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So much more than colgate now binds Bush and Blair LONDON, Nov 18: It’s so much more than toothpaste now. When George W Bush and Tony Blair first met at the US Presidential retreat at Camp ....more Air
India case: witness VANCOUVER, Nov 18: The most important witness in the Air-India case, a middle-aged woman, kept quiet about prime...more Egypt’s non-fasters share secret Ramazan pleasures CAIRO, Nov 18: Mahmoud Makram’s office is frequently visited by his colleagues at an electronic research company in Cairo during the holy ......more Farm
exports are WASHINGTON, Nov 18: Agricultural exports are an imperative for India as they support and boost the rural economy,......more |
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Baghdad not secure enough for UN staff to return: Annan UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18: United Nations has come under pressure from US, European Governments and Iraqi governing council to play a major role ....more Sri Lankan President, PM hold talks; set up panel COLOMBO, Nov 18: Amid continuing power struggle, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime ....more Taiwan vows to press ahead with submarine purchase TAIPEI, Nov 18: Taiwan today said it is determined to buy eight conventional submarines next year to boost its defence ....more Strict security in London prior to Bush arrival LONDON, Nov 18: British security officials mounted a major security operation ....more |
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So much more than colgate now binds Bush and Blair LONDON, Nov 18: It’s so much more than toothpaste now. When George W Bush and Tony Blair first met at the US Presidential retreat at Camp David, the folksy right-leaning Texas Rancher and the sophisticated left-leaning London lawyer seemed like the oddest couple ever to head up the transatlantic special relationship. Asked what they had in common, Bush quipped that they both used colgate. But two years and two wars later, the fates of the US and British leaders, who meet in London this week, are as tightly coiled as those of any since Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War 2. So far, the benefits seem to have gone only one way. Blair’s steadfast support of Bush’s decision to wage war in Iraq has been the US President’s best answer to criticism that he defied the consensus of the world. That a left-leaning European and famous friend of Bill Clinton was passionately convinced of the case for war helped silence US democrats who might have opposed it. Blair is feted as a hero in Washington. A rapturous standing ovation in Congress was, he said, "more than I am used to". But at home, the relationship has mainly meant ridicule. Political cartoonists depict Blair as Bush’s poodle. A video circulating on the internet shows them singing "endless love", with Bush as lionel Ritchie and Blair as Diana Ross. For the most part, the British Prime Minister’s Labour Party is as ferociously anti-Bush as the rest of Europe’s left. When bush gets to London this week, he will find tens of thousands of angry demonstrators who plan to topple a statue of him on London’s Trafalgar square, a La Saddam Hussein. Many, if not most, probably voted for Blair. Still, blair has held to the relationship unshaken. "Blair believes that Britain’s role in the world is enhanced by working in partnership with the US, that Britain gets to punch above its weight," said James Rubin, Clinton’s former state department spokesman who now lives in London. Ostensibly, Bush and Blair are, as the British say, as different as chalk and cheese. Blair is the consummate smooth-talker, ever eager to rattle off policy proposals about anything from school lunches to Sierra Leone. He relishes his weekly chance to go head-to-head with his opponents in acid-tongued parliamentary debate. During the run-up to the Iraq war, he spent hours in a television studio arguing his case with members of the public who opposed it. Bush, by contrast, prefers carefully scripted set-pieces and almost never holds press conferences. Blair summers in Tuscany and addressed the French Parliament in French. Bush rarely travelled abroad before he took office, and famously rebuked a US reporter for "playing intercontinental" when he asked French prPsident Jacques Chirac a question in his native language. When Pundits have to find some trait the two men share, they seize on religion. Both are faithful protestants and not ashamed to say so. For an American President that is expected in sophisticated Europe it is unusual, and invites mockery. The British satirical magazine private eye parodies Blair as the Vicar of the Parish of St Albion and Bush as his fire-and-brimstone ally reverend Dabya. Most British commentators say Blair probably wishes he could un-invite his divisive guest. "We all know the feeling. You glance at the diary and realise you have guests coming in to stay next week, when nothing could be less convenient," according to columnist Jonathan Freedland. "spare a thought for Tony Blair." With the Iraq war going badly, the timing is indeed awkward. "When they planned this trip and sort of nailed down the dates, I think they hoped it would be some kind of victory lap after the war in Iraq," Rubin told . "Instead, it’s turned out to be something very different." (AGENCIES) |
