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N.Iraq Arabs long HAWIJA, IRAQ, May 23: "If I had to choose now between the occupying American forces and Saddam Hussein, I would.....more Everest:
The hardest KOLKATA, May 23: No other summit on this earth attracted more people than the Everest, since its identification ..more No
talks with Pak in CHENNAI, May 23: Defence Minister George Fernandes today ruled out holding talks with.....more Pak
will take ISLAMABAD, May 23: Pakistan has said that it would take counter measures if India acquired sophisticated ....more |
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SARS-Free Thailand looking at India as tourist market NEW DELHI, May 23: Battling hard to emerge unscathed from the current SARS threat, Thailand is looking at India as a potential tourist market as....more UN
Council takes step to UNITED NATION, May 23: The UN Security Council, taking a first step toward patching deep rifts created by the US-led war on Baghdad, has.....more Japan urges tigers to COLOMBO, May 23: Japan urged Sri Lanka’s Tamil tiger rebels today to attend a conference next month in Tokyo to raise money.......more US dissolves Iraq Army, BAGHDAD, May 23: The US civil administrator for Iraq today ordered the dissolution of the Iraqi armed forces and several.........more |
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N.Iraq Arabs long for Saddam, say US favours Kurds HAWIJA, IRAQ, May 23: "If I had to choose now between the occupying American forces and Saddam Hussein, I would choose Saddam. Even though I hate him." There is no mistaking the disenchantment of Ghassan Muzher Al-Asi with the US presence in Iraq after a fierce US-Arab firefight this week in Hawija — where the Sheikh’s Obeid tribe lives in a region between the Northern oil city of Kirkuk and Saddam’s homeland of Tikrit. And it reflects growing anger and hostility towards the US troops in Iraq. Gunmen attacked a US patrol in the central town of Falluja on Wednesday night, and American retaliatory fire killed two Iraqi civilians, damaged shops and fueled anti-US sentiment in the city. The latest clash in Hawija has added to broad unease in Kirkuk, which is still reeling from a weekend of fighting between Kurds and Arabs that left more than 10 people dead. The violence has overshadowed looming city elections. Simmering ethnic tensions have plagued the city since troops loyal to Saddam fled six weeks ago, unleashing a wave of looting and violence among its Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians. Disputes over land or property seized under Saddam’s "arabisation" campaign in the region have fuelled Arab-Kurdish rivalry and many in the Arab community feel sidelined by perceived bias towards the more politically organised Kurds. "The Americans believe everything the Kurds tell them, but they don’t listen to the Arabs. If it continues like this there will be more conflict," Al-Asi told , sitting on an opulent divan in his air-conditioned tribal meeting hall. Arabs set up armed checkpoints in Hawija on Sunday after the clashes in Kirkuk, saying they had heard rumors that Kurdish fighters were about to attack. Instead, it was a US task force that approached from the north after reports that pro-Saddam elements were in the area and that they had been involved in the Kirkuk violence. "We got intelligence that Arab groups in Hawija, consisting of former Baathists and Fedayeen, were setting up illegal checkpoints. So we made a decision to send in troops to stop it," said US spokesman Major Rob Gowan. US officials said Arab fighters ambushed their soldiers and drew them into a 30-minute shoot-out — their biggest engagement yet in the region. The troops were reinforced with Abrams tanks, armoured vehicles and Apache helicopters. The local farmers denied that fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to Saddam were in the village. They said they opened fire in the belief that the opposing forces across the fields were Kurdish, and retreated when they realised they were American. One US soldier was injured in the fighting and there were unconfirmed reports that several Arab fighters were killed. As the Kirkuk elections approach, the Arab community is also unhappy with an ethnic division which gives the four main communities equal weight in the city hall. They argue that there is an Arab majority in the region, while the other groups say they have historic claims on the city. Some 300 delegates will tomorrow choose a 24-member Council, which will in turn choose a mayor and his deputies next week. The US military will select a further six "independent" Council members from among leading community members.(AGENCIES) |
