Australia ships radioactive waste in tight security

CANBERRA, Oct 27: Australia shipped its sixth cargo of radioactive waste in 40 years today, taking the consigmment through the streets of Sydney to the harbour in secrecy and surrounded by tight security.

The Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which manages Australia’s only nuclear facility at Sydney’s Lucas heights, said 344 spent fuel elements were loaded onto a specially designed cargo ship in the early hours today after being moved through Sydney streets overnight.

They will be shipped to France for reprocessing.

The five trucks carrying the spent fuel were escorted by helicopters, motorcycle and mounted police, patrol cars and other emergency service vehicles.

"Relevant local councils and stakeholders were informed prior to shipment. However, the exact route and timetable was not provided for obvious security reasons," ANSTO’s acting Executive Director Ron Cameron said in a statement.

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, all countries have stepped up security around the transportation of radioactive materials ranging from harmless medical supplies to weapons-grade plutonium.

An ANSTO spokeswoman said two boatloads of about a dozen activists from environmental group Greenpeace were in the harbour as the ship left, waving banners saying "nuclear never save", but the demonstration was peaceful.

Cameron said this was ANSTO’s sixth shipment of spent fuel since 1963, with the five others shipments travelling to various places globally without incident. The last shipment was in 2001.

The Lucas heights plant, a 44-year-old facility, is Australia’s only nuclear reactor and produces radioisotopes for use in more than 440,000 nuclear medicine procedures each year.

The shipment follows a decision by Australia’s conservative Government in 1997 not to establish a reprocessing facility at Lucas heights in Sydney but instead ship all used fuel overseas.

The shipment, heading for La Hague in France, was the third under a contract between ANSTO and France’s Cogema in 1999 and will be reprocessed at a cost of a 14 million ( 9.8 million). (AGENCIES)

Senior aide to N.Korea’s kim dies after accident

SEOUL, Oct 27: A senior north Korean official — who diplomats say was a top aide to leader Kim Jong-II — has died four months after being involved in a traffic accident, the official KCNA news agency reported today.

It said Kim Yong-Sun died yesterday at the age of 69. He was in a traffic accident on June 16 and had been receiving hospital treatment, it said, without elaborating on the nature of the accident or his injuries.

Traffic accidents are relatively rare in north Korea, where there are few vehicles on the roads, even in the capital Pyongyang.

Diplomats say Kim was a close adviser to Kim Jong-II on relations with south Korea. Kim Yong-Sun was a vice chairman of the committee for the peaceful reunification of the fatherland, the body that oversees links with the south.

"He enthusiastically worked to open a landmark phase of the country’s reunification under the banner of the historic June 15 North-South joint declaration," KCNA said, referring to the statement published after Kim Jong-II held a summit with then-President Kim Dae-Jung of south Korea in June 2000. (AGENCIES)

Spain’s ruling party wins Madrid vote

MADRID, Oct 27: Spain’s ruling Centre-Right popular party defeated two leftist parties in Madrid regional elections that were one of the last tests of voters’ opinions ahead of general elections due in March.

Handed a second chance, the Popular Party (PP) reversed results from elections held five months ago which were repeated because the socialists and the communist-led united left could not form a Government when two socialist parliamentarians broke ranks and refused to support the coalition.

With 96.1 percent of the of the vote counted, the Popular Party (PP) had 48.3 percent of the vote, which would translate into 56 seats or just enough to form a Government in the 111-seat Assembly.

The Socialists had 39.2 percent or 45 seats and the United Left 8.5 percent or 10 seats.

"The PP has obtained...A majority sufficient enough to govern with 56 seats," Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon said.

The community of Madrid, as the regional authority is known, includes the capital city and surrounding territory and operates public health, education, transportation and other services. About 4.5 million of its 5.5 million residents were eligible to vote. Turnout was 64 percent compared with 69 percent in May.

The Popular Party failed by one seat to win an absolute majority in May, leaving the region with Ruiz Gallardon’s caretaker Government and the need for a new vote.

This gave the party, headed at national level by Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a second chance over the Left.

The Socialists won 47 seats and the United Left 9 in May, when local elections were held nationwide. (AGENCIES)

Bulgarian local poll hands ex-king PM heavy blow

SOFIA, Oct 27: Bulgaria’s Prime Minister and former King, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, suffered a heavy defeat in nationwide municipal elections as voters tired of poverty deserted him, exit polls showed.

