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venture to form alliances to source content HONG KONG, Sept 3: Global media giant CNN said today it is identifying prospective partners in India to source local content for its internet venture ‘CNN interactive’ as part of its strategy to enter various Asian markets. ...more
Clinton, Hasina to discuss DHAKA, Sept 3: Export of gas from Bangladesh to India is among the issues to top the agenda of talks......more Stya Paul to receive D.Phil LONDON, Sept 3: Stya Paul, president of the Apeejay Education Society, will be awarded the .....more Skilled migrants to be let into UK - Report LONDON, Sept 3: Britain is set to relax immigration controls to allow thousands of skilled high-tech workers into the country, media reported today. ...more |
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US flays Myanmar WASHINGTON, Sept 3: The US has strongly criticised Myanmar’s military regime for forcing.....more Lankan Army launches COLOMBO, Sept 3: Sri Lankan Army has begun a major offensive to deter the LTTE from launching .....more
Saddam Hussein has DUBAI, Sept 3: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is to undergo chemotherapy for lymph cancer and a......more |
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CNN internet venture to form alliances to source content HONG KONG, Sept 3: Global media giant CNN said today it is identifying prospective partners in India to source local content for its internet venture ‘CNN interactive’ as part of its strategy to enter various Asian markets. "We have started identifying local internet content producers for entering into alliances so that we can source quality content from the Indian market", Bruce Dover, managing editor of CNN interactive told PTI. Dover, who joined CNN from Newscorp last month to head the Asian operations of CNN interactive, said that the venture would source Indian content primarily from its parent company CNN’s South Asian news gatherings. "However, we would look for alliances for sourcing as well as exchange of content in India," he said, adding, "we are looking for exchange of content as CNN is rich with international content." "We would select the partners carefully," he said. Dover said other than English, CNN had already established strength in local content in Japanese, Norwegian and Italian languages. "We will develop content strength in India too," he added. On the proposed entry of America On-line (AOL) in the Indian market, Dover said it was upto the American internet company to decide as the merger between AOL and time warner has not yet been finalised. Irrespective of AOL’s plans, CNN interactive would go ahead with its plan in the Asian as well as Indian markets, he said. (PTI) |
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Clinton, Hasina to discuss Bangla gas export to India DHAKA, Sept 3: Export of gas from Bangladesh to India is among the issues to top the agenda of talks between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and US President Bill Clinton in Washington on October 17, a newspaper reported today quoting highly-placed Government sources. The US has been pressing Bangladesh for the past two months to take decisions on issues like gas export to India. In July last, the US Government, in a letter to the Government here, wanted to know the progress in this regard. Subsequently, the Government here took initiatives to finalise its decision on some issues, leading Bengali daily ‘Prothom Alo’ said. Apart from the gas export issue, the Government decision on other matters would also be informed to Washington before October 17, the daily said Zuoting the sources. But there were no details on what decision was taken on these issues including the gas export. During the talks with Clinton, Hasina will also impress upon the US President to help expedite the deportation of the assassins of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Three of the killers are now believed to be in USA. Foreign Ministry sources here said discussions are on between the two countries to sort out the legal matters in this regard. The US is pressing Bangladesh to allow trade union rights in export processing zones in the country. Besides the issue of gas export, Washington had also wanted to know Dhaka’s clear stand on the issue of setting up of a container terminal at the Chittagong port with US investment, steps to sort out the "complications" in US investment in energy sector, increasing the military co-operation, the daily said. Direct US investment in Bangladesh now stands at 700 million dollars and Washington hopes to open Bangladesh’s energy resources to other foreign companies. But Bangladesh’s opposition has warned against leasing gas fields to foreign companies and exporting gas to India. On Thursday last, a minister and close aide of Sheikh Hasina, Mohammad Nasim, said gas would have to be exported in the interest of the country. Bangladesh is under pressure from US petroleum companies to agree to gas export. The world bank has also be pressing Dhaka to allow gas exports. Bangladesh has proven recoverable gas reserve of 13 trillion cubic feet, of which three trillion has already been extracted. (PTI) |
