Bin Laden’s fifth wife and her father held in Yemen

LONDON, Nov 3: Osama bin Laden’s fifth and favourite wife, Amal Al-Sadah, has been arrested after a gun battle at her father’s compound in Yemen, media reports said here today.

Amal Al-Sadah, who is in her early twenties, has been placed under house arrest and questioned by the Yemeni authorities. Her father and brother have also been detained, the Sunday Times reported.

Quoting Arab diplomats, the report said, the shooting broke out at the family home in Ibb, South of the capital Sana’a, when security forces arrived last month.

Amal fled the American bombing of Afghanistan last year with her young daughter Safia under a meticulous plan worked out by bin Laden to protect his three wives who were in Afghanistan at the time.

According to the report, one of bin Laden’s sons took Amal and her child from a house in the city of Kandahar, in Southern Afghanistan, to hide them, initially in caves. She was then smuggled across borders, first into Pakistan and then, earlier this year, to Yemen.

Bin Laden reportedly told her that she had to leave their home in Kandahar, and that she would not hear from him "for a long time."

She escaped from her hiding place in Southern Afghanistan ,only to find herself closely guarded under house arrest in her father’s compound.

According to Yemeni sources, her father and brother have been taken into custody, at least partly because of American pressure to obtain information about the fugitive Al-Qaeda leader and his web of international connections.

In a bitter will and testament that emerged last week, bin Laden asked his wives not to marry again. He also asked his sons not to follow him into Al-Qaeda, the report said quoting Arabic magazine Al-Majallah.

Amal, who married bin Laden when she was still a teenager is said to have been his favourite wife.

One of the other wives is understood to be travelling possibly in Iran, a second, the daughter of a senior Taliban, may still be in Afghanistan. The remaining wife, Najua Ghanem is in Saudi Arabia with her three children.

Bin Laden, 45, has married five times in all but is divorced from one wife, who is also from Saudi Arabia. He is thought to have more than 20 children.

Amal’s father, who is a tribal patriarch in Yemen, is presumed to have had connections with bin Laden - he gave her away to the Al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan and said at the time that he was "proud" to do so.

Sources in Yemen said her brother had gone to fight with Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and it was he who had suggested the match. (PTI)

Seven NRI’s in Britain’s list of top 500 earners

LONDON, Nov 3: A 36-year old NRI London-based tour operator, one of the few people who made money from the dotcom boom, tops the list of seven non-resident Indians who have earned the distinction of featuring in the Sunday Times list of Britain’s top 500 money earners.

Raj Kumar, managing director of destination group founded founded in 1986, sold his company last June to lastminute.Com, in a deal that netted him about 4 million pounds in cash. He is 183 in the list of 500.

Another NRI, Rana Talwar, who received benefits and pension-fund payments of 3.2 million pounds after he was forced to quit as group chief executive of standard chartered bank, comes next at 232nd position.

Husband and wife team of Ranjit Boparan (2.765 million pounds) and Baljinder Boparan (2.5 million pounds) also find places in the list. They are partners in Boparan holdings, the chicken processor, which made 12 million pounds profit on 227.7 million pounds sales in the year to the end of july 2001.

According to the list Ranjit is the highest paid director, with a 265,000 pounds salary. Baljinder earned 2.5 million pounds in dividends.

Other NRIs figuring in the August list are Gurchait Chima and his brother Gurnaik Chima. Starting out on market stalls in Huddersfield, the brothers built up Bon Marche holdings, the women’s fashion chain, into a multi-million-pound business.

They sold it in july to retailer peacocks for 51.3 million pounds, netting 9.5 million pounds each in cash.

Manish Chande along with British national Martin Myers, property entrepreneurs, each took a 4.1 million pounds dividends from Mychand Holdings, the company they set up, after it made an enormous 23.5 million pounds profit in the year to March 2001.

