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India
offers Vietnam HANOI, Nov 8: India has offered to Vietnam its expertise and know-how in the fields of Information Technology (IT), Biotechnology and Human .....more 11 India expatriates DOHA, Nov 8: A group of eleven Indian expatriates have decided to move the court against their employer demanding salary dues, which were not .....more
Israel must withdraw from WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Israel must withdraw to its 1967 borders and allow Palestinian refugees to return to achieve a lasting peace with the.....more Indian Americans WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Were American Indians to decide the fate of the current candidates for Presidency, Vice-President Al Gore would have a .....more |
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MP gave up
smoking, now WELLINGTON, Nov 8: A New Zealand politician has told Parliament he used nicotine chewing gum to quit smoking and is now addicted to it.....more
First lady makes US NEW YORK, Nov 8: After decades of fighting political wars for her husband, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton chased her own dream as a senate...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 the final results in a number of close contests today — possibly including the Presidential race, officials have said.......more |
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India offers Vietnam expertise in IT, HRD, Biotechnology HANOI, Nov 8: India has offered to Vietnam its expertise and know-how in the fields of Information Technology (IT), Biotechnology and Human Resources, while Hanoi has expressed a keen desire to further expand bilateral trade and strengthen economic ties. Visiting External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, during his meetings with Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai here last night, said India was willing to share its expertise and experience in Vietnam’s economic development. Singh specifically mentioned Information Technology, Biotechnology and Human Resources as areas in which India could provide its expertise to Vietnam. The two sides discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual concern. Singh, here on a three-day visit, briefed the Vietnamese leadership about India’s growing relations with the United States and also Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, during which New Delhi and Moscow signed a treaty on strategic partnership. The two sides shared similarity of views on several international issues, official sources said, adding Hanoi strongly supported India’s claim for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council. The Vietnamese leadership have publicly expressed their full support for New Delhi’s stand on Kashmir, terming it as sacred and integral part of India. (PTI) |
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11 India expatriates to move court against their employer DOHA, Nov 8: A group of eleven Indian expatriates have decided to move the court against their employer demanding salary dues, which were not paid to them for the last one year. "We have been advised by the Indian embassy to take up the matter with the court and the police authorities," Onkar Singh, one of the complainants told local media. Indian workers demand about Rs 2.5 million salary and dues from Al-Sarh Trading and Contracting Company. They complain that the company has not paid their dues since November 1999, Onkar Singh, who is working as Civil Engineer said. The employees have been living for the past couple of months with the support of the Embassy - they eagerly look forward to receiving their dues and leaving the country for good. They said that "we tried all peaceful means for getting our dues, but failed. The Qatar Labour Ministry was approached in July this year and the company subsequently agreed to settle the dues within one month. The company, however, did not honour its commitment. The company owes due to Elias Fernandes, Nizzam Noor, B M Aslam, Sarbjit Singh, K Charan, Rajinder Singh, Jagir Singh, Surinder Pal, Jagir Singh and Meer Singh, besides Onkar Singh. The workers said the company had atleast issued seven circulars promising payment of salaries to all employees and none of them honoured. The Company General Manager Sameer Abdul Razaak said the Indian Embassy was assured that the issue will be settled within three to four months. (UNI) |
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Israel must withdraw from occupied land, says Erakat WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Israel must withdraw to its 1967 borders and allow Palestinian refugees to return to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator said today. Israel must carry out a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines, including East Jerusalem, and acknowledge that Palestinian refugees have the right to return, Saeb Erakat wrote in the Washing Post. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is scheduled to meet with US President Bill Clinton at the White House tomorrow to discuss ways to end more than a month of Palestinian violence in the West Bank and Gaza and revive the stalled Middle East peace process. Palestinians have been pressing a demand for deployment of an international observer force in territories under their control to stave off what they describe as Israeli attacks against them. Erakat said the violence in the West Bank and Gaza was a symptom of a chronic disease — Israel’s continuing control over the Palestinian people. He said that proposals put forward by Israel during the Camp David Summit last July, which reportedly provided for Israel’s partial with drawal from Palestinian territories, were unacceptable. There will be no peace between Palestinians and Israelis until there is an end to Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, to Israeli control over the infrastructure .., to Israeli settlement activity, and to Israel’s economic and political apartheid over Palestinians. (AFP) |
