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US freezes assets of 2 Saudis for Al-Qaeda links WASHINGTON, Dec 22: The United States has frozen the assets of two Saudi nationals for allegedly providing support to Al-Qaeda, and has asked the United Nations to take similar action. ......more Japan’s
Koizumi again TOKYO, Dec 22: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated today that he wanted at some point to visit....more Iran atomic work breaks spirit of accord-diplomats VIENNA, Dec 22: Iran’s decision to keep preparing raw uranium for enrichment, a step on the way to making ......more EU cuts 2005 fish quotas to save depleted species BRUSSELS, Dec 22: The EU decided today to cut national fish catches for 2005, ....more |
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India’s strides Arcolab to make drugs for Mayne MELBOURNE, Dec 22: Indian group Strides Arcolab Ltd has agreed to develop and make generic injectable drugs for Australia’s . . ...more Alleged top militant accused of Madrid bombings MADRID, Dec 22: An alleged leader of a Moroccan militant Islamic group linked to Al-Qaeda, who boasted his organisation carried out the March 11...more Bush monkey picture shown on giant NY billboard NEW YORK, Dec 22: A portrait of President George W Bush using monkeys to form his image that was banished.....more Safe
drug imports would WASHINGTON, Dec 22: Importing cheaper prescription medicines would require costly safety measures and save US consumers .......more |
US freezes assets of 2 Saudis for Al-Qaeda links WASHINGTON, Dec 22: The United States has frozen the assets of two Saudi nationals for allegedly providing support to Al-Qaeda, and has asked the United Nations to take similar action. The US treasury said yesterday it had listed the two men —London-based dissident Saad-al-Fagih and Adel Batterjee, another Saudi national — as "specially designated global terrorists" for providing financial and material support to Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. "The US is submitting both names to the United Nations (Security Council) 1267 Committee, which will consider adding them to the consolidated list of terrorists tied to Al-Qaeda, OBL (Osama bin Laden) and the Taliban," the treasury said in a statement. It added that the two men were not linked to each other. Fagih, who lives in Britain, is a leading Saudi dissident and heads the London-based movement for Islamic reform in Arabia, which says it seeks to topple the monarchy by peaceful means. His group has recently called for demonstrations in the conservative kingdom, but the protests failed to materialise after blanket security precautions. Saudi officials accuse Fagih of exploiting social and economic discontent to further a radical Islamic cause, hiding his agenda behind calls for rights and greater accountability. The treasury statement said fagih has maintained associations with Al-Qaeda since the mid-1990s, including an individual linked to the 1998 east Africa US embassy bombings. It also accused Fagih of contact with Bin Laden and Khaled-al-Fawwaz, whom it called Bin Laden’s De Facto representative in Britain. The treasury said Batterjee, who is based in Saudi Arabia, had ranked "as one of the world’s foremost terrorist financiers, who employed his private wealth and a network of charitable fronts to bankroll the murderous agenda of Al-Qaeda." The UN’s 1267 committee is charged with reporting on Al-Qaeda and remnants of Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban rulers. It was established in 1999 under resolution 1267 and strengthened after the September 11, 2003 attacks against the United States. The committee has compiled a list of individuals and organizations, which obliges all 191 UN member nations to freeze assets, block travel and prevent the sale of arms and military equipment. To date, the United States has designated 396 individuals and entities as terrorists, their financiers or facilitators since September 2001. The treasury statement said the global community had so far frozen over 144 million in terrorist related assets. (AGENCIES) |
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Japan’s Koizumi again says he hopes to visit Iraq TOKYO, Dec 22: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated today that he wanted at some point to visit Iraq, where Japanese troops are engaged in reconstruction work. Koizumi, a close ally of US President George W Bush, has expended considerable political capital to support the US-led war in Iraq and has sent about 550 troops to the southern Iraqi city of Samawa. The Government decided this month to keep the troops in Iraq for another year even though opinion polls showed that a majority of voters were against extending the mission, Japan’s riskiest military venture since World War Two. Koizumi said earlier this year that he hoped to visit Iraq in the future. Defence Minister Yoshinori Ohno went there this month, just before the mission was extended. "I am hoping I can do it at some point in the future," Koizumi told reporters. Public concern about the troops’ safety has grown as violence has escalated across Iraq, especially as the Dutch troops who maintain security around Samawa are to pull out next March. The main opposition Democratic Party, which was against the eployment from the start, says it violates conditions set by a law restricting troop activities to "non-combat zones". The Japanese camp in Samawa has been hit by rocket shells but there have been no casualties. Yesterday, a guerrilla attack on a dining tent at a US base in northern Iraq killed 19 American soldiers and three other people in the deadliest strike on US forces since last year’s war to oust Saddam Hussein. (AGENCIES) |
