International Herald Tribune 20130218 Asia Edition.pdf

WORDPLAY

FILMTITLES

MAKE AMARK

PAGE 13 | DESIGN

ARSENAL ANGST

THE OLD TRICKS

AREN’TWORKING

PAGE 14 | SPORTS

CAGE FIGHTING

BATTLE OF THE

MEDIA TITANS

PAGE 18 | BUSINESS ASIAWITH

THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

GLOBAL.NYTIMES.COM

Odds dwi ndle for Chinese betting it all on college

North Korea

pushes limits

of its friend

and neighbor

YANJI CITY, CHINA

HANJING, CHINA

As graduates saturate

slowing job market,

security is elusive

BY KEITH BRADSHER

Wu Yiebing has been going down coal

shafts practically every workday of his

life, wrestling an electric drill for 3,115

renminbi a month in the choking dust of

claustrophobic tunnels, with one goal in

mind: paying for his daughter’s educa-

tion.

His wife, Cao Weiping, toils from dawn

to sunset in orchards every day during

apple season inMay and June. She earns

74 renminbi, or $12, a day tying little

plastic bags, one at a time, around 3,000

young apples on trees, to protect them

from insects. The rest of the year she

works as a substitute store clerk, earning

the equivalent of several dollars a day, all

going toward their daughter’s education.

Many families in the West sacrifice to

put their children through school, saving

for college educations that they hope will

lead to a better life. Few efforts can com-

pare with the heavy financial burden that

millions of lower-income Chinese parents

nowendure as they push their children to

obtain as much education as possible.

Yet a college degree no longer en-

sures a well-paying job, because the

number of graduates in China has quad-

rupled in the past decade.

Mr. Wu and Mrs. Cao, who grew up in

tiny villages in western China and be-

camemigrants in search of better-paying

work, have scrimped their entire lives.

For nearly two decades, they have lived

in a cramped and drafty 18-square-meter,

or 200-square-foot, house with a thatch

roof. They have never owned a car. They

do not take vacations — they have never

seen the ocean. They have skipped tradi-

tional New Year trips to their ancestral

village for as many as five consecutive

years to save on bus fares and gifts and

for Mr. Wu to earn extra holiday pay in

the mines. Despite their frugality, they

have essentially no retirement savings.

Thanks to these sacrifices, their

daughter, Wu Caoying, is now in her

second year in college. She is among the

growing millions of Chinese college stu-

dents who have gone much farther than

their parents could have dreamed when

they were growing up. For all the hard

work of Ms. Wu’s father and mother,

however, they are not certain that it will

pay off. Their daughter is ambivalent

about staying in school, where the tu-

Ordinary Chinese voice

anxiety over nuclear test;

complaints of ingratitude

BY JANE PERLEZ

Beds shook and teacups clattered in this

town bordering North Korea, about 120

kilometers from the site where the

North said it detonated a nuclear device

that exploded midmorning in the midst

of Lunar New Year festivities.

‘‘I’m worried about radiation,’’ said a

26-year-old woman as she served cus-

tomers in a bookstore here, the equiva-

lent of about 75 miles from the test site.

‘‘My family lives in the mountains close

to the border. They felt the bed shake on

the day of the test. I have no idea wheth-

er it is safe or not, though the govern-

ment says it is.’’

At home and abroad, China has long

been regarded as North Korea’s best

friend, but at home that sense of fratern-

ity appears to be souring as ordinary

people express anxiety about possible

fallout from the test last Tuesday. North

Korea detonating the device on a special

Chinese holiday did not sit well, either.

Among Chinese officials, the mood to-

ward the young North Korean leader,

Kim Jong-un, has also darkened. The

Chinese government is reported by ana-

lysts to be wrestling with what to do

about a man who, in power for a little

more than a year, thumbed his nose at

China by ignoring its appeals not to con-

duct the country’s third nuclear test,

and who shows no gratitude for China’s

largess as the main supplier of oil and

food.

‘‘The public does not want China to be

the only friend of an evil regime, and

we’re not even recognized by North Ko-

rea as a friend,’’ said Jin Qiangyi, direc-

tor of the Center for North and South

Korea Studies at Yanbian University in

Yanji City. ‘‘For the first time the

Chinese government has felt the pres-

sure of public opinion not to be too

friendly with North Korea.’’

With its site near the border, Yanji

City has long been a hub of North

Korean affairs inside China, and people

here have a relatively good understand-

ing of their opaque and recalcitrant

neighbor. This is often where desperate

defectors from the impoverished police

state first seek shelter, where legal and

illegal cross-border trade thrives, and

where much of the population has roots

in North Korea.

That familiarity breeds mixed atti-

tudes. There is tolerance among some

toward the regime, mostly from those

who profit financially. But there is also

great anger amongmany ethnic Korean

Chinese about the almost incalculable

suffering of the people living under the

Kim dynasty, which relies on gulags to

deal with even the glimmers of dissent

and where years of failed economic

policies have left many people near the

edge of starvation.

The test detonated at Punggye-ri in

northeastern North Korea last week

was considerably more powerful than

its first nuclear test in 2006 and as large

CHANGW. LEE/THE NEWYORK TIMES

2006 Wu Yiebing watched as his daughter, Wu Caoying, then 14, studied English at their home in Hanjing, China. He worked in the coal mines to provide an opportunity for her to go to college.

FORBES CONRAD FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

2012 Wu Yiebing and his wife, Cao Weiping, do not take vacations. She said of her only child,

‘‘I’ve only got one, so I have to make sure that one takes care of me when we get old.’’

SHIHO FUKADA FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

2010 Wu Caoying, then 16, in her high school dorm room. A college degree no longer ensures a

well-paying job, because the number of graduates in China has quadrupled in the past decade.

CHINA, PAGE 18

Cardinals sta rt sizing up pot ential popes

BY LAURIE GOODSTEIN

There is no formal nominating process

for choosing theman to succeedPopeBe-

nedict XVI, and campaigning for oneself

is counterproductive. But the cardinals

who will file into the Sistine Chapel next

month to elect a new leader of the Roman

Catholic Church have been quietly sizing

up potential candidates for years.

Theywere impressedwhen the young

soon-to-be-cardinal of Manila, Luis Ant-

onio Tagle, told bishops gathered for a

momentous synod in Rome last October

that the church should listen more and

admit its mistakes. They took note a

year ago when Archbishop Timothy M.

‘Wake-up call from space’

lends urgency to meteor hunt

These impressions, collected from in-

terviews with a variety of church offi-

cials and experts, may influence the

very intuitive, often unpredictable pro-

cess the cardinals will use to decide who

should lead the world’s largest church.

The cardinals will gather on March 1,

one day after Benedict steps down and

departs for Castel Gandolfo, the papal

summer home in the hills outside Rome.

The cardinals will meet every morning

to discuss where the church is headed

and, over lunches and dinners, take the

measure of one another’s characters,

talents and experiences, based on per-

sonal relationships and observations.

Church leaders now say

a rising wave of secularism

poses their greatest challenge.

scan the solar system for dangers.

A group of young Silicon Valley entre-

preneurs who helped build thriving

companies like eBay, Google and Face-

book has already put millions of dollars

into the effort and saw the shock wave

on Friday as a turning point in raising

hundreds of millions more.

‘‘Wouldn’t it be silly if we got wiped

BY WILLIAM J. BROAD

For decades, scientists have been on the

lookout for killer objects from outer

space that could devastate the planet.

But warnings that they lacked the tools

to detect the most serious threats were

largely ignored, even as skeptics

mocked the worriers as Chicken Littles.

No more. The meteorite that rattled

Siberia on Friday, injuring hundreds of

people and traumatizing thousands, has

suddenly brought new life to efforts to

deploy adequate detection tools, in par-

ticular a space telescope that would

Dolan of New York delivered a winning

address on evangelization to the College

of Cardinals, the day before the pope

gave him the red hat of a cardinal.

They deemed Cardinal Marc Ouellet

of Quebec a gracious host on their visits

to the Vatican, where he guides the se-

lection of bishops, but some said he

practically put the crowd to sleep dur-

ing his talk at the International Euchar-

istic Congress last June in Dublin.

