News
2 The Guardian Weekly 09.10.09
Africa
Anti-corruption boss goes
The head of Kenya's anti-corruption
commission resigned after the
country's parliament rejected his
reappointment by President Mwai
Kibaki. Retired judge Aaron Ringera
is widely viewed as having failed
to tackle high-level graft and to
recover hundreds of millions of
dollars in looted funds. His two
deputies, who were similarly reap-
pointed without reference to the
commission's board or parliament,
have also quit. The resignations are
embarrassing for Kibaki, who has a
history of making public-sector ap-
pointments with little reference to
the candidate's suitability.
Rabbits threaten heritage
When Nelson Mandela and other
political activists were impris-
oned on Robben Island they little
guessed their vital contribution
to the ecosystem. Prison wardens
hunted rabbits, a welcome addition
to the inmates' generally meagre
rations. Now the wardens and pris-
oners have gone and the unchecked
rabbit population has exploded to
at least 25,000, prompting warn-
ings of an "environmental disaster"
at the World Heritage Site. Officials
plan a shooting cull.
Europe
Deadly mudslides in Sicily
Rivers of mud unleashed by heavy
rains flooded parts of the Sicilian
city of Messina, leaving at least 17
people dead. At least 40 people
were taken to hospital after mud-
slides swept away cars and caused
buildings to collapse.
High fees for rescue
Spain's Catalonia region has started
charging mountain climbers, skiers
and other outdoor adventurers who
get into trouble through negligence
and need to be rescued. Bills could
be steep: $3,300 an hour for heli-
copter use and $45 an hour for each
rescuer called into action. "We are
not doing this to raise money, but
rather to avoid accidents as much as
possible," a fire department spokes-
man said.
Tobacco law challenged
A County Donegal shopkeeper
joined forces with cigarette manu-
facturer Philip Morris to legally
challenge Ireland's ban on the dis-
play of tobacco products in shops.
They are seeking to overturn the
ban on the grounds that it severely
restricts their ability to provide
trade and violates Irish and EU
constitutional law. Ireland imposed
its ban in July. Similar bans exist in
Iceland and some provinces of Can-
ada, and the British government is
considering whether to join them.
Asia/Pacific
Ex-minister found dead
Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned
as Japan's finance minister after he
appeared to be drunk at a G7 press
conference earlier this year, was
found dead at his home in Tokyo.
Police said it was unlikely that Nak-
agawa had killed himself, but added
that he had recently been taking
sleeping pills. Investigators said
there were no signs of foul play and
no will or suicide note was found.
Americas
Charges over Twitter use
A New York-based anarchist has
been arrested by the FBI and
charged with hindering prosecution
after he allegedly used the social
networking site Twitter to help
protesters at the G20 summit in
Pittsburgh evade the police. Elliot
Madison, 41, was put on $30,000
bail. He and Michael Wallschlaeger,
46, were tracked to the Carefree
Inn motel in Pittsburgh during the
Nature ... volunteers highlight global warming in Pouilly-Fuisse Robert Pratta/Reuters
troops should be deployed; and the
enormous financial cost of Washing-
ton's involvement are all signposts
pointing to the exit.
Obama came under further pres-
sure this week, as China and 130 de-
veloping nations issued co-ordinated
statements at the UN climate talks in
Bangkok, accusing the US and other
developed countries of attempting to
"fundamentally sabotage" the Kyoto
protocol and negotiations over its
next phase. "The reason why we are
not making progress is the lack of po-
litical will by Annex 1 [industrialised]
countries. There is a concerted effort
to fundamentally sabotage the Kyoto
protocol," said ambassador Yu Qing-
tai, China's special representative on
climate talks.
Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese
chairoftheG77,theUN'slargestinter-
governmental organisation of devel-
oping states, said: "The intention of
developed countries is clearly to kill
the protocol."
The angry statements followed
a revelation by Obama's energy ad-
viser, Carol Browner, that she did not
expect the US Senate to vote on its
crucial global warming bill before the
Copenhagen talks. That will severely
limit Obama's room for manoeuvre at
the summit and is the first time the
WhiteHousehasmadesuchanadmis-
sion. Browner's comments undercut
a campaign by Democratic leaders in
theSenate,corporationsandenviron-
mental organisations to try to build
momentum behind the bill.
Inthetalks,theUShassaiditwants
anewapproachthatwouldmoveaway
from a legally binding world agree-
ment to one where individual coun-
tries pledged cuts in their national
emissions without binding timeta-
bles and targets. This is seen as un-
dermining the Kyoto framework, and
has until now been the foundation for
committing all countries to cut their
emissions.
On healthcare, the most imme-
diately pressing issue on Obama's
agenda, with a Senate vote expected
thisweek,thepresidentdisappointed
many by failing to refer to "the public
option" in a speech to doctors on re-
form on Monday.
Whilethereappearstobeconsistent
public support for a government-run
insurance plan alongside the existing
policiesofferedbyprivatecompanies,
anumberofDemocraticsenatorshave
said they are not prepared to support
the public option that has been a pri-
mary source of sometimes bitter divi-
sion in the healthcare debate. Obama
needsthesupportofall60Democratic
memberstopreventaRepublicfilibus-
ter when the issue comes to a vote of
the full Senate.
Continued from page 1
World roundupEmbattled Obama faces
Afghan policy choice
summit last month. The pair were
found sitting in front of a bank of
laptops and emergency-frequency
radio scanners. They were wearing
headphones and microphones and
had maps and contact numbers.
Honduran decree revoked
The interim Honduran government
revoked an emergency decree that
prohibited large street protests and
limited other civil liberties follow-
ing the return of ousted Honduran
president Manuel Zelaya. Hondu-
ras's interim leaders issued the
emergency order on 27 September
in response to "calls for insurrec-
tion" by Zelaya as the ousted presi-
dent sought refuge in the Brazilian
embassy after sneaking back into
the country. He remains holed up
in the embassy with dozens of sup-
porters amid international diplo-
matic efforts to end the crisis.
Tango given official status
Tango was declared part of the
world's cultural heritage by the
Unesco's Intergovernmental Com-
mittee of Intangible Heritage at its
meeting in Abu Dhabi. Argentina
and Uruguay have squabbled for
years over who invented the tango,
but they patched things up last year
in a joint effort to persuade Unesco
to list the tango. Now the two
countries may be eligible to receive
financial assistance from a special
UN fund for safeguarding cultural
traditions.
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Tango ... officially preserved
Destroyed ... a building in Messina

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