10  theSun | TUESDAY MAY 26 2009

news without borders

World leaders condemn

Boyle
stuns
again with
‘Memory’
LONDON: Susan Boyle (pix), the frumpy Scottish
bachelorette whose amazing voice has become
a global YouTube sensation, stunned audiences
again on Sunday as she was voted through to
the final of Britain’s Got Talent.
Singing Memory from the musical Cats, the
48-year-old overcame initial nerves to produce
another command performance, her soaring
rendition winning the telephone vote on the
talent show.
“You are one special lady, I have to say, you
really are,” Simon Cowell, one of the panel of
three judges, said after Boyle’s performance
brought the audience to their feet.
Wearing a shimmering purple dress, Boyle
looked far more primped and preened than she
did on first appearance on the show last month,
when her dowdy looks and quirky manner pro-
voked titters from the audience, who assumed
she couldn’t sing.
This time, her hair was coiffed, her eyebrows
were plucked and she looked almost every inch
a star in the making.
“What pressure?” she said when asked af-
terwards if she was nervous. “It was really good
tonight, I enjoyed it ... I’m very happy to be here
and thank you all for your support.”
Boyle left the judges openmouthed last
month with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream
from Les Miserables, which almost immediately
became an internet sensation, watched more
than 60 million times on YouTube. – Reuters
North Korea nuclear test
WASHINGTON: World leaders con-
demned North Korea for carrying out
nuclear and missile tests and US Presi-
dent Barack Obama said Pyongyang’s
actions were a reckless challenge war-
ranting action from the international
community.
As nations prepared for emergency
UN Security Council talks yesterday,
European Union foreign policy chief
Javier Solana branded the test a “fla-
Pressure grant violation” of a Council resolution
mounts which required “a firm response”.
China, Russia, France and Britain
on Irish – which with the United States are the
orders to permanent Council members – ex-
pay more pressed alarm at the hermit state’s test
that Moscow said was as powerful as
compen- the US atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki
sation in World War Two.
pg 13 South Korea called an emergency
cabinet meeting.
“By acting in blatant defiance of the
United Nations Security Council, North
Korea is directly and recklessly chal-
lenging the international community,”
Obama said.
“The danger posed by North Korea’s
threatening activities warrants action
by the international community.”
The uniform condemnation from
around the globe underscored the isola-
tion of the secretive state.
Nations for years have tried a mix of
huge aid pledges and tough economic
sanctions to persuade impoverished
North Korea to give up its nuclear
weapons programme.
Pyongyang, however, is so isolated
there are few punishment options open
and neither Obama nor Solana made
specific recommendations. France
spoke of strengthening sanctions.
“North Korea’s behaviour increases
tensions and undermines stability in
Northeast Asia. Such provocations will
only serve to deepen North Korea’s
isolation,” Obama said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
said he was “deeply worried” by the
development and Japan said it would
seek a new resolution condemning the
test at the Security Council meeting.
North Korea had for weeks threatened
to conduct the test in response to tighter
international sanctions for its April
launch of a rocket. .
Russia said the violation of the Se-
curity Council resolution was a serious
blow to efforts to control the spread of
nuclear weapons and that six-party
talks on North Korea were the only
solution to the crisis.
“North Korea’s underground nuclear
test ... causes deep regret and the most
serious concern,” said Russian Presi-
dent Dmitry Medvedev’s spokeswoman,
Natalya Timakova.
Iran, which strongly denies accusa-
tions by the West it has a covert nuclear
weapons programme, took the oppor-
tunity to state that the Islamic Republic
had no missile or nuclear cooperation
with North Korea.
British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown described the nuclear and mis-
sile tests as “erroneous, misguided and
a danger to the world”, saying the inter-
national community would treat North
Korea as a partner only if it behaved
responsibly.
France said it would be consulting
its Security Council partners “on the
consequences to draw from this serious
act by North Korea, and in particular on
strengthening sanctions”.
The test was greeted with concern
in the region.
“On the basis that North Korea has
conducted a nuclear underground ex-
plosion, they deserve and get nothing
other than our absolute condemnation,
and that condemnation should be ech-
oed around our region and the globe,”
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen
Smith told parliament.
China, which as a permanent Coun-
cil member could veto any resolution,
called on Pyongyang not to make the
situation worse. But political analysts
said Beijing was unlikely to back
stronger sanctions. – Reuters

British ministers made claim

to fill in tax return
LONDON: Several British Cabinet ministers
claimed public money for accountants to help
them fill in personal tax returns, a newspaper
reported yesterday, stepping up its expenses
scandal revelations.
Finance minister Alistair Darling, Foreign
Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary
Jacqui Smith were among nine top members of
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government who
claimed over £11,000 (RM63,000) between them,
the Daily Telegraph reported.
Brown, who is facing growing calls for an
early general election, is reportedly considering
a sweeping cabinet reshuffle because of the
controversy, which has caused fury among vot-
ers.
Seven members of parliament – including
the House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin
– have said they will step down amid the row,
ahead of the next election due by the middle
of next year.
The latest claims are thought to be within par-
liamentary rules and Chancellor of the Exchequer
Darling was among those to defend himself.
“Like many MPs, I employed an accountant
to prepare tax returns for each of the years in
question to ensure that the correct amount of
tax was paid in respect of my office costs,” he
said in a statement.
Brown is facing calls for an early general
election from David Cameron, leader of the main
opposition Conservatives who have a double
digit lead in most opinion polls.
A Guardian newspaper/ICM opinion poll on
Saturday also showed two thirds of Britons call-
ing for an election this year rather than next.
In an article in yesterday’s Telegraph, Cam-
eron said the expenses revelations had “shaken
parliament and our whole political process to the
core” and urged more ordinary people to get
into politics to help reform the system.
“When it comes to the people who actually
become members of parliament, this is also an
opportunity to widen the net, increase the talent
pool and attract people who have never previ-
ously thought of serving,” he wrote. – AFP

Dissidents refused entry for

1989 massacre memorial
HONGKONG: Three Chinese dissidents were
barred from Hongkong for events marking the
20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square
massacre, a government-run radio station said
yesterday.
Former student protesters Wang Dan and
Wang Juntao, now living in the United States,
have been refused visas to enter Hongkong for
a conference on the 1989 Beijing massacre, radio
station RTHK reported.
A third dissident, Yang Jianli, was refused
entry when he arrived at Hongkong airport three
weeks ago, the station quoted event organiser
Joseph Cheng of Hongkong’s City University as
saying.
The conference in Hongkong takes place next
week in the days running up to anniversary of the
June 4 killing of hundreds and possibly thousands
of student protesters in Beijing.
Wang Dan and Yang Jianli have previously
been refused entry to the China-ruled former
British colony which unlike mainland China has
freedom of speech guaranteed in its mini-cons-
titution.
No reason had been given by the Chinese
Foreign Ministry or the Hongkong Immigration
Department for the exclusions, the radio station
said.
Tens of thousands of people take part in a
candlelight vigil to remember the 1989 mas-
sacre every June 4 in Hongkong, the only place
on Chinese soil where the killings are publicly
commemorated.
Hongkong’s Beijing-appointed leader Donald
Tsang sparked an outcry earlier this month when
he suggested to legislators most people in the
city of 7 million wanted to forget the Tiananmen
Square massacre events. – dpa