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Pope marks 25th anniversary, future uncertain VATICAN CITY, Oct 16: Sapped by age and infirmity, Pope John Paul marked his 25th anniversary as head of the Roman Catholic Church today... ..more Soft Indonesia laws JAKARTA, Oct 16: Indonesia is still "very weak" fighting terrorism because of soft laws and is just waiting for the next attack, the head of the .....more China
to develop BEIJING, Oct 16: Buoyed by the success of its first manned space mission, China today announced that it would now ....more DUBAI, Oct 16: The United Arab Emirates is all set to accord a warm welcome to President A P J Abdul Kalam, who is arriving ...more |
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India calls for UNSC UNITED NATION, OCT 16: Attributing the failure to reach an agreement on military action against Iraq to the lack of balanced representation in the .....more At
least 5 killed in NEW YORK, Oct 16: A staten island ferry trying to dock in high winds crashed into a terminal yesterday afternoon, killing at least five passengers ....more China’s Anhui conch Q3 net jumps as economy booms HONG KONG, Oct 16: China’s largest cement maker, Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd,.......more South Korea’s September jobless rate flat SEOUL, Oct 16: South Korea said today its unemployment rate in September, adjusted for seasonal factors, . ......more |
Pope marks 25th anniversary, future uncertain VATICAN CITY, Oct 16: Sapped by age and infirmity, Pope John Paul marked his 25th anniversary as head of the Roman Catholic Church today with the world’s attention focused on his past achievements and future uncertainties. The Pope, joined by Cardinals and Bishops from around the world, begins his big day by signing a major document on the role of Bishops this morning. The main event is an open-air mass in the early evening —roughly the time of day that he first appeared to the world after his shock election on October 16, 1978 as the first non-Italian Pontiff in 455 years. Nearly all Italian newspapers ran special editions for the anniversary of a man many Italians consider an adopted son of the nation. "Sto Lat, Sto Lat, may you live another 100 years, pope," ran the headline in the Rome Daily Il tempo, using the polish birthday refrain. The Vatican newspaper, l’osservatore Romano, called it "the pontificate of a giant of history," and cardinals who have flocked to Rome to fete the ailing pope could not agree more. "I think he will go down (in history) as John Paul the great," US cardinal Theodore Mccarrick of Washington, DC told this week. Attitudes in some quarters are more mixed. Many Catholics, especially in the developed world, take issue with the pope’s hardline proclamations against contraception, abortion, married priests and women clergy. Some accuse him of being too authoritative and unyielding. Yet all agree that he has been a major international player who crusaded for peace, worked tirelessly towards Christian reconciliation with the jews and helped bring down communism. The pope’s health has appeared to go into decline recently and speculation about how long he might live or who will succeed him has cast a long shadow over the festivities. Images of a stooped John Paul, his body ravaged by Parkinson’s disease and arthritis, offer a stark contrast to archive film of the sprightly, smiling Karol Wojtyla striding onto the world stage on October 16, 1978. Close friends and advisers say he will carry on to the bitter end and have told the faithful gathering in the Vatican that the papacy, already the fourth-longest in the history of the 2,000-year-old Church, is alive and well. "This is a man who is never by himself, God is always with him. I think that if you believe in God’s providence, and that it is the spirit that guides the church, then the pope will know what he has to do," said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago. Asked if this could mean the pope eventually resigning instead of ruling for life as most popes have done, George said: "The pope is free so it always a possibility, but I think an abstract possibility at this point." His anniversary celebrations continue on Sunday with the beatification of Mother Teresa — whom the pope deeply admired and holds up as a role model for mankind. The festivities reach their climax on October 21 when the pope elevates 31 prelates to the college of cardinals — the elite group that will choose his successor after he dies. (AGENCIES) |
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Soft Indonesia laws weaken terror fight: official JAKARTA, Oct 16: Indonesia is still "very weak" fighting terrorism because of soft laws and is just waiting for the next attack, the head of the Government’s anti-terrorism board said today, days before a visit by US President George W Bush. In frank remarks to Foreign Ambassadors, Police General Ansyaad Mbai said soft anti-terror laws and a domestic media that gave excessive airtime to militants were chinks in the armour. The world’s most populous Muslim nation had been seen as the weakest link in the war on terror in southeast Asia until the Bali bomb attacks one year ago, which killed 202 people. Since then, Indonesia has arrested 100 Muslim militants over the bombings and other attacks, earning praise, although many analysts say it has much work to do, especially in waging a "war of ideas" against radicals. "Has our success in the Bali investigations been able to ensure that we can stop terrorist actions in Indonesia? my answer is a clear no. We are very weak," said Mbai, who heads the coordinating board on counterterrorism, tasked with straddling