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| pdf edition | Thursday February 11 2010 World

Downloaded 10:17 GMT

South Africa honours Nelson Mandela’s

walk to freedom
‘One emotion that overrode everything about those few days and the four years that followed. It was hope’ Page 2

?div class=”track”??img alt=”” src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.3/36225?ns=guardian&pageName=Iran+protests%3A+live+blog%3AArticle%3A1357328&ch=News&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Iran+%28News%29%2CMir+Hossein+Mousavi%2CMahmoud+Ahmadinejad%2CAyatollah+Ali+Khamenei%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CCitizen+media+%28Media%29&c6=Matthew+Weaver&c7=10-Feb-11&c8=1357328&c9=Article&c10=Minute+by+minute%2CBlogpost&c11=News&c13=&c25=News+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FNews%2Fblog%2FNews+blog” width=”1” height=”1” /??/div??p class=”standfirst”?The Iranian opposition movement is planning to hijack official celebrations to mark the 31st anniversary of the revolution, despite threats of a widespread crackdown and restrictions on phone and internet networks. Follow live updates?/p??!-- Block 11 --??p??strong?9.54am:?/strong? ?br /??a href=”http://www.hrw.org/node/88464”?Human rights abuses against opposition supporters?/a? have been even more flagrant than previously thought, according to a new report. Human Rights Watch has documented the abuses which included extra-judicial killings; rapes and torture; violations of the rights to freedom of assembly and expression; and thousands of arbitrary arrests and detentions during the nine months since last June’s elections.?/p??p?There is more on a ?a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jun/29/iran-election-dead-detained”?Guardian project to put faces to all those killed and detained in the protests?/a?.?/p??!-- Block 10 --??p??strong?9.39am:?/strong? ?br /?Video footage is emerging of people chanting anti-government slogans on the Metro. Our translator, who shall remain nameless to protect his identity, says they are singing an old revolutionary song that is traditionally sung on 22 Bahman (11 February) celebrations. But they have substituting the words “traitor shah” for “traitor leader”.?/p??p?And this video ?a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Wv1tiaiC4”?shows state run TV footage showing Ahmadinejad’s speech?/a?. The broadcasters cut the sound when chants of “death to the dictator” became audible.?/p??!-- Block 9 --??p??strong?9.35am:?/strong? ?br /?The usually reliable Twitter user Oxfordgirl reports that ?a href=”http://twitter.com/oxfordgirl/statuses/8954573957”?protesters are now moving towards the headquarters of State TV and Evin prison?/a? in northern Tehran. You can read an ?a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/oxfordgirl-ahmadinejad-twitter-iran”?interview I did with Oxfordgirl here?/a?.?/p??!-- Block 8 --??p??strong?9.25am:?/strong? ?br /?This video appears to show ?a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOddbfEyEQ8”?numerous buses used to drive Ahmadinejad’s supporters to the official rally.?/a??/p??p?Another shows ?a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuQBfOIxp6E”?protesters chanting “Death to Russia”?/a? which is seen as an ally of the Iranian government.?/p??p??strong??/strong??/p??!-- Block 7 --??p??strong?9.17am:?/strong? ?br /?The first videos of the protests have been uploaded to YouTube (credit again to YouTube user onlymehdi who has been consistently fast in uploading such footage). ?/p??p??a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8qqVmvBfKU”?This video shows people chanting “referendum, referendum”?/a?. The demonstration appears to be taking place in front of Sadeghieh metro station in west Tehran, near where Karroubi was planning a demonstration.?/p??p?Another video shows ?a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBE5Is5nJFI”?people chanting support for Mir Hossein Mousavi?/a?.?/p??!-- Block 6 --??p??strong?8.57am:?/strong? ?br /?The ?a href=”http://www.astreetjournalist.com/2010/02/10/we’re-live-blogging-from-iran’streets-?????-????-??-?????????-???/”?security forces are preventing the people from reaching Enghelab and 7 Tir Squares ?/a?and clashes have been reported around Baharestan Square, according to an impressive new live blog in English and Farsi by astreetjournalist.com.?/p??p??a href=”http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/02/live-blog-anniversary-of-1979.html”?Live blogger homylaftayette?/a? has published a ?a href=”http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=116455825134671054314.00047f3cad6df3c15ffe9&ll=35.694668,51.391296&spn=0.167295,0.205994&z=11&source=embed”?map showing the routes of the official rallies.?/a??/p??!-- Block 5 --

