Foreign investment law is being revised - Oman Observer

YANGON — Aung San Suu
Kyi was re-elected as Myanmar
opposition chief yesterday
at a landmark congress
that disappointed some members
hoping for new blood in
the wider leadership ahead of
a key 2015 election.
Hundreds of National
League for Democracy (NLD)
members gathered in Yangon
for their first national conference
— a display of political
strength that would have been
unthinkable under the former
junta.
The meeting highlighted
the myriad challenges facing
the hugely popular opposition,
including its lack of experience
as well as party infighting, as
it eyes victory in key elections
due to be held in 2015.
"We have to seize the
chance," Suu Kyi, a former
political prisoner who entered
parliament last year, urged the
estimated 850 representatives
who attended the three days
of talks.
"I thank the members who
struggled hand-in-hand with
the NLD for 25 years, and I
also welcome our new mem-
6 THE WORLD
OMAN DAILY Observer
bers," she said. "A party can be
energetic if it's refreshed with
new blood all the time."
The party had faced calls
among younger members
to rejuvenate its leadership,
dominated by elderly activists
including some in their 80s
and 90s known as the "NLD
uncles".
But it held back from a substantial
revamp, instead selecting
older veteran party members
for a core executive of 15
and unanimously reappointing
Suu Kyi as chairwoman.
"We are not completely
MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2013
PEOPLE hold banners and placards as they march during a protest against government austerity measures in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. — Reuters
Fresh protests against austerity policies
MADRID — Protests were staged across Spain
yesterday against social spending cuts and record
unemployment, media reports said.
Protesters took to the streets in more than 60 cities,
heeding a call that came from trade union confederations
CCOO and UGT, as well as around 150
other organisations.
They called for an "urgent and radical change"
in the austerity policies of the Conservative govern-
Apartment
fire kills 8
of a family
GERMANY — Seven children
and woman, all believed
to be from the same
family, were killed when a
fire broke out yesterday at
an apartment building in the
south-western German town
of Backnang, police said.
The children ranged in
age from six months to 16
and all the victims were of
Turkish origin, said police
spokesman Klaus Hinderer.
Police said the seven died
of smoke inhalation and
were all found on the building's
second floor.
A Turkish-German cultural
association was located
on the ground floor of the
building, which is part of a
larger building complex that
once was a leather factory.
Turkey's Ambassador
to Germany, Huseyin Avni
Karslioglu, was on his way
to the site, his spokesman
said. Mustafa Turker Ari, the
Turkish consulate general in
Stuttgart, visited the scene
early yesterday.
The exact cause of the
fire, which swept through
the building around 4:30 am
(0330 GMT), was unknown.
However, investigators suspected
a malfunctioning
wood furnace was to blame.
— dpa
Merkel
partners pick
poll candidate
BERLIN — German Chancellor
Angela Merkel's coalition
partners yesterday chose
a former economy minister
as their candidate in national
elections in September, as
the party battles for its political
survival.
The pro-business Free
Democrats (FDP), which
has governed with Merkel's
conservative Christian Democratic
Union since 2009,
selected Rainer Bruederle,
67, to represent them in the
September 22 vote in Europe'
top economy.
"People want a strong
voice for freedom. The
chance is there for us. We
should use it and we want to
use it," said Bruederle during
a 75-minute speech at the
party conference in Berlin.
"I know you will all fight
with me," he told the 600
delegates, who responded
by giving him a five-minute
standing ovation.
"Let's go into battle," he
shouted. Bruederle has a
tough scrap ahead of him,
as the party struggles to turn
around its fortunes following
years of internal bickering
and plunging support.
— AFP
ment of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which have
come at the behest of the European Union.
At the main event in Madrid, a peaceful protest
march ended at the Puerta del Sol in the city centre.
Among those taking part were members of the
main opposition parties, which say the policies have
brought Spain to the brink.
Protesters carried signs bearing slogans like "Vi-
Cardinals pray before
conclave to choose pope
VATICAN CITY — Roman
Catholic Cardinals prayed
yesterday for spiritual guidance
ahead of a closed-door
conclave to choose a new
pope to lead the Church at one
of the most difficult periods in
its history.
Cardinals will hold a final
pre-conclave meeting today
to discuss the state of their
Church, left reeling by the
abdication last month of Pope
Benedict and struggling to deal
with a string of sexual abuse
and corruption scandals.
The 115 cardinals who
will take part in the secret ballots,
which start on March 12,
fanned out around Rome yesterday
to hold myriad Masses,
either in the quiet of private
chapels or in the grandeur of
Rome's great cathedrals and
basilicas.
Each cardinal is traditionally
assigned to a church in
the Italian capital and congregations
swelled in parishes
visited by those considered
the most likely papal contenders
— such as Cardinal Odilo
Pedro Scherer of Sao Paulo,
Brazil.
"We're all preparing for
the conclave because we need
to make the right decision
to decide who is going to be
the new pope," Scherer told a
small Baroque church in the
heart of Rome, crammed with
well-wishers.