the main security agencies and the Government. "The legal support is very weak. Our law is too soft to combat terrorism. With this kind of situation, we are only waiting for another attack." Bush will meet President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Bali next Wednesday during a visit lasting several hours. Fighting terrorism will focus prominently. Indonesia was vulnerable without laws that could root out attacks at the planning level, said Mbai. Jakarta issued anti-terror legislation after the Bali bombings, but it is not as draconian as that used by neighbours Singapore and Malaysia. Mbai also blamed the domestic media for giving militants too much space to express their views. "Our press has been gullible in taking the opinions of these people. Our press always prefers the hot news, bombastic statements from radicals," said Mbai. "Look at how they report Al-Ghozi as if it’s the homecoming of a great hero from a battle," said Mbai, referring to coverage of the return of the corpse of Indonesian Muslim militant Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, shot dead by Philippine troops on Sunday. Scores of militant supporters unfurled banners idolising the self-confessed bombmaker of the southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah when his body arrived at his east Java home before dawn today. The Australian Ambassador to Jakarta said the Indonesian media had largely ignored tough anti-terror comments from Indonesia’s Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a memorial service marking the first anniversary of the Bali attacks on Sunday. Yadhoyono called the Bali bombers "diabolical men". "You won’t find those comments in the Indonesian media. That’s a great pity. That sort of comment needs to be disseminated and given coverage," said David Ritchie. "Let us not dignify these people with any sense of philosophy or representation of Islam. They’re not Islamic people. These people are murderers, criminals. Nothing more." (AGENCIES) |
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China to develop space lab,space station BEIJING, Oct 16: Buoyed by the success of its first manned space mission, China today announced that it would now concentrate on launching lunar and outer space probe programmes to exploit the space for peaceful purposes. "China would strive for breakthroughs in space rendezvous and docking technology for launching a space lab and eventually a manned space station," Deputy Chief Commander of China’s manned space programme, Zhang Qingwei said. A manned space station will enable China to carry out large-scale scientific experiments and applications in space, Zhang said, hours after China’s first manned spacecraft, ‘Shenzhou v’ landed safely along with its astronaut Yang Zhang, also General Manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CAST), said the space plans are necessary for China to exploit space resources for peaceful purposes. Space-based infrastructure, including the planned space lab and station, will serve as a platform for deep space probe, he said. The cast, manufacturer of China’s spacecraft and launch vehicles, will plan for the development of space lab and its launch vehicle and technology for space rendezvous and docking. Long Lehao, Director of the Science and Technology Commission of China academy of launch vehicle technology with cast said the academy has started developing a more powerful launch vehicle capable of sending large satellites, lunar probe devices and other space probe facilities into space in the coming 30 years and more. China Academy of Space Technology, China’s leading satellite and spacecraft developer, announced earlier this year it had designed a lunar probe programme and made breakthroughs in key technology. Earlier, another senior Chinese space official told reporters that China will launch Shenzhou-6 spacecraft in one or two years. Xie Mingbao, Director of the China manned Space Engineering Office, said at a press conference that China had launched four Shenzhou spacecrafts in the past four years, or once every year on an average. "So I think that on the basis of well summing up the experience of the successful launch of the Shenzhou-5 manned spacecraft, the country will send its next Shenzhou craft in one or two years," he said. He also said that China has in all allocated 18 billion yuan (about 2.2 billion US dollars) to its manned space programme by the time of successful return of the Shenzhou-5 space vehicle this morning. (PTI) |
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DUBAI, Oct 16: The United Arab Emirates is all set to accord a warm welcome to President A P J Abdul Kalam, who is arriving in Abu Dhabi on Saturday as part of a three nation tour which will also take him to Sudan and Bulgaria. The highpoint of the tour, Kalam’s first overseas visit, is a meeting with his counterpart Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan in the UAE capital. Kalam will address an Indo-UAE partnership summit in Abu Dhabi, attend a reception by the Indian embassy and is likely to meet the officials of the Dubai Chambers of Commerce and Industry besides visiting Gitex 2003, an international it show here before leaving for Khartoum. The President will also interact with some 1500 students from the Indian High School, the largest school in Dubai, other schools in the northern Emirates and some other Indian institutions. Welcoming his visit, chairman of the Indian High School, Ram Buxani said "it is very important for India to maintain strong and friendly ties with the UAE where close to a million Indian expatriates live". "There should be frequent high level contacts with the UAE and the countries of the region to nourish the traditionally excellent bilateral realtions and we wholeheartedly welcome the Indian President". Former President of Gujarati Association Bharatbhai Shah said the Indian Government had ignored the UAE despite the presence of the strong Indian community and there have been no official visits to the UAE by either the President or Prime Minister in recent years. (PTI) |
