4 TIMES OF OMAN Wednesday, January 19, 2005

LATE NEWS
Nigerian One hurt as
police chief Pak mortars Hong Kong nudists
quits after land on apply for own colony
$7.5m found
in network I have Indian soil
JAMMU — At least one per-
HONG KONG — Hong Kong nudists hoping to establish
Asia’s first naturist area yesterday asked the government to
allow them to hire a deserted beach area so they can bare all
without fear of arrest. Simon Cheung, president of the Body

fulfilled
son was injured last night
of accounts when about 15 mortars were
fired into India from Pakistan,
Arts Association, said it was time the conservative Chinese
city accepted nudity, following in the footsteps of famous
in the first such incident in nude beaches such as Le Cap d’Agde in France. “Hong
LAGOS — Nigeria’s police Kong is a cosmopolitan city and there are advanced cities
more than a year, police said.
chief has taken early retire- that allow (nudity), why can’t Hong Kong have one?”

my mission,
The mortars, fired between
ment after anti-corruption Cheung said. If approved, it would be the first naturist area
5.30pm and 8.15pm (1200-
agents found $7.5 million in Asia, Cheung said. Public nudity is illegal in Hong Kong
1445GMT), came from across
hidden in a network of bank and offenders can be jailed for up to six months or fined
the border and landed in
accounts linked to him, offi- 1,000 Hong Kong dollars ($128). The organisation has pre-
India’s forward Durga Post
cials said yesterday. sented a proposal to the council in Sai Kung, asking for per-
area in the Poonch sector of

says world’s
Inspector General Tafa mission to hire a deserted beach area in the rural district of
disputed Kashmir, a police
Balogun’s request to step the New Territories. “We don’t want to cause trouble so we
spokesman said. A Press Trust
down has been accepted by want to be away from other people. If the government could
of India report, quoting offi-
President Olusegun give us the legal right then we don’t have to do this in hid-
cials, said a girl was injured
Obasanjo, according to a ing,” he said. Cheung said he and fellow nudists currently
when one of the shells landed

