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William and Harry ‘cannot take any more’: Palace spokeswomen LONDON, Oct 26: As former Royal Butler Paul Burrell suggested that he might disclose.....more AI
bombing accused VANCOUVER, Oct 26: Accused in the Air India Kanishka bombing case, Ripudaman Singh Malik had shared details of the plot to blow up the plane, ....more Tens of thousands protest Iraq policy in Washington WASHINGTON, Oct 26: Tens of thousands of protesters marched around the White House in the first large-scale demonstration against the....more Attack
will not deter BAGHDAD, Oct 26: A defiant US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz .......more |
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China earthquakes BEIJING, Oct 26: At least four people in northwestern China were killed over the weekend by two earthquakes, .....more Afghans angry at beauty Queen’s Bikini appearance KABUL, Oct 26: The Taliban has been ousted from rule in Afghanistan and its hardline Islamic policies are a thing ....more Bush welcomes Iraq aid, says hard work ahead WASHINGTON, Oct 26: US President George W Bush said new international aid and loan pledges for Iraq were a boost . .......more Clumsy Dutch robbers smash bank, lose loot AMSTERDAM, Oct 26: Bungling bank robbers smashed a hole in a Dutch bank but lost their loot when it fell off the back of their truck during the getaway. ......more |
William and Harry ‘cannot take any more’: Palace spokeswomen LONDON, Oct 26: As former Royal Butler Paul Burrell suggested that he might disclose further letters and secrets about Diana, the late Princess of Wales and other royals, the palace officials have warned that Prince William and Harry are so ‘distraught’ at the disclosures that they ‘cannot take it any more’. "Princes’ sense of betrayal was a heartfelt reaction rather than a considered statement by courtiers", a palace spokeswoman said. "It is a heartfelt reaction by two young men who cannot take any more. Prince william just wants the revelations to stop. It’s damaging the princess’s memory and it’s upsetting for everybody. People should examine their consciences," she said. In an interview in today’s ‘Sunday Times’ Burrell suggested that he might disclose further letters and secrets damaging the royal family. Burrell said the letters he has already made public are the "tip of the iceberg" and that if "dark forces" threaten him or his family he might release more documents. The palace is understood to have suggested a "peace conference" between the Princes and Burrell in an attempt to forestall further damaging allegations. The palace is understood to have suggested a "peace conference" between the Princes and Burrell in an attempt to forestall further damaging allegations. Burrell, whose book about his time as a royal butler is published this week, is unrepentant despite the princes’ deploring his "cold and overt betrayal". He accused palace courtiers of "poisoning" the princes’ "little minds" and said both the queen and the Prince of Wales are poorly advised, suggesting that the queen is like a "dinosaur". He also launched an attack on Prince Charles for failing to listen to him before his old bailey trial last year on charges of stealing Diana’s possessions. Burrell wanted to "grab (Charles) by the throat" and tell him his version of events. The trial collapsed after the queen revealed to prosecutors that Burrell had told her years before that he was holding some of Diana’s personal effects for "safekeeping". (PTI) |
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AI bombing accused shared details of plot with confidant VANCOUVER, Oct 26: Accused in the Air India Kanishka bombing case, Ripudaman Singh Malik had shared details of the plot to blow up the plane, including mistakes he believed were made, with a female confidant, a witness in the trial has testified at a Court here. A longtime acquintance of Malik who was treasurer at Surrey’s Khalsa school, told the British Columbia Supreme Court on Friday that the woman, who is also expected to testify at the trial next month, told him in 1997 about comments Malik allegedly made to her about the bombing, the ‘Vancouver Sun’ reported. Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are each charged with eight counts of murder and conspiracy in the June 23, 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people. On the same day, a bomb in a suitcase blew up as it was being transferred to AI flight 301 at Japan’s Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers. A Court order prohibits the media from identifying either the woman or the witness, who said the woman, who shared "a very good relationship" with Malik from 1992 to 1997, said the accused bomber told her that the person who picked up the airline tickets used to load the bombs onto the two flights wore an easily identifiable unique ring. The person also made a mistake by giving the ticket agent the phone number of a Vancouver Sikh Gurdwara and of another