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Air India case: witness kept quiet about Malik’s confession VANCOUVER, Nov 18: The most important witness in the Air-India case, a middle-aged woman, kept quiet about prime accused Ripudaman Singh Malik’s alleged confession in her early statements to the Canadian Police (RCMP) because she could not prove what he told her, the Canadian Court conducting the trial heard yesterday. On the 10th day of her deposition, the woman said she felt she required proof to back up their conversation before telling police about what Malik had said. "From my point of view, if I say something, I need to show the proof," said the woman, whose identity can not be revealed under Court orders. "I didn’t have any proof, and I didn’t have anything to show for my talks with Malik," she said in reply to cross-examination by David Crossin, the defence lawyer representing Malik,, Canadian daily, The Globe And Mail, reported. She said she did not know if her account of Malik’ confession would have any value if she could not provide any proof. The Court has earlier heard that the woman told police in April, 1998 about Malik’s alleged confession. She has said Malik in the spring of 1997 identified those involved in the plot and his own role in the scheme. She had her first meeting with a member of the RCMP Air India task force on October 30, 1997. She gave her first statement to police on November 3, 1997. She has already confirmed she told police during her first statement that Malik had said, "we finished 322 people for Sikhism." She backed that later with excerpts from her diary, in which she quoted Malik as saying, "we had Air-India crashed". But she did not tell the police in November about Malik’s full confession regarding his involvement in the crime, she said. She also told the Court she could offer no explanation about why she had made changes to entries in her personal diary in 1999 while waiting to meet with prosecutor Joe Bellows. The Court was told about changes to the date of an entry, from October 22, 1997, to October 20, 1997, correction in spelling and addition of words at various places. Crossin also challenged the woman on her testimony that Malik told her she could keep her job at a Sikh parochial school he ran if she would have sexual relations with him. She previously testified Malik propositioned her on Oct 1, 1997. She did not refer to his offer in her personal journal or in a human rights complaint that she subsequently filed that included allegations of sexual harassment. The woman said she did not write down his comments in her diary or in the human rights complaint because she did not want their relationship to become public. Defence counsel told the Court at the beginning of the trial that the charges against Malik will depend on the credibility of the key witness. Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are charged with murder in the deaths of 329 people in an explosion aboard an Air India flight on June 23, 1985, and of two people in a bomb blast at a Japanese airport. (PTI) |
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Egypt’s non-fasters share secret Ramazan pleasures CAIRO, Nov 18: Mahmoud Makram’s office is frequently visited by his colleagues at an electronic research company in Cairo during the holy month of Ramazan. Makram is one of those few Egyptians who are "out of the closet", who do not fast and - unlike many who do not observe Ramazan - has no qualms about making it public. The situation is slightly different for Dina Kamel, an Egyptian film location manager. Five years ago, Kamel attempted to smoke a cigarette during Ramazan while she was riding in a car with her friend in downtown Cairo. "The people were extremely aggressive. One driver almost crashed his car into ours and pedestrians screamed at us. We felt like we were being terrorised," she says. Since then, Kamel, whose parents leftist inclinations meant that she never observed Ramadan, has been careful about revealing that she does not fast. This is not always easy for her, she says, because, as a location manager, she does not have a private working space. "I have no choice really. I needed to have my coffee and cigarette and I knew three of four other people on the set who did too," she says. Once several people in a work environment "come out", it is much easier for others who are not fasting. "They join us," Kamel says. "In this kind of situation, those who are fasting can’t protest." However, not everyone has been able to come to terms with not observing Ramazan. An Egyptian football coach who decided he would attempt to fast this year and failed did not want to reveal this change of heart to his cleaning man. Last week, he took an electric kettle to make his morning coffee and have his cigarette in the bathroom so that the cleaning man would not be offended. Little did the coach know that the cleaning man himself was relaxing outside on the balcony with a cup of tea and a cigarette. Work schedules and life-styles completely change during Ramazan in Egypt, a country where nearly 90 per cent of the population is Muslem Sunni. Work stops earlier to give people the chance to arrive home by sunset, the time for breaking the day’s fast. Restaurants in most neighbourhoods function from sunset to early morning hours. Very few serve during the day. A coffee shop in Zamalek, a Cairo neighbourhood where many foreigners and upper-class Egyptians live, is one of the few outlets that people frequent during the day in Ramazan. One of the waiters, Mahmoud, says although all waiters at the coffee shop are fasting, they have no problem serving people food and drinks. "Most of the people who come during the day are either foreigners or non-Muslems so it doesn’t bother me," he says. But it would upset him to see a moslem who is not fasting, the 26-year-old adds. "If it is a man and close to my age, I would even try to talk to him," he adds. The only reason Mahmoud does not mind being around people who are eating is that he feels he will be "rewarded more by God for my steadfastness." Those who do not observe Ramadan come from all social backgrounds. Mohammed Abdel Zaher, a driver, does not fast. The only reason he gives is "because of cigarettes". The same goes for many craftsmen in the popular neighbourhood of Bab Al-Shaariya in Cairo. Sami Ahmad, one of the residents, says most craftsmen do not fast "because they need to be alert