WORLD
OCTOBER 9 - 15, 2015 | A7
www.TheEpochTimes.com
Ex-UN general assembly head
among 6 held in bribery scheme
Hans Dieter Poetsch, the new chairman of the board of directors of
Volkswagen, at the company headquarter in Wolfsburg, Germany,
on Oct. 7. He fills the position vacated when longtime chairman Ferdinand Piech resigned in April.
Europe: VW Emissions fixes could take
until end of next year
In all, six people,
including another
diplomat, were
ensnared in the
probe.
File photo of former U.N. General Assembly President John Ashe, of Antigua and Barbuda, speaking during a news conference at U.N. headquarters.
bribe money was used to pay
for Ashe’s family vacation and
to construct a basketball court
at his home in Dobbs Ferry,
New York. He opened two bank
accounts to receive the funds and
then under-reported his income
by more than $1.2 million, officials said. The businesspeople
flew Ashe, his wife, and their
two children first-class to New
Orleans and put the family up
in an $850-a-night hotel room.
Ashe was arrested on Oct. 6
and is being held, and his legal
representation wasn’t clear. No
one answered a phone call to
the mission for Antigua; he is no
longer listed in the U.N. directory. A message left with a representative for the General Assembly wasn’t immediately returned.
In all, six people, including another diplomat, Francis
Lorenzo from the Dominican
Republic, were ensnared in the
probe. A message was left at Lorenzo’s mission.
The other two were involved
with Ng, prosecutors said, identifying them as Sheri Yan and
Heidi Park, both naturalized U.S.
citizens who reside in China and
helped facilitate the scheme. It
wasn’t clear who was representing them.
From The Associated Press
NATO chief: Russian warplanes in
Turkish airspace no accident
By John-thor Dahlburg &
Sarah El Deeb
BRUSSELS—NATO’s secretary-general on Oct. 6 rejected
Moscow’s claim that its military
incursion into alliance airspace
over Turkey wasn’t intentional or
important, saying there were two
separate incidents and “the violation lasted for a long time.”
Turkey’s military, meanwhile,
said more of its jets patrolling the
border with Syria were placed in a
radar lock by Russian planes and
surface-to-air missile systems.
In Syria, Russian warplanes
reportedly continued pounding targets in the country, where
the Kremlin has come to the aid
of beleaguered ally President
Bashar Assad.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in
Brussels that recent breaches
of Turkish airspace by Russian
warplanes were “very serious”—
even dangerous.
“It doesn’t look like an accident,
and we’ve seen two of them over
the weekend,” he added.
The latest Russian airstrikes in
Syria, in cooperation with Syrian jets, struck targets in rural
areas of the northern Aleppo
province, targeting the towns
of al-Bab and Deir Hafer, Syrian state TV reported, quoting
a military official.
Both towns are controlled by
the Islamic State group. The official also said IS bases were targeted in Palmyra and surrounding areas in the central Homs
province, destroying 20 vehicles, three arms depots and three
rocket launchers.
Meanwhile, the Syrian air force
was said to have targeted areas in
rural Latakia controlled by militants, with the military official
reporting the death of at least 12
fighters, including two Turks;
one Saudi militant from al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, Nusra Front;
and one Palestinian.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights,
a monitoring group with a wide
AP PHOTO/MICHAEL SOHN
AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
Continued from A1
The scheme unfolded over the
course of nearly three years, from
2011 through 2014, and included
his tenure as General Assembly
head, prosecutors said.
Ng and his assistant, also
named in the indictment, were
already being held by federal
authorities, accused of lying
about plans for US$4.5 million
in cash brought into the U.S.
over several years aboard pri-
vate jets. It wasn’t immediately
clear if prosecutors believe any of
the money was used in the Antigua bribery scheme.
According to court documents, Ashe used his position
to push the U.N. to promote
a conference centre in Macau
being developed by Ng. The U.N.
