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Hasina may stay longer in WASHINGTON, Oct 17: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may have to camp here for some more ....more India attacks rich for not UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17: Strongly criticizing the rich nations for their failure......more Silicon Valley is SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17: The scene at google.Com is dot com ......more
Bin Laden warns against ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: Suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden today issued a terse.....more |
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SUVA, Oct 17: Fiji’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry today returned home to tight security amid fears for his safety but said he was not scared by threats made against him. "It’s good to be back home," the deposed Premier told reporters in his Nadi Hotel Room, minutes after alighting from a Sydney flight.....more New Lankan Parliament COLOMBO, Oct 17: The wafer-thin majority of Sri Lanka’s new Government led by Ratnasiri Wickramanayake would face its first acid test tomorrow when the Parliament meets to elect Speaker and Deputy Speaker, even as the much awaited swearing in of the Cabinet was delayed amid reports of feud in one of the key ally of the ruling Peoples Alliance (PA). The state run newspaper ‘Daily News’ quoting a Government official said today that appointment of the new Cabinet was not expected to take place on October 18 also. "Tomorrow Parliament will meet and its Speaker, Deputy Speaker and others will be elected, that is all," the official said. In fact, no official date has been announced so far the constitution of the Cabinet, even after the lapse of ....more |
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Hasina may stay longer in US awaiting Clinton’s return WASHINGTON, Oct 17: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may have to camp here for some more days for a meeting with US President Bill Clinton if his arrival from the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh is delayed. The Bangladesh Prime Minister who arrived here on Sunday night was scheduled to meet Mr Clinton today. Later the meeting was put off by a day. But reports from Egypt, where the President has gone to attend the summit meeting of Israeli and Palestinian leaders indicate his return may be further postponed. Apart from his meeting with the Bangladesh Prime Minister, he was scheduled to attend a memorial service for the 17 US soldiers killed in explosion in Aden Port tomorrow. Addressing the Bangladesh community here today Ms Sheikh Hasina lashed out at the opposition in her country for demanding early general elections saying that it was ruse to save the self confessed assasins of late Sheikh Mujibar Rehman. "I have given a solemn commitment to the nation to hold the elections next year but the opposition is demanding that the polls be advanced and the only reason for their demand is that they want to save the assasins," she added. The opposition when they were in power had enacted a constitutional amendment to save them she said. Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Azad indicated that the Prime Minister would put pressure on the US administration to deport some of the assasins of Mujibur Rehman who had taken refuge in the US. Earlier she had made this demand to Mr Clinton when he visited Dacca last March. He reiterated the Government’s commitment to step down well before the general elections to enable a neutral authority to conduct the polls. Meanwhile the Bangladesh community would organise a demonstration at Lafforit Park here on October 19 demanding the assasins be deported to Bangladesh. (UNI) |
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India attacks rich for not helping developing nations UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17: Strongly criticizing the rich nations for their failure to help developing states lift themselves out of the quagmire of poverty and debt during the last decade, India has called for "dramatic improvement" in development efforts to ensure future generations are freed from hunger, disease and illiteracy. Addressing a UN committee meeting here, India’s representative M M Sankhdher urged the industrialized states to fulfil their commitments undertaken at various UN fora in 1990s in the fields of trade, financial assistance, transfer of technology and know-how, debt-relief and environment. Agreeing that sustained economic growth presupposes vigorous national effort, he pointed out that it also needs a favourable international environment. He regretted that none of the goals set in declaration on international economic cooperation and the international development strategy, both adopted in 1990, have been met. No developing country has achieved the goal of seven per cent rate of growth, number of people living under poverty line has not decreased, international trading environment conducive to developing countries has not been created and the debt burden, instead of reducing, has gone up from 1.4 trillion dollars in 1990 to 2.5 trillion dollars in 1999, he told the delegates. "Clearly, the record of the decade, in terms of achieving equitable and sustained economic growth, has been woefully inadequate," he said. Pointing to the specific goals set by the last month’s millennium summit of the UN General