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Didier David

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• Publié par: uhezyxuk
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• Langue: Français

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INTERNATIONAL

France

Strauss-Kahn charged

Arrest wrecks poll prospects PARIS, May 15, (Agencies): Dominique StraussKahn’s arrest on sexual assault charges removes the toughest rival to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the 2012 presidential race, bumping up his chances of re-election to a sec- ond term. News of the charges against the IMF chief for assaulting a New York hotel maid shocked the world on Sunday, and unless the case unravels fast and shows him to be innocent, few can imagine a dis- graced Strauss-Kahn running as the left-wing chal- lenger. The former finance minis- ter will plead not guilty to charges of car- rying out a criminal sexu- al act, attempted rape and unlawful Kahn imprisonment. French offi- cials say he must be presumed innocent unless proven guilty. But even if he is ultimately cleared, the case — and the sordid publicity it will bring — could eas- ily run on well beyond the Socialist Party’s autumn selection contest. Serious The charges of serious crimes mean Strauss-Kahn’s reputation will not be spared by the French culture of ignoring the sexual behaviour of politicians, as it was in 2008 when he emerged unscathed from a scandal over an affair with an IMF economist. “It’s too early to know what hap- pened, but if things are confirmed then this is way beyond what we tolerate in France,” said Paul Bacot, a political affairs professor at Sciences Po university in Lyon. “It’s unbearable, for everybody.” French politicians were shocked. Socialist leader Martine Aubry called the news a “thunderbolt”. Francois Bayrou, a centrist oppo- nent of Strauss-Kahn, said: “If the facts prove true ... it’s something degrading for all women. It’s terri- ble for the image of France.” Removal Removal of the man opinion polls rank as front-runner in the April 2012 race would be a boon for Sarkozy, who is stuck with rock-bottom poll ratings. Other potential Socialist challengers to Sarkozy, such as Aubry and veteran deputy Francois Hollande, have much less weighty profiles. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told The Associated Press that his client will plead not guilty at his expected Sunday afternoon arraignment. “He denies all the charges against him,” said Brafman, one of the city’s most high-profile defense attorneys whose clients have included mobsters and such celebri- ties as Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Jay-Z and pro football star Plaxico Burress. “And that’s all I can really say right now.” Strauss-Kahn’s wife Anne Sinclair said on Sunday she had no doubt he would be proved innocent of sexual assault charges made against him in New York following an alleged incident involving a hotel maid. “I do not believe for a single sec- ond the accusations levelled against my husband,” Sinclair said in a statement. “I do not doubt his innocence will be established. I appeal for restraint and decency,” she said. A Frenchgovernment minister said Sunday he could not rule out that IMF head Dominique Strauss- Kahn’s arrest for alleged sexual assault was the result of a set-up with political motives. “We cannot rule out the thought of a trap,” Henri de Raincourt, min- ister for overseas cooperation in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s govern- ment, said in a broadcast interview. “I refuse to have a personal opin- ion and say, ‘Yes it was a trap,’ or ‘No, it wasn’t a trap.’I don’t know,” he said. “I note that this has happened just after the affair of the car and the suit in a short space of time,” he added, referring to political sniping at the Socialist presidential hopeful for using a Porsche and wearing a tailor-made suit. “I am not ruling anything out,” Raincourt added. Scandalous news of the arrest chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn accused of allegedly sexually assaulting a chambermaid in New York was splashed across the front pages of American newspapers Sunday. Reports that the jet-setting, high- flying Frenchman had been charged with attempted rape jostled for space with domestic news such as the Louisiana flooding, and was perfect fodder for the salacious New York tabloids. See Also Page 35

ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011 17

A storage container called ‘megafloat’ is pulled by a barge as it sails towards Fukushima in Uraga Channel at the southern end ofTokyo Bay, May 15. It will be used to store a large volume of radioactive-contaminated water from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. (AP)

A protester holds up a placard as he joins others in an anti-nuclear power plant demonstration in Tokyo on May 15, in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis. (AFP)