suspect in the bombings Hardial Singh Johal, who has since died, Malik told the woman, who worked as day-care supervisor at the preschool centre. The witness said that Malik, who was close to the woman, started losing trust in her after she refused his request to help cover up monthly payments he authorised to Satnam Kaur Reyat, wife of Air India bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat. He said Malik once told him that Satnam was receiving financial support while Inderjit was in jail for Manslaughter "because her husband has worked for the panth". About a month after the conversation with the woman, Malik told him the woman was to be fired from her job at the preschool centre bacuse she was suspected to be an agent of the Canadian security intelligence service, the witness said. The intelligence people came to speak to him a few months later, the witness said, adding he was advised by Malik not to talk to the police, ‘The Globe and the Mail’ reported. "I said I did not do anything criminal. I am ready to talk." He also told the court that Malik had a close relationship with Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind of the Air India disaster. Malik had borrowed money from Parmar in early 1980s and Parmar stayed at Malik’s home in 1992. (PTI) |
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Tens of thousands protest Iraq policy in Washington WASHINGTON, Oct 26: Tens of thousands of protesters marched around the White House in the first large-scale demonstration against the occupation of Iraq by US-led forces since President George W Bush declared an end to major combat. The protesters, waving placards demanding the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, gathered at a rally yesterday at the Washington monument before moving toward the White House. Peace activists, joined by family members of US troops, said the mounting casualties in Iraq had helped spur the US anti-war movement into action after months of relative quiet. "We need to make president bush realize that our children are being killed," said Fernando De Solar Suarez, whose son, a marine, was killed in Iraq on March 27. Since May 1, when Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and declared major combat in the Iraq war over, 108 US soldiers have been killed in guerrilla attacks. Many of the protesters said they felt the cost of the Iraq occupation in American lives was too high and the billions of US dollars being spent on reconstructing the country’s shattered economy could be put to better use at home. "We need to quit worrying about the ills of other countries and to stop spending billions of dollars on Iraq when we need money for jobs here," said Washington resident Erik Jurek, who added that he was worried about HCS brother serving in the US army in Baghdad. United for peace and justice, which coordinated the protest with international answer (act now to stop war and end racism), estimated that 100,000 people from more than 145 cities attended the demonstration. Police on the streets put the number closer to 20,000 or 30,000. Washington Police do not provide official crowd estimates at public protests. Answer spokesman Brian Becker said the demonstration was intended to send a message to the Bush administration that its position was "losing ground" while they were gaining. Polls have shown a steady slide in Bush’s approval rating since May, when it was around 80 percent. According to a CNN/USA today/gallup poll this month, 56 percent of Americans surveyed approved of the way Bush leading the country. The call to pull US troops out of Iraq was echoed in San Francisco, where several thousand anti-war protesters crowded into a Plaza in front of city hall. The rally, to be followed by a march to a nearby park, was peaceful, in contrast to past demonstrations in the city, which have ended with hundreds of arrests. "We must stop the war now, get our troops home, and deny Bush any credibility so he can’t take us into another war," said John Scanlon, a former marine who served in Vietnam and came from San Diego with a group of other veterans. In Washington, the air was almost festive as the crowd marched through the streets chanting "end the occupation bring them home now" and singing. One man sold T-shirts that read "Osama bin Rumsfeld," depicting the US Defense Secretary wearing a head covering similar to many pictures of the Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden. Others held pink balloons that read "Weapons of Mass Destruction: A lot of hot air". Some people were accompanied by their children and a few brought their dogs. Dozens of families from as far away as California, Texas and Maine came for the demonstration, said Nancy Lessin, of the group military families speak out. "Something we have to realize is there might not be a good solution in Iraq. There might not be democracy with or without Americans," said south Carolina teacher Michael Berg, who favors a greater role for the United Nations in Iraq. (AGENCIES) |
