FINAL FOR A CORRUPT

Bowing deeply and laying white chrysanthemums before his portrait, tens of thousands of mourners journeyed Sunday to the southern village where former President Roh Moo-hyun killed himself by jumping off a rocky cliff overlooking his home.

But several top officials, including the prime minister, were turned away from the mourning rites for the liberal ex-leader, who had a fractious relationship with conservative opponents his supporters accuse of driving Roh to his death. They pelted a bus carrying conservative politicians with eggs and doused lawmakers with water.

The 62-year-old Roh, who relied on pluck and hard work to rise from his impoverished youth in rural Gimhae to become president in 2003, died Saturday after jumping from a promontory known as Owl's Rock that overlooks his home. He left behind a note describing his suffering over corruption allegations and asking to be cremated.

The government and Roh's family agreed to hold a public "people's funeral" after a seven-day mourning period, most likely on Friday, former Roh aide Han Hyung-min said.

Roh's suicide, just 15 months after he left office, came as he and his family faced intense questioning about $6 million given to the Rohs during his presidency by a Seoul businessman implicated in a number of bribery scandals.

The allegations weighed heavily on a man who prided himself on his "clean" record in a country struggling to shake a tradition of corruption. Prosecutors had been grilling Roh, his wife and their two children since last month.

"What's left for me for the rest of my life is just to be a burden to others," Roh wrote in a note on his computer minutes before leaving for the final hike to Owl's Rock with a security guard. "Don't be too sad. Aren't life and death both part of nature? Don't feel sorry. Don't blame anybody. It's destiny."

Roh's suicide stunned the nation of 49 million, which was divided during his presidency between those critical of his outspoken, antiestablishment ways and others who rallied around his efforts to promote democracy, fight corruption and facilitate rapprochement with North Korea.

Braving a downpour, nearly 80,000 trekked Sunday to Bongha, the village 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of Seoul where Roh had lived since leaving office, to pay their respects at mourning tents erected at the community center, police said. Hundreds of Buddhist monks in gray robes and wide-brimmed hats held a solemn prayer service.

But not all visitors were welcomed. Roh supporters accuse South Korea's conservative right, led by President Lee Myung-bak and the Grand National Party, of pushing the corruption probe believed to have driven Roh to despair.

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo was turned away. Roh backers hurled eggs at a bus carrying Lee Hoi-chang, the conservative who lost the presidential election to Roh in 2002.

Supporters also reviled National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o, dousing him with water. His aides tried to protect him from the angry onslaught with their umbrellas. Former Grand National Party leader Park Geun-hye, daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, also tried to pay her respects but wasn't able to reach the mourning site.

The mood Sunday in Seoul was somber. A line at Chogye Temple snaked around the lawn and into the street as Seoulites, many dressed in black and bearing flowers, waited to pay their respects. Many sobbed as they knelt before his smiling portrait.

At a mourning site outside Seoul's 16th-century Deoksu Palace, more than 16,000 waited in long lines to place white flowers, cigarettes — Roh had recently started smoking — and melons before portraits of the ex-leader.

"I'm really sad. I can feel how much pressure he had been suffering," said Moon Hye-kyung, a 47-year-old businesswoman, wiping away tears with a handkerchief. "I think he could have endured the pressure if it was leveled against only him, not his family members and aides."

She, like many others, blamed conservatives for Roh's suicide.

"The current government pushed this man into death. No doubt about that," said Moon.

But Hong Young-sik, 71, said the government wasn't to blame.

"Why are you guys gathering here? Did he do anything to be praised?" Hong, a former government official, shouted at the crowd. "He only killed himself because he was shamed out of the fact that his and his family's wrongdoing was revealed."

Scuffles broke out between riot police and Roh supporters collecting signatures for a petition calling for Lee's impeachment.

Along Seoul streets, mourners affixed yellow ribbons wishing Roh peace.

FAKE OR TRUE?

Some reasons this body may not be Prabhakaran'sIs the Sri Lankan government playing a trick on the international community by showing a body double and claiming it to be Prabhakaran? Here are some questions observers are asking.

