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Bin Laden on video WASHINGTON, Dec 12: "He laughs. He smiles. He marvels at the destruction and death," a US Senator who has seen a videotape of Osama....more Taliban
executions KABUL, Dec 12: If it weren’t for the spent cartridge cases lying by the football pitch in Kabul stadium, you might never suspect that only this..more Nepal
receives KATHMANDU, Dec 12: India has donated two helicopters and arms to help Nepal’s Government crush a Maoist insurgency.....more |
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‘Cases are fabricated DHAKA, Dec 12: Former Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina, who has been charged with two corruption cases involving . ....more Cabinet
swearing marred COLOMBO, Dec 12: LTTE today staged major attacks against Army troops and police, killing at least 16 people on the eve of a new cabinet of ministers ........more Nepal
seeks global KATHMANDU, Dec 12: Nepal said today it needed financial support from international donors to fund its battle against Maoist rebels trying to . ....more |
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Bin Laden on video ‘marvels’ at attack: US Senator WASHINGTON, Dec 12: "He laughs. He smiles. He marvels at the destruction and death," a US Senator who has seen a videotape of Osama bin Laden discussing the September 11 attack said. Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois democrat who saw the video as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it showed Bin Laden recounting the September 11 attacks in "casual, chatty conversation." US officials say the videotape, found in Afghanistan, was shot at a dinner in November where Bin Laden was retelling his experience on the day of the attacks. Durbin said Bin Laden heard about the first hijacked plane crashing into New York’s World Trade Center on the radio at his mountain headquarters and urged those around him to wait because "there will be more." "And then he laughs again as he describes the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center," Durbin said in a statement. US officials and members of Congress said the videotape left little doubt that Bin Laden was linked to the plot in which four hijacked planes crashed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. A senior administration official said he expected the pentagon to release the tape, probably today. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a media briefing he would not leap to judgment about the videotape until he had seen multiple translations and connected words with gestures. Durbin and another US official said Bin Laden mentioned Mohamed Atta, suspected of hijacking the first plane that struck the twin towers, as being the leader of the group. On the 40-minute homemade tape Bin Laden also expressed amusement that some of the hijackers did not know they were on suicide missions, officials said. Bin Laden, in an earlier interview, welcomed the attacks but denied involvement. The multi-millionaire son of a Saudi construction magnate said with the knowledge from his father’s business he was surprised both towers collapsed, Durbin said. "If there are any doubters left in the world, this tape is clear evidence of Osama bin Laden’s guilt in the September 11 terrorism," Durbin said. More than one non-Government translation of the Arabic-language videotape was required "so that no one would even think of suggesting that it was anything other than as accurate as it could be," Rumsfeld said. He ruled out the possibility of the tape being a fake or staged. He said it was important to connect the words with the body language. "Now, that’s hard to do if you don’t understand the language. So I’m disinclined to leap to a judgment about it, although I am very proud that I was not the person being taped saying what he (Bin Laden) said," Rumsfeld said. Sen. Richard Shelby, Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said "I believe the tape shows overwhelmingly, without any doubt, that Osama bin Laden is guilty of those crimes." The Alabama Republican said the video showed Bin Laden and his audience were "overjoyed by what happened on September 11" through their words and gestures. (REUTERS) |
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Taliban executions haunt Kabul stadium KABUL, Dec 12: If it weren’t for the spent cartridge cases lying by the football pitch in Kabul stadium, you might never suspect that only this summer it was the site of public mutilations and executions by the Taliban militia. Offenders from robbers and murderers to alleged female adulterers met the same fate on the centre spot and between the goalposts. "I fortunately witnessed it only once," said Zabiullah, a clerk at the Education Ministry. "I came to watch a game and suddenly some Taliban soldiers announced it was cancelled and began clearing the far banks of seats so no spectators would be injured. Then they shot someone in the back of the head." It could happen on any day, including Fridays, the holiest day of the week for moslems. "They would read a few versus of the Koran before starting," said another visitor to the dilapidated stadium, where rival teams now play league matches in the afternoon sun