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RUSSIAN
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G20 pledges $1
trillion in funds
Gordon Brown, the prime minister of host nation Britain, pledged
enhanced supervision for large hedge funds and a cra ckdown on
tax havens in his closing speech at the summit.
World leaders at the G20 summit in London have agreed on a
compromise package of $1 trillion in stimulus cash and more
market regulation to combat the worst economic crisis since the
1930s.
The world's richest countries agreed to triple the finances of
the International Monetary Fund and also backed new curbs on
financial markets in their meeting in London on Thursday.
Gordon Brown, the prime minister of host nation Britain, pledged
enhanced supervision for large hedge funds and a crackdown on
tax havens in his closing speech at the summit.
"The old Washington consensus is over, today we have reached a
new consensus that we will do what is necessary to restore
growth and jobs and prevent a crisis such as this from happening
again," Brown said.
"We have... agreed additional resources of $1 trillion that are
available to the world economy to the IMF and other institutions."
Brown said that the summit's final communique provided for a
$500bn boost to the IMF's resources, raising to $750bn the funds
it can make available to countries worst hit by the global
crisis.
The summit was held as about 400 protesters protested near the
east London venue, a day after thousands of people staged
demonstrations in the centre of the city to speak out against
governments' management of the financial crisis.
But share markets appeared to welcome the agreement, hoping that
it would add to some signs that the global downturn may be
beginning to bottom out.
The Dow Jones industrial average in the US surging past the
8,000 barrier for the first time since February 9 before closing
at 7,978.08 for a gain for 2.8 per cent.
'Unprecedented steps'
Barack Obama, the US president, said that the G20 members had
rejected the protectionism that could have deepened the economic
crisis and that the summit had agreed to "unprecedented steps to
restore growth" and to prevent future crises.
"We are protecting those that don't always have a voice in the
G20 but who have suffered greatly in this crisis," he said.
"It is also my job to lead America in recognising that its fate
is as part of the world, that if we neglect the poorer countries
not only will we deprive ourselves ... but that despair may turn
to violence that may turn on us."
Brown said the G20 would publish a list of tax havens that were
non-compliant with current regulations and would bring in "tough
sanctions" for those who do not comply with any new changes.
"The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end," he said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said that the conclusions
of the summit were "more than we could have hoped for".
"The G20 countries have decided on a profound reform of the
international financial architecture," he said. "It is now on
record that a breakdown in regulation was at the origin of the
financial crisis."
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, called the agreement an "almost
historic" compromise.
Compromises
There had been indications before the summit that members were
divided on how best to pull the global economy out of recession.
The US and Britain were in favour of pumping more money into the
financial system, seeing the strategy as a way to encourage
banks to lend to consumers and thus entice them to spend money
on goods and services.
The US has so far spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion -
almost as much as the value of everything produced in the
country in 2008.
But France and Germany had signalled their opposition to further
fiscal stimulus packages, calling instead for an emphasis to be
placed on increasing regulation of the international financial
system.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief, was pleased with the
outcome, calling the agreement "the most co-ordinated stimulus
ever".
"It's a global stimulus we asked for and we have been followed,"
he said.
Samah El-Shahat, Al Jazeera's economic analyst, said that
Brown's comments of the Washington consensus were the most
remarkable from the summit.
"To hear that the Washington consensus, which places all
decisions in the hands of the market, is over, is incredible,"
she said.
"The Washington consensus has hurt so many people in developing
countries. But what will replace it?"
Leaders also agreed at closed meetings on a trade finance
package worth $250bn to support global trade flows and agreed to
kick start stalled Doha trade liberalisation talks at the next
G8 meeting in Italy in July.
Another G20 summit will be held in New York in September as
world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly.
Sarkozy said that meeting would focus on "evaluation" of the
measures agreed in London.
Aljazeera.net |
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Dubai
claims Chechen link to murder
Police in the United Arab Emirates have accused a close
ally of the leader of the Russian province of Chechnya
of masterminding the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev, a
former Chechen military commander.
Yamadayev was shot on March 28 in the car park of a
luxury seaside apartment block in Dubai, one of seven
emirates that make up the UAE.
"The leads in the case indicate that a top official in
the Chechen government named Adam Delimkhanov, who is
the deputy prime minister in Chechnya, is the mastermind
behind Sulim Yamadayev's assassination," Lieutenant-General
Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, the Dubai police chief, said on
Sunday.
Delimkhanov, a member of Russia's lower house, is
considered a close friend and part of the inner circle
of Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, who enjoys
Moscow's backing.
Kadyrov has dismissed through a spokesman any suggestion
that Yamadayev's killing was linked to him.
Tamim said Chechen authorities have not co-operated with
the investigation, and that "Russia is also responsible
for untying the knot of this crime".
"The crime ... is 100 per cent of Chechen making and
it's an operation of settling accounts (among Chechens),"
he said.
The attack was carried out with a Russian-made gold-coloured
handgun, Dubai police said, showing the media a picture
of a weapon and a pair of black gloves.
The police said they were holding two suspects in
connection with the killing and would seek an
international arrest warrant for four others, including
Delimkhanov.
