Moontown

Col Gaddafi is trying to shore up support in and around the capital

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has told the BBC he is loved by all his people and has denied there have been any protests in Tripoli.

Col Gaddafi said that his people would die to protect him.

He laughed at the suggestion he would leave Libya and said he felt betrayed by leaders who had urged him to leave.

Earlier world governments condemned attacks on Libyan civilians, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying Col Gaddafi must “go now”.

The EU on Monday imposed sanctions including an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on Col Gaddafi and his close entourage.

‘Mercenaries and thugs’Col Gaddafi was speaking in an interview with the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen in Tripoli.

Col Gaddafi said the people who had come on to the streets were under the influence of drugs supplied by al-Qaeda.

He said those people had seized weapons and that his supporters were under orders not to shoot back.

Our correspondent says the colonel was relaxed as he talked in a restaurant overlooking the port in Tripoli, before departing at high speed in a motorcade of dozens of vehicles.

Col Gaddafi is facing a massive challenge to his 41-year rule, with protesters in control of towns in the east.

Unrest also continues in and around Tripoli, with reports of an anti-Gaddafi protest in a suburb of the capital as well as fighting in nearby Misrata and an attack by air force jets on ammunition dumps in the east of the country.

Foreign ministers who had gathered at a UN human rights conference in Geneva called earlier for Col Gaddafi to go.

Mrs Clinton accused Col Gaddafi and his followers of using “mercenaries and thugs” to attack unarmed civilians, and of executing soldiers who refused to turn their guns on fellow citizens. (BBC)

At least 17 people have died in a small Brazilian town after a live power cable broke and fell into a crowd of people enjoying a pre-Carnival street party.

It happened in the town of Bandeira do Sul in Minas Gerais state, north of Rio de Janeiro.

A crush of people were dancing near a truck playing loud music in the main square when the cable came loose and fell among the revellers, said reports.

Dozens of people were hurt, some seriously.

The town was plunged into darkness and telephone services were disrupted immediately after the accident.

“It was chaos. People were electrocuted, and many people fell off the music truck. At that moment the lights went out. It was awful,” Daniel de Oliveira Castro, 25, told the Brazilian news website Folha.com.

The exact cause of the accident is not yet clear, with some accounts suggesting a firework set off by someone in the crowd tore the cable off and others suggesting the music truck pulled it down.

“We will know what really happened once firefighters complete their investigation,” said Mayor Jose Capituva.

Several teenagers were among those taken to hospitals in the area. Five remain in a serious condition, say reports.

The street parade was one of several scheduled in the run-up to Carnival itself, which begins on Friday. (BBC)

Hosni Mubarak is reported to be in ill health

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Egypt’s public prosecutor has issued a travel ban on ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his family.

The order also freezes their money and assets, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said.

Mr Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, after almost 30 years in power, in the wake of mounting public protests.

He is believed to be living in his villa in Sharm el-Sheikh but in poor health, and has not been seen or heard of publicly since stepping down.

Mr Mubarak handed power to the military, which appointed an interim government to write a new constitution and hold elections.

The prosecutor’s office said the travel ban and asset freeze was issued while complaints - which were not specified - against the Mubarak family were being investigated, Reuters news agency reported.

The order applies to Mr Mubarak, his wife Suzanne, their two sons Ala and Gamal and their wives.

Fortune deniedEgypt has already requested a number of governments to freeze the overseas assets of the Mubarak family.

Protesters and anti-corruption campaigners have been pressing for an investigation into the Mubarak family’s assets, put at anywhere from $1bn to $70bn (£616m-£43bn).

However, Mr Mubarak’s legal representative has denied reports that the former president amassed a fortune while in office.

Three of Mr Mubarak’s former officials have been charged with corruption-related offences: former ministers of interior Habib al-Adly, tourism Zuhair Garana, and housing Ahmed al-Maghrabi.

Justice officials said on Sunday that Mr Adly would face trial on money laundering charges from 5 March. (BBC)

The Customs Department is reporting that it has seized more than $120 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes which arrived in the island last week.

