May 14 News

News courtesy of The Daily Tribube



SF dedicates May 11 to local tycoon --The Daily Tribune



05/14/2007

The City and County of San Francisco, California has proclaimed every May 11 as Dr. Lucio Tan Day in the Bay Area.

A first for a non-resident civilian, the tribute cites Tan, 72, for his numerous contributions in fostering social, cultural and economic ties between the Philippines and the United States, particularly the cities of Manila and San Francisco.

“Through this procla-mation, May 11 of each year, in perpetuity, shall be known as Dr. Lucio Tan Day in San Francisco,” Newsom said as he handed to Tan a copy of the city’s official procla-mation.

Aside from the special day named in his honor, the Chinese-Filipino businessman also received similar citations from the US House of Representatives through the office of California Congressman Tom Lantos; certificates of recognition from Senator Leland Yee of the California Senate and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma of the California State Assembly; and other tokens of appreciation from Boeing, the City College of San Francisco and other federal agencies.

A premier gateway in the US West Coast, San Francisco is the hub of Tan’s North American business opera-tions. Aside from flag carrier Philippine Airlines which mounts daily flights to San Francisco, Tan has numerous businesses such as banks, trading companies and various real estate investments in the Bay Area.

In brief remarks, Tan said he first set foot in San Francisco 45 years ago in 1962. Then a young aspiring entrepreneur, it was the first time that Tan had gone to America to buy second-hand machines for his then budding chemical trading and manufacturing venture.

“As I laid eyes on this wonderful city, I knew in my heart that this is a place I will regularly visit for many years to come,” Tan told his audience at the fully-packed ballroom of the Hilton Double Tree Hotel.

With great confidence in the Bay Area and its people, the taipan added that his companies continue to invest in San Francisco. “Our companies are good corporate citizens. Every-where we go, our goals are to help people, create jobs and give back to society,” he stressed



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Vote wisely --J.E.L. Bacon


05/14/2007

Today is Election Day, the day when every citizen regardless of status in life exercises the same right of suffrage as equals. Exercise this right then with prudence by voting wisely the candidates that deserve the people’s mandate to lead this nation.

Go out and cast your vote because it is in your hand that the life of this nation greatly depends. The outcome of this election will surely determine the future of this nation.

If you vote for the anointed candidates of Mrs. Arroyo, be aware that you are giving your stamp of approval on all the things this administration is doing. And if you cast your vote on the opposition, you are registering your disapproval at the way Mrs. Arroyo and her cabal had brought this nation to since its power grab in 2001 until its illegitimate election in 2004.

But casting your vote and casting it wisely are not your only duty today. It is every citizen’s bounden duty to ensure that his vote is counted in the precinct level and that the election return in every precinct be canvassed in the municipal, city or provincial levels and until the election returns for the senatorial seats are canvassed by the Comelec en banc as emphasized by reelectionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson during the Genuine Opposition’s miting de avance at the Folk Arts theatre last Friday.

After the 2004 experience, the people need to be extra vigilant if only to thwart the Arroyo administration from making a repeat of the massive cheating it did in 2004, a matter that the Arroyo lackeys like Presidential Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde had been trying to downplay or sweep under the rug.

The nation already knows that there is no way the Arroyo anointed senatorial candidates can win over their foes from the Genuine Opposition except if they engage in systematic cheating described by them as command vote and political machinery. As we have tried to point out in past columns, no right thinking Filipino will ever give his stamp of approval over Mrs. Arroyo’s success in making us the most corrupt country in whole of Asia.

There is no way our hungry countrymen will give a high five to Mrs. Arroyo’s handpicked candidates for having ensured that they go hungry on a regular manner amid all the corruption committed in all levels of governance amounting to billions of pesos such as the multi-million peso lamp post scandal in Cebu.

Not included here, in fact, was the reported dinner one local chief executive in Cebu had with the head of state and his spouse of one of the participating nations in the January Asean Summit there that reportedly cost P1.8 million. No matter how one tries to justify this staggering cost, this is beyond justification. This is simply incredulous such as the P280,000 cost per lamp post that adorned the streets of Lapulapu, Mandaue and Cebu where the Asean delegations passed by.

This massive corruption in Cebu during the Asean Summit where no voice from any politician was heard denouncing them for being unconscionable was the reason why politically semi-retired former sixth district congressman and former Cebu governor Vicente “Tingting” dela Serna decided to be in active politics again by aiming to regain back his former congressional seat.

Tingting was so scandalized by the conspiracy of silence by every politician in Cebu over this incredibly anomalous spending that was tainted with so much corruption in the staging of the Asean Summit in Cebu that he wants to make noise about this and other corrupt ways of the administration in the halls of Congress.

Tingting, my sources in Cebu say, may yet stage the greatest political upsets in Cebu’s sixth district just like the political upsets he was able to accomplish in 1987 when he first ran for public office and when he beat all odds by figuratively locking the horn of the politically powerful Osmenas by beating one of their own in the gubernatorial race in 1992.

