8 theSun | FRIDAY MAY 8 2009

news without borders

80 killed as Obama briefs

China 2008 quake
killed 5,335 students
eastern Taiwan.
On that day, 1,000 mothers will sit
in rows on chairs each with a basin of
warm water in front of them, so that
their children can wash their feet.

meets Zardari
PESHAWAR: Pakistan said it killed
more than 80 militants in an up-
surge of fighting on Wednesday that
caused tens of thousands to flee and
threatened to torpedo a northwest
peace deal. The military announced
the death tolls ahead of a three-way
summit between President Asif Ali
Zardari, US President Barack Obama
and Afghan President Hamid Karzai,
after which Obama said the leaders
had renewed their commitment to
fight extremism.
Helicopter gunships and artillery
swung into action against Taliban in
Swat on Wednesday in the deadliest
fighting reported in the northwest
former ski resort since a February
deal sought to end a nearly two-year
Taliban insurgency.
“Security forces were being tar-
geted from emerald mines. In retali-
A third of world population could get
H1N1 flu in pandemic: WHO
GENEVA: The World Health Organi-
sation said yesterday in a pandemic
situation it was “reasonable” to esti-
mate that a third of the world’s popu-
lation would catch the H1N1 flu.
“If you look at past pandemics, it
would be a reasonable estimate that
a third of the population would be
infected” if the current flu outbreak
became a pandemic, said Keiji Fuku-
da, acting assistant director-general
of the UN health agency.
Fukuda had made the point in
response to mounting concerns that
the WHO may have over reacted
given that most H1N1 flu cases have
turned out to be mild.
He said when considering how
to deal with such outbreaks, the
WHO had to take into account the
fact in a full-blown pandemic, even
if only a small percentage were to
develop serious illness or die from
atory fire 35 militants were killed,”
the military said in a statement.
A military official in the area
said helicopter gunships and artil-
lery bombarded the mines before
ground troops recaptured the area
from the Taliban. He also said there
were reports of civilian casualties in
fighting in Swat.
In separate clashes in nearby
Buner district, at least 49 militants
were killed.
Pakistan’s cash-strapped govern-
ment made emergency preparations
to shelter up to 500,000 people who
they expect to flee Swat and local
officials said tens of thousands
streamed out of the district’s main
town.
“More than 40,000 have migrated
from Mingora since Tuesday after-
noon,” said Khushhal Khan, the
the disease, a large absolute number
of people would be affected.
He stressed that the estimate was
based on past pandemics and that
it was “very premature” to forecast
how many could die from a pan-
demic as it remained unclear what
proportion of infected people were
getting seriously ill or dying from
the H1N1 virus. The situation was
still “evolving”, he said.
With the southern hemisphere
heading into winter, it was uncer-
tain if the virus would take hold in
that region where there were more
developing countries than richer
countries as in the northern hemi-
sphere, he added.
“We also have a population
which are more vulnerable... this
may be because of malnourish-
ment, this may be because of war,
this may be because of conditions
Join us this Sunday
@ Calvary Church!
DAMANSARA HEIGHTS
2, Jln Damansara Endah, Damansara Heights, 50490 KL
Worship Services @ 8am 10.30am 5pmO
CHENGDU: A Chinese official said
yesterday that last year’s powerful
Sichuan earthquake killed 5,335 stu-
dents, the first time the government
has given such a tally.
The quake also left another 546
students disabled, Tu Wentao, a top
chief administration officer in Swat.
Sichuan province education official,
Bedraggled men, exhausted
told a press conference in Chengdu.
women in burkas and anxious
children poured off pick-up trucks
The figures are highly sensitive
because many parents of children
and buses with tales of horror about
who died say school buildings were
their treatment at the hands of the
shoddily constructed and collapsed
Taliban, who have sought to impose
too easily when the quake struck last
syariah law, bombing girls schools
May 12. – AFP
and beheading officials.
“They killed my husband, they
slit his throat after accusing him Pirates fire at US Navy
of spying,” said 40-year-old Zarina ship off Somalia
Begum, pleading for help as she MANAMA: Pirates have fired small
staggered off a bus in Pakistan’s arms weapons at a US Navy supply
main northwestern city, Peshawar. ship off the coast of Eastern Soma-
Although a three-month peace lia, the first attack of this kind since
accord appeared in tatters, spokes- last year’s surge in pirate attacks,
men for the government and the pro- the US Navy said yesterday.
Taliban cleric who signed the deal, The USNS Lewis and Clark
Sufi Mohammad, insisted before the was chased for about an hour on
deadly fighting was announced that Wednesday morning by two pirates
it remained intact. – AFP skiffs, but neither came closer than
about one nautical mile to the
American vessel, the US Navy’s
Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
The small arms fire fell well
short of the US ship which speeded
up to evade the skiffs.
Pirates later hijacked a Dutch
ship with eight crew members in
like HIV infections,” he said. the Gulf of Aden, the East African
He noted that in past instances, Seafarers Assistance Programme
such flu outbreaks may turn out to said in a statement. – Agencies
have a “relatively mild” impact on
the developed world, but turn out to
have a “quite severe” impact on the Gucci sues Guess,
developing world. claims designs copied
Earlier yesterday, Fukuda told 13 NEW YORK: Italian fashion house
Asian nations meeting in Bangkok to Gucci sued rival fashion and leather
remain vigilant against the disease goods label Guess Inc on Wednesday,
even if it now appears to be milder claiming it copied a dress design and
than what caused earlier pandemics several trademarked logos.
such as the 1918 Spanish flu. Gucci accused Guess Inc of imitat-
Meanwhile, Mexico’s universities ing trademarked designs, including
and high schools re-opened in a fur- a green and red stripe, a repeated
ther lifting of a week-long shutdown interlocking GG mark and stylized G
to stop the spread of the flu, as the mark it emblazoned on accessories
death toll crept up to 44. like handbags, belts, gloves, watches
Mexico was at the epicentre of and glasses.
the flu crisis with 2,099 cases now The lawsuit, which was filed in
confirmed in 23 countries, accord- Manhattan federal court and seeks
ing to the WHO. There have been unspecified monetary damages, also
two deaths in the US. – AFP accused Guess of copying a dress
featuring an interlocking GG diamond
motif.
“Rather than going through the
effort and expense of developing and
creating their own unique designs,
Assemblies of God
defendants have chosen to target
Gucci by knowingly and slavishly
replicating Gucci’s world famous de-
sign elements and designations,” the
lawsuit said. – Reuters
O
“This event is to let children show
filial pity for mothers. The physical
contact can help improve child-parent
relationships and enable children to
care for their mothers, because their
mothers cared for them when they
were small,” Alliance director Chu Ru-
wen said in a news release. – dpa
Ex-Bank of China
managers jailed in US
WASHINGTON: Two former man-
agers of the Bank of China and
their wives were sentenced on
Wednesday in a scheme that used
US banks and casinos to launder
more than US$485 million (RM1.7
billion) stolen from the bank, fed-
eral officials said.
They were convicted on Aug.
29 by a federal jury in Las Vegas
on charges of racketeering, money
laundering, international trans-
portation of stolen property and
passport and visa fraud.
The former bankers laundered
the stolen money through Hong-
kong, Canada and the United
States. They emigrated to the
United States with their wives by
obtaining false identities, and en-
tered into “sham marriages” with
US citizens, federal officials said in
a statement.
The two men, Xu Chaofan and
Xu Guojun, were sentenced to 25
and 22 years in prison respectively.
Their wives, Kuang Wan Fang and
Yu Ying Yi, were each sentenced to
eight years in prison. All four were
ordered to pay US$482 million in
restitution. – Reuters
US man swims across
lake to see Suu Kyi
YANGON: Myanmar authorities have
arrested a US national after he swam
across a lake to meet opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the off-
limits compound where she is under
house arrest, officials said yesterday.
State media said the man, identi-
fied as John Willian Yeattaw, spent two
days at the house in the main city of
Yangon before security forces plucked
him from the water as he left at dawn
on Wednesday.
The man confessed that he had ar-
rived in Yangon on a tourist visa on May
2, then swam to the compound the
following night “and secretly entered
the house and stayed there”, the New
Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Myanmar official sources speaking
on condition of anonymity confirmed
the account and said that the man had
succeeded in meeting Aung San Suu Kyi
during his time at the house. – AFP