??p??strong?8.50am:?/strong? ?br /?A ?a href=”http://www.twitlonger.com/show/8b41g”?full impromptu translation of Ahmadinejad’s speech?/a?, complete with asides and reaction from the crowd has been posted on Twitlonger.?/p??!-- Block 4 --??p??strong?8.41am:?/strong? ?br /?Opposition supporters chanting “death to the dictator” have just been heard by my Farsi-speaking colleague listening to a ?a href=”http://www.1000mikes.com/widget?channelId=15309&type=medium”?radio broadcast of Ahmadinejad’s speech?/a?.?/p??p?During the speech Ahmadinejad announced that Iran has produced its first package of highly enriched uranium.?/p??p?Iran is now a “nuclear state” and had produced its first batch of 20% enriched uranium, AP quoted him as saying.?/p??!-- Block 3 --??p??strong?8.28am:?/strong? ?br /??a href=” http://www.rahesabz.net/story/10024/”?Riot police have shot at protesters in the Ariashahr area?/a? of central Tehran after people chanted slogans against the supreme leader Ayatollah Khameni, according to the opposition website Rahesabz.?/p??p?The granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini, has been arrested according to Reuters, citing an opposition website. She is also the sister-in-law of the reformist ex-president Khatami.?/p??p?The Jaras website said Zahra Eshraqi and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, were detained during the rallies. Jaras said the son of a leading opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi was also detained.?/p??p?There are also reports on Twitter of clashes between protesters and riot police in the city of Isfahan, south of Tehran.?/p??!-- Block 2 --??p??strong?8.05am:?/strong? ?br /??a href=”http://edition.cnn.com/”?CNN is showing live footage ?/a?of Ahmadinejad speaking in front of hundreds of thousands of his supporters in Azadi Square. This is state TV footage, but the regime certainly appears to have succeeded in getting out its supporters in huge numbers for what is the most important day in the Iranian calendar.?/p??p?Meanwhile, there are reports on opposition websites that one of the opposition leaders ?a href=”http://balatarin.com/en/links/popular”?Mehdi Karroubi has been attacked?/a?. His son Hossein confirmed that his father has been attacked by Basiji militia in Ashrafi Isfahani Street in Tehran.?/p??p??a href=”http://www.rahesabz.net/story/10019/”??br /?Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of the former president, has been arrested, ?/a?according to the opposition website Rahesabz.?/p??p?In a further sign of the crackdown ?a href=”http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201021144515285153.html”?Iran’s telecommunications agency has announced the suspension of access to Google’s email service Gmail?/a?.?/p??!-- Block 1 --??p??strong?8.00am:?/strong? ?br /?The ?a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/iran-braced-for-protests”?Iranian opposition has been gearing up for another day of protests?/a? amid mounting international concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. State television has shown images of tens of thousands of people attending the official rally in Azadi square to hear a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.?/p??p?The regime seems more determined than ever to stamp out protests and news of protests, as it celebrates the 31st anniversary of the revolution.?/p??p?”Iran’s security forces have adopted ?a href=”http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8811211695”?all the necessary measures in preparation for the day?/a?,” the semi-official Fars news agency announced. ?/p??p?There have been ?a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/iran-security-islamic-revolution-rally”?more arrests, reports of Basij being bused into Tehran?/a?, and it has been ominously difficult to contact people in Iran, amid ?a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/04/iran-protests-email-google-china”?continuing restrictions on the internet?/a?.?/p??p?On a practical level the regime appears ready to drown out the chants of protesters by installing loud speakers along Azadi (Freedom) Street, the route of one of the planned protests towards Azadi Square (just visible in the background of this picture).?/p??p?The opposition website Rahesabz says ?a href=”http://www.rahesabz.net/story/9949/”?Basij militia stayed last night in Sharif University close to Azadi Square?/a?.?/p??p?The map below shows ?a href=”http://18tir88.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/azadi.jpg”? proposed routes of one of the rallies marked in green.?/a? The area shaded in blue shows where speeches may be held.

The text asks protesters try to be at the square by 9am (6.30am GMT). But the official rally also appears to be taking place in Azadi Square, with Ahmadinejad due to speak there soon.?/p??p?The opposition movement has been considering mounting two alternative rallies in northern Tehran if the security services block the square. One possible location is Evin prison, where many of the protesters from previous demonstrations have been held. The other is Jam-e-jam close to the headquarters of the state TV station.?/p??p??em?There is a virtual media blackout in Iran which means that reliable information is difficult to obtain, so if you are in Iran and have news, please email me at ?a href=”mailto:matthew.weaver@guardian.co.uk”?matthew.weaver@guardian.co.uk?/a? or for a more secure encrypted message email me at ?a href=”mailto:matthew_weaver@hushmail.com”?matthew_weaver@hushmail.com?/a? and please post updates or interesting links in the comments section below.?/em??/p??div class=”related” style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”??ul??li??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran”?Iran?/a??/li??li??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mir-hossein-mousavi”?Mir Hossein Mousavi?/a??/li??li??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mahmoud-ahmadinejad”?Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?/a??/li??li??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ayatollah-ali-khamenei”?Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?/a??/li??li??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast”?Middle East?/a??/li??li??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/citizenmedia”?Citizen media?/a??/li??/ul??/div??div class=”author”??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/matthewweaver”?Matthew Weaver?/a??/div??br/??div class=”terms”??a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”?guardian.co.uk?/a? © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our ?a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”?Terms & Conditions?/a? | ?a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds”?More Feeds?/a??/div??p style=”clear:both” /?

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Franco-German bailout of Athens

expected to avert euro collapse
Summit may see moves to guarantee Greek solvency, as prospect of action by Paris and Berlin buoys markets Page 4

Former Texas Canada’s mild Hong Kong court Page 9

congressman Charlie climate leaves orders retrial in
Wilson dies aged 76 Winter Olympics ‘milkshake murder’ Church of England
Page 5 short of snow Page 7 case Page 8 keeps distance
from breakaway
Haiti earthquake: Chinese police chief Election candidate US conservative
Conflicting death boasts of recruiting in headscarf causes Episcopalians Page 10
tolls lead to one in 33 residents as uproar in France
confusion Page 6 informants Page 8 Page 9