Knowing Tingting, I don’t think the millions of pesos his two opponents have could ever change the political equation that his candidacy had reshaped in his favor. Tingting’s populist image will surely catapult him back to political prominence in Cebu in the same manner that reelectionist Sen. Lacson’s untainted image as a senator will likewise ensure his overwhelming victory today. Mark my word on this.



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Vote well and wisely --NCO

05/14/2007

It is much too impractical for any Filipino — voter or non-voter, to buy the idea that these elections will bring about a radical change in the way government is being run. Elections in this country, marked as they are with massive fraud, especially proved in 2004 and no doubt, its sequel in 2007, will still see the same officials in Malacañang.

What should mean something to the voters would have to be the result of the Senate race, for them to help bring about a more independent Senate that can block any and all moves by even an administration-dominated House of Representatives.

This was shown by the Senate in the case of the railroading by the House of the one-House Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) to force through Charter change, proving that it is always better to have two chambers, for one to counter the abuse of the other.

But there are other tasks the Filipino people expect a newly constituted Senate to perform with more zeal, such as its investigative function, as well as its task of protecting the Filipino people against oppressive and repressive laws along with unconstitutional legislative measures that ensure the dilution of the rights of the Filipino, and at the same time, enact laws to curb the abuses of the executive department.

And it is by having an independent Senate that is not beholden to Gloria Arroyo that this can be done.

Elect a majority of Gloria candidates, and none of these hopes of the Filipino people to have an independent Senate will ever be realized, since this will mean a continuous cover-up by Gloria’s senators of her crimes against the Filipino people.

Elect more opposition senatorial candidates and one can be certain that there will be a sharper focus in the Senate for investigations that could bring about changes in government, and more important, a strengthening of at least one more democratic institution that could, if done right and well, even force the other government agencies to toe the legal line.

There must be a good, logical reason for the Filipino people to be infected with an anti-administration bug, which shows very clearly in all the surveys. Most of the administration senators too closely identified with Gloria have been scratched out of the 12 survey slots, while a few who have made it are at the bottom rung of the slate.

If, for instance, the trend to vote for the opposition-identified senatorial bets is fueled by the electorate’s hope for a Senate that would go on investigating the anomalies of this government, including putting a closure to the 2004 cheating employed by Gloria, this could be the reason for Joker Arroyo’s poor ratings in surveys, since he had, in 2001, fashioned himself as a graft-buster but later proved himself to be a protector of the presidential couple, despite calls from the public to probe those charges of massive corruption — including the Jose Pidal accounts. This also explains the very high ratings of Ping Lacson, since he has proved himself to be a consistent credible critic of the Arroyo government, and can be depended upon to fight against the corrupt Arroyo regime.

There are, to be sure, more chances to have an independent Senate with the entry of more opposition candidates, but at the same time, in any strong democracy, it is always better to have dissenting voices, even in an opposition-dominated Senate. And truth to tell, there are some administration candidates that I personally would want to see back in the Senate, because even if they are allied with the administration, they can be counted on to rise to the occasion and because these are the senators who have good legislative track record but are, by dint of circumstance, up against the political times and climes of the times.

There is, for instance, reelectionist Sen. Edgardo Angara who has proved his worth in the Senate, having introduced many innovative bills that have been passed into law, such as the senior citizen’s law, which has made life a little better for the aging citizenry. He has, as the University of the Philippines president, also introduced the socialized tuition and made it easier for the poorer but intellectually deserving students to get into the UP while imposing a quota system on the number of students who can afford more expensive schools tuition in entering UP. And whatever else is said of Angara, it cannot be denied that he stood by then sitting President Joseph Estrada during the tumultuous Edsa II coup d’etat.

And whatever else is said against Tessie Aquino-Oreta, she does have a fine legislative record, having done much for the education sector. Unfortunately, she has been demonized too much for her innocent jig at the impeachment trial, for which I personally believe she should not have offered any apology.

And there is Tito Sotto who can also be counted on to fight for what is right.

I believe the biggest bulk of the Genuine Opposition candidates deserves the people’s vote to bring about these changes. But there are only 11 and any one of the three mentioned deserves to be back in the Senate.



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Forget elections, complete Bonifacio’s unfinished revolution --Ding Lichauco

05/14/2007

The singular service rendered by the election campaign has been to make it abundantly clear that the nation can’t possibly expect the political establishment to address the age-old problems that have dehumanized the overwhelming number of Filipinos and made of this “only Christian nation in Asia” a humanitarian disaster.

With starvation officially recorded in 30 provinces, with 8 out of 10 Filipino families officially acknowledged to be living in hunger conditions, with the once Stone-Age economies of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam outperforming a Philippines that only 40 years ago stood out as the preeminent economy in Southeast Asia, with a government now ranked as the most corrupt in the region, with thousands dying of curable afflictions every year for sheer inability to pay for prescription drugs, with sizable chunks of the national territory handed over to elements out to dismember the republic — with all these, not a single one of the political parties in electoral contention has bothered to craft and think out a cohesive program of government that would even as much as hint at an organized and comprehensible approach to the national crisis.