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Attack will not deter US from mission :Wolfowitz BAGHDAD, Oct 26: A defiant US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz vowed on Sunday that the United States would not abandon its efforts to bring stability to Iraq despite a guerrilla attack on the Baghdad hotel where he was staying that may have killed one American. "These terrorist attacks will not deter US from completing our mission, which is to help the Iraqi people free themselves from the types of criminals who did this and protect the American people from this kind of terrorism," Wolfowitz told reporters hours after the strike. US officials had previously said there were up to 15 people wounded when a barrage of rockets slammed into the Rashid hotel, but no deaths. Wolfowitz said he had an unconfirmed report an American had been killed. (AGENCIES) |
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China earthquakes kill at least 4 people, many homes destroyed BEIJING, Oct 26: At least four people in northwestern China were killed over the weekend by two earthquakes, official news reports said today. The Xinhua news agency quoted officials as saying more than 20 people were injured, eight of them seriously, when the quakes struck yesterday evening. It said more than 10,000 houses were destroyed. Blankets were rushed to the scene of the earthquakes in Gansu province where nighttime temperatures fall below freezing. The earthquakes measured 6.1 and 5.8 on the richter scale. Especially hard hit were the Minle and Shandan districts near the city of Zhangye. Officials at the provincial earthquake office said 30 per cent of the houses near the epicentre of the quakes were severely damaged. Rescue efforts were launched and aid supplies were sent to the region, the news agency said. (DPA) |
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Afghans angry at beauty Queen’s Bikini appearance KABUL, Oct 26: The Taliban has been ousted from rule in Afghanistan and its hardline Islamic policies are a thing of the past, but many Afghans have been shocked and angered by an Afghan woman appearing in a Bikini at a beauty pageant. Twenty five-yearbaold Vida Samadzai - the first Afghan entrant in an international beauty contest for 30 years and the first since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 — joined more than 50 other women at a hotel in Manila early this week for the miss earth competition. "She is not representing Afghan women. The way she appeared is not in our Afghan culture nor is endorsed by Islam," Habiba Surabi, Women’s Affairs Minister, told in Kabul. The slim and dark-haired Samadzai was born and raised in Afghanistan, but left for the United States in 1996 to escape the civil war and the rise to power of the Taliban’s religious movement. Her picture in a red Bikini shocked many in her nation. "She is not an Afghan. I was shocked and felt embarrassed to see her appearing like this before cameras and people," said 30 year-old Mohammad Ashraf, a Kabul university student. Frishta, a 25 year-old woman, said Samadzai should be stripped of her Afghan nationality. "She could have participated in Afghan and Islamic traditional clothes rather than showing her body to people. As a woman I am shocked," Frishta said. Samadzai, who may be unaware of the outrage she has caused at home, told this week that she wanted to dispel the notion that Afghan women were cloistered. "I would like to make people aware that as Afghan women we are talented, intelligent and beautiful. We are one of the people who can make a difference in this world." Officials at the Women’s Ministry of President Hamid Karzai’s western-backed Government and several religious clerics also criticised Samadzai. Several other residents suggested that Karzai himself should condemn her. Karzai was installed to power in 2001, after US-led forces overthrew the radical Taliban regime, which had won notoriety for banning women from appearing in public without the all enveloping burqa and banned them from most outdoor jobs and education. (AGENCIES) |
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Bush welcomes Iraq aid, says hard work ahead WASHINGTON, Oct 26: US President George W Bush said new international aid and loan pledges for Iraq were a boost to the country’s reconstruction but cautioned that "difficult work" lay ahead. "There is still difficult work ahead, because freedom has enemies in Iraq," bush said yesterday in his weekly radio address, which was prerecorded. His comments were in line with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s description, in a private memo leaked this week, of the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan as a "long, hard slog." That memo was seen as a contrast to administration assertions of progress in Iraq during the months following the ouster of Saddam Hussein in a US-led war. Bush’s weekly radio addresses this month have all dealt with Iraq, as part of an administration effort to counter news