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| US boycott, Middle East threatens racism meet DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, Aug 27: A huge UN conference on racism that opens in South Africa......more Ershad
hopes to swing DHAKA, Aug 27: Bangladesh’s former military ruler and President Hossain Mohammad Ershad to....more Rival Sri
Lanka COLOMBO, Aug 27: Sri Lanka’s beleaguered Government and the main opposition today set them.......more STOCKHOLM, Aug 27: The winner of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 12........more |
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Bangladesh Awami League announces nomination DHAKA, Aug 27: Bangladesh’s immediate past Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today began formal ........more Musharraf
brings Kashmir issue to fore before ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Ahead of his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in....more US
unmanned WASHINGTON, Aug 27: A US Air Force unmanned reconnaissance aircraft failed to return from....more Nigeria
rescuers KANO, NIGERIA, Aug 27: Rescue workers said today that they feared another 46 bodies still lay....more |
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US boycott, Middle East threatens racism meet DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, Aug 27: A huge UN conference on racism that opens in South Africa next Friday could be derailed by Middle East politics and a US boycott. The build-up to the August 31-September 7 gathering in Durban has seen months of tough negotiations over Arab calls to have Israel labelled a "racist" occupying power in the Palestinian territories. The issue has overshadowed the rest of a lengthy and international agenda, even the debate about reparations for slavery — something far closer to the heart of the host continent. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has warned repeatedly that it will not take part in the world conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance unless the anti-Israeli language in a draft declaration is toned down. "We will not participate in a conference that tries to isolate Israel and denigrates Israel...The fundamental question is whether or not Israel will be treated with respect at the conference," President George W Bush said last Friday. South Africa, still scarred by decades of isolation under its former white-minority Government, has invested heavily in the Durban conference and wants a high-level US delegation led by Secretary of State Colin Powell. But the Washington Post reported on Monday that Powell would not attend because his diplomats had not succeeded in removing anti-Israel language from the program. "There’s too much offensive language in the document for the conference," a senior US official was quoted as saying. "At this point, we don’t think we can get it all out." There was no immediate South African response to the report. African dilomats said they expected the United States to be represented at Durban but with a low-level delegation. Tight security With or without the United States, the UN is expecting 6,000 official delegates from more than 160 countries in the port city of Durban. A further 7,000 people are due at a curtain-raising forum of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and activists starting on Tuesday. Security for the conference will be handled by more than 3,000 personnel from the police, army and intelligence services. Already saddled with a reputation as having one of the world’s highest levels of violent crime, South Africa is taking no risks with the safety of so many VIPs at stake. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Cuban President Fidel Castro and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika are among 20 heads of state expected in Durban. The conference is expected to issue a declaration which will condemn racism and launch an international campaign against discrimination. A separate programme of practical measures that commits Governments to fighting the scourge is also expected. Violence against women, human trafficking and the rights of migrant labourers, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities head the Durban agenda. African-American groups, who have pressed their Governments to attend Durban, are expected to take a high profile at the parallel NGO conference. Heated debate is expected over issues ranging from the Middle East, Chinese rule in Tibet, the Indian caste system to the devastation caused by AIDS across Africa. Middle East dominates Thousands peacefully protested outside the US Embassy in Pretoria this month to denounce Washington’s support for Israel. More than 20,000 Muslim demonstrators also took to the streets of the tourist Mecca of Cape Town to denounce the two states. Language equating zionism — the movement promoting the return of Jews to the biblical land of Israel — with racism has been dropped from draft texts on the table at Durban. But Arab and Islamic states insist the talks address what they call Israel’s racist policies against Palestinians in the occupied territories. Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian authority, may go to Durban, according to a UN spokesman. The UN General Assembly equated zionism with racism in resolutions adopted annually from 1975 until 1991. They were dropped after the 1991 Madrid Middle East peace conference. Attempts by African states to seek reparations for the horrors of more than four centuries of slavery have also raised objections by the United States and by European states who fear that accepting responsibility could trigger a flood of lawsuits. Previous racism conferences, held in 1978 and 1983, were not attended by the United States but succeeded in branding apartheid as a crime against humanity and urged the security council to impose sanctions against white minority-ruled South Africa. (REUTERS) |