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Everest: The hardest way to earth summit still lures people KOLKATA, May 23: No other summit on this earth attracted more people than the Everest, since its identification as the world’s highest peak by a Bengali geologist Radhanath Sikdar some 262 years ago. After its measurement of height of 29,028 feet (8848 metre) and location in Himalayan borders of Tibet and Nepal in 1841, it was labelled as Peak XV. But 18 years later, the Snowy peak was rechristined as Everest to immortalise Sir George Everest, a British Surveor-General of India, under whose guidance the Bengali geoloists worked. Since then, Everest has been the most sought after peak among explorers and expeditionists all over the world. Before a Sherpa and a beekeeper from New Zealand conquered the peak 50 years ago, no one ever thought it could be climbed by a human. Between 1920 and 1952, seven major attempts were made. In 1924, two Britons- George Ley Mallory and Andrew Irvine- disappeared which shook the British empire. While Irvine had never been traced, Mallory’s bleached body was discovered by an expedition four years ago and no one will ever know whether he died while descending from peak or going for summit. In 1934, Maurice Wilson’s attempts for a solo Everest climb ended in tragedy as his body was later found at 27,372 feet (6,400 meter). 16 years later, after Tibet fell under the communist Chinese rule, expeditions from Tibet closed and Nepal started allowing expedition from the south. The following year, a Swiss expedition with Tenzing Norgay and Raymond Lambert attempted to ascend the peak via south-east ridge route but turned around at about 800 feet before reaching the south summit. Even so, the expedition laid the groundwork for successful climb the following year. In 1953, a British expedition led by Col John Hunt sent New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on summit of Everest via the south-east ridge route. Since then the route to Everest has been opened, arguably, on many sides and through different methods to make "first". Since then, more than 1200 people climbed, mostly from the conventional route laid by the two first summiteers. The following year, two Swiss expeditions reached the summit and in 1960, a Chinese team climbed atop Everest via the north ridge. The Tibetan people called it "Chomolungma" or " Goddess mother of the world" and the Nepalese called it " Sagarmata". US made the first climb in 1963 in which an Indian Nawang Gombu, the then instructor of the Himalayan Mountainering Institute in Darjeeling, was among the summiters. India’s own climb under the tri-colour on Everest was made in 1965, where for the first time nine members were sent on summit. The climb also made Gombu the first person in the world to climb Everest twice. Few years later, China sent ten members on Chomolongma from its side. In 1973, Shambu Tamang, a Sherpa from Nepal made the summit when he was 16 and two years later, Junko Tabai of Japan became the first woman to reach summit via south east ridge. Three years later, Peter Habeler of Austria and Reinhold Messner of Italy summited without the help of bottled oxygen, a feat that many explorers initially thought "impossible". The atmospheric pressure on top of the Mount Everest is one-third to that of the sea level. In the same year, polish woman Wanda Rutkiewicz became the first European lady to climb the Everest and in 1980, Messner made a solo climb atop Everest via the north col to the north face and the couloir. Messner climbed for three days alone from his base camp at 6,500 meter without the use of bottled oxygen via the north col/north face route, an enviable feat for the two legged creature on earth. In the same year, Polish climber Krzysztof Wielicki made the first winter climb. India sent first woman climber Bachendri Pal of Uttarkashi in 1983 and Haryana girl Santosh Yadav made summit twice. Phu Dorjee was the first Indian to make summit with bottled oxygen in the same expedition in which Pal was one of the summiters. Andrej and Marija of Slovenia became the first married couple to take the peak in 1990 and in the same year Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund, went on his father trail. The year also saw first father and son Pair on summit together-Jean Noel Roche and his son Zebulon. Two years later, two bothers Alberto and Felix Inurrategui got the peak and in 1996, Rita Sherpa summited Everest without bottled oxygen for the 10th time. The year also saw Jamling Norgay, son of Tenzing, following in his father’s footsteps despite opposition from the legend not to scale a high mountain. Italian climber Hans Kammerlander also, in 1996, made the fastest ascent via north col-north ridge on May 24 in 16 hours 45 minutes from base camp and descended most of the route on skis. In 1997, Tashi Tenzing Sherpa, grandson of Tenzing Norgay, became the first third-generation family member to climb the Everest on may 23, and repeated the feat in 2001. In 1999, Babu Chri Sherpa spent 21 hours on the summit of Everest. A landmark expedition by the scientists supported by the National Geographic Society and Boston’s Museum of Science determined that Everest was seven feet higher than previously reported. The elevation was revised from 29,029 feet (8848 meters) to 29,035 feet (8850 meters). Pete Athans of America is the first westerner to make to the Everest seven times and another citizen from the country, Erik Weihenmayer was the first blind climber to climb Everest. Since the day Tenzing and Hillay made to the top, about 10,000 men and women in the world have tried to reach the highest point on earth. About 1,000 have succeeded and more than 250 died on the slope of the mountain. According to a data, for every 60 climbers, who leave base camp, only four will reach the summit and two will die but Everest still attracts more people than any other natural object in the world. (UNI) |
