SC to frame charges against Gilani today
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will appear before Supreme Court on Monday to face contempt charges that could decide his fate and plunge the country into a fresh political turmoil over his refusal to reopen graft cases against the President.
Dealing a major blow to PM Gilani, the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Friday had rejected his appeal against framing of contempt charges over his failure to act on its repeated orders to revive cases of alleged money laundering against Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland.
Gilani personally appeared in the court when it took up the contempt case on January 19 and said the government could not reopen the cases against the President because he enjoys complete immunity in Pakistan and abroad.
Refusing to buy his arguments, the court told Gilani that he had no option but to write to Swiss authorities to revive graft cases against Zardari as no one was above the law.
Insiders in the ruling Pakistan People s Party today said the premier is expected to stick to this position when he appears in court again tomorrow.
If Gilani is convicted, he could be imprisoned for six months and face possible removal from office after being disqualified from holding public office for five years.
However, legal experts pointed out that the President had the power to pardon him after his conviction.
The apex court has been pressuring the government to reopen the cases since December 2009, when it struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a graft amnesty issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf that benefited Zardari and over 8,000 others.
The PPP has been reluctant to act because top leaders believe any action on the cases in Switzerland could give the Supreme Court an opportunity to interpret the constitutional provision related to presidential immunity.
“Once the Swiss cases are reopened, then the court could say it wants to review the President s immunity. And all this will pave the way to launch a get Zardari movement on legal grounds,” a PPP leader, who did not want to be named, told PTI.
At the same time, the PPP s top leadership has considered the possibility that Gilani may have to be replaced if the apex court acts against him.
Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar have emerged as possible contenders for the premier s slot if Gilani is disqualified, insiders said.
There is a section in the PPP which believes that any action taken by the Supreme Court against Gilani could boost the party s standing, especially in the premier’s home province of Punjab, at a time when its fortunes are at a low.
“We are fully convinced that Gilani s sacrifice will give a boost to the party and help lay a strong launch pad for the next election,” a presidential aide said.
In an indication of the thinking within the PPP, Gilani told a public meeting in Punjab yesterday that now the party s leaders, and not the workers, would make “sacrifices”.
Such fears have prompted some of the PPP s allies in the ruling coalition to suggest that the government should act on the court s orders, sources said.
During the hearing on Gilani s appeal, the court had said that $60 million that were allegedly laundered will come back to Pakistan only if the letter is written to Swiss authorities.
Gilani is expected to take the PPP s allies into confidence about his strategy for the contempt proceedings in the apex court, party insiders said.
Within the PPP, no leaders have differed with the top leadership s decision not to reopen the cases in Switzerland, they said.
Iran vows to reveal nuclear achievement
Iran is “to inaugurate important nuclear projects in the next few days,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday, adding that his nation “will never yield” to Western coercion aimed at stopping its atomic activities.
Ahmadinejad, giving an anniversary speech in Tehran marking the 33rd year of Iran s Islamic revolution, gave no details of the nuclear projects.
But he railed against Western economic sanctions imposed to force Iran to give up its controversial nuclear programme, and at threats of possible Israeli and US military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.
“If the language of bullying and insult is used, the Iranian nation will never yield,” he said.
“The only path is to adhere to justice and the respect of Iran s (nuclear) rights and to return to the negotiating table,” he said. Otherwise, the West will continue to face “defeat” on the issue, he said.
Boxing: Amir Khan confirms Peterson rematch in Vegas
Amir Khan is to face Lamont Peterson in a re-match in Las Vegas in May, the British boxer announced via Twitter on Friday.
American Peterson deprived Khan of his World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) light-welterweight titles as a result of a controversial split points decision in Washington on December 10.
That led the WBA to order a re-match last month and the second Khan-Peterson bout will now take places at Las Vegas s Mandalay Bay Hotel on May 19.
“Big announcement. KHAN. Vs PETERSON May 19th, Mandalay Bay Hotel Vegas. At last I git (get) the fight I deserve, Big,” Khan said on his Twitter account.
There was confusion at the end of the pair s first meeting in Washington, Peterson s home town, with an unusually long delay between the climax of the bout and the announcement of the judges scorecards.