He was later driven away
in a minivan with darkened
windows, declining to speak
to the waiting hoards of reporters
— a taste of the pressures
to come if he should become
the first non-European to be
elected pope in some 1,300
years.
Just up the road, another
non-European touted as a possible
candidate, US Cardinal
Sean O'Malley, also received
star treatment as he arrived for
Mass in ornate vestments.
"I say sincerely that we
hope this is your last visit as
cardinal," said parish priest father
Rocco Visca, prompting
loud applause and cheers from
the well-heeled congregation.
A coach load of faithful
from northern Italy travelled
down to Rome to hear Milan's
cardinal, Angelo Scola, give
a sermon at the monumental
Santi Apostoli church.
"Let us pray that the Holy
Spirit gives the Church a man
who can lead her in the footsteps
of the great pontiffs of
the past 150 years," said Scola,
seen as the leading Italian
candidate.
olence is when you get a 600-euro salary." "Poverty
in this country is rising at an alarming rate, we must
say enough, right now," said Purificacion Garcia,
secretary for equality for the Socialist Worker's
Party PSOE.
UGT Secretary-General Candido Mendez meanwhile
warned that record unemployment of 27 per
cent was driving people into poverty and "away
from democratic institutions". — dpa
Like fellow cardinals, he
appeared eager not to draw
too much attention to himself
and exited quietly via a back
door.
Some cardinals, such as
Manila's Luis Antonio Tagle,
who is considered a longshot
because of his relatively
young age, 55, kept an even
lower profile, mostly staying
inside the walls of seminaries
or other religious institutions.
Open canvassing is
frowned upon in the run-up
to the conclave, with prelates
aware of the Rome saying
"he who enters the conclave a
pope comes out a cardinal".
Vatican spokesman Father
Federico Lombardi said
the so-called princes of the
church had been in constant
contact in recent days and had
reached initial conclusions.
"They therefore feel ready
to confront the decisive step
of electing a new pope," he
told Vatican Radio.
The 115 cardinal electors
under the age of 80 will enter
the Sistine Chapel tomorrow
afternoon and hold one vote
that evening. They will vote
up to four times day thereafter
until one of their number receives
a two-thirds majority,
or 77 votes. — Reuters
Falklands
residents vote
on Britain ties
LONDON — Residents of
the Falklands yesterday began
voting in a referendum
on whether they want the
island in the South Atlantic
remain a British Overseas
Territory.
The outcome of the poll
in which 1,500 people are
eligible to vote is expected
to be an overwhelming yes
vote.
Argentina, the neighbour
460 km has long claimed
sovereignty over the archipelago
it calls las Islas
Malvinas. Britain and Argentina
went to war over the
islands in 1982.
Argentina has rejected
the referendum, with President
Cristina Fernandez de
Kirchner saying she will not
recognise the result.
Falklands assembly
member Dick Sawle told the
BBC the goal was to send a
signal to Argentina and the
international community
with the vote.
"I would hope that, whilst
the government of Argentina
may not listen to us, I hope
the people... will listen to
us, because I think there are
many people within Argentina
who are not in tune with
their government," he said.
— dpa
MYANMAR democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to the media during the National League for Democracy's
(NLD) first ever party conference at the Royal Rose Hall in Yangon yesterday. — AFP
Suu Kyi reappointed as oppn leader
satisfied. We accept their decision
and we will support
it. But we do want more new
blood among the leadership,"
said an NLD youth member
who asked not to be named.
"We want to see people in
their 40s and 50s who are educated
and have experience in
politics being more involved."
NLD spokesman Han Tha
Myint said the party recognised
the need to gradually
promote younger activists.
"That's our main concern
— most of our senior leaders
are getting old," he said.
Foreign hostages
killed in Nigeria
LONDON — Britain, Italy
and Greece yesterday admitted
that a claim by a Nigerian
group it had killed seven foreign
hostages appeared to be
true and condemned the act as
barbaric and cold-blooded.
The Ansaru group on Saturday
announced the deaths
of all the expatriates abducted
from a construction site of
Lebanese company Setraco on
February 16 in Bauchi state in
Nigeria's restive north.
Ansaru, considered an offshoot
of the Nigerian group
Boko Haram, backed up its
claim with "screen captures of
a forthcoming video showing
the dead hostages," SITE Intelligence
Group said.
"In the communique, the
group stated that the attempts
by the British and Nigerian
governments to rescue the
hostages, and their alleged
arrest and killing of people,
forced it to carry out the execution,"
SITE said.
Nigeria police last month
said the hostages were four
Lebanese, one Briton, a Greek
citizen and an Italian. A company
official later said the
Middle Eastern hostages included
two Lebanese and two
Syrians.
British Foreign Secretary
William Hague said all the
hostages were "likely to have
been killed" by their captors.
