June 13, 2007 at 2:20 am · Filed under macroeconomy
Clarence House attempted to ward off a potential bout of renewed speculation about the death of Princess Diana last night following comments by Prince Harry in an American television interview that he would “never stop wondering” about the crash that killed his mother nearly 10 years ago.
The remarks came in an interview with the prince and his older brother William to be broadcast by NBC next Monday, which was intended to advertise the charity concert that will be held to mark the 10th anniversary of Diana’s death at the end of August.
The interviewer, Matt Lauer, had been warned that discussing the accident was off limits - the long-delayed inquests into the princess’s death and that of her companion Dodi Fayed are due to open later this year.
But he was rewarded by some of the most open remarks the princes have ever made about the effect their mother’s death has had on them.
In extracts released yesterday, Harry says: “You know, when people think about it, they think about her death. They think about how wrong it was. They think about whatever happened … whatever happened in that tunnel, you know, no one will ever know.”
Asked whether he had stopped wondering, the prince replied: “I’ll never stop wondering about that.”
Clarence House officials stressed that the remarks meant that the prince would never stop wondering whether the crash in the Alma Tunnel in Paris could have been prevented and he was not speculating about the crash itself.
Pointing to the princes’ positive reaction to the exhaustive police inquiry conducted by the former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, a spokesman said: “Of course Prince Harry and Prince William will always be thinking a lot about what happened that night and whether the accident could have been avoided. But they have never doubted their mother’s death was an accident.
“When the Stevens report came out last December they said they hoped its conclusive findings would put an end to the speculation.”
Prince Harry, who was 12 at the time of the crash, said: “Over the last 10 years I personally feel as though she has been…she’s always there. She’s always been a constant reminder to both of us and everybody else…it’s weird because I think when she passed away there was never that time, there was never that sort of lull. There was never that sort of peace and quiet for any of us - the fact that her face was always splattered on the paper the whole time.”
Both princes said the time had passed really slowly. Prince William added: “There’s not a day goes by I don’t think about it once in the day. And so for us it is very slow and it’s a lot - it has been a long time.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the princes spoke of their desire to be normal, about their image in America, their friends and what they would have done if they had not been princes: in William’s case, flying helicopters and for Harry, living in Africa. He said: “I’d, you know, like to spend all my time out there. It would be a humanitarian aspect and as well as a sort of safari aspect. I would have to get a job. So it would probably be a safari guide.”
William said: “It’s a really tricky question. I guess I’d like to fly helicopters, definitely. I’d like to be some sort of heli pilot, you know, working for the UN maybe or something like that. I’d have to be doing something active - outside and doing sort of fun stuff but with an edge to helping people.” He admitted he had given up an earlier ambition to be a policeman.
June 13, 2007 at 2:20 am · Filed under macroeconomy
TOKYO: Negotiations for an alliance between the Tokyo and New York stock exchanges have been completed, Japan’s main bourse said Wednesday.
An announcement of the results of the talks was to be made at a joint news conference later Wednesday in New York, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said in a statement.
The TSE’s president, Taizo Nishimuro, was in New York for talks with the NYSE Group’s chief executive, John Thain, about forging more expansive cooperation between the two exchanges.
Toru Onoda, a spokesman for the TSE, confirmed Tuesday that the two bourses completed negotiations.
The move comes as major exchanges in the world race to find partners and attract more investors.
The agreement will allow both exchanges to cooperate on everything from joint stock listings, technology, and the development of new products. Further, it sets into motion the possibility of a true combination once Japan’s biggest stock exchange becomes a public company in 2009.
The alliance comes within weeks of the NYSE’s acquisition of the Paris-based stock exchange operator Euronext NV, which was quickly followed by the purchase of a stake in India’s National Stock Market.
June 13, 2007 at 2:20 am · Filed under macroeconomy
Indonesian police have arrested the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the south-east Asian terror group blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and a series of other attacks in recent years, a spokesman said today.
Abu Dujana, Indonesia’s most-wanted Islamic militant, was detained along with seven other suspected terrorists in raids on the country’s main island of Java over the weekend, said police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto.
The capture of Dujana, an Afghan-trained militant who police say once had links with al-Qaida, is a major victory in the fight against terrorism in Indonesia, a secular nation with the world’s largest Muslim population.
“With this arrest we have successfully stopped acts of terrorism in the future,” said Mr Adiwinoto. “He was a key figure in the terrorist network in Indonesia.” Mr Adiwinoto said Dujana, 37, was being held at undisclosed location.
Police confirmed his identity using dental and DNA samples, he said.
Under the country’s anti-terror law, police can hold a suspect for several weeks without charging them. Jemaah Islamiyah members have been blamed for four attacks on western targets in Indonesia in recent years, including the Bali nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists and a 2003 suicide blast at a hotel.
The group, which police say received funds and direction from al-Qaida in the early 2000s, has also been blamed for attacks in the Philippines, while Malaysia and Singapore have arrested several dozen alleged members in recent years.
Adiwinoto said Dujana played a major role in “almost all” the bombings in Indonesia.
“It is a very significant arrest. It is a major triumph for police,” said leading Jemaah Islamiyah analyst Sidney Jones. “If he will talk, he will be able to give police absolutely rock solid data about everything there is to know about JI.”
Mr Adiwinoto said Dujana’s good Arabic language skills meant he forged close ties with al-Qaida commanders in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and 1990s and - like scores of other militants - personally met Osama bin Laden. “He can assemble bombs and he can recruit members, so he is more important than” other key terror suspects Noordin Top, who remains at large, and Azahari bin Husin, who was shot and killed in a raid in 2005, he said.
Analysts say scores of arrests and raids have weakened Jemaah Islamiyah, and that it is now splintered into several cells. They say most of its estimated 1,000 members do not agree that bombing “soft” civilian target helps the group in its aim of implementing an Islamic state in Indonesia.
The last major terrorist attack in Indonesia was in 2005.
Police say Dujana, who like most of the hardcore members of Jemaah Islamiyah fled to Malaysia in the 1990s to avoid a crackdown by former dictator Suharto, become head of Jemaah Islamiyah four years ago.
Abu Rusdan, the man police say Dujana replaced as head of Jemaah Islamiyah, was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for hiding one of the militants convicted in the Bali blasts.
Indonesia has not made membership of Jemaah Islamiyah a criminal offence.
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