Bangladesh Islamist jailed for 90 years

Wartime head of Bangladesh's largest Islamic party was jailed for 90 years for atrocities in 1971. Source: AAP

A BANGLADESHI court has sentenced an elderly Islamist leader to 90 years in prison for masterminding atrocities during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

Ghulam Azam, compared by prosecutors to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, was found guilty of all five charges of planning, conspiracy, incitement, complicity, and murder and torture during the war, which the government says killed three million people.

However, 90-year-old Azam, the wartime head of the country's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and now its spiritual leader, was spared the death penalty because of his age and health, and was instead sentenced to nine decades in prison, an official said.

"He was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt in all five charges. The tribunal observed that he deserved death penalty," junior Attorney General M K Rahman said.

"But because of his old age and health complications, he was sentenced separately in the five charges. In all he has been sentenced to 90 years in prison."

Street violence erupted across Bangladesh ahead of the judgment, handed down by the controversial International Crimes Tribunal.

Supporters clashed with police, who fired rubber bullets at Jamaat activists armed with homemade bombs.

Jamaat, the country's largest Islamic party and a key member of the opposition, called a nationwide strike on Monday to protest the verdict, saying the war crimes trials are aimed at eliminating its leaders.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Azam, describing him as a "lighthouse" who guided all war criminals, and the "architect" of the militias which committed many of the 1971 atrocities.

When India intervened at the end of the nine-month war and it became clear Pakistan was losing, the militias killed dozens of professors, playwrights, filmmakers, doctors and journalists.

Azam was described as the "mastermind" of the massacres of the intellectuals. Many of their bodies were found a few days after the war at a marsh outside the capital, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs.

Azam is the fifth person convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal. Three Islamists have been sentenced to death and one was given life imprisonment.

Previous verdicts by the tribunal have sparked widespread and deadly violence on the streets of a country that has a 90 per cent Muslim population.

Azam's lawyer Tajul Islam said the charges were based on newspaper reports of speeches Azam gave during the war, which led to the creation of Bangladesh.

"The prosecution has completely failed to prove any of the charges," he told AFP before the verdict.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Plibersek angry over UK tobacco backdown

FEDERAL Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has criticised the UK government for abandoning plans to follow Australia's lead and introduce plain packaging for cigarettes.

It was disappointing the UK was taking "a step back" when other countries such as Ireland and New Zealand were pushing ahead.

"I think this does show the continued effort of big tobacco to prevent plain packaging," she told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to sack his Australian election strategist, former Liberal Party federal director Lynton Crosby, over his links to tobacco giant Philip Morris.

"It's very clear Lynton Crosby has been a key adviser in this move to dump plain packaging in the UK," Ms Plibersek said.

British newspapers are reporting that Mr Crosby's lobbying firm works for Philip Morris.

Ms Plibersek said data was unavailable on whether the introduction of plain packaging in Australia had hit cigarette sales.

But she is confident it's working.

Since Australian laws came into effect in December last year, tobacco companies have launched a challenge with the World Trade Organisation.

British American Tobacco Australia senior corporate affairs manager Scott McIntyre said early figures show the legal tobacco market has remained stable since plain packs were introduced in Australia.

"There has been no initial impact on legal tobacco sales in the first six months due to plain packaging as smokers are still purchasing cigarettes just like they were before," he said in a statement.

He said it was early days and to assess the situation properly more time was needed to see if there were any trends.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

More than 5700 missing after India floods

Indian authorities estimate more than 5700 people are missing, presumed dead, after the floods. Source: AAP

A TOTAL of 5748 people missing after last month's floods in northern India are presumed dead, authorities say.

Anyone still untraced would be declared dead to allow the government to start paying their families compensation, Uttarakhand state Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

"We will issue the list later today," he said in state capital Dehradun on Monday.

The government would pay 500,000 rupees ($A9218) for each victim, he said.

Heavy monsoon rains in mid-June caught thousands of pilgrims visiting Hindu shrines in the Himalayan region, tourists and locals, triggering devastating landslides and flash floods.

The earlier confirmed death toll was around 900.

Piyush Rautela, director of Uttarakhand's disaster management division, said the exact number may never be known.

"Many of the bodies may have been washed away by raging rivers or buried under debris," he said.

