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Powell might not last NEW YORK, July 25: A string of internal policy differences and defeats have set off speculation that US Secretary ....more Asteroid
may hit earth, LONDON, July 25: A massive asteroid could hit earth in just 17 years’ time.......more Pak defends ISLAMABAD, July 25: Pakistan today said India’s decision to lift the ban on the use.......more ARD not to fight ISLAMABAD, July 25: The constituents of the Alliance for Restoration of.......more |
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Musharraf hints at finalising constitutional changes ISLAMABAD, July 25: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today indicated that he will enact some of his controversial proposed constitutional amendments before a civilian Parliament is restored in October. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless 1999 coup, said in a debate on national radio today that "essential and immediate amendments will be finalized soon"......more Prosecutors to seek NEW YORK, July 25: Federal prosecutors plan to seek the indictments of two former officers of Worldcom Inc. for their suspected roles in the massive financial wrongdoing at the bankrupt telecommunications giant, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Government also is likely to seek the indictment of former chief executive Bernard Ebbers......more |
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Powell might not last through Bush’s term due to differences NEW YORK, July 25: A string of internal policy differences and defeats have set off speculation that US Secretary of State Colin Powell might not last through President George W Bush’s term. Tensions with the White House and Pentagon hawks that Powell has long sought to minimize are no longer possible to disguise, the New York Times reported. In public, the paper says powell, the four-star-general-turned-diplomat, has done what he always does: soldier on, shaping his commander’s policies as best he can from within, with some success. In private, Secretary Powell, an amateur automotive mechanic, complains that old friends spend too much time sympathetically taking his temperature - "dip-sticking me," as he puts it, the times said. With the possible exception of the moment in the mid-70’s when Henry A Kissinger was both Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, internal tensions and threatened resignations over foreign policy have been more the rule than the exception in the modern white house, the report said. But veteran diplomats say the current disagreements are the worst since the days when Secretary Powell’s mentor, Defense Secretary Caspar W Weinberger, feuded with Secretary of State George P Shultz in the Reagan administration. As one of the world’s most admired celebrities for more than a decade, with approval ratings that rival Bush’s, Powell has special status - and singular political value - in a Republican administration supposedly eager to demonstrate its commitment to compassionate conservatism, it said. But almost from the beginning, he has found himself at odds with many of his more hard-line colleagues and the President himself on the handling of foreign policy, whether over Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto Treaty on global warming or the President’s lumping of Iran, Iraq and North Korea into a global "axis of evil," the report said. In each case, Powell embraced the President’s position as his own, doing his best to justify the administration’s view to often-critical allies around the world. Even when he has initially embraced a position at variance with the administration’s ultimate policy - regarding the international family planning issue, for example - Secretary Powell’s sense of discipline, loyalty and discretion means that he never shows his true feelings publicly, according to aides and close friends. Powell’s approach to almost all issues - foreign or domestic - is pragmatic and non-ideological, the times says. He is internationalist, multilateralist and moderate. He has supported abortion rights and affirmative action and is a Republican, many supporters say, in no small measure because Republican officials mentored and promoted him for years. Secretary powell has won victories on points of principle that he felt deeply, persuading the administration that the Geneva conventions governed the handling of captured Taliban fighters, even if they were not granted status as prisoners of war, and arguing successfully that a new arms reduction agreement with Russia should take the form of a treaty ratified by the senate. But more often, he has been forced to "pick up the pieces and go on," one longtime Powell associate was quoted as saying after Bush announced his new mideast policy. "He’s the one who now has to put it all together and make it work." (PTI) |
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Asteroid may hit earth, but don’t panic: Expert LONDON, July 25: A massive asteroid could hit earth in just 17 years’ time, destroying life as we know it, a British space expert said. The asteroid — the most threatening object ever detected in space — is two km wide and apparently on a direct collision course with earth. "Objects of this size only hit the earth every one or two million years," said Dr Benny Peiser, an asteroid expert at Liverpool John Moore’s University in Northern England yesterday. "In the worst case scenario, a disaster of this size would be global in its extent, would create a meltdown of our economic and social life, and would reduce us to dark age conditions," he told newsmen. But Peiser and other space experts say they are pretty confident this nightmare scenario will not come about. "This thing is the highest threat that has been catalogued, but the scale in terms of the threat keeps changing," said Peter Bond, spokesman for the Royal Astronomical Society. "If it did hit the earth it would cause a continental-size explosion...But it is a fairly remote possibility." The Asteroid — named 2002 NT7 — was first detected earlier this month by the United States linear sky survey programme. Since then, Peiser said scientists at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) near-earth objects team and at Pisa University in Italy have carried out orbit calculations to work out the probability and potential date of impact to define the risk it poses. "The impact probability is below one in a million, but because the first impact date is so early — only 17 years from now — and the object is very large, it’s been rated on the impact risk palermo scale as a positive," Peiser said. "It is the first object which has ever hit a positive rating." Scientists warn, however, that the risk rating has not been reviewed by the International Astronomical Union, which is the main international body responsible for announcing such risks. Peiser said 2002 NT7 would continue to be monitored by space experts across the world, and that over time, these observations would probably erase the threat posed by it. "In all likelihood, in a couple of months additional observations will eliminate this object from the list of potential impacts," he said. "I am very confident that additional observations over time will...Show that it is actually not on a collision course with earth." But he warned that the world should take this as wake-up call and set about preparing for the reality of an asteroid hit in the future. "Sooner or later — and no one can really tell us which it will be — we will find an object that is on a collision course. That is as certain as "amen" in church. And eventually we will have to deflect an object from its collision course," he said. At the moment, he added, scientists fear it could take at least 30 years for the world to be able to devise and set up a mission to deal with such a threat — a timescale which would be woefully inadequate if the 2019 strike were to happen. (AGENCIES) |