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No talks with Pak in near future: Fernandes CHENNAI, May 23: Defence Minister George Fernandes today ruled out holding talks with Pakistan in the near future saying at present, New Delhi was concentrating on confidence building measures. "When we reach the time for talks it will be held, but it (the time) is not very close," he told reporters after presenting gallantry and meritorious service medals to coast guard personnel at an investiture ceremony here. Asked about the steps taken by Pakistan Government to curb cross border terrorism, he said "Pakistan has taken some decisions and asked some terrorist leaders and groups not to venture into certain areas. To an extent it should be welcomed". However, the extent to which the decisions were being implemented was not known, he added. On Pakistan’s insistence on third party intervention in the Kashmir issue, Fernandes said India had not sought the help of any third country. "Our stand is clear that it should be settled bilaterally." To another querry whether infiltration across the border had come down following improved diplomatic ties between the two countries, he said "there has been ups and downs. "There are days when our troops gunned down several intruders and some days when there is no activity at all on the border. You can’t really say anything at the moment," the Defence Minister added. Referring to the assistance provided by the armed forces to the Sri Lankan administration in its relief measures to the people of the island affected by the recent floods, he said "we have put all our assets at their command". Stating that the army, air force and navy would provide whatever assistance was necessary, he said "they are having a very hard time". On the proposed joint military exercise with Russia, Fernades it was an ongoing process. "We have had such exercise with the US. Russia has always been our strategic partner". To another question, he said there was no move to send Indian troops to Iraq to assist in rebuilding the war-ravaged country.(PTI) |
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Pak will take counter steps if India acquires phalcon ISLAMABAD, May 23: Pakistan has said that it would take counter measures if India acquired sophisticated weapons, including airborne radar systems, and proposed a six point structured dialogue between the two countries to address the security and political issues. As the US confirmed that it has endorsed the sale of Israeli airborne radars to India, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz A Khokar in his address to the UN Conference on disarmament in Vienna yesterday said the transfer of such weapons system would upset conventional military balance in South Asia. Pakistan would view this with "utmost seriousness" and would be obliged to take counter measures, official media here today quoted Khokar as saying. "Nuclear realities in our region impose certain obligations and responsibilities on our two countries. It is, therefore, important for both India and Pakistan to engage in serious discussions for nuclear and strategic stability in our region," the Foreign Secretary said. Suggesting a "new architecture of security" in South Asia, he proposed a six-point agenda for a structured dialogue on security issues in the region that included "foreswearance" of use or the threat of use of force in settling disputes and respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States of the region. The other points Khokar suggested include a permanent mechanism for bilateral dialogue and consultations for dispute settlement, initiation of result-oriented talks for devising mutually acceptable confidence building measures in the nuclear field, stabilisation of conventional forces at levels consonant with the legitimate security needs of all States of the region and renewed commitment to jointly combat poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease. Observing that the fresh Indo-Pak peace initiatives brought an air of anticipation in the region, he hoped that a resumed dialogue between the two would not only address the Kashmir issue but also enable the two countries to discuss strategic restraint and security building measures. On the nuclear issues, Khokar said Pakistan supported confidence building measures outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed at Lahore in February 1999. Stating that Pakistan was ready to discuss several measures to reach an agreement with New Delhi, he said both Pakistan and India were observing a moratorium on nuclear testing and "this could be formalized". An agreement on non-deployment of nuclear weapons based on agreed definitions would also be a major factor for stability, he said adding a formal agreement to notify each other of ballistic missile tests, would constitute an important confidence building measure. Stating that preserving the conventional balance in South Asia was a major responsibility of States that were large exporters of conventional weapons, the Pakistan Foreign Secretary said "already there were forecasts of conventional weapons transfers in our neighbourhood which could seriously erode the conventional balance and generate instability and insecurity".(PTI) |
