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Bush jokes with journalists about cloning Cheney WASHINGTON, Mar 25: President George W Bush capped an annual dinner with Washington’s top journalists yesterday by joking that he was.....more Debates over Iraq centre stage before Arab summit AMMAN, Mar 25: Arab Foreign Ministers hammering out an agenda for a leaders summit later this week set up a committee yesterday to try to ..more Chinese blast suspect driven by hatred: Police BEIJING, Mar 25: The captured suspect behind a string of explosions that killed 108 people in the Chinese city of Shijiazhuang acted alone and was......more Pak
ready to talk with GENEVA, Mar 25: Faced with isolation, Pakistan has moderated its position by presenting a five-point agenda for resumption of.....more |
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LTTE supremo’s
children COLOMBO, Mar 25: The children of LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran have passed their high school examination with distinction grade in most of the.....more Britian
sets up LONDON, Mar 25: Britain has set up a high-level crisis management committee which will meet daily as part of stepped-up efforts to tackle the......more Military
regime asks ISLAMABAD, Mar 25: Pakistan’s military regime has asked the National Accountability Bureau .....more US
says remaining WASHINGTON, Mar 24: The United States has said the sanctions imposed on Indian after the 1998 ....more |
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Bush jokes with journalists about cloning Cheney WASHINGTON, Mar 25: President George W Bush capped an annual dinner with Washington’s top journalists yesterday by joking that he was trying to clone Vice President Dick Cheney so he could take the next four years off. Clad in a white tie and stylish tuxedo, Bush engaged in a round of self-deprecating humor at the 116th Annual Gridiron Club dinner last evening, telling veteran Washington writers he feared his staff was picking up on jokes about his lack of intelligence. Every morning, he quipped, the first item on his schedule was an "intelligence briefing." The President said democratic power broker Robert Strauss had given him some valuable advice on that score — "you can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you need to concentrate on." But Bush insisted he was no dummy and said he had, in fact, just completed mapping the human genome. "My goal is to clone another Dick Cheney, that way I won’t have to do anything," he told the journalists, who host the dinner each year to "singe but not burn" the President and his cabinet with a series of skits and songs. The President acknowledged his tendency to mangle the english language in his speeches, saying, "You know that foot and mouth disease rampant in Europe? I’ve got it." Cheney and other top Bush officials also attended the dinner, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, whom Bush said he called, "El Taco Grande." Bush ribbed Ashcroft for his reserved demeanor, contrasting the former Missouri Senator to Bush’s own wild days when he was in college. "He’s a good man, a little straight-laced — not the kind of guy I hung out with in college, if you know what i mean." Former Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut, was the featured democratic speaker, but he stuttered when he tried to address cheney: "Good evening, Mr. President, Mr. V... V... V... For some reason, I am still having trouble getting that title in front of your name," he told Cheney, seated at a nearby table. "Maybe I should just address you the way the President does — ‘good evening, sir."’ Ashcroft also got a few laughs when he rejected the perception that Bush is sloughing off and insisted the Bush White House was committed to working, "24/7 — 24 hours a week, seven months a year." He also mentioned a new directive from the White House instructing Cabinet Secretaries to plan to visit all 54 US States. (There are only 50 US states.) The drawn-out 2000 Presidential election prompted numerous jokes throughout the evening, with Bush telling consumer activist and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader that the recent media-sponsored recounts of Presidential ballots in Florida had clearly identified nader as the winner. Ashcroft said the election results sent a strong message to democrat Al Gore and Lieberman: "People were clearly tired of peace and prosperity," he said. The dinner menu also came in the shape of a butterfly — a not so subtle reference to the so-called butterfly ballots that were among those contested in Florida. (REUTERS) |
