Community Magazine November 2003

48 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE s ” xc Live TV Political Debate Ends in Brawl BAKU (Reuters) – A live television debate in the run-up to Azerbaijan’s October presidential election ended in a brawl, and police in the oil-producing country opened a criminal case against an opposition politician. The opposition Popular Front accused the government in the former Soviet republic of trying to discredit it over the incident. The debate became so heated it was taken off the air. Fuad Mustafayev, speaking for the Popular Front’s presidential candidate, called pro-government contender Hafiz Hadjiyev dis- honest. Hadjiyev responded by describing Mustafayev as a “puppy.” The brawl began after the two hurled water at each other. “We have received a complaint from Hadjiyev concerning yester- day’s incident and consider it necessary to open a criminal case,” said a police spokesman, adding Mustafayev had not been arrest- ed. A Popular Front spokesman said: “The government is using illegal methods in its election campaign.” President Haydar Aliyev is the overwhelming favorite to win the election, but the 80-year-old strongman who has dominated Azerbaijan for three decades is in a U.S. hospital receiving treatment for heart and kidney problems. A dozen candidates are standing for president. Six are pro-government, while six are campaigning on behalf of opposition parties. Aliyev’s opponents accuse the govern- ment of trying to oversee a dynastic succession. The president became KGB chief and Communist Party leader in the 1960s in Soviet times. His son Ilham, 41, who serves as prime minister and is being groomed as successor, is also standing — although he has said he supports his father’s re-election bid. Washington views Azerbaijan, which became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, as a poten- tial alternative to the Gulf for oil supplies. Elephants Not Most Practical Gift STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) - When Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej presented King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia with a gift of two elephants during their five-day state visit to Thailand in February, he neglected to take into account that the giant mammals don’t understand Swedish. To accommodate the elephants, two zookeepers are being required to travel to Thailand to learn Thai. “The elephants must be able to understand commands in the lan- guages they’ve been raised with, so that we don’t have to teach them Swedish,” Magnus Nilsson, chief executive of Sweden’s Kolmaarden safari park, told The Associated Press. In Thailand, the two zookeepers will also attend a special training camp for elephant keepers. Thailand’s culture minister Chakrarot Chitrabong also vis- ited the Swedish park, 93 miles south of Stockholm, to make sure the elephants will get a good home when they arrive in Sweden. Flip of Coin Decides Council Seat KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) - Picking your local council member? There’s voting, and there’s an old-fashioned flip of a coin. Patrick White of Jamaica’s ruling People’s National Party called heads and won his race after a recount from local elections showed a tie in voting for the Annotto Bay seat in St Mary’s parish. The losing candidate, Hugh Bryan of the main opposition Jamaica Labour Party, was quoted by the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper as saying he was going to call for a court-supervised recount. The electoral office on the Caribbean island said constitutional provi- sions allowed for the presiding elections officer to cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie. But “the danger of the electoral official being branded a supporter of one of the parties exists when he is asked to decide the casting vote, and it was agreed, under Jamaican law, to flip a coin,” said director of elections Danville Walker. Despite the coin-flip loss, the opposition party won control of 11 of the 13 municipal councils in the elections. Vanity Saves Politician from Kidnapping SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian politician Jose Genoino can thank his sense of vanity for narrowly escaping a kid- napping. Genoino, the president of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party and a key adviser to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was about to leave his Sao Paulo apartment to take part in a TV talk show when he realized he had forgotten his comb. He left his driver and press assistant waiting in the car and returned to his apartment to get the comb. “All the journalists know how he is: Before giving an interview, he always combs his hair,” his press assistant Daniela Farah Antunes said Tuesday. While waiting, Antunes and Genoino’s driver were kidnapped and robbed. Genoino, a former left-wing guerrilla fighter with a thick mane of gray-white hair, waited for his companions on the street, thinking they had gone to get cigarettes. The driver and Antunes were released unharmed shortly after. Peculiar Poitics