Thesun 2009-10-30 Page12 Report Sarkozy Spent Rm1

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theSun

news without borders PARIS: France on Wednesday denied a claim President Nicolas Sarkozy had ordered a €250,000 (RM1,275,000) luxury shower cabin as part of a spending spree during his presidency of the European Union. A report by France’s official budget watchdog, leaked on the internet this week, chastised the government for spending €171 million (RM872 million) on its six-month presidency of the European Union last year. It skewered Paris for spending a colossal €16.6 million (RM84.6 million) to kit out the Grand Palais exhibition hall for a one-day summit to launch the Mediterranean Union, a pet project of the right-wing French president. But anger has focused on a claim, made by a left-wing deputy, that Sarkozy spent €245,572 (RM1,252,417)

Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said it spent less than Berlin during its 2007 stint at the EU helm, despite unplanned events linked to the financial crisis and the RussiaGeorgia conflict. But he admitted spending on the Mediterranean Union summit was “higher” than for the 500 other events held during the presidency, saying a lack of suitable venues had forced officials to equip the Grand Palais from scratch. Sarkozy’s shower aside, the summit shopping list included €194,900 (RM993,990) for potted plants, €653,703 (RM3,333,885) for air conditioning and €301,208 (RM1,536,160) for a conference podium, while the end of summit dinner cost €1,010,256 (RM5,153,305) – more than €5,000 (RM25,500) per head. – AFP

Report: Sarkozy spent RM1.3m on shower cabin on a state-of-the art shower complete with in-built sound system, fitted in his suite at the summit venue and never even used. The quarter-million-euro shower allegation was widely picked up by French and English-language media, in a new embarrassment for Sarkozy’s government as it battles a string of recent scandals.

“It would be scandalous if it were true, but it is false,” said French Budget Minister Eric Woerth on Wednesday. Detailed reading of the budget report lists the sum as the total cost of an office and suite for the French leader – including the shower – and bilateral meeting rooms for the 40 delegations present.

Deputy Rene Dosiere apparently misread a summary of the budget report on French website Mediapart, which first published it this week. The French foreign ministry insisted Paris had stayed within the budget of €180 million (RM918 million) allocated for its EU presidency, whose costs are spread between various ministries.

Indonesia denies Australia asylum seeker deal

briefs 11 mourners die in bus crash

Australian Customs officials stand with Sri Lankan refugees on the Oceanic Viking yesterday.

ago, who have refused to leave the Australian ship the Oceanic Viking on the Indonesian island of Bintan, was a “one-off occasion” in lieu of further agreement. “I’ve not heard about money. There’s no talk about money. No money has been involved so far,” Faizasyah said. “For sure in the latest two cases involving the Sri Lankans, there’s no discussion concerning

compensation,” he said referring to the 78 migrants and an earlier group of 255 Sri Lankans who are refusing to leave their boat at the Javanese port of Merak. “We’re not interested in being dragged into the political debate in Australia because what we’re simply doing is offering humanitarian assistance. If there’s a need to develop a framework, we’ll have to sit together and discuss it.” Despite Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying he would not rule out using force to get the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers off the boat, Faizasyah said Indonesia would not compel them to disembark. – AFP

New typhoon to hit Philippines MANILA: Storm-weary Filipinos were yesterday told to prepare for another typhoon to hit the main island of Luzon during the upcoming long-weekend holiday, with rain forecast for flood-ravaged Manila. Typhoon Mirinae, already packing gusts of up to 185kph, was expected to become stronger before it slams into the Philippines tomorrow, the state weather bureau said. “We should expect Mirinae to become a very intense typhoon in the next several hours or days,” weather bureau spokesman Nathaniel Cruz said on local television. Mirinae’s expected arrival comes as Luzon is still trying to recover from two devastating storms that claimed more than 1,000 lives. Parts of Manila remain flooded after Tropical Storm Ketsana dumped the heaviest rains in more than four decades on the nation’s capital on Sept 26. Typhoon Parma arrived exactly one week later, then hovered over northern Luzon as a tropical storm for nearly 10 days, causing massive flooding and triggering deadly landslides. Cruz warned that Manila was likely to get more rain, potentially exacerbating the woes for more than one million people still living in flooded districts. “If and when Mirinae will cross northern or central Luzon, definitely metro Manila will be affected by strong winds and rains associated with it,” Cruz said. The rain also threatens to cause havoc for millions of Filipinos living in cities who are expected to return to their home provinces at the weekend to honour their dead during All Soul’s Day on Monday, which is a public holiday. The government this week said it had already positioned relief supplies in northern Luzon in preparation for Mirinae, while the military and other rescue units were placed on alert. – AFP

REUTERSPIX

JAKARTA: Indonesia firmly denied yesterday reaching a deal with Australia to receive money in return for temporarily accepting boatloads of asylum seekers intercepted at sea. Indonesia and Australia had reached no definite agreement on dealing with a recent rash of arrivals from countries including Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, despite talk in Australia of an “Indonesia Solution” to deal with the crisis, said foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah. “We’re very much unaware of the term ‘Indonesia Solution’. We’re not at all comfortable with the notion of an Indonesia Solution,” Faizasyah said. “The term is political jargon used in Australia for domestic political purposes and we’re not comfortable at all,” he said. Australia has said it has agreed to hand over financial aid to help Indonesia, a major staging post for asylum-seekers, intercept and detain the refugee boats which have long been the subject of fierce domestic debate. But Faizasyah denied any such agreement had been made. He said a recent decision to accept a group of 78 Sri Lankans intercepted by Australia 11 days

| FRIDAY OCTOBER 30 2009

BEIJING: Eleven people returning home from a funeral in eastern China were killed when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a ravine, state media reported yesterday. The accident occurred on Wednesday when the bus carrying 28 people on their way back from a relative’s cremation fell 100m down a mountainside in Jiangshan city, Xinhua news agency said. Eleven people died, and 17 others were injured, one of whom was in critical condition, the report said. – AFP

Britain slams jailing of embassy worker LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband branded yesterday a reported jail sentence handed to an embassy worker in Iran as “wholly unjustified” and urged authorities to overturn it. British embassy worker Hossein Rassam was sentenced to four years in prison this week after being found guilty of fomenting violence during Iran’s disputed presidential elections in June, The Times newspaper said. Miliband said the sentence was further harassment of British embassy staff. – AFP

Size matters when it comes to AIDS WASHINGTON: Men with larger foreskins are more likely to become infected with the AIDS virus, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that helps explain why circumcision can protect men. The study of 965 men in Uganda, all without AIDS at the start, showed those with larger foreskins were more likely to become infected. Infection rates correlated with the size of the foreskin, Dr Godfrey Kigozi of Johns Hopkins University’s Rakai Health Sciences Programme in Uganda and colleagues found. “Mean foreskin surface area was significantly higher among men who acquired HIV,” they wrote in the journal AIDS. – Reuters

Pirates attack Thai boat off Somalia LONDON: Pirates attacked a Thaiflagged fishing boat off the east African coast yesterday and are heading for Somalia, the European Union’s naval force in the region said. Pirates on two skiffs boarded the ship about 200 nautical miles north of the Seychelles and 650 miles off the Somali coast. An EU naval force plane spotted the boat and confirmed the pirates were on board. “The vessel appears to be heading towards the Somali coast,” the force said. – Reuters