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Indian Americans back Democratic nominee: Survey WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Were American Indians to decide the fate of the current candidates for Presidency, Vice-President Al Gore would have a cakewalk. An overwhelming section of the immigrant community backs the Democratic candidate, a California-based India West newspaper survey has revealed. Indian Americans back the Democratic nominee by an impressive four to one margin over his Republican opponent George W. Bush, according to a telephone poll of 210 Indian respondents in as many as ten states with the largest American Indian population. Fifty-five per cent of the respondents backed gore, with Bush managing the support of barely 13 per cent. The survey said the reason for Gore’s dominance was the lopsided support the Democratic Party enjoyed in the American Indian community. There are six Democratic Party supporters for every Republican Party supporter in the community, the poll found. "Look it is the Democratic Party that has always cared for the immigrants and the minorities," said a respondent from New Jersey. "For me even Gore is not the issue. I would support anybody the Democratic Party nominated." While not all respondents were as partisan, the numbers tell a convincing story of democratic inroads among the Indian expatriates. The survey was conducted in California, New York, Illinois, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio between October 26 and 30. (UNI) |
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MP gave up smoking, now addicted to nicotine gum WELLINGTON, Nov 8: A New Zealand politician has told Parliament he used nicotine chewing gum to quit smoking and is now addicted to it, reports said today. Brian Donnelly said he began chewing the gum a year ago to break a smoking habit costing him 50 to 60 New Zealand dollars (20 to 24 U.S. dollars) a week and was now chewing up to 50 New Zealand dollars worth of gum weekly. As part of a quit smoking campaign, the Government is offering smokers subsidized nicotine gum or patches, and Donnelly asked Health Minister Annette King what strategies she had to help people who became addicted to the substitutes. Donnelly said later that he would not apply for the gum subsidy, which could save him nearly 200 New Zealand dollars (about 80 U.S. dollars) a month. (DPA) |
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First lady makes US history with senate victory NEW YORK, Nov 8: After decades of fighting political wars for her husband, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton chased her own dream as a senate candidate from New Tork state — amid a lingering mystery about who she is. Hailed by some, demonised by others and second-guessed by many for her loyalty to President Bill Clinton despite the sex scandal that nearly cost him the White House, Mrs. Clinton has been one of the most polarising figures in American politics. Aggrieved wife. Overbearing feminist. Outstanding lawyer. Financial manipulator. Independent thinker. Inflexible bureaucrat. And now, with her projected victory over Republican representative Rick Lazio, U.S. Senator. Love her or hate her, most Americans have an opinion of Hillary Rodham Clinton. If Clinton has been a lightning rod for controversy during her years in the White House, she will remain so in her new role as the only first lady to seek or win political office. Although her decision to test the political waters by running for the senate from New York state initially surprised many of her closest friends, they acknowledged that her decision to break with tradition came as no surprise. "She’s a groundbreaker," Lisa Caputo, the first lady’s former press secretary, said last year. "But that’s not why she does it, what drives her." What drives her? after seven years under a microscope in Washington, the first lady remains an enigma. Goldwater girl turns Democrat. Hillary Rodham was born on October 26, 1947, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist in Park Ridge, Illinois, near Chicago. The nemesis of conservative Republicans began her political life among them — as a "goldwater girl" in 1964 for Republican Presidential contender Barry Goldwater. But during her years at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, she evolved politically. The first student at Wellesley to deliver remarks at a commencement address, she used the moment to challenge the 1960s establishment and urged her classmates to do the same. The speech was the start of her crusade to break stereotypes, especially about limits imposed on her gender. After graduation, she went on to Yale Law School, where she was on the law review and met a student from Arkansas named Bill Clinton. They married in 1975. After her marriage, she was a highly successful lawyer at the rose law firm in little rock, Arkansas, becoming family breadwinner for her husband and her daughter, Chelsea, while Bill Clinton focused on winning at the polls. But the role of breadwinner also brought problems. When she made 100,000 dollar in the cattle futures market by risking only 1,000 dollars, some complained she might have received insider help. And then there was whitewater. The Arkansas land deal that she invested in with her husband in the 1980s would haunt the couple long after the project failed financially. It triggered the investigation by independent counsel Kenneth Starr that dogged the Clintons throughout their White House years, culminating in the President’s impeachment over his sexual relationship with a White House intern. A first resulting from that probe was one Mrs. Clinton wishes were not part of her record. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr had her testify before his whitewater grand jury, the first time the wife of a president was summoned to do so. "Dual presidency" concept. From the start of their foray into national politics in 1992, the Clintons antagonized some by talking about a dual presidency. The soon-to-be first lady aggravated the situation by saying she would not be staying home and baking cookies. After moving into the White House, she polarised people within months by taking control of the administration’s plans to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, a mission that failed in part because of her own refusal to compromise with the Washington establishment. That battle made her one of the least popular first ladies in U.S. history, with pollsters finding her less liked than her husband, a dramatic break with the norm. (AGENCIES) |
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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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