As Sen. Miriam Santiago observed, this campaign has all been about buying one’s way to political office and nothing else.

How does one explain such state of affairs?

The answer, at bottom, is that since the time American imperialism snatched the nation’s independence from Bonifacio’s revolution, this country has remained the virtual colony of international powers. Independence in 1946 actually didn’t hand over and transfer national sovereignty to the Filipinos. That sovereignty has essentially remained with the US and the international agencies which the US government controls and directs, the most prominent of which are the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.

And the American purpose? That purpose was enunciated in an official document of the US State Department, known as The Dodds Report and approved by the Truman administration in 1946.

The objective of The Dodds Report? To prevent the Philippines from industrializing and to preserve it essentially as a raw material economy.

Evidence of what Recto described as “America’s anti-industrialization policy for the Philippines” has been amply documented. It was documented by the late Dr. Salvador Araneta who revealed and exposed the existence of The Dodds Report in a book he wrote while in self-exile in Canada. It was documented by Claro M. Recto in a historic speech he delivered at the Columbian Association in the late 1950s. It was exposed by the strongman Marcos in the late 1970s when he accused his own technocrats and the IMF-WB Group of undermining his industrialization program. It was exposed by former DTI Secretary Jose Concepcion in 1989. It was so alleged and confirmed by deposed President Joseph Estrada immediately upon his election in an interview with Asiaweek.

And how did the US government manage to suppress the industrialization of the economy? Primarily by ensuring that this country remained under the leadership of a political class which Washington could control. That too was US official policy and embodied in a State Department document known as PPS/23.

The result of America’s anti-industrialization policy as implemented by State Department policy known as PPS/23?

The result is, of course, massive unemployment, mass poverty and the rising hunger. And with massive unemployment, mass poverty and rising hunger, everything follows: corruption, lawlessness, criminality, insurgency, drugs, pervasive unrest and just about every social problem you can think of.

That, however, doesn’t take us to the bottom. At bottom is a class of national leaders living in dreadful fear of Washington and the CIA, manifestly determined never to say anything or do anything that could possibly throw them out of favor with the US government.

That is what explains the scrupulous care with which the candidates of both the administration and the opposition avoid any discussion of the substantive issues, particularly poverty and hunger. A discussion of the issues will lead to exposing the connection between US imperialism and the problem of poverty — the mother of problems from which all other problems come.

Conclusion? Forget the elections and proceed to organize the people toward the completion of Bonifacio’s revolution. Only that revolution can set us free to discuss the issues that matter. Only when we are finally independent and sovereign as a nation shall we be free to elect leaders who would talk the path of a Quezon, a Recto and a Diokno or even a Hugo Chavez or a Nasser as Bonifacio and Mabini had envisioned.

Both the administration and the opposition must be seen as part of that “collaborator class” created by PPS/23 of the US State Department.

That is what’s at the bottom of our problem. And that’s what explains the meaninglessness of the elections.



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Cha-cha, terror law; then revolt? --HTL

05/14/2007

Thanks to FVR and Gloria’s general, DND chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., his Red-baiting tirade against Trillanes IV gave the final push for the crusading Oakwood young officer to rise further in the winning circle. Then Saturday evening this text started circulating – “ ‘Oplan Alan’ (Alan is the name of Trillanes’ deceased son) of d GMA administratn uncovered. It is a plot to assassinate candidate Trillanes when he gets out of detention to vote on Monday and blame it on the NPA. Let’s pass this msg to let plotters knw that we are watchng them.”

At preparations for the GO-Uno Miting de Avance Friday afternoon, a loyal reader passed this TU- concocted text black propaganda: “Sonia Roco in rally at Cebu, San Carlos, said that she hates the tsinoys.” I immediately called on the Roco organizers at the Miting de Avance site to inform them and they quickly conveyed the message to the Roco headquarters that replied saying Roco was never at San Carlos. They issued a press release to denounce the black propaganda. The TU and Evardone’s dirty tricks staff are really working overtime.

I informed Trillanes’ people of Oplan Alan and the reply they conveyed from Trillanes was that if TU made that mistake and went ahead with Oplan Alan then the Filipino people would have already won: the final nail in the coffin of the Gloria regime and her corrupt military-police generals would be hammered in. In connection with the eagerly awaited “mistake” the Gloria regime can make is this text, “…has inside info on d massive cheating that s about 2 happen starting 2nite. Exposing this s your only chance 2 win! Ok” But I say, don’t worry as enough eyes are waiting to pounce on them.

I expect the evidence of Gloria’s cheating to pour in, but even in the face of incontrovertible evidence they say: “Sue us.” They control the electoral tribunal, the courts and will have control of the Congress with the 40 Abalos-coddled Gloria-controlled party-list representatives added to the TU, Lakas and other Gloria-allied party representatives. Any attempt at impeachment will be bought out and instead, the elimination of the Senate and the shift to the parliament will proceed to allow Gloria to extend her term and her immunity from all the crimes she has committed.

