SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016 INTERNATIONAL

10,000 turn out to mark east Ukraine rebellion anniversary

DONETSK: Around 10,000 people for Saturday’s celebration in paraded through the centre of Donetsk, a 22-year-old named Donetsk, the rebel “capital” in Vladislav, said the event signified eastern Ukraine, to mark the sec- “that the people have chosen ond anniversary of the proclama- their path. Together with Russia tion of the “Donetsk People’s and separately from Ukraine.” Republic”. The Donetsk People’s Republic The participants marched was declared on April 7, 2014, the through the main streets of the day after pro-Russian separatist town, waving flags in the colors of fighters attacked the regional the DNR rebel republic accompa- headquarters in Donetsk. On the nied by a joyful fanfare of old same day the headquarters of the Soviet Union anthems. The secret service in the neighboring marchers, with uniformed men pro-Moscow region of Lugansk bringing up the rear, finished up was occupied by rebels. in the main square where a con- Fighting between the Ukraine cert was organized. army and the rebels has lessened Ties between Moscow and Kiev since a fragile truce was agreed are in tatters over Crimea’s annex- last September. However vio- ation and Russia’s support for the lence continues to flare up and insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The land mines remain a constant conflict has killed more than 9,000 Threat. Peace talks have been on since April 2014 and left the hold for several months with Kiev rebels in control of a region and Western nations accusing roughly the size and population Russia of supporting the rebel- DONETSK: People shout slogans yesterday as they mark the second anniversary of the proclamation of the so of Wales. lion militarily, a claim denied by called People’s Republic of Donetsk. — AFP One of those who turned out Moscow. — AFP Abrini arrest highlights Paris, attacks links ‘They criticize the Belgian police but Hats off!’

BRUSSELS: The arrest of Paris tion Abrini is the third, hat-wearing investigators were trying to deter- attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini in suspect seen alongside two suicide mine if Osama K. was the man seen raids linked to the bombers in security footage at with moments and metro bombings on Saturday Brussels airport. before the Maalbeek blast. The highlighted the ties between His disappearance triggered a same man was also filmed at a jihadists involved in Belgium and huge manhunt, with the federal Brussels’ shopping mall buying the France’s worst terror outrages. prosecutor’s office confirming that bags used in the airport attacks. Abrini’s arrest on Friday, along investigators were “verifying with five other suspects, marks an whether Abrini can be positively A Swedish link? important step in the investigations identified as... the so-called ‘man Swedish media said Osama K. into the November 13 Paris attacks, with the hat’.” Belgian police on was , 23, who grew which killed 130, and the March 22 Thursday released a video showing up in the southern city of Malmo, assault on Brussels which left 32 a man wearing a hat and light-col- and published photographs of him dead. ored jacket who was seen with the holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle In both, several of the suspects two suicide bombers in the depar- in front of an IS flag said to have came from the largely-immigrant ture hall. been taken in Syria. VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis waves to faithful at the end of his special Jubilee Molenbeek neighborhood of While they blew themselves up, Osama Krayem is the product of Audience at Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican yesterday. — AFP Brussels, including Abdelhamid he fled and made his way on foot a “now classic cocktail of social mar- Abaaoud, said to have played a key back to central Brussels, appearing Paris attacks suspect ginalization, ideological radicaliza- role in Paris, along with Salah calm and composed before disap- Mohamed Abrini. — AFP tion” and criminality, Magnus Pope announces trips to Abdeslam who was arrested on pearing. Yesterday, La Libre daily Ranstorp, an expert on radical March 18. Abdeslam himself took carried a cartoon showing a police- details on their identities. Local tel- Islamic movements at the Swedish Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia part in the Paris attacks but unlike man kicking a man holding a hat evision stations aired footage pur- National Defence College, told AFP. his brother Brahim, who blew him- into a prison cell under the banner: portedly of Abrini’s arrest, showing Making another link between VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis will visit Nagorny Karabakh, an enclave within self up, he escaped and fled back “They criticize the Belgian police a man pinned to the ground by sev- the Brussels and Paris attacks, the Armenia and Azerbaijan later this year, the Azerbaijan’s territory populated mainly by Brussels, eluding a vast police drag- but ... Hats off!” The two airport eral armed plain-clothed police prosecutor’s spokesman said Vatican announced yesterday, amid ten- Christian ethnic Armenians, in an early net for four months. The Belgian bombers have been identified as who then bundled him into an Abdeslam had hired the car used to sions in the region following a flare-up of 1990s war that claimed some 30,000 lives. authorities have faced intense criti- and Najim unmarked car. pick up Osama K. in Ulm in violence over the disputed Nagorny The visit could also heighten tensions cism over their handling of the Laachraoui, believed to be the cell’s Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan Germany and bring him to Belgium Karabakh region. with Turkey, which is already unhappy attacks as it emerged many of the bomb maker. origin and the last known Paris sus- in early October. Abdeslam says he At the invitation of the Armenian with the pope’s use of the word “geno- suspects were known to police for a Ibrahim’s brother Khalid blew pect still at large, was seen at a had no knowledge of the Brussels Apostolic Church patriarch Karekin II, the cide” to describe the massacre of long time. himself up at Maalbeek metro sta- petrol station north of Paris two attacks, according to his lawyer, pope will travel to Armenia from June 24 Armenians by the Ottoman Empire-the Critics say the government has tion not far from the European days before the attacks with Salah despite his links to Khalid El to 26. He will visit Georgia and Azerbaijan forerunner of the modern Turkish state — not done enough to prevent radi- Union quarter in Brussels. Abdeslam who is now awaiting Bakraoui. He also knew Laachraoui, from September 30 to October 2, the a century ago. calisation of Muslim youth in areas extradition to France. who drove to Hungary with Vatican said in a statement. Like Armenia, Georgia is a predomi- such as Molenbeek, with Belgium arrest The prosecutor’s spokesman Abdeslam in September. This month has seen the worst out- nantly Orthodox Christian country with a proportionately the biggest source Abrini was arrested in the identified two other suspects arrest- More links between the sus- break of violence between Armenia and small Roman Catholic minority, while in the European Union of foreign Brussels neighbourhood of ed on Friday as Osama K., who went pects came to light after the arrest Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh since Azerbaijan is largely Muslim. Between the fighters going to join IS in Syria. Anderlecht, the prosecutor’s by the alias of Naim Al Ahmed, and near Paris last month of Reda the 1990s, with more than 90 people two visits to the Caucasus region the spokesman said on Friday. Two oth- Herve B.M. Three others, including Kriket, who police said was plan- killed in four days of heavy fighting fol- pope will visit Poland from July 27-31 ‘The man in the hat’ ers were also picked up with him one whose arrest was confirmed ning an attack of “extreme vio- lowed by sporadic clashes. Armenia- where he will attend the World Youth Day There has been intense specula- but there were no immediate Saturday, were unnamed. He said lence.” — AFP backed separatists seized control of celebrations in Krakow. — AFP UK prime minister bungled admission of offshore fund

LONDON: British Prime Minister of scores of political leaders, David Cameron admitted yesterday celebrities and sports stars who that he bungled his admission of have been linked to shell compa- his investment in an offshore fund nies and investment trusts organ- revealed in the mammoth data ized by the Panama City-based law breach of a Panama law firm. firm Mossack Fonseca, which spe- Cameron drew laughs and cializes in registering offshore com- applause from a sympathetic audi- panies. Cameron has made the clo- ence of Conservative Party activists sure of global tax loopholes a focal as he opened his speech with a point of his government - and mea culpa. “Well, it not been a rejected charges of hypocrisy on great week,” he deadpanned. “I the issue. could have handled this better. I “This government that I lead will know there are lessons to learn, go on very clearly, very doggedly, and I will learn them. And don’t very determinedly making sure blame No. 10 Downing Street or that we crack down on tax evasion nameless advisers. Blame me.” and aggressive tax avoidance,” he It was Cameron’s first public said. Last weekend’s leak of 11.5 appearance since his admission million documents from four Thursday night that he had owned decades of Mossack Fonseca files shares in a Bahamas-based trust identified Cameron’s late father, Ian, PARIS: People gather on the Place de la Republique on Friday. — AP from 1997 to 2010. He had side- as a client. stepped persistent questions on Cameron admitted in a Thursday the issue for four days with a string television interview that he owned Dwindling French labor of obfuscating statements issued shares in his father’s Bahama trust through aides. from 1997 to 2010, but sold that protest turns violent Cameron faces mounting pres- stake for a 19,000 pound ($30,500) sure from opposition lawmakers to profit along with all his other reveal the full extent of his past unspecified shareholdings shortly PARIS: Clashes broke out on Saturday interior ministry estimates. Some 12,000 investment in offshore invest- before becoming prime minister between police and demonstrators in took part in Saturday’s demonstrations in ments, particularly those run by his that year. His father died shortly Rennes, western France as thousands took the central city of Toulouse, according to late father, Ian, a millionaire stock- after he gained office. to the streets for a sixth day of nationwide organisers, down from 100,000 they had broker who placed much off his In Saturday’s speech, Cameron protests against a draft law that seeks to counted on March 31. Local police put the savings in trusts based in island tax reiterated plans to make public his loosen some labor protections. latest attendance at 8,000. havens. Labor Party leader Jeremy recent tax returns to show that he Riot police used tear gas to disperse Local media counted some 200 demon- Corbyn and others say they will paid all legally due taxes on that youths throwing projectiles after protesters strations across France, including a march press Cameron on the issue when Bahamas-based investment. He has numbering between 1,700 and 4,000 gath- in Paris kicking off from Place de la Parliament reconvenes Monday. declined to answer questions on ered near Rennes city centre. Police said Republique, the home of a round-the-clock A few hundred left-wing pro- whether he made other offshore three officers were injured in the con- Occupy Wall Street-style sit-in . testers banged drums and whistled investments. frontation. Following modifications that Continued unrest over labor reforms is as they marched Saturday down to Labor lawmakers already have have softened the labour bill, a broad- piling the pressure on France’s ruling Whitehall, the government center, demanded that Cameron publish based protest movement has waned from Socialists, who have already been forced to past Cameron’s Downing Street res- details of all his investment hold- its peak on March 31, when hundreds of retreat over security proposals that includ- idence. Many donned placards ings since he became Conservative thousands of demonstrators were ed the revocation of citizenship for dual denouncing Cameron as a wealthy leader in 2005. Corbyn said he mobilised across the country. nationals convicted of terrorism. Police elitist and one held aloft a pinata of would publish his own tax returns LONDON: Protesters gather outside the gates of Downing Street yes- A subsequent day of action on April 5 have reported sporadic clashes in western a pink pig with Cameron’s face on “very soon, and there’ll be no sur- terday to call for the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron in drew only 23,800 people, according to city of Rennes. — Agencies it. The British prime minister is one prises there.” —AP the wake of the Mossack Fonseca data leak. —AP