government statement, which
gave no reason for the 58-
year-old’s surprise departure.
But the deputy spokesman
for Nigeria’s main anti-graft
agency, the Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission, said that the
veteran officer had been
under investigation and is
suspected of holding illegal
funds.
“The former IG is under
investigation for money laun-
dering and treasury bill and
commercial papers scam,”
Sulaiman Ajibade said.
“The commission has
identified 11 different
accounts in Fountain Trust
Bank that have been traced to
him. The amount involved is
over one billion naira ($7.5
million),” the spokesman
said. “The investigation
began last year and is contin-
uing. Officials of the bank
are also being quizzed.
Money laundering is a finan-
cial crime but we cannot say
if his retirement is connected
with the investigation or a
mere coincidence.”
Balogun was not available
for comment and police
spokesman Chris Olakpe said
simply: “I cannot talk about
the past. I want to talk about
the present.”
Although Balogun’s
retirement will not come for-
mally into effect until next
month, Deputy Inspector
General on Sunday Ehindero
took interim control of the
320,000-strong force at a
meeting in the capital Abuja
yesterday. Nigeria’s police
have a woeful reputation for
large-scale corruption and
brutality, even in a country
where public sector graft and
abuse of power is common-
place and politics marred by
violence at all levels.
“They have been willing
agents in the hands of those
who have power, from the
rich and sometimes dubious
businessmen to drug barons
and the top strata of the
power elite,” concluded the
Oputa Panel, a judicial
human rights inquiry. — AFP
Govt silent
over relief
offer: Tigers
COLOMBO — Tamil Tiger
rebels yesterday said they
oldest mother
meet in remote areas, which cannot be reached by public
on her house in Poonch town.
transportation. If granted a piece of land, Cheung said he
“Some 15 mortar shells
would build holiday homes so locals and foreign tourists
were fired (but) it is not yet
could come and enjoy outdoor activities in the nude. Sai
clear whether the shells were
Kung district councillor Gary Fan said he had an open atti-
fired by militants or Pakistani
tude towards Cheung’s proposal and had consulted with
troops,” the police spokesman
some local residents and politicians, a majority of whom
said, adding five militants had
considered it “acceptable”. “But it might be acceptable for
BUCHAREST — The 67- terms of weight,” said the decision. The Health Ministry said a been killed in an encounter
most young people, there are also the elderly and conserva-
year-old Romanian woman doctor responsible for the fer- “After the earthquakes bill limiting in vitro fertilisa- with Indian troops in Mendhar
tive people who have fiercely opposed the idea,” Fan said.
who underwent a fertility tility treatment, Bogdan which have devastated Asia tion use had been submitted to sector of the same district
While the government would conduct public consultation
treatment to become the Marinescu. and moved the axis of the parliament. “According to this early on Tuesday morning.
on the issue, a decision could take years, Fan said. Cheung
world’s oldest mother strong- While many Romanians earth, we should be more bill, medically assisted human The official said some of
criticised those who considered nudity as “abnormal”.
ly defended her actions yes- are wondering about the humble towards nature and reproduction is forbidden in the shells exploded in open
“People do not like nudity because it’s always linked with
terday, saying she has fulfilled future of the child, who was accept there are things which cases of infertility caused by fields and no retaliatory fire
pornography,” he said. — AFP
her mission. delivered by Caesarean sec- are beyond our comprehen- age,” it said. was reported.
“Each person has a mis- tion, Iliescu said she was opti- sion,” she said. Her case has It also said in a statement it He said it was the first time
sion on earth. My mission was mistic and that “concern about caused a major debate in would invite Church represen- such an incident had taken
place since India and Pakistan
Convict gets reduced prison
to prove that women who the coming days is unjustified Romania — and elsewhere in tatives and anyone interested
want to have children can do ... Nobody can predict the the world —with the Minister in the case to a public debate, entered a ceasefire on
November 25, 2003. India and
sentence for fiancée murder
it,” Adriana Iliescu said at a future.” of Health Mircea Cinteza call- but did not specify when. ROME — The heir to an Italian textile fortune sentenced to
press conference at the Iliescu swept aside criti- ing for a public debate to “To be honest, I myself Pakistan used to routinely
30 years prison for the savage murder of his fiancee has had
Giulesti maternity hospital in cism by the Orthodox Church, analyse the medical, ethical don’t fully understand all my exchange light and heavy fire
his sentence almost halved by an Italian court of appeal. The
Bucharest. “Today is a happy which said that becoming a and financial consequences of motivations,” Iliescu said. across their volatile border
judges in the Milan court said they had accepted an agree-
day for me, because I can see mother at her age was fertility treatments. “But maybe this was my mis- prior to this date.
ment between the prosecution and the defence for a 16-year
my daughter. I have touched “against Christian morality”. The Romanian Orthodox sion, to show that women can, Indian army officer Major
prison term for Ruggero Jucker, 38, who stabbed his 26-
her hand and she squeezed my “If this child is born, it is Church slammed that act as and must have children.” General D. Samanwar told
year-old fiancee, Alenja Bortolotto, to death with a kitchen
finger,” she added, smiling. also by the will of God,” she “selfish” and the birth stirred It was Iliescu’s third NDTV news channel India
knife in 2002. The decision was condemned by the Reform
Iliescu, a retired university said. She said that the baby, debate in the local press. attempt to carry a pregnancy was “exercising full restraint”
Minister, Roberto Calderoli, member of the Popular Party of
professor who had received from an ovum provided by an “When the mother is 80 to term and doctors said the in response to the mortars.
the Northern League. “For those who commit such acts, you
fertility drugs for nine years anonymous donor, resembled years old and the little girl 13, eggs and sperm came from “Between 6.30pm and
have to throw away the key”, Calderoli said. Jucker was
before succeeding in becom- that woman because “70 per who will protect who?,” daily “healthy young people”. 8.00pm, seven to eight rounds