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SARS-Free Thailand looking at India as tourist market NEW DELHI, May 23: Battling hard to emerge unscathed from the current SARS threat, Thailand is looking at India as a potential tourist market as part of its ‘look west’ policy and is considering starting Thai Airways flights from Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Thailand Ambassador in India, Chirasak Thanesnant, while admitting that the country’s tourism and economy had been severly affected by SARS scare, announced at a press conference here that even the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared Thailand SARS-free. "Thailand is SARS free..." he declared. The country had indeed registered a few isolated cases of SARS suspects and patients coming from abroad in the early months of the outbreak. All cases were isolated and treated and concrete measures taken to ensure full control of SARS to prevent it from entering the country, Mr Thanesnant said. Besides the usual screening of incoming and outgoing passengers, 100,000 US dollars per person were announced to be paid to the family of a person who had died of the killer disease in the country or 10,000 US dollars per person for hospital expenses to SARS infected person while staying in Thailand. He disclosed that Thailand had hosted the Asean summit on SARS and the special Asean-China leaders meeting on April 29 in Bangkok. Both meetings had agreed on ways and means to curtail the spread of the disease. The Asean summit adopted a joint declaration which comprised political guidelines and practical measures to contain the spread of SARS while the special Asean-China meeting issued a joint statement outlining measures and cooperative action to control the disease. Thailand also proposed that an informal meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) health ministers should be held in Bangkok in the last week of June as a follow—up to the joint declaration of Asean leaders. Mr Pricha Nawongs, General Manager, India of the Thai Airways international, who was also present at the press conference, said passenger traffic from Delhi had dropped by 30 per cent after the SARS scare. Tourist traffic had registered a decline after 1990 following major world events like the Gulf war, September 11 attacks, Afghanistan war, Bali bomb blast, the recent Iraq conflict and now the latest SARS scare. But nothing had affected the tourist inflow like the SARS scare. He said after 9/11 incidents, October and November 2001 had registered decline in tourist traffic. However it had started picking up in December and in January 2002, there was a major increase. Entire Government machinery of Thailand had breen geared to fight the SARS scare. Ms Pinki Arora, representative of the Thailand Tourism Authority in India, said thai tourism had launched a three-month campaign in cooperation with Thai hotels association, Thai airways international and other related authorities to boost international and domestic travel by offering several packages, including discounts, prizes etc.(UNI) |
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UN Council takes step to patch rifts from Iraq war UNITED NATION, May 23: The UN Security Council, taking a first step toward patching deep rifts created by the US-led war on Baghdad, has granted the United States and Britain broad powers to run postwar Iraq and use its abundant oil resources to finance its reconstruction. Despite misgivings by many of its members, the Council voted 14-0 yesterday to adopt a resolution ending nearly 13 years of burdensome UN sanctions on Iraq’s economy in a big victory for the George W Bush administration. Syria, Iraq’s neighbor and the sole Arab member of the Security Council, initially did not cast a vote and left its seat empty, only to announce seven hours later it would have voted "yes." Syrian UN envoy Fayssal Mekdad said Damascus had not been given enough time to consider the resolution. Its belated backing for the resolution "can in no manner be interpreted as a change of Syria’s position of rejecting the war on Iraq as an illegitimate war," he told the 15-member Council. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised Council members for reaching a consensus on a plan for Iraqi reconstruction after the bitter and unsuccessful US drive for advance Council approval for the US-led invasion. "Whatever differences there have been in the recent past, we now have a new basis on which to work. And we must all work very hard, keeping the interests of Iraqis at the forefront of all our efforts," Annan told the Council. He pledged to name a special representative for Iraq shortly, to flesh out a UN role in the reconstruction effort in cooperation with occupying powers Washington and London. Diplomats said Sergio Vieira De Mello, currently the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the US favorite for the Iraq job, may be offered the new post as early as today. To broaden support for its plan, Washington made last-minute concessions opening the door to an independent, Albeit limited, UN role and the possibility of UN Weapons Inspectors returning to Iraq. France, Germany, China and Russia, who had opposed the US-led war, voted for the resolution but had reservations. "The war that we did not want, and the majority of the Council did not want, has taken place," Germany’s UN Ambassador, Gunter Pleuger, told reporters. "We cannot undo history. We are now in a situation where we have to take action for the sake of the Iraqi people." US Ambassador John Negroponte hailed the lifting of sanctions as "a momentous event for the people of Iraq." "It is time for the Iraqi people to benefit from their natural resources," he said. The sanctions were imposed after saddam hussein invaded kuwait in august 1990. Critics said they had little effect on baghdad’s leaders while driving ordinary iraqis into poverty. The resolution immediately transfers legal control over Iraq’s oil from the United Nations to the United States and Britain. Oil revenues will go into a new Iraqi development fund for rebuilding the country, controlled by the two countries and overseen by an international board. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said he would fight to retain oil contracts and other contracts signed by the old Iraqi Government. One of his deputies, Yuri Fedotov, will travel to New York next week to discuss the contracts, diplomats said. (AGENCIES) |