His ruling National Movement for Simeon (NMS) got 10 percent of local seats, far behind the main opposition ex-Communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which led with 33 percent, the BBSS Gallup 0xit polls showed.

The exit polls, conducted in several major cities with a margin of error of 2.5 percent, gave the centre-right UDF party 20 percent of seats and the ethnic Turk MRF party, the NMS’s coalition partner, 10 percent.

"One third of Bulgarians voted for the Bulgarian Socialist Party. It is the winner of this elections," political analyst Andrei Raichev, head of the polling agency, said.

Bulgarian voters made clear they were using the municipal elections to register their discontent with Saxe-Coburg’s failure to deliver on promises of quick affluence two years after coming to power.

He said last week the local elections would be a springboard for winning national elections expected in 2005, but few in the Bulgarian media agree.

Between 35 and 40 percent out of six million voters cast ballots in schools and institutions around the country. Official results are expected today.

Saxe-Coburg, who lived most of his life outside Bulgaria, returned as a national saviour to a people tired of poverty and corruption more than a decade after Communism collapsed in what was once the Soviet Union’s closest ally.

The former businessman won a landslide victory promising clean politics and a dramatic rise in the standard of living within 800 days. He was praised abroad for appointing a team of young reformists to implement pro-western policies.

But despite steady economic growth and bringing the Balkan country into NATO and closer to the European Union, which Bulgaria hopes to join in 2007, people struggle to survive on meagre pensions and salaries still averaging only 290 levs (175 dollars). (AGENCIES)

Economic, political crises loom over Muslims as Ramadan starts

CAIRO, Oct 27: The holy month of Ramadan has begun throughout the Middle East, with Muslims observing their first day of weeks of dawn-to-dusk fasting, followed by sumptuous meals at family homes, five star restaurants or free-to-eat-at tables lining city streets.

Traditionally a period of spiritual reflection, Ramadan this year coincides with the war in Iraq, the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict and harsh economic times in countries like Egypt, the most populous nation in the Arab world.

Millions of Muslims in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen began fasting yesterday. Fellow Muslims in other Middle Eastern States and elsewhere around the world are expected to begin marking Ramadan today.

Muslims believe it was during Ramadan about 1,400 years ago that the Quran, the Islamic holy book, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Zafrallah Mohammed, an employee at Yemen’s oil ministry, said "this is the first Ramadan that sees the Arab nation scattered like never before."

Abdel Hakem abaed, a Yemeni university student, said he will be "praying to God during Ramadan for the sake of Muslims everywhere in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan. This is our (Muslims’) task."

In Egypt, Ramadan is usually a festive affair, where strings of colored lights and illuminated lanterns light up night time streets throughout the capital, Cairo, and in most other centers.

For more than two hours after the first daily fast-breaking meal - "Iftar" - yesterday, Cairo’s normally traffic-choked streets were virtually empty as Egyptians sat down around dining tables at home, in hotels or at street-side tables to feast on an array of meats, salads, rice dishes and desserts.

But Egypt’s deteriorating economy, marked by its weak currency and a bread crisis that hit just weeks before Ramadan began, has cast a pall over the holy month, forcing some Muslims to give up some culinary staples because of high prices. (AP)

Tenure has been exemplary: Gehlot

LONDON, Oct 27: Describing his five-year tenure as "exemplary", Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed that the people of the state were of the opinion that his Government had worked.

"My five-year tenure has been exemplary. Despite the famine and drought like situation, along with the difficult financial situation in the state, the developmental work continued and the way drought situation was handled has made the people of the state to feel that this Government has worked," Gehlot said while participating in a BBC’s `Aap Ki Baat BBC Ke Saath’ programme broadcast last night.

When a questioner pointed out that his sincere individual efforts were being projected as the overall efforts of the Government, Gehlot said the "success or failure of any Government depends on the team work.

"We succeeded in tackling the difficult situations of drought because the entire team of elected public representatives from Sarpanch right up to the Chief Minister, all worked tirelessly. We managed to save the lives of cattle, made life of people of the state easy, because there was no let-up in the relief work.

Asked why his Government had failed to provide reservation to Muslims, the Congress Chief Minister said: "You are mistaken. We have provided reservation to 23 backward castes among the Muslims in the state.

