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Corporate America joins WASHINGTON, Oct 31: Leading corporate groups all over America have asked their top executives to . .....more EU Parliament asks BEIJING, Oct 31: The European Parliament has asked China to appoint the Dalai Lama as the Governor.....more Rocket blasts off carrying BAIKONUR, KAZAKSTAN, Oct 31: A Russian rocket carrying the first residents of the international space station blasted off today on a mission....more
Musharraf says Pak MOSCOW, Oct 31: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published ...more |
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Indo-Russian working MOSCOW, Oct 31: The first meeting of the Indo-Russian working group on terrorism will be held in New Delhi in November. Indian Ambassador to Russia Satish Lamba said the meeting of the group, set up during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India earlier this month, will be held "some time next month.".......more As mutiny crumbles, LIMA, Oct 31: Peru’s Army said a mutiny against President Alberto Fujimori was nearly crushed, but the nation still waited and watched for fallout from the armed insurrection that challenged the iron-fisted leader’s authority.....more Nader deplores brain WASHINGTON, Oct 31: Green Party Presidential nominee and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has said that he finds "a lot of things" to be optimistic about India but one negative aspect is the brain drain that the US is causing in India......more Census army tracks BEIJING, Oct 31: Migrant workers and unregistered children will cause the biggest headaches for the army of census workers charged.....more |
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Corporate
America joins Bush bandwagon WASHINGTON, Oct 31: Leading corporate groups all over America have asked their top executives to campaign for George W Bush in a big way. They are pouring tens of millions of dollars into ads, direct mails and e-mail campaigns. The Corporate America wants to see a republican in the White House notwithstanding the prosperity and good economy ushered in during the eight-year Clinton-Gore administration. The business groups normally back the Republican Party, but this time with even more money and determination. According to figures compiled by the non-partisan centre for responsible politics, about 60 per cent of business contributions have gone to the republicans this time. The corporate sector’s agenda is also to reward Congressmen who helped the process to normalise trade relations with China which opened a huge market for them. The Congress approved a trade treaty with China which gave a go by to annual voting on the trade status with that country. Many democrats in the house opposed the treaty while the Republicans backed the move wholeheartedly buying the corporate argument that globalisation meant more markets and thereby more profits. The industrial unions which usually backs the democratic party fiercely opposed the treaty fearing US companies would close plants here in favour of cheaper labour overseas. The populist election programme of the democrats on health care, prescription drugs and the attack that tax cuts announced by Republican Presidential candidate George Bush would benefit just one per cent of the wealthy group has also put off the corporate giants. In fact, the Vice-President took a public posture during the three Presidential debates that his party was eager to take on the greedy corporate giants. This too has not been taken kindly by this influential social group. Pharmaceutical firms are upset over the Government’s move to dictatate the price of prescription drugs (antibiotics). The industry favours the republican plan to provide for state subsidies and overhauling of medicare programme of insurance companies. A major share of the 35 million dollar pumped into the campaign by the industry went in favour of Mr Bush. The corporates also oppose the patient’s rights legislation supported by democrats that would make it easier for the workers to sue employers, insurers or health care providers. With less than a month to go for the elections, the campaign seems to be not Gore vs Bush, but people vs corporates. (UNI) |
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EU
Parliament asks China to make Dalai BEIJING, Oct 31: The European Parliament has asked China to appoint the Dalai Lama as the Governor of Tibet but Beijing has rejected the proposal terming it "ridiculous". "Such recommendations are not worth commenting," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said when asked at a briefing to comment on the proposal. "It is ridiculous," Zhu said while restating Beijing’s conditional willingness to hold talks with the Tibetan spiritual leader on the vexed Tibet issue. Li also discussed with the European delegation China’s opposition to what it called were the Dalai Lama’s attempts to "split" the motherland. However, Li, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, welcomed more visits to Tibet by European lawmakers since many "did not have a correct picture of this region". "Some European and American personages know little about Tibet’s history and reality, and they draw conclusions from one-sided and distort China has so far refused to hold talks with the Dalai unless he agrees to the preconditions put forward by Beijing. The preconditions include the Dalai Lama recognising Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable parts of China and giving up demand for Tibetan independence. "The door to negotiations is open at any time," Zhu said adding it all depended on the Dalai’s future actions. (PTI) |