The opposition will petition Comelec and the Supreme Court, but to no avail. Gloria will again plunder the national coffers to bribe congressmen and stop any impeachment, buy the Cha-cha or Con-ass, divide the Senate by playing one ambition against another, launch a managed plebiscite to eliminate the Senate and voila — the Senate is gone, Gloria runs as president-prime minister. Meantime she will command the Sandiganbayan to convict detained President Estrada and use the anti-terror law to cow the massive protests that would surely follow.

With the anti-terror law, all hell will break loose despite the amendments from Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel to water down the draconian law which Bush and the Carlyle bosses of FVR and Gloria want installed for their coming global war against the rising multi-polar powers. Bush and company will get their access to the citizens of this country they want to snatch up while Gloria uses her own unbounded interpretation of the word “terrorist” to apply to anyone demanding the implementation of the Rule of Law and thus, her ouster.

Dear reader, you may have noticed too: Bush’s partner Pervez Musharraf sacked Pakistan’s Supreme Court Chief Justice for demanding a stop to citizens’ disappearances; in Thailand, the Carlyle-controlled generals usurped the government. But neither in Thailand nor in Pakistan is the population taking it sitting down and democratic forces are rising to topple the tyranny; and the same will happen here. The driving motive behind all this is global endless war, civil and global, to distract from the international realization of the evil of the global oligarchy.

Even the USA will be sacrificed by the global oligarchs in their movement toward their global corporatocracy – signaled by Halliburton’s HQ transfer from Houston to Dubai that enraged patriotic Americans. They will drain nation-states of their wealth and plunge them into civil chaos or war, led into red-herring issues such as global warming and Luddistic environmentalism, distracting from such tasks as restoring the primacy of states to regulate and dedicate oil, power, water and other basic industries and economic development enterprises.

The Western corporatocracy will allow Gloria’s extension (foreign election observers will say elections were largely fair) while she allows their looting here with local comprador corporations. The Associated Press said about these elections and Gloria: “…the odds appear in favor of Arroyo — who also survived two coup plots and numerous other crises during six years in power — despite weak approval ratings. Opinion polls suggest that no major shifts are likely, in part because the economy in one of Asia’s poorest countries has been rallying. The stock market is up 12 percent this year, while the peso is at its strongest level against the US dollar since October 2000.”

We know that’s all crap but the AP wants us to think otherwise. Gloria’s got her signal. That should also be our signal too, for action like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, or otherwise, Trillanes can lead us in this.



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‘B’ is for the Comelec


05/14/2007


In Pilipino, it’s put as naisahan ka or nagulangan ka.

In English, it’s given more bite and put as “the sneaky bastards got you.”

The victim of the shysters in the Comelec happened to be Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Alan Peter Cayetano, whom the poll body the other day declared as just one of the two Cayetanos running for a Senate seat in today’s mid-term polls.

The other Cayetano, according to a Comelec memorandum issued last Saturday, is Joselito Pepito “Peter” Cayetano, and any ballot reading “Cayetano” will not be counted in his or Alan Peter’s favor, it being a “stray” vote.

The Comelec Friday last week already disqualified Joselito from the senatorial race, to Alan Peter’s relief as reported, but give it to Abalos and company to make that sigh of the opposition senatorial bet short-lived.

In a resolution the other day, the poll body justified its obvious bias for Joselito and his handlers in Malacañang by citing provisions of Section 5(e) of Republic Act 6646 stating that rulings of the Comelec will be declared final and executory five days after the parties (in this case, Joselito and Alan Peter) have received a copy of the resolution.

It went into overdrive by also citing Section of Rule 18 of the Comelec Rules of Procedures in declaring that Joselito is very much still a candidate for senator and may be voted for in the May 14 mid-term elections.

Malacañang lawyers, rubbing salt in Alan Peter’s wounds, immediately mustered the gall to suggest that he take up his case before the Supreme Court and claimed that they and their client Gloria are not out to ruin Alan Peter’s candidacy.

Really, then they should have picked someone not having “Peter” for a nickname.

But then, these non-Peters did not say the Arroyos are hoarding millions of dollars in a bank in Germany, did they, because only Alan Peter did?

The Comelec mafia led by Abalos must be wickedly guffawing at the neat job they did on Alan Peter, who must be hurting at the thought that he should have read the fine print on the resolution, the lawyer that he also is like the poll body chief.

The five days’ leeway given to Alan Peter under the memorandum lapses on May 16, starting off from the May 11 resolution, which means that all the “Cayetano” votes have been thrown into the trash can.

Joselito, of course, could not care less whether he lands at the 100th spot in the senatorial contest, his job well done for the Arroyos certain to make him richer, or possibly poorer, which will force him to make do with his circumstances in some slum area in Davao.

For Alan Peter, the spoiled ballots will spell the difference between winning and losing, the price he has to pay for crossing Gloria and her family.