arrested on July 21, 2002, in his apartment in a wealthy area
ing pregnant, gave birth to cent of the personality of a newspaper National wrote. Romania currently imposes of mortars were fired in the
of Milan after the body of his fiancee was found disembow-
twin girls on Sunday, but only newborn is formed during the Iliescu said she was not no age limit for patients seek- Poonch sector,” he said,
adding troops had been put on elled in the bathroom with a kitchen knife implanted in her
one, weighing a scant one and life in the uterus”. worried for her daughter. ing in vitro fertilisation. The stomach. Neighbours had called police after being woken by
a half kilos (three pounds) and Iliescu, who studied phi- “Nobody can foresee the European Union, which alert. An Indian army
spokesman in New Delhi also a scream at dawn. One opened the window to see Jucker, in
five weeks premature, sur- losophy, referred to the Bible, future,” said Iliescu, whose Romania hopes to join in his pyjamas, on the street outside his apartment. Police later
vived. French philosopher August eyes sparkled in her pale, 2007, usually restricts the confirmed the incident but
said it was yet to be ascer- found him nude, lying on the ground and in a silence bor-
“The baby is developing Comte and pioneer of pyscho- wrinkled face. “I’m a normal treatment but the age limit dering on madness. Noticing blood on Jucker’s hands,
normally given her pre-matu- analysis Sigmund Freud, woman, like any woman who varies from country to coun- tained whether the firing was
“cross-border”. police searched his apartment and found the body of his
rity and is catching up, in among others, to justify her has a child.” try. — AFP, Reuters fiancee. Jucker was the heir to a textile empire founded by
“There is some firing but
one does not know whether it Swiss Carlo Jucker, who arrived in Milan in 1900 at the age
is cross-border as it is night of 30. His uncle, Riccardo Jucker, who died in 1987, was a
time. We are trying to ascer- well-known art collector whose paintings were later bought
Iraq ‘risks civil war if Sunnis boycott election’ tain,” he said. Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh is
by the city of Milan and are exhibited in the Palazzo Reale.
Jucker’s mother started a chain of luxury restaurants 20
years ago and he followed in her footsteps opening a vege-
due to meet Pakistani premier
Shaukat Aziz on the sidelines tarian restaurant in Milan in 2001. — AFP
z From Page 1 rescue the hostages, who were Chinese construction workers tak-
of a regional summit in Dhaka
“I call on Sunni Arabs, especially in the three provinces north
of Baghdad —Salahuddin (based on Saddam’s hometown of
ing part in a project to rebuild an Iraqi plant, the official Xinhua
news agency said. “We captured these Chinese as they were try-
on February 6-7.
The meeting is being seen
Briton escapes tsunami
Tikrit), Diyala (based on the restive town of Baquba) and Nineveh
(based on the main northern city of Mosul),” he said.
ing to leave Iraq. Interrogations showed they worked for one of
the Chinese companies helping to build American facilities in
as the culmination of the sec-
ond round of peace talks
but dies rock climbing
“Arabs — Sunni and Shiite — should join hands against their Iraq,” said a voice on the video as two gunmen with a pistol and between the two nuclear rivals SINGAPORE — A British outdoor sports enthusiast who
enemies.” Naqib admitted that polling day was likely to see an an AK-47 assault rifle stood beside the eight men. which began last January after escaped killer waves with his wife while on a beach holiday
intensification in insurgent attacks, particularly in the capital. Xinhua quoted sources as saying the Chinese workers’ build- a two-year freeze in relations. in Thailand last month has died after a rock climbing acci-
“I am expecting an escalation of terrorist acts in the coming ing project had no link to US-led multinational forces in Iraq. Indian Foreign Minister dent in Singapore, a news report said yesterday. Singapore-
days, notably in Baghdad.” The militants, their faces covered by chequered headdresses, Natwar Singh is also due to based James Creffield, 39, fell from a relatively low height
But he stressed that overall the number of attacks was falling were identified as fighters from the Movement of the Islamic visit Pakistan later next at a former quarry in a nature reserve here on Saturday but
and predicted that election day would mark the insurgents’ swan- Resistance Nuamaan Brigade, apparently named after an ancient month. The two sides have suffered head injuries and died after being rushed to a hos-
song. “Statistics show a significant drop in terrorist acts last month Islamic warrior. been holding official-level pital, the Straits Times said. The computer consultant and
and up until now. What you are seeing now is the terrorists’ last Dressed in winter coats, they looked on and pointed their talks under the banner of what his Singaporean wife were in Krabi, Thailand on December
breath,” he said. weapons at the eight men, who stood silently on a dirt floor out- is called a “composite dia- 26 when waves generated by a massive earthquake off
The electoral commission announced yesterday that Iraq’s land side in front of a cement wall. The hostages held up the picture logue” process, discussing a Indonesia ravaged Thai beaches, but this failed to dent
borders would be closed for three days through the elections to pages of their passports, which showed they were from China’s host of bilateral disputes Creffield’s love for outdoor sports. “On Saturday, it was the
prevent infiltration by militants intent on sabotage.
Meanwhile, insurgents released a video yesterday of eight
southeastern province of Fujian and aged between 17 and 39.
“At a time when the position of the Chinese government
including the core problem of
Kashmir where thousands
perfect day for climbing, so he told me. He was having fun
with his close friends. He was a happy man,” the victim’s
Chinese hostages in Iraq and threatened to kill them in 48 hours
unless the Beijing government clarified their role in the country.
towards our cause was clear — not taking part in invasion forces
and their aggression against our country,” said the voice on the
have died since an Islamic
insurgency broke out against
wife Geetha, a teacher, was quoted as saying at his funeral
on Monday. More than 5,300 people, including at least
China’s Foreign Ministry said it was taking “all measures” to video. — AFP Indian rule in 1989. — AFP 1,765 foreigners, were killed by the tsunami in Thailand.
Overall, the earthquake and tsunami left some 168,000 peo-
ple dead around the Indian Ocean region, mostly in
Indonesia. Britain’s toll of nationals killed or feared dead in