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Debates over Iraq centre stage before Arab summit AMMAN, Mar 25: Arab Foreign Ministers hammering out an agenda for a leaders summit later this week set up a committee yesterday to try to patch up differences between Iraq and its arch foes in the Gulf over the stance to be adopted regarding UN sanctions on Baghdad. The Foreign Ministers of the 22-member Arab League are holding two days of meetings to outline plans to resolve political and economic problems facing them. Heads of state will meet Tuesday in what Jordan calls the summit of "accord and agreement." The summit, expected to discuss a range of political issues and plans for economic integration, has become divisive, with some countries choosing sides on Iraq and key leaders staying away from the meeting altogether. Arab diplomats participating in the Foreign Ministers’ meeting yesterday said the participants forged a "goodwill committee" to try to narrow differences between Iraq and Kuwait after delegates from the two countries objected to the wording of a draft communique prepared by the Arab league. The ministers did not return to evening meetings as planned, instead holding six hours of bilateral discussions and shuttling between Iraq on one side and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait without reaching any compromise, diplomats said. In an apparent attempt to outmaneouver the ministers, the Iraqis reiterated their position, then left the mediators to continue their contacts alone in an effort to reach a compromise. The goodwill committee is expected to offer a vaguely worded compromise that will express sympathy for the plight of Iraqis but remain noncommittal on support for lifting the sanctions, dependent on Iraq’s compliance with its international obligations. In Iraq, state-run television announced that President Saddam Hussein will send the Arab leaders "an important and historica message" with his delegation to the summit. Earlier in the day, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu-Ragheb, who will lead Jordan’s delegation to the summit, was blunt on Iraq saying Arabs must pressure the international community to lift the sanctions. Saudi Arabia announced earlier this week that its Defence Minister would attend the summit of leaders instead of crown Prince Abdullah, who fills in as head of state for his ailing brother king Fahd. (AP) |
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Chinese blast suspect driven by hatred: Police BEIJING, Mar 25: The captured suspect behind a string of explosions that killed 108 people in the Chinese city of Shijiazhuang acted alone and was driven by personal hatreds, Xinhua news agency reported today. Each of the four dormitories blown up by Jin Ruchao was connected to people he held grudges against, including his ex-wife, stepmother, sister and former neighbours, Xinhua reported, quoting police interrogators in the Northern city. A week before the blasts on March 16 he travelled to the Southern province of Yunnan and killed a former live-in lover who had stolen 600 yuan (72.50 dollars ) from him, Xinhua said. Jin’s sister told police he had a long fascination with dynamite and taught himself how to make it at home, the official news agency said. The convicted rapist, said to be deaf, was picked up in the Southern beach resort of Beihai last Friday after a nationwide manhunt in which a bounty of 150,000 yuan was put on his head. The speed with which police have released details of their investigation appears to indicate a desire by authorities to lay to rest a widespread belief that the blasts were somehow linked to deep-seated problems in Chinese society, including high unemployment, corruption and gangs. Many residents of Shijiazhuang, a depressed centre of China’s cotton manufacturing industry, doubt one person could have planned and executed a series of coordinated explosions that went off within an hour of each other just before dawn. Rumours have been swirling around the city that laid-off workers were to blame. Others suspect the blasts were linked to feuding between gangsters and city officials over the corrupt spoils from state enterprises being sold off amid industrial restructuring. "Judging from what Jin has confessed and the evidence the police collected at the venue of the crime, the conclusion can be drawn that Jin Ruchao is totally responsible for the fatal explosions," Xinhua quoted police as saying. The official death toll is 108, with 38 injured, but unofficial estimates go much higher. Xinhua said Jin, 41, once lived in a five-storey dormitory flattened in the blasts and feuded with a neighbouring family. He had threatened several times to kill the family by blowing up the building owned by the number 3 cotton mill. Other damaged blocks housed Jin’s stepmother, his ex-wife and her husband and the parents of his ex-wife, Xinhua said. An apartment in a two-storey block had been previously owned by Jin’s mother, but was sold by Jin’s sister, Xinhua said. Jin was unhappy because he had only received 10,000 yuan from the proceeds, the agency said. When Jin was captured police discovered the Id card of his murdered girlfriend, Wei Zhihua, a divorce certificate and some dynamite in his bag, Xinhua said. He confessed he bought the dynamite and smuggled it to Shijiazhuang after the murder and told police interrogators how he planned the explosions, Xinhua said. State television showed pictures of Jin last Friday looking relaxed and smiling in a grey shirt and brown trousers as police in camouflage uniforms bundled him into a car in Beihai. The explosions sparked fears around China over public safety and alarmed senior leaders already worried over social breakdown amid wrenching industrial reform in Chinese cities. China immediately launched a nationwide crackdown on the use of explosives, which are widely available and frequently used by ethnic separatists, blackmailers, criminal gangs, robbers, and even jilted lovers. (REUTERS) |