while they’re working and therefore have to have their tea and cigarettes". Ahmad himself fasts. He works for a foreign company in Cairo where some employees fast and others don’t. "I don’t mind people eating or drinking in front of me. But I don’t smoke so maybe it doesn’t effect me as much," he says. However, Ahmad repeats a verse from the Koran which says "if you are afflicted, be concealed." and he adds: "People should take into consideration people’s feelings. Fasting is one of the pillars of Islam." UN Ibrahim is a 68-year-old Christian Copt Cook who gets very busy during Ramazan. It is the month when people invite their family and friends over for elaborate meals. Being a Copt, a member of the religious minority in Egypt, she does not have to fast. The only thing that bothers her about Ramazan is that it is much harder to find transportation back home once she is done with her work. ‘’they (muslems) have their fast and we have ours,’’ she says. Among other who do not fast are the large number of foreigners in Cairo, a few Egyptians who have lived abroad for some time, many leftists, and a lot of members of the country’s cultural sector. The member of these groups have devised ways to work around the restrictions of Ramazan. In the week before ramazan begins, they remind each other to stock up on alcohol as the sale of alcohol is prohibited during the official month of fasting. Those who have forgotten to buy in advance either appeal to friends or seek out the occasional grocer who secretly sells beer to desperate consumers - at added cost, of course. Ironically, this non-fasting mix of foreigners and Egyptians complain that they drink more than usual during Ramazan. "It’s primarily because we’re not allowed to," said one Egyptian woman who asked not to be named. (DPA) |
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Farm exports are must for India: Pant WASHINGTON, Nov 18: Agricultural exports are an imperative for India as they support and boost the rural economy, raising the standard of living of the majority of Indian population, K C Pant, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, who is visiting the US, said here yesterday. India’s insistence on abolition of farm subsidies by the EU and US, which was among the reasons for the breakdown of the WTO talks, put the Indian stand in a logical new light before an audience unaccustomed to hearing the Indian viewpoint, Pant, who also chairs the Prime Minister’s task force on infrastructure, said, addressing the Centre for strategic and international studies, a US think tank. Pant said from the point of view of poverty eradication and for providing a broad-based market for industrial goods and services, India’s agriculture will have to grow by at least 4 percent per annum over the next decade. Fortunately, he said, expert opinion suggests that such growth rates are well within the realms of the feasible. "Unfortunately, however, our estimates show that domestic demand for agricultural products is unlikely to grow at very much more than 3 percent annually," he said. Indian was faced with the prospect of a growing imbalance between the supply and demand for agriculturla products, he said. The heart of the problem in realizing India’s agricultural potential, Pant emphasized, lies in market access. "I would like to point out that our position on agriculture (at WTO) has nothing to do with gaining tactical advantage, but emanates from our core development strategy for providing employment to our people and eradicating poverty from our country. Trade issues impeding India’s development efforts, said Pant, were not confined to agriculture. "In the case of manufacture, for example, tariff peaks and escalations on goods which are primary product-intensive limit the extent of value-addition that can be made within India." Similarly, trade in services is still tied up in debates on modes of delivery, especially in such services where countries like India have a comparative advantage. (PTI) |
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Baghdad not secure enough for UN staff to return: Annan UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18: United Nations has come under pressure from US, European Governments and Iraqi governing council to play a major role in Iraq’s transition to self-government but Secretary General Kofi Annan has made it clear that Baghdad was not secure enough for his staff to return. Annan, who advocates a role independent of US-led coalition but opposes any military or administrative take over as the world body did in east Timor and Kosovo, has taken a cautious approach and asserted that the UN was ready to play its role in Iraq but "...The security condition has to be appropriate." He said he had discussed the new transition plan with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and coalition’s Deputy Administrator Britian’s Jeremy Greenstock and Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish leader who is this month’s president of the US-appointed governing council. Talabani, Annan said expressed the "desire for the UN to play an active role, providing assistance and advice in implementing the new decisions which have been taken. "But we are going to study the decision and the plans very carefully and decide what advice we can offer and what role we can play, how and where," the Secretary General said. Annan, who held discussions with American Secretary of State Colin Powell over the weekend, told reporters yesterday that Powell foresees an important role for UN and "I am sure he will support it." But much depends on the security situation. "We are monitoring that situation on a daily basis. So if the situation improves we will be ready to go back," he said, adding "we don’t need to be in Iraq 100 per cent to do waht we can do, or offer our assistance. So we are looking at what we can do outside and cross border and eventually what we can do inside." Annan also said that he hoped to name the special representative to Iraq in place of Sergio Vieira De Mello who was killed in the August 19 attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad along with 21 others. UN withdrew its staff soon after the incident. (PTI) |