And the Arroyos and their ilk are talking about “clean” elections?

They have been dirtying it up but their timetable is so planned that they had ensured that the stink will be deodorized just in time for the May 14 vote.

Gloria and company need not do the tidying up themselves because there are always the Abaloses in these parts who will suck up to the Arroyos at the expense of the Alan Peters here.

In today’s elections, where Alan Peter is expected to win, at least according to the surveys, the handlers of Joselito will strut like peacocks, having thoroughly confused the electorate on the case of the two Cayetanos.

The road to hell, in Gloria’s book, is paved with “good” intentions.

She had better take it, for she really has no idea that Alan Peter can still laugh all the way to the ballot box.

Diarrhea, anyone?



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Ethiopia to quit Somalia after AU troops arrive: PM --AFP


Sun May 13, 5:38 PM ET



KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in Kuwait on Sunday that Ethiopian troops will complete their withdrawal from neighbouring Somalia after the arrival of African Union peacekeeping forces.


"Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu will withdraw when the African Union peacekeepers arrive to support Ugandan forces which are already there," Meles was quoted by the state-run Kuwait News Agency KUNA as saying.

Meles announced in March that two-thirds of the Ethiopian deployment, which helped Somali troops drive out Islamists from south and central Somalia five months ago, had been withdrawn.

That decision to withdraw troops was taken by Ethiopia alone, Meles said Sunday, denying reported US pressure.

A small force of some 1,500 African Union troops from Uganda is currently deployed at strategic points around Mogadishu, but the AU has not yet gathered the 8,000 troops planned for its peacekeeping force.

Hundreds of people have been killed in heavy clashes in the Somali capital between insurgents and government forces backed by Ethiopian troops.

Three top Somali leaders, including top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hussein Aidid, last month issued a stern warning to Ethiopia to withdraw its troops immediately or face an all-out war.

Meles, who paid a two-day visit to Kuwait, told KUNA before leaving the emirate that the struggle in Somalia is between the transitional government and forces of the Islamist movement, which consists of two groups.

The first includes most of the tribal fighters who do not belong to the Al-Qaeda network, while the other is a small group of Al-Qaeda members, Meles said.



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Breakaway Somaliland prospers in shadow of war --AFP

by Michel Cariou
Sun May 13, 12:08 PM ET



HARGEISA, Somalia (AFP) - With or without international recognition, Ahmed Hassan believes that his homeland, the breakaway would-be nation of Somaliland, is a remarkable success story

Somaliland, which sits on the northwestern part of Somalia, unilaterally broke away from the rest of the Horn of Africa nation in 1991, four months after the overthrow of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

This former British protectorate -- whose colonial rulers left in 1960 when it joined with Italian Somaliland to form the then new state of Somalia -- has since mapped out a path of relative security and prosperity, unlike greater Somalia where 16 years of unrest caused chaos and anarchy.

"It is Somaliland, not Somalia. We are two separate countries," said Hassan. "Here there is no violence. We can walk in the streets."

The money changer took pains to underline the sharp contrast between his peaceful separatist republic and war-torn Somalia, highlighting the fierce nationalism brewing in the region which is home to around 3.5 million people.

It is not completely immune from fighting, however. There was a clash last month with troops from neighbouring Puntland, a region that is self-governed but does not aspire to independence -- the latest in more than a decade of clashes over the path of their shared border.

But daily life is relatively calm.

On the bustling streets of Somaliland's capital Hargeisa, vendors sell everything from gold chains and spaghetti to contraband Rolex watches and foreign currencies, under the watchful eye of local police.

The lack of gunmen, roadblocks and bombed-out buildings strikes a sharp contrast with Mogadishu, the war-torn capital of Somalia.

The desert city of Hargeisa rose from the ruins after the fighting in 1991. But since then -- when clan elders oversaw the creation of the tools of statehood, including a constitution and parliament -- Somaliland has failed to secure recognition as an independent nation.

The breakaway republic has nonetheless held democratic elections, a feat many older African nations are unable to boast half a century after colonialists first started leaving the continent.

The domination of the region by one clan, the Issak, has helped it avoid the inter-clan violence that has wrecked the rest of Somalia, whose overall population is 10 million.

For some international observers, outside recognition of Somaliland would irk Somalia's transitional government and expand a conflict that has already defied more than 14 UN-backed peace initiatives.

But the region's isolation only stokes the flames of nationalism.

"We want to protect our reputation (as a safe place)," said Abdulkader Hashi Elmi, the head of a local hotel chain. "We have no intention of reintegrating with Somalia, even if peace returns."

Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin, elected in a multi-party vote in 2003, regularly repeats that the region will not rejoin Somalia and considers the war there to be a foreign event, even though many Mogadishu refugees have sought refuge in his region.

The failure to secure international recognition has denied Somaliland much-needed financial support, but free markets and remittances from the diaspora in the West help keep its economy afloat.

