Anwar Fails In Bid To Commence Qazaf Proceeding Against Former Aide

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) - Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday failed in his bid to get the syarie prosecution to commence qazaf (criminal defamation) proceeding against his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Syariah High Court judge Mohd Shukor Sabudin, in allowing a preliminary objection by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Major General (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, and two other respondents, to dismiss the application by Anwar, held that the court had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The task of prosecuting was the absolute discretion of the prosecution, he added.

He said Anwar's application was an attempt to abuse the court process.

Anwar, who is Permatang Pauh member of parliament, filed the application last Jan 7.

He named Jamil Khir, Federal Territory (FT) chief syarie prosecutor Shamsuddin Hussain and FT Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) director Datuk Che Mat Che Ali as respondents.

Anwar, when met outside the court, said he would appeal agaisnt the decision.

The three respondents were represented by counsel Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, Roslizam Rahim and Mohd Firdaus Mohd Arifin, while Anwar was represented by syarie lawyer Kamar Aniah Kamaruzaman.

Bernama

Dutch nurse Lucy De Berk acquitted of patient murders

A Dutch nurse who was jailed for life in 2003 for the murders of seven patients and the attempted murders of another three has been acquitted.

An appeals court in Arnhem ruled that there was no evidence that Lucy de Berk had committed a crime in all 10 cases.

The Supreme Court called for a review in 2008 after evidence came to light suggesting that all the deaths could in fact be explained by natural causes.

The prosecution service said a senior official had apologised to Ms De Berk.

"This judgment means that Lucy de Berk has spent six-and-a-half years in jail as an innocent person," it added. "It is important that Lucy de Berk is financially compensated as soon as possible".

The acquittal marks one of the biggest miscarriages of Dutch justice.

Bogus statistics

"I'll have to let it sink in a little while," Ms De Berk told reporters after the Arnhem Appeals Court cleared her of all charges on Wednesday.

During last month's retrial, prosecutors conceded that the evidence they had used to build their original case was flawed, and that they had not been flexible enough after they became convinced of her guilt when investigating the deaths.

The 49-year-old was first arrested in 2001 after the death of a baby in her care at a hospital in The Hague, which was thought to be a poisoning.

Afterwards, investigators found what they thought was a trend of suspicious deaths among 13 patients - all of whom were very young and disabled, or very old and in poor health - treated by Ms De Berk in the previous four years. Five others almost died in what investigators said were suspicious circumstances.

In 2003, she was convicted of four murders and three attempted murders, and sentenced to life in prison.

Part of the evidence against Ms De Berk was the testimony of a statistician, who said the odds were 342 million-to-one that it was a coincidence she had been on duty when all the incidents occurred.

Then in 2004, an appeals court convicted her of three additional counts of murder and upheld the life sentence.

The Supreme Court, which had upheld her conviction in 2006, eventually ordered a review of Ms De Berk's case in October 2008, calling into doubt statistical evidence about the chances of her innocence and the cause of death of the baby.

On Wednesday, the judges said it was impossible that the baby had been killed in 2001, "much less that the baby's death was the result of intentional action".

"With respect to the other deaths and life-threatening incidents, the court believes that investigations have uncovered no facts or circumstances that could give grounds for suspecting an unnatural cause," they added.

BBC News

Twitter snags over 100 million users

(Reuters) - Microblogging sensation Twitter has signed up more than 100 million users and hopes to snag hundreds of millions more in coming years by making the service easier and more accessible on mobile devices like cell phones.

At the company's first conference for Twitter developers on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Evan Williams said generating revenue was among the key priorities going forward -- a change of tone for a firm that had previously said it focused mainly on improving the user experience.

The comments come a day after Twitter rolled out a new advertising program dubbed "Promoted Tweets," its first attempt to make money from its service and a milestone on the path toward an initial public offering.

Williams cited improvements to Twitter's infrastructure, its ease of use, and its ability to serve up Twitter messages by relevance, instead of simply in chronological order, as other key priorities.

Twitter, which allows users to send short, 140-character text messages, or Tweets, to groups of so-called followers, is one of the Web's most popular social networking services, along with Facebook and LinkedIn.

The company provided official data about the usage of its site for the first time.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said Twitter now has roughly 105 million registered users. Twitter may be more popular than previously believed: According to comScore, Twitter had 69.5 million unique visitors to its site in February.

Privately held Twitter is backed by investors including Benchmark Capital and Spark Capital. Last year, the firm raised $100 million in a new funding round that valued it at $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Stone said the San Francisco-based company now has 175 employees, compared with 25 employees at the beginning of 2009.

Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, editing by Gerald E. McCormick

Reuters

Big powers pursue talks on new Iran sanctions

(Reuters) - Big power envoys were to meet on Wednesday to pursue the quest for fresh U.N. sanctions to try to halt Iran's nuclear program, but diplomats forecast weeks of haggling over a text the Security Council can pass

Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the council and Germany were holding their second meeting in a week since China, which has close economic ties with Iran, reluctantly agreed to join the talks.

They were discussing a U.S. draft resolution, first circulated weeks ago, that provides for a fourth round of sanctions on Iran for its nuclear activities, which the West says aim to produce atomic arms but Tehran says are peaceful.

The draft proposes new curbs on Iranian banking, a full arms embargo, tougher measures against Iranian shipping, moves against members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp and a ban on new investments in Iran's energy sector.

But diplomats told Reuters that China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong had indicated displeasure at the proposals affecting Iran's energy sector at a three-hour meeting last Thursday with his U.S., British, French, German and Russian counterparts.

Other diplomats said that meeting had been largely confined to statements of opening positions by the ambassadors and that the hard work of agreeing a text remained to be done.

U.S. President Barack Obama pressed 46 countries attending a nuclear security summit in Washington on Tuesday for swift sanctions on Iran but acknowledged China had concerns about the economic impact and said negotiations were difficult.

He said he had told Chinese President Hu Jintao there must be consequences for Iran's continued uranium enrichment, but added, "The Chinese are obviously concerned about what ramifications this might have on the economy generally".

Iran is the third largest crude oil supplier to energy-hungry China.

"QUITE FAR APART"

One diplomat in New York with knowledge of the negotiations put the chances of an agreement in April at only 25-30 percent. Diplomats see little chance of a resolution in May when Lebanon, whose government includes Iranian-backed Hezbollah, chairs the Security Council, and say June seems more likely.

"We're right at the beginning of the discussion on a text here, and it should be no surprise that they're quite far apart," the diplomat said. "The Chinese want something much, much weaker and much, much narrower" than the U.S. draft.

Diplomats say Russia is keener than China to slap new sanctions on Iran, but it, too, wants to water down the text.

"If we speak about energy sanctions, I'll give you my opinion. I think that we are unlikely to achieve a consolidated position in the world community on this issue," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with ABC television this week.

Iran, a major oil and gas exporter, says its nuclear ambitions are limited to generating electricity and refuses to suspend its enrichment program.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns said on Wednesday China was likely to agree to sanctions. But he told a Senate hearing it would be "very difficult" to get Beijing or Moscow to agree to cut off refined petroleum products to Iran, a proposal backed by many U.S. lawmakers.

Underlining Burns's point, industry sources said on Wednesday that state-run Chinaoil had sold a total of about 600,000 barrels of gasoline worth around $55 million to the Islamic Republic.

"As long as there is money to be made, and economic benefits to be taken advantage of, Iran will always find ready sellers of gasoline from the international market," a trader said.

Western powers say they want to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, a prospect they say would be hugely destabilizing to the Middle East.

Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear bomb in as little as one year but would probably need three to five years to build a deliverable weapon, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday.

Additional reporting by Luke Pachymuthu in Dubai, Seng Li Peng in Singapore and Adam Entousin Washington; Editing by David Storey

Reuters

Fed survey: Recovery is spreading; jobs still weak

By JEANNINE AVERSA (AP)

WASHINGTON — The economic recovery is spreading to most parts of the country. Merchants are seeing better sales and factories are boosting production, but many companies are still wary of ramping up hiring, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.

The Fed's new survey is consistent with chairman Ben Bernanke's view that a modest recovery is unfolding, although it won't be strong enough to quickly drive down unemployment now at 9.7 percent.

All of the Fed's 12 regions — except for St. Louis — said "economic activity increased somewhat". That was an improvement from the last Fed survey, released in early March, where nine regions reported modest economic advances. Snowstorms had crimped activity along the East Coast.

In the new survey, the St. Louis region said economic conditions had "softened." That was a downgrade from the previous report when the region reported mixed economic conditions.

The Fed report, known as the Beige Book, will figure prominently when Bernanke and his colleagues meet on April 27-28 to decide the future course of interest rate policy. Economists predict the Fed will continue to hold rates at record lows to nurture the recovery. It has kept rates at super-low levels since December 2008.

The new survey suggested that consumers — whose spending accounts for 70 percent of national economic activity — are doing their part to keep the recovery going. Retailers in most parts of the country reported sales increases, and merchants were "cautiously optimistic regarding future sales," the report said. Sales of home furnishings and electronic goods rose in a number of regions. So did sales of spring clothing. Car sales were up in many places, as well as tourism spending.

