A roundup of today's other world news in brief.
Andrew MacKinlay
In “Tory leader exploits cash for influence scandal” (March 24th) we reported on the three Labour MPs who had been fooled into touting for business by a fake US public affairs firm. We identified Julie Kirkbride, the Conservative MP, as the person who had raised the alarm over the US lobbyists activities. We commented that this was ironic because Ms Kirkbrides husband, who we identified as fellow MP Andrew MacKinlay (rather than Andrew McKay), was to join a lobbying firm once he left parliament in a few weeks time.
In fact, Mr MacKinlay is married to Ruth MacKinlay and has been for the past 38 years. Furthermore, he is a Labour MP and not, as we implied, a Conservative. We acknowledge that Mr MacKinlay is on record as utterly deprecating the activities of the private lobbying industry, and we accept that our statement that he was going to join their ranks once he stood down from parliament at the next general election is untrue. For this we apologise to Mr and Mrs MacKinlay and to their family.
Chomsky denied entry to West Bank
JERUSALEM – Noam Chomsky, a leading American intellectual, was denied entry to the West Bank yesterday by Israeli immigration officials.
Chomsky (82) said in a phone interview that he had travelled to the Allenby Bridge crossing on the Jordan River where Israeli immigration officials refused to allow him across.
“They apparently didn’t like the fact that I was due to lecture at a Palestinian university and not in Israel,” Chomsky, who is Jewish, said.
Chomsky’s Palestinian host, lawmaker Mustafa al-Barghouti said: “this decision is a fascist action, amounting to suppression of freedom of expression”.
An Israeli Interior Ministry spokeswoman said that immigration officials at the border crossing had misunderstood Chomsky’s intentions thinking initially he was also due to visit Israel.
“We are trying to contact the military to clear things up and if they have no objection we see no reason why he should not be allowed in,” spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said. – (Reuters)
At least 24 killed as Somali capital pounded
MOGADISHU – Heavy shelling pounded Somalia’s capital yesterday, killing at least 24 and wounding dozens.
The attack came as parliament’s speaker said lawmakers had passed a vote of no confidence in government.
Speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe said he had called on the country’s president to form a new government. A member of the parliament secretariat who did not want to be identified confirmed the vote’s outcome. Sheikh Madobe said by telephone that “280 voted against the government, 30 in favour and eight remained silent. Therefore we will request President Sheikh Sharif to form a government urgently.”
Parliament was meeting for the first time since December as al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab fighters fired mortars at the parliament building.
The attack triggered a return of shellfire from African Union peacekeepers. – (Reuters)