| Asset freeze as Pinochet turns 89 |
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Chile’s former military ruler, Gen Augusto Pinochet, is marking his 89th birthday amid news that more of his assets have been frozen by a judge.
Judicial sources say assets worth more than $4m, mainly property, were frozen by Judge Sergio Munoz last week.
Gen Pinochet is being sued by Chile’s authorities for tax fraud and faces a money-laundering inquiry.
He is also under investigation over his alleged role in human rights violations while in power.
In particular, he faces possible charges in connection with Operation Condor - a conspiracy by six South American regimes in the 1970s to hunt down and kill their left-wing opponents.
Tax evasion
Judge Munoz is investigating the source of at least $8m that Gen Pinochet has been holding in secret bank accounts in the US - some of it under false names.
The money in those accounts, uncovered in July by a US Senate investigation into the Washington DC-based Riggs Bank, has already been frozen and repatriated to Chile, where it is being held pending the outcome of Judge Munoz’s inquiries.
The latest order, covering assets including property in Santiago and other cities, was issued in order to guarantee payments that the general may be ordered to make if found guilty of tax evasion.
The order was apparently issued last Friday, but the news did not emerge until the eve of Gen Pinochet’s birthday.
The BBC’s Clinton Porteous in Santiago says the revelation has come as a nasty birthday surprise for the general, who has already had a miserable year as a result of the investigations into his past.
’Figure of fun’
In recent days, reports of more bank accounts held by Gen Pinochet in Miami have surfaced, some under false names.
Our correspondent says the pseudonyms used have given rise to many jokes - and that the once-feared leader is becoming a figure of fun.
Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza, commenting on the controversy, said: The only reason for using false names was to hide the accounts because the money was not justly obtained, so to speak.
However, Gen Pinochet’s lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez, denied all such allegations, saying that the general has not stolen a single peso from anyone.
At the same time, Gen Pinochet faces further developments in the Operation Condor investigation, conducted by another judge, Juan Guzman.
Judge Guzman is not due to decide whether to charge the general until next week at the earliest. He intends to hold further meetings with court-appointed doctors who diagnosed Gen Pinochet as having moderate dementia.
The former military ruler has denied links to the Operation Condor killings, saying he thought the operation was handled by middle-ranking officers.
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| UK minister visits Arafat grave - Nov 26, 2004 19:3 IST |
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Mr Straw is meeting Palestinian leaders at their headquarters in the occupied West Bank, following talks in Israel.
He has offered Britain’s help in ensuring a smooth succession to Arafat. He earlier said solving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is his priority.
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| Flagstaff Nordic Center Opens Ski Trails Thursday, November 25th - Nov 26, 2004 19:2 IST |
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Wendell Johnson, owner and manager of Peak Endeavors, is pleased to announce the opening of the ski trails at the Flagstaff Nordic Center on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th. Both beginner and intermediate trails will be groomed for skiing over the holiday weekend, while equipment rentals, snacks, and hot drinks will all be available at the lodge. Hours on Thursday will be from 8:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., and on Friday through Sunday from 8:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Located 15 miles northwest of Flagstaff on Highway 180, the Flagstaff Nordic Center is located on the east side of the highway. For current information on the trails and hours of operation, please visit our website, http://www.FlagstaffNordicCenter.com.
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| Human rights link to Nepal aid - Nov 26, 2004 19:2 IST |
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Washington is a strong supporter of the Nepalese government in its campaign against Maoist rebels.
But recent reports put the country at the top of the world tables for political disappearances.
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| More Burma inmates ’to be freed’ - Nov 26, 2004 19:1 IST |
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State media said the new releases would take the total number of prisoners freed or set to be released to 9,248.
Very few are political prisoners, but one man reportedly due to be freed is veteran dissident Win Tin.
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| Laura Thomas Band Plays D.C.’s Velvet Lounge - Nov 26, 2004 18:58 IST |
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The LT Band includes Laura on vocals and acoustic guitar, Julia Eve on drums, Chris Farrell on lead guitar, and Ben Lively on violin.
Laura’s music is characterized by her powerful and strikingly unique voice complementing folky, Latin-influenced acoustic strumming. Her music conveys diverse messages in tracks ranging from Slow, the passionate title track from her second self-produced CD, to Blind Trinity, a political allegory for the powerful oligarchy that is: Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Laura Thomas’ travels are reflected in world music sounds, and her band infuses every song with an energetic funk-rock feel that renders her a one of-a-kind mixture of Ani Difranco, Michelle Branch, and Norah Jones.
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| Lords reform campaign launched - Nov 26, 2004 18:58 IST |
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Ex-Cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Ken Clarke are part of the cross-party plan for a draft bill to show a consensus can be reached on the thorny issue.
Ministers dropped plans for changing the Lords before the next election but promise to act early in a third term.
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| ’Stunning’ arms haul in Falluja - Nov 26, 2004 18:57 IST |
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The stunning finds included mortars, bomb-making equipment, grenades and rockets, officials said.
The biggest haul was made at a mosque complex in the east of the city.
