INTERNATIONAL THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2014 Second Christmas in ruins in Philippine disaster zone

TACLOBAN: Thousands of residents of the typhoon- in the city on the central island of Leyte. government rebuilding plan. vendor Maria Fe Cajara, 37, told AFP as she planned weary city of Tacloban in the mainly Catholic “We’ve managed to put up a ramshackle shelter Pope Francis is to visit Tacloban next month dur- her family of four’s Christmas Eve dinner, the year’s Philippines prepared yesterday to mark their second out of 20 pieces of roofing sheets donated by a ing a four-day tour of the Philippines, Asia’s Catholic most eagerly awaited meal for Filipino families. Christmas in ruins following two giant storms. A huge Catholic charity, but we still don’t have a door and bastion. This month Tacloban was hit again-this time “My husband and I are planning to buy roasted streetside Christmas lantern was the sole sign of the proper beds,” the mother of three told AFP. by Typhoon Hagupit, the most powerful to hit the chicken. Last year we had relief goods to celebrate nation’s most festive holiday in the city’s Magallanes Haiyan, the strongest typhoon ever to hit land, country this year, which destroyed more houses and Christmas,” she added. In Manila President Benigno district, where shanties have replaced a community left 7,350 people dead or missing, and the coastal tents provided by aid agencies to Haiyan survivors. Aquino urged Filipinos to observe Christmas as a flattened by tsunami-like waves whipped up by Super neighbourhood of Magallanes highlights the slow However, prompt evacuation of nearly 1.7 million day of thanksgiving for the limited damage caused Typhoon Haiyan 13 months ago. pace of reconstruction. people living in vulnerable areas in several parts of by Hagupit. “Let us not forget to thank God for, Magallanes shopkeeper Aida Comendador, 46, Roughly a million people need to be moved away the country prevented more deaths. Hagupit killed although (Hagupit) caused some damage, more lined up at the nearby local social welfare office to from Magallanes and other coastal areas deemed just 33 people elsewhere in the country, according people were saved and now have the opportunity to collect up to 10,000 pesos ($224) in government vulnerable to the monster waves generated by to the Philippine Red Cross. “We already feel a lot celebrate Christmas with their loved ones,” he said in subsidies for repairs to her severely damaged house Haiyan, according to a 160-billion-peso ($3.6 billion) better compared to last year,” Magallanes vegetable a televised message. — AFP Australian charged over terror plot targeting govt

SYDNEY: An Australian man was charged land, unveiling an Islamic flag. He was killed yesterday with possessing documents con- as armed police stormed the eatery after 16 nected to a planned terrorist attack on gov- hours. Two hostages also died-mother-of- ernment targets in Sydney, but police insist- three Katrina Dawson, 38, and 34-year-old ed people should not be afraid. Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson-while sever- Sulayman Khalid, 20, who also goes by al were injured. “A briefing from the security the name Abu Bakr, was arrested following agencies today indicated that there has been raids last week which uncovered a large a heightened level of terrorist chatter in the number of documents, a rifle, and two shot- aftermath of the Martin Place siege,” Abbott guns. He was charged with being in “posses- said Tuesday. “That’s why it’s important that sion of documents designed to facilitate a people remain alert and aware as well as terrorist attack”, while a 21-year-old, who reassured that our police and security agen- cannot be named for legal reasons, was cies are doing everything they humanly can accused of breaching a control order that to keep us safe.” prohibited him making phone calls. Their arrests come on the back of a series Ideology linked to IS of pre-dawn raids across Sydney and Australia has not officially branded the Brisbane in September as concern mounts Sydney siege a terrorist attack and Abbott about the flow of people to Iraq and Syria to declined to speculate on any potential new join the Islamic State group and other threat. Phelan said police had been monitor- jihadists. After that operation, police said ing a particular group of between 15 and 20 they had foiled a plot to “commit violent acts” people with 11 of them charged since the in Australia, including a plan to behead a September raids, some for “serious terrorism member of the public.More than 70 offences”. Australians are currently fighting for Islamic “It is a group of people here in Sydney militants overseas. At least 20 have died and that we’ve been actively monitoring for a there are fears that increasing numbers of long period of time now and any action they youths are being radicalised and could take we want to try to get ahead of them,” he mount attacks at home. “Certainly the docu- said. Asked if they had a name, he replied: ments talked a little bit about potential gov- “No. Certainly their ideology is linked to IS ernment targets,” said Australian Federal overseas.” Phelan added that they had no Police Deputy Commissioner for National direct link with Monis but “certainly since the TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) waves to journalists upon his arrival at his official residence in Tokyo after being re-elected as Security Michael Phelan. tragic events of last week, this group had prime minister at parliament yesterday. Japan’s parliament yesterday confirmed Abe for another term as prime minister after his election tri- He said the targets were in Sydney, but ongoing conversations and activity”. umph, but the return to power stirred warnings from China over a bid to change