SPACE, PAGE 8

COUNTING BLESSINGS AFTERMETEORITE

The search started for fragments, while

residents of Siberia repaired damage

from the shock wave. PAGE 8

POPE, PAGE 8

NORTHKOREA, PAGE 4

BUSINESS ASIA

U.S. inquiry complicates deals

The chill over the Chinese-U.S. film

trade happens just as consumers in

China are turning to homegrown,

Chinese-language blockbusters, rather

than Hollywood ones. PAGE 17

Inroad for Google in Europe

French publishers’ deal with Google on

the use of their content online has

brought criticism from their publishing

counterparts elsewhere. PAGE 17

Hitting the streets for the truth

Though most people don’t care what is

real or fake online, a columnist chased

the ‘‘Great Omaha Manhole Fire Photo

of 2013,’’ David Carr writes. PAGE 19

VIEWS

Hezbollah unmasked

Hezbollah has long tried to hide its role

in terrorist attacks, but the July bombing

in Bulgaria revealed the group’s true

face and calls for a European response,

writes TomDonilon. PAGE 6

Maureen Dowd

This Oscar season is filled with people

who bank on the accuracy of their films

until challenged, and then fall back on

t he ‘‘it’s just a movie’’ defense. PAGE 7

ONLINE

A legend, jammin’ in the ’burbs

Watty Burnett, a Jamaican reggae

musician, has recorded with Bob

Marley and is the baritone vocalist for

the Congos, a group whose 1977 record

‘‘Heart of the Congos’’ is considered

one of the greatest roots reggae albums

of all time. After decades as a family

man in an affluent New York suburb, he

is now in the midst of a comeback of

sorts. global.nytimes.com/nyregion

Gun debate hits campuses

Though guns remain banned from

most U.S. state colleges and universities,

pro-gun forces have made inroads on the

issue. But on both sides of the debate,

arguments are built largely on anecdotal

evidence and on behalf of a student

population that shows little passion for

the dispute. global.nytimes.com/us

NASEER AHMED/REUTERS

WORLDNEWS

Grief and anger in Pakistan People gathered Sunday in Quetta at the site of

a bombing. The death toll had risen to 84 from the blast, which hit an area dominated

by a Shiite minority that has suffered many attacks in recent years. PAGE 3

PAGE TWO

Guerrilla war is feared in Mali

The militants have been driven out of

major towns inMali, but many fighters

have taken refuge in small villages,

blending in with the population and

seemingly preparing for resistance.

Call for talks with the Taliban

Dialogue with insurgents is necessary

to establish peace in Afghanistan,

global leaders have said. PAGE 3

Speeding fine gets racy in U.K.

Chris Huhne, the former energy

secretary, faces prison time after a trial

that turned significantly tawdry. PAGE 8

NEWSSTAND PRICES

France ¤ 3.00

IN THIS ISSUE

No. 40,415

Books 13

Business 17

Crossword 16

Design 13

Sports 14

EDUCATION

Studies subsidized at a price

Students at state-funded universities in

Hungary are protesting a rule that

requires them to work two years at

home for every year of study. PAGE 12

Algeria Din 175

Lebanon LP 4,000

Andorra ¤ 3.00

Morocco Dh 22

Antilles ¤ 3.00

Senegal CFA 2.200

Cameroon CFA 2.200

Tunisia Din 3.200

Gabon CFA 2.200

Reunion ¤ 3.50

Ivory Coast CFA 2.200

2 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

page two

Sensible cuts

both sides

can agree on

only if it isalong-term plan, rather

than theone-year fix that Senate and

House Democratsare proposing.

Entitlements or mandatory pro-

grams likeMedicare and Social Securi-

ty,the government retirement system,

makeup almost 60 percentof theU.S.

budget and aretheengineof chronic

deficits. Getting $500 billion over10

years would not be pain-free, though it

doesnot have to hurtthosewho can

least afford to sacrifice.

The president has said hewould go

along with the scopeof the Bowles-

Simpsondeficit commission’sproposed

cuts to Medicare. That is about $350 bil-

lion. Itwould not require cutsfor the

most needy but would containameans

test formore affluent seniorcitizens.A

sensible deal would not increasethe

eligibilityage and would introduce

more stringent cost controls and hitup

drugcompaniesforalittle more.

Half the remaining savings could

come from changing the formula for

the cost-of-living increasesforSocial

Security and other inflation-adjusted

entitlements. That is a realistic propos-

al if protections are carved out for the

very poor and thevery elderly. The

Centerfor American Progress has

offered workable specifics. The rest

could come fromcutting agricultural

subsidies and other entitlement pro-

grams.

TheWhite Housewould buy this, and

it has been the dream ofRepublicans

foryears.

On taxes, Republicans contend that

the fiscal cliff deal in January,which

raised taxes on thewealthy by $600 bil-

lion, means any furtherrevenue-

raisers areoff thetable.

A number of partyleaders also pay

lip servicetothe Bowles-Simpsonrec-

ommendations,which proposed$1of

new revenue for every $2 ofspending

cuts, after eliminating former Presi-

dent GeorgeW.Bush’s high-end tax

cuts. If these Republicans have their

way and the sequester oranyalterna-

tive to it is exclusively spending cuts,

that ratiowould be morethan four to

one.

Theeasiestway to get those reven-

ues would be a plan resembling the ad-

ministration’sproposal to limit deduc-

tions to the 28 percent rate and then

exclude charitable deductions from

that cap. Thatwould raise morethan

$300 billion.

TheotherRepublican argument is

that any tax changesshould await

broad tax reform. But limiting deduc-

tions would not narrow their options or

dash their hopes of using improve-

ments to thetax code as a vehicle for

lowering rates. There areendless pos-

sibilitiesforcurbing tax breaksina

revenue-neutral measurethat also

lowers rates, such as scaling back big-

ticket items likethe home mortgage

deduction,the healthcareexclusion or

the preferential treatment for capital

gains.Other changesare politically ap-

pealing, likeending the carried-in-

terest loophole for rich investors or the

tax breaks for theoil and gas indus-

tries.

What should not be cut is nondefense

discretionary spending, like veterans’

programs, medical and scientific re-

search and education. Even without the

sequester,these programs are headed

toward their lowest level, asapercent-

ageof theeconomy, sincethe Eisen-

hower administration.

An entitlements and revenue-based

deal, however,would approximate the

Bowles-Simpson targets, and engender

confidence in markets and businesses.

The politicians could then turn to tax

reform, immigration, gun violence,

maybe amodest climate-change mea-

sure, and substantive oversight.

Asabonus, asuccessfuldeal might

also lessenpublic cynicism about

Washington. (BLOOMBERG)

E-MAIL: pagetwo@iht.com

TOMORROW: Judy Dempsey on German

weapons sales to the Middle East.

Albert R.

Hunt

LETTER FROMWASHINGTON

Democrats and Republicans in Wash-

ington agree: Itwould be a disasterif

the ‘‘sequester,’ ’ withitsmorethan $1

trillion of mandatory cuts to U.S. de-

fense and domestic spending, took ef-

fectMarch 1, as scheduled.

Defense Secretary LeonE.Panetta

says the reductions to his budget would

undermine national security;the cuts

to already pared-downdomestic spend-

ing will set back critical needs like can-

cerresearch,the Head Start preschool

program forlow-income children and

funding for the Border Patrol. TheU.S.

economic recovery would be impeded,

at acostofasmanyas750,000 jobs.

President Barack Obama says the

cuts ‘‘are areally bad idea.’ ’ In a rare

display ofaccord,the House speaker,

John A. Boehner, says the ‘‘meat ax’’

approach would ‘‘weaken’’ the nation’s

defense. Mr.Obama and Mr. Boehner

were two of the authors of the 2011

agreementtoset theMarch 1 deadline,

figuring a sensible alternative would

have emergedbynow.

It has not, and the sequestercould

kick in March 1,evenifonly temporari-

ly. It is a textbookcaseof Washington

dysfunction.

Both sidescreated this debacle, but

there is noequivalency of blametoday.

Any alternative mustemphasize cuts

in mandatory entitlement programs

and add revenue. Mr.Obama, publicly

and privately, has left no doubt hewill

surrender the Democrats’ political

trump card and accept cutsinentitle-

ment programs likeMedicare, which

offers healthcoveragetotheelderly

and disabled. Republican leaders insist

they will not give any ground onnew

revenue, without which there can be no

deal.

