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advertisements carry references to J and K TEHERAN, Apr 14: Supplements about Pakistan day celebrations with references to Jammu and......more Nepal emerges as NEW DELHI, Apr 15: Even as growing activities of Pakistan’s ISI from Nepalese soil are causing .......more Police link LONDON, Apr 15: British Police today said that dissident Irish Republican guerrillas belonging to .....more US spy plane crew WHIDBEY ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION, (WASH)., Apr 15: The 24 Navy crew members of a....more |
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Diamonds are
forever, but not in a chocolate easter egg ROME, Apr 15: He gave her a dark chocolate easter egg. But she wanted a milk chocolate........more Concern mounts for COTONOU, Apr 15: Aid workers expressed concern over the welfare and whereabouts of a boatload ......more Miss world organizer LONDON, Apr 15: Julia Morley, widow of Miss World Creator Eric Morley, and for years associated ....more Israel flexes muscles JERUSALEM, Apr 15: Israel used planes, tanks and artillery to hammer home a message of military.....more |
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Pak advertisements carry references to J and K TEHERAN, Apr 14: Supplements about Pakistan day celebrations with references to Jammu and Kashmir were published by two major English dailies here nearly three weeks after the event in what appears to be a clear attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his crucial visit to Iran. The eight-page supplements showing parts of Jammu and Kashmir as tourist spots of Pakistan were carried by the influencial ‘Teheran Times’ and ‘Iran News’ on April 11, the day the Prime Minister addressed the Majlis (Iranian Parliament). The pull-outs also carried messages by Pakistan President Rafiq Tarar, Chief Executive Parvez Musharraf and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran Javed Hussain pledging support to the "oppressed Kashmiri people" on the occasion of Pakistan Day which is celebrated on March 23. The supplements show Gilgit, Hunza Valley and Chitral as the "tourist marvels of Pakistan" with the photographs and details of the places which are part of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir but are claimed by Pakistan. The messages by the Pakistan President and the country’s Ambassador to Iran appreciated Iran’s stand on Kashmir and support to the "oppressed Kashmiri people." However, Gen Musharraf’s message did not have any such reference. The message by Mr Tarar said, "with unity, faith and discipline, we are bound to succeed and make our voice heeded in attention in international forums for the right of self-determination of the oppressed people including the people of Kashmir and Palestine." It also said that to realise the ideal of having an independent state of their own, Muslims of South Asia forged "unparalleled unity in their ranks and waged a valiant struggle against British colonialism and Hindu domination." The Ambassador’s message said "the Government and the people of Pakistan greatly value and appreciate Iran’s principled stand on Kashmir and its support to the oppressed Kashmiri people in their struggle for the exercise of their right of self-determination." Indian officials who were accompanying the Prime Minister on his four-day visit, were tight-lipped about the supplement. Iranian officials too declined comment. ‘Iran News’ officials, when contacted on phone, dissociated themselves from the supplement saying they were not responsible for the policies and ideas of the advertiser. Officials of the Teheran times could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. (UNI) |
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Nepal emerges as
safe haven for militants NEW DELHI, Apr 15: Even as growing activities of Pakistan’s ISI from Nepalese soil are causing security concern for India, the Himalayan Kingdom has emerged as a safe haven for the militant groups from the North East. Blessed with logistic support from Pakistan’s ISI, the NSCN (IM) leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah had been regular visitors to Kathmandu since 1992 and pursuing their activities, intelligence sources said here. The sources said this potent Naga group had been sending its recruits for training at an institute, near Lalitpur. The NSCN (IM) is also reported to have nexus with local political outfits, especially ultra-left ones. Similarly, David Ward, a London based Briton, who has "volunteered" to work for an organisation called `Naga Vigil’ is said to be a regular visitor to Kathmandu for raising funds. Ward is known for his liasioning with Pakistani officials in Islamabad and elsewhere. According to a recent account, a group of 17 Naga insurgents crossed over to Nepal from India at Panitanki-Kakarbhitta border near Siliguri last year. The group on reaching Kathmandu with Bangladesh passports reportedly checked into a popular hotel and then headed towards China. Moreover, the on-going anti-national activities by a section of dissident Bhutanese has compelled a large number of Southern Bhutanese to take shelter in the eastern part of Nepal. This has provided a golden opportunity for ULFA and other North East groups to mingle with Bhutanese and take shelter in refugee camps especially in the wake of army crackdown in Assam and other North Eastern States. Taking advantage of the situation on the Eastern border of Nepal, ULFA has also managed to establish its transit camps at Illam, Jhapa, Tapelgunj and Panchtar in Nepal. ULFA and NDFB have also been procuring consignments of arms and ammunition via this Nepal corridor. In fact, analysts argue that with no passport or visa required, Nepal has been the easiest and safest corridor for anyone who wants to use the land for any kind of anti-India subversive activities. Pakistan has been really exploiting it well. The sources