Hamas gives bloody

were awaiting a response
from the Sri Lankan govern-
ment to their overtures made
through peace broker
Norway for working together
on tsunami relief.
Tigers told Canada’s High
Commissioner (ambassador)
Susan Blankhart that they
were willing to begin confi-
dence building measures in
the wake of the December 26
tragedy that killed nearly
31,000 people across the
country.
The rebel Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) met with Blankhart
in the rebel-held town of
Kilinochchi a day after the
group’s supremo Velupillai
Prabhakaran made his first
public appearance since the
disaster.
The Tigers’ political wing
leader S.P. Thamilselvan told
her that they had made the
offer through Norway which
is also sending envoys this
week to try and salvage the
island’s faltering peace bid.
“Demonstration of sincer-
ity, commitment and fairness
should be by actions and not
mere proclamation of intent,”
Thamilselvan said in a refer-
ence to the government’s
own offer earlier to work
with the Tigers. Thamilselvan
made it clear that the deploy-
ment of Sri Lankan troops
for the distribution of relief
in embattled northern and
eastern regions was unac-
ceptable given the history of
the conflict. — AFP
no to truce
GAZA CITY — Hamas served bloody notice of its rejection of the new
Palestinian leadership’s demands for a ceasefire yesterday, killing or wounding
six people in a suicide bombing targeting a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
The attack came hours after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the
territory in preparation for talks with rebel leaders aimed at extracting a truce.
A rival group linked to Abbas’s mainstream Fatah faction swiftly announced
an immediate halt to attacks inside Israel and said it was considering stopping all
assaults against Israelis, even in the occupied territories.
The martyrdom attacker struck at a crossroads close to the Gush Katif settle-
ment bloc in the southern Gaza Strip.
The martyr blew himself up in a building where he was taken to be searched
by soldiers, Israel’s Channel 10 television reported.
The television said the six casualties apart from the bomber were all lightly
hurt but added that they had been evacuated from the scene by helicopter.
It did not specify if they were soldiers or settlers.
Hamas’ military wing put out a statement claiming the attack
and naming the martyr as Omar Salman Tabesh, 21, from nearby Khan Yunis.
Its attack came barely two hours after Abbas arrived in Gaza for the show-
down meeting with fighter groups, including Hamas, on his calls for a demili-
tarisation of the more than four-year-old intifada, or uprising. — AFP
Zhao family forgoes state funeral
BEIJING — The family of purged Communist Party chief Zhao Ziang has
decided to forgo a state funeral, sparing China’s leaders a sensitive decision
whether to hold a high-profile ceremony that they fear could trigger protests.
Zhao, toppled for opposing a military crackdown on protests for democracy
on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, died at 85 in a Beijing hospital on
Monday after suffering multiple strokes.
In a sign of official nervousness that his death could trigger a wave of sym-
pathy, plainclothes police barred his former aide, Bao Tong, from paying his
respects yesterday and tightened security around Tiananmen Square and near
Zhao’s courtyard home, where the deposed leader lived under house arrest for 15
years.
Newspapers relegated Zhao’s death to brief reports on inside pages, reflecting
the concern among China’s leaders that the sensitive mourning period could lead
to an outpouring of public sentiment and spark protests. — Reuters
ICE-HEARTED DAD!
into icy waters of Moskva river during the celebration of Epiphany in Moscow
yesterday. — Reuters
Children crying as their father readies to dip
the Asian disaster stood at 349 on Monday. — AFP
Banker gets death for murder
of wife after affair with actress
DHAKA — A wealthy Bangladeshi banker who murdered
his wife so he could continue an affair with a television
actress has been sentenced to death by a Dhaka court, a
report said yesterday. Azam Reza, 50, showed no emotion as
a judge sentenced him on Monday to hang for the “painful
and deliberate” murder of his wife, the private UNB agency
said. The banker, executive vice-president of Dhaka Bank,
told police his young wife Jayanti had committed suicide
after her body was found hanging from a ceiling fan at their
home last January. But the victim’s mother refused to
believe she had killed herself and filed a case claiming Reza
had murdered her because she was an obstacle to his affair
with model and television actress Afsana Mimi. Mimi, the
victim’s sister-in-law, and a third woman, singer Shampa
Reza, were initially listed as co-accused in the case although
police later decided not to prosecute them due to lack of evi-
dence, UNB said. Medical evidence suggested that Jayanti,
an architect who worked as a teacher at a private school,
died from a blow to the head before her body was suspend-
ed from the ceiling fan, the report added. Lawyers for Reza
said they would file an appeal. — AFP
Around the world in 93
days, or thereabouts
LONDON — An ocean liner that was supposed to have
sailed around the world but has so far made it only around
the Isle of Wight off Britain’s southern coast was scheduled
to weigh anchor at last Tuesday and carry off its 1,752 pas-
sengers for what is being billed as the voyage of a lifetime.
The P & O ship Aurora has been immobilized because of
engine trouble since January 9, and the advertised 103-day
cruise calling in at 40 ports has had to be truncated to 93
days. Despite having nothing more exciting to look at
than the shoreline of Southhampton harbour, all but a
handful of passengers — who have paid between 10,000
pounds ($18,000) and more than 40,000 pounds — have
remained aboard, mollified by free drinks and comic
shows. — AFP