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Sunday, 14 September 2008 |
INTERNATIONAL
Benazir Bhutto’s widower now president of Pakistan
Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated Pakistani Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, was elected last week as Pakistan’s president in special presidential elections.
Zardari is head of Pakistan’s main ruling political party, and was part of a strong coalition that forced former President Pervez Musharraf to resign last month.
Zardari, 53, took the oath of office on Tuesday, in the presidential palace in Islamabad, standing before huge portraits of his late wife, Benazir, who was killed last December and her father Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first elected leader.
In a news conference after he was sworn in, Zardari, in the company of Afghanistan leader, Hamid Karzai, said he was placing the war on terror at the top of his agenda, and signal closer relations with Afghanistan.
At around the same time that Zardari was being sworn in, US President George W. Bush was making an announcement in which he promised to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan and said that Pakistan had a responsibility to fight extremists.
Zardari’s ascension to Pakistan’s presidency signaled a new democracy in Pakistan after nine years of military rule. His election also has given hope that there will be political stability in Pakistan, enabling the government to concentrate on curbing Islamic extremism and improve the country’s severe economic situation. Zardai said he would work with neighboring countries against militancy in the region, and indicated that his government had a comprehensive plan to do this.
International
USA refuses to lift Cuban embargo despite storms
Despite Cuba’s critical need for relief following its devastation from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the Bush administration has indicated that it does not plan to lift its economic embargo from that country.
The US, however, said it is willing to offer aid to Cuba in the aftermath of the hurricanes, but according to an AP report, said it sees no wisdom in now ending the economic embargo against Cuba.
The demand to remove the embargo was again renewed by the Cuban government in an effort to have the US speed aid to the island after the hurricanes. Following Hurricane Gustav the Cuban government said it would prefer that the Bush administration suspend restrictions on travel and the sale of food and other materials it needs to recover from the impact of the storm. Such concessions, they said, were the only correct, ethical, actions that should be taken and what was needed was total and definitive elimination of the harsh and cruel economic, commercial and financial blockade applied over nearly a half century against Cuba.
But Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, said that did not seem possible under the current conditions in Cuba under the administration of Raul Castro. She told reporters in North Africa, while on a trip there, that the Bush administration has consistently said that that the US would only be responsive to a Cuban regime that is prepared to release political prisoners and adapt a process that leads to free and fair elections, and there was nothing to suggest that has come about.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had asked Bush to immediately suspend some of the travel and financial restrictions to Cuba for a minimum of 90 days, in light of the devastation caused by the hurricanes.
South Florida
Miami Court gives clearance for Marlins baseball stadium
Following several anxious weeks Miami-Dade Court Judge Beth Cohen ruled in favor of the Florida Marlins, the South Florida based national baseball team, after auto dealer magnate, Norman Braman had filed a lawsuit against the Marlin’s owners to stop them from building a new stadium on the site of the former Orange Bowl in Miami. Judge Cohen ruled that the $515 million stadium serves a “paramount public purpose,” and said that although the issue was contentious and emotional, the law is clear in the case.
Immediately after the judge’s ruling the Marlins’ owners said they would proceed with plans to build the stadium. Currently the Marlins are temporarily based at Dolphins Stadium in Miami Gardens, and have been seeking a venue to build its own stadium in either Broward or Miami-Dade County.
The Marlins, Miami-Dade County and City of Miami will continue negotiating final construction and financing agreements and hope to present them to city and county commissioners in the coming weeks. The team plans to unveil renderings of the 37,000-seat ballpark shortly.
"We will proceed immediately to finalize discussions with the County and the City to put in place all the long-awaited final agreements," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said in a statement.
Despite the court’s ruling Braman has indicated that he will fight the building of the stadium, which he claims should not be built with taxpayer’s money. He said he was going to appeal the ruling to the district court, and if necessary to the Supreme Court of Florida, and was confident he would prevail on appeal.
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