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China working with other nations in combating money laundering BEIJING, Dec 25: China is playing a "very active role" in promoting cooperation among . ......more Nepal
assures of stocks KATHMANDU, Dec 25: The Nepal Government today assured that it had enough stocks of essential items like foodgrains and ....more War-era
shell kills HANOI, Dec 25: Four children aged between 9 and 14 and a 20-year old man were killed in southern Vietnam when ....more 286 Chinese peacekeepers return from Liberia BEIJING, Dec 25: A 286-member batch of Chinese peacekeeping troops has ...more |
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India changes the food testing requirements KATHMANDU, Dec 25: In response to the request of the Nepalese Government, Indian Government has changed the ...more Four killed as Nepal violence continues KATHMANDU, Dec 25: Three soldiers and a policeman were killed in new violence in revolt-hit Nepal as a rebel ban on traffic on the main road to the...more US
Army historian cites WASHINGTON, Dec 25: The United States invaded Iraq without a formal plan for occupying and stabilizing the country ....more Bomb kills one, wounds three in Myanmar YANGON, Dec 25: A bomb hidden in a cassette player killed a university student and .......more |
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China working with other nations in combating money laundering BEIJING, Dec 25: China is playing a "very active role" in promoting cooperation among the countries of a euro-asian group in fighting money laundering and terrorism funding, officials said. China, a founding member of the Euro-Asian Group on combating money-laundry and financing of terrorism (EAG), is playing a "very active role" promoting cooperation among EAG members, Director of the Bank of China’s bureau in charge of countering money laundering, Ling Tao, said. The EAG, established in October 2004, also includes Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrghizstan and Tajikistan. "We always have an open, pragmatic attitude in multilateral and bilateral cooperation in the fight against money laundering," Ling was quoted as saying by `China daily.’ China has also applied for membership at the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering (FATF), a major intergovernmental organisation launched in 1989 by the Group-7 summit. China is waiting for the evaluation from the FATF after it sent an inspection team to the country in the middle of this month, a people’s Bank of China official said. "China is working hard with other countries to fight laundering with an open mind and practical manner and expects to become a FATF member," the official said. On the home front, Ling said China puts priority on improving its legal system as well as monitoring, analysis and law enforcement systems. Resources will also go towards building a professional team to fight laundering, which is always linked to other crimes, he said. (PTI) |
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Nepal assures of stocks as economic blockade enters third day KATHMANDU, Dec 25: The Nepal Government today assured that it had enough stocks of essential items like foodgrains and petroleum products to counter an economic blockade called by maoists and threatened to take strong action against hoarders. There is no no need to worry as the Government has enough stock of petroleum products, foodgrains and other essential items and strong action will be taken against the hoarders, deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bharatmonah Adhikari today said. "We will defy the Maoist blockade by stepping up security arrangements in the highways by providing special convoys with security escorts and air patrolling," Adhikari said after chairing a high-level supply management special committee meeting in the Singhdurbar secretariat. "The Government is determined to improve the supply system and trucks and buses will start plying from tomorrow with special security arrangements on the highways," the deputy Prime Minister told reporters at his office in Singhdurbar today. He, however, denied reports that the Government was considering declaration of emergency to deal with the worsening situation in the country. "No emergency at all, the government has not thought about it," he added. The economic blockade called by Maoists to protest the killing and detention of their cadres entered its third day today. "The Government has kerosene for two weeks, petrol for one week and diesel for three weeks. There is 35,000 quintals of rice in the food corporations godown at the moment," secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Supply Dinesh Chandra Pokhrel said. Meanwhile, the market price of consumer items have increased by almost 50 per cent and shortage of cooking gas, kerosene and petrol has hit normal life in major cities, including the capital. After the Maoists blocked major highways linking Kathmandu including Makawanpur, Dhading, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot districts adjoining Kathmandu very few passenger bus and trucks have ventured to move on the highways. According to Government data only 50 trucks entered Kathmandu yesterday with the help of the army escorts. "The situation will improve after the army provides special security on the highways and escort service to passenger bus and trucks from tomorrow," Minister for Industry and Supply Ishwor Pokhrel assured. The Government will provide compensation to the transport enterpreneurs in case of any damage caused by the Maoist during their strike, he said. More than 10,000 people including students, social workers, religious persons and civil society members rallied in Kathmandu today denouncing violence and demanding peace in the country. (PTI) |
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War-era shell kills five in Vietnam HANOI, Dec 25: Four children aged between 9 and 14 and a 20-year old man were killed in southern Vietnam when a war-time mortar shell they were playing with exploded, state media reported today. The five were killed instantly on Tuesday in a field where they were tending a heard of cows in the southern province of Binh Thuan, the Thanh Nien (young people) newspaper reported. Since the US-led Vietnam war ended, nearly 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed by leftover ordnance. (AGENCIES) |
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286 Chinese peacekeepers return from Liberia BEIJING, Dec 25: A 286-member batch of Chinese peacekeeping troops has returned home after wrapping up mission in Liberia in western Africa. The other 272 people of China’s first group of peacekeeping troops, the largest ever sent abroad by the Government, are scheduled to come back in early January next year, a media report said today. Each of the 558 peacekeepers who undertook medical and transport missions has been awarded a medal by the UN for outstanding performance in helping Liberia’s post-war reconstruction. Statistics from China’s ministry of national defence show that between December 2003 and April 2004, the troops’ construction squad repaired roads of 1,200 kilometres long, built four camps for local armed personnel and two parking aprons, erected 21 bridges, revamped two water disposal stations and levelled off land of 70,000 square meters. Its medical squad treated 2,300 outpatients, hospitalised some 250 people and operated on more than 50. Meanwhile, its transportation squad reportedly transported more than 30,000 tonnes of logistic materials and 70,000 people. On Wednesday, the second such group of 284 officers and soldiers in total left Beijing for Liberia on a peacekeeping mission of the UN. (PTI) |
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India changes the food testing requirements KATHMANDU, Dec 25: In response to the request of the Nepalese Government, Indian Government has changed the food testing requirements of the Nepalese export items. Agricultural and food products imported into India are subject to testing prior to clearance of consignments under the provisions of prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 and other Relevant Acts. In response to the request of his majesty’s Government of Nepal, India has decided that tea, pulses and pulses products, and cereals and cereal products imported into India from Nepal will henceforth be subject to 5-20 per cent random sampling, instead of the existing requirement of 100 per cent testing, Indian embasy said in a statement issued here today. This measure is expected to greatly benefit nepalese exporters of tea, pulses and pulses products, cereals and cereal products and represents another step in Government of India’s continuing efforts to further facilitate Nepal’s exports to India. (UNI) |
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Four killed as Nepal violence continues KATHMANDU, Dec 25: Three soldiers and a policeman were killed in new violence in revolt-hit Nepal as a rebel ban on traffic on the main road to the capital entered its third day today, an army officer said. He said two soldiers were killed yesterday in the rebel stronghold of Kanchenpur district while trying to defuse a bomb 700 km (440 miles) west of Kathmandu. "The bomb left by the rebels on a road went off before soldiers defused it," the officer, who asked not to be named, told . Two other soldiers were wounded. One soldier and a policeman were killed elsewhere in Maoist related violence, another officer said. The traffic ban on the highway carrying 90 percent of supplies to the capital’s 1.5 million people began on Thursday and drivers are keeping off for fear of attack by the rebels. The ban, the second in four months, has begun to bite, triggering fuel shortage and driving up food prices in the hill-ringed city, a tourist hub. The rebels said the ban was to press for information about hundreds of missing comrades and to protest against alleged killings of Maoists in custody. Authorities say they died in clashes with soldiers. The rebels, who control about two-thirds of rural areas in the Himalayan kingdom, are fighting to replace the constitutional monarchy with a communist republic. More than 10,500 people have died in the eight-year insurgency. The guerrillas say their struggle was in a decisive stage and have continued attacks ahead of a Jan 13 deadline set by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for them to join talks, an offer the rebels have rejected. (AGENCIES) |
