News Headlines ( 21/5/2011)

Netanyahu 'puts foot down' on 1967 borders

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly told President Barack Obama Friday that Israel would never go back to "indefensible" 1967 borders to make peace with the Palestinians.

In a dramatic televised Oval Office appearance, after 90 minutes of one-on-one talks, Netanyahu delivered a lecture to the US president on the history of the Jewish people and their struggle for statehood.

The exchange, which left hopes for new peace talks as remote as ever, came a day after Obama called on Israel to accept a return to territorial lines in place before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with mutual land swaps with Palestinians to frame a secure peace.

But Netanyahu seized on the notion that he was being asked to return solely to Israel's 1967 footprint, which he said was nine miles wide in places and narrower than the "Beltway" highway surrounding Washington.

"While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines -- because these lines are indefensible," Netanyahu said, looking Obama squarely in the eye.

Israelis argue that returning to the former border configuration would leave Israeli population centers vulnerable and mean uprooting hundreds of thousands of settlers from homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu did not however mention the second part of Obama's stipulation -- namely that land swaps between Israel and the Palestinians, would change those 1967 lines to ensure two secure, contiguous states.

The White House insisted that it had never said that Israel should return to a narrow definition of its 1967 territorial lines.

Asked whether Netanyahu was willfully misinterpreting Obama's remarks, White House spokesman Jay Carney said such an observation was "interesting."

In his first reaction to Obama's comments on the border issue, in a major speech on the Middle East on Thursday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said that Obama should press Netanyahu to accept his position.

"Netanyahu's position is an official rejection of Mr Obama's initiative, of international legitimacy and of international law."

Obama admitted that he had Netanyahu had "differences" on language and formulations over the best approach to reviving peace talks stalled since last year, but saw a moment of opportunity amid the "Arab spring."

"I think that it is possible for us to shape a deal that allows Israel to secure itself, not to be vulnerable, but also allows it to resolve what has obviously been a wrenching issue for both peoples for decades now."

Obama also noted that he shared Israel's concerns over Syria and Iran and backed the Israeli position on the tie up between the Palestinian Fatah movement and the Islamist group Hamas.

Netanyahu said Abbas had to pick between Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction and peace, or making peace with Israel.

The Israeli leader then launched into a history lesson of the struggles of the Jewish people, which Obama watched from a nearby chair, his hand over his mouth.

"A peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality," Netanyahu said.

"We don't have a lot of margin for error... because, Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance."

After the talks, a senior Israeli official accused Obama of raising "unreasonable expectations" that could set the peace process back "dozens of years" by seeking a Middle East deal based on the 1967 borders.

"We had to put our foot down," he added.

Analysts said Obama became the first president to specifically state that the 1967 borders should be the basis for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, shut down over a settlements row last year.

US officials had, however, privately been pushing the position for a while and the principle was close to the shape of a failed deal advanced by former president Bill Clinton at Camp David in 2000.

On Sunday, Obama will address the powerful Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) before heading off on a week-long trip to Europe.

Netanyahu will also speak to AIPAC and will make a joint address to Congress next week, encouraged by Republican leaders who support his position.

TEPCO's bumbling president calls it a day

TOKYO, (AFP) - Masataka Shimizu’s resignation as president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company marked an ignominious end to an otherwise stellar career at the utility spanning 43 years.

The 66-year-old announced Friday he would shoulder responsibility for the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as the company booked one of the largest yearly losses in Japanese corporate history.

His decision to quit followed weeks of criticism over his handling of the world's worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl, with detractors accusing him of lacking leadership and the ability to reassure the public over the crisis.

Shimizu joined TEPCO just a month after obtaining his Bachelor of Economics degree from Keio University in March 1968.

A diligent worker whose steel-rimmed spectacles and neat side parting made him look every bit the corporate salaryman, Shimizu quickly rose through the ranks in a tough, competitive environment to become president in 2008.

Natural disasters and financial crisis straddled his tenure; he took the top job just two months after TEPCO posted its first loss in 28 years following an earthquake the previous year that forced it to shut Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world's biggest nuclear plant.

Shimizu oversaw the successful reopening of the plant and can also count among his achievements TEPCO's position as the fourth largest electric utility in the world despite a trend towards deregulation in Japan's electric industry.

But his leadership style often undermined his unquestionable business acumen, with his public comments following a pattern that frustrated observers since the start of the crisis.

In April he shuffled his way excruciatingly through a gruelling press conference in which he repeatedly apologised -- to shareholders, customers and the public -- for the disaster.

But time and again he refused to go into details on when the runaway reactors would be tamed, on what compensation would be available, or on how he might ensure the disaster is not repeated.