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Page  G24 World
South Africa honours Nelson Mandela’s
walk to freedom
‘One emotion that overrode everything
about those few days and the four years that
followed. It was hope’
Justice Malala in Johannesburg
Nelson Mandela in 1998. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters
I was 19 when the ANC was unbanned. I was in the streets of
Johannesburg, walking back from an interview at the University
of the Witwatersrand, clutching my rucksack and worrying
about not losing my way to the train station. Suddenly a huge
crowd, a seething mass of singing and chanting bodies, turned
the corner ahead and marched towards me.
They held posters of the afternoon edition of the Star
newspaper. They were running, dancing, ululating and
weeping. I joined in.
Something was wrong, though. The crowd was followed
by police casspirs [armoured personnel carriers] and vans, but
there was no teargas or sounds of gunshots in the air. The police
were merely escorting the crowd, not shooting and tear-gassing
people as I and many others had become used to. Those in
uniform looked as shell-shocked as the marchers.
The doors of freedom had cracked open that day. They
would be kicked even wider nine days later on 11 February
1990when, after 27 years incarcerated, Nelson Mandela walked
out of Victor Verster prison on a hot and sweaty Sunday
afternoon. There is one emotion that overrode everything
I remember about those few days and the four years that
followed . It was hope, a feeling that something had given way
and finally our country had a future.
At 7pm today South Africa [http://tinyurl.com/5fwvt2]’s
president, Jacob Zuma [http://tinyurl.com/5fjm6s], will crown
the celebration of Mandela’s release with a special sitting of
parliament in Cape Town. A frail Mandela, who rarely makes
public appearances, will be in the gallery.
It is a moment that brings on the goose bumps: 20 years on,
Mandela still unites black and white, liberal and conservative,
in soppiness. He remains, without irony, the father of the
nation, a man who makes us all say wistfully every time
something goes wrong: “Mandela did not want this for us …”
Over the past two weeks “this” has referred to Zuma. Two
Sundays ago the South African Sunday Times wrote that the
67-year-old Zuma, married five times with a sixth lined up, had
fathered his 20th known child out of wedlock with a 39-year-old
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT
daughter of friend.
It was a revelation that united the nation, not in the kind of
celebration that marked the news of the same week 20 years
ago, but in revulsion.
Mandela’s celebration and Zuma’s ignominy in the same
week, on the same day, is surreally timed. It reminds us that we
are a normal country, with contradictions and disappointments
and some – desperately few — inspirational moments. Our
politicians are no saints; just greedy, fallible politicians.
Today, a member of Zuma’s cabinet is openly doing a roaring
trade with the state. Another has built a tarred road to his farm –
in a country where many have no roads and urbanites complain
ceaselessly about potholes — while yet another minister’s wife
is in court accused of procuring mules for drug traffickers.
It is a far cry from the hope we felt two decades previously,
when teargas was an everyday feature of our lives, along with
detentions without trial, beatings by the police and deaths in
detention.
Blacks and whites were a people apart. I remember being
arrested with my friend Comfort Masike at Muizenberg beach,
a whites-only beach in the Western Cape, when we participated
in the Defiance Campaign of 1989. It was a simple campaign: we
just went and sat on a beach designated “whites only”. At least
80,000 people, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, turned up.
Comfort and I were arrested on arrival. A young cop came
over to where we were handcuffed at the back of a van. “What
do you people want? You have [the blacks-only] Mnandi beach.
It’s better than our beach here. Why are you fighting to be on
this one?” he asked.
I remember Comfort telling me afterwards how depressed he
was by the ­conversation. “They don’t get it, do they?” he said.
We did not get each other much, then, us South Africans.
But Mandela’s release unleashed a period which, between
the races, started us on a journey which brought us slowly
closer. Before Mandela, suspicion and hatred were the
dominant emotions between black and white.
I watched Mandela’s walk out of prison at my friend
Michael’s house in a township near my mother’s house.
We expected him to appear at 3pm at the latest. We waited,
and waited and 3pm came and went. “You cannot trust these
Boers,” said Michael, angry. “They are not going to do it.”
We could not quite believe that it would happen. We could
not trust them.
When Mandela did finally emerge from prison, with his
wife, Winnie Mandela, holding his hand, there were cries and
ululations. We could not move. We just cried.
Within minutes, people were running out of their homes,
screaming and shouting and singing. It was crazy. Throughout
the township impromptu rallies and parties took place. Across
the country, a jubilation unknown poured out. I have never
heard so much singing, seen so much crying and happiness at
the same time.
Four years before we were to get a chance to vote for the first
time as blacks in 1994, we knew we were free.
The main thrust of Mandela’s presidency was reconciliation
of the races, and its main vehicle was the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission. For many angry young people
like me at the time, the commission was flawed because it
demanded testimony from victims – and received it. Yet very
few perpetrators came forward, leading to many of us saying
the TRC was a sham that let off apartheid worst’s proponents.
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT

Mandela persevered and, despite its many weaknesses, the

TRC stands today as a testimony to what the human spirit can
achieve: it brought us together.
Franco-German bailout of Athens
By the time he left office after only one term in 1999, he had expected to avert euro collapse
managed to convince sceptics across the globe that there was an
exceptional democracy at the southern tip of Africa. Summit may see moves to guarantee Greek
Yet the South Africa that Mandela bequeathed us is not solvency, as prospect of action by Paris and
always a nice place to live. The Lancet magazine, in a survey
Berlin buoys markets
released last year, said that since 1994 average life expectancy
in South Africa has dropped by almost 20 years. Ian Traynor in Brussels
The homicide rate is five times the global average. The
female homicide rate is six times the global average. It is
estimated that a woman is killed by her partner every six hours
in South Africa.
Worse, South Africa is one of only 12 countries where infant
mortality has risen since 1990, the year that Mandela was
released. Every year, 23,000 babies are stillborn, and almost
75,000 children die in South Africa, nearly a third of these in
their first four weeks of life.
All these problems, plus rising joblessness and the
president’s embarrassing sexual peccadilloes, will weigh on
Zuma as he addresses the nation tonight. Mandela’s presence
will be a reminder of a man who made us believe no problem
was insurmountable, no challenge too tough.
Pigheaded protests: As discussions took place across EU
Zuma’s ignominy will remind us that the new South Africa is
capitals over whether to bail Greece out, protesters marched
not everything we wanted it to be that faraway day in 1990. But
through Athens over the Greek government’s plans to reduce
we will dance and maybe shed a tear and celebrate Mandela’s
the debt deficit. Photograph: Simela Pantzartzi/EPA
life still. I know, we know, that the place we were in in 1990 as
Mandela walked out of jail was infinitely worse than this: just Germany [http://tinyurl.com/3ooehn] and France are tomorrow
another precious young democracy. expected to move to guarantee Greek solvency and to shore
up the euro [http://tinyurl.com/5nyh49] against assault from
gamblers on the financial markets.
At a summit of EU leaders in Brussels which looks like being
overwhelmed by the implications of Greece [http://tinyurl.
com/5vuwj2]’s debt and deficit emergency, Chancellor Angela
Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy, said senior EU sources,
should deliver a joint Franco-German signal that they stand
ready to come to Athens’ rescue if need be.
Herman Van Rompuy, the new European Council president
steeringtomorrow’s summit, expects the planned response to
the Greek crisis to overtake an agenda focused on medium-term