suggest that most insurgent groups work in tandem with Pakistani mercenaries in Kathmandu. It is through Kathmandu that North East Militant Groups including National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) gather funds and "then start operation in countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh". The sources say that seizure of a huge quantity of explosives from Pakistani diplomat Mohammad Arshad Cheema’s residence at Kathmandu is just a tip of the iceberg of Islamabad’s espionage, subversion and psychological warfare against India mounted from Nepalese soil. It was in the eighties that Pakistan’s ISI started making moves and president Gen Zia-Ul-Haq launched his long-term anti-India disruptive scheme ‘Operation Topac’. With acute poverty and yawning gap between haves and have nots, there was enough space for ISI to chip in with its purse open and establish a foothold in the Himalayan Kingdom. Sources said that ISI has able to create enough "pro-Pakistani and anti-India public opinion on important issues like Kashmir and nuclear tests in Nepal" and has even manipulated the local press. The Hrithik Roshan controversy last winter and violence concerning anti-Nepal remarks, which he never made, was a testimony to this fact. (PTI) |
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Police link London bomb blast to real IRA LONDON, Apr 15: British Police today said that dissident Irish Republican guerrillas belonging to the real IRA were probably behind a bomb explosion which rocked a vacant postal centre in North London late yesterday. The "high explosive device" went off in the Edgware Postal Sorting Office just before 11:30 p.m. (0400 hrs Ist), blowing out windows at the building but causing no injuries. The attack on the building, located near the busy Edgware Road, occurred two days after the real IRA had issued a statement vowing to keep up its struggle to end British rule of northern Ireland. "My suspicions lie with the real IRA. The Edgware Road is a very busy thoroughfare," said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry, Head of the Police Anti Terrorist Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service. "There is a pub very near the sorting office. Whoever planted the device had no thought as to the damage and injury that could be caused." He said no coded warnings had been received. Fry said the device was left in a bricked-up doorway outside the sorting office. Only minor damage was done to the building, he added. A police spokesman said: "No one was present in the building at the time of the explosion." Anti-terrorist police were investigating the blast and would begin a thorough search of the site at daybreak today. (REUTERS) |
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US spy plane crew arrives at home base WHIDBEY ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION, (WASH)., Apr 15: The 24 Navy crew members of a US spy plane detained in China for 11 days arrived back at their home base to a hero’s welcome from thousands of relatives and supporters. About 5,000 people, many waving "welcome home" posters, American flags and yellow ribbons, gathered yesterday at the Naval Air Base on Washington state’s Whidbey Island, North of Seattle, as the crew stepped off the military plane that flew them home after a debriefing in Hawaii. Politicians and top military brass as well as relatives, friends and colleagues gathered on the tarmac outside a hangar bedecked with flags and balloons for the homecoming ceremony where a red carpet was rolled out for the crew. The crew members — 21 men and three women — hugged their relatives, shook hands with dignitaries and then marched past throngs of admirers to a reception where politicians and high-ranking navy officers hailed their "exemplary" behavior during their detention in China. "Your actions made us all proud to be Americans," said Rear Adm. Michael Holmes, who commands the Navy’s pacific patrol and reconnaissance force. Arriving home a day before the Christian Easter Holiday, several of the crew members thanked god for their safe return home and described their fear as their EP-3 surveillance plane, badly damaged in a collision with a Chinese F-8 fighter, made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan island. "It was scary. At the time, I thought hey, i’m 20 years old, I had a good life," said cryptologic technician Jeremy Crandall. "But the crew was tight and everybody looked out for each other." Armed Chinese soldiers quickly made it clear to the crew that they had to leave the plane, though one crew member said their actions were "not very aggressive." The Americans calmly ran through a checklist, disabling the plane’s advanced electronic listening devices and destroying sensitive data before the Chinese boarded the plane. At a press conference after the reception, the crew described their crippled aircraft’s decent and a not very comfortable stay in Chinese custody. Asked what was the first thing the Chinese said to them, Lt. Patrick honeck quipped: "It wasn’t in english." Chinese officials repeatedly demanded an apology from the crew members, as they had from the US Government, for causing the accident and for landing in Chinese territory without permission. However after a US Embassy official told them that President George W Bush had refused to take the blame for the accident, the crew repeated his words to the Chinese. Bush eventually expressed regret and sorrow at the death of the Chinese fighter pilot whose plane struck the underside of the slow-moving US spy plane. The US crew said they had radioed repeatedly to request an emergency landing on Hainan. Honeck described the shock he and his companions felt just after the collision, but said the group later pulled together and made the best of the situation. "Our treatment was fair. We were fed pretty well," he said. Other crew members said their rations were limited to rice