Even veteran Japanese journalists used to surviving on scraps of information from venerated company bosses found it too much to cope with.

"I don't quite see why you held this press conference. I don't see what you want to say to whom," one reporter blasted. "You keep saying 'as soon as possible', but that's what a noodle delivery driver would say."

Shimizu has appeared in public only a handful of times since the March 11 tsunami swamped the plant on Japan's northeast coast.

After a brief apology in front of the cameras on March 13, Shimizu took to his sickbed and was not heard of again until he resurfaced for repeat performances on April 11 and May 4 in Fukushima prefecture.

On the second visit he was greeted by angry residents keen to vent their frustrations as he was about to leave a government office.

"Apologise from the bottom of your heart!" a woman demanded. "There are many people who lost jobs due to TEPCO. Did you see dead cows and pigs?"

But his underwhelming performance at the head of one of Japan's biggest companies annoyed not just journalists and members of the public.

"It is the nature of a utility firm that the president does not usually have to make major managerial decisions or changes," said a senior government official, who declined to be named.

"So in the normal course of events, Shimizu probably is a capable man.

"But we are in the middle of an emergency now and it seems to have been difficult for him to take control."

Jonathan drops Akala, Oni, Daniel, Agagu

THE President may have dropped most of the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors and outgoing ones jostling for ministerial jobs, The Nation learnt yesterday.

Some of those affected are Segun Oni, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Ikedi Ohakim, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Olusegun Agagu, Gbenga Daniel and Akwe Doma.

Senate President David Mark and some principal officers of the National Assembly are said to be pushing for Senator Ahmed Makarfi, the former Kaduna Governor who lost his bid to return to the Senate.

But a Deputy Governor seems lucky; she is already slated for a ministerial job because of what sources described as her "loyalty to the PDP" despite being dropped by her boss for a second term ticket.

Some of these ex-governors, who were nominated by some state chapters of the PDP, are banking on "sympathy ministerial concession" from President Goodluck Jonathan.

It was also gathered that the Presidency was displeased with the nomination of some of the former governors as the party structure was "virtually hijacked" to put their names on the list.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the President made up his mind on all the former governors because "security reports" on them were unfavourable.

A top government source, who pleaded not to be named because of what he described as the sensitivity of the matter, said: "The security checks are certainly ongoing, but one thing is clear: the President is not disposed to making these ex-governors ministers.

"The security reports against some of them are unfavourable and the President does not want to start on a controversial note.

"Some of the ex-governors nominated have been investigated by anti-graft agencies and they need to face trial. The President does not want to have ministers who will be distracted by corruption trial.

"Some of the ex-governors and outgoing ones have also attracted controversy, such that they need a well-deserved rest."

"There have been tremendous pressure but Mr. President cannot ignore some of these vital security reports," the source added.

Responding to a question, he said: "A serving Deputy Governor in Imo State is likely to be given the slot for the state for her rare loyalty to the party when she was dropped as a running mate by outgoing Governor Ikedi Ohakim.

"The PDP and the President were personally touched by her humility in the face of all odds."

Another source confirmed that Mark and some principal officers were making a case for Makarfi.

But Vice-President Namadi Sambo may have the final word on the slot.

"In fact, the Presidency may give Kaduna two slots as part of the healing process in the state after post-election violence."

A seven-man panel set up by the Presidency is still evaluating the other candidates.

In all, there are 120 names on the list.

Said the source: "The seven-man committee may complete its assignment on or before Monday. We still have problem with the lists from Osun, Ondo, Gombe Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states.

"In fact, a group has emerged in Lagos, demanding the exclusion of Lagos State from the ministerial appointment, until the party puts its house in order."

Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowers the President to constitute his cabinet.

The Section reads in part: "There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of the Federation as may be established by the President.

"Any appointment to the office of Minister of the Government of the Federation shall, if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President,

"Any appointment under subsection(2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of Section14(3) of this Constitution provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state."

Bomb targets patrols as Boko Haram raid police

KANO, (AFP) - A bomb went off Thursday wounding five soldiers and policemen just hours after a gang of suspected Islamists raided a police station in Maiduguri, officials said.

The explosion occured in Maiduguri, the capital city of  Borno State, where a radical sect known as Boko Haram has been active in recent years.

"There was a bomb blast early this morning ...targeting a joint police and military patrol in which three soldiers and two policemen were wounded," Zakari Adamu, Borno's assistant police commissioner, told AFP.

Adamu said suspected Boko Haram members planted a remote-controlled bomb targeting the patrol squad. The five were hit by shrapnel after the bomb was detonated a few metres from their patrol van.

Emergency agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib spoke of "multiple bomb blasts at three different locations in Borno state." But police were unable to confirm the other bomb attacks.