Why is he so good looking?
Prabhakaran is 54, but the picture shows him without a single wrinkle. His son Charles looks older in the picture the Lankan army has released. There's something dubious about the way his face is shown. If his skull were blown off, as claimed by the army, how come his face is so neat and untouched? If he were hiding and on the run, as claimed by the army, how come he looks fresh and clean-shaven? Have the soldiers put a Prabhakaran mask on someone's face?

Why isn't his ear matching his face?
The skin tone of his ear is darker than the tone of his face. Have the soldiers hired a prosthetic expert to graft a face on to some corpse? Are they doing a Dasavatharam gag in real life? It looks like the mask is peeling off when the soldiers move the body.

How could they do a DNA test in two hours?
Experts say it takes at least four days to do a DNA test. How could the army do it in two hours, that when they say they found the body in a remote jungle? How did they move his blood or bone marrow sample to a forensic lab so quickly? Did the army have an ante-mortem report (say, tissue or blood samples from before his death) against which they could corroborate their theory that it was Prabhakaran who was dead? Questions, questions

Do Tamil politicians know something we don't?Nedumaran of Tamil Desiya Iyakkam said he knew for sure that Prabhakaran was alive. Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi said he wouldn't react to reports of Prabhakaran's death. What's stopping them from accepting the footage released by the Lankan army?



Wasn't cyanide Prabhakaran's preferred mode of exit?
He gave capsules to all his Tigers so that they could kill themselves instantaneously when cornered. Why didn't he bite his cyanide capsule when he knew his game was up? Few believe he was shot in battle. Tamil lore has it that he always carried two capsules with him. The army claimed to have identified him with the help of rebel LTTE leaders Karuna and Daya Master, and posted a picture of the body on the country's army website. The body here and the body in the TV footage don't match.

(These questions were asked as of 3.30 am today. Lanka may come up with some explanations through the day, but many questions are likely to remain unanswered).


DNA in 2 hours? Just impossible
Chandrashekhar G was a part of the forensic team assigned the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Now retired, he lives in Yelahanka. We asked him what he thought of the Lankan army claims about Prabhakaran, and he was incredulous they had done a DNA test within two hours. "It is impossible," he told MiD DAY. "We need at least four days to put it through a DNA sequencer and arrive at some conclusion."

In his own words:
When I visited Sri Lanka some years ago, they had no lab to do DNA tests. I had several questions when I saw the footage. I wondered if a prosthetic expert had been at work to put a face on top of some other. Ante-mortem reports, or reports from before death, are always necessary to confirm identity.

Whenever a leader dies, they need to keep the body till the case is done. But governments are sometimes in a hurry to dispose of the body like Pakistan did when Benazir was blown up. If they preserve the body, they can always get tissue samples for culture. I don't know if Lanka will keep this body and allow cross verification.


When Sivarasan was killed, we checked with people close to him. Indian law accepts identification by people close to the dead person. We look at moles and marks and such other identification indicators.

DANZA CATALANA

FIRST 100

Barack Obama marked 100 days as president Wednesday with a trip to the US heartland, claiming his ambitious agenda of "remaking America" had begun to take hold but warning of much more work ahead to pull the nation out of recession. Since taking office January 20, Obama has battled the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, shifted the US military posture in Iraq and Afghanistan, and shown the world a different face of America as the first African-American US president. As if that were not enough, he now faces a deadly new challenge in the form of a swine flu outbreak that health authorities fear could explode into a global pandemic. Against that backdrop, Obama set out from the White House Wednesday morning for the central state of Missouri for a town hall meeting where he put his own perspective on his first 100 days, a traditional milestone for gauging US presidents' debuts.

Obama's debut -- seen as a success by the majority of Americans, according to several polls released just ahead of the 100-day milestone -- has been marked by the worst economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression, and what Obama described Wednesday as the administration's "bold and sustained" steps to rein it in. The president unleashed a huge government intervention in the economy with a historic 787-billion-dollar stimulus bill and now has high-stakes environmental and healthcare reforms on the launchpad. Abroad, Obama hit the "reset button" on US foreign policy, reaching out to Muslims and vowing to end decades of enmity with foes Cuba and Iran. He mandated the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp, outlawed torture and set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. He also doubled down in Afghanistan and Pakistan and reversed US denial on climate change.