An impassewill beunsettling to mar-

kets and theeconomy in the long run,

evenifdeficit hawks exaggerate the

severity of the crisis.

‘‘The 10-year budget outlookremains

tenuous,’ ’ says Bill Gale, director of

economic studiesatthe Brookings In-

stitution. ‘‘Evenifseemingly every-

thing goes right—in economic terms

and political terms —weare still on the

edgeof dangerously high debt and defi-

cit levels.’ ’

It is not hard to devise afeasible al-

ternative, if the irrational politics are

put aside. First, any deficit-reduction

plan should wait two years. That is be-

cause, as broke as Washingtonis,the

deficit has already been narrowedby

almost $2.5 trillion over the coming de-

cade. In the shortterm,the govern-

ment needs to bolster the shaky recov-

ery by spending moreon infrastructure

and otherprojects.

Then, it should put in place along-

term $1 trilliondeficit-reduction pack-

age, half of which is achieved through

entitlement cuts,one-third through tax

increases and the rest by shrinking dis-

cretionary programs, including de-

fense, which are funded through annu-

al appropriations fromCongress. That

would send an encouraging sign to

markets and help theeconomy, but

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEROME DELAY/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Malian soldiers, above, patrolling the streets of Gao, in northern Mali. Below, a Koranic school in Gao. The mayor of Gao said militants had integrated youths from the Koranic schools.

Betwee n war and peace in Mali

The attack last Sunday began witha

failedsuicide bombing late the night be-

fore at an army checkpoint; a band ofji-

hadists was spottednear the bomber.

Someofficials in Gao said the gunmen

used the confusion of the bombing, in

which the bomberblew himself up and

woundedaMalian soldier,toenter the

city;the army insisted the gunmenar-

rivedbyboat. In eithercase, the ji-

hadists would not have traveled far.

‘‘Mostof themare natives of thosevil-

lages,’ ’ said KaderTouré, who runs a ra-

dio stationinGao called RadioAnnia.

‘‘We think theyare being hiddenby

relatives, all along the river.’ ’

For many years,thesevillageshave

practicedastrict form of Islam that is at

odds withmostof the looserpracticesin

Gao itself, say experts and residents.

‘‘There have been very conservative

villagesinthat areafordecades,’ ’ said

Benjamin Soares, an experton Islam

and Mali attheAfrican StudiesCenter

inLeiden,theNetherlands. ‘‘Back to the

1940sinthis region,there has beena

broadermovementtofollow amore rig-

orouspracticeof Islam.’ ’

Others argued that local residents

had joined the Islamistsforpersonal

gain orpreservation, not out ofreligious

conviction.One former fighterfor Ansar

Dine, another of the Islamist militant

groups that seizednorthern Mali last

year, said he had hoped to trade his mil-

itancy forapositionintheMalian

Army.

‘‘I tried to join theMalian military

many times, but I failed theexam,’ ’ he

said, speaking on the condition ofan-

onymity out offear ofreprisals against

his family.

‘‘Mygoal was only to receive training

sothat Icould join theMalian Army

oncetheycame back to the north,’ ’ he

explained, referring to past rebellions in

which rebels were integratedinto the

army as partofpostconflict reconcili-

ation.

Formuch of the pastweek, Gao has

been calm.OnWednesday,troops found

what appeared to be abomb-making

factory. But residentsfear the current

calm could be deceptive.

‘‘There isareal threatweighing on

Gao,’’ said Mr.Moumouni,theother

teacher.

AdamNossiter reported fromDakar,

Senegal.

GAO, MALI

Sustained fight is feared,

as militants pull back

but haven’t given up

BYPETER TINTI

AND ADAMNOSSITER

AguissaAgBadara, aformer tourguide,

now ridesaround the city on the back of

amotorcycle looking for Islamist mili-

tants who may still be lurking about. He

even wears a pin to advertise his mis-

sion.

It reads,

‘‘Vigilance Brigade:

Patrollers ofGao.’’

‘‘We said Mujao had infiltrated the

population, but noone listened,’ ’ said

Mr.Ag Badara, referring to the Islamist

militants who attacked this strategic

city lastweek. ‘‘We supportthe French,

we supporttheMalian state and theAf-

rican forces, but why arethey only at

the checkpoints and in their camps?

Thewar is here in the streets.’ ’

The battle for Mali is not over. Rem-

nants of the militant forces thatonce

controlled major towns have not simply

burrowedinto their rugged, mountain

hideaways far to the north. They also

appear to have takenrefuge in smaller

villagesnearby,essentially pulling back

to less-contestedg ound after the

French-ledintervention to remove

them, residents and expertssay.

That infiltration, in a string ofneigh-

boring villagesalong the NigerRiver, is

whatenabled the attack last Sunday in

the heartofGao, a town ofabout 86,000,

whose reconquestwasapivotal partof

the French offensive last month. For

hours, bulletsf ew as jihadistsfrom

around Gao pinneddownFrench and

Malian forces.

Controlinthetownitself has now

beenre-established, but Islamist fight-

ers have blended imperceptiblywith the

local populationaround Gao. And much

of that population, in the isolated vil-

lages, looks on thembenevolently, say

residents and experts who know the

area well.

‘‘The jihadistsare still in theen-

virons,’ ’ a Malian Army commander,

Col. El Hajj Ag Gamou, said by tele-

phone fromGao. ‘‘Theyare certainly

around. There are small caches of them,

in hiding, 40, 80milesfromhere,’’ orless

than 130 kilometers.

Their presence suggestspotentially

fertile ground forasustainedguerrilla

conflict—something the French have

said theyare determinednot to get en-

meshedin. Though the quick French

campaign in January succeededin

pushing the Islamists om major

towns, it is far fromclear how many

fighters the French actually eliminated.

Estimates ofdeaths, fromboth the

French and theMalians, have been

vague and inconsistent, and the ji-

hadistsareevidently still lurking in the

shadows.

‘‘Thesevillagesfollowed the jihadists

when they first cametoGao,’’ said Ou-

mar Moumouni, a schoolteacherinGao

who said he had livedfor extendedperi-

ods in the neighboring villages. ‘‘And

the jihadists,theyrecruited many of the

youth of Kadji and Gouzoureye,’’ he

added, naming two of thevillages.

‘‘That’s the problemat Gao now;

there are jihadists hiding in thesevil-

lages,’ ’ Mr. M mouni continued.

‘‘These are native jihadists.And the

Malian military can’t tell the difference

between them and the population,’ ’ he

said.

Likeothers, he said heexpectedmore

attacks in Gao.

‘‘These arevillages that have pledged

allegiancetotheMujao,’’ said Ousmane

Maïga, another schoolteacherinGao,

referring to the Movement for Oneness

and Jihad in WestAfrica. ‘‘Theygave

many of their sons over to it.’’

‘‘Barely three milesfromGao, there

arevillages wheretheyare in hiding,’ ’

he continued. ‘‘After the first attacks’’

by the French, ‘‘I sawthem onmotor-

cycles, hiding among thethorn trees.’ ’

EveninGao itself,the jihadist fighters

arethoughttohave fadedinto the popu-

lace. ‘‘The cityisfull of Mujao,’’ said

Sadou Diallo, the mayor ofGao. ‘‘Dur-

ing the 10 months they were here, they

benefited and integratedlots ofyouth. It

is the 18-year-olds fromKoranic schools,

thetalibé,’’ or disciples, ‘‘who believe

that if theyblow themselves up theygo

directly to paradise.’’

MAURITANIA

150 km

Bourem

Timbuktu

Nige r

River

Gao

MALI

Mopti

NIGER

BURKINA

BURKI

BURKINA

FASO

ASO

ALGERIA

MALI

Area of detail

MAURITANIA

ONLINE: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Should common plastics be labeled toxic?

‘‘The political will to do such a common sense thing is not likely. . . . Pictures,

easy to understand narrative and local forums . . . may start a grassroots

movement years before elected officials would do the right thing.’’

C. B . TAYLOR—RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

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Cambodia alleges conflict of interest over Khmer statue

IN OUR PAGES ✴ 100, 75, 50 YEARS AGO

is scheduled to meet again this month

and next.

Sotheby’s said in a statementthatMs.

