8 theSun | WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4 2009

news without borders

China World leaders urge Karzai

experiments
with molecular
cuisine
to wipe out corruption
KABUL: President Hamid chief Ban Ki-moon led world he had told Karzai in a tel- insurgency.
Karzai prepared for a second powers in congratulating ephone call. UN chief Ban met Karzai
term of office yesterday Karzai. Karzai “assured me that and Abdullah amid a concert-
BEIJING: Chinese cuisine, famous for dump- with US President Barack But the US president he understood the impor- ed diplomatic push to bring a
lings steamed in bamboo baskets and Peking Obama telling him to wipe said he had told his op- tance of this moment but ... quick end to chaos that has
duck slow-cooked over wood from fruit trees, out corruption and world posite number to make “a the truth is not going to be undermined Western efforts
seems a far cry from the high-tech equipment Supporters leaders urging him to unify much more serious effort to in words, it’s going to be in to cultivate democracy in
used in so-called molecular cuisine. of Karzai Afghanistan. eradicate corruption” while deeds,” Obama added. Afghanistan eight years after
But Dong Zhenxiang, owner of the Da in Herat, Karzai was declared calling for a “new chapter” Earlier the White House a US-led invasion.
Dong restaurant in Beijing which is a leader western president for another five in cooperation between the declared it would begin “hard IEC chief Azizullah Lu-
of the trendy culinary movement here, says Afghanistan, years after the cancellation two countries. conversations” with the new din, a Karzai appointee who
fresh techniques can only improve traditional share of a run-off by the country’s “This has to be point in president, with Obama ex- oversaw a fraud-riddled first
Chinese cooking. sweets election commission, which time in which we begin to pected to make a decision on round, said the decision had
“Importing new cooking skills is aimed at after he was followed the withdrawal at write a new chapter based whether to deploy thousands been made in line with the
improving, enriching and promoting Chinese declared the weekend of his only chal- on improved governance,” more troops “in the coming provisions of Afghan elec-
cuisine. Molecular gastronomy is only one of president for lenger, Abdullah Abdullah. Obama said weeks”. toral law and constitution
those skills,” said Dong, whose establishment another term Obama and UN Former foreign min- and was “consistent with the
also serves platter upon platter of classic roast on Monday. ister Abdullah Abdullah high interest of the Afghan
duck. quit the contest on Sun- people”.
Molecular cuisine, a phrase ascribed to a day, saying there were British Prime Minister
scientific approach to gastronomy, seeks to no safeguards against Gordon Brown, whose
investigate and explain the chemical reasons a repeat of widespread country is the second biggest
behind the transformation of ingredients. fraud that resulted in contributor of foreign troops
The trend was on full view when hundreds the throwing out of in Afghanistan, telephoned
crammed into a chic Beijing art gallery for dem- nearly a quarter of Karzai to urge him to plot a
onstrations given by chef Albert Adria of elBulli, votes cast in August. course of national unity.
the Spanish restaurant seen as the world leader Karzai’s anointment Nato powers France and
in the molecular cuisine movement. by the Independent Germany urged Karzai to
“It is amazing. We got 13,000 emails for this Election Commission work with his defeated rival
event,” said Irish chef Brian McKenna, who followed intense dip- to end the political strife.
organised the two classes in Beijing’s trendy lomatic pressure and Congratulations also
798 district, as well as a dinner staged by Da sought to draw a line came from Pakistan and
Dong which wrapped up at the weekend. under two months Russia, which said the elec-
“There is a passion for cooking here that is of political chaos in tion had “opened the way
incredible,” Adria said. a war-torn nation for the formation of the new
Fu Yongjun, a cooking consultant for Unilever where 100,000 Nato national government, whose
Foodsolutions who was one of the hundreds to and US troops are great task is the problem of
see Adria in action in Beijing, eagerly snapped battling an increas- stabilising conditions in the
EPAPIC

