10 theSun | WEDNESDAY JULY 1 2009

news without borders

Iran upholds Ahmadinejad victory

TEHERAN: Iran warned the
opposition yesterday that it
will tolerate no further protests
after the official poll watchdog
upheld the re-election of Presi-
dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
over complaints of fraud.
Ahmadinejad hit out at
world powers over their
response to unrest which has
shaken Iran, as Western gov-
ernments condemned the con-
tinued detention of four British
embassy staff in Teheran.
Opposition leader Mirhos-
sein Mousavi’s camp re-
mained defiant, reiterating a
demand for the cancellation
of the June 12 vote which un-
leashed the worst crisis in Iran
since the 1979 revolution.
But opposition to Ah-
madinejad’s victory appeared
to be waning as the massive
street protests seen in the
immediate aftermath of the
election become sporadic gath-
erings easily dispersed by riot
police and the Basij militia.
The head of the seminary
in Qom – Iran’s clerical nerve
centre – called for a sustained
crackdown on protests, saying
demonstrators were “treading
the path of the world’s arro-
gance”, a term Iranian leaders
use to describe the US.
“The regime must confront
them,” Ayatollah Morteza
Moghtadai said.
Ahmadinejad himself said:
“We must use all the capaci-
ties to break the monopoly of
the global powers.”
And the official elec-
toral watchdog, the Guardians
Council, warned defeated
candidates that its decision on
Monday evening to uphold
official results giving the
incumbent a landslide first-
round victory were no longer
subject to challenge.
“They cannot object or
protest in any other way,”
council spokesman Abbasali
Kadkhodai told reporters.
“The Guardians Council
is the final authority on the
election and we announced
our decision unanimously.”
The watchdog had re-
counted 10% of the ballot
boxes in what it described as a
“thorough and comprehensive
investigation” but the opposi-
tion boycotted the process.
The US said the partial re-
view would not satisfy critics of
the election while Italy warned
of possible further sanctions
against Iran. – AFP

Honduras isolated over coup, protests turn violent

TEGUCIGALPA: Honduras came under pressure

AFPPIX
on Monday to reinstate ousted President Manuel
Zelaya as many Latin American leaders agreed
to withdraw envoys, Washington called his over-
throw illegal and street protests turned violent.
Police in the Honduran capital fired tear gas
at stone-throwing supporters of Zelaya, a leftist
who was toppled in an army coup on Sunday
and flown to exile in Costa Rica while a caretaker
president was sworn in.
Some 1,500 protesters, some of them masked
and carrying sticks, taunted solders and burned
tires just outside the gates of the presidential
palace in a face-off with security forces. Protesters
Zelaya was ousted over his push to extend supporting
presidential terms in Central America’s biggest ousted Zelaya
political crisis since the US invasion of Panama throw stones
in 1989. Honduras had been stable since the end at soldiers and
of military rule in the early 1980s. policemen
Congress named Roberto Micheletti, a con- during clashes
servative-leaning veteran of Zelaya’s Liberal Party near the
as interim president. presidential
Honduras is a major coffee producer, expected palace in
Tegucigalpa.

to export some 3.22 million 60kg bags in the
2008/09 season, but there were no immediate
signs that output or exports were affected as
ports and roads remained open.
Left-wing Latin American presidents led by
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said at a
meeting in Managua, capital of neighboring
Nicaragua, that they would withdraw their
ambassadors from Honduras in protest at the
coup.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon followed
suit, as did leaders from Central America, also
meeting in Managua, according to a diplomatic
source. The Central American leaders also an-
nounced a two-day halt in trade.
Chavez said he would stop sales of cheap oil
to Honduras, an impoverished coffee, textiles
and banana exporter of seven million people
which joined his ALBA trade bloc of allies last
year under Zelaya.
Visibly bolstered by the sea of support for
him, Zelaya said he would travel to Honduras
tomorrow with Organisation of American States
(OAS) chief Jose Miguel Insulza.
“I am going to Tegucigalpa on Thursday. The
president elected by the people is coming,”
Zelaya said. He said he had accepted an offer
by Insulza to accompany him but gave no details
of how he expected to pull the trip off.
Zelaya is also due to address the UN General
Assembly in New York and later travel to Wash-
ington. – Reuters

South Korea’s first swingers’

club presents legal dilemma
Citizen SEOUL: South Korea’s first swing-
Nades: ers’ club – where couples can swap
‘My partners for sex – has made a roaring
debut, leaving police who want to
England close it down struggling to respond.
not The club opened earlier this month
powderful in Seoul’s prosperous Kangnam District
where business appears to be thriving,
one’ with many visitors writing favourable
pg 12 comments on its website about their
experience.
“Say no to sex-related taboos,” it
proclaims on its internet homepage.
The club only accepts adults who
have booked through the internet.
Couples watch or have sex with one
or more partners.
“Law experts told us there is no
legal basis to crack down on this club,”
where consenting adults have sex in
a closed space, one of its unidentified
owners was quoted as telling the
Yonhap news agency.
Police admitted that it would be
difficult to apply existing laws banning
prostitution or obscene performances
in this case.
Still, “we’ve told the Kangnam
police station to find legal provisions
to crack down on it,” said Yang Sung-
Cheol, a senior officer at the Seoul
Police Agency.
After news reports about the club,
its website crashed under the strain of
thousands of people trying to log on at
the same time. – AFP

Iraqis take control as US troops leave cities

BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces paraded in
tanks and armoured vehicles across Baghdad
yesterday as they take control of towns and cities
nationwide from departing US troops six years
after the invasion.
Iraq was celebrating a national holiday to
mark the June 30 pullback, a milestone in the
recovery of a country battered by war, insurgency
and sectarian bloodshed that has left tens of
thousands of people dead since 2003.
Iraqis had celebrated into Monday night but
soldiers and police were out in force to prevent
insurgent groups spoiling the party as American
troops quit their posts in urban centres, ahead of
complete pullout by the end of 2011.
Across Baghdad, tanks and armoured vehicles
manned by soldiers and police were decorated
with artificial flowers, flags and banners, as na-
tionalistic songs and popular music played.
“We are happy to receive the security respon-
sibilities and we are able to totally protect our
citizens,” policeman Ibrahim al-Mashhadani said.
President Jalal Talabani thanked US forces for
their role in overthrowing now executed dicta-
tor Saddam Hussein in 2003, and in the years of
bloodshed that followed. – AFP