Also figuring in the list is England soccer captain David Beckham, the highest-earning footballer in Britain by far. His 15.5 million pounds over the year puts him above the queen who earned 15.2 million pounds.

According to the report, the thrones on which Beckham sat with posh spice at their wedding were not quite so misplaced after all.

The jump from last year is due in no small part to a modest raise at Old Trafford: the three-year 20 million pounds deal signed in May, backdated to August 2001, lifted his weekly wage to 90,000 pounds (4.68 million pounds a year) and made him the biggest earner in British football along with Roy Keane (6.93 million pounds).

But Beckham eclipsed keane with his off-field earnings. Adidas pays him 3 million pounds a year to wear its predator boots; rage software 1 million pounds for lending his name to computer games; police, 4.7 million dollars (3 million pounds) over three years for wearing its shades: brylcream, 1 million pounds a year, marks and spencer has given him a 1 million pounds a year deal to help design and endorse its dbo7 children’s clothes. (PTI)

Pak anti-military, Islamic parties agree coalition

ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Anti-military parties today said they had agreed to go into coalition with right-wing Muslims to form Pakistan’s first civilian Government in three years.

Since elections last month, supporters and opponents of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf have wooed a group of conservative Muslim lawmakers, the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) with 59 seats, to win a majority in the 342-seat Parliament.

Nawabzada Nasrullah, the head of the anti-military Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), said his group would back MMA head Maulana Fazlur Rehman as Prime Minister.

"We have reached an agreement with the MMA to form the Government," Mr Nasrullah told reuters.

"We are in full agreement, including the ARD’s support for Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s election as Prime Minister. A formal announcement will be made any time soon."

The ARD includes the Pakistan People’s Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League faction of another ex-Premier, Nawaz Sharif.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Mr Nasrullah had been authorised to negotiate a coalition.

"If the Nawabzada says the ARD has reached an agreement with the MMA, that is the way it is," he said. "Mr Nasrullah was asked to mediate with all the parties involved so that some consensus could be reached."

Tehmina Daultana, vice president of Sharif’s party, said the former Prime Minister approved Mr Rehman’s bid for the premiership.

"All the members of the ARD and indeed the MMA are united on one simple platform: We are all democratic forces and we would all like to see democracy restored," she said. Mr Rehman yesterday told Reuters the MMA would be in a position to form a coalition with a simple majority with the main ard parties and some independents.

"We are very positive," he said. "According to our latest count, we already have 174 seats," he said.

However, another senior MMA official, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, sowed confusion by holding talks with the pro-military Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) yesterday, and saying afterwards the two parties were seeking "middle ground".

PML-QA power broker Chaudry Shujaat Hussain appeared in a sombre mood after the meeting, but said: "We shall be able to come to a consensus soon."

The PML-QA won the most seats in the election on October 10, but its 103 fell well short of the 172 needed for a majority.

It has also tried to woo the MMA, which unexpectedly emerged as a potential coalition maker after riding a wave of anti-western feeling among voters over the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Talks between the PML-QA and the MMA stalled over the MMA’s insistence that Mr Rehman should lead any future Government.

Gen Musharraf yesterday summoned the new National Assembly to meet next Friday and Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told reporters he was hopeful power would be transferred to an elected Prime Minister by November 14.

Gen Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has been strongly criticised for amending the constitution before the election to ensure a major role for the military in overseeing the work of a future Government and giving himself the power to dismiss Parliament if it becomes unruly. (AGENCIES)

Italy mourns as quake village buries child victims

SAN GIULIANO DI PUGLIA, ITALY, Nov 3: Anguished parents and relatives railed at the heavens and demanded answers today as they buried 26 school children crushed when an earthquake reduced their primary school to rubble.

An entire class of six-year-olds was killed on Thursday when an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the richter scale, the biggest to hit Italy since 1997, toppled the school in seconds.

The emotional mass funeral in San Giuliano Di Puglia, where most homes and buildings have now been evacuated, gripped the country. Italian National TV carried the funeral live and the disaster continued to be the focus for the country’s media.