Macau Conference Center was to
be Ng’s legacy and would function as a sort of satellite operation for the world body, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say some of the
AROUND THE WORLD
AP PHOTO/DMITRY STESHIN, KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA, PHOTO VIA AP
A Russian pilot fixes an air-to-air missile at his Su-30 jet fighter before
a takeoff at Hmeimim airbase in Syria on Oct. 5.
network of activists on the
ground, said in the last 24 hours
Russia carried out at least 34 airstrikes in Palmyra and vicinity,
areas controlled by IS.
Airstrikes also were reported
in the rural part of the city of
Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital. The Observatory said at
least 19 IS members were killed,
including four in Raqqa in an airstrike that hit two vehicles and
an arms depot. In Palmyra and
its boroughs, the airstrikes were
said to have killed 15 IS militants and struck 10 vehicles and
an arms depot.
‘Attack on NATO’
In a statement, NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said
Stoltenberg later confirmed that
NATO generals would be contacting their Russian counterparts about the violation of Turkish airspace.
“It’s unacceptable to violate
the airspace of another country,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
He said NATO is expressly worried that such acts by the Russians could have unforeseen consequences.
“Incidents, accidents, may
create dangerous situations,”
Stoltenberg said. “And therefore
it is also important to make sure
that this doesn’t happen again.”
Turkey’s military said on Tues-
day, Oct. 6, that eight Turkish
F-16 jet patrolling the TurkishSyrian border were harassed by
a MIG-29 plane as well as surface-to-air missile systems based
in Syria in two separate incidents
on Monday.
It was the second successive
harassment of Turkish planes
reported by Turkey. The MIG-29
locked radar on the planes for 4
minutes and 30 seconds, while
the missile systems threatened
the planes for 4 minutes and 15
seconds, the military said.
Turkey reported Monday that
two Turkish jets were harassed
by a MIG-29 on Sunday.
During an official visit to Belgium, Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan welcomed
NATO’s stance, and pointedly
warned the Russians that if
such actions continue, relations
between the two neighbouring
countries on the Black Sea could
go into a deep freeze.
“Any attack on Turkey is an
attack on NATO,” Erdogan said.
“If Russia loses a friend like Turkey with whom it has cooperated
on many issues, it will lose a lot.”
A Turkish government official
confirmed that Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov had been
called to the ministry on Monday
afternoon during which Turkish
officials lodged a “strong protest”
over the second infringement.
The official spoke on condition
of anonymity in line with Turkish
government regulations.
On Monday, NATO ambassadors met in special session and
condemned what they termed
Russia’s “irresponsible behaviour” in penetrating alliance
airspace. The ambassadors also
called on Russia to cease such
practices.
Targets questioned
Stoltenberg told reporters he was
also concerned that in Syria the
Russians are not mainly targeting
the Islamic State extremist group,
“but instead attacking the Syrian
opposition and civilians.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry
rejected claims that its airstrikes
in Syria are targeting civilians or
opposition forces.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova said in a televised
briefing on Tuesday that Western
media is engaged in “information warfare,” distributing “pure
propaganda” about alleged civilian deaths caused in Syria.
Russia says the airstrikes that
began last week are targeting IS
and al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliates,
but at least some of the strikes
appear to have hit Westernbacked rebel factions. The Russian attacks have largely focused
on the northwestern and central
provinces—the gateways to the
heartland of Assad’s power in
the capital and on the Mediterranean coast.
The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group said Russia’s airstrikes have damaged an
archaeological site in the northwestern village of Serjilla in Idlib
province.
The Syrian National Coalition
said the attacked area didn’t have
any IS presence, adding that airstrikes occurred on Sunday and
damaged an Assyrian site.
The group called on the U.N.’s
cultural agency UNESCO to
condemn the Russian airstrike
and preserve archaeological sites
in Syria.
From The Associated Press
WOLFSBURG, Germany—Volkswagen said a recall of cars with
software that can be used to evade
emissions tests could start in Germany in January and last until the
end of next year.
