| Yesterday, direct presidential elections took place in Indonesia. For the first time in the history of the largest Muslim country in the world, the right to vote was given to 153 million ordinary voters, and not just deputies of the People's Consultative Congress (PCC), the country's highest government body. More than 575 thousand sites were created throughout the country. In addition to the current President Megawati Sukarnoputri, four more candidates put forward their candidacies - Vice President Hamza Haz, NCC Speaker Amin Rais, former Deputy Prime Minister who headed the power bloc in the Sukarnoputri government, General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former commander-in-chief of the armed forces General Wiranto. The voting results will be known in 10 days. According to pre-election polls, Yudhoyono is in the lead. However, he will not be able to get more than 50% of the votes in the first round of voting. The second round of elections will take place in September. "TIME FOR NEWS"
Shia leader calls for war
In Iraq, radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on his supporters to “continue the uprising against the occupiers and their minions until the last drop of blood.” In a statement broadcast by Qatari television channel Al Jazeera, he called Iraq's interim government "illegitimate and following the orders of the occupiers," demanding "fair general elections." Back in mid-June, al-Sadr announced his readiness for dialogue with the new Iraqi authorities. On Sunday, Iraqi Shiite Prime Minister Ayad Allawi expressed his confidence that al-Sadr is ready to lay down his arms in exchange for an amnesty.
The change in al-Sadr's position could have been influenced by the toughening of the rhetoric of the new authorities in Baghdad. As Interfax reported, yesterday the head of the interim government of Iraq, Ayad Allawi, threatened that he would ask American troops to strike countries neighboring Iraq if the penetration of Islamic radicals into Iraq from their territory does not stop. He did not name specific countries. But the day before, a member of his cabinet, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, blamed Syria and Iran for this. According to the White House, it is Iran that is secretly supporting al-Sadr and his armed militia. Andrey ZLOBIN
Austrian President's heart stopped
The hospitalization of Austrian President Thomas Klestil (former ambassador to the United States and the United Nations) will not disrupt the transfer of power planned for Thursday to the new head of state of Social Democrat Heinz Fischer, who was elected in April for a six-year term, Andreas Kohl, chairman of the lower house of parliament of the Alpine republic, said yesterday. The official farewell for 71-year-old Mr. Klestil, who was taken to the Vienna Central Hospital yesterday due to cardiac arrest, will have to be postponed until he recovers, according to Kohl. The director of the clinic where the current president was hospitalized said that he “remains in critical condition.” The duties of the head of state are temporarily performed by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. "TIME FOR NEWS"
Tragedy in the world of secret finance
Yesterday, a financial adviser to a Zurich bank shot two of his bosses in the workplace before committing suicide. The 56-year-old man, whose name the police have not released, entered the building of the Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB) on Tessinerplatz in the suburb of Enge in the morning. He immediately went up to the fifth floor, where the financial consulting department is located. The man walked to the management office, pulled out a gun and shot the 41-year-old department chief and his 45-year-old deputy in the head. The employees hid in fear, but the killer, without even looking at them, walked into another office, from where a shot was soon heard: he committed suicide. As police established, the shooter, a father of two children, had worked at the bank as a financial adviser since 2001 on an open-ended contract. According to Urs Ackermann, a member of the bank's management, he was a quiet man who did not conspicuously and did not establish personal relationships in the workplace. Varvara SEMENOVA, Geneva
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