Factories saw improvements, too. Orders, shipments and production were up in all parts of the country — except for St. Louis. Many areas reported positive results in metals and fabrication. Makers of auto and auto parts also saw improvements. Production rose for electronic equipment, computers and high-tech goods.

Trouble spots for the economy remain. The housing market is still fragile and commercial real-estate activity stayed "very weak" in most parts of the country, the Fed said.

And, job prospects are still rather bleak for the nation's 15 million unemployed. The Fed report noted that some hiring was evident, mostly for temporary workers. Overall, though, "labor markets remained weak," the Fed report concluded. Employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most in three years, helped by a burst of government hiring for census workers. Going forward, many private economists believe job creation will be feeble, meaning the unemployment rate is likely to stay high.

Given the weak jobs market and slow-moving recovery, inflation was under wraps. For instance, most companies hiring new workers in the Kansas City region were not offering higher salaries to attract qualified candidates. In the Dallas region, only a handful of companies were planning on partially reinstating employer matches to retirement plans or giving small pay increases.

The Fed survey is based on information collected from the Fed's 12 regional banks on or before April 5. The report gives the Fed a way to keep its pulse on local economic conditions.

Associated Press

Bernanke says rates to stay low for "extended period"

(Reuters) - A moderate U.S. economic recovery is likely to warrant very low interest rates for a long time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified on Wednesday.

Refusing to rule out the risk of a "double-dip" recession, Bernanke told lawmakers inflation is not an immediate concern, giving the Fed room to maintain its highly stimulative policies.

"The Federal Open Market Committee has stated clearly that they currently anticipate that very low, extremely low rates will be needed for an extended period," Bernanke said in response to questions from lawmakers of the Joint Economic Committee.

However, he stressed that this commitment was based upon certain conditions in the economy, including underused productive capacity, high unemployment and anchored inflation expectations.

"If those conditions cease to hold and we anticipate changes in the outlook then of course we will respond to that," Bernanke added.

He said inflation figures remain subdued, and long-term inflation expectations remain contained. A government report on Wednesday showed U.S. consumer prices climbed 2.3 percent in March compared with a year ago. They rose just 1.1 percent when food and energy were excluded, the smallest increase in more than six years.

Bernanke said the risk of a renewed contraction was "not negligible" but the threat had receded in recent months. He said growth was still weighed down by weakness in the construction sector and battered state and city budgets.

The chairman cited encouraging signs layoffs are slowing and employment "has turned up". Overall, his comments still suggested caution about the recovery, despite data on Wednesday showing a sharp 1.6 percent increase in March retail sales.

"It implies he won't be tinkering with short-term interest rates in the near future," said Jeffrey Friedman, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.

In response to the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Fed cut interest rates essentially to zero and undertook a host of unconventional emergency measures to keep credit markets flowing.

Despite those actions, the economy suffered its worst recession in more than 70 years. Things have been getting better recently, with U.S. gross domestic product surging 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

THE CHINA QUESTION

Legislators asked a lot of questions about China's exchange rate, an issue that has reemerged as a major talking point in Washington in the run-up to next week's G20 meeting.

Asked whether the yuan, which many analysts see as undervalued, helped cause the worldwide recession, Bernanke said it was one of many factors.

"I think it would be good for the Chinese to allow more flexibility in their exchange rate. It would give them more autonomy in their monetary policy so they could address inflation and bubbles within their own economy," he said.

Other lawmakers focused on the issue of consumer protection, an area where the Fed is generally seen as having fallen short ahead of the crisis.

Bernanke admitted some mistakes, suggesting he was not completely set on having those kinds of supervisory duties fall within the central bank's jurisdiction.

"I can understand why some advocates would want to have a purely independent agency," he said. "While we have acknowledged being late on these issues, I do believe we should receive credit for a much better performance in recent years".

Reuters

China quake rescue efforts hampered by epicenter's isolation

At least 400 are dead and 8,000 injured in the 7.1 magnitude quake in rural Yushu county in Qinghai province. The region is 12,000 feet in elevation and is a full day's drive from a major airport

By Barbara Demick

Reporting from Beijing

Chinese authorities raced against time, distance and wind in a remote corner of the Tibetan plateau as they tried to rescue victims from a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 400 people and injured more than 8,000 others.

The earthquake struck Wednesday morning in one of the most inaccessible reaches of China, Qinghai province's Yushu county. The 100,000 people in the area are mostly Tibetan, many of them making their living herding yaks and sheep.