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Sri Lankan President, PM hold talks; set up panel COLOMBO, Nov 18: Amid continuing power struggle, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today held crucial talks, their second since the political crisis erupted two weeks ago, and named a panel of officials to work out a cohabitation arrangement on "national issues". "The President and the Prime Minister met today at the President’s house and discussed in depth several issues on which they could work together," said a joint statement issued after their 90-minute meeting here. It said a "committee of officials was appointed to work out the details of future working arrangements under which the President and the Prime Minister could work together on the important national issues." It was also decided that the two leaders "would meet again in two weeks to move the process forward," the statement said without mentioning the troubled peace process. The meeting between the two rival leaders came a day before the Parliament was due to be recalled after Kumaratunga suspended it for two weeks. The Wickremesinghe Government had been hoping to unveil its budget for next year on November 12, but the suspension of the Parliament derailed those plans. Kumaratunga’s spokesman Sarath Amunugama said they expected the budget to go ahead despite speculation that the Parliament could be dissolved to clear the way for a snap election. "Though there are lot of reports about a state of panic, the legislature will continue," Amunugama told reporters here. "The budget will be presented." Amunugama said they expected the Government to increase public servants’ salaries, a key demand of Kumaratunga. Her party will also take credit for concessions to the people, he said. He said Kumaratunga’s party also decided last night to try and work out an electoral deal with the Marxist JVP, or People’s Liberation Front. Kumaratunga’s party has been trying since early this year to enter into a pact with the JVP to topple the Wickremesinghe’s Government. Norwegian mediators put on hold their peace efforts last week saying they needed "clarity" as to who was in charge in Colombo. Diplomatic sources said there was no clarity as to whether the President would go for a snap election or not because there were two strong schools of thought on an early election within her own party. (PTI) |
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Taiwan vows to press ahead with submarine purchase TAIPEI, Nov 18: Taiwan today said it is determined to buy eight conventional submarines next year to boost its defence against China, despite reports suggesting that Washington no longer regards the sale as pressing. Defence Minister Tang Yiau-Ming said his ministry has complained to the United States about comments from the head of the Washington body in charge of US-Taiwan ties, who had described the plan to acquire the submarines as "silly". Taipei media reported that Therese Shaheen, chairman of the American institute in Taiwan, had said in Washington that Taiwan’s order for eight diesel-engine submarines should be put on the back burner so that it could divert limited resources to more pressing items. Taiwan’s military dismissed her suggestion, saying the subs would help protect the island from any Chinese sea blockade. Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be brought back to the fold, by force if necessary. "Our target is to begin construction in the middle of next year," Yeh Chu, the Navy’s Deputy Chief of the General Staff, told a news conference. Yeh said Taiwan had already paid Washington 5.5 million of the 7.5 million dollar in obligating funds for the submarines, and it was Washington’s responsibility to find a manufacturer. The submarines are part of a huge arms deal that US President George W Bush offered to Taiwan in 2001, which also included four Kidd-class destroyers — powerful air-defence vessels — and 12 p-3c orion submarine-hunting aircraft. The purchase has been delayed by Taiwan budget constraints, objections by some lawmakers who think the island should spend more money on social welfare rather than national security, and difficulties in finding manufacturers to build the submarines. The United States has not built diesel submarines for 50 years and the Pentagon said in July it might urge Taiwan to buy second-hand subs on the world market. Former US Defence Secretary William Cohen said in Taipei on Tuesday that Taiwan had failed to measure up to China’s growing military capability and needed to build a sufficient deterrent military force. "There is fear and apprehension among some people and policymakers that perhaps the people of Taiwan don’t take their security seriously. That is not a tolerable position," Cohen told an American Chamber of Commerce Luncheon in Taipei. (AGENCIES) |