the pacifist constitution. — AFP did not go into detail. “I am confident that Australia raised its threat level to high in we’ve disrupted the activity that they were September, which means an attack is likely. planning. And that is all I’m prepared to say New South Wales Police Deputy at this particular point.” Khalid and the sec- Commissioner Catherine Burn stressed peo- Shinzo Abe re-elected as ond man were both remanded in custody ple should not be afraid. “This should not dis- and will face court again in February. rupt our way of life in any measure at all,” she The arrests follow warnings on Tuesday by said. “We’re clearly vigilant and everybody Prime Minister Tony Abbott of heightened should be vigilant. However, I think that the Japanese prime minister “terrorist chatter” in the aftermath of a fatal activity that we have undertaken has put us cafe siege in Sydney’s financial hub last week. in a very, very good position.” Following the Iranian-born gunman Man Haron Monis, who cafe siege, security across Sydney was had a history of extremism and violence, stepped up with hundreds more officers on PM to appoint Gen Nakatani as new defence minister took 17 hostages in the city’s financial heart- the streets. — AFP TOKYO: Japan’s parliament yesterday re-elected himself will decide on personnel matters”. Japan’s highly regulated economy-has sent the Shinzo Abe as prime minister with an over- Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition yen sharply lower and boosted stocks. whelming majority following the conservative swept the ballot, winning a two-thirds majority But Abe’s failure to implement some of the leader’s mid-December election triumph. The in the lower house election. The upper chamber tough changes economists say are needed-re- powerful lower house voted for the 60-year-old is also controlled by his ruling bloc. imagining the labour market and tackling an Abe with 328 votes against 73 for acting opposi- The conservative leader billed the election as inefficient agricultural sector-has left the pre- tion leader Katsuya Okada. a referendum on his Abenomics growth plan, mier open to the charge that he is pursuing style The vote was followed by an upper house and pledged to concentrate on resurrecting the over substance. Analysts say the election victory poll that officially confirmed Abe’s reappoint- economy, calling it his “top priority”. was less a resounding endorsement of Abe and ment as premier. Abe’s incumbent cabinet Japan had appeared on track for recovery his policies than a symptom of a weak and frag- resigned en masse yesterday morning, following after Abe swept to power in late 2012, but an mented opposition offering few credible alter- the ruling coalition’s victory in December 14 April sales tax rise slammed the brakes on natives. According to a post-election opinion polls billed as a referendum on the pro-business growth and plunged the economy into reces- poll conducted by the Yomiuri, just seven per- Abe’s economic growth blitz, dubbed sion. “We heard people’s voices calling for me to cent of respondents thought his economic Abenomics. push on with Abenomics,” he told a news confer- measures were the reason for the victory, while He will announce his new cabinet later, which ence following the election. “I will carry out eco- 55 percent said the LDP should have won fewer local media said would be largely unchanged, nomic measures powerfully and boldly.” seats. In addition to the economy, Abe has also and include deputy premier and finance minis- vowed to pursue a nationalist agenda, including ter Taro Aso as well as foreign minister Fumio Style over substance trying to persuade a sceptical public of the need Kishida. The premier will appoint security expert As a first step, Abe is expected to announce to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution. Gen Nakatani as his new defence minister, fresh measures later this week, partially financed Abe’s desire to water down Japan’s constitu- replacing Akinori Eto who declined to be re- by a supplementary budget worth some 3.0 tril- tion, imposed by the US after the end of World appointed to the post in the midst of a political lion yen ($25 billion) to counter the post tax-rise War II, has proved divisive at home and strained funding scandal, Japanese media said. downturn. already tense relations with China. Nakatani, 57, is seen as a safe pair of hands The new measures will feature housing loan Relations, however, have begun to thaw after after heading the defence agency in 2001-2002, subsidies and tuition support for students, a more than two-year chill, which Beijing which was later upgraded to ministry level. Chief Japan’s leading Yomiuri newspaper and other blamed on Abe’s provocative nationalism, Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the govern- media reported. including a visit to a controversial war shrine and ment’s top spokesman, declined to confirm the Abenomics-a blend of big government equivocations on Japan’s wartime record of reports yesterday, saying “the prime minister spending, monetary easing and reforms to enslaving women for sex. — AFP Arrest warrant Japan indicts artist sought for S Korea ‘nut on obscenity charges rage’ heiress TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors yesterday lated or behind black spots. If convicted of dis- SYDNEY: Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan speaks to the charged a feminist artist who makes objects tributing or possessing obscene materials for media that two Sydney men have been arrested by the Joint Counter Terrorism team in shaped like her own vagina with distributing the purpose of selling, Igarashi could face up to Sydney, Australia, yesterday. Phelan said there was no specific terrorist threat and the SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors applied yes- terday for an arrest warrant for Korean Air “obscene” data, according to her lawyer, in a two years in jail and/or a fine of as much as 2.5 arrests were related to an ongoing counterterrorism operation that led to a series of raids case that has sparked accusations that authori- million yen ($21,000). — AFP in Sydney in September. — AP heiress Cho Hyun-Ah, who delayed a flight with a tantrum over snacks in a “nut rage” incident ties are out of touch. that caused a national uproar. The charges follow Megumi Igarashi’s arrest China regrets death in The prosecutors’ office said the 40-year-old this month after she raised funds online to pay daughter of the airline’s boss faced charges for a genital-shaped kayak which she made on a including violation of the aviation safety law, 3D printer. “We don’t agree with the prosecu- Myanmar mine protest coercion and interference in the execution of tors’ contention at all,” Takeshi Sumi, one of duty. “Our office has sent a request for the court Igarashi’s lawyers, told AFP yesterday. BEIJING: China expressed regret yesterday Myanmar’s military junta while it was under to issue an arrest warrant,” the office said. Cho “We will continue pleading not guilty on after a woman protesting against a contro- Western sanctions, but President Thein Sein was accused of forcing the chief purser off a behalf of Igarashi, who argues her works are not versial Chinese-backed copper mine in has increased ties with other countries December 5 New York-Seoul flight and of com- anything obscene,” Sumi said. Igarashi, 42, was Myanmar was shot dead. The woman, including the United States since launching pelling the taxiing plane to return to the gate so first arrested in July, but was freed after several believed to be in her 50s, was gunned political reforms in 2011. Protests against he could disembark. days following a legal appeal and after thou- down Monday when police opened fire on the huge $3.6-billion Chinese-backed She took exception to being served sands of people signed a petition demanding local protesters, in the latest dispute involv- Myitsone Dam led Thein Sein to suspend macadamia nuts she had not asked for-and in a her release. ing a Chinese project in the country. “We the project in 2012, sparking anger in bag, not a bowl. A government investigation But Tokyo police arrested her again this express concern and regret about the casu- Beijing. found that she had screamed and hurled abuse month-along with sex shop owner Minori at a flight attendant and the chief purser, Park alty,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wanbao said it had completed two Watanabe, 44, also a writer and feminist activist, Chang-Jin. An arrest warrant is also being Hua Chunying told a regular press confer- major consultations this year in a process of for “displaying (Igarashi’s) obscene goods in her sought for an unidentified company executive shop window”. ence. “We encourage Chinese companies to “reconciliation” with local people while the on charges of destroying evidence from the Watanabe, whose boutique is aimed at abide by local laws,” she added. project remains on hold. In November 2012 incident. A court will hold a hearing early next women, was later freed after prosecutors failed The mine has triggered fierce opposition a botched police raid using phosphorus on week to review the warrant application. Cho to persuade a judge to sanction extended ques- from local villagers due to alleged land a protest at the mine left dozens of people, has insisted that she did not physically assault tioning. But the Japanese court approved TOKYO: This file picture taken on July 24, 2014 grabs and environmental damage. It has including monks, with burn injuries. That the chief purser, but prosecutors said she had Igarashi’s detention, as prosecutors said they shows Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who pushed the flight attendant, based on the testi- raised questions about Myanmar’s reliance crackdown, the harshest since the end of feared she would destroy evidence if released, calls herself Rokude Nashiko, showing a small on investment from neighbouring China- outright army rule in 2011, sparked fury in mony of passengers and other flight atten- according to Sumi. The present charges relate to dants. Park has claimed that Cho pushed him mascot, shaped like a vagina called “Manko- which gave crucial political support to the the Buddhist-majority country. Earlier this three counts of distributing “obscene” data chan”, at a news conference in Tokyo. Japanese former junta. China’s Wanbao, a govern- year two Chinese workers were kidnapped at into the cockpit door and jabbed him with a namely CD-ROMs containing computer code service manual. Cho-one of three children of prosecutors yesterday charged the feminist ment owned firm which runs the project as the site by activists, though they were later for a 3D printer that would allow users to make Korean Air (KAL) boss Cho Yang-Ho, the patri- artist who makes objects shaped like her own part of a joint venture with a major released unharmed. Myanmar state media copies of the vagina-shaped kayak. Japan’s mul- arch of business conglomerate Hanjin Group- vagina with distributing “obscene” data, Myanmar military conglomerate, said the reported Monday that nine protesters and has publicly apologised and resigned from all ti-billion-dollar pornography industry is large according to her lawyer, in a case that has woman’s “senseless death” was “painful and 11 police officers had also been injured dur- her posts in the organisation. —AFP and varied, but obscenity laws still ban pictures sparked accusations that authorities are out of poignant”. Beijing was a key backer of ing the protest. — AFP of actual genitalia, which normally appear pixel- touch. — AFP