A carpet of white, yellow and pink flowers sent from across Italy and as far afield as Australia surrounded the town’s new sports hall, which served as an impromptu funeral parlour.

"Why did god do this to us? why?" one woman wailed, as she followed the flower-covered coffins of twins Luca and Gianmaria.

Thousands of mourners wept and applauded in respect as the train of 26 small white coffins, borne by rescue workers who had struggled for days to pull the children’s bodies from the classroom rubble, headed to the town’s cemetery.

"Destiny stole you from us too early. So now we ask only that god looks after you," read a message on one wreath.

A teacher also died and two other elderly women were killed when their homes caved in on Thursday, bringing the toll to 29.

Bishop Tommaso Valentinetti from the nearby town of termoli told the weeping congregation to have faith.

"We also shouted to Jesus: Why have you abandoned us? but we will see the tombs housing these small bodies open wide in the resurrection."

Pope John Paul sent his condolences to the small farming town: "I wish to express again to them my paternal closeness, trusting that the young ones are in the hands of god in heaven." The funeral service was held outside under specially constructed marquees rather than at town’s church, for fear that aftershocks might shower debris on the mourners.

With questions lingering about why the school was the only building to collapse, the mother of seven-year-old Luigi urged authorities to investigate.

"I ask you all one thing — that our schools should be more secure. I absolutely don’t want any mother or father to cry any more for their children," Nunziatina Porrazzo Haltingly told the congregation, which included President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Public prosecutors launched a criminal inquiry on Saturday amid concerns about the standard of construction of the school.

After an emergency cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced on Sunday 50 million euros (49.85 million dollars) in funding for Molise region, which will include building a new residential area in San Giuliano Di Puglia.

He said the emergency funds would provide new apartments, a school, a church and green spaces within two years, and said a monument would be built at the site of the devastated school.

The Prime Minister also announced 10 million euros in funding for quake-hit Catania province in Sicily.

"I met with the parents. I cried with them and I promised them that the Government would do everything it could. This is our answer," said Berlusconi, who visited San Giuliano a few hours after the quake struck.

Teddybears poked their heads out from wreaths on the coffins, and relatives kissed photographs — a smiling girl in her communion outfit and a cheeky boy dressed up as a jester.

For the town’s mayor, Antonio Borrelli, Sunday’s heartbreak was both personal and public as he led his neighbours and mourned the loss of his own daughter.

One couple were burying their second child this year.

Their eight-year-old daughter was crushed as she enjoyed a classroom halloween party, just months after their baby son died from an illness. (AGENCIES)

PML(QA) wants PMship in coalition Govt

ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Pakistan Muslim League (QA) today proposed a formula to end the prevailing political dead-lock in the country and called for the formation of a coalition Government of PML(QA), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), with the Prime Ministership going to PML (QA).

All the three major political forces should form a Government through mutual understanding in the interest of forming a stable democracy in the country, PML (QA) vice-president Khurshid Mahmood Qasuri told newspersons here.

He said the Pakistan Peoples Party parliamentarians and the MMA should agree to give the Prime Ministership to the PML-QA, adding that they could take the offices of the Speaker Mational Assembly and Chairman Senate.

Pakistan is faced with a crisis and threats, he said, adding that on one hand there is a threat from India, while, on the other hand, an imminent American attack against Iraq would cause a negative impact on the country’s economy.

The parliamentary parties should rise above their own interests and demonstrate unity at this crucial juncture.

Mr Qasuri expressed confidence that the PML-QA, PPPP and MMA can jointly form a Government that will be strong and stable and able to complete its tenure.

Saying that this was a golden opportunity for political parties to strenghten the roots of democracy in the country, he appealed to them to work hand in hand for national development and welfare of the people. (UNI)

Russian military helicopter shot down in Chechnya, 9 killed

MOSCOW, Nov 3:A Russian military helicopter was shot down by rebels in Chechnya today, killing nine soldiers, Interfax news agency reported.

