has focused mainly on the immediate concern of denuclearizing North Korea. But this merely addresses the symptom, not the disease. It is time for the international community — particularly China, Russia, the United States, Japan and South Korea — to devote similar diplomatic effort to persuading and pressuring North Korea to reform and open its economy.

The world must develop a more carefully calibrated policy toward North Korea, one aimed at simultaneously implementing denuclearization and economic reform. The added benefit of such an approach is that it is far more likely to gain Chinese support than today’s single-minded focus on denuclearization.

Yoon Young-kwan is a former foreign minister of South Korea. © Project Syndicate