Nearly 109,000 people were rescued in land and air operations by the military.

The early monsoon rains flooded 4200 villages, and were estimated to be the heaviest in the region in 88 years.

Rautela said the administration was still providing relief materials including food and medicine to people in remote areas, as well as rebuilding roads and bridges destroyed by floods.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong shares end 0.12% higher

HONG Kong and Shanghai stocks rose on Monday after Chinese economic growth data for the April-June quarter came in as forecast.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.12 per cent, or 26.03 points, to 21,303.31 on turnover of $HK45.98 billion ($A6.57 billion).

Chinese shares closed up 0.98 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 19.90 points to 2,059.39 on turnover of 88.0 billion yuan ($A15.83 billion).

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

PM arrives in PNG for talks

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has arrived in Papua New Guinea for talks on trade, how to tackle crime in the Pacific Island nation and the controversial Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island.

Mr Rudd touched down at Port Moresby's Jackson's international airport shortly after 5pm and was greeted by deputy prime minister Leo Dion and Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato, as well as the now familiar troupe of traditional PNG dancers.

"It's wonderful to be back here in PNG," he said, noting it was his second official trip as prime minister to Australia's closest neighbour.

"I look forward to my discussions with Prime Minister O'Neill.

"I come here as a friend, a long standing friend, someone who believes in PNG's future."

High on the agenda on Sunday evening and Monday is PNG's endemic law and order problems.

"That concerns me," Mr Rudd told reporters in Cairns on Sunday before he headed to PNG.

"I am going to be talking to him about what we can do to enhance our cooperation there."

Last month four Chinese nationals were stabbed to death not far from the central business district in Port Moresby.

"One issue that can arise for discussion is what level of support Australia can give for deployment of police," Mr Pato told journalists in Port Moresby in Sunday.

"We're looking to see what aid the Australian Federal Police can give."

The Australian-run Manus Island refugee processing centre is also expected to be on the agenda.

PNG's Supreme Court last week dismissed a constitutional challenge against the centre, and the UNHCR has heavily criticised the conditions at the site.

'Manus Mess' was the front page headline of PNG's only Sunday paper, the Sunday Chronicle.

In a late addition to the trip, Mr Rudd brought Immigration Minister Tony Burke and Trade Minister Richard Marles with him to PNG.

Mr Burke said he will discuss asylum seekers and the progress of construction of a permanent facility on Manus Island.

"This trip will allow me to get an update on the progress of developing the centre on Manus Island in advance of making a personal visit to Manus Island in a few weeks time," he said in a statement.

Acknowledging the UNHCR report, Mr Pato said he expects the facility to be discussed.

"We have a system that can address those issues and those are not issues that cannot be overcome," Mr Pato said.

Immediately after arriving Mr Rudd headed straight to government house to meet Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio.

On Sunday night he is expected to dine with Mr O'Neill and Australia's High Commissioner Deborah Stokes, before a series of talks with PNG government officials on Monday.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aust woman hurt in Pamplona bull run

A 23-YEAR-OLD Australian woman is among five people injured when they were gored by bulls on the final day of the Pamplona fiesta in Spain.

The festival ran for nine days and landed a total of 50 daredevils in hospital.

Nearly half of those were seriously hurt on Saturday when the run in the northern Spanish town resulted in a bloody human pile-up that got trampled by the half-tonne bulls, sending 23 revellers to hospital.

As on each of the last eight mornings, a firework set off Sunday's mad dash through Pamplona's cobbled streets of six bulls and six steers as well as hundreds of thrill-seekers, many dressed in traditional white with a red neckerchief.

The animals will be killed by matadors in the final bullfight of the nine-day San Fermin festival.

The early morning bull runs are the highlight of the fiesta, which was immortalised in Ernest Hemingway's classic 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises and now draws hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.

The regional government said five runners were hospitalised on Sunday including the young Australian woman with a gore wound.

During Friday's run, bulls gored three men including a 20-year-old American.

Each year, hundreds of people are treated by medics and the Red Cross at the scene for cuts and scrapes without being hospitalised.

Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records began in 1911. The most recent death was four years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.