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Stya Paul to receive D.Phil from Thames Valley University LONDON, Sept 3: Stya Paul, president of the Apeejay Education Society, will be awarded the Doctorate of Philosophy by London’s Thames Valley University at a convocation in Delhi on September 16 in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to the development of education in India." The degree will be presented to paul by Thames Valley University Vice Chancellor Professor Kenneth Barker Cbe, the University announced here today. Lord Swraj Paul, Chancellor of the University, will be present on the occasion. Stya Paul founded the Apeejay Education Society in 1968 and has since been its president. The Society has been working in the field of education for over 30 years and has set up 23 different educational institutions - schools and colleges of higher learning - in various parts of India. The society offers courses at graduate, post graduate, doctoral and post doctoral levels in design, arts, humanities, fine arts, commerce, architecture and planning, marketing and management and science and technology. It is through his role as President of the Apeejay Education Society and the Associated Apeejay School of Management that Stya Paul has worked with Thames Valley University. The successful association between the two institutions, has since its inception in 1996, seen the development of under-graduate and post-graduate courses in business and management. The first batch of graduates gained awards from Thames Valley University in 1999, the university said. At the annual convocation on September 16, Thames Valley University will be conferring awards on graduates from its bachelor of business administration and master of business administration courses that are offered at the Apeejay School of Management. Professor Kenneth Barker said "Thames Valley University is proud of its association with the Apeejay Education Society and its President Stya Paul and welcomes this opportunity to recognise his significant contribution to the development of education in India." He said presenting the honorary award at the convocation of graduaates from the university is particulary appropriate, illustrating the commitment of both Apeejay and Thames Valley University to widening participation in higher education. 81-year old Stya Paul, who had a brilliant academic career, was a gold medallist and record holder in BA Hons. In mathematics and took his post graduate degree in mathematics with distinction from Government College, Lahore. Stya, the eldest of the four brothers, joined the family concern of M/S Amin Chand Pyare Lal at Jalandhar in 1940. Through hard work, dedication, imagination and drive, Stya Paul developed the firm into one of the biggest and premier industrial houses in India and abroad. The field of activities were in steel-making and rolling, steel foundry, pipe manufacturing, engineering goods, shipping, pharmaceutical industries, construction, hotels and restaurants. He has a deep interest in education, music and arts. (PTI) |
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Skilled migrants to be let into UK - Report LONDON, Sept 3: Britain is set to relax immigration controls to allow thousands of skilled high-tech workers into the country, media reported today. According to the Sunday Observer newspaper, Home Office Minister Barbara Roche believes a healthy economy needs to draw its workforce from all over the world to recruit the right talents for jobs in new areas such as information technology, engineering and teaching. The Sunday Telegraph newspaper led with a story that immigration controls are to be relaxed for the first time in 30 years to allow up to 100,000 foreign workers a year to settle in Britain, a Home Office spokesperson denied it had set any quotas for attracting foreign workers. Currently, some economic migrants are allowed to work for short periods, but permanent immigration is allowed in only a few cases, unless they involve successful asylum applicants or people with relatives in Britain. The Sunday Times newspaper reported that now Ministers have decided that, with unemployment at a 20-year low, permanent settlement should be allowed once again for economic reasons. Roche will outline the new system in a speech here at the institute for public policy research next week, it reported. In 1971, a blanket ban on immigration was introduced, excluding only asylum-seekers and those with relatives in Britain, following racial unrest and high-profile calls for controls. Before the ban, almost anyone was free to apply to enter Britain for economic reasons. In the late 50s and 60s there were campaigns in Asia and the Caribbean to recruit public transport and health service staff. The Sunday Telegraph said the scheme, which is likely to be launched in a pilot version from next april, will allow foreigners to come to britain on the basis of points awarded for age, education language skills and family ties. At present skilled workers offered jobs in Britan can apply for temporary leave to enter the country for work purposes; that does not confer automatic right to remain. Ann Widdecombe, shadow Home Secretary, said the existing work permit scheme was perfectly adequate. "I see no reason to relax the controls. If we have a shortage of skills the existing work-permit scheme seems to function perfectly well." "This will be sold as a method of tackling illegal immigration by allowing more people legally. In fact, it will do nothing to tackle illegal immigration and we must have robust but fair immigration and asylum policies," she said. In the past asylum-seekers or people wanting to join relatives or a spouse have been allowed to settle. The only exception has been made for those setting up a business or entertainers who had at least 250,000 pound to support. In March, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, changed the rules to allow companies to bring in foreign workers for short periods without applying for permission from the government. Home Ofice officials have been studying the points system used in Canada, Australia and the United States. Britain has a backlog of 85,000 asylum-seekers waiting to have applications processed. (PTI) |