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Rocket blasts off carrying space station’s residents BAIKONUR, KAZAKSTAN, Oct 31: A Russian rocket carrying the first residents of the international space station blasted off today on a mission that NASA hopes will lead to the permanent occupancy of space. NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd, the space station’s first commander, became only the second american to be launched aboard a Russian rocket. He was strapped into the Snug Soyuz capsule along with cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. Their 17-story Soyuz rocket soared into an afternoon desert sky from the same launch pad where the space age began 43 years ago this month. The significance was not lost on the crowd gathered at the Baikonur cosmodrome for today’s launch, or on the three men riding the rocket. Space officials monitoring the launch at mission control outside Moscow cheered as the rocket’s third stage fell away, putting the men into orbit. The space station was zooming over Africa when shepherd and his crew took off on their extremely belated journey. They will reach their new home on Thursday and settle in for a four-month stay. Before the launch, Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev smiled and looked relaxed as masked technicians checked their white and blue spacesuits inside the cosmonaut wardrobe room. Dozens of US and Russian space officials and journalists watched from behind a glass wall, erected to keep germs away from the spacemen. "Give us a fast ship," said Shepherd, a Navy captain. "I’m anxious to get started, get into space and start operations," said Shepherd, sporting a fresh crewcut that oughtin orbit. He borrowed a line from the world ‘s first spaceman, Yuri Gagarin. "Gagarin said it all - Poyekhali " that means: "Let’s go." "People have designed and built these vessels, launched them with a good feeling that a name will bring good fortune to the crew and success to their voyage. We’re waiting for some decision from our managers as to whether we will follow this tradition or not." Gidzenko and Krikalev sat next to their space station skipper yesterday as the Russian space programme’s top commission formally approved their launch on a mission that NASA considers every bit as important as the Apollo moon landings. Sixteen countries are participating in the US dlr 60 billion-plus project considered to be largest technological enterprise ever undertaken on a global scale. (AP) |
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Musharraf says Pak has means to deliver nuclear strike MOSCOW, Oct 31: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published here today that he did not know the size of his country’s atomic arsenal, but that Pakistan had the means to deliver a nuclear strike. He also said he was unable to say firmly whether alleged terrorist Osama Bin Laden, now assumed to be hiding in Afghanistan, had in fact been the sponsor of a wave of deadly attacks against western targets. Musharraf strongly urged other countries to view his country as a powerful military power. "Personally, I do not know how many nuclear devices we have. I must check. Of course we have them, but I would not like to name figures that I do not know," Musharraf said in an interview to be published today in the Vremya Novostei daily. "We do have nuclear weapons," said Musharraf, adding "we are a nuclear state. We have rockets, we have nuclear warheads — we are a nuclear power." "We have the ms. There can be no doubt about that." Yet he stressed that Pakistan had no intention "of attacking any country." While there are no accurate estimates of the country’s nuclear arsenals, a recent US Central Intelligence Agency report said Pakistan has enough material for the roughly 35 bombs. Musharraf, mentioning Bin Laden, said he could do little to assist the west in its search for him: "Bin Laden is in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is an independent country. What can Pakistan do here," he asked. Asked whether he viewed bin laden as a "terrorist," Musharraf replied: "to tell you the truth, I do not know ... I have no such proof, so I cannot comment." (APF) |
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Indo-Russian working group on terrorism to meet in Nov MOSCOW, Oct 31: The first meeting of the Indo-Russian working group on terrorism will be held in New Delhi in November. Indian Ambassador to Russia Satish Lamba said the meeting of the group, set up during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India earlier this month, will be held "some time next month." The group is expected to discuss the threat of religious extremism and international terrorism faced by both the countries, ‘Voice of Russia’ reported today. The epicentre of all global terrorism, the report said, was Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The whole region stretching from the Russian zone of North Caucasia to Jammu and Kashmir is presently feeling the heat of terrorism with religious extremism spreading its claws even up to western Chinese provinces, the report said. Russia recently handed over some Chinese terrorists who had been helping Chechen rebel in the Caucasus to China. The terrorists were found to have received training and equipment in Afghanistan. In Central Asia, Uzbekistan is now holding an open trial of leaders of the International Islamic Centre based in its territory. The extremists have been accused of indulging in mass murders, loot and other crimes in Uzbekistan. Defence experts said the Taliban were actively involved in lending support to Uzbek extremists. (UNI) |
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As mutiny crumbles, Peruvians weigh merits of uprising LIMA, Oct 31: Peru’s Army said a mutiny against President Alberto Fujimori was nearly crushed, but the nation still waited and watched for fallout from the armed insurrection that challenged the iron-fisted leader’s authority. The Army announced yesterday it had rounded up more 40 soldiers and civilians involved in an uprising by renegade troops that started in the remote southern andes a day earlier. Only eight remained at large. While military experts and political leaders agree there is now virtually no chance the uprising will spark a larger military rebellion, many say they share the rebel soldiers’ disgust with Fujimori’s regime. "This can be seen as a message that the president and the Government cannot ignore," retired Army Gen Daniel Mora said. "The political crisis we have seen for weeks is not over yet." The once 51-man revolt demanding Fujimori’s ouster and the imprisonment of his former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, consisted of only