The Associated Press reports that the Australian woman was struck in the chest by a massive Miura bull as she clung to wooden barriers outside the bull ring entrance. Other runners got tossed by the bulls or fell as they ran.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic can't afford paramedic pay claim: govt

PARAMEDICS' wage claims, totalling $1.3 billion over four years, would have a significant impact on Victoria's budget, Health Minister David Davis says.

But the paramedics' union disputes the $1.3 billion figure quoted by Mr Davis, calling on him to provide the full detail of the costings for scrutiny.

Mr Davis told reporters on Sunday the 30 per cent salary increase sought by paramedics totalled $1.3 billion over four years, and would lead to less money for ambulances and ambulance stations.

He said the wage claim was significant and not well thought out.

"These are tough times. It's not easy for governments to fund significant new expenditures," Mr Davis said.

But Ambulance Association Australia state secretary Steve McGhie said the figures were "highly inflated".

"There figures are nowhere near right and if he thinks they are let him provide the full detail so they can be scrutinised."

Mr Davis said paramedics are well remunerated, with the most common category of paramedic earning an average $93,000 a year, including overtime.

However, Mr McGhie said a six-year paramedic who worked shift penalties - which all were expected to do - would earn $71,000.

"To earn $93,000 means they have to work $22,000 of overtime per year on average.

"If there were paramedics earning that - and if they didn't do it - then the ambulance service couldn't put paramedics on ambulances."

Mr Davis again called on the union to enter voluntary conciliation with Ambulance Victoria through independent umpire Fair Work Australia, saying it would lead to a fair wage deal.

But Mr McGhie said the union would attend conciliation until Ambulance Victoria responds to its paper detailing the productivity paramedics have delivered over the past three years.

The government has offered paramedics a 2.5 per cent annual pay rise, with any further increases offset by productivity gains.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt prosecutors quiz Morsi

INVESTIGATORS have begun questioning Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of his Muslim Brotherhood over their involvement in a 2011 prison break, judicial sources say.

The inquiry follows allegations that Morsi and senior Brotherhood members escaped from Wadi Natrun prison during the uprising that ended former president Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.

Investigators are examining whether foreign groups such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah were involved in the jailbreak.

State Security prosecution service investigators interviewed Morsi at an undisclosed location, the judicial sources told AFP.

It came hours after the public prosecutor received complaints against Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders, accusing them of spying, inciting violence and damaging the economy.

Morsi, who was overthrown by Egypt's powerful army on July 3, is being held in a "safe place", interim leaders have said.

His supporters accuse the military of violating democratic principles by removing an elected leader from office, and have vowed to keep fighting for his reinstatement.

The interim authorities are working to an army-drafted roadmap, and Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi is closer to forming a cabinet.

Parliamentary and presidential elections are expected next year.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

1 dead, 31 injured as Typhoon Soulik hits

One person was killed as Typhoon Soulik slammed into Taiwan, bringing powerful winds and heavy rain. Source: AAP

TYPHOON Soulik has battered Taiwan with torrential rain and powerful winds, leaving one person dead and at least 30 injured.

Roofs were ripped from homes, debris and fallen trees littered the streets and some areas were submerged by flood waters during Saturday's wild weather.

One town in central Taiwan reported "widespread" landslides and water levels a storey high.

More heavy rain and strong winds are predicted throughout Saturday with the authorities warning of further landslides and flooding.

Around 8000 people were evacuated from their homes before the typhoon struck, with hundreds of soldiers deployed to high-risk areas and the whole island declared an "alert zone" by the authorities.

In the capital Taipei, a 50-year-old police officer died after being hit by bricks that came loose during the typhoon, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said.

Three people were left seriously injured with 31 reported hurt across the island, most injured by trees or flying debris.

Soulik made landfall on the northeast coast around 3am Saturday (0600 AEST), packing winds of up to 190km/h, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.

"Heavy rains are expected throughout the day, especially in the mountainous areas in the centre and south," a weather forecaster from the bureau told AFP.

Strong winds were also predicted, he said, but added that the CWB was likely to lift the current land warning on Saturday night as the threat from the typhoon diminishes and it churns towards mainland China.

Nine people were rescued from flooded homes in the Shiangshan area of Puli, a town in central Nantou county, which was also hit by landslides.

"The water came very fast, catching residents totally unprepared - in some areas, it was one-storey deep," township official Wu Yuan-ming told AFP.