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Iran atomic work breaks spirit of accord-diplomats VIENNA, Dec 22: Iran’s decision to keep preparing raw uranium for enrichment, a step on the way to making nuclear weapons, breaks the spirit though not the letter of its pledge to freeze all such activity, diplomats said. Under a deal iran reached with three EU nations to freeze all enrichment activity as of Nov 22, preparing "yellowcake" uranium for enrichment is strictly prohibited. But the accord allowed Iran to finish some limited uranium conversion work that it had already begun before the suspension took effect. But Iran will now continue enrichment-related work until February, western diplomats told yesterday. Continuing the work that long "would certainly violate the spirit of the agreement," a western diplomat said. "Iran has a legal basis for doing it, but it will not inspire much confidence in them," another diplomat said. The US State Department said if Iran was committed to suspension it would have sought to end uranium conversion efforts immediately. "Iran’s actions reinforce our view that further pressure on Iran is required — including the pressure of reporting Iran to the UN Security Council — to bring Iran to make a strategic decision to abandon its pursuit of sensitive nuclear fuel-cycle capabilities," said state department spokesman Kurtis Cooper. Iran’s chief delegate to the Vienna-based international Atomic Energy Agency said separately that Iran would press ahead with its nuclear programme. Western diplomats said this would include work broadly but not explicitly covered by last month’s suspension accord. "The Iranians have decided to continue uf4 (uranium tetrafluoride) production until the end of february," one diplomat told . UF4 is a precursor to Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6), the gas that is fed into centrifuges which spin at supersonic speeds to purify it for use as fuel in civilian nuclear power plants or in atomic weapons. (AGENCIES) |
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EU cuts 2005 fish quotas to save depleted species BRUSSELS, Dec 22: The EU decided today to cut national fish catches for 2005, rejecting proposals to shut fishing grounds in favour of more limits on the time trawlers can hunt for depleted species like cod, officials said. "There was a broad qualified majority," a European Union diplomat said after a meeting of fisheries ministers. Only Lithuania opposed the deal, he said. Britain and France were among other EU Governments with reservations. Scientists have repeatedly warned fish numbers are so dangerously low in some areas that the only solution is to ban fishing. Cod, hake and sole are in jeopardy of dying out, they say. The European Commission has usually rejected a ban for fear of wrecking communities dependent on fishing for a livelihood. But with the first signs of growth in numbers of cod — a tasty dish on dinner tables across Europe — in about 10 years, the Commission wants to keep up a drive to revive stocks. The ministers agreed to gentler quota cuts than envisaged by the Commission provided reductions continue for several years. (AGENCIES) |
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India’s strides Arcolab to make drugs for Mayne MELBOURNE, Dec 22: Indian group Strides Arcolab Ltd has agreed to develop and make generic injectable drugs for Australia’s Mayne Group Ltd. May.Ax for sale into the United States, Mayne said. By pairing with Strides, Mayne said it would save on investing in new development and manufacturing capabilities. "Strides has these competencies so we will get to market more quickly with less cost than if we had decided to proceed on our own," Mayne Chief Executive Stuart James said. The specialty hospital drugs that Strides will make for Mayne generated sales of more than 350 million in the year to June 2004 in the United States. Mayne aims to start selling the drugs in the United States in fiscal 2007 after securing approval from the US Food Drug Administration. Mayne shares eased 0.9 percent to trade at a 4.29 in a firmer broader market. Its shares have climbed 32 percent this year, slightly underperforming a 36 percent gain in the health care index. Strides last traded at 212.60 rupees. (Agencies) |
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Alleged top militant accused of Madrid bombings MADRID, Dec 22: An alleged leader of a Moroccan militant Islamic group linked to Al-Qaeda, who boasted his organisation carried out the March 11 Madrid bombings, has been accused of 191 counts of murder. As Spain stepped up security against a possible Christmas attack, a senior Judge yesterday accused Hassan-el-Haski, 41, of being a leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (MICG) and playing an important part in planning March’s attacks. The MICG is already accused of carrying out the May 2003 Casablanca bombings when 12 suicide bombers and 33 others were killed. Haski’s alleged involvement is the strongest pointer yet that the group may have been behind both attacks. Judge Juan Del Olmo said in a ruling that the Madrid bombings were in retaliation for the previous conservative Government’s support for the US-led war in Iraq. The socialists, who won power only three days after the bombings, withdrew Spain’s troops from Iraq on taking office. The Judge remanded Haski in custody without bail. He was arrested on Friday in the Canary islands with three other Moroccan suspected members of the MICG — said to be part of Al-Qaeda’s North African network. At the time of his arrest, Haski was manoeuvring for the overall leadership of the group in Europe, the Judge said. Attila Turk, a member of the MICG arrested recently in France, testified Haski was a senior member of the group and that Haski had told him the MICG was responsible for the March 11 attacks. "He said it was his group of Moroccans in Spain who had dealt the blow ... I noticed a change in his behaviour before and after the attacks," a court document quoted Turk as saying. (AGENCIES) |
