Democrats primed for spectacular finale

Barack Obama will Thursday summon Americans to join his crusade for political change, as he claims his place in history in a dazzling finale to the Democratic convention.

The Illinois senator will formally accept his nomination as the first African-American major party White House candidate before more than 70,000 people crammed into an open-air football stadium in Colorado.

Historic echoes will be everywhere: the speech will be taking place on the 45th anniversary of the day when civil rights icon Martin Luther King envisaged an elusive future of racial equality in his "I have a Dream" speech.

Against a classically-themed backdrop and with fireworks primed to go off after his closing line, Obama will set course for a general election showdown with Republican John McCain in November which polls show is a dead heat.

While the evening will be a spectacular affair, Obama knows he must try to reach into the living rooms of American voters struggling to make ends meet amid an economic crunch, and who have turned against the Iraq war.

Popular Malaysian political website blocked: government

Malaysia on Thursday defended blocking access to a prominent political website that has attacked top leaders, saying it had ignored warnings against publishing "slanderous" articles.

Malaysia's media is tightly controlled by the government, and it has expressed frustration over its inability to rein in Internet news portals which have become popular alternative news sources.

The Star newspaper said the government-backed communications watchdog had ordered all 21 Internet providers in the country to block the Malaysia Today website, whose founder has already been charged with sedition.

"I think we don't intend to curtail people's freedom and right to give information and debate," Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

"But when you publish content that is libellous, defamatory and slanderous to other people I think it is only natural we take action," he said.

"So many warnings and opportunities have been given and it is not heeded, so I am sure they have exercised their authority well under the law."

Raja Petra Kamaruddin, founder and editor of the Malaysia Today website, confirmed that access to his website had been blocked but said a mirror site had been established with a foreign provider.

"I will fight the government action all the way. Their action will not stop me from writing," he said, promising to challenge the shutdown in court.

Raja Petra is already facing a sedition charge and a defamation suit after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Malaysia 124 out of 169 on its worldwide press freedom index, and says the main media are "often compelled to ignore or to play down the many events organised by the opposition".

The government has previously threatened that bloggers could be punished under draconian internal security laws which provide for detention without trial.

Anwar's Return

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's political future hinged on a by-election this week, which he won by a landslide victory.

Anwar Ibrahim's tumultuous career has seen him rise to the peak of political power, only to be beaten and jailed, and then return to prominence as the leader of Malaysia's resurgent opposition.

This crucial vote will return him to parliament after a decade long absence.
The March elections handed the opposition control of five states and a third of parliamentary seats. Ibrahim has to persuade 30 lawmakers to switch sides from the ruling coalition in order to gain the majority needed to form a new government.

Musharraf resigns as Pakistan president

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf resigned on Monday, bringing down the curtain on a turbulent nine years in power to avoid the first impeachment in the nuclear-armed nation's history.

The key US ally, who seized power in a 1999 coup, announced the move in a lengthy televised address, rejecting the charges against him but saying he wanted to spare Pakistan a damaging battle with the ruling coalition.

The departure of the former general set off wild celebrations at home, yet it was far from certain what would come next for a nation whose role in the "war on terror" has been increasingly questioned by Washington.

"After viewing the situation and consulting legal advisers and political allies, with their advice I have decided to resign," Musharraf, wearing a sober suit and tie, said near the end of his one-hour address.

"I leave my future in the hands of the people."

Coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in 1999, were shown shaking hands and smiling after his speech but gave no immediate reaction.

His decision to quit came after the coalition said it was ready to press ahead with impeachment as early as Tuesday. It was not known if Musharraf had concluded a deal that would save him from prosecution in the days ahead.

"If we continue with the politics of confrontation, we will not save the country," the 65-year-old Musharraf said. "People will never pardon this government if they fail to do so."

But several close aides said Musharraf was not set to go into exile as several of Pakistan's former leaders have done. "He is not going anywhere," one aide said.

The president said he would give his formal resignation to the speaker of parliament later Monday. Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro will act as as caretaker president until an election, which is expected in the next few weeks.

Musharraf later received a final guard of honour from troops at the presidency as a brass band played the national anthem.

His troubles began last year when he sacked senior judges who opposed him, clearing the way for his re-election while still holding a dual role as head of the country's powerful armed forces.
The move set off mass protests in the streets that built into a national crisis which saw Musharraf declare a state of emergency in November.

But he was compelled to quit as army chief within weeks, and when his administration was seen to have bungled the handling of the December assassination of Bhutto, his fate seemed to be sealed.

Voters underscored his unpopularity at the ballot box in February, handing the parties of Bhutto and Sharif a massive victory.

"After the martyrdom of my mother I said that democracy was the best revenge -- and today it was proved true," said Bhutto's 19-year-old son, Bilawal.

The possible impeachment charges against Musharraf were expected to be related to his sacking of the judges, but in his speech he strongly defended every aspect of his time in power -- even the coup nine years ago.

He said he had improved a tottering economy, helped establish law and order, fostered democracy and burnished the country's international stature.

"On the map of the world Pakistan is now an important country, by the grace of Allah," Musharraf said.

The president was also backed into a corner by the resurgency of Islamic militants in the tribal areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, who launched a massive wave of attacks last year that left more than 1,000 dead.

Musharraf himself survived three assassination attempts while holding what some have called the most dangerous job in the world, and went from being a backer of the Taliban to a close US ally after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Cheering crowds poured into the streets in major cities across the country -- the second most populous Islamic nation and the only one with an atom bomb -- after he stepped down.