The shipment of approximately 4 million sticks of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes reportedly originated in China.

According to the customs department, the contraband which was declared as plastic and Styrofoam cups and plates was seized at the Kingston Container Terminal.

The trading of counterfeit cigarettes contravenes the provisions of the Trade Marks Act and Copyright Act.

The Customs Department says although counterfeit cigarettes are cheaper, they pose a serious health risk as the contents are unregulated and maybe harmful.

As a result the department says it continues to keep a close watch on the ports to prevent the importation of illegal cigarettes.(Jamaica Gleaner)

Police officers to vacate ’sick’ stations today

By Nikita Braxton-Benjamin South Bureau

SOLDIERS ARE on alert to respond to orders to take up the slack created by protesting police officers who are expected to vacate “sick” police stations across the country for the next two days.

This from Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner yesterday who assured that the Government had “contingency plans” to ensure the country is not held to ransom.

Police officers, who are negotiating for better wages, stayed home for two days earlier this month to protest Government’s five per cent offer. Police are seeking a 25 per cent increase in their salaries.

Today’s action has been sanctioned by the Second Division Association which intends to remove its membership from uninhabitable police stations. Police officers are debarred from taking industrial action as they are listed as members of an essential service.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, National Security Minister Brig John Sandy and other Government officials criticised their decision.

Persad-Bissessar in a statement in Parliament last Friday said their “irresponsible” action “will not go unchecked”.

The police action is likely to coincide with a mass protest demonstration organised by the Public Services Association tomorrow and comes two days before Persad-Bissessar is expected to meet with the executive of the Police Second Division Association, the bargaining body for the majority of police officers.

Persad-Bissessar last week walked with police officers in East Dry River and Chaguanas.

“I believe that that the police are a responsible body as such I do not think that could happen but if it does happen we have contingency plans in place to deal with them,” Warner said.

He hinted that one of these plans included members of the Defence Force stepping in.

“You all would have seen the Prime Minister meeting the soldiers over the last two, three days. We have plans in place to deal with those (police sick out) measures,” Warner said.

Last week a directive was given by Persad-Bissessar, after an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, that approximately 400 members of the Defence Force Reserves be called out to assist in maintaining law and order.

And it was the soldiers who came to her rescue two weeks ago to guard her private home and those of other officials including Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and Chief Justice Ivor Archie when Guard and Emergency Branch officers did not show up for work.

Warner said should the sickout action take place it would be “unfortunate”.

He made the comments as he toured areas with improper drainage and poor roads and infrastructure in the constituency of Oropouche West MP Stacy Roopnarine. Roopnarine is also the Minister in the Ministry of Works and Transport.

Warner also said debate is expected to begin today on the Constitution Amendment (Capital Offences) Bill 2011.

He called on the Opposition People’s National Movement’s support. The Government needs three votes from them to get the majority that is needed for the “Hanging Bill”.

“The country will not forgive them if they don’t do what is right … We have acceded to all the requests of the Opposition even though we don’t believe in them but we have gone along with them because we believe we must resume hangings,” Warner said.

Warner, Roopnarine and other officials toured the Bhagmania River, which they said is being dredged and cleared to deal with flooding.

They also toured several streets in La Romaine and Warner promised box drains would be constructed to alleviate flooding.

Warner and Roopnarine also toured Pluck Road, San Francique. (Trinidad Express)

Sir Courtney Blackman (FP)

By Tony Best

“Much ado about very little,” says Sir Courtney Blackman. “It’s close to that.”

The former Governor of the Barbados Central Bank so characterized the fuss over whether or not Barbados’ economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the last quarter, as reported by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, or if the Central Bank should revise upwards its earlier forecast of 2.5 per cent growth for 2011.

“When you make a projection or estimation of whether the economy grew by 0.3 per cent, that could mean less than one per cent or it could be growth that’s much higher, and that’s because of a margin of error, plus or minus,” said Sir Courtney. To estimate growth at less than one per cent is almost meaningless because you don’t know exactly the rate of growth.

