Manila, March 10
A Manila court today acquitted the flamboyant widow of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos of 32 counts of illegally transferring wealth abroad during her husband’s 20-year rule.

The decision by Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr of the Manila Regional Trial Court comes after a 17-year trial in the case, involving some $ 863 million in Swiss bank accounts.

Pampilo said the prosecution presented witnesses that were not directly relevant to the accounts, and failed to prove wrongdoing by Marcos beyond a reasonable doubt.

Marcos and two associates were accused of unlawfully opening 11 dollar accounts in Switzerland under the names of 10 foundations linked to the Marcos family to hide alleged ill-gotten wealth, Pampilo said in a telephone interview.

“The prosecution presented inadmissible evidence,” he added. The money has been frozen by the government and is being held in escrow at the Philippine National Bank.

Pampilo said the forfeiture proceedings for the funds were separate and being handled by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, and that Marcos was acquitted only on the criminal case.

The wealthy socialite (79) gained fame for the extensive shoe collection and diamond- encrusted tiaras that she left behind, when she and her husband fled the country after his 1986 fall from power.

Marcos, faced a string of criminal and civil cases related to billions of dollars allegedly amassed by her family during her husband’s two decades in office. — AP

Islamabad, March 10
An anti-terrorism court today issued an arrest warrant for Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud for allegedly plotting the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

The court of Judge Habib-ur-Rehman in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi also extended the remand of five suspects in the case till March 18, when the matter will be taken up for hearing again.

Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi on December 27 in a gun and bomb attack shortly after addressing an election rally.

The government had accused Mehsud, who is based in the lawless Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, of masterminding the assassination. The charge was denied by Mehsud’s spokesman.

Pakistani police had formally charged Mehsud earlier this month with plotting the murder of Bhutto and declared him an absconder.

The five suspects -- 15-year-old Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Rafaqat, Hasnain Gul and Abdul Rasheed -- were produced in the court amidst tight security. Their relatives were allowed to meet them in the court premises.

Detectives from Britain’s Scotland Yard concluded that she died due to the intensity of the suicide bomb attack and was not hit by bullets. — PTI

Islamabad, March 10
PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari is believed to have decided to take over as Pakistan’s Prime Minister after three months, as he held talks today with senior partymen to decide on a candidate to head the new coalition government.

The News said Zardari had reportedly shared this “multi-million dollar secret” with his party MPs from Hyderabad region on Saturday night when he told them that he would bring a Prime Minister from Punjab for 90 days and become Premier after contesting elections. There was no immediate reaction from Zardari or any PPP leader.

As consultations continue to decide on the country’s next Prime Minister, Pervez Musharraf today reached out to the PPP-PML-N coalition saying he will have “smooth and cordial” relations, a day after they set the stage for a confrontation by deciding to reinstate judges sacked by the President.

Pushed to the back foot after the opposition groups hammered out a coalition pact under which the deposed judges would get back their jobs, Musharraf also said he will not adopt a path of confrontation with the new government and hoped this will be reciprocated by them.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister hopeful Amin Fahim told the News that he too had heard from partymen about Zardari telling members of the National Assembly on Saturday that he has decided to become Prime Minister. But Fahim, who is from Sindh, said unless he heard himself from 
the mouth of Zardari he would not give any reaction.

Kathmandu, March 10
Shocked by the death of three friends in a helicopter crash, a UN official committed suicide here.

A Russian helicopter engineer, Evegeny Alexandrov, 50, who was working for the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) hanged himself inside his rented room at Kapan on Saturday and left a suicide note in Russian, the police said.

Alexandrov was living in an apartment with five of his colleagues and was depressed after three of them died in a helicopter accident in Bethan village of Ramechhap district on March 3.

Seven UNMIN officials and three crew members had died in the chopper crash. The UN established its mission in Nepal last year to monitor the peace process. — PTI

New York, March 10
A former USA TODAY reporter has been ordered to pay a staggering fine of up to $ 5,000 per day until she reveals the sources in her stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Under the court order, Toni Locy will have to pay $ 500 a day for a week, $ 1000 per day for the second week and $ 5000 for every day after that, until she reveals the names of dozens of sources that she used in her stories, which named former army scientist Steven Hatfill as a possible suspect.

The judge also ordered that she paid the fine from her pocket and neither her former employer nor anyone could help her.

One of the lawyers representing Locy was quoted as saying the fines are “unprecedented.” Les Machado said the defence would ask the appeals court to postpone the payments, pending appeals on the contempt order by US District Judge Reggie Walton.

Locy now teaches journalism at West Virginia University, where she earns $ 75,000 a year. If Locy held out for three weeks, she would owe $ 45,500, or about 60 per cent of her salary.

“I can’t pay it,” Locy (48) told media. “The fines will just accrue. That’s it. I don’t have that kind of money.” Machado said it was unclear what Walton might do if his client could not pay the fines, though one option could be to order Locy to prison. “This whole thing is unprecedented,” he said. — PTI

Johannesburg, March 10
South Africa’s top prosecutor, who is pursuing corruption cases against senior officials including ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, has been sent a letter laced with poison, his spokesman said today.

The spokesman said Mokotedi Mpshe did not touch the letter himself, but National Prosecuting Authority staff who came in contact with the substance in the letter after it was opened were given medical treatment for rashes.

Spokesman Tlali Tlali gave no indication of who he thought might have sent the letter to the acting head of the prosecuting authority, which has been at the centre of a power struggle between Zuma and President Thabo Mbeki.

“The letter was received on Thursday. It was intended for the national director,” said Tlali, adding that some of the staff developed a rash after being exposed to the contents of the letter.

Tlali said an internal investigation had so far not pointed to who could have intended to harm the NPA director. He said the substance did not appear to be extremely dangerous but tests were still underway.

The police made no immediate comment on the letter. Mpshe became acting head of the prosecutors’ office after Mbeki suspended his predecessor. That prompted critics to accuse Mbeki of using the judiciary and state institutions against opponents such as Zuma.

The prosecutor has denied that Mbeki was behind the charges against Zuma. He also has a corruption case against police chief Jackie Selebi, an ally of Mbeki.

Zuma is due to appear before the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to try to stop prosecutors using evidence seized from him during raids in 2005 against him in the corruption trial, which is set to start in August.

During the apartheid era, the police sometimes used letters or items of clothing laced with poison to target opponents.

In 1989, they tried to kill ANC activist Frank Chikane with poisoned underwear. He is now a top adviser to Mbeki. — Reuters