Other world news in brief
Fury over Kenyan politicians' pay
NAIROBI – Scores of Kenyans marched through Nairobi yesterday, waving banners branding their lawmakers “hyenas” and “gluttons” in protest against huge pay rises the country’s parliamentarians have awarded themselves.
The protesters decried the legislators’ move as immoral and demanded they slash their salaries by half rather than lifting them by 25 per cent to 1.09 million shillings (€10,665) a month.
Already among the best-paid in the world, some MPs say the fact their salaries are about to be taxed justifies the speedily debated increase.
Many Kenyans are furious their MPs have voted to adopt a report that would hike their own salaries at a time poorly paid public workers like teachers are clamouring for better pay. – (Reuters)
Bookkeeper denies Sarkozy cash claims
PARIS – An aide to French president Nicolas Sarkozy said a former bookkeeper for France’s richest woman had denied ever saying Mr Sarkozy personally received envelopes stuffed with cash in illegal political donations.
The bookkeeper, Claire Thibout, was questioned by police on Wednesday evening and yesterday after telling investigators and a media website that she withdrew cash to be given to politicians, including Mr Sarkozy, on behalf of Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune, and her late husband.
“She totally and clearly exonerates the president,” the aide in the Élysée presidential office said of Ms Thibouts latest statement to police, which has not been officially released. He was speaking on condition of anonymity. – (Reuters)
Russian pianist accused of raping boy in Thailand
MOSCOW – Internationally acclaimed Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev, arrested at a Thai beach resort this week after being accused of raping a boy, returned to Russia yesterday and said he was innocent.
Pletnev (53), an award-winning pianist and conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, was arrested in Pattaya on Monday for allegedly raping a 14-year-old Thai boy and appearing in compromising photographs with several others.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted in one of the most high-profile paedophile cases in Thailand in recent years. “If the investigation is honest and objective, I have nothing to fear,” Pletnev told reporters after arriving in Moscow.
“I committed no crime,” he said, adding that he is “against all violence between people – and 100 times more so if were talking about children.” – (Reuters)
Eight killed in Iraq attacks
BAGHDAD, Iraq – At least seven people were killed by bombs across the Iraqi capital yesterday, the last day of a Shia religious pilgrimage. In addition, four pilgrims walking back from the ceremony were sprayed with gunfire outside the northern city of Kirkuk.
One died; three were injured.
The attacks followed a series of blasts on Wednesday that killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 250 in Baghdad and surrounding areas. The most deadly was a suicide bombing in the Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiyah that killed more than 28 and wounded at least 136 people. Casualties in the attacks rose overnight, police said.
No one has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks in the last few days. – (Washington Post)