Houses of mud and wooden beams gave way almost immediately when the tremor struck at 7:49 a.m. in the county seat of Jiegu. A series of aftershocks collapsed schools built of concrete and a pagoda in the main park.

The school collapses evoked painful memories of the Sichuan province earthquake of 2008 in which, by the official count, 5,335 children were crushed to death in their classrooms.

"Buildings in our school were all toppled, and five pupils have died," a teacher surnamed Chang at the Yushu Primary School, a boarding school with about 1,000 students, told the Xinhua news service. "Morning sessions did not begin when the quake happened. Some pupils ran out of dorms alive, and those who had not escaped in time were buried".

At a vocational school, troops sought to rescue 20 teachers and students still buried.

Logistical difficulties frustrated rescue crews. Phones lines and electricity were out and strong winds swept the plateau. Nearly 12,000 feet in elevation, Yushu is a full day's drive from the nearest major airport, in the provincial capital of Xining. A small airport nearby that opened last summer lacks fuel pumps and lost power and communications equipment in the quake.

"What we need most is teams with special skills for earthquake rescue, because we're mostly digging ourselves right now," Pubu Cairen, head of the county's emergency response, told CCTV in a telephone interview.

Restraining the emotion in his voice, he told the television reporter: "When I went back home to check, I found my house too had collapsed and my mother was killed".

"It is very difficult to save people with our bare hands," Shi Huajie told the Chinese television station.

As night fell, many of the Tibetans had fled the town and retreated to tents in the mountains, returning to a nomadic lifestyle they'd given up years before.

"People are sleeping in the mountains. They don't want to go back to their houses which are made of mud," said a 24-year-old student from Yushu, reached by telephone in Xining.

The student, who did not wish her name to be used, said that most of the victims were Tibetans, many of them older people who were still at home or sleeping when the earthquake hit.

"It was a very destructive earthquake," the student said. "We have never had such a strong one in Yushu".

People's Liberation Army troops garrisoned in Yushu secured banks, oil depots and caches of weapons and explosives shortly after the quake, CCTV reported, but there were no reports of looting or ethnic tension.

As with the Sichuan earthquake, the Chinese military looks likely to take a major role in the rescue work. The Air Force had ordered 1,500 airborne troops and 100 parachutists to assist in the quake zone.

Tommy Yang of The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report

Los Angeles Times

Michelle Obama meets Mexico's first lady in solo visit

(Reuters) - First lady Michelle Obama met her Mexican counterpart on Wednesday during her first solo foreign trip as she sought to trumpet close ties between the neighboring countries as they try to boost trade and fight violent drug cartels.

After an unannounced stop in Haiti, where she toured the quake-destroyed capital, the 46-year-old wife of President Barack Obama arrived in the Mexican capital on Tuesday night.

Obama met President Felipe Calderon's wife, Margarita Zavala, at the presidential residence on Wednesday morning, where she was expected to plug a message of improving education for the poor.

"Mexico is really a natural first step for me," Obama said on her plane on Tuesday night. "The relationships that our countries have with one another are so deep and broad. So many U.S. citizens trace their roots back to Mexico," she said in a video recorded by the White House.

The first ladies, both lawyers with young children, will visit Mexico's anthropology museum and meet with women leaders, but had no plans to publicly discuss Mexico's raging drug war, which is fueled by U.S. demand for illegal narcotics.

Calderon has staked his presidency on trying to crush the drug gangs, sending the army to fight heavily armed hitmen in a brutal war that has killed 22,700 people since the president took office in late 2006.

The escalating violence is a concern in Washington, which is sending Mexico more than $1 billion in anti-drug aid, and is scaring off tourists and forcing some investors to freeze investment in border factories.

The U.S. State Department has warned against non-essential travel along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the killing of three people linked to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez last month provoked outrage and put new pressure on Mexico.

"MOM-IN-CHIEF"

In her role as first lady, Obama has taken on a relatively low profile, avoiding politically sensitive subjects and preferring to call herself "mom-in-chief" to her two daughters, Sasha and Malia.

She touts education and health as her pet causes, planting an organic vegetable garden at the White House and plugging exercise with her nationwide "Let's Move" campaign.

But her visit solidifies her husband's interest in Mexico after he traveled twice to meet with Calderon in Mexico since taking office in January 2009.

Obama has pledged to support Calderon in his anti-drug fight and increase the two countries' already strong commercial ties, worth around $1 billion a day in bilateral trade.

Mexico, which sends the bulk of its exports to the United States, is heavily dependent on the U.S. economy and is a major oil supplier to its northern neighbor.

Reuters