Levinewould not attend the meeting

this monthbecauseof a scheduling con-

flict. But the company declined to com-

menton whethershe had recusedher-

self in the autumn or would take part in

any continuing discussions.

‘‘It is Jane’spracticetorequest and

follow guidance fromappropriate ethics

officers onquestions about conflicts of

interest,’’ the statement said.

A Sotheby’sspokesman,Andrew P.

Gully, said Ms. Levine could not com-

ment further, givenState Department

restrictions on discussions of the pan-

el’sdeliberations.

The cultural panel’s majorrole is to

advisethe State Departmentonhow to

handle requestsfromforeign govern-

mentsseeking to control and protect

cultural heritage items, many of which

arevulnerabletolooters and can wind

up on the art market. Itsrecommenda-

tions form the basis for agreements,

calledmemorandums of understanding,

that, in general, place broad U.S. import

and salesrestrictions oncultural herit-

age items.

Ms. Levine, the senior vice president

and worldwide compliance directorfor

Sotheby’s,was appointed to theunpaid

position on the 11-person panelin2011.

She is oneof three members who spe-

cialize in the international sales ofar-

chaeological items. The panel’s charter

also requires threemembers who repre-

sent archaeologists, two who represent

museums, and three who representthe

widerpublic.

Sotheby’s and theofficeof theU.S. At-

torneyfor the Southern DistrictofNew

York are currently awaitingajudge’s

ruling on whether to permit alawsuit

overa10th-century Khmerstatue, val-

uedat $3 million,togototrial.

At Cambodia’srequest, theU.S. gov-

ernment sought lastApril to seize the

sandstone sculpture, depicting a mythic

Hinduwarrior, fromSotheby’s. Cambo-

dia said the statue was lootedinthe

1970sfromacrumbling temple in an an-

cient complex calledKohKer.

Sotheby’s has said thatthere is no

proof thatthe statue was removedfrom

Cambodia after1970 and that itsBelgian

consignor’shusband, now deceased,

had bought it in good faithfromaLon-

donantiquitiesdealerin1975.

State Departmentofficials would not

discuss whether Ms. Levine had re-

cusedherself. Susan R.Pittman, a

spokeswoman for the State Depart-

ment, said the autumn meetings had

beenclosedsessions. ‘‘Asaresult, we

have no information to providetoyou,

including the attendance atthe meet-

ing,’ ’ she said.

BY TOMMASHBERG

Cambodia has asked that aSotheby’s

executive who sits onaU.S. State De-

partment panel that advises that agency

oncultural propertyissuesrecuse her-

self fromitsdeliberations on import re-

strictions for Cambodian antiquities.

Inaletter to the State Department,

written last autumn but not publicly re-

leased, Him Chhem,the Cambodian

minister ofculture and fine arts, said the

executive, JaneA.Levine, facedapoten-

tial conflict because herauctionhouse

was embroiled with Cambodia in a law-

suit over theownership of an ancient

Khmerstatue that Sotheby’shoped to

sell onbehalf of the statue’s owner.

The panel, knownasthe Cultural

Property Advisory Committee, held

closed-door talks in October on the reg-

ulation of Cambodian and KhmerEm-

pire cultural artifactsinWashington. It

1913 France Prepares Army Law

PARIS Active measuresare being taken

by Francetostrengthen the army by in-

creasing the number ofmen under arms

and by improving theequipment and ef-

ficiency of the artillery.Ademand will

be madetoParliament before Easterfor

agrantofmorethan five hundred mil-

lion francs. This sumisto be allocated to

a military programme, following theex-

ample set by the German military laws

of 1911 and 1912.

1938 Eden Silent on Britain’s Stand

LONDON Foreign Secretary Anthony

Edenrefused to commit himself today

[Feb. 17] as to whetherGreat Britain

would do anything to save Czechoslova-

kia from the Nazidomination that has

just overtakenneighboring Austria. He

bespoke friendship forCzechoslovakia,

but did not pledgetoback up France if it

is drawninto war against Germany.

1963 Soviets Plan ‘Peace Congress’

MOSCOW Another mammoth ‘‘peace

congress’’ designed to mobilize world

public opinionbehind Kremlin-styled

disarmament and peacefulcoexistence

will be stagedinMoscow this summer

withallthetrappings. Thetarget this

time, specifically, is women.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 | 3

THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

Wor ld News

asia-pacific

BRIEFLY

Asia-Pacific

An 8-nation push to bring Taliban to table

KABUL

Renewed drive for talks

with Afghan government

confronts deep distrust

CANBERRA

Malaysia bars Australian

who backs democratic change

An Australian senator said Sunday that

he had beendeportedfromMalaysia on

theorders of the ‘‘highest levels’’ ofits

government for his supportofdemocra-

cy campaigners beforeelections due

withinmonths.

The politician, Nick Xenophon, an in-

dependent South Australia state sena-

tor, said onSunday on arrival atMel-

bourne International Airportthat he had

becomethe firstAustralian lawmaker

ever to be deportedfromanycountry

whenhewas turnedaway by the au-

thorities on arrival at Kuala Lumpur.

He blamed his support for theMalay-

sian groupCoalitionforClean and Fair

Elections, knownasBersih, for theun-

expecteddecision to turn him away.

TheMalaysian police saidMr.Xeno-

phon had been takeninto custody and

denied entry ‘‘forsecurityreasons.’ ’ (AP)

SRINAGAR, KASHMIR

Curfew in territory is lifted

a week after execution

A strict curfew across the Indian-con-

trolledportion of Kashmir was lifted

over theweekend,oneweekafterit

was imposedfollowing theexecution of

a Kashmiri man in NewDelhi.

OnSaturday,the authorities also re-

storedmobile Internet and cabletelevi-

sionservices thatwere blocked over

the fear of large protests by Kashmiris,

said Ashok Prasad, apoliceofficer.A

two-day strikewas called in Kashmir to

protesttheexecution.

Muhammad Afzal, also knownasAfz-

al Guru, was hanged onFeb. 9inaNew

Delhi prison and buried there. Mr.Afzal

had beenconvicted ofinvolvement in a

2001attack on the Indian Parliament

that killed14, including 5 gunmen.

Many in Kashmir sayMr.Afzal did not

receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with

which theexecution was carried out

fueled angerinthe region. (AP)

BYALISSA J. RUBIN

AND DECLANWALSH

Suddenly,theefforttostrike adeal with

the Taliban is very publicly back on the

front burner.

Frozenformonths last year as anoth-

er fighting seasonragedinAfghanistan,

and as election-year politics consumed

U.S. attention, diplomats and political

leaders from eight countriesare now

mounting the most concerted campaign

to date to bring theAfghan government

and its Taliban foes together to negoti-

ate apeace deal.

The latest push cameearly thismonth

at Chequers,the country residenceof

David Cameron,the British prime min-

ister,who joined President Hamid Kar-

zai of Afghanistan and PresidentAsif

Ali Zardari of Pakistan in calling for

fast-track peacetalks.Weeks earlierin

Washington,Mr. Karzai met with Presi-

dent Barack Obama and committed

publicly to have his representatives

meet a Taliban delegationinDoha,

Qatar,tostartthe process.

Yet so far theenergizedreach forpeace

has achievedlittle, officials say,exceptto

cement agrowing consensus that region-

al stabilitydemands some sortofpolitical

settlementwith the Taliban, afterawar

that costtens of thousands of Afghan and

Western lives and nearly a trilliondollars

failed to put down the insurgency.

Interviews withmorethan two dozen

officials involvedintheeffort suggest a

fast-spinning process that has yet to gain

real traction and seems to have little

chanceof achieving evenitsmost limited

goal: bringing theAfghan government

and Taliban leadership togetheratthe

table beforethe bulk of theU.S. fighting

force leaves Afghanistan in 2014.

‘‘The year 2014 has begun to be seen

as a magical date, both inside and out-

sideAfghanistan,’ ’ said Rangin Dadfar

Spanta,theAfghan national securityad-

viser. ‘‘It’s difficulttofind what is real-

istic and what is illusion.’ ’

That is not least becausethe major

players —Pakistan,Afghanistan,the

UnitedStates and the Taliban — have

fundamentally differentvisions ofhow

to achieve apost-2014 peace, according

to accounts ofsetbacks in the process.

For theAfghans,the simple actofcon-

sidering what apeace deal might look

like has inflamed factional differences

that are still raw two decadesafter the

country’scivil war.