The attack came after an overnight raid on a police station in the same city by a "large number of gunmen" suspected to be Boko Haram members, said Borno police commissioner Mohamed Jinjiri Abubakar.

Details of casualties from the police attack were not immediately available.

In yet another attack, a policeman was ambushed and killed Wednesday while on his way home. Two civilians caught in crossfire, also died, he said.

Police have blamed the sect for series of bomb attacks and also shootings especially in Borno's capital Maiduguri in recent months.

Most of the attacks have targeted military and police personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians.

Boko Haram, a local dialect translating to 'western education is sin', launched a short-lived uprising in parts of the north in 2OO9 in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state.

It was crushed in a brutal military crackdown that saw hundreds of people killed -- many of them sect members -- and its headquarters and mosque destroyed in Maiduguri, where most of the violence has occurred.

Strauss-Kahn set to be released on bail

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was set to be freed on bail within hours Friday under armed guard and placed on house arrest, after a US judge approved his release.

Strauss-Kahn, who has been charged with sexually assaulting a chambermaid, would be released from the notorious Rikers Island jail on Friday "between 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) and 12:00 (0400 GMT)," the official bondsman said.

The judge has ordered the 62-year-old veteran French politician to be housed in a home detention location in downtown Manhattan, close to Ground Zero.

The new arrangement was made after plans for him to live under round-the-clock surveillance in a plush apartment rented by his wife, Anne Sinclair, reportedly fell through when residents in the complex objected.

Defense lawyer William Taylor confirmed the earlier plan for the former IMF chief to live in the apartment had been changed.

"The reason why they changed plans is because the media invaded the first place," Taylor said, after a hastily called court hearing to detail the new arrangements to the judge.

Earlier a media pack had gathered outside the glitzy-looking Bristol Plaza on East 65th Street in Manhattan, which several reports said had been rented by Sinclair.

Judge Michael Obus accepted $1 million bail in cash and signed off on a $5 million insurance bond for Strauss-Kahn, who is facing trial for the alleged sexual assault of a Guinean chambermaid in a Manhattan hotel on Saturday.

Strauss-Kahn, who has spent the last four nights inside Rikers Island jail, has also agreed to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, and submit all his travel documents.

The New York Post reported he was expected to live in a corporate housing suite belonging to the security firm Stroz Friedberg.

But the company refused to comment to AFP. "Stroz Friedberg has no comment to issue at this time," said Pamela Siegel, chief marketing officer.

At least 34 killed in protests across Syria

DAMASCUS, (AFP) - Syrian security forces shot dead at least 34 people Friday, including a child, as pro-democracy protests swept the country, with demonstrators pressing on with calls for more freedom in defiance of a fierce crackdown, activists said.

In Washington US President Barack Obama piled pressure on Syria, saying it was of "acute concern" for Washington and Israel -- days after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and key aides were hit by US sanctions.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency and rights watchdog Human Rights Watch expressed concern about an influx of Syrians who have fled to neighbouring Lebanon to escape the violence at home.

The child was among 12 people killed in the central city of Homs. Another 15 died in the town of Maaret al-Naaman, located near the western city of Idlib, the activists said.

They said two people were also killed in the southern region of Daraa, epicentre of protests that have gripped Syria since March 15, one in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, one in the port city of Latakia, two in the eastern town of Deir Ezzor and one in the central town of Hama.

"The victims in Maaret al-Naaman were gunned down at the entrance of the city where many people were converging from other nearby towns to join the protest," an activist said.

Another activist in Homs said security services stormed a local hospital and carried away several wounded people along with the body of a victim.

State television blamed the violence on armed gangs which, it said, had opened fire on civilians and security forces in the region of Idlib and on the outskirts of Homs, resulting in unspecified casualties.

Assad's government has blamed the violence on "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.

Protests were also reported in several other towns across Syria, including in Damascus where an activist said security forces quickly dispersed a rally outside a mosque.

In the mainly Kurdish region of Ain Arab, near the northern city of Aleppo, hundreds took to the streets holding olive branches and chanting "No to violence, yes to dialogue," said Radif Mustapha, head of a Kurdish rights group reached by telephone.

"No one is calling for the downfall of the regime," he said, as protesters could be overheard shouting "azadi, azadi," or freedom in Kurdish.

In Banias, thousands of men, women and children marched, with many of the men bare-chested to show proof they were unarmed, Rami Abdel Rahman, of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

The accounts could not be independently verified as foreign journalists are prevented from travelling in the country to report on protests challenging Assad's authoritarian regime.

In a keynote Thursday speech on the Middle East, Obama urged Assad to lead a political transition or "get out of the way."