photos of his kitchen acrobatics. ingly violent Taliban country.” – AFP

“I am very interested in molecular gastron-
omy. I think this is a high standard in Western
food – very fresh and secret,” Fu said.
But Adria, whose Costa Brava restaurant
in April was crowned best in the world for the
fourth year running by Restaurant Magazine,
bristled at the label “molecular cuisine” for his
innovative work.
“That is a label they have stuck on me,” he
said. “I don’t cook ‘molecular’ – I know what I’m
doing and I want to make wonderful dishes.”
– AFP
US to push Myanmar for free, fair elections
YANGON: A delegation of senior
US officials arrived in Myanmar
yesterday for Washington’s high-
est-level talks with the reclusive
military regime in 14 years.
The Obama administration’s
move to engage the junta appears
focused on pushing for free and
fair elections next year, although
analysts say the rapprochement
is as much about geopolitics and
the growing regional influence of
China.
Assistant Secretary of State
Kurt Campbell leads the delega-
tion meeting the junta in its new
capital Naypyidaw before travel-
ling to Yangon for talks with de-
tained Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi and her National League
for Democracy (NLD) party.
Campbell is due to meet Suu
Kyi, who has spent 14 of the last
20 years in some form of deten-
tion, today.
The United States has said little
ahead of the two-day visit, widely
seen as exploratory dialogue to
see how sincere the notoriously
distrustful generals are about
democratic reforms.
“The US wants to suss out
whether or not they have a
genuine dialogue partner,” said
Sean Turnell, a Myanmar analyst
at Australia’s Macquarie Univer-
sity.
“The overtures towards warm-
ing ties with the US have come
from officials lower down and the
US is trying to get a feel of how
committed the generals are.”
Campbell met Myanmar’s
minister of science, technol-
ogy and labour in New York
in September after Washington
announced it would pursue
deeper engagement to try to spur
democratic reform.
Campbell has rejected calls by
critics to ease restrictions on trade
and investment in the former
Burma, insisting dialogue would
“supplement rather than replace
the sanctions regime”.
A government source in
Naypyidaw said Campbell, the
highest-ranking US official to
visit Myanmar since Madeleine
Albright in 1995, was expected to
meet with government ministers
and senior junta figures, includ-
ing Prime Minister Thein Sein.
“But he’s not likely to meet the
senior general,” said the source,
referring to Than Shwe, the junta
supremo who has led the country
for the last 17 years.
Critics of the regime say it
could be using the US visit for
its own gain, to try to give le-
gitimacy to its democratic “road
map” and show key ally China,
its economic lifeline, that it is not
its only friend.
Than Shwe’s snub is be-
ing seen as an indicator of the
generals’ commitment towards
reforms and a sign of whether
the US engagement can really be
effective.
Thakhin Chan Tun, a retired
diplomat commented on the new
development: “We can’t expect
any tangible immediate results ...
Than Shwe is the one who makes
all the decisions on all important
policy issues.” – Reuters

briefs spiracy to provide material support

Singaporean faces
US trial over Tamil
Tigers arms case
SINGAPORE: A Singaporean
opposition party member will be
extradited to the United States and
tried for allegedly trying to supply
arms to Sri Lanka’s defeated Tamil
Tiger rebels, officials here said
yesterday.
Businessman Balldev Naidu, 47,
is facing six charges including con-
to a foreign terrorist organisation
and possession of a firearm in
2006, a court official said.
The Singapore Police said Naidu
was arrested on Sept 22 following
a US extradition request.
He is alleged to have conspired
with another Singaporean, Haniffa
Osman, now serving a 37-month US
jail term, for trying to buy weapons
for the Tamil Tigers, who were
routed by Sri Lankan troops in May,
the Straits Times reported.
The newspaper added that the
US charges correspond to Singa-
pore’s laws against financing of
terrorist groups. – AFP
Largest, most
expensive cruise ship
almost ready
HELSINKI: A thin layer of ice
covers the teak wood deck of
the cruise ship Oasis of the
Seas at the moment. But the
cold weather is just one of the
challenges a visitor will need to
overcome if they want to visit
the vessel.
But the later this month the
flagship of the cruise company
Royal Caribbean International
should be ready to set sail. On
that day the world will have a
few more superlatives: Never
before has there been a cruise
ship as large and as expensive
to build as the Oasis. Right now
construction and fitting out of
the US$1.4 billion (RM4.9 billion)
vessel is underway at the Aker
shipyard in Turku, Finland.
Over 2,000 people are
working on the 360m-long and
71m-wide ship. It boasts of the
biggest freshwater swimming
pool at sea, 24 restaurants and
a park area the size of two foot-
ball pitches. The ship can take up
to 6,296 passengers and 2,160
crew. The Oasis will begin its
maiden voyage to the Caribbean
on Dec 1. – dpa