BAGHDAD, Iraq: Strong explosions shook the Iraqi capital after sunset Saturday, the latest in the daily dose of aerial bombardment by US-led forces. The Iraqi regime asserted battle successes and maintained Saddam Hussein and his sons had “the aggression” in hand.

Thunderous blasts struck Baghdad throughout Saturday, sending towering columns of smoke into the air. Warplanes could be heard overhead for a second straight day, but the targets were unclear. Iraqi state television late Saturday reported that US and Iraqi forces were fighting near the Muslim Shiite holy city of Najaf, 95 miles south of Baghdad. A senior member of Saddam’s ruling Baath party, Nayef Shedakh, was killed during the fighting, state TV said. Residents of Baghdad enjoyed something of a respite Saturday night from the bombing of the two previous nights. Some street vendors could be seen in parts of the city as late as 11 p.m. In an effort to show that Saddam’s regime was still firmly in control, Iraqi state television showed what it said was footage of Saddam chairing meetings Saturday with senior government ministers and with his son Qusai.

The report said the meetings dealt with “the aggression.” The report said Saddam and the others reviewed the situation in Umm Qasr, al-Rumeila, al-Faw and Nasiriyah — places where US-led coalition troops have battled Iraqi troops. “They expressed their satisfaction with the heroic stance of the armed forces,” the TV report said. The Iraqi military spokesman appeared on TV to read a communique on the day’s fighting. He maintained Iraqi air defenses shot down 21 cruise missiles on Saturday. The communique said Saddam’s Fedayeen, a militia led by Saddam’s son Odai, carried out several combat missions, destroying one tank and injuring several coalition troops.

The TV report did not mention two days of fierce bombardments on Baghdad that destroyed presidential palaces, government offices and military headquarters. Early Sunday a rear base camp of the 101st Airborne Division was attacked early with a grenade and small arms fire, and a US military spokesman said 10 soldiers had been wounded. The source of the attack was not immediately clear. The incident occurred at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait near the Iraqi border. At Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, forward headquarters of the US Central Command, a spokesman, Lt. Comdr. Charles Owens, confirmed the attack and said 10 soldiers had been wounded. He said the injured were rushed to a field hospital but had no word on their condition.

Kelvin Ramnath, Member of Parliament for Couva South, yesterday vowed to take the struggle against the restructuring of Caroni to the streets.

He was speaking at a rally organised by the joint trade union movement held at Rienzi Complex which saw hundreds of sugar workers attending. Ramnath said the issue would never be settled in Parliament but having regard to the manner the PNM administration was handling the issue of non consultation with sugar unions the time had come to settle the matter on the streets of Trinidad and Tobago.

Ramnath said the attempt to restructure and fire 9,000 workers could be characterised as destroying a whole civilisation. He called on those that already signed the VSEP to return it on Monday and give full support to the sugar union in their struggle. Referring to remarks he made in Parliament in which he told Agriculture Minister John Rahael that he could not guarantee his safety in South and Central Trinidad, he repeated the warning. Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday said he was not advocating violence as a means of continuing the strugggle but called for a boycott of businesses which supported the VSEP plan. Violent protest, he said, would lead to civil war.

A PRINCES Town father of 11 died shortly after arriving at the San Fernando General Hospital on Friday night, after he fell and struck his head on some concrete steps inside a club, during a scuffle with a man whom the victim had been playing cards with. 

And while police continue investigations into the death of Victor Kennedy, 45, of St Croix, Princes Town, his grieving relatives described the incident as a freak accident, since Kennedy and the man whom he was fighting with, were close friends and limed together often. An autopsy will be conducted tomorrow at the Forensic Sciences Centre, following which police will decide on what course they would take in the investigations.

According to police reports, around 10.30 pm on Friday, Kennedy a building contractor, was liming and playing cards with a group of men in the gambling-room of the Paradise Recreational Club located at St Croix Branch Road, Princes Town. Kennedy later got into a heated argument with a 28-year-old man of St Croix Road, Princes Town. During the quarrel the man reportedly pushed Kennedy, who lost his balance and fell backwards, hitting the back of his head on some concrete steps. When the limers realised that Kennedy was not breathing and his eyes were closed, an Emergency Health Services (EHS) ambulance was summoned and the Princes Town police were called in. The ambulance took the unconscious man to the San Fernando General Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead-on-arrival.

Persons at the Recreation Club could not tell Sunday Newsday what the argument between the two men was about. They described the two men as being close friends. When Sunday Newsday visited the Kennedy home yesterday, relatives walked about with dazed looks on their faces as they struggled to come to terms with their unexpected loss.  Kennedy who worked as a building contractor with Trade Winds Hotel in San Fernando, was the sole bread-winner for his large family. Kennedy’s sombre wife Roslyn Thomas, said she last saw her husband alive on Friday morning as he prepared to leave for work. She told Sunday Newsday that Kennedy must have gone to lime a bit before returning home from work. Their 11 children range between the ages of 24 years and 18 months. Some of the elder children, described their father as a quiet, kind and generous man who was “willing to help anyone in anyway he could”.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO has the fifth largest diabetic population in the world, according to specialist cardiologist and internist Dr Hugley Hanoman.

Hanoman made this observation while delivering a presentation at a seminar on diabetes hosted by KAPPA Drugs and Pfizer at the Chamber of Commerce Building, Westmoorings, yesterday. Hanoman explained that there are four different types of diabetes. Type 1, he explained is more prevalent amongst children, while type 11 is commonly found in people who are obese, middle aged and has a combination of insulin deficiency and insulin resistance. He explained, this type is almost 90 percent genetic and environment factors. Type 111 usually occurs during pregnancy and type 1V is based on genetic defects, beta cell function and insulin action, endocrine disorders and alcohol intake.