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Pak ready to talk with
India, any time, GENEVA, Mar 25: Faced with isolation, Pakistan has moderated its position by presenting a five-point agenda for resumption of dialogue with New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir issue bilaterally and peacefully. Speaking on the 57th session of the commission on human rights yesterday, Pakistan’s Law Minister Shahida Jamil agreed for talks with india "at any time, anywhere and at any level" to end acrimony between the two countries. This was contrary to the remarks made by Mr Munir Akram, permanent representative of Pakistan at the United Nations, that dialogue and cease-fire were fruitless and meaningless exercises. Mrs Jamil listed steps taken by her country for the resumption of normal ties with India, including exercising minimum restraint along the Line of Control (LoC). The minister said Pakistan was ready for a "bilateral, trilateral or a parallel" dialogue with India together with the Kashmiri representatives. The minister said Pakistan had also invited Kashmiri leaders to visit Islamabad for consultations for a comprehensive dialogue. The Indian representatives have made it clear that they were always ready for dialogue provided conducive conditions were created for it. Pakistan must stop its support to cross-border terrorism to enable two countries to resume dialogue which got scuttled due to Islamabad’s misadventure in Kargil, they opined. It was unfortunate that terrorism in Kashmir was being aided, abetted and financed by Pakistan, they said. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had gone to Pakistan in January 1999 and his visit was followed by aggression in Kargil, the Indian representatives said. Mrs Shahida admitted that Pakistan’s socio-economic problems had intensified by the fallout of the prolonged conflict in Afghanistan. "Pakistan hosts more than two million Afghan refugees giving rise to religious extremism both across our borders and within our society," she said. The Pakistan minister said there has been an inflow of arms into Pakistan. Two provided scope for escalating terrorist violence and lawlessness in various parts of the world. While defending Talibans, she said "the Talibans are a reality. They exercise control over 90 per cent of the country." She said the Afghan population is now on the edge of an abyss from which there will be no recovery. Two years of drought and many years of war, have culminated in a may be human tragedy. The minister said there had been an inflow of arms into Pakistan. This provided scope for escalating terrorist violence and lawlessness in various parts of the world. While defending the Taliban militia, she said: "The Taliban is a reality. They control over 90 per cent of the country". "It is necessary for Pakistan and the international community to remain engaged with the Taliban Government to achieve peace and eradicate terrorism besides combating the menace of drug trafficking." She said the Afghan population was now on the edge of an abyss from where there will be no recovery. Two years of drought and many years of war had culminated in a major human tragedy. "This will have more serious repercussions on Pakistan. It is unfair to expect Pakistan to bear the whole responsibility of Afghanistan," she said. (UNI) |
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LTTE supremo’s children excel in school exams COLOMBO, Mar 25: The children of LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran have passed their high school examination with distinction grade in most of the subjects, media reported today. But Sri Lanka’s educational authorities are wondering whether the two kids had taken the December 2000 examination under proper supervision in an LTTE-controlled northern district. State-owned newspapers published details of the grades obtained by Charles Antony, named after an LTTE war hero, and Dwaraha in the ordinary level school examination. ‘The Sunday Observer’ and Tamil daily ‘Thinakaran’ said only two questions papers for English literature, a subject in which both have scored ‘CF (merit pass) had been sent to kilinochchi district and the papers were taken away from the examination centre to a secret location. "This makes us wonder whether they had actually sat for the exams under regular supervision. There’s no way of ascertaining this," educational authorities were quoted as saying. They said facilities for teaching English literature in the district were "very poor" in that area. Antony obtained distinction in 10 subjects and a merit pass in one, while Dwaraha’s grades were similar in the subjects, besides a ‘DF’ in Bharathanatyam (both theory and practicals). Department officials, who probed the poor student turnout for the examinations, also found that only students who showed certificates for ‘war training’ in LTTE camps were allowed to take the exams in the rebel-controlled Vanni region. The Government had issued a statement two months ago confirming that the two children had taken the examinations at an undisclosed centre, but fulminated against Prabhakaran for conscripting school children to fight the war while his own children were allowed to pursue their education. (PTI) |