and bread, with little meat or vegetables, though the Chinese did supply them with Coca-Cola. "Basically they fed US rice," said aviation machinist’s Mate Wendy Westbrook. Perhaps the most romantic moment of the day was provided by cryptologic technician Josef Edmunds, who introduced his fiancee, Sandra White of Fort Worth, Texas. Edmunds proposed to white by telephone on Friday, after the crew left Hainan for their initial return to US soil in Guam. "I wanted to wait for the perfect moment, but sometimes the perfect moment never comes," Edmunds said. The loudest praise went to Lt. Shane Osborn, the pilot and commander of the mission, who landed the plane despite extensive damage, saving the lives of the crew. Navy officials rejected criticism of Osborn’s quick decision to try to land, instead of bailing out or ditching the plane in the South China sea to keep its ultra-secret eavesdropping equipment from falling into Chinese hands. "Mr. Osborn made the right decision, and I credit him with saving the lives of his crew," Holmes said. (REUTERS) |
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Diamonds are forever, but not in a chocolate easter egg ROME, Apr 15: He gave her a dark chocolate easter egg. But she wanted a milk chocolate one, so she went back to the shop secretly and exchanged it. What she didn’t know was the original contained a 2,300 dollar diamond-and-rubies engagement ring. The 30-somet in the Italian town of Perugia had the egg specially made containing the ring as part of his planned marriage proposal. When the couple discovered the mistake, they rushed back to the shop, but the egg had already been sold to another customer. The woman turned to a lawyer, who launched a televised appeal calling on the finder, and they would receive a suitable reward. (AFP) |
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Concern mounts for suspected African child slaves COTONOU, Apr 15: Aid workers expressed concern over the welfare and whereabouts of a boatload of suspected child slaves who were expected to arrive in Benin today after two weeks at sea. They feared Government pledges to punish those guilty of trafficking children may backfire and put the 180 minors thought to be on board at even more risk as the ship’s crew sought to escape retribution. "The captain knows full well that he will have to face the music when he gets back here, so he may have tried to offload the children in another port," Estelle Guluman of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told Reuters late on Saturday. "That is a big concern for us — it would be very difficult to trace them," she said, adding that she did not know where the ship was at present. The Nigerian-registered MV Etireno was thought to be involved in a lucrative trade in minors sold by poor families and forced to work abroad on plantations or as servants. Guluman said there were unconfirmed reports the ship might head for Lagos in Nigeria, where UNICEF staff were on standby. Aid agencies and Government officials in Benin’s main port of Cotonou, from where port officials said the ship set sail on March 30, were preparing to look after the children until their families could be traced. "This is a dramatic and shocking situation. We have taken all the necessary steps to receive the children," Information Minister Gaston Zossou told reporters yesterday. "We are waiting for the boat, but we do not know who is on board. They could be from Nigeria, Togo or Ghana — not only from benin. We condemn this practice and we must take measures to punish and discourage those responsible," he added. Port officials said the Etireno had been chartered by a Benin businessman and set sail for Gabon. But after being turned back from Gabon and Cameroon’s main Port of Douala, the ship set out for Cotonou late on Thursday, and port officials said it may take until late on Sunday to complete its round trip of more than 2,000 km (1,250 miles). Benin Social and Women’s Affairs Minister Ramatou Baba-Moussa said on Friday she believed there were 180 children aboard. Earlier figures put the number at 250. Despite international efforts to curb the trade, child slavery persists in West and Central Africa, from where European slave traders shipped millions of people to the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries. Aid workers said their families may have been told that, once working, their children would send cash home regularly. But after receiving a small amount of cash — sometimes as little as 10,000 to 20,000 CFA Francs (14-28 dollars) — many families never see or hear from their children again, they said. Many child slaves from countries such as Benin, Togo and Mali end up working on plantations producing Cocoa and other cash crops in Gabon and Ivory Coast, where farmers can pay modern-day slave traders up to 250,000 CFA (340 dollars) per child. Thousands of children aged nine to 12 are thought to work on plantations in Ivory Coast, the world’s top Cocoa producer. Life there is hard. Anti-child labour campaigners say youngsters are often forced to work for up to 12 hours a day and sometimes subjected to physical and sexual abuse. (REUTERS) |
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Miss world