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US Army historian cites lack of Iraq post-war plan WASHINGTON, Dec 25: The United States invaded Iraq without a formal plan for occupying and stabilizing the country and this continues to undercut the military effort there, the Washington post today quoted a US Army historian as saying. The newspaper quoted Maj Isaiah Wilson, an official historian of the Iraq campaign, as saying the overall performance of the US Army in Iraq has been "mediocre" and it failed to recognize it is engaged in a "people’s war." As a result, the United States is "perhaps in peril of losing the ‘war,’ even after supposedly winning it," the post quoted Wilson as saying. The critique is significant because it comes from a military insider and strategist who is positioned to be familiar with top-secret planning. Many army officers have blamed Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon’s civilian leadership for failing to anticipate and plan for the difficult occupation of Iraq. But Wilson reserved his toughest criticism for army commanders. According to the post, he concluded that these commanders failed to grasp the strategic situation in Iraq and no one produced a document laying out the strategy to consolidate victory after major combat operations ended. Those who planned the war suffered from "stunted learning and a reluctance to adapt," the paper quoted him as saying. "While there may have been ‘plans’ at the national level, and even within various agencies within the war zone, none of these ‘plans’ operationalised the problem beyond regime collapse ...," Wilson wrote in an essay delivered at several academic conferences but not published, the post said. The newspaper said it obtained a copy of Wilson’s study as presented at Cornell university in New York in October. (AGENCIES) |
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Bomb kills one, wounds three in Myanmar YANGON, Dec 25: A bomb hidden in a cassette player killed a university student and wounded three others in southeastern Myanmar in the country’s second bombing this week, state media reported today. Sa Aung Myo Myat, 21, found the abandoned cassette player yesterday on top of a car outside a shop in Pha-An, the capital of Kayin state, also known as Karen state, bordering Thailand. "It exploded when he pressed its button out of curiosity," the state-owned Myanma Ahlin newspaper said. Three other students - Maung Aung Soe Moe, Maung Chit Nyi, and Maung Win Phone Kyaw - were wounded in the blast. "The authorities concerned are making investigations to expose the destructive bombers," the newspaper said. "The general public has also been warned and urged to inform the authorities if any unattended suspicious packages, radios, cassette players or watches are found," it added. It was the second bomb attack in Myanmar this week after a blast in a Yangon restaurant killed one employee on Tuesday. Authorities are hunting for two men who witnesses said left a package inside the restaurant before the blast. The military, which has ruled Myanmar in various guises since 1962, has blamed previous attacks on "destructive elements" — an expression often used to refer to political opponents and ethnic minority rebel groups fighting for autonomy. The party of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest at her Yangon home, has condemned Tuesday’s Yangon bombing as a "terrorist act". "As the national league for democracy is working through peaceful means for the emergence of a democracy and human rights in this country, we cannot accept this kind of act," the party said in a statement yesterday. (AGENCIES) Costa Rica President faces corruption probe SAN JOSE, COSTE RICA, Dec 25: Costa Rica’s President faces a probe into campaign financing in the latest scandal to shake what was once deemed the "Switzerland of central America" for its squeaky clean politics. Prosecutors reopened an investigation of whether President Abel Pacheco accepted money from foreign companies, and he could have his judicial immunity withdrawn as a result, court spokesman Fabian Barrantes said yesterday. Two former Presidents have already been jailed this year on graft charges, deeply shaking the tropical paradise’s self-image as an oasis of democratic stability and clean Government in a notoriously chaotic region. Graffiti reading "death to the corrupt" has proliferated throughout the capital in recent months. Pacheco has described corruption as a "cancer" and promised to let courts do their job, "whoever may fall." A previous investigation into Pacheco’s campaign was