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Strict security in London prior to Bush arrival LONDON, Nov 18: British security officials mounted a major security operation today ahead of the arrival of US President George Bush in London for a three-day state visit, during which he will be the guest of the Queen at Buckingham palace. Police radically increased their planned security operation, deploying 14,000 officers from all over the country, many more than the 5,000 originally planned. The increase came amid intelligence reports that Al-Qaeda could be planning a terrorist attack. Bush was to arrive today evening to be greeted by Prince Charles. The formal part of the Bush visit was to begin tomorrow morning with a reception from the Queen. Police have decided to allow tens of thousands of demonstrators expected for a mass rally Thursday - the day Bush meets Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street - to march down Whitehall to Parliament. The war in Iraq is the main focus of objections to Bush’s visit. US security officials reportedly had attempted to enforce a complete shutdown of much of central London around Whitehall, Downing Street and Buckingham palace, but London police declined to comply. There were reports that White House security officials had called for structural alterations at the palace to protect Bush against a terror attack, but that the Queen had rejected the idea. Not since former President Woodrow Wilson was received 1918, has a US President received a reception of this order. A lone female protestor, a 61-year-old nurse from Yorkshire, scaled the front gates of the palace Monday evening, but came down of her own accord. Blair has insisted repeatedly in the face of the protests that the timing of the visit was right. "This is the right moment for US to stand firm with the United States in defeating terrorism wherever it is and delivering US safely from what I genuinely believe to be the security threat of the 21st century," Blair said. According to an opinion poll published by the Guardian newspaper today, a majority of Britons backed the visit. On a lighter note, the topless "Page Three Girl" in the Sun welcomed Bush with open arms and said the visit symbolized the special relationship between Britain and the US. (DPA) |
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KHARTOUM, Nov 18: Thirteen passengers and crew were killed when a cargo plane crashed in southern Sudan, the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported today. The crash occurred near the town of Wau, provincial capital of Bahr El Ggazal region, the news agency said. It quoted the manager of Sariat Cargo Co as saying the Russian Antonov cargo aircraft crashed just before landing at Wau’s airport. The plane’s crew included a Russian, an Armenian and four Uzbekistani nationals. Authorities were still investigating the crash. (DPA) UN agency suspends work after murder of officer in Afghanistan ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: The United Nations agency for refugees stopped repatriating Afghan refugees from Pakistan today following the murder of a staff member in Afghanistan, the UN High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) office said. Jack Redden, UNHCR spokesman in Islamabad, said the agency "is temporarily closing its voluntary repatriation centres in Quetta and Peshawar until the security situation inside Afghanistan is clarified". UNHCR also stopped all its activities in the Afghan province of Ghazni after its officer Bettina Goistard was killed and her Afghan driver was wounded by gunmen on Sunday. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the killing, calling it a vicious attack that would make the UN change the way it operates in Afghanistan. In a statement Annan said: "I think it was a vicious attack on our colleague, and to kill deliberately someone who was in Afghanistan to assist the people is something that no one can excuse - whatever the cause, (IT) cannot be justified. "Obviously we are taking measures to protect the staff and continue our operations as best as we can. We are not going to be reckless. It will entail some changes in the way we operate and I think we are beginning to take measures already." (DPA) US forces in Saddam’s home town pound targets TIKRIT, IRAQ, Nov 18: US troops pounded suspected insurgent positions in Iraq overnight, firing mortars from a military base inside one of Saddam Hussein’s former palace complexes in his hometown. The firepower reverberated throughout the base in Tikrit and rattled windows as the intermittent barrage went on for about an hour around midnight yesterday. A spokesman for the 4th infantry division said today the bombardment was part of operation ivy cyclone two in north-central Iraq, stepped-up strikes on guerrillas who have been launching increasingly bold attacks on US-occupation forces. "If not all, the majority of the rounds were fired from inside the base. It’s an element of that (operation) to show our capabilities," said the spokesman. He said details would be released later today. In recent weeks the US military has gone out of its way to use mortars and tanks against insurgent targets around Tikrit. It has also sent armour through the town’s streets to remind guerrillas of what they up against. Tikrit is 150 Km north of Baghdad. The first operation ivy cyclone kicked off earlier this month after insurgents shot down a US Black hawk helicopter near Tikrit, killing all six personnel on board. The United States blames Saddam loyalists or foreign Islamic militants who have slipped into Iraq for the attacks. (AGENCIES) Indonesia seeks 700 Mln from JBIC for power plant JAKARTA, Nov 18: Indonesia’s state electricity firm pt Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is negotiating with the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) to obtain a 700 million loan to fund construction of a power plant. "The loan has been agreed in principal, but we continue to negotiate," PLN’s director Ali Herman Ibrahim told . He did not give details on the negotiations. According to Ibrahim, PLN plans to build a 750 megawatt gas-fired electricity plant in Cilegon town in Banten province in western Java and expected it to start operation in 2005. "We hope to be able to get the loan by the end of the year," the official said. PLN needs to increase its electricity supply to avoid shortages in the world’s fourth most populous country as annual demand is estimated to grow by around 10 percent a year. JBIC is a semi-Government Japanese bank that provides loans to foreign countries. (AGENCIES) |
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