The MI-8 helicopter was shot down by a mobile rocket launcher apparently fired by rebels from a dilapidated five-story building on the outskirts of the Chechen capital grozny, said Lt. Boris Podoprigora, Deputy Commander of the russian forces, according to Interfax.

Itar-Tass news agency reported that the helicopter was shot down near Moscow’s main Chechen military base in Khankala.

Podoprigora said that federal troops were currently searching the area for the rebels. Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately answer a phone call.

Chechen rebels have shot down several Russian helicopters during the two wars in the region in the past decade, including one packed with troops in August that left at least 119 people dead. On Tuesday, an MI-8 helicopter was shot down by a rebel missile, killing all three crew and one passenger aboard.

Russian forces retreated from Chechnya after a 1994-1996 war that left separatists in charge. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to return in 1999 after attacks on a neighboring region and several deadly apartment bombings blamed on the rebels. (AP)

10 killed, nearly 50 injured in Pak quake

ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: At least 10 people were killed and nearly 50 others injured, many of them critically, in an earthquake that rocked northern Pakistan today, Information Minister Nisar Memon said.

The tremor was an aftershock of a series of quakes, measuring 5.0 on the richter scale, that rocked the town of Skardu at the Karakorum Mountain Range yesterday and today.

Four villages have been badly damaged, memon told a press conference

He said the casualties were reported from Tato Pani, Muthat, Raikot and jall villages.

At least 500 families have been affected, he said adding Army soldiers have been rushed to the area to carry out relief and rescue operations.

"The situation is serious but under control," the minister said.

Chaudhry Mehmood Arif, a Meteorological Officer in Islamabad, said the centre of the quake was located 50 kms Southeast of Skardu in Gilgit.

The tremor caused landslides in the area, which blocked traffic on the Karakoram Highway that runs through the mountains to the border with China. The communication lines were also disrupted.

Memon also undertook an aerial assessment of the quake damage. (PTI)

Iraq ready to fight, Saddam tells airforce

BAGHDAD, Nov 3: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told his airforce commanders and pilots today that Iraq was ready for war with the United States.

"When god wants us to fight we will be ready to fight under all circumstances. We will fight on all frontlines and whatever god wants is appropriate," Saddam was quoted by Iraq’s official television as saying.

He urged his airforce to "deny the enemy the chance to achieve its wicked and evil intentions," adding: "If god wants us to fight, and imposes it on us, we will fight, though we hate it."

US President George W Bush wants to end Saddam’s rule over his alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and has threatened military action. The United Sations is seeking a resolution to allow UN Weapons Inspectors back into Baghdad after a four-year absence.

In separate remarks, Saddam promised "no walkover" for US and British soldiers should they attack Iraq.

"We are preparing as if war will break out in one hour and we are psychologically ready for that," Saddam told an interview with the independent Egyptian newspaper Al-Osboa, obtained today.

"Iraq will never be like Afghanistan. This does not mean that we are stronger than the United States, which owns fleets and long-range missiles, but we have faith in god, in the nation, the Iraqi people and...The Arab people and we will never let it be a walkover for American or British soldiers," he said.

The Arab nationalist weekly said Saddam gave the interview to one of its journalists at a presidential palace near Baghdad.

"Time is definitely on our side and we must buy more time because the American-British alliance will disintegrate for internal reasons and because of world opinion," Saddam said.

He also dismissed the strength and size of the Iraqi opposition to his rule. "There is no real Iraqi opposition to worry us...They are a group who wouldn’t fill up more than one of Baghdad’s buses," he said.

The Iraqi leader said Washington’s real motive for any attack lay in controlling the region and its oil.

Many Arabs view US policies in the region as biased towards Israel, which has tried to quash a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. The Iraqi leader commended their stance. (AGENCIES)

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