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US flays Myanmar regime for forcing Kyi to return home WASHINGTON, Sept 3: The US has strongly criticised Myanmar’s military regime for forcing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to return to her residence ending days of roadside stand-off with the junta and said Washington was "outraged" over denial of human rights to the National Leage for Democracy (NLD) leader and her colleagues. "The US is outraged and strongly condemns the Myanmar authorities’ treatment of Suu Kyi and her party members and the violations of their fundamental human right," US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in a statement here yesterday. Suu Kyi triggered a stand-off with the regime on August 24 by trying to drive to a party meeting in violation of a ban on her movement. When stopped at a road, she refused to budge till the junta announced two days back she had returned home. Albright said the US wants an immediate end to violation of internationally recognised human right of Suu Kyi. She said the regime has prevented even the few Myanmarese, who are normally allowed to visit her and diplomats, from going near her residence to enquire about her well-being. "The regime has also surrounded the nld headquarters and military intelligence agents have reportedly entered the headquarters and taken away files. The regime appears to have placed nld central executive committee members under house arrest and cut off their telephones," Albright said. NLD is a legally-constituted political party in Myanmar that won an overwhelming victory in the 1990 parliamentary elections and obviously enjoys strong popular support. The military regime has refused to recognize the results of that election and has prevented the NLD from performing normal political activity. (PTI) |
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Lankan Army launches offensive
to COLOMBO, Sept 3: Sri Lankan Army has begun a major offensive to deter the LTTE from launching pre-emptive strikes to recapture Northern Jaffna peninsula before the general elections and prevent the rebels from infiltrating into the Army-controlled areas. While the residents and poll officials from Jaffna confirmed on telephone sounds of heavy explosions in Thenmarachi sector, in the outskirts of the town, media reported Army making effective use of multi barrel rocket launchers, imported recently from Pakistan. "Rocket launchers spewed out hundreds of shells, second after second. Artillery shell rained in rapid succession. They were accompanied by rocket propelled grenades. Low flying interceptor jets fired on suspected targets," said the Sunday Times newspaper. There was no immediate official explanation by the Army for resumption of the operations after it stabilised string of territorial losses during a counter offensive by the LTTE in the peninsula in early this year. Whether it was a prelude to launch an operation or full-fledged offensive before the polls was not clear, the newspaper said. As the high ranking officials, including chief of defence staff Lt Gen Rohan Daluwatte. Took their positions at the security headquarters in Jaffna, the navy also stepped up patrolling in the north, the times said. Significantly, the barrage of Army fire started on August 29, when the process for filing of nominations papers for the October 10 elections for the 225-seat Parliament began. Despite threats from LTTE, 14 Tamil and Sinhalese parties filed their nomination papers for the nine Parliament seats in Jaffna itself. With a series of intelligence alerts pointing to a possible attack by the LTTE in Jaffna, the Army began its counter offensive. Army sources said by launching the offensive early, the military has the advantage of pressing ahead with it. "It all depends how the LTTE withstands it. And if they wilt under pressure, we might make an attempt to recapture the lost ground in Jaffna," they said. Politically such a development would be very advantageous for President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s ruling People Alliance, which is making a concerted bid to recapture power. Her party sources said they would be happier if the Army prevents any LTTE offensive to recapture Jaffna. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Government has imported a fleet of bullet-proof cars for top ruling party politicians to campaign during the polls amid fears of assassinations, officials said. The vehicles were ordered together with fast motorbikes for bodyguards following reports LTTE may try to target politicians during the election drive, they said. (PTI) |
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Saddam Hussein has cancer: Report DUBAI, Sept 3: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is to undergo chemotherapy for lymph cancer and a family council led by his youngest son is ready to take control if he dies, a leading Arabic newspaper said today. Western newspapers have reported several times in recent years that Saddam has cancer, but the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat went into considerable detail. The Saudi financed publication quoted an Arab doctor "with an excellent reputation" saying a medical team of three French doctors, one German and one Swede were taking care of Saddam. The team had been brought together by a committee chaired by the President’s personal secretary Abed Hmoud, the daily said. One of the presidential palaces in a Baghdad suburb has been turned into a private clinic for Saddam and equipped from Jordan, the Arab doctor, who is attending a medical conference abroad, told Asharq Al-Awsat. Saddam had resigned himself to chemotherapy after suffering from inflamed joints, breathing difficulties, poor vision and temporary memory loss, he said. Asharq Al-Awsat also quoted "Independent" Iraqi sources saying Saddam had called a family meeting and appointed his son Qussay to head a "Council" which would run Iraq in the event of his death or if he is no longer fit enough to carry on. (AFP) |
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