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It was dog’s day STOCKHOLM, July 25: A Swedish bullterrier swallowed 1,000 Crowns (94 dollars) but returned the money, almost unspoiled, to its mistress the natural way, the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter has reported.......more Man’s
best friend TEL AVIV, July 25: Israeli police checking a complaint of loud barking emerging from a flat in Tel Aviv discovered that for some people, a dog is not only man’s best friend, but a good drinking....more LTTE
attack leaves COLOMBO, July 25: Sri Lanka’s deadlocked peace process lies in ruins after LTTE guerrillas inflicted a severe blow on the country’s economy, .....more |
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China expels US academic after spy conviction BEIJING, July 25: China today expelled Chinese-born American academic Li Shaomin after he was convicted of spying.......more 37 hours after airport COLOMBO, July 25: Nearly 37 hours after LTTE cadres struck at the Bandaranaike International......more Maoist guerrilla chief KATHMANDU, July 25: The elusive leader of Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas today claimed they have....more Formation of KATHMANDU, July 25: Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has delayed announcing.......more |
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It
was dog’s day STOCKHOLM, July 25: A Swedish bullterrier swallowed 1,000 Crowns (94 dollars) but returned the money, almost unspoiled, to its mistress the natural way, the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter has reported. The six-year old bitch Tassilla gobbled up two 500-crown bills. The first bill emerged the next morning, smelly but undamaged, followed by the second during an evening walk. "They (the bills) are slightly yellow and I think I’ll iron them," mistress Gunilla Gonon-Sabelstrom was quoted as saying. (REUTERS) |
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Man’s best friend can’t hold his alcohol TEL AVIV, July 25: Israeli police checking a complaint of loud barking emerging from a flat in Tel Aviv discovered that for some people, a dog is not only man’s best friend, but a good drinking companion as well. Locating the flat from which the barking was coming, the police found a drunk city resident, and - to their consternation - his equally drunk dog, Israel Army Radio reported yesterday. Only after the resident sobered up did the full story emerge. Having found the dog in the street on Monday night, washed it and fed it, he decided to invite his new chum to join him in a glass -or several - of vodka. The man was released after being investigated, while his four-footed friend was taken to a veterinary hospital, the Radio said. The dog’s condition was described as "good", the Radio said. (DPA) |
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LTTE attack leaves peace process in tatters COLOMBO, July 25: Sri Lanka’s deadlocked peace process lies in ruins after LTTE guerrillas inflicted a severe blow on the country’s economy, tourism potential and air power with an audacious suicide strike on its main military airbase and only international airport yesterday. The Government was quick to accuse the LTTE of carrying out the attack to destroy prospects of peace and disrupt "constitutional processes," while the media, both State-controlled and anti-Government, too, joined the Government in undermining peace initiatives. "Throughout its history of armed action, the LTTE has attempted to seriously damage or destroy the economy, push back the country’s development and disrupt constitutional processes not to its liking. The attack on the international airport is yet another example of this policy," an official statement said after an emergency cabinet meeting last night. "The capacity of the Air Force to defend Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity remains unimpaired," it said, adding the LTTE’s "savagery" could be seen in its attack on civilian aircraft parked in the airport. Even though it was clear that there was no way of pushing forward the peace initiative, sought to be brokered by Norway since early last year, the Government had been maintaining that the process had not been called off. It holds the view that Norway had been asked to continue its facilitation efforts even after the LTTE surprised the Government in May with a demand that the ban on its functioning be removed prior to any peace talks. However, the LTTE and moderate Tamil political parties have been alleging that the Government was seeking to undermine the process - initially by refusing to reciprocate the four-month unilateral ceasefire announced by the LTTE from December last and then launching ‘operation Agni Kheila’ in the last week of April. Subsequently, the Government earned the LTTE’s wrath by ‘downgrading’ the role of Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim, rejecting the fresh pre-condition that the organisation should be deproscribed and going in for aerial strikes two weeks ago on suspected LTTE bases. However, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar announced that the Norwegians were still very much in the picture and they had a four-member team headed by their Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johanssen and including Solheim to continue the peace facilitation efforts. The airport offensive by the Tigers marks the end of their self-imposed moratorium on attacks in the South since the November 1, 2000, meeting between LTTE leader V Prabhakaran and Solheim during which Prabhakaran said he was ready for talks. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress called for a fresh peace push by beginning talks with all concerned. It said the main cause for the LTTE’s attack on the air base was "the Government’s lack of enthusiasm" in pursuing the Oslo-backed peace process "for petty party gains". The party, which triggered Sri Lanka’s present political and constitutional crisis by pulling out of the people’s alliance regime and reducing it to a minority in Parliament, is the first to link the LTTE attack to the Government’s attitude towards peace efforts. The two main opposition parties - the United National Party and Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna - used the occasion to state their demand that the prorogued Parliament be convened again and next month’s referendum called by President Chandrika Kumaratunga be cancelled. Opposition leader and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe accused Kumaratunga of failing to protect key installations because she was concentrating on plans to defeat political protests against her actions. The JVP also said the Government had nowhere to hide and could not run away from the crisis by accusing the opposition. It was apparently referring to insinuations by a Minister that the LTTE infiltrators could have taken advantage of last week’s opposition rally that was teargassed and dispersed by the Government. "If there is lawlessness and anarchy in the country, it is only because the president has shut down Parliament and called for an illegal referendum," the JVP said. The August 21 non-binding referendum on whether the country needed a new constitution should be cancelled and Parliament summoned immediately, it said. "The attack reinforces the widespread conviction that the Tigers are least interested in peace. (And) Establishes their distaste for a negotiated political settlement," the state-owned `Daily News’ said in an editorial. The daily also called for fresh initiatives of peace. The anti-Government ‘Island’ daily said Sri Lanka was once again in a desperate situation, mainly due to the confrontationist and aggressive politics of the people’s alliance and the UNP. (PTI) |
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China expels US academic after spy conviction BEIJING, July 25: China today expelled Chinese-born American academic Li Shaomin after he was convicted of spying for Taiwan while a Chinese court handed down over 10-year sentences to two other US-based scholars on similar charges. Li, an American citizen was put on a United Airlines flight bound for San Francisco, Chinese Foreign Ministry sources said. Li was convicted of spying for Taiwan by a Beijing court on July 14. However, the court did not sentence him and ordered he be expelled from China. He was detained February 25 after he entered China to visit a friend. The deporting of Li, a business professor at city university in Hong Kong, is an apparent attempt to improve Sino-US relations, ahead of the official visit by US Secretary of State, Colin Powell from July 28. However, a Beijing court yesterday sentenced two US permanent residents, Gao Zhan and Qin Guangguang on espionage charges. Gao, a sociologist at American University in Washington DC and still a Chinese citizen, is accused of helping Li gather intelligence for Taiwan. "Both collected intelligence for spy agencies in Taiwan, causing a serious threat to China’s national security," the official Xinhua news agency said last night. Qu Wei, a Chinese scholar, was also was sentenced yesterday to 13 years in jail. Qu provided secrets and intelligence to Gao and Li, the report said. According to Western media reports, Gao has applied for medical parole after her conviction, a way China has used in the past to expel convicted dissidents. Meanwhile in Hanoi, US Secretary of State Collin Powell avoided inflamming a row sparked after the US-based scholars were sentenced for spying ahead of his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister. Powell said he was "very pleased" that China had today finally deported US academic Li Shaomin. US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in Washington that US was pressing the Chinese Government "at every level" to free Gao. There was no report on three other similar cases involving US citizen Qu Jianming and permanent US residents Liu Yaping and Teng Chunyan. "We remain concerned about the cases of other permanent residents as well, and we urge the Chinese to resolve all of these cases rapidly," Xinhua quoted Reeker as saying. New York-based human rights watch today denounced the trial and conviction of Gao Khan. "This case was a miscarriage of justice from the beginning," said Saman Zia-Zarifi, Academic Freedom director for human rights watch. "The basis for the charges was unclear, the supposed confession was almost certainly made under duress, and the outcome was preordained," the rights organisation said in a press release. (PTI) |
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37 hours after airport strike,
flight operations COLOMBO, July 25: Nearly 37 hours after LTTE cadres struck at the Bandaranaike International Airport here forcing its closure, flight operations resumed this evening with a Sri Lankan Airlines aircraft from Chennai touching down at 1700 hrs. The first flight to land was UL 679 carrying 160 passengers from Sydney, that had been diverted to Chennai yesterday. The only international airport of the island nation was shut down at 0400 hrs yesterday after Tamil Tigers launched a devastating attack on it and the nearby Air Force base, destroying six airbuses parked at the tarmac and eight military aircraft. A Sri Lankan Airlines official said four more flights that had been diverted to Chennai yesterday, would be landing in another four hours. Air traffic resumed after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation gave his nod after inspecting the tarmac today. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Airlines announced the departure schedule for Frankfurt, Paris, London and Zurich starting late tonight. However, no foreign airlines have started operations to Colombo. "It will take a day or to for them to assess the situation and resume operations," an official said. The Indian Airlines flight scheduled to depart from Chennai to Colombo has cancelled its operations today. It will now start from tomorrow. The airport was re-opened yesterday and employees reported for work. The attack has cost the Government half its defence budget. The monetary loss caused by the destruction of 14 aircraft is estimated at about 350 million dollars. A Sri Lankan airlines flight from Thiruvananthapuram is expected to touch down at 1800 hrs. The Sri Lankan Airlines said it was working out an operational plan based on available aircraft. Six of the 12 aircraft owned by Sri Lankan Airlines were destroyed in yesterday’s terrorist attack. Over 500 tourists are believed stranded in Colombo as nearly 40 flights were cancelled yesterday. Several incoming flights had either been cancelled or diverted to Dubai, Maldives, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. (UNI) |
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Maoist guerrilla chief says
revolution set to KATHMANDU, July 25: The elusive leader of Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas today claimed they have formed a cartel of South Asian militant groups, and his rebels were inching toward success in transforming this Himalayan kingdom into a Communist Republic. "The people’s revolution shall be completed very soon, not in the remote future," the Maoist supreme leader, Prachanda, told the Associated Press in a rare interview. Prachanda, whose name means "fierce" in Nepali, sent written replies to questions that were delivered to his mountain base in Nepal’s midwest. He heads thousands of guerrillas fighting a five-year violent campaign in Nepal. "Our dream is to turn this tiny but great country situated in the lap of the world’s greatest peak, Mount Everest, into a model country in a few years," he said. The rebel leader on Monday announced a temporary cease-fire, responding to the new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s request to end violence, but remained defiant on his demands. The guerrilla chief said he was bringing together different rebel groups in South Asia who are fighting Government forces in the irrespective countries. "Nine rebel groups from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are already part of the movement," said Neemkant Pandey, a Leftist newspaper editor and a Kathmandu-based friend of Prachanda. Representatives of these groups met in April in Nepal, he said. "A coordination committee has also been formed as an organisation at the South Asia level," Prachanda said. "This is a decision of far-reaching importance." He did not name the groups. The Maoist insurgency has claimed more than 1,700 lives and the rebels have carried out killings in 58 of Nepal’s 73 districts. They have an influence across the country, including areas close to the capital, Kathmandu. In the interview, Prachanda said he had been approached for peace negotiations by King Birendra, Nepal’s popular constitutional monarch, before he was assassinated June 1 with nine others in a grisly palace massacre that authorities said was committed by the crown prince. "About one month before his murder, he had sent a message of his will to meet us, through his youngest brother, Dhirendra Shah," Prachanda said. "We had a direct meeting with Dhirendra Shah only. A plan to hold a meeting with the late King Birendra was being worked out but it could not materialize due to his murder." Prachanda called King Birendra a "liberal feudal" and said the Maoist campaign had made a plan for the future of the monarch, although they were fighting to end the monarchy. "Sometimes we would think that when the Maoist movement would be developed, he may be asked, at a point, to play the role of the then Cambodian Prince (Norodom) Sihanouk in Nepal," the rebel leader said. The Maoist truce came a day after guerrillas killed 17 policemen in a single attack. The guerrillas still hold 69 policemen they took hostage on July 12 in their stronghold Rolpa district, 350 km west of Kathmandu. (AP) |
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Formation of new Nepal Govt delayed again KATHMANDU, July 25: Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has delayed announcing the members of his Cabinet by a further 24 hours, officials said today. Deuba, who was appointed Prime Minister Sunday, had been due to announce his new ministers on Monday, but has changed his mind twice and is now expected to reveal his ministers tomorrow. Originally Deuba had delayed after astrologers advised him that Wednesday would be an auspicious day to name his Government. But the further delay has given Deuba more time to select appropriate people for the new Cabinet, a highly placed source close to the Prime Minister said. "Deuba has not been able to make a final selection of his ministers by allocating them the portfolios that suit them," the source said . Deuba’s secretary, Ratan Iyer, said the oath taking ceremony for the new Government would take place tomorrow. King Gyanendra appointed Deuba as the new Prime Minister after the ruling Nepali Congress party voted for him to become its new Parliamentary leader, automatically making him the new Prime Minister-designate. He took over the reins from Girija Prasad Koirala, who last week was forced to stand down by MPs from his Nepali Congress (NC) party amid mounting criticism of his handling of a five-year Maoist rebellion that has claimed more than 1,700 lives. (AFP) |
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