Kim

Asia

Lee

‘Seoul invents stories’: North Korea accused South Korea whose president is Lee MyungbakSunday of inventing alle- gations against it to raise tension and repeated denials of involvement in a deadly ship sinking and a damaging cyber-attack on a bank. “We strongly urge the group of traitors to own responsibility for faking up the conspira- torial farces doing harm to the fellow coun- trymen and make an official apology before the nation,” the North’s top leadership body the National Defence Commission (NDC) said, referring to the South’s leaders. The North has repeatedly denied involvement in the sinking of a South Korean warship near the disputed sea border in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives. Last week its defence ministry also denied carrying out a cyber-attack on one of South Korea’s largest banks in April, calling the allegations “absurd” and a “farce”. South Korean prosecutors say the North brought down the computer system of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation by hacking into an official’s laptop and operating it remotely as a “zom- bie computer”. Sunday’s NDC statement via the North’s official news agency repeated those denials. The South, citing a multinational inves- tigation, said a North Korean torpedo sank the warship and put what it said was a sal- vaged portion of the torpedo on display. The North said its neighbour cooked up the story as part of what it calls a policy of confrontation designed to ensure a continu- ing US military presence. The NDC, which is chaired by leader Kim JongIl, said the cyber-attack claim followed recriminations between Seoul’s presidential palace and the ruling party over a by-election setback.(AFP) ❑ ❑❑ Bid to affect market sentiment: A South Korean man staged two minor bomb attacks with homemade explosives in Seoul last week in an attempt to cash in on stock investments by affecting market sentiment, police said Sunday. The 43-year-old man surnamed Kim, arrested in connection with bomb blasts in Seoul train station and at an express bus

Japan

Govt tells people to leave plant zone Japan ‘widens’ evacuations TOKYO, May 15, (Agencies): Japan on Sunday started the first evacuations ‘Customers buy our works to cheer us up’ of homes outside a government exclu- sion zone after the March 11 earth- quake and tsunami crippled one of the Quake-hit pottery town picking up pieces country’s nuclear power plants. Some 4,000 residents of Iidate- mura village as well as 1,100 people in MASHIKO, Japan, May 15, (AFP):for an annual spring pottery fair,Mashiko potters’cooperative Kawamata-cho town, in the quake-hit Japan’s massive earthquakeMashiko’s biggest money-spinner.union. “But the big turnout has northeast, began the phased reloca- crushed many of Mashiko’s ancientTheir fans came in droves —encouraged the potteries to go on.” tions to public housing, hotels and pottery kilns and left its world-468,000 people flocked to a recentMashiko, long known for its utili- other facilities in nearby cities. famous ceramics in shards, but twoseven-day fair, despite the lingeringtarian ceramics such as water jars Their communities are outside the months on, its craftsmen are pick-fears of many of radiation waftingand charcoal braziers, was put on 20-kilometre radius from the ing up the pieces.from the tsunami-crippledthe world map of pottery by the late Fukushima Daiichi power plant, offi- Fukushima nuclear plant 130 kilo-master Shoji Hamada, who settledThe picturesque town, as rustic cially designated as an area of forced metres (80 miles) away.there in 1930 and died in 1978.as the ceramics it has fired for gen- evacuation due to health risks from the However, the potters found thatThe turnout during the string oferations, was shaken hard by the radiation seeping from the ageing and many buyers had not forgotten them.holidays, although 20 percentMarch 11 quake, but now the potters of Mashiko are seeing a silver liningbelow last year’s, far exceeded the“I felt many customers came and damaged plant. despite continuing aftershocks.300,000 visitors the town tourismbought our works to cheer us up,” The government told people in Workers from the 300-plus stu-office had expected.said Tomoo Hamada, a grandson communities such as Iidate-mura they dios in this rural town cleared“Many of us could not bakeof the master potter. Shoji Hamada had to leave, but authorities are unlike- through the rubble to salvageenough (ceramics), because thewas designated as a “living nation- ly to punish those who choose to stay. unbroken works and rushed to cre-aftershocks have continued,” saidal treasure” by the Japanese gov- “I am sure all of you have lived in ate new ones in the surviving kilnsSusumu Kamiya, the head of theernment in 1955. Iidate-mura all your life and never moved,” mayor Norio Kanno told a group of residents preparing to leave Electric Power Co (TEPCO), wasming pool-sized pond of radioactive“We want to preserve the timetable, their homes. heavily damaged by the record 9.0- water in the basement of a unit crippledbut at the same time we’re going to magnitude earthquake and ensuingby the March earthquake and tsunami.have to change our approach,” Goshi Future tsunami, which sparked the world’sThe discovery has forced officials toHosono, an adviser to Prime Minister “Considering the future of our chil- worst atomic crisis in 25 years.abandon their original plan to bringNaoto Kan, told a television talk show dren and young people, as well as the Chubu Electric Power Co said allunder control the No. 1 reactor at theon Sunday. health of our village residents, we reactors at its ageing Hamaoka nuclearFukushima Daiichi plant as they focusIn another development, a govern- have no choice but to go ahead with power plant entered into a state ofon how to deal with the rising pool thatment body conducted analyses on the the village-wide evacuation,” he said. “cold shutdown” Sunday.some experts see as a threat to ground- damage tsunamis of various scale “I will do whatever I can so that you Seismologists have long warnedwater and the Pacific coast.would inflict on a nuclear power plant, will be able to return home as soon as that a major earthquake is overdue inDespite the setback, Japaneseaccording to documents made public possible.” The first batch of evacuees the Tokai region southwest of Tokyonuclear safety officials and the plant’son Sunday, adding to allegations that were mostly those with small children where the Hamaoka plant is located. operator, Tokyo Electric PowerJapan and its largest utility failed to and pregnant women, who are consid- Kan said the plant should stay shut(TEPCO), plan to stick to a target ofheed warnings. ered more vulnerable. until a higher sea wall is built andstabilising the plant and bringing itsThe latest revelation, reported by Although Iidate-mura and Kawamata- other measures are taken to guard itreactors to a state of “cold shutdown”the Mainichi daily, emerged as the cho are 30 kilometres (20 miles) away against a major quake and tsunami.by January.government prepares to help Tokyo from the plant, they have consistently Meanwhile, Japanese officials areAt that point, the fuel at the core ofElectric Power (TEPCO) compensate received high amounts of radioactive readying a new approach to coolingthe reactors would have dropped invictims of the crisis at the tsunami- materials due to wind patterns. reactors at the Fukushima nuclear planttemperature and no longer be capable crippled nuclear Fukushma Daiichi The plant, operated by Tokyo after discovering an Olympic swim-of boiling the surrounding water.plant.

