Independence in East Timor
Kira Kay and Jason Maloney report on the tenth anniversary of East Timor’s independence from Indonesia, and efforts to build a lasting democracy in one of the world’s most fragile states.
Credits:
Reporter: Kira Kay
Producer / Camera / Editor: Jason Maloney
Production Associates: Gayathri Vaidyanathan, Elspeth Montgomery
A production of the Bureau for International Reporting
In partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Photos Courtesy of the United Nations:
Eskinder Debebe
M Kobayashi
Martine Perret
And the United States Air Force
THIS VIDEO IS PART OF THE PULITZER CENTER’S INTERACTIVE FRAGILE STATES GATEWAY.
SEE ALL REPORTS AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
www.pulitzergateway.org/fragile-states
How to Get to Sesame Street? Visit 64th and Broadway
Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar, and the Sesame Street gang got together today to celebrate on the eve of their 40th anniversary. Big Bird towered over puppet lovers at a busy intersection near Columbus Circle, providing a yellow splash of color to the skyline.
Mayor Bloomberg has declared tomorrow “Sesame Street Day” and temporarily named the corner of 64th Street and Broadway… “Sesame Street.”
Raj Rajarathnam’s Bail
Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam looked unusually charming in person. Surrounded by a troupe of lawyers inside the magisterial courtroom in Manhattan’s Second District Courthouse, he was calm, unflappable and dressed in a uniform black. A newspaper sketch artist hovered around him like a fly, closely studying his sideburns for exact representation in pastels.
The court room was packed in respect for the large sums of money — $100 million, $2.5 million etc.–under discussion. Nothing like white-collar crime to attract the media in New York. I left my cell phone and camera at the office and rode up to the court from the clerks office with a PR rep for Raj. He had a whole retinue of lawyers, media reps and hangers-on.
The Galleon founder was asking the judge to reduce bail. Words flew in measured tones as the defense adopted a submissive stance. The white-haired lawyer John Dowd seemed like he didn’t have a good response to give to the question: why reduce the bail to $25 million?
The obvious answer is that it’s just too much. $100 million dollars. I wonder at which million our comprehension of the extent of that sum breaks down. But this argument lacks logic. Dowd struggled to give a better one. It seems that Rajaratnam had only scrounged up $2.5 million in cash, and paid the rest in securities and property.
The prosecution (comprising 3 from the DA’s office and one FBI agent) was confident in its arguments. They revealed new evidence saying that they had found a senstive IM transmitting information about Polycom (a California based tech company) between Raj and an accomplice. The IM said: “don’t proceed on PLCM until I give further guidance.”
At the end of the hearing, the judge refused to reduce the bail but allowed Raj travel privileges within the United States. Everyone got up and the courtroom cleared to judge once again, stories of more normal and less expensive criminal behavior.
I traveled back down in an elevator filled with chatty Raj hangers-on who quickly shushed themselves upon my arrival.