One country willing to invest in Somaliland is Ethiopia. It provides help the region is happy to accept despite Addis Ababa's involvement in the war in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops backing the country's weak government are battling Islamist insurgents and clan fighters.

In turn, landlocked Ethiopia relies on the Somaliland port of Berbera, giving Hargeisa considerable leverage.

Alongside five private Somaliland airlines, Ethiopia's national carrier Ethiopian Airlines runs six weekly flights between Hargeisa and countries in the region, mainly ferrying merchants and aid workers.

"We have little tourism here," said Elmi, lamenting that Somalia's conflict had affected business and discouraged all but the most daring of travellers from visiting.

But one day the sector would improve, he predicted. "We need to be self-sufficient."


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One million Turks hold fresh pro-secular rally --AFP

Sun May 13, 3:12 PM ET


IZMIR, Turkey (AFP) - More than one million pro-secular Turks rallied in the Aegean city of Izmir Sunday, keeping up strong pressure on the Islamist-rooted government after political turmoil forced early elections in July.

Undeterred by a bomb blast on the eve of the protest, demonstrators packed a seafront square in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, brandishing Turkish flags and portraits of the country's secularist founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Hundreds showed their support from the sea, sailing along the coast in boats adorned with the red-and-white national flag. Others shouted from rooftops and balconies over roads clogged with buses carrying people from out of town.

Security was stepped up after a bomb ripped through an open-air market in the city on Saturday morning, killing a vendor and injuring 14 other people.

Some 3,000 policemen were deployed across Izmir as coast guard boats patrolled the waters. Air traffic over the demonstration venue was banned.

There has been no claim of responsibility for Saturday's blast. Separatist Kurds, far-left militants as well as Islamist extremists have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.

Police officials said they did not make a formal count of the demonstrators, but estimated the attendance at more than one million people. Officials had reported a similar turnout at a rally in Istanbul last month.

"Turkey is secular, it will remain secular," protestors shouted, adopting the most popular chant from mass demonstrations held also in the capital Ankara and Manisa in the west.

"We will not surrender the country to reactionary forces," one man shouted.

Banners read, "Unite against bigotry," "We follow Ataturk's path."

The rallies began last month over the prospect of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the moderate offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement, propelling one of its own to the presidency.

The presidential election grew into a crisis, the worst the government has faced since coming to power in 2002, as parliament, blocked by an opposition boycott, failed twice to hold a legal vote to elect a president.

The turmoil, exacerbated by a stiff warning from the military that it stood ready to defend the secular order, forced Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to bring legislative elections forward to July 22 from November.

The sole presidential candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday.

Opinion polls, however, suggest the AKP is still Turkey's most popular party.

It has disowned its Islamist roots, pledged commitment to secularism and carried out reforms that secured the opening of membership talks with the

European Union and stabilised the economy.

But opponents say the party still harbours Islamist ambitions, pointing at AKP policies such as opposition to a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities and public offices, encouragement of religious schools and a failed attempt to restrict alcohol sales.

Despite the huge turnout, the rally in Izmir ended in disappointment for many as centre-left leaders attending the protest defied expectations that they would confirm an intention to join forces against the AKP ahead of the July 22 elections.

Among them were Deniz Baykal, chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and Zeki Sezer, leader of the smaller Democratic Left Party, whose negotiations for an election alliance have reportedly hit snags.

"Unite, unite!" the crowd chanted, but Baykal and Sezer did not even come close to each other.

Turkey's mainstream parties are notoriously fractured. All but the CHP failed to overcome the 10-percent national threshold in the 2002 elections, allowing the AKP to hold nearly two-thirds of the seats in parliament despite winning only 34 percent of the vote.



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Pope decries rich-poor gap in Latin America --Reuters

By Philip Pullella and Terry Wade
Sun May 13, 4:09 PM ET



APARECIDA, Brazil (Reuters) - Pope Benedict decried the growing gap between rich and poor in Latin America on Sunday but said priests must stay out of politics even as they fight for social justice.

The Pope also told bishops from across Latin America and the Caribbean to do more to confront challenges threatening the Roman Catholic Church in the region, including the defection of millions of followers to Protestant churches.

He was speaking on the last day of a visit to Brazil, where he has tried to revive the Church's waning influence in a continent where priests stood alongside the first Spanish and Portuguese explorers five centuries ago.

Earlier, about 150,000 faithful gathered outside the huge Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in this holy shrine city to hear the Pope deliver a traditional mass.

The turnout, however, was far less than the 500,000 people expected by Church officials -- an indication of the difficult times it faces in the world's largest Catholic nation.

The Pope's speech to bishops who meet in conference here for the next two weeks was eagerly awaited as a signpost for the Church in Latin America, home to nearly half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

"The peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean have the right to a full life, proper to the children of God, under conditions that are human, free from the threat of hunger and from every form of violence," the Pope said.

He said the gap between rich and poor was getting worse, causing a loss of dignity through drugs, alcohol "and deceptive illusions of happiness."