“It could be .2 per cent more or .2 per cent less. It could be any of those. So to make a fuss about a projected rate of growth at that level is really trivial actually.”

As he explained it, forecasts were made by economists according to the “best available information at the time” and if conditions changed and specific data about economic performance became available in a matter of weeks or months then adjustments could be made.

“It’s not a big issue,” said Sir Courtney. But the former Central Banker who later went on to become Barbados’ Ambassador in Washington was quick to say that given the severity of the global economic crisis and its impact on the United States, the Caribbean, Europe and other regions of the world, an indication of growth in Barbados shouldn’t be ignored.

“To achieve growth in the present situation in which the Barbados economy finds itself and in the light of the uncertainties of this world, particularly the weakness of the American economy, which has more impact upon us than any other economy, to get any growth at all is very good,” he said.

“I think this emphasis on measuring growth by these numbers, I don’t contribute to that. My greatest concern is do we have enough foreign exchange reserves to survive this crisis? Do we have a comfortable margin of reserves? That is what we should be trying to keep in focus. That must be our objective. Once we have enough reserves we are in business.”

Such reserves would be necessary over the long-haul because Sir Courtney fears the crisis could continue for another three years, if not longer.

“We really don’t know how long it’s going to last,” he said. “The most important thing is for us to find ways to increase our foreign reserves.”

The former Central Bank Governor seemingly chided Barbados’ key political leaders for their failure to educate the populace about the tough global economic climate so that Barbadians could adjust their behaviour accordingly.

“I really feel that the political leadership of Barbados has failed to explain to the Barbadian, to impress upon them the severity of this global crisis and to get them to understand what happened to the Americans,” said Sir Courtney. (Nation News)

Hartley Henry (FP)

By John Sealy

DEMOCRATIC LABOUR Party (DLP) supporters have been cautioned not to relish in the perceived or real problems of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and warned not “to take a political six for a nine”.

The advice came from political analyst Hartley Henry as he made a get-ready appeal to members of the DLP St Joseph Constituency Branch at Grantley Adams School last night.“

I hear the excitement in the voices of some Democratic Labour Party supporters who speak to the likely fortunes of the party in the next elections in the context of real or perceived problems and divisions in the Barbados Labour Party. I wish to warn my beloved party against taking a political six for a nine!”

Henry said: “The Barbados Labour Party at no time in the past 40 years was seen or perceived as either an effective Opposition or an attractive Government in waiting. They simply do not do Opposition well.”

He described the BLP as an election fighting machine that existed “purely to fight and to win elections. It is not the BLP of yesteryear. It bears no resemblance to the party once led by Sir Grantley Adams, even Tom Adams; and certainly not Henry Forde or Bernard St John.

“In this new dispensation, the BLP is about mounting the best possible bid to win elections.”

Henry said that he did not think that the Barbados Labour Party would go into the next general election a divided party.

“Those in here who subscribe to that . . . had better change their thinking. The Labour Party went into the St John by-election divided and disorganized because they knew, deep down, they didn’t have a chance in that match-up. There was no haste or urgency to deal with perceived problems.

“I want to suggest to the Democratic Labour Party that the forthcoming general election campaign will be a horse of a different colour. Whether real or artificially created, the Barbados Labour Party will mount a united front next time around.”

Henry said that there were persons “who had vested financial and other interests in seeing that party returned to office and they are not going to permit the egotistical shenanigans of a few Johnny- and Jenny-come-latelys to scuttle its chances”. Henry said that if the BLP feud was not resolved very shortly, Owen Arthur, now Opposition Leader, was unlikely to lead the BLP into the next general election.

“The one thing that consumes Owen Arthur more than the thought of winning the next elections . . . is the fear of losing the next elections.

Henry challenged the DLP to “girds its loins, put on the breastplate of armour and prepare for the mother of all battles in the next general election. This is do or die for an entire generation of BLP operatives and they are not going to hand us a second term on a platter”.

Henry told the St Joseph constituents to take their brand and product to the market and be prepared to interface with the people. (Nation News)