stories highlighting instability and attacks on US soldiers. Two US soldiers were killed in a mortar attack on Friday, bringing to 108 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since Washington declared major combat operations over. Bush hailed the results of a Madrid conference of international donors who pledged at least 33 billion dollars years for Iraq’s reconstruction, including 20 billion dollars from the United States. "This growing financial support will allow us to build on the success of the broad military coalition already serving in Iraq," Bush said. The results exceeded expectations but fall short of the 56 billion dollars the World Bank and United Nations have said is needed over four years. Future oil revenues, foreign direct investment and a refund on the oil-for-food program could narrow the gap. Bush said the US-led coalition, in addition to "fighting terrorists and Saddam holdouts," was rebuilding schools, clinics and power plants in Iraq. "The Iraqi people are moving steadily toward a free and democratic society. Economic life is being restored to the cities. A new Iraqi currency is circulating. Local Governments are up and running. And Iraq will soon begin the process of drafting a constitution, with free elections to follow," he said. (AGENCIES) |
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Clumsy Dutch robbers smash bank, lose loot AMSTERDAM, Oct 26: Bungling bank robbers smashed a hole in a Dutch bank but lost their loot when it fell off the back of their truck during the getaway. The thieves rammed the front of the bank in the northern Dutch town of Sappemeer yesterday and hoisted a safe from a cash machine onto a pickup truck. But the safe slipped off the back of the truck as the gang sped away. Police said they were in pursuit of the clumsy criminals. (AGENCIES) Nine killed, 43 injured in twin earthquakes in China BEIJING, Oct 26: At least nine people were killed and 43 others injured when two severe earthquakes jolted Northwest China’s Gansu province, an official report said today. The twin earthquakes, measuring 6.1 and 5.8 on the richter scale, jolted areas between Minle and Shandan counties of Zhangye city in Gansu at 2041 hours (1811 hrs Ist) and 2048 hours (1818 hrs Ist) yesterday. The condition of six of the 43 injured was serious, the State Seismological Bureau said. The two quake-hit counties are both located on an earthquake-prone belt in Northwest China and the epicentres were about 500 km northwest of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu. The quakes toppled 10,893 houses and killed or wounded over 3,000 head of livestock, the Xinhua news agency reported. The twin quakes also damaged schools, grain warehouses, bridges, and water and power supplies. Seismologists said ruptures in the Qilian Mountain in northwest China might have induced the quakes. By Sunday noon, 170 aftershocks measuring above 0.5 on the richter scale had been felt. The ruptures in Qilian’s northern part conjoining flatland were the likely cause of the quakes and monitoring work is underway, Xinhua quoted experts of the Seismological Department of Gansu as saying. Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has asked the local Government to provide immediate assistance to the people of the quake-hit region. Some 2,000 cotton-padded tents have been sent to the area where night temperatures dropped below zero degree celsius degree following a snowfall recently. In a related report, local authorities have released millions of cubic metres of water from two damaged reservoirs in an attempt to ward off possible flooding due to dam collapse. Cracks, five and one decimetre wide respectively, were spotted on the dams of the Shuangshusi and Zhaizhaizi reservoirs in the quake-hit mingle county. (PTI) Maoists attack Police Post, kill 6 cops, 2 civilians KATHMANDU, Oct 26: Continuing their attacks on security forces, around 250 Maoists today attacked a police post in Nawalprasi district of Nepal killing six policemen and two civilians, police sources said. The rebels launched an attack on the police station at Sunaul Bazaar village, 200 km southwest of the capital Kathmandu, at 7:am in the morning. The police retaliated, leading to an exchange of fire that lasted for about half an hour. The Maoists then set off a bomb before fleeing. Two civilians were also shot dead by the rebels during the fighting. The Maoist violence is yet to scale down despite top Maoist leader Prachanda’s announcement last week that they would not target civilians, infrastructure and low ranking police officials. In a separate incident, Maoists killed a worker of Nepal Communist Party-UML in Dhading district after abducting him. CPN-UML acting general secretary Amrit Kumar Bohara in a statement condemned the killing, saying the continued killing of individuals by the rebels despite their announcement not to target civilians and infrastructure has raised doubts about their sincerity. (PTI) |
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