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| Royal art collection goes on show - Nov 26, 2004 18:53 IST |
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Holbein to Hockney contains a selection of works from the Royal Collection, including drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
The collection, gathered by Britain’s monarchs over the centuries, is normally housed at Windsor Castle.
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| Midas Announces The Results of Its “Ramadan Orphanage Solidarity Campaign” - Nov 26, 2004 18:48 IST |
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The Midas “Ramadan Orphanage Solidarity Campaign” yielded positive results and exemplified the Jordanian Community’s strive to help the needy during the Holy month of Ramadan.
The results of the 5% of sales to the orphans in the “Adopt a Palestinian Orphan Program” and the “Orphan’s Future Program” were fruitful whereby 15 Palestinian orphans will benefit for an entire year and the remainder of the proceeds were donated to the “Orphan’s Future Program,” an initiative launched by Her Royal Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah’s call to support orphans, help improve their living standards, and play a role in securing a future for them after they leave the orphanages.
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| Private firms to tackle NHS waits - Nov 26, 2004 18:49 IST |
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Mr Kerr said he is looking to the private sector to provide additional capacity within the NHS.
He suggested private companies would be tied to long-term contracts but vowed the proposals would not lead to staff leaving the NHS to work privately.
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| Biometric Firm Takes Off With Safer Air Travel - Nov 26, 2004 18:43 IST |
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In airports on both sides of the Atlantic, BioWise is taking off as a leader in the provision of multi-biometric and multi-modal identification and authentication middleware for safer air travel.
Working with SITA and UNISYS, the BioWise system is in use in the US’ large-scale registered traveller’s pilot programme for internal flights. “In return for registering,” explains André Oeyen, Managing Director of BioWise, “they will be considered as trusted travellers and will be granted some privileges, allowing them to pass faster through the airport gate.” This is only once they are accepted into the programme, and have their smartcard with their biometric details authenticated at the BioWise kiosk. During registration travellers have both their index fingers and irises scanned and stored according to International Civil Aviation Organisation recommendations for biometric information storage, and have valid forms of identification checked by the police authorities.
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| ’Trade can resolve Kashmir issue’ - Nov 26, 2004 18:45 IST |
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Foreign Minister Natwar Singh was speaking a day after a visit by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
In Islamabad Mr Aziz has briefed top political and military officials on his talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Kashmir.
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| Scandal-Plagued Corporate World Scrambles to Comply with Reforms - Nov 26, 2004 18:40 IST |
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Scandals are rampant. No, not just in the gossip-infested worlds of Hollywood or politics. Scandals plague what was once perceived to be the bastion of conservatism—corporate America. However, the ugly underbelly of the corporate beast has now been exposed, revealing wrongdoing at some of the nation’s most prominent companies, ranging the corporate alphabet from Adelphia to Xerox. The countdown began Nov. 15. After that date, companies have 75 days following their financial year-end to comply with key Sarbanes-Oxley reforms. However, accountants struggling with this tough and costly task may soon be confessing they can’t, as more “creative” corporate bookkeeping is thrust into the limelight, leaving us to wonder if corporate executives have any common sense. One veteran of many boardrooms, Michael McFeeley, advocates injecting “common sense” into the business world and wrote a book, Common $ense Management, to explain in simple terms just how to go about doing that.
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| I’m not draconian, says Blunkett - Nov 26, 2004 18:41 IST |
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The government has been accused of trying to create a climate of fear through new law and order measures.
And there are fears plans to give police and civilian officers more powers go too far.
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| Emin film gets debut in home town - Nov 26, 2004 18:38 IST |
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Top Spot was shown to an invited audience at a hotel on Thursday in an event organised by BBC South East Today and attended by Emin.
Last week Emin withdrew the film from UK cinema release after it was given an 18 certificate by censors.
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| Portugal child sex trial begins - Nov 26, 2004 18:37 IST |
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The accused include a TV presenter, a former top diplomat, and a former director of the Casa Pia children’s home network.
Abuse at Casa Pia is said to have started in the mid-1970s, but was only discovered in 2002.
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| DUP ’not committed’ says Adams - Nov 26, 2004 18:35 IST |
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The Sinn Fein leader has been updating his party’s national executive (Ard Chomhairle) in Dublin on Thursday over the latest efforts to restore devolution.
The DUP will brief its executive on the ongoing efforts on Friday night.
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| Students put university on eBay - Nov 26, 2004 18:34 IST |
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The university wants to end degrees in music, chemistry and Italian.
On Wednesday night, the highest mock bid was £10m and the page had received more than 4,000 hits. The auction website removed the page on Thursday.
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| Rabbis clean up spicy soap advert - Nov 26, 2004 18:26 IST |
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The star of risque sitcom Sex and the City is known around the world for her glamorous gowns and chi-chi heels.
But conservative Jews were so offended by the bare flesh in a Lux soap advert that rabbis called for a mass boycott by the Orthodox community.
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| Greens call for supermarket code - Nov 26, 2004 18:24 IST |
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The party said that the big four supermarket chains were putting local farmers out of business.
Green MSPs want regulations put in place to help encourage local production and aid smaller retailers.
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