TheAfghan High Peace Council,

which Mr. Karzai has empowered to ne-

gotiate for his government, has put for-

wardadocument called‘‘PeaceProcess

Roadmap to 2015.’ ’ While many Afghan

leaders say theyhave not seen the pro-

posal, first reportedbyMcClatchy, aU.S.

publishing company, inDecember,those

who have view it as outlining a striking

number ofpotential concessions to the

Taliban and to Pakistan. They include

provisions for the Taliban becoming a

political party and anticipation that

someof themost important government

positions could beopen to them, includ-

ing provincial governorships, police

chiefjobs and cabinet positions.

SomeWestern commentators as well

as Afghans view this as returning to the

pastor opening the door to adivision of

the country. Seniormembers of the

powerful Tajik and Hazara factions,

both of which sufferedgreatly under

Taliban rule, charged thatthey had been

left out of the deliberations.When they

are askedabout striking a peace deal,

they makeveiledreferences to arenew-

al of ethnic strife.

‘‘The president is acting onanethnic

basis,’ ’ said Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq,

apowerful ethnic Hazara leaderfrom

northern Afghanistan. ‘‘He is trying to

win the hearts ofagroup of Taliban so

they back him in theelection.’ ’

Mr. Karzai is a Pashtun,theethnic

grouppredominant in the Taliban.Mr.

Spanta,the national securityadviser,

countered that any realistic attemptto

JALIL REZAYEE/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

Former Taliban militants at a ceremony Sunday in Herat, Afghanistan, during which they gave up their arms. Since an amnesty began in 2004, hundreds of insurgents have surrendered.

oners from the Guantánamo Bay prison

camp areonhold, although theAmeri-

cans retain the righttoconsider a pris-

onerrelease forstrategic reasons of

their own.AU.S. soldierisbeing held by

the Taliban, and there has been talk ofa

prisoner exchangetofree him.

In Afghanistan,the fighting has con-

tinuedinsome places through the

winter, and the startof the main spring

fighting seasonisjustweeks away.

‘‘We are stuck here, trying to work out

how to take it forward,’ ’ said a senior

Western official in Kabul, discussing the

talks process. But even Western diplo-

matshold differentviews onhow bestto

advance, depending onwhether theyare

basedinKabul or Islamabad, reflecting

the different outlooks in two capitals that

are barely an hour apart by airplane.

As the snowsbegin to melt in the high

passesbetween Pakistan and Afghanis-

tan, senior Afghan officials say they will

bewatching the Taliban’smovesclosely

to see whetherattacks this year slow

down, remain the sameoraccelerate. In

the absenceofmore concrete progress,

that means thatthe paceofpeacewill, at

least fornow, most likely be determined

by the forces of thewar.

U.S. accepts airstrike ban

Thetop U.S. commanderinAfghanistan

said Sunday that he believed thatthe

U.S.-ledNATO coalitioncould operate

effectively despiteMr. Karzai’sdecision

to ban Afghan securityforcesfromre-

questing airstrikesinresidential areas,

TheAssociated Press reportedfromKa-

bul.

Mr. Karzai said Saturday that he had

decided on the ban after Afghan securi-

tyservices asked theU.S. military foran

airstrike during a jointAfghan-NATO

operation lastweek.Afghan officials

said the airstrike killed10 civilians— in-

cluding women and children — along

with 4 insurgentsinKunar Province.

TheU.S. commander, Gen. Joseph F.

Dunford Jr., said at a briefing that he

was working out the details of the ban

with Afghanistan’sdefense minister

and military chief.

‘‘This is a sovereign nation and the

president is exercising sovereignty,’ ’

the general said, adding that NATO had

‘‘madeextraordinary progress in mitig-

ating risks to civilians and we will con-

tinue to do so.’’

STAN

AFGHANIST

ISSTA

HELMANND

PROVINCE

Kandahar

Lashkkka

kar

kaa

aaa

Gaaah

S.P.

S.P

Haji Rahmuddin II

KANDAHAR

PROVINCE

Helmand

River

Kabul

AFGHAN.

ROUF BHAT/AFP

Srinagar shops closed to protest the execution.

80km

DETAIL

SINGAPORE

Lee Kuan Yew is discharged

from hospital after brief stay

Lee Kuan Yew, the founder ofmodern

Singapore andaformer prime minister,

was dischargedfromahospital onSun-

day afterabrain-relatedblockage, but

he remains underdoctors’observation.

Mr. Lee, 89,was hospitalized onFri-

day after experiencing a transient

ischemic attack, sometimesreferred to

as a mini-stroke, which occurs when

bloodflow to the brain stops foraperiod

of time. The conditionisassociated with

irregular heartbeats. The prime minis-

ter’s office said thatMr. Lee was resting

at home and that hewould receive anti-

coagulation treatments to discourage

the formation ofbloodclots. (AP)

COLOMBO

Journalist seriously wounded

in assassination attempt

Unidentifiedgunmenhave shot and se-

riously wounded a Sri Lankan investi-

gative journalist, according to col-

leagues and officials.

Three gunmen on Friday entereda

guest housewhere Faraz Shauketaly,

whoworks at The Sunday Leader,was

staying, broke into his room and opened

fire, the police said. Hewas on thetele-

phone discussing an articlewhenhe

was shot, said Sakuntala Perera,theed-

itor ofThe Sunday Leader. (REUTERS)

BRYAN DENTON FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

U.S. soldiers on a combat patrol in Kandahar Province. Troop numbers will be reduced fur-

ther in 2013 in preparation for the withdrawal of most of the U.S. Army presence by 2014.

process, has effectively banned the kind

of informal discussions with Taliban

leaders that have raisedhopes over the

past fewmonths, including Afghan-cen-

tric conferencesinFrance and Dubai,

and,earlier, in Germany and Japan —

even though thosetalks appearedhelp-

fulineasing tensions betweenlongtime

enemies.

Pressure from Mr. Karzai forced the

UnitedNations to abandon a planned

‘‘Track Two’’ meeting, an unofficial di-

plomacy sessioninvolving Taliban rep-

resentatives and Afghan political lead-

ers, due to take place in Turkmenistan

this month, diplomats in Kabul and Is-

lamabad said.

Within the Taliban, afierce debate is

under way betweencommanders who

supporttalks and thosewho have never

given up onseeking military victory, in-

stead biding timeuntil theAmericans

are mostly gone, Taliban watchers say.

The group’sleader,Mullah Muhammad

Omar,widely presumed to be se-

questeredat his hide-out insidePaki-

stan, has been silenton the subject.

Evenifheweretosupport adeal, it is

unclear whether his movement is suffi-

ciently united to stick to it.

TheAmericans have quietly pledged

not tomove forward without theAfghan

government’sbenediction, so previous

efforts to build confidencewith the

Taliban by releasing someof their pris-

end a war involvescompromise. ‘‘I

think peace in a country after33or34

years has a price—a very heavy price,’’

he said. ‘‘But we are paying a heavy

priceevery day with ourlives.’ ’

One factorfueling the peace drive is

thatPakistan, long considered the

Taliban’s silent sponsor, professes to

have had a changeofheart. Formore

thanayear,Pakistani generals and min-

isters have assiduously courted their tra-

ditional rivals in Afghanistan, particu-

larly fromnon-Pashtun ethnic groups.

This is partofastrategy that, theysay,

favors an inclusive democratic settle-

ment after2014—even onethat doesnot

includethe Taliban’sfull return to power.

But Pakistan’s biggest public gesture

so far—the releaseof 26 Taliban prison-

ers from Pakistani jails, intendedasa

trust-building measuretohelp the

peace process — has been shadowedby

theold mistrust and accusations ofdou-

ble-crossing.

ThePakistanis refused Afghan de-

mands to release he prisoners into

Afghan custody, arguing that itwould

scaretheTaliban away. ‘‘Themomentwe

hand themover, itwould betheend of the

process,’ ’ said a senior Pakistani official,

speaking on the condition ofanonymity.

