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China to send more
ships to Spratlys
BEIJING: China may convert
more navy ships into fishery
vessels to patrol the South China
Sea, the China Daily reported, as
Beijing seeks to extend its reach
over disputed islands that strad-
dle key Asian shipping lanes.
“China will make the best
use of its (retired) naval ships
and may also build more fishery
patrol ships, depending on the
need,” Wu Zhuang, director of
the Administration of Fishery
and Fishing Harbor Supervision
of the South China Sea, told the
newspaper.
China earlier this week sent
its largest fishery patrol ship,
Yuzheng 311, to the waters
around the Spratly Islands, a
cluster of islets and atolls that lie
north of Borneo island, an area
rich in fisheries with significant
oil and gas deposits.
“Faced with a growing
amount of illegal fishing and
other countries’ unfounded ter-
ritorial claims of islands in Chi-
na’s exclusive economic zone,
it has become necessary to step
up the fishery administration’s
patrols to protect China’s rights
and interests,” the China Daily
quoted Wu as saying.
The Spratlys are claimed in
full or part by China, as well
as Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philip-
pines, Malaysia and Brunei.
Several of them have moved
to bolster their own claims re-
cently.
The Philippines passed a law
last week laying claim to part
of the Spratlys. Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi on March 5 landed on
Swallow Reef and Ardasier Reef,
also in the Spratly archipelago,
to assert his country’s claim.
US National Intelligence
Director Dennis Blair told Con-
gress on Tuesday the Chinese
had become assertive in staking
claims to international waters
around economic zones and
were “more military, aggres-
sive, forward-looking than we
saw a couple of years before”
in Southeast Asia and the South
China Sea.
The shortest route between
the Pacific and Indian oceans,
the South China Sea has some
of the world’s busiest shipping
lanes. Over half the globe’s oil
tanker traffic passes through
the sea, which is also said to
hold valuable fishing grounds,
and as-yet unexploited oil and
natural gas fields.
In a sign of China’s growing
global clout, Beijing in Decem-
ber sent three naval vessels to
help tackle piracy off Somalia in
the country’s biggest blue water
operation outside of the region.
Beijing’s opaque but quick-
ening military build-up has
contributed to a sense of unease
in parts of Asia, especially Tai-
wan, the self-ruled island China
claims as its own and has vowed
to bring under mainland control,
by force if necessary. – Reuters
Fritzl gets life in psychiatric
ward for incest, murder
SANKT POELTEN: Josef Fritzl was
sentenced to life in a psychiatric
institution yesterday for locking
up and raping his daughter over
24 years, fathering seven children
with her, and causing the death of
an infant son.
theSun “I accept the verdict,” the 73-year-
says: old Austrian told the court after the
No unanimous decision by the three-
man, five-woman jury in St Poelten,
witch west of Vienna. The prosecution
hunt, also approved it, meaning the trial
please outcome cannot be appealed.
Court officials said Fritzl would
pg 13 return to St Poelten jail for the time
being pending transfer to an institu-
tion for mentally ill offenders where
he could get therapy.
They said his condition would
be re-evaluated in 15 years and, in
theory, if he were deemed cured,
he could be released. But both
Fritzl and his lawyer has said they
expected he would have to spend
the rest of his life incarcerated.
Fritzl had pleaded guilty to incest,
rape, enslavement, coercion and
murder, by neglect for confining his
daughter, now 42, in a purpose-built,
windowless cellar under his home
for almost a quarter century.
“I cannot do anything more
about (what happened) ... I regret
this from the bottom of my heart,”
Fritzl said in his closing statement at
his four-day trial.
briefs
‘Migrant tax’ planned
for workers, students
LONDON: Britain said yesterday
it would charge overseas workers
and students from outside Europe
a levy on their visas to raise £70 mil-
lion (RM365 million) over two years
to help pay for public services.
Communities Secretary Hazel
Blears said the money would go to
a fund to ease financial strains in
areas where there had been high
levels of immigration.
She said projects using the money
could include encouraging migrants
to register with family doctors so
they did not pressure hospitals by
going to accident and emergency
departments when they were ill.
Applicants for work visas and
their dependents will pay £50 each,
with students charged £20, a Home
Office spokeswoman said. – Reuters
Madagascar leader
suspends parliament
ANTANANARIVO: Madagascar’s
newly-installed president Andry
Rajoelina yesterday suspended
the Indian Ocean island’s parlia-
ment, two days after the army
swept him to power.
The new administration’s
first cabinet meeting decided
to create two new bodies to
run the country.
“In consequence, the activi-
ties of the following institutions
are suspended by the present
order: the senate, the national
assembly,” spokesman Augus-
tin Andriamananoro said.
The outgoing parliament was
overwhelmingly dominated by
politicians loyal to ousted presi-
dent Marc Ravalomanana. – AFP
Man mistakenly kills
fireman
PARIS: An 85-year-old French man
who is hard of hearing mistook a
firefighter for a burglar and shot
theSun | FRIDAY MARCH 20 2009
He initially denied the murder
and slavery counts but reversed
his plea after watching 11 hours of
videotaped testimony from daugh-
ter Elisabeth screened in court on
Tuesday.
The retired engineer was con-
victed of murder, the most serious
charge, because the jury found he
did nothing over a 66-hour period to
seek medical help despite knowing
the boy was in danger of dying from
breathing problems.
Defence lawyer Rudolf Mayer
confirmed reports Elisabeth had
attended the trial on Tuesday and
said Fritzl was “devastated” when
he spotted her in the gallery as the
video was screened.
Mayer said he had nothing to do
with the plea change.
Elisabeth’s lawyer Eva Plaz said
Fritzl’s remarks did not seem seri-
ous, suggesting he was only seeking
a milder sentence.
“Nobody knows the accused
as well as my client (Elisabeth). I
can say what you heard yesterday
was no confession. Why did he only
yesterday change his mind?”
Chief prosecutor Christiane
Burkheiser also said the remorse
shown by Fritzl was a sham.
“Don’t believe him, he’s shown
his true face in trying to exploit peo-
ple’s gullibility,” she said of Fritzl and
his change of heart. – Agencies
him to death, a police spokes-
woman from the southern French
city of Belley said on Wednesday.
Neighbours had called rescue
workers because they were wor-
ried about the health of the old
man. When he did not respond
to shouts at the door, the firemen
broke into the apartment.
The old man mistook the noise
for a break-in, locked himself in a
room and fired a shot that struck
and killed one of the firefighters.
The octogenarian, who col-
lapsed upon being informed of
his error, was taken into police
custody. Interior Minister Michele
Alliot-Marie expressed her con-
dolences to the family of the
32-year-old victim.– dpa
S’pore court fines WSJ
editor for contempt
SINGAPORE: A Wall Street
Journal senior editor was fined
S$10,000 (RM24,000) yesterday
for contempt of court over three
articles that allegedly insulted
the city-state’s judiciary.
The High Court also ordered
Melanie Kirkpatrick, a deputy
editor of WSJ’s editorial page, to
pay US$10,000 in legal costs.
The articles in question
were two editorials and a let-
ter by opposition leader Chee
Soon Juan of the Singapore
Democratic Party, published in
June and July 2008. – AFP
N. Korea guards
detain US journalists
SEOUL: North Korean security
officials have detained two Ko-
rean-American journalists who
were filming across the Tumen
River from the Chinese side of the
border, South Korean television
reported yesterday.
The YTN channel quoted a
South Korean official as saying
North Korean guards crossed the
border into Chinese territory to
arrest the two after they ignored
warnings to stop filming.
It said the two women worked
for an online news company
based in California but gave no
other details. – Reuters