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WASHINGTON, Oct 1: Pakistan has warned of......more
Red China celebrates BEIJING, Oct 1: The wide boulevard of Beijing.......more
DUBAI, Oct 1: A roving photo exhibition on...more |
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US
Republicans offer to WASHINGTON, Oct 1: After more than two years of delaying US ratification of a global treaty banning nuclear testing, senate Republicans have suddenly offered to debate and vote on it next week....more 9 Pak Shi’ites KARACHI, Oct 1: At least nine Shi’ite Muslims were killed and six wounded in two separate incidents today, the latest in a series of attacks against Shi’ites in Pakistan this week, police said.....more
Carve out separate MOSCOW, Oct 1: Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden has .....more US poverty lowest since WASHINGTON, Oct 1: Poverty in the United States fell last year to its.....more Germany urges BERLIN, Oct 1: Germany has urged the international community to isolate terrorist ....more |
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WASHINGTON, Oct 1: Pakistan has warned of a possible nuclear flare up in South Asia if the Kashmir problem with India is not resolved immediately and urged major powers, including the US, to help the two neighbours in finding a just solution to the problem. A deterioration of the security climate on account of ...The unresolved Kashmir dispute can lead to nuclear escalation....It is important that major powers, especially US, remain actively involved with the issue to help india and Pakistan move towards a just solution, Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said here yesterday. Aziz, whose nation has persistently demanded US mediation on Kashmir, said the US stand on the issue was a big let-down for Pakistan, which had stood by the US all through the cold war and the Afghanistan imbroglio. The US has repeatedly rejected Pakistani demands for mediation and asked both nations to resolve the problem bilaterally. From a Pakistani perspective, while we desire close, cooperative ties with the US, our appraisal of the history of these relations is marked by a feeling of being let down, he said addressing the Asia Society. He blamed India’s nuclear tests for destroying prospects of a nuclear nonproliferation regime in South Asia and said that the process of nuclearisation was now irreversible. Nuclearisation of South Asia cannot be reversed. He also accused India of refusing to accept the two-nation theory propounded by Mohammad Ali Jinnah that eventually resulted in the creation of a separate state of Pakistan. (PTI) |
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Red China
celebrates 50th year with displaying BEIJING, Oct 1: The wide boulevard of Beijing today rolled out a red carpet to fete 50 years of Communist rule in China as crisply-uniformed soldiers and flashy weapons paraded through the historic Tiananmen Square with cannons booming in the background and jets roaring above. President Jiang Zemin and other Communist Party leaders, from atop the gate of heavenly peace, witnessed the parade as the celebration showcased the nation’s growing military might and its rapid economic progress since Mao Tse- Tung stood at the same site on October 1, 1949 and declared the founding of the people’s republic. Ardous struggle and strenuous efforts of 50 years, particularly the past 20 years since reform and opening-up, have brought about earthshaking changes to the erstwhile poor and weak old China, Jiang said in his brief speech after taking the salute. China will surely emerge as a prosperous, strong, democratic and culturally advanced modern socialist country in the East of the world, Jiang wearing a charcoal grey Mao-style suit asserted as the square turned a Sej of colour with scores of children assembled with red and gold fans. The Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Dong Feng-31 (DF-31), with a range of 8,000 kms, and indigenously developed fighter bomber, flying leopard, besides a host of jets were on display showing the country’s military prowess. While stressing that Beijing would prefer peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the mainland, the Communist Party General Secretary said, the complete reunification of the motherland and the maintenance of its security are the very foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the unshakeable will of all the Chinese people. With regard to foreign policy, Jiang, said China would oppose hegemony and work for the establishment of a multipolar world. China will continue to pursue the independent foreign policy of peace and develop friendly relations and cooperation with all other countries on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence, the Chinese President said. Long live the great people’s republic. Long live the great Chinese Communist Party. Long live the great Chinese people, Jiang thundered. The picture perfect march past by 500,000 soldiers and civilians and a fly- past of strategic bombers, fighter planes and mid-air refuelling planes witnessed by the leaders with zeal. After a 50-cannon salute and a national flag raising ceremony, Jiang inspected a guard of honour riding a Hongqi or red flag convertible limousine. Comrades, you are working hard, Jiang, who is also commander-in-chief of the military, shouted repeatedly while inspecting the guard of honour. We are serving the people the replied in unison. (PTI) |