*
European economic strategy.
Signs of action buoyed financial markets for the third
successive day – with the cost of insuring Greek debt falling
again and European stock markets, including the FTSE,
climbing after falls last week. The possibility of a rescue also
eased pressure on the euro, which could lead to heavy losses
From Beirut to Big Brother, for hedge funds and other speculators who have bet that the
Murdoch to Millionaire, currency will collapse.
The Germans, apparently determined to avert any euro
discuss the hot topics in the crisis, are leading the drive to concoct a Greek bailout. They
media on not one, but two blogs may not reveal full details tomorrow, but they are certain
to insist on punitive terms for loans or loan guarantees, and
Organ Grinder and Greenslade also may dash hopes of a “European” bailout plan in favour
blogs.guardian.co.uk/ of bilateral pacts between national governments and Athens.
Berlin is said to believe this will confer greater clout and rigour
organgrinder/ in forcing Greece to meet a bailout’s terms – major public
blogs.guardian.co.uk/ spending cuts, better revenue collection, reliable data, and
reforms to the pension, health, and civil service systems.
greenslade/ Expectations of a Franco-German initiative hardened
tonight after a day of frantic discussions in Brussels and across
European capitals over what to do about Greece and the mixed
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
signals over the timing and substance of the response.
Finance ministers of the eurozone, as well as Jean-Claude
Trichet, the European Central Bank president, and Olli Rehn
of Finland, the European commissioner for economic and
monetary affairs, rehearsed their options by video-conference.
Sources close to Van Rompuy, conceded that tomorrow’s
summit had to deliver a strong message to the markets. But his
eight-page paper on economic strategy sent out to government
leaders for the summit omitted all mention of the crisis.
Analysts said much was riding on how EU leaders responded
but those speculators betting on a fall of the euro will have to
rush back to the market to cover up their “short” positions to
limit their losses.
“If a deal is done and Greece is rescued, we could see a rally
because a lot of people are short and they will have to wind up
their positions,” said Neil Mellor, a Bank of New York Mellon
currency strategist.
Others said the markets were confused. “If Greece doesn’t
get support from the EU, the question in the markets will be
why should we [buy Greek bonds]. The concern then is that
knocks sentiment. The market will look at who is next, and
Portugal will be next,” said Gary Jenkins, of stock brokers Evo
Securities.
There are divisions among the 16 eurozone countries and the
11 other EU states over whether Europe [http://tinyurl.com/
6oa3pz] can weather the crisis or whether the International
Monetary Fund should be called in. But those splits also extend
to within the eurozone.
“The EU initiative must be placed in a common framework,
which is that of the IMF,” Belgium’s finance minister, Didier
Reynders, told Le Monde. “Greece has a right to assistance from
the IMF, of which it is a member. If not, there is no point in
being a member.”
Reflecting a common view that an IMF rescue would be a
grievous blow to European self-esteem and perhaps afford the
Americans an inroad into ECB monetary policy-making, a senior
official in Brussels said: “From a legal point of view, the IMF
is possible. But politically, it’s inconceivable that the IMF will
rescue Greece. Because we have a monetary union, a system for
supporting the currency.”
As well as battling a budget deficit nudging 13% of GDP,
Greece owes nearly €300bn (£264bn) to foreign banks. With
French and German banks the biggest lenders, exposed to
around one third of the total, Berlin and Paris appear to be
reaching the conclusion that helping Athens would be helping
themselves, as they would be among the biggest victims of a
Greek default.
*
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Use our free independent comparison
services to switch suppliers and save
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guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT
Former Texas congressman Charlie
Wilson dies aged 76
The architect of US support for anti-Soviet
forces in Afghanistan and subject of Charlie
Wilson’s War has died
Daniel Nasaw in Washington
Charlie Wilson on a white horse while in Afghanistan.
Photograph: AP
Former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson, the architect of the
US support for anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan [http://tinyurl.
com/5nee7j] and subject of the Hollywood movie Charlie
Wilson’s War [http://tinyurl.com/2ho37o], died today. He was
76.
In the 1980s Wilson, a Democrat, used his position on a
military appropriations subcommittee to secure covert US
backing for the mujahideen forces instrumental in driving
the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Pakistani president Zia ul-Haq
[http://tinyurl.com/yhpbpll], who had allowed the CIA to ship
arms through his country, credited Wilson with the defeat.
During his more than two decades in Washington, Wilson
was known as ‘Good Time Charlie’, the scotch-sodden
womaniser portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 2007 movie.
Charlie Wilson’s War was based on a 2003 book by former 60
Minutes producer George Crile. According to Crile, Wilson once
brought a belly dancer from Texas to Cairo to perform for the
Egyptian defence minister, who was supplying ammunition to
the Afghans.
The CIA officers Wilson worked with joked that his
reputation as a party animal gave him the perfect cover for
his work in arming the insurgents, using conservative Muslim
countries in supporting roles. The operation eventually grew to
about $750m a year – at the time the largest covert operation in
the spy agency’s history.
To the public, Wilson appeared a political backbencher,
rarely speaking on the floor of the House and staying out of the
major policy battles of the day. But behind closed conference
room doors on Capitol Hill, Wilson worked in secret to secure
his colleagues’ support for the mujahideen by supporting
military contracts in their constituencies, according to Crile.
While Wilson’s efforts helped win one of the deadliest proxy
battles of the Cold War, the victory left a power vacuum later
filled by the Taliban, many of whom were heavily armed with
weapons procured by Wilson and provided by the CIA.
A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Wilson served as a
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
lieutenant before entering the timber business. He was elected
to the House of Representatives in 1973 and retired in 1996.
Wilson died at Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin after
he started having difficulty breathing while attending a
meeting in the eastern Texas town where he lived, said Yana
Ogletree, a hospital spokeswoman. Wilson was pronounced
dead on arrival, and the preliminary cause of death was
cardiopulmonary arrest, she said.
In 2007, Wilson had a heart transplant at a Houston hospital.
Doctors had told Wilson, who suffered from cardiomyopathy,
a disease that causes an enlarged and weakened heart, that he
would likely die without a transplant.
Haiti earthquake: Conflicting death tolls
lead to confusion
Fears that the government has lost track
of dead as president and communications
disagree publicly over official number
Associated Press
Bodies of earthquake victims are piled up in Port-au-Prince’s
national cemetery. Photograph: David Levene
Haiti [http://tinyurl.com/5v74mu] yesterday issued wildly
conflicting death tolls for the earthquake that devastated the
country in Janary, adding to confusion about how many people
actually died. .
A day after the communications minister, Marie-Laurence
Jocelyn Lassegue, raised the official death toll to 230,000,
her office put out a statement quoting President Rene Preval
as saying 270,000 bodies had been hastily buried by the
government following the earthquake.