terminal Thursday, invested in financial products that allow him to gain when mar- kets fall, police said. “He invested 50 million won ($46,000) this month...and said he believed bomb explosions will send stock markets falling, given the concerns (of terrorism) after

Osama bin Laden’s death,” a police officer on the case told reporters. Kim, an ex-convict who served four years in jail for robbery until last July, lost more than 300 million won in stock invest- ments earlier this year, he said. “We see no intention of political terror

A policeman talks with a Buddhist monk in the Akihabara pedestrian zone in Tokyo, May 15. The officer was asking the monk to leave the zone if he wishes to keep asking for alms. (AP)

here... the suspect was just trying to affect market sentiment,” said the Seoul police. South Korea’s main stock market, the KOSPI, dropped 2.03 percent to close at 2,122.65 points on Thursday. Kim hired two other men to buy explo- sive materials and put the time bombs

Disputed islands Infrastructure hit MOSCOW, May 15, (RTRS): Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov on Sunday rapped the state of infrastruc- ture on one of the Pacific islands contested by Moscow and Tokyo since World War Two. Ivanov, who is responsible for arms procurement and transportation in the Russian cabinet, made his comment during a visit to one of the islands that lie north of Japan. A Japanese Foreign Ministry official has called the visit unacceptable. Ivanov, who said he had vis- ited the islands twice in the past, criticised the poor state of the airport, roads and living conditions on Iturup, the Russian name for the northern- most island in the southern Kurile archipelago.

made with butane gas canisters in luggage lockers at the main public transport hubs in the capital city. No casualties were reported from the blasts that occurred about 30 minutes apart on Thursday morning and caused minor damage. The rare explosions prompted a nationwide search of major public transport hubs involving police commandos and sniffer dogs. (AFP) ❑ ❑❑ Quake hits Sichuan province: A 5.0-magnitude tremor hit the Chinese province of Sichuan on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, three years after a giant quake left 87,000 dead or missing in the region. The tremor struck at 3:05 pm (0705 GMT) at a depth of 15 kms (9 miles) with an epicentre 31 kms west of the city of Guangyuan, the USGS said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. An 8.0-magnitude quake rocked Sichuan and parts of neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces on May 12, 2008, killing tens of thousands and flattening swathes of the province. China’s government issued a plan in September 2008 to rebuild 51 quake-struck counties covering 130,000 square kms (50,200 square miles), the official Xinhua news agency said. (AFP) Mu Hong, a vice director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency, said last week that work on 95 percent of the reconstruction projects in the plan had been completed. (AFP)