without fear of such abominations. Typically there would be up to three condemned prisoners at a time, shot or hanged, while others might have a hand cut off. Sometimes members of the aggrieved person’s family were allowed to carry out the sentence. Another spectator of this week’s match between Afghan first-division teams sabaon and piyam was Mohammed Arum, a member of the national football team for the past four years. The 18-year-old recalls arriving at the stadium to play a club match and being told to come back the next day because Shariah - Islamic justice - was being administered on the pitch. "The next day I was drained, having spent all night thinking about how these executed people have families," said Arum. "And needless to say the quality of my game suffered when I did get to play." Animated discussion in the stands about this chapter of the stadium’s history reveal another dark page of the story. Prior announcements were made about some sentences to be carried out, and throngs of people would turn out specifically to watch. In the militant Islamic Society of the Taliban, where leisure activities from music to kite-flying were banned, football was curiously allowed to continue. Players just had to keep their legs and arms covered and grow mandatory beards. As for the spectators, any clapping would get you thrown out of the stadium and possibly beaten up by Taliban guards. The allowance of soccer might seem a concession to keep the populace pacified. But Arum attributes it to the Taliban’s simple greed for ticket revenues. While club games prospered, scant attention was paid to the national squad, such was the country’s isolation after the Taliban swept to power in 1996. Training was piecemeal and Arum was instead forced to get a job as a road worker to help support his family. His dream now is to see peace in the country, then more home tournaments, rigorous training and tours abroad. Others like Zabiullah, the clerk, are just happy to have their stadium back. (DPA) |
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Nepal receives 2 copters from India to crack down on Maoists KATHMANDU, Dec 12: India has donated two helicopters and arms to help Nepal’s Government crush a Maoist insurgency, Indian Embassy sources said today. The two five-seater Cheetah helicopters, which were built in Bangalore under a license from a French company and used by the Indian Army, arrived in Nepal yesterday, the sources said. The helicopters are fitted for machine guns and are expected to be used to transport soldiers to the Maoists’ northwestern strongholds, they said. The Army has had difficulty using land routes to reach some of the rebel-dominated areas of the mountain kingdom, with the Maoists either planting landmines or ambushing troops. The Maoists — who are estimated to have 8,000 guerrillas, about half of them trained — broke a four-month ceasefire with the Government November 24 and resumed their armed campaign to topple Nepal’s constitutional monarchy. Two days later King Gyanendra for the first time deployed Nepal’s 60,000-strong Army against the Maoists. Until then the Government countered the insurgency only with its police force, which has about 50,000 members. Indian Embassy sources here said New Delhi has also sent to Nepal "a couple of trucks" with arms and ammunition. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee late last month told King Gyanendra by telephone that his Government would provide Nepal "whatever assistance was required" to combat the Maoists, officials in New Delhi said. (AFP) |
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‘Cases are fabricated to harass me’: Sheikh Hasina DHAKA, Dec 12: Former Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina, who has been charged with two corruption cases involving 702 crore taka, has said the cases against her were "fabricated" to harass her and her former cabinet colleagues. Ms Hasina, who is now in Miami, USA, told BBC last night that about a dozen cases were filed before noon yesterday against her and some cabinet members. "People would understand that it is motivated from the fact that so many cases were filed in a single day," she pointed out. Responding to corruption allegations in the purchase of eight MiG-29S, she said when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in the opposition, it had filed a case in the High Court on the issue, and the matter was scrutinized by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence. "Now we will face it in the court because I know I have worked with honesty. We will fight it legally, but it is clear that the cases were filed to harass us," Ms Hasina said. The former Prime Minister said had her Government indulged in corruption, the country would not have gained GDP of 6.6 per cent and kept inflation at 1.59 per cent. Ms Hasina alleged that after coming to power, the BNP-Jamaat coalition Government was not only harassing al but everybody. The Government has sacked many Government officers on political grounds, she further said. Acting Al President and former Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad said this is "a manifestation of political vendetta and a tactics to subdue the political opponents". He said the Government