A press officer withdrew the statement, saying there was an
error, but re-issued it within minutes. Later on the same day,
the ministry said that due to a typo, the number should have
read 170,000.
Even that didn’t clear things up. In the late afternoon, Preval
and Lassegue appeared together at the government’s temporary
headquarters. Preval, speaking English, told journalists that
the number was 170,000, apparently referring to the number of
bodies contained in mass graves.
Lassegue interrupted him in French, giving a number lower
than she had given the previous day: “No, no, the official
number is 210,000.”
Preval dismissed her. “Oh, she doesn’t know what she’s
talking about,” he said, again in English.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT
Whatever the death toll, there is no doubt it is one of the
highest in a modern disaster.
A third of Haiti’s 9 million people were crowded into the
chaotic capital, Port-au-Prince, when the quake struck just to
the south-west a few minutes before 5pm on 12 January. Many
were preparing to leave their offices or schools. Some 250,000
houses and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed, according
to government estimates, with people inside being crushed.
For days, people piled bodies by the side of the road or left
them half-buried under the rubble. Countless more remain
under collapsed buildings, identified only by a pungent odour.
No foreign government or independent agency has issued its
own death toll. Many agencies that usually can help estimate
casualty numbers say they are too busy helping the living to
keep track of the dead. And the joint taskforce in charge of the
relief effort – foreign governments and militaries, UN agencies
and Haitian government officials – quotes only the government
death toll.
That toll has climbed from a precise 111,481 on 23 January to
150,000 on 24 January, before climbing to 212,000 last Saturday
and 230,000 on Tuesday this week. Preval’s count of 170,000
bodies buried in mass graves may represent only a piece of the
toll – but nobody at his office was available to clarify.
It’s common in major disasters to see large discrepancies
in death tolls. Governments may use lower figures to save
face, or higher figures to attract foreign aid. In Haiti’s case,
however, where the very institutions responsible for compiling
information were themselves devastated, reaching a death toll
is particularly difficult.
Even some officials express scepticism that the government
is keeping count. “I personally think that a lot of information
being given to the public by the government is estimates,” said
Haiti’s chief epidemiologist, Dr Roc Magloire.
Many citizens are even more cynical, accusing the
government of inflating the numbers to attract foreign aid
and to take the spotlight off its own lacklustre response to the
disaster.
“Nobody knows how they came up with the death count.
There’s no list of names. No list of who may still be trapped. No
pictures of people they buried,” said shop owner Jacques Desal,
45. “No one is telling us anything. They just want the aid.”
*
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Page  G24 World
Canada’s mild climate leaves Winter
Olympics short of snow
• Organisers in Vancouver having to shovel
snow to the slopes • January temperatures
in host city were warmest on record
Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent
An athlete walks in Vancouver’s Olympic Village. The lack
of snow has left organisers hurriedly bringing it in from
elsewhere Photograph: Larry W. Smith/EPA
Providing snow in the midst of a Canadian winter ought to
be relatively uncomplicated. But the efforts of the Vancouver
games organising committee to ensure sufficient snow cover
for the opening day on Friday could just about qualify as an
Olympic event in its own right.
They have tried airlifting snow by helicopter at five-minute
intervals; hauling snow by the lorryload from three hours away;
shooting ice and water out of a snow cannon; spreading layers
of snow with a Zamboni ice-smoothing truck; and studding the
slopes with tubes packed full of dry ice, to keep the snow from
melting, and replenishing them every 12 hours.
“The amount of work that has been done against these
conditions is really hard to believe,” Jack Furlong, the head of
the committee, said this week.
After an unusually mild winter, organisers first grew
alarmed at a lack of snow cover last month, closing the Cypress
Mountain resort – where the freestyle skiing and snowboarding
competitions are to be held – to preserve the scant covering of
white stuff.
But as the opening ceremony approaches with no sign
of more snow, organisers have been forced to launch 24/7
operations to provide adequate cover to the stubbornly bare
slopes of Cypress, which lies just outside Vancouver.
So far they have brought in more than 1,000 bales of straw
to bulk up the nearly bare slopes, applying a thick coat of
transplanted and artificial snow on top. They have also hauled
in nearly 200 lorry-loads of snow from higher and colder
elevations a three-hour drive away.
Firefighting helicopters have been pressed into service,
airlifting pallets of snow attached by a long rope. Snow cannon
have also been called in, the official website for the games said.
“So far we are winning,” Dick Vollet, who is in charge of
mountain operations for the games, told a press conference.
“We are quite happy with where we are given that we
are fighting mother nature, and sometimes she can be very
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT
unforgiving.”
Vancouver has always had a reputation for balmy winters, at
least by Canadian standards. But after some chilly days before
Christmas, this winter has been especially mild.
January temperatures were the warmest on record at 4.6C
above normal, and temperatures so far this month have been
3.4C above normal.
“The problem isn’t the lack of precipitation,” said Jim
Andrews, a meteorologist at Accuweather.com. “The
weather has just been too warm to sustain snow in the lower
elevations.”
Whistler, where the alpine skiing events are taking place, lies
at a higher altitude, two hours’ drive from Vancouver, and has
plenty of snow for Friday’s ski jump qualifying. But at Cypress
Mountain there has been hardly a flake since well before
Christmas – at least not naturally.
And despite Vollet’s hopes, nature shows no sign of co-
operating. The ­current forecast predicts rain along with
temperatures rising as high as 10C in the Vancouver area.
By the time the first event at Cypress Mountain, women’s
moguls, gets going on Saturday, all the elaborate preparations
could be reduced to a slushy mess. “It’s umbrella weather,” said
Andrews. “100% humidity and soaking rain that is real hard on
whatever they are trying to keep solid for the day itself.”
Among residents of Vancouver, the lack of snow on Cypress
Mountain is Topic A – followed closely by traffic congestion and
long commutes.
A few local people have even begun to joke about Vancouver
being the site of the 2010 summer games.
“I am looking across the street at tennis courts, and there are
people playing tennis in shorts. There are cherry blossoms on
the trees, which tells you something about the spring-like feel
here,” said Marsha Lederman, a correspondent for the Globe
and Mail newspaper.
She said the slopes of the ski mountain adjacent to Cypress,
visible from her window, were green. “I’ve got crocuses on my
front lawn,” she added.
All the more galling for the organisers is the fact that it is
an entirely different experience on the east coast of America,
which is experiencing its snowiest winter on record.
Cities from Washington to New York were hit today by the
second serious whiteout in days, with 40mph winds and snow
falling at a rate of 5cm (2in) an hour. The United Nations in New
York and the federal government in Washington were dark,
schools were closed, and flights grounded.
They are not seeing any of that in Vancouver.
*
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Page  G24 World Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT

adding them to the payroll, through measures including

threatening their careers.
Chinese police chief boasts of recruiting “Although China’s surveillance system is particularly
one in 33 residents as informants thorough, these [kinds of claims about numbers] seem to be
always written from the point of view of security institutions
Glimpse of country’s surveillance network that want to show how professional they are and what
shows priorities are to suppress complaints incredible resources they have,” he added.
Joshua Rosenzweig, of Dui Hua, a group seeking better
and root out ‘non-harmonious elements’
treatment of detainees in China, said: “I certainly don’t expect
Tania Branigan in Beijing they are all regularly producing valuable information.”
He said police had accelerated the development of
intelligence-gathering networks from the mid-90s.
Information sought was likely to range from details of
“unreliable elements” – such as people seeking to organise
politically – to warnings of potential conflicts such as land
seizures, which could erupt into violence or protests.
The official response “can run the gamut from attempts to
actually resolve the conflicts, to using threats or inducements,
all the way up to actual force and prosecuting ringleaders,” he
added.
Dr Kam Wong, an expert on Chinese policing at Xavier
University in Cincinnati, said upper echelons set out detailed
briefs of the information they wanted local forces to submit.
But he said that, despite the development of a “supposedly
The shadow of the state surveillance network looms over
comprehensive, supposedly all-knowing system”, the
everyday life in China. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty
authorities frequently failed to predict large-scale unrest.
Images
A Chinese police chief has boasted of recruiting one in every 33
local residents as an informant, official media reported today.
The director of an inner Mongolian public security bureau
said officers had recruited 12,093 of his county’s 400,000
inhabitants to provide intelligence, with the admission offering
an unusual glimpse into the state’s surveillance network.
Liu Xingchen told the state news agency Xinhua the
priorities were to collect information about conflicts that might
lead to complaints to higher authorities and to discover “non-
harmonious elements”.
Experts said it was rare to see information on the numbers
of informants or public discussion of the network, although
detailed accounts of surveillance work are available in
documents intended for internal use.
While China [http://tinyurl.com/6zlzoj]’s surveillance

