8 œ theSun | WEDNESDAY JULY 29 2009

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Toxic chemical found in killer
Bangladeshi paracetamol
DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities said yesterday they had
found traces of a toxic chemical in paracetamol syrup
believed to have killed two dozen children in the past six
weeks. Health Minister A.F.M Ruhul Haq said investigators
had found diethyl glycol in the locally produced syrup.
“We conducted two tests on the paracetamol syrup and
each time we found diethyl glycol. It’s a toxic chemical used
in the textile and leather dyeing industries. It damages your
kidneys if you consume it,” said the minister.
Haq said instead of mixing the paracetamol with pro-
pylene glycol the drug maker added the toxic industrial
chemical because it is ten times cheaper. – AFP
Two found guilty of
starting Corsican blazes
PARIS: Two ranchers have been found guilty of starting
some of the fires presently plaguing the Mediterranean
island of Corsica, broadcaster France Info reported on
Monday. The two men, aged 21 and 24, told the court
they were drunk when they started the fire by the side
of the road. One was sentenced to eight months in jail,
the other to two years. They will also be required to pay
compensation to those who suffered losses in the fires.
Eight suspected arsonists have been arrested since
Megawati challenges vote result
JAKARTA: Indonesian opposition leader
Megawati Sukarnoputri launched a Con-
stitutional Court challenge yesterday to
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s
re-election victory.
The daughter of independence hero
Sukarno has refused to accept the results
of the July 8 polls, which she lost in a land-
slide to ex-general Susilo, just as she lost
the previous election to him in 2004.
“First, we want a second-round presi-
dential election run-off or at least SBY has
to bring back the people’s trust by com-
peting in the run-off with us,” Megawati’s
legal advisor Arteria Dahlan said, using
Susilo’s nickname.
“Second, if that’s not granted, then we
want the vote to be counted again across
Indonesia.
“Third, we have proof that there were
problems in 25 provinces, so we want the
presidential election to be held again in
those 25 provinces.”
Ex-president Megawati, 62, also com-
REUTERSPIX
plained about irregularities before April
general elections which were deemed valid
and which saw Susilo’s centrist Democrat
Party triple its vote to become the strongest
group in parliament.
Ahead of the presidential polls she com-
plained about inaccurate voter lists and
missing polling stations, and suggested the
Democrats were trying to rig the ballot.
She accepted a Constitutional Court
ruling two days before the election which
allowed people to vote with their identity
cards, in a bid to solve the problem of in-
complete voter lists.
But Arteria said the election commission
(KPU) had been negligent and accused it of
organising the polls poorly.
“What we are after is the KPU itself.
What we criticise is the KPU’s neglect that
has impacted on our vote,” he said.
Official results announced by the KPU
on Saturday gave Susilo 60.8% of the vote,
far ahead of Megawati with 26.8% and Vice
President Jusuf Kalla with 12.4%.
But Megawati believes she has won
35.09% compared to 48.7% for Susilo, close
enough to force the pair to contest a run-off
in September, her chief legal advisor Gayus
Lumbuun said.
Kalla has also challenged the results at
the Constitutional Court, saying millions of
people were left off the official voter lists.
He said his challenge was about protect-
ing the future of democracy in a country
that emerged from 32 years of dictatorship
only 11 years ago.
“It’s not a matter of winning or losing,”
Antara news agency quoted him as saying
at an event at his Makassar residence called
“JK goes home – JK hero of democracy”.
“The principle is that this nation must
progress properly, honestly and democrati-
cally, because the democratic process must
be implemented correctly and fairly.”
World leaders have congratulated Susilo
on his re-election, including US President
Barack Obama, who described the vote as
“free and fair”. – AFP

the start of fire season on the island. A 68-year-old hotel

worker has also been charged for starting a forest fire
after burning some garbage. – dpa