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DUBAI, Oct 1: A roving photo exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi is currently on in Gulf states and Africa to spread the message of peace and non-violence, preached by the father of the nation, and its relevance to the present day world. The exhibition, titled "my land my people," will be the main attraction at the functions being organised in Dubai to commemorate the 130th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi tomorrow. According to Mr Asoke Mukerji, Indian Consul General to Dubai, the exhibition, a collection of some 50 rare photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, under the sponsorship of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), was being brought here from Doha. It would be on in Dubai for three days and then taken to Sharjah for another three days. Later, the exhibition would move to Kampala in Uganda. Two other photo exhibitions, one on Mahatma Gandhi’s life and another on "India and the UAE", would also be organised during the "Gandhi Jayanti" celebrations, Mr Mukerji said. He said children from leading Indian schools in Dubai and Sharjah would speak on the occasion on the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi for their generation. (UNI) |
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US Republicans offer to move on nuclear treaty WASHINGTON, Oct 1: After more than two years of delaying US ratification of a global treaty banning nuclear testing, senate Republicans have suddenly offered to debate and vote on it next week. Although 152 nations have already signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and Washington has taken the lead in pressing India and Pakistan to join the signatories, the United States itself has still not ratified it. Republicans in the senate, which must ratify treaties before they become binding, have stalled it in a complicated dispute with democrats over a National Missile Defense System. But, in an abrupt reversal, senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, yesterday announced that the senate would debate the treaty for ten hours on October six and then vote on ratification. "We are asking that we go to a reasonable time for debate and a vote this Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," Mr Lott said. "I think this treaty is bad for the country and dangerous. But if there is demand that we go forward with it as I have been hearing for two years, we are ready to go." Democrats, who have long pressed for just such a vote, were caught off guard and thrown into disarray. Senate democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota protested that ten hours was insufficient time for a debate on "a treaty as important as this," while senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota democrat who has spearheaded an effort to bring the treaty to the senate floor, announced he was keen to go ahead with ratification. Others complained that no committee hearings had been held before rushing the treaty to a vote. "I find such behavior amusing," scoffed Jesse Helms, the powerful North Carolina Republican who chairs the senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The same people clamoring for action go running for the hills." "There have been hearings," he added. "The senators from the other side just didn’t participate." Mr Helms and other Republicans blocked ratification of a new treaty banning nuclear tests because they are not convinced that the Clinton administration will agree to build a limited defense system against long-range missile attacks on the United States, particularly by so-called rogue nations. A Foreign Relations Committee aide said democrats’ hesitation to jump into a debate and vote on the treaty next week probably stemmed from a worry about whether they could muster sufficient votes for the treaty to be ratified. The treaty, which would prohibit all nuclear testing, requires 67 votes — a two- thirds majority in the senate —for ratification. Of the 152 nations that have signed the CTBT, fewer than 50 have ratified it. But for the United States ratification is particularly complex. To appease Congressional Republicans, Washington may be forced to renegotiate the cold war-era anti-ballistic missile treaty of 1972 with Russia to gain a provision to allow the United States to build a limited ballistic missile shield. This is difficult since Russia wants the United States to reduce its nuclear capability before it will agree to any treaty modification that would allow the United States such a national defense system. The whole issue is also bound up in larger arms reductions negotiations between the United States and Russia, notably the start II and start III treaties. (REUTERS) |
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9 Pak Shi’ites killed in attacks KARACHI, Oct 1: At least nine Shi’ite Muslims were killed and six wounded in two separate incidents today, the latest in a series of attacks against Shi’ites in Pakistan this week, police said. They said unidentified gunmen attacked a Shi’ite mosque in the port city of Karachi in Sindh province, killing eight people and injuring five. In a separate incident in Multan in the central province of Punjab, a Shi’ite activist was killed by two gunmen. A child was injured in the shooting. The shootings follow similar incidents in the last four days in prominent Shi’ites and their families were attacked by unidentified gunmen in Punjab and the North West Frontier Province. A police official in Karachi said there was tension in the area after the killings as religious leaders of the Shi’ite community were gathering at the site of the incident. Yesterday Shi’ite moslem activist Ejaz Hussain, a lawyer, was killed in Gujranwala town, some 65 km North of Punjab’s capital, Lahore. In similar attack on Tuesday a central secretary-general of the main Tehrik-E-Jafria party, his daughter and bodyguard were killed in the NWFP. (REUTERS) |