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Ershad hopes to swing B’desh Govt poll DHAKA, Aug 27: Bangladesh’s former military ruler and President Hossain Mohammad Ershad today said his Jatiya Party would win enough seats in October’s parliamentary polls to be able to dictate power. "I will seek support from other political parties to form the next Government after October 1 general election," Ershad told reporters as he unveiled his party’s election manifesto. Ershad, 71, will himself not be in the fray after Bangladesh’s High Court stripped him of his membership of Parliament and barred him from contesting polls for five years on grounds of "moral turpitude" for conviction on a graft charge. "My party will secure more than 35 seats," Ershad said, in a reference to the total of 300 seats up for grabs. Political observers expect a closely fought election between the Awami League political party of immediate-past Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of her predecessor Begum Khaleda Zia. The likely outcome would be a hung Parliament in which Jatiya’s support would be crucial for the League or the BNP to form the Government, they said. Ershad, as Army Chief, seized power in a 1982 bloodless coup and ruled Bangladesh for nearly nine years as Martial Law Administrator and President. Deposed in a popular uprising in December 1990 he was jailed for corruption, but contested the 1996 election from jail to become a legislator. The Jatiya party also held 35 seats in the Parliament that ended its five-year term last month, making way for a caretaker Government headed by former Chief Justice Latifur Rahman, to take charge and hold the October polls, as the Constitution requires. Last time Ershad threw his weight behind Hasina. Ershad today said his party would not support strikes, in order to aid the economy and help development, and would refrain from boycotting Parliament to help advance democracy. Ershad also opposed the export of natural gas, Bangladesh’s principal resource, sharing a consensus with other major political parties. "We can export gas only after meeting our own demand for more than 50 years," he said.(REUTERS) |
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Rival Sri Lanka parties set 24-hour deadline COLOMBO, Aug 27: Sri Lanka’s beleaguered Government and the main opposition today set themselves a 24-hour deadline to hammer out a consensus on ending the deepening political crisis, both sides said in a statement. The second round of talks between the ruling People’s Alliance and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) ended without agreement, sources directly involved in the talks said. However, in a one-paragraph statement, they said they agreed to continue a dialogue with a view to concluding the talks by tomorrow. The two parties have been trying to work a way out of the unprecedented political crisis, triggered by the defection of seven legislators to the opposition on June 20 which turned the Government into a minority regime. President Chandrika Kumaratunga shut down Parliament in July until September 7 in a bid to prevent a defeat in a confidence vote. The state-run daily news reported today that Kumaratunga was ready for some kind of an accommodation with the opposition to end the political deadlock. The President said "she is ready to unite with the opposition for one or two years to face the challenges before the country and to solve the problems of the people in deference to the popular wish that the two principal parties should unite," the newspaper said.(AFP) |
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STOCKHOLM, Aug 27: The winner of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 12 in Oslo, capping a weak of Noble Prize announcements marking the 100th anniversary of the prestigious award, the Noble Foundation said here today. The "Noble weak" will begin with the announcement on Monday, October 8 of the winner of the Noble Prize for Physiology or Medicine. That will be followed on Tuesday with the announcement of the Physics prize and on Wednesday with the Chemistry and Economics prizes. A Noble Foundation spokeswoman confirmed that the order and grouping of the prize-winner announcements was being changed this year—they have in the past begun with the Chemistry prize—but could not say why the change was made. The date for announcement of the winner of the Noble Prize for Literature was to be published soon, the foundation said. The winner of this prize has on many occasions in the past been announced on the Thursday of "Noble Weak", the eve of the peace prize announcement. All the Noble Prize are announced and awarded in Stockholm with the exception of the Peace Prize which is announced and awarded in Oslo as stipulated in the will of the Noble Prize founder, Swedish industrialist Alfred Noble. The awards, accompanied by a purse of around one million dollar, are collected at gala ceremonies in two capitals in December.(AFP) |
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Bangladesh Awami League announces nomination DHAKA, Aug 27: Bangladesh’s immediate past Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today began formal campaign for October’s Parliamentary elections by offering prayers at the shrine of a great Muslim saint in north-eastern Sylhet town when nominations of her Awami League party candidature for crucial elections was announced here. Hasina was following a custom that has seen politicians from different parties to launch campaigns at the tomb of the saint Hazrat Shah Jalal in the district town Sylhet, 280 km from here. Her rival and chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Begum Khaleda Zia, also made similar journey to the shrine earlier this month for similar purpose. Former President H M Ershad also did the same thing yesterday. According to the announcement of partys nominations today , Hasina will fight the polls on October 1 from five constituencies, the maximum the constitution allows an individual to stand from. This is for the first time, Hasina will be fighting from five seats spread over in three districts. Besides Hasina, several top leaders of her Awami League will contest from more than one constituency. They included former Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad (3 constituncies). Save two junior minister most of the nearly four-dozen members of hasinas council of ministers who finished their term last month have received party nomination. The party however withheld nomination to seven constituencies probably to accommodate some new ones into the party deserting rival political parties. (PTI) |
