theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 9 2009 9

news without borders

Political killings
rock Karachi
KARACHI: A wave of violence between rival
political factions is sweeping Pakistan’s big-
gest city of Karachi with at least 26 members
of the hostile groups killed in the past week,
police said yesterday.
Karachi port is the main gateway
for Western military supplies bound for
Afghanistan and serious insecurity could
disrupt shipments and pile pressure on the
government.
While the violence has been confined to
targeted tit-for-tat shootings, there are fears
street clashes could erupt in the country’s
commercial hub, which is home to its main
port and financial markets.
The country’s main stock exchange has
ignored the violence but analysts say any es-
calation is likely to hurt the fragile market.
The violence in the city of 16 million
people is between Karachi’s dominant po-
litical force, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
(MQM), and a breakaway faction known as
the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, or Haqiqi
group, as they vie for influence.
Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed said
that 26 people had been killed in targeted at-
tacks this month up to Sunday, with most of
the dead members of the breakaway faction.
Other police officials said five people were
killed yesterday.
“Karachi is totally anarchic at the moment
as there is a serious command and control
problem in the political factions,” said Mu-
tahir Ahmed, a professor of international
relations at the University of Karachi.
Stock analysts say investors are getting
used to daily violence in the northwest, al-
though fighting in the Swat valley northwest
of Islamabad has unnerved the market over
recent weeks.
But violence in Karachi has a more direct
impact. “If the trouble escalates, that could
potentially be the last nail in the coffin for our
market,” said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at brokers
Arif Habib Ltd.
The index, which has gained about 18%
this year after losing 58.3% in 2008, was
slightly up yesterday morning. – Reuters

Stents no
better than
heart drugs
in diabetics
CHICAGO: Diabetics with
stable heart disease do just
as well taking drugs alone
as getting quick angioplasty
or bypass surgery to open
blocked heart arteries, US
researchers said on Sunday.
They said patients advised
to have angioplasty and a
heart stent to restore blood
flow and ease chest pain
could safely wait and give
drugs a chance to work.
But those with more
severe disease sent for more
invasive heart bypass surgery
might be able to avoid a fu-
ture heart attack if they have
the surgery right away.
The study also found
no difference in heart risks
between two strategies for
treating type 2 diabetes
– increasing the amount of
insulin or lowering the body’s
resistance to its own insulin
with drugs such as either
metformin or GlaxoSmith-
Kline’s Avandia, also known
as rosiglitazone, which had
been thought to raise the risk
of heart attacks.
“If you have diabetes
and heart disease such
that a bypass surgery is a
recommended procedure,
you should have that early
rather than delaying it,” said
Dr. Trevor Orchard of the Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, whose
study appears in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
Orchard said the study,
also being presented at the
American Diabetes Associa-
tion meeting in New Orleans,
offers evidence on how best
to treat people with both type
2 diabetes and heart disease.
More than 65% of people
with diabetes die from heart
disease or stroke.
For GlaxoSmithKline, the
study represents a positive
sign that Avandia may be
safer than earlier analyses
had suggested. – Reuters
Police investigate
sex video shot on bus
HONGKONG: Police yesterday were investigating a video
circulating on the internet showing a teenage girl perform-
ing a sex act on a man on a bus to earn money toward a
designer handbag. The six-minute video showed the girl
performing oral sex on the man on the upper deck of a
bus as it moves across Hongkong island with a few other
passengers on board.
The video, which appeared to have been shot with a
camera phone held by the man, has been circulated on
the internet under the heading “Kikimushroom do things
on bus.”
The description of the video, which has been posted on
a number of popular internet forums, said: “Pay HK$200
(RM90) and get this service from a 17-year-old Hongkong
student. She wants to buy Gucci bag.”
The man involved in the video described the act she
was performing and told viewers that the girl’s services are
available “for a price.”
The girl looked up at the camera, aware she is being
filmed, and commented on the “peaceful surroundings”
outside the bus. Two other passengers were sitting in front
of the man and girl, apparently unaware of what was going
on.
Police were investigating whether the video is linked
to a trend called “compensated dating” – a euphemism for
paid sex with young students – believed to have spread to
Hongkong from Japan.
A police spokesman quoted by yesterday’s Hongkong
Standard newspaper said the incident was being investi-
gated by the Technology Crime Division of the Commercial
Crime Bureau. – dpa
Envoy: Obama wants
immediate Mideast talks
OSLO: US President Barack Obama wants “immedi-
ate” talks between the Palestinians and Israel to forge a
comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, US envoy
George Mitchell said yesterday.
Mitchell, who is en route to the Middle East, said
the aim of such talks was “a comprehensive peace and
normalisation of relations” between Israel and its neigh-
bours, which would also serve “the security interests of
the United States”.
“The president has told me to exert all efforts to
create the circumstance when the parties can begin im-
mediate discussions,” Mitchell told reporters at the start
of a Palestinian donors’ conference in the Norwegian
capital.
Mitchell said the purpose of the donors’ meeting was
to “provide support for the Palestinian authority” and
pave the way for a two-state solution with Israel.
“It’s important that there is a building of institutions
and governmental capacity so that at an early time there
can be an independent and viable Palestinian state,”
Mitchell said. – Reuters