"This was an act of coldblooded
murder, which I condemn
in the strongest terms,"
he said, expressing his determination
to work with the Nigerian
authorities "to hold the
perpetrators of this heinous
act to account, and to combat
the terrorism which so blights
the lives of people in northern
Nigeria and in the wider region."
The Italian foreign ministry
in a statement branded it
"a horrific act of terrorism for
which there is no explanation
except barbaric and blind violence."
"No military intervention
to free the hostages was ever
attempted by the interested
government," it said, adding
that the killings were "the aberrant
expression of a hateful
and intolerable fanaticism."
The Greek foreign ministry
also said the "available
information suggests that the
Greek citizen abducted in Nigeria
alongside six nationals
of other countries is dead."
"Based on the information
we have, there was no rescue
operation," it added.
In an e-mail statement sent
to journalists announcing the
kidnapping two days later,
Ansaru said the motives were
"the transgressions and atrocities
done to the religion ...
by the European countries in
many places such as Afghanistan
and Mali".
Ansaru has been linked to
several kidnappings, including
the May 2011 abductions of a
Briton and an Italian working
for a construction firm in
Kebbi state, near the border
with Niger. The victims were
killed in March 2012 in neighbouring
Sokoto state during a
botched rescue operation.
It also claimed the December
kidnapping of a French
engineer in Katsina state,
bordering Niger. The victim's
whereabouts remain unknown.
Seven members of a
French family, including four
children, were also abducted
last month in Cameroon, and
Cameroon authorities said
they were then taken over the
border into restive northeastern
Nigeria. — AFP
MALTA Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat is greeted by supporters in the counting hall
in Naxxar after first samples indicated victory for his party yesterday. — AFP
Malta’s oppn wins poll
VALLETTA — Malta's opposition
Labour party has
won a general election for
the first time in over 15 years,
with leader Joseph Muscat
claiming a "landslide victory"
yesterday in the euro zone's
smallest member.
Early results based on a
sample of ballots from Saturday's
vote showed Labour
ahead with 55 per cent to 43
per cent for the incumbent Nationalist
Party led by outgoing
Prime Minister Lawrence
Gonzi.
The provisional results
suggest Labour could clinch
one of the most comfortable
majorities in the 65-seat parliament
since the tiny Mediterranean
island became independent
in 1964.
"I wasn't expecting such a
landslide victory for Labour.
We must all remain calm,
tomorrow is another day,"
Muscat, a 39-year-old former
journalist, said in reaction to
the results.
Gonzi immediately conceded
defeat and vowed to
step down from the party lead-
JOHANNESBURG — Former South African
president Nelson Mandela has been discharged
from hospital after routine tests and is well, the
government said yesterday.
"The doctors have completed the tests. He
is well and as before, his health remains under
the management of the medical team," it said
in a statement.
The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader was
admitted to hospital on Saturday for a scheduled
medical check-up. He spent the night in hospital
in the capital, Pretoria, and had returned to
his Johannesburg home, the statement said.
ership as a result of his poor
showing.
"I personally take full responsibility
for this result and
I will not seek reelection when
the party chooses its new leadership,"
he said at a press conference.
"The Nationalist Party
needs to begin a reform process
and at the same remain
rooted in its values," he said,
adding that future prime minister
Muscat deserved respect
as he prepared to tackle new
national challenges.
The tiny island state is a
rare example of a euro zone
state with low unemployment,
respectable economic growth
and solid public finances.
The unemployment rate is
6.0 per cent and, according to
the latest estimates, the country
clocked 1.5 per cent economic
growth last year.
Gonzi, who has been at
the helm of the Nationalist
Party since 2004, had told
the electorate throughout the
nine-week campaign to judge
him on his achievements,
although he has admitted to
mistakes.
Muscat has run a slick
US-style campaign calling
for change, charging that the
outgoing government's economic
figures were wrong
and accusing his rival of failing
to ensure stability by ruling
with a one-seat majority.
Originally an opponent
to Malta joining the European
Union, Muscat has since
changed his views and is a
former member of the European
Parliament.
Malta has not had a Labour
government in 25 years
— apart from a 22-month
stint when it ruled between
1996 and 1998.
Despite Malta's minuscule
size, just 316 square kilometres,
the political divide
between the Labour and the
Nationalist parties has been
there for most of its history.
In 1964, the Nationalists
achieved independence from
British rule but in 1979, it
was long-term leader Dom
Mintoff's Labour government
who pushed British troops off
the island. — AFP
Mandela discharged from
hospital after routine tests
A spokesman for President Jacob Zuma said
doctors treated Mandela for a pre-existing condition
consistent with his age.
He spent nearly three weeks in hospital in
December with a lung infection and after surgery
to remove gallstones. It was his longest
stay in hospital since his release from prison
in 1990 after serving 27 years for conspiring to
overthrow the government under the apartheid
regime.
Since his release from that stay in hospital
on December 26 he had been receiving treatment
at his Johannesburg home. — Reuters