UK cops arrest 8 in bribery probe at Murdoch’s Sun
The Scotland Yard arrested five staff at The Sun tabloid, a member of the armed forces, a defence official and a policeman.
The arrests cast a shadow over the future of Britain s biggest selling daily, following the phone hacking scandal which led to the closure of its weekly sister paper the News of the World in July.
The arrested Sun staff were deputy editor Geoff Webster, picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and reporter John Sturgis, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.
“I m as shocked as anyone by today s arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times,” said Sun editor Dominic Mohan.
“I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday s newspaper.”
News International — the British newspaper arm of Murdoch s global media operation — would not confirm reports that Murdoch was flying to London to reassure Sun staff that he would not close the paper down.
Scotland Yard said it had now broadened its investigation into alleged payments by journalists for information, which had previously focused on bribes paid to the police.
“The remit of Operation Elveden has widened to include the investigation of evidence uncovered in relation to suspected corruption involving public officials who are not police officers,” it said in a statement.
It said five men aged 45, 47, 50, 52 and 68 were arrested in dawn raids at their homes in London and nearby areas on suspicion of corruption and of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.
In the first cases of their kind, a Ministry of Defence employee aged 39 was arrested at her home in Wiltshire, southwest England, and a 36-year-old man serving in the armed forces was arrested in the same area.
Both were held on suspicion of corruption, misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both offences.
All eight were still in police custody hours after their arrest.
Sky News said they were an army officer and his wife.
The Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on ongoing police investigations.
A police officer in the county of Surrey, which borders London, was also arrested on suspicion of corruption and misconduct in a public office.
Surrey police were responsible for investigating the 2002 murder of teenager Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked by the News of the World after she went missing.
Police said they had completed a search of the offices of News International in Wapping, East London. They were also searching the homes of the arrested people.
The arrests were made following information provided to police by the Management and Standards Committee set up by Murdoch s US-based News Corporation, Scotland Yard said.
News Corp. confirmed that the five men arrested were employees of The Sun and that it had provided the information.
“News Corporation remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated and last summer authorised the MSC to co-operate with the relevant authorities,” it said.
Police have now made 21 arrests under Operation Elveden, including four current and former Sun journalists who were detained and bailed over alleged corruption in January.
Previous arrests in the bribery probe include Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, and Andy Coulson, the former spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Police have also made 17 arrests in the separate investigation into phone hacking.
Murdoch shut down the News of the World amid public outrage and British media said there were fears among employees at The Sun that he could do the same thing to it.
The Australian-born tycoon bought The Sun in 1969 and it is the flagship of his UK newspaper operation, selling around 2.5 million copies a day with its diet of sex and scandal.
The editor of The Times newspaper, which is also owned by Murdoch, apologised on Tuesday to a blog-writing detective unmasked by a former reporter of the newspaper who allegedly hacked his email.–AFP
Egyptian PM dismisses US aid threats over NGO case
Egypt is refusing to back down in a dispute with the U.S. over Cairo s crackdown on nonprofit groups despite Washington s threats to cut aid, while the military deployed troops to the nation s streets after a surge in violence and protests against its rule.
Egypt s official MENA news agency said Wednesday the army was deploying more troops to reinforce the police, restore security and state “prestige.” The move comes in the wake of a deadly soccer riot last week that sparked days of clashes between the police and protesters. At least 89 people were killed in a week of violence.
The deployment appeared to be a show of force by the military in response to a surge in criticism of its handling of the country s transition to democracy and rising calls for the ruling generals to step down. There are calls for a general strike on Feb. 11 that have been gaining traction.
Egypt s military rulers are also facing a deepening dispute with the United States over Cairo s campaign against foreign-funded pro-democracy and rights groups, which began late last year with raid by security forces on the organizations offices. Authorities allege there is a foreign conspiracy against Egypt to explain the widening protests against the military s performance.
On Sunday, Egyptian investigative judges referred 16 Americans and 27 others to trial on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country.
That immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Washington, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warning that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of some $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt. Some U.S. legislators even said every aspect of the relationship with Egypt must be examined following the crackdown.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called on Egypt to release the Americans, saying the 16 “have not done anything wrong.” Egyptian authorities put the number of Americans referred to trial at 19, but Nuland on Tuesday said there are 16 Americans in the case.
Nuland said the U.S. received a 175-page document in Arabic outlining the charges, but “our view remains that this is not fundamentally a judicial issue,” but an issue between governments over the proper role of the groups.
With tensions rising, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, is to travel to Egypt this week for talks with military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Dempsey s spokesman, Col. Dave Lapan, said Wednesday the trip has long been planned, but that the nonprofit spat will come up if it hasn t been resolved. He said Dempsey would talk with Egypt s leaders about “choices and consequences,” but declined to elaborate.
Despite the warnings from Washington, Egypt s military-backed Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri struck a defiant tone Wednesday, telling reporters he was “saddened” by the pressure Egypt was facing but insisting authorities “can t back down or won t change course because of some aid.”
“Egypt used its legal right to face some violations by civil groups,” he said. “The lofty judiciary moved and discussed and investigated the case. … The West then turned against us because Egypt exercised its rights.”
El-Ganzouri also charged that aid pledged by Arab states has also stalled since the dispute began. He said he met in early December with Arab ambassadors “who promised that Egypt will receive a lot of money,” but two months later “none of these promises have come through.”
He hinted that the U.S. and Arab allies are withholding aid money because Egypt has adopted more independent policies since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.
Egypt s net international reserves were down 50 percent year-on-year by the end of December as the country s economy is reeling from the overall effect of the uprising and the turmoil that followed. The government is discussing with the International Monetary Fund a $3.2 billion loan.
Addressing the rising calls for the military to step down, el-Ganzouri said the generals will not leave office before the end of June as currently planned. He warned against calls for the speedy end of military rule, recalling the fall of the Iraqi army after the U.S. invasion in 2003. He said the Iraqi army s demise pushed the country down the path to civil war.
In an attempt to rally public support, el-Ganzouri appealed to nationalist sentiment and urged Egyptians to unite in the of face tough times ahead. He argued that the current conditions in Egypt are worse than after the country s crushing military defeat in 1967 when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
“What we are seeing now is worse than after the 1967 defeat, which was a military one,” he said. “What is happening is a call to defeat the whole people, not only a military defeat. If we unite, we will get through this.”
El-Ganzouri also warned that Egypt was the backbone of the Middle East, a region in flux at the moment, and that “if it (Egypt) falls, the whole region will follow.”
“Neither the West, nor the Arab brothers are aware of this,” he said.
Local civil groups say the campaign on foreign-funded nonprofit groups is in preparation for a harsh crackdown on local rights groups who have been documenting and lobbying against the military rulers since they took office last year.
Hafez Abou Saada, a veteran Egyptian human rights activist, said Cairo s clash with the U.S. over the groups “is incomprehensible and unjustified and goes to show that the case against the civil groups is not a legal but is a political one.”
He said el-Ganzouri s comments are “an attempt to rally a domestic front behind the government and create an enemy.”
The military rulers charge that the foreign groups fund and support anti-government protests. The military claims that “foreign hands” are behind the opposition to their rule. They frequently depict the protesters as receiving funds from abroad in a plot to destabilize the country.
On Wednesday, Egyptian judges said the evidence collected in the case against 16 Americans referred to court for their alleged involvement in banned political activity through nonprofit groups include maps, cash and videos taken of churches and military facilities. Among the Americans referred to court is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Ashraf el-Ashmawi, one of the judges investigating the case, said authorities are investigating other groups.
In reference to the already named groups, he said: “Their activities have nothing to do with human rights.”
PA session continues in rumpus
Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz demanded the Chief Minister to tell the name of VIP of Islamabad who hatched conspiracy against Punjab.