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Britian sets up committee to tackle foot-and-mouth disease LONDON, Mar 25: Britain has set up a high-level crisis management committee which will meet daily as part of stepped-up efforts to tackle the spreading foot-and-mouth epidemic, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman said today. The Cobra Crisis Committee, assembled only at times of national emergency, was re-formed last week and will meet in the Government cabinet office every day, chaired by Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, he said. "Officials from different Government departments will be meeting daily in the cabinet office to talk through the issues on foot-and-mouth," the spokesman said. The committee last met during Britain’s fuel crisis in September last year, when petrol pumps ran dry because of refinery blockades by fuel price protesters. A new sense of urgency in the battle against the highly contagious disease has gripped British leaders since scientific advisers said the epidemic could spread with dramatic speed and half the country’s livestock might have to be slaughtered. Prime Minister Tony Blair left the European Union summit early yesterday to put his personal stamp on efforts to tackle the crisis. Blair flew home from Stockholm as his EU partners were still crafting a communique which expressed confidence that measures being taken would eradicate the disease, now affecting Ireland, France and the Netherlands despite frantic efforts to build a firewall against it. The Dutch Agriculture Ministry confirmed a fourth case of foot-and-mouth on Saturday, just south of three other cases. France reported late on Friday that it had discovered a second case on a farm near Paris. In Britain, where the number of confirmed cases has reached 560, the Government said its diagnosis, slaughter and incineration process had speeded up, after warnings that delays could cause the loss of half the nation’s 62 million livestock. The Defence Ministry said a six-strong Army logistics team had moved into the Agriculture Ministry to coordinate efforts to combat the disease. Some 200 troops were deployed last week to organise the slaughter and disposal of livestock in the worst affected areas. "This is to make sure that as soon as we identify the disease we’re immediately slaughtering the animals and taking the actions necessary in the surrounding areas," Blair said between talks with farmers’ leaders in Devon. Britain has destroyed some 300,000 animals since the outbreak began just over a month ago. Ireland, which has also called in the Army to help contain the crisis, is also culling thousands of animals. EU veterinary experts authorised limited use of vaccines to help the Netherlands fight foot-and-mouth disease but a widespread inoculation policy was ruled out. The Dutch outbreak has been traced to animals that travelled from ireland through mayenne, northwest France, where the first continental case of the disease was found. "They still have a link to mayenne. It means that we can still trace back every case to France," Ministry spokesman Bruno Bruggink said. There were no further details on the latest dutch case at the town of Nijbroek. The communique demonstrated that German-led calls for more environmentally friendly farming methods were now broadly accepted by all EU leaders. The British epidemic has led to bans on livestock movement, closed much of the countryside to the public and brought the lucrative tourism industry to its knees. Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said it was now taking about 12 hours from the time a case was confirmed to the slaughter of the animals involved. Media reports had suggested that previously it took double that time. The Government’s Chief Scientist, Professor David King, warned on Friday that "if we proceed as we are at the moment, the epidemic is out of control, and in the worst case scenario out of control means that we might even lose 50 percent of the livestock of great Britain," he told BBC radio. (REUTERS) |
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Military
