theSun | THURSDAY JULY 9 2009 9

news without borders

Hu skips G8 to deal
with Xinjiang riots
URUMQI (China): Banks of
paramilitary police fanned
out in the far-flung Chinese
city of Urumqi yesterday to
try to stifle unrest days after
156 people were killed in the
region’s worst ethnic violence
in decades.
Han Chinese took to the
streets for the second day
running, and even with heli-
copters hovering overhead
there were scuffles in at least
one crowd of around 1,000
as police apparently seized
ringleaders, prompting cries
of “release them”.
Urumqi, capital of north-
western Xinjiang region, had
imposed a curfew the previ-
ous evening after thousands
of Han Chinese armed with
sticks, knives and metal bars,
stormed through the city
seeking revenge on Uighurs
for Sunday’s violence.
The continuing instability
prompted President Hu Jintao
to abandon plans to attend a
G8 summit in Italy, and he
crowded with people anxious
to leave, the official Xinhua
news agency said. “We fear
Xinjiang is not safe any
more,” said one passenger,
who refused to be identified.
Officials played down the
continued unrest as heavy
security, including thousands
of boots on the ground and
armed personnel carriers,
brought peace to central
parts of the city.
“Most of the public were
quite restrained,” Urumqi’s
Communist Party Boss Li Zhi
said of Tuesday’s violence.
“A handful of Han at-
tacked Uighurs and there
were a handful of Uighurs
who attacked Han ... this
handful of violent elements
has been caught by the police
and now the situation has
been quelled,” he said.
There also was no of-
ficial curfew, although by
early evening the streets were
empty-
ing
and vehicles with propaganda
bullhorns drove around town
telling people to “go home
as quickly as possible”, and
warning them not to listen to
rumours.
Groups of Han gathered
around reporters in Urumqi
to talk about how angry they
were and dragged away a
Uighur woman who also
approached. It was not clear
what happened to her.
“We want these terrorists
punished. Our hearts are still
filled with anger,” said one of
the Han Chinese men.
In one street, two young
boys were surrounded by an
angry Han mob, with dozens
trying to pull them down and
grabbing at their hair.
State media tried to damp
down the tension with editori-
als calling for calm and stories
of Han and Uighur citizens
helping each other during the
violence. – Reuters
EPAPIX

returned home to monitor

developments in energy-rich
Xinjiang, where 1,080 people
were also wounded in rioting
and 1,434 have been arrested.
Hu had left for China due
to the “situation” in Xinjiang,
the Foreign Ministry said,
adding state councillor Dai
Bingguo will attend the G8
summit in Hu’s place,.
Residents said night-time
arrests were continuing and
they had amassed collections
Han Chinese armed with
of bricks and metal rods, and
clubs and metal pipes
set up impromptu barricades,
break through a line of
to defend against further Han
soldiers to get access to
attacks.
a Uyghur neighbourhood
Urumqi airport was
in Urumqi yesterday.

Pyongyang blamed for attack

on US, South Korea websites
SEOUL: More than two dozen websites in South
Korea and the United States, including the White
House, were attacked and some disabled by
hackers possibly linked to North Korea, South
Korea’s spy agency said yesterday.
In a statement, the National Intelligence Service
(NIS) said an organisation and possibly a state were
behind the attacks on Tuesday in South Korea, the
world’s most wired nation, and there were signs of
“meticulous preparations” for the act.
The statement did not offer further details
but South Korean media, including Yonhap
news agency, quoted parliament members as
saying after a briefing with NIS officials that
the spy agency believes “North Korea or pro-
North elements” were behind the attacks.
“Malicious programmes” were found
targeting 26 US and South Korean websites,
including that of the White House, NIS officials
reportedly said, Yonhap reported.
The attackers tried to jam the websites by
overwhelming their data capacity and knock-
ing them out of service, it said.
If the North was responsible, it would mark
an escalation in tensions already high due to
Pyongyang’s nuclear test in May, its firing of a
barrage of seven ballistic missiles in July and
repeated taunts of long-time foes Seoul and
Washington in its official media.
Access to the internet is denied to almost
everyone in impoverished North Korea, but
intelligence sources in Seoul have said the
secretive state has stepped up a unit that
specialises in cyber attacks.
The websites of the South Korea’s presiden-
tial office, defence ministry, and the National
Assembly were saturated with access requests
generated by malicious software, crippling server
response to legitimate traffic, Seoul’s Communi-
cations Commission said. – Reuters

Human sperm from stem cells?

LONDON: A team of British
scientists claimed yesterday
to have created human
sperm using embryonic stem
cells, in a medical first that
they say will lead to a better
understanding of fertility.
Researchers led by Pro-
fessor Karim Nayernia at
Newcastle University and the
NorthEast England Stem Cell
Institute (NESCI) developed
a new technique that allows
the creation of human sperm
in the laboratory.
They stressed that the
sperm, developed from stem
cells with XY chromosomes
(male), will not be used for
fertility treatment, as this is
prohibited by British law and
in any case is not their main
interest. “This is an impor-
tant development as it will
allow researchers to study in
detail how sperm forms and
lead to a better understand-
ing of infertility in men,” said
Nayernia.
“It could help us develop
new ways to help couples
suffering infertility so they
can have a child which is
genetically their own.”
He said more investiga-
tion was needed to decide
whether the in-vitro derived
(IVD) sperm, could be used
as a fertility treatment. – AFP