Raja Riaz said if Shahbaz Sharif is not involved in the scandal then the cases should be registered against those involved.
The ruling party and opposition benches started shouting at each other.
Raja said opposition will not allow continuing the proceeding forcefully after which the Speaker suspended the proceeding for 10 minutes and hold talks with the Opposition Leader and assured that the CM will attend the meeting on Monday.
The session started again but till last reports rumpus continued.
Apple, Google poaching case will go forward
Google, Apple and five other technology companies must face a lawsuit claiming they violated antitrust laws by entering into agreements not to recruit each other s employees, a federal judge said.
US District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California, Thursday said that even if she dismisses some claims, she will give the plaintiffs a chance to amend their complaint and re-file it.
Intel, Adobe Systems, Walt Disney s Pixar animation unit, Intuit and Lucasfilm are also named as defendants.
“They still have an antitrust claim that s going forward so I don t want to see any obstruction on discovery,” she told lawyers during a hearing.
The case is a private lawsuit brought on behalf of employees that mirrors claims the companies settled with the US Justice Department in 2010 following a probe. The companies agreed to refrain from placing “cold calls” to lure workers from competitors, the government said at the time.
Koh didn t take issue with the allegations about the agreements between individual companies, Joseph Saveri, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an interview after the hearing. Instead, Koh has questions about “how it ties together,” or claims of an over-arching conspiracy between all the companies, he said.
Possible damages
The ruling requires the defendants to produce documents describing the agreements and permits lawyers to take depositions, Saveri said.
“We get to see what really happened,” he said, adding that damages in the case could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
While the accord “may have exposed defendants illegal antitrust violations and put an end to them,” the agreements “did not provide any compensation to the employees defendants harmed,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a court filing.
Google said in a statement that is has “always actively and aggressively recruited top talent,” declining to comment further.
George Riley, a lawyer for Apple, and Robert Mittelstaedt, an attorney for Adobe, declined to comment immediately after the hearing. Zenia Mucha, a Disney spokeswoman, wasn t immediately available for comment after regular business hours.
Intel spokeswoman Laura Anderson, Intuit spokeswoman Sandra Corradetti, and a representative at Lucasfilm didn t immediately return calls seeking comment on Koh s ruling after regular business hours.
New conspiracies hatched against us everyday: Zardari
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Waseela-e-Haq Sindh Programme’ in Karachi, Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party and President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, said that everyday a new conspiracy is hatched against us but, by the grace of God, we defused every conspiracy.
PPP government is creating a new middle class in Sindh through this programme, Zardari said. He said that we want that new generation would not face hardships which we have faced. He said that right from the first day of presidency, I talked about trade instead of aid. Zardari also suggested the beneficiaries of WHSP to establish dairy farms.
Politics is our worship, he said, adding that we are in politics for the service of the people. Our politics is not dependent on votes, he said.
While talking about BISP, he said that we strengthened the economy through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
When we designed this programme, he said, people criticized and showed their concern but now this programme is running successfully.
The president also asked CM Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah to solve the problems of PPP workers and to provide them jobs.
Police recovers 1500 ID cards from nullah
According to police, they have found the 1500 ID cards from a nullah at Mawach Goth and started cleansing them.
An unknown man escaped after throwing these cards in the nullah. Some of them are original while the remaining are coloured copies, police officials said. Area police have called the NADRA team at police station to probe into matter. Further investigation is underway to trace out the conspiracy.
Police recovered more than 1500 Identity Cards from a nullah and started investigation.
BB murder case hearing adjourned as defence lawyers observes itikaf
The defence lawyer did not appear before the court as he was observing itikaf.
Seven accused in the case were to be indicted today but the defence lawyer did not appear due to itikaf.
The court adjourned the hearing till September 10.
Separately, the court recorded Salman Taseer’s murder case probing officer Inspector Hakim Ali Khan.
In Mumbai attack conspiracy case, the court recorded the statement of four witnesses.