regime asks NAB to go slow on ISLAMABAD, Mar 25: Pakistan’s military regime has asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to slow down enquiries against some top Army officials involved in the alleged questionable defence deals worth billion of dollars, a media report said here. Weekly newspaper "The Friday Times" quoting a NAB official said "those against whom inquiries have been shelved include three ex-Army Chiefs, two Naval Chiefs and an Air Chief." The newspaper said barely a month after Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool took over as the new NAB Chief, his brief was not to pursue any corruption allegations involving serving or retired military officials. Inquiries into at least six defence deals pertaining to purchases of Tanks, Submarines, Naval Mine Hunters, Mirage Fighter Aircraft, Army Jeeps were subsequently shelved, the newspaper said. According to one estimate, the national exchequer has lost up to one billion dollar in the form of alleged kickbacks and commissions obtained in these contracts. The newspaper said documents held by NAB also provide extensive clues about corrupt practices in the army welfare trust, Shaheen Foundation, Bharia Foundation and Defence Housing Authority. The Weekly said "interestingly, many of these documents were actually in the possession of the former Ehtesab bureau headed by Saif-ur-Rehman, the jailed confidant of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif." "Saif had been collecting documents and other information about the property and assets of top military officers," the newspaper quoted an insider of nab as saying. NAB sources said that one Lt General was posted as corps commander of Multan when he was preparing to take action against some of the serving and retired officials in shady defence deals. "But some powerful officials in the military establishment were not happy the way the Corps Commander was trying to highlight the cases of shady defence deals. They thought the scandal would tarnish the image of the armed forces," the newspaper said. The alleged shady deals include one billion dollar for three Agosta 90b submarines, 120 million dollar for old mirages, 500 million dollar for T-80ud Ukranian Tanks, 70 million dollar for type-21 British Ships, 40 million dollar for Military Helicopters, a navy deal to purchase Mine-Sweepers, a PAF deal for the purchase of F-7 aircraft spares and an Army deal to purchase 7.62 mm rifles. (PTI) |
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US says remaining sanctions against India under review WASHINGTON, Mar 24: The United States has said the sanctions imposed on Indian after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests are still under review, but has not given a timeframe when these would be lifted to facilitate full-fledged cooperation between the two countries. The entire issue of sanctions, including the ones imposed on India, would be reviewed, Secretary of State Colin Powell told India’s new Ambassador Lalit Mansingh. Mr Powell, however, did say when the issue would be decided. "We briefly touched upon the issue of US sanctions against India," Mr Mansingh told reporters today after a thirty-minute meeting with the Secretary of State. He said he put forth India’s viewpoint that continuance of sanctions came in the way of full-fledged relations between the two countries, especially in science and technology. Mr Mansingh recalled the commitment given by Mr Powell on lifting of the remaining sanctions against India during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr Powell had then said that he would review all sanctions, especially those against India, to see whether it was time to move forward and remove the remaining one. Mr Mansingh said Mr Powell reiterated the Bush administration’s policy to expand bilateral relations and that he himself was committed to that process. The Secretary of State said he was keenly looking forward to External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s visit to Washington on April six and that he would discuss the whole range of bilateral relations with the Indian Minister, Mr Mansingh said. Mr Powell will host a lunch in honour of Mr Jaswant Singh, also holding the charge of Defence Ministry. The visiting dignitary is scheduled to meet Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice during his two-day visit. The new Indian Ambassador said there were no plans at the moment for the External Affairs Minister to call on President Bush. Mr Mansingh said he extended an invitation to Mr Powell to visit India at the earliest, adding he was confident on the visit materialising in due course. The Secretary, Mr Mansingh added, pointed out he had paid a brief visit to India in 1998. Mr Mansingh said he assured the Secretary of State of India’s commitment for achieving the goals and objectives identified by the two countries. Reiterating that India and the United States were "natural allies," the Ambassador touched upon several areas of bilateral cooperation agreed to in the vision statement and elaborated in the dialogue agenda. Mr Jaswant Singh would kick start the dialogue process which would be followed by high-level visits from both sides, the Ambassador said. Describing the meeting as "extremely cordial," he said Mr Powell was gracious and expansive during the discussions. Mr Ted Andrews, Desk Officer in the State Department dealing with India, and Mr Alok Prasad, Deputy Chief of Indian Mission here, were present during the talks. (UNI) |
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