Hopes or Pakistani

dimmedfurther on Friday when Paki-

stan’smost seniorcleric pulled out ofa

meeting plannedforMarchwith Afghan

clerics in Kabul, after disagreements

over the roleof the Taliban. But Afghan

clerics appeared to believe thatthe

meeting would go forward, illustrating

thetentative and equivocal natureof the

peaceeffort. ‘‘We wantthem to invite

theAfghan Taliban to thetalks.Without

them, peace is not possible in Afghanis-

tan,’ ’ said Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, head

of thePakistan Ulema Council, an um-

brella group of Muslim clerics.

Afghan seniorclerics said theyre-

mainedhopeful thatthetalks would be

held and that a majority of Pakistani

clerics would attend.

The most immediate obstacletotalks

is an apparent standoff betweenMr. Kar-

zai and the Taliban. The insurgentsre-

fusetodeal with Mr. Karzai,whom they

have brandedasaU.S. ‘‘puppet.’’ The

president, in turn, recently reiterated his

demand thatthe Taliban must recognize

the legitimacy of his government and

speak to the High Peace Council,which

he has appointed to negotiatewith the in-

surgency and which has representatives

frommany Afghan factions.

Mr. Karzai, foreverfearful ofbeing

sidelinedbyaWestern-dominated talks

cooperation

Death toll fro m blast in Pakistani market climbs to 84

What do you think?

Quetta, killed almost 100 Hazaras,

prompting domestic and international

outrage.

The police said thatthe bomb Satur-

day apparently had beenset offbyare-

mote-controlleddevice hidden inside a

watersupply truck. Theexplosion

causedabuilding to collapse, damaged

two neighboring buildings and left a

craterabout 2meters,or12feet, deep

and 2 meters wide.

Mir Zubair Mehmood,the Quettapo-

lice chief, said the bomb contained800 to

1,000 kilograms,orasmuch as 2,220

pounds,of explosives. Local hospitals

declaredanemergency as rescue ef-

forts were hampered by angry crowds

atthe bomb site, where distraught Haz-

aras prevented the police, reporters and

rescuers fromreaching the scene.

PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashraf

quickly condemned the attack,empha-

sizing the government’sresolve to fight

‘‘such dastardly acts’’ and vowing to

bring the perpetrators to justice.

But the seeming easewith which the

bombers struck, justone monthaftera

similar sectarian atrocityinthe same

city,underscored the inability of Paki-

stan’ssecurityforces to counter the

threat from extremist groups as the

countrymoves toward general elections

expected to take place by mid-May.

After the January attack,Mr.Ashraf

flew to Quetta,the capital of Baluchistan

Province, to meet withHazara families

whoprotestedinthe streetsforfourdays,

sleeping besidethe coffins of thevictims

to protestthe government’s inaction.

That protest captured the sympathies

of Pakistanis across the country and

helped lvanize political opinion

against agrowing problem ofsectarian

attacks on minority ShiitesinQuetta,

Karachi and northwestern Pakistan.

Standing atthe protest site, Mr.Ashraf

announced thatthe governmentwas dis-

solving the provincial government and

handing control to the provincial gov-

ernor — amove Hazaras had hoped

would stop the sectarian bloodshed.

But the attack Saturday showed that

extremistscould still operatewith impu-

nityinBaluchistan,Pakistan’s largest

but most sparsely populatedprovince.

Baluchistan is plaguedbyseveral

conflicts, including sectarian attacks on

Shiites, anationalist insurgency and

ethnically motivated killings. It is also

hometoAfghan Taliban insurgents who

have used the provincetocarry out at-

tacks insideAfghanistan.

Abbas Kumaili, aprominent Shiite

leader, speaking at anewsconference in

Karachi onSunday afternoon, strongly

condemned the inability of the govern-

menttocurb Shiite killings.

‘‘The situationisworsening as no ac-

tionisbeing taken against banned mili-

tant groups,’ ’ Mr. Kumaili said. ‘‘In fact,

these banned militant groups have be-

come moreorganized and active.’’

SalmanMasood contributed reporting

from Islamabad.

KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Area hit is dominated

by Shiite minority that

has often been targeted

Your opinions and ideas about the International

Herald Tribune are important to us. That’s why we

would like you to join our new IHT Insight Panel.

BY DECLANWALSH

The death toll fromadevastating explo-

sion that ripped through a crowded

market in the southwestern city of

Quettaroseto84 people Sunday as

Shiite leaders calledfor immediate ar-

restof the attackers, according to police

and rescue officials.

The attack occurredSaturday after-

nooninaneighborhooddominatedby

Hazaras, a Shiite ethnic minority that

has sufferednumerousattacks atthe

hands ofSunni militant deathsquads in

recent years.

A previousattack onJan. 10, whena

Sunni groupbombedasnooker hall in

To find out more and register, visit

www.iht-insight-panel.com

How do

4 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

world news asia americas

China’s mood darkens

toward North Korea

NORTHKOREA, FROMPAGE 1

Despite the cost, those fuel shipments

are considered essential to the govern-

ment’ssurvival,evenastheypossibly

create resentment in the North against

itspatron.

Another optionfor China would beto

cut thetradeofits ownbusinessmen,

many of whomhave become disillu-

sionedbythe tough deals that NorthKo-

rea imposes, including demanding that

Chineseenterprisesinthe Northbuild

their ownroads and supply their own

electricity.

Western analystshave acknowledged

thatU.N. sanctions cannot force real

change in NorthKoreaaslong as China

continuesitsmaterial support.

The Chinese government had hoped

thatMr. Kimwould bemore progressive

than his father and drop the North

Korean policy called ‘‘military first,’’

which means a heavy financial commit-

ment for the nuclear program and the

army despite the nation’s direeconomic

conditions, analystssay. But Mr. Kim

has defied Chinese advicethat he be-

come an economic reformer, settling in-

stead for small pilot programs to free up

commercethat analystssayhave not

yet accomplishedmuch.

ClosetoYanji City,there are five bor-

dercrossings into NorthKorea.

At two of them,therewas no sign of

any traffic Friday orSaturday. The

crossing at Quanhe had beenclosedfor

Chinese NewYear until Friday morning

and was closed again during theweek-

end for the birthday of Kim Jong-il,the

father of the current NorthKorean lead-

er.

At the crossing at Tumen, Chinese

couplesstrolledalong the icy pathway

that marks a strip ofno-man’s land that

leads to the barbed wireof the North

Korean border.Asingle Chinese soldier

stoodat attention.

An elderly man paid 3 renminbi,or50

cents, at astall for tourists to look

through a telescope aimedatthe row of

plain, low-rise buildings on theother

side and gray, snow-streaked hills in the

distance. Signs in English and Chinese

warned visitors about ‘‘no photography

orshouting at Korea.’ ’

Despite the lull in activity, cross-bor-

derlegal and illegal trade amounts to

about $10 billionayear, said Mr. Jin,the

policy specialiston the Northattheuni-

versityinYanji City.

The National BureauofStatistics esti-

mated that in the overall Chineseecono-

my,the cross-border tradewithNorth

Korea was so small that itwas not a

factor, said Mr. Jin. Thetrade’s impor-

tance is based, instead,onitscontribu-

tion to the stability of theNorth’sleader-

ship,which not only relies on Chinese

investment, but alsooften turns a blind

eyetounauthorized shipments offood

and othergoods to help keepitssuffer-

ing people fromconsidering revolt.

‘‘China’s options have reachedanim-

passe,’’ said Mr. Jin. ‘‘Fornow China

chooses to maintain the situationin

NorthKorea, not because itwants to

prop upanevil regime but because it

doesn’t see anotherchoice.’’

Mia Li contributed research.

as,or larger than,one in 2009, according

to Western and Chinese specialists. It

remained unclear whether thetestwas

fueledbyp utonium or uranium; a

uranium testwould exacerbate ten-

sions, suggesting the Northhadanew

and faster way ofbuilding itsstockpile

ofnuclear fuel.

But to some Chinese, thetechnical-

itiesseem irrelevant.

In postings on Weibo, a Chinese

microblog akin to Twitter, people asked

about the possible dangers of radioac-

tive fallout fromanuclear test. Many

said they were dissatisfiedbyassur-

ancesfrom theMinistry ofEnviron-

mental Protection that it had checked

for radiationatvariousborderareas

after the blast and had announced that

the levels were normal.