The Pope's commitment to the poor was likely to be welcomed by priests working in Latin America's notorious slums.

Many have seen him as a conservative figure more concerned with enforcing a hard-line doctrine and remember him for leading a

Vatican crackdown on the Liberation Theology movement of left-wing priests in the 1980s.

He warned again on Sunday that pastoral work and politics do not mix. "Capitalism and Marxism promised to point out the path for the creation of just structures ... and this ideological promise has been proved false."

'SILENT LONGING'

The Pope also offered a view of the Church's history in Latin America that may prove to be controversial.

He said indigenous peoples had welcomed the arrival of European priests as they had been "silently longing" for the Christian faith. Embracing it had purified them, he said.

Many Indian rights groups believe the conquest brought them enslavement and genocide.

Throughout his visit to Brazil, the Pope has demanded that people return to strict family values and shun promiscuity. He has stressed a stern opposition to abortion and birth control.

The message has had a mixed reception in a country known for its enthusiastic attitude toward sex and where the daily struggle to survive is the main worry for many families. But in the crowd stretched out before the basilica for the morning mass, there was approval.

"This is a blessing. He spoke to young people and he reinforced family values. That is so important," said Nathalia Dos Reis, a cleaner who attended Sunday's mass.

The bishops' conference will grapple with problems ranging from a shortage of priests to the growing appeal of Protestant groups.

They will also map out priorities for missionary work and social action in a region blighted by poverty, corruption, drug trafficking and violence.

While Latin America's Church has become more conservative since the 1980s, some still defend Liberation Theology and say priests must do more to help the poor.

"The right to liberation is in the Bible," Bishop Erwin Krautler from Brazil's Amazon state of Para told Reuters. "We often forget that the poor and landless have a right to a dignified life."



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Pope assails Marxism and capitalism --Associated Press


By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
42 minutes ago



APARECIDA, Brazil - Pope Benedict XVI blamed both Marxism and unbridled capitalism for Latin America's problems on Sunday, urging bishops to mold a new generation of Roman Catholic leaders in politics to reverse the church's declining influence in the region.


Before boarding a plane for Rome at the end of a five-day trip to the most populous Catholic nation in the world, Benedict also warned that legalized contraception and abortion in Latin America threaten "the future of the peoples" and said the historic Catholic identity of the region is under assault.

Like his predecessor

Pope John Paul II, Benedict criticized capitalism's negative effects as well as the Marxist influences that have motivated some grass-roots Catholic activists.

"The Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit," he said in his opening address at a two-week bishops' conference in Brazil's holiest shrine city aimed at re-energizing the church's influence in Latin America.

Touching on a sensitive historical episode, Benedict said Latin American Indians had been "silently longing" to become Christians when Spanish and Portuguese conquerors took over their native lands centuries ago.

"In effect, the proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture," he said.

Many Indians, however, say the conquest of Latin America by Catholic Spaniards and Portuguese lead to misery, enslavement and death.

The pope also warned of unfettered modern-day capitalism and globalization, blamed by many in Latin America for a deep divide between the rich and poor. The pope said it could give "rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness."

Benedict, speaking in Spanish and Portuguese to the bishops, also said Latin America needs more dedicated Catholics in leadership positions in politics, the media and at universities. He also said the church's leaders must halt a trend that has seen millions of Catholics turn into born-again Protestants or simply stop going to church.

While Brazil is home to more than 120 million of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, the census shows that people calling themselves Catholics fell to 74 percent in 2000 from 89 percent in 1980. Those calling themselves evangelical Protestants rose to 15 percent from 7 percent.

"It is true that one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall," Benedict said, blaming secularism, hedonism and proselytizers for other sects.

In Aparecida and at events earlier this week in Sao Paulo that attracted more than 1 million people, Benedict roundly denounced immorality in a bid to counter the rising tide of Latin Americans flouting the church's prohibition on premarital sex and divorce.

Now, he said, the bishops must convince Catholics from all walks of life "to bring the light of the Gospel into public life, into culture, economics and politics."

Benedict did not name any countries in his criticism of capitalism and Marxism, but Latin America has become deeply divided in recent years amid a sharp political tilt to the left — with the election of leftist leaders in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua and the overwhelming re-election in Venezuela of President Hugo Chavez, an avowed socialist.

Other countries, such as Brazil, have center-left leaders who have come under heavy criticism for embracing free market economic policies that have widened the rift between rich and poor.

Benedict called the institution of the family "one of the most important treasures of Latin American countries," but said it is threatened by legislation and government policies opposed to marriage, contraception and abortion.

Mexico City lawmakers recently legalized abortion and gay civil unions, and the Brazilian government routinely hands out millions of free condoms to prevent

AIDS.

Before addressing the bishops, Benedict said Mass before 150,000 faithful in front of the mammoth basilica of Aparecida, home to the nation's patron saint, a black Virgin Mary. As hundreds of choir members sang hymns and people waved flags from all over South America, the pope called the region the "continent of hope" and said the bishops must be "courageous and effective missionaries" to ensure the strength of the church.