"President Assad now has a choice," said Obama, whose government this week imposed sanctions on Assad and key aides.

"The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests."

Damascus defiantly rejected the warning.

"Obama is inciting violence when he says that Assad and his regime will face challenges from the inside and will be isolated on the outside if he fails to adopt democratic reforms," the official news agency SANA said.

Obama renewed the pressure on Friday during talks with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, outlining the US sanctions against Damascus and saying Syria's actions was an "acute concern" for Israel and the United States.

Western powers were initially hesitant to criticise Assad's regime due to Syria's strategic importance in the region and fears of possible civil war if the regime were to collapse.

More than 850 people have been killed and thousands arrested since the protests began in mid-March, according to human rights groups and the United Nations.

The UN refugee agency said Friday that some 1,400 Syrians fled to Lebanon last week alone to escape the violence at home.

"Most of the people who have crossed the border in recent weeks are women and children. In addition to their immediate need for food, shelter and medical help, they also need psycho-social support," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said in Geneva.

Human Rights Watch said Lebanon should grant asylum to Syrians fleeing the unrest instead of detaining them "and above all refrain from deporting them back" to their country.

"Lebanon's security forces should stop detaining Syrian refugees who cross the border into Lebanon to escape violence and persecution in their country," the New York-based rights group said.

Reports from Lebanon say at least 5,000 refugees have entered the country from Syrian border villages in recent weeks.

Rare support for Syria came Friday from Venezuela where President Hugo Chavez described Assad as his "brother" and said Syria is the "victim of a fascist attack."

English FA to abstain in FIFA vote

LONDON, (AFP) The English Football Association (FA) is to abstain from voting in the upcoming FIFA presidential election between Sepp Blatter and Mohamed Bin Hammam, it was announced Thursday.

FA chairman David Bernstein said in a statement there were a "range of issues" which made it "difficult" to vote for incumbent Blatter or Asian football chief Bin Hammam.

"The FA Board has today agreed to abstain in the vote for the Presidency of FIFA," Bernstein said.

"There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of The FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.

"The FA values its relationships with its international football partners extremely highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both UEFA and FIFA.

"We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football."

English officials expressed outrage after their bid for the 2018 World Cup ended in humiliation last December, garnering just two votes to be removed in the first round before Russia went on to win.

Since then a British parliamentary inquiry has heard testimony from former English FA chairman David Triesman alleging FIFA voters demanded bribes and favours in the bidding contest for the 2018 World Cups.

Officials from England's Premier League were believed to have argued in favour of a vote for Bin Hammam.

Bandits raid four banks, snatch N84 million

Hell broke loose in Delta State yesterday, when robbers, armed with explosives and sophisticated rifles, raided four banks and escaped with about N84 million.

The bandits, who expended over 2,000 rounds of ammunition, killed two persons and injured eight in the broad daylight robbery, in Kwale and Amai, Ndokwa Local Government Area of the state.

According to eyewitnesses, the bandits were up to 25 in number.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mamman Ibrahin Tsafe, confirmed that the robbers stormed the localities about 2.30 p.m., with sophisticated weapons, one Toyota Camry, and a Toyota 4-Runner Jeep.

Tsafe, who briefed journalists at the command headquarters in Asaba, yesterday, listed the banks as Zenith, Unity, Oceanic and Skye.

He said that the police gunned down two members of the gang in Amai and Nsukwa, after they successfully raided Skye Bank branch at Amai.

About N4.7 million was recovered from the gang.

Tsafe said: “The command swiftly mobilised patrol teams, ambushed the robbers along Amai and Nsukwa roads, confronted and dislodged them; one of them was gunned down in Amai, and another in Nsukwa; while others retreated, abandoning the vehicles they came in.”

According to him, one Delta City Bus marked DT 753 A28 and a Toyota Space Wagon (FU 87 ABJ), and their weapons were recovered.

He regretted that the bandits killed two persons and injured eight others while they were fighting to escape.

He listed other items recovered from the hoodlums as: three AK 47 rifles, 20 AK 47 live ammunition, 38 empty magazines, a dynamite, N4.65 million cash, two wrist watches, black Toyota Camry car (AJ 86 AHD), Toyota 4-Runner (EM 704 BEN), Toyota Sienna Space Wagon, Delta Line bus, 2000 expended ammunition, expended explosives and dynamites.

Meanwhile, the command has declared 25 persons wanted in connection with incessant mysterious killings in Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.

Tsafe added that ritual killings, in the locality, has become worrisome, as he vowed that he would reward handsomely anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.

In the last one year, over 50 persons have been killed in their farms, with their private parts, eyes, breasts, or fingers missing.