was trying to divert public attention as it had failed to cope with the real problems at hand. Mr Azad recalled that the corruption cases had been filed against Khaleda Zia and her cabinet colleagues, but those cases were being quashed after BNP returned to power. The Awami League Government had filed two corruption cases against Khaleda Zia allegedly for receiving kickbacks in the purchase of two airbuses and renovating her private house while in power from 1991-96. Yesterday, the Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed a dozen of corruption cases in different police stations in Dhaka against ex-PM Sheikh Hasina, six of her cabinet colleagues including former Home and Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Nasim, Works and Civil Aviation Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain. Besides, around 40 former and serving civil and military bureaucrats, including former Air Chief Air Vice Marshal Jamaluddin, former Principal Secretary S A Samad, former Defence Secretary and Incumbent Comptroller and Auditor General Syed Yusuf Hossain, former Home Secretary and Incumbent Election Commissioner Shafiur Rahman, were implicated in the cases. (UNI) |
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Cabinet swearing marred by LTTE attacks, toll 16 COLOMBO, Dec 12: LTTE today staged major attacks against Army troops and police, killing at least 16 people on the eve of a new cabinet of ministers being sworn in, defence officials said. LTTE rebels fired 120 mm mortar bombs at the Pahala Toppur Army base in the northeastern district of Trincomalee in a bid to overrun the camp, officials said. Defence Ministry spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said security forces beat back the pre-dawn rebel assault by killing at least six guerrillas. Three soldiers were also killed and 20 of them wounded. "Troop reinforcements were able to repulse the attack and take back a bunker line that the terrorists occupied briefly," Karunaratne said. Security forces captured four automatic rifles used by the attackers. In a simultaneous attack, LTTE struck Valachhenai Police Station in the adjoining Batticaloa district. Six constables and a civilian employee of the nearby telecommunications exchange were killed. Another 11 were wounded in the attack against the police, when the guerrillas set ablaze the police station. The guerrillas also destroyed the local telephone exchange at Valachchenai. The twin attacks came even as a new Government headed by the United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was preparing to swear in cabinet after talks with arch political rival President Chandrika Kumaratunga. (PTI) |
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Nepal seeks global aid to fight Maoist rebels KATHMANDU, Dec 12: Nepal said today it needed financial support from international donors to fund its battle against Maoist rebels trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in the Himalayan Kingdom. "We are doing the home work for the exact amounts but we have already sounded our requirements for support to donors," Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat told Reuters. Nepal declared a state of emergency last month and ordered its Army to crush rebels of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) after they pulled out of four-month-old peace talks and launched a string of deadly attacks on security posts. The rebels, who derive their inspiration from Peru’s shining path guerrillas, are campaigning to set up a one-party communist republic in the world’s only Hindu Kingdom. Mahat said Nepal, among the poorest nations in the world, had to divert about four billion Nepali rupees to fight the guerrillas from funds earmarked for development projects in villages. Over 80 per cent of Nepal’s 23 million people live in villages. Nearly half of all Nepalis live on a daily wage of less than a dollar and western donors provide over 60 per cent of the cost of economic development projects in the country. In July, Nepal allocated 14.22 billion Nepali rupees for defence and the police for 2001/02 (mid-July to mid-July), an increase of over 68 per cent from 8.42 billion a year ago. Mahat said the additional burden on defence would further widen the budget deficit that stood at 4.7 per cent of the gross domestic product in 1999/2000, the latest year for which figures are available. Hit by the September 11 hijack attacks on the United States, a key buyer of Nepali garments, export growth in 2001/02 could fall below last year’s rate of 14.9 percent, officials said. The Maoist insurgency has hit tourism, a major source of income after exports and foreign aid. "All this will definitely force the economic growth rate down from last year’s level of six percent," Mahat said. Key donors to Nepal, including the United States, Britain, Japan, India and China, have backed the Government crackdown on the rebels and promised support. But diplomats said they were concerned about possible human rights violations by troops. More than 320 people have been killed in the fresh upsurge of violence in Nepal, where the rebellion has claimed 2,100 lives since early 1996. (REUTERS) |
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