Those fears come amid growing un-

certaintiesbysome Chinese foreign

policy expertsabout the continuedclose

relationshipwithNorthKorea. In the af-

termath of thetest, aprominent Chinese

political science scholar withapen-

chant forprovocative ideas, Shen Dingli

at Fudan University in Shanghai,wrote

on theWebsite ofForeign Policy, based

in Washington,that itwas time for

China ‘‘to cut itslosses and cut North

Korealoose.’’

Otherspecialistssuggested thetest

could worsenrelations between the

North and China and urged China’snew

leadership to consider taking a tougher

stancetocurb the North’snuclear

China had hoped that Mr. Kim

would be more progressive

than his father and drop the

policy of ‘‘military first.’’

EDGAR SU/REUTERS

Demonstrators over the weekend in Singapore. The government is planning on a population of as many as 6.9 million by 2030, compared with 5.3 million now.

Population plan inspires rare Singap ore protest

weapons program,which appears to be

advancing aftersomeearly technical

difficulties.

Such opinions, coupled withnew wor-

riesamong someordinary Chinese,

pose aproblemfor the new Chinese

leader,Xi Jinping, according to Mr. Jin,

of Yanbian University,whooftengoes to

Beijing to participate in policy discus-

sions about NorthKorea.

If China decides to go along with the

UnitedStates’ calls formuch more

stringent sanctions than exist now,

there are fears among China’spolicy

makers thatthe North’sgovernment

would collapse, possibly setting the

stage formayhem on the border and a

reunification ofKoreaasaU.S. ally. But

if China maintains the statusquo, it

could face mounting criticismamong its

owncitizens.

If it decided to take a harderstance,

China could punish NorthKoreabycur-

tailing its oil shipments, by far themajor

sourceoffuelintheenergy-starved

North,Mr. Jin said.

Theoil is pipedfrom Dandong, south-

westofhere. China chargesNorthKo-

rea the highest priceofanycountry to

which itexports oil, said PeterHayes,

executive director of the NautilusInsti-

tute, apolicy group based in San Fran-

ciscothat specializesinNorthKorea.

‘‘They wanttotell the government,

‘Please reconsider this policy.’ The

turnout is a testimony thatthis policy is

flawed and unpopular on the ground,’ ’

he said.

According to the plan,the govern-

mentwill bolster infrastructure and so-

cial programs to accommodate apro-

jectedpopulation of6.5 million to 6.9

millionby2030—a marked increase

from the current population of5.3 mil-

lion.Of the projected2030 population,

nonforeigners would form between3.6

million and 3.8 million, slightly more

than half of the total.

The issue promptedfive days ofin-

tense debate in Parliament, withboth

opposition and somePeople’s Action

Partylegislators expressing concerns

that an immigration inflow would hurt

public infrastructure and dilute the

Singaporean identity. But the plan was

eventually approvedbyawide major-

ity.

The plan to admit more new citizens

comes amid government concerns that

the current population will not help en-

suretheeconomy remains robust, as

Singapore grapples with a falling

among locals about the rising costofliv-

ing and fostering a deepresentment to-

ward foreigners.

‘‘Immigrantscome at such a fast pace

thatthey’re not abletoassimilate,’’ said

Samantha Chia, 32,oneof the rally

speakers. ‘‘It’s unfair for themaswell

and a lose-lose situation.’ ’

Although economic prosperity has

turned Singapore into abustling me-

tropolis, critics have noted the govern-

ment’scontinuouspursuitofgrowthat

all costs.

‘‘We wantthe governmenttoput the

vast resources that are attheir disposal

atthe serviceof us,the people,’’ said one

of the protesters Saturday,Vincent

Wijeysingha, a universitylecturer and

member of theopposition Singapore

Democratic Party. ‘‘Becauseweare not

machines, and ourneighborhoods are

not factories, and our island is not a

hotel.’ ’

SINGAPORE

‘‘Immigrants come at such

a fast pace that they’re not

able to assimilate. It’s unfair

for them as well.’’

Strain on public services

and higher costs feared if

more foreigners are let in

birthrate and aging baby boomers.

‘‘In my view in 2030, I think 6 million

will not beenough to meet Singapor-

eans’ needs as ourpopulationagesbe-

causeof this problem of the baby

boomers and bulgeof aging people,’’

PrimeMinisterLee HsienLoong said in

ParliamentonFeb. 8, adding that 6.9

million was not a target but anumber to

beused to help plan for infrastructure.

Although Singapore continues to

bring in hundreds of thousands of immi-

grantsfromcountries like Indonesia

and China to work as maids and con-

struction workers, it also attracts thou-

sands of higher-income foreigners who

find the country’s high standard ofliv-

ing and stability appealing.

But the influx has strainedpublic ser-

vices,withcomplaints of transportation

overcrowding, and causedproperty

prices to escalate, prompting concerns

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nearly 3,000 people attended a rally in

Singaporetoprotest agovernment plan

to increasethe city-state’spopulation

by admitting more foreigners,voicing

concerns that itwould worsen already

strainedpublic services and push up the

costofliving.

Such demonstrations are rare in the

SoutheastAsian country, knownforits

imageofpolitical stability and efficient

governance, with the dominantPeople’s

Action Partystifling opposition voices

and placing tight controls onpublic

protests.

The chief organizer of the Saturday

rally, Gilbert Goh, said the protestwas a

display ofcitizens’unhappiness over

the population plan,which was en-

dorsedinParliamentonFeb. 8.

ONLINE: IHT RENDEZVOUS

Tensions over immigration in places like

Singapore and Hong Kong may

reflect the ascendancy of a wealthy,

plutocrat class in Asia. ihtrendezvous.com

BRIEFLY

Americas

Blogger’s dea th deepens cries of injustice

NEW DELHI

Bangladeshis demand

harsh justice for atrocities

during independence war

VERACRUZ, MEXICO

Cuban performers missing

after being in pre-Lent parade

Organizers of a Carnival festival in the

Mexican port city of Veracruz have

said 15 Cuban musicians and dancers

disappearedafter marching in the

city’s annual parade.

Anselmo Estandia,the festival presi-

dent, said Saturday thatthe missing

Cubans were partofa93-personcom-

mittee that arrivedinVeracruz onFeb.

BY JIMYARDLEY

Tens of thousands ofpeople have re-

sumed mass demonstrations in Bangla-

desh’s capital, intensifying their de-

mands formore severe punishment for

war criminals from the country’s1971

liberation war,while also demanding

justice for the death ofablogger who

had beena eading organizer of the

protests.

The coffin bearing the body of Rajib

Haider, an architect and blogger,was

carried through the crowdinapublic fu-

neral Saturday at Shahbagh, a majorin-

tersection in Dhaka, he capital.

Bangladeshi televisionshowed thou-

sands ofpeople kneeling in prayer,

chanting slogans or waving banners

bearing Mr. Haider’s image. The crowd

was estimatedat morethan 100,000

people.

PrimeMinisterSheikh Hasina visited

Mr. Haider’s family Saturday to express

hercondolences.Mr. Haider’sbody was

discovered Friday night near his home,

afterhe had beensavagely stabbed. His

family has told the Bangladeshi news

media thattheybelieve hewas killedfor

his role in the protests and his out-

spoken criticism of the fundamentalist

Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Is-

lami.

‘‘Haider’s killing occurredat a time

when the youngsters have awakened

and united thewhole nation,’ ’ the prime

minister told Bangladeshi reporters

during her visittothe family’shome.

‘‘Let me promisethatwewill not spare

the killers.’ ’

Sunday was the 13thconsecutive day

inwhich crowds ofprotesters pouredin-

to the Shahbagh site fordemonstra-

tions. The movement began Feb. 5,

whenacoalition ofbloggers calledfor

demonstrations against a verdict by the

special tribunal prosecuting people ac-

cused ofcommitting atrocitiesduring

Bangladesh’s1971 war of independence

fromPakistan.

Mr. Estandia said thatthe Cubans

missed their flight homeWednesday

and thattheir disappearancewas con-

sideredapossible defection. (AP)

MEXICOCITY

Hospital run by oil company

evacuated because of smoke

Mexico’sstate-owned oil monopoly,Pe-

mex,evacuatedaunitofits Cadereyta

hospital in theeastern state ofNuevo

Leónafterashort circuit in ceiling wir-

ing producedsmoke, the company has

said, adding thattherewere no injuries.

