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children of Afghanistan NEW DELHI, Nov 4: Battered in body and soul, children in Afghanistan have emerged as the worst.....more Egypt
dismisses Laden DAMASCUS, Nov 4: The head of the 22-nation Arab League today dismissed an appeal by Osama bin Laden to Muslims to join a holy war.......more US
not disclosing ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: Pakistan has said the United States is not taking it into confidence regarding the military operational plans in. .....more Indo-French
naval MUMBAI, Nov 4: The Navies of India and France will conduct their longest-ever joint exercise between November 8 and 11, aiming at providing ....more |
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Egypt dismisses Laden DAMASCUS, Nov 4: The head of the 22-nation Arab League today dismissed an appeal by Osama bin Laden to Muslims to join a holy war......more Pak Christians worship under cover of guns QUETTA (PAKISTAN), Nov 4: Pakistan’s small Christian community went to church today but it was no ordinary day of worship.......more Musharraf
and ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who arrived here on a brief visit this afternoon, held talks with President Pervez ....more Power
outage darkens MANILA, Nov 4: A massive power blackout plunged the main Philippine island of Luzon, home to 40 million people, into darkness today, disrupting communication and traffic and prompting a flurry of official denials of an impending coup........more |
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Few tears for children of Afghanistan NEW DELHI, Nov 4: Battered in body and soul, children in Afghanistan have emerged as the worst sufferers of the two decades of conflict, three years of drought and now the US strikes that the country is facing for not turning over a ‘terrorist-mastermind’. According to reports of international humanitarian agencies working in war-ravaged region, nearly four lakh children of a population of 20 million have died as direct victims in the last 20 years and a vast majority of those who are alive are disabled due to landmines or UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) strewn across the country. One-third of Afghanistan’s landmine victims are estimated to be children, according to UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). It also noted that every three hours, a child was blown up as a result of more than 10 million landmines planted all over the country. Apart from being directly injured in the cross fighting of warring factions, many children have lost the security of homes or parents and been forced to take up odd-jobs for survival, said Gracha Machel, expert to UN Secretary General on impact of armed conflict on the children of Afghanistan. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in its latest estimates said four million people have fled the country but the number of internally displaced people could be around 7.5 million. Media reports put the number of street children in the country at 35,000, 7,000 more than the 28,000 unhcr had counted four years ago. According to Ross Mountain, UN Head of Humanitarian Co-ordination in Geneva "the UN had been supporting five million Afghans inside the country after decades of war and three years of severe drought...Under the worst conditions the number of people inside the country in need of UN aid could increase by 50 per cent to 7.5 million. "Many of those already at risk are women and children with a fragile grip on survival. The onset of winter would further worsen the conditions for them," mountain is reported to have said recently. UNICEF maintains that more than a quarter of the Afghan babies do not see their fifth birthday. Afghanistan, according to the state of the world’s children report, has the fourth worst record in under five child mortality, the Infant mortality rate being 152 per 1000 live births. Machel who conducted a detailed survey to study the impact of conflict on Afghan children in 1997, interviewed nearly 500 children across the country to come across heart-breaking testimonies that spoke of childhoods sacrificed to displacement and insecurity, and of lost opportunities in education to earn livelihoods for survival. (PTI) |
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Egypt dismisses Laden appeal, Syria blasts US DAMASCUS, Nov 4: The head of the 22-nation Arab League today dismissed an appeal by Osama bin Laden to Muslims to join a holy war against the West, saying the Saudi militant did not speak for the world’s Arabs and Muslims. Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, also dismissed the appeal and said the world was united in the war against terrorism. "There is a war between bin Laden and the whole world," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher told reporters ahead of a meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers in Syria when asked about bin Laden’s appeal. Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, himself Foreign Minister of Egypt before taking up the post Arab League post earlier this year, echoed Maher’s comments, saying: "Bin Laden doesn’t speak in the name of Arabs and Muslims". But Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara, in his address to the opening session of the meeting of the ministers, blasted the United States for its "unlimited" support to Israel. Bin Laden, in his strongest appeal to date, urged the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims yesterday to join him in a religious war against "infidel" Christians and Jews. He said in a videotaped statement that Arab leaders who supported the US-led war against Afghanistan were traitors. The White House said bin Laden’s appeal showed his isolation from the rest of the world. But Syria launched its own verbal broadside against the United States. Shara, apparently responding to international pressure on Damascus to restrain anti-Israeli Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas, told ministers Washington had no right to brand countries and groups as "terrorist" without evidence. "Other than Israel, the last one who has a right to accuse others of terrorism, especially without proof and for political reasons, is the United States because it gives Israel unlimited support," said Shara. Syria is on Washington’s list of terrorist states and hosts or backs groups branded by the United States as "terrorist". "It is a shame for any country in the world to see with its own eyes what Israel is doing and accuse those Palestinians or Lebanese who defend their land while they suffering under occupation, of terrorism," Shara said. "We are the most capable side to define terrorism in our countries and we don’t accept that others define it for us." (REUTERS) |
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US not disclosing military plans in Afghanistan: Pak ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: Pakistan has said the United States is not taking it into confidence regarding the military operational plans in Afghanistan, ‘The News’ reported today. The newspaper quoted military spokesperson Major General Rashid Qureshi as saying that there was no change in the situation. "The United States was not disclosing details of its operational and tactical plans to Pakistan." However, he said, there was a continuous exchange of views between the two sides and I am sure these things come up for discussions in the exchanges. Responding to a question about anthrax in Pakistan, Gen Qureshi said the specimens of anthrax were sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) for further evaluation. However, the two people, which were exposed to anthrax have not developed any disease, he said. To another query, Qureshi agreed there was an offer from the United States to train Pakistani experts in the field of nuclear safety, but there has been no decision to send experts to America for training. (UNI) |
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Indo-French naval exercises to begin on Nov 8 MUMBAI, Nov 4: The Navies of India and France will conduct their longest-ever joint exercise between November 8 and 11, aiming at providing a fresh impetus to operational co-operation. The exercise — having the codename varuna — is yet another step in co-operation after the international fleet review here in February. "The exercise will enhance tactical co-operation between the navies," Indian Navy spokesperson Commander R Madhusoodanan told UNI here. Four French warships will arrive at this island city tomorrow and remain anchored here until November 13. The four vessels — command and support ship le var, support ship bougainville and frigates commandant l’herminier and courbet — will exercise with Indian warships INS Gomti, INS Godavari and INS Ranvir. Senior officials of the French navy, led by Rear Admiral Laurent Merer, Flag Officer Commanding of the French forces in the Indian ocean, will call on Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, here tomorrow morning. This is the sixth major exercise between the navies. They conducted their first bilateral exercise here in May, 1993. INS Godavari and INS Khukri participated in the second exercise four years later.(UNI) |
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Egypt dismisses Laden appeal, Syria blasts US DAMASCUS, Nov 4: The head of the 22-nation Arab League today dismissed an appeal by Osama bin Laden to Muslims to join a holy war against the West, saying the Saudi militant did not speak for the world’s Arabs and Muslims. Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, also dismissed the appeal and said the world was united in the war against terrorism. "There is a war between bin Laden and the whole world," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher told reporters ahead of a meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers in Syria when asked about bin Laden’s appeal. Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, himself Foreign Minister of Egypt before taking up the post Arab League post earlier this year, echoed Maher’s comments, saying: "Bin Laden doesn’t speak in the name of Arabs and Muslims". But Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara, in his address to the opening session of the meeting of the ministers, blasted the United States for its "unlimited" support to Israel. Bin Laden, in his strongest appeal to date, urged the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims yesterday to join him in a religious war against "infidel" Christians and Jews. He said in a videotaped statement that Arab leaders who supported the US-led war against Afghanistan were traitors. The White House said bin Laden’s appeal showed his isolation from the rest of the world. But Syria launched its own verbal broadside against the United States. Shara, apparently responding to international pressure on Damascus to restrain anti-Israeli Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas, told ministers Washington had no right to brand countries and groups as "terrorist" without evidence. "Other than Israel, the last one who has a right to accuse others of terrorism, especially without proof and for political reasons, is the United States because it gives Israel unlimited support," said Shara. Syria is on Washington’s list of terrorist states and hosts or backs groups branded by the United States as "terrorist". "It is a shame for any country in the world to see with its own eyes what Israel is doing and accuse those Palestinians or Lebanese who defend their land while they suffering under occupation, of terrorism," Shara said. "We are the most capable side to define terrorism in our countries and we don’t accept that others define it for us." (REUTERS) |