*
network is known to be extensive, it is not clear how active the
informants in Kailu County are or how typical the figures are of
wider practices.
Liu said all officers had to recruit 20 informants, with those
in criminal investigation units finding extra “eyes and ears”.
In the interview, translated by the China Digital Times
blog, he added that the bureau had sought to “dig deep for
intelligence information on many fronts, proactively discover
Fantasy League Classic
non-harmonious elements that affect stability ... [and try to] Manage a squad of 16 players
evolve from being passive to being active, to go from punishing and a budget of £75 million.
after the fact to resolving the problem before the fact.”
Liu cited officers who found out that villagers planned to £75,000 worth of prizes to be
protest to higher authorities and “dissuaded” them from doing won in weekly, monthly and
so.
Although petitioning is a legal and longstanding practice in overall competitions. Beat your
China, officials are under pressure to keep down the number of nearest and dearest in a friends
complainants from their areas and often resort to methods such
as harassment or detention.
league.
Nicholas Bequelin, an Asia researcher for Human Rights guardian.co.uk/fantasyleague
Watch, said police could easily force people to inform, without
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
Hong Kong court orders retrial in
‘milkshake murder’ case
American Nancy Kissel to face fresh jury
over allegations she poisoned husband’s
milkshake then battered him to death
Associated Press in Hong Kong
Nancy Kissel sits in a prison van as she arrives at the court of
final appeal in Hong Kong. Photograph: Bobby Yip/Reuters
Hong Kong’s highest court today overturned an American
woman’s murder conviction and ordered that she be retried
for allegedly drugging her husband with a laced milkshake and
bludgeoning him to death.
Hong Kong’s court of final appeal found in its 111-page
decision that prosecutors had used illegal evidence in the trial
of Nancy Kissel, but ordered that the 45-year-old be kept in
custody pending a bail application ahead of her second trial.
Kissel, who lost her first appeal against her conviction,
smiled broadly when the chief justice, Andrew Li, announced
the stunning reversal.
A friend of Kissel, Nancy Nassberg, told reporters the
mother-of-two was “elated”. She said Kissel’s parents were
unable to travel from the US for the hearing but they had been
notified of the result.
“I’m proud, very proud of Nancy. She was a good wife. She
is a great mother, a great daughter, a great sister and a great
friend,” Nassberg told reporters. “We think justice is served.”
Kissel’s lawyers argued during the appeal hearing that
prosecutors broke the law by using evidence during the trial
that drew from the American’s initial bail hearing, after she was
charged. The five judges from the court of final appeal agreed.
“It is plainly in the interests of justice that there should be a
retrial,” they said.
Kissel has been serving a life sentence since she was
convicted in September 2005 [http://tinyurl.com/ykh3jn6].
Her trial made headlines worldwide with its allegations of
drug abuse, kinky sex and adultery in the wealthy world of
expatriates in the Asian financial hub.
Kissel admitted bashing her husband, Robert, in the head in
self-defence as he was threatening her with a baseball bat in an
argument. She described the 40-year-old investment banker for
Merrill Lynch as an erratic, whiskey-swilling workaholic, who
also snorted cocaine and forced her to have painful anal sex.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT
Election candidate in headscarf causes
uproar in France
Feminists and politicians protest after anti-
capitalist Olivier Besancenot fields Muslim
woman who covers her hair
Lizzy Davies in Paris
Olivier Besancenot, the postman-turned-revolutionary at the
helm of France’s anti-capitalist movement, has been fiercely
criticised from all sides of the political spectrum for fielding a
headscarf-wearing candidate in forthcoming elections.
Ilham Moussaid, a 21-year-old Muslim woman who describes
herself as “feminist, secular and veiled”, is running for the far-
left New Anti-Capitalist party (NPA) in the south-eastern region
of Avignon.
But, despite her insistence that there is no contradiction
between her clothing and her political role, Moussaid’s
candidacy in the regional vote due in March has angered other
feminists and politicians.
In an echo of the controversy raised by recent moves to ban
the full, face-covering veil in public places such as schools,
hospitals and buses, critics have said that the young activist’s
headscarf, which conceals only her hair, goes against values of
laïcité – secularism – and women’s rights.
Today, in a sign of how deep concerns are running, a leading
feminist group announced it would file an official complaint
against the NPA’s list of candidates in the Vaucluse département
to protest against what it called an “anti-secular, anti-feminist
and anti-republican” stunt.
“In choosing to endorse ‘open’ laïcité, the NPA is perverting
the values of the Republic and suggesting we reread them
in a manner which conforms with regressive visions of
women,” said the Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor
Submissives) association in a statement.
Others have expressed their shock at Besancenot’s attempt
to field a candidate who sees no problem with making an overt
statement about her religion [http://tinyurl.com/6oskre] in the
public sphere, a practice considered taboo.
Moussaid’s candidacy has been considered all the more
surprising because she is running for a party with far-left
leanings traditionally seen as hostile to religion and pro-
women’s rights. Socialist MP Aurélie Filippetti advised
Besancenot to “reread Marx” in order to understand why the
headscarf was unacceptable.
The government is attempting to wrap up a “great debate”
on national identity, which many people believe has caused
Islamophobia. It is reminiscent of the controversy in 2004 when
headscarves and other conspicuous religious symbols were
banned from state schools.
Moussaid, an advocate of contraception and abortion rights
whose candidacy was announced last month, said she had
been particularly stung by the criticism from feminist groups.
“Try as I might to explain that I am not oppressed and that it
shows, there’s still a lack of understanding,” she told today’s Le
Monde.
In a statement to local party members at the weekend
she wrote: “It is with great sadness that I watch … my life
reduced to my headscarf. It is with great sadness that I hear
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT

that my personal beliefs are a danger to others while I advocate of the breakaway faction, some of whom have now become
friendship, respect, tolerance, solidarity and equality for all bishops, Ashworth said: “This is our opportunity to affirm that
human beings.” we believe what they believe. We share the same gospel.”
However, other members of the synod urged the Church
of England not to be hasty in damaging its links with the
Church of England keeps distance mainstream north American churches.
from breakaway US conservative The Rev Johannes Arens, of Leeds, told the synod: “We
should not meddle in the internal policy of another church. We
Episcopalians should be learning to live together.”
A compromise motion by the Rt Rev Michael Hill, the
Slender lifeline offered to dissidents who Bishop of Bristol, called on the Church of England’s “relevant
split from US church after it elected gay authorities” to explore the issues involved in recognising the
bishop breakaways further and for the archbishops to report back to
synod next year.
Stephen Bates The motion was passed by 309 votes to 69.

Seven-year-old Brazil carnival queen

wins court go-ahead

Judge rules Julia Lira can join parade

attacked as too erotic for young girl
Associated Press, Rio de Janeiro

The Bishop of Chester Peter Forster, The Bishop of Liverpool

James Jones and The Bishop of Southwark Tom Butler try
to vote electronically at the General Synod. The system
was problematic, and was replaced Photograph: Peter
Macdiarmid/Getty Images
The Church of England today offered the slenderest of lifelines
to the dissident US conservative Episcopalians who split from
their church after it elected a gay bishop.
The general synod – the church’s parliament, meeting in
London – passed a motion recognising the breakaway group’s The role of carnival queen is too erotic for a seven-year-old,
desire to remain Anglicans but declined to promise to ally with say children’s rights groups in Brazil
them in their ongoing wrangles with the mainstream US church.
A Rio samba group says that a judge has ruled that the
In a two-hour debate, efforts by liberal supporters of the US
seven-year-old girl it has chosen as its drum corps queen can
Episcopal church failed in attempts to throw out or adjourn a
parade during carnival, despite protests. Joice Hurtado of the
motion supporting the breakaways, but succeeded in diluting it
Viradouro samba school said the group was “ecstatic”.
with the help of moderate bishops.
The case of Julia Lira and the effort to make her a carnival
Supported and advised by conservative evangelical
queen had caused controversy because the role is usually
members of the synod, Lorna Ashworth, a lay member from
reserved for sultry models in bikinis.
Eastbourne who is of Canadian extraction, appealed to
Children [http://tinyurl.com/5mx45h]’s rights groups argued
members to support the group, describing those involved as
that the role was too erotic for a young girl. But Julia’s father,
loyal, faithful Anglicans in North America.
Marco, who is president of Viradouro, says she will bring fresh,
Her targets included liberal Canadian Anglican dioceses
innocent energy to the parade.
supporting same-sex marriages and gay clergy.
“They are not elevating order within the church but

*
dumbing down doctrine,” she said.
Divisions with the US church – and, to a lesser extent, the
Canadian Anglicans – have widened since the Episcopalians
elected the openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003.
Last year, those divisions led to the formation of an umbrella
Mystified by mortgages?
body called the Anglican Church in North America, which has
Perplexes by pensions? Confused about
been joined by bishops and churches from a handful of the
Episcopal church’s 112 dioceses.
your consumer rights?
Watched from the public gallery by senior US members Our experts are on hand to answer all
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page 10 G24 World Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT

Oppenheimers put in $400m and Botswana add $150m.