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Japan urges tigers to attend Tokyo aid meeting COLOMBO, May 23: Japan urged Sri Lanka’s Tamil tiger rebels today to attend a conference next month in Tokyo to raise money to rebuild the war-hit island, adding that if they did not the aid-pledging meeting would go ahead without them. After nearly one month of back-room negotiations, and with time running out before the June 9-10 meeting, Japan said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) needed to settle some of its differences with the Government and go to Tokyo. "If the conference were not held as scheduled, it may mean an irreparable loss to the long-suffering people of Sri Lanka," a statement from the Japanese Embassy said. The tigers pulled out of the conference last month to protest against what they say is a lack of progress in returning life to normal in Tamil areas of the island. The rebels have since taken a hardline position by proposing that an interim administration be set up in areas they control so that aid money can go through that body instead of international-backed organisations the Government is setting up. The statement said "Japan is of the view that the Tokyo conference should be held as scheduled", a change from a similar statement one week ago that said it should be held as scheduled with the active participation of the LTTE. "Japan, therefore, urges the LTTE to make its utmost efforts to reach an acceptable agreement urgently with the Government of Sri Lanka on some of the outstanding issues before the Tokyo conference," the Embassy said. Japan has already failed in face-to-face talks to convince the ltte to attend the conference, that had been expected to raise 3 billion dollars in aid over three years. Diplomats said the conference, which would have been the highlight so far of Sri Lanka’s 15-month peace bid, may be downgraded from the ministerial-level meeting originally planned. Although the present peace process has stalled, it is still seen as Sri Lanka’s best chance yet to end the war that has killed 64,000. Four previous peace bids collapsed in renewed fighting. Norway brokered a ceasefire between the Government and rebels that has mostly held since it was signed in February 2002. Sri Lanka’s main opposition party said today the Government should reject the interim administration proposal. (AGENCIES) |
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US dissolves Iraq Army, abolishes security organs BAGHDAD, May 23: The US civil administrator for Iraq today ordered the dissolution of the Iraqi armed forces and several security bodies, sacking 400,000 staff who had formed the backbone of Saddam Hussein’s iron-clad rule. Paul Bremer also dissolved the Defence and Information Ministries and military and security courts, an administration statement said. "These actions are part of a robust campaign to show the Iraqi people that the Saddam regime is gone, and will never return," the statement said. It said a new Iraq Army capable of defending the country would be formed instead. "The coalition provisional authority plans to create, in the near future, a new Iraqi corps. This is the first step in forming a national self-defence capability for a free Iraq," the statement said. "Under civilian control, that corps will be professional, non-political, militarily effective and representative of all Iraqis," it added. The decision came after the United Nations Security Council granted the United States and Britain broad powers to run postwar Iraq and use its abundant oil resources to finance its reconstruction, when it voted to lift 13 years of international sanctions imposed on Iraq over its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi Army has in practice already been disbanded by the US-led war that toppled Saddam’s Government last month. The US administration has also banned the ruling Baath Party and vowed to prevent the party’s top officials from holding public office. The order disbands both the elite Republican Guards and the regular army, suspends conscription, turns property of the dissolved entities over to the US-led administration and dismisses all employees of the dissolved entities. Iraq’s armed forces and state-funded paramilitary groups numbered around 400,000 on the eve of the US-led invasion. The once-feared intelligence service employed thousands more, including members of special organs used to quash domestic dissent. The statement said eligible military personnel and other employees of the dissolved entities who were dismissed by the order, would be entitled to a termination payment of approximately one month’s salary. Retirees, war widows and others who were receiving pensions before the war will still receive them. "These payments are subject to an important limitation," the statement said. "Those who are barred from public employment by the may 16 de-baathification order are not eligible to receive these payments." "Military and other officers with the rank of colonel or above will be presumed to be in the barred classes, unless they prove otherwise," it added. (AGENCIES) Pakistani Islamists tear down obscene