Interpretation into Bahasa Malaysia

& Cantonese at 10.30am Cow goes free after Indian elections
SCG & CW @ 8am 10.30am O

escaping slaughter enter final stretch

DAMANSARA PERDANA
NEW YORK: A cow escaped death
4th Floor, 20 Jln PJU 8/5G,
Bandar Damansara Perdana, 47820 PJ when it fled a New York City slaugh-
Worship Service @10.30am terhouse on Wednesday, running
Interpretation into Bahasa Malaysia
the Sun through the streets before being
SCG @ 9am & CW @10.30am corralled by mounted police.
CHERAS
says: The escape appears to have
2nd & 3rd Floor, Block C, Lot 18113, Bring the earned the cow a free pass – it
off Jln Cerdas, Taman Connaught, 56000 KL crooks to will be turned over to an animal
Worship Service @ 9am care agency rather then sent back
Interpretation into Cantonese book to the slaughterhouse in the New
SCG @ 10.45am & CW @ 9am
pg 12 York City borough of Queens, po-
AMPANG lice said. – Reuters
7th Floor, Wisma Central, Jln Ampang, 50450 KL
Worship Service @ 10.30am
Interpretation into Cantonese Kids to wash moms’
SCG @ 9am & CW @ 10.30am feet on Mother’s Day
SCG|School of Christian Growth (Bible Study classes)
CW|Carpenter’s Workshop (Children’s programme) TAIPEI: A Taiwan ethics group plans
to mark Mother’s Day by inviting
For non-Muslims only
NEW DELHI: India’s marathon elec-
tions entered the home straight
Thursday, with millions voting in
a fourth round of polling that saw
the two main parties going head
to head in a number of key swing
states.
The penultimate phase of the
five-stage election also brought in
the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley
– the cradle of the Kashmiri sepa-
ratist movement where polls have
long been snubbed as symbols of
Indian rule.
A separatist boycott call, coupled
with suffocating security meant
early turnout in the Kashmiri sum-
mer capital Srinagar was almost

Tel: 03-7728 6000 1,000 children and students to wash
http://www.calvary.org.my their mothers’ feet, the group said
yesterday.
The event will be held on Sunday
at the Ilan Sports Park by the Alliance
of Filial Pity for Parents and Respect
Senior Pastor: Rev. Tan Sri Prince Guneratnam, M.A., D.D., D.Litt., LLD. for Teachers in Ilan County in north-
non-existent, with the few voters
far outnumbered by the thousands
of soldiers and police on duty. “We
opened 45 minutes ago and haven’t
seen a single voter,” said Showkat
Ahmed, a poll observer at a school
with three polling booths. – AFP