In a statement to the stock exchange Anglo said it would
Rough year for diamond producer De report an underlying loss of $90m from its holding in De Beers.
Beers Looking forward to the current year De Beers remained
cautious. “Consumer demand for diamond jewellery is
Plunging consumer demand and glut of beginning to recover, driven in part by the strength of the
diamonds pushes De Beers $220m into the developing markets of China and India. However, with the
fragility of the world economy and perceived weakness of the
red
global recovery post recession, the company would only expect
Simon Bowers a gradual increase in production levels, sales and prices.”

Rio Tinto ‘very concerned’ about China

spying charges

• Tension grows after Australian charged

with espionage • Trial of four employees
likely to start in next few weeks
Richard Wachman

A De Beers diamond necklace worn by the model Iman.

 hotograph: Reuters
P
A glut of diamonds in wholesale markets and plunging
consumer demand for luxury goods pushed De Beers, the
world’s largest diamond producer, $220m (£140m) into the red
last year.
The sharp slowdown [http://tinyurl.com/yzm67cn] has
left the group’s balance sheet in urgent need of repair and this
morning the company confirmed it had secured support for a
$1bn rights issue from its three shareholders – London-listed
Anglo American, the South African Oppenheimer family and Australia urged China to hold a quick and open trial for Rio
the government of Botswana, where De Beers’s most important Tinto mining executive Stern Hu. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/
mines are located. Proceeds will be used to reduce the group’s AFP/Getty Images
$4bn debt.
Rio Tinto [http://tinyurl.com/ad883q] has gone public with its
However, the lengthy process of renewing a $3bn borrowing
concerns over the four employees who were yesterday charged
facility – half of which falls due for repayment on 23 March–
with industrial espionage and bribery.
appears to be going down to the wire. De Beers today said “term
Sam Walsh, chief executive of Rio Tinto’s iron ore division,
sheets have been agreed and credit approval granted by the
said the mining [http://tinyurl.com/5w5jlw] company was
syndicate of lending banks”. The group, which controls about
extremely worried about the four staff, who were yesterday
40% of the rough diamond market, is confident a replacement
formally charged by China [http://tinyurl.com/6zlzoj] in a
facility will be fully in place when existing loans fall due next
move that dramatically raised the stakes between the two sides
month.
[http://tinyurl.com/yjdv7xz].
Underlying profits of $515m in 2008 were wiped out last
“We are very concerned about the nature of these charges,
year, replaced with losses of $220m as sales sank 44% to
however, as this is part of an ongoing legal process, it is
$3.84bn. Plunging demand, particularly in the West, had forced
inappropriate to comment any further,” said Walsh. Rio has
De Beers to cut output in early 2009, including the mothballing
previously denied that its staff have been involved in any
of its largest operation in Botswana for several months [http://
wrongdoing.
tinyurl.com/n63epu].
Walsh’s comments came as Rio reported profits of $6.29bn
In a statement today the company said: “In the consumer
(£4.01bn) for 2009, 39% less than the previous year but more
markets we believe global demand for diamond jewellery
than City analysts had expected.
declined for the full year in the low single digits, although the
Three of the staff are Chinese citizens. The fourth is Stern
fourth quarter showed an improved and positive trend on 2008.
Hu, Rio’s sales chief in China, who is an Australian national.
Demand remained strong in the developing markets of India
A trial date has not been set, although the Australian
and China with US Christmas trading results likely to show the
government believes it could start soon.
first year-on-year increase since September 2008.”
“Based on precedent, we would assume [the trial will be
De Beers’s three shareholders have committed to take
held] within several weeks or a couple of months,” Graham
part in the group’s equity raising in proportion to their
Fletcher, the first secretary for the department of foreign affairs
existing holdings. This will see Anglo contribute $450m, the
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page 11 G24 World Thursday February 11 2010 10:17 GMT

and trade, told a hearing at the Australian Senate earlier today.

“Based on advice from people who have been dealing with
cases across China, my personal feeling is that it is likely to be
weeks rather than longer,” Fletcher added.
The four Rio staff were detained last July and are being held
in a prison in Shanghai. They are accused of using improper
means to obtain commercial secrets from the country’s
steel industry [http://tinyurl.com/n4ojbc] and using that
information to increase the price that China pays for its iron ore
imports.
China’s Xinhua state news agency reported the prosecutor’s
office as saying that the four had “exploited their positions
to seek gain for others, and numerous times either sought or
illegally accepted massive bribes from a number of Chinese
steel firms”.
The arrests have cast a cloud over iron-ore price negotiations
at a time when western mining companies are trying to clinch
a contract to supply Chinese steel mills with iron ore for 12
months from April 2010. The Chinese have balked at demands
for a price increase of up to 40% and negotiations remain
deadlocked.
Last year, talks broke down after Beijing refused to agree
to prices agreed by the companies with South Korea and
Japan. That left China to buy iron ore on the open market – a
more expensive option when prices are soaring as they are
today, unlike much of last year when commodity prices were
slumping.
The arrest of Rio’s employees soured relations between
Beijing and Canberra, which views their imprisonment as a
provocative act at a time when China has emerged as Australia
[http://tinyurl.com/4fdbfv]’s biggest trading partner; Australia
accounted for 42% of Chinese iron ore imports in 2008.
Some observers believe that deliberate attempts may be
being made to prolong the detentions ahead of further talks
between China and the steel producers. In the City, some
investors have alleged that the arrest of the “Rio Four” was a
straightforward act of retaliation on the part of the Chinese
authorities as it came only a few weeks after Rio turned down
a huge investment offer from Chinalco, China’s state-owned
aluminium group. Instead, Rio opted for a deal with BHP.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk