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EU backs
India-sponsored PARIS, Nov 7: The European Union (EU) has backed a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, sponsored by New Delhi at the UN, and a proposal for a Joint Working Group on it but failed to give any assurance on protectionist measures against Indian imports.......more Israel will reopen airport JERUSALEM, Nov 7: Israel has said that it would reopen the Palestinian airport in Gaza which it closed last week for the third time since violence erupted nearly six weeks ago.......more Vietnam backs India’s HANOI, Nov 7: Vietnam today strongly supported India’s candidature for permanent membership in an expanded UN Security Council even as New Delhi assured Hanoi of extending all possible assistance for economic development.....more KABUL, Nov 7: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban will not provide any services to men without beards, residents of the capital Kabul have said. A decree issued by Taliban’s reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, copies of which were pasted at the gates of various Government Ministry buildings, said yesterday that citizens without beards would not be considered for jobs or any other services......more |
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Afghan opposition leader TEHERAN, Nov 7: An Afghan opposition leader has said that he expects an imminent U.S. attack on .....more Cardiff archbishop resigns after sex scandals LONDON, Nov 7: The Roman Catholic archbishop of Cardiff has effectively resigned in response to ....more UN again accepts UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7: The 189-member UN General Assembly has accepted without a vote the .....more
Calif absentee vote could SACRAMENTO, Nov 7: Large numbers of absentee ballots in California could delay......more |
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EU
backs India-sponsored comprehensive convention PARIS, Nov 7: The European Union (EU) has backed a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, sponsored by New Delhi at the UN, and a proposal for a Joint Working Group on it but failed to give any assurance on protectionist measures against Indian imports. We received support for the convention on international terrorism and we hope that the proposed Joint Working Group would also be effective, foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh, who led India at the Indo-EU meeting here yesterday, told PTI. He said there was a broad agreement between the two sides on the Kashmir issue and the threat of international terrorism emerging from India’s neighbourhood. On the contentious trade issues between India and the EU, he said we expressed the hope that protectionist tendencies would be kept under check. We related our experience with regard to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy action. However, the foreign secretary conceded that EU had failed to give any guarantee on non-imposition of similar restrictions in future. We had an assurance from the French presidency which was endorsed also by the Swedes, that these tendencies will be kept under check, he added. The talk were a follow-up to the first-ever summit between India and the 15-member body held in Lisbon in July. The Indian delegation included Indian Ambassador to France Kanwal Sibal and Ambassador to Belgium and the EU P K Singh. Senior officials from the French presidency of the EU, the EC and a representative from Sweden, which will assume presidency in January, were also present at the discussions. New Delhi has voiced concern on several occasions at various fora that EU’s actions in imposing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on Indian imports adversely affecting Indo-EU trade. They recognised that but there are some countries within the EU which are holding them back, Mansingh said. The two sides discussed the South Asian situation, India’s relations with major powers state of affairs in the Balkans, expansion of the EU and multilateral issues at the UN, he said. The two sides also discussed the possibility of signing a science and technology agreement by next year. On the issue of EU’s demand for India’s accession to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, he said our position is well understood. It is no longer a contentious issue between the two sides. During the meeting, Mansingh said the EU had given the names for the eminent persons group, part of the civil society contacts between the two sides, and now it was India’s turn to provide a similar list. The list of eminent persons from the Indian side and the proposal for establishing contacts between think tanks of the two sides would be formally announced during the visit of Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External Relations, to India next January. (PTI) |
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Israel will reopen airport in Gaza to traffic JERUSALEM, Nov 7: Israel has said that it would reopen the Palestinian airport in Gaza which it closed last week for the third time since violence erupted nearly six weeks ago. The Israeli Army said it would reopen the Gaza International Airport today as a "confidence-building measure" after weeks of fighting between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. "The Israeli Army will open the airport in Gaza to traffic tomorrow," the Army statement said yesterday, adding that because of security concerns it would be open only in the morning. Israel controls security at the airport, which was hailed as a symbol of an emerging Palestinian state when it was opened two years ago. At least 176 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in the clashes. (REUTERS) |
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Vietnam backs India’s candidature for UNSC seat HANOI, Nov 7: Vietnam today strongly supported India’s candidature for permanent membership in an expanded UN Security Council even as New Delhi assured Hanoi of extending all possible assistance for economic development. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien after talks with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh declared Hanoi’s support to India’s claim for representation in the Security Council as also for membership of the key Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). Addressing a meeting of Indo-Vietnam Joint Commission, Nguyen said India should formulate a policy to facilitate import to correct Vietnam’s adverse balance of payment. Bilateral trade of 154 million US dollars in 1999-2000 is weighed heavily in favour of India with its exports accounting for 143 million USD. On his part, Singh, who is on a three-day visit to Vietnam, gave an assurance that India was ready to share its experience and provide assistance to Vietnam for its economic development. He asked Hanoi to allow Indian banks to operate in the country. The Vietnamese Minister underscored the need to boost trade promotion activities, increase the exchange of business delegations and enhance cooperation in traditional goods such a rice, pepper, tea, footware and silk yarn. He urged India to consider granting tax deduction or exemption to Vietnamese handicraft. Singh said India was ready to provide its know-how to Vietnam in information technology and other areas. It is incumbent on us to find newer and better ways of strengthening and developing our cooperation in political and economic fields, he said. Referring to the ongoing economic reforms in Vietnam, Singh said India was ready to make its contribution for transformation of the communist nation into a modern state. Signalling a new warmth in Indo-Vietnam ties, he said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would make a landmark visit to Vietnam early next year. The two sides would identify areas of cooperation that would find focus during Vajpayee’s visit. Nyugen, who covered a wide range of issues during talks with Singh, hailed India’s effort to strengthen ties with countries in the region and the non-aligned movement, besides south-south cooperation. These efforts have enhanced India’s standing internationally and have made it a natural claimant for a seat in an expanded Security Council, the Vietnamese Minister said adding that New Delhi should also get its rightful place in APEC. Vietnam sought more Indian investment in agro-forest products, transportation, telecommunications and software technology sectors. Nyugen suggested that India should facilitate establishment of a Vietnamese trade centre in Delhi to boost trade. Hanoi urged India to expedite to disbursement of two new credit lines. New Delhi has been granting re-cycling credit line to Vietnam to import machinery and equipment for projects on food processing, sugarcane, transportation and metallurgy. The Vietnamese Minister asked New Delhi to ensure that Indian companies implement contracts of receiving debt repayment in commodities from Vietnam to the tune of 17 million USD. Hanoi has emphasised the need for India to speed up import of rice against debt repayment. Hanoi has welcomed New Delhi’s decision to invest about 250 million USD in Nam Con Son gas project in Vietnam. Singh expressed condolence over the loss of life in recent floods in Vietnam and said India has decided to give medicines worth Rs 3.5 million for the affected people. (PTI) |
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KABUL, Nov 7: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban will not provide any services to men without beards, residents of the capital Kabul have said. A decree issued by Taliban’s reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, copies of which were pasted at the gates of various Government Ministry buildings, said yesterday that citizens without beards would not be considered for jobs or any other services. "Growing beard is the tradition of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad that must be followed by Muslims," the decree said. The latest decree from the Taliban, who rule 95 per cent of the war-battered country, is part of its efforts to turn Afghanistan into the world’s purest Islamic state. Soon after sweeping to power more than four years ago, the Taliban announced that beard-growing was compulsory. The radical movement, which sprang from religious schools mostly in Pakistan, has drawn criticism from the international community, including some Islamic countries, for its hard-line policies, including restrictions on the activities of women. (REUTERS) |
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Afghan opposition leader expects US attack on Laden TEHERAN, Nov 7: An Afghan opposition leader has said that he expects an imminent U.S. attack on Saudi millionaire and militant Islamist Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. The attack was imminent as the bombing of the American destroyer in Yemen was more severe than the attacks following the 1998 bombingsin the American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-Es-Salaam,’’ Gulbeddin Hekmatyar, a former Prime Minister and head of the Afghan Islamic Party, told reporters in Teheran yesterday. "The problem is however from where they want to attack Afghanistan ... Last time they did it through Pakistan which is now no more willing due to its ties with Taliban and as Iran is also out of question, only Tajikistan remains which however needs first the permission of Moscow," he said. Hekmatyar is not a member of the Northern alliance, the main opposition group to the ruling fundamentalist Taliban group in Afghanistan, but his forces also fight the Taliban regime. Afghanistan last week rejected a fresh U.S. demand to expel Bin Laden, suspect as masterminding the bombing of one of its destroyers in Yemen, last October, in which 17 American soldiers were killed. He has been living in Afghanistan as a "guest" of the Taliban administration. There has been speculation that the U.S. might be preparing to launch military strikes against Afghanistan. In 1998, the United States launched missiles on suspected Bin Laden hide-outs in Eastern Afghanistan in response to the bombing of its two embassies in Eastern Africa, which left more than 200 people were killed. (DPA) |
