UN political chief to visit Iran today for Syria talks

26082013

The political affairs chief of the United Nations Jeffrey Feltman is to visit Iran on Monday to discuss the war in Syria and unrest in Egypt and Lebanon, a report said. Feltman is to hold talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Mehr news agency reported on Sunday. The agency did not provide any details on the visit, the first by a top UN official since Secretary General Ban Ki-moon travelled to Iran in August 2012 to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. Iran on Sunday warned against any US military intervention in Syria, where the opposition has accused the regime of using chemical weapons last week that killed hundreds. Iran is the main regional ally of the Syrian government which denies the accusations. The Islamic republic also backs the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting alongside Syrian regular forces for several months against a range of rebel forces out to topple the Damascus regime. Lebanon has been hit by two deadly bombings a week apart that killed dozens, in the northern port of Tripoli and in the southern Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah. Feltman was in Cairo last week for talks with Egyptian officials and Muslim Brotherhood leaders on how the United Nations can help facilitate reconciliation in the unrest-hit country. The visit comes as Iran is staggering under the weight of UN and Western sanctions imposed over its contested nuclear programme.

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Chinese leader Bo Xilai’s trial adjourns abruptly

26082013

 

Disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai’s high-profile trial was abruptly adjourned after prosecutors produced more evidence to nail the former Communist strongman, who in turn described his ex-police chief and a key witness as a “liar with extremely bad character.” Bo, 64, was sacked as the head of the Chongqing city last year and removed from the ruling party following allegations of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power against him. The Jinan Intermediate People’s Court in east China’s Shandong province, which is hearing the case regarded as the most sensitive after the 1981 ‘Gang of Four’ trial’ involving Mao Zedong’s widow, adjourned the hearing till tomorrow after over two hours of proceedings on the fourth day on Sunday. At Sunday’s dramatic trial, prosecutors presented more evidence on the charge of power abuse against the fallen politician, a spokesperson of the court told media in Jinan. During the past three days court held session for the entire day spanning to about eight hours a day but on Sunday, it lasted over two hours. Footage shown by state-run TV channel displayed two policemen taking Bo out of the court room holding his arms. The evidence showed that Bo ordered the investigation against officials in-charge of handling the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood allegedly by his wife Gu Kailai, who was sentenced to death last year with two year reprieve after she confessed to the murder. Bo violated organisational procedures to remove police chief Chongqing city Wang Lijun from his post after he started probing Gu’s involvement, prosecutors alleged. The evidence also showed that Bo allowed his wife, who was not a civil servant, to take part in discussions about how to handle Wang’s defection, and sanctioned her suggestion to ask a hospital to fake a diagnosis that Wang had mental illness as well as the release of such false information to the public, state-run news agency reported. Bo admitted that he made mistakes in handling these incidents but insisted that he was not involved in any conducts of power abuse and the responsibilities were all on his wife and a third participant surnamed Wu. Bo said, “His (Wang’s) character is extremely bad, he created rumours… and threw dust in the public’s eyes. “It’s beneath legal credibility to present such a person as a key witness. Wang Lijun was lying during the trial and his testimony was not valid at all. His testimony was full of lies and fraud.”