The suspects, Mahdi Lournia, an Iranian, and Makhsud-Jan,
a Tajik, were being held for questioning while the other
suspects had fled to Russia, Tamim said.
"It's very clear to us that the assassination of Sulim
Yamadayev is a purely Chechen operation, which indicates
settling scores in the UAE," Tamim said.
Delimkhanov told Russian news agencies that he would co-operate
but said the investigation was flawed.
"The announcement of the Dubai police chief is a
provocation and is aimed at destabilising Chechen
society," he was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.
"The police were unable to conduct a quality
investigation. ... I am prepared to co-operate with the
investigation into this crime and will answer all
concrete questions. However, I will demand
accountability for this clear slander as the law
dictates."
A source at the public prosecutor's office in Moscow
said that whatever the outcome of the investigation,
Russia would not extradite any Russian nationals should
there be any such request.
Chechen renegade
Russian analysts say Yamadayev's killing death removed
one of the last remaining powerful opponents of
Kadyrov's increasingly strong control over Chechnya.
A former Chechen separatist, Yamadayev switched sides in
the late 1990s and became the commander of Vostok, an
elite battalion with reputed links to Russia's powerful
military intelligence agency, which fought the rebels.
He was honoured with Russia's highest decoration, the
Hero of Russia award.
Yamadayev was dismissed from the military late last year
amid rivalry with Kadyrov, and Russian police issued an
arrest warrant against him over the kidnapping of a
Chechen businessman in 1998.
Yamadayev and his family left Russia after his brother
Ruslan was shot and killed during a busy afternoon rush
hour in September just steps away from Russia's main
government building in Moscow.
Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security
force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture
and murder.
After his father was killed by a bomb in 2004, power
passed to Kadyrov.
Vladimir Putin, then Russian president and now prime
minister, has embraced the younger Kadyrov.
But Yamadayev's killing in Dubai is the latest in a
string of assassinations targeting Kadyrov's opponents
in and outside Russia.
Some have been shot dead on the streets of Moscow,
including Anna Politkovskaya, a famous Russian
journalist, whose death in 2006 shocked the world.
In January, a former bodyguard of Kadyrov was shot dead
in Vienna, the Austrian capital, after filing a criminal
complaint against him in June 2008, accusing him of
torture.
Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.
AkJazeera and agencies
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Shari`ah Brings
Speedy Justice to Swat
SWAT - For more than tow years, Zubeda and Pari Gul have been
seeking their right in their father's property through the court
system but in vain.
It was only after the implementation of Shari`ah under a new
agreement between the government and local Taliban that the two
sisters finally got their inheritance.
"We are very happy that we have got justice, though late," says
a jubilant Zubeda, 25.
She and her sister Pari Gul, 27, have been caught in a bitter
legal dispute with their two brothers over their inheritance for
nearly three years ago.
They ran from pillar to post to get their right, sought every
legal and bureaucratic means, including the lower court in Swat,
but not to avail.
"We did everything possible to get our share, but could not,"
says Zubeda.
"We used to appear on every hearing, but every time the defense
lawyer managed to get a new date for hearing on different
technical and legal grounds."
When the Shari`ah courts were established under an agreement
between the government and local Taliban, the two sisters
instantly took their case to the Qazi (judge) in Mingora, the
capital of the Swat valley.
"This time, we did not need even a lawyer. I wrote a simple
application and submitted to the Qazi court," recalls Zubeda.
"It took only four hours. This is unbelievable for me, that a
case can be decided within hours."
Under the newly introduced judicial system, there is Qazi courts
in Swat, Dir, Chitral, Kohistan and other NWFP districts.
The courts decide civil cases within six months and criminal
cases within four months.
Swat was an independent state governed under Shari`ah until 1970
when then military ruler General Yahya Khan scrapped its
independent identity.
Locals say they used to settle their issues under Shari`ah,
insisting that the enforcement of British laws complicated the
situation.
Speedy Justice
The two sisters can not believe how fast they reached justice
after a long, exhausting and expensive legal wrangling.
"Qazi Sahib did not go though any legal or technical
procedures," says Zubeda.
"He simply summoned our brothers, and inquired about details of
our father's property. Later, Qazi verified the details by some
of our relatives who were also present at the courtroom," she
added.
After the two brothers admitted they had not so far given their
sisters their due share in the inheritance, the judge ordered
them to pay half the amount on the spot and gave them a deadline
of three months to pay the remaining amount.
Zubeda and Pari Gul have already received two cheques of Rs
500,000 (7000 dollars) each.
They note that even if they were to win their case at the lower
court, their brothers would have moved to the high court, and
then the Supreme Court, and even after that they would have had
the chance to file a review petition.
"It would have easily taken some 10 years," Zubeda believes.
She says that not only she and her sister who appreciate the
Shari`ah justice.
"The people of Swat in general are happy with re-implementation
of the old judicial system.
"We have nothing to do with politics. Neither Qazi Sahib asked
me whether I support Taliban's code or not. We simply want
speedy justice".
Source: IslamOnline |
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