"The nation is so happy," university student Saba Gul said in the eastern city of Lahore, as people embraced and handed out sweets.

The United States gave no immediate reaction, but British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Musharraf's resignation ended a "critical period in Pakistan's history."

Berlin called on the next president to help bring stability in neighbouring Afghanistan, while Kabul said it hoped the resignation would lead to a "strengthening of the civilian government and democracy in Pakistan."

Malaysia, China to lead regional travel growth: survey

Travellers from China and Malaysia are expected to lead tourist industry growth in the Asia-Pacific region during the second half of 2008, a survey released Wednesday showed.

Outbound trips from Singapore, South Korea and Thailand are also expected to see double-digit growth as travel demand remains robust despite rising inflation and higher fuel prices, credit card firm MasterCard said.

Travellers in the Asia-Pacific are expected to make 88.3 million trips -- for business and leisure -- in the second half of 2008, with Malaysia and China accounting for more than half of the departures, it said.

Malaysian travellers are seen making 25.2 million departures in the July-December period, the highest number of the 12 regional markets surveyed by MasterCard.

In second place was China with an estimated 24.4 million trips, the survey showed.

"In spite of global economic uncertainty and rising inflation, outbound travel in (the) Asia-Pacific is poised for steady growth over the rest of 2008," said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, MasterCard's regional economic advisor.

"This is largely due to the fact that income and employment have not been seriously affected by the global credit crunch, and higher inflation has yet to translate into higher prices in plane tickets and costs of accommodation.

"Should these conditions change, however, the outlook will be very different."

Singapore is forecast to register the biggest year-on-year jump with an expected four million outbound trips during the period, up 23 percent over 2007.

In Southeast Asia, travellers from Indonesia are seen making 2.7 million trips, the Philippines 1.0 million and Thailand 2.1 million.

Australians are expected to make 3.1 million trips abroad, Hong Kong 3.4 million, Japan 9.2 million, Taiwan 4.6 million, South Korea 7.6 million and New Zealand 1.0 million, the poll showed.

China 'guarantees' safe Games amid terror threat

China declared Tuesday it could guarantee a safe Olympics, even as it announced that Islamic militants were trying to wage a holy war aimed at destroying the Beijing Games that begin in three days.

"Terrorists" from home and abroad seeking an independent Muslim state for China's northwest Xinjiang region were involved, authorities said as security was increased there after an attack on Monday that killed 16 policemen.

The terror alert came as athletes continued to arrive in Beijing ahead of Friday's opening ceremony to launch the Games, which are being seen as a coming-of-age party for China after three decades of dramatic economic reforms.

"We can see clearly that these forces are trying to wage a psychological and violent battle against the Olympics," said Shi Dagang, Communist Party secretary of Kashgar, a city in the Xinjiang region that borders Central Asia.

"They want to turn the year 2008 into a year of mourning for China."

Shi said Xinjiang police had arrested 18 foreign "terrorists" this year, and that a major threat came from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a UN-listed terror group that reportedly operates in Xinjiang and Afghanistan.

Shi indicated the ETIM may have been involved in Monday's attack in Kashgar, as the explosives the two assailants used were similar to those found during a raid on one of the group's bases in Xinjiang last year.

"For these two people, it is very clear that they are part of violent terrorist forces," Shi said.

Nevertheless, Beijing Olympic organisers sought to reassure the 10,000 athletes and 500,000 other expected foreign visitors coming to China for the Games that they should not be concerned about security.

"We can guarantee a safe and peaceful Olympic Games," organising committee spokesman Sun Weide told reporters.

China has already employed intense security throughout Beijing and across the country in the lead-up to the Games, with some veteran sporting officials saying they had not seen such a show of force since the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

In Xinjiang, members of its Muslim Uighur ethnic group have complained for months of a massive security crackdown that has seen many people detained.

Xinjiang has about 8.3 million Uighurs, and many are unhappy with what they say has been decades of repressive Communist Chinese rule.

China announced security was ramped up to another level on Tuesday across Xinjiang, and in particular the famed oasis city of Kashgar.

The official Xinhua news agency said police had increased road checks, while extra security forces had been sent to guard government office buildings, schools and hospitals.

In Beijing, some athletes appeared more concerned that the final preparations for the biggest event of their lives were being hampered by the city's poor air, which has persisted despite emergency clean-up measures.

Indonesian weightlifting team official Syafraidi Cut Ali said his squad were under strict instructions to stay in the open air as little as possible.

"We stay in our bedrooms and the dining rooms, not in the open," Ali said. "It is a problem."
Members of the US cycling team were also seen arriving at Beijing airport wearing masks.

However the International Olympic Committee's medical commission chairman, Arne Ljungqvist, said pollution levels were not as bad as first feared and blamed the media for exaggerating the issue.

"I'm confident the air quality will not prove to pose major problems to the athletes and to the visitors in Beijing," Ljungqvist said.

He said the media's reporting had convinced such stars as Ethiopian greats Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele and British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe that competing here might damage their health.

However, IOC president Jacques Rogge had said during the one-year countdown to the Games last August that endurance events such as the marathon may have to be postponed if pollution levels were severe.

More than one million of Beijing's 3.3 million cars were taken off the roads last month and many heavily polluting factories were temporarily closed down in an effort to improve the city's air quality.

China has said it may implement further emergency measures later this week, such as taking more cars off the roads and shutting other factories.

Agence France-Presse - 8/5/2008 12:56 PM GMT