organizer says beauty pageant LONDON, Apr 15: Julia Morley, widow of Miss World Creator Eric Morley, and for years associated with the annual beauty pageant now thinks its is "stupid and awful", according to a report in Britain’s observer newspaper today. Morley, who now heads the company that runs the pageant is reinventing the competition to make it "more positive" for women. She condemns the swimsuit parade, in which contestants walk around the stage in sparkling bikinis before being interviewed by the show’s presenter. "It did seem very unnatural to me as a woman that girls should turn on the stage, for a start. And I didn’t feel comfortable with swimsuits on stage. Not because I thought there was anything wrong with them, but I thought that you don’t generally feel comfortable if someone’s interviewing you in a dinner jacket and you’re in a swimsuit," Morley told the observer. Five months after her husband’s death, Julia Morley, who started working behind the scenes at Miss World in 1969, has taken full control of the organization. She is stepping out from behind the glitter to reinvent it. "We’ve got a new concept for the show and we’re discussing ways we can do something pretty positive towards the contestants’ education, with scholarships," she said. Morley said she had recently sold satellite television rights around the world with projected viewing figures of over two billion. She also wants to create a "global network that nobody else has got, except CNN". Eric Morley came up with the idea for the Miss World Competition 50 years ago to promote the festival of Britain of 1951. After she married him in 1960 Julia Morley became the chaperone for the contestants, protecting them from the press. (DPA) |
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Israel flexes muscles in Lebanon, Gaza JERUSALEM, Apr 15: Israel used planes, tanks and artillery to hammer home a message of military might after Lebanese guerrillas killed an Israeli soldier and Palestinians kept up a defiant campaign of pinprick attacks. But two small pipebombs that exploded yesterday on a quiet residential street in the heart of Israel, wounding one man, exposed the soft underbelly of vulnerability that has always rested beneath the Jewish state’s hard shell of security. The killing of the soldier, by a Hizbollah anti-tank missile fired at an Army Post on the Lebanese border, challenged Israel on a second front as it continues to battle a nearly seven-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence. Israeli warplanes swiftly swept into action over South Lebanon, bombing two Hizbollah targets, after Israeli artillery pounded the area. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hizbollah regards the territory it attacked, Shebaa farms, as still under Israeli occupation despite Israel’s UN-recognised troop withdrawal from Lebanon last may. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres "sent strong messages", appealing to the United States, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and france "to intervene before things escalate and there is serious flareup" in Lebanon, a spokesman said. Israeli officials repeated their demand that Lebanese Government forces deploy along the border and called on Syria, the main powerbroker in Lebanon, to rein in Hizbollah. "Israel will not tolerate continued attacks," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Flexing its military muscle, Israel sent two bulldozers —backed up by three tanks — 100 metres into Palestinian-controlled territory in Gaza to demolish buildings which the Army said gunmen used as cover to attack its soldiers. The operation in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip was the second incursion in less than a week into an area Israel handed over to full palestinian control under interim peace deals. Heavy fighting ensued and the director of the local hospital said at least 35 Palestinians were wounded, including a 16-year-old youth whose leg was blown off by a tank shell. No Israeli casualties were reported. A headquarters of Palestinian military intelligence and 15 houses were destroyed, witnesses said. The Army described the demolitions as "engineering activity" in response to recent incidents in which it said soldiers had come under attack from Palestinian gunfire and petrol bombs in the Rafah area adjacent to the border with Egypt. The violence surged as Israel ended its week-long passover holiday and Christians celebrated easter weekend in the turbulent holy land, where peace doesn’t seem to have a prayer. At least 376 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 71 other Israelis have been killed in the uprising that began last September after US-sponsored peace negotiations deadlocked. Sharon, Israel’s leading hawk, won February’s Prime Ministerial election against incumbent Ehud Barak by a landslide, promising to make Israelis feel safer in the face of the Intifada. "It was made very clear to (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat, in a (phone) conversation sharon had with him over the holiday, that Israel will not tolerate attacks on its citizens from across the border in (Palestinian-controlled) ‘Area A’," Gissin told Reuters. Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs were do to sit down again, under US auspices, tomorrow to discuss ways to ease tensions. After the last session of security talks on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said Israel indicated it might loosen restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank and Gaza if the level of violence dropped before the next round. "The Israeli Government would much prefer that security coordination and cooperation resume...So that it will not be necessary to take the kind of action we took today," Gissin said. Palestinians have said the travel bans are tantamount to siege and have called for international protection against what they term Israeli aggression. Israel, on alert for months against bomb attacks in its cities by Islamic militants, has said such measures are dictated by security concerns. Kfar Saba, the city where the two bombs exploded on Saturday, lies adjacent to the border with the West Bank. Police said they suspected Palestinian guerrillas planted the explosives. Further South in Gaza City, a member of the militant Islamic group Hamas, Mohammed Nassar, was killed and another five people were wounded in a blast in his home. Palestinian security forces said it appeared a bomb he was preparing detonated prematurely. A Hamas spokesman accused Israel of assassinating Nassar. (REUTERS) |
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