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India calls for UNSC expansion to make it more representative UNITED NATION, OCT 16: Attributing the failure to reach an agreement on military action against Iraq to the lack of balanced representation in the Security Council, India has called for its expansion to make it more representative and deal effectively with issues of war and peace. "We can only attribute the inability of the Council to arrive at a collective and unified decisions on the major issues placed before it to lack of balanced representation in its current composition," its deputy permanent representative to the United Nations A Gopinathan said. India is among the member states who have strong claim for a permanent seat in the expanded council which at present has 15 members including five permanent - the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China. If the Council is to represent "genuine multilateralism in its decisions and actions, he said it must reflect current world realities. "Within UN, there is ample recognition of the need of organization and its architecture for maintenance of international peace and security to adapt to the needs and realities of the times," he told the 191-member United Nations General Assembly. Participating in the debate on the work of the Security Council, he pointed out that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had himself stressed the need for expansion of the council to make it more representative of the UN membership if it has to regain confidence of the states and world opinion. Gopinathan regretted that the Council’s preoccupation with Iraq did not leave it sufficient time for "more serious" examination of other major issues relating to the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan. In his address, the Indian representative also stressed on the need for the Council to be more receptive to the concerns of non members and allow them sufficient time to present their views in the open debates. In this context, he rejected the practice to give more time to members than non members. Besides, the non members need to be given sufficient time to prepare for the debates on major issues, he said. (PTI) |
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At least 5 killed in New York ferry crash NEW YORK, Oct 16: A staten island ferry trying to dock in high winds crashed into a terminal yesterday afternoon, killing at least five passengers and injuring scores of people, the New York fire department said. The Andrew J Barberi ferry crashed into the terminal on the staten island side of the 8.3 Km run from Manhattan, leaving a large gash on the side of the boat and sending police, fire, emergency workers and coast guard boats rushing to the scene. Some local media reports said as many as 14 people were killed. Divers had pulled at least two people from the chilly waters, according to television reports. The crash injured scores of people, some in critical condition and some with limbs missing, who had been moved to hospitals near the terminal in the St George section of the island, a fire department source said. Three coast guard rescue boats headed to the scene, a coast guard spokesman said. No cause was given for the accident, though winds gusting to 72 Kph had led to a wind advisory in New York. Service was suspended from both directions on the ferry line, a municipal service covering the run from south ferry terminal in Manhattan to St George in staten island, one of New York city’s five boroughs. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was heading to the scene, his spokesman said. An estimated 65,000 people take the 25-minute trip daily. (AGENCIES) |
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China’s Anhui conch Q3 net jumps as economy booms HONG KONG, Oct 16: China’s largest cement maker, Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd, said on Thursday third-quarter net profits more than doubled as a booming economy fuelled construction, and forecast sizzling growth in sales. "Market demand for high quality cement is still high. On such a basis, it is expected that the group’s turnover will have growth of 50 percent or more compared with that of last year," the company said in a statement published in Hong Kong newspapers. The upbeat forecast helped send Anhui Conch’s shares up 7.3 percent to HK 8.05 in early trade before they eased back slightly to HK 7.95. In the three months ending September 30, the firm’s net profit totalled 192.2 million yuan ( 23.22 million) compared with 72.2 million yuan in the same period last year. The company said its accounts were prepared in accordance with mainland Chinese accounting standards. Its nine-month net profit rose 138 percent from a year earlier to 414 million yuan, while turnover rose 78.5 percent to 3.6 billion yuan. Its Hong Kong-listed shares closed at HK 2.35 on Wednesday and have gained 4.5 percent in the past month. (AGENCIES) |