closed in November due to procedural errors by prosecutors. No formal charges have been filed. (AGENCIES) UK cardinal laments wasted billions of M East wars LONDON, Dec 25: Billions of pounds which could be used to alleviate poverty are being wasted on war in the west Asia, Britain’s leading Roman Catholic said in a Christmas eve message yesterday. "How is it that there is war in Iraq, violence in the holy land and the horror of pain and death amongst the poor and deprived who suffer from injustice and thus do not find peace?"asked cardinal cormac Murphy-o’Connor, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. "What a terrible thing it is that billions — and I mean billion of pounds — are being spent in war in the west Asia which could have been spent bringing people out of dire poverty and malnourishment and disease." He said Catholics could not with a clear conscience wish their fellow Christians in the west Asia and Africa a happy Christmas unless they were prepared to do everything they could to bring about peace. Britain’s role in the invasion and occupation of Iraq has been roundly and frequently condemned by the country’s religious communities. There are around 4 million Catholics in England and Wales out of a Christian population of some 37 million. (AGENCIES) Russia says hopes to sign Iran deal in January MOSCOW, Dec 25: Russia hopes to sign a key deal with Iran in January for the start-up of a Moscow-built nuclear reactor, a senior official said, but diplomats were doubtful after signing has already been delayed for years. Russia and Iran promised the United States — which says Iran wants to acquire illegal nuclear weapons — not to start up the Bushehr reactor before they sign a bilateral deal committing Tehran to return all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. But signing has been delayed for years because of what many diplomats say is Russia’s indecisiveness over whether it wants to forge warmer ties with Washington. "I think the contract will be signed in January," Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia’s Atomic Energy Agency, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. "The probability of that is very high." The launch of the Bushehr plant — slated for late 2005 or early 2006 — would have to be put off again should the deal not be signed in early 2005, experts say. Iran says it wants the plant solely to generate more electricity. The United States, which believes Iran can make atomic weapons from spent fuel, says sending the material back to Russia is not enough and has urged Russia to ditch the 1 billion dollar project altogether. "They’ve delayed signing so many times that frankly, I don’t believe they would go ahead and sign it as soon as January," said one diplomat in Moscow who follows the issue closely. Russia has long defied US opposition to its construction of Bushehr, and has defended Iran by saying it was impossible to make nuclear weapons using the know-how Russia was providing. But in September, Russia noticeably toughened its stance on Iran and urged its nuclear partner to improve its relations with the UN nuclear watchdog. That led to further delays to the signing of the agreement, previously scheduled for November. (AGENCIES) Sikh elders condemn threats to playwright LONDON, Dec 25: An umbrella group of British Sikhs called for death threats made against a British playwright to be withdrawn and said they have no endorsement from their community. Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti went into hiding earlier this week, according to friends, after receiving death threats over her play "Behzti", which was closed after an angry riot by 400 Sikh protestors. They were furious that the play, staged at Birmingham repertory theatre in central England, featured sexual abuse, kissing and murder taking place in a Gurdwara, or Sikh temple. The British Sikh consultative forum, a national body representing 42 Sikh organisations and Gurdwaras, issued the statement on Friday saying they did not support any threats against Bhatti’s life or security. "We unequivocally appeal to any one who may have made these threats to withdraw them. They have no endorsement from the Sikh community," said the statement. "We understand the high tensions on all sides of this unfortunate incident and regret that matters went beyond the process of dialogue and reason." "We hope that further progress on the balance between liberty to offend and right to dignity can proceed within the law and with civility." Directors closed the play fearing more violence after three police officers were slightly injured in the riot. High-profile figures from the British arts community, including poet laureate andrew motion, have condemned the cancellation as an affront to freedom of expression. There are 336,000 sikhs living in Britain, the most recent population census shows. The community’s men are noticeable for their turbans, a requirement of their monotheistic faith. (AGENCIES) |
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