Assembly for reducing poverty, and in the fields of literacy and health, among other areas, Sankhdher said mobilization of financial resources, besides the political will, would be necessary to achieve the targets. So far only limited progress has been achieved in meeting the goals set by several international conferences on environment, population and development, social development and women’s empowerment, he added. The reason, he emphasized, was lack of resources, vigour and involvement of the international community. Referring to India’s effort to achieve these goals, he spoke about comprehensive economic reforms and liberalization undertaken by it to stimulate production and encourage foreign investment. "With a growth rate of 6.1 percent in this decade, India is among the ten fastest growing economies in the world," he told the delegates. India, he said, is determined to sustain the momentum of growth and its aim is to double per capita income in next ten years. Sankhdher regretted that decline in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) and in the long term capital flows to the developing states have not only impacted negatively on their developmental activities but also considerably affected their fight against poverty. (PTI) |
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Silicon Valley is still a man’s world SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17: The scene at google.Com is dot com heaven. Visitors enter a foyer filled with lava lamps, where they are greeted by a receptionist seated behind a bar. Down the hallway is a gourmet kitchen that serves three meals a day to all employees and a snack room piled high with goodies. In one conference room a ping-pong table provides diversion from the mind-frying pastime of software coding. In another a new Sony Playstation II specially imported from Japan provides an alternative distraction. Between the cubicles, skateboards and unicycles are piled up, together with roller blades, foam balls and nerf guns, toy weapons that shoot foam projectiles. It is the epitomy of Silicon Valley workplace chic, an environment meant to be so enjoyable to work in that employees won’t go home, or even worse jump ship to another company. But there is a flip side to this fun filled wonderland. The jocularity at the heart of this work culture is making many women outsiders in companies dominated by immature and geeky men barely out of college. The problem is especially severe where women are needed most: In the dramatically understaffed fields of software coding and programming, where women comprise less than 20 per cent of the workforce despite a huge labour shortage. The preponderance of male geeks is keeping women from entering the cutting edge of the coding world, according to Sherry Turkle, MIT Professor of Sociology, who studies why more girls and women are not attracted to computer studies. "Instead of trying to make girls fit into the existing computer culture, the computer culture must become more inviting for girls," she said. "It’s a vicious circle," said hi-tech recruiter Rachel Stevens. "Without more women the work culture will stay male dominated, but it’s hard to attract women to such testosterone zones." The problem was vividly highlighted by a female executive at software firm intuit who made a documentary movie about being a woman in the software trenches. Monika Khushf, maker of "Valley of the boys" originally thought that only she felt alienated in this strange world, only to realize that that almost every woman she interviewed felt that way. "Sometimes I feel like I’m the mom, like I’m no fun," says one interviewee in an office that features a model of the golden gate bridge made from thousands of coke cans. "They’re having a great old time and I’m sitting there going ‘oh, pleasey"’ Khushf does not believe that the bias is intentional and praises silicon valley companies for having strict rules against sexual discrimination and harassment. "The culture doesn’t try to keep women out. It’s just a natural boy’s thing and no-one’s interested in changing it," she said. "It’s not a story of sexism but of cultural differences and the roles they play in keeping women out of the computer industry." Several organizations, like women on the web and the society of women engineers, are trying to redress the imbalance, but women are still far more likely to fill roles in public relations, non technical management and human resources than in software development. "Women are certainly making great strides in management, and they’re starting dot-com companies," says Dr Anita Borg, the president of the Institute for Women and Technology. "But women are neither entering nor advancing in the technical realm." Borg believes the long term implications could be dire. "The technology of the future is going to define what our culture, what our social life, what our economic life, what our political life looks like," Borg said. (AGENCIES) |