Khamenei orders closure

of Iran jail holding protesters
TEHERAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has
ordered a jail holding protesters detained after last month’s
election to close as it is not up to required standards, a top
official said yesterday.
“The supreme leader has issued a strict order to ensure
that there is no injustice committed against anyone in the
aftermath of the recent events,” the secretary of Iran’s
National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, said in a statement
carried on the state-run English language channel Press TV.
“As an example, he has ordered the closure of a deten-
tion centre which was not up to required standards.” Jalili
did not specify the location of the jail. – AFP
Mother sentenced to jail for
allowing husband to cane son
SINGAPORE: A Singapore court yesterday sentenced a
mother to nine months in jail for allowing her husband to
give her 10-year-old son 100 strokes of the cane as a punish-
ment for lying, media reports said.
The 39-year-old woman, who was not identified to pro-
tect the boy’s identity, handed her husband two rattan canes
and told him to punish her son after the boy supposedly
lied about a test at school. The 10-year-old boy suffered
multiple bruises and marks on his arms, back and buttocks.
Having viewed the photographs of the boy’s injuries, the
judge described the punishment by the stepfather as horrific
and cruel, according to the report. – dpa
Locals and
British
soldiers join
forces as
they repair
a Warrior
armoured
vehicle’s
track during
Operation
“Panther’s
Claw” on
Monday.
Britain ends Afghanistan offensive
LONDON: Britain announced the
end of a bloody offensive against
the Taliban in Afghanistan, as a poll
showed yesterday that most Britons
think military operations there are
“unwinnable.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
praised the “heroic” efforts of Brit-
ish forces in the southern Helmand
province, where the troop death toll
has surged since the assault was
launched late last month.
Brown claimed success in Opera-
tion Panther’s Claw in the province, as
officials announced the end of the first
phase of the offensive, with troops
now focusing on holding ground and
then bringing development to the
province.
“The efforts of our troops in Hel-
mand have been nothing short of
heroic,” Brown said.
The comments on Monday came
as two British soldiers were killed in
the region, taking the death toll since
operations began in Afghanistan in
late 2001 to 191, higher than the
number in Iraq.
The surge in troop deaths has
sparked a political row over proper
resources for troops, with Brown
forced to defend Britain’s strategy
in Afghanistan, following calls for
more equipment and boosted soldier
numbers.
According to a poll in the Independ-
ent newspaper yesterday, more than
half of Britons now think military
operations in Afghanistan are “un-
winnable” and want troops should be
withdrawn immediately.
The poll showed 58% of respond-
ents see the offensive against the
Taliban as a lost cause. Only 31%
disagree, according to the poll con-
ducted for the newspaper between
July 24 and 26. Of the 1,008 Britons
polled, 52% want the troops out while
43% want them to stay put.
Britain has around 9,150 troops
in Afghanistan, the majority fighting
militants in troubled Helmand.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband
on Monday sought to reassure his
compatriots about British operations
and urged Nato allies to carry more
of the burden.
“The biggest shift must now be
towards the Afghan state taking more
responsibility,” Miliband said in a
speech at the Nato headquarters in
Brussels.
He also warned Afghan leaders
that their next government must do
more to defeat the Taliban and drive a
wedge between the insurgents. – AFP

Thousands shelter in barracks after Nigeria unrest

MAIDUGURI (Nigeria): Thousands of
Nigerians sheltered in barracks in the
northern city of Maiduguri yesterday
after days of clashes involving Muslim
rebels which have killed at least 150
people across four states.
Members of a local rebel group have
burned churches, police stations and a
prison and set off petrol bombs near resi-
dential areas in the unrest. Local police
said 103 people, most of them rioters,
had been killed in Maiduguri alone.
The rioters are supporters of radical
preacher Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the
Boko Haram group who opposes Western
education.
Locals say Yusuf’s followers are largely
illiterate youths and jobless students who
have quit their university education in
support of his anti-establishment preach-
ings, but they say his views are rejected
by most of the city’s Muslim leaders.
“We do not believe in Western educa-
tion. It corrupts our ideas and beliefs,” a
senior member of the group, Abdulmuni
Ibrahim Mohammed, told Reuters.
The latest unrest was triggered when
some members of Boko Haram were
arrested in Bauchi state. Violence then
spread to the states of Kano, Yobe and
Borno, of which Maiduguri is the capital.
“When we heard shooting and saw
people running we just packed the family
and joined them,” said Sunny Nwankwo,
a journalist who fled to one of two bar-
racks in Maiduguri sheltering thousands
of civilians.
Residents said youths armed with
machetes, knives, bows and arrows, lo-
cally made hunting rifles and home-made
explosives had attacked police buildings
and anyone resembling a police officer or
government official, causing hundreds of
families to flee.
Streets around Maiduguri’s main
market and some residential areas in the
Lamisula neighbourhood were deserted.
Isa Azare, spokesman for Maiduguri
police command, said 90 of the rioters as
well as eight police officers, three prison
officials and two soldiers had been killed.
“I saw more than five big police trucks
loaded with bodies but from the look of
things the police and the military are in
control of the situation because since this
morning there has been relative calm,” lo-
cal resident Gana Marari said. – Reuters