But the turnout fell far short of the 400,000 to 500,000 worshippers local organizers hoped would show up for Benedict's last big public event of the papal tour, his longest since becoming pope two years ago.

The 80-year-old pope also said the church needs to work harder to get its message across on the Internet, radio and television — methods used effectively by Protestant congregations attracting legions of followers, particularly in the vast slums ringing Brazil's largest cities.

Waiting to catch a glimpse of the pope at Aparecida's basilica, 68-year-old Maria Costa said Brazilians needed to hear his message and she hoped his trip would revitalize the church.

"Catholics weren't feeling very good with the Church, and that's why so many were leaving," she said. "I think that could change now. Let's hope so."

___

Associated Press Writer Tales Azzoni and Alan Clendenning contributed to this report from Aparecida and Sao Paulo.



* * * * * * * * * *


Ahmadinejad blames U.S. for Mideast ills --Associated Press


By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iran's president led a raucous anti-American rally on Sunday in this tightly controlled U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, a day after a low-key visit by Vice President Dick Cheney aimed at countering Tehran's influence in the region.


Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a cheering crowd that America was to blame for creating instability and robbing the region of its wealth.

"We are telling you to leave the region. This is for your benefit and the benefit of your nation," Ahmadinejad shouted to the crowd of thousands at a soccer stadium. "The nations of the region can no longer take you forcing yourself on them. The nations of the region know better how to create peace and security."

Ahmadinejad's visit was the first by an Iranian head of state to this Sunni-led Arab country since its independence in 1971 and his rally was remarkable in a country where political parties are banned and power is held solely by tribal families.

Cheney's quiet visit Saturday to the Emirates, which hosts three American military bases, was part of a tour of the region to try to curb Iran's growing influence. On Friday, from an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, Cheney warned Iran that the U.S. and its allies will keep it from restricting sea traffic as well as from developing nuclear weapons.

The Iranian president has ratcheted up his nation's assertiveness in the Persian Gulf, capitalizing on the Bush administration's unpopularity to challenge Washington's alliances with Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

Sunni royal families in the Emirates and elsewhere in the region also fear Iran's growing influence, especially the Shiite country's nuclear program, and worry about being sandwiched in a U.S.-Iran war.

Ahmadinejad wants the Emirates, Oman and the other Persian Gulf Arab countries to drop their military alliances with Washington and join Iran in a regional effort to maintain stability in the energy-rich region. Washington maintains 40,000 troops on land bases in Persian Gulf countries outside Iraq and has 20,000 sailors and Marines in the region.

"Every time your name is mentioned, hatred builds up," Ahmadinejad said of the United States. "Go fix yourself. This is Iran's advice to you. Leave the region."

One woman in the crowd shouted "I love you!" and Ahmadinejad paused to respond with a polite "thank you."

"God bless you for loving Iran so dearly," he told the crowd. "I love you."

The crowd, many of them expatriate Iranians, cheered Ahmadinejad and waved Iranian flags. One group carried a black banner bearing a yellow symbol seen on nuclear fallout shelters. Chants of "Down with the USA!" and "Nuclear energy is our right!" frequently interrupted the speech.

Washington and Tehran said Sunday that the two countries would hold talks in Baghdad about Iraq's security situation. But Iran remains locked in a standoff with the U.S. and its allies over White House allegations that Tehran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the claims, saying its program is for generating electricity.

The Iranian president received a red-carpet welcome at Abu Dhabi International Airport, where he was greeted by Emirates President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Dubai leader Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the country's prime minister.

During his two-day visit, Ahmadinejad is to meet with government leaders in Abu Dhabi as well as Dubai, one of the world's fastest-growing cities and home to most of the 500,000-strong Iranian expatriate community.




* * * * * * * * * *


Portrait of communist leader damaged --Associated Press

Sun May 13, 10:27 AM ET


BEIJING - A man threw a burning object at a portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs over Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, slightly damaging it and prompting police to close the nearby imperial palace, a news report said Sunday

The man, identified as Gu Hai'ou, from the northwestern city of Urumqi, tried to burn the portrait of communist China's first leader on Saturday afternoon, the Xinhua News Agency said. Early Sunday, authorities replaced the portrait, which had a small scorch mark in the lower left corner.

"Armed police are guarding the area and visitors are forbidden to enter the Forbidden City," Xinhua said.

Gu, who is 35 and unemployed, was detained and was being questioned by police, Xinhua said. The report said he was treated last year in a mental hospital.

An officer who answered the phone at the Beijing police headquarters Sunday confirmed the report but refused to say whether Gu would face criminal charges or give other details. The man refused to give his name. Phone calls to the police station that oversees Tiananmen Square were not answered.

Portraits of Mao have hung on the Tiananmen Gate above the square since the 1950s.

In 1989, three men were detained for throwing red and black paint on the portrait during pro-democracy protests. They served more than 10 years in prison.






courtesy of Yahoo! News