Referee Joe Cooper had previously deducted points from the 25-year-old Khan in the seventh and 12th rounds for pushing — an offence rarely punished at championship level — and did not credit Khan with what should have been a first round knockdown, according to the WBA.
Further controversy ensued when Khan s camp highlighted video footage of Mustafa Ameen, an IBF official who had no formal role at the bout, which they claimed showed him interfering with the judges scorecards.
That led Ameen to threaten legal action against Khan last month.
Brooke Mueller reportedly moving right along with rehab
TrendPK.com: Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, has been in rehab for a bit now, and it seems that this may be the time that it finally works.
Mueller is allegedly at Cirque Lodge in Utah, and after staying there for about a month, she is continuing her rehabilitation treatment a little bit longer, states TMZ. Mueller reportedly plans to continue for about another 30-45 days.
While she was completing the program through in-patient treatment, she is now allegedly renting a home nearby to adjust back to normal life while still going through out-patient treatment.
Do you think she’ll get better this time?
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Maine to host mustache film festival
Move over, Cannes. Maine will be playing host to its first-ever international mustache film festival, part of its annual pageant that celebrates the bristly facial hair.
The festival set for March 30 in Portland will feature short films with storylines that involve mustaches or a main character who wears a mustache, said Nick Callanan, head of No Umbrella Media, a video production company organizing the event.
The idea for the mustache film festival, believed to be the first of its kind, grew out of an annual mustache pageant held locally to benefit arts and cancer research organizations, he said.
This year s 2012 Stache Pag will feature contestants wearing all manner of mustaches, from handlebars to horseshoes, Callanan said. There are also the walrus and Fu Manchu styles, he said.
“It s just about men expressing themselves,” he said.
To be considered for the festival, films must be eight minutes or less and have a mustache theme or a main character with a mustache. Callanan said he has received submissions from as far away as Norway.
The films will be screened ahead of the pageant, which has been held annually for five years at bars, bowling alleys and elsewhere, he said.
What began as a gathering of friends mushroomed into an event that attracted some 450 people last year, he said.
The pageant includes categories for various types of mustaches, including the “Magnum, P.I.,” named after the amply mustachioed television character played by actor Tom Selleck.
Popular Hollywood movies that would be considered “mustache films” might include “Smoky and the Bandit,” starring Burt Reynolds with a thick mustache, “Tombstone” with Val Kilmer or films featuring action star Chuck Norris.
Proceeds from the film festival will be donated to Northeast Historic Film, a film preservation organization, and those from the pageant will be given to an arts support organization called MENSK and a cancer research fundraising group called My Stache Fights Cancer.
Crime rate climbs amid Brazilian police strike
Troops locked down the Brazilian city of Salvador on Sunday as an elite unit prepared to besiege the legislature and arrest armed police officers whose strike action has sent homicides spiraling.
A force of 2, 600 army, navy and federal police was ordered to quell unrest in the northeastern state of Bahia after leading police officers went on strike on Wednesday demanding higher pay, weeks before the annual Carnival.
Homicides have skyrocketed since the strike. State officials said 81 murders were reported over the past five days, more than twice the number for the same period last year. Assaults and store lootings also increased.
“There are 40 men of an elite group that arrived to capture the strikers,” a state government source said, as soldiers patrolled key intersections in the city and kept watch over its popular beaches.
The head of the state legislature, Marcelo Nilo, urged the strikers to leave the building before midnight Sunday. The site “cannot be used as a refuge for those fleeing justice,” Nilo said.
Scores of armed policemen demanding an amnesty have been occupying part of the building since the strike began, Bahia state government spokesman Robinson Almeida told AFP.
“The government knows that 99 percent of us are armed. If they try to evict us there will be a bloodbath,” an unidentified police officer told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
One strike leader was arrested on Sunday on charges of “incitement to violence, forming gangs and theft of public property,” officials said. Arrest warrants were outstanding against 11 other leaders.
Local residents were fearful.
“For the last two days I have not left my apartment,” Italian businessman Marco Baghin told reporters. “It made no sense to risk being attacked or robbed.” Bahia Governor Jaques Wagner has declared the strike illegal and asked for federal help.
