10 
news without borders
Fear of unrest grips
Afghans ahead of polls
HERAT (Afghanistan): In Afghanistan’s
cultural capital, less than two hours’ drive
from the Iranian border, the influence of the
country’s western neighbour permeates the
streets and cafes. Persian-style architecture
is common. Many women wear the black,
Iranian-style chador instead of the all-encom-
passing Afghan burka, and the smell of shisha
tobacco drifts out of restaurants.
But it is another Iranian import people in
Herat worry about – a copycat of the deadly
street protests that erupted in Teheran after
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s
disputed re-election in June.
As candidates in Afghanistan’s Aug 20
presidential election hurl insults, tap tribal
divisions and fret over potential vote fraud,
fears grow that the result could unleash vio-
lent demonstrations here too.
“I think that after the election there will
be violence. The presidential candidates are
against each other,” said 18-year-old mechanic
Mostafa Nazary on Tuesday.
“When they start fighting in Afghanistan,
Afghanistan will be demolished and innocent
people will be killed,” he said.
Mohammed Faridon Sorush, a professor of
law and political science at Herat University,
said Afghans were shaken by events in rela-
tively-stable Iran, where officials say about 30
people died in protests.
“So in Afghanistan, in a country were more
than 50% of people are armed and they are out
briefs
Jackson’s doctor left room
after sedation: Report
LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson’s personal
doctor Conrad Murray left the room the morn-
ing the “King of Pop” died after administering
the singer a powerful sedative, the Los Angeles
Times newspaper reported yesterday.
Murray had legally obtained Propofol, usually
reserved for use in operating rooms, from a phar-
macy and gave it repeatedly to Jackson as treat-
ment for insomnia, it said, citing three sources.
The 51-year-old doctor told police that he had
not faced any problems with the drug and felt
comfortable leaving Jackson alone to step out
to make calls on his cellphone. When Murray
did return, Jackson had stopped breathing, so
he performed CPR on the singer, while another
person called for emergency help. Paramedics
rushed the pop star to the UCLA Medical Center,
where he was pronounced dead. – AFP
EU slaps sanctions on
Myanmar judiciary
BRUSSELS: The European Union yesterday
extended its sanctions against the Myanmar
regime following the trial of Aung San Suu
Kyi, slapping a visa ban and asset freeze on
members of the judiciary.
The “targeted measures’ by the 27 EU
nations also widen the bloc’s existing as-
sets freeze to cover businesses “owned and
controlled by members of the regime” and
their associates.
The moves were taken “in reaction to the
verdict against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
given the gravity of the violation of her funda-
mental rights”, the European Council said in
a written statement approved, via a written
procedure, by all 27 EU capitals. – AFP
Century-old tea on
sale for RM3,800 per 10gm
HONGKONG: A 109-year-old tea has gone on
sale at Hongkong’s first international tea fair.
Just 10gm of the pu-erh tea, which takes its
name from Pu’er county in Yunnan province
in China, costs HK$8,000 (RM3,880), the South
theSun | FRIDAY AUGUST 14 2009
of control, what will happen?” he asked.
“Candidates have ethnic support from
the people who are armed and they are not
going to be calm... As one of the candidates
said, after the elections we will have a political
earthquake.”
Tensions rose early this month after an
analyst’s comment that people “will come
with their Kalashnikovs” if they disagree
with the poll results was wrongly attributed
to the campaign team of candidate Abdullah
Abdullah. Wounds have not yet healed from
an ethnically charged civil war of the 1990s
that left the capital in ruins with at least 80,000
people killed in the city alone.
The reports prompted the interior min-
istry to say it would “deal strictly” with any
trouble-makers, while the British embassy
in Kabul warned that any violence would be
“unacceptable”.
But candidates have continued to trade
barbs over the spectre of unrest. Presidential
hopeful Ashraf Ghani on Sunday issued a
statement calling on Abdullah and incumbent
President Hamid Karzai “to renounce violence
and to refrain from appealing to voters based
on ethnicity or factional interests.”
Much of the fear stems from the tribal and
ethnic divisions in Afghanistan, with Karzai
– running for a second term – counting on
the support of the dominant Pashtun group,
and his main rival Abdullah tapping the Tajik
vote. – AFP
China Morning Post newspaper said yesterday.
Sun Sing Tea is also selling two 300gm
and 320gm slabs of 1950 vintage pu-erh tea
for HK$130,000 (RM60,050) and HK$70,000
(RM33,950) at the three-day fair which opened
yesterday. Hongkong Trade Development Council
assistant executive director Raymond Yip Chak-
yan said the territory has the potential to become
a tea hub because of its tax-free and gateway sta-
tus with China. Yip said: “Tea trading performs well
in economic downturns because many people
drink it to ease stress and tea is the second most
popular drink in the world after water.” – dpa
Butter deployed in
battle against burglars
BEIJING: Residential property managers
in northern China have turned to butter
in their battle against burglars as a cheap
alternative to repairing their broken surveil-
lance system. They smeared 100kg of butter
on the gas pipelines that run outside the
buildings on the Mingdemen estate in the
city of Xi’an, making them too slippery to
climb, Xinhua news agency said yesterday.
“Natural gas pipelines are often used
as ‘ladders’ by burglars and burglaries are
rife here,” one Mingdemen manager was
quoted as saying. All the surveillance cam-
eras were broken and the estate was facing
an outstanding 60,000-yuan (RM30,800)
installation bill. – AFP
Shanghai kids’ sex
camp fails to excite
SHANGHAI: Shanghai’s first sex-education camp
for children aged eight to 13 began this week,
but only six boys enrolled and the girls’ section
was cancelled, state media reported yesterday.
The privately-run three-day 2,880-yuan (RM1470)
camp opened on Wednesday to coincide
with the start of school summer holidays and
emulates a similar programme that is popular in
Nanjing, the Shanghai Daily reported.
“We are going to have a really private talk
which cannot be shared with girls or strangers,”
the newspaper quoted Gao Weiwei, a young
teacher as telling the six boys aged between
nine and 13 in her opening remarks.
Chinese health and education experts have
warned the country has to shift its sex educa-
tion strategy from focusing on teaching married
couples birth control. – AFP