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Pak defends Musharraf’s
decision not to ISLAMABAD, July 25: Pakistan today said India’s decision to lift the ban on the use of its airspace for Pakistani aircraft was "meaningless" unless it withdrew its forces from the border and made it clear that President Musharraf would not fly over India enroute to Bangladesh later this week. "Lifting embargo from Pakistan to use Indian airspace is meaningless until there is withdrawal of forces, deployed at the front line on Pakistani borders," spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told reporters in Islamabad. "President General Pervez Musharraf has rightly decided not to use Indian airspace while travelling to Bangladesh," he said. Khan rejected latest remarks made by the Indian External Affairs Ministry that Musharraf’s decision not to use Indian airspace showed that Pakistan is not interested in normalising bilateral relations. "Why should we use Indian airspace when the troops are deployed at the common border, threatening peace and stability of the region," he asked. The Pakistani spokesman said India’s "cosmetic" measures could not help end tension at the common border. "We have taken several practical measures to normalise our relations with India and above all on several occasions we had offered New Delhi to hold talks anytime and anywhere," he said. "As India had moved its troops at the border, so it should pull back its troops," Khan said. He reiterated Pakistani stance that talks between the two countries are the necessity for resolving all the issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI) |
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Musharraf hints at finalising constitutional changes ISLAMABAD, July 25: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today indicated that he will enact some of his controversial proposed constitutional amendments before a civilian Parliament is restored in October. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless 1999 coup, said in a debate on national radio today that "essential and immediate amendments will be finalized soon". The rest will be left to the future Parliament to debate, he said. The proposals have drawn outrage from political parties, lawyers, activists and observers, with the most fervent criticism directed at the cementing of a military role in Pakistan’s public affairs. The centrepiece of Musharraf’s proposals is the establishment of an 11-seat National Security Council, which would be empowered to sack the elected Prime Minister and senate without dissolving Parliament. The Army, Navy, and Air Force chiefs and the head of the armed forces’ joint chiefs of staff would sit on the council, and Musharraf, who is army chief, would also lead it. The proposals also give the President the power to appoint the Prime Minister and armed forces chiefs. Critics say the amendments are a "mutilation" of the 29 -year-old constitution, and drastically alter Pakistan’s Parliamentary style of Government by turning it into a Presidential system. (AFP0 |
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Musharraf hints at finalising constitutional changes ISLAMABAD, July 25: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today indicated that he will enact some of his controversial proposed constitutional amendments before a civilian Parliament is restored in October. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless 1999 coup, said in a debate on national radio today that "essential and immediate amendments will be finalized soon". The rest will be left to the future Parliament to debate, he said. The proposals have drawn outrage from political parties, lawyers, activists and observers, with the most fervent criticism directed at the cementing of a military role in Pakistan’s public affairs. The centrepiece of Musharraf’s proposals is the establishment of an 11-seat National Security Council, which would be empowered to sack the elected Prime Minister and senate without dissolving Parliament. The Army, Navy, and Air Force chiefs and the head of the armed forces’ joint chiefs of staff would sit on the council, and Musharraf, who is army chief, would also lead it. The proposals also give the President the power to appoint the Prime Minister and armed forces chiefs. Critics say the amendments are a "mutilation" of the 29 -year-old constitution, and drastically alter Pakistan’s Parliamentary style of Government by turning it into a Presidential system. (AFP0 |
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Prosecutors to seek charges
against NEW YORK, July 25: Federal prosecutors plan to seek the indictments of two former officers of Worldcom Inc. for their suspected roles in the massive financial wrongdoing at the bankrupt telecommunications giant, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Government also is likely to seek the indictment of former chief executive Bernard Ebbers, the journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Federal prosecutors set a deadline of next Wednesday to file indictments against dismissed chief financial officer scott sullivan and former Controller David Myers, the sources told the newspap ER. They said prosecutors are seeking myers’ and Sullivan’s cooperation to produce evidence against Ebbers, who resigned two months before the company admitted it inflated earnings by nearly dlrs 4 billion. Worldcom also could be indicted as a corporation under a plan being considered by the Justice Department, the newspaper reported. A conviction of the long-distance phone company could drive it out of business and hurt consumers and creditors. Worldcom spokesman Brad Burns told the newspaper that indicting the company would be "flatly inconsistent with what federal prosecutors have communicated directly to us." The Justice Department declined comment today. Ebbers’ attorney, Reid Weingarten, did not immediately return a message left today by the Associated Press. Myers’ attorney could not immediately be located by the AP for comment. Sullivan’s attorney declined to comment, the newspaper said. The securities and exchange commission, citing "accounting improprieties of unprecedented magnitude," filed civil fraud charges last month against worldcom. (AP) |
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