The incident ‘‘was controlled without

major damage,’’ Pemex said Saturday

nightonTwitter. Inastatement shortly

afterward,the company said firefight-

ers had evacuated10 patients and 36

hospital workers.

Last month, an explosioninPemex’s

Mexico Cityheadquarters killedat least

37 people. The authoritieshave said the

blastwas probably causedbyagasleak,

but theyare still investigating. (REUTERS)

SAN JUAN, PUERTORICO

Pro-statehood party plans marches

Puerto Rico’spro-statehood partyisor-

ganizing marches to demand thatthe

U.S. government honor the results ofa

referendumregarding the Caribbean

island’spolitical status.Astatement

Saturday from the New Progressive

Party said marches would be held

March 2 in Puerto Rico and inWash-

ington and othercities. (AP)

EUGENE HOSHIKO/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Friendship Bridge, left, and the Yalu River Bridge, right, linking China to North Korea.

After appeals against nuclear tests were ignored, China has grown impatient with its ally.

PAVEL RAHMAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The funeral of Rajib Haider, an architect and blogger, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, drew a

crowd estimated at 100,000. Mr. Haider was found stabbed to death Friday.

tinues to cast a shadow over Bangla-

desh:An estimated three millionpeople

were killed, and many of those suspec-

ted ofcommitting atrocitieshave never

beenprosecuted. Besides the protests

in Dhaka, demonstrations have spread

to other majorcities and towns across

the country.

By theweekend, protestorganizers

had agreed to reducetheir round-the-

clock demonstrations to only seven

hoursaday. But theyreversed that de-

cisionafter the killing of Mr. Haider, and

the crowds quickly swelled withcollege

students,workers and othercitizens.

Meanwhile, followers of Jamaat-e-Is-

lami have staged often violent demon-

strations against he government,

which the party has accused of manipu-

lating thetribunal as a way to go after

political rivals.

The presiding justiceof thetribunal

has resigned over irregularities that

arose overitsproceedings.

Mr. Haider’s family says he

was killed for his criticism of a

fundamentalist Islamist party.

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Thetribunal had handeddown a life

sentencetoAbdulQuader Mollah, a

Jamaat leader, afterconvicting him of

murder, rape and torture. Protesters,

however, demanded that he be sen-

tenced to death, given the severity of his

crimes.Many suspected that some sort

ofpolitical deal had beenreached to

spareMr.Mollah’s life.

OnSunday,the Bangladeshi Parlia-

ment amendedalaw allowing the state

to appeal any verdict in awar crimes tri-

al, including Mr.Mollah’s,thatwas con-

sidered inadequate or inconsistentwith

public opinion, Reuters reported. The

law had previously allowed the state to

appeal only in the caseof acquittals.

The bloody legacy of the 1971 war con-

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 | 5

THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

middle east africa world news

Kidnappi ngs in Syria raise fears of wider sectarian conflict

lages, according to a rebel commander.

Kidnappings for money or political

reasons have become common in Syria

as government control has eroded. The

recent series of events demonstrated

not only the high level of insecurity in

the area but also the determination of

residents to defuse tensions.

The first kidnappings took place

Thursday, when 42 minority Shiite

Muslims, mainly women and children,

were taken from a bus traveling to Da-

mascus from their villages, Fouaa and

Kfarya, according to the Syrian Obser-

vatory for Human Rights, an anti-gov-

ernment group based in Britain with a

network of activists in Syria.

It was unclear who kidnapped them.

Some elements of the mainly Sunni

Muslim uprising have portrayed all

Shiites as supporters of the govern-

ment, and some Shiite communities

have provided gunmen to pro-govern-

ment militias. Hezbollah, the Lebanese

Shiite militia and political party, has

also been accused of joining the conflict

on the government’s side.

Later Thursday, scores of people,

mostly women from the mainly Sunni

town of Saraqeb, were kidnapped by

Shiite gunmen, apparently in retalia-

tion, according to the Syrian Observato-

ry for Human Rights and a rebel com-

mander, who was reached in Turkey.

The group reported that 300 were taken

hostage, while the commander said

about 100 were abducted.

The kidnappings of civilians on both

sides have raised fears that the sectarian

conflict is escalating, and reports of wom-

en and girls being raped are widespread.

The commander, who gave only his

first name, Maysara, said the second set

of kidnappings took place Thursday in

the city of Idlib as workers prepared to

commute home to Saraqeb and other

villages.

He said the kidnappers were pro-gov-

ernment militiamen from Fouaa, the

hometown of most of the Shiite hos-

tages. ‘‘They captured the people in

front of security forces and the army,

who didn’t move or react,’’ he said.

On Saturday, most of the women from

Saraqeb were released after negoti-

ations, conducted through mediators,

between residents of Saraqeb and Fou-

aa.

The fate of the Shiite hostageswas un-

clear Saturday.

BEIRUT

BY ANNE BARNARD

AND HWAIDA SAAD

The tit-for-tat kidnappings of more than

140 people have provoked fears of expan-

ded sectarian conflict in the northern

Syrian province of Idlib in recent days,

but one set of hostages was released in

good condition after negotiations be-

t ween residents of two of the affected vil -

BRIEFLY

Middle East

BAGHDAD

Scores killed or wounded

by synchronized car bombs

A series of car bombs exploded within

minutes of one another in and around

Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 37

people and wounding more than 100 in

overwhelmingly Shiite areas.

The explosions, mostly in outdoor

markets, struck at the start of the work-

week and appeared aimed at causing

mass casualties among residents going

about their morning shopping.

Police and hospital officials provided

the death toll and said more than 130

people had been wounded. There was

no immediate claim of responsibility for

the attacks, but similar ones have been

orchestrated by Sunni extremists, like

Al Qaeda’s local arm. (AP)

TEHRAN

Iran would build atomic arms

if it wanted to, Khamenei says

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme

leader of Iran, said over the weekend

that his country was not seeking nucle-

ar weapons but added that if it ever de-

cided to build them, no ‘‘global power’’

could stop it.

Ayatollah Khamenei, whose 2005

edict banning nuclear weapons is re-

garded as binding in Iran, told a group

of visitors to his home in Tehran on Sat-

urday that his country favored the

worldwide elimination of nuclear

weapons.

‘‘We believe that nuclear weapons

must be eliminated,’’ he said. ‘‘We don’t

want to build atomic weapons. But if we

didn’t believe so and intended to pos-

sess nuclear weapons, no power could

stop us.’’

JERUSALEM

Netanyahu alludes to case

involving dead Australian

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

on Sunday defended the actions of Isra-

el’s security forces, his first comments

in response to revelations that an Aus-

tralian man believed to be working for

the Mossad, the main Israeli intelli-

gence agency, was found dead in 2010

while being secretly held in a maxi-

mum-security prison.

Mr. Netanyahu said he ‘‘completely

trusts’’ Israel’s security forces and le-

gal system. He said that freedom of ex-

pression was important but that Israel

faced extraordinary threats and there-

fore must keep silent on some details of

national security affairs like this one.

‘‘We are not like all other countries,’’

he told his cabinet, without mentioning

the case explicitly. ‘‘We are more

threatened, more challenged, and

therefore we have to ensure the proper

activity of our security forces.’’ (AP)

BRIEFLY

Africa

BAUCHI, NIGERIA

Gunmen kill one and seize 7

in attack on Nigeria camp

Gunmen have attacked a camp for a

construction company in rural north-

ern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnap-

ping seven foreign workers, the au-

thorities said Sunday. It is the biggest

kidnapping yet in a region under attack

by Islamic extremists.

The assault happened late on Satur-

day in Jama’re, a town in a rural portion

of Bauchi State. The gunmen shot and

killed a guard at a workers’ camp for

the construction company, Setraco, be-

fore kidnapping the foreign workers,

said HassanMuhammed, a spokesman

for the police in Bauchi State.

Adamu Aliyu, a local official, identi-

fied those who were kidnapped as one

Briton, one Greek, one Italian and four

Lebanese. (AP)

UNITEDNATIONS

Congo peace treaty to be signed

Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary gener-

al, has sent out invitations to a signing

ceremony this month for a large-scale

peace agreement aimed at ending the

fighting in Congo. Martin Nesirky, a

spokesman for Mr. Ban, said Saturday

that the U.N. chief would attend the

event on Feb. 24 in Addis Ababa. (AP)

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