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Cardiff archbishop resigns after sex scandals LONDON, Nov 7: The Roman Catholic archbishop of Cardiff has effectively resigned in response to public pressure after a series of sex scandals involving priests in his archdiocese, reports said. John Ward, 71, had apologized to parishioners on Sunday and announced his retirement by calling in an archbishop-in-waiting, The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. Ward made the announcement hours before the British Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a television documentary on the scandals. The telegraph said he had been under pressure from the Vatican to relinquish his position since it was revealed last month that he ordained Joseph Jordan as priest, despite being warned by another bishop that Jordan was a suspected Paedophile. Jordan went on to sexually assault two nine-year-old boys and is serving an eight-year sentence for sex attacks on children. In addition, ward’s press officer and close associate, John Lloyd, was jailed for eight years for rape and child sex offences. Last year ward was himself arrested after being wrongly accused of assaulting a young girl in the 1960s. Following the publication of the letter, ward told the telegraph the co-archbishop would be able to "help me, stand by me, keep an eye on me" and, once "settled in", take over. The Catholic Church in Britain has been racked by a series of sex scandals in recent months. There have been calls for the head of the Church in England, archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, to resign after he transferred a priest known to be a Paedophile instead of sacking him. Father Michael Hill, released from prison in September, served three and a half years for nine sex attacks, which included one on a boy with learning difficulties he met at gatwick airport Chapel, where Murphy-O’Connor had transferred him despite concerns raised about his behaviour. (DPA) |
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UN again accepts credentials of anti-Taliban group UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7: The 189-member UN General Assembly has accepted without a vote the credentials of 132 member countries that have so far presented them for the current session, including those of Afghanistan’s anti-Taliban alliance. Following its procedures in the past three years, the Assembly deferred a decision yesterday on accreditation received from representatives of the Taliban and the ousted Northern Alliance Government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani. In practice this means that Afghanistan’s UN seat in the Assembly stays with Rabbani’s delegation for another year, diplomats said. The Taliban, which controls about 90 per cent of Afghanistan, intensified lobbying this year by sending its Deputy Foreign Minister, Abdur Rahman Zahid, to New York in September to try to persuade the Assembly to recognise the group, or at least leave the seat empty. Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recognise the Taliban, which has imposed a strict form of Islamic law on the country, although neighbouring Uzbekistan was said to be considering recognition. Before approval of the report by the Assembly’s credentials committee, Iran, which denies Israel’s right to exist, expressed reservations about that delegation’s credentials but did not submit a formal amendment and there was no vote. Iran said it wished to "disassociate itself" from approval of Israel’s credentials. (REUTERS) |
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Calif absentee vote could delay election result SACRAMENTO, Nov 7: Large numbers of absentee ballots in California could delay the final results in a number of close contests today — possibly including the Presidential race, officials have said. California Secretary of State Bill Jones said that a record 3.2 million Californians had requested absentee ballots this year, covering about 23 percent of all votes expected in the nation’s most populous state. While most will be completed and sent in long before precinct votes are counted today, an estimated one million absentee ballots will have arrived too late to be included in the initial count, Alfie Charles, a spokesman for Jones’ office, said. "There are a number of Congressional races in California that may be too close to call, and those races could also be the ones that determine the balance of power in Congress," Charles said. The nail-biting could last for days and even weeks as poll workers tally the late votes, Charles said. That uncertainty could conceivably even extend to the Presidential race if the two candidates split the rest of the country. With 54 electoral votes, California is the single biggest prize in today’s election. But the state, which once seemed squarely behind democratic candidate Al Gore, has seen a surge in late support for his republican opponent, George W Bush. According to a new poll released yesterday, Gore’s once double-digit lead among likely voters in California has been cut to just five percentage points — 46 to 41 per cent. The field poll said Bush was building support among men, parents, and non-hispanic whites, while Gore was suffering as some more liberal voters drift to green party candidate Ralph Nader, who is drawing about four per cent support. The field poll, conducted from November 1-5 of 924 likely voters, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. With the contest this tight, every vote counts and one million votes could definitely decide the contest, political analysts say. Charles said that California had seen rising numbers of voters turn to absentee ballots over the last two decades, and that historical assumptions that absentee voters tend to bolster republican support were no longer necessarily true. "Both parties have aggressively courted the absentee voter over the last several election cycles," Charles said. "It is really difficult to say (the vote will go) one way or the other." (REUTERS) |
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