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Carve out separate Islamic state, Laden asks mercenaries MOSCOW, Oct 1: Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden has asked Pakistan-trained mercenaries to carve out a separate "greater Islamic state," the ‘Voice of Russia’ reported last night. The report, quoting "reliable sources" said, Laden has sent Pak-trained mercenaries to establish communication from his hideout in Afghanistan up to the Caspian Sea via Turkmenistan to further his Islamic designs. Reinforcments, including the Taliban, are being rushed from different East Arab countries to Chechnya and Daghestan where Russian air raids have already foiled rebel plans to unite the two to one Islamic state. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has justified Russian military action in the trouble. The North Caucasian state is an integral part of Russia and the Kremlin has all rights to crush any separatist moves (there),’’ he said at St Petersburg. Political observers here have interpreted the Kremlin stance vis-a-vis the present crisis as a rebuff to the advocates of restraint in North Caucasus. White house spokesman Joseph Lockhart, is a statement on Wednesday, had expressed US concerns over what he called "large-scale military operations" in Chechnya. (UNI) |
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US poverty lowest since 1979, income record high WASHINGTON, Oct 1: Poverty in the United States fell last year to its lowest level in two decades as more hispanics and whites rose out of the economic doldrums and median household income hit a record high, the Census Bureau said yesterday. The US poverty rate fell for the fifth consecutive year in 1998 to 12.7 per cent from 13.3 per cent the previous year, a level not seen since 11.7 per cent in 1979. "Our economy is now working for all the American people and it has to continue," President Bill Clinton said at a news conference. But 34.5 million Americans still live without adequate economic resources, the Census Bureau noted. Last year, a family of four was considered poor if it made less than 16,660 dollars a year. For a family of three, the threshold was 13,003 dollars. The number of poor blacks remained unchanged at 9.1 million, as did the number of poor asians and pacific islanders, which stood at 1.4 million. Last year, there were about 200,000 fewer poor hispanics and 700,000 fewer poor whites than in 1997, the Bureau said. (REUTERS) |
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Germany urges international community to isolate terrorists BERLIN, Oct 1: Germany has urged the international community to isolate terrorist groups and called for global efforts to tackle the rising menace. It is the right and duty of every country to tackle the problem, German Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told newsmen here last night after a meeting with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. The two-hour dinner meeting at Fischer’s new official residence in South-West Berlin covered a host of national, regional and international issues of mutual concern. Fischer told Singh that since terrorist groups exploit political problems they need to be urgently addressed. Terrorism also figured during Singh’s meeting with External Relations Commissioner in the European Commission Chris Patten in Brussels yesterday. Patten told Singh that the EU was concerned about funding for terrorism and that there was a need for global efforts to fight this problem. There is a need for further discussions on this subject between India and the EU, he said. Afghanistan, the South Asian situation and nuclear disarmament also figured during the first Foreign Minister level contact between India and Germany since the change of Governments in both the countries last year. Official sources said Singh reiterated India’s position that India would not stand in the way of the CTBT coming into force. The sources said Singh told fischer that India was working for a national consensus on the issue. Fischer said Germany attached much importance to Singh’s visit and that it was interested in having a continuous dialogue with India. India is a very important partner and one of the important players of the world today and tomorrow, he said. He said he had accepted Singh’s invitation to visit India. Singh said Indo-German ties were based on a strong foundation and that the two countries will have to build on it. India and Germany as two nations should move into the 21st century as cooperative partners, Singh said. Official sources said there has been a pause in political contact between the two countries for some time for some reason or the other. Singh’s visit has helped resume contact, they said. The sources said there was no agenda items as such at the Fischer-Singh meeting and that it was more of a free wheeling philosophical discussion. Singh is due to call on German President Johannes Rau in Bonn this afternoon before leaving for London in the evening on his way back to New Delhi. Singh is the first External Affairs Minister to visit Germany since Pranab Mukherjee last came here in September 1995. (PTI) |
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