Hearing of those cases was also adjourned until September 10.
Shahbaz Warns of Protest Against Gas Crisis
TrendPK.com: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has warned of protest along with the labourers on The Mall Road, if the gas shortage issue remained unresolved.
During a meeting with the industrialists at his Model Town residence at Lahore on Wednesday, Shahbaz said that he would unveil the conspiracy being hatched against Punjab, adding that he would ring PM Gilani over the issue.
India: RSS leader chargesheeted for Ajmer blast
The Rajasthan Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) has filed an 806-page charge sheet in the 2007 Ajmer blast case and accused Devender Gupta, allegedly linked to a radical group Abhinav Bharat, Chandrashekhar and Lokesh in the incident.
The Rajasthan ATS has reportedly levelled a number of sensational claims in its chargesheet that was filed on Friday in a local Ajmer court.
According to the 806-page chargesheet, the conspiracy for the blast was headed by Swami Sananand, who arranged meetings in Jammu, Indore and Ujjain. The conspiracy to plant bombs in Ajmer and several other cities of India was hatched at the Gujarati Samaj guest house on Jaipur’s MI Road. The ATS has claimed in its report that the secret meeting, held on October 31, 2005 was allegedly attended by several leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), including its Pracharak Indresh Kumar. The chargesheet claims that an organisation called Jai Vande Matram, founded by one of the accused Sunil Joshi, planned and executed the Ajmer dargah blast on October 11, 2007.
Joshi was killed near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh two months after the blast. Jai Vande Matram, according to the ATS, was formed by extremists to hit back at Muslim terror groups operating in the country. The chargesheet states that investigations against Ramdeen, Sandeep Dangre and others is on. The three accused named in the chargesheet have been booked under Sections 302, 307, 323, 295 A (explosive Act), 201 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code.
The next hearing in the case would be held on October 26. The ATS produced Chandrashekhar in court, while Devender and Lokesh are in Hyderabad for interrogations related to the Mecca Masjid blast. However, the local leaders of the RSS view it as a conspiracy to defame their organisation by the Congress ruled State Government. The 806-page chargesheet was filed after tracking the accused for three years and 178 days of investigation.As per records, two bombs were planted in the dargah with timers attached to mobile phones. One of these remained unexploded and was found next day by the local police. The SIM of this unexploded bomb was taken to the FSL and it was found that the same number was saved in other telephones of the accused as Vande Matram, Timesnow quoted the report.
According to advocates, the CJM court where the chargesheet is filed on Friday will transfer the case to session court as initiating trial in the sections which are framed against the accused is not in the jurisdiction of magistrate.
SC Resumes Hearing of Judges Restoration Notification
News Trends: Supreme Courts 17-member larger bench is hearing the suo moto notice of news about withdrawing the notification regarding restoration of judges.
Some extra ordinary activities were observed in Supreme Court on Thursday evening. All the judges of SC held a one hour long meeting regarding after the news were aired on some sections of media.
After the release of a press release by SC, a 17 member bench of the Supreme Court was constituted on late Thursday night to hear the case of withdrawing the notification order regarding restoration of judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and chief justices/judges of the High Courts.
It was also stated in the press release that Supreme Court has also issued a notice to Attorney General. It also states that executive order of restoration of judges will not be postponed.
The court has given its decision regarding the Sindh High Court Bar case. According to the press release the procedure for appointment and withdrawal of judges is mentioned in the constitution. PM Gilani said that he had taken notice of the issue of withdrawal of notification of judges restoration and such news could widen gulf between the Government and the Judiciary.Terming the reports of media as baseless, the PM said that the Government respected constitutional institutions and PPP always respected the judiciary and gave sacrifices for its independence.
He said that every conspiracy against the Government and Judiciary would be foiled. Elements behind this conspiracy want to destabilize the country but they would not succeed, he added.
In his statement he also said that some elements are trying to create confusions among the institutions but such conspiracies will not be made successful; whereas the government fully respects the judiciary.
