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CHICAGO: A long-time friend and fundraiser of presidential
hopeful Barack Obama went on trial Monday on charges of bribing
public officials and using his political influence to demand
kickbacks from businesses. While Obama is not accused of any
wrongdoing and has subsequently donated all the money raised by
indicted influence peddler Antoin “Tony” Rezko to charity,
prosecutors have alleged that some of the kickbacks ended up in the
Illinois senator’s campaign coffers. Obama is also under fire for
entering a land deal with Rezko in 2005 when it was widely known
that the real estate developer was under federal scrutiny.
-- AFP
TOKYO: The governor of Okinawa, home to more
than half the US troops in Japan, said Tuesday the US military acted
too early in easing a sweeping curfew imposed after an alleged rape
of a teenager. US forces in Japan late Monday relaxed the
round-the-clock curfew slapped nearly two weeks ago on the southern
island in a bid to calm public anger after a US Marine allegedly
raped a 14-year-old girl. “The priority is to thoroughly implement
preventive measures,” said Hirokazu Nakaima, governor of the
southern island chain.
-- AFP
GAZA CITY: Israeli war planes early Tuesday
carried out raids on the north of the Gaza Strip, killing two
Palestinians and wounding two others, a Palestinian medical source
said. Israel had vowed on Monday to keep hitting Gaza even as troops
pulled out of the Hamas-run territory after clashes that killed more
than 120 Palestinians and dealt a major blow to Middle East peace
talks. A first raid against Gaza City killed one person while the
second further north killed one and wounded two. The victims were
not immediately identified.
-- AFP
BOGOTA: Ecuador has severed diplomatic ties with
Colombia and Venezuela expelled all Colombian diplomats in an
escalating regional crisis sparked by a cross-border raid against
Marxist rebels. The diplomatic moves came as Colombia accused both
its neighbors on Monday of colluding with the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC)—which has been waging a four-decade
guerrilla war against the government in Bogota. Ecuador angrily
rejected the allegations and severed diplomatic relations, citing
“a succession of events and unfriendly accusations”.
-- AFP
CAIRO: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
kicked off a Middle East tour on Tuesday pushing for a resumption of
peace talks thrown into jeopardy by an explosion of violence in the
Gaza Strip. She arrived in Cairo voicing confidence in the chances
of success for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which was
revived at a US conference in Annapolis in November after a near
seven-year break.
-- AFP
MADRID: Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, tipped to win a second mandate in general
elections, bested his conservative rival by a wide margin in a
televised debate Monday, opinion polls said. One by the television
channel El Cuatro said 50.8 percent of those polled thought Zapatero
had won and 29 percent believed it was Rajoy, while La Sexta
television reported figures of 49.2 percent to 29.08 percent
respectively. Polls released immediately after the face-off, which
focused on immigration, terrorism and the economy.
-- AFP
HANOI: Vietnam’s first stem cell bank will be
set up in southern Ho Chi Minh City by the end of April, local
newspaper Vietnam News reported Tuesday. The bank, to be established
by Vietnam’s Mekophar Chemical Pharmaceutical Co. and
Singapore’s CordLabs Co., will be able to store 3,600 samples of
umbilical cords. The bank will receive samples from babies without
infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B, and with normal blood
index. Stem cells, unspecialized cells that can be developed into
specific specialized cells, such as blood cells, would be used to
treat skin diseases and injuries caused by burns and diabetes in the
next one or two years, and cartilage, bone, nerve and heart
diseases, and others gradually.
-- Xinhua
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