"So far as the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) are concerned, they may be of any religion - Hindu, Sikh, Muslim or Christian - our Government has made a provision for 23 per cent reservation on economic criterion."This has been approved by the Centre and the Prime Minister has assured that the Centre would amend the Constitution accordingly. So there would be no discrimination against anyone," Gehlot claimed.

When a questioner pointed out to serious allegations of corruption against some of the ministers of his cabinet, the Chief Minister said: "The opposition in the state could not find any issue in the five years. When any allegation is levelled against any minister, the facts should be brought out.

"There was a concerted effort to malign my Government, a vicious campaign was launched in the press on the issue of corruption, but not even a single scandal could be brought out to point a finger at my Government," he alleged.

Gehlot claimed his Government had made sincere efforts to curb the menace of corruption, and "the results are there for all to see," he said.

Asked why his Government failed to declare the properties of ministers and ruling party MLAs as promised prior to the last elections, Gehlot said he had appealed to the Assembly Speaker to make provision for an MLA winning and entering the house to declare his or her properties but the opposition did not cooperate and there was no forward movement.

"So far as my ministers are concerned, I have myself maintained the records of their assets and liabilities. I did not declare them as this work has to be done on an equal footing.

"Now since the Supreme Court ruling has come, I feel vindicated on my stand on transparency, as now the candidates will have to furnish an affidavit of their property while filing nomination papers. This will be implemented in the assembly elections in five states, which should settle the issue."

Answering a question on the state of illiteracy in the state, Gehlot said more than 21 lakh children were going to schools under the scheme - Shiksha Aapke Dwaar Par (education at your door steps).

Rejecting the charge that his Government had done nothing to generate employment, he claimed his Government had generated one lakh thirteen thousand jobs in five years in the field of education and forty thousand of them have been regularised.

On the contrary, he said the NDA Government at the Centre promised one crore jobs and sought to know what happened to it.

Answering a charge that rural areas in the state were deprived of electricity, he said "our Government has achieved a record of making Rajasthan the number one state in electricity production in the country. There has been a cent per cent increase in the electricity generation as compared to the past fifty years.

"We have given eight lakh connections out of which more than one lakh twenty five thousand have been for the farmers. Others include domestic and industry," Gehlot claimed. (PTI)

Amnesty flays Pak on violation of rights of children

NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Amnesty international has flayed Pakistan for violating rights of children and said around 4,500 children were currently in jail with more than 3,000 of them not even convicted of any offence and children are even sentenced to death in violation of international norms.

"Children can sometimes spend several months or even years in detention simply because their families cannot afford to pay for their bail. Once they eventually get to trial, conviction rates are as low as 15-20 per cent," Amnesty international said in its latest report on the treatment of children by the justice system in Pakistan.

Pakistan ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child in 1990 and introduced domestic measures, such as the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) which came into force in 2000, as part of efforts to fufil the obligation to protect the rights of children who come in conflict with the law.

"However, widespread lack of awareness and failure to implement these measures means that the rights of children in police custody or prison in Pakistan are often neglected," Amnesty International added.

The JJSO does not allow a Court to hear children and adult cases the same day and this happens regularly. This results in children, including first-time offenders, being transported and held in lock-ups with adults where they are at the risk of abuse in violation of law.

The handing down of the death penalty to children is strictly prohibited by both international human rights law and the JJSO. but children continue to be sentenced to death in Pakistan. (PTI)

Farmer kills pet Dog who eats his 300 US dollar savings

HONK KONG, Oct 27: A farmer in central China killed his pet dog and cut it open after it swallowed his 300 US dollar life savings, a news report said Monday.

The farmer’s dog, from Honghu, Hubei province, gobbled up 25 notes worth 100 yuan (12 US dollars) each when Sun Xiaoshan left his savings lying around the house, the south China morning post reported.

Sun killed the dog then cut its stomach open and managed to retrieve 14 of the notes, which were partially damaged but worth a total of around 170 US dollars, the paper said. (DPA)

Mortar attacks kills one US soldier-military

BAGHDAD, Oct 27: A mortar attack killed one US soldier and injured two others at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the western outskirts of the Iraqi capital, a US Military spokeswoman said today.

She said one military policeman died in the attack at about 10:30 PM (1930 GMT) yesterday night. The soldier was the 110th killed in action in Iraq since Washington declared an end to major conflict on May 1. (AGENCIES)

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