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Pak Christians worship under cover of guns QUETTA (PAKISTAN), Nov 4: Pakistan’s small Christian community went to church today but it was no ordinary day of worship. A week after gunmen stormed a church in the southern town of Bahawalpur and killed 15 Christians and a police officer, Sunday services around the Muslim nation were carried out under heavy police guard. As the bell tolled from the Bethel Memorial Methodist church in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, just 120 km from Afghanistan, police watched over the arriving congregation and protected children attending Sunday school. "People are very fearing," said reverend Samuel Rattna, speaking in halting English. "But we cannot do anything. We don’t have any guns to fight them. We can only trust in god." Christians who make up between one and two percent of Pakistan’s 140 million population - a disdained minority considered the lowest class - had feared they would become easy targets for Muslim rage after the start of the U.S-led bombing of Afghanistan on October 7. Those fears appeared to have been borne out on October 28 when church-goers were sprayed with automatic rifle fire by gunmen shouting that Pakistan and Afghanistan would be a graveyard for Christians. "These Taliban and the supporters of Afghanistan, they are really fanatics. So there is a bit of tension over here too. But still the Government is protecting us," said Sangeeta Jennifer, a worshipper. Twelve-year-old Deborah Arthur, leading around 20 small children singing and clapping to hymns at Sunday school, said more students normally attended. "There are very few today because maybe their parents did not allow them to come," she said. The church is surrounded by a high wall, shielding it from the mosques and bearded tribesmen outside. Four police officers armed with kalashnikov rifles guard the main gate. Another two are posted at a smaller entrance to the rear of the compound and several others patrol the grounds. The congregation arrived slowly, but gradually the hymns sung in Urdu became a full-throated roar, accompanied by an organ and the beat of wood-and-skin tabla drums. There are three main Christian churches in Quetta, a dusty and wild frontier town where conservative Islam holds sway and where many of the fighters of Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban militia are trained in Madrassas, or religious schools. Apart from the methodist church, attended by around 200 people on Sunday, the town has a Catholic and a pentecostal church. Reverend Rattna estimated there are up to 20,000 Christians in the southwestern desert province of Baluchistan, but concrete figures are hard to come by. The bethel church is a simple brick hall with a bell tower. The only opulence inside is a shiny silver cross and a fake crystal chandelier. The floor is plain concrete and the walls painted cream. "Let us pray for the country, pray for our own lives," the priest urged the congregation. "Let us pray for the Bahawalpur victims, the people who died and the families who suffered this disaster, for all the families who are in sorrow." Sub-Inspector of police Shabbir Hussain said all the churches in Pakistan had extra security now. "It doesn’t matter what religion you are, the people who come here are innocent," Hussain told Reuters. "If anyone tries to do anything to these people, we will tear them apart like lamb meat."(REUTERS) |
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Musharraf and Rumsfeld hold talks ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who arrived here on a brief visit this afternoon, held talks with President Pervez Musharraf on the current situation in Afghanistan. Mr Rumsfeld also discussed plans to achieve objectives, including the next move of launching ground assault on Afghanistan after a massive four-week pounding of Taliban positions. Gen Musharraf conveyed his country’s desire to call for a halt in the bombing campaign during the holy month of Ramazan. He reiterated the need to cut short the attacks and avoid civilian casualties. After his meeting with the President, the US Defence Secretary met Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. Mr Rumsfeld, on a consultation visit to five countries, leaves for New Delhi later tonight. (UNI) |
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Power outage darkens biggest Philippines island MANILA, Nov 4: A massive power blackout plunged the main Philippine island of Luzon, home to 40 million people, into darkness today, disrupting communication and traffic and prompting a flurry of official denials of an impending coup. Much of the island remained without power more than five hours later, with no word on when it would be restored. "There is no reason to panic. This is just a technical failure...Everything is under control," Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes told major radio stations after emergency power brought them back on the air. "We checked all our commanders around the country. Nothing unusual is happening...They are on heightened alert. Everything from the security point of view is normal," he said. "This talk of a coup that is going on is not true." The blackout hit the capital Manila and the rest of Luzon three hours after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left for Brunei for a summit of southeast Asian leaders, and followed newspaper reports that army officers were planning a putsch. Reyes said he had informed Arroyo, who had landed in Brunei, of the power breakdown. (REUTERS) |
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