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Musharraf brings Kashmir issue
to fore ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Ahead of his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New York next month, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today brought the Kashmir issue to the fore saying he would guarantee there could be no progress in Indo-Pak ties unless it was solved. Pakistani official news agency APP quoted Musharraf as saying that he would meet Vajpayee in New York on September 19 on the sidelines of the UN general assembly session. But officials here later clarified that the Pakistan President would leave for New York on September 19. "We have already extended an invitation to the Indian Prime Minister" and the meeting would take place on September 19 in New York on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, he said addressing the joint session of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) assembly and the Pakistan Government constituted Kashmir Kasncil, at the PoK capital Muzaffarabad, APP said. A day after Vajpayee said in Lucknow that he would meet the Pakistan President in New York next month, Musharraf said "I give this guarantee whether talks take place in Agra, New York or Islamabad one thing is clear that without solution of Kashmir issue, progress in the relations between Pakistan and India is not possible". Gen Musharraf today went hammer and tong on the Kashmir issue asserting that finding a solution to this vexed issue was a priority number one for improvement of relations between the two countries and said it would remain focal point of his future dialogue with Indian leadership. Amid thunderous applause from the PoK legislators, Musharraf declared that "we are ready to discuss everything but Kashmir should be the first priority." Strongly dispelling that Indian allegation that he was unifocal and rigid, he said he never stated that he would not discuss issues other than Kashmir with India. "What I have stated is that we should prioritise the issues and Kashmir should be the first priority", he said. "I hope better sense will prevail across the border in India to make efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue", he said. Stating that Vajpayee’s acceptance of his invitation for a meeting at New York as silver lining, he said "I am willing to meet Vajpayee. I have no personal ego. I do not believe in protocol and would not mind to invite Vajpayee for a meeting in New York." "We should not bog down in such trivial issues when we are confronted with much bigger issues. There are more positive signs from India in this regard though the dates for these visits (to Islamabad) have not been fixed", he said. (PTI) |
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US unmanned reconnaissance aircraft lost over Iraq WASHINGTON, Aug 27: A US Air Force unmanned reconnaissance aircraft failed to return from a mission over southern Iraq an apparently was shot down by Iraqi air defence forces, a US official said today. "All of our manned aircraft are accounted for," said army Maj Timothy Blair, a Pentagon spokesman. He would not confirm the loss, but two defence officials said a Predator unmanned aircraft was missing and believed lost on a mission near the heavily defended city of Basra. One US official said operators of the Predator lost the communications signal from the aircraft and were not immediately sure why. The first word came from Baghdad. "Iraqi air defences have shot an American reconnaissance plane coming from Kuwaiti territory," the official Iraqi news agency quoted an unidentified military spokesman as saying. The plane, according to the news agency, contained "high-tech equipment" and was shot down near Basra, 547 kilometers south of Baghdad. The Iraqi news agency did not further specify the type of plane or say anything about any pilots aboard. There were no picture immediately on Iraqi television. Also US planes attacked a SA-3 surface-to-air missile site in northern Iraq today, a US official said. The attack was in response to an Iraqi provocation, which the official did not describe. The United States has lost Predator reconnaissance planes to hostile fire before, mainly in the Balkans, but rarely if ever over Iraq. (AP) |
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Nigeria rescuers fear 46 bodies lie in sunken bus KANO, NIGERIA, Aug 27: Rescue workers said today that they feared another 46 bodies still lay in the wreckage of a bus that plunged into a river near Kano in northern Nigeria after a tyre burst. Five new bodies, including that of the bus driver, were recovered today, bringing the number of confirmed dead from Sunday’s disaster to 15. The bus was travelling from the commercial capital Lagos to Kano yesterday when it veered into a river in Ciromawa district, 50 km (30 miles) east of Kano. Police said the bus lost control after its front tyre burst. "From my understanding, about 46 bodies are still in the river," a fire services official told Reuters at the scene. "We cannot do much now because we need a crane to lift the bus out of the river." The head of police rescue operations said the river’s current may have pulled some of the bodies out of the wreckage. "We believe strongly that some of the victims must have been carried away by the water — going by the figures being given by the various survivors as to the number of passengers in the vehicle," said the officer who identified himself as A Francis. "We are putting together a team of local divers to go searching for the bodies." Twenty people survived the crash and were treated in hospital in Kano. Some of the survivors stood by the river’s edge on Monday looking for missing family members and friends. (REUTERS) |
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