TWO late night pedal cyclists who were riding along the Mayaro beach got the shock of their lives when they discovered the partially eaten body of a man washed ashore.

Police who visited the scene said they could not ascertain if the man had drowned, committed suicide or was murdered, because of the advanced state of decomposition and also by the fact that the body was partially eaten by fishes. As such, an autopsy will be carried out on the body on Monday to ascertain the exact cause of death. According to police reports, around 9.30 pm, the young cyclists were pedalling along the shoreline and on reaching the vicinity of Gill Street, Mayaro, they came across the body of the man lying face down on the sand.

A report was made to the Mayaro police and a party of officers led by ASP Chandraban Maharaj and including Sgt Adrian Watson, PC Rollox and PC Beckles visited the scene. When they searched the man’s clothing they came across a Driver’s Permit in the name of Albert J Louison of Rousillac. When police checked with Louison’s relatives, they were told that the last time relatives had seen him was two years ago. Police are now seeking the public’s help to find out where Louison lived and when he was last seen alive. DMO Dr Fagbola arrived on the scene where he examined the body and ordered it removed to the Port-of-Spain Mortuary, where an autopsy will be done tomorrow. Sgt Watson and PC Rollox are continuing investigations.

And in an unrelated incident, Mayaro police on routine mobile patrol early yesterday morning arrested a 50-year-old man of Mafeking Village, who was held with over $1,000 in cocaine. According to police reports, around 8.30 am PCs Greaux, Hosein and Ramdial were on routine mobile patrol along the Manzanilla Main Road when on nearing Ortoire Village, they stopped a taxi which was heading south along the Main Road. The officers later searched the lone passenger who sat in the back seat of the taxi and seized 19 rocks of cocaine. He was arrested, brought to the Mayaro police station and charged by PC Greaux with possession of cocaine. He will appear before a Mayaro magistrate tomorrow.

THE TOURISM and Indus-trial Development Company (TIDCO) had described a BBC report on kidnapping in Trinidad and Tobago as “misleading and sensational”.

A release from the company said the reporter and crew which did the story aired on BBC on Tuesday night were not among the 25 international media houses facilitated by TIDCO during the Carnival season. TIDCO said as a national promotional agency, it will work in conjunction with its UK-based promotional agency to ensure that such “sensationalism does not negatively impact upon the decision-making process of UK nationals” considering travelling to Trinidad and Tobago.

SECURITY has been beefed-up at all companies in the energy sector and also public utilities in the country, following the launch of a US war campaign against Iraq.

Although Prime Minister Patrick Manning publicly stated that this country was not in a heightened state of alert, police sources told Sunday Newsday certain precautionary measures have been taken against the possibility of sabotage, especially in the oil-belt where companies with US and UK interests are located. Police sources on Friday, confirmed that local groups, including one based in south, who are perceived to be sympathetic to the cause of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the terrorist group Al Qaeda, are being monitored closely by the police.

According to senior police sources, close attention was being paid to local US and British multi-national corporations, including Atlantic LNG, bpTT and British Gas. “Since this war broke out, instructions were given to beef up security at all Public Utilities installations including T&TEC, TSTT and WASA as well as the various oil and gas companies, oil fields and reserves,” the senior officer said. When contacted for comment yesterday, ACP (Crime) Oswyn Allard confirmed that such instructions were ordered by Police Commissioner Hilton Guy. “We are doing what we have to do. We have increased our vigilance,” Allard said. Efforts to reach ACP (South) Peter John for comment on the security arrangements for the south oil-belt and energy industry failed.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Glenda Morean declared it was hypocritical for the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) to accuse Government of corruption when it flouted a regional convention on corruption it signed while in office.

Addressing heads and members of statutory authorities at the Cascadia Hotel on Friday, the AG highlighted the Exchequer and Audit Act and the Freedom of Information Act as two mechanisms used by Government to combat corruption and ensure transparency in public affairs. “This country has seen only too clearly in the six years of rule by the last regime the disastrous effect corruption has had on the country. It is ironic to note that Trinidad and Tobago signed and ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption in 1998 which mandated us to combat corruption by the introduction of systems to promote inter-alia transparency and accountability in public affairs. In fact the Freedom of Information Act 1999, is one of the measures designed to discharge this obligation,” she declared.

Morean added that over the last six years, Trinidad and Tobago was only too painfully aware of the high price of corruption. “The excesses of the last regime in their handling of the Piarco Airport project provide ample testimony of this proposition,” the AG stated grimly. Recalling her recent disclosure to Parliament about Govern-ment’s legal costs in handling corruption matters totalling $10 million, Morean hinted “the time we get to the end of operation clean-up, the cost is likely to have quadrupled”. “The price we have to pay to clean up the Augean Stables is great but necessary,” she told her audience.  Noting that the procurement process provided fertile ground for corrupt practices, the AG disclosed that Government is currently preparing legislation to deal with this issue and bankruptcy. She added it was incumbent on companies not bound by the Central Tenders Board to carefully review their procurement processes.

Chairman of the Integrity Commission, Justice Gerard des Iles said the issue of corruption became a “grave danger when no one thinks there is anything wrong with it”. He then revealed that from 1999 to 2002, the Commission had insufficient forms for persons to declare their assets and appealed to the relevant authorities to address this deficiency.