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Bush monkey picture shown on giant NY billboard NEW YORK, Dec 22: A portrait of President George W Bush using monkeys to form his image that was banished from a New York art show last week amid charges of censorship was projected on a giant billboard in Manhattan. "Bush monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir last week at the Chelsea market public space, leading the market’s managers to close down the 60-piece show. Animal magazine, a quarterly arts publication that had organized the month-long show, said anonymous donors had paid for the picture posted on a giant digital billboard yesterday over the entrance to the Holland tunnel, used by thousands of commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey. The original picture will be auctioned on Ebay, with part of the proceeds donated to parents of US soldiers wishing to supply their sons and daughters with body armor in Iraq. US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came under fire from soldiers in Kuwait earlier this month who complained that they had to use scrap metal to armor their vehicles. "Many of my friends are over in Iraq," Savido said in a statement. The painting offers a likeness of Bush but the image is made up of monkeys swimming in a marsh. It was originally priced at 3,500 in the show’s catalogue. Organizers expect more than 400,000 drivers to see the billboard each day for the next month. (AGENCIES) |
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Safe drug imports would be difficult: US study WASHINGTON, Dec 22: Importing cheaper prescription medicines would require costly safety measures and save US consumers little money, a Government task force said in a report that lawmakers and others criticized as echoing drug industry scare tactics. The long-awaited report to Congress did not say whether importation should be legal, but said yesterday any legislation to allow it must ensure imports meet US Food and Drug Administration standards. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, a member of the task force, said it was up to Congress to decide if importation was worthwhile. "If Congress is willing to consider importation from Canada, then it must be specifically regulated much like FDA regulates the American movementsof pharmaceuticals," Carmona told reporters on a conference call. A bipartisan group of lawmakers called the report "one-sided" and said they would redouble their efforts to allow importation in the next Congress. The report uses "the same scare tactics employed by the pharmaceutical companies themselves," said democrat rep. Rahm Emanuel, Republican Rep Dan Burton and others. Ron Pollack, head of the consumer group families USA, said, "it argues that American consumers must continue to pay the world’s highest drug prices to fund the drug industry’s research and development costs." The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said importation could hinder development of new drugs. "Importing medicines from abroad is not a long-term solution to the health-care challenges of patients" said Dr Paul Anthony, Chief Medical Officer for the industry group. Congress ordered the study last year when it added a prescription drug benefit for seniors in the medicare program. (AGENCIES) Christmas pudding a poison for pooches SYDNEY, Dec 22: Christmas is the season for giving, but Australian animal-lovers have been warned to keep festive delicacies such as plum pudding, chocolate and gravy-laden meats away from their pets. Dog owners should think twice before giving into doe-eyed looks from under the Christmas table if they want to avoid an emergency visit to a veterinary surgery, Australia’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said. Seemingly innocuous human treats such as chocolate are a potential pet killer, RSPCA president Hugh Wirth said today. "Most vets would try and evacuate (pump) the stomach when they know the dog has recently eaten a great deal of chocolate," Wirth told from his Melbourne veterinary practice. Fatty foods can also trigger life-threatening gastro-intestinal upsets and an inflammatory response in the pancreas in pets. Wirth said fatty foods can leave a dog "in a state of collapse, Vomitting and Diarrhoea, very high fever and extreme abdominal pain". Animals should be fed appropriate pet food that they are used to, even on special occasions, and "not all this exotic stuff or scraps that you happen to have because its Christmas time and you’re eating high on the hog", Wirth said. Dog-owners should also be vigilant as pups eagerly steal any food carelessly left unattended. "At this time of year, when they raid the table they’re raiding rich food which is not normal daily fare for us. That’s where the problem arises," Wirth said. (AGENCIES) Manila warns of plot as Poe funeral packs streets MANILA, Dec 22: Filipinos buried movie legend turned politician Fernando Poe Jr with sorrow and spectacle today as warnings and rumours of plots failed to materialise among the large, peaceful crowd for the funeral. After fiery anti-Government Eulogies by opposition figures at an all-night wake, Poe’s coffin made a five-hour last journey through the streets of Manila to his family’s tomb. Police said 300,000 people watched and followed the carriage, drawn by Poe’s favourite horse and a co-star from some of his 200 films. Fears of unrest accompanied the procession after the Government and the military warned of a conspiracy by opposition groups to use the funeral to incite a revolt against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A column of tanks and armoured personnel carriers was sent to the capital late yesterday. The Presidential palace blocked gates with shipping containers, barbed wire and extra troops. "The threat is very reliable," said Military Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Buenaventura Pascual. "It is coming from the left and right-wing forces." Poe, an idol to legions of movie fans and poor voters as a hero to the oppressed, came within 3 percent of unseating arroyo as President in May’s election, despite being a political novice and high-school dropout with vague plans for the economy. The opposition filed a legal protest accusing arroyo of stealing the election, a view held by millions of Poe backers. With the actor’s stroke, coma and death at age 65 last week, rumours circulated of a plot by some retired and disgruntled active generals to seize power. Large, emotional gatherings are potential flashpoints in the Philippines after "people power" uprisings that toppled two Presidents and numerous coup attempts. (AGENCIES) |
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