billboards PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN, May 23: Around 50 activists of Pakistan’s hardline Islamic alliance tore down dozens of advertising billboards depicting women in this northwestern city today as part of a campaign to stamp out "obscenity". The young protestors, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (god is great), also tore down several neon signs advertising western products, including soft drinks giant pepsi, in several parts of the city close to the border with Afghanistan. "We will wipe out vulgarity and obscenity from Peshawar, then from North West Frontier Province and then finally from the whole of Pakistan," said Jamsheed Munir, local leader of Shabab-e-Milla, youth wing of Pakistan’s largest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Jamaat-e-Islami is a key component of the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance that rules North West Frontier Province of which Peshawar is the capital. Munir threatened similar action against cinemas and hotels running "liquor and gambling dens". Rights activists have expressed alarm at what they call the "Talibanisation" of society in North West Frontier and neighbouring Baluchistan since the MMA swept to power in the provinces bordering Afghanistan in October elections. Since then, the MMA has banned music on public transport, medical examinations of women by male doctors, male coaches for women athletes and male journalists from covering women’s sports. It has also cancelled licences for the sale of liquor to non-Muslim foreigners and one lawmaker has called for veils to be made compulsory for women, although it appears unlikely the provincial Government will attempt to implement this. Yesterday, the provincial cabinet approved a draft law to set up a body to promote religious observance reminiscent of that established by the fundamentalist Taliban regime ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led military coalition in late 2001. Critics say the MMA has done little to improve living standards since coming to power in the provinces and is using strict Islamic laws in an attempt to placate its more fervent supporters. (AGENCIES) US to reduce numbers of weapons held by Iraqis BAGHDAD, May 23: The overall US commander in Iraq, General David McKiernan, today said US troops planned to reduce the number of heavy and small arms in the hands of Iraqis as part of a drive to restore law and order. McKiernan said the plan, including am arms amnesty, would be implemented as soon as Washington approves the plan "within a matter of days". Iraqis are armed to the teeth and after the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s government on April 9, looting of public and private institutions and homes swept the country and stolen weapons were sold on the streets at low prices. More than a month on, Iraqis are complaining that with such anarchy and the abundance of weapons, the crime rate has reached unprecedented levels and the security situation is the worst in Iraq’s modern history. "The purpose of the programme is to reduce the threat posed by automatic or heavy weapons and small arms carried in public," McKiernan told a news conference in Baghdad. "The intention is not to completely disarm the Iraqi population. That is neither practical nor necessary," he said. McKiernan said he would offer Iraqis a 14-day amnesty to turn in weapons to designated locations and those wishing to possess arms could come to the US troops to apply for permits. He said small arms could be kept for protection in businesses and in homes but could not be carried in public. "We’re going to establish limitations on calibre and type of weapons kept in businesses and in homes. There’s got to be immediate reduction of weapons. The aim is to keep arms in the hands only of those who need them," McKiernan said. He said there would also be limitations on weapons carried by the personal security guards of senior Iraqi political figures and that each case would be studied individually. He said in the independent northern Kurdistan, the Peshmerga Kurdish militias that fought alongside the US-led forces during the war would be allowed to keep some weapons, but it was not decided which heavy arms the Kurds would be allowed to hold. McKiernan said the security situation was "improving steadily" as US-led forces and Iraqi police intensified efforts to curb crime and crackdown on arms. General William Wallace, Commander of the Fifth Corps, said the numbers of coalition-supervised Iraqi police had risen to 7,000 with 18 police stations open 24 hours and some 1,800 US military police patrolling the streets. (AGENCIES) Sharon says Israel ready to accept peace plan JERUSALEM, May 23: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today said Israel was ready to accept an international "road map" for peace with the Palestinians and the plan would be presented to the cabinet for approval. The cabinet is due to meet next on Sunday. "The Prime Minister says that the state of Israel is ready to accept the steps which are outlined in the road map and it will be presented to the Government for approval," the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement. It issued the statement after US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice issued a statement saying Washington would address Israeli reservations that have held up the road map leading to a Palestinian state. (AGENCIES) |
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