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Cambodia court orders release of Khmer Rouge ‘First Lady’
Pro-EU parties win Dutch election
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65 years after India’s freedom, UK to scrap ‘Raj’ era laws
Gunmen kill 10 in Pakistan
Qaida posts video of 9/11 hijackers
New UK fund to help students hit by LMU licence cancellation
Himalayan glaciers retreating at increased rate in a few regions
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Cambodia court orders release of Khmer Rouge ‘First Lady’ Phnom Penh, September 13 The UN-backed tribunal said there is no prospect that the accused can stand trial in the foreseeable future, handing a bitter blow to survivors of the 1975-1979 regimes, who are blamed for the deaths of around two million people. Ieng Thirith (80), ex-social affairs minister and the sister-in-law of regime leader Pol Pot, was one of the few people ever brought before a court for atrocities during the Khmer Rouge era. The accused suffers from a progressive, degenerative illness (likely Alzheimer's disease). She is unfit to stand trial,read the court statement. She was accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The court said, “Her impending release is not a finding on the guilt or innocence nor does it withdraw the charges against her.” Three other ageing top former regime leaders, including her husband, former foreign minister Ieng Sary still remains on trial. The case, the tribunal's second and most important, is seen vital for the healing wounds in the still-traumatised nation. Campaigners have voiced dismay at the slow progress of proceedings given the advanced age of the defendants. Prosecutors had already conceded that Ieng Thirith was unlikely to answer the charges because of her
failing health. "This is a success for our team," said her lawyer Phat Pouv Seang. He said Ieng Thirith would be released within 24 hours, barring an appeal against the court decision. A court spokesperson confirmed that she was set to be freed on Friday. The court said it recognised that the extent of her illness meant that she would be incapable of remembering or adhering to any conditions, but stipulated that she should not interfere in the case in any way. Khmer Rouge victims met the decision with dismay. "I cannot oppose the court, but I am not happy with its decision," said Bou Meng (71), one of the few people who survived incarceration in Tuol Sleng, one of the regime's notorious prison tortures. — AFP
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Pro-EU parties win Dutch election Amsterdam, September 13 In what was by the standards of the last decade a very clear result, voters handed pro-European parties a sweeping victory, shunning the radical fringes and dispelling concerns ‘eurosceptics’ could gain sway in a country viewed as a core member of the euro zone family. With more than 98 per cent of votes counted, Rutte's centre-right Liberals won 41 seats in the 150-member lower house, giving them a two-seat lead over the centre-left Labour Party on 39 seats. "We fought this election house by house, street by street, city by city, and I'm proud. Tomorrow, I will take the first steps leading to the formation of a Cabinet," Rutte said overnight after Labour leader Diederik Samsom conceded defeat. While the Liberals and Labour have played down talk of forming a coalition, the two parties would together command a governing majority in Parliament. That would be a rare outcome in a country where three or four members’ coalitions are not unusual and coalition talks often take several months. That could offer the prospect of badly-needed political stability at a time of sluggish growth and when many say potentially unpopular legislation is needed to reform the housing market and healthcare. But it could also make for difficult coalition negotiations between two almost equal partners. While both parties are broadly pro-European, they have very different ideas on social and fiscal policy. "(These two) parties have become so big that neither can form a majority Cabinet with other parties," said sociologist Paul Schnabel in a column for business daily Het Financieele Dagblad. "That also makes it difficult because they are condemned to each other. A forced marriage, which usually has little blessing," said Schnabel. Rutte's government was known throughout Europe for its hardline stance on fiscal discipline, demanding austerity from indebted countries on the euro zone's fringes and insisting the Netherlands meet its own European Union deficit targets. He will, however, probably lose his close ally, outspoken Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager, whose Christian Democrat party - which has the Dutch post-war political landscape - crashed to its worst result ever, coming fifth. Samsom, who promised "a more social Netherlands", wants a slower pace of cuts in order to allow for more fiscal stimulus at a time when the Dutch economy is growing at far slower pace than neighbouring Germany. He has also said he would give Greece more time to put its house in order and, unlike Rutte, has not ruled out a third bailout there.— Reuters
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65 years after India’s freedom, UK to scrap ‘Raj’ era laws London, September 13 The laws have remained on the statute books in Britain even though India gained freedom in 1947. The 38 Acts related to the Indian Railways are part of a cull being carried out of several old pieces of legislation considered "as being spent, obsolete, unnecessary or otherwise not now of practical utility". Law Commission sources said today that the 38 Acts related to the Indian Railways are contained in the Statute Law (Repeals) Bill, and that the Ministry of Justice will present it to Parliament in the ongoing session next month. The scrapping of the Acts is due to completed by the end of this year. The 38 Acts relate to the construction and maintenance of the railways network in India during British rule — the first dated 1849 and the latest of 1942 — and reflect the challenge of constructing and maintaining one of the largest railway networks in the world across vast distances in British India. — PTI
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Gunmen kill 10 in Pakistan
As many as 10 labourers were gunned down by unknown terrorists while they were working on a road in Quetta under the restive Balochistan province of south-west Pakistan on Thursday.
The incident occurred in the Dasht area of Mastung district, officials told the media. The police said a group of labourers were busy working on a government road project when they were fired upon by unidentified gunmen. While five of them were killed instantly, five others died later in hospital. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, though such incidents are usually blamed on Baloch nationalist groups. Separatists and militants have been constantly targeting either non-native workers from other provinces or Shia Hazara Muslims in the troubled province. Capital Quetta remains under constant fire with target killing incidents and bomb blasts taking lives on a regular basis. Security in the Mastung district has been beefed up and troops of police and Levies troops have been deployed in the area. In another incident in Quetta, three members of the Hazara community were killed and four others injured, including a two-year-old passerby, when the cab they were travelling in came under fire in the Killi Mubarak area. (With PTI inputs)
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Qaida posts video of 9/11 hijackers Dubai, September 13 Salim al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdar, two of the 19 extremists who hijacked the four airliners, appeared reading their wills, in a video produced by As-Sahab media arm of the Al-Qaida provided by the US-based SITE Monitoring Services. Mihdar, dressed in a military jacket and a white turban, with a machine gun to his left, said he was reading his will on 21 Safar 1422, on the Islamic calendar, which was April 26, 2001. Mihdar is believed to have landed in the United States in January 2000. — AFP
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New UK fund to help students hit by LMU licence cancellation London, September 13 LMU's licence was revoked on August 29, throwing the academic future of over 350 Indian and over 2,250 other non-EU current students in disarray. After the licence revocation, they are required to apply for similar courses in other universities and reapply for student visas. Universities minister David Willetts told a conference of Universities UK that the 2 million pounds fund was intended to "to help legitimate overseas students at London Met who face extra costs through no fault of their own". The money will be used to help with the costs of students transferring to other universities and to make new visa applications. Those unable to transfer to another university by December 1 will be required to leave the UK within 60 days. Soon after the licence revocation, Willetts had set up a taskforce to help current students transfer to other universities to pursue and complete their courses. The taskforce is in the process carrying out its mandate. LMU, meanwhile, has filed a judicial review petition in the high court. — PTI
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Himalayan glaciers retreating at increased rate in a few regions Washington, September 13 A study by National Research Council examines how changes to glaciers in Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, which covers eight countries across Asia, could affect the area's river systems, water supplies, and the South Asian population. Mountains in the region form headwaters of several major river systems including Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow rivers, which serve as sources of drinking water and irrigation supplies. — PTI
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Phnom Penh, September 13
Amsterdam, September 13
at crossroads