theSun | TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17 2009
news without borders
N. Korea to go ahead
with rocket launch
SEOUL: North Korea will go ahead with a rocket
launch but this would be part of a space pro-
gramme and not an act of military provocation,
official media said yesterday.
“One will come to know later what will be
launched in the DPRK (North Korea),” the Korean
Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, assert-
ing the country’s right to “space development.”
US and South Korean officials say the North
is preparing to test-launch its longest-range mis-
sile, the Taepodong-2, which could theoretically
target Alaska. Media reports citing satellite pho-
tos say preparations at the Musudan-ri launch
site on the northeast coast are well advanced.
KCNA complained that “hostile forces” were
spreading rumours about a long-range missile
launch without proper understanding.
“This is a vicious trick to put a brake on the
wheel of not only the DPRK’s building of military
capability for self-defence but also scientific
researches for peaceful purpose,” it said.
Chavez wins vote
to allow re-election
CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo
Chavez (pix) won the right to stay in power
for as long as he keeps winning elections in a
referendum vote on Sunday that bolsters sup-
port for his socialist and anti-US policies.
Electoral authorities said 54% of voters ap-
proved a constitutional amendment to remove
limits on re-election and allow Chavez to stay
in office until he is defeated at the ballot box
in the Opec nation. Forty-six percent voted
“No.”
The margin of victory was larger than
expected after opinion polls before
the vote had given Chavez only a
slim lead.
Chavez, whose current term
ends in 2013, has already been in
power for 10 years and his win
in this referendum helps clear
the way for him to fulfil his
declared goal of ruling for
decades.
The victory on
Sunday allows Chavez,
54, to put behind him
a damaging vote loss
in 2007, when his first
attempt to remove
briefs
British, French nuclear
subs crash in Atlantic
LONDON: A British and a French submarine, both
of them nuclear-powered and carrying nuclear
weapons, collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this
month, the Sun newspaper reported yesterday.
The tabloid said HMS Vanguard and France’s Le
Triomphant were both damaged in the incident,
but there were no reports of damage to the nu-
clear parts. The British sub has now been towed
to Faslane in Scotland for repair. Both vessels
– between them carrying about 250 sailors – were
reportedly submerged and on separate missions
when they crashed on Feb 3 or 4. – AFP
Third bird flu case this
year in Vietnam
HANOI: A Vietnamese man has tested posi-
tive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the
third confirmed case of bird flu in Vietnam
this year, hospital sources said yesterday. The
9
“Space development is the independent
right of the DPRK and the requirement of the
developing reality.”
The official agency said “dishonest forces”
were asserting that the North was planning an
act of provocation to draw attention.
“The DPRK has no need to draw anyone’s
attention and wants nobody to interfere or med-
dle in the issue of the Korean peninsula where
only the Koreans live.”
Analysts believe a missile launch would be
aimed at persuading the new US administration
to make its negotiations with the nuclear-armed
North a priority.
The United States has said any long-range
missile test would be provocative and South
Korea says it would bring new sanctions on the
communist state.
In 1998, when the North tested its shorter-
range Taepondong-1 missile, it said the purpose
was to put a satellite into orbit. – AFP
constitutional restraints on his extended rule
was defeated.
But overshadowing his victory is the global
economic crisis, which will limit his ability to
spend oil cash on nationalising industries and
extending his influence overseas.
Fireworks exploded above Caracas and
caravans of cars and motorbikes sped through
the city as Chavez supporters clad in the red of
his self-styled revolution celebrated honking
their horns and chanting “Heh-ho, Chavez
won’t go.”
“This can’t stop, because the future
of this country is in the president’s
hands,” said Juan Carlos Carrillo, 40, a
clothes vendor who voted in Caracas for
Chavez.
The loss was a huge blow to the
fragmented opposition, which had
made gains in votes in recent years.
Opposition leaders, who say Chavez
is an autocrat bent on sculpting
Venezuela into a replica of com-
munist Cuba, had tried to capture
discontent over crime, economic
mismanagement and corrup-
tion in the polarised country.
– Reuters
patient is a man in his 30s from the province
of Ninh Binh, 100km south of Hanoi. Doctors
at Hanoi’s Hospital for Infectious and Tropi-
cal Diseases said he had been hospitalised
for five days with high fever and respiratory
difficulties, and had tested positive for bird
flu on Saturday. The patient’s condition was
reportedly less severe than earlier cases this
year in Vietnam, but worsening. – dpa
Hardcore Kiwi teen criminals
to get army-style boot camps
WELLINGTON: Hardcore teenage criminals in New
Zealand will be sent to military-style boot camps
under a new law announced by the centre-right
government yesterday. The camps will take the
“most dangerous and recidivist young offenders”
aged 14-16 whose persistent offending indicates
sees them heading for the adult court system, said
the Minister of Youth Affairs Paul Bennett. “It is the
most intensive intervention aimed at helping them
get their lives back on track,” she said. “These sorts
of programmes will provide offenders with clear
boundaries and teach them about self-discipline,
personal responsibility and community values.”
She said the government’s Child, Youth and Family
department was working with the New Zealand
Defence Force to develop a military-style residen-
tial programme for the young offenders. – dpa