eight rebels after yesterday’s operations, the Army reported. The Army statement referred to the "rescue or capture" of the 44 rebels, saying that the Army rescued an unspecified number of soldiers who had been forced to take part in the rebellion and captured those who did not come willingly. It was also unclear how many civilians were involved with the soldiers; The Army had originally thought there were only thre among them. Among those still at large were a disgruntled lieutenant colonel and his brother, a former army major, who led the uprising, th statement said. The statement did not say whether any of the former rebels were injured during their capture, but said that the army "respected the human rights" of all involved. It further reported that peruvian forces had rescued a Brigadier General held hostage by the group. Expressing disgust with Fujimori and Montesinos, the rebel soldiers seized, then abandoned, a copper mine before dawn Sunday, took the brigadier general and four workers hostage and then fled north into the frigid, high andes. The southern Peru Copper Corp. said the four hostasge company employees were released near the lake of suches, 40 km northeast of where the rebellion started. AFP adds: Peruvian General Carlos Bardales — taken hostage by mutinous soldiers in the South of the country on Sunday — was rescued last night, the Army announced. Bardales was taken hostage when about 50 soldiers led by Lt Col Ollanta Humala Tasso briefly taking control of the toquepala copper mine and the mining town of Masocruz, about 1,100 km south of the capital, early Sunday. Humala Tasso and followers were still on the run in the desolate highlands of southern Peru. Meanwhile, police here used tear gas yesterday to disperse hundreds of young people demonstrating outside the Presidential palace in downtown lima in support of the revolt by a middle-ranking Army officer in southern Peru. The protestors — mainly students and young former members of the armed forces — expressed support to the rebel officer, Lt Col Ollanta Humala Tasso. (AP) |
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Nader deplores brain drain from India to US WASHINGTON, Oct 31: Green Party Presidential nominee and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has said that he finds "a lot of things" to be optimistic about India but one negative aspect is the brain drain that the US is causing in India. The US is attracting high-tech personnel from India for less than what Americans would have to be paid for doing the same jobs thus causing brain drain, he said. "The first thing I would do (if elected President) is make sure that the United States does not brain-drain India," Nader told an election meeting. He said the H-1B visa, designed to bring scientists, physicists, computer programmers and others to the US "so they can be paid less than readily-available US counterparts", should be revoked. "If any other country brain-drained US the way we brain drain the rest of the world, we would be very, very upset," he said. Nader, one of the six candidates on the ballot for November 7 polls, said "there are a lot of things going on in india that are very, very optimistic—the decentralized use of solar digesters, growth of village businesses; enormous educational level of tens of millions of young people," Stating that the US needed to develop models of economic development, he said America should develop models that come out of the villages and cities in India in their best sense. (PTI) |
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Census army tracks China’s missing millions BEIJING, Oct 31: Migrant workers and unregistered children will cause the biggest headaches for the army of census workers charged with finding millions who have disappeared from official statistics, as China launches its first population census for 10 years this week. China’s population is officially estimated at 1.26 billion, around one-fifth of the world total, and grows by some 14 million every year. The Government forecasts a population total of just under 1.3 billion from the November 1-10 census, but several million, perhaps tens of millions, are likely to remain unrecorded. Data collected by the 6 million census workers will be vital for evaluating population policies and family planning work, says Si Xiu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "During the planned economy, population movement was restricted. Now many peasants come to the cities", accelerating urbanization, Si says. For the Government to present a meaningful picture of migration, census workers will need to register the millions who work in cities without permits and have every reason to avoid official contact, fearing urban police may banish them to their impoverished villages. The continuing preference for boys means the census is likely to increase China’s already unhealthy official male-female ratio of 120:100. Many areas of China have relaxed once-draconian family planning rules, which for the last 20 years has restricted most couples to a single child and led to forced abortions, sterilizations, abandonment and even female infanticide. In an attempt to root out the truth, the Government is allowing families who have unregistered children to apply for registration during the census. Before the census public security staff inspected residence permits and used local organisations, such as neighbourhood committees, to check the basic situation of each household, says Qian Yukun of the State Statistics Bureau (SSB). Random checks on registrations will follow the census to "test the accuracy of the data", Qian says. Advance publicity urged people to cooperate with census takers, with 40,000 staff taking to the streets of Beijing alone on October 28. People are obliged to answer all questions, including new ones about housing and employment, but some questions could be left blank if people refused, a second SSB official said. In a country whose citizens often have little choice but to obey government representatives, a "trusted" local official will accompany each census worker, Qian says. "People won’t refuse", he says. (DPA) |
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