Obama returns to Washington for a nationally televised press conference Wednesday evening when he is certain to be grilled about huge challenges that face the country on many fronts. But Americans have looked back at Obama's debut, and polls show he still enjoys strong backing among a wide swath of US voters. A survey published Wednesday by Quinnipiac University found that 58 percent of those polled approve of his performance as president, compared to 30 percent who disapprove. That was similar to the 59 percent approval rating Obama garnered in a Quinnipiac survey in early March. Meanwhile, Obama faced the first health crisis of his term, with the country experiencing its first swine flu death since the disease's outbreak in Mexico. At least 91 infections were confirmed across 10 US states as of Wednesday, and after declaring a public health emergency at the weekend Obama pressed Congress to release 1.5 billion dollars in emergency funding.

NOT FREE, YET

A somber Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday blamed Hamas for deadlocked talks that failed to win freedom for a soldier held nearly three years in Gaza, declaring that Israel would not free all the prisoners demanded by the Islamic militants in exchange.

In a statement broadcast live on Israeli TV and radio stations, Olmert said efforts would continue, but his tone indicated that there was no chance for a deal while he is premier. Benjamin Netanyahu is putting together Israel's next government, which is expected to be a hard-line team less sympathetic to Hamas demands.

The failure of the prisoner swap talks could set off a chain reaction of negative developments. Israeli officials repeated Tuesday that a blockade on Gaza will not be lifted until the soldier is returned home. That would seriously impede reconstruction after Israel's bruising January offensive in Gaza and it could hamper efforts to cement a truce between Israel and Hamas, leaving the danger of another sudden escalation.

The soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, 22, was captured in a June 2006 cross-border raid by Hamas-linked militants who killed two other soldiers. His case has become an emotional touchstone for many Israelis.



"Israel presented generous far reaching proposals to the other side that were supposed to bring about the release of Gilad," Olmert said. "These proposals were rejected. Others will not be handed over to the Hamas."

"There are red lines," he declared. "We will not cross them."



Hamas and Israel do not talk to each other directly — Hamas does not recognize the Jewish state and Israel considers Hamas a terror group — so the contacts were mediated by Egyptian officials.

After Olmert spoke, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Hamas had never changed its demands and was not concerned about the incoming Israeli government. Israel is holding an estimated 8,000 Palestinian prisoners, and Hamas wants some 1,200 freed, including 450 who masterminded or were otherwise involved in suicide bombings and other deadly assaults. Israel balked at approving the entire list and wanted to deport some of the more notorious prisoners, fearing they would resume their militant activity if they returned home.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Israel agreed to free 320 of the 450 prisoners. He said a deal could still be struck if Hamas presented a new list of 450.



A message on a Hamas Web site Tuesday threatened abduction of more Israeli soldiers "to release our prisoners." Israel released two lists, giving examples of prisoners it was willing to free and of prisoners it refused to let go.

Israel rejected a Hamas demand to free Abdallah Barghouti, 36, considered the Hamas master bombmaker. He was sentenced to 67 life terms for a string of attacks that killed 66 people and wounded more than 250, according to the government list.



His wife, Saeda Barghouti, 36, confirmed that he joined Hamas as a bombmaker in 2000. She said she has been allowed to visit him only twice since he was arrested in 2003.

Among the prisoners Israel was prepared to free, on condition that they be deported, was Walid Anjes, 28. He was convicted of delivering bombs to attackers who hit major targets, like the Hebrew University and a cafe across from the Jerusalem residence of the prime minister in 2002, killing dozens.

Israeli critics of such a deal have warned that hardcore militants could return to violence, as has happened in the past.


A disappointed Noam Schalit, father of the soldier, said after a briefing from Olmert, that he hoped the contacts would provide "a basis for the next government to continue the efforts."

Israel TV broadcast Olmert's statement on a split screen with Olmert on one side and the soldier's parents watching on the other from their protest tent outside Olmert's residence.

The soldier was captured shortly after Olmert took office. His government's failure to win his release tarnished his reign. Olmert was hoping for a successful prisoner exchange to improve his legacy.