The nine caught in the floodwaters were rescued by firefighters in rubber boats after the river broke its banks, Wu said.

"Flooding and landslides were widespread in the town, especially in the areas near mountains," he added, calling the effects of the typhoon "more serious than we predicted".

Landslides reached the backyards of residents' homes but they had already evacuated, Wu said.

A major landslide on a mountain road leading to Taian, a central town famous for its hot spring resorts, was also reported by local media.

The northern village of Bailan saw the heaviest rain, measuring 900mm over the past two days, with winds gusting up to 220km/h.

Streets were submerged under 30cm of seawater in the port city of Keelung, the National Fire Agency said, with flooding also reported in the coastal area of Yilan and in New Taipei City, the area surrounding the capital.

Low-lying houses along the Hsintien River through greater Taipei were flooded, including one aboriginal village from which residents had been evacuated Friday, a police officer told AFP.

Local television showed roofs ripped from homes in northern Keelung and in Taipei, where 120km/h winds and downpours disrupted power, uprooted trees and left the streets strewn with rubbish.

Across Taiwan, electricity supplies in nearly 800,000 homes were down but half had been restored by Saturday afternoon, according to the Taiwan Power Company.

Around 170 flights into and out of Taiwan were cancelled or delayed, while offices and schools remained closed, with the public advised to stay indoors.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Search for answers after French rail crash

A passenger train has derailed and crashed into a station outside Paris, killing at least seven. Source: AAP

INVESTIGATORS are working to determine the cause of a train crash near Paris that claimed six lives as the French transport minister warned more victims could yet be found.

Praising the quick reflexes of the driver, who sent up the alert that halted all train traffic in the area, Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier virtually ruled out human error in the disaster.

He said the probe would focus instead on the "rolling stock, infrastructure and the precise signalling area".

"Fortunately the locomotive driver had absolutely extraordinary reflexes by sending the alert immediately, which avoided a collision with a train that was coming the other way and just a few seconds later would have smashed into the cars that were derailing. So it's not a human problem," Cuvillier told French radio on Saturday.

The train derailed and crashed into a station platform on Friday afternoon, killing six and leaving 30 injured, eight seriously.

Rescue teams worked through the night checking the wreckage of overturned carriages to see if any passengers remained trapped inside.

Cuvillier said earlier on Saturday that further "unfortunate discoveries" could not be ruled out.

The regional train was heading from Paris to the west-central city of Limoges. It derailed as it passed through the station at Bretigny-sur-Orge, about 25km south of Paris.

Four carriages of the train jumped the tracks, of which three overturned. One carriage smashed across a platform and came to rest on a parallel track; another lay half-way across the platform.

Passenger Marc Cheutin, 57, told AFP he had to "step over a decapitated person" after the accident, to exit the carriage he had been travelling in.

A witness who had been waiting for a train at the station, Vianey Kalisa, told AFP: "I saw a lot of wounded people, women and children trapped inside (the carriages).

"I was shaking like a child. People were screaming. One man's face was covered in blood. It was a like a war zone."

Guillaume Pepy, head of France's SNCF rail service, told reporters that SNCF, judicial authorities and France's BEA safety agency would each investigate the cause of the derailment.

A railway passenger association denounced what it called "rust-bucket trains" and the practice of coupling different types of trains together, demanding proper inspections.

Visiting the scene on Friday night, President Francois Hollande said: "We should avoid unnecessary speculation. What happened will eventually be known and the proper conclusions will be drawn."

Officials said the derailment happened at minutes after the intercity train left the Paris-Austerlitz station.

"The train arrived at the station at high speed. It split in two for an unknown reason. Part of the train continued to roll while the other was left on its side on the platform," a police source told AFP.

Cuvillier, who also visited the crash site, said the train had been travelling at 137km/h at the time of the crash.

That was below the 150km/h limit for that part of the track.

Some 300 firefighters, 20 paramedic teams and eight helicopters were deployed to treat casualties at the scene and airlift the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.

In total, 192 people were treated by emergency services, officials said. There were 385 passengers on the train, which means it was not overcrowded.

The derailment was France's worst rail accident since 2008, when a train collided with a schoolbus, killing seven schoolchildren.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More