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South Korea’s September jobless rate flat SEOUL, Oct 16: South Korea said today its unemployment rate in September, adjusted for seasonal factors, was unchanged at 3.5 percent from August, just below a 22-month high of 3.6 per cent set in July. Without taking into account seasonal factors, the jobless rate edged down to 3.2 per cent in September from 3.3 per cent in August, as the number of unemployed decreased for the second consecutive month, the national statistical office said. (AGENCIES) 13 foreign fimrs to invest 10 billion US dollars in Taiwan TAIPEI, Oct 16: Thirteen foreign companies plan to invest 10 billion US dollars in Taiwan in the internet, aerospace and bioscience sectors, a newspaper report said today. The economics ministry will probably make the announcement during the October 19-22 Taiwan business alliance conference, the economic daily news reported. The paper said the 13 firms include ericsson, bell helicopter, crane aerospace, philips, fujitsu, pfizer and biopure. Ericsson will reportedly invest in the development of a third-generation internet, while crane aerospace will launch an Asia operations centre. Bell helicopter will open a manufacturing plant in Taiwan, according to the report. Biopure will team up with a Taiwan company to produce artificial blood, while cephalon will join a Taiwan company to develop anti-cancer drugs, the paper said. (DPA) Russia announces delay on UN vote on Iraq draft UNITED NATION, Oct 16: Russia’s UN Ambassador Sergei Lavrov said yesterday a UN vote on an Iraq resolution would be delayed a day so that the Presidents of Russia, France and Germany could confer. Lavrov told reporters the three Presidents would have a telephone conference early Thursday to coordinate their positions on the controversial draft resolution that seeks broader international support for US plans for Iraq’s future. All three nations had proposed amendments to the US-drafted text, not all of which were accepted by the United States. "These are joint amendments and these are three countries who are sponsoring these amendments," Lavrov said, explaining why the three had to confer. (AGENCIES) Iran upbeat about nuclear talks with Elbaradei TEHRAN, Oct 16: A senior Iranian official said he was hopeful talks with UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed Elbaradei in Tehran on Thursday would remove concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Elbaradei arrived in Tehran early today and was due to spend most of the day in talks with Iranian officials. The visit comes just two weeks before a UN deadline for Iran to disprove US-led claims it has a secret atomic weapons programme. Failure to do so could see Iran’s case referred to the UN Security Council in November. "I believe this visit will be very positive and I hope that during these talks all the problems will be solved," Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) . Concerned that Iran could be concealing a secret atomic weapons programme, the IAEA has given Iran until October 31 to prove that its nuclear facilities are, as Tehran says, geared solely to electricity generation. EN route to Tehran last night Elbaradei said Iran could not expect an extension of the October 31 deadline and called on Tehran to answer all his outstanding questions. He also confirmed that UN Inspectors have visited some military sites in Iran during recent inspections. "I cannot accept that by the end of the month we will be in a position...(where) we believe we have not gotten all the information we require," Elbaradei said. Diplomats have said Iran might ask for the deadline to be extended. Iran has said it does not recognise the deadline as binding but has decided to offer all the information the IAEA is seeking as quickly as possible. But Elbaradei said Iran was not acting as quickly as the IAEA would like. "We still need more information," he said. "Now is the time to come forward with a full and comprehensive declaration of all they have done. This is a must." The IAEA’s concerns centre on Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities, which the United States says are at the heart of a clandestine attempt to build an atom bomb. Iran says it needs to produce low-grade enriched uranium to use as fuel in nuclear power reactors. Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear bombs and the IAEA has found traces of it at two Iranian nuclear sites. Tehran said it was due to contaminated machinery bought from abroad. (AGENCIES) South African President favours strategic ties with India NEW DELHI, Oct 16: South African President Thabo Mbeki today favoured a strategic relationship between India and his country. Talking to reporters after he was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, he hoped his five-day visit to India would strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries. President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, minister-in-waiting Digvijay Singh and senior civil and military officials were among those present on the occasion. Mr Mbeki said he was happy to be in India after a long gap and would discuss various bilateral and global issues with Mr Vajpayee. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vajpayee welcomed the visit of Mr Mbeki and said it would go a long way in strengthening bilateral ties. Mr Mbeki, who arrived here yesterday, will hold delegation level talks with the Prime Minister later today, followed by the signing of a few agreements between the two countries. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes will call on him during the course of the day. Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is also scheduled to meet the visiting dignitary. President A P J Abdul Kalam will host a banquet in honour of the South African leader in the evening. Mr Mbeki will emplane for Hyderabad in the night. (UNI) |
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