Brazil s top army commander, General Enzo Martins, told the Agencia Brasil that 900 more soldiers were being deployed to Bahia to help provide additional security.
The strike and the spike in violence came just two weeks before millions of tourists were expected to arrive for Brazil s premier tourist event, the Carnival.
Bahia, Brazil s fourth most populous state with a population of 13.6 million, is an important center for Carnival celebrations.
“This strike, in the way it is being carried out, is unacceptable,” Brazilian Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said.
Crime fears were having a dire economic affect.
Pedro Galvao, president of the Association of Travel Agencies of Bahia, told Brazil s O Globo newspaper that 10 percent of tourists had already canceled their air and hotel reservations for the Carnival.
Some 10,000 police officers, or one third of the Bahia police force, were on strike, demanding a 50 percent pay raise,
better work conditions, and no retaliation, the state Public Safety Department said. The average wage for a state officer is about $867 a month.
Bahia police also went on strike in 2001 for one week demanding a pay raise.
Euro dips amid jitters over Greek debt talks
The euro bought $1.3108 and 100.33 yen in Tokyo morning trade, down from $1.3156 and 100.80 yen in New York late Friday. The dollar changed hands at 76.53 yen, almost flat from New York.
The euro may stay under pressure against the dollar and yen on Monday as uncertainty over the future of the Greek debt negotiation weighs on the common currency, said Sumino Kamei, senior analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
“The odds are against the euro today, and the euro is expected to lose some ground against the yen and the dollar,” she told Dow Jones Newswires.
Athens has been in talks with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — known as the “troika” — on further action needed to unlock a new eurozone rescue deal worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion) pending since October.
Pressure is also high for an agreement with private lenders to wipe out part of the 350-billion-euro Greek debt, as Athens faces loan repayments of 14.4 billion euros ($19 billion) on March 20.
The measures demanded by the troika reportedly included a 20-percent cut to the monthly minimum wage of 750 euros ($985); a 15-percent cut in supplementary pensions; and 15,000 civil service redundancies this year.
Leaders from Greek political parties are expected to resume talks Monday after failing to bridge differences on reforms required by the troika.
An agreement was supposed to have been reached mid-last week, National Australia Bank noted.
“The constant delays and negative comments from European leaders raise concerns that Greece will not meet the necessary conditions for more funds. That means disorderly default,” it said in a note.
Clinton calls for friends of Syria to unite
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling for “friends of democratic Syria” to unite and rally against President Bashar Assad s regime.
Speaking Sunday in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the day after Russia and China blocked U.N. Security Council action on Syria, Clinton said the international community had a duty to halt ongoing bloodshed and promote a political transition that would see Assad step down.
Previewing the possible formation of a group to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition, she said the “friends of Syria” could work together to promote those goals.
Such a group could be similar to the Contact Group on Libya, which oversaw international help for opponents of the late deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Malik warns banned outfits
Replying to a point of order of Sheikh Waqas Akram that banned organizations were holding public rallies in various cities despite the fact such activities were banned under Anti-Terrorism Act, the Interior Minister Rehman Malik said banned outfits were organizing rallies under different names.
He informed the National Assembly that strict action would be taken if any evidence was found that a banned organization held a public rally in the capital territory.
The minister said banned organizations were collecting funds under different names and underlined the importance of proper legislation to curtail their activities.
He said a bill dealing with the activities of banned organizations had been pending with the Senate Standing Committee for the last two years.
Rehman Malik said law enforcement agencies needed more empowerment to take proper action against the banned organizations, adding the passage of that bill was necessary to have strict check on the activities of banned outfits.
He said recommendations of all political parties would be accommodated in making a comprehensive legislation in this regard.
Earlier Sahibzada Fazal Karim also raised concern on ongoing activities of banned organizations. He demanded foolproof security arrangements for public gatherings on 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal.
Karachi: Three injured in road accident
According to details, an over-speeding coach hit a motorcycle near Liaquatabad Post Office near Chorangi in Karachi, injuring three people, including a woman.
The injured were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment. Angry crowd gathered at the accident site tried to set on fire the coach involved in the accident but a timely action by police foiled their attempt. Police have registered a case and started investigation.