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Bin Laden warns against attack on Afghanistan ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: Suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden today issued a terse warning to the "enemies of Islam", an apparent reference to the United States, Israel and the Saudi Royal family. In a statement published in Pakistan’s Urdu-language newspaper, The Jang, Bin Laden warned the United States not to attack Afghanistan, where he is living, in an attempt to target him. Since the suicide bombing last week that destroyed a US navy vessel and killed 17 Americans off the coast of Yemen, newspapers here have carried almost daily stories about a possible retaliatory strike against Afghanistan by the United States. While there has been no credible claim of responsibility for the attack on the USS role, which was waiting to refuel in yemen, immediate suspicion fell on Bin Laden and his organisation, Al Qaida. "The dream to kill me will never be completed," Bin Laden was quoted as saying. The newspaper referred to him as an Arab freedom fighter. "I am not afraid of the American threats against me," he said. "As long as I am alive there will be no rest for the enemies of Islam. I will continue my mission against them." (AP) |
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SUVA, Oct 17: Fiji’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry today returned home to tight security amid fears for his safety but said he was not scared by threats made against him. "It’s good to be back home," the deposed Premier told reporters in his Nadi Hotel Room, minutes after alighting from a Sydney flight. Chaudhry said he was not scared of threats to his life. "But taking my life will not solve Fiji’s problems. It may even compound it." Chaudhry was deposed in a civilian coup in May and held hostage for 56 days along with other members of his Government. He left Fiji a week after his release on July 13 to muster international support for Fiji’s return to democracy. In the past three months he has had talks with top Government officials in India, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States and has had audiences with United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan and the European Union to discuss Fiji’s political crisis and the Indo-Fijian problem here. "No country has a future without democracy, not even Fiji," he said. Chaudhry’s campaign prompted angry reaction at home from ministers of the military-backed interim administration who saw his plea for international pressure as harmful to the country. Despite this, he was accorded full protocol rights on his arrival at Madi, Daily Post reporter Josephine Prasad told AFP. |
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New Lankan Parliament to meet
today, feud COLOMBO, Oct 17: The wafer-thin majority of Sri Lanka’s new Government led by Ratnasiri Wickramanayake would face its first acid test tomorrow when the Parliament meets to elect Speaker and Deputy Speaker, even as the much awaited swearing in of the Cabinet was delayed amid reports of feud in one of the key ally of the ruling Peoples Alliance (PA). The state run newspaper ‘Daily News’ quoting a Government official said today that appointment of the new Cabinet was not expected to take place on October 18 also. "Tomorrow Parliament will meet and its Speaker, Deputy Speaker and others will be elected, that is all," the official said. In fact, no official date has been announced so far the constitution of the Cabinet, even after the lapse of four days since Wickramanayake was sworn in as the new Prime Minister by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Wickramanayake was sworn in on October 13 after he claimed support of 116 newly elected MPs in the 225 member Parliament for which election was held on October 10. While PA won 107 seats, two other parties, the Eelam Peoles Democratic Party (EPDP) with five seats and National Unity Alliance (NUA) with four seats came forward to give it a three seat majority in the Parliament. Meanwhile, Wickramanayake’s Government claims of majority would be fully tested tomorrow when the Parliament meets in a tense atmosphere to elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Opposition UNP has decided to field its chairman Karu Jayasurya for the post of Speaker and Chandrika’s estranged brother and party MP Anura Bamdaranayake for Deputy Speakership. Both leaders won from the suburban Gampaha district. PA has not indicated its stratgegy for tomorrow. But, it now appears that the process of selection of Cabinet Ministers has been delayed following severe infighting in the PA’s ally, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). SLMC, which won 12 seats, six in alliance with PA and four contesting on its own under the banner of UNA, has run into difficulties as its new joint leaders, Raulf Hakeem and Farial Ashraff, widow of the party’s founder leader M H M Ashraff, who was killed in helicopter accident last month, were unable to check infighting among partymen to take over ministerial and official postings being offered by PA to share power. Chandrika, who was still mourning the death of her mother and former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, visited Ashraff yesterday to sort out the problems. Asraff, also mourning the death of her husband, could not step out of her residence for another 100 days in view of the strict code of conduct prescribed for widows in Islamic religion. In view of this a major logistical problems arose for her to take oath as MP and as a Minister, when the Cabinet was finally constituted. Though PA sources exuded confidence of tiding over all the problems and comfortably winning both Speaker and Deputy Speaker posts, UNP leaders said it could still be touch and go situation as the ruling alliance had a narrow three seats majority. (PTI) |
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