The recall does not yet include
cars in the U.S., where the scandal engulfing the world’s largest carmaker erupted. Any recall
there will have to be approved by
the Environmental Protection
Agency, which disclosed the rigging last month, and the Califor-
nia Air Resources Board.
Confirmation of the planned
launch date of the recall of 2.8
million cars in Germany came
in an interview with VW CEO
Matthias Mueller published on
Oct. 7 in the daily Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung.
Mueller said many of the cars
being recalled won’t need much
fixing, merely requiring an adjustment to software. Others, though,
may require mechanical fixes such
as new injectors or catalyzers.
Portugal: Government re-elected
despite painful austerity
LISBON, Portugal—Portugal’s
centre-right coalition government earned another four-year
term on Oct. 4, winning a general election behind an improving economy that weathered the
austerity measures contested
across Europe, but falling short
of a crucial outright majority in
Parliament.
With 99 percent of districts
reporting, the government had
37 percent compared with 32 percent for the main opposition centre-left Socialist Party. Smaller,
leftist parties made up the rest.
The victory was bittersweet,
however, as the government failed
to achieve a parliamentary majority. That means it will be outnumbered in the 230-seat chamber
by left-of-centre lawmakers who
could block its policy proposals.
A period of political instability
could ensue, making investors
once again nervous about the
eurozone’s ability to sort out its
economic problems.
Incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said
his government is determined
to abide by the eurozone’s fiscal rules. He said he is willing
to compromise with opposition
parties to achieve the “essential
goal” of reducing national debt.
Southeast Asia: Neighbours turn up
the heat on Indonesia over forest fires
For weeks now, the quality of life in
parts of Southeast Asia has been left
to sheer chance—the direction of
the wind. Every day, it alone determines which city will be shrouded
by peaty white smoke blowing from
burning forests in Indonesia.
Like neighbours who must tolerate the bad habits of the family next door, Malaysia, Thailand,
and other countries have endured
the annual problem of smoke that
stings the eyes, irritates the throat,
and shuts down schools and airports. Now their patience is wearing thin, and harsh words are flying
across the borders in a departure
from the region’s nonconfrontational etiquette.
The culprits are well known. Big
corporations set fire to forests every
year to clear land speedily so the
peaty soil can be planted with rows
upon rows of trees that will eventually be harvested for paper pulp
and palm oil. Palm oil plantations
earned revenue of US$18.5 billion
in Indonesia last year.
The crisis led to a diplomatic spat
of sorts when Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said neighbouring
countries “already enjoy 11 months
of clean fresh air from Indonesia”
and shouldn’t complain about one
month of haze.
In Malaysia, a deputy minister suggested the government
should seek compensation from
Indonesia for financial losses, saying Malaysian street vendors saw
their businesses plummet 30 percent in a month.
Afghanistan: Top general says US strike
on Afghan hospital a mistake
WASHINGTON—The deadly
American attack on a hospital in
northern Afghanistan occurred
despite “rigorous” U.S. military
procedures designed to avoid such
mistakes, the top commander of
U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan said on Oct. 6.
Gen. John F. Campbell also told
a Senate committee that he thinks
President Barack Obama should
revise the current plan to reduce
the U.S. force in Afghanistan at the
end of 2016. The plan calls for cutting the force from 9,800 to about
1,000 embassy-based security.
Campbell said he had provided
his superiors with several options
because conditions in Afghanistan have changed significantly
since Obama approved that
troop-cut plan in 2014.
Testifying three days after the
medical clinic strike that killed
at least 22 people, Campbell said
Afghan forces requested air support on Oct. 3 while engaged in
combat with Taliban fighters in
the city of Kunduz, communicating with U.S. special operations
troops at the scene.
Those U.S. forces were in contact
with the AC-130 gunship that fired
on the medical clinic run by Doctors Without Borders, he added.
“To be clear, the decision to provide (airstrikes) was a U.S. decision, made within the U.S. chain of
command,” Campbell said. “The
hospital was mistakenly struck.
We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility.”
From The Associated Press. Collected by Epoch Times and edited
for brevity.