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INTERNATIONAL Japan welcomes JFK daughter as mooted US envoy TOKYO: The mooted appointment of the daughter of assassinated US president John F Kennedy to the high-profile post of ambassador to Japan, was greeted enthusiastically in Japan yesterday. Caroline Kennedy, 55, who was an early supporter of Obama’s 2008 primary campaign before he took on and beat Hillary Clinton’s Democratic machine, has long been a rumored candidate for the plum Tokyo post. Kennedy is in the advanced stages of the selection process, an administration official told AFP. Earlier Monday, both The Washington Post and New York Times reported that she was actively being vetted for the appointment. Japan’s top government spokesman said it would be a “big news” for the country if she gets the nomination. “Late President Kennedy was a figure familiar to many Japanese,” Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference on Tuesday. “It would be big news, and would deepen people’s feeling of friendliness (to the United States),” he said, adding that he would refrain from commenting further until a final decision was made. Kennedy would fit the long tradition of presidents naming high profile envoys to key US ally Japan, who have included former vice president Walter Mondale and former senators Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker. But she would also take up the post at a time of great diplomatic peril, given North Korea’s fierce military threats against the United States and its key regional partners. The crises had prompted some diplomatic observers in Washington in recent weeks to suggest that Kennedy could be passed over for a more experienced diplomatic hand. But Kennedy’s chances may have been enhanced by the arrival as secretary of state of John Kerry, who was close to Caroline Kennedy’s beloved uncle, late senator Edward Kennedy. The White House and State Department both declined to comment on the reports that Kennedy was close to being named, but did not deny them outright. While politics and public service runs in Kennedy’s blood, she has long resisted the public role of her father, his brothers, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, and many of their progeny. For a time in late 2008 and early 2009, she toyed with the idea of running for the New York Democratic Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton when Clinton became Obama’s first-term secretary of state. But the wealthy Kennedy pulled out after a rough political ride amid claims she was being foisted upon the New York electorate with nothing but her family name as a qualification. Kennedy, whom many Americans remember as a tragic little girl at her father’s 1963 funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, caused a sensation in 2008, and fury in Clinton circles, when she broke from her intensely private world to back Obama. In a New York Times column titled “A President Like My Father” Kennedy wrote of never having seen a president who matched up to the way people still talked about JFK. Now, she said, “I believe I have found a man who could be that president.” If nominated, and confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy would succeed current US Ambassador to Japan John Roos, a former Obama campaign donor. — AFP PYEONGTAEK: A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet (center) lands on the runway during their military exercise at the Osan US Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea yesterday. — AP US deploys warship off South Korea amid soaring tensions North Korea says region on brink of nuclear war SEOUL: The United States has positioned a warship off the Korean coast as a shield against ballistic missile attack as South Korea’s new president vowed swift retaliation against a North Korean strike amid soaring tensions on the peninsula. But Washington also said it had seen no worrisome mobilization of armed forces by the North Koreans despite bellicose rhetoric over a ramping up of international sanctions against Pyongyang over nuclear weapons tests. “If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye told the defense minister and senior officials. North Korea says the region is on the brink of a nuclear war in the wake of UN sanctions in response to its February nuclear test and a series of joint US and South Korean military drills that have included a rare US show of aerial power. In Washington, the White House has said the United States takes seriously North Korea’s war threats. But White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday: “I would note that despite the harsh rhetoric we are hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as largescale mobilizations and positioning of forces.” North Korea further escalated its rhetoric on Saturday by saying it was entering a “state of war” with South Korea in response to what it termed the “hostile” military drills. A US defense official said the USS McCain, an Aegis-class guided-missile destroyer used for ballistic missile defense, was being positioned off the peninsula’s southwestern coast. “This is a prudent move that provides greater missile defense options should (they) become neces- SYDNEY: Global media baron Rupert Murdoch yesterday accused the government of his native Australia of “disgraceful and racist” language over a crackdown on visas for skilled migrants. The Australian-born News Corporation chief condemned the centre-left Labor government’s rhetoric about the tightening of the 457-class skilled visa program amid claims of abuse by employers and disadvantage to local workers. “I think the way that they’re talking about the 457 is pretty disgraceful and racist, but I’m a big one for encouraging immigration, I think that’s the future,” Murdoch told Sky News on a business visit to northern Australia. “A mixture of people-just look at America-is just fantastic,” he added. Murdoch said there were “difficulties for generations of migrants UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the first UN treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar international arms trade yesterday, a goal sought for over a decade to try to keep illicit weapons out of the hands of terrorists, insurgent fighters and organized crime. The resolution adopting the landmark treaty was approved by a vote of 154 to 3 with 23 abstentions. As the numbers appeared on the electronic board, loud cheers filled the assembly chamber. A group of treaty supporters sought a vote in the 193-member world body after Iran, North Korea and Syria blocked its adoption by consensus at the end of a two-week sary,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The ship was not expected to participate in any exercises, the official added. South Korea has changed its rules of engagement to allow local units to respond immediately to attacks, rather than waiting for permission from Seoul. Stung by criticism that its response to the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010 was tardy and weak, Seoul has also threatened to target young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and to destroy statues of the ruling Kim dynasty in the event of any new attack, a plan that has outraged Pyongyang. CHINA CALLED TO HELP North Korea stepped up its rhetoric in early March, when US and South Korean forces began annual military drills that involved the flights of US B-2 stealth bombers in a practice run, prompting the North to put its missile units on standby to fire at US military bases in South Korea and in the Pacific. The United States also deployed F-22 stealth fighter jets on Sunday to take part in the drills. The Pentagon said it was the fourth time F- 22s had been deployed to South Korea. Australia, a close US ally and rotating UN Security Council member, said it would urge China to help enforce sanctions banning the flow of technology and equipment to North Korea. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who leaves on Friday for Beijing, plans to call on Chinese leaders to help bolster stop-and-search provisions for shipping to and from North Korea, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said. Canberra also plans its own banking and financial sanctions. “The immediate priority is to see the sanctions agreed on by the Security Council are properly enforced,” Carr said yesterday. KIM JONG-UN TIGHTENS GRIP North Korea has cancelled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and has cut all hotlines with US forces, the United Nations and South Korea. At a recent meeting of North Korea’s ruling Workers Party Central Committee, leader Kim Jong-un rejected the notion that Pyongyang was going to use its nuclear arms development as a bargaining chip for foreign aid for the impoverished nation. “The nuclear weapons of Songun Korea are not goods for getting US dollars and they are ... (not) to be put on the table of negotiations aimed at forcing the (North) to disarm itself,” KCNA news agency quoted him as saying. Songun is the Korean word for the “Military First” policy preached by Kim’s father who used it to justify the use of the impoverished state’s scarce resources to build a 1.2-million strong army and pursue development of weapons of mass destruction. At the meeting, Kim appointed a handful of personal confidants to the party’s politburo, further consolidating his grip on power in the second full year of his reign. Former premier Pak Pong-ju, a key confidant of the leadership dynasty, was re-appointed to the post from which he was fired in 2007 for failing to implement economic reforms. Pak, believed to be in his 70s, is viewed as a key ally of Jang Song-thaek, the young Kim’s uncle and also a protege of Kim’s aunt. Pak is viewed as a pawn in a power game that has seen Jang and his wife re-assert power over military leaders. Analysts said the move would not likely change North Korea’s approach to a confrontation that appears to have dragged the two Koreas closer to war. — Reuters Murdoch slams ‘racist, disgraceful’ Australia sometimes if there are too many from one area, but they meld in a couple of generations and it leads to tremendous creativity in the community”. He said skilled migration was vital to economic growth in Australia’s north, which is in the grip of a mining and resources boom with billions of dollars of investment slated for the coming years. Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury rejected the remarks, saying there was “nothing racist about standing up for jobs and job opportunities for Australians”. There is little love lost between Murdoch’s Australian operations News Limited and Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor government-ministers have accused his newspapers of campaigning for regime change. News Limited has, in turn, been highly critical of the final negotiating conference last Thursday. The three countries voted “no” yesterday’s resolution while Russia and China, both major arms exporters, abstained. Many countries, including the United States, control arms exports. But there has never been an international treaty regulating the estimated $60 billion global arms trade. Australian Ambassador Peter Woolcott, who chaired the negotiations, said the treaty will “make an important difference by reducing human suffering and saving lives.” “We owe it to those millions - often the most vulnerable in society - whose lives have been overshadowed by the irresponsible and government’s proposed media reforms which came in the wake of Britain’s phone-hacking scandal. Gillard’s Labor has been criticized by the leftleaning Greens party, commentators and some business leaders for plans to crack down on 457s in an election year, accused of angling for the anti-immigration vote. According to the immigration department, growth in 457 visas has significantly outstripped national employment growth, suggesting “the program is being increasingly driven by temporary visa holders seeking to remain in Australia instead of the demands of the Australian labor force”. The number of 457 visa holders expanded 21.5 percent between February 2012 and February 2013 to 107,510. — AFP illicit international trade in arms,” he told the assembly just before the vote. The treaty will not control the domestic use of weapons in any country, but it will require countries that ratify it to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms, parts and components and to regulate arms brokers. It covers battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons. A phrase stating that this list was “at a minimum” was dropped, according to diplomats, at the insistence of the United States. Caroline Kennedy JAKARTA: The elite police unit on the front line of Indonesia’s lauded terrorism clampdown faces fresh allegations of torture and unlawful killings, raising concerns it is fuelling the jihadist cause. Detachment 88 was established after the 2002 bombings on Bali that killed 202 people, mostly Western tourists, and has gained strong public support after claiming the scalps of some of the region’s most-wanted extremists. But last month a video emerged in which officers from the anti-terror unit interrogated a suspect writhing in pain after he had been shot in the chest and forced to strip to his underwear. “Why did you shoot me? I surrendered,” he screams, as police repeatedly yell back that he ask Allah for forgiveness. “You’re going to die,” they say, trampling on three other suspects, shooting into the ground to intimidate them. The suspect who was shot in the video, Rahman Kalahe, survived the incident and was sentenced to 19 years’ jail over his role in the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls and the murder of a priest in Poso. However, the footage has prompted the National Human Rights Commission to reopen its investigation into the 2007 raid, while Islamic groups and members of parliament have made calls to disband Detachment 88. “Detachment 88 has used torture, killings and intimidation, but they are never held accountable. The unit must be dissolved,” said Din Syammsuddin, chairman of the nation’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, who took the video to police. The government insists that its security forces have “great respect for human rights”. “There are standard operating procedures in the handling of terrorism. It is not true that Detachment 88 employs a shoot-to-kill approach,” presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said. “Any actions contrary to the law, including human rights law, will be processed. Without exception for anyone. This country upholds and enforces the rule of law,” he said. The Detachment 88 unit, which gets funding and training from the United States and Australia, has been successful in quelling the kind of militant attacks on civilian targets that rocked Indonesia in the past decade. Indonesia’s battle with terror is now being fought almost entirely between militants and police, much of it in Poso district-a known hotbed for militant activity on Sulawesi island, where the videotaped raid took place. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013 Indonesia anti-terror cops accused of ‘fuelling jihad’ This shift in the nature of terrorism in Indonesia has raised concerns that the unit’s treatment of suspects is fuelling revenge attacks. Since the establishment of Detachment 88, Indonesian police have killed at least 90 suspects in counterterrorism operations, the International Crisis Group reported. But fully 50 of them have been killed since 2010, a year after the last major deadly attack in the nation. “You can see why people get angry when the police start shooting people just because they have a copy of a book on jihad in their rooms,” Todd Elliot, Jakartabased terrorism analyst with Concorde Consulting said. “When we haven’t seen a major attack in years and police are killing terror suspects every two months, you can understand why people are asking questions.” National Anti-Terror Agency chief Ansyaad Mbai denies the unit is trigger-happy, saying the deaths happen because terror suspects rarely surrender and are often armed. The numbers seem to support his argument-in the same period that 50 suspects were killed, 21 police were slain trying to make arrests or investigate extremist activity. In October, two officers investigating an alleged terrorist camp in Poso were found dead and buried in a hole with their throats slit. “Terrorism is an extraordinary crime that requires extraordinary operations,” Mbai said. “They don’t respect Indonesians’ rights, so why are we suddenly so concerned with theirs?” he said. “Since Detachment 88 was established, we have captured 850 terrorists. Yes, dozens have been killed, but most were taken alive.” Mbai sees the video as the latest tactic in a long-standing campaign against the unit, likely from political factions or hardline Islamic groups that regularly paint Detachment 88 as anti-Muslim. The rights commission has recommended Detachment 88 employ a more transparent evaluation process and the unit be held accountable for any extra-judicial killings. But Mbai said: “I don’t agree with these calls to hold officers to account through legal procedures. This will just demoralize the unit.” Problems within Detachment 88 are not unique to the unit. The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2008 found that torture and abuse of suspects during arrest and police detention were widespread in Indonesia. “The video indicates a definite need for better human rights training. The whole police institution in Indonesia is still in need of reform,” Elliot said. — AFP BEKASI: Indonesian Christian Pastor Torang Simanjuntak (bottom) delivers mass next to the ruins of the Taman Sari Batak Christian Protestant Church in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta as minority Christians mark Easter amid rising cases of religious intolerance. On March 21 the local government demolished the half constructed church in front of its weeping congregation. Indonesia’s 240 million people identify themselves as Muslim but the constitution guarantees freedom of religion. — AFP UN adopts treaty to regulate global arms trade Supporters complained that this limited the treaty’s scope. The treaty prohibits states that ratify it from transferring conventional weapons if they violate arms embargoes or if they promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. It also prohibits the export of conventional arms if they could be used in attacks on civilians or civilian buildings such as schools and hospitals. In considering whether to authorize the export of arms, the treaty says a country must evaluate whether the weapon would be used to violate international human rights or humanitarian laws or be used by terrorists or organized crime. They must also determine whether the weapons transfer would contribute to or undermine peace and security. The treaty also requires parties to the treaty to take measures to prevent the diversion of conventional weapons to the illicit market. Ammunition was been a key issue in negotiations, with some countries pressing for the same controls on ammunition sales as arms, but the US and others opposed such tough restrictions. The final text calls for each country that ratifies the treaty to establish regulations for the export of ammunition “fired, launched or delivered” by the weapons covered by the convention. — AP
Iranian women jump for a picture as they celebrate the ancient festival of Sizdeh Bedar in a park in western Tehran yesterday. Sizdah is the Persian word for thirteen and leaving the house on the thirteenth day of Farvardin, the first month of Iranian calendar, and spending the day outdoors with the family has been a national tradition since ancient times in Iran. — AP Amnesty slams resumption of executions Continued from Page 1 2007. “In a region where executions are sadly all too commonplace, Kuwait marked a beacon of hope by declining to execute people for almost six years,” Harrison said in a statement. “That hope has been extinguished... We deplore this resumption of executions, regardless of the crime.” Public attorney Mohammad Al-Duaij, who supervised UAE, Canada end visa row Continued from Page 1 The UAE in Jan 2011 started charging Canadians $1,000 for a six-month multiple entrance visa, while three-month and one-month visas cost $500 and $250 respectively. The steep hikes in obtaining a visa for the UAE came as the two countries had been at odds over landing rights in Canada for UAE-based carriers and the closure of a UAE military base to Canadian use. Canada the executions, said another 48 people are on death row awaiting a final decision on their sentences by HH the Amir. The state has executed a total of 69 men and three foreign women since it introduced the death penalty in mid-1960. Most of those condemned have been convicted murderers or drug traffickers. “Kuwait should halt any further executions and should commute all death sentences and revise the law to exclude this most final of penalties,” Amnesty said. — AFP was forced a few months earlier to close a military base in Dubai that was part of a key supply route to Afghanistan after refusing to grant the UAE’s two national carriers more landing rights. Baird was transport minister at the time, when more than 25,000 Canadians were living in the UAE and bilateral trade was valued at $1.5 billion annually, according to the UAE. Since then, Iraq has become Canada’s largest trading partner in the Middle East, Baird noted. — AFP NEWS Continued from Page 1 The issue of Palestinians in Israeli prisons is a deeply sensitive one and it frequently sparks mass demonstrations across the occupied territories which tend to develop into violent clashes with the military. One of the main points of concern is prisoners on long-term hunger strike who are held without charge, or the conditions of their arrest. Abu Hamdiyeh’s death sparked protests in prisons across Israel as well as clashes with the Israeli army in Hebron. The Israel Prisons Service confirmed he had died of cancer yesterday morning, saying disturbances had broken out in four prisons as the news spread in Ketziot, Eshel, Ramon and Nafha. In Hebron, around 300 demonstrators threw stones at troops near the entrance to the Old City, with soldiers firing tear gas and rubber bullets, an AFP correspondent said. And in Jerusalem’s Old City, police arrested three people after dozens of Palestinian demonstrators began throwing stones at Damascus Gate, spokeswoman Luba Samri said. Qadura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Prisoners Club, was the first to break news of Abu Hamdiyeh’s death, blaming Israel for its “refusal to release him for treatment”. Prisoner affairs minister Issa Qaraaqa said it was a “vicious crime” which had come about due to Israel’s “stalling over giving him the right to be treated following a late cancer diagnosis.” Gaza’s ruling Hamas said it was following with the “greatest concern” the developments and warned that Israel would “regret its continuing crimes,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. Abu Hamdiyeh, a senior Fatah official from the preventative security services, began complaining of throat problems about nine months ago. Two months ago he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. According to the Prisoners Club, 25 inmates serving time in Israeli jails are currently suffering from can- Continued from Page 1 Yangon to bury the victims, with many among the crowd voicing suspicions the fire was started deliberately. A teacher, who was awoken as flames tore through the building and who helped evacuate survivors, told AFP he had smelt petrol during the blaze - echoing the testimony of several witnesses. “I think someone started the fire intentionally,” said Khin Maung Hla, 35, adding the victims were aged between 12 and 15. Waiting to bury her 13-yearold boy, Nyunt Zaw wept uncontrollably. “I lost my youngest son. I am devastated,” she told AFP. “The school just reopened yesterday and now my son is dead,” wept Ohnmar Lwin as she also buried her child. Emergency services had to break down locked doors to free the children sleeping in a dormitory, according to government spokesman Ye Htut. “Please don’t believe some news on the Internet portraying this case as a religious conflict,” he posted on his Facebook page. But, against the background of the recent sectarian violence, many Muslims were “very suspicious” about the latest fire, said Mya Aye, a Muslim member of the 88 Generation Students’ pro-democracy group. “We are worried and sad because innocent children died,” he said. Communal tensions are high in the former army-ruled country after at least 43 people died last month in a wave of intra-religious violence that saw mosques and homes burned down in several towns. The government has imposed emergency rule and curfews in some areas. Yangon’s chief minister Myint Swe told reporters authorities had launched a probe into the fire, adding that initial findings suggested a fault with wiring under the staircase was to blame. He said about 70 children were trapped upstairs when the blaze broke out. “The children could not get out of the building because there were iron bars (on the windows) and the only way out was the stairs,” he said, adding that the victims died of suffocation. Electrical fires are common because of poor safety standards in poverty-stricken Myanmar, which is emerging from decades of military rule. Two Muslim guards at the building failed to react to an alarm, said Yangon police chief Win Naing, adding one was in custody and the other had run away. Myint Swe said witness reports of a smell of fuel could be explained by the WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013 Palestinians protest after inmate dies... cer. The Palestine Liberation Organisation has warned that more terminally ill prisoners could die. The Israel Prisons Service said Abu Hamdiyeh was diagnosed in February and was being treated by experts. “About a week ago, after being diagnosed as terminal, the ISP appealed to the release committee to secure his early release, a process which had been started but not yet concluded,” a statement said. It said he was serving life for his involvement as “a recruiter and dispatcher in an attempted terror attack at Cafe Cafit in Jerusalem in 2002. Separately, Khaled Meshaal’s reelection as head of the Islamist Hamas movement was officially confirmed yesterday, drawing a cautious welcome from the rival Fatah movement which rules the West Bank. The reelection of the charismatic 56-year-old as the overall head of the Palestinian Islamist movement which rules Gaza, was widely seen as a shoo-in, with his new mandate secured by a vote in Cairo late on Monday. “The Shura Council held a meeting in Cairo to elect a leader and members of the political bureau,” a Hamas statement said. The movement’s leadership “renewed confidence in the political bureau, headed by Khaled Meshaal,” during after a late-night Monday vote of the Shura Council which groups Hamas leaders from Gaza, the West Bank and overseas, it said. His reelection was welcomed as a positive step by a senior member of Palestinian president Abbas’ Fatah movement. “Meshaal is a pragmatic person and may be more malleable than others in Hamas,” Fatah Central Committee member Mahmud Alul told Voice of Palestine radio. “This may help... to achieve reconciliation,” he said, referring to efforts to bridge years of bitter rivalry between the two Palestinian national movements. “All we want is a capable movement that can lead Hamas. There needs to be a leadership that can impose a political will - one approach and not contradictory ones - especially in terms of reconciliation and the overall Palestinian cause,” he said. — Agencies 13 boys dead in blaze at Myanmar Muslim... generator used to power the building. Muslim leader Shine Win told AFP earlier that he had spoken to students and teachers who reported slipping on an oily liquid on the ground floor while escaping, and urged the government to “reveal the truth”. US ambassador Derek Mitchell in a statement expressed “heartfelt condolences” to the loved ones of all those affected. “Given the severity of this event, we encourage the government to work closely with members of the community to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the cause of the fire,” he said. Yangon has been tense but mostly peaceful following the religious clashes which broke out in the town of Meiktila and later spread. The conflict poses a major challenge for President Thein Sein, who has won international praise for his reform efforts since taking office two years ago. The situation has calmed in recent days after the former general on Thursday vowed a tough response to the violence, which he blamed on “political opportunists and religious extremists”. Violence involving Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year left at least 180 people dead. -— Agencies
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